Harmony Narrative The narrative of a Sinhalese Buddhist who saved Lankan Tamils in July 1983

Thilak Priyantha who as an 18-year-old was part of one of the many ‘good thug’ gangs living mostly in crowded settlements housing urban poor who saved lives of many Tamils

By Suryamithra Vishwa

It was 37 years ago. He was then 18 years old. A well-built youth no one messed with. A thug, to be precise. The month was July of the year 1983 that wrapped Sri Lanka in darkness. This time which was a watershed in the recent history of this country would decide which kind of thug he was. A thug who engaged in what is wrong, or a thug who upheld what is right. The choice was not difficult for Thilak Priyantha, a Sinhalese and a Buddhist. 

He had grown up in one of the crowded settlements (referred to as wattas – in Sinhala to reflect the large land areas they were based in). This is where the poor of Colombo lived, often those who had come from village areas a generation or so ago to the city to find work. There was no ethnicity or religious divide in these wattas. United in the common difficulty they faced in survival, there was no question about what these robust Sinhalese youth of these areas would choose to do in the anti-Tamil riots of July 1983, points out Thilak, a carpenter by profession who was then living in Kirulapone in a welfare based housing scheme set up in the 1970s.

What happened was organised crime which only a fraction of the Sinhala population took part in. But unfortunately this fraction of bad people which exist in any society are there all over the country and they moved from place to place with precision. Who and why and what we are not interested in arguing about. Those who helped fuel this fire know who they are. They know the horrendous crimes they did. Many of them must be still alive. They may pay for their crimes in this life or maybe the next. Who knows?

In 1983 he was a student of carpentry, attending the free classes carried out as part of the social mobilising assistance given by some Sri Lankans for the purpose of assisting the families of the watte he lived in.

Below are his own words as he recounted that page of history we cannot forget. The writer double checked the below information with Tamil families who knew Thilak from 1983. 

“I recall that July as if it was yesterday. Myself and the other youth of our watte were following the news closely. We knew that unrest was building up. We heard that various trouble makers were active. We were young. We were sharp. We were the chandis of Colombo – yes we were thugs, but you could say we were good thugs. We were not murderers or looters and we were not about to become ones. But we knew that we had a role to play. We were Sinhalese and we lived in this watte together with Tamils, Christians and Muslims. We were as if one family. If one segment of us were threatened it was as if all of us were. 

“Few of us – around four of us got the news conveyed to us by other watte youth who had roamed here and there that day in Colombo and knew what would happen. We got together by mid-morning and we decided to act. We first went to all the Tamil houses in our watte and told them to stay indoors and we sent word, through our ‘good thugs’ to the men of those homes who had gone off to work – often as labourers to immediately get back home. The women and children were alone in these homes and we told them to lock the doors and stay within but not to be fearful. Some women were packing clothes to go to the surrounding wilderness like area to keep the children safe. We told them that we would not allow a single murderer or looter into our watte. 

“Some of us Sinhalese also knew some Tamil and most of the Tamil youth of the watte were also excellent in their Sinhalese. We all got together. You could not say who was Tamil or who was Sinhalese. We were aware of other good chandis from other social classes getting ready to come to the rescue of Tamils – some were Sinhalese Christians and some were Burghers. 

“Me and my gang were having plain tea around 11 a.m. when we got the news that some Tamil shops in Thimbirigasyaya were being burnt. We decided there was no time to waste. We got to know how they were armed. We quickly armed ourselves with whatever we could get our hands on. Most of us were carrying poles as tall as us. But even without such threatening items we were unapproachable – we were the chandis of our wattes. 

“We soon got to know that heavy looting was happening. We asked around as to who was doing the looting. We wanted to find out whether youth like us of other wattes were doing these barbaric acts. I can assuredly say that the poor but honourable watte boys were not involved. To my knowledge not one of them, from a single watte was involved. 

“It was also not as if Sinhalese were suddenly attacking their neighbours. None of these acts were done by area people. We know what happened. We saw with our eyes. Hundreds of people arriving in buses from god knows where. 

“All of us watte youth were those you would describe as uneducated. None of us had gone beyond grade eight. I had attended school only up to grade four. However we were true humans. We understood humanity. One thing we knew for certain was that segments of university students were involved in the burning of homes, looting and the killing. We have no politics in saying this, we are not interested in naming who or analysing how so-called educated youth were doing these unthinkable acts. We just know for sure that they were doing it.

That fatal day

“On that fatal day of the start of the riots, some of us stayed back to guard our watte and the rest of us, along with the youth of other wattes began proceeding towards Wellawatte. We saw how one Tamil doctor walked out to his gate summoned by over 200 men. There were only 10 of us. We were also Sinhala Buddhists. But we knew that we had no chance in this instance. We were totally outnumbered. Therefore we did not approach as the doctor walked to his gate. He spoke to these goons. We heard his words as he told the men: ‘I am a doctor. My mission is to save lives. I do not look at ethnicity when doing so. With these hands I have saved your people. If you want to kill me it is between you, your fate and mine. So if your intention is to kill and you wish to truly kill me, go ahead. The doctor then bowed his head. One of the men – I do not want to use the word man to describe that creature – he gave only one blow with a huge pole he held in his hand that the doctor fell dead instantly. 

“Our gang – we don’t know what we felt – we cannot put these feelings into words. We turned away and walked along Galle Road, seeking out other situations we could intervene without being outnumbered. Soon we found three to four men trying to burn a house. We threatened them and chased them away. They asked who we were. We told them to ask any Colombo watte who we were. 

“After these men left, although the house was not burnt, we knew we just could not leave that helpless Tamil family when we were unsure what would happen after we left. We approached the opposite house own and occupied by Sinhalese. They did not come to the gate easily. Finally we walked into the front door and made them open it. They told that they were Sinhalese. We told them we know that and that we want them to take in the Tamils of the opposite house and that we had just chased away some men who were about to burn the house down with the people in it. At first they refused saying that they will be harmed. We told them that our men will be hovering around. 

“All of us watte youth were those you would describe as uneducated. None of us had gone beyond grade eight. I had attended school only up to grade four. However we were true humans. We understood humanity. One thing we knew for certain was that segments of university students were involved in the burning of homes, looting and the killing. We have no politics in saying this, we are not interested in naming who or analysing how so-called educated youth were doing these unthinkable acts. We just know for sure that they were doing it

“They took that family in. Nothing happened to them. Our boys kept an eye on their home. We have so many stories. Of what we saw. Many times we were attacked. We were waging a battle that day. We did the little we could to accrue our good karma but there was much we could not do. We saw saints and devils that day. How much of gold we saved from being looted and stood guard while Tamils hid them in their compound. If I am having enough meals for me and my family today and enough work to keep us healthy and happy it is because we did not loot a single thing. None of us watte boys did. It’s funny that we saw some so-called middle class people join the looting. Such things we saw. Good and bad. We witnessed so many cases where Sinhala families saved Tamils by hiding them in their houses.

“In that mayhem we appeared just like the others; with grime and dust and sweat all over. There were very many like us. If there is an international image that all Sinhalese were all set to wipe out Tamils out of anger over the killing of 13 Sinhala soldiers this is wrong. One thing we can say is that the army did their best to encourage people like us to save people. I specify here it is the army. What we don’t know we won’t say. If Sinhalese which made up of 70% tried to wipe out 10% of the Tamils they would not have to try very much. 

“What happened was organised crime which only a fraction of the Sinhala population took part in. But unfortunately this fraction of bad people which exist in any society are there all over the country and they moved from place to place with precision. Who and why and what we are not interested in arguing about. Those who helped fuel this fire know who they are. They know the horrendous crimes they did. Many of them must be still alive. They may pay for their crimes in this life or maybe the next. Who knows? 

“What we know is that we did the little that we could to safeguard fellow human beings. Even today we are not rich but our Karma has been good and therefore we do not suffer. I have hardly been to a doctor because I almost never fall ill. We work hard. Sometimes when we take up large contracts we hardly have time to eat properly. But I am perfectly healthy in body and mind. I hardly go to the temple. But I live my Dharma. My children too. 

I have three sons and one of them is now the age I was when I armed myself with poles and went about the roads of Colombo saving lives of human beings. I am proud that my boys have grown up to learn humanity. That is all that is important to me. I would rather have them acting as true humans than boast of paper certificates and demonic behaviour accruing bad karma for this life and the next.