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Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka and Sinhalese Perspectives: Barriers to Accommodation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Michael Roberts
Michael Roberts
Affiliation:
University of Adelaide
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Extract

It is widely recognized that the concepts of ‘state’ and ‘nation’ developed largely out of the history of Europe. In Western Europe the process of state-building preceded and assisted the process of nation-formation. In consequence, the concept of the nation that developed from this process focused on the political community as defined by the institutional and territorial framework. In the tradition of Rousseau, Abbé Sieyes could define a nation as ‘a body of associates living under one common law and represented by the same legislature’. In most lands of Western Europe these developments also produced the model of a single nationality nation or nation-state. In Central and Eastern Europe the process was different: ‘the nation was first defined as a cultural rather than a political entity’ and the underlying theoretical foundation was in the tradition of Herder rather than Rousseau Nevertheless, once nationhood had been achieved in these regions there was a tendency to approximate to the model associated with Western Europe. This was made all the easier in such states as Italy and Germany because the majority of their citizens were from one ethnic group; they, too, were single nationality nations. Whatever the dualisms and amalgams in Europe, the export model has been that associated with that of Western Europe—for the simple reason that the predominant colonizing powers were from this part of the Continent.

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Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , July 1978 , pp. 353 - 376
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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References

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Fifth European Conference on Modern Asian Studies held at Leiden in mid-July 1976 and at a seminar of the Centre of South Asian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, in London, on 3 November 1976. I am grateful to those present at these gatherings for their comments. My thanks, too, to C. R. de Silva, Roland Edirisinghe, C. H. Fernando, Bruce Kapferer, Gerald Pieris and Dietmar Rothermund for their helpful observations.

1 Quoted in Hinsley, F. H., Nationalism and the International System (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1973), p. 44.Google Scholar Also see the description provided by a lawyer named Lacratelle in 1789, quoted in Shafer, Boyd C., Faces of Nationalism: New Realities and Old Myths (New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich Inc., 1974), pp. 9, 381.Google Scholar

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8 Kedourie, Elie (ed.), Nationalism in Asia and Africa (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1970), pp. 60–1.Google Scholar Kedourie's excessive acidity must not be allowed to cloud the validity of this point.

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15 Quotation from F. A. Obeyesekere's speech at the annual sessions of the C.N.C. in the editorial in the Ceylon Morning Leader, 10 December 1924. C. E. Corea: advocate, Low-Country Sinhalese and Goyigama Christian. His family had been headmen in Chilaw District for several generations and they were the leading force in the Chilaw Association which emerged as a relatively vociferous critic of British rule from the 1890s. The Chilaw District bordered Moor and Tamil areas. It is possible that this influenced the outlook of the Coreas.Google Scholar

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17 Handbook CNC, 1928, p. 686. Also see pp. 700–8. Francis de Zoysa: advocate, Low-Country Sinhalese, and Salagama. Married to a Catholic. His son, Stanley de Zoysa, also entered the C.N.C. in 1939–40 as a staunch critic of ‘communalism’; but was a founder member of the S.L.F.P. and Finance Minister in the 1956–60 administration.Google Scholar

18 Information communicated by Dietmar Rothermund. Also see Gordon, Leonard A., Bengal: The Nationalist Movement, 1876–1940 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1974), pp. 168–9, and 194–6;Google ScholarBroomfield, J. H., Elite Conflict in a Plural Society: Twentieth-Century Bombay (University of California Press, 1968), pp. 238–9, 245–6, 153–6, 330.Google Scholar The Hindu-Muslim Pact was rescinded in 1926.

19 Handbook CNC, 1928, pp. 692–701, quotations pp. 700–1.Google Scholar

20 Ibid., pp. 701–2. Also see Victor Corea's comments, pp. 702–8 and 771–3.

21 In a series of six articles, Ceylon Morning Leader, 19 May to 30 June, 1926.Google Scholar

22 Wickremeratne, L. A., ‘Kanydans’, pp. 55, 59–67;Google ScholarKandyan National Assembly, The Rights and Claim of the Kandyan People (Kandy: Miller & Co., n.d. (1928)).Google Scholar

23 Memorandum from the President, All-Ceylon Tamil Conference, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies,14 July 1937, in CO 54 series.Google Scholar Also see the Ceylon Daily News,12 April, 1937, for reports on a meeting of theAll-Ceylon Tamil Conference.Google Scholar

24 Citations above and other documents printed in Roberts, Michael (ed.), Documents of the Ceylon National Congress, 1929–50, and Nationalist Politics in Ceylon (Colombo: Dept of National Archives, in press), pp. 2113–53, 2483–97, 2381–98.Google Scholar For some C.N.C. reactions, see Ibid., pp. 1317ff.

25 Roberts, Ibid., pp. lxxxviii, clv-clvii, 561–76, 596–601, 1294–5, 1346–51.

26 Bandaranaike, S. W. R. D., Towards a New Era: Selected Speeches… made in the Legislature of Ceylon 1931–1959 (Colombo: Dept of Broadcasting and Information, Government of Ceylon, 1961), pp. 50–1.Google Scholar This was on 21 March 1939. The same argument was reiterated at the annual general meeting of the Sinhala Maha Sabha on 30–31 December 1939 (see Ceylon Daily News, 1 01 1940,Google Scholaror Roberts, (ed.), Documents, pp. 566–70) and at subsequent S.M.S. meetings as well (see citation 28 below). It was also emphasized in the defence he presented at an Executive Committee meeting of the Ceylon National Congress on 17 January 1940 (Roberts (ed.), Documents, pp. 564–5).Google Scholar

27 For some comments, see my ‘Meanderings in the Pathway of Collective Identity and Nationalism’, in Roberts, Michael (ed.), Collective Identities, Nationalisms and Protest in Sri Lanka during the Modern Era (Colombo: Marga Publishers, in press).Google Scholar This will hereafter be abbreviated to CINP.

28 Bandaranaike, S. W. R. D., Speeches and Writings (Colombo: Dept of Broadcasting and Information, Government of Ceylon, 1963), p. 87; also pp. 90–1, 95–6, 102.Google Scholar From this self-perception, Bandaranaike was even able to attack G. G. Ponnambalam's organization as ‘communal’ and a body of ‘local reactionaries’ seeking the ‘entrenchment of imperialism and exploitation, and the protection of vested interests’ (Ibid., pp. 96, 98, 104–5).

29 See Ceylon Daily News, 1 01 1940,Google Scholar or Roberts, (ed.), Documents, pp. 566–70.Google Scholar

30 The Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact was rescinded unilaterally after agitation from Sinhala Buddhist pressure groups. For details and the general background, see Wriggins, W. Howard, Ceylon: Dilemmas of a New Nation (Princeton University Press, 1960), passim, esp. pp. 265–8;Google ScholarSmith, Donald E. (ed.), South Asian Politics and Religion (Princeton University Press, 1966),Google Scholar chapters on Sri Lanka; Kearney, Robert N., Communalism and Language in the Politics of Ceylon (Durham N.C.: Duke University Press, 1967), esp. pp. 85–6, 107–9, 117–19, 144–6.Google Scholar

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33 For elaboration, see Bechert, Heinz, ‘The Beginning of Buddhist Historiography in Ceylon: The Mahavamsa and Political Thinking’, Ceylon Studies Seminar, No. 46, 1974;Google ScholarMalalgoda, Kitsiri, ‘Millennialism in Relation to Buddhism’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 12, No. 4 (10 1970), pp. 424–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

34 Indrapala, K., ‘Dravidian Settlements in Ceylon and the Beginnings of the Kingdom of Jaffna’ (University of London: Ph.D. dissertation in History, 1966).Google Scholar

35 Information conveyed personally by A. Liyanagamage. I am indebted to him and Lakshman Perera for comments which helped me in formulating this paragraph.

36 Pieris, Paul E., ‘Appointments within the Kandyan Provinces’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Ceylon Branch, Vol. XXXVI, No. 99 (1945), pp. 114–15.Google Scholar See also Roberts, , ‘Variations’, p. 19.Google Scholar

37 Obeyesekere, G., ‘The Sinhalese Buddhist Identity’, in George, de Vos and Lola, Romanucci-Ross (eds.), Ethnic Identity, Cultural Continuities and Change (Palo Alta: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1976), pp. 239–41.Google Scholar

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39 Wickremeratne, L. A., ‘Religion, Nationalism, and Social Change in Ceylon, 1865–1885’, JRAS, GB & I, No. 2, (1969), pp. 135–9.Google Scholar

40 Return to Righteousness, ed. by Ananda, Guruge (Colombo: Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, 1965), pp. 501–44; also pp. lxvi–lxvii, lxxivff.Google Scholar

41 Roberts, , ‘Problems of Collective Identity in a Multi-Ethnic Society: Sectional Nationalism vs Ceylonese Nationalism, 1900–1940’, in CINP.Google Scholar

42 The S.L.F.P. also included elements from the C.N.C. ‘Rump’ of 1946–50 and several political notables who had left the United National Party previously for various reasons; while some former members of the L.S.S.P. (e.g. Somaweera Chandrasiri and W. Dahanayake) and of the Republican Party also moved in during the 1950s (see the introductory monograph in Roberts, (ed.), Documents, pp. clxii–clxvi and Figure 2; and Wriggins, Ceylon, passim).Google Scholar

43 Kearney, , Communalism, Ch. 2Google Scholar and ‘Sinhalese Nationalism and Social Conflict in Ceylon’, Pacific Affairs, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2 (Summer 1964), pp. 125–36;Google ScholarFarmer, B. H., ‘The Social Basis of Nationalism in Ceylon’, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. XXIV, No. 3 (05 1965), pp. 431–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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49 Firm personal impressions, but something observed by others as well: see de Silva, C. R. and Samaraweera, Vijaya, ‘Leadership Perspectives, 1948–1975: An Interpretive Essay’, and Samaraweera, ‘The Role of the Bureaucracy’, both in SL Since Independence, pp. 29 and 39 respectively.Google Scholar For a summary of figures provided by some Tamil leaders, see Schwarz, Walter, The Tamils of Sri Lanka (London: Minority Rights Group, Report No. 25, 1976).Google Scholar

50 SL Since Independence, pp. 25, 31–9, 47–8;Google ScholarKearney, , Politics of Ceylon, pp. 79–84.Google Scholar

51 Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam, Electoral Politics in an Emergent State (Cambridge University Press, 1975), provides a good analysis of the electoral framework.Google Scholar

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53 Tribune, 7 May 1967.

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55 The mercantile sector in Sri Lanka and employment in U.N. agencies, African states, U.S.A., U.K. and elsewhere have provided alternatives, but it is doubtful whether they could have met the growing demand.

56 Personal communication from Jane Russell, (who has just completed a Ph.D. dissertation at Peradeniya Campus on the history of Tamil politics before 1948 and has the benefit of recent field experience in the Jaffna Peninsula).Google Scholar

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59 Wriggins, , ‘Problems of Communalism’, p. 139.Google Scholar

60 Ibid., p 142.

61 Cook, M. A. reviewing Kedourie's book in the Journal of African History, Vol. 14, No. 1 (1973), pp. 167–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

62 These have been emphasized and illustrated in Kodikara, ‘Communalism’. Also see Ch. 4 in Wilson, Electoral Politics; Kearney, Politics of Ceylon.Google Scholar

63 The latter figure is only an approximation and is from Kearney, Ibid., pp. 143–4.

64 Yapp, M. E., ‘Language, Religion and Political Identity: A General Framework’, a seminar paper at the Centre of South Asian Studies, S.O.A.S., University of London, 19 May 1976.Google Scholar

65 By Bennett, George (referred to and supported by B. H. Farmer, ‘Social Basis’, p. 433).Google Scholar

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67 For brief comments on the abandonment of the district councils scheme by the U.N.P., Under internal and outside (the U.N.P.) pressure, see Wilson, , Electoral Politics, pp. 31–2, 36–9, and his essay in SL Since Independence, p. 47.Google Scholar

68 Arasaratnam, , ‘Nationalism in Sri Lanka and the Tamils’, in CINP.Google Scholar

69 An article by the ‘Political Correspondent’ (Fernando, J. L.) in the Ceylon Daily News, 22 and 23 August 1940. G. C. S. Corea's reply was published on 24 August.Google Scholar

70 Ceylon Daily News, 23 August 1940: editorial entitled ‘Political Bargaining’.Google Scholar

71 Information conveyed by Jane Russell.

72 This is only too evident on reading Wilson, , Electoral Politics in an Emergent State.Google Scholar