What is a Solution?

We Sri Lankans should know better than what America or others tell us to solve our communal problem

By Dr. Mahi Jayasuriya

(September 08, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) A solution to Sri Lanka problem or consequences of inaction cannot be derived from an outsider like Robert Blake without knowing the true history of Sri Lanka. Western double standard and bully the small neighbor mentality in India have culminated mistrust and resistance to foreign influence in SL over the years. American diplomatic and political preachers have no bearings either when you look at how they violate human rights for their own gains in other countries.


American history is well documented and America was built to what it is today after almost annihilating its historical tribal owners of the land by the the British, French, Spanish and subsequent American leadership. Even today, if Hispanics who have surpassed the African-Americans in numbers, demand a separate country for Hispanic speaking people because of rampant discrimination towards Latinos in America, want go very far without full blown decimation by American authorities. Among the two largest minorities in America today, the African-American community is the result of human trafficking for slavery by Europeans and have now well adapted to the current society even though prejudice is a fact of life for them. In contrast, Hispanics were forced their way into America and unwelcome by many Americans though they do mostly labor work for less money. While African-Americans have their names, language and religion same as white Americans, the Hispanics have distinguishable names and language making them different from other Americans. If there is a demand for separation in America it could well be by the Hispanics and not by the African-Americans. It is highly unlikely in the wildest imagination such separation would ever be allowed by mainstream majority Americans (blacks and whites) who have fought fearlessly for what America is today. Analogous to this, among two of the largest minorities in Sri Lanka, one large community that are decedents of slaves brought by British from Southern India live with majority Sinhalese communities in the Plantations. They can speak Sinhala and have adapted to the mainstream Sri Lanka and hence create less of a trouble of their own for the country. The other group who came on banana rafters and what not until recently as 60’s and forced their way in to Sri Lankan shores always wanted to act like they are different people. It is ironic both these minority communities speak Tamil and yet have very different attitude towards the country they are part of. There was a period until the district basis was introduced in early ‘70s, the university admittance to only two engineering and two medical colleges in the country at the time comprised of alarmingly over 90% of Tamils by dangerously illegal means with the help of Tamil speaking teachers, invigilators and other corrupt officials. These kinds of acts are no doubt treacherous to the genuinely hard working and intelligent students of majority Sinhalese and all other communities.

Sinhalese are not like today’s so called Americans who came and exterminated true inhabitants to occupy their ancestral tribal lands and to spread and preserve the language and cultures of European invaders. Instead, Sinhalese race evolved through original Sri Lankan tribes and ancient Indians who traveled from Sanskrit speaking parts. Sinhala is a unique language that has derived similar to Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati and Nepali from the ancient Sanskrit language of Vedas and only found in the island of Sri Lanka. Sinhalese presence of entire Sri Lanka is evident by the facts that ancient temples and original Sinhalese names of places and water bodies can be found in antiquated maps though these names in some parts of north and east have now been translated into Tamil.

So much so for the history what is needed in Sri Lanka today is a true diverse community that loves the country and all its people by all. Sri Lanka has a diverse population but except one all other minorities have learned to live with the others amicably. Even today, the Tamil political hierarchy and now deceased subversive leaders like Prabakaran have stood firmly wanting their own way in simply ignoring the realities and mainstream Sri Lankan love towards their motherland. By doing so, the Tamil leaders including Prabakaran and company lived opulent lives for them and their families at the expense of polarizing and dividing their own community and questioning the true diversity in SL. If you were to hold tight to your guns and never wanted to bend an inch then one must understand that why should the mainstream Sri Lankans wanted to listen to such arrogance. This type of disservice to the masses is visible even today by the LTTE proxies like so called political party, TNA. If these northern Tamils want to decide matters related to the people of Sri Lanka not by the Sri Lankans but by the outsiders then who in Sri Lanka would listen to them. They have to come to understand that to be a Sri Lankan you have to first show you whole heartedly love your country. It is a fact that Tamils in Tamil Nadu do not want to learn predominantly spoken national language, Hindi. There were revelations to the idea of some Tamil Nadu politicians wanting to emulate LTTE separatism for larger Tamil population in India. This may be acceptable or possible in much larger country like India, but Sri Lanka is a small island that people can travel from one end to the other within daylight hours and you have to know how to interact with each other to get things done.

Today, I live in a foreign land and I have to deal with having an identity quite different from the mainstream people of this adopted country. My children were born here but their names, skin color, culture they were brought up were not the subject of interest for us. It is how we adopt to the society where we live and learn the language and culture of those who we meet the most and have to live with day to day. If I were to tell my children just stick to what parents tought and gave them, then my children would be completely disenchanted and hopelessly lost in this world.

Sri Lanka has past experience in dealing with insurgency and it knows how to deal with militancy very effectively. There was a precursor to LTTE by a Sinhalese militancy group that ravaged many parts of Sri Lanka in the 70’s. These Sinhalese rebels were defeated militarily and made them to understand the arms struggle has no place in Sri Lanka. They ultimately gave up their root demands and join the democratic means. Some of these former Sinhalese rebels who were rehabilitated are in the parliament today and contribute to the country while earning the respect from the society. In that regard, the lesson to be learnt by the northern Tamils is that the Sri Lankan solution to your problem rest on giving up LTTE mentality, becoming a true Sri Lankan, and learning to live with all other communities together. If not, as long as Sinhalese majority lives and all other minorities are with them, like any other country in the world, Sri Lanka belongs to those who love there motherland. Let’s have more roads and more bridges to bring us closer together and serve each other with respect and without any fear!

-Sri Lanka Guardian