LEN - www.lankaenews.com | Open new pathways for Malaiyagam people in the aftermath of Ditwa...!

Open new pathways for Malaiyagam people in the aftermath of Ditwa...!

-By Michael Joachim

(Lanka-e-News -27.Dec.2025, 9.00 PM) “While causing immense suffering and destruction, disasters often open new pathways for change by acting as a "reset button" that challenges existing norms and creates a "window of opportunity" for significant innovation, policy reform, and community reorganization. This concept is often referred to as "building back better , more sustainable ways”.

Ditwa Cyclone and floods has devastated not only the entire country but also the Malaiyagam. Many plantations have been devastated. Number of deep “splits” in the earth are being identified in many estates. Against this backdrop a question has been raised as to whether people can live in the Malaiyagm anymore.

The demands made by the Malaiyagam people so far with regard to land and housing rights have had to be reconsidered. However there is a Silverline. This unexpected disaster has led to some unexpected good outcomes too.

Relief and Malaiyagam politics.

In the past, when providing relief to those who faced disasters in the Malaiyagam , the National and Provincial politicians from the current opposition party and those from the ruling parties in the past, including the so called local Estate leader, known as “Thalaiwar”(invariably the Trade Union leader aligned to a Malaiyagam Political Party) the almighty unchallengeable middleman between the people and authorities without whose consent nothing could be done in the estates , intervened ruthlessly. During the Covid disaster the Government announced a relief grant of Rs. 5000/- In many estates the police including the riot scouts had to summoned to control the rioting people who claimed corruption, irregularities ,nepotism and political interference . The “government-sponsored relief materials” including large stocks of dry rations and rice provided by the Indian government were embezzled by the henchmen of politicians in the Malaiyagam. Government officials, including Grama Sevakas and Development Officers, were unable to perform their duties diligently. When disasters occurred , the government employees working in the plantation areas were mentally affected more than the people. Especially the women who worked as Grama Sevaks(GN) and Development Officers (DO) were under severe stress. On the other hand, the environment was favorable for , some government employees to engage in large scale corruption as they knew that there was no one to question or monitor them and they saw the corrupted politicians as their “role Models”. As a result of the unethical political interference, the Government officials and the government machinery were hated by the people. The people considered the government Machanisam as a “hostile mechanism” rather than a Mechanism established to provide legitimate service to people. We need to take into account that a community considering the Government mechanism as an “Hostile Mechanism “ has far reaching political and social implications.

But now , reports received from the fields indicate that the situation has turned upside down. People say that the GN and other government officials are preforming their duties diligently and without discrimination . People say with confidence that there is no political interference in their services and on the other hand are ready to complain if corruptions were to occur. Mrs. Smumitha a Preschool Teacher in Galkanda estate within a remote GN division in the Nuwara Eliya District had to say this “The GN and the DO called all the people to a common place and told us :” We have collected information from everyone who are effected. Although we are supposed to collect information only from registered dairy farmers we collected information even from those who did not register, as we personally knew that those people’s livelihood was the “unregistered dairy” which got destroyed. We are here to help you in whatever way possible and the Government’s intention is also the same. We will submit the applications to our superiors and will make sure that everyone eligible gets relief. If there is any complains tell us directly and please do not make complains to the authorities “ .Sumitha added “that the Estate Talaiwar” had no role to play. So all the avenues for corruption and nepotism was closed”. This statement is a testimony of “transparency “ and “social accountability” which was hereto unexperienced by the Malaiyagam people with regard to Government Services. This is the biggest positive change that has occurred in the political and social arena in the Malaiyagam . There are all possibilities for removing the barriers that existed so far, both institutional and attitudinal, in the way people accessing government services. The door to receive quality Government services for Malaiyagam people is steadily opening. In addition the position of “Talaiwar” the local agent of the politicians “which still remains as a symbol of arrogance, corruption, nepotism and abuse of power in the plantations is gradually losing its dominance. Plantation Rural Education and Development Organization (PREDO) has been vocal in its call for the complete abolition of the “Taliwar ” system, which has so far succeeded in maintaining a “slave mentality” among the people in the Malaiyagam .

Road construction and re building.

Next, the issue of road construction and maintenance in the estates which was a topic rarely discussed by politicians, also had legal and procedural implications. No significant efforts were made to rectify this situation. In addition to all this, the reality was that even the few roads for which Government funds were spent there was corruption, waste and nepotism as in the maliyagam .Nothing could happen without political interference .No where in this country one could see the roads being constructed with just two tiny concrete strips layer on both side of the Road , one layer is just wide enough for a single tyre. Imagine the amount of monies being embezzled by the contractor, the politician behind him and the approving “Technical Officer”.

In this backdrop , the issue of reconstruction of roads and bridges in the estates was raised in the presence of the President Anura Kumara Dissanayake who attended the Nuwara Eliya Development Council meeting. It was revealed that there are more than 600 roads and bridges in the Nuwara Eliya district within the estates that are not owned by any government authority . Taking these into account, the President, without considering the procedural bottle necks ordered the authorities that the roads which are not owned by any Government Road Development Authority be taken over by the appropriate authority and developed. This is also an important positive outcome of the “disaster “. It should be considered that the time has now come to easily overcome these legal and administrative problems that have been said to have prevented the reconstruction of these roads. This order of the President has the potential to have a positive impact on the long standing land and housing demands of the people in the Maliyagam . Meanwhile, Mr. Pradeep Sundaralingam Deputy Minister of Plantation Infrastructure speaks of plans of the Government to allocate lands for housing for people in the Malaiaygam giving new rays of hope .

While this is so, the legal procedural issues such as the terms and conditions of the long-term lease agreement between the government and the plantation companies entered into at a time the political and social land scape was totally different compared to the present time is a major bottle neck. The clauses of the so called agreement are used in such a way that they supersede or override any other laws in the country , even the Constitution of the Country. Among other matters , it is appropriate to pointout that the clauses in the above mentioned agreement have been used by some estate management at their will to violate the basic fundamental right the Malaiyagam children for Preschool education which rights are upheld by the Constriction which violations have been highlighted so often. This is opportune time to press for the revision of the relevant clauses of the agreement. .

The inability to fully implement the Pradesia Saba Act in the plantations still can pose major obstacle to the Malaiyagam people “being considered as full citizens.” Once again it is an urgent need of the time to amend this law recognizing that the Malaiyagam people living within the estates are full fledged citizen and there cannot be different laws for them .

Be that be so, when any path opens for change, our aim should be to use it and reach out and open it wider to achieve our objectives. We should consider the President’s comments and some of the government’s actions as “entry point ”for the change. The members of the ruling party the opposition parties, and civil society organizations should take immediate action to take the matter forward from this “entry point”. People should be organized to advocate to put pressure that the promises of the Government are implemented and relevant laws amended. The people’s voice for rights in the Malaiyagam is still not heard enough.

It also has to be noted that there is a significant change of political , attitude and approach of the the Malaiyagam people. People in some plantations have come forward to donate their one-day salary to the Presidential Relief Fund even under this difficult situation .This shows that a new spirit is emerging among the Malaiyagam people to face challenges. Doesn't all this show that doors of hope are steadily opening?

Political antics in the Malaiyagam

While such new hopeful trends are emerging in the Malaiyagam we see Political clowns trying their “political antics” in the Malaiyagam. A so called leader of the present opposition Malaiyagam parties having his headquarters in Colombo ,who had had no connections with Malaiyagam people for a long time, and rejected by his own people in Colombo, comes to the Malaiyagam with a Northern Politician who too was rejected by his own people and tells people that they have plans to resettle the Malaiyagam people in the North and East. No sooner they said this some organizations in the East responded saying that they are not ready to accommodate the Malaiyagam people in the East. Such comments, which can have various adverse effects politically, are denigrating the efforts that the Malaiyagam people have made so far to demand and secure their ethnic identity, existence, land and housing rights. Moreover, two weeks ago people in the Malaiyagam burned the effigy of Namal Rajapaksa, who opposed the salary hike for the plantation workers in Parliament. People clearly showed that his politics have no place in the Malaiyagam. Even before the smoke of the burning of the effigy had cleared, we saw some politicians bringing “Namal Rajapaksa to the Malaiyagam and asking the people to talk to him about their land rights. Are these Malaiyagam “political clowns” who have become political discards in the Malaiyagam trying to show that the Malaiaygam is a place where clowns live? It is good for them to keep their mouth shut otherwise people will be forced to respond in a way they might not imagine.

Overall, there is a situation in the Malaiyagam that the doors of hope are slowly and steadily opening during this difficult times. On the other hand, we can see that there is an attempt to suppress the self-confidence of the people and the emerging political awareness by showing that the land “ is splitting” meaning “that there is a hopeless situation” and people should quit Malaiyagam.

We can be confident that the people will make the right decisions on whether to open doors wider, overcome the challenges and move forward or to get sunk under “splits”. It is the responsibility of the intellectuals and civil society organizations to encourage and guide the Malaiyagam people. Desmond Tutu has this to say ,

Hope, is being able to see that there is light despite all of the Darkness