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“A Theme Revisited”? The Impact of the Ethnic Conflict on Women and Politics in Sri Lanka

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 33; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/1554477x.2012.722431

1554-477X

Vidyamali Samarasinghe,

Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

Abstract The 30-year ethnic-based civil war in Sri Lanka between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lanka government ended in May 2009. This article analyzes the impact of the violent ethnic conflict on shaping and reshaping the nationalistic ideology of the women of the majority ethnic group—specifically, the Sinhalese. Based on a field survey of urban, educated Sinhala women in Colombo, Sri Lanka, this article argues that women adopted a Sinhala Buddhist ideology to counter what they perceived as a threat to the integrity of a Sinhala Buddhist nation by the Tamil Hindu minority. In particular, this study demonstrates that the ethnic conflict while reinforcing a gendered ethnoreligious identity also seems to have created a political space for their voices to be heard in representative electoral regimes. Keywords: ethnicityconflictSinhala BuddhistTamilnationalismwomenpolitical participationSri Lanka Notes 1. Sri Lanka is an island in South Asia of approximately 25,000 square miles. As of 2010, it had an estimated population of 20.9 million. The Sinhalese account for 74.1% of the population. In Sri Lanka, Tamils are divided into two groups. The first group, identified as Sri Lankan Tamils, has lived on the island for millennia. They account for 12.1% of the population. The second group, identified as Sri Lankan Tamils of recent Indian origin, also known as the plantation sector Tamils, account for 5% of the population. They were brought to the island in the 19th century by the British colonial rulers to work in coffee and later tea and rubber plantations. This ethnic group's representatives in Parliament have been in coalition with the ruling party since 1978. In terms of religion, Buddhists account for 70%, Hindus for 15%, Muslims 7%, and Christians 7.5% of the population. The majority among the Sinhalese are Buddhists. The majority of both groups of Tamils are Hindus. The 7.5% of the Sri Lankan population that is Christian is distributed among the Sinhalese, Tamils, and the Sri Lankan Burghers (a very small minority group of Eurasian ancestry). See CitationDepartment of Census and Statistics 2010. 2. The Sinhalese dominate the GOSL. The LTTE emerged from among the Sri Lanka Tamil ethnic group. 3. On May 20, 2009, Sri Lanka's armed forces defeated the LTTE and brought the entire territory of the island under the Sri Lankan government. The LTTE leadership, including its leader Prabhakharan, was killed in the final battle between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the LTTE. 4. Human rights groups, including the International Crisis Group (ICG), allege that an additional 30,000 Tamil civilians were killed during the last few weeks of battle between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan military. The Sri Lankan government (as quoted in Citation The Economist 2010) denies this allegation. 5. The South in Sri Lanka consists of seven out of the total of nine provinces, where the majority Sinhala ethnic group reside. The violent ethnic civil war was geographically located in the two provinces of the North and the East, home of the minority Sri Lanka Tamils, which the LTTE claimed as the traditional homeland of the Sri Lankan Tamils. 6. Sinhala Buddhist nationalism, spearheaded by Anagarika Dharmapala (1864–1937), was a basis for anticolonial agitation during the early to middle 20th century (K. M. Citationde Silva 2005 and CitationChandra R. de Silva 1997). 7. I use the word Sinhalese mainly when referring to the ethnic group and Sinhala when referring to the people within the group. However, in most of the literature, Sinhalese and Sinhala are used interchangeably to identify both the people within the ethnic group as well the larger ethnic group itself. 8. The JHU is the successor to the Sinhala Urumaya (SU) political party, which a group of Buddhist monks and Buddhist laymen started in 2000. It was based specifically on Sinhala Buddhist nationalistic ideology. In the 2004 parliamentary elections, the JHU fielded only Buddhist monks as candidates (286 monks). JHU won nine parliamentary seats. The Sri Lankan Parliament consists of 225 seats. 9. See note 6 above. 10. Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon before 1972. 11. Mahavamsa was originally written in Pali by a set of Buddhist monks residing in the Buddhist Monastery Mahavihara, which was located in the ancient Sinhalese capital Anuradhapura, in the kingdom of Anuradapura in the North Central Province (3 BCE to 11 CE). The Mahavamsa was translated into English by William Geiger and published by the Pali Text Society, London, in 1912. 12. During the last stages of the ethnic conflict in May 2009, and during the run-up to the presidential and parliamentary elections of January and April 2010, respectively, I had telephone conversations with 20 women in the sample to gauge their views on the war and politics in Sri Lanka at the end of the war. They were pleased that their views on Sinhala Buddhist nationalism have prevailed in Sri Lanka. 13. It is a traditional practice among the Buddhists to visit the temple, especially on full-moon days of each month. Full-moon days have a religious significance for the Buddhists in Sri Lanka and are national holidays. Women devotees form groups to provide to the resident monks and participate regularly in rituals as well. According to the resident monks, women outnumber men in temple visits. 14. Some Sinhala communities also live in the villages bordering the conflict zones of the North and the East of Sri Lanka, and they have been periodically subjected to attacks from the LTTE armed groups. 15. There are Sinhala Buddhist female recruits in the Sri Lankan military, but they are rarely sent to the battlefront. 16. The first peace process was initiated during the time of the elected female executive president, Chandrika Kumaratunga. However, it did not succeed and the war continued. Female representation in the elected legislative body is less than 10%, and none of the female lawmakers is in major decision-making ministries, such as defense or finance. 17. The South was affected by incidents of "suicide bombings" by the LTTE, which targeted civilians as well as prominent lawmakers and armed forces generals. Military checkpoints were a regular feature in the major urban areas of Sri Lanka, especially in the capital, Colombo. 18. As chronicled in the Mahavamsa. 19. As Citationde Mel (2001) explains: "When the mothers demanded justice for their disappeared sons they were seen as legitimate supplicants, with the full weight of moral authority behind them" (189). 20. Her opponent was also a woman, Sirima Dissanayake, who was hastily pushed into the limelight of political leadership when her husband, Gamini Dissanayake, the original presidential candidate, was assassinated by the LTTE. 21. Personal communications with a grassroots political organizer of an opposition political party, the United National Party (UNP), in Kandy, August 2008. 22. It should be noted that all mainstream political parties in Sri Lanka have women's wings. Also, a few vocal women's political organizations also grew out of the Sri Lanka Left movement (Citationde Mel 2001, 29). 23. Sri Lankan Tamils, who constitute 12% of the population, used to live predominantly in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. However, a small percentage of Sri Lankan Tamils have been living in Colombo for generations. They are identified as Colombo Tamils. In addition, since 1983, thousands of Tamils caught in the crossfire in the civil war in the Northern and the Eastern provinces of the country have migrated to Colombo. 24. A disparaging term to identify the LTTE. 25. The curriculum, especially for elementary and middle school history and social studies, reportedly gives a biased interpretation depicting the primacy of the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka. See CitationWickrema and Colenso 2003. 26. In Sri Lanka it is traditional for adult children, both male and female, to live with their parents until they get married. The undergraduate sons and daughters in the sample families were also living at home with their parents and commuting to classes at nearby universities. 27. The girls wear a long white lungi and a white blouse which has a six- to eight-inch frill attached to the neckline. The outfit is called a lama Sariya ("children's sari"). The boys wear a white lungi and a white Kurta top. The regular school uniform for schoolgirls in Sri Lanka is a white knee-length dress with or without a collar, worn with a school tie or a belt with a buckle. School boys wear short blue pants with a white shirt in elementary and middle school, and long white pants with a white shirt in high school. 28. Kandy is the capital city of the Central province of Sri Lanka. 29. According to the Mahavamsa, Buddha on his deathbed summoned Shakra, the god of universe, and asked him to protect Lanka, where Buddhism would flourish for 5,000 years. Shakra in turn summoned God Vishnu and charged him with the responsibility of protecting the Sinhala race and Buddhism in Lanka. 30. Legend has it that Sri Pada (translated as "Venerated/Holy Feet") has the footprint of Lord Buddha. Hundreds of thousands of Buddhist pilgrims trek the 5,000-foot mountain each year from December to April. Sri Pada Mountain is located in the central hill country of the island. This peak is also known as Adams Peak. 31. In Sri Lanka, 90% of primary and secondary school teachers are women. School enrollment remains very high (CitationDepartment of Census and Statistics 2010). 32. Buddhist Vinaya ("disciplinary/code of conduct") rules require that Buddhist monks eat only two meals a day, breakfast and lunch. Buddhist monks are required to have their midday meal before noon. 33. A woman member of the of the Shiv Sen party marching in a rally wearing the party's signature saffron-colored sari had snatched a yellow turban from a male and said to Tarini Bedi, "I am a both a gent and a lady. I am a very 'dashing' lady when I am outside the house." The word dashing is used by the Shiv Sen women activists to demonstrate that they are proud, fearsome figures (see CitationBedi 2007, 1534).