Tamil Separatism and Sinhala Nationalism!..........Kusal Perera

Tamil separatism survives on the strength of Sinhala nationalism

By Kusal Perera

Reminiscing “Black July” is almost over. There were plenty of articles in most of our print media and in web portals with differing points of view on “Black July”. Yet what was missing in most of that discussion was a reading about the LTTE psyche, 25 years after the Black July. Does the LTTE work towards achieving any justification or sympathy from the South for their struggle, liberation or separatist war or what ever label one may wish to stick on it in the South? This is the single most important question the South needs to ask itself. The southern political leadership had from the very beginning of the conflict opposed this Tamil homeland complete.

All governments since 1977, except the Ranil Wickremesinghe government (Dec 2001) have fought a war to defeat this separatist movement. Madam Chandrika Kumaratunga who in 1994 braved a racist campaign to win both the Parliamentary and the Presidential elections on a platform of conciliatory politics, also went to war within 06 months of assuming power as President. Under her, the heavily fought and much emphasised “Jaya Sikurui” military campaign that lasted 18 months and drained off billions of rupees to capture some parts of Northern territory, failed to dislodge the LTTE from their Wanni base. Much hyped “Jaya Sikurui” military victory was turned into a national event. The government’s euphoria over that victory couldn’t last long.

The LTTE launched their most vicious onslaught ever called the “Unceasing Waves III” in 1999 November and within a fortnight had even run over the heavily fortified Elephant Pass military base. Ever since then, the LTTE assembled their State structures, in areas under their control. To run them as civil systems, the LTTE needed money from society and they have imposed taxes, the percentages and totals not very important right now, except for the fact that they have an Inland Revenue collecting system of their own. Close upon 10 years for now, all these have evolved into more systematic structures. This is what the LTTE leadership is grappling with, now. Their concern is the ability to guard the area they have now brought under their administration. What they therefore pursue now is recognition as a State and the opening for such legitimacy. Do they need a Southern approval or a Southern justification for that ? They simply don’t and they also know they wouldn’t get such Southern accreditation. It has been moulded to think that the majority Sinhala society has a right to offer and the minority Tamils would have to accept what is offered under a unitary system. Any rejection of what is offered gives way for oppression and that had been our history in settling the issue.

With every attempt at negotiating answers to justifiable Tamil aspirations given a dud coin by the Sinhala leaderships, emergence of a Tamil psyche that opted for a separate Tamil State was unavoidable. The LTTE emerged as the decisive force within Tamil politics from among many others. More ruthless and fanatical the Southern approach is in forcing a Unitary State, the bigger their space would be in arguing that the Sinhala leadership is not prepared to share power.

If the South needs to live in a united country with a single constitution, that is also possible. But for that the South needs to reach a broad consensus to re-structure its old, inefficient and corrupt State that is exclusively a Sinhala State. A State that has for 60 years since independence not given even the Sinhala people a space to better their lives. A State, against which even the Sinhala youth waged war twice within the past 35 years.

The nationalistic desire to establish a nation state based on one (Sinhala) language gives way for political coercion over both societies. The logic behind the “Separate Tamil State” is the failure of the Sinhala society to understand this pluralism in modern day nationalism. Understanding and accommodating that pluralism within a new democratic State provides the only possible answer in defeating separatism, which the South refuses to accept and thus provides for the LTTE to exist and fight for their ideal separate State.