Why A Tamil Common Candidate In The Presidential Election?

By Amirthanayagam Nixon –

Tamils living in the north-east of Sri Lanka want to field a Tamil common candidate in the upcoming presidential election. Civil society activists have gathered and are discussing the fielding of a Tamil common candidate in the presidential election. It appears to be about 95 percent compliance.

A total of 46 civil organizations from the North East are moving this initiative together. No representatives of Tamil National Parties were included in it. The civil society organizations will meet with the Tamil National Parties and explain only after setting up a “Common Mechanism” regarding the issue of Tamil common candidates.

Civil society organizations are leading this initiative in a democratic way. Attempting to field a Tamil common candidate in the presidential election is not a racist act. It is a democratic right.

The Constitution of Sri Lanka does not directly say that a Tamil or a Muslim cannot hold the posts of President and Prime Minister.

Because 75 percent are Sinhalese. Even if all the Tamil Muslim and Upcountry Tamils voted unanimously, the Tamil common candidate would not be able to get the minimum 51 percent votes required to become the President.

In that case, a significant number of Sinhalese people should vote for the Tamil common candidate. But the political culture of Sinhalese voting for a Tamil has not yet developed in Sri Lanka.

But Tamil Muslim people have voted for Sinhalese candidates in presidential elections on many occasions.

It is an unwritten rule in the Sri Lankan Constitution that the Tamil Muslim people must vote for a Sinhalese candidate of their choice. However, the Upcountry Tamils and Muslims voted for Sinhalese candidates contesting from their regions in the Sri Lankan parliamentary elections. They are also accepted as representatives of their people.

But the Tamils and Muslims living in the North East will vote only for their Tamil Muslim representatives. Since the majority of Tamil Muslim people live in the North-East, even if the Sinhalese representatives contest the parliamentary elections, they cannot win.

It is because of this that the Sinhalese settlements are planned in the North East, but every Sinhalese representative who comes to power claims that it is not a Sinhalese settlement and that the North East is the historical habitat of the Sinhalese people.

In the India-Sri Lanka Treaty signed in 1987, the North-East is called “Historic Habitat”. It is not mentioned as the traditional homeland of Tamils or Tamil Muslim people. This was one of the reasons why Tamils refused to accept the 13th Amendment Act as a political solution.

But the Tamil Muslim people are saying that the North East is their traditional territory. Tamils still believe that the North East is their traditional homeland.

The Sinhalese political parties are still attributing to the Sinhalese people that the North-East problem arose from the armed struggle of the LTTE. But this problem started during the British regime itself.

The Sinhalese-Tamil conflict that arose when the Sri Lankan National Movement was split in 1920 and the Tamil Maha Sabha was formed in 1921 widened further during the formation of the Donoughmore in 1930 and the Soulbury Constitutions in 1947.

Even history textbooks for school students have stories about it.

Now I do not want to delve into these histories fully for the sake of length. But the main purpose of this article is to point out that it is in the background of these histories that North East Tamils are thinking of fielding a common candidate for the first time in this year’s presidential election.

After the armed struggle of the LTTE in 2009, Tamils felt that a Tamil electorate was necessary in the presidential election for the first time. Because the Sri Lankan government does not want to provide even the minimum political solution in the 15 years after 2009, it is the accusation of the Tamils.

The non-violent struggle started by Tamil leaders like V Navaratnam, SJV Chelvanayakam (Thanthai Chelva) and A Amirthalingam in the 1960s failed to find any political solution.

After that in the 1970s the armed struggle started by the Tamil youth could not get the political power sharing of the Tamils.

So Tamils feel that they have been cheated continuously for more than seventy years. In 2009, superpowers like the US and India had supported the Sri Lankan government for the final war. They also provide financial support to the current economic crisis of the Sri Lankan government.

These international countries will only put heavy pressure on Sri Lanka to provide a political solution. A political solution should be presented while providing economic assistance. Or they will press for reconciliation in Sri Lanka. They will also make a statement that human rights must be protected.

Since 2012, several resolutions have been passed at the Geneva Human Rights Council calling for Sri Lanka to be accountable for war crimes investigations and political solutions.

But for 15 years since 2009, the Sri Lankan government has not presented any political solution. No accountability. In 2020, the then Gotabaya Rajapaksa government publicly rejected the Geneva Human Rights Council resolution.

But international countries like the US and India, which supported the war in 2009, are not asking about it. But focusing on regional geopolitics, the main objective of these countries is only to negotiate with the Sri Lankan government to get the natural resources and political economic interests they need in the North East.

But within the island of Sri Lanka there is no permanent political solution and no justice for the Tamils.Therefore, Tamils are continuously appealing to the international community with a strong belief that international justice will be available, especially after 2009, that they want international justice and that it will protect their political rights.

In a speech in Parliament in 2020 January, Mr. R Sampanthan said that the US-Indian envoys in Colombo had told him in 2009 that after the elimination of the LTTE, there would be a permanent and just political solution for the Tamils.

However, even after ten years, no political solution has been proposed till date, Sampanthan was worried in the speech. In that speech, Sammanthan said that he was disappointed.

But in the post-2009 environment, countries like the US, India and China are focusing their full attention on setting up a suitable government in Sri Lanka. But regime changes in 2010, 2015 and 2020 achieved nothing.

Especially the change of regime in 2015 had ruined the hopes of everyone. Even the superpowers who cooperated with the regime change have not been able to achieve anything they wanted from the government.

In 1994, North Eastern Tamils had unanimously voted for Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. But during his eleven-year reign, war took place. Chandrika’s weak regime in 2000 saw several political crises.

International countries therefore fail to understand that only complete political power sharing within the island of Sri Lanka is conducive to lasting peace and economic development. However, these histories are not unknown to the international community.

So understanding these histories and not dealing with other alternative approaches, these countries are indirectly and directly looking for someone who is favorable to them in the upcoming presidential election. But these countries have been denying from time to time that they do not interfere in Sri Lankan politics.

It is in this background that the civil society organizations are discussing to field a common candidate on behalf of the Tamil people in this presidential election with the aim of attracting international attention to them and hoping to get international justice.

Here, more than how many votes the Tamil common candidate gets, the reason behind the idea that the Tamil common candidate should be stopped is more important.

That causality makes public that International justice is the permanent solution for Tamils. It asserts the right of Tamils to self-determination.The idea of a Tamil common candidate also indicates to the world that Sri Lanka’s constitution has a unitary system.

It is true that some members of the Tamil National Parties are working in favor of the Sinhalese political party leaders centered in Colombo and at the will of some foreign countries. It cannot be denied. In the context after 2009, some Tamil members have been acting like this on many occasions.

Due to this, people have lost faith in Tamil National parties. Taking advantage of these occasions when the Tamil people have lost hope, some forces are trying to freeze the political liberation sentiments of the Tamils within Sri Lanka’s unitary politics.

At the same time, some Tamil progressive thinkers insist that Tamils should accept real politics. They say you have to go with what is, They call for the politics of conformity.

But the definition of “Real Politics” and “Conformity Politics” is always questionable.

It is not unknown to the world that for the last thirty years the Sri Lankan government has been arguing that the LTTE has not been able to present a sustainable political solution.

But if anyone says that the civil society organizations are preparing for the decision of the Tamil common candidate in the presidential election to make the international community aware of what happened in the last 15 years without the LTTE, there is no alternative.

*Amirthanayagam Nixon is a visiting media lecturer at universities. Contemporary geopolitical analyst

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