Former Minister Mangala Samaraweera says that the Tamil people in the North and East demanded a separate state because the government at that time did not accept their right to speak in Tamil language.
He points out that the people living in Sri Lanka, which was considered to be the most developed country in South Asia at the time of independence in 1948, began to be divided along ethnic, caste and religious group and that the Tamil people demanded only the right to speak Tamil at that time because the government did not pay attention to it. Due to the extremist politics that ensued, they later demand a separate state.
He points out that extremists in the North also fed up with the extremist forces that emerged in the South after independence, adding that even the Tamils who were moderate with the Black July of 1983 turned to extremist Tamil politics at that time. Therefore, it is the fault of the Sinhalese people, he says.
He recalls that with the opening up of the Katunayake Free Trade Zone in 1977, many foreign investors came to Sri Lanka and set up factories, especially electronics corporations. Mr. Samaraweera says that with the Black July of 1983, many of these foreign investors left Sri Lanka again and went to Malaysia to start their businesses. Today Malaysia is known as capital hub for electronic production and if Black July in 1983 was not happened, those businessmen would still be in the country, and then today Katunayake would be the electronic city. But we lost those opportunities due to racist and religious politics.
Although we had the opportunity to reunite after the end of the war in 2009, the Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa began to portray it as a Sinhalese victory and that became more and more Sinhala extremist and as a result, he says, the country is soon becoming bankrupt.
He further stated that the all including current President, the Prime Minister and all the governments that have ruled this country since independence, the Opposition as well as the voters are responsible for the situation which this country has fallen today.
He says that the slogan of the country today is “sir failed”, but now the whole country is failing. So, we need to get out of this tribal politics now.
He was shared this views in discussion that held with reporters in the North and East