Today (4) is annually celebrated in Sri Lanka as the Independence Day, remembering political Independence from the British. But, many persons and communities in Sri Lanka do not feel free. Amongst them are the Malaiyaha community. This year’s Independence Day celebrations will be marked by the shadow of cyclone Ditwah, especially for the Malaiyaha community.
As Ditwah struck, many rushed out of their houses, including terrible line rooms to save their lives from falling rocks, rain and crumbling houses and mountains. Many had been told verbally not to go back by State officials as their accommodations are in red or high risk zones. Many who had been told they can go back are also scared to go back as they feel the areas where they lived are vulnerable and they have been told by State officials to vacate again if the rainfalls reach a particular level, despite them not having knowledge and facilities to measure rainfall. Some were warned their shelters were in high-risk zones as far back as 2016, but, there were no alternatives provided by the companies they were working for or the Governments in power at that time and since then. It seemed that all companies want is their labour to make profits and all Governments want is their votes.
The displacement led to many being in rented houses, some with friends and relatives, and some in internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps. Some of the IDP camps have been closed and those homeless were re-displaced, sometimes multiple times. But, many still remain in IDP camps. Last week, in Badulla, I heard that there were 37 IDP camps in the District.
Land rights
In the last two months, a strong refrain I have heard from many Malaiyaha community members affected by Ditwah was to break free from the control of the plantation companies and enjoy land rights, dignified housing, reasonable wages, access to healthcare, access to education, use their own language, etc. Several expressed the sentiment that “we are not citizens of estates, we are citizens of Sri Lanka and we expect the State to ensure that we are treated as equal citizens.” Many Malaiyaha people are no longer employed in estates. Many youth are not keen to work in estates, which is not surprising given the skills, knowledge and experience they have acquired despite limitations and how their community has been treated for 200 years in estates.
However, the degree of control the plantation companies have on the Malaiyaha community’s rights and dignity, including those who work on the estates, those who had worked in the past and even those who never worked on the estates was striking in the several communities that I visited during the last two months in the Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya and Badulla Districts.
Is land available?
One camp that I visited was the remote Maymallay Tamil Vidyalaya, in Spring Valley. In the night, it was an IDP camp and during day time, it served as a school, with mattresses and pillows neatly piled up in a corner alongside tables and chairs in the classrooms. A young girl was the first to speak to our group and categorically stated they wanted a decent house on a piece of land with a deed, and not any flats.
Another IDP camp that I visited in the Badulla District was near Vineethagama, described as a model relief centre run by the Disaster Management Centre. But, what they were keen to talk and show me was not what happened to them or their present situation, but about their future aspirations. They took me out and showed me the land opposite, which they told was State land leased by the Balangoda Plantations. There was tea in the land, but it looked neglected and the community told that it was not yielding a high harvest and not profitable. The community said that there was enough land there for the people displaced in the surrounding estates.
In Gammaduwa, a Village devastated by the cyclone in the Matale District where everyone had become an IDP, villagers had identified lands in Ranmuthugala and Hapugaspitiya in the same Divisional Secretariat (Ambanganga Korale) as lands that would be suitable for them to get deeds and resettle.
In the Kurusa Junction, Galaha, in the Kandy District, the displaced had identified a land that they felt was suitable for permanent resettlement. They mentioned that it was owned by the Prima Company and about 50 acres, which was much more than what they needed.
In Hantana, also in the Kandy District, a displaced woman said the community had informed State officials about two potential lands for their resettlement, but, these had been dismissed as not safe, without offering alternatives. As we travelled back to Kandy, a State official pointed out some lands that could be given to this community.
Dr. Ramesh Ramasamy from the Peradeniya University had pointed out that between 1980 and 2007, the Government and plantation companies had used 46,272 hectares (ha) of land for various purposes — including agriculture, livestock, construction, business, and hotels, but that 10-perch plots to each family, would require only 5,060 ha of land to accommodate all 200,000 landless members of the (Malaiyaha) community. The Executive Director of the Institute of Social Development, Periyasamy Muthulingam has said that 37,000 ha of uncultivated lands have been identified in the plantation sector during the Presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Meanwhile, media reported that a Chinese Chamber of Commerce delegation has met Sri Lanka’s Agriculture Minister and submitted a proposal to use currently unused State-owned land to develop large-scale dairy farms and export-oriented agricultural products such as vegetables and fruits, to which the Minister has responded positively. The community in Vineethagama (the Badulla District) had heard rumours the Government was planning to allocate some of the land they had identified for a university. The Malaiyaha community is questioning about these while awaiting clear and firm responses from the State about land rights for them.
Many Malaiyaha communities’ suspect that estate managements may prevail on the National People’s Power (NPP) to not give them land rights, preferring to have their workers within the estates and in slave-like conditions in order to exert full control. The communities are resisting this, but, it is not clear whether the NPP Government is committed to ensuring their land rights and to stand by them.
Constitutional safeguards and NPP’s commitments
The Constitution’s Article 27(2) refers to the State ensuring the realisation of an adequate standard of living for all citizens including housing and a just social order where means of production and distribution (such as land) are not in the hands of a privileged few (e.g. owners of plantation companies), but are dispersed among and owned by all the people (which must include the Malaiyaha community).
The 2023 ‘Hatton Declaration’ of the NPP, a policy statement about the Malaiyaha community in the lead up to elections in 2024, recognises “the problem of the lack of title deeds” and said that they seek to find a “fair solution to this problem and ensure the land rights of the Malaiyaha Tamil people.” The NPP’s 2024 Election manifesto commits to “allocating lands for Malaiyaha communities to construct permanent homes.”
Opportunity to address long-standing land rights concerns
There are serious shortcomings in ensuring Ditwah relief for the Malaiyaha community, but, a key challenge will be for the NPP to provide dignified housing to all Malaiyaha families with clear land ownership and to integrate them to villages. Immediately after Ditwah, the NPP has committed to provide up to Rs. 2,500,000 to rebuild damaged houses, Rs. 5,000,000 to rebuild destroyed houses and grant land or Rs. 5,000,000 to those who will not be able to go back to their lands due to future risks. But, in the absence of clear communication from the Government, there is a fear that the Malaiyaha community who have no land ownership documents may be denied all these key relief measures.
The short term disaster response should not be used to sidetrack long term demands of land rights and any transitional shelter arrangements which are part of post-Ditwah relief measures must be a pathway to land rights. The President must appoint a multi-stakeholder committee with a clear timeline to identify land options for the Malaiyaha community, and this must consider options identified by the communities, such as those mentioned above and the finalisation of land options must be in consultation with the communities.
Pre-Ditwah initiatives by the Indian Government and others to build standalone houses (instead of line rooms) for the Malaiyaha community must continue, but, this should not be confused with post-Ditwah relief measures and the State must take overall responsibility of land and housing rights for the Malaiyaha community.
Ditwah presents an opportunity for the NPP to address grievances of the Malaiyaha community. They have contributed much to Sri Lanka’s economy over 200 years, but remain one of most marginalised communities in Sri Lanka, in terms of rights to land, housing, education, health, language, etc. Key amongst these will be the right to land, which will help them to live and work in dignity and be liberated from the control of companies. The community is speaking up and now it is up to the Government in power to deliver, and Opposition parties and others to support. Sooner, rather than later, the Malaiyaha community must feel that they are citizens of Sri Lanka than citizens of estates.
The writer is a human rights activist
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The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication