The Transnational Tamils in Sri Lanka are a section of Tamilians pushing for the creation of an independent Tamil-dominated nation in the north and east of the country. They have been agitating for autonomy and secession ever since Sri Lanka obtained independence from Britain. Significant populations of the ethnic group also reside in countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, India, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Malaysia, Netherlands and Denmark.
The ethnic group has been native to the region from the 2nd Century BCE, having originated from Tamil Nadu in Southern India. Segments of the community migrated south into Sri Lanka and soon became the most prosperous, owing to their exposure to success in India. At the peak of their power in the 12th to 14th century, a powerful dynasty, now remembered as the Jaffna Kingdom, ruled the northern half of Sri Lanka. Many of the Jaffna Kingdom rulers subdued the Sinhalese majority found deep within the country in the 12th to 17th centuries, with local chiefs extracting tributes from the natives.
The Transnational Tamils have been pushing for autonomy since independence from British rule in 1948. The primary cause of conflict between the Transnational Tamils and the rest of Sri Lanka stems from the switch in roles that came with the departure of the British colonialists, “(the conflict) is between a majority with a minority complex and a minority with a yearning for majority status” (Wilson, 2000, p. 55). Just as many colonists would do in other territories such as Rwanda and Burundi, Britain identified the Tamils as a pliable minority that could facilitate its colonization of the island-state and conferred its elite with favors in exchange for cooperation. As a result, the majority Sinhalese started to detest their Tamil neighbors, viewing them as traitors. Soon the tables turned as independence approached, with the Tamils ending up on the receiving end of the harsh treatment that they had once meted out on the Sinhalese.
Tamil nationalism was already growing during the 18th century as Hindus sought to limit Protestant missionaries from converting the ethnic group. These sentiments of nationalism grew further when colonialists introduced a legislative council in which all communities had equal representation. This move made the Tamils realize that their small population would disadvantage them on the national stage. The strange reality is that the Tamils and Sinhalese are actually related, “It is difficult to gauge the extent of Tamil blood among the Sinhalese and it is difficult to explain why the Sinhalese language shows the influence of Tamil so strongly, and why the Sinhalese caste-system is so similar to the caste-system of South India” (Chattopadhyaya, 1994, p. 51).
As a result, the Tamils constituted a political party named the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) to champion their rights. Soon after independence, the Sinhalese majority government started pursuing pro-Sinhalese policies at the expense of the Tamils, causing the Tamils to grow increasingly nationalistic and polarized, with conservatives joining the government and leftists moving away. As a result, the ACTC split, with half of its members joining the ruling United National Party and the other half forming the Federal party in 1949 (Wilson, 1994, p.3 ). What followed was decades of political, social and economic marginalization that increased nationalistic sentiments among the Tamils.
Sinhalese dominated governments subsequently adapted policies that further alienated the increasingly besieged Tamils, resulting in the formation of the Tamil United Liberation Front, a conglomerate of all Tamil political parties. When this new vehicle failed to obtain autonomy or independence for the Tamils, they turned to militant methods to air their grievances. The TULF had the purpose of pushing for federalism in Sri Lanka via legal and constitutional channels; its failure became the main catalyst in the formation of violent groups, later crystallizing in the Tamil Tigers. This militant organization began a massive terror campaign in 1983 to fight for Tamil autonomy and rights (Falk & Morgenstern, 2009, p. 236 ).
The sheer amount of violence applied by this group was unparalleled and led to tens of political assassinations, thousands of civilian deaths and millions of displacements. The international community condemned the terror campaign and numerous countries designated the Tigers as a terrorist group, preventing their citizens from dealing with it. The bloody campaign ended in 2009 when the Sri Lankan army concluded a three-year offensive that wiped out the Tamil Tiger’s power in the north and east of the country. This offensive also involved the use of unconventional military tactics that resulted in the international community and Diaspora Transnational Tamils accusing the Sri Lankan government of war crimes.
Today the Transnational Tamils are facing numerous challenges that have accumulated over the last six decades and caused under-development in their native regions. These problems include high insecurity and unemployment; lack of access to agricultural land among those displaced during the civil war; underdevelopment by successive governments in deliberately marginalized regions; lack of resettlement and rehabilitation options for displaced populations and discrimination.
The problems are prevalent due to the minority status of Tamils. Their relatively smaller population prevents them from significantly shifting the direction of government policies, thus the population is unable to attract progress. At the same time, the violence that the Tamil tigers waged created an environment of insecurity that became a major barrier to socio-economic progress. The nationalism that also characterized public dialogue created unnecessary tensions that prevented progress on numerous fronts. These tensions impeded development in many different regions. The hostility of the Tigers also prevented real development since they settled in enclaves that the government could not penetrate for the delivery of services.
Transnational Tamils are therefore among the poorest communities within Sri Lanka and their grievances are still unaddressed. However, the government is making efforts to resettle some displaced civilians in the northern regions previously designated as High Security Zones (HSZ). In May 2010, 12,274 citizens belonging to 3511 families resettled in the Jaffna Peninsula. These mass resettlements had the aim of returning the country to normalcy after decades of violence.
In the wider world, Transnational Tamils tend to have characteristics that are the polar opposite of their relatives in Sri Lanka. These diaspora Tamilians largely fall into three groups; the Tamils of India, Malaysia and the rest of the world. The Tamils of India, who reside largely in Tamil Nadu, are the most numerous of the lot, numbering a whopping 60 million, compared to the 3 million in Sri Lanka and 1.8 million in Malaysia (Wayland, 2007 ). They have been the force behind the socio-economic prosperity of Tamil Nadu state in India, providing an enterprising spirit that fuelled the region’s success. They tend to be less militant than their relatives in Sri Lanka and have used their talents to succeed in the arts, sciences, politics and business.
The Diaspora Tamils, who have settled around the world especially the West, tend to be more socially conscious and proactive than their Indian and Malaysian relatives, actively contributing to various causes for the self-determination of their brothers in Sri Lanka. In countries like the US and UK they have thrived in several sectors, especially finance. A significant proportion of remittances sent to In Sri Lanka usually come from diaspora Transnational Tamils keen to support their relatives back home (Skoggard, Ember & Ember, 2005, pp 492 – 500 ).
This group has been the impetus behind the creation of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) that comprises Tamilians in the diaspora who are pushing for the creation of an independent Tamil state through peaceful means. The group came about after the defeat of the militant Tamil Tigers in the civil war that ran from 1983 to 2009, “Our organization, as well as our people does not want war … we want peace and we want to resolve our problems through peaceful means” (Pirapaharan, 2003). The Sri Lankan government has termed the outfit as a secessionist movement that has terrorist tendencies.
In conclusion, the Transnational Tamils in Sri Lanka are among the most interesting multi-national ethnic groups found in South Eastern Asia due to their convoluted history, culture and influence.
Reference List
Chattopadhyaya, H. (1994). Ethnic Unrest in Modern Sri Lanka: An account of Tamil-Sinhalese Race Relations. New Delhi: M.D. Publications.
Falk, O., & Morgenstern, H. (2009 ). Suicide Terror: Understanding and Confronting the Threat. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
Pirapaharan, V. (2003). Tamil Eelam Homepage. Web.
Skoggard, I., Ember, C. R., & Ember, M. (2005 ). Encyclopedia of Diasporas : Immigrant and Refugee Cultures around the World. New York: Springer.
Wayland, S. (2007 ). Transnational Nationalisms : Sri Lankan Tamils in Canada. In L. Goldring, Organizing the Transnational : Labour, Politics and Social Change (pp. 55 – 67). Vancouver: UBC Press.
Wilson, A. J. (1994). S.J.V. Chelvanayakam and the Crisis of Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism, 1947-1977. London: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers.
Wilson, A. J. (2000). Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its Origins and Development in the 19th and 20th Centuries. London: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers.