The Sri Lankan constitution: the political conspiracy behind ethnic hostility.
A single voice resounds from afar. It's a lonely voice.
A middle-aged Sinhalese addresses his grandson who is called up:
Why are you going to war? To defend your territory? Since when do Tamils own their land? The rest of us are landless. First ask these politicians and Buddhist monks if they can make us transfer the surplus of the land to those who enjoy it? If not, what land will you recover?
Aren't you Sinhalese too? You don't even own a piece of land in the country of your ancestors. Yet you are asked to participate in the war. You must defend the land where you took root, not where they took root. You must wage war against this government, your enemy. We are misleading you.
It is by despoiling the Tamils that this government gave land to those who had none. Is there not enough land in southern Sri Lanka? Did the first Sinhalese settle in Galle? And then why did the government order the Tamils to vacate their possession overnight? What lost land must be restored for peace to become permanent.
“Are you going to borrow the gun from them to kill the Tamils? Are you going to kill Tamils with the gun you borrowed from those selfish political dogs? These will let you go ahead to sacrifice yourself. They push you towards crime. Don't waste your life as a murderer. »
This voice has never been heard before. It's the first time we hear it. This voice is that of Ratna Nayakka, an elderly character from Guna Kaviyazaghan's novel Garppanilam. The character may be fictional, but he reveals the truth, nothing but the truth.
That the Sinhalese took over the lands inhabited by the Tamils, is that part of the psychology of the Sinhalese? Or a habit that has been born since the beginning of humanity?
When did this psychology of the Sinhalese majority originate? One would be tempted to say that it was from the moment the Sinhalese gained independence in 1948. That would be wrong.
“This attitude is the poisonous fruit of a tree that took root approximately over 2250 years ago. It is one of the oldest institutions in the world, and one of the best organized. She associated herself with religion. It has hardened over time and passed on through monarchs and people in political power. »
The objective that the Mahavamsa has proposed is to defend Buddhism. When a thing has become institutionalized, it will always act as much. But what did the Mahavamsa do through his monks?
"Any child who upholds Buddha Dharma is Buddha's child," says the Buddhist monk. “When the child grows up, his duty is to protect his religion,” he adds. In Guna's novel, Sumattri, the Sinhalese, was flabbergasted.
“How can the religion of a pacifist incite war? The war for the religion that opposes the war? This dharma is a contradiction in terms. Is the religion of the Tamils a threat? What war did they start? »
To neutralize any man and any community who do not adhere to their religion: this is the objective that the Mahavamsa, the Buddhist monks, the government and the politicians imbued with powers have set themselves.
The constitution is the written proof.
Every country has a constitution. That of Sri Lanka, known as Donoughmore, was already in force in 1831, with the agreement of the British.
In parallel with the Indian National Congress leading the struggle for Indian independence, in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka National Congress led by Sir Pon Arunachalam, Tamil, launched the independence movement.
Six years later, Tamils set up Jaffna Youth Congress. It was this organization that invited Mahatma Gandhi to Jaffna in November 1927. Suddenly Great Britain began to take a dim view of it because, from their point of view, Jaffna Youth Congress emulated India on the road to independence. She saw it as a threat to her supremacy. It was at this time that the constitution known as Donoughmore was written.
In 1947, still under the British regime, the so-called Soulbury constitution came into force, prepared under the direction of the latter.
At a time when countries everywhere else in the world were rebelling against the political domination of the British, the Sinhalese felt the slightest need for it. Hostile against the Indians, they gave their support to the British.
Their attitude crystallized in the so-called Soulbury constitution. It was Senanayake, leader of the Sinhalese who would later become the first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, who collaborated in the preparation of this constitution with the aim of using it in favor of the Sinhalese. Indeed, on his return to England in 1961, Soulbury would regret that his work had served as the basis for all the atrocities committed against the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
The above constitution induces a religion which is supposed to hate war to become one which prefers war.
In Tamil, “it is said that before the arrival of the elephant, one hears the sound of its bells”. Likewise, with the Sinhalese, whenever the outbreak of racism and aggression breaks out, it will be followed by a constitution that will allow it.
The 2018 constitution of the current Srisena regime will silence the policy of compensation for the victims of Mullivaikal, but will instead justify the racist carnage. “From Donoughmore to Sirisena, any constitution only reflects the political situation of the country,” says political science researcher M.M. Thirunavukarasu. He adds that a constitution is identified “not with the words it contains, but with its functioning”.
The word constitution designates the way democracy should work. But in Srilanka, this word adapts badly to reality. It is the racist policy of Sri Lanka which constitutes the main theme of the remarks made by M.M. Thirunavukarasu who knows the ins and outs of this country.
Today the Tamils of Eelam are scattered all over the world. The countries where they live do not belong to them. It is racism that has disseminated them in these countries, more particularly in Canada, England, France and Germany. Their story full of dramas, it is not enough to tell it to us among ourselves. It must be made known throughout the whole world, in French in France, in English in Canada, in Great Britain and in German in Germany. The responsibility rests with every Tamil in Eelam.
This French translation is the first step towards this goal. By publishing it, we have only one desire: the Tamils in exile must continue the task in the language of the country where they live.
- Pa.Jeyapirakasam
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