1983

In 1983 there were riots in Colombo. They were very violent and fierce. Ten thousand people were killed. And the most recent set of wars between the Tamil people and the Sri Lankan army began.

But there were things that led up to those riots. I would like to share some of that history with you. As most of you are aware, history tends to be written by the victors. So you can easily find that in your library. I will expound on the other history.

Leading up to 1983

In the years prior to 1983, the Tamil people were highly educated. Admission to college in Sri Lanka was based on test scores. At one point, about 80 percent of the people admitted to college were Tamil. But the Tamils only made up about 15 percent of the population. College education was done in English. Sri Lanka was, after all, a former British colony, only to get its freedom in 1948. The Sri Lankan government realized that college education was important, but felt that the Tamils had an unfair advantage, scoring so highly on those admission tests and all. So they changed the rules. They said that if a Sinhala person needed to score 150 on the admission test, that then a Tamil must score 200 to be admitted (just for example.)

Secondly, that colleges should no longer teach in the king's English, but that higher education would be taught in Sinhalese, the language of the Sinhala people. (The two major languages of the island are Sinhalese and Tamil. These are not dialects of each other, but completely different languages using completely different alphabets.)

That was a double whammy to the Tamils. The admission requirements were unfair, and the language requirements were changed to disadvantage them.

A third thing happened. The government settled, or resettled Sinhalese people into the Tamil lands to reduce the political power of the Tamils (only 15% of the population.) There are rumours of fixing local elections, but I'm not sure that has been verified. The political voice of the Tamils was effectively silenced.

As oppressed people will do, the Tamils struck out at the oppressors. They have been given a bad name, and have been called terrorists, but I feel it important to give a look at their side of the story.