A Second Class Citizen

On June 30th 2006, the Goverment of Sri Lankan re-introduced the procedures to register Tamils in the island for security purposes.The following link details the exact requirements of the procedure in vague terms of course.

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=18673

I am and have always been a proud Sri Lankan Tamil. Always been patriotic about my country, about its diversified ethnicities and most importantly our culture. Yet such practices introduced by the government makes me think twice about my patriotism. I understand that there have been security violations by the LTTE but then again the GOSL also has targeted many innocent Tamils living in the North and in recent times have bombed churches and tsunami refugee camps. Would it be applicable or even remotely implementable if the Sinhalese residing in the North and East were asked to register with the police? Of Course Not. Does patriotism really matter in the island if exhibited by a Tamil? I think not. Most people are going to think that the Tamil is a kotiya {Tiger in Sinhalese} and wants Eelam. Some don’t even read history to understand the suffering the Tamil people had gone through after gaining independence. The height of ignorance was unbearable when an educated Sinhala friend of mine said that the Tamils landed in this country after the 1950s. If only he had paid attention in history class would he have realized that the Tamil kingdoms started with the legend of Ramayana ending with the Chola dynasty {of course the Chola dynasty was beaten because the Kandyan Sinhala king decided to ally with the Portuguese}.

Tamils and Sinhalese in the island have been having a “go” at each other since the time settlers came from West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Most of the Bengalis and Keralites turned into Sinhala Buddhists whilst the Tamils practiced Hinduism. The Kandyan Kingdom of the Sinhalese in the Central part of the island and the Tamil kingdom of the North have always been the strongest rivals with some minor shake-ups caused by the Kingdoms from the south such as Galle. After the arrival of the British, things seemed to get back on track from both parties as they had a common enemy. The Tamil and Sinhala leaders wanted to get rid of the British and thus were fighting for the same cause – Wish they British were still in town sometimes . The Tamil leader GG Ponnambalam was the first person to argue in British Parliament to enable Vesak {celebrate Buddha’s birthday} to be regarded as a national holiday in Sri Lanka {doubt many Sinhalese know this fact}. Other Tamil leaders fought bravely for the independence of my homeland and when asked by the British whether they wanted a separate country -they refused, thinking the conciliation with the Sinhalese would be ideal for both parties and the betterment of the country. After independence things started to roll down as far as harmony between the two ethnicities were concerned. The SLFP which came to power in 1970 decided that English should not be the main language in schools and universities and decided to segregate the medium of study into Sinhalese and Tamil { Had they taken a leaf out of India’s education system we would have been much better off now}. Then came the shocker of all shockers – You have probably heard that affirmative action is applied to allow for minorities to get admission to schools because of past discrimination etc. In Sri Lanka, the minority Tamils were asked to get higher grades than the majority Sinhalese to enter universities. This led to hiring fewer Tamils into government related jobs thus creating a suspicious and ticking environment. Explosion. The LTTE was born – the result of continuous oppression of the Tamil people. Fueled by the 1983 ethnic riots when Sinhalese butchered many Tamils to death, the organization grew in numbers to be the deadly force they are today.

The LTTE were amicably supported by the Indian government and to this day still have a lot of clout in Tamil Nadu politics and within politicians. Rarely do they seem disturbed when a Western nation says something against them but react with caution when India is involved. The relationship turned sour when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated with the help or involvement of the LTTE. Gandhi had earlier sent the Indian Peace Keeping Force to act as the mediators but soon turned them around to fight the Tigers. The IPKF had left behind stories of atrocities when they departed the nation wounded and humiliated by a small guerilla force. They had raped women, killed innocent students and murdered POWs without hesitation and help of the SL Army {If you are an Indian and reading this and want to argue, please send me your yahoo id and we can have the best argument of your life!!!}. This was followed by Rajiv’s death and then the assassination of the president of Sri Lanka who had apparently cracked a secret deal {then of course gone wrong so his death} with the LTTE.

Many incidents have followed, wars waged, destruction amounted, money spent and of course innocent lives wasted. The Cease Fire Agreement signed in 2002 gave a glimmer of hope fueled by the tragedy of the tsunami {Yeah you do need a tragedy or catastrophe sometimes to bring people together. They say a sport does the trick but did you watch the Italy-Germany game?}. Currently things have got to a stage where there seems to be an “unofficial” war. Both parties refuse to accept each other’s presence and both do not want to admit their mistakes. Angered by the continuous support of the breakaway faction of the LTTE by the SL Army, the lives of innocents seem to be at risk. War looks imminent but when seems to be the billion dollar question? The million dollar question is of course what the catalyst is, for it to start.

In the end it will be innocent and poor Sinhalese and Tamils who will lose their lives. You want see the rich Sinhalese kid fighting the war, nor will you see the son/daughter of the war hungry politican at the Front Lines. Tamils who have had acquired some decent amount of wealth will always be able to avoid discrimination and if necessary leave the country. Its the ones caught in the middle of nowhere in the North Easter province who are going to be at risk.

So, because of the situation in this country, Tamils have been asked to register and identify themselves. Where are those human right and civil liberty groups when you need them? This is really funny because another article from many Sri Lankan websites stated that a Sri Lankan army official had been arrested for giving the LTTE information. The report also suggested that the officer had named 26 other members of the armed forces from his own battalion. So why not ask the Sinhalese to register as well? As long as the GOSL aims at discriminating the Tamils, the Tamil people will always dream about their own homeland. For some odd reason, although born a Tamil, I have lived with the Sinhalese and Muslims and thus I want to remain a Sri Lankan – but then again my identification card says Tamil and so I automatically become a Second Class Citizen.