7/29/2019 Causes of Sinhalese-Tamil Conflict

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Causes of Sinhalese-Tamil Conflict

Factor Explanation Elaboration

Citizenship Rights

*** MAIN FACTOR ***

1. Since the Ceylon CitizenshipAct, the Sri Lankan governmentgranted citizenship to onlythose who were either born inSri Lanka or whoseforefathers were born there.

2. This cause many Tamils tobecome stateless.

3. As a result, the Tamils could not vote fortheir representatives and the governmentneglected their needs and concerns.

4. Although India stepped in and help someIndian Tamils return to India, about 100,000 Indian Tamils remained stateless.

5. Tamils were dissatisfied as despite theircontribution to economy, they were notgranted citizenship.

6. Feeling neglected by the government, theresentment against the government grew,leading to the conflict.

Sinhala-Only Policy 1. This policy was enacted in1956, making Sinhala theofficial language.

2. Civil servants have to learnSinhala within 3 years or bedismissed.

3. This caused many Tamil civil servants tolose their jobs as they were not proficientin Sinhala.

4. In addition, this unfair policy made itdifficult for Tamils to secure jobs or bepromoted.

5. The Tamils found that peaceful means didnot work, thus thinking that they werediscriminated against, causing them toresult in violence.

6. Aggravated relations between Tamils andSinhalese, resulting in conflict.

University AdmissionCriteria

1. University Admission was usedto be based on merit andEnglish ability.

2. This benefitted the English-speaking Tamils and theyscore well in exams.

3. The new criteria introducedrequired Tamils to score highermarks than Sinhalese to enterthe same University courses.

4. A fixed number of places werereserved for the Sinhalese.

4. This caused many Tamil youths to bedeprived of university education andmade them resent the Sri Lankangovernment as they felt that thegovernment was biased against themand deprived them of good jobopportunities.

5. As such, it erupted tension, which caused alarge degree of hatred between theSinhalese and Tamil minorities.

Resettlement 1. In 1950, the Sri Lankangovernment transferredSinhalese peasants and theSri Lankan Army to areasdensely populated by theTamils.

2. Caused frustration among Tamils, as theyhad to compete with the Sinhalese for land.

3. Increased chances of racial conflict dueto hostility between them.

4. Tamils also lost dominance and politicalpower in those areas.

5. Caused the Tamils to resent thegovernment, leading to conflict.

SOCIAL STUDIES - SEC 3 CHAPTER 4: CONFLICT BETWEEN MULTI-ETHNIC SOCIETIES

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