1. Introduction to Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon previously. After the British colonization, it gained independence in 1948. 24 years later, in 1972, it was then re-named as Sri Lanka which means 'beautiful island' in Sinhala.

The people in this 'beautiful island' are split into three different ethnic groups, the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims.

Sinhalese make up 78.3% of the population. They are mostly Buddhists and speak Sinhala, the national language for the country.

The Tamils are split into two different groups, one being the Sri Lanka Tamils and the other, the Indian Tamils. Of course, they speak Tamil and their religion is Hinduism. The Sri Lanka Tamils form 12.6% of the population while the Indian Tamils make up 5.1%. The Indian Tamils were brought to Sri Lanka by the the British during their colonization to work in tea and rubber plantations. Sri Lankan Tamils are the descendants of the Indian Tamils, who have been living in the country since 300 BCE.

Muslims in Sri Lanka, also known as Moors, are the third largest ethnic group, comprising about 8% of the country's total population. They speak an Arab-Tamil dialect.

Sri Lanka is located in the Indian Ocean and to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal. While most of the land there is flat, the highest point is at 2, 524.13m.

Sinhalese, the largest ethnic group in the country, are concentrated in the densely populated southwest and central parts of Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka tamils on the other hand, live in the northeast of the island. Indian Tamils live in the central highlands as well as the Northern Province and the major urban areas.

Tourism and tea export are the two areas that contribute to Sri Lanka's economy. Tourist attractions like the famous beaches in the Southern and Eastern parts of the country, the resorts in the mountainous parts, and the ancient heritage sites bring in much revenue for the country.

The tea industry also contributes to the ecnomy, with Sri Lanka becoming the world's leading exporter in 1995. The low temperature climate throughout the year, annual rainfall and the level of humidity lead to greater productivity of high quality tea. Sri Lanka has also become one of the countries exporting fair trade tea to the UK and other countries.

Sri Lanka is famous for it's lush greenery and landscape, as well as beaches that seem to stretch on for miles with clear, sparkling waters that makes it a very scenic place to be. It is also well-known for it's production of high quality tea, coffee, rubber, and cinnamon. Furthermore, it's rich culture and interesting history makes it a very well-known country.

2. An Introduction to the civil war in Sri Lanka

SRILANKA CIVIL WAR BEGIN on July 23, 1983, FOR NEARLY TWO DECADES, THE ISLAND HAS BEEN AFFECTED BY A BITTER CIVIL WAR BETWEEN ETHNIC GROUPS.
SOME OF THE TAMIL YOUTHS FORMED A MILITANT GROUP, KNOWN AS LTTE OR TAMIL TIGERS. TAMIL TIGERS ATTACKS THE SINHALESE, TAMIL MEMBERS OF POLICE FORCE, TAMIL MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS OF THE RULING PARTY, AND TAMIL POLITICIANS WHO DID NOT SUPPORT THE PROPOSED SEPARATE STATE. LTTE WAS FORMED BECAUSE TO SEPARATE TAMIL STATE IN THE NORTH AND EAST OF SRI LANKA

3. Causes of conflict in Sri Lanka

• 1. Citizenship rights
• 2. 'Sinhala only' policy
• 3. University admission criteria
• 4. Resettlement

The Sri Lankan civil war was due to a result of a conflict which began from 1983 and ended in May 2009. This was conducted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, also known as the Tamil Tigers.

1. 'Sinhala only' policy
Before independence in 1948, the English-Educated Tamils enjoyed the high paying jobs while working for the government. They have the power and influence. The Sinhalese did not enjoy these benefits as many of them were not English-Educated. In 1956, the official Language Act was introduced. Their aim was to improve the position of the majority Sinhalese by making Sinhala the only language of administration in the government, making Sinhala the country’s official language. Tamils in the government were given 3 years to learn Sinhala or be dismissed. As a result, the Tamils organized a peaceful demonstration which turned violent. Since 1987, Tamil was accepted as an official language but still not widely used. The Tamils fear that this will diminish the use of Tamil and thereby eroding their culture. In addition, they felt that the Tamil population will be ‘Sinhalised’ by the majority Sinhalese population.

However, it resulted in rioting between both Tamils and Sinhalese. Hundreds death was resulted in this riot. The government and the Tamil leader then sign a pact to make Tamil the language of a national minority and to allow its use as a language of administration only in the northern and eastern parts of the Sri Lanka where the majority are tamils. But, in return, not only the roiting did not stop, the tension increases between the Sinhalese and the Tamils, leading to more fighting and deaths.

Due to the rioting, the Sri Lankan Constitution thus gave in and has granted greater recognition to the Tamil Language by declaring it the national language, language administration in the northern and eastern provinces as well as an official language.

2. University admission criteria
Before 1970, University administration is based on merit and the examinations were in English. This is the policy benefited the English-educated Tamils and they scored well in the examinations the proportion in the population. Many Sinhalese were unhappy because the number of undergraduates was not proportionate to their numbers in the country. Therefore, in 1970, changes were made to meet the needs of the Sinhalese. Tamils students had to score higher marks than the Sinhalese to enter the same course. This decision leads unfairness towards the Tamils youths as the criteria was not based on their educational level but based on their race and that frustrated the Tamil youths leading them to joined the LTTE because they have no career prospect. As a result, the frustration of the Tamils leads to an increase tension amongst the people.

3. Resettlement
Under the resettlement policy, Sinhalese were transferred from densely populated south-western and central areas of Sri Lanka into the Tamil areas. Their aim was to provide land for the landless Sinhalese peasants to live on and to cultivate Padi. However, the Buddhists monks and the Sinhalese army(mostly Sinhalese) also came to occupy these lands. Sinhalese Army then drove out the Tamils and located the Sinhalese with homes that were once lived by the Tamils. This resulted in many Tamils being frustrated and made them strongly believe that they deserve a separate nation state for themselves.

4. Citizenship rights
When Sri Lanka gained independence, Sri Lakan passed Celyon Citizenship Act. This act is to grant citizenship to those who were either born in Sri Lanka or their forefathers are born here. And therefore, many Indian Tamils find themselves stateless. Though they have lived in Sri Lanka for many years, they were not granted the basic rights such as education, jobs, housings and voting. Therefore, they continued to work in tea plantations which significantly contributed to the Sri Lankan economy.

In 1964, the Indians decided to help those India Tamils who were stateless. Discussions were held with the Sri Lanka who agreed to allow a certain number of Tamils to return to India while the rest were granted the Sri Lanka citizenships. Due to the outbreak of ethnic violence, the agreement was not carried out fully. And about 100000 Indian Tamil remained stateless.

However, in the later years, Sri Lanka passed the Grant if Citizenship to Persons of India Origin Bill. It gave citizenship to any person of Indian origin who had permanently lived in Sri Lanka since 1964.

All in all, before the Bill was passed out, India Tamils were frustrated for not being able to have a citizenship in Sri Lanka though much of their hard work in tea plantations were contributed to the Sri Lankan economy. As a result this leads to the increase tension amongst the people.

4. Consequences of the Sri Lankan conflict

CONSEQUENCES of the Sri Lankan Conflict

There are three factors about the consequences.

1. Political factor

2. Social factor

3. economic factor

Due to the causes of the conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamils, it resulted to certain impacts.

Political consequence:

-Armed conflict

From the Tamil's point of view, they felt that they were being discriminated and that the Sinhalese were being insensitive towards them.

They tried to voice out their grieves by making peaceful demands to be treated fairly by the Sri Lankan government. In early 19s, the Federal Party, also known as one of the Tamil political parties, requested that the Tamil areas be recognised as a FEDERATION. No violence was intended during this state.

In 1976, their demands were still not met by the Sri Lankan government, hence, the Tamil United Liberation Front appeared. They posed for a separate independent sate in the North and East of Sri Lanka and named it Tamil Ealam because they believed that only separation from Sri Lanka would guarantee their rights. However, the Sri Lankan government opposed their idea of separation and an independent Tamil state. This upset and thus, the LTTE was formed by a group of youths who believed that resorting to violence was the only way to obtain their rights.

However, not only the Tamils were violent. The Sinhalese showed their hostility towards the Tamils as well and there were many incidents of violence between 1981 and 1984. These riots made a long armed conflict between government forces and LTTE.

- Foreign intervention

The conflict made it's neighbour, India, play the role of a peacemaker in the July 1983 riots and sent its foreign minister to Sri Lanka to meditate in a talk between the Sinhalese and the Tamils, but however, both parties involved couldn't come to an agreement.

The Indian government sent 20 ships to Jaffna on 3 June 1987 to provide food and petroleum products to the Sri Lankan Tamils. The ships were turned away by the Sri Lankan navy, so the Indian air force dropped food and medical supplies to Jaffna the next day and violated the Sri Lankan airspace.

A month later, Sri Lanka finally agreed to sign a peace accord with India.

Economic consequences:

- Unemployment

There was massive unemployment as many workers lost their jobs in the July 1983 riots. Every party suffered in the conflict.

- Loss of investments from other countries

Investors from other countries are not confident enough to invest in Sri Lanka, which has many riots and conflicts. Thus, the economy of the country is unable to grow.

- Fall in the number of tourists

The number of tourists decreased greatly as a result of the violence and internal conflict. Hence, there was a loss of jobs and a fall in salary, which affected the economy a lot as tourism was one of Sri Lanka's major income earners. There was not enough funds to develop other areas like education, housing and transport.


Social consequences:

- Sri Lankan Tamils driven out of their homeland

The conflict caused a lot of displacement. In the 1983 riots, thousands of Tamils fled to South India, and hence, about 65,000 Sri Lankans are still refugees in India. High Security Zones, in which access is controlled, were put up by the Sri Lankan Army to keep the LTTE away in the early 1990s. Large parts of Tamil-dominated areas in the north and east of Sri Lanka were occupied by the army. In 1995, when the Sri Lankan Army moved into Jaffna to take on the LTTE, many Tamils fled from their homes and most of them are still living in horrible conditions in refugee camps, or with relatives/friends.

5. Lessons that Singapore can learn from the Sri Lanka conflict

THE 6 NE MESSAGES ARE:
1. Singapore is our homeland; this is where we belong.
2. We must preserve racial and religious harmony.
3. We must hold meritocracy and incorruptibility.
4. No one owes Singapore a living.
5. We must ourselves defend Singapore.
6. We have confidence in our future.

A CONFLICT IN A COUNTRY MIGHT LEAD TO INTERVENTION BY ANOTHER COUNTRY EITHER THROUGH MEDIATION OR DIRECT INTERFERENCE, SUCH AS SENDING TROOPS TO RESOLVE CONFLICT. THEREFORE, SINGAPORE MUST PRESERVE RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS HARMONY, SO THAT NO CONFLICT WILL TAKE PLACE, AND IF A CONFLICT OCCURS, WE HAVE TO DEFEND OURSELVESAND NOT INTERVENTION BY OTHER COUNTRY.

SINGAPORE MUST NOT HAVE A RIOT AS WE CAN LEARN FROM SRI LANKA, JUL 1983'S RIOTS RESULTED IN MASSIVE UNEMPLOYMENT, JOBLESS. THEY VANDALIZED, LOOTED OR BURNED THEIR PLACES OF WORK SUCH AS GARMENT FACTORIES. IN VIOLENT CONFLICTS, ALL GROUPS SUFFERED. SINGAPORE CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE ANY CITIZEN AND SINGAPORE , OUR HOMELAND. WE WOULD NOT BEAR TO DESTROY IT AND ALSO. IT WILL NOT BE THE RESULT THAT WE WANT.

A PICTURE OF LTTE.

I THINK ITS THEIR LOGO.