Reasons for the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict

Citizenship right

In 1984 the government introduced a new policy of according citizenship to those who were either born in Sri Lanka or whose fathers or grandfathers were born there. As a result many of the Tamil workers brought in by British from India to work in the tea plantations became stateless. India made a deal with Sri Lanka to take some Tamils back to India while the remainders were to given citizenship right. However Sri Lanka broke the agreement and by the 80s, as many as 100,000 Indian Tamils remained stateless. Despite this, they continued to work in the tea plantations and to contribute to the country’s economy. The Tamil minority was outraged by this act and opposition to the Sinhalese dominated government grew. Denial of citizenship right was a reason for the conflict as it signaled to the Tamils that their contribution to the country was not recognized by the government.

"Sinhala only" Policy

Under the British rule, the English-educated Tamils occupied important posts in the government. After independence, the Sinhalese government made Sinhala the official language of Sri Lanka to improve the lots of the Sinhalese. This meant that the Tamils were no longer able to secure government jobs. Furthermore because the Tamils were indirectly removed from the post, it effectively denied the Tamils even a minority voice in the government. The “Sinhala only” policy was a reason for conflict as it sent a signal to the Tamils that their language was less important than that of the Sinhalese. The Tamils were angry that their interests were threatened.

University Admission

The educational policy was to restrict the accessibility of the English-educated Sri Lankan Tamils to the higher education and government employment. At the same time, it sought to increase the number of the Sinhalese educated youth in the universities and government sector. Both goals were accomplished by changing the language and admission polices in universities to favour Sinhalese students. Until 1960, all the entrance examinations to the universities were conducted in English. In subsequent years, the government began to conduct these examinations in Sinhalese and Tamil. This change, coupled with the expansion of the secondary education, intensified the competition for universities admissions. In 1970, the government adopted a pro-Sinhalese education policy by replacing merit as the criteria for the universities admissions with a system of weightage in favour of the Sinhalese students. Thus the Tamil students had to score higher marks to secure a place in the universities. This evoked a string protest from the Tamil community, but the government disregarded it. Unfair university admission policy was a reason for the conflict as it showed discrimination by the government against the Tamils which further deepen the mutual distrust and suspicions between the two communities.

Resettlement of the Population

The land settlement policies were designed to undermine the Tamil interests in the Northern and Eastern provinces. Under the state-aided colonization programme, a large number of Sinhalese were resettled in the two Tamil dominated provinces. The Tamils suspected that it was a deliberate move to change the demographic character of the Tamil provinces to dilute the concept of a Tamil traditional homeland. Thus, resettlement of the population was another reason for the conflict as the Tamils became fearful that they would become a minority in their traditional homelands.

Explain how one factor is more important than the other.

Therefore all the factors are important causes for the conflict because it was the combination of all the policy that led to conflict. The Sinhalese government deliberately and consciously introduced policies to discriminate against the Tamils. Thus the government policies proved to be ill-conceived and counter productive, as the Tamils became disenchanted with the government and declared their intention to fight for a separate Tamil state.