Independence
"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they are." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
This is not a philosophical post about independence. This is regarding what happened in the next few years after independence and the silent atrocities done to a segment of its people. Today generally I see the estate Tamils or Indian Tamils (although it is not the correct term to describe them, the most correct term would be Sri Lankans of recent Indian origin) being ridiculed, they are considered for menial tasks and odd jobs. The health ministry has many programs targeting the estate population. The university entrance of them is considerably lower compared to other population. School drop out rate is higher among them. Why does it happen like that?
The answers are the excerpts from the book "Palmyra Fallen" by Rajan Hoole.
"In three Citizenship Acts dragged over fourteen months, the government of Ceylon annulled the rights of the settled Indian labour, keeping the intended victims in hope until the final blow. First the Citizenship Act passed by parliament on 20th August 1948 was presented by the government as intended to confirm citizenship on all, including former Indian resident domiciled in Ceylon, but contained insurmountable conditions to do with proof of birth in Ceylon of male lineal forebears up to the fourth generation. Second, the Indian and Pakistani Residents Citizenship Act (IPRCA) passed by parliament on 10th December, 1948 had a pretense of facilitating citizenship for those left out by the first act but contained income and literacy conditions all applied selectively to persons of Indian origin which disenabled the bulk of them. The Parliamentary Elections Amendment Act (Franchise Act), the third passed by parliament on 18th &25th October 1949, feebly linked franchise to citizenship and stripped away the franchise of a poor working class that had exercised it since universal adult franchise was introduced in 1931."
"Senanayake while introducing the Bill on 4th August, 1948 had said evasively, "It is quite a simple Bill, we are not prejudicing the interests of anyone; we are only trying to confer Ceylon citizenship on people in Ceylon who are not citizens of another country." Senanayake knew well that British and Ceylonese economic interests would collapse if the Indian migrants were expelled from the country; he only wished to deny them a say in government by annulling their vote."
"Dr. de Silva pointed out that rather than adopt the principle of birth or domicile in a country as criterion for citizenship, the government chose the racial principle. The moment the Government starts applying a racial principle against one group, its extension to others is only a short and easy step."
"In the citizenship debates, DS Senanayake talked of Indian Tamils depriving Kandyans of their lands and Indian Tamils brought with them diseases such as cholera with the effect that they spread the disease amongst the villagers so that all that these immigrants did was that they killed some of the villagers."
"Dudley Senanayke boasted in 1952 that his United National Party had succeded in liquidating the Indian Menace in Ceylon by the simple device of denying the vote to Ramasamy and Meenachchi"
"It was far from Senanyake's intention to expel the Indian Tamils willy-nilly, but only to keep them as labour derived of civil rights (slaves)"
The Acts introduced the virus of racism into courts and administration. Dr. NM Perera in his parliamentary debate "If an unemployed so-called Sinhalese man is fit enough to get citizenship rights why an Indian Tamil who has no income should be deprived of those rights?
"To an appeal by KG Nair on 8th March 1951 challenging the Franchise Act, Judge of Kegalle District Court ruled on 2nd July 1951 that its antecedent, the Citizenship Act was in no true sense legislation to create the status of citizenship, but was with the Franchise Act, part of a legislative plan to reduce the electoral power of the Indian community. The State challenged the judgment in the Supreme Court and had it nullified. This marked the demise of the rule of law in 1951. The bench ruled that no new evidence that was not placed before district court was admissible under a writ of certiorari. Thus affidavits brought by Indian Tamil leaders to show that the law was applied in a discriminatory manner were ruled out. The supreme court simply shut off evidence of discrimination. The Queen's Privy Council on 11th May 1953, upheld the Supreme Court's judgement, contending that the Indian and Pakistani Residents Citizenship Act meant that Indian Tamils were not arbitrarily excluded from citizenship. Justice was thwarted by a semantic game where the common sense notion of justice was lost in an arcane game of meanings of word combinations. By 1963, only 11% Indian Tamils had obtained citizenship by registration under the Indian and Pakistani Residents Citizenship Act. Indian Tamil citizens were excluded from land grants under the Land Development Ordinance and this ensured they were confined to the estates.
"It remains very much under the shadow of the abuse of legality to disenfranchise the Indian labour as suited British and local ruling class interests in 1948. Its gravity hits us hard when we marvel at how the ordinary rights of an entire community were dissolved by two narrow court rulings that were oblivious to the centuries old traditions of basic rights. The Supreme court merely ruled on whether the district court's conclusions were justified by the evidence placed before it. The Privy Council looked at whether the Supreme Court reasoned correctly."
So coming back, our country was corrupt from the beginning both the political system and the judicial system. They are only here to protect the interests of the elitists and the capitalists. Its funny that DS Senanayake is considered father of the nation. I see the same type of laws and rulings made since independence, including the latest ruling by Appellate Court on SAITM case. Maybe our country is yet to get its independence from the corrupt politicians and unjust judicial system.
This is not a philosophical post about independence. This is regarding what happened in the next few years after independence and the silent atrocities done to a segment of its people. Today generally I see the estate Tamils or Indian Tamils (although it is not the correct term to describe them, the most correct term would be Sri Lankans of recent Indian origin) being ridiculed, they are considered for menial tasks and odd jobs. The health ministry has many programs targeting the estate population. The university entrance of them is considerably lower compared to other population. School drop out rate is higher among them. Why does it happen like that?
The answers are the excerpts from the book "Palmyra Fallen" by Rajan Hoole.
"In three Citizenship Acts dragged over fourteen months, the government of Ceylon annulled the rights of the settled Indian labour, keeping the intended victims in hope until the final blow. First the Citizenship Act passed by parliament on 20th August 1948 was presented by the government as intended to confirm citizenship on all, including former Indian resident domiciled in Ceylon, but contained insurmountable conditions to do with proof of birth in Ceylon of male lineal forebears up to the fourth generation. Second, the Indian and Pakistani Residents Citizenship Act (IPRCA) passed by parliament on 10th December, 1948 had a pretense of facilitating citizenship for those left out by the first act but contained income and literacy conditions all applied selectively to persons of Indian origin which disenabled the bulk of them. The Parliamentary Elections Amendment Act (Franchise Act), the third passed by parliament on 18th &25th October 1949, feebly linked franchise to citizenship and stripped away the franchise of a poor working class that had exercised it since universal adult franchise was introduced in 1931."
"Senanayake while introducing the Bill on 4th August, 1948 had said evasively, "It is quite a simple Bill, we are not prejudicing the interests of anyone; we are only trying to confer Ceylon citizenship on people in Ceylon who are not citizens of another country." Senanayake knew well that British and Ceylonese economic interests would collapse if the Indian migrants were expelled from the country; he only wished to deny them a say in government by annulling their vote."
"Dr. de Silva pointed out that rather than adopt the principle of birth or domicile in a country as criterion for citizenship, the government chose the racial principle. The moment the Government starts applying a racial principle against one group, its extension to others is only a short and easy step."
"In the citizenship debates, DS Senanayake talked of Indian Tamils depriving Kandyans of their lands and Indian Tamils brought with them diseases such as cholera with the effect that they spread the disease amongst the villagers so that all that these immigrants did was that they killed some of the villagers."
"Dudley Senanayke boasted in 1952 that his United National Party had succeded in liquidating the Indian Menace in Ceylon by the simple device of denying the vote to Ramasamy and Meenachchi"
"It was far from Senanyake's intention to expel the Indian Tamils willy-nilly, but only to keep them as labour derived of civil rights (slaves)"
The Acts introduced the virus of racism into courts and administration. Dr. NM Perera in his parliamentary debate "If an unemployed so-called Sinhalese man is fit enough to get citizenship rights why an Indian Tamil who has no income should be deprived of those rights?
"To an appeal by KG Nair on 8th March 1951 challenging the Franchise Act, Judge of Kegalle District Court ruled on 2nd July 1951 that its antecedent, the Citizenship Act was in no true sense legislation to create the status of citizenship, but was with the Franchise Act, part of a legislative plan to reduce the electoral power of the Indian community. The State challenged the judgment in the Supreme Court and had it nullified. This marked the demise of the rule of law in 1951. The bench ruled that no new evidence that was not placed before district court was admissible under a writ of certiorari. Thus affidavits brought by Indian Tamil leaders to show that the law was applied in a discriminatory manner were ruled out. The supreme court simply shut off evidence of discrimination. The Queen's Privy Council on 11th May 1953, upheld the Supreme Court's judgement, contending that the Indian and Pakistani Residents Citizenship Act meant that Indian Tamils were not arbitrarily excluded from citizenship. Justice was thwarted by a semantic game where the common sense notion of justice was lost in an arcane game of meanings of word combinations. By 1963, only 11% Indian Tamils had obtained citizenship by registration under the Indian and Pakistani Residents Citizenship Act. Indian Tamil citizens were excluded from land grants under the Land Development Ordinance and this ensured they were confined to the estates.
"It remains very much under the shadow of the abuse of legality to disenfranchise the Indian labour as suited British and local ruling class interests in 1948. Its gravity hits us hard when we marvel at how the ordinary rights of an entire community were dissolved by two narrow court rulings that were oblivious to the centuries old traditions of basic rights. The Supreme court merely ruled on whether the district court's conclusions were justified by the evidence placed before it. The Privy Council looked at whether the Supreme Court reasoned correctly."
So coming back, our country was corrupt from the beginning both the political system and the judicial system. They are only here to protect the interests of the elitists and the capitalists. Its funny that DS Senanayake is considered father of the nation. I see the same type of laws and rulings made since independence, including the latest ruling by Appellate Court on SAITM case. Maybe our country is yet to get its independence from the corrupt politicians and unjust judicial system.
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