Over the past 200 years, the Malaiyaha Tamil community has been living in appaling conditions

For the past 201 years, the Malaiyaha Tamil communityhas been disproportionately affected by marginalisation, discrimination, exploitative working conditions and appalling living conditions. Even though the plantation sector had been a cornerstone of the national economy, their demands for better housing, land rights, voting rights, health and education facilities have continued to fall on deaf ears. This is why the Institute of Social Development (ISD) along with several other civil society organisations (CSOs) is getting ready to present several policy recommendations and a roadmap to the Presidential candidates on behalf of the Malaiyaha Tamil community and labourers working in the plantation industry. 

Broken promises

“What is unique about these demands is that they could be implemented within a year and at absolutely no cost,” said P. Muthulingam, ISD’s Executive Director. “We plan to present our demands to the newly elected President. Since 2005 we have been presenting these issues faced by people in the estate sector at every Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Election. Some of these candidates promise to resolve these issues in their manifestos but these become broken promises later on. What we observe is that an elected leader can bring amendments to the legal framework and resolve issues faced by the Malaiyaha community with regards to their land rights, housing issues, education, health and acknowledgement of their services. So, we will present a roadmap to all presidential candidates with recommendations on what they could do within a year. This will be presented in all three languages but if these demands are ignored once again we will be compelled to take actions and add pressure on policymakers,” Muthulingam added. 

As such the roadmap includes recommendations that could be implemented with regards to land and housing, education and skill development, access to government institutions and public service delivery, streamlining health services, restructuring the plantation production model, women empowerment and childcare development and postal services. 

Dire living conditions

Speaking at the media briefing, Navarathna Banda, President of the Renaissance Movement said that even though the Malaiyaha community has contributed to the country’s economy, even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, they continue to live in dire conditions. “They have sacrificed their lives for over two centuries. Their human rights are in danger. The leaders haven’t provided any solution to their issues and this trend needs to change. We therefore thought that this presidential election is an opportune moment to see this change becoming a reality. None of the candidates would be able to ignore these demands because they don’t have to bear additional expenses to implement these demands. This roadmap provides a comprehensive outline on how this could be achieved by making certain amendments to the legal framework. Ceylon Tea is a brand name that placed Sri Lanka on the world map. This brand name also reflects with the conscience of the Malayaiha community.”

He further said that for the past 200 years this community has been living inside 10’ by 12” line rooms, which are being shared by around 7-8 people. “They don’t have a healthy environment to live in. In certain places many families use the same toilet. This is a pathetic situation. They have continued their protests demanding for land, housing facilities, rights for education etc., but these demands fell on deaf ears. They have received a pittance in return. Therefore we together with civil society organisations from the north, south and Sri Lankans from overseas will join hands with the Malaiyaha community until their demands have been met. This time they are not alone,” he added.          

Lack of health services and widening wage disparity

Several civil society representatives also revealed how the estate community doesn’t have ownership over the line rooms that they have been living over the past 200 years. “In case if they want to add an additional room they have to seek permission from the estate owner or manager,” said S. Murugaiah, a civil society representative. “One of our recommendations is to construct new housing units replacing these line rooms and provide these people ownership of these houses and lands. There are tiny dispensaries at these estates and there’s a claim that the officials prescribe medicine sans any medical qualifications. As a result of making the government aware of these conditions, some dispensaries were taken under the purview of the state in few instances. But even in this case there aren’t enough medicines. The roadmap includes several recommendations on how these issues could be addressed.”

Speaking about the wage disparity, Murugaiah further said that as per the calculations done in 2019 estate workers should ideally have to be paid a sum of Rs. 1,150 as daily wage. “But certain trade union leaders brought this down to Rs. 750 behind closed-door meetings,” he claimed. “We then protested and demanded that they should increase the daily wage to Rs. 1,000. This was in 2021. Recently, all trade unions agreed that estate workers need to be paid a daily wage of Rs. 1,700. But unfortunately, the Administration Council has come into a conclusion that the basic daily wage would be Rs. 1,350. Estate workers will be provided an allowance for the additional amount of tea leaves that are being plucked. President Ranil Wickremesinghe promised to increase daily wages of estate workers between Rs. 1500-1700 but it didn’t become a reality. These are instances when we lose trust in these manifestos. That is why the civil society organisations have presented this roadmap to guide our leaders to resolve this crisis,” he added. 

Poor representation at local government institutions

“With eight more days left to elect the ninth executive president of this country, we thought this is the best time to voice out the injustices faced by the Malaiyaha community,” said Chamika Piyasekara,Executive Director at the Environmental and Community Development Information Centre, Ratnapura. “These candidates should include the rights of the Malaiyaha community in their manifestos as well. The Malaiyaha community represent more than 10% of the population. During the previous local government election only 22 seats were allocated for representatives of this community out of a total of 438 seats. Therefore there’s a stark disparity when electing members to speak for their rights as their representation is less than 5% at local government level. The main issue is with regards to their voting rights. There are many people who have been excluded from legal documents. There’s a written history of over 201 years since the Malaiyaha community touched base on this land. Therefore we believe that the next president would resolve issues faced by this community. For instance none of the roads that fall within estates have been gazetted under local government bodies. In this case there aren’t allocated funds to develop these roads. The main road leading up to the village is in good condition. But roads leading towards the interiors of the village have large potholes. Therefore infrastructure development in Kegalle, Ratnapura, Kalutara, Matara districts should be taken into consideration. Even though there’s a lower percentage of people representing the Malaiyaha community in these areas, there’s rights are severely infringed. Therefore, together with ISD we have gotten together to make a louder voice. The estate community too are citizens of this country. But whether they have similar rights as other citizens remain a doubt.”

Violation of right to public service

As mentioned earlier, the Malaiyaha community is scattered across several districts including Uva and Badulla. “The state has become a signatory for many conventions and treaties that aim to protect the wellbeing of its people,” said Nadesan Suresh representing Uva Shakthi Foundation and several other civil society organisations. “The Malaiyaha community still has an issue with regards to an identity card. This time the Elections Commission said that they would issue a temporary ID but the signature of the estate owner is a must. Then what is the purpose of having a grama niladhari officer? If the GN officer can issue an ID to the rest of the people, why can’t he do so for the Malaiyaha community,” he questioned. 

Suresh further said that estate workers are stakeholders of state revenue. “We have the right to exercise clauses 9 through 11 of the Constitution. Everybody says that economic development is important but without community development we can’t achieve economic development. On the other hand, in terms of delimitation, the biggest issue we face is with regards to limited access to services by local government authorities. Certain rights were won by civil society interventions. This is why we got an Act passed in Parliament granting the right to public service for this community by establishing an authority. But these were swept under the carpet. The next leader should implement these services. We also don’t have access to postal services. Some students were waiting to gain university entrance but they didn’t receive the letter issued by the University Grants Commission. We even filed a FR case regarding this issue. A historic judgment was issued to streamline postal services in every estate within 9 months. But these were swept under the carpet again. After 201 years the Malaiyaha Tamil community was able to establish their identity under the new census. These changes didn’t come about with the interventions of the state but by civil society organisations,” he affirmed.