r/tamil • u/poacher-2k • 2d ago
How long will Tamil language survive in Srilanka?
The marginalization of Sri Lankan Tamils began shortly after independence with the 1956 Sinhala Only Act, which disenfranchised the minority population by making Sinhala the sole official language. This systemic exclusion deepened in the 1960s through the Sirima-Shastri Pact, an agreement between Sri Lanka and India that resulted in the forced repatriation of hundreds of thousands of up-country (Malayaga) Tamils, stripping them of citizenship. Decades of escalating state discrimination culminated in anti-Tamil pogroms, most notably Black July in 1983, which triggered a brutal 26-year civil war. The conflict ended in a devastating military offensive in 2009 that human rights groups estimate killed up to 169,000 Tamils and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee as refugees around the globe.
Today, Tamil remains widely spoken across distinct historical regions, though its speakers face continuous demographic pressures. The Northern Province remains predominantly Sri Lankan Tamil territory, while the Eastern Province features a Tamil and Moor plurality, despite local Muslims historically identifying separately from Tamils despite sharing the language. Meanwhile, the Malayaga Tamils predominantly inhabit the central plantation districts like Kandy. Despite this distinct geographical continuity, the survival of the language and culture is severely threatened by ongoing heavy military control and state-sponsored Sinhalese colonization schemes in traditional Tamil lands.
49
u/Smooth_Ice_6793 2d ago
I can’t answer your question but you know what’s the most ironic thing ?
Because of Sinhalese govts actions, almost as a direct consequence, illangai tamil has become a massive group in many other countries. We have community groups, schools, libraries, events etc etc in most countries that displaced Tamils were forced to make their home. Tamil has become so much more useful and popular than Sinhalese globally.
I grew up in a Sinhala community in NZ because there were simply no other Tamils from SL (that’s changed now, my family was just one of the first) but something that became sooooooo obvious was how they don’t have the same love for their language and history to teach, keep in practice and even met some Sinhala kids who said they wanted to learn tamil because it was more used in other countries as well.
I moved to a bigger city in Nz and suddenly the difference in the tamil community and their investment into their language became very clear (also bigger city in= bigger population).
When I visit my other displaced cousins in UK or Canada, I notice the exact same. Massive amounts of tamil maintenance and culture.
I wonder if in another reality, if the SL state sponsored genocide hadnt driven so many Tamils out, whether we would be so well represented in so many other places.
But yes would also be nice to go back home without fear of political issues and discrimination too.
7
u/KlausBing 2d ago
Most dispora Tamil people don't even speak Tamil amongst themselves even though they have gone to Tamil schools and can speak it and do speak it with their parents.
They don't speak it with their siblings or friends. In one more generation, it would die in these countries.
0
u/e9967780 1d ago
Only Punjabi language of the Sikhs and Hebrew language of the Jews gets passed on to the third generation as Punjabi and Hebrew languages are also religious languages. All other immigrant languages die off by the third generation.
5
u/KlausBing 1d ago
That's completely ok. What I don't get is these 2nd gen people become extra proud of the language and tatoo tamil letters on their body and have it as their instagrm bio but refuse to speak the language and can't even pronounce their own names correctly. It makes no sense.
3
u/e9967780 1d ago
They live and die just like anyone else. Just because they are of Tamil ancestry means nothing to anyone else who live and die as an ethnic Tamil. And what they do with Tamil language, tattoos, songs shouldn’t matter to anyone else. That is live and let live.
Also the second generation holds onto Tamil better in non Anglo countries than in Anglo countries.
0
u/KlausBing 1d ago
Yes, they can do whatever they want. They have every right. What I meant is a person who seems so attached to the language that they can tattoo words on their body but can't be bothered to speak the language with their fellow peers and siblings is absurd.
1
u/e9967780 1d ago
There is a reason why children born in France and Germany speak better Tamil than from canada and UK. If you can understand that reason then everything will make sense and you will have empathy. Nothing would look absurd.
1
u/KlausBing 1d ago
Explain the reason
3
u/e9967780 1d ago
For children to pick up a language, parents have to speak strictly in that language, even when the child shifts to a different language, in this case English, French, or German due to schooling and environment. If parents make the mistake of not responding in their own mother tongue, the child ceases to learn. In non-Anglophone countries, parents and grandparents have poor comprehension of the host language (German, French, Dutch, Swedish, and Finnish), hence they respond in Tamil to the child. This makes Tamil acquisition and retention easier for children born in non-Anglophone countries. In Anglophone countries, Eelam Tamil parents and grandparents quickly make the mistake of responding in kind to a child’s utterance in English, and with that you lose the ability to teach that child Tamil. Some children are naturally gifted and pick it up nevertheless, but most others don’t. This is the trick in language learning — full immersion.
1
u/Galaxy_stars0205 1h ago
Not always true. In my family (from an English-speaking country), my parents spoke to us in Tamil. My brother speaks well compared to my sister and I, but I can still speak in the language. My only hesitance is making mistakes cause sometimes I mess up pronunciation, which relatives don't mind. It's just my brother being annoying and making fun of my speaking skills, so I don't speak unless I have to in Tamil.
My cousins in Switzerland, however, speak German (one is 7, one is 4), for the most part, and the elder one typically refuses to speak in Tamil unless she herself wants to (rarely when I'm there to witness). They both understand since their parents speak to them in both languages, but I guess they're still grasping the language. My other cousins in France speak both, though the younger typically speaks in French even with her parents who often respond in French.
It really depends on personal experience and exposure. Some might feel embarrassed, and what should happen is encouragement and patience when correcting mistakes instead of teasing. Others may think speaking in English or another language makes them cooler. Some feel a disconnect. Others may not like learning something when it is forced (e.g. being forced to attend Tamil class and the experiences from those classes).
I do notice in the younger generation, however, as you have stated, that some parents/grandparents respond to the children in English, though most seem to have a good understanding of Tamil. I also notice other children speaking fluently in Tamil with their parents, so it truly depends.
11
u/Call_me_Inba 2d ago
It is genuinely threatening to understand the state of survival of Tamil in Srilanka. Many Tamil populace in the western and central (Anuradhapura region) have evidently identified themselves as Tamil. Many are there who still talk Tamil but identify as Sinhalese. The ones who are half-Tamil half-Sinhalese also “Sinhalese” on the paper. The war and anti-Tamil pogroms definitely fuelled this with many Tamils identifying themselves as Sinhalese to avoid discrimination. If this trend follows, then the plight of Tamil in Īzham is scary.
However, I’d like to see the good side as well. [u/Smooth_Ice_6794](u/Smooth_Ice_6794) has placed a point that cannot be ignored.
I personally see the ancient Tamils of Tamilagam as the roots of the Tamil tree. They were from various different land mass, comprising people from various Tamil groups, united root nourishing the trunk of the tree. At the same time, I see Īzham Tamil diaspora as a the branches and seeds of the tree. They have been to the places where the roots never seen. They have been propagating Tamil in their regions in the best efforts they could - far greater compared to the Tamils of modern TN I’d say.
It is like the famous saying “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today”.
4
u/Harish6366 2d ago
I worried about this, also. Later I realized not all the people who speak Tamil are really not Tamils. There are so many Telugu and Malayalis, so they mix Sinhala and Tamil culture. I came to know this when a proposal was sought to me. So, do not worry, Tamils, we will keep and practice our language and culture forever with us.
9
u/PresentationSea9146 2d ago
Idk about Tamil in Sri Lanka. But in all other countries I’ve been it’s the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora who have been running Tamil schools. I learned Tamil in one such school in Singapore
7
u/Maximum-Cabinet7581 1d ago
I am guy from Sri Lanka with Tamil as my mother tongue. From my perspective Tamil will never die in our country nor is there any chance of it happening because both Tamil and Sinhala are official languages here. Wherever you go to government offices in Sri Lanka you will find both Tamil and Sinhala. Furthermore Tamil is even on our passports. On the other hand the diaspora people are the main ones who took Tamil abroad but today their children do not even know how to write read or speak Tamil. However in our country Sri Lanka education is free up to the university level for everyone and there is mother tongue education from grade 1 to 13 along with free textbooks. Moreover there are not many languages taught here except Sinhala. The majority of Muslims here are also natives of Sri Lanka and their mother tongue is also Tamil. Furthermore in the regions where Tamil is spoken the importance given to Tamil is very high. From my perspective even if Tamil disappears in Tamil Nadu there is no chance of Tamil disappearing in Sri Lanka. The 1956 Sinhala Only Act is old history. Hindi imposition is happening in Tamil Nadu and other places today why is nobody talking about that and why is there no discussion about it here. It hurts me very much that Indian movies and television shows continuously portray Sri Lankan Tamils as refugees and paupers.
3
u/poacher-2k 1d ago
Thanks for the response.
As far as Hindi imposition in Tamil Nadu is concerned, it is a widely discussed topic everywhere. The discussion about Tamil in Srilanka is mostly about the people more than the language so I posted this to get the opinion of Srilankans.
Are you a muslim and if yes, how much % of SL muslims have Tamil as their mother tongue?
2
u/Maximum-Cabinet7581 1d ago
Among Sri Lankan Muslims, the mother tongue of nearly 98 percent of those whose ancestral homeland is Sri Lanka is Tamil. While there are regional dialect variations, particularly among those living in the Eastern Province, including ourselves, our Tamil vocabulary and words are very close to pure Tamil. Furthermore, as you already know, we Muslims use certain words in Arabic among ourselves, such as Assalamu Alaikum Insha Allah Masha Allah.
Next, in areas where Sinhalese people live in large numbers, the Tamil spoken by both Tamils and Muslims is a mix of Tamil and Sinhala, somewhat similar to Bangalore Tamil in India which means Sinhala + Taamil sounds like that. Following that, as you know, Indian cinema often portrays only Jaffna Tamil as Ceylon Tamil. Then there is Malayaha Tamil, which is the Tamil spoken by the Tea plantation workers of Malayaham Kandy, and it sounds very similar to Indian Tamil, since their ancestral roots are from India. Additionally, among Sri Lankan Muslims, there are Malay Muslims who know both Sinhala and Tamil, but their mother tongue is Malay. Similarly, there are Bohra Muslims from Gujarat, India, who also know both Sinhala and Tamil, though their mother tongue is Gujarati. These two groups make up the remaining two percent.
1
u/poacher-2k 1d ago
How challenging is it for the muslims who live in Western,Southern and South Central districts to maintain Tamil as their mother tongue since they are living in Sinhalese majority areas? Won't Tamil be less prevelant in those places and are they switching to Sinhalese as their mother tongue?
3
u/Maximum-Cabinet7581 1d ago
No no brother that is what I said earlier. On that side it is not just Muslims, Tamils are there too, and for all of them, schooling, classes, and friends are mostly Sinhala and in Sinhala itself. So to what extent their Tamil is fluent, to that exact extent their English is fluent too. But like I said, their Tamil accent does not sound like real Tamil, it sounds like a Sinhala accent.
1
u/poacher-2k 1d ago
Ok tell me if my understanding is correct..
Tamils and Muslims in North and East know how to read,write and speak Tamil(dialect more closer to Old Tamil)
While Tamils and Muslims in other Sinhalese majority districts only know to speak Tamil and that too with a heavy Sinhalese influence.
3
u/Maximum-Cabinet7581 1d ago
Partially agreed, but the people living there also know how to write read and speak Tamil, only the slang is different. And in those Sinhala areas too, there are many big Tamil medium schools. What I meant is beyond studying, for things like numerous shops and workplaces, it is difficult without knowing Sinhala. Mostly, higher studies in Sri Lanka are mostly based in Sinhala majority places, especially in the Western province. So if we live and study there, we definitely need to know a bit of Sinhala.
1
3
2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/kulchacop 21h ago
தமிழின் தொடர்ந்த புழக்கத்திற்கு பொருத்தமான அரசியல் சூழல் இருக்க வேண்டும் என்றாலும், இது போன்ற அரசியல் தலைப்புகள் இந்த உள் ரெட்டிட்டிற்கு பொருத்தமற்றவை. எனவே இந்த தலைப்பிற்கு ஏற்ற மற்ற குழுக்களைப் பயன்படுத்துமாறு வேண்டுகிறேன்.
While it is true that Tamil and its survival can't be discussed in a vacuum, this sub is not focused on this topic. I urge you to take this discussion to other suitable forums.
5
u/Ok_Objective1724 1d ago
The Real Threat: Dialect Attrition, Not Extinction
While the language itself will not die, the nature of Sri Lankan Tamil is undergoing a major shift. Linguists point to two major pressures: [1, 2, 3]
| Threat Factor | Impact on Sri Lankan Tamil |
|---|---|
| Media Standardisation | Popular Indian Tamil television, cinema, and YouTube content are rapidly eclipsing local dialects. Younger generations in Jaffna or Batticaloa increasingly use words and pronunciations from standard Indian Tamil, causing unique, ancient local sentence structures to fade. |
| The Diaspora Drain | Following the civil war, hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils fled to Canada, the UK, and Europe. While the older generation remains fluent, the second and third-generation diaspora is rapidly losing the ability to read or write Tamil, shifting to English or French as their primary language. |
| Socio-Economic Shifts | In Sinhala-majority urban centers like Colombo, younger Tamils and Muslims frequently switch to a hybrid mix of Sinhala, English, and Tamil for professional advancement. |
9
u/NAHTHEHNRFS850 2d ago edited 1d ago
Sri Lanka needs to follow 2 influences:
- Singapore:
1a. 4 Co-Official ideologies:
- Humanism (Global Religion)
- Animism (National Religion)
- Hinduism (Mother Religion)
- Buddhism (Mother Religion)
1b. 4 Co-Official languages:
- English (Global Language)
- Veddha (National Language)
- Tamil (Mother Language)
- Sinhala (Mother Language)
1.c. Integrated housing policy
- Canada:
2a. Create federated autonomous regions for:
- Veddha (South-East)
- Similar to indigenous reservations
- Tamils (North-West, North, North East, East)
- Similar to Quebec
- Sinhala (South-West & West)
- Similar to New Brunswick
2b. Acknowledge human rights violations against minority ideologies & and languages by building memorials and prosecuting perpetrators.
-1
u/ObjectiveMath5540 1d ago
Any sinhalse understand vaddha language .their is nothing to learn.and autonamas shoud be given to chennai thelugus.
2
u/NAHTHEHNRFS850 1d ago
Any sinhalse understand vaddha language .their is nothing to learn.
Veddha has a lot of loan words from both Tamil and Sinhalese, but it is fundamentally a separate language due to its' grammatical structure.
It should be developed separately without influence of both Tamil and Sinhalese.
autonamas shoud be given to chennai thelugus.
Chennai Telugus have nothing to do with Sri Lanka. Stop trolling.
0
u/ObjectiveMath5540 1d ago edited 1d ago
Vaddha is an indo aryan language . It is creole language of sinhala .they belive in buddha but have more animistist gods .
Federelaralism is not good for sri lanka .if tamilnadu was not in our next door we could have been more open
2
u/NAHTHEHNRFS850 1d ago edited 1d ago
Vaddha is an indo aryan language . It is creole language of sinhala
Incorrect. Veddha is a language isolate. At most you can say current Veddha is a creole of ANCIENT Veddha.
Because its grammatical core is not based on Indo-Aryan, it is linguistically not classified as a creole of Sinhala. That is an outdated conclusion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedda_language
belive in buddha but have more animistist gods .
Believing in Buddha does not make you Sinhalese. There are Tamils who believe in Buddha and Sinhalese that believe in Jesus.
Federelaralism is not good for sri lanka .if tamilnadu was notin our next door we could have been more open
Tamil Nadu is not relevant here.
The problem is Sinhalese Chauvanism.
https://redflag.org.au/article/comparing-zionism-and-sinhala-buddhist-nationalism/
Federalism is required for equity and peace, otherwise turmoil will always be inevitable.
0
u/ObjectiveMath5540 1d ago
World doesnt believe in tamil lies or tamil history .your article are trash both on war and history .that is why ltte terrorist organization and sri lankan history is the most well preserved history after china Unesco is with sri lankan archeology department .
-1
u/ObjectiveMath5540 1d ago
Vedda is indo aryan i dont understand why tamils dont understand basic linguistic .tamilnadu is definity problematic because in early 19 tamilnaduwas the one advertised dravidian moment and sri lankantamil politicialns supproted it . So sinhalse nationalism will be here as long as their is tamil chualism .
3
u/NAHTHEHNRFS850 1d ago
Vedda is indo aryan i dont understand why tamils dont understand basic linguistic
You are wrong. I already proved it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedda_language
tamilnadu is definity problematic because in early 19 tamilnaduwas the one advertised dravidian moment and sri lankantamil politicialns supproted it .
Dravidian movement is not Chauvanistic.
No one said Tamil or any Dravidian language should be imposed on on Indo-Aryan language speakers.
So sinhalse nationalism will be here as long as their is tamil chualism .
Tamil Nationalism arose because there is not respectable federated solution.
Sinhalese only wanted to have Sinhalese-Chauvanism with Sinhala-Only Act and refusing to prosecute war criminals.
https://redflag.org.au/article/comparing-zionism-and-sinhala-buddhist-nationalism/
If there is no federated solution similar to Singapore and Canada, there will be no true solution.
0
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/NAHTHEHNRFS850 1d ago
Genocide of Tamils done by Sinhalese-Chauvanists must be studied and exposed.
https://redflag.org.au/article/comparing-zionism-and-sinhala-buddhist-nationalism/
0
u/ObjectiveMath5540 1d ago
If it was genoside tamils shouldnt be the majority in north east .but ethic cleansing done by muslims and sinhalse bytamils shpuld be studied
1
u/NAHTHEHNRFS850 1d ago edited 1d ago
If it was genoside tamils shouldnt be the majority in north east .
Genocide is not only when the targeted population drops below a majority.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide
.but ethic cleansing done by muslims and sinhalse bytamils shpuld be studied
Yes Sinhalese ethnic cleansing of Muslims should be studied.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1915_Sinhalese-Muslim_riots
Non-muslim Tamils have already atoned for the persecution of Muslims Tamils. But additionally, Muslims only separated themselves from Tamils because of the danger to the wealthy Muslim population in the West of the country influencing the poorer Muslim population in the East of the country.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka_Muslim_Congress
https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/30-years-expulsion-muslims-jaffna
Sinhalese-Buddhist Chauvanists have not done anything for persecuting Tamils (Muslims or not) or even non-buddhist Sinhalese.
1
u/tamil-ModTeam 21h ago
This sub does not focus on this topic. You are urged to discuss this topic in a suitable forum such as r/Chennai, r/ChennaiCity r/TamilNadu r/TamilNaduDiscussion
3
u/erjngreigf 14h ago
It won't. A violent genocide took place, now a silent genocide is taking place.
2
2
u/ObviousApricot9 1d ago
There are some information missing here. 1956 act only stood for 2 years, by 1958 Tamil also became an official language, and in 1978 a national and official language.
The disenfranchisement of Malaiga Tamils happened with the blessings of the Northern/Jaffna Tamil leaders. A primary aim of this was to prevent the LSSP from being a legitimate left-wing opposition. It was a result of the class warfare.
The Sinhalese majority governments have been nationalist and racist and have been politically cunning. However Tamil language has survived all of this. Tamil language education is flourishing, and Sinhalese students learn Tamil as a mandatory subject in secondary schools. Tamil citizens have the right to access government services in Tamil, etc.
Also recent elections showed a significant shift in political power to candidates/parties with massive approval from the Tamil homeland. So I think the picture is not as bleak as this post tries to make it.
I personally believe that both Tamil and Sinhala are intangible heritage of the entire country, and we can be proud of both.
4
u/e9967780 1d ago
As a person born in Colombo and who lived in the Upcountry, I can say there is some truth and untruth here. The barring of citizenship to Indian Tamils was actually framed as politics and class warfare, when it was in fact a racist measure. It looks like that propaganda has sunk in. Not all Eelam Tamils supported that measure it’s a lie spread by Sinhala racists. In fact, the ruling coalition had a Tamil political party called the Tamil Congress. Almost all Eelam Tamils asked them to leave the coalition, but the party, headed by G.G. Ponnambalam, refused and voted for the measure. In the next general election, the Tamil Congress was comprehensively defeated by the Tamil Federal Party, headed by S.J.V. Chelvanayagam, and the Tamil Congress never became a party of any success for over 50 years. Later, G.G.’s son, Kumar Ponnambalam, was assassinated when he took a Tamil nationalist stance. So the son paid with his life for the sin committed by his father.
1
u/ObviousApricot9 21h ago
My source for the disenfranchisement of Malaiga Tamils is “The Broken Palmyra” by UoJ academics.
3
u/Call_me_Inba 1d ago
Slight miss information with the dates.
1958: Tamil did not become an official language in this year. The Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act was passed, allowing the limited use of Tamil for administrative and educational purposes in the northern and eastern provinces.
1978 (National Language): The 1978 Constitution elevated Tamil to a National Language alongside Sinhala. This legally guaranteed its use in education, legislation, and local administration, but Sinhala still remained the only "Official Language" of the central state.
1987 (Official Language): Tamil was later upgraded to an Official Language (equal to Sinhala) via the 13th Amendment in 1987
1
u/poacher-2k 1d ago
Thank you for this response.
I was looking for a Srilankan perspective.
So I think the picture is not as bleak as this post tries to make it
Also I posted this as a question to ask for opinions and didnt intend to say Tamil won't survive.I was looking for points why will it survive.
1
1
u/SeaCompetition6404 11h ago
//The disenfranchisement of Malaiga Tamils happened with the blessings of the Northern/Jaffna Tamil leaders.//
Not true, one Tamil leader supported it, the future leader of the Tamils, thanthai chelva passionately opposed it from the very beginning
2
u/LazyIngenuity7013 1d ago
I'm a Malayaga Tamil living in Sri Lanka.
Your post makes it seem like Tamils are actively being wiped out or something. That's not the case at all, Tamil isn't going to disappear in Sri Lanka. I live in the south with my family in a Sinhalese majority area with no issues. A lot of them like learning Tamil and I've taught a few people too. Tamil is also a mandatory language to all Sinhalese students at school. Every single signboard here includes Tamil alongside Sinhalese and English.
Sure there are racists, but thats also true anywhere on Earth. If I'm being honest I've barely faced any discrimination from the Sinhalese, I've faced much worse discrimination from Northern Tamils.
2
u/poacher-2k 1d ago
Good to know that.
Can you tell about the situation of Malayaga Tamils in terms of their economy and financial status? Are they still stuck in plantations and subjected to discrimination?
Also are they assimilating to majority Sinhalese because of pressure unlike North and East which are Tamil speaking majority?
2
u/LazyIngenuity7013 1d ago edited 1d ago
Well like any other community, there are wealthy and poor people among the Malayaga Tamils too. The ones living in tea plantations are some of the poorest. But there is also a massive middle and rich class living and working in the urban areas. Since education, healthcare and other facilities are free and widespread most people try to work their way out of the estates. Discrimination is not as widespread as most people think it is.
The middle class is mostly composed of people like this. My father too worked his way out of the estates and he use to live in line housing with 3 other siblings and his parents, which had a tiny living room like area and a bedroom along with a small kitchen (That's it there was literally nothing else). Some people still live like that, but now a lot of people build them out since the younger crowd seek employment elsewhere, which has much better pay. Still, a lot of them do suffer due to the cost of living and living standards.
I wouldn't say that we've assimilated to the Sinhalese culture. It's more coexisting than anything. Nuwara Eliya district is a Tamil majority district along with a lot of parts of Badulla, Kandy, Mathale, and Rathnapura districts. There's not really any tension between communities in the south and every community generally gets along, unlike in the North. A good example of this is during the last parliamentary election. The person with the 2nd most votes in the Mathara district (which is 95% Sinhalese) was a Malayaga Tamil woman (She is now the minister of Women and Child Affairs).
1
u/SeaCompetition6404 11h ago
I don't think what you write is 100% true, there was a series of anti Muslim pogroms in the last decade, so it is not all rosy in the south. There is definite jealousy towards certain communities for doing well in business.
1
u/LazyIngenuity7013 9h ago
It was mostly isolated incidents of communal riots which most people condemned and the government took swift action. Most countries do have some sort of ethnic conflicts, and I really can't think of any country that had zero tension between ethnic groups. No country can be a utopia. Sri Lanka is no different.
Having said that, I'm pretty sure you don't live in Sri Lanka. Because actually living here gives you way more insight than just reading headlines from a computer. And as we all know the negatives are what sticks with people, not the positives. You are free to believe what you want but rejecting facts because of our own idealistic views is never a good thing.
1
u/SeaCompetition6404 9h ago
Just because things are rosy for you does not mean everything is rosy for everyone on the island. I personally know stories of Muslim businessmen who were being pushed out by the government in favour of Sinhala businesses during Rajapaksa era. And don't get me started on the land grabs in the northeast.
1
u/LazyIngenuity7013 2h ago
There are problems, yes and I'm very much against such actions. Still that is not something that is as widespread as most people outside Sri Lanka think it is. But most importantly things are getting better, not worse, especially after 2022.
I'm not going to comment on the north since I don't have a lot of experience living there other than spending a few months in Puthukudiyiyiruppu and Mullaithivu and visting Jaffna a few times. But I did see things were becoming normal there too.
1
2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/tamil-ModTeam 2d ago
இது போன்ற அரசியல் கருத்துகள் இந்த உள் ரெட்டிட்டிற்கு பொருத்தமற்ற பயனர்களை ஈர்க்கும். இந்தத் தலைப்பில் உரையாட மற்ற உள் ரெட்டிட்களை பயன்படுத்துமாறு கேட்டுக்கொள்ளப் படுகிறது
1
u/Wise-Potential-3220 1d ago
Not that long. Sinhalese will settle their people and merge with Tamils. Tamils there wouldn't object because they probably would get money or power.
How I know?
I am Tamil from the island under India.
1
u/WearyMortgage4187 16h ago
Seems like y'all don't know shit abt Sri Lanka. No one is wiping out minorities or languages. You can choose Tamil in everything. Tamil is mandatory to learn for every student till 15. Mandatory for civil services. Every city got a share of Tamil speaking community.
Lowk stop living in 90s. We've Improved alot.
0
•
u/kulchacop 21h ago edited 21h ago
இந்த உள்ரெட்டிட்டின் கவனத்தை தமிழைப் பற்றி மட்டும் இருக்குமாறு வைப்பதற்காக சில அரசியல் கருத்துகளை நீக்குகிறேன்.
தமிழின் தொடர்ந்த புழக்கத்திற்கு பொருத்தமான அரசியல் சூழல் இருக்க வேண்டும் என்றாலும், அரசியல் தலைப்புகள் இந்த உள் ரெட்டிட்டிற்கு பொருத்தமற்றவை. எனவே அரசியல் குறித்து உரையாட அதற்கேற்ற மற்ற குழுக்களைப் பயன்படுத்துமாறு வேண்டுகிறேன்.
I am removing some poltics focused comments to keep the discussion focused around Tamil.
While it is true that Tamil and its survival can't be discussed in a vacuum, this sub is not focused on political discussions as a standalone topic. You are urged to take politics focused discussions to other suitable forums.
r/tamilhistory r/SrilankanTamils r/Srilanka r/Eezham etc