Ethnicity not the criterion:

Devolution should be based on geographical factors - Arun Tambimuttu

By Dhanneshi Yatawara

In Sri Lanka the Tamils live in many parts of the country. For example in the Badulla District there are well over 100,000 Tamil people living. Nuwara Eliya has over 400,000 Tamils. Thus the Tamil population is living across the country and so is the muslim population. So my view is that if one is thinking of the ethnic issue, the best way is to look at it nationally. My view is that we need to create equality and equal opportunities should be given to all communities, then it will not isolate the ethnic issue specific to any district.

Arun Tambimuttu

Devolution is all about taking power to the people. It is to ensure that power is exercised through the people. So my argument is if you look at the people, whether they are living in the North, East or West, their needs must be met. The system should be supportive to let the people exercise their rights. In a country like Sri Lanka, which is almost of a similar size of a state in India, there is no point in creating large administration systems in a single province. If we strengthen the existing local authorities, the power to solve problems faced by the people gets closer to the people. This should be based on geographical factors rather than ethnic issues.

The Eastern Provincial Council elections were held nearly nine months ago and today the elected Provincial Council system is being evaluated by the people of the East. "We have to evaluate and see weather the Eastern Provincial Council been successful enough to do for the betterment of the people. Many Tamil people are disillusioned about the system,' said SLFP organiser for the Batticaloa district Arun Tambimuttu. Speaking to the 'Sunday Observer' Tambimuttu said that there should be proper attention on formulating one administrative system that takes into consideration the people's problems without demarcating ethnicities.

Excerpts of the interview:

Q: You have continued to stress on another effective system. What is the mechanism you elaborate on?

A :Now you see when you look at devolution, it really has a lot of misunderstanding considering the real issues the Tamil people in Sri Lanka face. The problems lies in education and government job opportunities.

Q: How would you see the present situation in the Batticaloa district where majority are Tamil?

A : We have to look at a number of things here. If I am to explain the pulse of the people with regard to the Provincial councils formed nearly nine months ago, many Tamil people are disillusioned about the system. This is considering the past four years and what happened within the Eastern Province under the provincial council system. This is why because the Provincial Council system hasn't solved any of the problems faced by the people. If we take up the issue from a Tamil person's perspective, there are no ministers in the Provincial Councils to represent them and the Chief Minister is from another community - of course this is how the elections turned out.

The Provincial Councils have not done anything significant fir the people in the past five years. I believe that this is a system that was being rushed through and I have argued that the Indo- Lanka Accord and the Provincial Council System were rushed through without proper discussion and consideration. This feeling is prevalent in Batticaloa - which is the district in the East with a Tamil majority.

Q:What is your point of view of the Northern Provincial Council elections that is going to take place in September?

A : There is no reason why the North shouldn't have the elections while he rest of the provinces are having elections. This is a good moment to look at the provincial council system as a whole. Simply because we had this system for nearly twenty years, there is no need for us to continue with the same if it does not address people's issues. When the Indian Bharathiya Janatha Party team (BJP) visited Sri Lanka, I had the privilege of meeting them and even with them, I argued that we cannot keep this like a holy spirit. It should address people's issues.

The Northern Provincial Council elections are a major topic that discussed and argued by many. Of course when we have the elections we are expected to assist our teams. My argument is that the time has come for us to rethink of a better administrative system.