History or No History – Tamils are Sri Lankans

by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam

(April 04, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I refer to the article ‘On Lankan history and reconciliation’ by Professor Nalin de Silva, published in Sri Lanka Guardian on 02 April.

Professor Nalin de Silva says ‘The Sinhalas never wanted a separate state nor wanted the Tamils to leave Sri Lanka and it was the Tamils influenced by the myths spread by the English speaking Vellalas who agitated for a separate state. Prabhakaran also took about thirty years to realise his folly of fighting against the Sinhalas, and it will take another thirty or so to reach reconciliation between the Tamils and the Sinhalas. Thirty years is roughly the period of one generation and the government should address the next generation of Tamils in order to achieve this most wanted reconciliation.’

Who are the Sinhalas to want or not want something about Tamils ? It is our Sovereign right to seek Independence. Some of the ways in which the fight took place was illegal. But to fight for Independence is the sovereign right of every individual. Others may assist and facilitate but the decision to fight itself is the sovereign right of the individual.

Tamils sought equal rights as Sinhalese, to draw on common pool of resources. Prabaharan gave it a form not usually acceptable to Tamils but that form did seem to bring Sinhalese to the negotiating table. Sinhalese may or may not need 30 years to reconcile with Tamils. But Sri Lankans are already reconciled to each other. Others from all races – need more time to appreciate that they need to accept the path of democracy which facilitates for us to live as each other’s Equal opposition beyond the extent to which we feel bound by common faith. Where this common faith is weak and we are not able to accept democracy – we need to stay in our own ‘local’ areas. That way we do not intrude in the path of others.

Professor Nalin de Silva says ‘It is clear that even among the pundits it is not the qualifications that matter but what one says.’ To my mind, if one does have the qualifications they must be used to uphold the dignity of those qualifications or not used at all. Likewise position status. Had Professor Nalin de Silva done that, he would not have speculated about the Tamil system but left it to us to sort out our problems in the best way we consider appropriate.

Professor Nalin de Silva says ‘There are some who would refer to me as a ‘historian’ when they want to criticise certain views I have expressed on the history of Tamils and Muslims in this country. They do not bring an iota of evidence against my views but try to ridicule me by referring to me as a ‘historian”’ knowing that I do not have any formal qualifications in history.’

One does not need any qualification to speak the Truth and true seekers would accept Truth without needing the qualifications of the speaker/writer to support it. But history is not Truth. History is a summary of what happened / facts. Each one would interpret history as per their current experiences and they would all be ‘right’ to the extent their feelings are genuine/true. It’s the Sovereign right of each person to use facts/history as per their true feelings for themselves and themselves alone. Beyond that, any statement needs to be appropriately structured as per the boundaries of the environment in which they are used. I would have expected Professor Nalin de Silva as an academic to not only be conscious of those structures but also make his best effort to uphold and confirm them. Just yesterday, at a community meeting, someone who heard me speak addressed me as ‘professor’! I said that the way I spoke must have sounded philosophical but that I was not formally qualified as a professor. To express value for the person’s appreciation of me – I said that others before him also have called me professor – even though I do not carry any formal qualifications as professor. I then said that most of our Spiritual Gurus, including Yoga Swami of Sri Lanka, were philosophers and yet none of them had formal qualifications. In fact many professors went to them for advice. Is Professor Nalin de Silva grouping himself amongst these Gurus?? If ‘yes’ to some – then Professor Nalin de Silva belongs in that group and it would be inappropriate to expect recognition from this global forum. In fact it makes one wonder about the standards of his current qualifications.

Tamils, to the extent they believe they are Sri Lankans – are Sri Lankans. They do not need to prove this to anyone except for official purposes – towards which some may not have the legal papers – just like some of us not having University PhDs. So long as we do not seek benefits – we do not need official status. One who seeks papers from a true Sri Lankan lacks faith as Sri Lankan. Hence we true Sri Lankans do not need to reconcile. Truth alone is enough.