Some Issues Concerning Tamil Language Rights

by Dr. Devanesan Nesiah-:

( February 8, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Like nearly every other multi ethnic country, we have had a history of ethnic conflict. But, compared to several other countries, our conflict was mild and not posing a serious threat to national unity till the mid 20th century. The so called 50-50 issue raised by the Tamil Congress before the Soulbury Commission in the mid 40s was a non-starter, and quickly and smoothly disposed of. Far more insidious was the issue of citizenship and voting rights of ‘Indian Tamils’ (mostly Tamils who had been recruited into the plantations in the course of the first half of the 20th century or earlier, and their descendants). The State and the Plantation Leadership for economic reasons, the non-Tamil population for political reasons, and the Sri Lankan Tamils for social reasons (class & caste), had contributed to keeping the ‘Indian Tamils’ isolated from the other communities and on the margin of the Sri Lankan population.

In consequence, the legislation to deprive nearly all of them of citizenship and voting rights was very quickly conceived, drafted and passed almost immediately after independence with very little opposition apart from the ‘Indian Tamil’ and a minority of Sri Lankan Tamil Members of Parliament led by S.J.V. Chelvanayakam (who broke away on this issue and founded the Federal Party), and a few other individuals in Parliament, mostly on the left. Although it was their underpaid, indentured labour that was the main stay of our export earnings, the vast majority of Indian Tamils were reduced to statelessness overnight. One consequence was that the Tamil presence in Parliament was substantially depleted, paving the way for Sinhala Only (The Official Language Act of 1956), as well as a long succession of acts of Tamil political militancy and anti-Tamil riots and pogroms, leading to the twenty four years long civil war (1985 to 2009) involving much destruction and bloodshed.



Just as some Sri Lankan Tamil MPs were co-opted into backing the exclusion of citizenship and voting rights from ‘Indian Tamils’, Tamil speaking Muslim MPs based outside the North and East were co-opted into voting for Sinhala only. The honourable exceptions were the Eastern based Muslim MPs and the Jaffna born but Colombo based Senator A. M. A. Azeez. S. J. V. Chelvanayakam captured the leadership of the Sri Lankan Tamils and retained it till he died in the late 1970s. The ethnic animosity built up over the decades has led to continuing oppression and linguistic discrimination.

Some sporadic attempts were made to remedy the damage. Regulations were passed to permit ‘the reasonable use of the Tamil language in administration’, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was passed under Indian pressure, followed by the 16th Amendment enhancing the official status of Tamils and also recognizing English as a link language, and other reforms were proposed but all these have remained largely or partly unimplemented. A new draft constitution was introduced by the then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumartunga some years ago but it was not passed. De Jure the official status of the Tamil language is now satisfactory in most respects, but de facto the situation is worse than it was in the wake of Sinhala Only more than half a century ago. Ethnic animosity is also worse than it has been for half a century. No credible attempt has been made in recent years to promote reconciliation. The Second and Third Constitutions have made things worse, and it looks as if no serious move is underway to remedy the situation.

Absence of political will Full Story>>>