Ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections, the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) called on the Tamil people to vote in such a way that they "elect those representatives whom they can hold responsible,” as it reflected on the “abject" performance over the past decade to deliver on Tamil rights.

Noting that the election scheduled to take place on August 5 is the third parliamentary poll since the end of the war, the statement evaluated the performance of the Tamil nationalist parties over the past 10 years in the following three issues:

1. Championing the political, social and economic desires and aspirations of the Tamil people within Sri Lanka and abroad.

2. Providing effective leadership to the peaceful and democractic movement for rights of the Tamil people and bringing about concrete changes by way of popular mobilisation.

3. Delivering solutions-through within the structures of the Sri Lankan state as well as through international support-for the quotidian and the long-term economic and social troubles that the Tamil people face. And providing leadership for social endeavour directed toward achieving those ends.

The verdict of the statement was that the Tamil nationalist parties that enjoyed power in the last decade have failed to perform adequately in any of these fronts.

“On the first issue, the Tamil parties seemed entirely lacking in independent thinking or policy agenda," said the statement. “The functioning of our representatives were in such a way that it raises doubts as to whose interests they were representing.”

“On the second, the performance has been so abject that the parties considered people’s movements for rights as movements against the parties themselves. They have only helped in defanging the effectiveness of the Tamil social campaigning against the dispossession of their lands and the disappearance of their people.”

“On the third, there seems to have been no interest, initiative or planning on the part of the representatives we have had so far.”

This bleak assessment of the efficacy of the Tamil parties since the end of the armed conflict in 2009 speaks to the inability of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to adequately and effectively represent Tamil interests in Colombo. Indeed the statement says as much, going on to add,

‘The foregoing evaluation reflects our assessment of the performance of the sole representative of the Tamil nationalist cause over the past 10 years; the Tamil National Alliance. Since they have come back to ask for our votes again, we counsel the people to decide whether they have the resolve to overcome their previous misdeeds we have laid out above. Also we would advise the people to make a decision after analysing what changes from its conduct in the past decade the TNA offers through its election-campaigning and the manifesto.’

The statement also took an unequivocal stance on Tamil nationalist parties, stating, “our stance is that the Tamil people must not vote for the national parties or their emissaries". 

"The Tamil-speaking agents of the Sinhala-Buddhist political parties consider the erosion of Tamil nationalism as their primary political goal.”

Commenting on the alternative political parties that have arisen in the Tamil political scene, the statement went on to add, "the two alternative options that have appeared are the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) and the Tamil Thesiya Makkal Kootani (TMK)". "Voting for these parties shall be done after evaluating their alternative policy proposals and not just their criticism of the Alliance."

The statement concluded by urging the people to be not swayed by talks of ‘unity’ or ‘bargaining in one voice’ and instead give multi-party representation a chance. "We have witnessed that a representation of Tamil interests by a sole party has given way to arbitrariness over the past 10 years. We believe multiple parties must be given a chance to represent us this time around.”

“Furthermore,” the statement continued, “it can be clearly seen that the government about to come to power in the south is going to be very strong. Therefore, it won’t be possible to bargain on the number of seats. We request the Tamil people to vote in such a way that they ‘elect those representatives whom they can hold responsible.”