A Sinhalese friend asked me whether I would like to have a separate Tamil State within Sri Lanka, I took a moment to answer, but honestly I said "Yes". He was angered, yet that is the truth. Not that I support LTTE or it's terrorism but I like the idea of having a separate state.
Then he asked me whether I would leave colombo if it's given. I was left with confusion. I was born in colombo and raised here. This is where I went to school and where I work. Leaving to a Tamil Eelam would mean leaving life as I know now. I said "No"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
35 comments:
So, you want a separate country, but you wouldn't live in it?
Not only North or East the whole country has to be given autonomy.
Several states. Then the present 226 guys in the lake will have to pack up and go elsewhere and new blood will come. If someone smart he or she will be able to buy the other states too.
Appreciate your honesty! I've been asking the same question myself. People of all races have been living and working in Colombo peacefully while the war has been raging in the North. Doesn't that mean that we don't need to be separated and that we can live peacefully together? If a separate state is declared, would the tamils who have settled down here be forced to go and live there? Sounds silly to me!
Ramesh,
I am impressed about how candid and honest you are.
What comes across is a confusion among both Tamils and Sinhalese as to what a separate state entails. The politicians are to blame.
Will I live here or live there is a slightly simplistic question.
I believe people in both communities should educate themselves about it.
I am busy now...so can't say much more. Maybe you and others should start reading up about it. The groundviews website has some articles you can start on.
The younger generation in Sri Lanka will probably have to take over from the mess the older generation has created....so start educating yourselves now so you are ready to take over.
http://mahasen.blogspot.com/2007/05/in-what-way-were-you-discriminated.html
Have a look at the end of this and see if what I wrote is a help. I don't know it may be a starting point?
This issue should not be governed purely by our emotions. This is why there was a war in the first place.
Some of you may have observed married couples who split up and destroy each other. There are also some couples who know how to put aside their emotions and work something out that helps them to get on with their lives and their children to live normal lives. It is a bit like this, except it involves lives of 1000s of individuals.
Sorry...for the simplistic analogy!!! :)
Also, I think the LTTE in the recent past was willng to accept a federal solution. It keeps changing. Rajapakse has also added some changes!
interesting post and photo...
in some senses i understand your dichotomy - to have an identity to a state yet to not give up what you have known all your life. I am sure many minorities crave this.
however i guess the optimist in me disagrees - we need to sort out the situation full stop. furthering the marriage analogy - i think we have had more good times than bad and besides when its been good it really is. besides what would the neighbours think if we got a divorce?
Ramesh, home is where the heart is. If you feel comfortable in Colombo I doubt you will fit in Jaffna.
I heard from a refugee who fled the 1983 riots how they felt. That guy spoke tamil, but he was from Nugegoda so he spoke with an unusual accent therefore he and others from the south were looked down upon. The guys who came from the hill country spoke with another accent and they were another set altogether. Right at the top of the heap were the true Jaffna crowd who considered themselves to be the only ones who could speak "pure" tamil.
In addition, the Tigers have some pretty dictatorial tendencies. They do not tolerate dissent or views other than their own.
A lot of people will find that living under the Tigers will be like living under the JVP.
The LTTE and the JVP are two sides of the same coin. Indeed I once heard that Rohana Wijeweera and Prabha both attended marxist seminars together (not sure if this is correct though - can anyone confirm?)
Most Tamils who want Eelam should ask themselves what living under the Tigers is like. Can someone with direct experience please contribute here? I have heard a few stories from some people who were teaching at Wanni Tech.
The Tigers are paranoid about "subversive" influences. These can range from porn (under the CFA if anyone took a computer to the North the entire hard disc would be searched - for possible porn accordng to the Tigers but god knows what elese they were looking for to English. AT the border checkpoints they insisted on all forms being filled in Tamil, no English was allowed.
I believe this culture flows direct from Prabha's own mindset. Like all dictators he is paranoid, anyone who looks a threat is eliminated.
maf:
sorry...forgot to extend my simplistic marriage analogy :)
yes, there is also the possibility of staying together.
Of course here we are looking at bloodshed.
But fundementally, it is important to be objective about things and allow the people in those areas in particular the freedom to decide.
If there is a seperate state, then people would probably be given the right to choose where they wish to live.
Remember there are sinhalese who have made their homes in the North/East.
I am emphasising if there is a seperate state. I myself don't know enough to think what would be the best approach. I want to see alternatives that have been proposed etc.
We need to read up and see what the politicians are on about.
I just don't feel there is enough objective discussion about it by either parties. Probably because of the war that is going on.
Perhaps I terminated my essay mid way. It's not that I don't want to live in Ealam, but I'm not prepared to leave every thing behind and go there right away.
Perhaps when things settle, I would certainly consider doing so.
{If there is a seperate state, then people would probably be given the right to choose where they wish to live.}
Oh.. then why the f**k are you fighting for a separate state??
If you wish to stay here, you are gonna need visa and work permits etc.
Ceteris paribus, any community would like a seperate state and other privileges for them. That's human nature. But the mere existence of such aspirations/demands doesn't justify them.
What's the point of giving Tamils a seperate state if they are going to live here anyway? If you really want a seperate state, go back to Tamil Nadu.
Just think...nations evolve...break up....unify....etc. I think we are lucky to live in this centuary where there are many countries that are mature democracies and
have succeeded in dealing with these changes. Even Sri Lanka consisted of separate kingdoms (equivalent of nations) before the British unified these regions and centralised rule. I also mentioned some examples such as Canada and Britain in Mahasen's blog.
Why can't Sri Lanka aspire to these same standards?
Politics in Sri Lanka has been based mainly on fear. Fear of eachother, fear of India....etc.
An example of unification of many sovereign states is the European union.
We need to create the conditions to have mature debate and analysis of the proposals, and unfortunately the current state of Sri Lanka makes this almost impossible.
I disagree to you comment about Sri Lanka consisting of separate kingdoms before the British L,
There were invaders from southern India time to time and they ruled parts of the country, but every time a southern leader united Sri Lanka as one country.
Yes, Mahasen, I agree. That comes to my argument that nations break up and reform, and we have survived so far.
Also if we wish to take some of these legends as fact (which is debatable), there was one northern leader who was supposed to have done the same and they say rule justly. Not that this is really important anyway. We are living in the 21st centuary.
We are now living in the modern age, where people are more enlightened. We are now exposed to a new concept called democracy, as opposed to a feudal society, based on a monarchy. So we owe it to ourselves to look at the facts as opposed to emotional rhetoric, to make these decisions. I don't know if this will happen in the near future, considering the current climate.
Jack Point,
Not sure about the seminars, but I think a number of JVP activists trained with the millitants in the north, so there has been a link.
Actually, it emphasises how this country has been divided more by caste than race, even before the British. A number of uppercaste Tamils and Sinhalese live in Colombo, intermingle freely and look down on the JVP and the LTTE. A number of Sri Lanka's sinhalese leaders have Tamil ancestery. The JVP and the LTTE are a symptom of the inequity caused by these class and caste divisions.
Leaders who are able to unify the classes are required. ie provide a safety net and a helping hand to the poor and disadvantaged, while being able to manage a stable economy with opportunities for those in the business community. Probably someone like Tony Blair or some of the Australian Labour politicians who have strong support from the trade unions, but have also carried out significant, though not radical, economic reforms.
L, are you seriously suggesting that Quebec and Scotland nationalism is comparable to the LTTE?
Because a point that the Eelam romantics conveniently forget - your future state will be run by a bunch of thugs who have killed off all credible opposition.
I would vote for a separate state in a referendum if it will make the fighting stop and the LTTE go away.
Sadly, I am now convinced that the LTTE will invent more reasons to fight on till they destroy everything. Those fictitious reasons will include perceived injustices in resource distribution, invented incursions by the "Sinhala" army into their territory and numerous other causes for grievance. Those will be seized upon by their propaganda machine as reasons to resume fighting at a time of their choosing.
Let's have another shot at your analogy, shall we?
Sri Lankan Tamil aspirations forced to dance in lockstep with the LTTE (as they are now) is like the wonderful prospective wife and the mother-in-law from hell.
Separate the two or no relationship will survive. Oh. and did I mention that the mother in law is rather trigger happy?
Yeah. Good luck with that.
when i read ramesh's post i kinda put myself in the same position becuase i am exactly like him...i was born in jaffna but after one year of my birth I am living in colombo and the last time i saw jaffna was when I was leaving colombo and my parents wanted me to see my birthplace..but to be honest with you colombo felt more like a birthplace than jaffna..for some reason i felt alienated in jaffna even though it was my birthplace..ive lived in colombo for 15 years and I never felt discriminated ..maybe my parents were but I never felt it..but separate state? i still havent grasped the concept of it..
Anon
I think you are confusing the LTTE and Tamil nationalism and the demand for a separate state?
Also again lets look at the facts without getting carried away with our emotions:
There have been bloody battles between the Scots and the English for centuries.
I think Quebec also had some sort of separatist movement which advocated violence (please correct me if I wrong).
What I am trying to emphasise is that these nations have moved forward and progressed towards making civilised compromises.
Hope Im making myself clear.
Also Anon, I hope you read my comments carefully. For instance I said that I myself don't know if there should be a separate state,mainly because I havn't had a chance to explore the various propositions.
I should add, regardless of my personal belief, I respect the right of the peoples of that area to self determination according the the The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Adopted by the UN General Assembly.
Please see my comment on Mahasen's blog on this:
http://mahasen.blogspot.com/2007/05/in-what-way-were-you-discriminated.html
Anon
"Let's have another shot at your analogy, shall we?"
Groaaan....Im not going to be able to live that one down am I! :)
Anon above,
A question:
Why do you think after acquiring a separate state the LTTE would want to keep fighting?
I am genuinely interested in knowing the reasoning behind this.
Self determination is a tricky issue. If the sole aspiration of the Tamils is to kill off all the non-Tamils and make North and the East a unified mono-ethnic totalitarian nation-state, I don't think that sort of "self determination" is allowable. Tamils in North and East are not a nation-state by any definition. They don't have the right for self-determination, especially when it comes at the cost of the rights of Sinhalese and other non-Tamils to live there.
To add to that, how ungrateful of these Colombo Tamils to live among the Sinhalese, and yet support a racist Tamil only state in the North. But do they want to go and live there? Noooo.. They expect to keep the same privileges they have in the South, yet have their own little Tamil Eelam up in the North. This is in addition their very own Tamil Nadu just across the straits in India.
The worst thing is that they don't realise how the Sinhalese would react if a seperate state is created for Tamils. Do you think they'd leave a single Tamil alive in the South when the Tamils have killed all the Sinhalese in the North? Think..
L,
"A number of uppercaste Tamils and Sinhalese live in Colombo, intermingle freely and look down on the JVP and the LTTE. "
to be very honest you would probably count me as one of those. The others we sneering look don upon as "yakko's"
The assorted politicians are generally referred to by my particular clique as monkeys, baboons, gorilla's etc..
L, I am confusing nothing. The LTTE calls itself the sole representative of the Tamil people. The LTTE demands a separate state.
Alternative voices of Tamil nationalism are called quislings. This is assuming the LTTE lets them live, which is rare enough.
Whoever is left alive blatantly and openly endorses the murder and mayhem carried out by the LTTE. Perhaps they have no choice in the matter. The threat of death is a powerful coercion.
Now let's look at the facts away from your self imposed blinkers.
Armed resistance to unification in Scotland was crushed more than once by the English. Please read carefully about the Battle of Culloden before you make more ill advised historical analogies, thanks.
Should the Scots decide to devolve today, there is no question that coercion or violence will play a part in the decision. This is something that cannot be said of the citizens in LTTE controlled areas now or at any point in the foreseeable future.
The last person to disobey an LTTE edict to boycott elections had his limbs chopped off. Civilized compromise? Not possible with the LTTE in power.
That is my completely unemotional point to you. Do you still deny it?
anonymous at 6:47 AM, that is bullshit. I hope people will be mature enough to not hold those like ramesh accountable for their choice in where to live. He has a right to live where he wants.
I think he deserves some mockery for sitting so firmly on the fence but that is a different matter.
l, if I pointed a gun at you and took your money one day, why should I stop tomorrow? especially if I can insist that you discriminated against me and I am somehow "entitled" to your money?
To be clear, I have complete sympathy for Tamil nationalism and the fulfillment of their aspirations.
However, every single day that they do not denounce the LTTE erodes any chance they have of separating their own very legitimate grievances against the state from terrorism.
Anon, could you look at the first comment I made and then you will know what Im on about.
If its not clear then let me know.
I think the issue related to the LTTE should be treated separately.
This is more than just about the LTTE.
I havn't said anything about whether I think there should be a separate state.
I am just saying the level and depth of the debate should rise above emotional rhetoric.
I am also saying that we should all, both Tamils and Sinhalese educate ourselves about the facts and propositions related to forming a separate state, made by experts in the field.
L, if we only had the luxury of ignoring the heart attack that is the ltte and concentrating on the larger picture and the other minor (in immediacy, not in magnitude) problems.
we do not.
regardless of your utopian view of how things should be solved, the ltte is part and parcel of "the larger issue" that you wish us to focus upon.
As I have repeatedly pointed out in this very comment thread, the ltte have become so by their extermination of competing voices, their ability to control the populace of areas that they control and their ability to manipulate the media to further their cause. It is impossible to separate the ltte from the cause that they claim to represent.
so how do you, in your wisdom, suggest that we deal with the ltte?
It is often said that the ltte will just fade away if everything else (upto and including a separate state) is provided for Sri Lankan Tamils in the north. I disagree. I see no reason why the LTTE should stop fighting.
Anon,
I understand what you are getting at and the immediate concerns about the LTTE.
I will admit I cannot offer pearls of wisdom on that front.
I am also not sure if we can act as prophets and predict if the LTTE is going to stop fighting or not. It will also depend on the state of governance in Sri Lanka. Cannot predict that either.
I am thinking, even without having a separate state there is bloodshed. So shouldn't people keep exploring alternatives? Exploring the alternatives objectively does not mean that there is going to be a separate state by default.
Apart from the LTTE, the violence in this country has been influenced by rhetoric. In fact the LTTE itself resorts to quite a bit of this.
I feel we need to try and shift away from this and try and inform ourself, to ensure we don't get manipulated by it.
Anon at 7.10 AM - "I hope people will be mature enough to not hold those like ramesh accountable for their choice in where to live. He has a right to live where he wants."
So he has a right to live among the Sinhalese in Colombo and expect equal rights, yet he also has the right to have a Tamil only monoethnic state in the North and East where non-Tamils have no rights because they've all been killed. Yeah... okay.
anonymous at 6:40 PM: He has a right to live where he wants and have equal rights and opportunity. The possibility that he is a Tamil is incidental to that right as is the ethnic composition of this hypothetical state in the north.
Do you suppose the LTTE will be kind and gentle to their own ethnicity? Haven't seen much evidence of that so far.
By the way, I am not arguing one way or another for a separate state. That isn't for me to decide. I personally only object to the LTTE being the dominant faction and "caretaker" of that area.
I think I should add up why I feel the need of a separate state. I shall try to be as honest as I could to my heart.
The facts that I’m accepted in the Sinhalese society and being treated well does not change the fact that I am Tamil and most around me are Sinhalese - I’m being constantly being reminded of that fact through media and other sources. My aspiration for a separate state is solely based on the dream of having things other way around. I admit it is a rather selfish aspiration, especially when I’m not willing to leave behind Colombo.
On the issue of LTTE, they represent neither my will nor of any Tamil I know. They have been assassinating all other Tamil leaders and are responsible for any discrimination that a Tamil face today. They are the reason that we today do not have a leader to represent us. I totally agree with the comment that they would never stop terrorism even after wining a Tamil Eaalam. Any sane person living in Sri Lanka would understand that as a fact judging by their activities. I’m solely in the stance that the LTTE needs to be eliminated before we arrive at a negotiated settlement.
While people are on about "eliminating" each other....I thought I would just voice a thought:
I wonder who will be the last person left on the Island?
Anonymous at 1.10AM:
Anyone who lives in Colombo and supports a seperate state deserves no more rights than what would be given to Sinhalese in that seperate state, ie: none.
It doesn't matter if LTTE is kind to their ethnicity or not. Are the JHU/JVP kind to Sinhalese who work for NGOs and left parties?
Ramesh, if you want it the other way around, go back to Tamil Nadu.
L, if one Sinhalese dies for each Tamil/Muslim killed, there would be 11 million Sinhalese left in the country when all the minorities are gone.
Agreed with Anon at 6.56 PM. If one is living in Colombo and supports a separate state is insincere to the legitimate government.
And yes, eliminating terrorists is an absolute necessity.
Looking at Jack Point's comment, I think most politicians anywhere in the world can be called gorillas or monkeys. Of course gorillas are rather nice animals so it may be a compliment. I think human genes are supposed to be closest to the chimp and sometimes I am not surprised by that.
joinin into the debate a tad late and so much has been exchanged. just to throw in my perspective- we forget that the whole concept of a nation/state/nation-state is an "imagined" concept. it is what you can call an "imagined community". who "imagines" them up? more often than not, self-proclaimed leaders. every new leader "imagines" up what they want their domain to be. Hitler for example "imagined" up a Nazi Germany, Washington "imagined" up a United States of America- it's all man-made so why do we act and talk as though these borders are god-given? it isn't even nature-given! long long ago the world map as we know it now never existed- it was one whole mass of land! it's inevitable, every day the world changes - India today was not India a hundred years ago. Just cos there are different people, minorities and majorities does it mean we segregate eachother on those counts? i do not justify the fight for an eelam - it is not a fight for a state for tamil people to live free and true to their identities, it is a fight for political authority and power. the war as i see it now is between political groups rather than between ethnic groups. but i think there is a conflict in mindsets-clerly evident in all the comments. can this conflict be settled by a war or politics - no, i do not think so. it's through discussions like this and simple things like embracing eachtohers differences that we can do it. sounds utopian and Romantic i know - but not impossible. also when some tell that the Tamils here that they have Tamil Nadu to go to...they are forgetting that the tamils in sri lanka are Sri Lankan Tamils and they have their own set of unique traditions, values and culture. e.g. do u see the South Indian tamil celebrating the Tamil New Year on the 13/14th period?! i think the problem with most of us Sinhalese is that we have given other minorities an accomadating position...they have as much right to be here as anyone else. we should stop trying to trace back who was here first...let's face it the human race is as mixed and intermingled as it can get. Look at Malaysia for example- a small coutnry that has so many nationalities but they have recognised that diversity as their national identity and if u look at something as simple as their food you see the fusion and the recognition of that fusion as Malaysian. i think this kind of dialogue is what we need - not between politicians but between people. but for the talks to amount to anything we've got to have open minds.
Post a Comment