HomeOnly Separatists Wants Devolution, As A Step To A Separate State
Sri Lanka has a long history as a UNITARY STATE. It is falsely claimed that the people of Sri Lanka desired political and administrative powers devolved to the various provinces. Apart from Tamil groups demanding a separate Tamil state no other community has asked for devolution of powers.
At present, Sri Lanka exhibits a fair degree of devolution of administrative and political powers to districts and local government bodies which serve cities, towns and villages. This system of devolution has gradually evolved over centuries of feudal as well as colonial rule.
In 1987, during the UNP government's tenure, a system of Provincial Councils was introduced under pressure of military intervention from the Indian Government (l3th amendment to the Constitution) with a temporarily merged Northern Province and Eastern Province. This legislation was based on the Indian model; Indian legal experts and politicians were involved in setting out and approving the draft. India hoped that the merged North and East provinces would form the nucleus of a 'Tamil State'.
Tamil separatists felt that these 'Provincial Councils' were not enough and wanted complete separation and the 'war' has gone on with this end in view.
The present government was elected to office in 1994 and promised 'peace' and an end to 'war. Their 'solution' came in the form of proposals aimed at 'handing over' of power to provinces (with a merged North and East), in order to placate the separatists.
The proposals envisage the division of a hitherto UNITARY STATE into a 'Union of Regions' forcing the people in the South into several such 'regions' which they have never asked for. Amongst the various claimed advantages of the proposals it is argued that devolution of power to provinces ensures speedy economic development due to political power being brought down to grass-root level. This is an outdated concept. We see those countries in the Asian region such as Japan, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China, and Taiwan as well as western nations have become economic giants today due to strong central rule.
A Third World country like Sri Lanka absolutely needs a strong central government rather than power devolved to the periphery. Any required devolution of power should be a slow, evolutionary process and not something forced on the people overnight.
This devolution exercise will be a leap in the dark with no precedent in other parts of the World. It is purely an exercise to placate a separatist terrorist group which demands an illegal Tamil homeland' for themselves.
Therefore we see a strange situation in Sri Lanka where to placate the vocal demand of minority separatist groups, a 'solution' is offered not only to the 'aggrieved party' but also to others who never wanted such a 'solution'.
To understand this dubious and anomalous situation it is necessary to examine some of the points of the proposals.
An almost identical scheme was submitted by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) to the Indian government in 1985. The Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, rejected it stating that it went too far beyond the 'Indian Model'. But now, what India felt was 'excessive' is being offered to Tamil separatists by our own government.
A key member of the TULF who was responsible for the 1985 proposals has been responsible for drafting the present Proposals. The Proposals basically accept the Tamil homeland concept. There is an important reason as to why the present government is prepared to give into Tamil separatism. It is totally dependent on the support of minority Tamil groups to retain its very thin majority in parliament. There has been a similar problem for previous governments, which have had to retain a parliamentary majority.
We need to consider the ground reality in the political scenario of Sri Lanka, which must be clearly understood. The majority 74% Sinhalese tend to be divided equally in support of the two major national political parties (the UNP and SLFP). Therefore, to have a majority in the parliament (50% seats) these two national parties vie with each other to woo the minority groups. These latter demand concessions (such as the recognition of a Tamil Homeland) in return for parliamentary support. Over the years, these two national political parties have given into pressure from minority groups for the purpose of political expediency, thus creating the volatile situation we are faced with today.
One sees the weakness of democratic institutions under such a situation, where governments are constantly held to ransom by minority groups, which make irresponsible and illegal demands.
There appears to be a tendency to justify 'federation' by referring to the successful federal systems in other countries such as USA, Switzerland, Belgium, India, Canada, Australia etc. None of these countries except Belgium have been UNITARY STATES in the past. They have been separate regions (or even countries) which have FEDERATED together for the purpose of political and economic strength. In many instances, each federated 'region' has been very large territorially. Some of these federal unions such as USSR and Yugoslavia have again broken up into their former ethnic units.
Sri Lanka therefore, cannot be compared to such federal systems. The present nine provinces were demarcated by the British between 1833 and 1889, and were expressly designed to break up the former Kandyan kingdom. These tiny regions have no historical heterogeneity or individual political and economic validity. It is doubtful whether even the north-east 'Tamil' region could survive without a future union with South India as envisaged by FP and DMK in the 1940s.
The Muslims now demand a separated region for themselves in the East, since they do not want any amalgamation with Tamils because although majority of them speaks the same language they are ethnically and culturally different. The government has tentatively agreed to alter provincial boundaries to accommodate Muslim demands, but this appears to be a futile exercise since most Muslims are scattered throughout the rest of the country.
CONTENTS OF THE PROPOSALS
Let us now examine the contents of the Proposals offered to the Tamils by the government and briefly assess some of its major points.
Union of Regions
It is absolutely essential that, while administrative power may be devolved, the
government should remain strong. Sri Lanka has always been a Unitary State. There were no
independent regions, ethnic or otherwise. Although the present population in Jaffna
district and other northern districts is predominantly Tamil, it is not so in the east. Of
the total 18% Tamils in Sri Lanka, 12.6% Sri Lankan Tamils and 5.6% are Indian Tamils and
less than one-half of Tamil population live in the North and East. The rest, including
most of the Indian Tamils, making up the majority of the total Tamil population live among
the Sinhalese population in the south. In the light of the above facts, the proposals
which entail dividing the country into eight or more regions (with a merged Northern
Province and Eastern Province) on the lines of existing provincial boundaries, becomes
confusing and without justification. The separated 'regions' together will constitute a
'Union of Regions'.
Possible right to Secede
The Unions of Regions envisaged in the Proposals, although described as being
"indissoluble", has legislative and judiciary executive powers over 46 items
thereby making provisions to secede. Hence the word "indissoluble" is
meaningless.
The Muslims are alarmed, and are demanding a separate 'Muslim Council' in the east. The
government proposes to alter the Eastern Province boundary so as to separate the Muslim
areas from the Tamil and Sinhalese areas. Since these areas are non-contiguous, this would
be a difficult exercise. Thus, there will be Tamil Regions in the Northern Province,
Eastern Province and the Central Hills Muslim Region in part of the Eastern Province while
the
other 'Regions' will be multiethnic with no provisions for 'Sinhalese Regions' The
majority it appears, is expendable.
Each region will be a separate 'country' in the making, with a Parliament, a Speaker a
Deputy Speaker, Cabinet of Ministers and all other basics as in the Government. The role
of the Government is not clear and will have little impact on the Country.
Powers to be devolved
Exclusive legislature and executive powers, in respect of major subjects including the
following important items, are to be transferred in to the 'Regions'
Considering the separatist tendency of Tamil groups and the non-negotiable demands of the Tamil separatists, the granting of these critically important powers to such a 'region' will undoubtedly pave the way to separation.
Loss of Central Government Authority
Unlike in other federal systems the central government has no control over the
'regions' and can dissolve a Regional Council only in the extreme situation in which the
Regional administration is (actively) promoting armed rebellion or insurrection or
engaging in an international violation of the Constitution which constitutes a clear and
danger to the sovereignty of the Republic. Regional powers exceeding in Indian states and
devolution of powers with respect to certain critical subjects make the central government
powerless.
Country is not divided now
The present government very naively argues that the country is already divided since the
LTTE are in control of some parts of the North. With the recent military reverses suffered
by the LTTE in the Jaffna peninsula this is not true any longer. More importantly the
government yet sustains the North economically. It exerts authority through its agents and
various government institutions and departments. Separatist control of an area does not
mean that a country is divided. Granting' Regional Rule to separatists in the hope of
uniting an 'already divided country (as the government puts it) is the height of
absurdity. In the background of their consistent 'non-negotiable demands', the more likely
scenario would be for the separatists to immediately make use of the 'Regional' Powers
granted to them to make a quick and clean break by declaring UDI (Unilateral Declaration
of Independence).
Ethnic Regionalism' envisaged in the proposals(i.e., formation of Tamil and Muslim 'Regions') is an acceptance of an illegality (the homeland' theory ) and no legitimate government could accede to such an illegality.
Economy and Overhead Costs
The 'regions' (present day provinces) are geographically small with no sustainable
resource base. They will be non-viable economic units. With little Government support,
these 'Regions' would soon collapse economically and socially. Further, there will be
eight or more Regional Councils, each with its own governor, Chief Minister, Board of
Ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Attorney General, Police Commission, Police Service
and Police Service Commission, Public Service and Public Service Commission, High Courts,
Magistrate Court and Primary Courts, Judicial Service Commission etc.
Can the nation afford the tremendous increase in the overhead costs involved?
Agriculture, Irrigation, Forestry and Environment
Each 'Region' will tend to maximise exploitation of their agricultural lands,
water resources, forests and the environment, in a bid to sustain itself. Thus, natural
resources, forest cover catchment areas, wildlife, watersheds, wetlands and drainage areas
can be jeopardised. Environmental issues, especially between neighbouring 'Regions' will
multiply. A real danger from the 'Regional government to protect national (and
international) biosphere reserves such as the Sinharaja rain forest, cannot be ruled out.
Creation an 'Indian Tamil Region' in the Central Hills
The Indian Tamil leadership in the central hills has already issued a demand for an ethnic
Indian Tamil Region. This area, (see Map 3) the heartland of the Kandyan Sinhalese people,
will see bloody battles in future since the plantation Tamils live adjacent to Sinhalese
towns and villages. A volcano is about to erupt in the hill country.
Direct Access to Foreign Aid
This concession is not found in any other federal system. It is an open
invitation to separatists (who already have a vast global narcotic-terrorist network) to
build up a vast military capability. The regional police which can easily become a
para-military organisation (already LTTE cadres are militarily trained), along with direct
access to their global network and the use of ports, airports and territorial waters, can
be easily built up into a strong regional armed force. It would spell danger to the entire
South Asian region. Iraq and North Korea are cases in point, where such military
capability under wrong hands can spell disaster to a whole region.
Police and Maintenance of Law and Order
Devolution of police powers will place the 'Regional' police directly under the
control or the regional administration. Apart from the danger of such trained Tamil police
under an administration with a strong separatist tendencies including that of forming a
'free Tamil State' with South India, will eventually will spell disaster to the whole
South Asian region in general and Sri Lanka and India in particular. Arms could easily be
procured without the knowledge of the government so as to build up the police into a
full-fledged armed force.
Due to this real danger, the need today is to place the Police under an independent,
CENTRAL Police Commission so as to ensure impartiality and prevent separatist tendencies.
Land and Land Alienation
Land hunger is prevalent amongst the Sinhalese peasantry due to extremely high population
densities in the south. It is estimated that about 62% of available agricultural
(irrigable) lands for future use are in the Northern and Eastern provinces. Thus such
agricultural land should be made available to the land-hungry people of the whole country
and not merely to the
people of the North and Eastern Provinces, just as the general resources of other
provinces are made available to the people of the north and east.
Under the Proposals it is doubtful under the 'ethnic' cleansing programme of Tamil groups whether the Tamil dominated North East area would allow any outside access to this vast area. It would certainly lead to unrest among the landless people of the country. The whole of Sri Lanka must be considered as the homeland of all its communities.
Units of Devolution
The Proposals are silent on the units of devolution although the Package envisaged
North-east Region, demarcated on the ethnic line. It is stated that the units of
devolution will be proposed by the Parliamentary Select Committee and the widespread view
is that the Northern Province and Eastern Province be merged with re-demarcation of the
Eastern Province. This would mean merging one-thirds of the land area and two-third of the
coastline of the country for about to six percent of its Tamil population, in accordance
with the myth of a "traditional homeland" Furthermore, how would this resolve
the "grievances' of the Tamil population in the remaining Regions? The Northern
Province and Eastern Province should not be merged in any scheme of devolution. In two of
the three districts of the Eastern Province (Trincomalee and Ampara) Tamils are in a
minority. The rest of the country will be divided into several 'Regions on a non-ethnic
(administrative) basis. Thus, it itself is a basic discrepancy in the devolution exercise,
where two different criteria are being used to divide the country into 'Regions'.
The Muslims, although, majority of them speak Tamil are totally against Tamil separatist rule and have now demanded a separate 'Muslim Region' for themselves within the Eastern Province.
The Sinhalese who are 24.9% in the Eastern Province occupy the largest AGA divisions which are 48.1% of the land area of the Eastern Province. Barley 150 years ago, they occupied these whole provinces since it was part of the Sinhala kingdom of Kandy ceded to the British in 1815.
The Tamils (42.2%) are concentrated in ten AGA divisions along the coast which occupy only 31% of the land area. The Muslims (32.3%) occupy only 9.5% of the land along the coast. Thus, the Eastern Province is a mixed region with half the land under Sinhalese occupation and historically belonging to the Kandyan kingdom. Thus, a merger of the Northern Province and Eastern Province with northern Tamil dominance is untenable and will lead to racial strife in the east, and also in other parts of the country.
Significantly, less than one half the Sri Lankan Tamils will dominate this vast
'Region' while the balance will be confined to the rest of the country. This itself is a
curious anomaly.
Extracts from Tamil Separatist Issue in Sri Lanka and The Devolution Proposals by S.B .Hettiaratchi