He said everything then was decided by King Edward in England and that was how Ceylon was ruled. He said he tends to think, if Colbrooke and Cameron recommended to include the island Ceylon as part of India, the way Nicobar and Andaman islands that are far away were annexed to India, Ceylon may have ended as a single province of India or as two parts. One part linguistically linked to South India and the other part as the Sinhala province of India.

"So this I think is an accident in history. They decided to treat Ceylon as a separate country. United it into a single nation and for administrative purposes demarcated into 05 provinces that later was made into 09."

What Sri Lanka as a nation is therefore should not be what King Edward decided from England, he stressed. "Sri Lanka nation is also not what a majority number decides over other smaller number of people. For us to live and decide our common future, the Majority must start thinking different to what King Edward decided in 1833 for Ceylon" Sumanthiran said, addressing the audience in his own clear Sinhala.

The event was organised by the SLF Digital Film Academy and was chaired by award winning film director Sudath Mahaadivulweva.