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Sri Lanka lifts unofficial ban on singing national anthem in Tamil

Sorry I cannot refute your claim that tamil nadu was inhabited by people from SL which is the fact accepted by all historians passed out from manlion university.

what a pathetic response ? Why the Indian lame duck cant came to your rescue ? You need not "pass out from Manlion Uni", just re-read your historical chronicle - Mahavamsa - where its clearly mentions Demalas (Tamils) were living in Lanka prior to Vijaya's arrival. While the Aryans referred to Tamil as Dramila - Dravida, at least you were closer to the original Demala - Tamila
 
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what is that ?? :o::o: I have no clue of it..

Tamil thai vaazthu :P namma kandipa paaduvom after anthem..

Sorry I cannot refute your claim that tamil nadu was inhabited by people from SL which is the fact accepted by all historians passed out from manlion university.


you were called a lame duck by manlion.
between,
Separate entity means a people who lived as a separate people with a separate history, separate civilisation with in a separate boundary. For example the Tamils in TN are a separate entity with their own civilisation flourished in TN. Marathi people, Bengalis people they are also like that. English, Irish, Dutch they are also like that. They are separate entity or in correct term separate nation.

India is an amulgamation of such nations. So power devolution and a quasi federal set up is suitable for india.

SL did not have a tamil nation within. That is what Sinhala people are saying. Their argument is Sinhala is the core of SL nation or the only nation to have a historical existence. Tamils did come to SL as invaders time to time. And they were repelled in the same way. And the tamils who stayed got absorbed in to Sinhala people.

At the same time colonials namely dutch and british were at war with Kandyan kingdom to grab power in SL. They also brought tamils from TN as labour. They are the tamil people who now live in north and east and even in central parts. This is easily understandable from looking at population data.

That is why I always say tamils have every right as an individual but sinhala and tamil identity can never be equal.


I dont want anything. :)
As far as i know the indian model is not federal and quasi federal. I just pointed out an error.
I just said why federalism is not suitable for SL.

@hinduguy guy,
there are a lot of things you people do not know about SL issue.

Many people tend to believe or taught to believe that all ills in SL started after SL language policy in 1956. And many have heard about ethnic riots in SL. But the first tamil sinhala riot gets no mention.
The First Sinhala-Tamil Riot, 1939

Tamil leaders' rejection of the "Ceylonese" model

Bandaranaike and others at first worked in the Ceylon equivalent of the "Indian national congress" and sought to obtain independence within the concept of a " Ceylonese" nation which embraced the Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and other groups. The Older Tamil leaders (Ponnambalam Arunachalam and Ponnambalam Ramanathan) were favorable to this, as long as they controlled the show. To break their power, G.G. Ponnambalam (GGP for short), an ambitious young Catholic lawyer who did not belong to the elite group, had to find a formula to capture the support of the Tamils. Recognizing that the proposal for universal franchise would reduce the Tamils to a minority, GGP began the racist cry in the 1930s. The Hansard reports in 1935 (column 3045) shows Ponnambalam claiming that he is a PROUD DRAVIDIAN, and rejecting the ceylonese concept that embraced all the ethnic groups (The references are in the book by the British historian Dr. Jane Russell, Communal Politics under the Donoughmore Constitution, Tissara Publishers, 1982).


Attacks on the Mahavamsa and the First Sinhala-Tamil riot in 1939.

The Tamil Vellalas realized that they would loose their dominant position if universal franchise was upheld. GGP began a full campaign against Universal Franchise and the
historical position of the Sinhalese. Jane Russell writes (page 131): "The Ceylon Tamils had no written document on the lines of the Mahavamsa to authenticate their singular and separate historical authority in Sri Lanka, a fact which Ceylon Tamil communalists found very irksome". Because of this, Tamil writers,and budding politicians like Ponnambalam began to attack the Mahavamsa. He went to political meeting claiming that the Tamils have always ruled the Sinhalese, and that the Sinhalese were "a race of hybrids" and an offshoot of the Tamils. The Dutugamunu-Elara story was used by "Ceylon Tamil agitators ? (as) an historical justification for the sense of grievance which they were so carefully nursing, and it was used to suggest that Sinhalese perfidy in the name of Sinhalese Buddhism would be the accepted practice in the future as well as in the past" (Russell, p. 154). Meanwhile, the Tamils continued to insist that they are effectively a majority community (Morning Star, January 2, 1934). The famous Peradeniya historian, Prof. K. M. de Silva has cited this fact as a main cause of the failure of the Ceylon National Congress and the concept of a united Sri Lanka (University of Ceylon History of Ceylon , p401).


At a meeting in Navalapitiya in 1939, Ponnambalam attacked the Mahavamsa and the Sinhalese in such extreme terms that the people attacked him, and the first Sinhala-Tamil riots began, with clashes in Navalapitiya, Passara, Maskeliya and even in Jaffna (reported in full in the newspaper, Hindu Organ November 1, 1939. This paper is said to be available at the Jaffna University Library). The British government rapidly put down the clashes and so they did not become extensive as in the post-1950s clashes.


The formation of the Sinhala Mahasabha.

The anti-sinhala movement of G. G. Ponnambalam made him popular among the Jaffna people. His Tamil Congress captured power from the moderate Tamils. Bandaranaike had meanwhile begun to reply G. G. Ponanmbalam. The Sinhala Maha Sabha was founded in 1936, spurred by attacks on the Sinhalese which were spearheaded by Ponnambalam. They had become intense in the 1930s. Bandaranaike set up branches of the Sinhala Maha Sabha in exactly the same cities that G. G. Ponnambalam went to give anti-sinhala speeches. In establishing the Nawalapitya branch of the Sinhala Mahasabha, SWRD stated thus: " The Nawalapitiya Sinhala Maha Sabha should erect a statue of Mr. Ponnambalam as we should be grateful to him for provoking the formation of this Sinhala Maha sabha" ( Hindu Organ, June 19, 1939). It is over Ponnambalam's explicit racism that Philip Goonawardene came to blows with him inside the State Council Chambers in the early 1940s.


Bandaranaike and many others took up this more polarized, nationalist position in reaction to G. G. Ponnambalam's racist program, just as today many Sinhalese have taken a more polarized position in reaction to the LTTE.
G. G. Ponnambalam held that:

(1)Universal franchise was a mistake. There were roughly equal numbers of "educated upper-caste Tamils" and "educated upper-caste Sinhalese". So the vote should be restricted and the chamber should be 50%-50% between the two communities ("balanced representation"). Basically, low-caste Tamils and Indian Tamils, and also most Sinhalese should not count!

(2)He upheld the caste system, and agreed with Ponnambalam Ramanathan, who went several times to London in the 1930s to ask the British government to uphold the caste system.

(3)Ponnnamblam held that the Tamils had always ruled the Sinhalese, and that Vijaya was " Vijayan", Kasyapa was "Kasi-appan", and Parakramabahu was a Tamil whose actual name was Pandya-Parakrama. His favorite attack theme was to begin by bashing the Mahavamsa.


(4)Ramanathan Ponnambalam, and also G. G. Ponnambalam and others REFUSED to accept that the Tamils are a minority in a democratic government, and did not attempt to create a political strategy that accepted the reality of being a minority.


(5)GGP visited Nazi Germany several times, accompanied by his right-wing British friends, in the mid 1930s, and probably copied the racist nationalism of Europe, just as N. M. Perera, Philip Gunawardena, Colvin R de Silva and other intellectuals copied the equally deadly leftist ideology of Marxism. Racism was fashionable in Europe in the 1930s and GGP imported it to Sri Lanka .

(6)When D. S. Senanayake managed to get both SWRD and GGP into his cabinet by his adroit political manipulations, a vacuum was created in the Tamil extremist space, and this was filled by the Tamil Sovereign party (Tamil Arasu Kachchi), falsely translated as "The Federal party", as every one knows the real meaning of the Tamil word "Arasu". The name came from the "League of Tamil federations", which had published a book in 1942 claiming to show that the Tamils were the main inhabitants of Sri Lanka, and that the Mahavamsa was a recent (16th century), false fabrication.


Bandaranaike as the opponent of Tamil racism nursed by Ponnambalam.


This writer holds that that SWRD had no option but to oppose the forces unleashed by GGP, by setting up the Sinhala Maha Sabha etc. The national dress and other things came with the temperance movement and the Sinhala and Tamil nationalist movements. These were in turn influenced by the Indian nationalist movements. The early life of SWRD shows that he was influenced by the Indian nationalist movements in Oxford. He was a sincere, sensitive politician who overestimated his capacity to control the nationalist forces and the intrigues of the anti-nationalist forces that were unleashed within the racist politics of the 1930s. The rank communalism of the Tamils was made respectable, socially acceptable and nourished by the Tamil Congress in the 1930-40s. That is why the idea of a Ceylonese nation failed, already by 1939. The continued program launched by the Federal party was based on a separate Tamil identity for the Tamils, fully denying the Ceylonese concept of D. S. Senanayake and Oliver Goonatileke . The Federal party began to invent grievances and organize provocative "Sathyagrahas" instead of building bridges between the two communities. E. M. V. Naganathan enjoyed claiming that he was a descendent of a Chola aristocrat. The Federal party leaders wanted to carve out a North-Eastern fiefdom for themselves, governing it from the comfort of Colombo. In time to come the local militants in the north realized this and eliminated the Federal Party-TULF leadership. There was no way of preventing a final show down as long as the Federal party continued on its path, towards the TULF and BataKotte (Vadukkoddei), and then to the active support of the armed militancy of the LTTE and Giranikke (KIllinochchi).



The First Sinhala-Tamil Riot, 1939


Look at this map of south asia according to Mahabharat, Lanka is shown as Sinhala

EpicIndia.jpg


I cannot tell whether Tamil lived as a separate entity in Lanka. I am not in India now, and here in China many sites are blocked. When I come back to India, I shall research it.

Even when once I read a history book on the exploits of Chola emperors, I read, that Cholas invaded the Island to stop the persecution of the Tamils living in the North of Lanka. And the cholas gave complete rights to the Sinhalas living in those areas.
Though in some accounts it is reported, Sinhalas were driven out to the south. But it proves the point.

1. Tamils were living in the north and were in Majority.
2. Tamils and Sinhalas co-existed even in those times. Hope you are aware that the Pandyas and Sinhala Kingdom are alliances and even have a matrimonial bond, dating back to thousand years,.
 
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You should ask the Malays and Chinese in Malaysia what they think of the Tamils and the Chinese in Singapore what they think of the Tamils. Problem in SL is that Tamils have too many priviledges. If Tamils in SL are unhappy, they are more than welcome to take the next boat/plane back to Tamil Nadu.

In some ways Malays share similar trait with Sinhalas, not to forget they first went after Chinese blood in 1960s. After the Babri mosque issue, they targeted Tamil temples in retaliation, the first incident took place in Penang. But they too were once dominated by Tamils and have Tamil blood (mamaks or DKKs) before their conversions to Islam 600 yrs back. The Malay govt know its history but like the Sinhalas is in denial or on a destruction mode to erase the pre Islamic Tamil roots.

The Sultans (Rulers) however, acknowledge their descend from the Chola family, hence the royals have a soft corner for Tamils and do morally support Tamil culture, the problem is with racist politicians and Islamic clergy ... .So regardless how much you Sinhalas cry, Tamils enjoy royal patronage
A number of undocumented temple ruins in the Bujang Valley, the site of more than fifty ancient tomb temples dating back to 8th century, have been destroyed over the years, reveals an activist..

- See more at: In Bujang valley, activist fears ancient temples doomed, says more secretly destroyed - The Malaysian Insider

Malays pre Islamic Trance ritual still in vogue in remote corners, hidden from the view of the mullahs
 
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Even when once I read a history book on the exploits of Chola emperors, I read, that Cholas invaded the Island to stop the persecution of the Tamils living in the North of Lanka. And the cholas gave complete rights to the Sinhalas living in those areas.
Though in some accounts it is reported, Sinhalas were driven out to the south. But it proves the point.

1. Tamils were living in the north and were in Majority.
2. Tamils and Sinhalas co-existed even in those times. Hope you are aware that the Pandyas and Sinhala Kingdom are alliances and even have a matrimonial bond, dating back to thousand years,.

I dunno you will reply to me but I felt I should make a comment on this.

Cholas did not invade Sri Lanka because of the prosecution of Tamils in the North of Lanka. If that's the case they should have invaded Jaffna altogether. But Cholas make no mention of Jaffna or it's people. Cholas invaded the capital Anuradhapura directly displacing the Sinhala king. The Chola invasion was a political move against the Sinhala king who had sided with the enemies of the Cholas.

In a subsequent episode, Chola King Parantaka I (907-953) challenged Pandya ruler Marvarman Rajasimha II (905-20) inside the Tamil kingdom. Rajasimha sought the assistance of Sinhala king Kassapa V, who dispatched an army. Rajasimha lost the war and fled to Sri Lanka taking with him the crown and other regalia. He arrived in the reign of Dappula IV (924-935). Dappula wanted to fight but the army objected. So Rajasimha went to Kerala, his mother’s home, leaving the crown jewels with Dappula.

Parantaka asked for the regalia. Sinhala King Udaya IV (946-954) refused. Parantaka invaded. Udaya took the regalia and left Anuradhapura. Parantaka took Anuradhapura, but had to rush home because the Gangas and the Rastrakutas had attacked and he was about to lose his throne. The Sinhala king also seems to have made a lightening raid on the Tamil kingdom at this point. Rajasimha’s regalia remained in Sri Lanka until Chola King Rajendra I acquired them when he conquered the Rajarata. Mahavamsa and Tiruvalangadu plates of Rajendra I record these events.

Features | Online edition of Daily News - Lakehouse Newspapers

Now for your claims.

1) If Tamils were lived in North at that time, why not Cholas had ever acknowledged it? Cholas has never erected a stone inscriptions, constructed temples or any related buildings etc., in Jaffna.

If there was a substantial number of Tamils in Jaffna and Vanni area why did Cholas moved their capital to Polonnaruwa? A much closer location to the Sinhalese Ruhuna rather than the relative safety of their own kin in Jaffna?

2) Does the Pandya-Sinhala pact highlight the fact that Tamils lived in Jaffna as a separate political entity?
 
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I dunno you will reply to me but I felt I should make a comment on this.

Cholas did not invade Sri Lanka because of the prosecution of Tamils in the North of Lanka. If that's the case they should have invaded Jaffna altogether. But Cholas make no mention of Jaffna or it's people. Cholas invaded the capital Anuradhapura directly displacing the Sinhala king. The Chola invasion was a political move against the Sinhala king who had sided with the enemies of the Cholas.



Features | Online edition of Daily News - Lakehouse Newspapers

Now for your claims.

1) If Tamils were lived in North at that time, why not Cholas had ever acknowledged it? Cholas has never erected a stone inscriptions, constructed temples or any related buildings etc., in Jaffna.

If there was a substantial number of Tamils in Jaffna and Vanni area why did Cholas moved their capital to Polonnaruwa? A much closer location to the Sinhalese Ruhuna rather than the relative safety of their own kin in Jaffna?

2) Does the Pandya-Sinhala pact highlight the fact that Tamils lived in Jaffna as a separate political entity?

I never claimed they lived as a separate entity. I told they are living in co-existence with the Sinhalas in north , though they were in majority most of the time.

Yes it is also true, that Cholas wanted to punish Lankans for giving protection to the Pandya princes. But they want a more compelling reason (maybe domestic politics lies) to invade Lanka. Attack on Tamils would incite people's passion.
Let me remember you. The attack on Tamil Merchant ships by pirates, sheltered by the Javan Kingdoms , led to the invasion of Sri Vijaya by Rajendra.

Well, I am not sure of the stone insciptions nor I am aware of the temples built by them. I dont know why. Or the Sinhalas destroyed them later. I shall research it. I do not have a answer now.
 
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I never claimed they lived as a separate entity. I told they are living in co-existence with the Sinhalas in north , though they were in majority most of the time.

You claim that Tamils were the majority in Jaffna and Vanni during the 12-13th century has no basis. On the other hand even I don't doubt that Tamils lived among Sinhalese in North as well as in the South. But it is not correct to assume that Tamils were the majority. There are no records for this in Sri Lanka or in Tamilnadu. Cholas has never acknowledged the fact that there were Tamil majority area in Sri Lanka. And there was no reason for Cholas not to do so.

Yes it is also true, that Cholas wanted to punish Lankans for giving protection to the Pandya princes. But they want a more compelling reason (maybe domestic politics lies) to invade Lanka. Attack on Tamils would incite people's passion.
Let me remember you. The attack on Tamil Merchant ships by pirates, sheltered by the Javan Kingdoms , led to the invasion of Sri Vijaya by Rajendra.

The invasion of Java was not carried out on the basis that the Tamils were attacked. It was done on the commercial basis. Chola wanted their maritime routes secure.

Well, I am not sure of the stone insciptions nor I am aware of the temples built by them. I dont know why. Or the Sinhalas destroyed them later. I shall research it. I do not have a answer now.

The reason is that there was no Tamil majority area in Jaffna or Wanni at that time.

You don't need to worry about Sinhalese destroying the Tamil history. Rather you can investigate the Chola records in Tamil nadu. Cholas had keep records of them even care taking of Buddhist monasteries. They shouldn't have missed an important issues as such the Tamil majority province of Lanka.
 
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You claim that Tamils were the majority in Jaffna and Vanni during the 12-13th century has no basis. On the other hand even I don't doubt that Tamils lived among Sinhalese in North as well as in the South. But it is not correct to assume that Tamils were the majority. There are no records for this in Sri Lanka or in Tamilnadu. Cholas has never acknowledged the fact that there were Tamil majority area in Sri Lanka. And there was no reason for Cholas not to do so.



The invasion of Java was not carried out on the basis that the Tamils were attacked. It was done on the commercial basis. Chola wanted their maritime routes secure.



The reason is that there was no Tamil majority area in Jaffna or Wanni at that time.

You don't need to worry about Sinhalese destroying the Tamil history. Rather you can investigate the Chola records in Tamil nadu. Cholas had keep records of them even care taking of Buddhist monasteries. They shouldn't have missed an important issues as such the Tamil majority province of Lanka.

Look there is no need to record things which were simple knowledge that time. Its like telling in inscriptions tamils are majority in Tamil Nadu. If Tamils were already in majority in the North, they didnt feel the need for a insciption. It was routine. Till this day, they are in majority. The Indian tamils brought were made to work in plantations in the mountain regions. Not in the North as fishermens.
 
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Look there is no need to record things which were simple knowledge that time. Its like telling in inscriptions tamils are majority in Tamil Nadu. If Tamils were already in majority in the North, they didnt feel the need for a insciption. It was routine. Till this day, they are in majority. The Indian tamils brought were made to work in plantations in the mountain regions. Not in the North as fishermens.

Yes there is no need to mention that Tamils were majority. But there should have been a mentioning about the leader of that Tamil clan. How did they help the Cholas etc., However if Cholas invaded Sri Lanka to help the Tamils, that should've been recorded by the Cholas.

The hollow claim of the modern day Sri Lankan Tamils are refuted by the Cholas themselves.
 
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Yes there is no need to mention that Tamils were majority. But there should have been a mentioning about the leader of that Tamil clan. How did they help the Cholas etc., However if Cholas invaded Sri Lanka to help the Tamils, that should've been recorded by the Cholas.

The hollow claim of the modern day Sri Lankan Tamils are refuted by the Cholas themselves.

if you ask a lame Hindian duck, you will not get answers ...just a clue - Sinhala / Tamil identities as distinct races did not prevail in ancient Sri Lanka, prior to Sinhalisation, i.e Theravada Buddhism and Prakrit gradually spread to the population over a period of centuries, a process similar to the Sanskritisation -Aryanisation in India. .

https://buddhistartnews.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/tissamaharama-tamil-brahmi-inscription-‘missing’/
 
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if you ask a lame Hindian duck, you will not get answers ...just a clue - Sinhala / Tamil identities as distinct races did not prevail in ancient Sri Lanka, prior to Sinhalisation, i.e Theravada Buddhism and Prakrit gradually spread to the population over a period of centuries, a process similar to the Sanskritisation -Aryanisation in India. .

https://buddhistartnews.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/tissamaharama-tamil-brahmi-inscription-‘missing’/

That does not explain why Tamils lived in Jaffna for 2000 years without changing their identity. Please explain that?
 
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That does not explain why Tamils lived in Jaffna for 2000 years without changing their identity. Please explain that?

Sinhala flawed reasoning is to associate Eelam Tamil with Tamilnadu Tamils based on the common factor - Tamil. But they 2 distinctively different people, linguistically/culturallly. Eelam Tamil is different from Tamilnadu's Tamil ,

Apply the effect of Aryanisation in the sub-continent, how the original inhabitants were pushed or confined to Tamilnadu, to Sri Lanka.
Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar states that ancient people in all of India, (North India and South India) were all Tamil speaking Dravidians before the advent of Aryans. Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar writes as follows:

Nonetheless, it is a fact that the term Dravidians and Nagas are merely two different names for the same people. Dravidians as Nagas occupied not merely South India but that they occupied the whole of India- South as well as North. Nonetheless, these are historical truths.

Hindu Caste Racism: Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar states that ancient people in all of India, (North India and South India) were all Tamil speaking Dravidians
 
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Sinhala flawed reasoning is to associate Eelam Tamil with Tamilnadu Tamils based on the common factor - Tamil. But they 2 distinctively different people, linguistically/culturallly. Eelam Tamil is different from Tamilnadu's Tamil ,

If Sinhalese were once Tamils and then became an unique ethnicity, why Eelam Tamils continue the traditions and culture of Tamilnadu Tamils? What are the differences between Eelam Tamils and Tamilnadu Tamils?
 
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If Sinhalese were once Tamils and then became an unique ethnicity, why Eelam Tamils continue the traditions and culture of Tamilnadu Tamils? What are the differences between Eelam Tamils and Tamilnadu Tamils?

You don't need to go far, just the spoken language - Tamilnadu Tamil will never understand Eelam Tamil, as for others - Sinhalas are incapable of understanding cultural nuances. Go and study Tamil i.e Chera/Pandya influences in Sinhala culture before you question Eelam Tamil ..
 
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You don't need to go far, just the spoken language - Tamilnadu Tamil will never understand Eelam Tamil, as for others - Sinhalas are incapable of understanding cultural nuances. Go and study Tamil i.e Chera/Pandya influences in Sinhala culture before you question Eelam Tamil ..

:woot::woot::woot::woot::woot::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

Nailed it.
 
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WHAT DOES IT MEAN, TO LOVE SRI LANKA?

We Sri Lankans have a complex relationship with Sri Lanka. Like all humans, we hate certain things. The dust. The public transport. The electricity bill. The mid-year heat and the politicians with their promises and that random uncle who always gets drunk at the wedding.

But we love our country. If the US takes a go at us, we curse Obama and his warmongering. India rumbles a few kilometres away and ye average citizen suddenly turns into the political equivalent of a street fighter. And come cricket season, we ready the pitchforks. Eketh wath loku na.

flag.jpg


But for some reason, we don’t seem to love the people that actually make up our country. First there was – well, quite a big war. Then there were little battles that made people wonder if another war was about to happen. Some time ago, a Facebook group posted a photo of a Sri Lankan girl wearing the Sri Lankan flag as a decoration and a couple of hundred people promptly jumped in to call her all manner of filth and a disgrace to the country.

More recently, Maithripala Sirisena announced that you could sing the Sri Lankan National Anthem in Tamil and the entirety of Sri Lanka lost its mind. Completely ignoring the fact that the original constitution of Sri Lanka lists this as perfectly legal, many said that the country was splitting again.*

to-love-the-country-e1426872727239.jpg


Correction: the entirety of Sri Lanka lost their minds on Facebook. The rest of Sri Lanka presumably read the morning paper and got down to work, having more important things to do than argue with university students. I would also like to point out the irony of a dude called Dimitri (Russian name) Stephen (Greek name) Samarakoon (Sri Lankan name) talk of selling out to foreigners.

But the fact that these arguments about the national anthem are fundamentally wrong. A well-read friend of mine, Nisansa Dilushan de Silva, made this excellent rebuttal in which he pointed out that the Tamil version of the national anthem has been around since 1951 (longer than most of the people talking about this problem) and that it was only banned by Mahinda Rajapakse in 2010. And no, Sri Lanka is not the only country with a multi lingual national anthem. Switzerland’s anthem is sung in no less than four languages.

Sri Lanka did not go to war over a national anthem. It went to war over the culmination of mass racial prejudice. In the 1960’s a socialist named Sirimavo Bandaranaike took over the country, nationalized the most important parts of the economy and education and the media, and then ordered the country to use Sinhala. Only Sinhala. Look up the 1956 Official Language Act. Subsequent “Sinhala-only” policies alienated the Tamil and Sinhala populations until someone came up with a group called the LTTE and decided to ambush 13 Sri Lankan Army soldiers.

Why did this come to pass? Because S.W.R.D Bandaranaike, educated at a British University, a qualified barrister in England, decided to be a champion of one language and one religion. Because the Tamils and the Christians gave the Sinhala Buddhists hell back when the English ruled the country.

Because a bunch of dead people did a bunch of shit many, many years ago.

Many of are done – and all of these arguments made – because people actually love their country. They actually care enough to call out Maithri and protest (verbally, if not violently). They care enough that they will get upset over a flag being worn inappropriately. They care enough to fight. They care enough to die.

The problem is that we love our country, but not the people in it. The problem is that what we say love – our country – is actually smaller than the real Sri Lanka.


SRI LANKA IS

island.jpg


Sri Lanka is not a flag. It is not a religion, it is not a language, it is not a song. It is not Colombo. It is not Jaffna. It is not Hambantota.

It is an island 220 kilometres wide and 440 kilometres long. It is 21 point something million human beings of various ethnicities, ages, skin colors, social background, economic background, religions. It is multicultural. It is a whole heaving mass of humanity with dreams, nightmares, aspirations, ambitions, opinions.

It is beautiful.

Prabhakaran’s Sri Lanka was much smaller. It was some of the North and a strip of the East. The people of Prabhakaran’s Sri Lanka did double duty as soldiers, machines that bred more soldiers and human shields.

That wasn’t the real Sri Lanka.

Our Sri Lanka is larger, but not much. To some people Sri Lanka is Colombo. To many people Sri Lanka is still what we had back in 2005. The South. The Middle. The West. Our people are Buddhist, Sinhala-speaking, with a smattering of Christians and Muslims. Our Sri Lanka is still the Sri Lanka that says “the North and the East” in a disparaging way.

The real Sri Lanka is still larger. We think we’ve unlocked it. We say we’ve won it. We haven’t won anything until we accept all of Sri Lanka. All the people. All the religions, all the differences, all the similarities. All their rights. To love Sri Lanka means to love all of it.

love_country.jpg


It’s not enough to go to Jaffna in our ethnically segregated little bus trips and stay in our ethnically segregated hotels and come back and say that yes, Point Pedro was nice, did you see those bunkers? It’s not enough to protest on Facebook. What we need to do is stop thinking of the north as the “North” and instead think of the north of Sri Lanka. Our our country. Those people as our people. The Tamil National Anthem as the same thing as the National Anthem.

I’ve been to Jaffna a few times. Nobody wants another war. The crippled guy who runs a red three wheeler near Hotel Tilko wants to earn enough for his family to eat the next day. The man running the hotel wants happy customers and big profits. The man selling dry fish wants to sell his dry fish. The student running to university wants a job. They’re not so different. The language doesn’t change the meaning of life.

We say we are multi-cultural. We are not. We are pockets of culture isolated from each other. We’re not the boiling pot we claim to be. We’re a whole lot of separate ingredients that haven’t mixed yet. We value pieces of cloth, rocks, snatches of music and old monuments more than human lives. And that seems to be the status quo not just for Sri Lankans, but for all humans everywhere. Since the dawn of history, people have fought over invisible gods, funny buildings and pieces of colored cloth. We’re roughly on point.

It is changing, thankfully. Many people who have actually known the war like the fact that the government reminded people of a way of paying homage that we’d all forgotten. Many people don’t mind the fact that someone wears a flag – how could you, after going to one cricket match?

Many remember that we, Sinhalese, too, have done more terrible things to each other, and that the song sung in Tamil still sings to the same country as that sung in Sinhalese. It’s not their song. It’s our song, too. It says so right there in the Constitution.




 
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