Dr Sudath Gunasekara President Senior Citizens Movement Mahanuwara 26. 7.2015
We all know that all right thinking and sane Tamils and Muslims accept that this is the land of the Sinhala people (Sinhaladveepa or Lankadveepa) as it had been known for the past 2500 years or more. I don’t think there is any debate over that non-negotiable fact by any sensible Tamil or Muslim or any other sane man on earth. They also know that Sinhala Kings and people in the yore have provided safety and security to all ethnic and religious minorities in times of their distress; of course other than in instances where they have openly challenge the formers sovereignty over their motherland. This is what they did to Cholas and Maghas when they invaded northern Lanka from the 2nd century up to the 13th C. When Muslims rushed to King Senarath of Kandy in distress, when they were massacred by the Portuguese in the south western littorals, they were settled in Panamapttuwa and provided safety by King Senarath on Sinhale land. Muslims were also given lands and accommodated in different parts of the country by all Sinhala Kings to carry on their business safely. They were also given permission to marry Sinhala women. Ungrateful and shameless jihadists like Hakeem who have forgotten history and jump from this party to that party, I am sure will never be pardoned by Allah for the disgraceful manner they behave and betray the Sinhala people who gave them protection accommodation.
Even the South Indian Tamils who were left behind by the invaders in the past or those who came here subsequently for trade or brought by the Dutch and British as labourers to work on their tobacco farms in Jaffna and other menial jobs were absorbed as an integral part of the Sinhala society without any discrimination. But unfortunately all these ungrateful remnants have forgotten their past. Unfortunately they forgot that they were on somebody else’s land and they adopted the proverbial ‘itteye geta Vedunu Kaballeya’s attitude (Kaballeya-Pangolin) that got in to the den of porcupine and now trying to ousted the porcupine) and now trying to ousted the native Sinhalese and own their country. This in sum is the crust of the present ethnic problem in Sri Lanka. That is why crazy and power hungry Tamil politicians create problems for the Government by asking for self determination and federal status for this bunch of remnants of South Indian invaders. I have no problem in understanding the attitude of savage murderer like Pirabaharan but it is impossible to fathom the behaviour of people like Sambandan and Vignesvaran who are supposed to be educated and cultured.
Looking back to history we find prominent Tamil leaders like Ponnambalam Ramanadanan and Arunachalam in the early 20th C fought side by side with the Sinhala leaders to liberate this country from the British. They never claim for a separate Kingdom at that time. They all stood as one nation, Ceylonese (which simply meant the people of the Sinhale which they accepted), as we were named by the colonial powers as it was the name of this country that was handed over to the British under the Kandyan Convention in 1815. Obviously people of Sinahale were naturally Sinhalese. Ethnically they could be Tamils, Muslims or any other. But none of them could claim to be an Indian or Arab. The country up to 1815 was known as Sinhale or Lanka the world over and no one can contest this fact. Only on 2nd March 1815 the English named it as Ceylon which again simply means the land of the Sinhalese. As such there was no disagreement between anybody on that issue in the early days. That is why they all together formed the Ceylon National Congress to fight for independence (that is National Congress of Sinhale). The word EELAM, invented by Tigers to call this country also simply meant Sinhale and nothing else. The common South Indian adage ‘EELAM kandavar illam kanukka illei” (A malayali man who sees Lanka or the Sinhale will never come home; word EELAM here means Sinhale) clearly proves the unquenched thirst and greed South Indian hungry Tamils had to conquer this Land throughout history.
The turning point for the split of the Nation began in 1921 when Arunachalam broke away from the Ceylon National Congress to form the Ceylon Tamil Congress thereby dividing the Sinahala nation in to two antagonistic groups as Sinhalese and Tamils for the first time in the history of this country. This was followed by the famous 50, 50 demand by G. G. Ponnambalam in early 1930s and brought to a climax by Chelvanayagam with the formation of Ilankai Tamil Arasukachchi (Lanka Tamil Party), which he dubbed as Federal Party, in 1947. This crazy Tamil communal trend reached its climax with the formation of the separatist militant group LTTE in 1980s adopting the Cholan totem tiger, who waged a barbaric an d savage war against the Sri Lankan Government and peaceful Sinhalese, seeking a separate State called EELAM, paradoxically which also means the Land of the Sinhala people. The initial EELAM Kingdom they conceived as a coastal land covering 1/3 the area of the Island extending from Puttalam in the west to Kataragama in the south eastern end, with 2/3 the coastal belt claiming as the Traditional Homeland of Tamils who constitute less than 5% of the total population of this Island nation. There has never been a historical Tamil Homeland anywhere in this country, other than temporary rule of Sankili the usurper in the Jaffna Peninsula in the early 16th century.
Had the Ceylon National Congress, where all Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim leaders worked together continued until 1948 and the name of the country Sinhale restored at Independence and Tamils had not started their wild communal cry, definitely this country with its enormous resources would have been a paradise on earth by now. Squarely I attribute all the devastations and setbacks since independence to the aforesaid communal and racist approach adopted by Tamil politicians who were brainwashed by the Colonial British. British planted the seeds of communal hatred on this Island to keep the nation divided. Adding further complication to this issue now the Muslims, who were given shelter and security, also claim a distinct nationality and a separate territory as a bunch of ungrateful intruders also have started to add additional fuel to this communal fire. This was started by Ashroff and now continued by people like Hakeem, Rishard Badurdeen and Asad Sali. These idiots always talk of ‘our people’ meaning Muslims. This clearly proves that they serve only Muslim interest.
Added to this the Estate sector Tamils leaders also have started to follow suit by trying to establish a separate identity and a separate territory -Malayanadu right at the centre of this country. Tamils and Muslims have now joined hands, though they are sworn enemies, in theory, as Tamil speaking people to make things even worse. Adding fuel to the burning fire former colonial power England now led by America and Sri Lanka’s traditional and eternal enemy India have thrown their full weight to destroy the Sinhala Buddhist civilization in this country. This trend is clearly seen with the direct intervention by the Ambassadors of these countries in all the country’s internal matters highlighted by the recent Presidential Election.
The tragedy is that none of the Tamil and Muslim politicians are prepared to accept this country as the land of the Sinhalese. The so-called Sinhala leaders also have miserably failed to assert and get the world to accept that this is the Land of the Sinhalese as it had been for 2500 years. Over the past several years the minorities, particularly the Tamils have been busy inventing new histories to prove their claims to the land. Both Tamils and Muslims want to have separate kingdoms within Lanka. Tamil politicians wants to have an EELAM here and Muslims like Hakeem, Badurdeen and Asad Sali wants to make this an Arabia and push the Sinhalese in to the Indian Ocean. They never understand the futility of this day dream. Indian invaders starting from Sena Guttika in the 2nd century BC and ending up with Cholian Kalinga Maga in the 12th century and the latest Pirapaharan the LTTE leader have failed to do this thanks to our Great Kings like Dutugemunu and Vijaya bahu and the patriotic men in the past and to our beloved leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Secretary to the Ministry of Defense and the members of three forces and the patriotic people in modern history 2009.
Therefore at least now these communal Tamil and Muslim politicians must realize that theirs is only a pipe dream that could never be realized as long as a single Sinhala man or women is alive in this country. They were the people who invented settlements in this country :they were the people who made nearly 15,000 irrigation tanks all over the country culminating in Parakrama samudraya (sea of Parakrama 6000 acres in extent) in Polonnaruwa and canals and paddy fields they were the people who made temples and massive Stupas and colossal Buddhist religious structure carved living monumental statues like samadhhi statue in Anuradhapura, Avukana and Polonnaruwa Galviharaya; they were the people who made world wonders like famous Sigiriya frescoes and in short they were the architects of the ‘Wonder that is Sri Lankan civilization’ an ancient heritage to the whole world from the 3rd Century BC to date. I challenge any Tamil or Muslim politician or an academic historian to show me a single archaeological edifice of this magnitude constructed by their so-called Kings who were supposed to have ruled this country. It was the Sinhalese who had sacrificed the lives in millions over the centuries to defend this country against firstly, from South India and from the West thereafter. There wasn’t a single Tamil or a Muslim to my knowledge who had fought or died in defense of this country.
You will recall how Sinhala people have been shifting from place to place like gypsies in desperation to save this civilization from the ruthless south Indian invaders throughout history starting from Anuradhapura onwards. Then Polonnaruwa, Yapahuwa, Dambadeniya, Kurunegala. Gampola, Dambadeniya, Kotte and finally Senkadagala. Even at present the ruins of the burned down Palace of King Parakramabahu in Polonnaruwa bares witness to the kind of vandalism these barbarous South Indian invaders have inflicted on this great civilization. All this is part of our true history. And no one should expect the Sinhalese to forget such savages and barbaric vandalism in the name of reconciliation
Therefore if they and their followers want to live here as Sri Lankan citizens
1 They must immediately give up all their claims for separate Kingdoms and separate identity
2they must accept this country as the de facto and de jure land of the Sinhala Buddhist people
3 Agree to live as brothers and sisters of the Sinhalese without trying to be the owners of the land and ousted them from their motherland
4 give up all attachment to India and Arabia and resolve to live as countrymen of the Sinhale or Sri Lanka.
5 If this is not possible then they have to find their own countries and vanish from this Lanka of the Sinhalese without creating problems for us and themselves as well.
On the other hand the best advice I can give to those rootless cosmopolitan Singalese people like Ranil, Mangala, Wijedasa Rajapaksa and Wickramabahu and all others of the same genre is please immediately stop betraying the Motherland and the Sinhala people any more. If you can’t do so please keep out of politics and mind some other business that keeps you people going.
Meanwhile the Sinhala politicians who run after Tamils and Muslims begging for their votes should also immediately stop this dirty game. Division of the Sinhala vote as UNP, SLFP is the main reason behind the increased bargaining power of the minorities. This situation can never be overcome until either the main Sinhala parties get together or the Tamil and Muslim politicians change their stance and give up their communal politics and concede to the reality that they are only minor ethnic groups living in a country where the Sinhala people forms the majority. I am sure you all know what happened to the frog that tried to be as big as a water buffaloa?
My Appeal to the nation!
All Sinhalese must unite under one banner, under an unassailable Sinhala leadership like of a man like Mahinda Rajapaksa who saved this nation from its virtual subjugation to Tamil terrorists in 2009.
- I am afraid the way things are currently shaping up in the political scenario in this country it appears as if we are heading for disaster. The main cause for this tragic trend is the lack of a common bondage firstly, among the Sinhalese and then among all ethnic groups as a nation. Until and unless the three main communities such as the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims stands under one banner as one nation this problem will never be resolved. Even if you fight as long as the sun and moon shall last this problem will remain unsolved and intractable. The irony is, it is the politicians of Tamil and Muslim communities who ignite communal hatred and fan the communal fires for political gain, though the common people of all three communities are ever ready to live together as one nation.
- If you can live together, work and do business together, till the land together, eat together, dress alike, go to the same temple together, worship the same gods, intermarry why the hell you people can’t think of the country and the posterity together and do politics together? You have already wasted nearly 68 years of your precious life fighting with the Sinhalese and having brought disaster to tens of thousands of innocent Sinhalese as well as Tamils, crippled the country’s economy with even darker clouds hanging over this beautiful Island. I want you to address your own conscience and find answers to these questions without indulging in vicious ethnic thinking any more. The day you do that you all will be hailed and worshiped as heroes and the saviours of this beautiful Island nation and its proud civilization and unique heritage by all citizens in this country.
I appeal to all Tamil and Muslim politicians to understand this reality, as I have outlined above, and give up communal politics at least now without making the mistake you did almost for 100 years. Wind up your communal political parties before the Government does it, give up selfish and narrow communal politics and rally round the major national parties to build up a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka without gambling with the destiny of a nation. Give up your day dream of Eelam and Khalistan. Let the legacy of communal hatred and suspicion your predecessors instilled in you be discarded and forgotten forever and let us together begin a new civilization and a new culture in the name of posterity and a new Sri Lanka.
In the event they don’t listen I strongly urge the Government to ban all communal political parties like the TNA and SLMC forth with as they pose a serious threat to territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of this Island nation.