Website owner: James Miller
Preferential treatment policies — Lessons from Sri Lanka
The following is from Thomas Sowell. Compassion Versus Guilt. pp. 195 - 197
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Lessons from Sri Lanka
News reports on the civil war in the island nation of Sri Lanka seldom mention how that bloody conflict got started. Its roots go back to preferential treatment policies—what we in the United States call "affirmative action."
The two main groups on this large island off the coast of India are the Sinhalese majority and the Tamils, who are the largest minority. Although both groups originated in India, they have been on the island for centuries.
The Tamil minority, concentrated in northern and eastern provinces, happened to be located where European and American missionaries began establishing schools, back in the colonial era, when the island was called Ceylon. Many Tamils received more and better education than the Sinhalese. Not surprisingly, they became "over-represented" among civil servants, doctors, lawyers, judges, and engineers. In addition to these native Tamils, there were large numbers of other people from India who created much of the industry and commerce of the island, and were therefore "over-represented" among business owners.
This ethnic imbalance caused no great trouble during the colonial era, when the British held power in the country. But when the colony of Ceylon became the independent nation of Sri Lanka, right after World War II, things began to change.
The Christian, English-language schools that had produced much of the Westernized leadership class in the country were bitterly resented by the Buddhist, Sinhalese-speaking majority. Once independent, they began to use their political muscle to oppose Western culture, religion, language — and the Tamil minority.
Preferential treatment in favor of the Sinhalese people and culture began in the schools, the universities, and government. When double standards for admission to the universities were not enough to eliminate the "over-representation" of the Tamils, quotas were substituted. Tamils were 49 percent of all medical students in 1969 but this was cut back to 17 percent in just six years. Over the same span of time, Tamils were cut back from 48 percent of all engineering students to 14 percent.
Tamils were also driven out of the army, the civil service, and the teaching profession. Tamil businesses were harassed. The Tamil language was no longer acceptable in official business, even in areas where it was the language of the overwhelming majority of people. Government policy was supplemented by mob violence against the Tamils.
Moderate Tamil leaders tried to reason with the government. But Sinhalese politicians who had whipped up emotions against the Tamils were in no position to change course. The net result was that moderate Tamil leadership was quickly replaced by more extreme leadership, which demanded secession. Assassinations and sabotage began to back up Tamil demands.
Violence begat violence. Sinhalese army units ambushed in Tamil areas responded with indiscriminate vengeance against Tamil civilians. Tamil guerilla bases have been set up in India, and tensions between the two nations have risen.
The present government of Sri Lanka shows some signs of wanting to defuse tensions within the country and with India. But too much innocent blood has already been spilled on both sides for that to be easy. The toll of killings, devastations, and masses of homeless refugees has generated a bitterness going far beyond the original preferential policies that started it all.
If anyone had known in advance that such policies would lead to this disaster, would they have considered it worth it to try to produce an artificial ethnic balance? With the country still struggling to extricate itself from civil war, it is difficult to see where either group has gained anything on net balance.
—August 19, 1985
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31 May 2024
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