KAMALIKA PIERIS

MADURU OYA FIASCO 1.

The Maduru Oya  settlement project   of September 1, 1983, led by Dimbulagala Hamuduruwo started well. Gamini Dissanayake, Minster of Mahaweli Development  had suggested it and the Mahaweli Ministry staff responded enthusiastically. It was a  settlement created at Ministry level.  It should  have been a great success. But it was not . The organizers  blundered,   the settlers  were   removed  and the project crushed.

The Dimbulagala led Maduru Oya settlement venture was completely crushed.   The settlers were   chased away   from the Right Bank.[1]   They were  then assembled in groups of 200  and 300 and resettled elsewhere. [2]   Some were sent to  Dollar farm where they were killed by the LTTE .

Most were re-settled along the Padaviya border . This would form  a line of Sinhala defense from Padaviya to Nedunkerni, complained the Tamil Separatists who were watching the activity.[3]  Jungle areas are being cleared close to Ariyakundam, Dollar Farm and other places. Four roads have been opened up from Padaviya to the Dollar Farm, Kumbakarnan Malai, Ariyakundam, Kokkuchchankulam, Kokkuttoduwai and Veddukkan malai.

 Jeeps and vehicles belonging to the Army, Agrarian Services, Illmenite Corporation, Tobacco Corporation and Petroleum Corporation are being used for this project. Some Sinhala families have already been installed near the Dollar Farm.

Neither the Government Agents of Vavuniya or Mullaitivu, nor AGAs nor Land Officers who are Tamils know anything about what is being planned. The area is well protected by the army and an air of secrecy surrounds the district, Tamil Separatists   said.

The Sinhala  settlers who had been encouraged to come to Maduru Oya were in great distress. They wrote to  Ven Seelalankara (Dimbulagala Hamuduruwo) in 1984 from Weli Oya saying we did not ask to come here. We came because  the army burnt our houses in Maduru Oya and then gave us permits for Padaviya. We are  now shivering in fear. Please get us land in Polonnaruwa or Badulla districts.    

The Maduru Oya fiasco should be treated at a   case study. The first thing it shows is that there are two forces at work, one  force for Sinhala colonization of the east  and  another force opposing Sinhala colonization. The opposition comes from the Tamil Separatist Movement . Tamil Separatists are fiercely against the  Sinhalisation of the north and east. They are   frantically    trying to  create the sovereign state of  Eelam  to  complete the  ‘settler colonialism’ of the British.

The Tamil Separatist Movement   greatly objected to  the Maduru Oya Sinhala settlement but the forces against them  were too strong.  The Accelerated Mahaweli scheme was a national  project,  which included many provinces  and the Sinhalese were determined to benefit  from it.

There was strong support  in the Mahaweli Authority for Sinhala settlements at Maduru Oya. Tamil officials   were secretly settling estate Tamils in the  Right Bank of Maduru Oya so that there would be no land left for the Sinhalese. The engineers and administrators at Mahaweli saw   this. They also saw that the  government  was deliberately   looking the other way. They were concerned.

Officials in the Mahaweli Ministry wanted the Minister to know that they will be 100%  supportive  behind the government in any stand against  Eelam.” Malinga Guneratne conveyed this to the DG Panditeratne and to Gamini Dissanayake, Minister for Mahaweli.

When the Maduru  Oya Sinhala settlement  project  started Mahaweli officers supported it wholeheartedly. The Mahaweli Authority had done everything openly, observers noted.  Its fleet of lorries transported the peasants from the Dimbulagala temple to the settlement site.  It ferried poles, tin sheets, cadjan and other materials needed to put up sheds to house the settlers.  It carried stocks of cement and provisions needed for the settlers.  The Mahaweli Authority’s tractors and bulldozers cleared the land needed to put up the sheds. [4]

Mahaweli officers  did so, because they   were supported by their superiors, from the Minister downwards.  Gamini Dissanayake was the Minister for Mahaweli. His role in   settling Sinhalese in Mahaweli deserves special  mention.

Gamini Dissanayake was supportive of Sinhala settlements in Maduru Oya. In 1982, Sampanthan had asked him to cancel the  newly planned Mahadivulwewa colonization scheme, in Trincomalee , since a Tamil village  was  already there. Gamini agreed, but  told his  secretary, to telephone Trincomalee Government Agent Bandaragoda  and tell him to expedite the settlement so that it would be completed by the time the cancellation order reached him. [5]

Gamini was an experienced politician  and  knew to issue strategic instructions.  When told of the illegal Tamil settlements on the  Right  Bank, he wanted an army post set up there. This was not done.

The initial suggestion of creating a Sinhala settlement at Maduru Oya Right Bank was  also made by Gamini Dissanayake. Gamini   had suggested to Malinga , why don’t you  settle  people in Maduru  Oya. He expected it to be done quietly under Ministry supervision. That also did not happen.

Malinga Gunaratne gave the task to Dimbulagala  Hamuduruwo. Dimbulagala did not know how to do things quietly .   He  put a newspaper advertisement, 3000 arrived at the temple. They   departed noisily to  Maduru Oya, attracting  maximum attention. They saw no need for secrecy.

There was an uproar  and  the  next day Gamini Dissanayake phoned Gunaratne and asked, ‘what is happening at Maduru Oya. I told you settle on the land, not to make a song and dance of it’.

The Maduru   Oya project  was  all over the Press and was the talk in the diplomatic circuit”, noted Rajan Hoole.[6]   Gamini stood solidly by the project. He  defended the project when JR started to inquire into it. When Ranil stated, correctly that there were 40,000 in the Dimbulagala led settlements, Gamini said that there were only 5000 of them. Gamini also joined in the press discussion, supporting the settlement.

Gamini wanted to have   two more  settlements at Yan Oya and Malwatu Oya, modeled on Maduru Oya settlement  and  had  persuaded several rich business men to   fund it.  I am not going to remove a single settler from Maduru Oya.  We are also going ahead with Yan Oya settlements  he said in October. 

N.G.P. Panditeratne, Director General of Mahaweli authority, when informed of the Maduru Oya plan  initially had doubts about it ever happening. Panditeratne had told Malinga You wait and see what happens”. But when the settlement actually took place, Panditeratne released Rs 2 lakhs from Mahaweli funds for the project.

Panditeratne was solidly  behind the project  once it had materialized. He defended it before JR and in  October 1983, summoned a high-level meeting  of senior public servants drawn from different disciplines  , who were against eelam. The attendees included WAS Pieris, then Director Census,  and Ananda Meegama  said Malinga Guneratne.

When he was ordered to  dismantle the  Maduru Oya settlement,  Panditeratne decided to keep 500 at Maduru Oya and  send the rest to Vavuniya, Mullaitivu and Trincomalee. Instead of retreating  , he was going deeper into Eelam. He sent officials to identity suitable tanks for settlement in these provinces.

Panditeratne also had an elaborate plan for the 500 left at Maduru Oya. Tamil Separatist Movement  was sure to  attack the settlement. It needed security, but no assistance could be expected from the army. The settlers would have to look after their own security. Panditeratne  asked Malinga  to get ex-service types to  join the settlement.

Panditeratne  next got the names of officers recently dismissed  from the Navy. Thirty turned up. They had elected as their leader    petty officer Abeygunasekera. They were told  that they would each have 3 acres of land in Maduru Oya outer periphery towards Batticaloa, and assistance would be given to build houses. They would be paid Rs1000 per month with food.  The money came from the 2 lakhs allocated to the project by Panditeratne.

This group was directed  to move to the Maduru Oya delta immediately. They must set up a security unit of about 30-50 ex service personnel.  Also set up road blocks and bring the whole delta under security. They must also establish a communication system among the 40,000 settlers and develop a sense of camaraderie among the settlers.

 The navy group  must give  the settlers basic training in use of weapons, unarmed combat, surveillance and defiance postures, they were to create combat preparedness in all the settlers including women and children. With the LTTE using superior fire power and deciding the place, time and date of attack, the settlers will have to be prepared all the time. The settlers were repeatedly told that terrorist gunmen would come for them some time and they should be prepared to repulse the attack. They were to fight only if they were attacked, not otherwise. Their training was to be used for defiance only. 

One person was to be selected from ten families each and given a thorough military training, arms would be provided. The authorities were reluctant to arm civilians and asked Abeygunasekera to select only those who could be given that responsibility, and indicate what arms would be needed.   

The navy group were bold and eager. They had already prepared a plan. They carried out regular reconnaissance missions deep into Batticaloa.   Abeygunasekera devised and innovated weapons and techniques suitable for the terrain of Maduru Oya.  Gamini Dissanayake supported this venture. He said that  that he had recruited dismissed naval officers to look after the security of the settlers at Maduru  Oya.  This  unit  was probably chased out by the army, when the army subsequently  took action against the settlement. ( continued)

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[1]  Malinga Gunaratne. For a sovereign state  (most of the text is  from this book)

[2] https://dokumen.pub/relocation-failures-in-sri-lanka-a-short-history-of-internal-displacement-and-resettlement-9781350222250-9781848130463.html

[3] https://sangam.org/articles/view2/633.html

[4] www.sangam.org/articles/view2/?uid=626

[5] https://sangam.org/pirapaharan-vol-1-chap-35-tamil-blood-boils/

[6]  https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-maduru-oya-fiasco/