In my whole life, I encountered only one or two Sinhalese who treated me poorly because I was Tamil. I have lived half of my life with the Sinhalese. Many of my closest friends are Sinhalese. An average Sinhala person is not racist. Sri Lanka's problem is state-sponsored institutional racism and some power-hungry politicians and Buddhist clergy who actively promote it. Generally speaking, an average Sinhala person respects fellow Tamils' individual rights and treats them as brothers. But 99.99% of the Sinhala people including those even in my closest friend circle have a problem with giving Tamils political rights. Almost all Sinhalese believe it is not fair that Tamils ask for power devolution since Tamils are here as permanent guests at their homes. Imagine what it would be like if unwelcome guests barged into your house and occupied a room? You forgot all that and still treated them like your family, but eventually, they decided the room was theirs since they stayed there for so long?
That is exactly how the average Sinhalese feels about any attempt to devolve power. They feel betrayed. They feel the Tamils take their generosity for granted. As a Tamil, I wouldn't blame them for saying so. A normal Sinhalese person has the same day-to-day problems as a normal Tamil person. They had to take care of their family, have relationship worries, financial concerns and etc. It is impossible for them to sit at home and read or contemplate the root causes of ethnic crises. They just trust what sources they think are credible. The narrative that Tamils are invaders who settled in Sri Lanka is what their government says to them, it is what their school history books imply, this is what their religious leaders say, this is what their so-called intellectuals say, this is what their media say. Do you really think they have another choice than to believe it?
Every government since Bandaranaike has actively propagated this narrative with full endorsement from the Buddhist clergy. Several pseudo-historians did nothing except read the "Mahavamsa" and proved this narrative with historical examples convenient to them. Most of the so-called Sinhala intellectuals and professors who write extensively about history have no academic background in history. Take Dr. Nalin De Silva, for instance. I will quote from an Introduction Dailymirror gave to his article, "Dr. Nalin De Silva has done extensive research and studies into history". I researched him. He is a professor of mathematics. But he is someone who continuously writes articles about ethnic tension. Did any Sinhalese media bother to bring Sinhalese who is internationally reputed in historical studies to discuss the issue? There are several people like Gananath Obeysekera who is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University, historian Emeritus Professor Chandra de Silva, etc. The media will not do it because government media had to just parrot what government wants and private media will not publish anything against popular sentiments since that would affect their profits.
The latest genetic studies conducted under Emeritus Prof. Eric H. Karunanayake in 2017, based on the ‘Eve Gene’ or mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) conclusively debunked the traditional narrative about how ethnic groups arrived on this island. According to traditional thinking, an admixture of North Indians with Sri Lanka's original inhabitants established the Sinhalese ethnic group around 2,600 years ago. The Veddahs are thought to be remnants of the original inhabitants. Sri Lankan Tamils are descendants of successive invasions by South Indians centuries later.
However, this study suggests that both Sinhalese and Tamils share very close maternal ancestors. Ethnicity is created by linguistic, religious and cultural differences, rather than genetic differences. The differences between the major ethnic groups are minimal except for the Veddahs who stand out as a separate cluster. There is considerable genetic admixture in contemporary ethnic groups in Sri Lanka — the Sinhalese are closely related to the Sri Lankan Tamils. The indisputable genetic findings make the call, 'We are all Sri Lankans’ louder and clearer.
According to Prof. Gananath Obeysekera, "As a Sinhalese anthropologist myself, I can say with absolute certainty that Sinhalese identity nowadays is predicated on the assumption that since they speak the Indo-European language, they are of North Indian origin whereas the Dravidian tongue Tamils are from the South. The historical reality however is totally different. Except perhaps for the oldest stratum of settlers prior to 200 B.C., almost all subsequent settlers in Sri Lanka came from South India, mostly from Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Kerala and became Sinhalised. In fact, some of the most prominent anti-Tamil castes among the Sinhalese were post-15th century migrants from South India." President Ranil even said the same a few weeks ago in a Harvard University discussion.
To my Tamil friends, I would suggest that blaming the entire Sinhalese community as racists will not help. Several of you have close Sinhalese friends. You can discuss those issues with them. I was at least able to change the mindset of at least some of my dear Sinhala friends because I talked to them about it constantly since 2019. To my Sinhala friends, I would suggest you talk to your close Tamil friends about ethnic tension. Ask them why Tamils want power sharing, and what is the defect in current governance in the north and east? These conversations can't happen between strangers. There should be trust between each other for an open conversation to happen. That is why I recommend talking to your friends about the matter. I would tell Tamils and Sinhalese this quote by French philosopher Voltaire: "When you believe in absurdities, you commit atrocities." Because of vote politics, changing a system from the top down is impossible in a democracy. We can only change the system from the bottom up. If we remain silent because our roof didn't burn today, one day it will spread and burn our roof too. We may not live long enough to see it burn but it is our children or our grandchildren or their generation after that who will suffer. I believe in Gandhi's words, "I wish to change
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