Years ago, just after the 13th Amendment to the
Constitution first found on-the-ground expression in the form of provincial
councils, the EPRLF-led North-Eastern Provincial Council called itself ‘The
Government of the North-East of Sri
Lanka ’.
I cannot remember Dayan Jayatilleke, at the time quite cosy in the lap
of Eelamists and Eelamism, objecting to the nomenclature (then as now). Language, ladies and gentlemen, is not
innocent.
The other day I was reading an interview given to the Ravaya
by Elmore Perera. The title picked up
from the interview implied that somehow the Sinhalese are solely to blame for
the so-called ‘ethnic’ conflict; that the onus is on the Sinhalese to reach out
and that if this was not done the island would be divided. Elmore showing a marked ignorance of history
reduces source of conflict to the Sinhala Only Act. He forgets the racism and chauvinism of
Ponnambalam Ramanathan, the separatist intent of Tamil politics pre-dating
1956, especially those of G.G. Ponnambalam and S.J.V. Chelvanayagama and of
course the unsubstantiated claims regarding traditional homelands. All he can point to is perceptions of
depravation and un-belonging, which of course no one can resolve through
legislation.
He had interesting things to say about IDPs. He thinks that IDPs are used to living with
landmines and therefore wants the Government to let them all return to their
original places of residence. Easy for Elmore to say because a) Elmore won’t
lose a leg to an LTTE Jonny-batta, and b) Elmore won’t have to take the flak if
indeed Sinnatamby or Krishanthi steps on one.
Let’s call it ‘difference of opinion’ and leave it at this, though. There are more serious things to worry about.
Elmore, interestingly, even as he advocates all kinds of
things in the purported interest of keeping the nation undivided, deliberately
feeds separatism by championing divisive and separatist language. There was a time when people called those
areas that were under attack from the LTTE or where the battle raged ‘border
areas/villages’. That was a near
Eelamist slip-in. It gave implicit legitimacy to the Eelamist lie regarding
exclusive traditional homelands. This
gave way to ‘threatened areas/villages’ as people cottoned on to what was
happening. The other device is the
reference to a ‘North’ and a ‘South’. This is old but people like Elmore keep
it ‘new’.
The moment you start talking of a ‘North’ and a ‘South’, you
not only assert a division, anticipate and promote a division, you even give
the uninitiated, naïve outsider an utterly skewed picture of ethnic
compositions and residencies. It implies
that the Tamils live in the northern half of the island while the Sinhalese
live ‘down under’.
Immediately the geographical, demographical, archaeological
and historical realities get brushed aside.
The fact that the North and East (i.e. the provinces that go by those
names) constituted the heartland of Buddhist heritage gets erased. The fact
that 53% of Tamils live outside these areas gets brushed aside. All of a sudden we don’t have 9 provinces. We
just have two. Where does the South meet
the North, will Elmore tell us? Or will he say ‘that’s just an expression’? Would he then say ‘bastard’ is also an
‘expression’ and so too ‘thalaya’?
These terms are the lie-feeders and the users of these terms
actively feel the Eelam-lie. They are
not innocent. Elmore knows enough and
therefore can leave out things carefully just as he underlines other things.
Carefully. He’s no baby in this
business. Neither is Dayan
Jayatilleke. When he (Dayan) refers to
the Tamils as ‘them’ he immediately assumes the role of ‘Spokesperson for the
Sinhalese’ and does so in a manner that conflates ‘Sinhala’ with ‘Sri Lankan
State
I doubt that Elmore will believe he has to do any
soul-searching; he operates as though he knows it all. Well then, counsellor, how about elaborating
on your choice of line with respect to ethno-political geographies?
malindasenevi@gmail.com
This article was first published in the 'Daily News' on November 23, 2010
0 comments:
Post a Comment