DID COLONIALISM END WITH
INDEPENDENCE
IN SRI LANKA AND INDIA?
SRI LANKA
In 1815 when the British signed the kandyan convention we had communal
harmony following which the British in there desire to dominate and
control the country abrogated the agreement in 1818 and went about destroying
the Sri Lankan society. The mechanics used were the infamous divide
and rule, discriminatory education and employment policy. and of course
conversion and legalising and encouragement of alcoholism with a view
to destabilising the Buddhist society,desent was violently suppressed.
Every thing is history except of course the education of our elite
.The creation of a native elite in its own image was the most spectacular
achievement of British colonialism. The intention was clearly stated
by Lord Macaulay in far back as 1835. His minutes on education said
'we must at present do our best to form a class who may be the interpreters
between us and the millions we govern ; a class of persons ,Indian in
blood and colour but English in taste ,in opinions ,in morals and in
intellect.; This same principal was practiced in Sri Lanka. With a view
to the above Christian schools were established all over the country
.The sinhala Buddhist were confined to vernacular schools where they
could study upto the 7th standard in sinhala. English being the medium
of governance the sinhala Buddhist majority was essentially disenfranchised.
There was a slight relaxation of the rules in around the early 20th
century after olcott but the main policy continued. This policy created
a distinct group of elite who felt more British than native. The subservience
to the white races and complete subjugation and exploitation of the
natives was there natural ethos. The Tamil elite was no different there
complete dominance of the Tamil society in Jaffna and exploitation confirms
it. When the British left Sri Lanka the governance of the country was
handed over to this group who continued the process initiated by the
British, the schools unfortunately continue to produce this very westernised
group of elite who are culturally alien to there country of origin and
do not understand the needs and aspirations of the majority of people
in there country.(It is of course made worse by the international schools.)
The origins of the Tamil problem could be explained to bigotry of this
elitist group like Ponnambalam and .Chelvanayagam who could not work
with the Sinhalese for the betterment of there people.
JRJ epitomises this elitist group and the exploitation of the poor
have got worse since JRJ came to power in 1977. The man who thought
he could do any thing except change a man to a woman. Whose famous statements
like let the rogues come, what is the use of history you cant eat it
fame had a bigger agenda than most people accept. His regime continued
the colonialist's agenda of suppression and disenfranchisement of the
ordinary masses of the country and destruction of the Buddhist society.
He was ably led by his western backers who looked the other side when
70000 sinhala youth were killed but shouts so much about human rights
and minority rights now. When he appealed to President Reagen for help
when India was threatening to invade he was told ,America could not
help him It is in the nature of this elitist group and JRJ to succumb
to power not to what is right and wrong having got used to it during
colonial times . To sacrifice the ordinary masses came very naturally
to him. He had therefore no problem giving into the Indian demands of
changing the constitution , virtually subjugating the country to the
Indians through his illegal parliament which was elected by an illegal
referendum. Hence amendment 13 is illegal and affront to the democratic
rights of all SriLankans and virtually makes SriLanka a colony of India.
His servility was justified by his fellow elitist who called his invitation
to the Indians as an action of a vile fox .It was his colonial mentality
that created his disagreement with India in the first place that is
partially responsible for the Tamil problem. Unfortunately the ethos
of JRJ continues ably assisted by CBK and Ranil W. It is a disgrace
that RW the leader of the opposition runs to Europe or India for help
but completely ignores his constituents in Srilanka. The ruling elite
continue this process of exploitation of the ordinary masses in whose
name almost 20 Billion dollars have been borrowed most of he money have
been transferred out of the country by corruption and extravagant living.
Most of the assets of the country has been sold for peanuts and commissions
pocketed by the corrupt ruling class. The immorality of it is, that
even foreign currency earned by the poor who slave in the ME are also
wasted . The ruling class ably assisted by the IMF and the World Bank
continue there anti national economic policy.
Here are some of the anti national and absurd advices accepted by our
ruling class
1) Reduce subsidy on education of the poor but spend Thousand billion
rupees on the education abroad of the elite
2) Charge VAT on Rice which is locally produced but have no VAT on
imported wheat.
3) Reduce subsidy on health care but spend millions on healthcare abroad.
4) Allowed foreigners to buy houses and land with soft loans. Now stopped.
5) Leasing out large areas of the country to foreigners in elle welessa
area the same way the British took over the central hills from kandyans
and destroyed the environment The list never ends
Fortunately for Sri lankans the early nationalist established free
education and free health which helped Sri lankan society to achieve
a degree of social upliftment that has been gradually eroded post '
77.
INDIA
The ruling class of India are no different. They like the Sri Lankan
elite treat the ordinary masses with contempt. Whilst the ruling class
have recently had a cricket thamasha spending billions of dollars 150000
poor farmers committed suicide because they could not pay there debt.
The land of the poor are acquired and poor farmers are evicted for large
projects . 70% of Indians are Hindus. There sensibilities are ignored
and Seth samudura project continues. (The environmental damage of this
project would affect Sri Lankans).That is not to talk about the malnutrition,
high illiteracy, high infant mortality and poor health care for the
poor. These problems are ignored but lots of money a
is wasted on defence and large projects in there desire to imitate the
west. The latest of course is that they are recognised by the west to
be the regional power as a counter to the Chinese making Indian hegemony
more acceptable in subjugating the rest of the sub continent and the
interest of the colonialist safeguarded.
The long and short of it is that Lord Mcauley has achieved his purpose
.He laid the foundation for production of and elitist group that is
doing the donkey work for the colonialist and transferring resources
out of sri lanka/ india at the expense the poor masses . The colonialist
now do not have the burden of ruling these countries but have the economic
benefits of colonialism.
Western Neocolonialism
Having left behind an elitist group to do the donkey work for the colonialist
they continue to interfere in the governance of the previous non white
countries so that the status co continues. when they talk of the international
community they talk of the west the rest of the world is ignored. The
united nation and all international organisations are highjacked . The
ethos practiced by them can be summarised as unity for the white races
and disunity for the rest. They encourage division by the following
means
1) Allowing dissident groups to use there territory to collect money
and terrorise the poor in the previous colonies. ( LTTE was given a
free hand in the west to collect money to destabilise sri lanka) The
terrorists groups are now patronised and encouraged by local politicians.
The latest of course is to get coloured politicians to do the donkey
work. Remember how General Colin Powell was made to lie in the UN prior
to the Iraqi invasion.
2) Funding NGOs to safeguard there interests and make governance almost
impossible with allegations ranging from Human Rights to corruption.
Bench mark used varies from country to country. Countries like Saudi
Arabia, Egypt where human rights violations are a disgrace it is ignored.
Human rights violations of the USA in Iraq are ignored. No one single
word is heard from them in the Human Rights forums on the above issues
but. Poor Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe are in there firing line where the violations
are not half as bad as Iraq or Afghanistan. The Local NGOs are from
the elitist group who have the interest of the colonialist than the
natives.
3) Conversion to Christianity - The colonialist continues to use conversion
as a natural means of destabilising society and bringing in discord.
So that the country can be exploited. The famous saying of Jomo Kenyatta
the Kenyan politician comes to mind He said 'when the white man came
he had the bible we had the land Then he said let us close our eyes
and prey. When we opened our eyes we had the bible and he had the land'
4) Media - Infiltration of the local media to practice antinational
activities whilst the international media is used to criticise and manipulate
news.
.
Indian Imperialism
Encouraged by the past colonialists the elite of India continues not
only to subjugate her own people but also wishes to subjugate the poor
neighbours. The modus operandi is the same be it Bangladesh, Nepal or
Sri Lanka. Dissident groups are financed and terrorists are trained
by the RAW to destabilise and then subjugate the country by saying that
Indian security is at risk or they are concerned about the citizens
of Indian origin. These are excuses the final aim is to exploit these
poor countries. This ethos is what the Europeans left the ruling elite
with. Whilst the Europeans are practicing unity the Indian ruling class
is practicing social discord and divide and rule policy that has been
abandoned in the west doing the donkey work for the continuation of
the world order that benefits the west. Whilst India destabilises her
neighbours and pauperises them China has not encouraged terrorism and
has a fast growing neighbourhood and hence her security is established.
What ever the wrongs of Maoism he was able to rid his country of this
elitist group and gave a degree of pride to the poor of being Chinese.
The subcontinent is a multilingual multiethnic multireligeous group
of countries . If India feels, encouraging dissent and dominating the
rest of the sub continent will ensure its security and development they
are sadly mistaken. Terrorism that India experiences to day is as a
result of her own policies. Did Rajiv Ghandi guarantee his security
by arming the LTTE to destabilise Sri Lanka? Indian elite unfortunately
has selective amnesia when it comes to terrorism. A multilingual multi
religious multiethnic group of countries cannot afford balkanising wars
which are infectious not even great India will be spared.
WAY FORWARD
The elitist wrongly understand because of there servile mindset that
modernity and development is westernisation . On the contrary if the
sub continent wishes to modernise and improve the quality of life of
her people it must dewesternise. Retreat from the Mcauley philosophy.
We should be not looking at the west for guidance but learn the lessons
from history. Look at our own philosophies of governance as China is
doing today looking towards Confucianism. Meritocracy not political
favourites, human rights not political goonery, political rights not
manipulation, accountability of the ruling class needs to be practiced.
Development is improvement of quality of life of her people not grandiose
projects with the destruction of the environment nor an increase in
the GDP nor should it be an opportunity to pocket the commissions. These
are part and parcel of our eastern religious philosophies . It is time
we look towards our own culture for guidance not the west.. The interest
of the subcontinent lies in Asia.
O unheedful,
Think of your country
Calamity stares you in the face
The sign of your destruction resound the skies,
O people of Hindustan( sub continent)!
Understand , for if you do not, you will cease to be
In the annals of history, there will be of you
Not even a trace
_ Iqbal
BOOMIPUTRA
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