Mending fences

Diaspora perspectives with Arjuna Ranawana
 

On my visits to Sri Lanka one of the most frequent questions I get when I - a Sinhalese - walk around the neighbourhood in Kandy where I grew up is "so where are you now?" When I reply Toronto, Canada, often the reaction is "my God are you all right? That's where all those Tamils live, no?"

That's right, there are a lot of Tamil-Canadians of Sri Lankan origin in the Greater Toronto Area - perhaps 400,000 which makes it more Sri Lankan Tamils than any city in Sri Lanka. The majority of them fled the ravages of war in Sri Lanka are a diaspora in the true biblical sense of the word.

The Rajapakse-controlled media was successful in demonising this community as a vast group of angry Tamils hell-bent on doing evil to Sri Lanka. That is not entirely true. The diaspora in Canada is hardly monolithic and opinions within this group are very diverse.

The hardliners are still fiercely loyal to the idea of a separate state, and want the world to see the Sri Lankan conflict as an exercise in attempted genocide of the Tamil nation.

Then at the other end of the spectrum - many younger Sri Lankan - Canadians educated in this country who want to shed the hurtful baggage their parents brought with them and are keen to mend fences with the overseas Sinhalese and present a 'Sri Lankan' front.

Moderate David Poopalapillai of the Toronto based advocacy group the Canadian Tamil Congress says the majority of the diaspora Tamils in the West wish Sri Lanka well, but are "agreed that we want the Tamil brother living in Sri Lanka to be treated fairly and given his due share."

Others are more specific. Kumaran Nadesan, a community activist says the Tamil Canadians, "also want justice and accountability for what happened in 2009 (in the closing stages of the war)." He is concerned about the new government's apparent move to conduct a local investigation into allegations of war crimes. He says he is "not yet convinced that there is political will with the new leadership to make this happen," and whether any bold move would "test the elasticity of the coalition."

These doubts are echoed by academic Amaranath Amarasingham who is clearly pessimistic. He says "there is in many ways an inherited distrust that pervades the global Tamil diaspora, and many Tamils in the North and East."

He says most people he has talked to say they've seen this before, and "while the new president may be less dynastic, less power-hungry, and so on, the structural and long-term problems will continue.

Surveillance, land grabs and militarisation will continue. Sexual vulnerability and violence among Tamil women will continue. So, while there is some optimism, there is also a deep sense that nothing will change."

But the general opinion is also coloured by the events of the last decade. Many watched in dismay as Sri Lanka descended into the abyss of nepotism and rampant corruption.

The Tamils also realised that the near-totalitarian administration also violated the rights of the Sinhalese. "Every indicator, human rights, freedom of speech, economic well-being, all that went down the drain," observes Poopalapillai.

"We are hopeful that his administration will restore those rights." This says Nadesan will be the necessary precursor to seek "reconciliation through justice and accountability mechanisms, and help re-build a democratic and inclusive national identity that Tamils feel they can belong to." Convincing the Tamil moderates overseas of its' good intentions will be advantageous to current and future governments of Sri Lanka as the diaspora has a strong and deep pool of both human and financial resources which Sri Lanka can draw on for its' benefit. This group also has increasing political clout in the countries where they live, and can influence local policymakers.

So the Tamils are hopeful, but still tread with caution.