THE EAST IS EAST
The Tamil racists are at it again. It is the eastern province that they want to annex to their separate state centered around Jaffna peninsula first. In order to misguide the people and also to make a stronger claim to the eastern province, they have from the very beginning, in their attempt to establish a separate state, have stated that Trincomalee would be the capital city of the eelam envisaged by them. Prbahakaran's political uncles in the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK- the Lanka Tamil State Party, the so-called Federal Party) led by the Tamil racist S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, as well the grand uncles the Ponnambalam brothers were interested in Trincomalee. As mentioned in the biography of Chelvanayakam written by his only son in law A. J. Wilson, the leaders of the ITAK wanted a "Tamil" university to be established in Trincomalee long time ago. It is ironical that Trincomalee to date has no university though there are three universities established in the northern and the eastern provinces.
The east had never been a kingdom of the Tamils. For that matter neither the Jaffna peninsula had been a kingdom of the Tamils. In fact there had not been any Tamil kingdom anywhere in the world including South India. The kingdoms in South India were Chola, Pandya, Chera, Pallawa, Vijaya Nagar, etc., and were not Tamil as such. The Jaffna kingdom established by Magha in the thirteenth century was called the Arya Chakravarthin Kingdom and not a Tamil kingdom. It is said that Magha came from Kalinga (present Orissa - according to some he came from Malaya presently called Malaysia) and his troops were from Kerala. It should be interesting to find out whether these people who settled down in Jaffna spoke Tamil or Malayalam or even a proto Malayalam. In any event there was no Tamil or Malayalam or even a Telengu Kingdom in the present eastern province and the area had been under the Sinhala kings. The Tamil spoken in Batticaloa is somewhat different from the Tamil spoken in Jaffna and is closer to the Tamil spoken in Tamil Nadu. None of these Tamils could have been derived from Hela or Elu as some Tamil racists claim. If that is the case then the Tamil spoken in Tamil Nadu also could be said to be derived from Hela as the Tamils spoken in Tamil Nadu and Jaffna have a separation of about three hundred years, according to "Gandara Wasi" who writes to the "Irida Divaina" quoting linguists, implying that Hela was spoken in South India long time ago. According to the same sources, the difference between the Tamils spoken in Tamil Nadu and Batticaloa is less than even three hundred years, implying that the Tamils in the eastern province are descendants of people who were brought from South India by the westerners less than three hundred years ago. As the Muslims were settled down in the present eastern province by king Senerath prior to that, this implies that the Muslims had been in the present eastern province before the Tamils as "permanent residents". Of the three communities Sinhalas, Muslims and Tamils living in the eastern province, the Tamils are of the most recent origin having come there as a result of colonisation by the westerners. The Muslims were "colonised" by the Sinhala kings and naturally the Sinhalas and the Veddas have been living in these areas for thousands of years. The Tamils who are the descendants of those colonised by the westerners and who are the most recent arrivals want this province, demarcated by the British as recently as 1889, as part of the Tamil homeland and oust the others. The only "evidence" that the Tamil racists can make in support of their claim that the eastern province is part of the Tamil homeland, I suppose, originates from the fact that the province was demarcated not long after the Tamils were settled down along the eastern coastal areas mainly by the British. Historically the province was demarcated by the British not long after the Tamils were settled down by the British and therefore the eastern province is part of the historical habitats of the Tamils! The Tamils tend to forget that the present eastern province had been part of Ruhunu Rata for thousands of years long before Norman invasion and Britain became a kingdom.
The Tamil racists from the time of Ponnambalam Ramanathan had wanted to suppress the Muslims and their identity. Ramanathan claimed in the latter part of the nineteenth century that he was the representative of the Muslims as well, in the legislative assembly. Incidentally by the time Ramanathan's maternal great grandfather, Mr. Arumugapillai came from South India the Muslims had been settled down in the present eastern province by the Sinhala Buddhist king Senerath. Ramanathan had been appointed by the British to represent the Tamils in the legislative assembly and when there was an agitation for a member to appointed to represent the Muslims, he had said that there was no need for another member as he represented the Muslims as well. (Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy the maternal uncle of Ramanathan was a grand son of Mr. Arumugapillai and son of Mr. A. Coomaraswamy who was the first appointed member to represent the Tamils in the legislative council in 1743. This family that represented the Jaffna Tamils then, could be compared with the Thondamans who represent the Up country Tamils who were brought to Sri Lanka by the British, for the coffee and tea plantations upsetting the demographic patterns about hundred and fifty years after the "Jaffna Tamils" were brought from South India by the Dutch for the tobacco cultivation. It is ridiculous to see these settlers who were brought from South India and colonised by the westerners changing demographic patterns, accusing the Sri Lankan governments for settling Sinhala people in areas where they had been living for thousands of years.) According to Ramanathan the Muslims were Tamil speaking people whose religion was Islam. However, Muslim leaders such as Abdul Aziez and Siddhi Lebbe campaigned against this and finally the British had to appoint a member to represent the Muslims in the legislative assembly. (In "Prabhakaran, Ohuge Seeyala, Baappala Ha Massinaala" translated into English as "An Introduction to Tamil Racism in Sri Lanka" I have shown that Tamil racism was baptised by the British in 1833. However, it has to be emphasised that it was the Dutch who created Tamil racism in the country by not only bringing people from South India for the tobacco cultivation but by creating a mythical history for the Tamils with commissioning of books such as Yalapana Vaipava Malai and encouraging Veddas to become Tamils in the eastern province. In any event the westerners today as well as then had used Tamil racism to deprive Sinhalathva its rightful place in the country. The explicit aspiration of Tamil racism has changed over the years from demanding power at the centre to power at the provinces. Ponnambalam brothers wanted to be the leaders not only of the Tamils but of the Sinhalas and the others as well. Having failed to manoeuvre power at the centre the Tamil racism since 1947 has been demanding a Tamil state. While the explicit aspiration has changed the implicit aspiration, namely to deny the rightful place to Sinhalathva, has remained the same.)
After more than one hundred years the situation has not changed. The muslims in the east know that in spite of (mis) understandings between Mr. Rauf Hakeem and Prabhakaran, the Tamil racists want to control the Muslims in the east. It is alleged by some that some people had removed the crosses recently erected near the third mile post along the Kantale (Gantalawa) Muttur road. Apparently those living in this area in the villages Pattalipuram and Veeramanagar had been converted to Christianity from Hinduism recently. The crosses could have been removed by a disgruntled Hindu but it was the Muslims who were suspected. A Muslim youth had been assaulted by Tamil youth among whom was one Ranjan attached to the Muttur LTTE office. As a result the LTTE office had been attacked by the Muslims. Now the violence has been spilled over to the other areas and Mr. Hakeem now wants the LTTE to honour the pact with him. However, initially he was trying to put the blame on the so-called anti peace movement in the south but to anybody with an iota of intelligence it would have been clear that no body from south could have gone to the east and upset the "peace apple cart". The east may be the peace apple cart but it was cheap politics at the lowest level to accuse the "southerners". ( I can almost hear Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe wooing Mr. Rauf Hakeem singing "oba apple karatte wage, lassana saama kaale...").
The Muslims in the east now demand weapons from Mr. Hakeem. The army has been made inactive by the infamous MOU between Mr. Wickremesinghe and Prabhakaran and the people whether Sinhala Muslim or Tamil are now at the mercy of the Karunas and Karikalans. The Muslims in Valachchena and the Sinhalas in Panama do not want the army to abandon the camps though the MOU demands them to do so before the 2nd of August 2002. The terrorists not only want the army to remove the camps from school buildings and temples but want to arm themselves in order to "protect" their party offices that were opened recently. Apparently a TNA MP is also behind this move and if given permission the LTTE would become the only "official" armed unit that can use weapons in the northern and the eastern provinces.
While the east is on fire the LTTE is attempting to gain maximum "benefits" out of the situation. On the 27th of July a hartaal had been organised in Jaffna by the LTTE to protest against the alleged "assault" on two LTTE terrorists in Kaytes. The vendors have been forced to close down the shops and the school have been closed by force. The army is unable to do anything as the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) would cry foul if the army decides to provide protection to the people. The LTTE has already appointed a terrorist by the name Kutti to "supervise" the work of the GA Jaffna and the latter cannot order even a broomstick without the approval of the former. The MOU has made the LTTE governing authority in the Jaffna peninsula and gradually the Karunas and Karikalans are becoming the governors of the eastern province. The LTTE and the Tamil racists, following Chelvanayakam, have been trying to annex the eastern province to Jaffna so far without success. Hakeem's agreements with Prabhakaran would not work and the Sinhalas and the Muslims in the eastern province have become the first to rise against the dictatorship of Tamil racism under the MOU.
The LTTE is now eyeing for the high security zone in Jaffna. They are demanding the reopening of the Union College Tellippili and Nadeshar College in the high security zone as well as the cement factory there. The students of these schools have been provided with other schools and no student is staying at home due to the closure of these two schools. It is obvious that it is not the education of the children nor the production in the cement factory that the LTTE has in mind when it asks for the reopening of these institutions. The LTTE simply wants to enter the high security zone. The SLMM will support the LTTE and the government would be under pressure to reopen the institutions.
The MOU has clearly worked against the government and the people. It is the LTTE that has benefitted from this document that has betrayed the army. The Tamil racists having taken control over the Jaffna administration without firing a shot wants now to do the same thing in the east. However the east is not the north and the LTTE's moves are being resisted. If the LTTE takes control of the east then they will demand the de facto administration they have in the two provinces to be made de jure by a "proclamation" of an "interim administration", that will lead to a separate state in no time with the help of the scandinavian countries. The east has given a good opportunity to the government to "activate" the army whatever may be the reaction of the SLMM and the so-called international community.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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