Sathyam Commentary
12 May 1998
Why Division?
A visitor to the tamilnation
website from the University of California,
Riverside wrote:
"I recently visited Colombo
University with some Sri Lankan friends. I was happy to
see some peace in the city. In Katubedda I met Tamil
engineering students. After speaking to many of them I
came to realise that all campuses in Sri Lanka have
Tamil students. Why such a small beautiful country
needs a division, I fail to understand."
Response:
The search for tranquillity and
peace is something with which many Tamils in the diaspora
living as wandering nomads without a land, will relate.
Indeed, so do the Tamils struggling in Tamil
Eelam.
In 1984, a few months after Genocide'83 , a
British M.P. visited Colombo and found a 'smiling Tamil
people'. He remarked:
'It is only when you walk among
the people that you realise the truth. I saw a smiling
people going about their daily duties in the fullest
confidence. I saw children playing wherever I went. In
predominantly Tamil areas where I went, the evidence of
normalcy was the same.'
Here, you may find the article
written in 1984 about the ten
questions that the British M.P. may have asked, of
some interest.
On the matter of finding Tamil
engineering students at Katubedde, you may find it useful
to examine the International Commission of
Jurists report on standardisation of admissions to
the Universities in Sri Lanka.
As to the question ' why division?',
the article 'A Simple
Question' examines the reasons why in Sri Lanka, we
have always had a Sinhala Buddhist as the executive head
of state - and what alien Sinhala rule means to the Tamil
people.
The conflict in the island is
perhaps not so much a question about 'division' but
about 'association' - about the structures that may have
to be set up where two peoples speaking different
languages, tracing their roots to different origins, and
living in relatively well defined and separate
geographical areas, may associate with each other in
equality and in freedom.
Again, the struggle for Tamil Eelam
is not unique and here, you may find the page on fourth world
nations relevant and I quote:
"It is sometimes said that to
accord international recognition to these separate
national formations will lead to instability in the
world order. The argument is not dissimilar to that
which was urged a hundred years ago against granting
universal franchise. It was said that to empower every
citizen with a vote was to threaten the stability of
existing state structures and the ruling establishment.
But the truth was that it was the refusal to grant
universal franchise which threatened stability ... Self
determination is not a de stabilising concept. Self
determination and democracy go hand in hand. If
democracy means the rule of the people, by the people,
for the people, then the principle of self
determination secures that no one people may rule
another - and herein lies its enduring
appeal."
We thank you for the interest that
you have taken in the Tamil struggle. As David Selbourne,
formerly of Oxford University remarked in
1984:
"Everyone who possesses an
elementary sense of justice has no moral choice but to
acquaint himself fully with the plight of the Tamil
people. It is an international issue of growing
importance. Their cause represents the very essence of
the cause of human rights
and justice; and to deny it, debases and reduces us
all." (Please see generally: Struggle for Tamil Eelam
)
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