The Tamil Diaspora And Sri Lanka
Tamil protests in Newcastle city centre - 25/04/09, by fraseronflickr
It has been more than a year since the Tamil Tigers were militarily defeated. But their global support amongst the tamil diaspora is still strong. These days I have been working in Waitrose and there are many Sri Lankan Tamils working with me. And this has given me a great oppurtunity to know, what they think of Sri Lanka. Last week I spoke to this Tamil person (Mathu), who has been in the UK for over a decade, about the war and the tigers. His version of the war is more flawed and biased than that of Rupavahini’s.
Following is an extract of my conversation:
“Why did the war start?”, he asked me.
“Because of misunderstanding between the communities?”, I answered very vaguely.
Mathu- “Who lived in Sri Lanka first?”
Me- “Why does it matter?. I know there are Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims living today”
Mathu- “No, the Tamils lived first and the Sinhalese came in later. Its like you have been living in your home for along time and your visitor comes and kicks you.?”
Me- “But, now the war is over and there is no point in us trying to talk about that”.
Mathu- “No!!!! the war is not over, there is a slight pause and we will start again very soon”
Me- “But what do you think about LTTE child soldiers?”
Mathu- “They do not recruit children. Its just government propaganda.”
Me- “But I once saw with my own eyes, UNICEF handing children recruited by the LTTE back to their parents”
Mathu- “We are a liberation movement and we have less people to recruit from than the Army. So we have to use our own people and their children”
I didn’t think it was worth talking to him any more, although he wanted to continue. But, I started to wonder if he represents the view of the entire Tamil diaspora, blindly supporting a group which has been branded as a terrorist organization and thinking that the war in Sri Lanka is not yet over. Back in Sri Lanka, Tamils hardly support the LTTE (or at least Tamils in Colombo generally don’t) and many would not even think of Sri Lanka divided into two. But when we are talking about reconciliation and power sharing as a “ permanent solution” for the conflict, I really doubt if these Tamil diaspora will ever be satisfied even if these are implemented. All they seem to want is a separate state.
But then I thought, “who cares about the diaspora? We are a sovereign state. We can solve our own problems and develop ourselves”. It sounded nice, but is not practical. We Sri Lankans cannot afford to turn a blind eye on events happening outside our borders. These guys have been funding the tigers for ages and they are still willing to sacrifice a part of their income to restart the war and it is a definite threat for our national security and our future.
So what can be done? I don’t think they could all be satisfied overnight. But many of them could be made to feel better about the conditions of their families and friends back at home. As a first step, the government must encourage the diaspora to visit Sri Lanka. There is fear amongst many of them that paramilitary forces aligned with the government could abduct them when they visit their homes, for ransom. They were referring to several incidents of abduction of Tamil men, who returned home. Most of these, I think, are just fiction. But, we cannot deny that this never happens. Once, they visit Sri Lanka and understand the reality better, I’m sure their hostility towards there own country would have changed at least slightly. Then the government should encourage them to invest in Sri Lanka, rather than waste their wealth in a defunct organization and this will definitely give a big boost to our economy. The benefits of having a Tamil diaspora, feeling “Sri Lankan” are innumerable and we cannot afford to neglect them.
Syndicated with permission from Jehanlive
Mathu- “No, the Tamils lived first and the Sinhalese came in later. Its like you have been living in your home for along time and your visitor comes and kicks you.?”
This answer describes how much he’s blind.
these sakkiliyas who supported LTTE are pottayas! tamils came here first haha! die with your dream
nothing of the above is true! you have to be in SL to know this. land in the east belongs to mostly muslims then sinhalese. chief minister is a tamil in the east so what are u talking? world is not bothered by your lies as you can see. you are no better than mathu. keep your foot in your mouth
it is logic to think that whole Sri Lanka was ruled by Tamils kings from Southern Tamilnadu. It is not important who came first.
who cares about who came first. Now the Sinhalese are here and they dominate. If they want they can live here.
Without tamils SL is will be like Sudan , u too will be like that.
Still SL tamils around teh world doing top jobs and sending the money to SL, to role the economy, and that si why u also eating and trying live .
Please remember we tamil are all over the world , doing top jobs unlike your race , doing cleaning jobs .Well renowed for toilet cleraning.
My apartment I live , i get more callls from Sri Lanka singhalese studets to get a job ,even to clenan my toilet.
So remember .
patts tamils are bathroom koolies from way back. still they dominate the trade. most of tamil disaporas wash dishes in restaurents & clean toilets in uk/canada etc… i have a tamil maid who is a refugee who will even wash my ass.
tamils are bathroom koolies from way back. still they dominate the trade. most of tamil disaporas wash dishes in restaurents & clean toilets in uk/canada etc… i have a tamil maid who is a refugee who will even wash my …….
hello patts i am not a racialist but i have to say last three decades your god father prabarkaran ruined our nation.i know this land belong to Sinhalese,Tamils and Muslims who born in Sri Lanka.Don’t neglect other races. Sinhalese also can say Tamil workers work under them some times as cleaners. But it is not a shame for the Tamils.if you have real nationalism there are many poor Tamils in sri lanka you can help them instead of ruin Sri Lankan image.
majority sinhalease kings took south indian brides which is why u have hindi Gods statues in buddhist temples. it was easy for the queens to pray!
you are right!!!!. You do not want to give fundamental rights to Tamil but you want their wealth. Tamil will never forget the crimes done against them by successive Sinhalese governments.
Now the war is over and there is no point in us trying to talk about that- so what about the injustice things happened during the war!!!!! i’e extra judicial killings.
Why not talk about the killigs done by the LTTE? They were the cause and the curse of SriLanka. Now that they no longer exist you want to blame for injustice by the government. If the war didn’t finished the tigers we would still be struggling to move about.
LTTE were offered numerous opportunities to release the civilians but didn’t hoping to use them as bargaining chips to get the LTTE leadership out of the country. It failed miserably. That is your gripe. You will never be happy in SL so long as there are sinhalese. It is the eternal hatred towards the sinhala race and it is akin to the hatred by the Muslims towards the Jews. And that no doubt drive you to these killings.
What kind of a joker this “Mathu” is ? I think poor fellow lost his mind after the death of LTTE,
Anyway the funniest part is this guy is threatening to start the war again, I guess it will be the end of the Tamils in Sri Lanka (they already in a worse situation than 1970′s).
Grow up man.. !!!
Anyway if I’m the president of Sri Lanka, I would build a powerful secret service similar to Israeli Mossad. they just hunted down all terrorist forces against Israel all around the world
That is the best solution to these type of extremist maniacs…!!!!
A poor country as that of ours can’t dream of it. Also the culture of corruption will not allow that too.
Israeli diaspora was econoimically powerful and that was the reason Israel was born which is powerful and succesful.
Any comment about the crime committed by successive Sri Lankan governments to cause maximum causalities to minorities? Sri Lanka is branding LTTE as terrorist and the international community is branding Sri Lanka as a state terrorist group headed by one ruthless terrorist family. Now none of the western country is suppress LTTE any more and they wanted to destabilise the state terrorism in Sri Lana. If we go by numbers Sri Lankan government has killed much more civilians than LTTE. During the last phase alone Sri Lankan government killed ruthlessly around 30,000 civilians and that is why the western world is standing together to punish war criminals in Sri Lanka. Even LTTE released their prisoners (2 Sri Lankan military personnel) without harming them during the final phase. But in return what Sri Lankan government did? I guess every one has seen the video clips and photographs depicting how SUSPECTED LTTE MEBERS are been tortured and executed by this state. Who is the terrorist?
dude why are you using a Muslim name ? don’t insult Muslims
Ha, Ha, Ha,………Very funny
Mossad – its that kind of thinking that got sri lanka into this problem in the first place! You think that Israel are doing a good thing by stealing land??
A solution that includes all sri lankans needs to be implemented. Starting with the inclusion of SL tamil history with Sinhala tamil history – or maybe this is why the Jaffna Library was burned down???
Anyway – with the rajapaksa’s running things – all sri lankans are doomed – get out while you can!!
Why this writer didn’t discuss about punishing criminals who committed warcrime? So mass killing of Tamil civilians is not crime? Writer also coming up with his imagination to cover up kidnapping Tamil civilians all over Sri Lanka. Even in Colombo alone more than 2 thousand civilians were kidnapped between 2006-2009. Since victims are Tamils most of the mass media didn’t bothered to report any such kidnapping committed by organised group which is cordinated by defence ministry. Only MTV & Sirasa used to keep track of these crime and ever one knows what had happend to MTV subsequently for their unbiased award winning news.
Nizam is right – the GOSL forced brothers to go and kill their brothers – how can sri lankans kill other sri lankans…. peace could have been made with Ranil’s ideals – he would have implemented peace without bloodshed..
But the gun-runners wanted to make their last war fortune… believ in the dhamma and belive that the VOTE-RIGGING ruling family willl meet their fate in this life…their lack of respect for human life and their lies really shone through during that period last year
Even now they are working with the remaining LTTE members – this could have been done without bloodshed and the diaspora would have responded favourably…. but when Ranil was speaking with the LTTE he was called a traitor.
Ananda, This is not your eal name!! You are a Tamil who is using a sinhala name to discredit the efforts of the forces. That is the reason you call the peace accord initiated by Ranil with the blessings of the Norwegeans was good for the country.
Only a traitor like you will support that peace accord because it was so lopsided.. Where were you when VP used that period to replenish his armory? Did he collect those weapons to use them as toys? Had that gone ahead god only knows what the country would be now. No war can be condoned but this was the only way to handle a terrorist group who were hell bent on creating chaos for a mono ethnic state.
They started with bullying tactics including the blocking of Mavil Aru annicut. Ranil would not have taken that back because that would have upset the Norwegeans. That is reality.
Your argument has no sense because with Ranil in power (a week leader who was the darling of the west) and VP dictating terms there owuld be no sinhala peolple in the north and the east. So once again!!! stop using that name and come out with your real name.
If anyone blaming LTTE, keep in mind that all of the Sri Lankan governments that taught LTTE what shoud be done by buring the library, by setting fires on Temples, by organizing riots against tamils for brutal killings, by bmobing civilians targets, by open firing on civilians, by accepting extra judicial killings, and by approving Tamil paramilitary to recruits children by force. Blame should go on both ways. If Sinhalese are only focusing on security, they will keep so many political and social problems in Sri Lanka forever. LTTE did not do anythiing that any of the government did not do.
just talking to one person, and then writing in the newspare is not the right things. Instead, newspaper should have talked to different people. Mathu does not have good communications skills. Though Sri Lankan government did so many bad things, they talk like a savior of human rights and democracy and minority. All Sri Lankan government have had people who were very good in communicaitons so they were able to cover up many crimes that were committted against Tamils.
Raj, you think your c ommunication skills are any better. Learn to read and write first. All the evil crimes that were carried out by the LTTE is well known. That is why the International community labelled them as terrorist and banned them. So stop being silly trying to pin all the nafarious things by LTTE on the SriLankan forces.
Gammnu! I am sorry that I can’t agree with you. Both LTTE and governmets copy eath other’s crimes. I do not find big difference between them when it comes to crime. No one is better than other.
Raj, You are 100% right.
The writer says that diaspora should be invited to Sri Lanka. I have a lot of relatives living in many countries. Why should they come here?Can’t they hear from us. They support us, so they know that we are not free yet. My house is also shared with my relative who was living in the security zone. We still remain unemployed.
Tamilarasi – Gamunu talks sence. What did Tamil people achive after 30 years of bloody war? 30 years of education wasted. Members of one family live in different countries. Northern Srilanka has been paralised and people like you having a tough time either in north or south of the island. At the end the most dangerous terror leader in the world was caught like a puppy. Tamils are still suffering. Do we need another war and suffer another 30 years. To live in fear, to travel in fear. We been reluctant to go to many places in Colombo itself let alone the northern part? For what?
Ranil offered Prabakaran a golden oppotunity to come to a deal. But what did he do? He was too greedy and wanted this bloody war to continue and because of that an elected (Ranil as PM) govt has been desolved with the help of JVP & others by the Bandit (Brandy) Queen. Do you know that Prabakaran stopped people of north from voting in 2004, thats when he signed his death warrant. He knew that if RW comes to power then he has to accept the peace deal (supported by international community). Prabakaran didnt want peace, he wanted that bloody war. So he paid a price.
Tamilarasi – people like you, or Gamunu or Me dont have to pay a price. We all can live peacefully.
Tamilarai, I agree with you that not everything is perfect. The issue is why don’t they help people like you instead of collecting money (still) for more weapons. If you don’t want them to come to Sl, surely you can ask them to help build your lives by getting involved to develop the region. Or is it that you want them to start another war and push your lives into deeper mess? Srilankan soldiers didn’t come looking for your children, did they?
Lakhdar Brahimi, former Algerian Foreign Minister and former UN envoy said:
“Sri Lanka has played a key role among countries of the Third World in their common stand against colonial domination, violent repression and denial of human rights. All those friends of Sri Lanka are duty-bound today to help this country consolidate peace and ensure that the causes of its terrible 30-year civil war are not allowed to lay the foundations for another conflict.
“Speaking out is neither unfriendly to the people of Sri Lanka, nor an interference in the internal affairs of its government. Quite the opposite: it is a strong manifestation of support for justice, peace and progress for all the people of Sri Lanka.”
There we are! ‘ It will be the end of Tamils( they are in a worst situation than the 1970′s). Says it all. The era of 70′s saw some of the discriminatory legislations against the Tamils like the ‘ Standardisation’ of the University admissions and education. Friends! at least you must congratulate the commentator for admitting the plight of the Tamils at present ,after being ‘liberated’, and their intentions all throughout. LTTE was proscribed in many countries for the simple reason these countries disagreed with some of the methods adopted by the them,and came to the conclution that it is a ‘terrorists’ organisation and GOSL a ‘democratically’ elected government of a ‘soveriegn’ state and supported the actions taken by the GOSL. But in return they expected from this ‘democratically’ elected GOSL some sort of good governance and accountability for their actions,which they cannot expect from the LTTE,which they branded as terrorists organisation. So this argument,because the LTTE did that and the GOSL did this in return is not acceptable to the changing world order. ( It is completely a different matter for most of the Srilankans who cheers when a corrupt thuggish Minister ties a Govt.Officer to a tree and humiliate him and his family). So whether the LTTE or the Tamil Diaspora, what ever way you decide to call, when decides switch their methods to democratic ways like forming a ‘Govt; in Exile’ it is accepted by most of the countries. ( None of the countries so far have banned or stopped this GinE operating on their soil.) Mr.Lakhdar! you must whatch the video how a Srilankan minister ties a Government officer to a tree and humiliates him and his family, and later decide how Srilanka plays a key role in denial of human rights and violent repression. It is not that they are going to come and fight like in that past. In my opinion somebody else is doing the fighting for them. As it is you do not need an enemy when you have a ‘Patriotic’ regime as the present one. They are doing the fighting by chaining all the Srilankans to the Indians,Chinese, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Developement Bank, HSBC,etc.etc….and this country will never be free,but will be indebted for generations to come. By the way I thought Srilanka is pro-palestinian and voicing against the injustice the Palestinians are enduring. Nizam I did not realise that the Srilankans have become fans of Israel and especially ‘Mossad’.Good grief!
Peter (or what ever name you is), Let me correct you on few points that you have raised. It appears that you have either been fed with Tamil diatribe calling the sinhala people evil and nasty or you have some close connections to the Tamil propaganda machine. Either way your comments will only make a die hard LTTE follower happy.
So my first question is where in the hell did you get to know that everyone cheered when a deputy minister ( in my opinion an idiot and a common thug) gave orders to tie a government official to a tree? No one who saw that incident cheered, let alone approved it. in fact the whole nation except for the thugs who are associated with the deputy minister have condemn the incident. So what you have written is totally untrue. You have suggetsed that Mr. Lakhdar watch the vidoe, i suggest you too have another close look at it. This is deceiving people.
My second point is, you have no concept of the reasons for standardisation in the seventies. For a foreigner like you, it may look unfair but I can speak as someone who suffered from the cheating that went on with Tamil acedemics, who blatently gave higher marks for tamil students to help them get to the top. The result was the inequelity in intakes into universities. When more than 50% entered from the demographically low race while the majority sinhala students felt cheated. They had to accpet the rest ofthe vacant palces with the muslims, burgers, malays and the rest. Now there was some thing drastically wrong with the set up. You may of course would say that the Tmils are more intelligent than the majority sinhalese. hence the disparity. This type of positive discrimination happened during the colonial rule too when the Brisitsh used the minoirty tamils for their advantage to control the majotity sinhalese. They are facts that even you cannot deny. If ignorant I sugget you read about this period of history before making idiotic comments.
Third point is, If the west want to support and breed a GinE in their states it is their problem. This shows how the west has always manipulated developing countries and the way they intefere with developing nations.. I challenge you if uncle SAM or any other western Government will ever attempt similar action on China over Tibet, or India over Kashmir etc. No they wouldn’t , would they? I don’t think they have the b**** to do that. Look what is happening in Afghanistan and and in Iraq wher they tried to solve problems for those nations.
Lastly, I am amused to read your comments on chaining to Indians, chinese, ADB,HSBC etc. Do you live in another planet not to see what your own country and the USA and the rest of Eurpoe going through now? How did they manage to chain their citizens to hefty loans. Generations will be burdened with loans. Didin’t the UK beg for loans from the IMF in the 70 when they almost went bankrupt. You have some nerve to comment on SriLanka being in debt to others. What of the trade deficit in the USA, Britain, Spain, Greece to name a few. So you mind your business. Why not to try and advice these countries how to manage their economies.
What you guys want is for SL to go to your countries with cap in hand and accept your conditions on our nation. Take a good look around and see how the global economies are changing.
We were chained to the west for too long and the result was decades of underdevelopmemnt. Even your friend VP’s antics didn’t help us. It is a matter of time before our fortunes begins to turn in our favour. That is the reason you guys are tring hard to throw the spanners in the works. Your views may please a critical diaspora but will not wash in SL. We have survived longer than your civilisation and will continue to survive in the future too. Make no mistake of it. Leave SL isuues for us and go and do your own dirty washing!!!!
Hi Gamunu! I like your comments and your virile rhetory. It seems like a lot of ignorant Tamils keeping writing in without even knowing the history of SL, but then, the Tamil Diaspora is not made up of Sri Lankan Tamils alone, but Tamils from all over the world. Remember, there are over a 100 million Tamils found all over this earth. Next to the Jews, the Tamils are the most influential ethnic group in the West. This is also the reason for the pressure exerted by the UN and other western countries against MR’s govt.
In the early ’70s I came across a group of Malaysian Tamils in Hamburg who tried to tell me that SL belonged to India! To which I used to jokingly reply, “Yes, during the reign of the Dinosaurs, when the whole world was one”. At that time, I did’nt realise the plotting that was going on against our country! Most of us Sri Lankans were unaware about this scheme.
If Ranil played into the hands of the Norwegians, the Sinhalese would today be suffering the same fate that the Palestinians are going through. There would have been so much pressure from South India (over 60 million Tamils) alone, that the Sinhalese would have been driven into the sea. The idea was to one day annexe SL to South India. Eelam would’nt have been in the hands of our own Tamils, but controlled by “Alien-Tamils”.
Let’s hope that sanity prevails amongst us, of different ethnic groups in SL, so that we or our children could one day live in harmony.
“All we are saying, is give peace a chance”!
Please visit these websites for World’s ahppiest countries and Corruption perception Index.
Srl Lanka ranks 115 out of 155 and 97 out of 182 respectively… no wonder why???
http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/14/world-happiest-countries-lifestyle-realestate-gallup-table.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index
Raj’s statement is 100% true “If anyone blaming LTTE, keep in mind that all of the Sri Lankan governments that taught LTTE what shoud be done by buring the library, by setting fires on Temples, by organizing riots against tamils for brutal killings, by bmobing civilians targets, by open firing on civilians, by accepting extra judicial killings, and by approving Tamil paramilitary to recruits children by force. Blame should go on both ways” LTTE would have killed maximum 10,000 civilians and government already killed anything more than 75,000 civilians. Sinhalse always talk about bombing of Dhalatha Maligawa where as they never realise the fact that almost all Hindu temples were burned (including temples in Colombo) during this 3 decade civil war. Even the priest in Matakuliya temple was beheaded by cannibals during 83 riots. Pot is calling kettle as black
Lankan Lion you are not a Lion but a Jaffanese Tiger. It is the same old record. We are tired of it. LTTE were innocent fighters while the government went on a tamil killing spree. What of those bobming raids carried out by your mighty LTTE. Even the Tamilnet your mouth piece accpeted them as triumphant events. What about those two final failed bombing raids? Were they for an air display? Yes most of the killings were done by an unruly mob. Be thenkful even now that your young children are not conscripted forcefully in the name of freedom. You survved because you hid away from the LTTE and watched the fighting from overseas. Well done and BRAVO you Tiger!!!!
no buddhist will burn hindu temples are buddhism is a purer form of hinduism. manyy buddhist pray to hindu Gods of ganesh etc… visit the jain temples in bombay to learn more. for what they did to the maligawa Gods punishment was there to be seen to all need we say more!
Many killings and bombing carried out by government were covered up by blaming LTTE including the killing of Kadirgamar and blasting passenger buses in boader villages just to keep the war momentum among general public. If the government or Sinhalse people are genuine towards Tamils can they quote a single exmple where government punished Sinhalse or military forces for their atrocious act against minorities in this country. Did any of the leader aopolgised for the cannibal act of Black July. How many thousands of murders, rapes are going on against minorities and some of them are recorded and quoted by Amnesty International to prove the world that Sri Lankan government is engaging in genocide in Sri lanka. So we are helpless other than fund LTTE to fight with ou rpredators who is killing and raping our children and sisters
u are not lanka lion but a ponna sakkiliya! all u can say is abt black july ???? hello we are in 2010??
Sri Lanka is a nice country but now filled with cannibals and war criminals who thrive in human blood from minorities
Mura, correction!!! It was haunted and was asick plcae to live but not ay more. Go to uncle SAM, he may be able to give you a state for the mono ethnic tamils. Call it Ealam, EAZHAM or any other name you want. Just leave Sl for srilankans.
This is the time to move forward and forget the past bitter incidences. Unfortunately this government is not genuine at all to reconcile ethics issues or working towards the betterment of this country. Rather R family is working with a master plan to robe the whole country by keep it under their control and wipe out their opponents. Democracy is put to death by Rajapaksa family and corrupted criminals are deciding fate of this country. No way I can justify war crime committed by decision makers (specially Gothabaya Rajapaksa) and they deserve severe punishment. Time to weed out and preserve this country as a heaven for civilised society
Poeple who comment here have forgotten that like Tamils, Sinhalese too suffered. While Tamils faced army’s military onslaught, Sinhalese faced LTTE’s gurilla attack. If Sinhalese failed to realize that and drag another 30 years, it will bring suffering to Tamils and Sinhalese. Sri Lanka needs genuiene reconciliations.
Number of deaths destruction and casualties in sri Lanka – civilians of all races and faiths, defence forces,Police and LTTE cadres- since the war ended in May 2009 has been extremely low when compared to the previous era. This is the big positive that was brought about by ending that brutal conflict and all citizens living in the country are enjoying the benefits.
For this we salute the political and military leadership of SL. What the diaspora are saying here does not alter this simple truth.
[...] Following is an extract of my conversation: READ MORE [...]
The author did not meet the right person to get his doubt cleared. The questions he selected to asked Madhu shows it all and not to mention the question that was published here was in a way winding up othe other community as the comments here show.
I suggest ou ask these when you sit with him again and you would be surprise with the answers.
1. Why did you supported the Tigers?
2. Why will you support if another emerge? What is the future of the tamils in Sri Lanka?
3. How do you see the chances of all communities living togeather in an undivided country?
4. Why you think the country should be divided?
5. Will you go back and if not why?
6. What you thing of the current regime?
7. Who you think, among the political leaders, is likely to lead the country to prosperity.
I think the author is not jobless as you to raise such questions with a psychopathy , I think North-en population around 5-6% of the total population in Sri Lanka(other Tamils are living among Sinhalese n Muslims in South ) , so we have to divide the country for 6% of the total population..
They should not come this far, if we had strong political leadership ,1/2 million army against 30,000 terrorists
Hi every one
What the jewish diaspora did and is doing to protect their only state Isreal is what the EelamTamil diaspera should do protect their only state the Tamil Eelam.We need to quickly acquire a nuclear capability and decimate our Sinhala enemies.
The bo tree and all other so- called vestiges of budhist power centres must be removed from the earth in order to achive permanent peace on the Island.Modern day Dutugemunu and their brothers birth place Ruhunurata must face a nuclear amagaddon from the diaspora Tamils so that the humanity will flurish on the Island
Moda Sri Lankan Government is embracing KP the LTTE Leader, so what more to talk.
I live in Canada and I have come across so many Tamils who support the LTTE. Now they’re not necessarily bad people but they’re blinded by the thought of liberation. I have lived in sri lanka till I was fourteen and saw so much bloodshed on the account of the war. Many times I felt it was no use reasoning with them because they believed so strongly in that organization.
This ethnic violence has to got to stop! Don’t you see we’re either tamils, sinhalese or muslims by name, but we are all human beings. We cannot be defined by our race. Besides what is race anyway? No one cannot be purely Sinhalese, Tamil or Muslim.
The thing is that we could keep complaining about politics and ethnic violence or we could do something about it.
Very well said Rebekah.
Ethnicity, which is a mere accident of birth, should ideally be left alone in the governance of a country, other than to ensure that no one is discriminated against on grounds of it. This was the essence and spirit of section 29 of the independence constitution that independent Ceylon worked out with the departing British to ensure a peaceful transition and a basis for development as a modern democracy.
As you rightly say, ethnicity is also a misnomer in the sense that there is no pure race. If you look at every country today, there has been such a mix of ethnicities, that we are ignoring this one aspect that speaks for the harmony of the entire human race.
On the other hand, the author of this article (Jehan, is it?), has simply touched on a few very pertinent points, in order that this country with all its peoples, and human potential, may move forward from here.
You rightly point to the ending of ethnic violence in all its forms, whether it be initiated by a State, or in revenge for State action, and then counter-violence. The cycle will never end, as long as each interest-group keeps harping on who came first, or who started the violence etc.
The quest for peace must begin within each individual, to rise above petty ethnicity for identity, and in that quest, may each develop generosity, be moral and ethical, and strive to cleanse the mind, as all spiritual traditions teach. This way, one can be true to oneself; and, one who constantly strives to be true to oneself, cans’t then be false to any other person, as they say.
Thank you for all kind comments here, and may all find it in their hearts to forgive themselves and others of all past wrongdoings, real and perceived, and learn to strive for peace and harmony within, and with all around us.
May all be safe and well, peaceful and content:)
Gemunu! yes peter is my real name and there is no need for me to have have a psuedo name. Besides the way you conduct your argument towards standardisation, I am sure you should have actively taken part in the 1983 July pogrom, and by any chance your assigned area was Kotahena area and still have the voters lists handed over to you you can verify this checking the names in the College street section. Further it is most likely that you would have seen my house prior to the looting and burning down and after that and there myself, my wife, my 9 year old son, my elderly Parents-in-law standing with only the dress on them and some old used clothes in plastic shopping bags. I can hear what you are murmuring, ‘Ai mowun serama maran naththuwa panapitin athahariye! Sorry it is too late now. Even people like UN Sec.General, Head of UNHCR, and so on have become Sinhala hating,LTTE diatribe, for speaking for Justice and fairness it is simple for people like me to fall into the category. Just to to touch on this point of yours, for your information I started studying Sinhala way back 1961 and one of the first Tamil Govt.Servants to get through Sinhala Proficiency Gr.IV and started working in the Sinhala medium.This examination was held in Matara and the the teacher who coached me was a Budhist monk who still lives in Isadeen Town. After successfully completing an overseas studies, when it came to promotion though I was first in the eligibility list a person who was 7th was promoted over me which lead to my leaving the Govt. Service. May be you have an argument for this as that for the ‘Standardisation’., so lets not waste any more time on that. Now coming to the Minister’s issue, is this the first time he has performed a drama like this. If whole of the country is not agreeing with him how come he is still there kicking? He was voted into power with 156,000 votes( that is what he says in the video) which means all of them are cheering,isn’t it? Besides what about those bunch of Senior Police Officers standing there doing ? They are aiding and abetting in the drama and in other words they are cheering. What more do you want? What!’Deceiving the people, how deceiving is that ? It is very clear that he is holding the rope and handing over it to another guy saying,’ menna eyawa ara gahatta bandinna’. If your argument is that it is a ‘Doctored’ version you must get the minister to tie the Daily mirror to the tree. coming to the second point of yours, if the Tamil academics were giving the Tamil students higher marks deceptively and still could not be detected and punished, why couldn’t the Sinhala Academics give them 100% and send them to the universities? If your argument that the minorities are getting a favourable place in university admission and jobs over the majority , which is fair in my opinion, they could have brought in a legislation to give university admission and jobs on the basis of demography. So the ‘Standardisation’ had an ulterior motive and the burnign down of the Jaffna library clearly demonstrated it.Now as you desired more of the majority students are in the universities,which is good, but they are not only not studying but not allowing others to study, by getting embroiled in politics and spending most of their time on the street demonstrations and scuffles, which is completely a different matter. The time you are mentioning saw this country of Ceylon as a country of plenty,peace, justice and decency. We had a non-politicised judiciary, well deciplined Armed forces and Police Force. We could get into a police station and come out unscathed, without getting murdered, tortured and raped. We could walk into a Govt. dept. get our day to day needs done without paying a bribe. So you seems to be happy with the present day set up. All the best enjoy it. Of course Global economies are changing ,the western economies are struggling but they are not asking for GSP plus from Srilanka. ‘It is a matter of time before our fortunes begins to turn in our favor’, when ,after the western world manipulate your ‘Patritotic’ leaders and move all the fortunes to California, a place in uncle SAM’s country.Give me an example of one of the Srilankan Corproation ,Dept., or an enterprise making profit these days. When I left the country in 1983 the price of a loaf of bread was 80 cents I presume, and how much it is now ? You might argue that the salaries have gone up very much, but in those days a man with an average salary could by sovereign of Gold and still left with some money. How many can do that today. If you take Srilankan Rs.100 you could get Indian Rs.200. These are facts and figures showing how the Srilankan fortunes are turning for better. I am already 70 years old and I am sure I have seen enough of historical facts than you unless ofcourse you are older than me. If you guys can call ‘Karuna Amman’ who murdered 700 surrendered Police Officers and KP who in your words a terrorists, a friend , just because they have become friends of your Royal Family, I do not think it is wrong any body calling VP a friend whether they like it or not. Give me some time until your fortunes begin to turn in your favour and I will start doing the ‘Dirty Washing’ . Lastly this is for you Thulirtharan! you are a worst moron than this guy Gamunu. If you think killing can solve all the problem,then Hitler would be still there kicking. Besides what is the difference between you and the guy who says that ‘it will be the end of all the Tamils’. You are a disgrace!
Tamil Diaspora homelands are Canada,USA,UK,AUSTRALIA,Norway etc.All these tamils who helped Tamil tigers from overseas 99.5% are assylam seekers who are on Govt Benefits.Poor Tax payers who works very hard pay for these street hawkers who were good in geting to streets holding banners and protesting last few months when the big cat Prabaha and the clan were surrounded by SL Armed forces. Where is this tamil dispora now no where to see nor call they are tamil dispora and hiding in shame.
Tamil Nadu in India is where they originated from and that is where they should hold a referendum on independence there first. If you don’t have the bulk of your people independent there, how can you ask another smaller country to carve out a state for you for a minority of your people?
There could be a lasting peace only if the Srilankan government with the majority Sinhalese could allow the UN war crimes investigation pannel.
The Elders urge the international community and especially China, India, Japan and the United States to insist that the government of Sri Lanka takes the following actions:
1.Withdraw wartime emergency legislation and make a public commitment to uphold the human rights of all citizens of Sri Lanka, including minorities.
2.Allow immediate ICRC access to the estimated 8,000 people detained on suspicion of being ex-combatants.
3.Co-operate with the UN Secretary-General’s panel of experts on accountability, including granting visas if requested.
4.Ensure that any prosecutions are based on evidence and not political expediency; cease political interference in the work of the judiciary.
5.Allow domestic and international NGOs and media to carry out their work in Sri Lanka without harassment, intimidation or undue restrictions.
6.Begin a meaningful process of consultation with people in the north and east of the country on land issues and economic development as well as constitutional reforms to address long-standing political marginalisation of ethnic minorities.
7.Ensure the security of United Nations operations and personnel.
http://www.theelders.org/media/mediareleases/sri-lankas-disturbing-actions-met-by-deafening-global-silence
First these requests must be met before there could be any reconciliation.
Conquerors generally set the tone of negotiations for the vanquished and not the other way round. The Sri Lankan government doesn’t have to do any of the above as they are no longer being blackmailed by the Tamil separatists nor their Indian and western backers. The Tamils in SL should be greatful if the SL government even consults them on land issues and economic development.
Sir , forget about Mathu. Forget about Diaspora.Why you want to bother about
the people outside if you people are genuinly prepared to solve the minority
problem.62 years you are draging this problem.62 years you people killed
how many innocent people.Why you people refuse to think and accept this?
But still you are writing and thinking what Mathu said and what Diaspora
do.But you are not least prepared to solve this problem.First genuinly solve this problem then see the Tamils in Srilanka will chase those who fight and
ask Separation.
Please do not fervor the hatred.
Sit for a minute.Will SL be a better place without the tamils/Muslims.All the western nations are enjoying our cream of people.Why?
If we continue to marginalise people they will leave to a place where they feel better . One of our surgeons was awarded a medal by the queen for the surgery he performed on a little girl injured in Engalnd.Why did he leave?He felt unwanted in SL.We are crowing about our past history and loosing our future generations. Look at the quality of politicians we have?
As one of the politicians of the yester generations said, one langauge two countries two language one country.What is the caliber now? Please vote for people who call for unity and please make peace with someone who is from another race and see the humane nature within them. United we stand, divided we fall.Call to make all religions and languages as state languages and religions, and see what happens. We will be richer and happier.
Gamunu,
Do you still say this after witnessing what happened to the Samurdhi officer?
I may be wrong! But I think the problem of the country are the politicians and people who vote for them.LTTE was a by product of that.If you think by defeating the LTTE SL would be better off, then you are to be sympathised.
Defeat racism and stand for justice. Identify people as Srilankans and respect others language and religion. See what happens.
The LTTE is not a terrorist organization. It is a liberation movement. What distinguishes a terrorist organization and a militant organization is popular support. The Vanni people were well off under the LTTE rule than under the fascist rule of Rajapakse and Co. The question for Sinhalese chauvinists who relish labeling the LTTE as a terrorist organization, how did the LTTE originate in a Buddhist country? As Chandrika Kumaratunga once confessed Prabhakaran is a product of Sri Lanka state violence. If any Thamil Diaspora visits he will be shocked to find how shabbily the IDPs does are treated in North and east. While the government is spending 2020 billion on defence, it is spending a paltry sum of 20 billion on rehabilitation and resettlement. In short the LTTE armed struggle might be over, but the reasons for the war remain as solid now as before!
This article tries to portray all Diaspora Tamils as blind extremist. It is no different than judging all Sinhalese as anti Tamil thugs after 1983,1981,1977 & 1958 anti Tamils riots. I am a Sri Lankan Tamil who had to leave the country of my birth because of 1983 ethnic riots. My large extended family whose lineage in Sri Lanka goes back generations was separated and exiled. I do not hold all Sinhalese people responsible nor do I care who came to Sri Lanka first. Mathu to me is no different than a JHU member who believes in Sinhala supremacy. However, I feel many Sinhalese writers want to portray the Tamil Diaspora in a one dimensional way. There are different points of view among Diaspora Tamils.
The time will show the truth to the world and one day very soon the TAMIL EELAM WILL flurish. According to the book written by Gaspar hettiarachchi in South Africa Library will show when it is going to happen. Modaya
To set the record straight, there is no homogeneous community called “Tamil Diaspora”. Among the 100 million odd Tamils around the world, sri lankan tamils make only a minority. Those who left ceylon early to countries like singapore & malaysia have now forgotten ceylon. But many who fled sri lanka in the recent past continue to be alert to what is happening. I think some in sri lanka are trying to create a bogey out of the diaspora. Their financial contribution to LTTE is grossly overstated. LTTE was sophisticated enough to have multiple income streams. And every tamil overseas did not donate to the Tigers. Some still oppose them. Just like the tigers, PLOTE, EPRLF, ENDLF, EPDP, TMVP, EROS, TULF also have their own subgroups within the diaspora. They engage in politics against the LTTE ideology. There are tamils who even support parties like UNP, SLFP. So the diaspora is very complex. To blame the diaspora for sri lanka’s inabilities and then ask and coerce them to invest their money is quite contradictory. Instead of blaming others, sri lanka needs to reconcile with the marginalised communities particularly the ceylon tamils. Then, the diaspora, TN and the IC will fall in line!