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by Upali S. Jayasekera

The unity of almost all the major countries in the world today were achieved by resort to legal and constitutional measures ensuring a balance of the interests of all concerned and the legal protection of a minority from oppression, ill-treatment or discrimination by a majority.

Even Great Britain, which we are very familiar with emerged as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in several stages - some violent some not. Wales was conquered by Edward I of England in the 13th century, King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England in 1603, but the two countries had totally separate institutions until the Act of Union of 1714 integrated them. The United States fought a bitter civil war (between the North and the South) in the 1860s before it emerged as a united country with a federal system of government. Similarly Canada, Australia, India, Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico were able to preserve their unity as nations by having recourse to the constitutional solutions of federal systems. It has often been said that such a special solution was inapplicable to Sri Lanka since we are too small a country to have a federal structure of government.

That is a misunderstanding. There are many small countries - some even smaller than Sri Lanka where this remedy has been introduced with successful results. Switzerland for example is smaller than we in both size and population - it is not a federation but a confederation (an even looser union) of various cantons. And her unity as a nation, its economic prosperity, its political neutrality, its reputation in the councils of the world have stood the test of time! An earlier historical example is the Netherlands where several states (of which Holland was only one) federated to form the United Provinces of the Dutch Netherlands. These examples from history, both early and contemporary, should show us the way to resolve our own problems before it becomes all but insoluble.

Communal political parties were formed for the first time in the country - the Tamil Congress and the Sinhala Maha Sabha. An unfortunate development. The stage was set for communal strife. It would be futile to indulge in fault finding now. President J. R. Jayawardene once declared that 'we are all responsible in one way or another for the present situation'.

History shows that at all times and in every area, minorities, whether they be ethnic, religious, racial, tribunal or linguistic, understandably - though not always justifiably - sincerely believed that they were being discriminated against by the corresponding majority. The history of England in the 16th and 17th century was one catalogue of real and imagined persecution of Catholics by Protestants, whereas in France the Catholic Monarchy and establishment, persecuted the Protestant Huguenots. When such minority groups do not receive from their country (i.e. from their government) the protection and recognition which they are entitled to receive as citizens, it is not surprising that at first they seek collective group protection, and later protection and assistance from their fellow kith and kin abroad. Thus the English puritans under Charles I prevailed on the Scottish to invade England, while the English Catholics under Elizabeth I had hope of French and Spanish sympathy. The Huguenots of France called in the help of England against their Catholic King. These events have continued to repeat themselves, in basic principles, in different parts of the world in different circumstances.

The Jewish people have been amongst the most persecuted in the world from Biblical times. Ancient prejudices have been passed down the generation to generation and the Jews were treated with severe discrimination in all so-called civilised, Christian countries of Europe until almost the middle of the century when it erupted in Hitler's fascist theory of a master Aryan race, the massacre of 6 million Jews, in the second world war. The black people in South Africa and the Southern States of the United States of America are the other well-known minority groups discrimination against whom led to massive protest and upheaval. Almost by definition a minority tends to magnify and sometimes even to imagine, the wrongs, injustices and discriminations they are subject to. This is natural, but what is important is for the majority to appreciate that there is such a perception and that perceptions are often as serious as the realities.

In our own context, I think it would be unreasonable for any concerned citizen to deny that the Tamil community had certain grievances, particularly in the area of economic development of the North and East. It could certainly be validly pointed out that the Sinhala inhabitants of the deep South also faced similar disadvantage. But such an answer would be no answer to the original complaint. Prudent governments should set about remedying this omission in both North and South, on the obvious ground that economic development of all parts of the island is essential to the productivity of the whole island, and that the employment and prosperity of all its inhabitants is the best guarantee of the prosperity of the whole population. It must be noted that the United National Party in its election manifesto in 1977 publicly accepted the existence of some reasonable grievances of the Tamil people and pledged, if elected to power, to discuss ways and means of removing such grievances. It is unfortunate that the pledge was not seriously honoured, until too late. The next demand of one segment of the Tamil community was for separatism.

In over 50 years of independence, with the Sinhala majority government and Sinhala majority parliament guiding the destinies of the country, how many Prime Minister's or other Cabinet Minister's visited the North or the East? And how often? How many of them could speak Tamil? Was there any deliberate policy of encouraging travelling between the different regions by school children, official religious dignitaries, businessmen, sportsmen to inculcate in them that Tamils in the North were as much a part of Sri Lanka as Sinhala in the Centre and South? When the Jaffna public library was burnt down to the ground in an act of wanton vandalism, was there any reaction either from official or private public opinion commensurate to crime? What was the response of even the academic community from the rest of the country? This heinous offence (for the burning of books is now regarded almost as a crime against humanity) could have been the 'last straw' as far as the general Tamil population (not necessarily the extremist elements only) was concerned.

The existence of a Tamilian movement and the desire of nearly 60 million Tamils spread throughout the world to have a country of their own need to be kept in view and any designs to use Sri Lanka as the base - the springboard, for the purpose has also to be opposed and negated.

These observations are not meant to be critical but to illustrate that the sensitivities of minorities must always be borne in mind if one is engaged in the task of persuading them that they are equal to and as important as the majority. One has to bend over backwards in the effort of convincing them. No price is too high. Pride, arrogance, historical and geographical factors, prejudice, mythology have no place in such a dialogue. The objective is mutual trust and confidence. Where there is no trust there will be no agreed solution to any human problem, last of all to political problems involving the severity, the rights, the self-respect of groups of people. The result of failure in this effort will be, in our particular circumstances, continued disunity, increasing disharmony, and enhanced diversion of scarce resources toward an unproductive, self-destructive and seemingly endless exercise.

Once trust and confidence are re-established - and this, after the events of 1983 and later, after the terrible bloodshed on both sides, after the destruction and damage and killings by the LTTE appears to be a Herculean task. Errors of judgement, of commission and omission, on all sides, must be candidly admitted, public apologies offered, amends made, and what can be physically restored be restored. These will constitute only an earnest of good faith - a confidence building exercise during which arms will remain silent and only the laws will speak. Then should commence the search for the long term permanent solution in which justice, fairness, reason and recognition by all to live and let live should reassure all of the vital necessity of unity, in substance, if not in form, in the spirit, if not in the law - for the development of our once peaceful, once prosperous land which we can hand over to our younger generation so that they may succeed where we failed.

The government's initiative in the peace process has to be appreciated and should receive the support of everyone.

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