Page 1
M. M
V
WOL I No. 4
ES
L.
S.
25 PEN
THE UD
TULF DISSOCIATES
"No one can arrogate to himself the right to Lake any action fraught with Serious consequences to the Tamil people in Ceylon", so declared the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) in a strongly worded Staterilent IIlade in connection with the Unilateral Declaration of Indepenidence of Tamil Eelam mowe by the London based Tamil Co-ordinating CoTi Tittee (TCC).
Following a unanimous decision of the Working Committee of the TULF to dissociate itself from the UDI move, Mr. M. Sivasithamparam MP, President of the TULF and Mr. A. Amirthalingam, MP, Leader of the Opposition and Secretary General of the TULF issued a joint statement, the excerpts of which are as follows:
"We are fully convinced that this is ill-advised and will not advance the Tamil ca u 5e le Wee bil,
"We in for Ted the II that the fate of the Tarinil nation had to be decided by the people themselves, and that no one can arrogate to himself the right to take any agtion fraught with Serious consequences to the Tamil people in Ceylon.
"Again when this matter was raised at a
Conference of Owers 1981 at Madu Tai in rejected any such requested ther Lo id
"When the Secr TULF met the Ille London in June, 19. that the TULF di 55 proposed action or decision to declare i taken by the accredited represer
A M
"Considering in its tion (the UDI Ilove effective programn establish Tinent of a c or for the advance liberation struggle. SeTWes to IIlislead th which will undernin
"We are not oppos proposal for the provisional governm exile. But the Ilost as to by whom, in W with what aims SL
TCC POSTPONES
The projectCd Unilateral Declaration of Tamil Eelam on January 14, 1982 by Mr. K. Waikunthavasan, Convenor of the Tanmill Co-ordinating Committec, a London based organisation comprising a few groups of Ceylon Tamils, was postponed indefinitely.
Mr. Waikunthawasan made an announcement on November 14, 1981 that "we do hereby decide to make all necessary Tangements for Thamil Eelam Independence Declaration on Pongal Day 1982"
4.1.1982).
The proposal received wide publicity in the Sri Lankan press and the government
made use of the or intensify and tighter [ hle North and East
It is reliably learnt Wasan Was subjected his collegues in the T applied on hir I1 to before the 'D' day, hawe told him that abandoned due to thi TULF, the lack of Tamil masses in unenthusiastic respo Tamils in London an the World.
 
 

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JANUARY 1982
..I. MOVE
eas Tamils in January India, we categorically adventurist action and trop this mowe,
tary General of the Inbers of the TCC in 81, they were informed ociated itself from the the principle that a Independence had to be ple through theirםeךָ ntatives with a full
realisation of the consequences of such action and not by a group living thousands of miles away insulated from the effects of their action and responsible to no one for what they did.
"If, in spite of those repeated warnings and advice, anyone takes it upon himself to indulge in an action, for which he has no authority from the people concerned, the TULF has to make public its dissociation from such a declaration on behalf of the Tamil Nation, who gave the TULF their Inandate to win their freedom, which objective the TULF is pursuing with a full sense of its responsibility."
ERE JOKE SAY YOUTH,
totality, this declaradoes not contain an Ile either for the omplete Soverign state Thent of Our national On the contrary it masses in a IIlanner e 0 Lur Struggle. ied in principle to the for Illation of a
EIt Of Tallil EeläIIl in iInportant question is hat circuInstances and
ch a government is
mmmmmmmmmmmm
pportunity to further security measures in of the country. that Mr. Waikunthato severe criticism by CC and pressure was abandon his move They are reported to the IOWe should be 2 rejection of it by the support from the Sri Lanka arid the Inse from expatriate d from other parts of
formed. Without the unanimous support of the people on matters of fundamental importance which might affect the political future of the Tamil nation and in the absence of favourable objective conditions, the attempt by some selfish individuals to form a Tamil Eelam government in a foreign Country is to reduce our independence struggle to a mere joke", so declares a statement issued by a section of the Tamil Youth Movement which is generally considered to be the group that believes in the strategy of armed political struggle. This statement was received at the Tamil Times desk by POSL.
The Statement adds, "In a resolution passed by the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee on August 31, 1980, it was announced that an Independent Tamil Eelam would be born on Pongal Day 1982. But there was no information or explanation as to how this Himalayan task was going to be achieved. However, the announcement made in London created confusion in the Tamil political arena. The London announcement was blindly welcoined by those who did not possess a deep understanding of world political history; by those who did not comprehend the
(Сопtd oп page 9)

Page 2
MTSSSLSLSLSS LSLSSLSLSSLSLSSLGSLLLLLLL
А LETTER FROM MADRAS
RIPPLES A CROo
Recent events in Sri Lanka in which a large number of Tamils were killed, displaced or put to other indignities, including the burning of the Jaffna library, had naturally angered the people of Tail Nadu Lo an extent that their elected representatives in the Houses of Legislature went out of their way to voice and put on record their concern for their fellow Tamils in the neighbouring country, an act which the Island power thought was an extra territorial activity. It was not the first time that the people of Tamil Nadu and their leaders expressed their emotional involvement whenever the Ceylon Tamils were persecuted by the Sinhalese power. During the days of Annadurai who led the LI milied Drawida MILI metra Kazhaka IT1 (D.M.K.), public demonstrations and even protest fasts were held whenever the Tamils in Ceylon were attacked by the Sinhalese in communal disturbances. After Annadurai, under the leadership of Kar Lumanithi, the party continued to woice their concern at every turn of events that affected their brothers in Ceylon. Today the D., M.K. party is bifurcated and we find two separate and powerful leaders both proclaining syInpathy and concern for the Ceylon Tamils and their cause. But are they proclaiming in the same voice?
This is the vital question posed by the general public of Tamil Nadu. As many within and outside India would know the D.M.K. built its power on the base of Tallil language, relying on its ancientness and rich literature, as well as on the individuality of the Tamil race, For them the Tamils outside India, particularly in Sri Lanka, are a potential strength. They cane closer to the II specially after the rule of late Salomon Dias Bandaranaike (former Pri Ine Minister) wheIn their tribulations really started. No one can doubt the genuine feelings of the D.M.K. party and its leaders for the Tamils in Ceylon and Tlaturally the latt er in turn had to lean heavily on the sympathy and encouraging utterances of the for Iner on occasions when they were oppressed by the Sinhalese rules and the collinurial hordes. This patronage today has, however, become a competitive commodity and both D.M.K. and All India Anna D.M. K. are vying with each other as to who should Taise the protective voice first and loudest. The recent reactions in Tamil Nadu - the unprecedented resolution passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly by the ruling A. I, A, D, M, K, ad the riwal dileIT) rist Talion before the office of the Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission which resulted in the arrest of the D.M.K. leader and the self-immolation of his two devout party
men - have create minds of independ genuineness of the these two political II During the World in Madurai last Ja Litterances by the Madras, Mr. M. against the Ceylon the In all to be ass. United Liberation support CTs of his widely used by the (U.N.P.) güvernmı proclaim to the Wor people a Te not sy dermands of the Tar We find it is the Wei who has taken ther strategy, Well unde Lake to beat his is The riwal in turn ultimately,
No One Carl du Lib the spontaneous fe India for their nei Two decades back India, Rajaji, had statement of encou tion of Tamils fron to ask for his bless
IL was at the officia: Nadu Minister (Cor the Adyar river
MP. FORCE
The debate in the on a Totion to Ferilaido, MP for short when the Tesignation Voluntar Readers Will rec: Fernando Who ITOW Iotion of Ilo confid the Opposition, Mr. July, 1981 in the Fernando suggested Opposition should physical punishmen the days of the anci What was iriteTest was that, while Ml United National Par
expulsion, Mr. A other opposition MP
S-S PAC
The Shastri - SiriT entered into bet Ween
in the 1960s conce Indian origin in S
allowed to lapse and

SS THE P4 İLK STRAITS
d some doubt in the ent thinkers as to the support proclaimed by
artics.
Tahil Conference held nuary, the un fortunate - Chief Minister of M. G. Ramachandran, Tamil delegates - taking ciated with the Tamil
Front and naturally riwal D.M.K. - were United National Party ent in Sri Lanka Lo ld that the Tamil Nadu Tipathetic towards the mils in Sri Lanka. Now ry same Chief Minister ole of chief mourner, a rstood by the people, a D.M.K. in the race. scored a bigger point
the genuineness and cling of the Tamils in ghbours in the Island, the elder statesman of
given a handwritten ragement to a deputa1 Sri Lanka, who ca IIIe ings and wise support. Ll residence of a Tamil gress) Col the banks of Lihat the late Father
D TO RESIGN
Sri Lanka Parliament expel Dr. Neville " Pamadura, was CLI t MP elded his ily, ill that it was Dr. "ed the un precedented lence on the Leader of A. Amirthalingam in course of which Dr that the Leader of the
be Ileted out. With as was done during ent. Sinhala kings. ing about this debate Ps of his own party, ty, were calling for his
Amirthalingam a Tid s opposed the motion.
TLAPSES
avo Pact which Was India and Sri Lanka Tning the Tamils of ri Lanka has been India is not likely to
Thaninayagam established a clearing house for the dissemination of news of Ceylon during a state of emergency and distribution of world press opinions when there was strict censorship in the Island. The Kamaraj administration covertly gawe its support and the Tamil Nadu Press lent a helping hand. This spontan city in expressing sympathy for the neighbour still exists in the people of Tamil Nadu at large, but there is certainly some concern among the thinking people that the present rivalry between the two chief political parties Tight disor the true picture in the country which in turn will be used by Sinha lese to their advantage. The people of Tamil Nadu are, though not politically, e Ilotionally involved in the welfa Te a Ild aspirations of the Tamils in Ceylon. The Tallil Nadu IPTe55, which ha 5 a vital 5ales interest in Ceylon, is always ready to voice the feelings of the Tamils and give adequale support for their just cause. Therefore, there is no question of genuine interest in and sympathy for the Ceylon Tamil cause among the general public of Tamil Nadu. But, outside the two political parties, there is no prganised movement which could voice in unison the aspirations of the two and a half millions of their neighbours. This needs serious thinking not only on the part of those on both sides of the Palk Straits but also on the part of those well placed Tamils living overseas.
- TAM WLNA LOAN,
enter into any fresh pact on similar lines. These indications were given by the Prime Minister of India, Mrs Indira Gandhi when an all-party delegation from Tamil Nadu state met her recently. The pact that lapsed on 31 October 1981, provided for the repatriation of a proportion of people of Indian origin from Sri Lanka.
The delegation that met the Prime Minister stressed that India should not agree to the repatriation of those who did not wish to return. It is understood that Mrs. Gandhi assured the delegation that the Government of India had always been Sympathetic to the cause of the Sri Lanka Tamils,
The delegation told Mrs. Gandhi that the problem was not one of language but of the rights of a national minority. It wanted the Government of India to take up with Sri Lanka, the question of the protection of the Tamils, Mrs. Gandhi agreed that there was no difference of view between her and the delegation that the Tamils of Sri Lanka should live with a sense of security.

Page 3
ENET of A NON-EVEN
The Northern Province of Sri Lanka, and
specially the Jaffna Peninsula presents an appearance of a recently occupied territory, army personnel and vehicle movements being evident everywhere during day and night. Almost the entirety of the armed forces of the state has been deployed with all the modern military hardware at its disposal. It is said that even trenches have been dug to enable the army to engage in potential pitched battles.
The ostensible reason for the government to engage in these warlike preparations is the non-event of 14th January, 1982, the move by certain individuals living in London to declare the formation of an Interim Provisional Government in exile of Tamil Eelam. Mr. K. Vaikunthavasan living in London made an announcement of the formation of such a government on January 14, 1982. Those who live in London and those who are aware of the true situation only know too well the complete lack of support for this adventurist move.
Mr. Vaikunthavasan had no claim of support from any section of the Tamil people of Ceylon. None of the Tamil groups in UK worthy of mention or in any other country was prepared to go along with Mr. Vaikunthavasan on this adventurist course. The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) which can to some extent justifiably claim leadership of the Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka openly dissociated itself from this move. Those sections of the Tamil youth who are reputed to have been engaged in 'armed struggle' on behalf of the Tamils had also condemned this move as adventurist and dangerous. Despite this, Mr. Vaikunthavasan, until the last moment was declaring that he was going ahead with his plans. Only on January 13, 1982, barely a few hours before the so-called deadline, did he indicate that he was "postponing' the projected declaration of UDI.
If Mr. Vaikunthavasan did not have any support for his move, why should anyone take note of him and his actions, one may ask. The answer is simple. The Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka have gone through enormous hardships during the last three decades. They have been deprived of their fundamental rights and subjected to severe discrimination and oppression. They have been the frequent victims of brutal violence, rape and arson. The restoration of their legitimate rights and their inalienable right of self-determination are too serious questions to be made the subject of adventurist stupidity
by individuals whose with self-publicity has
characteristic of th Pompous proclamatic pronouncements of fo sional governments ma their vanity and their for publicity. But they ( the problem of the peop
By R. Gan
SSSS contrary, they serve to
of hostile forces which continue with the deni the Tamil people. opportunity for those government which are cause of converting the a subject nation. TI required excuse for t continue and intensify security forces of the si Suppress those political are dedicated to the rights of the people.
Only political novices the complexities and question of the dema state within an already question is not only ol justification of the der context of Sri Lanka, r
FOR
RITA SAN
 

A*AJW LJU U ATLESIAP 97
T WITH SERIOUS IMPLICATIONS
baranoid obsession been a well known ir past record. ins Of UDI Or rmation of proviy probably satisfy insatiable appetite lo not help to solve le one iota. On the
esham
play into the hands are determined to al of the rights of They afford the sections of the dedicated to the Tamil people into hey provide the he government to 7 the use of the Late to contain and movements which restoration of the
will understimate seriousness of the und for a separate
existing state. The he of legitimacy or mand itself. In the anged against such
a demand are forces commanding enormous political, economic and political power and vastly superior numerical strength. On the other hand, orly those who suffer from infantile disorders and afflicted with political hallucinations would carry that demand to the extent of proclaiming a provisional government in exile when the political leadership both in and outside parliament, of the people in whose name such a government is claimed to be formed, are opposed to such a move. In the context of the eno mous power that is at the disposal of a modern state, the question of unilaterally exercising the right of self-determination by a numerical minority, even with almost total unity in its ranks, is a formidable task with almost insurmountable difficulties. The Eretrian Liberation armed struggle, which incidentally receives substantial foreign military and financial support, and which has continued over the last thirty years without any sign of a successful conclusion in sight, should serve as an example to enlighten those who sit in their well enconsed positions in western capitals and prescribe timetables and deadlines for freedom struggles. Only absolute political ignoramuses will even attempt to equate the struggle of the Tamils of Sri Lanka with those anti-colonial struggles against foreign imperialist domination in Vietnam,
Zimbabwe et al. (Contd. om page 14)
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Page 4
4 AML TIMES
Life after Lipt
The Oft dreamt-of book, when it finally comes to be written, will have four initial chapters:-
Chapter One : The Darkest Age, c.1820
c.1860
Chapter Two : The Dark Age, c. 1860
1948
Chapter Three: The Age of Statelessness,
1948-1964
Chapter Four : The Age of the Great
Uprooting, 1964- ?
The story opens with the coffee plantations begun by the British on land sold for a Song to any British army man or archdeacon. Indigenous Sinhalese labour was not forthcoming But no matter. From impoverished South India, which Britain also ruled, imports of cheap labour could be dragooned into the island.
Wages were very low and in their payment there were gross irregularities which continued into the 1920s and persist - in attenuated forms - to the present day. Housing was atrocious. Disease was rampant. Mortality was high.
The darkness began to grow a little less fearsome when in the 1860s coffee, succumbing to the coffee blight, steadily yielded place to tea. Tea is labour-intensive. On estates in Sri Lanka, the famous two-leaves and a bud have to be plucked all through the year. There was therefore the growing imperative of a resident labour force. Barrack-type rectangular sheds which came to be called "coolie lines' were constructed Largely migratory in the coffee phase, South Indian labour began to permanently settle on the estates. This marked the beginning of the "Indo-Ceylon Problem'.
Sri Lanka attempted to solve it unilaterally in 1948. In that year Sri Lanka, after four and half centuries of foreign rule, felt the first winds of a new freedom. But, tragically, it did not touch all her people. In the population - then about 1 million - some 800,000 were classified as Indian Tamils only because they were the last of several waves of immigrants from India into the island. By the Citizenship Act of 1948 these, almost to a man, were declared non-citizens and by the
1949 Franchise Act were deprived of the vote.
The Age of Statelessness had begun. So long as Nehru lived, India had held firmly to the position that the 19th century immigrants were the responsibility of Sri Lanka. However, only a few months after his death in 1964, the two Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka and India signed the first of the Repatriation Agreements. The second followed in 1974. Estimating that in 1964 there were at least 975,000 stateless persons in Sri Lanka, the Prime Ministers agreed that India would give citizenship to, and take away, 600,000 while Sri Lanka would give citizenship to, and keep, 375.000. The Great Uprooting was the con Sequence of a game of numbers played in high places.
For most of the workers, it was not to be repatriation, but expatriation, and in some
Rarely have Indian Tami plantations 1 Liptons hava have replace Tamil estate
cases deportation. there has been so 1 lines, it is surpris which heralded the migration of the 20 largely unnoticed.
Why, it may legit estate Tamils bee hardship, humiliati them, more than to the country's inhab debt for having give so little. Every yea earner of foreign ex so direly needs. Ta large percentage of 13 and 28 per cent respectively. By m can be no doubt that finance the whole r the country. Thes even for the childre and political elite prestigious schools the Old Boys whe years ago that “R graceful howler in and in the Universit good to remember goods -currently a because our Gover the World Bank's economy - are goo foreign exchange ea worker.
Yet what does th The highest illiterac island, the highest tality rates, the hig poor water supply, this last (at least evidence that all t supported by figur UNICEF finding housing under 250 64 per cent in the villages and 27 in th rare for us to meet, families of five cooking, eating, sle children in one roor a front or back ver
Why? Basically, the ar economic, political the Tamil tea work the country.
The British bega how deliberately an its disastrous cons say. Throughout th 20th century not or

JANUARY 1982
OS
By Paul Caspersz
so many provided so much for so little as the ls who work Sri Lanka's tea estates. Yet now the have been nationalised, Brooke Bond and
been sent packing, and government managers d the company superintendents. Is life for the workers any better? A report by Paul Caspersz
Even in a world where much else to hit the headng that the Agreements, largest organized worker )th century, have gone so
imately be asked, have the n subjected to so much on and discrimination? To any other single section of bitants, Sri Lanka owes a n the country so much for ir tea is the largest single change which the country xes on tea account for a government revenue: 8, in 1976, 1977 and 1978 eans of these taxes there the estate workers help to ange of welfare services in 2 include free education in of the ruling economic s in Sri Lanka's most (recall the hullabaloo of h it was suggested a few byal College was a disRepublican Sri Lanka!) ies. It would also do us all that the imported luxury bundant in the country nment has bowed low to ictates of an open door is paid for in part by the rned by the forgotten tea
: tea worker get in return? y rate of all sectors in the maternal and infant morest rates of malnutrition, sanitation, housing Of in order to offer some he rest can similarly be is) let us cite the 1980 that the proportion of q. ft to total housing was estate sector, 28 in the towns and cities. It is not in the estate line-rooms, r six members living, ping, bearing and rearing 10 by 12 ft, with maybe ndah 3 by 12 ft.
wer lies in the secular and cultural isolation of rs from everyone else in
the isolationist process; with what forethought of (uences, it is difficult to
19th and well into the y was the estate isolated
from the village but, through a series of vicious laws, regulations and customs, each estate was carefully sealed off from every other.
These isolationist processes gatherec momentum when Sri Lanka, at the turn of this century, began to move forward to eventual constitutional independence. In fact to isolation was added the factor of hostility. more or less overt.
Isolation and hostility could have been mitigated or even completely eliminated. indeed imaginatively transformed into open acceptance and creative integration, by four
sets of forces.
The first was formed by the Sri Lanka
Tamils (about l l per cent of the population) who constitute a group as ancient in the island as the majority Sinhalese. These are the Tamils of the North and East, called for short the Jaffna Tamils (Jaffna being the capital of the Northern homelands of the Sri Lanka Tamils). In the 20th century movement towards constitutional independence, it was an elite group of Sri Lanka Tamils who assumed roles on the political stage in order to defend the Jaffna cause. They were either ignorant of, or did not think that at that time there was any need to press, the cause of the estate workers. Only in very recent years or months have the Jaffna Tamils begun to be aware that the estate Tamils and the other Tamils of 19th century Indian origin (about 9 per cent of the population) have their own problems and that these problems are very different from those of the Sri Lanka Tamils. The second was the Trade Union Movement. In the late 1920s there was some hope that the newly emerging estate labour(Tamil) movement would link in fruitful symbiosis with the older urban (Sinhalese) unions. However, for a number of reasons these hopes did not materialize. Up to this day the estate labour movement has developed largely in unfortunate solitariness.
The third force was the Marxist. In the late 1930s the Trotskyite unions had significant success, in certain areas, in organizing the estate workers for the defence of their rights. But when war broke out in Europe, many Marxist leaders in Sri Lanka were forced to flee the country or go underground. When they returned they found that the estate workers had increasingly opted for the (Tamil) Ceylon Indian Congress. Then came the Citizenship and the Franchise Acts which made the estate workers politically and electorally expendable. Ever since, the
... betrayal of the estate workers by the Marxists
has been the greatest and the costliest blunder' of the Marxist movement in Sri Lanka.

Page 5
ANUARY 1982
LSSSSSSLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
The fourth is nationalization. This calls for fuller comment.
The Land Reform Laws of 1972 and 1975 — passed during the tenure of the Bandaranaike Government - took over the units of tea land which were over 50 acres in extent, owned either by private individuals or by companies. There was a French Revolution air about the event. Even Cuba, it was said, had not dared to be so radical in land expropriation.
More than 60 per cent of all tea lands and all the larger estates have been taken over by the State. More than 50 per cent of the tea lands taken over are managed by two large public sector corporations: the Janatha (People's) Estates Development Board and the Sri Lanka State Plantations Corporation. Gone forever, some thought, were the days of Brooke Bond, James Finlay, Lipton et al. Surplus value would no longer be drained out overseas. Democracy would replace the Superintendents despotic rule. There would be a much better deal for the workers. In the event, a lot of this has proved to be but wishful thinking.
On the criterion of economic productivity, nationalization has been disastrous. In the ten years preceding the first nationalization law, production exceeded 215,000 tonnes per year except in two years when it exceeded 210,000 tonnes; in the nine years after 1972, production has never exceeded 215,000 tonnes per year, in six years was below 210,000 tonnes and in three years did not even reach 200,000 tonnes. In 1980 production at 191,000 tonnes reached the lowest level recorded since 1959.
The preventable reasons for the fall in production are inefficient management and political interference in management (both being the bane of state-managed enterprises in Sri Lanka), corruption and sheer robbery, repatriation of skilled Tamil labour(under the Repatriation Agreement), demoralisation of Tamil workers and poor labour relations. The forces over which Sri Lanka has no control are increase in the cost of all imported inputs, chiefly fertilizer, the continuing stranglehold exercised by the affluent countries upon the international tea market and decreasing real prices of tea.
But what of the expected social benefits of nationalization and the social revolution which the idealists expected? The patterns of management are still basically the same, though a very few Sri Lankan planters' wives may now occasionally descend from their little-England mansions on the top of the hill to the UNICEF-sponsored estate creche and gingerly carry for a few moments an estate worker's baby. In the English language the former Superintendent is now called Manager, but in Tamil and to the workers he is still the Periya Dorai (the Big Master) and his Assistant is the Sinna Dorai (the Small Master). Both dorais still live in 'bungalows', the middle grades such as the clerks and the medical assistants live in 'quarters', the workers (who are over 97 per cent of the estate populations) live in line-rooms'. There is no more worker participation in management than there was at the end of the British period.
Moreover, there ha episodes of anti-Tamil estates in the post-natic only nine years. The fi. soon after the first Lau Sinhalese are by nature people in the world b ments can be easily but Sinhalese racialists, wh are stopped by nothin compassion, the kind violence of Buddhism hatred against the Tami estates are now ours, out' And the Tamil wo close to the Sinhalese v where some of them hac — defenceless, friendles dust, like a teabush up streets of the cities and The British, if they rut workers, at least protect attack
The second was in climate of unredresse grievances and the demand of the Sri II separate state of Eelar had nothing at all to do Sri Lanka Tamils. Tot cry of the Sri Lanka T state was and is irreleva sible. Yet in August 1 estate families lost e everything they had - cl precious savings conve during the senseless vi The third was as rece: and seems to have been clashes in the far awa This time the target set estates in the Sabaraga of the country's nine
ACH
THE LEAD IN
צי זם.
WEAF WE AF
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01 - AS

TAMIL TIMES5
H
lve been three ugly communalism on the onalization period of
st took place in 1972
nd Reform Law. The : one of the friendliest ut their lumpen ellediabolically misled by lo stop at nothing and g - not even by the lness and the non- in order to whip ls up to a frenzy. “The
they shrieked. 'Get rkers on many estates illages left the estates i lived for generations is, their hearts in the prooted -to roam the live off garbage bins. :hlessly exploited the ted them from outside
August 1977 in the d Sri Lanka Tamil consequent ultimate anka Tamils for a n. The estate Tamils with the politics of the the estate Tamils the amils for a separate nt and incomprehen977 perhaps 10,000 verything or nearly othes, pots and pans, irted into jewellery - olence.
nt as August this year the backlash of racial y Eastern Province. ems to have been the muva Province (one Provinces) - chosen
perhaps because in this Province the estate often abuts the Sinhalese village. The hard core of the attackers seems to. have been formed of goon squads organized by politically powerful anti-Tamil racialists, hoping to be shielded by state power. Round the
racialist goons gathered the looters.
1972, 1977, 1981 ... When will there be the next orgy of arson, loot, assault, sometimes murder and rape? The first understandable reaction of the poor workers is flight to India, to the frontiers of the Northern Province, to the wastelands of the Eastern Province. At the moment of writing, especially after the President's inexplicably belated but absolutely forthright condemnation of the violence on 4 September (see box), the emotions of first fear seem to be subsiding and a certain calm seems to have returned to the plantation areas.
The present Government claims that it has appreciably increased estate worker wages since it came to power in 1977. Really, there has been little, if any, increase in real wages and no increase in money wages since September 1979, though a wage rise is expected soon. Wages now stand - all extra allowances, but not overtime and overpoundage (i.e. tea leaf in excess of a minimum poundage plucked for the day), included - at Rs 14 or 38p per day for a male, and Rs 11.69 or 33p per day for a female. Not only are these wages lower than the wages paid to urban industrial workers but they, though paid once a month, are calculated on the basis of 'no work today, no pay today'. On most estates, according to the present writer's admittedly incomplete findings, the average number of workdays per month for the first eight months of this year has never exceeded 23, has sometimes barely reached 20, and men have had marginallv less work
(Contd. on page12)
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Page 6
HARJANS AND
"Socially they are lepers, economically they are worse, religiously they are denied access to places we miscall houses of God.' - Mahatma Gandhi wrote in the “Harijan.'
In his fight against the practice of "untouchability” he said, 'Caste does not connote superiority or inferiority. It simply recognizes different outlooks and corresponding modes of life - Its value from the economic point of view was very great. It ensured hereditary skill. It limited competition. It was a remedy against pauperism - Caste as at present is a distortion.'
This does not seem to matter to most Hindus. Harijans in post-independence India are still social lepers. They work in mines, in fields, in forests and in factories. A large number are scavengers and flayers. Economically they are not very different from any other backward class in India. It is their "untouchability', the "hydra-headed monster' as Gandhi termed the practice, that gives them the nomenclature of "Scheduled Castes.
In Tamil Nadu, where Harijans have in masses changed their religion to Islam, 1633 reported cases under the 1955 Untouchability (Offences) Act, for the period 1955 to 1973 were recorded. Lately Mr. Yogendra Makwana, the Minister of State for Home affairs reported in Parliament that 13,745 crimes were committed against scheduled castes in 1980.
GANDHIS OBJECTIVE FAILED
The objective that Gandhi failed to
achieve through his fasting and campaign
ing and which defeated the saints of old, the Harijans seem to be reaching on
their own in 1981. They are holding the conversion threat as a trump card in their blackmailing game with the government. This is obvious from a move by the Harijans of a village in Pondicherry not to embrace Islam when the government assured them that immediate steps would be taken to solve their problems.
They have jolted the government into hurrying its pace in implementing Harijan welfare programmes. "The Kooriyur irrigation tank work has been undertaken at a cost of Rs. 50,000 to provide jobs for Harijans. Similarly irrigation tank works were taken up at Maluwagal, Nochivayal, Pathanuwal, Sangoorni, Yedal, and Pottaga Urani. Repairs were made to the Kooriyur road. Repairs to big tanks at a cost of Rs. 1.50
lakhs were also Panchayat Union C considering recruit Harijan youth.' - T newspaper reportec issue.
Since the first conv 19, 1981, thirty fou indifference to the p turned into calls segregated Harijan the homelands for b. victims of apartheid
marriages.
By Naaz
There is no doubt t a force to be reck every sixth Indiar Scheduled Castes ol way, they constitute India's population.
That they have fi power and are using which owes its pote: and present politics aspect of this story. The pecularity of sions is their cor southern state of I although there have cases in other parts c is Tamil Nadu the children of God?
Harijans constitute State's population.
TA
We
We
NEW R

THER CONVERSION
completed -- The ommissioner was also ment of educated he Hindu, a national in its August 11
versions of February ir years of national light of Harians has or abolition of the colonies that recall lack South Africans, , and for inter-caste
reen Bhura
hat the Harijans are oned with. Almost belongs to the , to put it another 2 15.05 per cent of
nally realised their g a weapon "Islam' ncy to both history is the most startling
these mass convercentration in one ndia, Tamil Nadu, been a few reported of the country. Why
chosen one of the
17.81 per cent of the But the highest
TO SLAM
percentage of Scheduled Castes is in Punjab where they are 24.71 per cent of the state's population. Tamil Nadu ranks only sixth in the concentration of Harijan population.
CONVERSION DUE TO CASTE DISPUTE
The reported mass conversions in Meenakshipuram, a village in this state, were a response to a dispute between the caste Hindu landowners and the landless Harijan labourers.
Although the Tamil Nadu government has undertaken schemes for loans and waste land distribution to the Harijans, the poverty ridden picture of these depressed people seems to have changed little. Recently the State Government was defeated inf: a move to accelerate land distribution to Harijans. It felt that the Central Government Act, the LAA or Land Aquisition Act, did not help in providing land for house building, pathways, burial grounds etc., for Harijans quickly enough. However its initiative to introduce a state government Act was declared ultra-vires by the High Court.
The Indian Express a national newspaper in its July 17 issue quoted a scheduled caste youth from a village in the state, as saying, "We are not getting all that is due to us as members of
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Page 7
JANUARY 1982
Scheduled Caste
population Literacy pe State in percentages Rural 1. Punjab 24.76 15.06 2. Himachal Pradesh 23.35 17.58 3. Uttar Pradesh 21.62 O9.11 4. W. Bengal 20.08 16.86 5. Haryana 18.89 11.73 6. Tamil Nadu 17.81 19.24
Scheduled Castes and Tribes. So we might as well change our religion.'
The ramshackle huts of these villagers had no electricity. Their street lights did not burn. The village had no fair price shop or market. But these problems are common to most other Indian States. Why should the Harijans of Tamil Nadu alone turn brilliant chessplayers and threaten to checkmate the government?
LEAD GIVEN BY EDUCATED YOUTH
A study group of the Parliamentary Committee presented to the Lok Sabha a report on the recent conversions. It said that educated scheduled caste youths were the leaders of this mass movement for conversigns. One of the youths was a doctor, another an engineer and a third was a local auditor. These educated young men were giving the conversions an intellectual base and reasoning, the study group said.
Could this be the answer? Does Tamil Nadu have more educated Harijans than any other state in India?
Although Tamil Nadu ranks sixth in its
concentration of Scheduled Castes it has the highest rural literacy level and second highest urban literacy level among its Harijans. Bearing in mind that the reported conversions have taken place in rural areas of the state, these comparative figures could perhaps partly
contribute an answer.
According to the Ministry for Home
Affairs, 18 per cent of the seats in higher education, in Tamil Nadu, are reserved for scheduled castes and tribes. All the Universities of all the states reserve 20 per cent of their seats for these otherwise "negatively discriminated against people. Harijan children are given free education in all Indian states. At the intervention of
Mahatma Gandhi, reservation of seats for the Harijans in proportion to their population, in state assemblies and the Lok Sabha, was accepted and provided
for in the constitution. Articles 16 and 335 of the constitution provide for reservations in services for scheduled castes and tribes.
Although seats must be reserved in government services for the Harijans, Jagjivan Ram one of the few Harijans to reach India's political heights writes in
his book "Caste Chi 'These reservation or recruitment stage or stage have been tar( These reservation ord mented or not have g among the caste Hind
the Scheduled Cast At another point in 1
the employed Harijal bear with rebukes fi superiors, unco-operal colleagues and put up conduct of subordinat STIGMA OF IN If educated and ecc harijans have still to b of untouchability and is not surprising that
away from their religi Current, a national
reported, 'Well knov Karan Yadav of Del along with his large pained and aghast th whom I had the
suddenly turned cold
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allenges. In India', ders whether at the at the promotional ly and halting - ers whether impleenerated animosity u employees against tes and Tribes.” the book he says of ns, “They have to "om unsympathetic tive behaviour from ) with the insulting es.' NFERIORITY bnomically uplifted ear with the stigma social inferiority, it they have turned
O.
weekly in India,
wn Hindi poet Yad hi embraced Islam 2 family - "I was at the intellectuals privilege to meet I once they fourid
that I was a Harijan', Yad said in a press statement,' Yad Karan Yadav was educated and economically sound yet he confronted the "hydra-headed monster'.
The idea of Harijan conversion is not new to India. In previous years several Harijans have changed their religion to Christianity and Buddhism. But this change has carried with it the caste hallmark of the Harijans. Today there are untouchable Christians in this country. Only Islam appears to tear away
this degrading label.
Justice demands that if a muslim
Harijan is eligible for the category of economically backward class then he must be classified as such and given the due privileges. This would be to the Harijan convert's gain as according to the Department of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, 50 per cent of the seats in Tamil Nadu Universities are reserved for backward classes as against 18 per cent of for scheduled castes and tribes.
PANIC-STRICKEN RESPONSE Perhaps the fear of such demands and the threat of a death blow to the country's family planning programme by the Muslim philosophy are partly responsible for the panic-stricken response of the government.
It is to be hoped that these conversions have taught India a lesson in social equality. If they have, then the attempts
(Contd. on page 13)
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Page 8
TULF REJECT
By MR. A. AMIRTHALINGAM, M.P., L. Opposition and Secretary General of the T Liberation Front. In this article specially writtel TIMES, he explains the current position of the with the Government of Sri Lanka and statt demand of the Tamil nation for their independel serious for anybody to play the fool with it.'
The purpose of this article is to explain the events of the last six months in Ceylon with particular reference to the Tamil United Liberation Front (T.U.L.F.) and the problems of the Tamil people. The events of May-June 1981 following the Police rampage in the North of the country resulting in the burning down of several business establishments, the press and office of the only Tamil daily printed in Jaffna, the headquarters of the T.U.L.F., the house of the M.P. for Jaffna and most important of all the Jaffna Public Library with 97,000 volumes of valuable books, have left an indelible scar in the minds of the Tamil people. The Members of Parliament of the T.U.L.F. put forward five demands in the wake of these atrocities and boycotted the sittings of Parliament. An attempt is being made to give the impression that they ended the boycott of Parliament without achieving any of these demands.
FIVE DEMANDS
The first demand was that 7570 of the policemen in the Northern and Eastern Provinces should be Tamil speaking persons. Though the government accepted this demand, they have been able to send only 40% of Tamil policemen to the Jaffna District and a few to some of the other Tamil districts. This is due to the fact that there are not enough Tamil policemen to be transferred to the Tamil areas. The government has promised to recruit more Tamil police officers and post them to the Tamil areas in the near future. The second demand related to the setting up of a system of homeguards to safeguard the lives and property of people in the Tamil speaking areas. A scheme has been prepared by a high level Committee consisting of the Defence Secretary, the Inspector General of Police and others. It is now being examined by the T.U.L.F. and once that agreed scheme is worked out, we expect homeguards to be recruited and start functioning in a short time. The third demand related to the identification and prosecution of police officers responsible for the arson, looting and murder in Jaffna between 31st May and 8th June, 1981. Two plaints have been
filed against a Subcertain police offic acts of arson and S are awaiting th Attorney-General. are pending again officers for their period.
The fourth dem payment of compe suffered damage to result of the poli period. The Com headed by Mr. Lic Govt. Agent, Jaff inquiries and is due the course of this m has promised to pa basis of this report. Though the gover our demand for an ssion of Inquiry, Dr. Neelan Thiruch Commission of J Virginia Leary to events connected w and violence in Sr. tional Commission the government of hensive and fairly i government's obse Thus it will be S. meaningful steps h; the fulfilment of th
 

JANUARY 1984
S U.D.I. MOVE
eader of the Tamil United for TAMIL e negotiations es that “The at state is too
Inspector of Police and ers in respect of some ome plaints for murder e approval of the Disciplinary inquiries st 183 Sinhala police
actions during this
land related to the insation to people who property and lives as a ce action during this pensation Committee nel Fernando, former na, has completed its to submit its report in onth. The government y compensation on the
ment did not agree to International Commihrough the efforts of elvam the International urists sent Professor investigate into the ith the ethnic conflict Lanka. The Internaof Jurists has sent to Sri Lanka a comprempartial report for the rvations. ten that it was after ld been taken towards five demands that the
T.U.L.F. Members of Parliament decided to go back to Parliament. There appears to be a complete misconception with regard to the purpose and scope of the dialogue that is taking place between the government of Sri Lanka and the T.U.L.F. It should be clearly understood that these negotiations do not relate to the fundamental demand of the T.U.L.F. for which the Tamil people gave it a mandate in the 1977 elections, viz. the setting up of an independent sovereign socialist state of Tamil Eelam. The T.U.L.F. has repeatedly asserted in Parliament and outside its continued adherence to this fundamental objective. The negotiations going on now were started in the context of widespread violence against the Tamil poeple all over the country and the necessity to restore peace and harmany and thereby safeguard the lives, limbs and property of innocent Tamil people. Anyone with a sense of responsibility will realise that it is incumbent on a nation's leadership to avoid unnecessary suffering and loss to innocent people.
INSTRUMENT OF DECENTRALISATION
The T.U.L.F. had also accepted the District Development Councils as an instrument of decentralisation which also ensured the definition of the boundaries of the Tamil speaking districts and gave an opportunity to the people to develop these areas thereby enabling the Tamil people to earn their livelihood in their own territories without having to migrate to South Ceylon or abroad. It is expected that through the exercise of the powers of land use and settlement, which is one of the 15 subjects falling within the purview of the District Development Councils, the danger of the Tamil speaking people being reduced to a minority in their own traditional homelands by means of state aided colonisation can be obviated. The District Development Councils being new institutions, the details with regard to the sharing of powers between these bodies and the Ministries have to be worked out. One of the purposes of the negotiations that are going on is to work out these details and to make the Development Councils function effectively. It will be seen that these talks do not in any way detract from the fundamental demand of the Tamil nation for the recognition of the right of self-determinatiqn and the establishment of their
sovereignty.
The move of Mr. K. Vaikunthavasan
purporting to act on behalf of the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee to declare unilaterally the formation of an indepen

Page 9
JANUARY 1982
dent state of Tamil Eelam has given rise to widespread agitation. In anticipation of
possible repercussions of this move, the Sri
Lanka government has extended the Emergency and deployed the armed forces in fairly large numbers in the Tamil speaking areas. Mr. Vaikunthavasan in a letter to President Jayewardene dated 23rd November 1981 claims that the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee are 'the accre
dited representatives of the Tamil United
Liberation Front working outside the island'. It should be clearly understood that this statement is absolutely untrue. During one of my visits to U.K. in 1978, I found that there were 16 or 17 groups with various shades of opinion engaged in political work among the Tamils in U.K. After a patient discussion with most of these groups, I found that some of them were prepared to accept the leadership of the T.U.L.F., while the others were not. In order to bring about a certain degree of unity among those groups willing to accept the leadership of the T.U.L.F., I summoned a meeting of the representatives of these groups and assisted in the formation of a Co-ordinating Committee in November 1978. The only function of this Co-ordinating Committee was to co-ordinate the activities of the various groups so as to avoid conflict and duplication. Mr. Vaikunthavasan, being a neutral person not belonging to any of the groups, was appointed as convener. Now I understand that some of the groups which were in the original Co-ordinating Committee have dropped out and Mr. Vaikunthavasan has brought in certain other individuals. Whatever that may be, this Co-ordinating Committee was never accepted as the accredited representative
of the T.U.L.F.
TULF REJECTED U.D.I.MOVE
Towards the end of 1980 Mr. Vaikunthavasan piloted through the T.C.C. a resolution calling for unilateral declaration of independence of Tamil Eelam on 14th January 1982. Mr. Vaikunthavasan was promptly informed of the T.U.L.F's dissociation from such a move. At a conference held in Madurai, South India, where representatives of Tamils from U.K., U.S.A., Australia, Brunei and India along with a number of people from Ceylon were present, after various views were expressed on this matter, on behalf of the T.U.L.F. I categorically told them that this move should be dropped. Again when I was in U.K. in June 1981, I met the members of the T.C.C. in Mr. Vaikunthavasan's house and appealed to them
that they should give up this idea without compelling the T.U.L.F. to openly
dissociate itself with this move and thereby show the Sri Lanka government and the world that there was a division in our
SINGA NEW PR
For the first time in 50 organisations rel community gathered recently to host a Singapore's new F Devan Nair.
Welcoming the app as the Head of Stat. Singapore's Indian rce, Mr. G. Rama appointment was ' and reassuring to t minority communiti have to be disadv because of our co heritage.'
ranks. Most of t appeared to agree. I the Tamils in the U Mr. V.N. Navaratn these various grou them our position. Subhash Chandra Ba dence in Singapore
Japan and other Axis at war with Britain declarations do not
move nor does the
declaration in 1916
Dublin in the middle Mr. Vaikunthavasan of the Tamil nation
state is too serious fo fool with it.
On behalf of the make it clear that c
this ill-advised move departure by the
accepted goal. We ha and given credit to brethren for the g played and continu before the world th nation. Various gr U.K. and U.S.A. contribution to the cause. But a se declaration of inde taken with the full people and with the consequences that W step, having made a to meet and overc There is no short cut no magic formula b be achieved overnigl sacrifice and unswe called for. I would ap our Tamil brethren
the world not to i which will destroy t away from the masse on whom alone freec

TAMIL TIMES 9
oRE's ESIDENT
recent history, nearly presenting the Indian together in Singapore dinner in honour of resident, Mr. C.V.
ointment of Mr. Nair e, a past President of Chamber of Commechandran, said the “especially significant hose of us from the es” that “we do not antaged or ashamed Immunal or cultural
he members present
explained matters to nited States as well. am, M.P., also met ps and explained to The parallel of Netaji pse declaring indepenwith the support of s countries which were
or of other similar apply to the present parallel of the Irish which was done in of the war apply to 's move. The demand for their independent r anybody to play the
T.U.L.F., I want to pur dissociation from
in no way means a
T.U.L.F. from its lve always appreciated the overseas Tamil reat part they have e to play in placing le case of the Tamil oups functioning in nave made no mean
advancement of the ious step like the pendence has to be
participation of the full realisation of the vill flow from such a dequate arrangements ome such situations. to freedom. There is y which freedom can ht. Unity, hardwork, rving dedication are ppeal to all sections of living in any part of dulge in any action his unity and cut us s of the Tamil people. lom rests.
"The remarkable success of Indians in the commercial, industrial, professional and other sectors must be seen as one of the strengths of the Singapore society in substance and style.
'We the minority communities have reason to be thankful for the unique opportunity given to us to make our contribution to and play a useful role in the forward march of Singapore.' Mr. Ramachandran said.
Mr. Nair said in his speech that a multiracial republic expected a national President, not a minority one. "I pray that I may be able to fulfil this role. In Singapore there are neither majorities nor minorities. All are Singaporeans.
"It is this spirit of a common nationhood which should rightly inform and inspire all our private and public lives and endeavours.'
He said Indian organisations had an important role to play in ensuring that the cultural distinctiveness of Indian Singaporeans contributed to the variegated colours of Singapore.
This should be done not for any chauvinistic reasons. There was strength and suppleness in the Asian traditions for tolerance and assimilation in matters spiritual and cultural, Mr. Nair said.
Nearly 900 people representing Indian cultural, religious, social and business organisations attended the reception. They included Tamils, Malayalis, Telugus, Bengalis, Gujaratis, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains and Parsis. -
Earlier the Chinese Chamber of Commerce had hosted a dinner in Mr. Nair's honour.
(Contd. from page 1)
complex issues involved in a national liberation struggle, and by shortsighted romanticists. Without analysing the direction, content, aims and the potential political conflicts, they shortsightedly expressed their support to the announcement. Possibly the frustration resulting from the inability of the TULF leadership to put forward any militant programme of action for the advancement of the liberation struggle of the Tamils might well have made them to dream about at least an imported Tamil Eelam from abroad.
"Our masses must realise that liberation cannot be achieved without shedding blood and making enormous sacrifices. When the objective conditions remain as they are, magic formulas are being presented by some individuals. The London declaration contains dangerous proposals which would mislead the people and are inimical to the advancement of our national liberation struggle.

Page 10
LU IAMIL RIMES
Historical TAMILS
SPREAD OF BUDDHISM
In the spread of Buddhism into Southeast Asia and China the Tamils also played a part Tamil Nadu continued to have a number of strong centres of Buddhist learning long after the spread of Saivaism and Vaishnavism. Throughout this period traders of Buddhist persuasion and Buddhist monks sailed from Coromandel ports to Southeast Asia. Scholars from the Buddhist centre of Kanchipuram and Nagapatnam went abroad to found schools of learning in Indo-China, Thailand and Sri Vijaya. The links with Chinese Buddhism had been established early.
The spread of Islam across the Indian Ocean tended to extend and strengthen Indian overseas contacts and relationships and Tamil Nadu played a prominent role in this extension. Arab settlements were founded on the Malayalam and Madura coasts of south India and local seafaring communities were Islamized. Ports of southern India received a further boost in their trade as transmitting points for the east-west trade and Tamil Hindu and Muslim merchants participated vigorously in this trade. The eastwards segment of this trade was largely in their hands. In Southeast Asia in the 14th century, there is the rise of a powerful trading kingdom, the Sultanate of Malacca, dominating the trade of the region in much the same way that the Sri Vijayans had done in the preceding centuries. Malacca grew into a great entrepot of world trade and Tamil traders flocked there in large numbers sailing from Coromandel and Malabar ports.
CHETTIYAR MERCHANTS AND TAMIL MUSLIMS
The great corporations that dominated foreign trade in the earlier period seemed to be declining and their place was taken by Hindu Chettiyar merchants of the Tamil and Telegu clans and by Tamil Muslims generally called Chulia Muslims. Some of these merchants were trading as individuals powerful enough to own fleets of ships leaving their agents in Southeast Asian ports to do the buying and selling for them. Others, and these were by far the larger number, consisted of small scale peddling traders getting together in one voyage, sailing with their goods, carrying on their own business, and returning with the change of monsoon. Tamil Muslim merchants also became the
agents for the spread of Islam in the port-states with which they traded. The
does neederate
Dr. S. ARASAR Ceylon and rega in the University
Part I of this ar
skie spread of Islam in th and 16th centuries over others in the
parts.
Hindu and Mus frequented the portestablished settlem Muslims secured cc in the administration married into the fal and the upper ran Some of them rose Bendahara or contro and Shahbandar or They carried on tra not only for them behalf of the Sultal and Hindu traders base from which to and Javanese ports a into the Spice Island SETTLEMENT Both Hindu and M to settle permanently are the pioneers o' Tamil migrations
WE SPECIA EUROPE-US HONG KONG
FREIGHT A
AND HOUSE
PER MONTH
INSURANCE COWER (INC
ACCOMMODA INCLUDING
TOURS - C
VICTOR KASI SESH THIRUl HARPRY SEEV, GEORGE MAF
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

JANUARY 1982
IN SOUTH EAST
LLLLLLYLLLLLYYLLLLL LLLLLLLLYYYYYYLLLLLLLLLLYYLLLYYYYYLLLLYLLLLLYYL0LL A TNAM, a former Senior Lecturer at the University of rded as eminent historian, is now Professor of History
of New England, Australia.
ticle appeared in our December 1981 issue. ******************************** Ihh hh iki * * * * * * * * * * * * *********
ese states in the 15th gave them an edge ir trade with these
lim Tamil traders city of Malacca and ents there. Tamil »nsiderable influence of the state. They milies of the Sultan ks of the nobility. to high positions of ller of the exchequer
port administrator. ie with south India, selves, but also on h. Both the Muslim used Malacca as a trade with Sumatran nd further eastwards
SN.
IN MALACCA
uslim Tamils tended in Malacca and thus
f the contemporary and settlement in
事
Southeast Asia. Their part of the city, where they tended to concentrate, together with other Indians, was known as Kampong Kling. Here they built their own mosques and their own temples. Here were settled not only merchants but also artisans and craftsmen and adventurers who had left their homelands in search of a fortune. From Malacca, these Tamils tended to shift in the course of the 16th century towards other trading centres. Some moved to Acheh as it grew into a prominent port. Others went to the north Javanese ports and especially the port of Bantam as it element that tended to settle down, as it grew into an important port. In all these places, there was an element that tended to settle down, win the confidence of the rulers and these were appointed to administrative positions in the port. With the Portuguese conquest of Malacca this Indian settlement was disturbed, particularly the Muslims to whom the Portuguese were initially hostile. Chetty tracters, however, seem to
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Page 11
JANUARY 1982
ASIA AND FAR
have soon made their peace with the Portuguese and continued to operate as before and in fact increased their trade. From the Coromandel ports of Nagapatnam, San Thome, Porto Novo, Paleacatte, Maslipatnam and others, these traders sailed the Bay of Bengal with Portuguese passes and under Portuguese security. South Indian presence in Malacca increased during this period. Tamil Muslims also returned to Malacca after a time but they tended to settle in neighbouring ports outside Portuguese control such as Acheh, Johore and Perak. A Chetty merchant was made head of the Malaccan Indian community.
CUT OFF FROM HOMELANDS In time this Tamil community of Malacca became completely cut off from its homelands. Under the Dutch, its trading activity was seriously curtailed and it was restricted to some petty retail trade in the city, all kinds of handicrafts and some agriculture. Consequently the community declined from its once high position of wealth and prestige and gradually sank to impoverishment. A good deal of intermarriage took place with Malay women of the neighbourhood. It continued to practice the Hindu faith, as is seen from the grant of land by the Dutch to the Chettiyars in the 18th century for the construction of a Hindu temple. Gradually, however, their proficiency in their mother tongue declined and they increasingly used the Malay language.
The Tamil Muslims or Chulias continued to prosper. They moved away from Malacca to places outside European control and expanded their trading activities and their influence. They were welcomed by local Sultans who relied on them for the development of trade in their states. Thus the Tamil Muslims spread to the Sultanates of Johore, Perak, Kedah and Acheh in the 17th and 18th centuries. Some of them were appointed "court merchants' in these states and managed the affairs of Sultans and nobles. They married into these families. These Muslims retained their connection with their places of origin in Coromandell: Nagapatnam, Nagore, Cuddalore, Karaikal, Kayalpatnam. Their trade extended to all religions on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal: Pegu, Arakkan, Tenasserim, Thailand and the Malay peninsula.
They were particularly yell entrenched in the Sultanate of Kedah which rose in the 18th century as a trading state. Tamil
Muslims were settled the Kuala Kedah a offices in the admi them managed the and the nobles. Fro: up and down the Burma and Coron Dutch blockade and goods of the region had declared a mo used leading Tamil intermediaries in European powers, es Some of them 1 negotiations with th to the cession of the the East India Comp When the English ment of Penang in thriving centre ( agriculture and attra neighbouring coasts chose to settle there who then, along wi Malacca became t modern Indian mig the Malay peninsula, across the island to and engaged in a m such as coastal trad and labouring in t founding of the Col 1819 and its rapid gi Tamil Muslims move The development of in the Straits Settlem of the 19th centu
SUNAN
Genuine marria complete confid Clients in many stories of our su reputation.

TAMIL TIMES 11
EAST
in large numbers in rea and held high nistration. Some of trade of the Sultan m Kedah, they sailed Malay coast and to landel, beating the helping to trade in in which the Dutch nopoly. The Sultan Muslim merchants as his dealing with pecially the English. ook part in the e English which led island of Penang to |any.
founded the settle1786, it grew into a of commerce and cted settlers from the . Among those who were Tamil Muslims th the Chettiyars of he earliest of the rants and settlers in
In time they spread ) Province Wellesley ultitude of activities e, peddling, farming he docks. With the ony of Singapore in owth, some of these d over to Singapore. trade and enterprise lents in the first half ry brought further
PART
migrants from Tamil Nadu, both Hindus and Muslims.
MIGRANT LABOUR TO MALAYA
The growth of plantation enterprise in the Malay peninsula created a demand for labour which was filled by the import of labour from south India. Migrant labour was brought in under indenture contracts to work for fixed periods of time from the various districts of the province of Madras. With the boom of the plantation industry from the 1880s, this trickle of labour migration grew into a flood. Most of the recruitment was done through a kangany, sent by his European employer into the Indian village to induce others to migrate to Malaya to work in his employer's plantation. The Colonial Government also recruited labour to work in its services both in the Settlement colonies and in the Malay states. As a result by 1901, there were 120,000 Indians in Malaya, over 80% of whom were Tamils. Tamil migration increased further in the 20th century. While the plantations and the growing state services took in the bulk of this migration, from the 1920's, commercial, professional and other educated groups also began to come in. By 1957, there were 944,000 Indians in peninsular Malaya and Singapore, of whom about 80% were Tamils and in 1970 there were 1,081,400 Indians with a similar proportion of Tamils.
(Contd. on page 13)
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Page 12
12 TAMIL TIMES
LIFE AFTER......
(Contd. from pages)
days than women. As in British times, the estate workers - unlike the villagers - have few supplementary sources of possible income or none at all. It is either work for the day or hunger. As in British times, women are paid less than men for the same work. It is sometimes stated that the estate workers - despite their poverty - are still better off than the villagers in the matter of regular work, security of employment, housing, schooling, medical facilities and mothercare. Published figures provide little evidence to establish the statement. However, in the view of the present writer, such comparisons are fatuous and dangerously divisive. Both - estate workers and poor peasants - suffer oppression from the prevailing system. To ask where the oppression is greater is much less important than to end it - both on the estate and in the village.
The oppression in the estate areas is proving more resistant than maybe some of us hoped in 1972. But then ten years is a very short time for even the best of governments to end the oppression built into the plantation system over a period of 150 years. Indeed, more improvements seem to have been effected over the past 10 years - in housing, basic amenities for households, schooling, care for children, take-home pay - than during the whole of the British period. Even so, many of us are profoundly disatisfied with
the quantum and ther more, in many pla« seem to be directed in lot of the Tamil wor attract new Sinhales the estates. The sec Tamil estate workeri and creeping commu The Trade Unions they have done in the zations - with no as membership like the power like the Politic more if they can w Unions and the Part workers we have al revolutionary potent world religions aut present in Sri Lanka, - be it noted - among world.
Nationalization- a thing. It is unthinkabl heights of a country's in the hands of fore ation should be looked the nation - for grea conditions of living, pation, more solidari workers and the Sinh the machinations of divide in order to ru juster society.
The young estate who rose to speak at
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te of progress. Furtheres the improvements it so much to better the king population but to worker families into ular alienation of the still very much with us alism is heightening it. can do much more than уаst. Voluntary organipirations of increasing Jnions or of capturing al Parties - can also do rk as allies with the Jes. " Together with the
also to discover the al of the four major entically and vitally and in Sri Lanka alone all the countries of the
l told- has been a good e that the commanding economy should be left gners. But nationalizl upon as a challenge to ter production, better more worker particity between the Tamil alese peasants (against politicians seeking to le them), a freer and
worker, Balakrishnan, the conclusion in July
ugh us. . . . . . . . .
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this year of a series of Leadership Seminars conducted for a mixed group of Tamil estate workers and Sinhalese village youths of both sexes at Satyodaya Centre, Kandy, was absolutely correct when he said: "Before we came to these classes, we on the estates thought that the people in the village had it fine: land, happiness, freedom. Now we know that there is oppression also in the village. So the villagers must have thought that we had heaven on the estates: free houses, free schools, free dispensaries, work every day for good pay. Now we know the truth. The future lies in our going forward
together.'
Yes, together, with our people and our friends - at home and abroad.
Paul Caspersz
Paul Caspersz is a Jesuit priest, an expert on the economy of tea' and a founder member of Satyoday - the Centre of Research into MarxistChristian Dialogue. After the land reforms in 1972 and 1975, the Satyodaya Movement was drawn into confronting the problems of life on the tea estates. When the father of one of Satyodava's resident members was burnt to death during the racial riots of 1977, the organisation became involved in Sri Lanka's "National Question and the Movement for Inter-Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE) was set up with Father Caspersz as President. Satyodaya - now a kibbutz-style community made up of different races, religions, languages and social classes - is based in Kandy and continues its original work with the Tamils on the tea estates,
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Page 13
JANUARY 1982
LETTERS
High Standard
Dear Editor,
I have enclosed my subscription and a small donation to help put you on your feet. The first three issues of the Tamil Ties have maintained a high standard w nich sets it in a different class to the rest of the Sri Lankan Newsletters. However, I would hope that the Tamil Times will in future try to present a balanced view of the political troubles in Sri Lanka, therwise it will be no different from the Billdog which only preaches the message
of "hate'.
am Stre the Tamil Times will be a Secess at id there is a very wide market need for it all over the world. S/A.
aft
Very Honest
Dear Editor,
We the Tamils who are living in Scotland are all unanimously enjoying your paner. You have given the most appropriate name for it. We wish you all the best and hope that your readership will multiply more and more to read the truth. The best thing we appreciate is the whole paper is very honest in exposing the reality if the Situation.
l) R. S. Saba Glasgow.
CONVERSION....
(Contd. from page 7)
in Tamil Nadu to eradicate untouchability will be but a prologue to efforts against this social evil all through the country.
"We talk of culture, high moral values and democracy, sing songs to civilization and techno-economic growth, but unless the caste system is abolished, it is all meaningless.'- Jagjivan Ram in Caste Challenges in India.
There must be organised voluntary effort by those who are the leaders of thought to teach the people that in Hinduism man is the measure of everything, that all men are born free and equal, that the human personality is divine and unique. The caste system is not divinely ordained but created by
2.
The eradication of casteism is not only a social but also a political necessity. It has perimeated political life to such ŝin extent that the very structure of our democracy is threatened. The levers of caste are manipulated by all striving for political power for sectarian ends which weaken the composite fabric.
(Courtesy of “The Politics')
(Contd from
MIGRATIC
Another Southeas saw Tamil migr numbers was Burm began as the mig indenture contracts fields and in t Subsequently ther commercial groups and educated elem migration process, Muslims, constitut Indian population Unlike in Malaya a number of Tamils plant roots, mal Burma to their h after the war. The destitute to their c resettled by the Ta in special resettlem
By contrast, Tan Singapore participa the political and these countries independence. Th there, participated rose to positions Tamil element in added to by the TI Lanka) who had mi
MUR
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RELI COLOMB

TAMIL TIMES 13
SLSSSSSLSSSSSSLSSSSSSLSSSSSSSSS
page 11)
N TO BURMA
Asian country which ation in substantial a. Here the migration ration of labour on to work in the paddy he milling of rice. e was migration of , especially Chettiyars :nts. At the end of the Tamils, Hindus and ed 10070 of the total of just over a million. nd Singapore, where a decided to settle and ly repatriated from omeland during and e repatriates returned ountry and had to be mil Nadu government ent colonies. nils in Malaysia and ted enthusiastically in economic growth of after they achieved ey took citizenship in political life and of leadership. The these countries was 'amils of Ceylon (Sri grated from Jaffna in
north Ceylon as professionals and clerical workers. Tamils planted their social and cultural institutions in their countries of migration. A Tamil school system was
established in Malaysia, Singapore and
Burma. Saivite temples and religious societies were founded and played prominent roles in the religious life of the community. Tamil dance, music and drama were fostered. A lively Tamil press as well as creative writing in Tamil were firmly implanted. Popular Tamil religious and cultural festivals were enthusiastically celebrated. In all these aspects of cultural life, these migrant Tamils retained their association with their mother country and enriched their cultural experiences by this continuing association.
Thus a continuous tradition of maritime and seafaring activity has resulted in the spread of the Tamil people over a number of scattered regions. Wherever they have gone they have carried with them their love of language and their social and cultural institutions. These institutions have been somewhat transformed in the act of being transplanted in a new environment. But the continuing attachment to these traditions has kept alive the emotional loyalty to Tamil Nadu from which they originated and made them feel part of an international community linked by the bonds of Tamil culture.
(Concluded)
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Page 14
14 TAMIL TIMES
JUSTICE FOR SR LANKATAMILS
A memorandum was presented to the Prime Minister of India by an all party delegation from Tamil Nadu state in the early part of December 1981. It recounted the reports of violence let loose on the people of Tamil origin in Sri Lanka
recently and raised doubts whether these
could have happened without the active assistance or a least passive support of the authorities.
It urged the government of India to take necessary steps through its embassy and through other channels like the UN Assembly to ensure that justice was done to the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
It reaffirmed the linguistic and cultural ties that bound the Sri Lanka Tamils with the people of India in general, and of Tamil Nadu in particular.
While conceding that the Sri Lankan citizens shoudl find a solution to their problems within the constitutional framework of that country, the memorandum expressed the hope that international public opinion would exert its influence on the administration of Sri Lanka to ensure that the Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka enjoyed all citizenship benefits and were not subjected to any discrimination on grounds language or culture.
Those who live a comfortable circumst enormously in giving and in publicising th Tamils in Sri Lanka campaign of expo oppression and the directed at the Tamil question of democrat which affect the who Instead, indulging i totally unrelated to situation and assun leadership-role of th seriously undermine a
CaԱՏՇծ
The success of the Ta for the restoration including the right c depends on a multitl extent of the deterr and the preparedn readiness for active a tion of a substantial masses; a dedicated for enormous sacrific the stratagic and t involved and capable of the political, contradictions prevale hostile forces; the ext mobilising the progré
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broad in relatively ances can contribute material assistance e true plight of the through a sustained sing discrimination,
frequent violence s and on the general ic and human rights le of the population. n acts of bravado the realities of the ning self-proclaimed le Tamils will only nd imperil the Tamil
amils in their struggle of their rights, )f self-determination ude of factors - the mination, dedication ess and conscious and direct participasection of the Tamil leadership prepared ’es and conscious of actical complexities of taking advantage class and other int in the camp of the ent of the success in assive and oppressed
sections in the majority community behind the cause of the Tamils; and last but not the least, the extent of the success in gathering the support of international opinion, particularly that of India.
Brahmin Convention
A call to Brahmins to forge unity among themselves, take steps for their economic amelioration and fight against injustice, was made by speakers at the first All India Brahmin Convention held at Mylapore in December 1981. It was stated that most of the Brahmins were below the poverty line and that the object of the convention was to formulate steps to ameliorate the sufferings of the Brahmin community and not to make inroads into the rights of other communities.
The convention urged the Central and State Governments to ban organisations that attacked the community by words or deeds. The meeting decided to eradicate the evil of the dowry system and encourage inter sub-sect marriages among Brahmins.
--The Hindu International Edition,
2. I. 1982.
INSTITUTE OF HINDU RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
INSTITUTE OF HINDU RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
The Institute of Hindu Religious Education has planned to commence a course of instruction in English on basic Hinduism by post in February 1982. The course would suit students eight years old and over and will be spread over a period of three years at the end of which diplomas will be awarded to successful candidates. The annual course fee is £5 for those in U.K. and £8 for overseas students. Further particulars and application forms are available from The Registrar, I.H.R.E., 63 Baronsmede, London W.5 4LS. A brief outline of the course appears below.
First Year Programme 1. Origin, practice and propagation of Hinduism. 2. Basic ideals of a Hindu. 3. Adaptation and practise of Hinduism in Western Countries. 4. Significance of various manifestations of God (6 modules).
Second Year Programme 5. Sacred symbols in Hindu Religion.
6. Significance and practice of all holy and religious days and events (3 modules).
7. Saints, Prophets and Sacred Scriptures (4 modules). 8. Famous Temples.
Third Year Programme
9. Saiva Sidthantham (3 modules). 10. Teachings of Neethi Nools - Thirukkural etc. (3 modules). 11. Thirumurai (2 modules).
12. Review of all major religions.

Page 15
HNDU’ ON BFURCATION OF STATE
The categorical assertion of the Prime Minister (of India) in the Lok Sabha that there was no question of bifurcating States, should serve as the last word on the issue. Disgruntled elements and dissatisfied groups led by ambitious and opportunist politicians have been promoting movements or agitations asking for the creation of new States on the specious plea that only then would better care be taken of the special interests of the people inhabiting the respective areas. Those who want dismemberment argue that some States are too large for efficient governance. Once the process of splitting up starts there is no knowing where it will end.
It was only proper and timely that Mrs. Gandhi decided to spell out her Government's policy in unambiguous terms The quality of administration in several States does need vast improvement. But the answer to the problem is not a multiplication of States. When it comes to a question of efficiency, the performance of smaller States has not been any more encouraging than larger States. There is even a section of opinion in the country which feels that the linguistic reorganisation of States was itself a big mistake.
A composite State comprising Andhra Karnataka and Kera the interests of the region much better. this stage to re purposeful measures put an effective stop that thrive on reg differences.
Indian Presid Sri L The President of I Reddy will visit Sri Li middle of February scheduled to make til 1981, but that vi
LANKA)
The newest inte association in Madr organised by Sri Lan recently sponsored “Sangha Mitra” by I The story was of the ( Ashoka, being conve daughter Meghaveni.
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African Development Fund
The lower house of the Indian Parliament, Lok Sabha, unanimously passed a bill providing for contribution by India to the African Development Fund. The Fund is supported by several countries but fifty per cent of the shares are held by African nations. Though former ruling countries are also participating they do not have more than one third of the voting rights. Thus there is no Scope for exploitation. India's interest in developing economic and trade relations with the African nations is demonstrated by the establishment of a number of joint commissions and extension of technical assistance and easy credit facilities to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and others.
Honours For M.S.
M.S. Subbulakshmi has been conferred the highest award of Viswa Bharati University. At the annual convocation of the University at Santiniketan, she was conferred the title "Desikottama' which can roughly be translated as Doctor of Philosophy. Tributes were paid to her virtuosity as a singer and her contribution
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Page 16
TAMIL TIMES
A WELCOME DECISION
We welcome the decision of the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee of London to postpone indefinitely their move to unilaterally declare independence and set up an interim government in exile of Tamil Eelam.
We believe that the Tamil people of Sri Lanka are entitled to their inalienable right of self-determination and this implies the creation of a separate state if they so desire. Whether and when and in what circumstances that right should be exercised is a matter for the Tamil people to decide through their accredited leadership, both inside and outside Parliament. What we are certain about, and we believe non-debatable is that any move in that direction should enjoy the support of the vast majority of the Tamil people living in Sri Lanka. No decision or formula, however well intentioned, should be superimposed on the people against their will. The expression of that will can only manifest through the political institutions they themselves have created and which are directly accountable to them.
The tasks facing the Tamil people are enormous. The forces ranged against them are powerful. The course they have to chart to win back their fundamental rights is beset with acute difficulties. In this context, we venture to suggest that, any section or group which has set before itself the task of assisting the Tamil people of Sri Lanka in their struggle, should ensure that whatever proposals they make or whatever steps they take are designed to maximise the unity among the people and to devote their efforts to avoid unnecessary conflicts or divisions. Sectional or group advantage in the short term may well have to be sacrificed for the achievement of the long term goal.
Various views have been expressed about the UDI move, some severely critical. We do believe that there are also sections of Tamils who consider that the move should have been proceeded with. However, taking into consideration the probable serious consequences that would have been inevitable if the move had been proceeded with, and taking into account the controversy that had been aroused as to the advisability and timeliness of the proposal at this juncture, we are of the view that the decision of the TCC to postpone was a wise one.
The very fact that a date for the declaration of unilateral independence was fixed and some groups did in fact take certain token steps on 14th January shou alert the authorities to their responsibility to resolve the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. If they do not, posterity will not forgive them for the inevitable consequences that are bound to follow by their inaction.
PUBLISHED BY TAMIL TIMEs LTD. AND.

eaturbay
Septe
SRI LANKA
A new weekly Journal under the name 'Saturday Review, Sri Lanka' is to be published from Jaffna, Sri Lanka as from 30th January 1982. In announcing the publication, the publishers State:-
“The SATURDAY REVIEW, which will come to you every Saturday, beginning January 30, 1982, shall undertake as its primary duty the dissemination of correct information on events and developments in Sri Lanka and outside. As a weekly, it will be in a position to analyse events and trends and interpret them against the background in which they occur.
"It will help us as far as possible to meet the challenge of establishing two-way communication between all peoples and nationalities within the country, and in the process serve as a vehicle for building healthy and civilised interaction. It will also serve as a useful link between Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankans abroad.
"The SATURDAY REVIEW will occupy a unique position of being the only English-language provincial weekly; and located as it will be in Jaffna, will naturally reflect the ethos and life around it with authenticity. It will comment authoritatively on aspects of Tamil culture, interpret them for non-Tamil readers and thereby help to overcome barriers of prejudice and emotional antipathies allowed to accumulate over the years. "The paper will not hesitate to stand up against injustice, acts of discrimination, and violation of human rights and freedoms, but in doing so, will speak the language of logic and reason and not emotion.
“The SATURDAY REVIEW will be an independent, non-partisan journal. It will offer itself as a forum for free comment and expression of opinion and will keep its columns open to any point of view within the limits of law and reason. 'While the paper will, in essence, deal with the happenings in the world of today, it will also strive to add to your storehouse of knowledge, and offer you insights into people and events, past and present, through a variety of interesting feature material.'
Those who want to order copies of this Journal should write to Kalai Nilayam Ltd., 303 K.K.S. Road, Jaffna Sri Lanka. Airmail overseas annual subscription is 50 US dollars. SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
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