Criticism and notes on the poem Big Match 1983 Yasmine Goonaratne.

(with a suggestion for a

solution to the ethnic problem) R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017 Page 1 of 13

A criticism and notes on the poem Big Match 1983 Yasmine

Goonaratne. (with a solution to ethnic problems)
`````````````````` -R.Subasinghe 2 July 2017

Big Match, 1983 Yasmine Goonaeratne (b.1935)

Yasmine Gooneratne is a Sri Lankan writer writing in English,

now residing in Australia. She is a critic, editor, novelist, poet
and a university professor who has received high academic
awards from the western world.

In Big Match, 1983, she focuses on the violent incidents took

place in Sri Lanka in July 1983 against the Tamil community
there who were attacked and their properties destroyed or looted
by some in Sinhala community as another instance of the
conflict between the two communities. The reason for this
conflict according to her is making Sinhala the official language
in 1956 by the then Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranayaka.
Criticism and notes on the poem Big Match 1983 Yasmine Goonaratne. (with a suggestion for a
solution to the ethnic problem) R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017 Page 2 of 13

the match that lit this sacrificial fire

the treacherous politics of language.

Although no written, constitutionally accepted official language was there before that -
because there was no need to have so in those days - it was in Sinhala and English
languages The British and the leaders of Sri Lanka then, signed their agreement in 1815
in handing over political power in Sri Lanka to Britain, and thereafter it was in Sinhala
and English Britain had contacts with Sri Lanka (then Sinhale, Ceylon) for a long
period. So was it when the Portuguese and the Dutch colonists were signing agreements
with local kings since 1505; the languages of agreements were The Portuguese and The
Dutch on the colonists part and The Sinhala from the local leaders part. What SWRD
Bandaranayke did was reversing constitutionally to the status Sinhala language
previously had after the colonial rule ended in 1948. So when she says it was a
treacherous act to introduce Sinhala as the official language, her view is distorted, not
made on reality; she has ignored therein the historical/cultural background of the
country. Such a view is the same as those colonists who, because they found it difficult
to deal with the uprisings of the Sinhalese which were at their heights in the years 1818,
1848 and 1915, took every possible measure to suppress the Sinhala community, even by
distorting facts.

During the period the country was partly under The Dutch and then fully under The
British, a large number of Tamil people as Hindus and Muslims were purposely allowed
to immigrate to Sri Lanka from Southern India, in thousands during the Dutch period, and
in millions during the British period. One of the reasons it was done so is as a strategy of
the colonist, to subdue the uprisings of the Sinhalese. The fact that those immigrants
wanted to create a new homeland for them in Sri Lanka after gaining independence, using
the powers of descendants of the same colonists who brought them, is the main reason for
the conflict which political point Yasmine has ignored.

The immediate cause of violence in 1983 was an armed Tamil group in northern Jaffna
killing 13 soldiers in the government army through a bomb explosion. At the burial of
their bodies in Colombo, people who participated in it began to attack Tamil civilians and
their properties. Those incidents spread throughout Colombo and later in the rest of Sri
Lanka and continued for some days. The government either did not control it, or could
not control it.

The poem is written in descriptive, conversational language in third person

omnipresent point of view. There are 7 stanzas containing 5 to 16 lines in each of them.
The tone resembles soliloquies in iambic pentameter in Shakespearean drama. It is a
tone of lamentation according to Shenali Waduge (2014 see notes below.) The poetess
exposes us to the incidents through the tourists reaction in the west when they saw
newspaper headlines.
Glimpsing the headlines in the newspapers,
Tourists scuttle for cover, cancel their options

A visual image is created there with kinesthetic effects in it showing how tourists
cancelled their bookings in Sri Lankan hotels after reading newspaper headlines. Seeing
Criticism and notes on the poem Big Match 1983 Yasmine Goonaratne. (with a suggestion for a
solution to the ethnic problem) R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017 Page 3 of 13

the situation in Sri Lanka this way

through western tourists
reactions, - almost all those
tourists had to be from Europe or
USA, as it generally was the
tourist arrivals those days -
displays the base of Yasmines
perspective of seeing a local
problem through the reactions in
the western world, in which, she
purposely ignores the realities in
the local context. She does not
see through an objective and
historical/ cultural perspective,
hence she ends her judgmental opinion as the treacherous politics of language as the
cause of the problems although the impact of making Sinhala the official language in
1956 has to be negligible as a cause, compared with what had happened throughout. A
huge propagandist campaign was carried out by the neo-colonialist elements in Sri Lanka
then to show making Sinhala the
official language has made the Tamil
community in Sri Lanka displeased so
that there will be clashes between the
two communities.

This makes us see a division in

thinking among present Sri Lankan
Sinhalese when they deal with local
socio-political problems. One group
sees through the interests of the
western, neo-colonialist perspectives
because their thinking is formed by the
colonists when they ruled the country.
They probably feel they are a part of the modern neo-colonialist. As a cover up for
negative attributes entailed with neo-colonialist thinking, they use such idealistic thinking
like being global being international by discarding past, scientific evolution ideal
democracy classless societies reconciliation as an ideal island mentality and so on.
They are the descendants of those who were in privileged, elevated social status when the
colonists left, so they became unhappy when the colonists had to leave. They are
indoctrinated by local or foreign educational institutes they studied, which were active in
inculcating such colonialist thinking on them. The other group sees through the long,
linear, local historical background particular to Sri Lanka, in which history, Sinhala
Buddhists played the major role for more than two millennia. According to the former,
the latter thinks with a Sinhala Buddhist hegemony in minds, whereas according to the
latter, the former thinks with the neo-colonialist thinking in the western world.

Views and solutions of these two groups are almost always contradictory. The former
almost always take an assumed basis of a world order by which problems in the
world can be solved, in doing which, the local background has to be ignored. We
Criticism and notes on the poem Big Match 1983 Yasmine Goonaratne. (with a suggestion for a
solution to the ethnic problem) R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017 Page 4 of 13

have to think like that according to them; if not we will be isolated from the rest of the
world. A built up world order is there to which Sri Lanka too has to fit into. They look
down upon the local historical and cultural background as primitive or tribal when
they form their ideals on historical evolution scientific materialism liberalism
communism post modernism and so on. Thinking behind the other group is centered
on the historical background particular to Sri Lanka in which the Sinhalese Buddhists
plays the major role. Any change made, has to fir into that reality. International relations
have to fit into the local context, the point of which cannot be ignored just because being
small. Written history in Sri Lanka dating back to 5th century AD has to be looked
into when taking decisions even for present. No world order is there now, but only
neo-colonialism which is a continuation of the same colonialism existed until recent
past, although the disgraceful outlook in it can be different.

Some of those who display such neo-colonialist thinking in modern Sri Lanka descend
from the same individuals who aided the British to capture the last king in Sri Lanka in
1815, that ended the Sinhala line of monarchy existed for more than two millennia. It was
through such local people the British gained power in Sri Lanka. A few such people are
namely, Neela Perumal, Thombi Mudiyanse and Ekneligoda. Descendants of them are
now active working for the modern neo-colonialist expectations.

Based on the behavior of students and past pupils in some of the big schools in
Colombo and Kandy in their annual cricket matches, this poem is titled Big Match,
1983. Students in these schools with their past pupils become emotionally involved
when their schools play in these matches. The poetess also plays with the word match
as punning by referring to a match stick as the match that lit this sacrificial fire.

One question that emerges here is, how ethical is it to compare the miseries and agonies
caused by ethnic violence to a game of cricket where spectators are there to enjoy. The
reason there is, the poetess thinks in line with the thinking of the first group mentioned
above. They take calm, detached positions in local problems, and present solutions on
global perspectives. Their observations and judgments match the visions and strategies of
the modern neocolonialist in creating their way of world order, so that they can hold onto
the power they gained for economic exploitation.

The poetess compares the scores in this big match fever as dizzier scores than any at
oval. She continues to compare the conflicts and suffering caused as ethnic conflict to a
game of cricket where people enjoy. In the third stanza she or somebody else imagined,
communicates with an old Tamil man who lived in fear in Colombo those days. He
appears calm despite for what was happening against his community, to present which
she uses a conversational language making some auditory effects. He takes more
alcohol now and expects death at any time. This scene makes us compare it with scenes
of hundreds of similar situations occurred during the British period of rule; they burnt
and destroyed thousands of villages of the Sinhalese in the whole of Sri Lanka, and
killed thousands in their wars with the Sinhalese in 1818, 1848 and 1915, (Read:
Sinhalaye Sanharaya- Professor Tennakoon Wimalananda- Translation of the title:
Massacres in Sinhale) about which, and what happened for about thirty years after these
July 1983 incidents, no writer of English possessing neo-colonialist viewpoints has
written any poem or other as literature to show they are compassionate with all human
Criticism and notes on the poem Big Match 1983 Yasmine Goonaratne. (with a suggestion for a
solution to the ethnic problem) R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017 Page 5 of 13

beings in equal terms. They pretend to be concerned with humanity but not genuine in
what they say. However, they are active when they are involved with the propagandist
literature that would please their neo-colonialist leaders.

When saying tourists scuttle for cover, she makes it a point to allude to the religion of
Buddhism too as,
with views of temple and holy mountain.

The aim, it seems, is to include the Sinhalese with their religion of buddhism too because
the majority of the Sinhalese are Buddhists, despite for the three and half centuries
attempts of the Catholic and Christian colonialists to turn them to their faiths. The first
colonists came to Sri Lanka the Portuguese, are recorded to have stated they were in
search of spices and Christians. These colonists found buddhism and buddhist clergy an
indomitable threat to their presence in the country. The Portuguese, The Dutch and The
British found strong opposition by the Sinhala Buddhists most of whom were directed by
the buddhist clergy. Thats a special characteristic in the historical evolution in Sri Lanka
in which the Sinhalese gained experiences in fighting against many foreign invasions
throughout their long history.

The poetess continues involving Buddhism in the events in the last stanza too as a Tamil
person is attacked under a bo-tree, which tree is a symbol of sacredness to the Sinhala
Buddhists.

.sweating with fear, falls to his knees

beneath a bo-tree in a shower of sticks and stones

What makes her bring religious beliefs of Sinhala buddhists in this poem at this point is
worthy of probing further. She hints out here, buddhism teaches practicing love to all life
forms (maithri bhawana - meditation of love) but Sinhalese buddhists are violent
despite for their belief; so something is wrong with their faith or with the adherents of it.
Thus she deliberately alludes to religious practices, (which religion is probably not her
though she is Sinhalese ethnically), in order to degrade the Sinhala buddhist community.
She expresses displeasure in the violation of the teachings of The Buddha, the teaching of
whom, ironically, is not her faith. (? Note: This point needs to be verified.)

The poetess makes The Tamil community the innocent party in the conflict. She mentions
of a gone away Tamil boy wanting to come back to Sri Lanka as,

even the gone away boy

who had hoped to find lost roots, lost lovers.

The lost roots of majority of the Tamils in Sri Lanka could be found in their
geographically separated area of Tamilnadu in South India. Prior to two or three previous
generations almost all their roots had been there, to where, they are not welcome now.
Large scale propaganda activities were active during this period to spread the view, the
Tamils lived in Sri Lanka for more than twenty five centuries by even having their own
kingdoms, which is not factual. Answers to following questions pertaining to those
kings are not answered in such claims;
Criticism and notes on the poem Big Match 1983 Yasmine Goonaratne. (with a suggestion for a
solution to the ethnic problem) R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017 Page 6 of 13

1.Who are those kings?

2. Which other countries or authorities did they have contacts with?
3. Which language did they use to communicate in such foreign contacts?
4. Which lineage of royal dynasty were those kings?
5. Why did not they have contacts with Sinhala kings near them or Tamil or other
Dravidian kings in South India if there really were such kings?
Finally she hints out at a plan that worked behind those incidents which became true as a
Thirty Year War later on; that became the next phase of those July incidents. She
suggests there that, if the Sinhalese are like that, the Tamils too will not remain innocent.

Out of the palmyrah fences of Jaffna

bristle a hundred guns.

When this vision became a reality later on, was she concerned with same compassion
with the sufferings of the victims of their activities too? Or did she justify their activities
with expressions like they asked for it; so they have it!, as some with her thinking still
express now?

Her vision became true later on. However, the aim of those Tamils in taking guns
really was the aspiration of the Tamil community in Tamilnadu in extending their
geographical boundaries to Sri Lanka, to add new geographical area for them which
activities as making a war formally started on 5th May 1976, eight years before these
incidents. Later on, the government of India helped them to train a group of army in
India. At one time of such assistance India interfered with the sovereignty of Sri Lanka
by coming to northern part of Sri Lanka from air without permission, to show their
support for the Tamil people by dropping parippu (food item) from air. The fact that
even when a war was going on between the government in Sri Lanka and LTTE
(Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) for nearly thirty years, and even now, more than two
thirds of the Tamils in Sri Lanka live in villages and towns where Sinhala Buddhists
are the majority, is not taken into account in their propagandist literature. It is a view
held by some, Sinhala buddhists fell into a purposefully created trap with the July
incidents in 1983.

The subconscious, colonialist id wish of the poetess is finally expressed as,

her agony
at last exposed, Sri Lanka burns alive.

Use of the phrase at last there suggests the one who thinks so has nurtured such
expectation for some time. When a person uses the phrase at last it denotes joy in
realizing a long term expectation. So the poetess here is seen as in joy to see Sri Lanka
burns alive at last! The newspaper headline she uses as Racial pot boils over, too,
makes us think it is an expectation rather than an objective vision. Who else would
nurture such an expectation but those colonists and neo colonialists who have created
minorities in countries they overpowered and now want to use them to their still been in
power? Those lines display repressed id wishes of such people with colonialist thinking;
if we are to expand and see such thinking in language they may appear like, May Sri
Criticism and notes on the poem Big Match 1983 Yasmine Goonaratne. (with a suggestion for a
solution to the ethnic problem) R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017 Page 7 of 13

lanka burn alive, so that Sinhala Buddhists will learn a good lesson not act against our
powers! May it burn like a racial pot for the Sinhala Buddhist tribal people to learn a
good lesson, so that we can deal with them effectively.

Rather than a portrayal of a picture, those lines display the covert expectations of a neo-
colonialist in modern Sri Lanka as arising out of the thuppahi consciousness in them. The
Sinhala Buddhists, sometimes along with Sinhala Christians, fought with global colonial
powers for nearly four and half centuries (1505-1948), but the colonists couldnt defeat
the local people fully as they managed to do so in South America, North America and
Africa, by massacring, changing the religions of natives and other cultural backgrounds
and populating the areas with people the colonialists wanted. They couldnt vanquish the
Sinhala Buddhists like they vanquished the natives in most of other countries, but had to
sign agreements to gain some power.

Types of their tactics can be symbolically seen in the instance, just after the agreement
was signed in 1815 between Britain and Sinhala leaders, they appointed a Muslim as a
government agent to rule over an area of Sinhala Buddhists, the action of which caused
the original spark for the struggle for freedom in 1818. The population of Muslims in Sri
Lanka couldnt have been even 1% then. So it is no wonder the attempt of some recovery
made in 1956 by the Sinhalese Buddhists is looked down upon by them because, it is a
defeat to them in going back, because it showed the Sinhalese are still awake despite for
the heavy attacks on them. Therefore, their thinking now playing as thuppahi
consciousness plays with such id visions like, they cannot be defeated; so may they be
perished by burning alive, as it shown through this poem too.

_______________________ R.Subasinghe Ed. 15 July 2017

Further notes on the poem:

Yasmine Gooneratne has no sense of responsibility as a poet for the social harmony of the
country where she was born. She seems to be enjoying the event. - Professor EA Gamini
Fonseka

the tone of lamentation:

the tone of a lamentation alludes to the cunning trick the British colonial masters played
over a century under their divide-and-rule policy that promoted racial disharmony by
conferring an undue political supremacy upon the Tamil minority over the Sinhalese majority
in Sri Lanka to make them feel like a minority with a majority complex (Shenali D
Waduge, 2014)
Jean Arasanayagam, a burgher lady married to a Tamil gentleman, too, has written on the
same topic, July 1983. The poets of their kind write nothing when similar or worst things
happen to the Sinhalese, the natives of Sri Lanka, either with such tone of lamentation or
without. That suggests, it is not they are compassionate with the sufferings of human beings,
but propagandists in working for political motives in their writing. When sufferings of a
selected community is shown to be used against another, biased with personal motives,
careless of being concerned equally with the feelings of all parties involved, they cannot
have literary values, because no genuine poetic feelings can be there with them.
Criticism and notes on the poem Big Match 1983 Yasmine Goonaratne. (with a suggestion for a
solution to the ethnic problem) R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017 Page 8 of 13

What chance, what hope

When all is wrecked.
A dead body floats
In the calm waters of the lake,
Beaten and mutilated,
Beggars still hold out their empty palms
To all who pass, they alone in poverty can see
No difference. (Apocalypse Jean Arasanayagam)

The Theme:
Because of the propagandist nature in it, no theme of social or philosophical value can be
found in Big Match 1983. Its theme is a narrow one of the Sinhalese Buddhist community
by their very nature are ethno-centered and they attack other communities when they are with
them, the opposite of which becomes more obvious when the actual state is seen.

Fear! Only to one Community?: From about 1935, when communist ideologies gained
ground in Sri Lanka, there had been much propaganda made in favor of Tamil community
helping their aim in extending their boundaries of Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka. The fear among
the Sinhala Buddhists, which could also extend to Sinhala Christians, is what would happen
to them if their aim is realized.

Historical Background:
The long history of Sri Lanka shows the rivalry between the two communities extend far
back to about 23 centuries. One of the earliest invaders from South India is Elara who
attacked the then Anuradhapura kingdom of the Sinhalese Buddhists and captured that area
and ruled there for 22 years. (3rd century BC) Then the Sinhala king Gamunu gathered an
army from the south and fought against him and won the war. In the final battle in this regard
at Anuradhapura, King Gamunu challenged Elara to have a dual fight with him to decide
success or defeat, so that deaths of thousands could be prevented if they were to make war.
Elara too agreed, thus only the two of them fought. Elara died at this duel that made Gamunu
win. King Elara when dying had requested Gamunu to protect his people at Anuradhapura
after his death, to which Gamunu agreed. That was how they made wars those days. From
then on there had been similar attacks on Sri Lanka from South India time and again, as
similar conflicts are there with them now too, though in a different way. All these show,
their desire for expansion towards south has become a major problem of survival for The
Sinhalese as a community, because of which, they always react to their plans.

Colonial Phase (1505-1948):

Present colonial phase of the conflict started in 1505 with the arrival of the Portuguese.
Since the Sinhala king was continuously fighting with them, The Portuguese began to use
the strategy of getting the help of Tamils in Southern India who were visiting Jaffna
peninsula for fishing, while some of them settling down for longer periods. Portuguese
historical records show the Sinhala population in Jaffna peninsula then were around 50%.
Trincomalee was the port of the Sinhala king in the then Kandyan kingdom. The
Portuguese entered into agreements with some Tamils promising a country of their
own and declared one of them the king in Jaffna. However, this Tamil king refused
to convert to Catholic faith against the wish of the Portuguese, so he was killed by the
Portuguese themselves. That was the origin of the mythical ideal state of Eelam
(=Sinhalam SeelamEelam), the Tamil Kingdom, with their own king. Some say
Criticism and notes on the poem Big Match 1983 Yasmine Goonaratne. (with a suggestion for a
solution to the ethnic problem) R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017 Page 9 of 13

Eelam the Tamil country, really began when Kalingha and Magha invaders from South
India attacked Sri Lanka in the 13th century; however such attacks were repulsed by the
Sinhalese like other such invasions from South India in the past. There was no globally
accepted Tamil kingdom anywhere in Sri Lanka or other area despite for the claims
made on it.

After the Dutch captured the coastal areas in Sri Lanka from Portuguese, they, too, used the
Tamils to their advantage. They allowed thousands of South Indians to arrive in Sri Lanka as
laborers mainly to work in road building and tobacco cultivation. Some of them were from
Kerala; since they came from Malabar coast they were called Malabaris. They were given
a privilege of having their own legal system called thesawalame in Jaffna peninsula
according to which The Sinhalese couldnt buy their land in north, whereas they
could buy land from anywhere in Sri Lanka, the application of which law was
there throughout the rest of colonial periods. Schools were made for them after they
were converted to Dutch Christianity. This is one reason Tamils became privileged in
education when the British left in 1948. Nearly 50% of the students in the medical and
engineering faculties in universities were from the 12% of Tamils in northern area at the time
Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948. One reason for clashes in 1983 was The Sinhalese
trying to gain more access to the universities. By using AL examination answer scripts the
then Minister Cyril Matthew showed (1978/80?) in the parliament how Tamil students had
been favored by giving them more marks to make more of them enter universities.

Millions of Tamils were allowed to migrate to Sri Lanka in the British period after killing
the Sinhalese in the wars in1818, 1848 and 1915, because of which, Tamils found it easy to
have their dream of making a separate homeland in Sri Lanka. This became still easier when
the British rulers captured all village lands of Sinhale (as it was known then) as
crown land under the Barren Land Act in 1883(?) and turned them into large estates, which
was later known as Liptons Tea Estate by them.

Creation of the Thuppahis:

By the time the British left, they had successfully created a group among the Sinhala people
to denounce the historical background and traditions they were heir to. Descendants of them
are now with the descendants of the same colonists, the latter of whom can now be seen as
neo-colonialists. They were allowed opportunities to be rich and educated and given
powerful positions by the British rulers. To these converted Sinhala Buddhists and
Christians Professor Nalin de Silva use the term the thuppahis. Main characteristic of
them is they look down upon the historical and cultural background particular to Sri Lanka,
as affected by a feeling of inferiority caused by the appearance of their masters the colonists.
When conflicts occur between Tamils and Sinhalese or Muslims and Sinhalese, these
thuppahis, pretend to mediate but always take positions against the Sinhala Buddhists
because their envy is focused on the local historical/ cultural background. This group is one
cause the minority Tamils and Muslims sometimes getting the upper hand over the Sinhalese.
The Tamil minority wanted to keep to their privileged status after Independence in 1948 too,
but the majority Sinhalese wanted to take the opportunity to their advantage as recovering
from the blows they suffered from colonialists for centuries.

The Other The Big Other and Symbolic Father:

As regards ethnic conflicts some attribute them to a relationship of binary opposition
involving The Other as discussed in philosophical and psychological circles. Some relate
them to other similar concepts of The Big Other or Symbolic Father too. These
concepts may be compared and contrasted with Super ego mentioned in Freudian
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solution to the ethnic problem) R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017 Page 10 of 13

psychology or Collective Consciousness mentioned in Carl Jungs findings.

The Other of the colonist is the colonized according to them. If so, The Other of the neo-
colonialist in modern day ought to be the previously colonized.

According to some, The Other of a Sinhala Buddhist is a Tamil, because of which, Sinhala
Buddhists are always on the alert on what Tamils do. If it is so, The Other of a Tamil, too,
ought to be the Sinhala Buddhist by seeing the same in opposite; thus, Tamils, too, ought to
react to what Sinhala people do, especially after they got the opportunity to migrate to Sri
Lanka in millions, in the 19th century.

This conflict had been there for more than two millennia; they began to be aggravated after
The Portuguese, The Dutch and The British used the Tamils as a strategy to gain power and
to keep power. They allowed Tamils to come from Tamilnadu in thousands in the
Dutch period and in millions during the British period among whom were Tamil
speaking Muslims too.

They resort to fantasies too now, one of which is their historical background of having a
mysterious country in Sri Lanka called Eelam, a one invented against the Sinhalese
resorting to their written history of kings saving them from south Indian invasions. As
regards having their own Tamil kings in a separate Tamil kingdom in Sri Lanka, following
questions are asked to which no successful answers can be found:

1.Who are those kings?

2. Which other countries or authorities did they have contacts with?
3. Which language did they use to communicate in such foreign contacts?
4. Which lineage of royal dynasty were those kings?
5. Why did not they have contacts with Sinhala kings near them or Tamil or
other Dravidian kings in South India if there really were such kings?

Seeing the relevance of The Other in ethnic conflicts can be discussed by viewing the
notion of Consciousness in a different angle by creating divisions in it in an ethnic
perspective as Sinhala Buddhist Consciousness Tamil Hindu Consciousness and so
on. We think and work on such divisions when it is real life; so they need not be overlooked
or hidden when studying the nature of them. Consciousnesses divided herein on ethnicity
may be parts of the same Collective Consciousness Carl Jung mentioned. It can also be the
same consciousness divided as conscious subconscious or id ego superego in
Freudian Psychology, which is seen in a different dimension.

When consciousness is seen on an ethnic perspective, 4 types of them can be identified as

they pertain to the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka, as follows:

1. Sinhala Buddhist Consciousness:

General feeling behind Sinhala Buddhist Consciousness is, The Tamil community is the
Harmful The Other determined to grab parts of Sri Lanka for them only; so that the
Sinhala people will have to be limited geographically to smaller and still smaller areas
culminating in their extinction. This Harmful The Other is miserly as regards their
covert motive of geographical expansion, and they are very aggressive when they work
with that motive. They use false propaganda to reach their aim; hence they have poets
writing in English for their expansion. The Neocolonialist Consciousness which is the
continuation of the same thinking of former colonizers has taken over the role of assisting
the Tamil Hindu Consciousness the same way the colonizers did earlier.
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solution to the ethnic problem) R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017 Page 11 of 13

2. Tamil Hindu/ Christian Consciousness:

General feeling behind Tamil Hindu/ Christian Consciousness is they desire to expand
southward geographically from Tamilnadu in India, because they cannot expand
northward. In addition, they do not have their own country where they rule
themselves. The end justifies the means, so they do whatever possible to achieve their
aim. Historical events have facilitated them in some ways to be successful; in their aim.
The colonizers have facilitated them in recent history and now the neo-colonialists are
doing the same. A liquidated section of Sinhala Buddhist Consciousness, too, is there
with the neo colonialist consciousness to help them. To use Professor Nalin De Silvas
terminology, this liquidated section are the thuppahis.

3. Neocolonialist Consciousness:
General feeling of the neocolonialist consciousness is to weaken any country which is not
with them in their dominating the world political/ economic scene. Their The Other is
any country which is politically and economically powerful that can be a challenge to
them. Any small country that allies with such a powerful country is seen as their The
Other, as a part of the same The Other of the politically and the economically
powerful country. Just after the Tamil war for separation in Sri Lanka was over in 2009,
their The Other was Sri Lanka. Hence, the present situation in Sri Lanka began to be
dominated by their strategies.

4. Consciousness of the Formerly Colonized:

General feeling of the formerly colonized when in Sri Lanka is now split into two.
Some of them, as mentioned previously, are liquidated into the neo colonialist
consciousness who can be identified in their irrational use of ideals like globalization
socialism historical evolution ideal democracy communism scientific evolution
post modernism and so on; and by their voluntarily rejecting their historical ethnic
identity. The Other of them is The Sinhala Buddhist/ Christian. Those who are not
liquidated in to neo colonialist consciousness like those among the Formerly
Colonized; they possess the Sinhala Buddhist/ Christian consciousness.

The Big Other

The Big Other in a society represents law and order in our minds felt as if in a personified
state. Since Sinhala Buddhist Consciousness had been powerful in Sri Lanka because they
were active and they were the majority in the county for a long time as the only established
settlers until the Portuguese came; with a long, linear, written historical evolution in
with lines of monarchies continuing for two and half millennia; they have to be strong for
The Big Other to function well in Sri Lanka. A peaceful country of law and order
cannot be established in Sri Lanka when Sinhala Buddhist Consciousness is
ignored. So is it with an English Consciousness if it is in Britain.

However Sinhala Buddhists are not allowed to be strong by the neo-colonialist

consciousness the thuppahi consciousness and the Tamil Hindu/ Christian Consciousness.
A large number of world Tamil population too is there to make the Sinhala Buddhists weak.
The Sinhala thuppahis too take the side of the Tamil Hindu Consciousness to aggravate the
situation. The writer of the poem Big match 83, too, has taken such a stance as to support
for the neocolonialist consciousness.

The Other of a Sinhala person need not always be the Tamil person. When The Portuguese
were ruling parts of the country it was the Portuguese. When the Dutch were replaced by the
Criticism and notes on the poem Big Match 1983 Yasmine Goonaratne. (with a suggestion for a
solution to the ethnic problem) R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017 Page 12 of 13

Portuguese it was the Dutch. Then it was The British. It could sometimes be the Muslims.

Suggested Solution to Ethnic Problems: Allow Natural Assimilation Process to

work on its own:

Ethnic conflicts occur when one or many ethnic groups work against the Natural
Assimilation Process that take place everywhere in the world, all the time. In an
instance an ethnic community migrates to a new country and settles down there where another
ethnic community is the predominant group, communal peace reigns only when that
migrant community accepts and respects the established culture and traditions of
the community which is already there. The migrants have to be naturally assimilated
with the local community that requires a lengthy process of time, in the processes of which both

communities shares their cultural traits at the same time as forfeiting some. Such Natural
Assimilation has to be an unconscious process where neither communities of A nor B uses
conscious thinking in doing so. It need not be considered as any one community is dominating
over the other when in such a process, but as the only natural and the most humanistic
remaining way of reconciliation

Instead of allowing such a way for that natural and civilized process of assimilation, if the
migrant community insists on privileged status for their language or cultural practices, claiming
rights for geographical parts of the country migrated to by true or false claims, or make
conscious attempts to change the cultural characteristics in areas claiming they are their land,
conflicts or wars become inevitable as happened in Sri Lanka. When such aggressive
inhuman attitudes are supported by powerful external sources, those external sources have to be
considered adding fuel to fire for their personal advantages, not as having compassions for
Criticism and notes on the poem Big Match 1983 Yasmine Goonaratne. (with a suggestion for a
solution to the ethnic problem) R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017 Page 13 of 13

humanitarian causes. Such threatening occupation of an ethnic group is an uncivilized

invasion, not Natural Assimilation leading to reconciliation ___

________ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ _____ Ed. R.Subasinghe 15 July 2017