best POD for avoiding Sri Lanka civil war

[dovibear]

What would be the best POD for there to be no Sinhalese-Tamil civil war (esp. 1983-2009) in Sri Lanka, a country that has some of the best social and economic indicators in South Asia but that would be even better off somewhat if there were no such civil war?

- Solomon Bandaranaike, the prime minister, not assassinated in 1959 for his attempts for a couple of years to foment a Sinhalese-Tamil federation that aroused sharp opposition from some on both sides (although I'm not sure how plausible that would be given that a. he was assassinated at point blank range, and not from afar like John F. Kennedy was a few years later, and b. someone else might have assassinated Bandanaraike in any event, given the general situation in the late 1950s)

- any other PODs (earlier or later)?

 

[Simon]

Use Britain being a colonial power for some good and have them encourage the Tamil minority that had been brought over to Sri Lanka to return to Southern India? If the Tamil community is much smaller then the government might not feel the need to introduce so nationalistic legislation, or even if they do there wouldn't be a large enough population to make viable an armed insurrection.

 

[Polecat]

*Warning: Shameless Advertising Ahead*

In my TL, the Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party comes to power, with the triger to the revolution being nationalist legislation which disenfranchises the Indian Tamils. Therefore, there is no civil war because on both sides nationalism is much weaker.

 

[Kishan]

The Lankan Tamils in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of SriLanka were not immigrants from Tamilnadu. They were living there for many centuries and might have arrived in the Island shortly after the Sinhalese. Both came from India, the Tamils from the South India and the Sinhalese from North India, to be precise, Bengal. The South Indian dynasties like the Cholas had conquered Lanka and ruled for long periods.
In fact there is another group of Tamils who were immigrants from South India, who came to Ceylon when both India and Ceylon(SriLanka) were British colonies. They were called Indian Tamils and they lived in the central portions of SriLanka, quite separate from Lankan or Jaffna Tamils. A large number of Indian Tamils were sent bank to India under Shastri-Bandaranayake Pact when Lal Bahadur Shastri and Sirimao Bandaranayake were Prime Ministers.
The Indian Tamils were not involved in the Civil War as they were looked with disdain by the Lankan Tamils. The LTTE or any other Tamil organisations never bothered about the Indian Tamils. The history of the rivalry between the Sinhalese and the Tamils is very old and very long.

 

[Green Painting]

Use Britain being a colonial power for some good and have them encourage the Tamil minority that had been brought over to Sri Lanka to return to Southern India? If the Tamil community is much smaller then the government might not feel the need to introduce so nationalistic legislation, or even if they do there wouldn't be a large enough population to make viable an armed insurrection.

As Kishan have pointed out, the Sri Lankan Tamils were not immigrants.

On the contrary, the ~100,000 Sri Lankan Tamils who escaped to India following the outbreak of the Civil War were immigrants from India's perspective.

The history of the rivalry between the Sinhalese and the Tamils is very old and very long.

Yes, but some of the most aggravating policies, like placing Singhalese as the sole national language of the country, or putting up a quota system in the universities in favor of the Singhalese, were passed post-independence.

So these policies had to be prevented in order to prevent the war.

Or else, and I think this was the easier and more possible way if you want to avoid the war, the Singhalese should have just gotten a clear-cut partition with the Tamils once things starts to break down. No point fighting a three decade war, suffer hundreds of thousands dead on both sides, getting their presidents and PMs routinely assassinated, and lose three decades of development opportunities.

 

[dovibear]

Or else, and I think this was the easier and more possible way if you want to avoid the war, the Singhalese should have just gotten a clear-cut partition with the Tamils once things starts to break down. No point fighting a three decade war, suffer hundreds of thousands dead on both sides, getting their presidents and PMs routinely assassinated, and lose three decades of development opportunities.

But I guess that the Sinhalese wanted control of the whole island, even including the north and the east? I mean, why would there have been a civil war for any other reason?!

 

[Kishan]

But I guess that the Sinhalese wanted control of the whole island, even including the north and the east? I mean, why would there have been a civil war for any other reason?!

Sure. The Sinhalese viewed the whole Island as their homeland and the Tamils as the "Others" who came to steal their property. It is the fault of the narrow minded Sinhala leaders who encouraged such a chauvinistic viewpoint that made the Civil War inevitable.
Though such a feeling had developed among the Sinhalese at the time of independence it was S.W.R.J.Bandaranayake who exploited it for his own political advancement in 1956 Parliamentary elections. He formed a new political party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1956 based on Sinhala nationalism and fought elections, routing the ruling United National Party and became the Prime Minister. The year 1956 is considered as the 2500th anniversary of the birth of Lord Buddha. The Sinhala Buddhists claimed that the Buddhism is going to enter a new era of domination from this year.
Bandaranayake on coming to power brought many laws for the advancement of Sinhala majority limiting the chances of the minority Tamils. The Sinhala language was made the sole official language and reservation was given for the Sinhalas in education and employment. It is an irony that a Sinhala nationalist like Mr. Bandaranayake was assassinated by an extremist Buddhist monk! But the pro-Sinhala policies of Bandaranayake continued not only uner his wife Sirimao and daughter Chandrika Kumaratunge, but also under UNP leaders like Jayawardane and Premadasa.
The Tamils became discontented and they started protests and agitations. The mass killing of Tamil prisoners and large scale attacks on Tamils in 1983 was the turning point that resulted in the most cruel and fierce civil war that lasted for more than a quarter century. Both the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE employed all weapons at their disposal and put those from the "other side" who fell into their hands to inhuman torture. The final victory of the Army over LTTE was termed as the victory of Hitler over Stalin! Even after the close of the Civil War, the Sri Lankan Government has not taken positive steps to address the grievances of the Tamils and heal the wounds of the civil war.

 

[dovibear]

It is an irony that a Sinhala nationalist like Mr. Bandaranayake was assassinated by an extremist Buddhist monk! But the pro-Sinhala policies of Bandaranayake continued not only uner his wife Sirimao and daughter Chandrika Kumaratunge, but also under UNP leaders like Jayawardane and Premadasa.

The thing about Bandaranaike during his last days was that he may have made his Sinhala Only policy in 1956, but he made compromises with the Tamils in 1957-1959. Some on both sides were opposed to these compromises, and the extremist Buddhist monk who assassinated Bandaranaike was merely among the most violent opponents.

 

[Escape Zeppelin]

Use Britain being a colonial power for some good and have them encourage the Tamil minority that had been brought over to Sri Lanka to return to Southern India? If the Tamil community is much smaller then the government might not feel the need to introduce so nationalistic legislation, or even if they do there wouldn't be a large enough population to make viable an armed insurrection.

You don't need the Tamil's to leave, instead use the British rule to disperse the Tamils across the island and settle other groups in Tamil regions. Basically dilute the population during British rule. It will probably cause unrest during the British period but will destroy any possible hope for an independent Tamil state after independence.

 

[Green Painting]

You don't need the Tamil's to leave, instead use the British rule to disperse the Tamils across the island and settle other groups in Tamil regions. Basically dilute the population during British rule. It will probably cause unrest during the British period but will destroy any possible hope for an independent Tamil state after independence.

It sounds more like a prelude to ethnic extermination than measures to prevent a Civil War.

The British had no reason to do that because they relied on the Tamils as workers and public servants.

 

[Kishan]

You don't need the Tamil's to leave, instead use the British rule to disperse the Tamils across the island and settle other groups in Tamil regions. Basically dilute the population during British rule. It will probably cause unrest during the British period but will destroy any possible hope for an independent Tamil state after independence.

Your suggestion views the people as mere pawns to shift from place to place at the will of the rulers. The people are attached to the region where they are born and brought up and would like to live among their relatives and community members. We must take into consideration the desire of the Tamils to maintain their language, religion and culture.
The only solution for harmonious relations between the Sinhalese and Tamils was granting autonomy for Tamils in their areas maintaining the integrity of the country, Sri Lanka. Something similar to the arrangement of states in India could be done. India consists of diverse groups talking different languages, with different cultures, different food habits, different dresses, different art forms, different rituals, different festivals etc.
Each major language group is given its own state with internal autonomy to some extent. But remember that the states in India have fewer powers than the states in USA. Such a Federal structure could have been adopted in Sri Lanka for the Tamils. The Tamils, whether in Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Singapore or other places are too proud of their ancient language and culture which is thousands of years old.

 

[Escape Zeppelin]

Your suggestion views the people as mere pawns to shift from place to place at the will of the rulers. The people are attached to the region where they are born and brought up and would like to live among their relatives and community members. We must take into consideration the desire of the Tamils to maintain their language, religion and culture.
The only solution for harmonious relations between the Sinhalese and Tamils was granting autonomy for Tamils in their areas maintaining the integrity of the country, Sri Lanka. Something similar to the arrangement of states in India could be done. India consists of diverse groups talking different languages, with different cultures, different food habits, different dresses, different art forms, different rituals, different festivals etc.
Each major language group is given its own state with internal autonomy to some extent. But remember that the states in India have fewer powers than the states in USA. Such a Federal structure could have been adopted in Sri Lanka for the Tamils. The Tamils, whether in Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Singapore or other places are too proud of their ancient language and culture which is thousands of years old.

My POD never aimed for harmony or fairness, only one possible route for no civil war. Weakening Tamil culture and language by making them a minority (or a significantly reduced majority) in traditional Tamil areas would certainly reduce the drive for an independent Tamil state in those regions. If the British come to view majority Tamil areas as a threat to British rule they would most likely be willing to encourage non-Tamil immigration to those areas. It would create a great deal of ethnic violence and tension and probably more repression of the Tamil culture by any independent government but the dream of a Tamil state would be largely dead since the now significant non-Tamil portion of any region would object.

 

[MalcontentRex]

British never colonize SL.