If one were to revisit national politics in the past half century, it would be evident that the Tamils lack political astuteness. Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam raised the cry of 50:50 in the 1940s in order to bolster his chances of becoming Prime Minister after independence. However, he joined Mr. D. S. Senanayake’s cabinet instead in 1948 and voted with the government to disenfranchise the Indian Tamils. Samuel James Chelvanayakam raised the ante of Tamil nationalism in 1952 but did little to deliver on specifics either. He worked as a lawyer in Colombo, owned estates in the south and invested in Colombo’s private sector. He started the TULF but did nothing to develop the economy of the North East.

The TULF voted into power in 1977 was high on Tamil rhetoric but low in substance. It failed to deliver on the political or economic front. It vowed to win an independent Eelam within one year, but joined the District Development Councils instead. These councils merely had the power of a municipal authority. Mr. Jayewardene had allured them with the benefits of office and the LTTE killed off prominent TULF leaders one by one.

The latest elections results indicate the continuing folly of Tamil politics. Mr. D. Siddhartan had suggested that the Tamil parties field a common electoral list in the North East but the TULF opposed it. Voter turn out in predominantly Tamil regions of the North East was low by national standards. The successful Tamil parties merely secured a sum of 210,000 votes there. No Tamil candidate managed to win Trincomalee as five Tamil political parties had divided the fragile Tamil vote in that district. Trincomalee, ancient port and home to a much venerated 4th century Hindu temple, is at the core of Sri Lankan Tamil identity.

The Roman Catholic Church actively promoted Nimalan Soundranayagam and Joseph Pararajasingam in the Batticaloa district. Both individuals [who incidentally belong to the same family] barely won and will now claim to represent Tamil interests in the East. The Church also endeavoured to push the candidacy of Alphonse Mary but did not succeed. Such parochialism will only serve to further divide the beleaguered Tamil community on religious lines.

The late Mr. M. H. M. Ashraff was correct in his assessment that the Tamils of Sri Lanka lacked leadership in Parliament. The largely Muslim areas of Kalmunai, Sammanturai, Addalachenai, Eravur, Kattankudy and Mutur witnessed significant economic investment in the past five years. The Tamil areas of the East did not.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress assiduously nurtured the economic interests of the Muslim constituency in the fragmented East. Tamil parliamentarians in Batticaloa did not do so. One senior TULF members for instance, articulated a cynical and demagogic line supportive of the LTTE. However, he did not initiate any development activity despite increased poverty and alienation in the Tamil community. Unlike the late Mr. Thangathurai of Trincomalee, he failed to rebuild schools, health care centres and villages in Tamil areas. Let us hope that the two non-TULF Tamils who have now entered Parliament from the East deliver on the socio-economic front.

More Tamil Hindus in Colombo need to mobilize their resources to help rehabilitate the war-affected residents of the East. Hindu social service organisations in the East, like the Ramakrishna Mission and the YMHA, lack financial resources. Conversely, Christian NGOs with access to international funds such as SEDEC, Christian Aid, World Vision etc. are increasingly active in the evangelisation of Batticaloa. The Methodist Church has heightened its presence through conversions in nearby Navatkudah and Manmunai.

Turning to the North, the Chavakacheri division, once a thriving center of educational, agricultural, commercial and legal activity is now desolate and ruined. The Hindu children’s orphanage in Kaithady had to be shifted to Mallakam. Schools and technical colleges are in complete disrepair. Hundreds of landmines prevent the cultivation of fertile farmland. Many civilians died with the escalation of the war last month. The TULF failed to articulate the sufferings of the displaced Tamil civilians from that area. It vigorously lobbied foreign embassies to highlight electoral malpractices in Kayts instead! The party is hostage to an ideology that failed to deliver.

The Tamils need an urgent return to the pre-Chelvanayakam leadership that started schools, sponsored the cultivation of land in the Vanni and Trincomalee, supported agriculture, promoted industry in the North East, fostered the cooperative movement and successfully protected Tamil interests. The TULF has little to offer at this moment except to reiterate a vacuous politics of dissent.

Dr. K. Gunasingham
Colombo 6