{"id":94373,"date":"2013-07-07T00:03:10","date_gmt":"2013-07-06T18:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=94373"},"modified":"2013-07-11T01:21:43","modified_gmt":"2013-07-10T19:51:43","slug":"tamil-university-part-ii-the-tamil-university-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/tamil-university-part-ii-the-tamil-university-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"Tamil University Part II: The Tamil University Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole<\/p><\/div>\n

The Tamil University Movement (TUM)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The World of Learning<\/em>, covering education worldwide, announced that \u201cNavalar Hall Colombo was founded in 1957 as the first Tamil University in Ceylon\u201d (1960 issue). \u00a0In that felicitous announcement, \u00a0the memories of universities by Christians in the Pearl Fishery and Batticotta were suppressed.<\/p>\n

In backdrop, a 1951 Official Language Commission under Justice Arthur Wijewardena on how Sinhalese and Tamil could be introduced, mooted the replacement of English with only one language. Wijewardene\u2019s 1953 commission, reporting in July 1956 (with minority commissioners dissenting), assumed that Sinhalese would be the sole official language and recommended six Sinhalese admissions to each Tamil (i.e., 86% of seats for Sinhalese numbering 69%), that Peradeniya and Colombo become Sinhalese universities with another in Galle, and that a Tamil University be established in Jaffna or Batticaloa. But the then Prime Minister reaffirmed Tamil and Sinhalese enjoy parity.<\/p>\n

Enter SWRD Bandaranaike<\/a><\/span> in 1956, advocating Sinhalese only in 24 hours and Sinhalese instruction in universities, with 6:1 advocate LJ deS Seneviratne in tow. Responding to \u201cthis perfidy\u201d the TUM was inaugurated (29.06.1956). Former Speaker Sir Vaithilingam Duraisamy was President; his committee had 30 eminent Tamils. TUM declared that events have proved \u201cthere can be no national university\u201d and that the atmosphere at Peradeniya does not encourage the growth of self-respect among Tamil speaking students, but gives them a feeling of inferiority as an unwanted racial group, encouraging subservience to the Sinhalese majority. Headquartered in Batticaloa, the proposed university\u2019s engineering, medicine and agriculture (including Veterinary Science) would be in Trincomalee, Jaffna and Vavuniya, respectively. Unlike today, the TUM could say teachers were available among Tamils \u201cto man all faculties.\u201d<\/p>\n

The TUM obtained approval from London for a Tamil University College. Navalar Hall was opened on rented premises by India\u2019s Sir KS Krishnan, FRS (14.05.1958). \u00a0Money was raised for a university while seeking partial government financing. TUM and trusts were registered. Accounts were audited by Sambamurthy &Co.<\/p>\n

Foundation Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n

By the Tamil University\u2019s foundation stone ceremony with cultural pageantry on 10.05.1959, the venue had shifted to Inner Harbour Road, Trincomalee. A further 200 acres would be purchased in Uppuveli. But engineering would be in Colombo after Prof. R.H. Paul objected to Trincomalee, calling it premature because engineering needs industry closeby for support. Peradeniya\u2019s Prof. S. Mahalingam told me that Paul\u2019s were the best brains then because without supervision he published a paper in London\u2019s\u00a0 IEE Proceedings. People listened to him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The 10,000-invitee ceremony procession was led by Prof. AW Mailvaganam, followed by SJV Chelvanayagam<\/a><\/span>, C. Suntharalingam and wife, S. Thondaman (to shouts of \u201cLong live upcountry Tamils\u201d), several MPs including Janab Mohamad Ali, and Emmanuel Crowther, SJ (Rector St. Michael\u2019s College).<\/p>\n

E.B. Anketell<\/strong><\/p>\n

E.B. Anketell, Director of Public Health, a Johnian who read engineering in Glasgow and wrote research papers at the Institution of Engineers (IESL), accepted to be Principal, Tamil University (22.08.1959). Bandaranaike\u2019s Health Minister Wimala Wijewardene (Ranil Wickremasinghe<\/a><\/span>\u2019s aunt, the sixth accused in Bandaranaike\u2019s murder trial), was Anketell\u2019s boss. Books and Time<\/em> of May 19, 1961 record her affair with Buddharakkitha Thero who masterminded Bandaranaike\u2019s assassination.<\/p>\n

Moving against Tamils in high positions, Wijewardene gave impossible orders like building 200 public toilets in 2 weeks, and charge sheeted Anketell. As Anketell told me, he sat through the night, wrote his response and proffered it with his resignation. He reminisced how as tennis champion at Glasgow, he received tickets to a hotel where he was told \u201cWhites Only.\u201d But Ceylon was his country. In time he would be Director, Back to the Bible Broadcasting and Wijewardene, by then a Christian, would offer what Anketell considered an apology: \u201cI gave you a lot of trouble, didn\u2019t I?\u201d His loyalties were such that his last words to me were that I come home to Sri Lanka to marry.<\/p>\n

A Dream Killed: Natesan and Ponnambalam<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bandaranaike had promised a Tamil university when Vidyodaya and Vidyalankara opened. But politics intervened. \u00a0It is not widely admitted that the Ponnambalam Ramanathan<\/a><\/span> household was dysfunctional. At Presidency College Ramanathan and brother Coomaraswamy indulged in \u201cyouthful excesses,\u201d cheated at exams, and were expelled to the embarrassment of their guardian, my ancestor C.W. Thamotharampillai, the university\u2019s first graduate and Chairman, Tamil Studies.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ramanathan\u2019s youthful lifestyle lingered. With wife Sellachchi Ammal living, he toured the world with Australian Ms. Harrison <\/em><\/strong>as \u201ccompanion.\u201d Sellachchi, say Jaffna University historians, mysteriously drowned in their well,<\/em><\/strong> spawning <\/em><\/strong>allegations of murder and suicide. Marrying his mistress Ramanathan had a daughter Sivagamisundhari who, it is said, never came of age. Ramanathan then bought S. Natesan (aka Natesapillai and Natesan Pillai), an Indian lawyer without a brief, gave him a job and had him marry Sivagamisundhari.<\/em> <\/strong>[See footnote]<\/p>\n

Natesan, after position and money, joined Parameswara College and challenged Chelvanayagam for the KKS seat on the UNP ticket sloganeering \u201ccross-or-spear?\u201d (kurusaa-velaa?). He lost in 1947 but beat Chelvanayagam in 1952 after Chelvanayagam broke with GG Ponnambalam on the citizenship issue. For Jaffna Tamils did not yet care for the estate workers. When the language issue arose, Chelvanayagam roared back with his electoral successes of 1956; Natesan did not dare stand against him.<\/p>\n

Ever the spoilsport, Natesan played the communal card. Backed by the Hindu Educational Society, he offered Parameswara and Ramanathan Colleges to be a Hindu University. W. Dahanayake as PM said he was positive but \u201cthe difficulty\u201d was the TUM wanting a secular university. The TUM countered that Parameswara Trust provided only for \u201cteaching Hinduism for Saiva students.\u201d Chelvanayagam backed the TUM. Ponnambalam, by then rejected by Tamils \u00a0and wanting to score against Chelvanayagam, supported Natesan. (The Ponnambalams still play the same game. In Dec. 2010 Ponnambalam\u2019s daughter-in-law Yogaluckshmi untruthfully campaigned among Sinhalese that Ramanathan Trust required Jaffna\u2019s Vice Chancellor to be Hindu). The government used Tamil divisions to avoid its responsibilities. The TUM denounced Natesan as \u201ca discredited politician\u201d and his associates as \u201ca handful of Principals and Members of a few defunct and non-functioning Hindu societies, resuscitated or formed for the occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On 13.12.1961 Mrs Bandaranaike refused a Tamil university saying SWRD promised only \u201ca cultural university\u201d like Vidyodaya and Vidyalankara. C. Balasingham, CCS, sought a compromise through a Ramanathan University for Tamils. Sir Arunachalam Mahadeva\u2019s amendment would change the Tamil University to a university for all people from the North and East. This created much division. In time the Mahadevas supplied, it is said, the Tamil member of a committee endorsing standardization.<\/p>\n

With ALs switching to mother-tongue, Navalar Hall\u2019s fortunes revived as non-Tamils applied to study London exams in English. But a new Education Bill banned foreign exams. By 1967 TUM assets, once at 5 lakhs, were decimated by high expenses \u2013 Navalar Hall alone cost Rs. 30,000 a year. Remaining funds were to be endowed to the government for a Tamil university. Mailvaganam resigned from the TUM. Navalar Hall was closed and the leased premises returned.<\/p>\n

Exodus<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dreams shattered, an exodus of Tamil academics began from about 1959; e.g., just to Malaysia, including Singapore then: Thani Nayagam (Dean Arts), S. Arasaratnam (History Professor), C.J. Eliezer (Dean Science), and others. Anketell\u2019s double brother-in-law, George D. Somasundaram (IESL\u2019s Secretary 1945-49, President 1971-73) who had resigned as Head, Mechanical Engineering after difficulties with Nicholas Attygalle, went to Singapore Polytechnic to start engineering and steered a part into the University of Singapore. He too a Johnian, had come first in the island\u2019s BSc London exams thereby winning the 1929 Government University Scholarship to read engineering at Imperial College.<\/p>\n

Wither Tamil Education?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our academic endeavours continue to suffer. Jaffna\u2019s long delayed engineering is finally moving under Coordinator Dr. Sivakumar Subramaniam<\/a>, admitting 50 students in October from the\u00a0 2012 ALs. At Kilinochchi, it is not according to Paul\u2019s or my vision. But it is our last hope. Everyone must support him.<\/p>\n

The UGC conference \u201cRole of Higher Education in Reconciliation\u201d was supposedly jointly organized with Jaffna University (13-14.06.2013) but was boycotted by Jaffna\u2019s University Teachers\u2019 Association because they were given no part in the planning. Omens for our managing education through genuine representatives are horrible. The army no longer even pretends to be neutral. For the upcoming elections Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe<\/em> <\/em>has reportedly interviewed aspiring UPFA candidates. Can this same Hathurusinghe neutrally ensure peace during voting?<\/p>\n

Footnote on Sir Ponnambalam Ramanthan: <\/strong><\/p>\n

Arumuka Navalar in endorsing Ramanathan for the Legislative Council deliberately lied to the public saying he was \u201ceducated at Presidency College\u201d \u2013 The Observer<\/em> of May 29, 1879 \u2013 whereas his name had been removed from the rolls as stated above. Ramanathan biographer M. Vythilingam is generally honest. He admits the noncompletion of studies (but puts it on Coomaraswamy\u2019s youthful excesses). He adds that Ramanathan\u2019s return from Madras without a degree ended his \u201cacademic career;\u201d for thereafter his so called legal training was merely as an apprentice to a lawyer and involved no university. Vythiling am in fact says Ramanathan failed to display any brilliance in or enthusiasm for studies.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Reading between lines in Vythilingam\u2019s book, the romantic relationship (while\u00a0 wife Sellachchi Ammal was around) between Ramanthan and Harrison becomes evident.<\/p>\n

But like the Navalar biographies, most of Ramanathan\u2019s too should be suspect \u2013 for example the popular story about how he told off an English judge that he would have been a pauper in his country without a carriage, if it really happened, would have landed him in jail for contempt. Ramanathan\u2019s entry to the Legislative Council was by appointment by the Governor not by election as implied by V. Muttu Cumara Swamy who uses the word \u201creturned\u201d (Founders of Modern Ceylon<\/em>, Uma Siva Pathippakam, Jaffna, 1973, Vol. II, p. 3). Other biographies by writing of public meetings to support Ramanthan have imputed the idea of an election.<\/p>\n

But there is a lot more to this appointment of Ramanthan by the Governor that Tamils do not speak of.\u00a0 Kumari Jayawardena suggests that the Ponnambalam Ramanthan family had bought its way into power, improperly lending large sums of money to British Governors and Colonial Secretaries for which they were sent back to the UK in punishment \u2013 Nobodies to Somebodies: The Rise of the Colonial Bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka, <\/em>, Zed Books, London, 2002, p. 219. But by then Ramanathan had been appointed.<\/p>\n

Related posts;<\/p>\n

Tamil University Part I: Fr. XS Thani Nayagam And The Mannar University<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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