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Egalitarianism in Sri
Lanka
Ranjan Ramasamy
Statistics
65,525 sq km
Population ~20 million
Sinhala, Tamil & English spoken
Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam
Executive President & Parliament
Roman-Dutch & English law: Islamic, Kandyan,
tessavalamai laws
Tea, rubber and coconut exports
Apparel and light manufacturing industries
Middle East labour
Hydropower fully resourced ~ 40% of electricity
~60% of energy from fuelwood.
LEGENDARY HISTORY
HISTORY
Early Kingdoms
The 5th king in Wijayas line [ 400 BC]established the capital of the Sinhala kingdom
at Anuradhapura in the North-Central dry zone.
The Sinhala king in 300 BC converted to Buddhism which was spread by Emperor
Asoka of India.
In 237 BC, the Wijaya dynasty was replaced by Tamil chieftains and the Chola kings.
Notably King Elala ruled for 44 years in Anuradhapura with legendary justice. The
ageing king was overthrown by Dutugemunu, a scion of the Wijayan line, who
emerged from his power base in the remote South of the island.
Subsequent history of the island until the arrival of the Portugese, is one of continuing
conflict between South Indian Tamil kings and the Sinhalese kings in the North-Central
dry zone. Some times Sinhala kings reigned supreme and exerted suzerainty over the
whole of the island while in other times Tamil kings [e.g. the Chola emperor Rajaraja
Chola I, 985-1014 AD] controlled it.
The descendants of Portugese and Dutch are termed Burghers and many
migrated to Australia in the 1960s and 1970s.
The British arrived to oust the Dutch during the European war and in
1796 all Dutch-held territories were ceded to the British. At this time the
Kings of Kandy were Tamils originating from the Nayakar court, who
has inherited the throne through marriage. By 1815 the British had
fought the Kandyan King and exiled him to Tamil Nadu. British reign
continued until 1948.
It is probably true to say that the last Tamil and Sinhala Kings, ruled as
absolute despots and were often cruel and whimsical. A network of local
feudal aristocracy existed in the Kandyan kingdom and they also
behaved with little understanding of citizens rights and concerns. This
helped the Colonists capture power.
The British [and the Dutch] used the existing feudal network to promote
their administration and also created a new breed of aristocrats that were
servile to them.
During the British reign, Tamil low-caste labour was brought from India
to work the tea plantations being established. Their descendants are
termed Indian Tamils as opposed to the native Jaffna Tamils.
Independence
Tamils and Sinhalese educated elite joined forces [with some
reservations being expressed by a few Tamils] to demand independence.
The distinctions between Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims, were kept in
cold-storage during the latter stages of European colonization. There was
no power struggle between them as democracy, and consequently,
political influence, was not an option open to the vast majority of the
people.
The United National Party [UNP] gained the mandate to govern in 1948.
One of the first acts of this government was to disenfranchise the nearly
1 million Indian Tamils living in tea estates. There has always been
considerable anger among Kandyan peasantry during the British rule at
the taking over of surplus land by British tea planters. However the
rights of these people who had brought much wealth to the country
through their labour were not considered.
Sinhala Only
In 1956 SWRD Bandaranaike, an Oxford educated lawyer born a Christian, fought the
general election on the theme of giving more power to the Sinhala peasantry and
Buddhism, and won a majority in Parliament. Sinhala was made the official language
of government, and Buddhism exalted. This led to emigration of the Burghers and
alienation of the Tamil-speaking minority.
Although Bandaranaike later tried to make amends in the interests of the country the
flames of racism had been fanned and there resulted a violent, partial ethnic cleansing
of Tamils from outside the Northern and Eastern provinces. Indian Tamils were also
attacked. Bandaranaike was assassinated by a Buddhist monk a few years later. He was
replaced by his widow Srimavo as head of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party [SLFP] and of
the Government.
The SLFP years saw the economy collapsing under socialist policies, gross reduction in
the use of English, an apartheid like segregation of Tamils and Sinhala children in
schools and fairly blatant discrimination against Tamils in all spheres, notably in Higher
Education and the Professions.
Peace ?
However this brutality and the high level of corruption in the then UNP
govt led to the SLFP-led Peoples Alliance of Chandrika Bandaranaike
coming into office in 1994. This govt pursued a so-called war-for-peace
strategy which led to serious economic collapse and unabated corruption.
In 1999 this daughter of SWRD Bandaranaike was re-elected President
for 6 years, in a sympathy vote, immediately after being blinded in one
eye by an LTTE suicide bomber.
But in 2002, the UNP under Ranil Wickremasinghe won the
Parliamentary election with a small majority in coalition with Tamil and
Muslim parties. The govt declared a ceasefire with the LTTE and
commenced direct negotiations with them to evolve a Federal structure.
The Norwegians and other foreign governments were invited to partake
and facilitate the peace process.
While the economy has partly revived and there is great expectation of
peace, the President has been biding her time to overthrow the govt using
the draconian powers vested with her in the 1977 UNP-devised
constitution. The JVP, which has become a legal party, is in tow with the
PA and maintains a strident anti-Tamil policy.
The Muslims who are presently about 7% of the population [the Indian
and Jaffna Tamils probably constitute about 18%, although accurate
numbers are obviously not possible] are demanding a level of autonomy
in areas of the East where they are a majority. Although Muslims are
distributed widely, they speak Tamil in the East and some speak Sinhala
in the Sinhalese areas.
Feudal factors
The constitution
Family hegamony in political parties e.g. the
Bandaranaikes in the PA
Disregard for human dignity and rights
Government attitude to citizens still
feudalistic/colonial
Corruption and usurpation of justice
Courts are not sufficiently responsive to
citizens
Education responsibility, independent
thinking
Egalitarian Factors
media, IT, and travelmodern
values
Free education
International [European] involvement
Resurgent use of English
Declining influence of conservative
aspects of Buddhism
Proliferation of non-governmental
organisations on human rights/freedoms
Mass
EU