We move from the topic Western science, Astrology
and Arsenic temporarily in order to discuss one of the important topics in
current politics. It is concerned with
the power to distribute land as stated in the thirteenth amendment. The
thirteenth amendment is not a solution to a problem in Sri Lanka but an act
imposed on us by the Indians modeled on their state administration to solve a
problem peculiar to India. India did not consider the history, the eksesath
rajya we had before the Portuguese came to Sri Lanka, the culture or more
importantly the demographic patterns and the powers that changed those patterns
after 1506. In this article I will consider only the problem of land
distribution though from 1987 through the APRC I have opposed the 13th
amendment in general and land and police powers in particular. At the APRC when
Dr. Tissa Witharana and many others wanted to submit an interim report to
satisfy India stating that we agree to implement the 13th amendment
in full, it was my objection that prevented them wording the report the way
India wanted. I must place on record the dedication of Mr. Udaya Gammanpila of
the JHU in opposing the Tissa Witharana move.
It is a well known fact obtained from
the Portuguese historians that when the Portuguese conquerors came to the
island we had an eksesath rajya though they do not refer to such rajya. There
was no way that the Portuguese could have understood the system we had, and the
reference to kings and an emperor in Kotte demonstrates that the Portuguese
historians looked at the eksesath rajya using the concepts they were used to. We
never had emperors in this country and the Portuguese who did not know anything
of the eksesath rajya referred to the king of Sri Lanka Eksesath Rajya as the
emperor. Those who insist on looking at history from the Portuguese point of
view will continue with an emperor and so called independent kingdoms in the
island.
The first state intervention in changing
the demographic pattern of the country took place during the period of King
Senerath who settled the Muslims who were harassed by the Portuguese in the present eastern province. It is
regrettable that some Muslims have forgotten this and are now attempting to
convert Kaththankudy into a Little Arab with date trees etc., as I witnessed
during a recent tour in the eastern province. It should be emphasized that the
Sinhala Buddhists have never had had any Little Kalingas or Bengals or
Maharashtras or even Buddhagayas even if we believe in the Vijaya story. Let us
all live in Sri Lanka without little this or that from foreign countries. When
King Senerath settled the Muslims in the present eastern province it was
populated with the Sinhalas and it was the rice bowl at least from the time of
Prince Saddhatissa who cultivated Digamadulla. In any event the present eastern
province was part of the Ruhunu Rata. It has to be mentioned that rata has been
used by the Sinhala people not only to refer to the country but to parts of the
country as well as exemplified by atadahas rata, dolosdahas rata etc. The
present usage of uda rata and pahatha rata is following this tradition.
The most crucial settlement was by the
Dutch who brought Tamil Vellalas from present South India for their tobacco
cultivation and settled them in the Jaffna peninsula. It is on record by
Portuguese that the Sinhala people were the majority in Jaffna when they
arrived. These Sinhala people have been Tamilized in the process and have been made members of
the so called low casts of the Jaffna Hindu society. It was after about 1750
that saw the beginning of the Dutch rule in Sri Lanka that changed critically the
demographic patterns in Sri Lanka and needless to say that it happened with the
auspices of the Dutch governor. It was state colonization and nothing else
though there was no Dutch state as such in Sri Lanka. The maps that have been
prepared by the Dutch after 1750 ( I can give the reference if anybody is
prepared to help me to translate the records to Sinhala or English) give the
Sinhala names of the villages and these would go a long way in establishing
that it was after 1750 that the demographic patterns at least in the Jaffna
peninsula have been changed drastically by the Dutch.
The present Tamil population in Jaffna
consists of the descendants of the Tamil vellalas brought by the Dutch and
those of Tamilized Sinhala people living in Jaffna before 1750 and also some
Velakkaras who spoke Malayalam. This corroborates with the linguistic opinion
that the difference between Tamil spoken
in Jaffna and that spoken in Tamil Nadu in general is not more than two hundred
and fifty years, and that Jaffna Tamil has been influenced by Malayalam. With
the occupation of the country by the English, by breaching the Sinhala English
accord or what is known as the Kandyan convention by the gentlemanly English,
instead of ruling the country according to the Sinhala tradition the rulers
appointed a Muslim as the tax collector in certain areas. The Sinhala leaders
having realized that they had been cheated by the English King (his
representative the governor) rose against the colonialists in 1817 – 18 which
was our first independence struggle in English occupied Sinhale. The English
“respecting” the human rights of the Sinhalas to be reborn massacred the
Sinhala population killing not only males above 15 years but even killing the
cattle of the Sinhala people. The record of the English with respect to our
independence struggle is most cruel to say the least, and during this Veask
week we can only engage in “Maithree Bhavana” towards the governors such as
Brownrigg, Torrington and their mothers.
After the massacre the remaining Sinhala
people were forced to leave the rice bowl, Uva Vellassa (vel lakshaya - hundred
thousand paddy fields) and the cultivation of the land was thereafter in the
hands of the Muslims. The present eastern province was almost devoid of any
Sinhala people and to make matters worse the English settled Tamil labourers
brought from present Tamil Nadu in these areas. The final importation of the
Tamil labourers by the English was for their coffee and tea plantations in the
“up country”.
What I want to emphasize is that before
the Portuguese came to Sri Lanka the vast majority of the population from
Nagadeepa to Devundara was Sinhala with pockets of Tamil speaking Muslims, or
so called Moors who had come from South India. They were Tamil speaking Muslims
whatever their ethnicity was. Any changes in the demographic patterns since
1506 have been due to state intervention. Except in the case of King Senerath
all the other changes have been effected by colonial rulers. Even in the case
of settlings of Muslims by the Sinhala king it was carried out as a result of
Portuguese harassing the Muslims.
In all these
instances it was the Sinhala people who have lost “their” land especially at
the hands of the Dutch and the English. If there has been a historical
injustice it is to the Sinhalas as a result of land “distribution”. The
colonial discrimination has to be rectified and naturally it has to be done by
the government. The so called historical habitats of the Tamils had been
historical habitats of the Sinhala for more than two thousand years until
colonial intervention. Those who oppose any land distribution by the government
want to maintain the status quo due to colonial rulers and it is a case of
maintaining the colonial injustices to the Sinhala people. Also maintaining army camps as far as the security
of the country is concerned is the prerogative of the government. Taking all
these things into consideration distribution of land in the entire country
should be in the hands of the government and legislation should be enacted not
to leave these powers ( and police powers etc.)
with the Provincial Councils the baby of India, if the thirteenth
amendment cannot be repealed just now due to some reason or other.
22-05-2013
Nalin De Silva