A. Amirthalingam’s Historic Speech in the Sri Lankan Parliament

 

[at the Debate on the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Bill, on August 3, 1978]

 

Introductory Note by Sachi Sri Kantha

In the history of Sri Lanka’s dysfunctional democracy, the parliament constituted following the 1977 General Election was notable for quite a number of peculiarities. First, due to the vagaries of the voting by the Sinhalese electorates, the post of Leader of the Opposition fell on the laps of Appapillai Amirthalingam, the Leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front. By then, he was a  relative veteran of the Ceylon parliament, having entered for the first time in 1956, at the age of 29, and served the Vaddukoddai electorate for 14 years. But he was out of parliament between 1970 and 1977. Secondly, the giants of parliamentary debate of the preceding 30 years were markedly absent; some who had gained stature within the parliament for their intelligent speeches, especially those belonging to the traditional Leftist Parties (Dr.Colvin R.de Silva, Dr.N.M.Perera, Bernard Soysa) and mavericks like W.Dahanayake were defeated in the 1977 election; some like G.G.Ponnambalam and S.J.V.Chelvanayakam had died. Thirdly, that parliament saw the large number of neophytes; some literate, but many lacking decorum in listening to an opposing viewpoint. Among the neophytes of the 1977 parliament, one could count Lalith Athlathmudali, Ranil Wickremasinghe (both of UNP), Anura Bandaranaike (of SLFP) and R.Sampanthar (of TULF).

 

Thus, Amirthalingam – the then TULF leader – carried a heavy burden on his shoulders as a ranking legislator and debater. He was forced to play a dual role; as the nominal Leader of the Opposition in the Sri Lankan parliament and contribute intellectually to the debates, and at the same time he was also the nominal political leader of Eelam Tamil interests. A segment of Tamil population then felt that, by taking on this dual role Amirthalingam paid a heavy price politically and ultimately he came to suffer. However, when it came to parliamentary debates, between 1977 and 1983, Amirthalingam was at his best. He had matured and mellowed. He was not the young fire-brand as when he first came to prominence to Ceylon politics in 1956.

 

In the depleted Opposition bench of 1977 – devoid of ranking names, with the solitary exception of SLFP veteran Maithiripala Senanayake – Amirthalingam had no equal, excluding his TULF colleague M.Sivasithamparam. What distinguished both Amirthalingam and Sivasithamparam among the Eelam Tamil political leaders from the rest of their parliamentary peers in the 20th century was their bilingual oratory. They were equally adept in Tamil and English. Whereas their Tamil predecessors (like G.G.Ponnambalam, S.J.V.Chelvanayakam and C.Suntheralingam were erudite in English) and few of their peers (like S.Thondaman, C.Rajadurai and Pundit K.P.Ratnam) were attractive in Tamil, only Amirthalingam and Sivasithamparam could deliver polished and intelligent speeches in both Tamil and English.

 

The historic speech delivered by Amirthalingam on August 3rd 1978 at the Debate on the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Bill was an excellent example of his erudition in Tamil and English. It was a lengthy speech as well. According to the records, he  began his speech in Tamil at 10:20am. His opening words in Tamil were as follows [in my English translation]: “Honorable Speaker; on this historic occasion, I wish to make my observations on the submitted Constitution Bill, both as the Leader of the TULF parliamentary group and as the Leader of the Opposition. First I’ll speak in Tamil, and then continue my speech in English. I do this since what we present here has to be understood properly in the future. In addition, foreigners and others also should comprehend our stance. Thus, I continue the latter half of my speech in English.” When the lunch break came, Amirthalingam was still on his feet. When the parliamentary sitting resumed at 2:00pm, Amirthalingam continued his speech in Tamil, and later switched on to English. When the sessions was adjourned for half an hour break for tea, he was still on his feet. At 4.30pm, Amirthalingam continued his marathon speech in English for probably another an hour. In my estimate, he would have spoken on that day for at least four hours.

 

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of this historic speech by Amirthalingam, I provide in full the English component, as has been recorded in the Sri Lanka’s parliamentary proceedings, Hansard Aug.3, 1978 [columns 970-1022]. Only the typographical errors have been corrected, and for reasons of space, honorifics of those who interrupted him (making wisecracks and other comments) have been omitted. I have included the rejoinders and wisecracks of other legislators who listened to his speech, since Amirthalingam’s repartee and rebuttal also reveal his blessed talent. When the current focus of attention in the talks between the Ranil Wickremasinghe’s Cabinet and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) centers on issues related to power-sharing and the need for amending the existing Sri Lankan Constitution, Amirthalingam’s 1978 speech has special relevance. Thus, I felt that it needs electronic medium exposure (in full) from its buried state in the Sri Lanka’s Hansard record.

 

This speech, I consider, is Amirthalingam’s equivalent of ‘I have the Dream’ speech of Martin Luther King Jr., with three marked differences. First, unlike Dr.King’s speech, this is remarkably lengthy. Secondly, unlike Dr.King’s speech, this speech of Amrithalingam was not televised. Third, while Dr.King’s audience in August 1963 numbered in tens of thousands, Amirthalingam’s audience within the Sri Lankan parliament in August 1978 would have been at most 100 to 130. However, in tone and the text, the messages of Dr.King and Amirthalingam were the same – a plea for equality for the people, whom both represented as main spokesmen respectively.

 

This 1978 speech of Amirthalingam highlights the notable events of Eelam Tamil history since 1833 (when island Ceylon was ‘united’ by the colonial British for administrative convenience) for a period of 145 years until 1978. It incorporates (a) the 1972 resignation statement of Amirthalingam’s mentor S.J.V.Chelvanayakam, (b) TULF’s Vaddukoddai Resolution of 1976, (c) his own personal reminiscence as the first accused at the 1976 Trial-at-Bar case – as a consequence of distributing the 1976 Vaddukoddai Resolution to the public, and (d) an expose on the devilish aspects of the 1978 Constitution.

 

TULF Leader Amirthalingam’s Historic 1978 Speech

[Note: Only the English component of the bilingual speech is reproduced below. For completeness, interruptions and wisecracks of other legislators who listened to Amirthalingam’s speech are also included. Those who were identified in the Hansard record were as follows: Lalith Athulathmudali, Ronnie de Mel, R.Premadasa, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Shelton Jayasinghe, K.Thurairatnam, S.Kathiravelupillai, Merril Kariyawasam, K.W.Devanayagam, Harindra Corea and Wimala Kannangara. Among these, Athulathmudali, Ronnie de Mel, Jayasinghe, Devanayagam and Wimala Kannangara were ministers then, and Premadasa was the prime minister. Amirthalingam’s rebuttals and repartee to interruptions were also notable for his advocatory excellence.]

 

A.Amirthalingam: “Mr.Speaker, I am very thankful to you for your indulgence in permitting me to speak at some length in Tamil in order to place before this House and before the country the position of the TULF and the Tamil nation in Ceylon with regard to the far-reaching changes that we are witnessing today. It is not every day that a Parliament of a country indulges in the exercise of Constitution-making. It is a rare phenomenon and it can be once in a decade or even less frequently that Constitutions are changed. But, unfortunately, in our country we seem to have reached a stage when every Government wants to change the Constitution and have a Constitution of its own. Anyhow, I appeal to hon. Members to bear in mind the seriousness of the occasion. After all, the occasion when the Constitution of a country is being changed is not an occasion for levity; it is not an occasion for cheap jibes; it is not an occasion for interruptions. It is an occasion for all hon. Members of this House without including in and trying to make cheap political capital of the issues involved, without trying to have any recrimination, to analyse the historical events, to analyse the background, to analyse the forces that have surfaced necessitating a change in the Constitution.

 

Mr.Speaker, the making of a Constitution is not an isolated event but a step in the process by which people assert their soverignty and identity, articulate their basic values and aspirations and define the instrument of Government through which the soverignty of the people can be exercised. I am sure the hon. Members of this House will approach this question in that spirit. If they do approach the question bearing these facts in mind they will realize what a serious task they are engaged in.

 

Now, Sir, when the Second Amendment to the present Constitution, providing for the creation of the post of an Executive President was moved, I had occasion to place before this House the stand of the TULF and the Tamil nation to that amendment. I said on that occasion, that we who had rejected the existing Constitution, we who had refused to accept it as binding on us, could not be a party to the amendment of the Constitution and we therefore refused to participate in the Debate on the Second Reading of the Amendment. Therefore, Mr.Speaker, without repeating the things that I referred to in the course of my speech, I want to refer, in passing, to the history of Constitution making in this country.

 

In 1970 when the United Front Government came into power they convened the Constituent Assembly and invited all political parties to participate in its deliberating in drafting a new Constitution for this country. On that occasion we also joined the Constituent Assembly and participated in the deliberations of the Constitutent Assembly. We expected that amendments to the basic resolutions would be considered, that there would be a policy of give and take and suitable adjustments could be made, and the rights that the Tamil-speaking people in this country have been agitating for up to that time could be safeguarded by the provisions in that Constitution. With that end in view we not only participated in the Constitutent Assembly, but my late leader, Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayakam, and some of us even met the then Hon.Prime Minister and the Hon.Minister of Constitutional Affairs and placed our point of view before them.

 

The late Mr.Chelvanayakam said in the Constitutent Assembly:

 

‘We were always willing to compromise for the sake of an agreed settlement of this vexed question. We indicated to the Hon.Prime Minister and the Hon.Minister of Constitutional Affairs the minimum rights we wanted embodied in the Constitution but although our discussions with the Hon.Prime Minister and the Hon.Minister of Constitutional Affairs were very cordial and our views apparently received the serious consideration of the Hon.Prime Minister, yet it has not been proposed to make any alteration in the Basic Resolutions as they stand. In the circumstances no useful purpose will be served in our continuing in the deliberations of this Assembly.’

 

And he and the other Members of our Party from then onwards kept out of the Constitutent Assembly.

 

After the Constitution was passed we urged for amendments to the Constitution. When I say ‘we’, I include the Hon.Minister of Justice who was then a member of the Tamil United Front. While also being a member of the United National Party he was a member of the Tamil United Front in our agitation for our constitutional rights. We put forward certain demands for the amendment of the Constitution and all our requests fell on deaf ears. We did not have even an acknowledgment to the letter that my late Leader wrote at that stage.

 

Then, Sir, as I said, under those circumstances Mr.Chelvanayakam decided to vindicate his stand by getting a mandate from his electorate for the rejection of the Constitution. He actually resigned on the 2nd of October 1972, but he made his statement on the 3rd October and handed in his letter because the House sat only on the 3rd October 1972. You will recall, Mr.Speaker, that in the course of my Tamil speech I said I will deal with this statement in the course of my speech in English. This is the text of the statement which he made on the Floor of this House at the time he resigned his seat in October 1972.

 

‘I am resigning my seat in this Honourable House. I wish to state my reasons for doing so.

 

The History of the Tamil people in this country since 1948 has been one of deterioration. In the then Parliament of ninety five elected Members there were eight Tamil Members representing the estate Tamil population who are today not there. They have been replaced by Sinhalese Members now in double that number. The eight Tamil Members were there by the grant of the vote of the bulk of the workers on the estates. This was thought to be a just decision on the question of Tamils of Indian Origin by the United Kingdom Government.

 

As soon as Ceylon became independent the first thing the Sinhalese Government did was to deprive the Tamil worker in the estates of the vote. This was carefully manoeuvred through a citizenship law that deprived them of citizenship and by granting the vote to citizens only. The entire structure on which the Soulbury Constitution was based collapsed. It must be said to the credit of the LSSP and the CP that they opposed this move though they have now succumbed to a purely communal policy.

 

The next important thing that took place was the passing of the Sinhala Only Act by the Bandaranaike Government in 1956. Even this was made possible by the depriving of the vote of the Tamil worker on the estates. Although the Tamil worker has been deprived of the vote, the seats that were allotted to them have not been removed but have been given to the Sinhalese voter. This has meant that from 1952 onwards the legislature has been a Sinhalese weighted body and all legislation thereafter has been communal Sinhalese. Had the vote remained as it was in 1947 the landslide in the election of 1970 would not have taken place.

 

The next important event has been the creation of a new Constitution by a legislature that was so Sinhalese weighted. The Constitution has given everything to the Sinhalese and has given nothing to the Tamils. The Sinhala Only Act has been so strengthened that it requires a two-thirds majority to alter it. Sinhala has been made the language of the courts. All talk about a man being tried in his own language applies to the Sinhala man and not to the Tamil man. There are many other features in the Constitution that I need not mention here. Even the slight protection that was given to the minorities by Section 29 of the old Constitution has been removed.

 

Faced with this situation the Tamil people of different parties formed the Tamil United Front and appealed to the Prime Minister to remedy some of these evils. I, on behalf of the Tamil United Front, wrote to the Prime Minister a letter raising six points on which the Constitution has to be amended, and we gave her time till the 30th September to do that. But nothing has been done. In this situation the responsibility falls on my head, as the Leader of the Tamil United Front, to appeal to the Tamil people for them to say whether they are with me or not.

 

It is claimed by the Government that a sizeable section of the Tamil people accept the Constitution. We deny this and want to give an opportunity to the Government to prove that claim. The best way in which that can be done is for me as the Leader of the Tamil United Front to resign my Seat in this Honourable House and re-contest it on my policy and ask the Government to oppose me on its policy. Of course, the decision will be that of the Tamil people. My policy will be that in view of the events that have taken place the Tamil people of Ceylon should have the right to determine their future whether they are to be a subject race in Ceylon or they are to be a free people. I shall ask the people to vote for me on the second of these alternatives.

 

Let the Government contest me on that position. If I lose I give up my policy. If the Government loses, let it not say that the Tamil people support its policy and its Constitution. Let not the Government deprive the people of their decision on the issues raised by postponing the by-election.’ (OFFICIAL REPORT, 3rd October 1972; vol.2, cc.883-4)

 

This was the statement that Mr.Chelvanayakam made on the Floor of the House on 3rd October 1972 when he resigned his Seat in order to give an opportunity for the then Government to test its claim that the Tamil people accepted the Constitution. Of course, the election was postponed for two years or more, and ultimately when the election was held in 1975 the voters of the Kankesanthurai Electorate, whom I have the privilege of representing today, gave an unequivocal verdict. And what was the verdict? By over 75 percent of the votes they returned Mr.Chelvanayakam, thereby not only indicating that they rejected the Constitution but also stressing what Mr.Chelvanayakam immediately after his victory in the election said, namely, ‘I consider the verdict at the election as a mandate that the Tamil Eelam nation should exercise the soverignty already vested in the Tamil people and become free.’ In fact, the verdict is almost 100 percent today because the only candidate whom the then Government could persuade to contest Mr.Chelvanayakam on that issue, Mr.V.Ponnambalam of the Communist Party, has not given it up and has joined ‘hands with the TULF in the struggle for the liberation of the Tamil people.

 

Lalith Athulathmudali: Has he left the Communist Party?

 

A.Amirthalingam: Yes, he has left the Communist Party. Acting on this mandate that the Tamil people gave, the Members of the TULF who were then in Parliament gave notice of a Private members’ Motion. By a strange coincidence that appeared on the Order Paper of this House on the 4th of February, 1976.

 

This is the motion notice of which was given by Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayakam, Mr.V.Dharmalingam, Mr.A.Thangathurai, Mr.X.M.Sellathambu, Mr.B.Neminathan, Mr.S.Kathiravelupillai, Mr.V.N.Navaratnam, Mr.K.Jeyakkody, Mr.K.Thurairatnam, Mr.K.P.Ratnam and Mr.V.Anandasangare:

 

‘Whereas the Sinhalese and the Tamils in Sri Lanka constitute two separate nations with their inherent right to self-determine,

and whereas the Sinhalese nation and the Tamil nation who were shackled together by foreign rule remain to this day to shackled,

and whereas all governments of independent Sri Lanka have always encouraged and fostered the aggressive nationalism of the Sinhalese nation culminating in the unilateral imposition of the present Constitution which has condemned the Tamils to the position of a subject nation, this Assembly resolves to recognize the verdict of the K.K.S. by-election as a mandate for the restoration and reconstitution of the free, soverign, secular, socialist State of Tamil Eelam.’

 

This was a motion, notice of which was given in February 1976. But the motion was never reached. There was another Private Members’ Motion before it and the Government kept it going, kept it going in such a way that thereafter – after notice of this motion was given, till that Parliament was dissolved – no other Private Members’ Motion was taken up during the rest of the term of that Parliament.

 

A Member: Democracy!

 

A.Amirthalingam: After that we met in our annual convention at Vaddukoddai, in my own village of Pannakam and we adopted the historical resolution which was the basis of our Election Manifesto also.

 

In that resolution we set out the various reasons why were were forced to come to the conclusion that we could not live together with our brothers any longer. I think it is appropriate at this state to place that resolution before this House on this historic occaion. It reads:

 

‘Whereas throughout the centuries from the dawn of history the Sinhalese and Tamil nations have divided between them the possession of Ceylon, the Sinhalese inhabiting the interior of the country in its southern and western parts from the river Walawe to that of Chilaw and the Tamils possessing the northern and eastern districts,

 

And whereas the Tamil kingdom was overthrown in war and conquered by the Portuguese in 1619 and from them by the Dutch and the British in turn independent of the Sinhalese Kingdoms,

 

And whereas the British Colonialists who ruled the territories of the Sinhalese and Tamil kingdoms separately joined under compulsion the territories of the Tamil kingdom to the territories of the Sinhalese kingdoms for purposes of administrative convenience on the recommendation of the Colebrooke Commission in 1833,

 

And whereas Tamil leaders were in the forefront of the Freedom Movement to rid Ceylon of colonial bondage which ultimately led to the grant of independence to Ceylon in 1948,

 

And Whereas the foregoing facts of history were completely overlooked and power was transferred to the Sinhalese nation over the entire country on the basis of a numerical majority, thereby reducing the Tamil nation to the position of a subject people;

 

And whereas successive Sinhalese Governments since Independence have always encouraged and fostered the aggressive nationalism of the Sinhalese people and have used their political power to the detriment of the Tamils by –

(a)   depriving one half of the Tamil people of their citizenship and franchise rights, thereby reducing Tamil representation in Parliament;

(b)   making serious inroads into the territories of the former Tamil kingdom by a system of planned and state-aided Sinhalese colonization and large-scale regularization of recently encouraged Sinhalese encroachments calculated to make the Tamils a minority in their own homeland;

(c)    making Sinhala the only official language throughout Ceylon thereby placing the stamp of inferiority on the Tamils and the Tamil language;

(d)   giving the foremost place to Buddhism under the Republican Constitution thereby reducing Hindus, Christians and Muslims to second-class status in this country;

(e)    denying to the Tamils equality of opportunity in the spheres of employment, education, land alienation and economic life in general, and starving Tamil areas of large-scale industries and development schemes, thereby seriously endangering their very existencein Ceylon;

(f)     systematically cutting them off from the main-stream of Tamil culture in South India while denying them opportunities of developing their language and culture in Ceylon, thereby working inexorably towards the cultural genocide of the Tamils;

(g)   permitting and unleashing communal violence and intimidation against Tamil-speaking people as happened in Amparai and Colombo in 1956, all over the country in 1958, Army reign of terror in the Northern and Eastern Provinces in 1961, police violence at the International Tamil Research Conference in 1974 resulting in the death of nine persons in Jaffna, police and communal violence against Tamil-speaking Muslims at Puttalam and various other parts of Ceylon in 1976 – all these calculated to instil terror in the minds of the Tamil-speaking people, thereby breaking their spirit and the will to resist the injustices heaped on them;

(h)   by terrorising, torturing and imprisoning Tamil youths without trial for long periods on the flimsiest of grounds;

(i)     capping it all, by imposing on the Tamil Nation a constitution drafted under conditions of emergency without opportunities for free discussion by a constituent assembly elected on the basis of the Soulbury Constitution distorted by the Citizenship laws resulting in weightage in representation to the Sinhalese majority thereby depriving the Tamils of even the remnants of safeguards they had under the earlier constitution.

 

And whereas all attempts by the various Tamil political parties to win their rights by cooperating with the governments, by parliamentary and extraparliamentary agigations, by entering into pacts and understanding, with successive Prime Ministers in order to achieve the bare minimum of political rights consistent with the self-respect of the Tamil people have proved to be futile;

 

And whereas the efforts of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress to ensure non-domination of the minorities by the majority by the adoption of a scheme of balanced representaion in a Unitary Constitution have failed and even the meagre safeguards provided in article 29 of the Soulbury Constitution against discriminatory legislation have been removed by the Republican Constitution;

 

And whereas the proposals submitted to the Constituent Assembly by the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi for maintaining the unity of the country while preserving the integrity of the Tamil people by the establishment of an autonomous Tamil State within the framework of a Federal Republic of Ceylon were summarily and totally rejected without even the courtesy of a consideration of its merits, and

 

Whereas the amendments to the Basic Resolutions intended to ensure the minimum safeguards of the Tamil people, moved on the basis of the 9 point demands formulated at the Conference of all Tamil political parties on 7th February 1971 and by individual parties and Tamil Members of Parliament, including those now with the Government party, were rejected by the Government and the Constituent Assembly, and

 

Whereas even amendments to the draft proposals relating to language, religion and fundamental rights, including those calculated to ensure that at least the provisions of the Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act be included in the Constitution, were defeated, resulting in the boycotting of the Constituent Assembly by a large majority of Tamil MPs and

 

Whereas the Tamil United Liberation Front, after rejecting the Republican Constitution adopted on 22nd May 1972, put a 6-point demand to the Prime Minister and the Government on 25th June 1972 and gave three months’ time within which the Government was called upon to take meaningful steps to amend the Constitution so as to meet the aspirations of the Tamil nation on the basis of the 6-point demands  and informed the Government that if it failed to do so the Tamil United Liberation Front would launch a non-violent direct action against the Government in order to win freedom and the rights of the Tamil nation on the basis of the rights of self-determination, and

 

Whereas the last attempt by the Tamil United Liberation Front to win constitutional recognition of the rights of the Tamil nation without jeopardizing the unity of the country, was callously ignored by the Prime Minister and the Government, and

 

Whereas the opportunity provided by the TULF leader to vindicate the Government’s contention that their Constitution had the backing of the Tamil people, by resigning from his membership of the National State Assembly and creating a by-election, was deliberately put off for over two years in utter disregard of the democratic right of the Tamil voters of Kankesanthurai, and

 

Whereas in the by-election held on the 6th February 1975 the voters of Kankesanthurai by a preponderant majority not only rejected the Republican Constitution imposed on them by the Sinhalese Government but also gave a mandate to Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayakam, Q.C. and through him to the Tamil United Liberation Front for the restoration and reconstitution of the free, soverign, secular, socialist state of Tamil Eelam,

 

The first National Convention of the Tamil United Liberation Front Meeting at Pannakam on the 14th day of May 1976 hereby declares that the Tamils of Ceylon, by virtue of their great language, their religions, their separate culture and heritage, their history of independent existence as a separate state over a distinct territory for several centuries until they were conquered by the armed might of the European invaders and, above all, by their will to exist as a separate entity ruling themselves in their own territory, are a nation distinct and apart from the Sinhalese and this Convention announces to the world that the Republican Constitution of 1972 has made the Tamils a slave nation ruled by the new colonial masters, the Sinhalese, who are using the power they have wrongly usurped to deprive the Tamil nation of its territory, language, citizenship, economic life, opportunities of employment and education, thereby depriving all the attributes of nationhood of the Tamil people.

 

And therefore, while taking note of the reservations’

 

In that respect the CWC had a mental reservation and we recognized it –

 

‘in relation to its commitment to the setting up of a separate state of Tamil Eelam expressed by the Ceylon Workers Congress as a trade union of the plantation workers, the majority of whom live and work outside the northern and eastern areas,

 

This Convention resolves that the restoration and reconstitution of the free, soverign, secular socialist state of Tamil Eelam based on the right of self-determination inherent to every nation, has become inevitable in order to safeguard the very existence of the Tamil nation in this country.

 

This Convention further declares –

(a)   that the State of TAMIL EELAM shall consist of the people of the Northern and Eastern Provinces and shall also ensure full and equal rights of citizenship of the State of TAMIL EELAM to all Tamil-speaking people living in any part of Ceylon and the TAMILS of EELAM origin living in any part of the world who may opt for citizenship of TAMIL EELAM;

(b)   that the constitution of TAMIL EELAM shall be based on the principle of democratic decentralization so as to ensure the non-domination of any religions or territorial community of TAMIL EELAM by any other section;

(c)    that in the State of Tamil Eelam, caste shall be abolished and the observance of the pernicious practice of untouchability or inequality of any type based on birth shall be totally eradicated and its observance in any form punished by law;

(d)   that TAMIL EELAM shall be a secular state giving equal protection and assistance to all religions to which the people of the state may belong;

(e)    that Tamil shall be the language of the State but the rights of Sinhalese-speaking minorities in Tamil Eelam to education and transaction of business in their language shall be protected on a reciprocal basis with the Tamil-speaking minorities in the Sinhala State.

(f)     That Tamil Eelam shall be a Socialist State wherein the exploitation of man by man shall be forbidden, the dignity of labour shall be recognized, the means of production and distribution shall be subject to public ownership and control while permitting private enterprise in these branches within limits prescribed by law, economic development shall be on the basis of socialist planning and there shall be a ceiling on the total wealth that any individual or family may acquire.

 

This Convention directs the Action Committee of the TAMIL UNITED LIBERATION FRONT to formulate a plan of action and launch without undue delay the struggle for winning the soverignity and freedom of the Tamil Nation.

 

And this Convention calls upon the Tamil Nation in general and the Tamil youth in particular to come forward to throw themselves fully in the sacred fight for freedom and to flinch not till the goal of a soverign socialist State of TAMIL EELAM is reached.’

 

Mr.Speaker, I read this resolution fully because I want the whole country to know the views, the feelings and the aspirations of the Tamil Nation in this country.

 

A Member: Now we know!

 

A.Amirthalingam: When this resolution was passed Emergency regulations were promulgated making it an offence for anybody even to publish this resolution. The newspapers were ordered not to publish the resolution, and they thought that there would be a blackout of this resolution thereby. We defied the law. We defied the Emergency regulations which prescribed a penalty of twenty years’ imprisonment, a fine, and forfeiture of property. We defied that ban, printed copies of this resolution in thousands, and distributed them all over the country. On the 22nd of May 1976 some of our Members were taken into custody. I myself, the hon.Member for Point Pedro, the hon.Member for Kayts and the hon.Member for Chavakachcheri were taken into custody, removed to Paget Road and locked up in solitary cells for ten days.

 

R.J.G.de Mel: These are all past sins.

 

A.Amirthalingam: I am dealing with the history. I am not dealing with the present. After we were released we were brought to trial before a trial-at-bar, that is, before a bench of three Judges of a High Court of Colombo on those charges.

 

In that trial-at-bar I as the first accused had the privilege of stating what my plea was. I told the court on that occasion that I was not prepared to plead guilty or not guilty to the charges because I did not accept that the court was properly constituted because the court was constituted under an invalid constitution and under invalid emergency regulations. That was the position we took up and as I said 67 eminent lawyers led by Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayakam Q.C., Mr.G.G.Ponnambalam Q.C., Mr.M.Thiruchelvam Q.C., Mr.V.S.A.Pullenayagam Q.C., Mr.P.Navaratnarajah Q.C., Mr.R.R.Crossette Thambiah Q.C., and Mr.S.J.Kadirgamar appeared in that historic trial-at-bar in the course of which we placed before the court, before the whole country and before the whole world our case.

 

Our case was twofold. We challenged the validity of the emergency regulations. We said that the emergency regulations had not been properly promulgated and Mr.G.G.Ponnambalam argued that point. Then we challenged the validity of the constitution and Mr.Thiruchelvam and Mr.Pullenayagam argued that point. The arguments went on for several days. Ultimately the trial-at-bar court said that the question of the validity of the constitution was a political question and that the court could not be called upon to adjudicate upon it. While they so held on that question they also held that the emergency had not been properly declared and, therefore the emergency regulations were invalid and that the court having been constituted as a trial-at-bar under the emergency regulations had been improperly called together and therefore they had no power to try me and they discharged me. The same thing happened to the other three accused in the other three cases.

 

The Government took up the matter in appeal in the Supreme Court and curiously enough in the course of the arguments or just before that the Attorney-General indicated to the Supreme Court that the Government intended to withdraw the charges against the accused and that they were not proceeding with the charges and therefore the Supreme Court could give its verdict on the legal question uninhibited by any consequences that may flow from it to us. Anyhow the net result was that we were exonerated and that was the end of the case.

 

It was on the basis of this resolution that we went to the elections. We sought a mandate from our people to win back their freedom. It was on that mandate that we were returned to Parliament.

 

Now, Sir, in regard to the Second Amendment to the Constitution, in view of our mandate, in view of the position we had taken, we indicated that we were not going to participate in the debate on the amendment to the constitution.

 

When this Government came forward with the proposal for setting up a Select Committee for amending the Constitution we said we would at the appropriate time make our position with regard to the Select Committee clear. Then we had to take a decision whether we were going to participate in the deliberations of the Select Committee or not.

 

As I told you, in 1970 we accepted the invitation to participate in the Constituent Assembly, explored the possibility of a settlement, of effecting a compromise, whereby certain minimum rights could be ensured to the Tamil-speaking people, and when we failed we severed connections with that Constituent Assembly.

 

As far as this Select Committee was concerned, we decided not to go into the Select Committee at all because we felt that the Government itself had not set about the question of solving the problem of the Tamil-speaking people in the way in which they said they were going to solve it. In their election manifesto as well as in the Policy Statement they said that they would find a solution on the basis of a consensus and that they would summon an all-party conference as stated earlier and implement its decisions. In fact, even in the paragraph dealing with the Constitution in their manifesto they said that the decisions of an all-party conference which would be summoned be to consider the problem of the non-Sinhala-speaking people would be included in the Constitution. So, if the Government had either summoned an all-party conference or started negotiations with us with a view to evolving a formula as a basis for the solution of this problem, we could have gone into the Select Committee in order to work out a scheme of government – a Constitution embodying that as one of its aspects. But, unfortunately, the Government set about it in the wrong way. For reasons of their own, may be because of certain attitudes which were shown by other political parties, or, maybe for other reasons, they decided not to try and work out a solution to this problem before they started on constitution-making. That was the reason why we decided not to go into the Select Committee.

 

In fact, this is the resolution that we adopted on that point.

 

“Whereas the Members of the TULF were elected to the N.S.A. on a mandate to work for the liberation of the Tamil Nation by the establishment of Tamil Eelam on the basis of their right of self-determination;

 

And whereas the violence unleashed on the Tamil people after the general elections have reinforced their faith that only the objective of Tamil Eelam can ensure their safety and well being;

 

And whereas the Government and the State machinery have been acting in a step-motherly manner in the rehabilitation of the Tamil refugees from recent violence;

 

And whereas the Government does not appear to have taken into consideration the verdict of the Tamil people in the elections and the impact of the recent communal violence on the political situation and has not shown any enthusiasm or realisation of the urgency to find a solution to the problem of the Tamil Nation;

 

And whereas the Government has not made any effort at least to evolve a solution to the problems of the Tamil speaking people before amending the Constitution on the basis of all-party consensus as promised in the election manifesto of the UNP;

 

And whereas a Parliamentary Select Committee appointed under these circumstances does not seem to have either the capacity or the climate to find a solution to the problems between the two nations in this country the Action Committee of the TULF feels that no useful purpose will be served by participating in the Select Committee of Parliament to revise the Constitution and direct the Parliamentary Group not to participate in the Select Committee.’

 

It was on the basis of this direction that we had from our Party’s committee was appointed and memoranda were invited and various people submitted various points of view, but curiously enough though the Report of the Select Committee was published along with the Draft Constitution, the Bill that is before the House has certain chapters added to it which are not in the Select Committee’s draft. I do not know what fun it is in appointing a Select Committee to draft a Constitution which has not been approved, portions to which have not even been placed before the Select Committee? They might as well not have had this Select Committee at all but drafted and presented a Constitution of their own as they could have very well done that with the majority that they have.

 

Now, Sir, with regard to that part of the Constitution or the Constitution Bill which did not go before the Select Committee, I have already dealt with when I spoke in Tamil I do not want to repeat it. But I will only say this much.

 

The provision in the Constitution which is most disturbing to the people is that which is contained in Clause 157. It is primarily directed to a two-type situation. Firstly, it seeks to deprive the other political parties like the SLFP for instance, from seeking a mandate from the people to constitute themselves into a Constituent Assembly for the purpose of enacting a new constitution. This provision therefore seeks to entrench for all time the process of constitutional change that is provided for in Chapter XII, namely, through a Bill to amend the Constitution in a particular way. Mr.Speaker, I feel outraged that a Government committed to democratic freedoms and the assertion of fundamental rights should deny the people the sovereign right of giving a mandate to a future Government to enact a different Constitution.

 

Actually we of the TULF are not directly concerned with this aspect of the matter but I feel it my duty as Leader of the Opposition to draw the attention of this House and the country to this aspect of the matter. This provision is not merely of academic interest but has far-reaching consequences because, with proportional representaiton that is being introduced into this country, no future government may have a two-thirds majority to amend the Constitution in terms of Chapter XII. This is an attempt to petrify the present position and the present Constitution for all time and deprive the people of a chace –

 

Mr.Speaker: You do not welcome the entrenchment of fundamental rights?

 

A.Amirthalingam: We want fundamental rights to be entrenched but not the entrenching of the whole Constitution. One can entrench fundamental rights but the Constitution must be flexible within limits. The whole Constitution cannot be entrenched for then it will become fossilized at some stage and the fossil will have to be cracked with a hammer otherwise it will cease to grow. That is what will happen when you entrench the whole Constitution – you will petrify the whole position and make a fossil of the Constitution.

 

R.Premadasa: What do you suggest? We want your views and we want you to participate in the Debate.

 

A Member: What do you want us to do?

 

A. Amirthalingam: I will come to that later. Sir, it is inevitable that this Constitution would remain unalterable except through a process of revolutionary change. [Interruption]. In my view provisions of this nature are futile. It cannot prevent the process of legal revolution by which continuity is severed from the past and a new Constitution enacted through a process external to what is envisaged in Chapter XII. Moreover provisions of this nature may result more dangerously in accelerating the process of violent revolutionary seizure of political power. It is undemocratic in conception and strikes at the very root of a democratic process of constitutional making.

 

R.Premadasa: What do you suggest?

 

A.Amirthalingam: Drop Article 157. Why do you want it? That is all what I am saying. Article 157 is not necessary. It was not before the Select Committee. The Select Committee never thought it necessary. It is an after-thought by somebody. We are also immediately concerned with Article 157. I am also interested. I make no secret of that.

 

The second concern of this provision is to suppress and subjugate the Tamil-speaking people in their aspiration for self-determination and for a new assertion of their identity.

 

Mr.Speaker: Now you are not referring to Article 157?

 

A. Amirthalingam: It is the same. In fact, under this law some genius like the former Minister of Justice, because he was the man who put us on trial earlier.

 

R.J.G.de Mel: He will do that only at midnight!

 

A.Amirthalingam: Or somebody like that might think that we are offending Article 157 and straightaway all of us can be put behind bars. We are aware of that and let it not be thought that we are complaining about it.

 

R.Premadasa: So are you moving any amendment?

 

A.Amirthalingam: We are here not to amend. We are here to place our views and depart.

 

R.Premadasa: If you want to move an amendment you must remain here.

 

A.Amirthalingam: I am sure the Prime Minister has on previous occasions – he is a real democrat – listened to Opposition points of view and he himself has moved amendments. He can move the amendment to drop this Draconian piece of law.

 

Mr.Speaker: You say it was not in the Select Committee proposals?

 

A.Amirthalingam: It was not there.

 

Sirimavo R.D.Bandaranaike: It is not in the Report either!

 

A.Amirthalingam: In fact, this Article 157 would prohibit any peaceful agitation towards the establishment of the right of self-determination of our people. To this extent, this is a provision which is repugnant to every norm of political participation and would have very serious consequences to Tamil people. But I would say straightaway that when we met at our annual convention over the weekend in Jaffna, we, with the full realization of the implications of this Article, decided to go ahead with our political programme, and we are ready to face and take the consequences even if we are put behind bars for 10 years and all our properties confiscated. After all, some of us who are here have during the last 22 years of our political life been to jail four times, I have been in prison four times. I have been assaulted and humiliated several times – and another terms of prison life will not deter us from doing what is correct and just and what is necessary for the freedom and self-respect of our people.

 

So that, Article 157 is fundamentally an attack on the political struggle of the Tamil people, and it is decisive in shaping our approach to this Constitution. [Interruption] I have a lot to say and I think Members will give me the indulgence of not interrupting me today.

 

There are certain other features of this Constitution which intimately concern the Tamil-sepaking people which I will have to deal with, though it was not my intention to go into details with regard to this Constitution. Certain of the provisions here may be help up to the world as being calculated to ensure the rights of the minorities in this country. One of those is the scheme of representation that is introduced.

 

The scheme of representation that is introduced envisages the allocation of four Seats to each province – on what basis I do not know – and the allocation of Seats to each electoral district according to the number of voters in that electoral district. I want to take the minds of Members back to the Soulbury Constitution. At the time of the Soulbury Commission representations were made on behalf of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress by Mr.G.G.Ponnambalam.

 

The All Ceylon Muslim League, the Malay Association, the Ceylon Workers’ Congress and various other organizations made representation with regard to representation of minorities and the need for weightage to be given to minorities. I am not going back to those good old days. I am only tracing the history to give hon. Members the background for representation on an area basis.

 

The Soulbury Commissioners did not want to recommend communal representation. If hon.Members read the Soulbury Commission Report they will find that the Soulbury Commissioners took the view that a certain amount of weightage could be given to the minorities, particularly to the Tamils and the Muslims, by giving representation to them on an area basis.

 

M.Shelton Jayasinghe: That is right. You must identify the voters.

 

A.Amirthalingam: That is, they decided to give one Member for every 1000 square miles of area because they found that the Tamils and Muslims occupied certain sparsely populated areas and twenty five seats were added to the total representation. Eight went to the Northern and Eastern Provinces, and seventeen to the other seven provinces. That was meant to give weightage to the Tamils and Muslims who occupied those two provinces. That was the purpose behind it. Anyone reading the Soulbury Commission Report and the reasons for their recommendation will realize that. Under the present Constitution also that position is being retained – 25 seats on an area basis, 4 for the Northern Province, 4 for the Eastern Province and 17 for the other seven provinces.

 

Today, without any rhyme or reason, under the new draft Bill, each province is given four seats on an area basis. So, the Northern and Eastern Provinces get their eight seats, and the other seven provinces get 28 seats. That means an addition of 11 seats beyond their population for the other seven provinces. In other words, this Constitution gives weightage to the population of the other provinces over what is provided for in the present Constitution and in the former Soulbury Constitution.

 

M.Shelton Jayasinghe: There is one extra coming between Mannar and Vavuniyawa.

 

K.Thurairatnam: That is part of the four.

 

A.Amirthalingam: I think the Hon.Minister of Posts & Telecommunications is referring to a unit. Mannar, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya and Jaffna are all in the Northern Province.

 

R.Premadasa: Shall we go into the details in the Committee Stage?

 

A.Amirthalingam: I am only starting the principle behind it. I am not on the Committee Stage now.

 

R.Premadasa: You touch on the principles now. We will go into the details at the Committee Stage.

 

A.Amirthalingam: I am mentioning this because this is going to give weightage to the majority at the expense of the minorities. You are adding 11 seats to the areas from which the majority community representatives come. That is eleven more than what they have today under the present Constitution. You cannot deny that. I do not know whether the Hon.Minister of Justice gave his mind to this aspect of it. That is a very serious situation. We are not worried about whether we are here whether it is 17 or 20 does not matter so long as we are a subject race. We are a subject race. We do not want anyone to hold this as a boon to the Tamil people, to say that they are doing them a favour by introducing the Constitution. This is going to reduce the representation of the Tamil-speaking people because the bulk of their representation is from the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

 

In fact, from the proceedings of the Select Committee, I find that the hon.Members of the Muslim community had been aware of some of the dangers in this because I see that the Hon.Deputy Speaker has argued at length in the Select Committee against the dangers of this proportional representation scheme for the minorities particularly in the seven provinces outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces. When there is a threshold vote of 12½ percent, any group which fails to get one-eighth of the total votes polled, does not have any representation. So that, a Muslim or a Tamil, unless he is nominated by one of the bigger parties and finds a place substantially high up on the list of candidates, may have no chance of being returned, whereas under the system of multi-member seats, pockets of minorities have a chance of returning Members. If minorities contest as minorities they are moved down by the cut-off point which is the highest in the world. In West Germany they have the threshold vote of five percent; here we are having it at 12½ percent.

 

Mr.Speaker: Major parties also nominate minority Members.

 

A.Amirthalingam: If they do not or even if they do but the nominees do not get a place sufficiently high up on the list of candidates, there may be no Member elected from the minority communities from those areas. In the Northern and Eastern Provinces that will not happen.

 

R.Premadasa: The cut-off point was suggested by one of your Members.

 

A.Amirthalingam: That was for local authorities.

 

R.Premadasa: Both are the same.

 

A.Amirthalingam: There is a lot of difference.

 

R.Premadasa: For purposes of deposits, one-eighth.

 

A.Amirthalingam: Losing a deposit in one seat is not the same as a whole group losing representation in an entire district.

 

D.Shelton Jayasinghe: You gave the percentage.

 

A.Amirthalingam: It is not my intention to enter into a controversy but to point out in passing the dangers involved in this scheme of representation particularly to the Tamils and Muslims. I make this point because an attempt is being made to make out that this scheme is a boon that is being conferred on us. The Hon.Minister of Justice will make that claim when he follows me, and it is in anticipation of that that I want to put this point forward to him so that he may give up his mind to it. He is aperson who is genuinely interested in the future of the Tamil people. Let him give his mind to this matter, and I am sure he will do that. That is why I am drawing his attention to this matter.

 

Then, there is the Chapter on Fundamental Rights.

 

D.Shelton Jayasinghe: You have got what you wanted written into the Constitution.

 

A.Amirthalingam: There are certain fundamental rights which have been adequately safeguarded in this draft Constitution.

 

R.Premadasa: Which you did not have earlier?

 

A.Amirthalingam: Section 15(8) almost repeats the provisions of section 18(2) of the 1972 Constitution. It says:

‘The exercise and operation of all the fundamental rights declared and recognized by Articles 12, 13(1), 13(2) and 14 shall be subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed by law in the interests of national security, public order and the protection of public health or morality, or for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others, or of meeting the just requirements of the general welfare of a democratic society.’

 

This vague phrase, ‘of meeting the just requirements of the general welfare of a democratic society’, can cover anything. This is the phrase that one finds in this new Constitution. In the 1972 Constitution they have a different phrase which is equally vague. Section 18(2) of the 1972 Constitution says:

 

‘The exercise and operation of the fundamental rights and freedoms provided in this Chapter shall be subject to such restrictions as the law prescribes in the interests of national unity and integrity, national security, national economy, public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others or giving effect to the Principles of State Policy set out in Section 16.’

 

Section 18(2) of the 1972 Constitution applies to the entire list of fundamental rights, but section 15(8) of the new Constitution applies to certain, but very important, fundamental rights, and this vague phrase, ‘of meeting the just requirements of the general welfare of a democratic society’, is one of the limiting factors. The 1972 Constitution speaks of ‘the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others or giving effect to the Principles of State Policy set out in section 16’. They had a whole Chapter there on the Principles of State Policy. Here you have an equally vague phrase where you say ‘of meeting the just requirements of the general welfare of a democratic society’.

 

Mr.Speaker: How would you amend it?

 

A.Amirthalingam: They should be more specific. This sort of vague phraseology should not find a place here.

 

D.Shelton Jayasinghe: Then make your suggestion.