R. sampanthan

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R. Sampanthan in November 2013

Rajavarothayam Sampanthan ( Tamil இராஜவரோதயம் சம்பந்தன் , Sinhalese රාජවරෝදියම් සම්බන්දන් ; * February 5, 1933 in British Ceylon ) is a politician of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka .

biography

R. Sampanthan was born in what was then Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) during British colonial rule to a wealthy Tamil family who had long been based in Trincomalee . He received his education at St. Patrick's College in Jaffna , St. Anne's College in Kurunegala , St. Joseph's College in Trincomalee and St. Sebastian's College in Moratuwa . He then studied law at Ceylon Law College in Colombo . After completing his studies, he practiced as a lawyer in Colombo. He became politically active as early as the 1950s and from 1956 was a member of Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), which was then internationally known as the Federal Party (FP).

After the United Front under Sirimavo Bandaranaike won a two-thirds super-majority in parliament in the 1970 general election, conditions for the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka deteriorated significantly, which in turn led to a radicalization of their positions. The Tamil parties of the North and East, including the ITAK, formed the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). In the 1977 parliamentary elections , the TULF advocated a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka. In this election, however, the situation was the same as in 1970, only with the opposite sign. This time the United National Party (UNP) under Junius Richard Jayewardene won a four-fifths super majority in parliament. With this comfortable majority in parliament, the new UNP government was able to change the Sri Lankan constitution in its favor. Sri Lanka was transformed from a parliamentary to a presidential system and the electoral system for parliament was changed in such a way that large parties were strongly favored.

Sapanthan was first elected to parliament for the TULF in 1977 from Trincomalee. In 1983 he spoke out together with the other TULF MPs against the UNP government's planned extension of the parliamentary term. In 1983 the civil war in Sri Lanka broke out openly and the Tamil rebels put pressure on the Tamil MPs to end all cooperation with the Sinhala-dominated government. In addition, the sixth amendment to the constitution, which came into force on August 8, 1983, required members of parliament to take an oath rejecting any separatist efforts that Sampanthan and his TULF party colleagues were not prepared to undertake. In October 1983, all 16 TULF MPs, including sampanthan, resigned their seats.

Since 1993 sampanthan has acted as general secretary of the TULF. After the assassination of TULF MP A. Thangathurai on July 5, 1997 by the LTTE , Sampanthan was re-elected as a member of the TULF in July 1997. Since 2001, Sampanthan has served as president of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), an association of several Tamil parties from the north and east of Sri Lanka. He was elected to the Sri Lankan Parliament for the TNA in the Trincomalee constituency in the 2001 , 2004 , 2010 and 2015 general elections.

In 2004 R. Sampanthan played a key role in the founding of ITAK, of which he became the new chairman. In 2014 he handed over the party leadership to Mavai Senathirajah .

After a grand coalition of UNP and SLFP was formed after the parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka in 2015 , the Tamil National Alliance became the strongest opposition party in parliament and Sampanthan was elected as the official leader of the opposition on September 3, 2015 . He was the first Tamil in this office since 1983. He had to hand over this role to Mahinda Rajapaksa on December 18, 2018 , although Mahinda Rajapaksa was still a member of the ruling party SLFP at the time.

Sampanthan is considered to be a man of balance and moderate tones, who repeatedly emphasized that a balance between Tamils ​​and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka can only take place on the basis of mutual respect and equality. In an interview, Sampanthan emphasized that he had never held a firearm in his life and that he completely relied on the persuasiveness of the word.

Personal

Sapanthan is married and has two sons and a daughter with his wife Leeladevi. He's a Hindu . Sampanthan speaks fluent English and Sinhala in addition to his native Tamil.

Web links

Commons : R. Sampanthan  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Who is Rajavarothayam Sampanthan. (No longer available online.) Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka, June 29, 2008, archived from the original on July 3, 2008 ; accessed on July 26, 2020 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c Hon. Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, MP website of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, accessed on March 19, 2020 (English).
  3. ↑ a b c Sampanthan R. /tnapolitics.org, December 15, 2015, accessed on March 19, 2020 (English).
  4. ↑ SIXTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION. Lawnet.gov.lk (Ministry of Justice of Sri Lanka), accessed July 25, 2020 .
  5. ^ Tamil United Liberation Front. US Library of Congress (Country studies), accessed July 25, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Christopher Kamalendran: Top TULF MP assassinated. Sunday Times (Sri Lanka), July 6, 1997, accessed July 25, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Parliamentary Election - 2001. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; accessed on July 26, 2020 (English).
  8. ↑ PARLIAMENTARY GENERAL ELECTION 04/02/2004. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 4, 2010 ; accessed on July 26, 2020 (English).
  9. ↑ PART I: SECTION (I) - GENERAL: Government Notifications: PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS ACT, No. 1 OF 1981. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 23, 2015 ; accessed on July 26, 2020 (English).
  10. ^ Preferential Votes. (No longer available online.) Daily News (Sri Lanka), archived from the original on Aug. 20, 2015 ; accessed on July 26, 2020 (English).
  11. ↑ Mapping Sri Lanka's Political Parties: Actors and Evolutions, Chapter 1.3 Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi. (PDF) Verite Research / Westminster Foundation for Democracy, pp. 17–20 , accessed on March 21, 2020 .
  12. ^ T. Ramakrishnan: TNA's Sampanthan becomes opposition leader in Sri Lankan parliament. The Hindu, September 2, 2020, accessed July 25, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Sri Lanka: Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed leader of the opposition. Scroll.in, December 18, 2018, accessed on July 25, 2020 .
  14. ↑ R. Sampanthan: On The Position Of The Leader of the Opposition. Colombo Telegraph, January 25, 2019, accessed July 25, 2020 .
  15. ↑ leadership of R. Sampanthan: From periphery to center. Daily FT, May 12, 2020, accessed July 25, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Sampanthan, R.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sampanthan, rajavarothayam; சம்பந்தன், இராஜவரோதயம் (Tamil); සම්බන්දන්, රාජවරෝදියම් (Sinhala)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sri Lankan politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 5, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH British Ceylon