Anandasangaree Dreams of Another
Tamil Nadu
Dilrook Kannangara
Anandasanagree goes with his stubborn assertions about federalism;
he claims he loves Sri Lanka and is a patriot. There is no Sinhala patriotism
or Tamil patriotism; there can only be Sri Lankan patriotism. He is
the leader of the Tamil (emphasised) United Liberation Front and he
is talking about federalism based on racial lines! This is nothing but
a sectarian attempt to disintegrate the nation and it people. Imagine
the Indian model in Sri Lanka; it will create a Tamil Naadu here!! Does
the majority Lankans know this? I do not think so.
Have you ever wondered why?
There is a significant political party by the name of-
Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), but is there a Sinhala United
Liberation Front (SULF);
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), but is there a Sri Lanka Sinhala Congress
(SLSC);
Tamil National Alliance (TNA), but is there a Sinhala National Alliance
(SNC);
Thamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikkal (TMVP), but is there a Sinhala-nation
Peoples’ Revolutionary Lions (SPRL);
Illankai Thamil Arsu Kattchi (ITAK), but no SriLanka Sinhala State Party
(SSSP)?
All these political parties are supporting racial-federalism, true to
their sectarian names. All these political parties at some point clearly,
illegally and violently manifested their separatist aspirations as well.
However there are other parties like the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC)
– dominated by upcountry Tamils, Upcountry Peoples’ Front
(UPF) – dominated by upcountry Tamils, Jatika Hela Urumaya (JHU)
– dominated by Sinhalese and National Unity Alliance (NUA) –
dominated by Muslims and these parties do not actively work for sectarianism
and racial-federalism. Even their names are not based on racial terminology,
but rather based on national concepts. If anyone can see this difference,
which is not rocket science, he or she can simply understand that the
demand for racial-federalism is stemming from race-centred politicians
including Anandasangaree.
Just because unaccomplished Anandasangaree was not invited to the grand
gala party thrown by accomplished Parabakaran in 2002, he doesn’t
become a moderate. He won the UN peace prize by criticising the CFA
as all the political parties that were not invited to sign MoUs with
the LTTE also did. All the following parties singed MoUs with the LTTE
in 2002 accepting it as the sole representative of Tamils: UNP,TNA,SLMC,CWC,UPF,WPF
and the then government! Poor TULF leader was not invited and fell from
the Tamil Leader in parliament to nobody in no time. It should also
be remembered that he never agreed with Lakshman Kadirgaman – the
greatest ever Tamil politician of Sri Lanka whose name was even proposed
to the post of PM in 2004.
This country has seen many such politicians who amassed goodwill while
hiding their true colours only to unleash their stock most opportunistically.
Anandasangaree has a lot to learn from Mangala, SB and Ronnie. Else
he can remain a political nobody trying to bypass in vain, elections,
the legislature and the peoples’ mandate. He should never be allowed
to bypass the elected members and their agenda.
Unitary to United – a Shrewd Attempt to make the Majority a
Minority
The 24 year old armed struggle is nearing it’s bloody end. Separatists
have used the terror created by the LTTE to demand various benefits
for them and for their ideologies. They succeeded in getting some of
those demands. However, they are unable to make use of terror when their
terror gods are no more. Therefore, they are making some frantic attempts
to get whatever they can before the last tiger dies.
One such attempt is changing the national identity from unitary to united.
The absurdity of this attempt should be visible to anyone with an appreciation
for geography. What is the rationale to divide a land mass the size
of Tasmania (a state by itself) into governing units like the West bank,
Gaza Strip, etc.?
In that case there will surely be a Sinhala United Liberation Front
(SULF), a Sri Lanka Sinhala Congress (SLSC), a Sinhala National Alliance
(SNC), Sinhala-nation Peoples’ Revolutionary Lions (SPRL) and a
SriLanka Sinhala State Party (SSSP) in the ‘states’ dominated
by Tamils and Muslims. What’s more there will even be Liberation
Lions of Sinhala Lanka (LLSL)! Is this what we want?
Does Anandasangaree want the sixty-year-old train from India to arrive
at the Vavuniya train station packed with corpses (even the drivers
were slaughtered in the end)? In that case he will have to drive it
as he calls himself a ‘moderate’!!
Racial Federalism
The type of ‘united’ nation proposed is a racial set-up and
transcends provincial and district boundaries. North and the East is
demanded to be demarcated on ethnic Tamil aspirations; two units of
the East would be carved out for Muslims and the upcountry would be
separated out for the Tamils of Indian origin. This is a unique blend
of racism and federalism. If racism and federalism can sit together,
that is sufficient not to have a federalist set-up!
In the case of racial federalism, the Sinhalese living in these four
units become a minority! This is not at all acceptable for the national
majority. They stand to lose in order to make room for racial federalism.
What a big joke? If the country had to face so many complications with
just two main minorities, imagine the number of complexities ten such
minority groups would bring.
The danger of racial federalism is (as pointed out by many thinkers)
that it fuels racial violence. Suppose the rights of the ethnic Tamils
living in one Muslim dominated area is violated, this will be mirrored
in Tamil dominated areas against its Muslims and vice versa. In a matter
of few days the whole country will be in fire. Simple things like water
can spark enormous bloodshed throughout the country.
Another danger is ethnic isolation. If each ethnic group is going to
be pushed into their little enclaves, these will be breeding grounds
of further racism. Iraq is a classic example of such isolation.
Racial federalism is unique to this country as nowhere in the world
provincial boundaries have been redrawn along racial lines to set-up
a federal system!
Real issues that must be encased into a political solution
It is a fact that ethnic cleansing has taken place in the North and
the East. It was mainly the Sinhalese and Muslims who suffered due to
this barbarism. In this context, the North is 100% occupied by Tamils
whereas there is no district Muslims or Sinhalese dominate to such extent.
A united country will cement what the LTTE did by not allowing any other
races (other than Tamil) to live and work in the North. Under no circumstances
such barbarianism should be reinforced.
Owing to not adjusting parliamentary seat allocations and university
allocations based on latest population data, a disproportionately huge
advantage has accrued to the Tamils at the expense of the other races.
This must be corrected as soon as practical. It should be noted that
it was Anandasangaree who intervened in blocking these vital corrections
in 2002 stating that the census data were wrong! Also disproportionately
smaller tax revenue is collected from the North and the East; this also
needs to be adjusted soon. Funding allocations to each province and
district should reflect it’s contribution to the total tax revenue.
Cross subsidising Tamil majority areas by Sinhala/Muslim majority areas
(and vice versa) is definitely not acceptable. These disparities must
be straitened before any devolution attempt is made.
An unfair disproportionate access to resources also exists across the
races. While Tamils have access to all economic resources in the island,
Muslims have lesser access. The worst affected are the Sinhalese. This
must be redressed immediately. All natural resources in the North and
the East should be made accessible to everyone irrespective of race.
A large number of individuals stay in the country illegally; mainly
from south India. They must be repatriated soon and should not be allowed
to work in this country. There is no doubt that separatists heavily
depend on them to bolster their numbers.
This country has one state language as voted by the people. It must
remain so unless the people decide otherwise. Separate states that may
be created by a federal structure will definitely undermine this. The
national government has an additional burden to protect and promote
Sinhala as it is only used in this island nation. No attempts to compromise
its position should be allowed.
Separate regions in a federalist set-up will tie up with different countries.
Tamil dominated regions will align with India whereas Muslim ones will
tie-up with Pakistan. This can create unwarranted trouble in this island.
Managing a national foreign policy would be impossible.
It is a matter of few years before the next step of autonomy is made
by the separatists. Independent nations would be the next step for them
and it will be easy with less control exerted by the national government
and increased connections with other nations in the region. This is
the ridiculous disintegration of this island most separatists dream
of.
Unsustainability
A united country would widely disadvantage the majority which will in
turn help amass a political wave that will reverse such devolution.
Therefore, a united setting as opposed to a unitary setting is instable
and unsustainable. If a united nation doesn’t have any sizable
benefits for the majority over a unitary nation, there is no logic in
supporting such a move; it will anyway reverse.
Ethnic isolation verses ethnic integration
A federal set-up along ethnic lines will further isolate the races whereas
what we need is ethnic integration! However, innocently presented, ethnic
isolation is cruel and evil. The only ‘good’ it has is the
sustenance of race-centred political parties like the TULF so that losers
of general elections can make it to the Parliament.
Common sense (no Tamil Elamist got it) should dictate that an island
the size of Tasmania cannot feasibly be subdivided into autonomous or
self-governing units.
The Bandaranaike bullshit
There is no truth in allegations that Bandaranaike was at the centre
of today’s bloodshed. He made Sinhala Only because a staggering
majority voted for it at the elections and in parliament. In wide contrast
Hindi Only was never voted by the people of India and passed by a single
vote in parliament on 14 September 1949; if allegations against Banda
are true, India should have fifty Parabakarans. Almost all democratic
countries have only one (1) state language and so should it be in Sri
Lanka.
Again he is blamed for tearing his federal proposals under pressure.
Who authorised him to bring such proposals? No body. Therefore he has
no right to continue with them. However, his problem was not having
the courage to stand by the decisions; had he enforced Sinhala Only
as Hindi Only was enforced in India, there would never have been any
Tamil separatism. One language would have bound all Sri Lankans together
as in India, Australia, USA, China, Malaysia, etc.
In fact the demand for Tamil Elam (with the same name) was first made
by GG Ponnambalam in 1924 and foretold that there would be violence
otherwise.
Even he is not to be blamed for the bloodshed today which was caused
by the absence of a proper military strategy during the 1970s. Although
the army could muddle a revolution in 1971, it was still a ceremonial
army. They had zero experience, knowledge or skill in handling guerrilla
warfare. Worst of all, the 1970-77 government stubbornly disregarded
repeated warnings of impending danger telling that they have killed
enough in the South and would not do the same in the North; had they
properly dealt with the killer of Alfred Duriappa (mayor of Jaffna)
there would never have been a LTTE. Also there passed seven (7) long
years of inaction from the Wadukodai resolution to the commencement
of war. Had proper action taken, LTTE and the armed struggle would have
aborted then and there. How the LTTE collapsed when the Special Forces
took up guerrilla warfare is a case in point. Why wasn’t it done
35 years ago?
However, at least now the authorities should learn; there must be army
camps in the North and the East and paramilitants should roam the streets
long after this war is won. It is very easy for a band of bandits from
Tamil Nadu to land in the North and cause havoc.
Anandasangaree must appreciate that politicians the world over do what
their voters want and terrorists on the other hand, do what AK-47s want!
When the UNP accepts its blunders why can’t the TULF do likewise?
According to him the Royal Norwegian Government (there are many allegations
of terrorist links against them in Sri Lanka, Eritrea, Ethiopia, etc),
“Responding to a proposal by the leadership of the LTTE (that bloody
Interpol wanted terrorist), the parties agreed (without the knowledge
of their voters) to explore a solution founded on the principle of internal
self-determination (only the terrorist leader knows what this is as
there is no such model in the world) in areas of historical habitation
of the Tamil-speaking peoples (history of Sri Lanka goes beyond the
14th century and there are no historical scripts, etc. to justify that
there lived Tamil speaking people in any part of the country before
the 14th century on a continued basis) based on a federal structure
within a United Sri Lanka.”
First of all, it was a proposal by Parabakaran! Who cares about his
proposals? Of course the UNP did when the LTTE was powerful, but not
anymore. Why can’t the TULF follow suit? Because it can never win
a seat in parliament!
Fifty one countries, twenty two organisations and four and a half
billion dollars
So much to disintegrate the nation. It doesn’t make any financial
sense. Sri Lankan oil reserves in the so-called “areas of historical
habitation of the Tamil-speaking peoples” exceed 4.5 billion USD!
Sri Lankan Phosphate deposits in Seruwila in the so-called “areas
of historical habitation of the Tamil-speaking peoples” exceed
4.5 billion USD! Sri Lankan calcium carbonate deposits in the Jaffna
peninsula which is in the so-called “areas of historical habitation
of the Tamil-speaking peoples” exceed 4.5 billion USD! Sri Lankan
mineral sand deposits in Pulmodei which is in the so-called “areas
of historical habitation of the Tamil-speaking peoples” exceed
4.5 billion USD! The worth of the Trino, Point Padro and KKS harbours
in the so-called “areas of historical habitation of the Tamil-speaking
peoples” exceed 4.5 trillion USD!!
Therefore granting self-determination to part of Sri Lanka that will
disown assets worth trillions of dollars doesn’t make any financial,
economic or political sense.
He also claims that not granting such self-determination will result
in Sri Lanka losing its international honour and prestige, which according
to him “is more important than anything else”. Wrong; the
most important thing is territorial integrity and sovereignty. We have
mortgaged our international honour and prestige many a time to defend
our territorial integrity and sovereignty just like all the other countries
in the world.
The Tamil homeland
If Anandasangaree agrees to a Tamil homeland in this island, he is an
ideological twin of Parabakaran; both have close cousins in Iraq, East
Timor, Yugoslavia, Chechnya, etc. If the supporters of racial-federalism
have a hint of belief that there is a Tamil homeland in this island,
it is time they look at the real Tamil homeland across the Palk Strait.
All Tamil songs, movies, sangeetham, natyam, arangeethram, dramas, literature,
masterpieces and all other Tamil artefacts are made there. None are
made in this island. This is the reality today. No amount of ethnic
cleansing can chase away the brave Muslims and scary Sinhalese from
the East and no amount of artillery can scare-off the gallant Sri Lankan
army from the North. We are here to stay and fight till the last armed
Tamil liberator falls dead. And there should be no mercy for the coward
hiding behind the child soldier, the pregnant suicide killer and the
brain-raped wonder-bra wearing suicide killer-girl.
The Tamil struggle is nearing its bloody end as stated by many foreign
defence analysts; without the Tamil Homeland. At least now all moderate
and violent Tamil Elamists should stop their struggle and war and look
elsewhere for the Tamil Elam; ironically it does exist!
Should India or Malaysia be our role model?
These two countries have used opposite methods to ‘solve’
their ethnic issues. India used separation (Pakistan) and a federal
system to ‘solve’ its ethnic related issues. However, these
remain far from resolved. A persistent war with Pakistan and more than
25 separatist movements within India, plagues it. Although kept hidden
from the world, these internal conflicts (fought along ethnic lines)
have made their headlines the world over. Bihar, Kashmir, Mysoor, Assam
and many more states are fighting for separation from India for independence;
spates of bombings have rocked India signalling the gathering storm.
Today the Indian Central government begs at the feet of Tamil Nadu LTTE-worshiping
politicians just to stay in power. They are willing to forgive and forget
anything that makes the TNs happy; even the killing of their former
leader! They declare nuclear facilities as ‘no fly zones’
fearing the Nuxalites will come in Cessnas from Vanni and bomb them!
But they are spineless to ward-off the danger. If we follow India, Mr
Sangaree, this is where we will end-up!
On the other hand Malaysia also faced ethnic strife and they gave it
a different solution. Although administrative provinces exist, Malaysia
strengthened the centre as the all powerful governing body and powered
the nationalist cause and empowered the majority who were supportive
of a unitary Malaysia (although it is de jure federal, characteristically
regional legislatures are immensely eclipsed by the centre and have
no ethnicity based representation as each state has a unicameral state
legislative chamber whose members are elected from single-member constituencies).
This solved its conflicts for good; there are no further separatist
movements in Malaysia; no bombs go off; no leader is bombed. If anyone
wanted to create a Tamil homeland in Malaysia (they tried it), they
were rather redirected to where the Tamil homeland is, Tamil Nadu. Some
landed in Sri Lanka by mistake. Same with those struggled to carve out
a Chinese homeland there.
The solution should definitely not be based on racial-federalism.
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