#81. Thamilannpan referred to “the pre 1983 violent history where the state run terrorism caused lots damages to Tamils.” Note carefully: “…PRE 1983…”.

#106. Devinda Fernando: No one is disputing that people from all the commmunities have suffered in some way or other since the war/conflict began.

BUT (with apologies to Thamilannpan if I have misinterpreted him) the point I think #81 Thamilanpan is making is that all that suffering is due to the Sinhala-Buddhist-Extremism (SBE), and that this absurd incident involving little Nethmi Lavanya Yogendra shows that the SBE communalistic attitude is STILL present in SL.

If not for SBE there would have not have been any LTTE either!
The SBE are responsible for all the pre 1983 suffering as well as the suffering due to the present conflict/war that they have caused.

Are the more normal minded Sinhalese and true Buddists willing or able to stand up against Sinhala-Buddhist-Extremism (SBE) and opportunistic politicians?

Thamilannpan,

No I am not. You only post selective history, Maybe you should go and look up all the Massacres and Assasinations done to Sinhalese…. or even better yet the Sri Lankans that the LTTE have killed.

How many Tamils have been murdered by the LTTE? How many Muslims Ethnically Cleansed from Jaffna and even in the East?

How many Sinhalese Villagers massacred? You will claim Zero… because a Deluded like you thinks only the Tamisl have suffered in this conflict.

And could the Minsister have acted entirely on his own? No way! It just shows the communalistic thinking that is around and clearly demonstrates that the Tamils are not regarded as equal citizens.

If the Minister (and the GOSL ) are to be seen as having done the right thing by wishing to protect the girl for her own good,THEN the mister is claining that Vishaka Vidyalaya is communalistic and that the girl needed protection from the them!

A.Rajasingam (the pretend Tamil) is clearly paranoid, and needs serious treatrment if he/she thinks that the liitle girl had to be stopped in case she became a TIGER let loose among the Sinhalese.
(But A.Rajasingam should be reminded that the Minister however was concerned that the little TAMIL girl needed protection since she would otherwise be as a lamb thrown to the lions!)

Surely at this rate a great and prosperous future awaits SL!

Where is your comment on the point #81? Why are you keeping your mouth shut on this point?

Excellent point. Sri Lanka is a failed state. It’s living on borrowed time. Yesterday I read the statement of a JVP member, that a crisis point will eventually be reached. IMO: the only reason why such a crisis point has already not been reached is due to massive foreign loans. What Sri Lankans, both Tamils and Sinhalese, should do now is gather together and petition the United Nations to send a peace-keeping force to resolve this crisis in such a manner that the warring parties are forcibly prevented from having contact with each other. There is no point in talking about past history, e.g. the 2500-year history of the Sinhalese or the battle between Dutugumenu and Eelara… for one thing, there are Sri Lankans living all over the world now, not just a little island, so we think globally, not locally… secondly, technology, specifically Western technology, is so easy to use, and efficient that prolonging the war is a simple matter for either side (compare this to the olden days of fighting with swords while riding elephants)…In essence, the key to solving the problem is to think globally, not locally. The integration of Sri Lanka with the outside world is a global, not a local phenomenon. Ethnic divisions and race based thinking in general are insignificant from this larger vantage point.

Let me also refer to earlier post 94 of Muditha. I appreciate the reply, however the whole matter of race, ethnicity , colour have been viewed from a US construct. The world does not revolve round the US.

Race based immigration rightfully is a thing of the past and many of the issues Muditha has raised is more relevent to the era of South African aperthaid of the 60s and the Nazi racism of the 30s. US and a few other countries are just coming out of it, or trying to re-enter.

However, there are valid reasons to identify disadvantaged communities in many countries. Hispanics in US, the Untouchables in India and the Aborigines in Australia and many others are being identified in order to provide additional facilities to these disadvantaged communities, eventually to bring them upto the standard of the general populace. These are temporary measures of negative discrimination.There maybe other valid reasons too. For example of medical or health reasons of prevalent medical conditions based on ethnic origins. Then in policing and identification matters appearences do matter, but has been toned down in most democracies to remove any derogatory aspects.

If you yourself fulfil all conditions as an Hispanic as per US definitions, please do apply for the scholarships. My question is what if a person does qualify on paper, but some official declares the person is not so in ‘appearence’. Do we reinvent the S African mess again?

Not only you, but I too have been asked in Brazil – Tu Mexicana ? In fact we Sri Lankans do have a sprinkling of Hispanic blood. So, please do go for your scholarship in the US. What happened to all those Portuguese / Spanish soldiers who ended up in Sri Lanka who could not take the last bus home ? But remember we may start getting into the S African equation of ethnic judgement and blood percentages.

You also raise the question ‘why the hell are we at war for so long?’. By the term ‘we’ do you refer to the Tamils and the Sinhalese, as ethnic groups? many Sinhalese and Tamils are close to each than to their own people. There is no war between these communities. They have not been at war in Sri Lanka, perhaps during the past 450 years. The last was when Sankili killed, enslaved or expelled the Sinhalese who were all Buddhist from Jaffna peninsula after his battles with the Portuguese, as Rasanayagam Mudaliar states in his book ,as well as other historians do.

LTTE did the same in early 90s when they killed or expelled the Sinhalese and the Muslims again from Jaffna. To say that we are at war as ethnic groups – wrong again. Neighbours collectively do not kill each other in the streets of Sri Lanka. This is again propaganda that has soaked into gullible heads. Do we kill each other as the Sunni’s and the Shi’ites and bomb each others places of worship ?

However, we do have a war betweeen a terrorist organisation and the legitimate defence force of a democracy. In that terrorist organisation, there are persons of Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala ethnic origin. On the governement side there have always been Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese in known history. So where is this ethnic war or civil war ?

I am not aware of countries that still have race based immigration, but once a person is in the country as an immigrant, then there maybe reasons to find out his ethnicity in order to provide facilities under
‘disadvantaged group’ criteria.

Read my post 84 carefully again and again regarding the change that happened in 1972. It is based on the name of the island had prior to 1972 which identified the race, language and the nation as one. Look up an older Oxford Dictionary too.

You say that assimilation is done over a period of time. Good. Here we talk of hundreds of thousands persons perhaps. Now, how does the hundreds of thousands change ? Is it overnight on a particular day that is between AD 1700 and AD 2000 or some such. Or is it that a few people/ families change every year ?

Years back these changes were not documented. Now in Nethmi’s case she belongs to one of those families that is in the process of change and the change is captured on documents. This is beacuse now you are in a modern era, where documents matter. Look around in your own relations. Aren’t there similar chnages ?

Thank you for the disscussion. Good Bye.