Marking the auspicious Thai Pongal festival, members of Sri Lanka’s Malaiyaha (Hill Country Tamil) community gathered at Liberty Roundabout in Colombo last afternoon (15 Jan) to demand land rights, individual housing, and justice for a community that has endured generations of structural marginalisation.

Organised by the Civil Society Alliance for Reforms for the Malaiyaha Community, the event, titled “Pongal for Rights”, brought together plantation workers, activists, and civil society representatives to highlight the long-standing injustices faced by Malaiyaha people, particularly in the wake of recent climate disasters.

Speakers at the event stated that for over two centuries, Malaiyaha workers have laboured on tea plantations and remained the backbone of Sri Lanka’s plantation economy, yet many still live in overcrowded line rooms, without land ownership, secure housing, or basic services.

The situation has worsened following the Ditwah climate disaster, which caused floods and landslides across the Central Highlands, including Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Matale, and Kegalle. Entire plantation communities, especially in areas of the Central hills, were severely affected, losing homes, livelihoods, and access to essential infrastructure.

Despite these losses, organisers said affected families have received inadequate state support, leaving them further marginalised.

“Our labour built this economy, but our lives remain disposable,” one organiser said. “Pongal is about harvest and dignity, yet dignity is what we are still denied.”

Participants collectively raised the following demands: Individual houses instead of line-room housing, Land with secure legal title, Establishment of new villages with proper infrastructure, State-led and civil society-supported reconstruction of disaster-affected Malaiyaha settlements.

Placards, traditional Pongal pots, and symbolic offerings were used during the gathering to connect cultural heritage with political demands for rights and recognition. 

Organisers emphasised that Malaiyaha people, brought to Sri Lanka under colonial plantation systems as cheap labour, continue to face low wages, insecure tenure, and social exclusion, even decades after independence.

The event concluded with a call for the government and broader society to recognise land and housing not as charity, but as fundamental rights essential for citizenship, dignity, and climate resilience. (Newswire/ Image -Sakuna M Gamage)

The post Malaiyaha community marks Thai Pongal with land & housing rights protest appeared first on Newswire.

Representatives of the Malaiyaha Tamil community have adopted a 13-point declaration committing to work towards realizing their full potential as Sri Lankan citizens.

The declaration was adopted on May 21, 2023, during an event commemorating the 200th Anniversary of Hill Country Tamils and the ‘International Tea Day’, held in Nuwara Eliya.

Issuing a statement, the Malaiyaha Tamil Community said a community of advocates emerged out of the Malaiyaham 200 deliberations which were held over three days in Nuwara Eliya. 

Women and men workers in the plantations, Trade Union and Civil Society representatives, Academics and Artists in the Malaiyaha Tamil community have committed to work towards realizing their full potential as Sri Lankan citizens. 

The Malaiyaha Tamil community have been the backbone of the country’s economy for over 150 years and has played a crucial role during times of economic crisis. Yet, many families in the Malaiyaha Tamil community still remain in line rooms with poor health, education and infrastructure facilities, it said. 

The statement further said that the structural exclusion through a prolonged period of statelessness and disenfranchisement has resulted in the community lagging significantly behind national achievements on human development indicators. They are among the most vulnerable to disasters and crises. 

It added that the Malaiyaha Tamil community is evolving in every aspect and asserting its place in Sri Lanka as full and equal citizens. 

The 13-point declaration is as follows: 

The post Malaiyaha Tamil community adopts 13-point declaration on anniversary appeared first on Newswire.