Reconciliation requires single PC for North and East

There have been numerous attempts to heal the wounds created by SWRDB’s Sinhala Only Act. Later, after the end of the civil war in 2009, attempts were made at reconciliation with the appointment of the LLR Commission and the Tissa Vitharana Commission. Nothing worthwhile has been achieved, and the expatriate Tamil community, probably those who suffered violence in the 1983 riots, continue to raise a hue and cry of genocide when the world knows that Prabhakaran killed more Tamils than the SL forces did, and that the then governments bent over backwards to appease and placate the rebel leader in their talks with him, only to grant him more and more concessions.

The Sinhalayas in the public service for their part still keep writing letters to Tamils and even Tamil MPs in Sinhala only. Failure to sing the national Anthem in Tamil at the last Independence Day celebration is another unforgivable act, leading to widening the gulf between the two races. The erection of the figure of the father of free education commemorating the event in 2007, with the plaque inscribed in Sinhala only at the entrance to the Ministry of Education, stands out as a monumental emblem to the indifference of the Sinhala polity towards solving the ethnic problem. In a letter of mine published in the daily The Island of 10/3/21, under a pseudonym I had occasion to bemoan, the fact that the Sinhala race is on the verge of getting ruined due to the colossal blunders committed on several fronts in administration, race relations, economic management etc. Those were the days when there were no racial animosities but only camaraderie. Let us revive those days to dissipate the bogey of genocide.

The solution is to allow the Sinhalyas, Muslims and Tamils to have one Provincial Council for the Northern and Eastern Provinces. This amalgamation will be subjected to a referendum every six years, to enable the voter to decide on a continuation of the merger. I am prepared to take a bet with anyone that after the first six-year period, the voters will wish to continue with the merger. The expat Tamils will pump in their dollars and pounds to improve the economy and infrastructure. The current climate of insecurity and loss of dignity affecting Tamils can be countered with this move. There should be no fear of Eelam since the armed forces would be around to forestall and frustrate any such move. Besides, the Indian government would not like such an infectious move for self-government. The Tamils here would prefer to live and empathise with the Helayas here, as they did with the Tamil version of Yohani’s popular song ‘Menike mage hithe’.

The Indian government has given a gentle reminder to the Lankan government about the dominant presence of the Chinese here. There is a well-grounded belief that India will support the AUKUS group to frustrate the attempt at widening the Chinese influence here.

We, the senior citizens of Sri Lanka, have lost faith in the two parties that have ruled and ruined the nation since Independence. As pointed out by The Island in a recent editorial, former MP Ranjan Ramanayeke has said, ‘Mung okkoma yaluwo’ –– all of them are friends.

LEO FERNANDO

(Retired member of the SLAS) Pitipana