(June 09, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The battle in which an ambitious and aggrieved young Sinhala Prince ‘Dutu’ Gemunu defeated the ageing Tamil King Ellalan (Elara-in Sinhalese) to become King in ancient Sri Lanka, has underscored Sri Lankan ethnic politics in the past sixty years. The anguished cry of a restless ‘Dutu’ Gemunu that he was unable to sleep because of being hemmed in by the Tamils on one side and the deep ocean on the other resonates in most Sinhala hearts to this day. Very few have paused to consider how Gemunu acquired the prefix ‘Dutu’ (evil), the respectful homage he paid to the ‘Just and Righteous’ King Ellalan upon his death and the memorial he subsequently erected in memory of Ellalan. Niro Dissanayake in an interesting, forthright, intuitive and largely objective article titled, ‘The Dutu Gemunu Principle- Why Prabhaharan is the Singhalese’s best friend’ has while highlighting the role Dutu Gemunu continues to play in Sinhala political life states the following:
* “Imagine the King Dutu Gemunu being reborn in this period. He is 20 years old on the 3rd February’1948. He realizes the Sinhalese are on the verge of losing the conflict which raged for 2000 years. The unified country is no more and has a foreign master. The North and East of the country are devoid of Sinhalese. The Sinhalese have no power, no future etc. etc. He decides to go to battle”.
“He has the following objectives:
1. To give the Sinhalese permanent political power which they will never lose again and remove the political power from the Tamils.
2. To give the Sinhalese economic power and remove it from the Tamils.
3. To remove the possibility that Tamils in the future having an independent country.
4. To give the Sinhalese ‘their country’ unified and whole back and remove any external countries which may challenge the status”.
* “King Dutu Gemunu if you like is an amalgamation of Senanayakes, Bandaranaikes, the Jayawardenes, Premadasas etc. etc. They may appear to fight among themselves, but each and every one of them follows these basic principles”.
Niro Dissanayake continues on to identify events in post-independence Sri Lankan history that gave effect to the Dutu Gemunu principles. I agree with his conclusion that the ‘Cupboard is bare’ with regard to Tamil leaders at present, while disagreeing with him on the alternate leadership available. If these are the alternate leaders, who will determine our future as Tamils, it will be like scraping for any scrap at the bottom of the empty cupboard! I hope this attempt to identify future Tamil leaders is also not part of the evolving Dutu Gemunu strategy. Niro Dissanayake’s article should be compulsory reading for all intelligent Tamils with an open mind. I have to complement Niro Dissanayake for his thoughts and thesis. Reading his article was like breathing in cool fresh air in the arid desert of meaningless discourse based on charges and counter charges currently taking place on the ethnic problems in Sri Lanka, following the pattern over the past several decades.
It is apt for me as a fast ageing Tamil Sri Lankan, born a few years before independence to explore what the modern day ‘Ellalan’ (read Tamil leaders) did to counter and further the Tamil cause in response to the ‘ Dutu Gemunu’ (read Sinhala leaders) strategy. In all human confrontations, whether in normal day-to-day life, politics, war or games, where two individuals, groups or teams are involved, every move has to be overcome or neutralized to succeed and further the initial objectives. If this fails, one party loses and has to call it a day, with the option available to deploy new tactics in future confrontations to further their objectives. A refusal to engage again will signify that the defeat in a battle has also conceded the war and the
objectives for which it was waged. In such instances of conflict, there have to be clearly thought out long term objectives, an awareness of tactical options available and suitable to the circumstances, an ability to use the tools available appropriately and the moral fiber to pursue short term objectives consistently despite occasional or even frequent failures in order to achieve long term goals. In the case of a group of people such as the Tamils in Sri Lanka, the leaders and the people have to also have a sense of destiny and their visions for the future must find confluence, if their struggle has to confront strategies such as those of modern day Dutu Gemunu’s.
What is fundamentally important is that the goals are profound, unimpeachable and morally valid. The tactics and tools deployed must also conform to these criteria. This was the essence of Gandhianism that resonated around the world and laid the foundations for what India is destined to become in the future.
The Sinhala leaders (Modern day Dutu Gemunu’s) were justified in their pursuit of power and a better life for their people. However, they were wrong in trying to achieve these at the expense of the Tamils and other minorities. For the latter they stand condemned in the world today. They could have aspired to be Gemunu’s without acquiring the prefix ‘Dutu’. Their tactics lacked moral scruples and these have led to the contradictions, depravities, degeneration and loss of values, hypocrisy, corruption and cruelty that have pervaded the Sri Lankan society as a whole today. Morally unacceptable tactics, when resorted to as a guiding principle in an individual’s, a people’s or a nation’s life cannot bring about satisfactory outcomes. This is clearly exemplified in the instance of Sri Lanka. While our neighbours have progressed and are on the road to prosperity, we have degenerated, our institutions have declined and our nation is wallowing in muck. One has to reap what one sows (‘Kela kela dhey, pala pala dhei”- Sinhala and ‘Vinai vithaithavan vinai arruppaan, thinai vithaithavan thinai arruppaan’-Tamil). The belief in cause and effect (Karma) underpin both Hinduism and Buddhism. While the Hindus believe in mitigation through divine grace, the Buddhists believe that there is no cop-out – the consequences of one’s actions- good or bad, are unalterable and have to be borne. Sri Lanka is fast becoming a country which any one - Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim, who has the opportunity – legally or illegally, will abandon in search of greener pastures. This is the result of almost sixty years of the application of Dutu Gemunu principles! We will soon become a nation of left-overs!
The Tamils on the other hand are fast losing the moral high ground they occupied during the course of the so-called ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. This moral high ground that held up solidly even during the worst years of civil war and the accompanying brutality and beastliness, has rapidly eroded during past few years of the ceasefire due to the lunacy of the LTTE. I use the word lunacy deliberately, because the LTTE strategy over the past few years has been totally irrational, erratic and self destructive. The results are unfolding now to the greater detriment of the Tamils. Any one who does not discern this is trying to play the proverbial ostrich. This is one major
success of ‘The Dutu Gemunu strategy’ for which Niro Dissanayake considers Prabhakaran the best friend of the Sinhalese. The LTTE ‘s lack of perspicacity, political sagacity and wisdom has played into the hands of the Dutu Gemunu’s and left the Tamils with an ‘Empty Cupboard’ with regard to potential alternate leadership. The Tamils today are a forlorn people without any hope for their future in the land of their birth and that of their ancestors. The Tamils of Sri Lanka, like the dinosaurs may be a thing of the past very soon, not only in numbers, but in terms of their culture, values and distinctiveness, unless a new visionary leadership emerges to take the baton from the LTTE. The LTTE has to go the way of the dinosaurs or the Tamils of Sri Lanka will become so. It is unfortunate that things have come to this pass. As much as King Ellalan of old was a successful, just and righteous King, he failed the acid test when confronted by the precocious Dutu Gemunu. The LTTE (our Ellalan of today) has been very unjust, very unrighteous and has failed to provide enlightened leadership. There will be those who disagree with me citing the success the LTTE achieved in the battle fields against the Dutu Gemunu’s and their armed forces. My answer to them is yes, we won some battles, but we have lost the war! Just look at the plight of the Tamils today. We are like the monkey which had his tail wedged between the two parts of a partially sawed log! The Dutu Gemunu’s have succeeded beyond their wildest expectations. The Ellalan of a bygone age was old, decrepit and without the fire needed to confront a young and vigorous Dutu Gemunu, burning with ambition and burdened with grievances. The LTTE has also become old, self indulgent, isolated and visionless and is not well placed to confront the emerging Dutu Gemunu’s and their strategies. The tragedy is that the LTTE is not permitting and will not permit the next generation of Ellalans to emerge. The LTTE has become our equivalent of the dog in the manger!
In a wider context the Tamil leaders (the Ellalans) of the late 1940s and subsequent years did not have a clear vision as to where they wanted to lead the Tamils. Sadly, the Tamils themselves did not have a collective vision as to where they wanted to go. The accumulating grievances from Sinhala misrule mired the Tamils in self pity and a craving for a past that was fast receding and was never to return. The Tamil response to the application of Dutu Gemunu principles was reactive, rather than visionary. The Ellalans of the day failed miserably to identify long term goals for the Tamils in the context of post-colonial realities and the Dutu Gemunu strategies. The Tamils and their leaders were intent on preserving the inadvertent advantages secured in the colonial era, without realizing that the Dutu Gemunu principles were being ruthlessly
and relentlessly pursued by the Sinhala leadership in a unitary Sri Lanka. Having miserably failed to pursue the federal option in concert with the Kandyan Sinhalese during the pre-independence years, they also failed to chart a course independent of the Sinhala polity in matters of economic importance for the Tamils in the post-independence years. The over dependence on government employment (‘the money order economy’) was the down fall of the Tamils in independent Sri Lanka. The theme song of the Tamils of that era was, ‘Koli meythaalum, kornamenthila meykavernum’ (“Even if you rear chicken, you have to do it in government service’). Every major action formulated by the Dutu Gemunu’s following independence- Sinhala only, standardization of marks for university admissions and abandonment of the principles of excellence/ meritocracy in selections to the public services, flowed from this. The regularly orchestrated riots and accompanying violence were to teach the Tamils lessons for demanding the continuance of the status quo.
The Tamil militancy that reared its head in the 1970s was grounded on the existing economic grievances of the Tamils which were further aggravated by the standardization scheme for university admissions introduced by the Sirimavo Bandaranaike government in a very cavalier manner. The emphasis placed by the Tamils on education and the professions (medicine, engineering etc.) to achieve upward social mobility and economic success was seriously undermined by this measure. The youth who were prepared life long to pursue education related goals to secure employment were left in the lurch overnight with no alternatives and there was
no one to guide them to alternatives. The frustration of the youth took the form of an armed uprising and swept in its wake the Ellalans of the day. With time what has resulted is the LTTE (the present Ellalans) and they have done no better in the long run. The Dutu Gemunu’s have come through with their power to decide our destiny intact and with no lasting damage on their side of the fence. It is the Tamils who have suffered immensely and have been reduced to their present pathetic state.
The Ellalans of the past and present have failed the Tamils miserably, in the face of the Dutu Gemunu principles and strategy. We should have struggled to safeguard and develop our empty and cultivable lands, when there was an opportunity to do so, without being parochial and tied to our over crowded villages and towns. We should have demanded for and developed our own universities and technical educational institutions. We should have developed and modernized our agricultural and fisheries sector. We should have turned our sights away from secure government employment to the adventure of self employment. We should have transformed ourselves from a timid and security conscious to a vigourous and adventurous people. We should have resisted the migration of our people to foreign climes, without rejoicing and taking
pride in it. We should have concentrated in developing the north and east with our own resources. We should have never invited the civil war to our door steps. We miserably failed to do what should have been done in all these matters. It is a pity that we are yet pursuing the same mistakes. We are now failing to mobilize the resources of the Tamil Diaspora and the international community to fund development and resurgence in the north and east. We are yet pursuing options that are outdated and have fatally hurt the Tamils. We are visionless and absolutely unrealistic. For how long are we going to wallow in self pity and dwell on a hapless past? We have yet not learnt our lessons. We are probably incapable of doing so. We have to seek not Ellalans as our leaders- he was after all a miserable failure at the end- but some one of the likes of Ponambalam Ramanathan or Lee Kuan Yu.
We need leaders who have vision and can inspire us. Their vision should become our vision. We need leaders who are capable of leading us to the goals envisioned, and can identify the principles and strategies to do so. We need leaders who are just, righteous and brave. We need leaders who are democratic and are responsive to the peoples needs. We need leaders who are not tyrants. We need leaders who will unite us and not divide us. We need leaders who are with us and not above us. We need leaders who will help us prosper and not prey on us. We need leaders who are an asset and not a burden. We need leaders who can be respected rather than be feared. We need leaders who are flexible, practical and pragmatic. We needs leaders who can make us overcome the trauma of the past, be enthused about the present and be optimistic about the future. We need leaders who are aware of the world and understand its dynamics. We need leaders who can inspire us to come back to our land, repopulate it, make it prosper and prosper with it. We need leaders who can make us learn to co-exist with the Sinhalese and Muslims, with self respect and dignity.
We need a new leadership with all the above and more. If we fail to get such leadership soon, the Dutu Gemunu principles and strategies will ensure that we will become non-entities in Sri Lanka. Time is running out for us. As correctly pointed out by Niro Dissanaike, “My friends-it was never the ‘Sinhalaya’ who was the ‘Modaya’.
Take a good look at your selves. The Sinhalese leaders even put our former British rulers to shame in terms of strategy” (a ‘Modaya’ is an idiot or fool).
Interesting perspective in a well written article which yet again illustrates completely why the Sri Lankan Tamil 'problem' exists.
To the majority of the Sri Lankans, the question as to which is the problem; whether it is the tamils themselves, or problems raised by them, even today remains unanswered.
As a Sri Lankan Sinhalese, I have associated with a lot of tamils who have lived more priviledged lives than I have and listened to their unceasing complaints of discrimination. Even today, a close tamil friend who enjoyed a free college education in Sri Lanka and is holding a coveted position in Colombo complains about lack of educational priviledges for fellow tamils due to discrimination by Sinhalese, when I, a Sinhalese also never recieved the free education he did. This is what leads the vast majority of Sinahlese to surmise that the Tamils will always resort to unceasing complaints to obtain unreasonable advantages over others and when failing, resort to violence. It is their way, or none. Violence is around the corner and so feel threatened. Today's world calls that Terrorism and in Sri Lanka it has earned a level of burning wrath that will most likely last a generation.
Sri Lankan tamils will not 'feel' a sense of belonging until they want to, to the place of their birth. And they prefer to blame it on others, conveniently the sinhalese. It hasn't worked for over half a century, so maybe there's a different approach they should try.
Sri Lankan tamil leaders still refer to ethnic preferences, while the sinhalese address everyone's issues. For over half a century the Tamil leaders haven't learnt a thing. If you want to be considered a part of our society, accept everyone as human and having similar needs.
Exclusivity has led the Sri Lankan tamils no where. It will lead them nowhere in years to come too. If you continue to do what you've always done, the same result will be yours.
There are no Dutu Gemunus holding sway in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lankan too there are a few fringe lunatics like in every other nation who consider themselves superior to everyone else. We cannot shoot them, so the best way forward is to ignore them. The tamils need to learn to stop looking at a few lunatics to judge millions of other sane people among who they can live in equality.
The whining and the underlying threat, which permeates through even this document is what gets under the skin of each and every Sinhalese, when it comes to dealing with Tamils. We wish nothing more than to live in peace with everyone.
If the Tamils don't like being a part of an inclusive society still, well maybe the remaining few too should migrate somewhere else.
Perhaps a place in the arctic may provide an exclusive place where they can live in complete isolation, without the corrupting influences of the wider society.
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