Why do Countries Violate the Democratic Rights of Sri Lanka

By Jass Ranasinghe

Articles by me as follows in the media, e-links of which are:

http://www.themorningleader.lk/20080806/focus.html

http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2008/08/why-foreign-countries-violate.html

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items08/300708-5.html

I have frequently seen statements both in the print and electronic media by foreign countries, particularly by government officials of Western European countries and India, requesting Sri Lanka to go to the negotiation table with the LTTE in order to resolve the "ethnic conflict" which is, in other words, the LTTE’s claim for a separate state for the Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Tamil Eelam.

I have to state that I am neither a historian nor a political analyst but I strongly believe that I have the right to come out with my views as an ordinary Sri Lankan, sensitive though the issue may be.

The great chronicle

Sri Lanka has an explicitly documented history of more than 2500 years according to the Mahawamsa — the great chronicle of the kings of Sri Lanka. It is a historical poem written in Pali. It covers the period from the coming of King Vijaya of Kalinga (ancient Orissa) in 543 BC to the reign of King Mahasena. The first copy was printed in 1837 by George Turner, a historian and officer of the Ceylon Civil Service. A German translation of the Mahawamsa by Wilhelm Geiger was completed in 1912.

The Portuguese, the Dutch and the British invaded our country resulting in it being a colony of those countries from 1505, against the will of Sri Lankan citizens, till 1948. Sri Lanka became an independent nation in 1948 and is a democratic country to date. Literally, "democracy" is power of the people.

The idea of democracy has been derived as an anti-theory to ‘autocracy’ and ‘aristocracy’ which mean ‘power of a single ruler’ or ‘power of a superior group,’ respectively. This idea of ‘power’ of government is the privilege of the ruler. Accordingly, in an autocracy an all powerful king/dictator rules the country for his own pleasure, and in an aristocracy a privileged group rules over the lower classes, again for the benefit of the ruling group.

In a democracy it is the will of the majority of the people that is supreme and the elected government rules the country. This is the theory of democracy. Since all the people cannot in any meaningful sense govern a country, in practice, a ‘democratic government’ means a government comprising of a person or group of people at the top of the government elected by some form of voting system for a specific period to govern the whole country, enacting laws without making any distinction of the voters, irrespective of their political interests.

What is democracy?

Democracy is deciding on an issue by a majority vote. The only option left with the other groups is to seek justice under the constitution of the country if their fundamental rights are deprived or any other matter not consistent with the law of the country. However, those who are elected to govern the country, the government, should have a tradition to respect the law and civil liberties of citizens as enshrined in the constitution.

Let us see the role played by the so-called foreign countries who think that they have a universal right to interfere in the internal affairs of a democratic country — political or otherwise. I firmly believe there is absolutely no room for such blatant intimidation. They have to respect the democracy of an independent country.

The Sinhalese being 72% of the country’s population are the majority and Tamils being 12% are the minority. The Sinhalese are 72% simply because they have been living in this country for more than 2500 years whereas Tamils are 12% because they settled down in the north of Sri Lanka in the 13th century (www.localhistories.org/srilanka by Tim Lambert) despite the fact that there were invasions from South Indian Tamils from time to time in Sri Lanka’s history.

How can 12% of Tamils claim the north and east as a separate state of Eelam which is almost one third of the country and two thirds of the coast around the island? On what basis do these foreign countries dictate terms to us to negotiate our country with the LTTE?

Dominance

These countries do not care that 72% of Sinhalese have been deprived of some of their basic rights by colonial rulers prior to independence. The majority of the public sector employees were Tamils during colonial times with a handful of Sinhalese here and there. After independence, under democracy, the legitimate rights of the Sinhalese were gradually restored and integrated into the system. Why is this not respected and accepted as an element of democracy without making it a big issue?

Why are Sinhala Buddhists condemned as "Sinhala Buddhist chauvinists?"
It is the "Eelamism" propagated by Tamil nationalists way back in the 1930s in connivance with Indian politicos and colonial rulers that destroyed the co-existence of the communities in the country. This is a fact. The Tamils are the very people who propagated hatred among the people of this country by asking for a separate state.

Are those Western European countries so sure that Eelam (to be achieved by the LTTE) will be a democratic country where Tamils can live happily with their civil liberties uncompromised? Do they have any conviction that the LTTE has respect for democracy or human life irrespective of whether it is Tamils or Sinhalese?

Absolutely no. The LTTE Leader, Pirapaharan, is a psychopath who has no humane feelings even towards his own people or any respect towards democratic principles of governing a country.

An issue created

Foreign countries, having created an issue as an "ethnic conflict" have been asking a democratic government to go for negotiations with a ruthless gang of terrorists simply because a war has been perpetrated and innocent civilians are killed everyday by the LTTE with suicide bombers. These countries should be ashamed of themselves for stooping so low without conviction and without any regard to the basic principles of democracy.

In addition, it is the Tamil Diaspora that propagates Eelam saying they face torture and discrimination by the Sinhalese people simply because they want to create false propaganda that will enable them to emigrate to Western European countries. Being born and bred in Sri Lanka they have now become traitors to their motherland.

Historical facts

One has to read the historical facts contained in the Mahawamsa to understand the actual existence of Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka. I need to cite one significant incident from history prior to the independence of Sri Lanka, compiled by British historian Jane Russel as to how G.G. Ponnambalam of the Tamil National Movement in the 1930s attacked the Mahawamsa — the history pertaining to Sinhala Buddhists.

The inflammatory speech in 1939 attacking the Sinhalese and the Mahawamsa by him as the leader of the nationalist Tamils led to the first Sinhala-Tamil riots engulfing Nawalapitiya, Passara, Maskeliya and even Jaffna. However, the riots were rapidly put down by the British colonial government and did not lead to the terrible magnitude of post-independence conflicts. (Refer www.smso.net/Mahawamsa)

It was the nationalist Tamils in the colonial era and those after that who were responsible for creating the background for communal riots in Sri Lanka. They have reaped what they sowed, in consequence of which our motherland has had to suffer, unfortunately.