| by A. Theva Rajan, QSM
1. Ancient History:
( November 8, 2012, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri Lanka land mass was never under a single Kingdom. There were three independent Kingdoms – Jaffna (Tamil) Kingdom, Kandyan Kingdom and Kotte Kingdoms (both Sinhalese Kingdoms but ruled by Tamil Kings as well ) .The Tamil Kingdom always remained separate and independent, except for a short while when the Tamil King of Kotte Parakrama Bahu VI conquered and subdued it for a while. But the Tamil kingdom shook off the yoke of Kotte and reasserted its independence within a short period. For most of the time, there were two or three Sinhala Kingdoms viz. Malayaratta (KANDY) Rajaratta (Anuradhapura) Ruhunuratta and Dhakshinadesa (Kotte). The Kingdoms of Dhakshinadesa (Kotte) and Ruhunuratta were generally united but at times remained separately also.
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Even J R Jayawardena who thundered loud about Sinhala supremacy, while in his death bed pronounced Federalism as the best solution for a meaningful unified Sri Lanka. The Rajapakse regime is successfully implementing genocide for which the British laid the foundation in 1883
The country was ruled by a three tiered vibrant democratic system of devolved powers to regions. There were the gamsabas and the best of the administrators there were elected to the Rattasabas (the regional power centres) and the brilliant administrators there were elected to Ministerial offices in the Madhyama Anduwa (Central Government.) Those great men in the distant past realized that there can be no effective democratic governance with benefit for the people unless the power was devolved to the people at regional and village levels. That was the home grown vision and intelligence.
2.Tamils and Tamil Language:
The
use of Tamil Language and the presence of
Tamils in what is presently
known
as Sri Lanka (i.e. throughout the entirety of the three Kingdoms)
is
attested to by the earliest lithic records where the language is Prakrit or
regionalized Prakrit and Tamil and Parkritised Tamil. The script is the
Damili of the Pandyan region.
The script transforms into Asokan (or North Indian) Brahmi only after the introduction of Buddhism and that too only from first century
A.D. The influence of Tamil on the
development of the Sinhala language and literature is deep and indelible. Even
the Sinhala grammatical work SIDAT
SANGARAWA is an adaptation of the
Tamil grammatical work VIRASOLIYAM.
The pre-Christian Sri Lankan
polity is reminiscent of the Sangam period polity of Tamil Nadu. Social groups that played decisive roles
in Tamil
Nadu also played key roles in
Sri Lanka too. The Ays, Vels, Baratas, etc.
played key roles in Sri
Lankan polity too. There are Tamil names as well.
In fact, the name of the
queen of the first known king of the historical period Devanam-piya-Tissa is Ramadatta
– datta in Tamil and Malayalam means parrot. The Tamil language was
considered the language of the learned
Even
in the 16th century CE according to no less a person than
Maitreya the scholar monk who lived in Velapura (modern
Kalutara, where you still find the village Welgama) and rendered into Sinhalese
many ethical works in Tamil.
4.
Colonial Powers:
When the
Portuguese arrived, they were able access the Kotte kingdom in 1505 by mere
negotiation with the then tumbling royal family. The Tamil kingdom was
conquered after a long bloody battle in 1619.
They were separately administered according to the respective laws,
customs and practices that obtained previously. Later, the Dutch took over and
administered the two territories likewise. The Dutch divided the maritime Provinces under
their domain into five Districts namely Jaffna, Trincomalie , Batticaloa Colombo
and Galle. Of these, the first three were Tamil Districts and the last two
Sinhalese. The Dutch also codified the local laws and customs of the Tamils and
Sinhalese. They also introduced the
Roman Dutch Law.
A very interesting aspect of the Dutch rule was
the introduction of currency separately each for the five Districts and each of
them had a distinctive letter viz. Jaffna – J , Colombo – C, Galle – G, and
Trincomalie – T. There is
no
record of coins having been issued in Batticaloa. Perhaps the Trincomalie coins
were in use there as well. However, there is the record of a currency note
being issued in Batticaloa in 1798.
Only
the British brought the Kandyan kingdom also under their administration under the
treaty negotiated with the Chiefs in 1815.
It
was only in 1833 that the territories of the three kingdoms were brought under
a unified administration. From
then onwards, the Tamils co-operated with the British also to sustain the unified administration imposed by the British, as equals
with other communities (representatives
of the Kotte and Kandy Kingdoms) .
5.
Agitation for Independence:
The
British introduced several administrative changes in stages thereby involving
local people in the administration. First the Legislative Council system was introduced. Sir Muttukumarasamy, P.
Kumarasamy, Britto and P. Ramanathan were members of the legislative council during
different periods of time. Representation in the Council was on communal basis
and that helped to maintain the balance and equality of the different
communities. When an election was held for the educated Ceylonese seat in
the
Legislative, Marcus Fernando, a Sinhalese and Ponnambalam Ramanathan, a Tamil, contested and Ramanathan, a Tamil won
comfortably. Sam Wijesinghe PC, a
leading lawyer and former Clerk to
Parliament
explains that Ramanathan won because he
knew practically every family cordially, be it Sinhalese or Tamil and that
personal touch and popularity made him
win.
In
the thirties, Donoughmore was sent to Ceylon to study the progress and make
recommendations. Donoughmore recommended
the abolition of the communal representation and the introduction of the
territorial representation. However, he recommended the creation of Regional
Councils to look after the needs
and welfare of people at the regional levels – a compensatory measure to keep
the balance of power at Regional levels. The territorial representation coupled
with universal franchise made the Sinhalese members of the State Council large
reducing the Tamils to a minority. That
tilted the hitherto maintained balance of power and overwhelmingly favoured the Sinhalese. That is why Ramanathan with
foresight said, on seeing the Donoughmore Commission report, “Donoughmore means Tamils no more.” -
When
it came to elections under the Donoughmore Constitution, the Jaffna
Youth
Movement, a vibrant movement for pourna
swaraj (full independence) led by great leaders like Handy Perinpanayagam and others
held
sway in Jaffna and boycotted the first election totally. The Tamils were
inspired
by Mahathma Gandhi and other Indian leaders. Gandhiji, Swami Vivekananda,
Thiru Vi Ka, Somasundara Bharathy and others addressed the Jaffna Youth
League. Even Pirabakaran was an admirer of Mahathma Gandhi and Netaji Subhas
Chandra Bose. .There is a provision in the Donoughmore Cmmissionn report for
the creation of Regional Councils – a
form of devolution of powers for the Regions. This was to enable the Tamils and
Muslims to have a say in the administration of the Tamil regions. The Sinhalese
leaders were never prepared to implement it although leaders like R.S.S.
Goonewardene, the first permanent representative of Ceylon at the UN pleaded for it even after Independence..
The
Ceylon National Congress founded and led by P. Arunachalam, brother of
Ramanathan agitated for independence for Ceylon (Sri Lanka). The Sinhalese
leaders scared by the Martial Law of 1915 occasioned by the Sinhala-Muslim
riots did not come in the open. They took shelter in the Buddhist temples under cover of
temperance movement. In fact, the Sinhala leaders
like D.S. Senanayake and Samarawickreme and others held under arrest were
facing execution by firing. Ramanathan , as a true national leader undertook a
risk voyage through the mined seas (as the first world war was on) and went to
London and pleaded with the authorities and succeeded in lifting the Marshall
Law and the consequent release of the
Sinhala leaders. On his return, Ramanathan was driven in a carriage from the
Jetty to his home pulled by the released Sinhala leaders as a mark of
gratitude. The Tamils always thought and acted in terms equality in a unified
adminiatration.. Ramanathan’s statue was installed in the
precincts of the Legislative building but in later years, there was a
conspiracy to throw that statue into the sea.
Sinhala
mindset:
Although
there was a substantial Tamil population in the Western Province there was no
representation for them in the legislature.
The Sinhala leaders were not prepared to accommodate a seat for the
Tamils who came from the Tamil Kingdom in the area that was under the Kotte
Kingdom. Arunachalam agitated for it amidst Sinhala opposition. However, in
1918, James Peiris and Samarawickrema entered into a signed agreement with Arunachalam
on 7 December 1918 agreeing to a Tamil representation in the Western Province..
When the implementation of this Pact was raised at the Annual Conference of the
Ceylon National Congress held in Kandy,
the Chair ruled that it was not on the agenda and hence cannot be taken up.
Arunachalam had left the Ceylon National Congress founded by him owing to the
racist obstinacy of the Sinhala leaders and had formed the Ceylon Tamil League
to safeguard the interests of the Tamils..
The implementation of this pact
was raised at the next annual Conference of the Ceylon National Congress held
in Galle. The Chair ruled that the Congress was not there to sit in judgement
over Pacts reached between individuals. Another pact with James Peiris in 1920
was also broken the following year. The
1936 Mahendra Pact following the disastrous pan Sinhala Ministry episode promising
to address the grievances of the Tamils was also broken the following year. And
finally, all Pacts, agreements and reports between 1918 and 2008 have been
unilaterally abrogated by the Sinhala leaders in monotonous regularity – a
clear edification of the unrelenting Sinhala racist obstinacy.
Militarised
oppression and structured genocide
through stratified phases led to the
Mulliavaikkal holocaust of 2009.
This
was made possible by the British Colonial masters. It is indispensable to hark
back to 1883 when those in the higher echelons of the Colonial power in London bluntly
disallowed a proposal from the grass root administrators in Colombo to make
Ceylon a three unit Federation. . In
1883 a universal recession compelled Britain to curtail expenses in their
Colonies. At that time Ceylon was being administered by a Legislative Council
and the country was divided into five Provinces, each under a Governor. The
Legislative Council appointed a sub Committee to explore means of reducing
expenditure. One of the proposals was to divide the country into three Commissionerships
along the former status quo – the Tamil Unit, the Kandyan Unit and the Low
Country Sinhalese Unit. Mr. E.J. Young, the Member representing the Plantation
area proposed this division as it would bring considerable reduction of
overhead expenses –abolition of two Governors positions and their Offices. Mr.
E.J. Young moved :-
.
“That with a
view to retrenchment combined with greater efficiency the Government be
requested to consider how the public service can best be improved on the basis
of dividing Ceylon for Administrative
pur
poses into three Provinces, corresponding with the division of
races-viz. Tamils, Kandyans and Low Country Sinhalese and employing
European supervision over larger areas than at present with a sufficient number
of qualified natives of the country as subordinate officers in the service.”
The
motion was carried unanimously although the notable absentee at the sitting was
Mr. (later Sir) Ponnambalam Ramanathan.
It is unclear how this unanimous recommendation was excluded from the final
report.
However,
this line of practical approach was not ignored by Mr. J. F. Dickson who was Government Agent, North Western Province
in 1873-1882 and Government Agent, Central Province. Though he was also a
member of the Select Committee he sent a special memorandum bypassing the
Select Committee direct to the then Governor Sir Jams Robert Longden on 6 February 1883. In it he stressed the
need to divide the country for administrative purposes into three provinces
on the basis of concentration of ethnic populations in areas that could be
easily demarcated_ i.e. Tamils, Kandyans and Low Country Sinhalese.
He wanted the three units placed under three European Commissioners. He argued
that this would not only suit the aspirations of the local people with distinct
ethnic backgrounds but also reduce the expenditure ….
According
to his plan, there will be three commissioners instead of seven Government
Agents as at then- a reduction by four. He annexed a map of Ceylon showing the
demarcated three units and supported it with population statistics of the three
units.
Though
Mr Dickson was also a member of the Select Committee he bypassed the Committee
and put his suggestions to the Governor direct. In his opinion the Committee
was accentuated by imperialistic interests. He observed in his dissenting
report of 13 February 1883 thus:
“There are some proposals of the
Committee which appear to me unnecessarily to disregard native interests and
native feelings: from these proposals I feel bound to dissent: and I would like
to offer some remarks.
To shift the Administrative Centre
backwards and forward in an Oriental Country is very dangerous, and impresses
them with a feeling of uncertainty as regards the character and determination
of the rulers… and in this case nothing of any amount is gained by the change”.
Sir James Longden, the Governor in his special
despatch No” 243 dated 16 May 1883 enclosing Dickson’s memorandum and map
made the following observations among other things-
“If it now were a question of what form
of government should be setup in Ceylon, the enclosed paper would have much
greater value than it appears to me to possess” for it is impossible without
injustice to individuals and public inconvenience to ignore the existing state
of things and the interest created under
it …
The leading proposal of Mr Dickson is
the abolition of the existing division of the island into seven provinces and
its reduction into three Commisionerships, one containing half the island and
the other two the remaining half – see map attached to Mr Dickson’s report
enclosed.
In this model Mr Dickson has avowedly
copied Indian models, and I think that if, at the time of the conquest of the
Island it had been determined to annex Ceylon to India, it would probably have
been formed into one or most two Commissionerships (corresponding to the Sinhalese and Tamil nationalities respectively)
and administered much on the system advocated by Mr. Dickson. But in that case,
there would have been no local government, no governor or councils or
governmental central staff. The commissioners would have been Lieutenant
Governors wielding despotive powers and responsible for the exercise of them to
the Central Government at Calcutta or Madras.
In order to carry out his scheme of
Government Mr. Dickson proposes “to abolish the system of Government Agents and
Assistant Government Agents and substitute for these District Agents who will
in all matters of account be directly under the financial authorities in
Colombo” while “in all matters of administration they will be as the Assistant
Agents now are under the direct control and supervision of Commissioners who
will take the place of the present Government Agents…”
This system of government has answered
splendidly in India for many years and
might well be adopted in Ceylon had it just been conquered and it were now a
question of what form of government should be installed. But I submit we
have already an established form of government and I apprehend that in all
reforms we must start from where we are, and
I give consideration to the interests we have allowed to be created and the
sentiments we have encouraged.
It is from this point of view that I
should depreciate the suppression of existing provinces. Under the present
system there are seven provinces and seven centres of provincial
administration. Four of these provincial centres, Colombo, Galle, Jaffna and
Kandy are towns with populations in each varying from 22,000 to 110,000. The
others are small towns. But all have derived more or less importance from
either the seat of an Agency, the centre of administration, the existence of
the Government Agent and the role of the Kachcheri.
If it could be shown that any great and
certain advantages to the native population would result from the changes
advocated by Mr. Dickson, it might be thought worthwhile to affront the
sentiments of a very large section of the people for the benefits of the whole.
But of such great and certain advantages there is absolutely no evidence and I
think that in some respects there are no advantages that which must not be
overlooked.
The abolition of the Government Agents
and Provinces.
Province Population
Colombo 389,
788
Kandy
288,
332
Galle 209,
686
Jaffna 265,
583
Kurunegala 215,
173
Batticaloa 105,
358
Anuradhapura 66, 141
Total 1,540, 061
While thus laying fully before your
Lordships the objections I see to this adoption of Mr. Dickson’s proposals, I
fully recognize the merit of his scheme and
think it would have been admirably suited to the government of the native
population (not the European population) had it been adopted at the time of the conquest of the island under the
conditions named
in the 5th paragraph of this despatch”
The observations of Sir James Longden were replied
to by the Rt. Hon: Earl of Derby, the Secretary of State for Colonies
(Sessional Paper No XVII of 1883). He favoured Longden and disallowed Dickson’s
proposals. In his despatch sent to A. H. Gordon, Governor of Ceylon who
succeeded Longden,he observed:
“For this reason it appears to me that a
sweeping change of the kind suggested needs to be justified by evidence that
the system proposed to be altered is either radically bad in principle or
ineffective in practice, and I fail to see that either of these changes can be
sustained against the present organization of Ceylon, while if the financial results be taken into
consideration it is not clear that any great economy would be affected by the
change.
These are the general objections to be
taken to a scheme of this kind, but Mr. Dickson has worked out his suggestion
so dearly and fully that they deserve at any rate, careful consideration, and I do not feel satisfied that they have
been sufficiently appreciated.
The Earl of Derby, The Secretary of State for
Colonies said at the outset that these suggestions deserve due consideration
even in the context of retrenchment and he chooses to dismiss them. However, he
has subtly given reasons for his action. He feared that if Dickson’s proposals
were implemented “the prospects of Civil
Service would be injured” and added that “it would be difficult to carry it out for sometime to come without
affecting the posting of the existing officers.”
The very terms of reference of the Retrenchment
Committee had categorically cautioned that the recommendations should ensure “due regard being had to vested interests.”
The proposal sought to reduce the top Civil Service posts to three from
seven. Above all, implementation and re-structuring demanded a painstaking
commitment to a heavy workload.
James Longden was a lazy sluggish man who was no
match even for routine work. He was a mediocrite, a poor administrator and far
from knowledgeable. John Ferguson, the powerful editor of the Observer characterised him as “too
antiquated and sleepy in his ideas to promote anything beyond the bounds of
red-tape official routine.” H. A. J. Hullugalle in his portrayal says “…… and
safe men have their uses and James Robert Longden did not let the Colonial Office
down.”
It is evident that Longden did not want to bear the
burden or re-structuring and hence did not support the three unit Federal
Structure proposed by E. J. Young the Legislative Councillor and J. F. Dickson
the Government Agent. Longden and the Secretary of State for Colonies agreed on
1. The
proposal admirably suited the native context and aspirations.
2. It did
not bring to bear any advantages on the Europeans
3. It did
not promise any additional revenue to the Imperial Government.
4. It
sought to disadvantage the prospects of Britishers in the Civil Service.
In their Balance Sheet, items 2,3 and 4 weighed
heavily against item 1. And therefore, Federal structure was disallowed, and
disallowed only on those counts-the entrenched vested interests of the Colonial
Masters.
Britain’s refusal to grant the three-unit federal
structure in 1883 became the foundation for the alienation of Tamils from
power-sharing in the political and economic activity of Sri Lanka – structured
genocide. twentieth century, the British began to modify the structure of the
Legislative Council giving the natives more roles to play. They were alert to
disallowing any action, political or otherwise, that would be advantageous to
one community and disadvantageous to another. This was entrenched in what they
termed Royal Instructions. It was repeated in the 1910 and 1920 changes to the
Legislative Council.
. In 1923, Arunachalam started the Ceylon Tamil
League when the Ceylon National Congress degenerated into Sinhala Goigama
Congress. In his inaugural address he hinted that the salvation for Tamils lies
in Tamil akam- a Tamil land. He
added:
“But the Tamils are not going to abandon
the proud duty and privilege of service to all our brothers of every race and
creed But we do object strongly to being
bullied or TERRORISED, we object to being underdogs of anybody.”
The parting of ways had set in as far back as 1920
when the first pact was breached. Eighty years on, the Tamil struggle
continues, though forms have changed from time to time. All along it is the
endless tale of breaching of pacts, It was never hunkyif not naked cheating, by
Sinhala leadership. Due to the stinky-wonky handling of the ethnic crisis, it
has today blown up into a brutal bloody war.
From this time (1920) onwards, the Sinhalese began
edging towards territorial representation knowing well that they will be
empowered and privileged in the Legislature with an elected majority.
Sir William Manning was the Governor of Sri Lanka
during this time. He became aware of the emerging trend among the Sinhalese
which was detrimental to the rights of the Tamils as an ethnic group. In his
despatch to the Secretary of State for Colonies on 1 March 1922 he added:
“The composition of the Legislative
Council was so arranged that while the Government cannot carry a measure,
except under clause 52 of the Order-in-Council, in the face of the united
opposition of the unofficial members, no
single community can impose its will on the other communities.”
Not only the Tamils but also the Kandyans have lost
their identity, let alone sovereignty. In 1926 S.W. R. D. Bandaranaike proposed
Federalism as the best solution for multi-ethnic Ceylon . The Kandyans pleaded
for Federalism before the Donoughmore and Soulbury Commissions and miserably
failed.
D.S. Senanayake found A.F. Molamure to undercut the
Kandyan Chiefs, giving up Kandyan identity and support him. Though H.A. P.
Sandarasagara, who was Member of the
State Council for Jaffna, carried forward Sir P. Arunachalam’s idea of a
Tamilakam (restoration of the
sovereignty of the Tamil Kingdom) without joining hands with the racist Sinhala
leadership in a unified administration of Ceylon, Don Stephen
Senanayake found A. Mahadeva, Arunachalam’s son and G.G. Ponnambalam convenient
defectors from the trend of Tamil objective.
Even J R Jayawardena who thundered loud about
Sinhala supremacy, while in his death bed pronounced Federalism as the best
solution for a meaningful unified Sri
Lanka. The Rajapakse regime is successfully implementing genocide for which the British laid the foundation in
1883.
 Sri Lanka land mass was never under a...){kind=link}