WHO SPEAKS FOR THE SINHALAS IN THE EAST?
The organisers of pongus have been prevented from hoisting the eelam flag in Trincomalae and the whole show has been cut down to a few hours, though the pongu was supposed to go on for at least four days. The pongus are nothing but political shows organised by the LTTE to "demonstrate " to the world including the Norwegians that all the Tamils are with the LTTE. They are not very much different from the political rallies organised by the main political parties when they want to show the country (they do not have to convince the world at large as the necessity does not arise) that they have support among the "masses". In any event who prevented the pongu organisers from hoisting the eelam flag? It is not the UNP, not the SLMC that are partners in a government and not the LSSP, the CP, the Mahajana Party or the Desha Vimukthi Party of Mr. Podiappuhamy or even the NSSP that gave leadership to whoever was responsible for putting up a fight against the "invincible" terrorists in their intended capital. Neither it was the SLFP that does not know whether it is coming or going. The JVP is not very active in the eastern province, where more or less equal numbers of Sinhalas, Tamils and Muslims are present, and is not seen much in the area though they talk of equality for Sinhalas, Tamils and the Muslims.
The western social scientists, including the post colonialists talk of a "sub-species" called the subalterns. It was Gayathri Spivak who asked "can the subalterns speak?". Some are of the opinion that the subalterns do not and cannot speak and that they have to be represented by somebody else. It is not a question of the subalterns not speaking but a problem of they being not heard. Subalterns do not speak the western languages, both literally and literary and therefore they are not heard. People like Gayathri Spivak, Edward Said and the other post colonialists and also the western feminists are heard simply because they speak English and French both literally and literary, but do not speak Arabic or Hindi. Their idiom is the same as that of the other western intellectuals and very often they try to establish that the so-called stereotype characterisations of the Asians, Africans, women by the western male intellectuals are wrong. There is nothing wrong in principle with stereotype descriptions, they being some sort of generalisations. Why not accept that the Asians are different from the westerners and women are different from men in general and try to create knowledge or worlds as seen by the Asians, Africans and women. The "Orientalism" of Said is not different from most of the Asians who gave leadership to the "independence" struggles. Those leaders tried to demonstrate to the west that they were capable of ruling their countries the way the westerners had ruled them. The "Orientalism" questions the way that the west has understood or created the orient. The orientalists produced by the faculties of oriental studies wanted to show that the oriental way of thinking was not different from the western thinking. For example, Dr. K. N. Jayathilake wanted to present catuskoti as a logical system not different from the two valued formal logic. Said and others would like to show that the Asians think the same way as the westerners. I am afraid this is not the case and "Jathika Chinthanaya" questions this position and insists that we should create our own worlds not being confined to the periphery of the world created by the westerners.
I am not trying to say that the Sinhalas are subalterns in the eastern province but even if they are subalterns there is nobody to speak for or represent them. However, their presence is felt and the "invincible" terrorists, led by a murderer and supported and promoted by the west, cannot do in Trincomalae what they did in Vavuniya. Though the presence of the Sinhalas in the eastern province is felt the main political parties behave as if there were no Sinhalas in the eastern province. They are present but not re-presented. Mr. Rauf Hakeem is not like Mr. Vimal Weerasinghe and the "SLMC is not like the JVP". According to Mr. Hakeem unlike the JVP, the SLMC is not against the MOU. But he has apparently complained to the prime minister about the plight of the Muslims in the eastern province. According to some Tamil newspapers, Mr. Hakeem had given an ultimatum to the prime minister but Mr. Hakeem has been very alert and denied it in no time. Not only Mr. Hakeem but even the governor of the western province Mr. Alavi Moulana is concerned about the Muslims in the eastern province. Thank Allah and/or the Sinhala Buddhists, the most cruel people on the earth, according to the west, after the Arabs, that Mr. Moulana does not have to be concerned about the Muslims in the western province that he governs.(After all governors are supposed to govern, aren't they?) In fact, both Mr. Hakeem and Mr. Moulana would have been spared those anxious moments praying for the Muslims in the eastern province if the cruel Sinhala Buddhist king Senerath did not settle the Muslims in that province when they were treated like kings by the humanitarian Roman Catholic Portuguese. The king Senerath was not only cruel, but was aggressive enough to violate the sovereignty of the "Tamil Kingdom" and settle those Muslims who were very happy, in the areas that came to be identified as Tamil homeland after 1976. Strangely enough who ever ruled the then "Tamil Kingdom" in the present eastern province had not objected or raised even a finger against this act of the king Senerath. The king could get away with all these as they did not have conferences, workshops and pre paid tickets to the west - there were neither aeroplanes then to go with visas nor sea planes to go without visas- to advice the king, who had been a Bhikku, on Theravada Buddhism and conflict resolution. It is also unfortunate that Norway did not have a clergy as the prime minister then as he could have objected to Vesak being recognised (but not declared) as a holiday (how could Vesak be a holy day?) and sent a team to Sinhale, as Sri Lanka was known then (Ceylon, Ceylan are derived from Sinhalan, Sihalan), as monitors. The Portuguese should have organised a few conferences on Theravada Buddhism, the myth of Mahavansa etc.,at least in Goa inviting some lay "intellectuals" and a few Bhikkus. Unfortunately for Messrs. Hakeem and Moulana there were no graduates and postgraduates and Palli Nikayas during the time of the king Senerath and now they have to worry about the Muslims in the eastern province. Mr. Hakeem with all these problems is determined to remain as a minister and one should "admire" him for his qualities.
In any event, the Muslims in the eastern province are represented by the SLMC, SLMC (Ms. Ashraf wing ), and people like Mr. Moulana in the SLFP. However, the Sinhalas in the eastern province are not represented by any of the political parties. Neither they are represented by the individuals in the political parties. Mr. Dayaratne of the UNP from the Ampara district is silent about the plight of the Sinhalas in the eastern province. On the otherhand Mr. Gunawardane of the PA from Seruwila appears to be somewhat worried about the pongus but unlike Mr. Moulana, is not making any noise about the Sinhalas in his electoral district and in the eastern province in general.
On the otherhand Prabhakaran, a humanitarian according to a retired Bishop, has his own plans. He has not changed his ethnic cleansing policy and would like to have a "pure" eelam. The Muslims in the eastern province and the SLMC would ask for their own "homeland". Already some Muslim organisations have formulated their own "Thimpu" conditions and they are asking for self determination, recognition of their homeland etc. Mr. Hakeem's future is very uncertain and he may have to recognise somebody else as the sole representative of the Muslims in Sri Lanka. We do not know what would be the policy of the west with respect to the Muslims in the eastern province. They could decide to destroy the Muslim "terrorists" or encourage the Muslims initially making Sri Lanka worse than either Israel - Palestine or Serbia.
In the meantime the Sinhalas in the eastern province have been abandoned. They do not have leaders and they are not represented. They speak but they are not heard. The Sinhalas in the other areas, presently are interested in going on pilgrimages to Seruwila and Somawathie Chaithyas and having a bath of hot water in Kinniya, forgetting that the Sinhalas in the eastern province are in hot water as a result of the MOU and talks on talks etc. The LTTE terrorists have already violated the MOU in the eastern province and even the government has been compelled to make a complaint to the monitors. The government may complain but the monitors who are on the side of the LTTE, will in the final report find fault with the Sri Lankan army for violations of the MOU.
What has to be understood is that it is the eastern province and not the northern province that is important for the Tamil racists and the westerners including the Norwegians. Long ago the Tamil racists wanted a university in Trincomalae which was later recognised as the capital of the eelam. The mythical history of the Tamils, the myth of a Tamil homeland including the eastern province have been created without an iota of historical or archaeological evidence in order to annex the eastern province to the eelam. Under the MOU the LTTE terrorists have a free hand in the eastern province and they have already moved into strategic places. Dr. G. L. Pieris could say that the MOU does not allow the LTTE to act that way. As far as the LTTE is concerned the MOU is a document that has to be respected only by the Sri Lankan government and the army. With the monitors on their side the LTTE knows very well that the MOU is an open document as applied to them.
The Sinhalas in the eastern province are at the receiving end of the pongus and the other political activities of the terrorists. The LTTE and the other Tamil racists want to ethnic cleanse the eastern province and have it for themselves. The MOU and the talks on talks give the LTTE the time to dominate the eastern province. Once they are in control of the eastern province we would see the end of the MOU and the talks on talks. Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, in consultation with the Norwegians may be having his own agenda for asymmetrical devolution of power to the northern and the eastern provinces. In the meantime the fascist murderer Prabhakaran again in consultation with the Norwegians has his own plans to establish a confederation, which is nothing but a de-facto eelam. The Tamil racists are interested only in a referendum held in the northern and eastern provinces for their "self determination". This means that the LTTE has to make sure that the people in those two provinces would vote in favour of "self rule". There won't be any elections in these two provinces until the LTTE is in a position to take control of elections. The "independent" commissioner of elections can go on postponing elections until the LTTE decides to have elections. In the meantime the LTTE would take a decision on the Muslims and especially the Sinhalas, in the eastern province, who are an obstacle to establish a confederation. The Sinhalas in the eastern province at the moment are speaking without being heard, in the absence of leaders.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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