Why did LTTE come to being in Sri Lanka and who really created it?
by Chaminda Weerawardhana
In responding so far to, “Desecration of Tiger war memorials deserve condemnation,” by Prof. Michael Robers many readers seem to have ignored these fundamental questions:
1. Why did the LTTE come to being?
2. Who really created the LTTE?
The answer to both questions, to cut a long, horrible story short, are:
1. Due to post-1948 Ceylonese/Sri Lankan government policies and:
2. The majority Sinhalese leadership(s)seeking narrow political gains and political mileage
Now, the SL government and a strongly Sinhala nationalist leadership (with a Sinhala supremacist discourse, coated in the false and dis-orienting stance of ‘patriots’ and ‘non-patriots’) has militarily defeated and decimated its own ‘bete noire’.
The main challenge now is that of reconciliation, making all Tamils (and other minorities) feel integrally Sri Lankan, and use all available talent and skills (especially from the Tamil community home and abroad) for post-conflict reconstruction, economic development and empowerment. In other words, all segments of the (divided)wider SL society have to be brought together around a common cause: to make Sri Lanka ‘take off’, make her part of the Asian economic boom and other global processes of fast-track and long-term development.
To reach these goals, a serious SL government needs to launch a massive project, based at least on two primary axes:
1. Political accommodation in terms of high politics – i.e. a political arrangement based on power-sharing in the N-E provinces, within a wider framework of devolution from the Centre (not the best gain, but the best available and realistically achievable option at the present stage)
2. National policy on reconciliation, mutual respect/understanding and coexistence – this is necessary to attempt at healing wounds of a 30-year conflict – A Truth and Reconciliation Commission should provide those affected by the war with a safe haven to ‘express’ their experiences and trauma – and record them for posterity. People’s perspectives on the ‘other’ should be changed through government policy (i.e. Sinhalese views on Tamils, issues within the Tamil community – developing harmony and dialogue among Northern, Eastern and Up country Tamils, and better mutual understanding in the wider Sri Lankan community).
In this process [axe 2], what Prof. Roberts mentions in this article comes into play crucially – continuing a sophisticated tradition of honouring the ‘fallen’, LTTE memorials should be left undeterred – this will help develop a sense of appreciation of the SL govt among supporters of hardline Tamil nationalism, especially in the Diaspora. To make it more ‘politically correct’, similar memorials could be built to remember fallen members of other Tamil armed/non-armed political groups (from FPC to the Eelam Left, including civil society activists such as Dr. R Thiranagama).
Most importantly, these memorials will enable future generations from across the ethnic divide to witness and learn about a bitter phase of the 20th century history of their motherland.
Why Tamils leave
The point here is that nobody in Sri Lanka’s political establishment is concerned as to how Tamils, especially young Tamil men and women feel, perceive and live the ground situation in the island.
Article such as “Land without checkpoints feels free to Tamil refugees,” could be easily condemned as ‘propaganda’ or efforts by the so-called West and the exiled Tamils to tarnish the ‘image’ of the Sri Lankan government….but what this blind critique blatantly forgets is that the government is thoroughly insensitive and totally unwilling to be sensitive to the real issues and concerns of young Tamil men and women. As long as this situation continues, illegal immigration will thrive, a whole lot of young Tamils will suffer, and the task of post-conflict transformation will remain un-achieved.
If Colombo ‘sincerely’ wants to change things for the better in terms of ethnic relations, it has to change its ideology and discourse, and resort to a new ideology of inclusion, de-militarisation, mutual respect and ethnic accommodation.
This by any means,does not look achievable on realistic grounds in the near future – as the country plunges from one crisis to another.
