Sri Lanka, a nation troubled by decades of civil strife and a separatist war between the government and Tamil separatist groups led by the Tamil Tigers, has just concluded a parliamentary election bringing back the war-winning government. Western observes have keenly focused on the North, with its Tamil population (5% of the Nation’s population) previously controlled by the separatist Tigers.
An electoral battle emerged between moderate Tamils and hard-liners who follow the confrontational politics of remnant Tiger groups who operate mostly from Western countries like Canada. The hard liners are lead by Mr. C. Wigneswaran, the ex Chief Minster of the Northern Province. He championed the claim that Sri Lanka has committed Genocide against the Tamils, and demands at least “internal self-determination” for the Tamils. He supports “Hinduthva”, decries Tamils who “marry outside their race”, and calls for re-writing Sri Lanka’s ancient history to emphasize Tamil history.
The moderates are led by Mr. Sumanthiran who rejected the Genocide charge, pointing out that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Hon. Zeid Hussein had rejected the Genocide charge in 2015 (Tamil Net, 19-10-2015). Sumanthiran is the only Tamil leader to openly reject the violent politics of the Tigers. Sumanthiran has needed tight police protection (provided by the central government) from pro-Tiger adversaries who declared him a “traitor” who has to be eliminated.
Mr. Sumanthiran’s party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) earned 10 seats, reduced from what they had when they had no competition. More significantly, Mr. Wigneswaran barely manged to elect himself, polling a mere 0.44% of the national vote. Mr. Gajendra Ponnambalam’s hard-liner outfit collected about 0.56% of the national vote, doing better than Mr. Wigneswaran. However, the striking news is the strong election in the Tamil heartland of an ex-Soldier Sinhalese who fought the Tigers. Similarly, two Tamil parties that opposed the Tigers have elected three MPs, while the predominantly Sinhala parties have also elected two MPs in the Tamil heartland. The weakened TNA is likely to split further, and one can only hope that its more moderate members will seek to work pragmatically with other parties that are less ethnocentric and non-separatist in their objectives.
Compared to events in the North, the outcome in the rest of the country has been unparalleled. A strong government independent of minority ethnic and religious groups, usual in Western democracies, has emerged here for the first time. While this has the danger of running rough-shod over minority rights, it opens a historic opportunity for the new President, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and ex-soldier and technocrat with a reputation as a “doer”. Given the hard political problems as well as the post-Covid economic crunch that face Sri Lanka, the strong vote reflects the public push for a government with management excellence. The previous government had the strong backing of the West. But its track record of utter incompetence, mega corruptions, fatal security lapses allowing Islamic fundamentalists to blow up hundreds on an Easter Sunday, and its inability to work together resulted in the previous government to splinter itself, with the prime minister finally loosing his own seat.
In contrast, Canadian Legislators follow militant Tamil groups who control votes. Canada has shamelessly issued stamps commemorating Tamil activists who vowed ethnic irreconcilability. Ontario is pushing to legitimizing an alleged genocide of Tamils already rejected by moderate Tamils, and by the UN-HC for Human Rights. The bill 104 will have the effect of legitimizing systemic discrimination, esp. within the school system, against Sri Lankan Canadians who are not ethnic Tamils.
Dr. Chandre Dharmawardana
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