Issue of Empowerment and Equal Opportunity for Minorities in Sri Lanka

“Distinctively Sri Lankan minorities both the Tamils and the Muslims are not the residue of Portuguese, Dutch or British colony. The Tamils are here from time immemorial and the Muslims are here since Islam came in the 6th century and before that the Arab traders domiciled here in Sri Lanka. So therefore the attitude of the Sri Lankan state upon these minorities should not be like the British, French or other colonial powers attitude towards their residual minorities who migrated from their colonies.”
__________________________________

by Riza Yehiya

(March 19, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri Lanka as an island republic is blessed with less diversity and therefore has fewer minority communities compared with the countries in the SAARC Region. The Principal Minorities are the Tamils who constitute 9.4% and Muslims 8.2% of the population respectively according to 2001 Census. There are also negligibly small minority of indigenous people the Veddahs who are not found in the mainstream life in Sri Lanka.

As you all know that the Minority cliché is more of a Post Colonial construct. As minorities in the pre-colonial period were more of a homogenized people in the social fabric of the past. Evidently in Sri Lanka and in the Pre Partitioned India in the pre colonial days minorities were not singled out as an entity either for empowerment or discrimination since they were highly homogenized and naturalized by the very nature of the social fabric inherently Asian. That it is with the coming of the colonialist and their consequent Divide and Rule politics that identified, marginalized, discriminated and surrogated the groups effectively manipulating colonial powers in Asia.

Distinctively Sri Lankan minorities both the Tamils and the Muslims are not the residue of Portuguese, Dutch or British colony. The Tamils are here from time immemorial and the Muslims are here since Islam came in the 6th century and before that the Arab traders domiciled here in Sri Lanka. So therefore the attitude of the Sri Lankan state upon these minorities should not be like the British, French or other colonial powers attitude towards their residual minorities who migrated from their colonies.

Today there is a lack of clarity about the definition of what minorities is. The writer is of the opinion that connotation of Minorities should be viewed with the background study of the society in context.

Unfortunately the Brown Sahibs who succeeded the colonial master knowingly or unknowingly did continue the socio political structure the Britishers left with at the time of independence. Their lack of understanding of the numerically small group belonging to the same nation has created a broken social fabric as opposed to nation building..

So today almost 60 years after independence our nations are grappling with the issues of minorities as fragmented groups as opposed to homogeneity. We failed to learn lessons from the pre colonial history which had a harmonious and homogenous social fabric.

In the Sri Lankan social fabric the Tamil and Muslim minorities are unique since both of them share Tamil Language as a common language and religion wise Tamils are both Hindus and Christians whereas Muslims are adherents of Islam. North and Eastern Provinces are contiguous regions. The north is predominantly Tamil and East dominated by Muslims but with similar Tamil and Sinhalese population concentration. Larger concentrations of Tamils are found in the central hilly regions in the Tea Estates and similarly the rest of the Muslim populations are spreaded and living mostly with the majority Sinhalese.

The issues of Empowerment and Equal opportunities for minorities emerged on the threshold of Independence from Britain in 1948. During the British Raj, their divide and rule culture of administration was tilted in favour of the Tamils and some Sinhales and evidently the Christian Elites who came from the colonial schools. The majority Sinhala Buddhists and the Muslims were more marginalized. During this period The Sinhalese Buddhists were more confined to Agriculture and Trading and the Muslims were confined to trading alone. This state of affairs had created disproportionate recruitment of Tamils in the bureaucracy and the majority Sinhala Buddhists were craving for a change in the status quo and this culminated in the Sinhala Only vision of the Late Prime Minister S.W.R.D.Bandaranayake in 1956. This effectively disfranchised the Tamil dominated bureaucracy and created openings for the majority Sinhalese to dominate all machineries of state. Today's cycle of violence among communities in Sri Lanka whether attributed to Ethnic Rivalry or inequity in share of the economy- the root goes back 1948.

Since 1948, the successive governments led by both the rightist United National Party and the Left oriented Sri Lanka Freedom Party were for more consolidation of Majority Power and hence used the issues of Language, Race and Ethnicity and People of Indian Origin and Religion at times as tools of dispossessing the other. Some of the other Majority centric mechanisms are as follows:

1. Admissions to Universities are based on the population ratio and hence quota of admission is not commensurate to the level of qualified in a particular community. If Tamils are taken as 10% their community output to enter University is more that this and hence quite a lot are left to lurch. Similarly if Muslims quota to enter Universities is 8%, from 1948 to date Muslim output to enter universities has not exceeded 3% due to poor General Education Infrastructure provided by the state in respect to the Muslims Education.

2. Economic policies of successive government, Cronyism, Chit System in recruitments and Quota System in licensing of trade etc were majority centric and therefore minorities were severely disadvantaged due to absence of level playing field in the arena of trade and commerce.

3. Issues of Religion and Religious Freedom: The constitution beautifully elaborates the freedom for religion and its practices. But very often the state has failed to uphold this constitutional right of the minorities when trespassed upon by the majorities thus infringing the constitutionally guaranteed rights. Making the minorities to feel as an alien in the country.

4. In the 1940s the ethnic centric mind set was found only among the political elites of all communities. Today this has incubated over a period of 60 years and percolated down and permeated the whole social fabric to the extent of polarizing its once homogeneous people. Therefore localization of the ethnic rivalry dispossess the weak whoever it may be of the other counterpart. This creates suspicion, segregation and ghettoizism not augers well for a healthy nation. It this state of affairs Equal Opportunity and Empowerment is the first victim.

Of late some of the enlightened leaders of the majority community and some in the minorities realized the folly and the danger of being community centric when they wish to build a wholesome nation for all to live. However this positive notion of Nation Building with nation centric policies by accepting diversity and real politick is also an anathema to those who strongly believe ethnic hegemony over the other. Such astute leaders with nation centric views were spurned by radicals in both communities.

The majority over a period of 60 years since independence from Britain, have consolidated their powers in all gamut of Politics and society in Sri Lanka and newer want to share with the others the fair share of the cake, not knowing the fact that in the long run it would the country that we all cherish will be a pariah state in the world.

The nation centric parliamentarians on 3rd August 2000 presented "the Equal Opportunity Bill' in the parliament in order to solve the problems of disproportionate care of its citizens was rejected by the Majority centric parliamentarians.

If equal opportunity is not guaranteed by The Constitution and Law in a state, then axiomatically it is expected that state will not evolve into a nation that is for one and all. The problem of minorities in Sri Lanka is the problem of the majority since an underprivileged, illiterate, disadvantaged, unemployed minority population poses a severe threat to the whole nation in respect to development goals, crime and other negative trends. Insulating majority community against such negative impacts from the minority community would be hyper expensive and the cheapest way for the success of the majority community is to share the nations wealth equitable and justly so that the minorities will be an extension of the majority and part of the social fabric free of assimilation.

Finally I believe that very often minority in one country is a majority in the other and therefore justice and equity in all affairs have to be upheld with due diligence as finally we all are humans, the sublime creation of God Almighty.

(Paper presented at Minorities Conference - New Delhi on 9th March 08)

- Sri Lanka Guardian