Wednesday, November 01, 2006

North East de-merger petitioners support the ‘de-merger’ of the Tamil nation from the Sri Lankan state?

I am one among many Tamils if not all Tamils who have been angered by the judgment in the de-merger case. It is my opinion as a law student that the judgment is flawed in many respects and as a Sri Lankan Tamil consider it to be the last nail in the coffin with regards to the minorities’ confidence in the impartiality and neutrality of our judicial system especially the Supreme Court 's capability to deal with politically sensitive issues relating to the conflict.

Here on this post I would like to comment on just one argument that was brought forward by the distinguished lawyers HL De Silva and Gomin Dayasri in their submissions to the court.

The lawyers in their petition submitted that ‘the merger (of the North and East) would result in the Muslim and Sinhala communities in the Eastern Province being permanently subjugated to a minority, which situation would be exacerbated by the process of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Tamil militants’.

If this was the reason for the need for the de-merger it may also be argued with the same logical reference that, given that the Tamils constitute a nation of their own and that they are minority in the Sri Lankan state and using the same dicta used by the petitioners, they have been ‘permanently subjugated to a minority’ within the Sri Lankan state, the Tamil nation should be de-merged from the Sri Lankan state. The petitioners who are contended in using the term ‘ethnic cleansing’ to the injustice meted out to the Muslims in the Eastern province I urge should be willing to accept that the Tamils were also subject to ethnic cleansing by the Sri Lankan armed forces in the past and one is tempted to ask whether the same argument can be used to argue for a ‘de-merger’ of the Tamil Nation from the Sri Lankan state? Hence to follow the same argument of the JVP lawyers in the case would lead us to justify a separate state for the Sri Lankan Tamils.

My contention is that the argument for a united Sri Lanka stems from emotional political reasoning from the majority community. Those who emphasise the need to stick to a united country should also remember that the argument for a traditional homeland from the Tamil people is one that stems from a history of marginalization through ethnic colonization in areas that Tamil people historically habitate. All Tamil parties in 1985 enunciated this principle without any reservations in a univocal voice at the Thimpu talks. This politically sensitive issue dear to the political aspirations of the Tamil people has been unilaterally set aside by the Supreme Court in this case.

I still believe that humans are inherently good and hence that coexistence and cohabitation of the different communities is possible. The judgment adds one more episode in contemporary history which continues to negate this belief that I hold.

24 comments:

Voice in Colombo said...

What do you want Acharya?

A Tamil Homeland in North & East, for you all to enjoy the benifits of being a "majority", and enjoy "equal rights" in rest of the country???

You'll get only one.

Either, a seperate state in your so called "homeland in North & East" where you'll enjoy the benifits of majority, and will have to live as "foriegners" in rest of the Island. Will you migrate to such a state from Colombo?

Or, the second option is to treat the whole country as your homeland (From north to south), and enjoy equal rights with other ethnic groups.

I thought Tamils who don't support LTTE wishing the second option. I thought, that's why GoSL is fighting to save Sri Lanka as a "one country".

If you want the first option so bad, first prove that majority Tamils wants the same. (Your are a budding lawyer. So, prove it legally. Not with claymores). Then, of course get your "homeland" as a seperate country, and migrate their. Don't expect Tamil to be a national language in rest of the country, don't expect Divali to be a national holiday, so on and so on.

I thought, majority Tamils (Except LTTE and it's supporters) wants the second option, and that's why we are fighting. If it's not, the matter is simple. Get your piece of the island, and get lost from Colombo.

Voice in Colombo said...

And under your own arguement "Sinhalese & Muslims in East are safe in a merged North & East, although they are a minority" Can't we say like this.

"Tamils are safe in a unitary country, although they are a minority"

So, under the same arguement that "North & East should be merged as a one unit", one might argue "Whole Sri Lanka should be merged as a one unit. That is a unitary country". See, your logica can be used for the both ways!!!

My point is this. If you want a federal sulution (united), first we have to decide what is the power unit to desolve political power.
If the power unit is, provincial system, then why the hell we want to merge 2 provinces?? Why can't we let it be as 2 provinces and let the people decide.

Historic homeland in North & east theory is a myth, so don't say we should merge N&E under that reason. How can you prove, Digamadulla as a Tamil homeland? Ampara? Samanthurai? Learn your geography first (and demography as well).

This is all about control over "more terroroty". You want to make Prabha the chief minister of East as well, even though majority vote against him in the East. Beacause you know the vote base in Jaffna is larger.

Just Mal said...

Well, certainly the Tamils are not only a minority in the Eastern province, but the overwhelming majority are recent migrants (last two centuries) from Tamil Nadu who came there to work in the Tobacco plantations in the East. Not only that, the East was a part of the Kandyan kingdom until western colonisation. The only reason that the Tamils want the East is because it has a quite lot of resources (fisheries, tourism, oil? and of course the Trinco harbour) compared to the Northern desert lands which really don't have anything remotely tempting about it.

Your logic fails for two different reasons. The Tamil nation includes all the 70 million+ Tamils in the world. The 3 million Tamils in Sri Lanka are certainly not a nation by itself. Secondly, the East was never historically habitated by Tamils and the Tamils are not even the majority there today.

You really couldn't have an exclusive Tamil homeland in the North and expect to live with equal rights in the South. Most Tamils in Sri Lanka live outside the Tamil homeland you're talking about. There's no guarantee that they would leave if in fact a Tamil state is granted.

Most important of all, how could you possibly expect more rights than the Tamils in Tamil Nadu. After all, no one questions the legitimacy of Tamil Nadu being the real Tamil homeland. It's been that for thousands of years. It's a nation-state by every definition. The Sri Lankan Tamil homeland is based on flimsy fantasies and fairytales that break apart at a surface scratch. As far as we see it, you people descend from three waves of migration from Tamil Nadu, and you certainly don't have any homeland in Sri Lanka. You could either live like Sri Lankans or fuck off back to Tamil Nadu.

Just Mal said...

I think you should get down on your knees and thank us with tears of servile gratitude and cries of eternal joy for letting you study in Colombo with our tax money and feeding your starving family in Jaffna with dry food rations and fat free milk powder.

You ungrateful little snake!

Deane said...

The more I read/hear comments like the one above by Mal the more it enlightens me as to the thought process behind Tamil separatism. I, nor any self respecting human being likes to live in a country where I am treated as a second class citizen worthy of scraps from the majority community. This fact alone is a sound premise for the need for a separate state for any community which values self respect. Fortunately, (perhaps unfortunately for some separatists) most Sri Lankans, and in fact most Sinhalese are not as retarded like Mr. Mal above. (May I also point out that Taxes are paid by all communities in this country and the milk powder provided in Jaffna for humongous prices are not even fat free.)

It is of no doubt that Tamils has had to endure much political marginalization, indifference, and 1983 which induced separatism and militancy as a community reflex to the conditions it had to endure. What has happened now is one group, which was once just a strand in this community reflex has grown to become an organ itself with its own agendas and instincts for survival which does not necessarily coincide anymore with the aspirations of the community it claims to represent. The tactics used by the group coupled with the government responses has resulted in another phase of marginalization and antagonism towards the community while also depriving the community of the moral high ground which it could claim to have held. This I believe is the reality we live in.


Separatism is proposed by some as the solution, but rather it would be the beginning of more problems. What Eelamists propose in a Tamileelam is a miniature Sri Lanka, but one where Tamils bully the Sinhalese; One where some 2023-Black-November event would induce a (as someone said) ‘Liberation Lions of Sinhala Lanka’ trained and funded by the government of Lanka (or whatever you call what’s left of the country). No, separation is definitely not the solution.

I do not think much of the claims for historical homelands and ethnic colonizations. While one can question the motives of this government sponsored ‘colonization’ process, none of these claims, even if true, can be premises for a separate state. The only understandable claim for separation is one of lack of political rights and equal citizenship.

I don’t think there are no silver bullet answers to this conflict, but a solid basis of finding a solution must involve exploring a power sharing model based on federalism.

(continued..if i feel like it)

Deane.

Sam said...

// neutrality of our judicial system especially the Supreme Court 's capability to deal with politically sensitive issues relating to the conflict.//

Why Supreme Court should not have power when it come to ‘conflict’? Is conflict more Supreme than the ‘Supreme Court’? How we should change our judicial system according to your standards? How you suggest doing that?

I’m not going to comment about anything else.

Because I’m belonging to majority and ONLY thing I can say without risking labeling me as a “Racist” or pointing “it is your fault Tamils are like that” by ‘politically correct people’ is “yes. You are right Aachcharya.” So no comments.

~CC~ what is self respect have to do with de-merger?

Just Mal said...

Umm deane, technically speaking, there's no state tax collecting mechanism (no direct/income tax, and virtually no GST because most goods and services are provided free/subsidised by the government with OUR tax money) in the North. Not only that, the government provides free electricity and water as well because it's impossible to get people to pay up. The government feeds tens of thousands of Aachcharya's people with free food rations at our expense.

This snake should certainly be grateful to us because we let him study in Colombo at our expense and feed his family while Sinhalese are not allowed to study in Jaffna. If I'm not mistaken Hansa studies in the same faculty/uni as the Snake. How hard would it be for him to teach this snake a few lessons of gratitude and appreciation.

Anonymous said...

As a limited response to the contentions of our prospective snake wrangler just mal, I ask him to consider why a certain part of the population in Jaffna are left to rely on the authorities in the South for doles and hand outs. Why are the people of the war affected areas unable to support their own existance, be they Tamil or Sinhalese or Muslim? Is it a matter of an inherent incapacity in those peoples or is it the fact that circumstances are such that they are unable to utilize their own resources effectively? Would not this imposed circumstance create a sense of disillusionment within them as a reasonable reaction?

I'm not saying that it is just the Southern government that is responsible for these imposed circumstances. All sides to the conflict are responsible for the situation and it bares no purpose in back-tracking through history searching feverishly along tit for tat reprisals to identify the initial villain in the piece while remaining comatose to the human cost that grows everyday through out the island.

I applaud the efforts of my government to provide basic services to the people of the affected areas taking in to consideration the special circumstances of those areas, that for example necessarily call for provision of free electricity (in the limited and termitent manner it is provided) and nutritional services. I also understand why a section of the people at the recieving end see no reason to be greatful to a party responsible for the incapacity that has resulted in their reliance on hand outs. If roles were reversed I doubt if Just mal would see a reason be grateful to the LTTE for dry food rations and fat free milk powder, when it was the LTTE that denied him the ability to sit at a decent restaurant and order up his favourite meal while sipping at his freshly squeezed Orange Juice paid for by his own hard earned money.

Is it realistic to expect a person to fall at your feet in gratitude if you are even partly responsible for taking away his dignity and self respect?

I can only say that the 'us' Just mal refers to are the naive extremists, divorced from human understanding and mutual respect, confined to a spiral of hatred.

Voice in Colombo said...

, Anonymous....

Adress the subject matter. How do you expect "merging North and East" to solve all your problems?

And where's this "Guru Achariya" ?? You are the author of this blog, and it's your duty to answer the facts raised in comments.

Anonymous said...

This is why Tamils must fight for their independence. Tamils have made it clear that the Northeast being recognized as the traditional Tamil homeland is a non-negotiable demand. Sinhalese and Muslims in the East have been planted by Sinhalese governments and should be driven out. The world should respect Tamil aspirations.

Aachcharya said...

Mr. Voice in Colombo:

I'm sorry but I don’t think I have a duty to respond to all and every comment/s made on my blog primarily for time constraints and problems in internet access. I have only attempted to make an observation on one of the many arguments made by the lawyers appearing for the petitioners in the de-merger case. In fact if you would care to re-read my post, you will note that I do not state anywhere my personal opinion on the traditional homeland issue. The objective of the post was to highlight the insensitivity and fallacy in logic of the petitioners (and to stretch it - the southern polity) with regard to the political aspirations of the Tamil people. (Re-read para 4 of my post)

May I submit that there is a general trend identifiable with people like you and Mr. Justmal who tend to think that, all Tamils (who think that their community has certain legitimate grievances) possess an understanding and have a position on issues relating to the ethnic conflict which is equivalent to the position of the LTTE on such issues. I would argue that it is people like you both, who I would claim abet with the LTTE’s argument that they are the sole representatives of the Tamil people.

Hence where I had not given a personal opinion on the issue concerned (the traditional homeland issue) you have started calling me names presumably with an understanding that I am an LTTE supporter/sympathizer or a separatist. (Read the last para of my post where I claim that I am not for separation) I sympathise and emapthise with your level and quality of intellect, gentlemen.

Here are my personal opinions on the issues that my post deals with:
On the de-merger case my position is that the issue should have been resolved politically and not through the backdoor using the judiciary.

On the traditional homeland issue: I place the traditional homeland claim to be within the concept and practice of internal self determination. I do not entertain interpretations that present it as an exclusionary concept which disregards the rights of the Sinhalese and Muslims. My understanding of its is that the claim for a traditional homeland is linked to the fears of the Tamil people given the history and hence should be honoured and I have abundance confidence in the Tamil people that they wont do to others what has been done to them. Of course, acknowledging that the Muslims have a justified fear about remaining in one North and East, I believe that adequate safeguards should be provided to them and to the Sinhalese. What the LTTE has done to the Muslim people in the past is unjustifiable and cruel.

Mr. Justmal:

With all due respect to you for your freedom of speech and expression may I state that you are a frog living in your own well(Are there wells in Australia by the way?). I don’t know why you wanted to call me a snake (you might claim now that the frog metaphor – given that I am a snake- is being used to scare you..terrorist tactics you might want to claim.. But don’t worry.. I am a vegetarian) but I think that this mirrors your mentality –some sort of animal instinct that you possess if I may suggest so..
And yes about gratefulness.. NO THANK YOU. (It is not worth a reply)

Deane said...

I think Anon had answered the Tax argument quite correctly.. I completely agree..

I should also concede that when Mr. Mal said 'us', I naturally took it as if he meant 'Sinhalese' where as he seems to have meant the country non-inclusive of the Northern province. My bad.

To answer Sam, the post itself and the evolved around separatism as much as it did about the 'de-merger'. So in a comment thread where insults are thrown, and where Swans are asked to thwart snakes in the openness of an institution of Law, self-respect was an issue. It might not have anything to do with the de-merger, but that’s not the only ‘subject-matter’ at hand.

In an abstract sense I do not mind a de-merged Northern province and an Eastern province. In fact, when a final federal constitution is drafted (weather now or in a few decades) I see no reason to stick to the current provincial boundaries.

But when one considers the political realities and the path we have to take to resolve this conflict, this is neither the time nor the methods for a de-merger. In the resolution process as a whole this is a step backwards.

Just Mal said...

Ahh.. this is what happens when they give out free thesauruses at the law faculty. Btw Hansa doesn't even remotely look like a lion.

Anyway, this is what it comes down to. The supreme court did not make a political judgement on the demerger issue. What was held was that the president did not have the constitutional authority to arbitrarily merge the two provinces, and the fact that a referendum was never held in the east as required, violates the fundamental rights of the eastern people.

If the merger is illegal, and therefore null and void, the two provinces go back to the status pas where they were seperate.

Deane said...

ah sorry machang. hansa-hansya sounds the same.. yes i agree it would be difficult for swans to thwart snakes.. we should stick to the snakes and frog analogy.. but then. the snake is vegetarian..

i have doubts though, judging from the conduct of past pupils of your faculty whether your curriculum succeeds in teaching the faculty's students the ideals of freedom speech, expression, tolerance, individual autonomy and recognition of criminal offenses.

Just Mal said...

whose conduct o'deane? do you know any past pupils of the law faculty?

well i'm sure our snake would never learn any of that. if anything, it'd make him more venomous.

Just Mal said...

There's no such thing as a herbivorous snake. Snakes are things that eat other animals. Our Achariya snake eats Sinhala babies and drinks their blood.

Aachcharya said...

Please continue Justmal and Hansa until it contends you!! BTW I do not know whether 'Sinhala' and 'Tamil' babies would be aware of their language group titles!! You are sadist Justmal! Drinking blood??!! God save you!!

Just Mal said...

God save you? Is that what you say after drinking Sinhala babies' blood filthy snake? They can't even speak Sinhala but that doesn't stop you from feasting on their raw flesh and drinking from their decapitated necks. You animal you!

Anonymous said...

judging from many of the comments posted here, unfortunately, it seems a few of you have matured not much farther from when you were babies.

Anonymous said...

Hey,

Just visited this page for the second time and thought id leave a comment, well of course this comment quite metaphorically was provoked not by the blog post but by the comments made by others on it. I use metaphorically here because this is quite similar to how the war starts in the first place (which most bloggers like hon. Just mal and hon. voice in Colombo don’t seem to know) except this time the rebellion is started by me, apparently Sinhalese, and Buddhist thus, ue to a freak of nature at birth has made me a majority in the small island Sri Lanka and a minority in all other countries in the world.

This post would randomly try to capsulate the popular discourse of the ethnic conflict (the one that really takes place not the onslaught on this blog), though by no means will I be doing justice to the great and most complex issue at hand

Firstly, I am glad that there are people like Dean, who are objective, well read and thus full of extremely valuable insight in to the conflict that has ravaged us for the last 59 years. Now I say 59 here, because to me the conflict started in 1947. Well all you people who harp on ethnic nationalism here would jump to tell me that’s before independence, of course it was before independence. However in reality there is no single reason for as to why the war started at least its not justifiable to point out one singular event that led to us to this situation drawing on a basic timeline I can safely tell you it was well on the way in 1947.

I have come across many blogs over the past few years and I have seen this single social phenomenon which has deeply saddened me. Some comments on this blog have been low and personal and racist to say the least. This just shows how deep rooted and how social the conflict is. If tomorrow our leaders come to an agreement it begs the question if some people, including some who have commented on this blog are wiling to accept any agreement but one of there personnel conviction.

I would be called a traitor, a looser or whatever it is, but I would rather make this very serious comment now than never, the LTTE had a cause, to what extend that cause has deteriorated remains a question that only the LTTE can answer, but the existence of an LTTE has signified the existence of a Tamil population which us (sadly including myself, since am a Sinhalese Buddhist) has taken for granted over the years. Most people who wrote extremely racist comments here, boldly and so greatly spoke of the blood spilled by the LTTE, but have you forgotten what we did? Have you forgotten 1983? Have you forgotten that every black tiger who came to Colombo to explode him/herself, had at least one member of his/her family raped by a Sinhalese racist like yourselves? Have you forgotten 1947 and 1949 legislations that made Indian Tamils non-citizens of our country? And lastly and sadly have you forgotten the teachings of lord Buddha?

This remains the great irony of our conflict, LTTE is not religious based but the Sinhalese onslaught is. I remember Gandhi once said “why does a country need an army if its not going to fight?”, he at the very early stages of modern politics realized the irony and the stupidity of religious war. Today we claim to be so bold, so honorable and all so ever enriched in the great Philosophy of Buddhism, maybe I am a bit naïve and I no little about the preaching’s but do tell me, did lord Buddha ever tell you to provoke war? To insult people? To take revenge? To hurt? To kill for land, for nationality or for religion? I am not saying that the LTTE is correct in its approach but largely I feel people like the once who have commented on this blog have left them with no choice.

If you want the conflict to end, practice peace yourself, peace of mind, and remember we are not letting this blogger come to Colombo and study, we don’t have to. Simply cause he has the same right as you and I have to come to Colombo and study as it is his home as much as it is your or mine. Our tax money is not doing charity work, but is spent on Tamils and Muslim civilians simply because they have the birth right as much as you and I have to that tax money, and yes there is a form of tax collection in Sri Lank and my father pays more tax money than he spends on me. And yes if there is a humanitarian crisis of any sort, Tamils and Sinhalese and Muslims should and must be treated equally as we are born with the same right.

It is maybe that I am stupid and I don’t understand the complex thinking that goes behind people like just mal, who seem to have got it all sorted out in their heads (please don’t miss the sarcasm), but do enlighten me, tell me should we fight it, I think we should, we should fight, I have always believed in fighting but do you want to fight to avenge? to take revenge? or to change? And if you want to fight to change cut the ethnic crap, throw it out of your window, start thinking Sri Lankan, change your nationality from ‘Sinhalese Buddhist racist’ to Sri Lankan and then you are with the minority and you will know what it feels like to fight this war that people like myself, dean and this blogger Aachcharya is fighting for.


Brother Aachcharya (he really is my brother although we are of two different ethnicities) am sorry about what these people have said, I am truly ashamed of these racist comments made by people apparently of my community and am sorry I had to write such a long a messy blog post but I was provoked so much that I had to say something. Keep up the good work your doing a great job

Chinthaka Perera

MaXXa said...

Chinthaka,
I don't know whther you are frank to your heart. We all know that there are racists in every ethnic group. But your comment looks more like you have an inherent bias or empathy towards the Tamil community which you have got because of being a sinhalese. I'm not attacking on your arguments or thoughts, just trying to get my self clarified whether you really intended your arguments and thoughts. We all know the view of Justmal at the ethnic issue does not represent the view of the 99% of sinhalese in Sri Lanka. But i completely disappointed by the fact that you have mentioned only one side of the story of 1983 riots, and so disappointing that you haven't mentioned what really triggered the 1983 riots, hence you have imbalanced your argument.

The ethnic conflict in sri lanka is a conflict between racists Vs racists. A conflict between the racists in both of the groups. That's wyh this has become a complexed issue. The real ethnic conflict happenes not between the Army vs the LTTE, but between the racists in both of the groups.

Anonymous said...

Maxxa,

Super thought provoking comments, as i mentioned earlier am a very novice blogger thus i might not come out as i ought to.

well firstly answering your question on if i really mean what i say, i do. my perception was formed through piles of reading, studying and specializing in the field, well i looked at it not as a Sinhalese, lets just consider our selves as humans, sit back and see what is happening and what has happened, if you say what triggered 1983 was the ltte attacking the army then the ltte attacked the army because the army killed Sealan, so as you can see this debate will just go deeper into history until we eventually end up blaming the big bang or the creation for creating us.

but then true very true this war is about racist vs racist, and hopefully though i remain skeptical all Sinhalese don't think like Justmal cause if they do people like my self and Aachrya who have sacrificed our youth hood for conflict resoloution have seriously wasted our time. so i agree with you i didn't try to give a one side nor did i seem empathetic towards Tamils. i was basing history from one point of time....

there is however one thing i must note, the conflict has sadly penetrated into the deeper fragments of society. so today we are looking at a socially protracted conflict.....so then instantly although the conflict seems to between racist the population has been brainwashed (mind you not only by both partied but also by events) thus have taken up perceptions. so then arithmetically we are looking at a community which is largely racist. this my friend is the disaster of playing the ethnic card.

But as i said your thoughts were valid and applicable but i just feel we have moved beyond that stage of the conflict and have sadly entered a new stage. just think of it this way, if we kill every single LTTE on this planet and every single Sinhalese racist on this planet? will we solve the conflict? in my opinion we wont. we wont simply cause this problem has gone so deep into society that every child born is born to some sort of bias, and not to mention some have extremely troubled childhoods like Prabhakaran and justmale, you can see the end outcome.......

we are looking at a generation of conflict resolution, not a 100 day plan, not a 10 year plan but a 40 year maybe, and it should come from every possible avenue of society. schools, shops, interest groups, friends, civil society, legislations, constitutions and everything so i know its a bid pessimistic but my years of work in the field has only left me believing that its still possible...at least we are not willing to give up yet......

again thanks for making intelligent and thoughtful comments with a certain degree of knowledge.....its better to say nothing than be frogs in the public bog like some people but when you think through your stuff you realize we are all equally intelligent.

Anonymous said...

Gihilla athe parak gahapan Chinthaka. Thoge amma demala nattamyla ta hukala thamai tho ipadila thiyenne. Avajathaka sakkili balla.

Anonymous said...

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Elisa


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