Tamil civilians, both young and old, men and women,
who bore the brunt of the attack by Sinhala thugs in
1958,
1977 and
again in 1983, in
Colombo and elsewhere will remember the raised sarongs
of the gang leaders who led the cowardly attacks.
Today, in an election year, Tamil bashing has once
again reached a crescendo - it is, after all, the
tried, tested and time honoured way for Sinhala
political leaders to stay in power in Sinhala Sri
Lanka.
On the one hand, Sri Lanka bombers rain terror from
the skies on hospitals, churches, and
schools in
the Tamil homeland, in revenge attacks for the routs
suffered by the Sri Lanka armed forces at Pooneryn,
Janakapura and elsewhere. Sinhala thugs who dare not
set foot with any assurance of safety on Tamil land,
have now taken to
the skies to carry out their cowardly carnage.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka President D.B.
(Ethnic Problem? What Ethnic
Problem?) Wijetunga is bent on feeding Sinhala
chauvinism with what it wants to hear. His recent
speeches indicate that he is relishing the prospect of
riding Sinhala chauvinism to UNP victory in the polls -
with his sarong metaphorically tucked up.
In early January President Wijetunga expanded on his
theme of Sinhala supremacy in an interview reported in
the Indian Express on 7 January.
"Sri Lanka President Wijetunga has dismissed the
possibility of a special devolution of power to the
troubled north-eastern region of the island.. "I
cannot allow two or three classes of citizens. I
cannot agree to making minorities super class
citizens and the majority second class
citizens..."
Not unnaturally, Sinhala chauvinism, which claims
the right to rule the Island, also regards devolution
of power to the North-East as making the Sinhala
majority second class citizens i.e. no longer first
class rulers.
What is more, according to President Wijetunga, 'if
the majority race seeks the assistance of minority
races for power, no fruitful activity can take place.'
President Wijetunga expanded on this thesis at a
meeting at Kurunegala with recent DUNF convert ex
Minister and Sinhala supremacist Premachandra by his
side. Making a fervent plea for the Sinhala people to
unite behind the ruling United National Party he
declared:
"The majority race should be safeguarded for the
livelihood of the minority races. When the tree is safe, the vines can get
entangled in it and grow. If the majority race
is divided and it seeks the assistance of minority
races for power, no fruitful activity could take
place." (Sinhala owned Sri Lanka Sunday Times, 30
January 1994)
So much then for sharing power in a multi ethnic
plural society! President Wijetunga went even further
when speaking at Anuradhapura, the old Sinhala capital.
He told a UNP convention on 2 February:
"Our children should be able to claim that this
country is the Sinhalese land (Sinhala Deshaya).
There are no races according to Buddhism, but every
country has a majority race. However much I try I
can't become the Prime Minister of England. Neither
can I be the leader of Japan, India or even Tamil
Nadu. They have their majority races. In our country
the majority (Sinhala) race is divided because of
elections. The major (Sinhala) political parties
trust minority races and pledge to offer them
everything, whether it is good or bad... Thousands (of Tamils on
the plantations) were given citizenship due to this
bondage." (Sinhala owned Sri Lanka Island, 3
February 1994)
In February 1985 the United Kingdom Parliamentary
Human Rights Group reported: "We do not accept... that
there is any justification for denying civic and
political rights to the million or so Tamils of Indian
descent who work on the tea plantations."
But to Sinhala chauvinism, the citizenship rights
granted belatedly, during the past few years, to Tamils
on the plantations reflect the 'bondage' of dependency
of the majority community on minority votes to win
power.
On 5 February, at election rallies at Udunuwara and
Gampola in the Sinhala Central Province he asserted
aggressively what has come to be known as the KGB line
(the Kandyan Goigama Buddhist line):
"The Presidential election is due to be held. The
powerful UNP has selected me as its candidate. I am
watching in which direction the people are
moving....
The majority community in this country are
Sinhalese. Therefore the Sinhalese should govern the
country. They governed the country in the past and
will do so in the future. The minorities should
assist and guide them."
He threatened without too much subtlety:
"If we say that Eelam should be given to the North
and the East and ask the Tamil people in the South to
go there what would happen? What would they eat? Only
the sand of the earth. What are the sources of
revenue there? North is not a fertile area.
Everything has to be sent from the South. If food
items were not sent there for one day all the
residents there would starve. Are there rivers and
canals in the North? Is there rubber, spices,
electricity, medicines in the North? All this has to
supplied from the South."
He concluded with a return to to his 'clinging
vine' theme:
"If the majority (Sinhala) community is not
divided the minority communities would twine around
the majority like the vines around a sturdy tree.";
(State controlled Sri Lanka Sunday Observer 6
February 1994)
President Wijetunga's comments about electricity,
food and medical supplies to the North expose the
genocidal intent of the economic blockade imposed on
the Tamil people by the Sri Lanka government during the
past three years and more. His espousal of the
'clinging vine' model for minorities exposes the
underlying psyche of Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism which
lays claim to the island as a Sinhala Deshaya (land)
and which perceives the Tamil people as 'twining' round
the ruling Sinhala majority.
That the executive head of the so called
democratic Sri Lankan state should openly and
brazenly claim that the Sinhala people, because they
are a majority, have the right to rule, gives the
answer direct to those non governmental circles in
the West and aid donors who believed that the
conflict in the island may be resolved on the basis
of structures for a 'multi ethnic plural society'.
The harsh political reality is there for all to see -
there is nothing multi-ethnic or plural about Sri
Lanka's body politic.
But ofcourse, President Wijetunga's recent speeches
do not say anything new. As long ago as 1953 arch
Sinhala Buddhist chauvinist D.C.Vijayawardene
wrote:
" The history of Sri Lanka is the history of the
Sinhalese race... The Sinhalese people were entrusted
2500 years ago, with a great and noble charge, the
preservation... of Buddhism.. The nation seemed
designed, as it were, from its rise, primarily to
carry aloft for fifty centuries the torch that was
lit by the great World-Mentor (the Buddha) twenty
five centuries ago..."
In 1957, then Sinhala Opposition leader,
J.R.Jayawardene declared:
"...The time has come for the whole Sinhala race
which has existed for 2500 years, jealously
safeguarding their language and religion, to fight
without giving any quarter to save their
birthright... I will lead the campaign..."
President D.B.Wijetunga's recent statements
therefore serve only to underline the political reality
that in the island of Sri Lanka there are two peoples,
the Tamil people and the Sinhala people; that each of
these peoples have a separate national political
consciousness; that each trace their origins to
different sources; and that it was continuing oppressive alien
Sinhala rule that led to the rise of Tamil armed
resistance.
And, here, the words of the leader of Tamil Eelam,
Velupillai
Pirabaharan on Maha Veerar Naal in November 1993
will provide food for political thought for all those
concerned with securing a lasting and just peace in the
island of Sri Lanka:
"I do not believe that there will be a radical
change in the hardened attitude of Sinhala
chauvinism... Because of the rigid and hardline
attitude of Sinhala chauvinism, the creation of an
independent state is the only path open to the Tamil
people. We have no alternative other than to proceed
along that path."
