Interesting, I noticed this article in the Toronto paper over the weekend. There are many Sri Lankans in Toronto, since the mid 1980's they have become mostly Tamils (fleeing the inequities and violence of their homes) but prior to that the majority of SL's in Toronto were Sinhalese. This group of Sri Lankans tended to be better off as immigrants, being mostly white collar or gov't workers and professionals.
As Anormalguy puts it, Sri Lanka has had a complicated and sad history. I was lucky enough to partake in a Canadian government cultural exchange programme (Canada World Youth) which placed me in a Sri Lankan home for four months back when I was only 20 yrs old.
Living with a Sinhalese family, on a tea estate in the central highlands, I was surrounded by ethnic tension where ever I went. Layered on top of the majority Buddhist/Sinhalese peoples of Indo-Aryan cultural heritage (about 75% of the people), the Hindu/Tamil minority of Dravidian cultural heritage (about 15%) are serveral other ethnicities (Muslims, Christians, Portuguese Burghers and aboriginal Veddas) as well as the remains of British hegemomony.
There was an obeasance to 'whiteness' that really struck me. The Sri Lankans themselves seemed to value the lighter shade of skin tone to the point where within a single family they would point out that one sibling was better than the other because her skin was lighter. Being a white guy in the highlands made me a constant centre of attention. But the British legacy seemed to do more than provide a colour scale. During the British raj, the indigenous Tamils were given all the breaks. Appointed to positions of power, holding government posts and highly educated. The British seemed to want to favour the minority over the majority.
Once the country achieved it's independance after WWII (when it was known as Ceylon) the majority Sinhalese assumed the democratic leadership role, eventually providing for the world's first female Prime Minster in 1960. Having attained leadership, it appears that the Sinhalese started to reverse the trend imposed by the Brits, so that by the 1980's civil war erupted when the Tamils could not deal with the persecution at many levels.
I noticed while I was there that the comon opinion of the Sinhalese was that they were a proud race, fierce warriors with a 2,000 year tradition in the country. The Tamils were viewed as interlopers that first appeared as invaders from southern India during (our) middle ages, but also as coolie labour imported by the British for working the (at first coffee then) tea estates (plantations). They have very little patience for being dictated to by this "upstart" minority in their own "homeland"
On the other hand, I found that at a personal level, both of these groups are exceptionally hospitable, intelligent more than willing to please and well educated. The contry has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. The problem, as I saw it, was that there was very little opportunity in the country. I witnessed large groups of people hanging out in parks, on beaches, drinking, jobless, and basically an easy target for what became the Tamil Tigers. With Sinahalese getting the favour of what few jobs there were, it's no wonder that Tamil youth became disaffected.
We've all been exposed to stories of plight on behalf of the Tamils, in our papers, but very little is known of the Sinhala side. I found a telling post using google, below that sheds some light on their perspective. One thing to note. It is said that the first casualty of war is the truth. I have seen much hyperbole utilized by both sides. The Tamil protesters in Toronto invoking the term genocide, spurious claims of thousands of civilian deaths, are not uncommon. The language employed below by the Sinhalese, is no different. Genocide is again mentioned. Wild claims of tens of thousands of Sinhalese deaths also included. If there is impatience in North America for the Tamil worries, they need to look to themselves and how they try to get their message across.
Tamil Nadu is the motherland (traditional homeland) of 62 million Tamils – nearly FIVE TIMES the population of the indigenous Sinhelas (‘Hela’) of the Sinhela motherland, Sinhalé (presently wrongly called ‘Sri Lanka’*). Tamil Nadu, the Tamil country, has an area of 130,000 square kilometres – TWICE the size of of Sinhalé (‘Sri Lanka’) – and it is only 35Km (22 miles) from the coast of Sinhalé. [See map]
A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words!
This picture is worth is worth seventy-five thousand lives!
Over 75,000 people, mostly Sinhelas, have been brutally murdered by Tamils because this frightening picture of Tamil aggression has not been recognised.
Because of the nearness of Sri Lanka to south India, for nearly a thousand years the Island – the motherland of the Sinhela (‘Hela’) nation – was subjected to countless invasions from south India. Some invasions lasted for just a few days or weeks, but some for decades, before the invaders were defeated and chased back to India. From the early 1980s, the Tamil terrorists have been using Tamil Nadu as a base from which to attack the Island.
The ultimate objective of this Tamil aggression is the occupation and colonisation of Sinhalé (‘Sri Lanka’) to establish a racist, segregated and apartheid Tamil colony as a SECOND Tamil country, and extend the Tamil motherland as a Greater Tamil Nadu! [See map above]
Therefore, what has been taking place in the Island from the early 1980s was not only a terrorism – including the genocide by Tamils of more than 75,000 indigenous Sinhela men, women and children – but, more surreptitiously, a camouflaged invasion of the Sinhela motherland by Tamils.
Over the years, the Sinhalé (‘Sri Lanka’) government, itself, has been increasingly controlled by Tamils, resulting in direct and indirect government collaboration with the Tamil terrorists. As a result, the Tamil-controlled government, itself, was attempting to partition Sinhalé (‘Sri Lanka’) – the motherland of the Sinhela (‘Hela’) nation – to facilitate the creation of this SECOND Tamil country!
[Please also see overleaf…..]
* ‘Sinhalé’ (meaning ‘Land of the Sinha-Hela’) and ‘Heladiva’ (meaning ‘Island of the Hela’) were the traditional names of the country presently known as ‘Sri Lanka’. In 1972, the Tamil-controlled government, instead of restoring one name, gave the Island an invented name ‘Sri Lanka’, which concealed the Island’s heritage and facilitated spurious Tamil claims to it.
The Tamil Invasion Of Sri Lanka - ElaKiri Community