Ethnic Reconciliation in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an island that was ruled by monarchs from the Sinha Royal Dynasty for over two thousand years. The Tamil people came over from South India to Sri Lanka originally in the thirteenth century and established their kingdom in the northern area of Sri Lanka. Parts of Sri Lanka were colonized by Portugal and the Netherlands during the sixteenth century. The British conquered and colonized this island nation from 1815 to 1948. During their colonial rule, a large number of South Indian Tamils migrated to Sri Lanka to work on the tea and rubber plantations. Britain granted independence to Sri Lanka in 1948. After receiving independence, the majority people remodeled the island’s political structure by declaring it a Sinhala, Buddhist nation. In 1956, the Sinhala language was instituted as the official language and Buddhism became the State religion.

In response to these radical changes in the nation’s polity, the Tamils demanded a separate state. As a result of the Tamil demands and protests, there were many instances of ethnic violence from 1956 to 1983. In July 1983, after a wave of nation-wide ethnic violence, the Civil War broke out between the armed Tamil rebels and the Sri Lankan armed forces. This armed conflict continued until May 2009, ending in a military victory for the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. The death toll in the conflict ranges from seventy thousand to one hundred thousand. The armed struggle is over but the ethnic conflict remains.

The Church in Sri Lanka is rising to the challenge of ethnic reconciliation as she understands her primary call to bridge the existing gap between the Sinhalese and the Tamil people. The purpose of this project is to see how the Sinhalese and Tamil people could work together to overcome their political and ethnic differences. Since the civil war xi has come to an end, it is my sincere hope that the two groups will come to the negotiating table with sincerity to address their grievances and come to an amicable settlement for lasting peace.

The State’s political solution to the ethnic problem is establishing Provincial Councils in the North and the East and devolution of power; however, the State’s political solution does not seem to be satisfactory to the Tamil power brokers. The biblical solution to the ethnic division is Jesus Christ who makes the Sinhalese and Tamils one in Him, breaking down the dividing wall of separation through his death on the cross. The many leaders interviewed in this project from Churches and Christian organizations who are presently involved in the ministry of reconciliation are seeing the hand of God’s blessing on their initiatives of prayer, seminars, and humanitarian aid. We are beginning to see the birthing of a new hope of Shalom for our island nation.

Ethnic Reconciliation is not an event or a short-term project; it is a journey towards God’s Shalom. The journey on this beaten path, the way of the cross, will finally lead the Sinhalese and the Tamils to God’s desired destiny, “Transformation and Reconciliation” - just as the children of Israel inherited Canaan’s fair land. or lasting peace.