By Vishwamithra –

“When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live.” ~ Greg Anderson

Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) was founded in late 1949 by a group of three Ceylon Tamil parliamentarians, SJV Chelvanayakam, C Vanniasingam and Senator EMV Naganathan. They had withdrawn from GG Ponnambalam’s All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) over the latter’s decision to enter the United National Party (UNP) government of DS Senanayake. ITAK was commonly called or known as the Federal Party (FP) in English. However, Ceylon being a multi-racial and multi-cultural polity and the ITAK being branded as a the Federal Party, that branding by itself may have contributed largely to the negation of this extraordinary governing concept of ‘Federalism’ by Sinhalese Buddhists, the majority voter-bloc in the country.

Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government with regional governments in a single political system, dividing the powers between the two. Federalism in the modern era was first adopted in the unions of states during the Old Swiss Confederacy. Furthermore, Federalism in most of the countries that have adopted as a mode of government, also have to grapple with issues related to varied cultures, religions and ethnic groups. United States of America, India, Canada and Switzerland are examples that have adopted Federalism as their governing methods. All these countries have not been invaded by a foreign power since the adoption of Federalism.

The relations between the central government, the ‘Union’, as it’s called in India, and the States are not blurry as one would expect. For instance, India’s federal system is so defined as per the three ‘lists’ over the subjects of which, power or authority is to be exercised by the respective institutions, Union, State or Concurrent, as defined in the Indian Constitution. This ‘list’ system must have played a very critical and heavy role in the adoption of the 13th Amendment to our own Constitution. Annexure ‘C’ to the 13th Amendment contained such a list of subjects but unfortunately for our Tamil brethren and more dishearteningly for Sri Lanka, Sinhala-chauvinists in the then JRJ-government of the 1980s did not allow the full implementation of Annexure C’.

Transfer of full powers over the Land and Police policies was a clear ‘no-no’ for these chauvinists in particular and when exploited by the Opposition politicians, to the majority of Sinhalese population in general. Adoption of the 13th amendment and implementation of the Provincial Government system suffered further by the escalation of the armed conflict between the security forces of the Central government and the militant Tamil forces led by Prabhakaran and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) organization.

India at no time wanted this escalation; on the one hand, because it increased the pressure they themselves faced from the Tamil Nadu State government and on the other, a weak Central government in her closest neighbor would not represent a palatable element in their future development as an up-and-coming world power. Everything that could go wrong went wrong afterwards for Sri Lanka.

It is utterly futile to labor the fact that Ceylon, especially her majority Sinhalese Buddhists, has been suffering from a severe ‘minority complex’ all along her history. What our anti-Federalism elements have not realized, or have deliberately ignored, is that before the invasion by the Portuguese in 1505, Ceylon too was ruled on a quasi-Federal system. Ancient Ceylon was divided into three major provinces, Ruhunu (South), Pihiti (what is known today as the Northern, North western and East) and Maya (Western and largely Central provinces). It was King Dutugamunu (our Ultra-chauvinists’ hero) who founded the first central rule covering the whole Island. Yet in 993, when Raja Raja Chola sent a large Chola army which conquered the Anuradhapura Kingdom, in the north, and added it to the sovereignty of the Chola Empire, Ceylon once again became a country with so many kingdoms whose respective powers were limited to the terrain that each kingdom-chief reined. The whole island was subsequently conquered and incorporated as a province of the vast Chola Empire during the reign of his son Rajendra Chola.

Ceylon as one single polity was conquered and ruled by the British after 1815, thus the sovereign Ceylon became a subject of the British Monarch. An unsophisticated type of federalism that Ceylon used to be ruled under various kings and chieftains vanished and the Soulbury Constitution was introduced as our main source of power, law and what followed wherefrom.

What armed the chauvinists on both sides of the aisle, Sinhalese and Tamils, is this concept of ‘sovereignty’. Sinhalese on the one hand never wanted to grant federalist type of powers to Tamils because they mistakenly thought (they are still of that opinion) the sovereignty of the nation would be compromised. Politicians went to town with this concept of sovereignty and what ensued was a 27-year war which claimed some of our youth who would have had a much different life if things were viewed by our leaders through a more farsighted lens.

We are now in the twenty first century. The country has travelled a long seventy five years after it was declared independent. For the first time in those 75 years, we are facing a crisis of unprecedented proportions. The economy has collapsed; the politicians are corrupt beyond redemption and the people are as desperate as never before. 

If only Federalism was marketed as a positive mode of government, a mode that decentralized broad powers of the ‘Center’ to a given number of provinces whilst retaining the same powers as the ‘Union’ government of India such as defense, armed forces, foreign affairs, war and peace, citizenship, extradition, railways, shipping and navigation, airways, banking including income tax, customs and export duties, duties of excise, taxes etc., there would not have been suspicion and tension between the two major ethnic groups in the country. Well, it was not to be.

What the current crop of politicians failed to do was to enunciate the ‘decentralization’ aspect of ‘Federalism’ amongst their peers in the provinces. India would not have sustained her democratic way of government and democratic way of life if powers were centralized in the center. With such a vast variation amongst her peoples, a power that solely emanated from the center would have easily contributed to a total collapse of India’s democracy.

Please have look at the following spreadsheets:

Current Provincial and District CompositionProposed Provincial and District Composition

The 1^st spreadsheet gives the current district and provincial distribution and their respective vital statistics as to land area, population density etc.

The 2^nd Spreadsheet illustrates the proposed provincial divisions and the district assigned to each province. In both sheets the most salient statistic is the population density and the land area. Instead of arbitrary divisions by the British, I attempt to strike a balance between the population density and the cultural and ethnic complexion of each province and also availability of industry, schools, irrigation facilities etc. with a view to maintaining a more cohesive composition of the province. Provinces have come down from 9 to 6. Uva, Sabaragamuwa and Wayamba have been done away with as provinces. Badulla of Uva has been assigned to Central Province while Moneragala to Southern Province. From Sabaragamuwa Province, Ratnapura has been grouped with Central and Kegalle to Western Province. Entire North Western Province has been amalgamated with North Central Province.

What I have presented is not a fully complete proposal. However, I wish that this would encourage discussion and exchange of better input from all parties concerned in order arrive at a more acceptable ‘System Change’ through a sincere commitment to the principles of a) Sovereignty of the nation, b) Viability of the Proposal, c) Sustenance of Democracy and above all d) Extension of equality to all ethnic, religious and cultural segments of the land and her people.

Such changes would provide for inter district, inter provincial and intra provincial migration of the population, making such migration based solely on any reason. Institution of strong and durable architecture to the Union Constitution and Provincial Constitution shall further buttress the process of change. Albert Einstein defined insanity thus: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” We are engaged in this madness. However, that madness is not accidental; it’s deliberate; in order to keep oneself in power, one resorts to all sorts of insanities. Cosmetic changes and superficial remedies are such insanities our leaders have been committing ever since Independence. It’s time we sought another path.  

After enduring the whirlwinds of Aragalaya, if Sri Lanka were to learn from her shameful errors, must think anew. They must honestly and deliberately think outside the clichéd box. One might argue that after having been driven to the brink of total economic collapse, how can she think of a Federal System of Government? The answer is simple: it is the very fact that the country was driven to the edge because we have been stagnating in a system that has not served the purpose of its people.

Nevertheless, one unseen yet critical element of this proposal is leadership. Do we have the leadership to implement a new policy? Do we have, as one people, one country and sovereign nation have the guts and stomach to retain those guts to envision and put into action a totally fresh set of proposals whose only vested interest is the wellbeing of the masses?   

*The writer can be contacted at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com