Colonization: the myth and reality

Colonization in its correct sense is settlements created by foreign powers after having captured weaker countries. Since the Sri Lankan government is the democratically elected government of the sovereign state of Sri Lanka and since it is the government that is the deciding authority on land, the use of the term 'colonization' to describe government allocation of land is highly irrelevant in the Sri Lankan context.

Those who do not learn from the history are bound to make the same mistakes over and over again and this twisted logic on 'colonization' has been a principal 'grievances' that propelled the LTTE to create havoc in this country.

The fact about Sri Lanka is when you consider the population density and the geological reality, it is only in the three provinces of North, East and Uva that mega development projects are feasible. Hence in independent Ceylon the first project in the East was started at Galoya on the Eastern slopes of the Mahaveli river (the longest river in Sri Lanka). The statistics on these land allocations would prove that the government sponsored land allotments for landless in Sri Lanka since independence have been fair and accommodated all communities.

Plantation labourers

The unreasonable and the non inclusive nature of these allegations made by some communal minded leaders become very plain when you consider the fact that there are about a million Tamils (of recent Indian origin) living in the hill country in lands that historically belonged to Sinhalese peasants and up to now no government has attempted to send those Tamils out of the area on the basis of their ethnicity.

Development journey

These Tamils, as we know, were brought to colonial Ceylon by the British colonizers as indentured labour to work in the plantations. The TULF still uses the 'Disfranchisement of Tamil plantation labour' in its famous list of grievances, especially when they go to India, but yet very surreptitious when it comes to a discussion on where these plantation labourers are settled. Further there are more tan 500,000 Ceylon Tamils who have bought land and settled down in the so called 'Sinhala areas' mainly in Colombo and the suburbs. When this is pointed out to the TULF it tries to justify its stand by maintaining that they are not against voluntary movement by people but what they are against is the settlement by the government. Well, voluntary movement is when people seek to settle down in areas other than the areas of their birth. Those are settlements by preference and naturally in areas that are developed like Colombo and its suburbs. These preferential settlements require quite a lot of money as the land in the developed areas are expensive and hence only those who have money will be able to settle down in such areas. On the other hand, these people, to whom lands were granted by the government in the 1950's had been landless farmers and they could neither make a living nor make a contribution to the country's development because they had no money to buy lands.

Hence, it is the responsibility of a progressive government to allocate the country's arable lands to its able farmers with the view of developing the country and its people.

In any country, the lands are owned by persons and institutions through registered deeds and the lands that are not claimed that way become the property of the state. In no country do they have lands belonging to communities. Sri Lanka is a country that belongs to all its citizens and hence every Sri Lankan should be able live wherever he chooses to or wherever the circumstances compel him to, without having to be conscious of his ethnicity or religion. Today the picture is different and Sri Lanka is in the process of embarking on a development journey that requires some catching up with years lost due to separatism. Hence to bring arguments in terms of 'Tamil areas' and 'Sinhala areas' at this stage is nothing but an attempt to derail that development and keep the people mired in that separatist psyche that cost the country immensely in terms of resources and time.

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