Professional record-breaker Suresh Joachim always knew that if he wanted people to listen to him, he’d have to make a name for himself.
Then he discovered the Guinness Book of World Records.
Now a stay-at-home dad and full-time record-breaker, Suresh has broken 53 world records-including longest karaoke marathon (25 hours, 49 minutes), longest time spent standing on one foot (76 hours, 40 minutes) and longest continuous ironing (55 hours, five minutes).
He currently holds records in more than 30 categories-the second most prolific record holder in the entire Guinness Book of World Records. He is Canada’s number one record breaker.
[Suresh Joachim]
Born in Sri Lanka, Suresh grew up surrounded by violence and civil war. He always wanted to do something to help needy children worldwide and now uses the media attention on his record attempts to spread a message of peace.
“In 1991, one of my uncles gave me a ‘Guinness Book,’” said the fast-talking Toronto resident, who worked as a chartered account and as a purchasing officer before deciding to focus on record breaking.
“It was very nice, colourful, with a black cover and silver letters,” he told CTV.ca, describing his first the way one might recall a childhood friend.
“All my stars were in there: Madonna, the football players-you know Madonna, right? Even Michael Jackson was there for most albums sold….I thought ‘OK, this is a good book.’”
The first record he tried to break was standing on one foot for the longest amount of time. While he didn’t get the record on his first attempt-someone else had submitted a higher one in the meantime-he started to realize he might be capable of some amazing feats.
“Everyone has these abilities but they don’t try it,” said Suresh, who credits his success to his good intentions. “If I want to run in the Olympics I will train and I will do it. Anyone can do what I am doing if they believe in God. He is my strongman.”
Record-setting wedding
When Suresh married his wife Christa, the nuptials were witnessed by 79 bridesmaids and 47 groomsmen — setting world records for highest number of each at one ceremony.
It wasn’t exactly what Christa had pictured when daydreaming of her ideal wedding. That said, she might have guessed what kind of life she was in for after meeting her future husband at a live radio broadcast where she watched him chat and play music for 120 hours — another record.
“It definitely wasn’t my idea,” she said of the wedding. The event also featured the world’s longest bouquet, an interwoven flower display held by Christa at one end and extending 62.09 metres down the aisle of Mississauga’s Christ the King Catholic Church.
“At first my family thought, ‘Oh my God, can you settle for this guy? He’s crazy,’” she told CTV.ca.
Suresh, 39, stays at home while Christa, 32, goes to work. Christa said she supports her husband’s goal of using his fame to draw attention to child poverty.
“It was hard for my parents to understand,” she said. “They came around.”
Besides looking after sons Joshua, 3, and Jacob, 5 months, Suresh trains in his home gym and meditates.
He usually attempts about one record a month. He says that would increase to two if he were able to get sponsors to pay for expenses such as travel to the best places to attempt certain records.
Next stop: Bollywood stardom
These days he’s looking for financial help to get to the U.K. so he can swim across the English Channel and back, and then across again.
He’s also planning a trip to India in May to produce a Bollywood-style record-setting film with a volunteer crew that he already has in place.
If his plan goes off without a hitch, the film will set at least three records:
* shortest amount of time to make a film, from scriptwriting to screening
* highest number of costume changes by one character
* most roles executed by one person.
“I have to do everything: editing, dubbing, shooting,” he said, noting he hopes to finish the film in 12 days in order to beat the current record. “I am acting as the main character in this movie and the producer as well.”
Suresh set his two most recent records on April 18 at a fundraiser in Markham, Ont. There, patrons paid an entrance fee to watch him attempt the highest number of “star jumps” in one minute (60) and the farthest distance rowed in one hour on a Concept II rowing machine (11.191 km).
A star jump begins from a crouched position with both hands and feet touching the ground. The jumper then hops to a standing position where the arms are stretched out horizontally and the legs are spread apart.
The event raised about $20,000 for Project Hope, an international non-profit organization offering medical aid and training to people in poverty. Suresh says it’s a start to what he hopes is a long career of using whimsical stunts to draw attention to the world’s most serious problems.
Suresh has two goals he hopes to meet before calling it quits on his unique career: Earning 500 world records and running a peace marathon that would take him through 55 of the world’s richest countries. He plans to use the run as a fundraiser for child poverty, although he has not yet decided which organization he will support.
“This is the good time to turn my way to spread the peace message and bringing more money to the children,” said the earnest achiever. “I am ready to help any of them.”
Suresh Joachim’s world records include:
* Most bridesmaids at a wedding (79)
* Most groomsmen at a wedding (47)
* Long karaoke marathon (25 hours, 49 minutes)
* Longest drumming marathon (84 hours)
* Furthest distance rowed in one hour on a Concept II rowing machine (11.191 km)
* Longest duration balancing on one foot (76 hours, 40 minutes)
* Longest continuous ironing (55 hours, five minutes)
* World’s longest bouquet (62.09 metres in length)
* Longest Elvis Presley impersonation (54 hours)
* Coach potato record for watching 69 straight hours of TV
* Longest time standing on one foot (76 hours and 40 minutes)
* Fasted time to crawl a mile (23 minutes, 45 seconds)
* Longest radio broadcast (120 hours)
* Longest time rocking in a rocking chair (74 hours)
* Longest distance run whilst carrying a 4.5 kg brick in an ungloved hand, in an uncradled downward position (126.675 km)
* Most star jumps in a minute (60)
For many,many moons the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse has been projecting an image that everything is going well for the security forces on the military front.
The people of this country have been the targets of a sustained propaganda barrage claiming that everything was hunky-dory for the regime in the on going war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The scale of this propaganda has been so great that many people in the South were taken in and believed that “victory” over the tigers was imminent.
This focus about winning the war instilled a buoyancy in the public mood which has helped the Rajapakse regime to help contain resentment over the rising cost of living, inflation, economic decline , corruption, mismanagement, nepotism, economic decline etc.
Many faults of the government are being tolerated to some extent because of the perception that the Rajapakse regime was winning the war against the LTTE and therefore should not be hampered or obstructed in any way.
Apart from this the Government has the additional advantage of a feeble opposition and weak leader of the opposition.
There have been however some including this columnist who have consistently pointed out that all was not going well with the government’s military project in the north.
While the security forces certainly had overwhelming military superiority over the LTTE the beleagured tigers were not going to cave in meekly it was pointed out.
The Wanni was the last stronghold or rear base of the LTTE and it would not retreat or withdraw as it did in the East .
Besides the LTTE was not a spent force . The tigers may be down but were certainly not out.
There had been several occasions in the past where the tigers had displayed amazing military resilience and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
However these dissenting views were lost on a government whose vision and mission revolved around theobjective of military victory over the LTTE.
There was also a convergence between the Government and military hierarchy. Army commander Lt. Gen Sarath Fonseka is determined to finish the war before his term of office ends.
Fonseka has gone on record that he would not leave war as a legacy for his successors.
It is against this backdrop that recent military manouevers in the North have to be looked at.
The army has five divisions on the northern and southern ends of tiger controlled territory in the North. The 55 and 53 divisions are in the peninsula while the 58, 57 and 59 divisions are in Mannar, Vavuniya and Manal aaru/Weli – Oya regions.
There has been intermittent fighting on all these fronts for many, many months. The tigers have been fighting a defensive war with dogged determination.
Another display of the LTTE’s military resilience was seen on Wednesday April 23rd in the northern theatre of war along the axis of Kilaly – Muhamaalai – Nagar Kovil..
On the day before (april 22nd) main battle tanks (MBT) and armoured personnel carriers (APC) of the army’s mechanized infantry division (53 – 4)advanced towards the South and south – east in a fan -like formation between Kilaly and Muhamaalai.
The MID commanded by Col. Ralph Nugera was formally raised in February last year.
The LTTE has its own anti tank and armoured unit named after Victor the former tiger commander for Mannar.
The LTTE has reportedly dug deep and long and wide trenches to combat and contain the mechanized infantry division.
There was however no deep advancement into tiger territory by the MID.
Tiger artillery fired back at the advancing armoured vehicles.
A Chinese built APC was hit by a RPG – 7 fired at close range by members of the Victor unit. The APC was put out of action.
Thereafter the MID withdrew.
There was a temporary lull which however did not last long.
A major military push commenced.
The military commander for Jaffna Maj – Gen Chandrasiri stationed himself at the 55 division headquarters in Kodikaamam to co-ordinate and direct the military operation.
Unconfirmed reports state that Army chief Lt. Gen Sarath Fonseka was in Palaly to oversee the operation.
Both the 53 and 55 divisions were involved in the military push.
According to circles close to the Defence ministry the entire operation had been set in motion at very short notice.
There had not been much inter – service co-ordination and the Navy and Air Force were very much in the dark about the operation during its initial phases..
A major factor in the military decision to launch a quick but intensive operation was the “intelligence” received through intercepts of LTTE radio messages.
The gist of those intercepts indicated that the LTTE was in a difficult situation at the Kilaly – Muhamaalai – Nagar Kovil frontline and was hard – pressed to retain its positions.
Thus it was decided that a sudden, swift strike could make LTTE defences crumble and that the armed forces could make that long anticipated break – through.
These plans however went awry and subsequent developments turned sour for the armed forces.The LTTE displayed a ferocious resilience that belied the intelligence assessment of the tigers being vulnerable at the Muhamaalai front.
It is now suspected that the LTTE had “conned” the security establishment into thinking that they were weak and ill – prepared at the frontline.
The “intercepts” were of messages deliberately sent out to hoodwink the armed forces.They were apparently hoaxes to lure the armed forces into attacking.
Even as fighting progressed the armed forces found themselves subjected to more deceptive guile by the LTTE.
In fairness to the security forces it must be said that the entire operation was well – planned and had on paper bright prospects of success. It was the implementation that went wrong.
Kilaly, Muhamaalai and Nagar Kovil are in the western, central and eastern areas of the lower part of Jaffna peninsula. This is the axis, demarcating areas of control between the security forces and tigers.
The respective forward defence lines as well as the common “no man’s land” zone are situated along this axis
It was past midnight around 2. 30 am that the military operation commenced. Since it was in the wee hours of the morning the date technically was Wednesday April 23rd.
It was initially a stealth operation.
The 53 division commanded by Brig. Samantha Sooriyabandara was to break out in two formations from Kilaly and South Muhamaalai and proceed South of the A – 9 or Jaffna – Kandy road.
The 55 division commanded by Brig.Kamal Gunaratne was to break out from Nagar Kovil on the East and proceed north of the A – 9 highway.
The 55 division was set a comparatively formidable task as it had to move through the marshy land called “Kandal” in proximity to inlets of the Jaffna lagoon.
Both divisions were to set out at 2. 30 am and proceed. After breaking through they were expected to move towards the centre and link up with each other.
Once the breakthrough and link -up was effected a seven km stretch was to be secured as phase one of the operation.
For reasons that are yet to be known the 53 division under Brig. Sooriyabandara was late and broke out only around 3. 30 am while the 55 division began proceeding at the stipulated time of 2. 30.
There seems to have been a break – down in communications.
The 55 division clashed with the LTTE in the” Kandal” marshy lands and invaded into LTTE territory. The forces advanced more than 500 – 600 metres into tiger territory and took over the LTTE’s first line of defence in that region.
While around six LTTE cadre were killed in a bunker most of the remaining tigers retreated from the first defence line.
By 5. 30 am the 55 division had accomplished its preliminary task and was preparing to take on the second line of defence.
Effective linking up between both divisions was delayed because of the 53 division delay.
When the 55 division tried to proceed further towards the 2nd line of defence the troops found themselves facing stiff resistance.
The Ponnammaan mines corps of the LTTE had set up its mines and booby traps in key locations. They began to take a toll.
There was also another nasty surprise.
Unknown to military intelligence the LTTE’s Kittu artillery unit and Kutty Sri mortar unit had set up an artillery pad at Soranpattru.
From this position the LTTE began firing with deadly accuracy on targets that were just a few hours before part of its first line of defence.
Several soldiers were killed in the bunkers and trenches along this line.
Unable to link up with the 53 division the 55 division men soldiers were deprived of support from the 53 – 4 mechanized infantry. There was also no air support.
It appeared that the tigers had enticed the 55 division into their territory by withdrawing rapidly from positions along the first line of defence. It was a trap set by the tigers .
While this was going on the 53 division with its bungled start was not faring well either. LTTE cadre resisted their advance fiercely.
The LTTE used mortars, mines and snipers in many places to cause damage to the soldiers.
While the LTTE relied more on mines, booby traps artillery and mortars against the 55 division there was a lot of intensive combat with the 53 division.
Support for the LTTE came from its tactical rear base set up between Pallai and the Puthukaadu junction.
This base codemamed Tango – one was the virtual headquarters with senior northern commander “Col” Theepan stationing himself here.
Fighters from the Charles Antony, Jeyanthan, Imran and Pandiyan infantry divisions, Sothiya womens brigade, Kittu, Victor, Kutty Sri, Ponnammaan units and snipers from the leopard commando “chiruthaigal” were moulded together into a viable defence .
“Col” Lawrence was commander of the tiger cadre engaging the 53 division. Lt. Col Muhunthan was in charge of the fighters resisting the 55 division.
Three senior tigers directing operations at the frontlines of Kilaly, Muhamaalai and the Kandal areas of Nagar Kovil were Kutti, Jerry and Kumanan respectively.
Since the operation was initially meant to be one of stealth the mechanized infantry had not proceeded at the front of advancing troops.
The MID came up at the rear at one stage and began firing. Subsequently it moved up front.
But the Victor unit engaged in counter strikes.
According to some reports two T – 55 tanks were destroyed. Four other Battle tanks were damaged.
As the morning sun got hotter and hotter it became clear that the surprise operation was no surprise to the tigers at all.The surprise if any was to the army and quite shocking at that!
From around 10 am the 55 and 53 began withdrawing. By 11. 30 am the soldiers had gone back to their earlier positions.
At about 12. 30 pm there was an air strike over Soranpattru where the tiger artillery pad was located.
There was also an intensive artillery barrage towards the Pallai area for nearly five hours from 11. 30 to 4. 30.
Multi – barrel rocket launcher fire was directed against the Tango – one base. One MBRL can fire 40 rounds at a time.
All comunication from Tango – one ceased at about 2. 30 pm.
It is unclear whether it was hit or whether the tigers adopted tactical silence.
According to circles close to the Defence ministry more than 5000 shells were fired by the security forces during all stages of the fighting.
Though both sides downplayed their casualty toll there is no doubt that the combined losses were heavy.
Emergency Casualty evacuation (Casevac) measures were adopted. The security forces airlifted casualties by helicopter from Nagar Kovil to Palaly.
Casualties were also transported by road from Mirusuvil to Palaly.
Six buses were commandeered for this purpose.
A special transit facility was set up in Palaly to accomodate the injured before being sent by air to Vavuniya, Anuradhapura and Colombo.
The LTTE also used its vehicles and also two buses to transport their dead and injured. All public transport along the A – 9 between Kilinochchi and Pallai and on the Paranthan – Mullaitheevu road was curtailed for six hours to facilitate LTTE casualty evacuation.
Apart from receiving treatment from the Thileepan medical unit many serious cases were admitted to the Kilinochchi and Mullaitheevu hospitals.
The LTTE announced initially that 16 of its cadre were killed. Later it revised it to 25. The figure for injuries was not released by the LTTE officially.
Informed Tamil sources revealed that 55 to 60 tigers were killed in the fighting. Of these only the names of the cadre with 18 months of experience would be eventually acknowledged.
Those with less than 18 months of experience are not regarded as full – fledged LTTE and will not be officially acknowledged.
The sources also said that around 80 LTTE cadre were injured. About 10 – 15 of these were serious cases.
The LTTE controlled radio “Tamil Eelam National radio” broadcasting from Kilinochchi stated that 178 soldiers were killed in the fighting. It said that 143 bodies were taken to Colombo in body bags by the authorities
These bodies were then embalmed and placed in coffins at three points and handed over to their families.
The three points were at Borella, Battaramulla and Madampe where 75, 38 and 30 bodies were respectively disposed of, the tiger radio alleged.
The LTTE radio also said that 35 bodies were recovered by the LTTE of which 28 bodies were handed over to the ICRC.
Thus the tiger radio claimed that a total of 178 were killed. The radio also claimed that more than 500 soldiers were injured. Of these 286 were undergoing intensive care. 20 of these were in critical condition. 51 had lost their legs or feet.
The LTTE military affairs spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan said that more than a 100 soldiers were killed and more than 400 were injured.
As far as the security forces were concerned the official version stated by the army’s media director Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara to the BBC was that 149 LTTE men were killed and 196 tigers injured.
The figures for the army according to Nanayakkara was 43 dead and 33 missing in action. 163 were injured.
Circles close to the Defence ministry told this column of casualty figures that contrasted with the official version.
Of the 53 division one officer and 24 soldiers were killed ; one officer and 35 men were reported missing in action. Five officers and 184 men were injured.
Of the 55 division 20 were dead .Six officers and 114 men were injured. There were no missing in action from the 55 division.
According to these sources 120 of the injured were P1 (serious) and P2 (less serious). 169 of the injured had been brought to Colombo.
This column also received some details of casualties from informed sources in Colombo. These sources indicated that 88 soldiers in all were killed and 39 missing in action. Around 475 soldiers were injured of whom 160 – 200 were in the categories of P! and P2.
According to information received by this column injured soldiers are being treated at Palaly, Vavuniya, Anuradhapura and Colombo.
In Colombo the casualties are admitted to the military hospital, eye hospital , the Sri Jayewardenapura hospital and the National hospital at Borella. 122 soldiers were warded at SriJayewardenapura and 38 at the national hospital.
According to an AFP report that quoted Army sources 165 soldiers were killed and 20 others were reported missing making up a total of 185.
These casualty figures were obtained on Friday morning. The figures are fluid and subject to change as more authoritative and authentic information comes to light.
LTTE has also provided details of the arms and ammunition seized:
* Forty-one T-56 Type 2 assault rifles,
* Three T-56 Type-1 assault rifles,
* Five Light Machine Guns (LMG),
* Two PKT Tank machine guns,
* Five Rocket Propelled Grenade Launchers (RPG),
* Three 40 mm Grenade Launchers,
* Seven anti-armour RPG shells,
* Twenty-one anti-personnel RPG shells,
* Twenty-six propellers for RPGs,
* 8500 inter-medium ammunition,
* 1500 chained ammo for machine guns,
* 104 magazines
* Twelve helmets
Meanwhile the LTTE returned twenty – eight bodies of soldiers to the International Red Cross at Kilinochchi. The bodies were displayed to the public at Kilinochchi in a violation of norms.
The handing over to the ICRC was done by Paavannan who interacts with NGO’s on behalf of the LTTE.
The Army too was making plans to hand over six bodies of the LTTE to the ICRC. These included three male and three female tiger cadre.
After it became obvious that the military push had ended in a debacle frantic efforts were on to engage in damage control. The most amusing aspect in this was the assertion that the LTTE had launched the attack and that the armed forces were merely defending their positions.
Apparently the armed forces were able to launch a full scale operation in the thick of night into tiger territory within minutes of being attacked by the LTTE.
It is indeed a pity that these propagandists do not realise how pathetic they appear to the discerning public. Surely the soldiers laying down their lives in the course of duty deserve better than these jokers and their jocular explanations.
Some changes in military command too are in the pipeline.Brig. Sooriyabandara commanding 53 division is to take up duties as defence attache in Washington as Brig. Athula Jayewardena the incumbent is due to retire.
Brig. Brig. Kamal Gunaratne who commands 55 now will take over 53 diision. Brig. Prasanna Silva of the special forces will be in charge of 55 division.
In a separate development the LTTE began withdrawing from Madhu and its environs.
Unconfirmed reports stated on Thursday April 24th that the armed forces were slowly encircling the Church environs and surrounding areas gradually. It remains to be seen what this portends for the future of Madhu and Madhu maadhaa.
The military push in the Muhamaalai region was but one more in a long list of similiar exercises.. It is perhaps the third biggest debacle in this series.
The first was Operation “agnikheela” on April 24th 2001; the second was on October 11th 2006; this is the third and also comparatively the lowest of all three in terms of casualties.
Still this is no consolation as the casualty toll for the armed forces is over 100 killed and over 400 injured.
Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake added his own “two cents” to the annals of morbid humour when he compared the casualty toll to that of the Mullaitheevu debacle on July 18th 1996 where around 1200 soldiers were killed or reported missing.
According to the septugenarian PMm he is happy that the present figure is low when compared to that of Mullaitheevu.
The conflicting attempts by both sides to downplay their own casualty figures and gloatingly exaggerate figures of the other side seem comical but for the tragedy of the situation.
Be it the security forces or the LTTE the bulk of those being killed or injured are below thirty. Though they fight on opposing sides these youths (most of whom are from poor families) belong to this Country.
In different times they would have been the future of this land.
Sadly they are being mowed down in war and deprived of life even before they know what life is all about. Just as the light brigade rode into the valley of death because some had blundered these unfortunate youths go into battle, to do or die without reasoning why!
Let us not forget that the powerful leaders on both sides who send these sacrificial lambs into battle now were involved in a sordid underhand deal shortly before the Presidential elections of 2005.
When it suits them they share the spoils when it doesen’t the innocents are massacred on both sides.
LTTE circles are cock a hoop about having proved a point to the racist Rajapakse regime. But then it was the same LTTE which brought this government to power through its enforced boycott.
The failure of Jayasikurui and Agnikheela and the success of “Oyatha Alaigal” and the Katunayake attack etc demonstrated in the beginning of the new millennium that there was no military solution. This led to the ceasefire and peace talks of 2002.
Now the country seems to be undergoing a sense of deja vu. The fierce resistance put up by the LTTE on multiple fronts and the Muhamaalai debacle point once again to the simple truth that there can be no military solution.
[Bob Dylan's "The answer is blowing in the wind" - featuring slides from Sri Lanka]
The tigers have shown that the Rajapakse regime’s calculations of winning the war and destroying the LTTE are misplaced.
Will this lead to a re-assessment of the situation nationally and internationally?
Is the Government and its hawkish supporters ready to shelve war and go in for talks?
Even if this happens and peace talks materialise is the LTTE ready to engage genuinely in negotiations for a viable solution within a united but not necessarily unitary Sri Lanka?
If these developments do not happen is the Country destined to see the blood of its youth flow continuously on the sacrificial altar of war?
Who has the answers?
As Bob Dylan twanged his guitar and sang in his nasal tones many decades ago
“The answer my friend is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind”
For the second time in less than two years, an over-confident Sri Lankan Army (SLA) has walked into a deadly trap laid by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Muhamalai area near Jaffna in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka on April 23 ,2008, and faced a rout. It not only lost over 150 soldiers, who were killed by the LTTE, but also enabled the LTTE to seize a large quantity of arms and ammunition from the battle scene. The LTTE has not had such a bonanza of recovered arms and ammunition since the earlier SLA rout in the same area on October 11,2006. My assessment of the earlier rout may be seen in my article titled A HEAVY PRICE FOR OVER-CONFIDENCE I
After the rout of October 11,2006, the SLA, as is its wont, had played down the fatalities suffered by it and played up the fatalities which it claimed to have inflicted on the LTTE. Only after the LTTE disseminated details of the fatalities inflicted by it on the SLA, did the latter admit that 139 soldiers were killed by the LTTE. A few weeks later, Lt.Gen.Sarath Fonseka, the chief of the SLA, had gone to the US, inter alia, for a medical check-up in connection with the injuries suffered by him in an unsuccessful attempt by the LTTE to kill him through a woman suicide bomber. Reliable sources reported at that time that during his interactions with American military officers in Washington DC he admitted that the SLA had suffered nearly 400 fatalities on October 11, 2006. He allegedly blamed Mr Gothbaya Rajapaksa, the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is the Defence Secretary, for hastily pushing the Army into a battle when it was not yet ready–that too in a terrain which the LTTE knew better than the SLA.
After the battle of April 23, 2008, the SLA claimed that it suffered 43 fatalities with 33 more soldiers missing in action, but the correspondent of the CNN TV channel and the Agence France Press (AFP) have reported that the fatalities suffered by the SLA were more than 100. Reliable Sri Lankan Police sources estimate the SLA fatalities at about 150. The SLA has claimed to have killed over 100 LTTE soldiers, but the LTTE has admitted only 16 fatalities. In an analysis of the casualty figures, the AFP has pointed out that in the beginning of this year, the SLA had given the total strength of the LTTE as about 3000, but the total number of fatalities which the SLA has claimed to have inflicted on the LTTE since January 1,2008, is 3105, when one adds up all the figures given in the SLA’s statements.
Since the beginning of this year, the SLA and the Defence Ministry have embarked on a campaign of disinformation regarding the ground situation in the Northern Province. As part of this disinformation campaign, not a day has passed without their reporting some operation or the other resulting in large fatalities inflicted on the LTTE. The purpose of this campaign was to buttress the morale of the soldiers of the SLA and the Sinhalese people, to give themselves in public perception an aura of legendary military prowess and weaken the morale of the LTTE and its Sri Lankan Tamil supporters.
According to some critics of the Government, many of the so-called battles reported as part of this disinformation campaign allegedly existed only in the figment of the SLA’s imagination.
Many tall claims were made as part of this disinformation campaign such as: pin-point intelligence has started flowing from human sources in the Northern Province; many precision air strikes had been made on the LTTE’s political and operational nerve-centres with the help of such pin-point information; the LTTE’s Navy had been practically wiped out; the LTTE’s hold in the North was weakening and the SLA would be able to rout it and re-establish its control over the North before the end of this year.
One of the basic principles of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism is that you don’t indulge in disinformation in your own territory and directed at your own people. It could prove counter-productive and dangerous by creating a sense of over-confidence in your own troops and people. When the troops realise that they had been sent into battles on the basis of false information and assessments, the credibility of the political and military leadership in the eyes of the people and the soldiers would suffer. The LTTE and its Sri Lankan Tamil supporters know well the ground situation in their territory. They will not be deceived by such a disinformation campaign. It is the Sinhalese public and the soldiers, who will be deceived by it.
This is what happened in October, 2006, and this is what has happened now. The LTTE did on April 23 ,2008, exactly what it did on October 11,2006. After fighting for some time in the face of an SLA offensive, it pretended to withdraw and vacate a small part of the territory under its control. Thinking in their euphoria that they have defeated the LTTE and forced its retreat, the SLA soldiers rushed into the area vacated by the LTTE and found themselves surrounded by it on all sides. It mowed down the soldiers before they could recover from their surprise.
The rout inflicted by the LTTE on the SLA would serve as a morale-booster for its leaders and cadres. It shows that its capability for conventional-style battles is intact and strong in the Northern Province, where the leadership remains united. It had weakened in the Eastern Province following the desertion in March,2004, of Karuna, a capable officer of the LTTE, who looked after its conventional style operations. It was this weakening, which had enabled the SLA to wrest control of the Eastern Province with the help of the Eastern Tamil deserters from the LTTE’s army.
Over-all, despite the success on April 23, 2008, the LTTE’s position is still weak for want of an air cover and due to depletion in its arms and ammunition holdings. The battle of April 23 has replenished its holdings to some extent, but not adequately enough. The dilution of the support and sympathy of the international community has been another handicap. However, the motivation and the determination of its cadres are still strong. Any expectations of an easy walk-over in the North nursed by the SLA are likely to be belied unless its air strikes succeed in eliminating Prabakaran, the leader of the LTTE.
While continuing with their confrontations on the ground, the Sri Lankan Air Force is trying frantically to eliminate Prabakran through an air strike and the LTTE is trying frantically to destroy the SLAF aircraft on the ground. Neither has succeeded so far. Whoever succeeds first is likely to turn the tide of the war in his favour. [saag]
B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai.
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad of Iran is to visit Sri Lanka for two days from April 28, 2008, in response to an invitation from President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had visited Iran in November, 2007. His engagements will include the inauguration of the construction of the Iranian-funded (US $ 450 million) Uma Oya hydroelectricity project at Wellawaya in the Monaragala district. When completed, the project is expected to produce 100 megawatts of electricity. The visit is also expected to result in the finalisation of an agreement for Iranian financial and technical assistance for enabling the Sapugaskanda oil refinery to handle Iran?s light crude. This project is expected to result in a further Iranian investment of US $ one billion.
2. In this connection, quoting Sri Lankan media, the “Teheran Times” of April 20, 2008, reported as follows: “Iran will increase its investment in the expansion project of an oil refinery in Sri Lanka up to US$ one billion, Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Development Minister A.H.M. Fowzie said. According to the IRNA office in Tokyo, Fowzie in an interview with Kyodo on Wednesday said: “Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has allocated this amount which would cover 70 per cent of the required investment for the refinery’s expansion, in the form of a 10 year loan, with a five year exemption period from payment of the loan’s instalments.” Fowzie added: “Iran had earlier too provided the oil we need free from interest for four months.” According to the report, Iran is the largest provider of crude oil to Sri Lanka. According to the Kyodo report, Managing Director Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) Ashantha De Mel has said that the pilot study for increasing the production of Sri Lanka’s only refinery from 50,000 to 100,000 barrels per day has been completed by Iranian oil engineers. De Mel added: “Iran would make the major part of the required investment for expansion of this oil refinery (70 per cent) and the CPC would cover the rest (30 per cent).” Fowzie said the project would yield noticeable benefits for its investors. He said: “From the economic point of view my affiliated ministry too is interested in making investments there.” According to Kyodo, De Mel who visited Iran in early April 2008, expects the project’s executive phase to begin within the next three to four months. Oil experts predict that Sri Lanka’s oil refinery would increase its production after the Iranian oil engineers would end their work within the next two to three years.”
3. Iran has also agreed to provide low-interest credit to Sri Lanka to enable it to purchase military equipment from Pakistan and China and to train a small group of Sri Lankan Army and intelligence officers in Iran. A team of about 10 officers has already proceeded to Iran for training after a clandestine visit to Sri Lanka by Brigadier Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the Director-General of Iran?s Quds Force, or the Jerusalem Brigade, which is, inter alia, responsible for covert actions against Israel and for liaison with friendly foreign intelligence agencies. He is expected to come again as a member of the entourage of the Iranian President for further discussions on intelligence co-operation between the two countries.
4. According to reliable sources, Israel is reported to have expressed to Colombo its concern over the developing relations between Sri Lanka and Iran and warned that this could come in the way of supply and sale of Israeli military equipment to Sri Lanka in future. It has been reported by these sources that Sri Lanka has already shared with the Iranian intelligence copies of the instructions, training and maintenance manuals of the Israeli equipment purchased by it in the past and allowed some officers of the Quds Force to inspect the Israeli equipment. [saag]
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)
One more name was added last sunday to Sri Lanka’s growing list of Tamil Christian clergymen killed in the on going ethnic conflict.
The latest victim was the Catholic priest Rev.Fr Mariampillai Xavier Karunaratnam popularly known as “Kilifather” .He was killed in a claymore mine explosion on April 20th.
Fr. Karunaratnam had in recent times become well-known as a human rights activist. He was one of the founders of an organization known as the North-East secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) and was its chairperson at the time of his death.
The NESOHR has focussed on the human rights violations perpetrated on Tamil civilians by members of the armed forces, Police, para-military outfits and state sanctioned assassination squads.
The NESOHR also records incidents of artillery shelling and aerial bombardment by the security forces and documents the quantum of injuries,deaths, destruction and displacement caused.
While being the livewire of the NESOHR Fr. Karunaratnam had also been running a meditation and counselling center in the Vavunikulam area.
This center has been providing counselling and psychological care to numerous Tamil civilians affected by the war.
“Kilifather”as he is popularly known was attached to the “our Lady of Good Health ” (Aarokkiyamaathaa) Church at the agrarian village of Vavunikulam.
[Rev.Fr Mariampillai Xavier Karunaratnam]
On Sunday April 20th the 57 year old Catholic clergyman had gone to Maankulam to help conduct the morning mass. Thereafter he proceeded to Mallaavi to attend a special memorial meeting .
The meeting was to commemorate former Tamil National Alliance MP Kittinan Sivanesan on the 45th day after his death.Sivanesan was killed in a claymore mine explosion in the Mannankulam area .
The specialist assassination unit of the armed forces known as Long range reconnaissance patrol (LRRP) was responsible for Sivanesan’s killing.
Officially the army denied both the killing and existence of the LRRP then.
Now there has been another victim.
Fr. Karunaratnam ’s white double – cab had developed engine trouble and broken down at Vannivilaankulam. It was then tied to another vehicle with a thick rope and towed along.
Fr. Karunaratnam sat in the driving seat of the double cab with his hands on the steering vehicle to help keep the towed vehicle steady.
Another Catholic layman helper was also in the vehicle proceeding along the Mallaavi – Vavunikulam road. Apparently Fr. Karunaratnam was keen on returning to Vavunikulam for lunch.
The two vehicles were at a point near the “Kulanthai Yesu” (child Jesus) chapel at Ambaikulam when the claymore explosion occurred at about 12. 20 – 25 pm.
The incident happened between Vavunikulam and Vannivilaankulam at Ambaikulam.
It was the towed vehicle at the rear and not the towing vehicle at front that was the target. The assassins who triggered off the claymore were very clear in their objective.
Both the clergyman and layman in the white double – cab were injured. Both were taken to Kilinochchi hospital but Fr. Karunaratnam was pronounced dead upon admission.
The layman helper who sustained serious injuries is receiving intensive care at Kilinochchi.
The mortal remains of Fr. M. X. Karunaratnam were brought to the St. Theresa’s Church, Kilinochchi, Sunday Apr 20th, around 6:30 p.m. [Pic: TamilNet]
The remains of Fr. Karunaratnam were taken to St. Theresa’s Church in Kilinochchi. Thousands of people both Christian and Hindu paid their respects.
Posters and black flags have also come up in some parts of Army – controlled Jaffna in respect of “Kilifather” and also in protest over the assassination.
Mariampillai Xavier Karunaratnam was killed just eight days after his 57th birthday.He was born on April 12th 1951.
Kilifather hailed from Karaveddy in the Vadamaratchy region of Jaffna peninsula.
His parents were teachers. He was one of seven children (four boys and three girls). Their house was near Vickneshwara College.
One of his younger brothers Fr. Gnanaratnam is also a Catholic priest.
Karunaratnam’s pet name in childhood was “kili” or parrot.The name stuck to him as an adult too.
He obtained his primary and secondary education at Vickeshwara – Karaveddy, Sacred Heart – Nelliaddy and St. Patrick’s in Jaffna.
Karunaratnam entered priesthood later in life. He was a teacher and bank officer before that.
Xavier Karunaratnam was an ardent Tamil nationalist from his student days. He was involved with the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) youth wing “Ilaingar Peravai” and student wing “Maanavar Peravai”.
In the 1977 general elections Karunaratnam was actively involved with the TULF addressing many election meetings in the Udupiddy electorate.
His native place Karaveddy was in the Udupiddy electorate.
The 1977 elections was a watershed in Tamil politics as the TULF contested on a platform of secession and claimed that electoral success would be a mandate for Tamil Eelam.
The TULF won 18 of 19 Tamil electorates in the North-East.
The TULF victory in Udupiddy was historic.
It was the first time that a member of the so-called depressed castes contested and won a seat anywhere in the North-East. There had been Senators and appointed MP’s but no elected Parliamentarian until then.
S. Rasalingam a senior education dept official contested Udupiddy and won. People like Karunaratnam immeresd themselves in the campaign.
Karunaratnam was then teaching English at the Newton Tutorial College in Nelliaddy. He was a popular teacher and affectionately referred to as “Kilivaathi” then. “Vaathi” is short for “Vaathiyaar” meaning teacher.
After elections in 1977 some Tamil youths got employment in Bank of Ceylon and People’s Bank. Karunaratnam also became a clerk at Bank of Ceylon and later went up to officer grade as asst. manager.
He continued teaching while being a bank officer. He used to ride a C-90 motor cycle then.
Karunaratnam also maintained his interest in politics though he refrained from going public as he was now a bank employee.
The late-seventies and early-eighties of the 20th century was a time when Tamil youth supporters of the TULF were becoming increasingly estranged from the TULF because of its perceived reluctance to push ahead with the Tamil Eelam mandate.
There were many incidents of friction between TULF seniors and youths then.
In one instance in the late seventies a meeting was held at the premises of Velupillai timber depot in Saamiyanarasaddy in Karaveddy. Both Udupiddy MP Rasalingam and TULF president M. Sivasithamparam participated.
Sivasithamparam , a former MP of Udupiddy and was called the Udupiddy Singam” (lion) . He had given up the electorate for Rasalingam and contested Nallur in 1977 where Sivasithamparam won the largest majority in the Country.
There was a heated argument between radical youths and TULF elders. At one point the friction turned into fisticuffs. TULF activist Anandavinayagam alias “Vannai Aanandan” was singled out for attack by the youths.
It was Karunaratnam who saved Vannai Anandan. With the beleagured Vannai Anandam on the pillion Karunaratnam took a cross-country route across fields and bylanes to Sonappu from where Vannai Anandan was dispatched safely to Jaffna town.
“kilivaathi”’s exploit in saving Vannai was spoken about widely then.
Karunaratnam had a spiritual streak in him. He was always concerned about serving the people.
It was in the mid eighties that Xavier Karunaratnam began feeling that he was being “called” by God. He responded to the call and abandoned his banking career.
He was ordained as a priest at the age of 38 in 1989. Kilivaathi now became known as Kilifather.
Fr. Karunaratnam’s Tamil nationalism remained.
Despite donning the cassock the clergyman fervently believed that Tamil Eelam was the only solution for the salvation of the Tamil nation.
Many Tamil nationalists of his calibre who believe in Tamil Eelam then take the step of supporting an armed struggle to achieve it. The next step would be that of supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
To those of this mindset and mood the tigers are the only ones continuing with the armed struggle to achieve Tamil Eelam.
This was Fr. Karunaratnam’s position also. His political belief was tempered by his priestly duties.
The LTTE ran a “de- facto” administration in Jaffna from 1990 to 1995-96. Many persons including some Catholic priests identified themselves openly with the tigers then.
Fr. Karunaratnam was one of these. In “kilifather”s case there was another reason for his closeness to the LTTE.
Since they were both from Karaveddy, the LTTE ideologue and political strategist Anton Stanislaus Balasingham was well – known to Karunaratnam. In fact some of Balasingham’s nephews were his close friends.
This Balasingham link enhanced his closeness to the LTTE further.
When the armed forces took Jaffna through “operation Riviresa” many people with perceived links to the LTTE were compelled to flee. This included some Catholic priests also.
While some went abroad others like “kilifather” re-located to the Wanni. He remained there till the 2002 ceasefire.
During his stay in the Wanni Fr. Karunaratnam remained close to the LTTE hierarchy through Balasingham.
Fr. Karunaratnam was made the head of the NGO consortium in the Wanni. He also functioned as a correspondent of the Catholic Church Radio service “Veritas” based in Manila.
After the ceasefire of 2002 Fr. Karunaratnam along with some others founded the NESOHR.
Among founding members were former TNA parliamentarians Joseph Pararajasingham. Chandranehru Ariaratnam, current MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Lawyer K. Sivapalan, Ceylon teachers union official K. Mahasivam,S. Atchuthan ms. Sri Arulananthan,and Dr’s N. Malathy, S.Sriskandarajah and . Sivapalan.
The NESOHR was associated with the LTTE peace secretariat in the beginning.
Fr. Karunaratnam returned to Jaffna in 2002 after the LTTE moved in under the guise of doing politics. He moved to Pallai with tiger political commissar for Jaffna Ilamparithy when suspected tiger supporters were becoming targets.
In 2006 he re-located to the Wanni again.
The NESOHR has in recent times compiled records about human rights violations and atrocities against Tamil civilians by the armed forces. It does not concern itself with human rights violations perpetrated by the LTTE.
Fr. Karunaratnam in his capacity as a human rights activist has travelled to Europe and North America. Apart from attending Human Rights Council meetings in Geneva he has engaged in full scale lobbying.
He has also met with many diplomats, human rights activists, NGO personnel and media representatives.
In spite of these efforts and documentation the credibility of NESOHR and Fr. Karunaratnam in Human Rights circles is quite low.
Since the NESOHR opts to see only one side of the situation it is not perceived as trustworthy or reliable.
There was a time when the NESOHR openly stated that they were willing to co-operate with reputed Human Rights Organizations. But few were willing to accept that invitation.
Diplomats, media representatives and HR organizations were in touch with Fr. Karunaratnam and the NESOHR to get information.
However this was only used as one of many avenues to procure information. Neither Fr. Karunaratnam nor the NESOHR were regarded as reliable. They could not be quoted or cited in any report.
This was due to their blatant partiality towards the LTTE.
Attempts by well-wishers to make Fr. Karunaratnam recognize this harsh reality were unsuccessful.
Nevertheless it must be emphasised that Fr. Karunaratnam and the NESOHR must be commended for chronicling the human rights violations perpetrated by the state and state agencies against innocent Tamil civilians. These are largely unreported in the mainstream media and by reputed Human rights organizations.
Given the fact that the tigers control large areas of the Wanni it would be impractical to expect an organization or individual inside to document violations by the LTTE .
In a sense “impartial” conduct by the NESOHR would have been impossible in a tiger controlled region. The LTTE is notorious for trying to make all Tamils follow their line and their line alone.
An organization like the LTTE and its brainwashed acolytes are incapable of understanding the need for a free, credible media or independent human rights orgabizations.
In Fr. Karunaratnam’s case he was a firm believer in the cause for Tamil Eelam and a loyal supporter of the LTTE. Thus he was emotionally and intellectually prepared to toe the LTTE line.
There are many instances of him attempting to whitewash the LTTE of its human rights violations and even go to unexpected lengths in covering up.
This columnist does not wish to speak ill of the departed and will stop at this juncture.
However it must be ackowledged that Fr. Karunaratnam was one of those trying to persuade the LTTE to refrain from human rights violations.
He played an important role in getting the LTTE to return some conscripts. The LTTE decision not to recruit those under 17 years was also influenced to some extent by Fr. Karunaratnam.
Whatever progress made by the LTTE in this respect is now undone. With the armed forces closing in the LTTE is now engaged in full scale conscription including minors.
[The final paying of homage events were held in Kilinochchi, on Apr 22]
People like Fr. Karunaratnam may have been troubled by these developments but it would be unreasonable to expect them to protest strongly.
In recent times the tiger and pro – tiger media gave him much exposure. Wittingly or unwittingly he was being made a propagandist.
His pro-tiger leanings is no excuse to target and kill him. Whatever his politics his inalienable right to have those political beliefs cannot be denied.
It is also a fact that he was a devout priest concerned about the tragic plight of his afflicted people.
[The remains were taken in procession accompanied by percussion bands of Kilinochchi schools-pic TamilNet]
Many catholic priests like Fr. Mary Bastian. Fr. Wenceslaus, Fr. Chandra Fernando and Fr. Packiyaranjith have been killed. Others like Fr. Herbiet, Fr. Selvarajah and Fr. Jim Brown have gone missing. Now another Catholic priest is murdered.
Like Fr. Karunaratnam being killed by a landmine Fr. Nicholaspillai Packiyaranjith was also a claymore victim last year. He was killed near Vellankulam junction in LTTE controlled Mannar region on Sep 26th last year.The LRRP also called deep penetration unit was blamed.
The circumstances of Fr. Karunaratnam’s killing demonstrates clearly that he was deliberately targeted.
There is also the fact that the attack occurred deep inside tiger territory.
The LTTE has accused the LRRP and has been predictably denied.
The fact that the LRRP could deliberately target someone deep inside LTTE territory does not augur well for the tigers.
Many LTTE civilian supporters inside the Wanni would be troubled and feel insecure .
Given the false propaganda done in the South by racist elements about all Tamil catholic priests being tiger agents several other priests may become victims.
With the armed forces planning to “invade” tiger areas of the Wanni soon the possibility of large scale human rights violations looms large.
Eliminating human rights activists like Fr. Karunaratnam may be seen as necessary to avoid or minimise those violations being highlighted worldwide.
Fr. Karunaratnam himself anticipated death at the hands of the LRRP after TNA parliamentarian Sivanesan was killed.
He told his sister living in Canada over the telephone that he would very likely meet with a similar fate.
The killing of “Kilifather” deserves widespread condemnation.It is an act of state terrorism!
The Colombo government believes it can win a conclusive victory over the rebels and maintain Sri Lanka’s economic growth.
Ajith Cabraal, Governor of Sri Lanka’s central bank talks to Stephen Sackur, BBC:
Excerpts of the Interview:
Part I: 6 minutes
Part II: 6 minutes
Full text of the interview aired on BBC’s Hard Talk on April 16, 2008:
Stephen Sackur: Earlier this year the Sri Lankan Government formally withdrew from the long ignored ceasefire agreement with the Tamil Tigers. The Colombo government believes it can win a conclusive victory over the rebels and maintain Sri Lanka’s economic growth. Ajith Cabraal is the governor of Sri Lanka’s Central Bank. Is his country’s economy strong enough to withstand the capital and diplomatic costs of the civil war?
Q: Nivard Cabraal, welcome to Hard Talk
A: Thank you.
Q: Now the ceasefire which was long ignored, finally came to an end in Sri Lanka at the beginning of this year. Is it the government’s intention now to eradicate the Tamil Tigers?
A: Actually the government is looking at providing space for all Tamil moderate parties to also come in and take their proper place in the political spectrum. What has happened is, as long as the LTTE was strong.the LTTE was in a dominant position that they were in, it was impossible for any other Tamil group, a moderate Tamil voice to come in and make their voices heard. So it was essential that the terrorism had to be dealt with, if the other groups had to be given the space to make their voices heard.
Q: But my point is that there have been ceasefires in the past. There have been all out government offensives against the Tigers in the past and this civil war has not ended and gives no sign of ending, and you as the Governor of the Central Bank must find your heart sinks when ceasefires are abandoned and the war is back on in full force.
A: Yeah, we got to admit that it is always tougher to run an economy when there is some conflict going on rather than when its not there. But today the challenge is that many countries have had to face threats of terrorism in dealing with their own economies, and sometimes it is essential that we put it back and put it behind us, if we are to really move forward and that’s the position we are taking too, because for people to come in and invest in Sri Lanka we have to ensure that we provide them with a safe environment.
Q: You can’t do that, can you? You certainly can’t put the war behind you, or put it on a shelf, and pretend it’s not happening for a start. You have to spend two billion dollars or more a year funding the war.
A: Yeah. Well it’s a little less than that. We spend something like 3.8 percent of our GDP on the war and on defence, and it is something similar to what lots of other countries also spend. For example, Singapore spends, 4.9 percent of their GDP.
Q: With respect, a country like Sri Lanka where 45 percent of the population live on less than two dollars a day, it makes no sense whatsoever from an economic point of view that you spend upwards of two billion dollars a year on defence!
A: Actually that figure may not be entirely correct.
Q: What, which one?
A: Yeah, the four point er.the 45 percent. Sri Lanka had a 22.7 percent below the poverty line in the year 2002. But last year the latest figures that have come out show that it has come down to 15.2 percent. So there has been an appreciable drop in poverty as well in Sri Lanka and that mind you, has been in the context of the amazing amount of difficulties we have been having, which shows that we have a resilience in our economy and it is what this entire thing is all about.
Q: But foreign investors are nervous, the ceasefire has collapsed, the war is on in full force. Foreign investors, for example, the Japanese Telecom giant NTT is pulling out of a major investment with your own Sri Lanka Telecom Company!
A: Yeah, but if you really see the Japanese investor has sold out at a profit to a Malaysian investor and Sri Lanka’s foreign direct investment was the highest ever last year, at 751 million dollars it was the highest ever figure that we have ever recorded, and then when Sri Lanka went for a bond issue just in October last year, we went for a 500 million dollars and we had subscription for 1.6 billion dollars.
Q: Well of course you did. And you know why you did, because you were offering the most extraordinarily high interest rate. Over 8 and a quarter percent interest rate.
A: Yeah, true enough, but still for all that is about the level of interest any country which has a rating such as ours would be able to offer.
Q: Because your credit rating has sunk.
A: Yeah, but credit ratings…
Q: And the reason is, people look at Sri Lanka and they look at an economy in a war time situation that looks extraordinarily fragile. That’s why you are burdening yourselves with these enormous interest rates to service your foreign debt because you find it difficult to establish your credit worthiness.
A: No, it is really not that simple. If you look at it overall, if you look at the macro economic numbers that Sri Lanka has been able to generate, our growth has been at nearly 7 percent for three years running, and that mind you, with this kind of environment that you are talking about. Our unemployment is the lowest ever at 5.4 percent. It’s the same as that UK unemployment rate, our reserves have been the highest at its 3 « billion dollars. So you have seen, our exchange rate is stable now. There are many plus factors that are in the Sri Lanka economy that sometimes we have not being seeing in perspective, particularly because the conflict has been the item that has been the taking the front page.
Q: I take your point and it is your job as the Governor of the Central Bank to put a positive spin on Sri Lanka’s economic performance, but one looks at the international agencies that rate, for example, your country’s credit worthiness, and Fitch which is highly respected has downgraded your credit worthiness and one looks at the IMF report that focuses on inflation, that they say is well above 20 percent and is not the result of international commodity price inflation. For example, oil or other food stuffs, it is the result of in their words poor economic management at home.
A: Yeah, firstly that particular report is not the IMF report. It has been a staff report. IMF gives out what is known as an Article 4 surveillance report, and that report which the IMF takes responsibility for, does not contain any such number like what you just mentioned.
Q: So you are saying inflation doesn’t run…
A: No. I’ll explain to you exactly how it works, the report that you quoted from is a staff report which has been very poorly structured, and we have in fact made it known to the IMF that we do not agree with it at all.
Q: With great respect, I think our audience might struggle to see the difference between an IMF report which is a staff report, and an IMF report which is an official report – the fact is, the IMF people have been looking at your economy, they talk about poor domestic management, and they talk about an inflation rate which is dangerously high.
A: No, I’ll just explain to you, because IMF report, the official IMF report – the UK also has an IMF report which is an Article 4 report, and that Article 4 report is a positive one as far as Sri Lanka’s economy is concerned. We do have headline inflation which is high and we appreciate that if you say so and we also..
Q: You accept that it is over 20 percent
A: Yes, absolutely, but it is simply the cause that has been as a result of the very high commodity prices all over the world.
Q: The report we are arguing about specifically says that is not the case. One only has to look at neighboring countries, which have the same sort of problems with a higher oil price than you have where inflation is not running at over 20 percent.
A: But you will find that in many countries their inflation has risen by about 50 percent. You see, the way inflation is calculated is not the same all over the world. It is not a steady, standard method, but what we have seen in Sri Lanka, yes, our headline inflation has gone up but the core inflation – what you mean by core inflation is the increase in your prices without taking food as well as energy into account, the United States does it the same way, Philippines, Canada all those countries take the core inflation, which is without food and without energy. None of you take the core inflation of Sri Lanka which is the demand driven inflation which we have to be managing. That you will find in between 7-8 percent.
Q: Without wishing to get too technical, it seems to me that Sri Lankans, when they consider their lives today they are going to look at the fact that the price of rice, bread and oil.cooking oil has gone up between two and three times in little more than a year and they are going to say to themselves we are living in a war economy, we are spending more and more on this battle against the Tamil Tigers and our own living conditions are worsening.
A: Yeah, but that is also not really accurate, because if you look at the Sri Lankan per capita it is 1617 dollars up 50 percent over the last three years and mind you, these are the last three years that you have mentioned that were the tough years for us. So what it means is there have been huge economic turmoil right across the world. All the countries in the world are today grappling with inflation. The oil prices, what you missed, have gone up three and a half times over the last four years. That’s a huge number, and we import every single drop of oil to Sri Lanka.
Q: You would accept therefore that given the way you say that your problems are really to do with the international economy. You would accept that Sri Lanka really cannot afford to be economically or indeed politically isolated in the coming months wouldn’t you?
A: No, I don’t think we are in anyway politically isolated. We have seen many countries investing in Sri Lanka. We have very good partnerships being done between Sri Lanka and so many other countries.
Q: Well let’s talk about isolation – let me put to you a few examples. For example, the key allies and partners in Sri Lanka in the past few years, that is Japan, the United States, the EU, Norway; they have all condemned your government decision to formally renounce the ceasefire. They made great efforts to stop you doing that.
A: Yeah, you see finally Sri Lanka has to look at the overall situation from the Sri Lankan perspective as well. When you look at the fragility of the ceasefire agreement that you were just mentioning, the LTTE were never serious about it. It was always a contingent liability upon Sri Lanka to have this all the time at any moment. They were able to pull the rug under our feet, and then that was always having people not coming into Sri Lanka because they were all nervous because they did not know at what moment the LTTE could renege on that.
Q: Why did, if it’s all about the Tigers, why did the government refuse to accept UN backed monitors to actually look at what was happening on the ground in the north and east of your country?
A: You see Sri Lanka has a very vibrant democracy. There are many newspapers. There are many international NGOs in fact you know we have as many as six…
Q: I’m talking about international monitors.
A: Yeah, I’ll explain to you.
Q: People who can come in entirely independent from the outside under a UN mandate and actually report on what you know is a very very difficult situation in the north of your country with serious allegations of human rights abuses from your government.
A: Yeah, but you know we really don’t need to have them coming in because there are so many other institutions.
Q: .but you do need to have them coming in, clearly you need them..hang on, when a British Minister Kim Howell from the British Foreign Office can say and I quote “The Tamil Tigers are not the only source of violence in Sri Lanka. Civilians in government controlled areas regularly fall victim to brutal attacks by para-military groups after acting with apparent impunity.”
A: Of course, I have not seen that particular statement, but there are many, many more reports also that we have seen where many NGOs, many MPs have come in and have found that Sri Lanka has a very good record as well. So you see there are different sides to this story. It is a 25 year old conflict and naturally there would be certain tensions that would take place. But overall we have seen that in the difficult circumstances that Sri Lanka has managed well and that we have come out well in this whole exercise and there are many people who still have a lot of respect and regard for Sri Lanka.
Q: Well, I’m amazed that you as the Governor of the Central Bank cannot on the telephone talk to your own President Mr. Rajapakse and say to him “Sir, we have to do something about a major problem.” We’ve got the Japanese for example, your biggest bilateral donor, they are saying they are reviewing all of the strategic aid to Sri Lanka okay, because they are concerned about human rights. The EU is considering whether or not to review a crucial trade deal. All because of deep unhappiness about your government’s human rights record.
A: Yeah, if you just take those two. Japan – Japan has not in anyway pulled out at all and Japan has been very supportive of Sri Lanka.
Q: The Japanese Envoy Yasushi Akashi said in January he was, quote, gravely concerned, and the government’s strategy in Sri Lanka was being constantly reviewed.
A: Yeah, but they have not pulled anything out, I mean we have very very good relationship with Japan and that is continuing.
The EU, you see personally I have been advising government from the point of view of the Central Bank, that it is time the government as well as the economic people who are involved in industry, do not rely only upon concessions to do their business. You see, we are today moving to a free market economy right across the world and it is important that Sri Lanka also recognises that they have to do business in the market place without concessions but if they do get concessions it is very welcome.
Q: Let me be clear about what you are saying because it’s very important. You are suggesting to me that you don’t care whether the EU reviews its special trade deal with Sri Lanka which allows you to export hundreds of millions of Euros worth of clothes to the EU every year?
A: Let met put it this way, you see sooner or later the EU will have to not give this concession because it is a special concession that they are giving – the GSP+, but there will come a time when Sri Lanka will have to stand on its own and export like any other country, because to the EU, there were many countries exporting. So the moment you have these additional concessions in order to buttress you to export your productivity is dropping. Your own methods will not be as stringent as you would like to see.
But you know Sri Lanka’s apparel industry is a very mature one, we have very good standards. We commend ourselves saying that you know, we are an exporter of garments without guilt. So there are many good things going for the government industry.
Q: Of course a corollary to what you are saying, sorry to interrupt, but a corollary to what you are saying is that actually you would rather allow the army or the para-military groups a free reign to do what they will in the north free of any EU monitoring and observation.
A: I’m looking.
Q: Rather than keep the concessions on trade?
A: No. let me put it this way. I may not have made it very clear. We appreciate the concessions, that’s fine. That’s very true. But at the same time we as a nation, we as an industry in this particular area which is now becoming quite mature, we need to understand that we should not be only looking at concessions to look forward. But the government deals with the political spectrum and then sees how best they could get the additional concessions, that’s fine but we are advising the industry not to rely upon specific concessions in order to do business.
That was never something that will work and.it’s like a subsidy. You know we don’t really need subsidies to do certain things and the moment you rely on subsidies, the moment you rely on concessions, your own productivity falls and that’s something that we don’t want.
Q: It is interesting that the government, your government is very happy to take aid and concessions from another group of countries and I could list Iran, Burma, Pakistan where you have burgeoning trade relations and indeed aid relations as well. You seem to be shifting the focus of your friends in the world.
A: Actually, we don’t, we.our position has been we have to trade with everyone. You see, no country would want to be isolated when doing their trade.
Q: You get rice as aid from Burma don’t you?
A: No, no we pay for it, we pay for it, every single grain.
Q: That’s not what is reported. It says you get a 100,000 tonnes of rice at knocked down prices.
A: Nobody would want to give.especially a country like Burma, will not be able to give rice at a concessionary rate and we don’t really need to.
Q: I wonder whether Sri Lanka really wants to position itself in the world where its key trading partners become countries like Iran – which of course gives about 70 percent of your crude oil, but in return..
A: We pay for it.
Q: I know you do. In more ways than one because you have said quite openly, your government, that you fully support Iran’s nuclear programme.
A: I don’t know about the programme part of it.
Q: But that’s the price you pay isn’t it?
A: No, no we have been trading with Iran for the last 25 years, it was not something that happened recently.
Q: But I’m asking you.
A: We have been trading with Iran, we trade with the US, 33% of our garment exports go to the US, 29% of our garment exports go to the EU. 12% of our tea goes to the UK, so we have, so we trade with all the different countries and India today is one of our biggest trading partners.
Q: You have a long personal history in accounting, you’ve traveled and worked all over the world, does it make sense to you that Sri Lanka now is lining up with the countries I’ve just listed like Iran and Burma and losing support it seems in the countries of the EU, the United States and Japan? Does that make sense to you?
A: No actually, if you really think about it we have not lost from anyone.
Q: No. I don’t want to nurse the argument again but I can give you lots of quotes which suggest there is real concern in the West about the way your government is behaving.
A: Not really, because when you really think about it Sri Lanka was at one time a tea, rubber coconut industry country. We used to export tea, rubber, coconut. Today we export many many items to many many countries. We import from many many countries so our trade basket has got so diversified that we work with so many different people and I think that’s very important for Sri Lanka to ensure that we have a wide range of countries with whom we deal with.
Q: If I may be frank, is there a sense in which for your government, the war is useful because it takes the tension a way from some other endemic problems you have in your country not least corruption?
A: Actually, that would be rather unfair to say for no government would want to have a war with them. The worst thing that can happen to a country. This has been there for 25 years.
Q: But it takes the attention away from endemic corruption doesn’t it?
A: This has been there for 25 years. It is a tough, difficult problem at the same time we got to deal with other major issues as well. We have had poverty which we have had for a long time. We are dealing with that. Our infrastructure development that we are going through now is one of the biggest ever infrastructure phases in our history.
Q: And you officially..forgive me.I want to stick to this issue of corruption, because I think it is important..
A: I’m coming to that…
Q: The Transparency International Directory in your country says corruption is rampant. It says cronyism and nepotism are the key problems. You need political patronage to get any position in this country. It says during the past three years this politicisation of office has become ever worse.
A: I think those are all rhetoric which people can say but at the end of the day..
Q: You are refuting that there is a cronyism and nepotism problem?
A: There..there may be instances. I appreciate and I do say there maybe certain instances where you may have projects going where there can be leakages but if you really think about it today our total number of projects Sri Lanka is handling is about 4 1/2 billion dollars. Hitherto the biggest phase of development we had in infrastructure development projects was about 1 « billion dollars and that was way back in 1977 or 1980. Today we are having two new ports being built. One new airport, three major highways, three new power plants, all of which are essential for Sri Lanka’s growth in the future and those are important facets of development for the country.
Q: Indeed they are, but Mr. Cabraal is it not a problem for you when you turn your face to the international community and say money you provide in terms of investment will be clearly and efficiently spent in my country. Is it not a problem for you when your own position and your own behaviour has come under a cloud of allegations including calls for your resignation inside your own country.
A: You see people can say anything that they want but I have shown the world as to what I am. I have been selected by the US Government to be an Eisenhower Fellow. My peers have elected me..you mentioned about accountancy..elected me to be the president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. The most prestigious body, by unanimous vote. So my own credentials I think are very well known, but I think in Sri Lanka, the political spectrum is such that there can be political people who would want to discredit anyone and they do that and that’s quite natural.
Q: There were allegations, to be specific that your family firm was involved, may be tandentionally, but was involved in another company which was involved in Pyramid selling which of course is illegal in Sri Lanka.
A: That’s absolutely..
Q: You, when you got to the Central Bank, called off a Central Bank investigation into Pyramid selling?
A: That is absolutely.
Q: Why did you do that, briefly, why did you do that? Did you call off that investigation?
A: That is absolutely wrong, let me explain to you. That is absolutely wrong, it was firstly, it was not a family firm. It’s a firm where I had 2% of the shares and if that is a family firm.
Q: Your wife is a director.
A: My wife is a director, was a director.
Q: So it is a family firm. You were chairman, weren’t you? Before you divested you were chairman?
A: No, no. Let me please..one minute.please allow me to tell you then you can tell me. My wife, the day I became the Governor of the Central Bank, she resigned, so that it was in the proper procedure and then after that the entirety of the investigations have been going on and during the last two years the efforts that I have put in in order to reduce the Pyramid schemes have been much much greater than it has ever been. So these are the political issues that people like to take out and we are quite used to it in Sri Lanka. You know we are quite used to that.
Q: We are running out of time. Do you think Sri Lanka, with the war going on, with corruption endemic, is in any position to really fight off a global slow down?
A: Look at our resilience with all these difficulties. We have been having a near 7 percent growth which any other country would have been proud to have. Our unemployment is at its lowest, our overall poverty levels have dropped to 15 percent which is very very manageable. Our debt to GDP ratios are also falling. In every aspect of economic life we have been doing better than what we have been doing in the past.
Q: Nivard Cabraal. We have to leave it there, but thank you very much for being on Hard Talk.
Dr. Chanaka Amaratunga, the founder of the Liberal Party, turns 50 today, April 19th. In cricket, when a batsman crosses 50 he raises his bat to acknowledge the applause of the crowd. But Chanaka, a lifelong hater of cricket, was not a man who played to the gallery.In fact, a defiance of populism defined his career.
50 is generally considered the dividing line between youth and middle age. Oddly, Chanaka, who died in a car accident at the age of 38,was simultaneously a portly middle aged man and a callow youth. His precocious political consciousness and manner of speech belied his age. But, his gentle demeanor and childlike innocence led to his early death, with his reckless and drunken friend Ryan Holsinger behind the wheels.
Finest Intellectual
Chanaka was the finest intellectual in this country’s politics. In his shockingly brief career, he founded the Council for Liberal Democracy (CLD) and the Liberal Party. As a clear and eloquent speaker, Chanaka had the added gift of expression. The CLD, founded in 1981, worked against the referendum to extend the life of parliament for six years. Chanaka was then all of 24, the same age that another wasted youth James Dean, the screen idol, died. But unlike Dean, Chanaka could see through the machinations of the elderly. Having returned from Oxford, where he excelled as a debater at the Union, Chanaka had been identified by the then President Jayawardene for a UNP political career.
Chanaka’s defiance of the 1982 referendum was a matter of intense disappointment for Jayawardene. Chanaka and along with his close confidante and Oxford contemporary Dr. Rajiva Wijesinha campaigned bravely against the referendum. Wijesinha,an estranged nephew of Jayawardene’s confidante Esmond Wickremesinghe, was an even more defiant opponent of the UNP government, who wrote a seminal, underrated book titled JR Jayawardene and the Erosion of Democracy in 1996. Some years later, in November 1994, Jayawardene, then a frail and powerless man of 88, condemned the ‘perfidious’ behaviour of Wijesinha and Amaratunga to this writer.
Constitutional Reform
Constitutional reform was foremost on Chanaka’s agenda. As with the great 19th century liberal JS Mill, he believed firmly in the recognition of individual liberties and the dispersal of power. He was particularly critical of the executive presidential system, which he saw as a hand maiden of authoritarianism. Indeed, every one of the five executive presidents that the country has had since 1978 has been abusive of the norms of democracy.
The other focus of Chanaka’s constitutional reforms was the creation of a federal state. He was the only national politician to advocate federalism consistently, long before it became fashionable. Other causes include the need for a second chamber, proportional representation and the freedom of conscience of a member of parliament.All these measures were an integral part of the election manifestos that Chanaka helped draft for the presidential campaigns of Mrs. Bandaranaike in 1988 and Mr. Gamini Dissanayake in 1994. Sadly, none of his ideas seem likely to see the light of day. The endless conflict between the UNP and SLFP is a permanent veto on political refrom.
One of the defining acts of Chanaka’s career was his solitary opposition to the sixth amendment, that the UNP government enacted after the 1983 pogrom. The sixth amendment outlawed even the peaceful adocacy of separatism. It drove the TULF MPs out of parliament and removed all avenues of democratic opposition to the crude, majoritarian government of the time. Several of the expelled TULF MPs, were killed by the Tamil militants, whose homicidal rage exceeded that of the government. Chanaka was supremely principled in recognising the value of the freedom of speech, that the sixth amendment violated. He was also prophetic in his fears that the expulsion of the Tamil moderates, will be a death knell to democracy.
Legacy
No discussion on Chanaka will be complete without mentioning Mrs. Swarna Amaratunga, Chanaka’s mother. Mrs. Amaratunga is a remarkable and brave lady, who was widowed when her only child was a 14 year-old schoolboy. She was a towering figure in Chanaka’s career, who religiously attended every single public appearance that Chanaka made. She continued to pay a leading role in the Liberal party and in the Chanaka Amaratunga Foundation.
Chanaka left an awesome legacy of publications, but none will be as valued as Ideas for Constitutional Reform. This is a fine collection of essays by Chanaka and other leading politicians and thinkers. But, Chanaka’s liberal legacy has not been well-served by his colleagues in the Liberal Party. Many of them became besotted by power after Chanaka’s passing. One of them was so entranced by power in Chanaka’s lifetime, that he betrayed him. But, Chanaka was always fond of his friends, and it would be a pity to denigrate them. Instead, we should recall the lines from an Ideal Husband, a play that Chanaka acted in 1976:
“Power is nothing it itself, it is power to do good that is fine-that, and that only”.
by V.Thangavelu, President Thamil Creative Writers Association
Opposition has been voiced by a small bunch of individuals who are Hindus against the change in the birth of Thamil New Year. They claim the change is against tradition and borders on blasphemy. Such people are superficial and naive in many ways.
The opposition can be seen as an ad hominies argument you cannot fault an argument, so you fault the person advancing it. In this instance Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi! He is reviled by Hindu bigots like Thuglak Chow, Ramagopalan, Ela Ganesan (BJP) Ms Jayalalithaa (ADMK MLAs voted for the bill) and few others as anti-Hindu.
Strangely, the editor of the TamilNet website in his myopic arrogance and ignorance also joined the anti-nationalist force to whip up frenzy against the change. Thus making a mockery of the decision of the de facto state of Thamil Eelam that endorsed Thai first as Thamil New Year!
The Thamil Nadu government gave legal status to the observation of Thai first (January 14th) as the beginning of Thamil New Year which will be called Thiruvalluvar Aandu. In an unprecedented act of solidarity, the bill was unanimously passed by the TN State legislature.
The accusation the TN government has arbitrarily and suddenly made the change in regard to the New Year is not supported by facts. Only half-baked illiterates do so. Thamils need a continuous year count like the Christians or Muslims. They need to discard foreign culture and beliefs imposed on them under the guise of religion. Way back in 1921 Thamil scholars like Maraimalai Adikal, Naavalar Somasundera Bharathiyaar, Prof. Parithimaakalaignar (Prof. Sooriya Narayana Shastri) K.Subramaniyapillai, Thiru V.Kalyanasundera Mudaliyar, Saivait scholar Sachchithanadapillai, Naavalar Na.Mu. Venkadasamy, K.R.P.Visvanatham and scores of others met at Pachchayappan College and resolved to make Thai first Thamil New year instead of Chiththirai. In order to have a continuous year count the birth day of Thiruvalluvar was taken as falling on Thai (Suravam) first. This was given effect by the TN government in 1971 in official calendars, from 1972 in gazettes and from 1981 in all departments. Later it was extended to non-governmental departments as well.
In the Indian civil calendar, the initial epoch is the Saka Era, a traditional era of Indian chronology that is said to have begun with King Salivahana’s accession to the throne and is also the reference for most astronomical works in Sanskrit literature written after 500 AD. In the Saka calendar, the year 2002 AD is 1925.
The other popular epoch is the Vikram era that is believed to have begun with the coronation of King Vikramaditya. The year 2002 AD corresponds to 2060 in this system.
The Calendar Reform Committee set up India’s present day national calendar in 1957. It is a lunisolar calendar, which has leap years coinciding with the leap years of the Gregorian calendar. The months in the calendar have been named after the conventional Indian months. This calendar came into effect with the Saka Era in Chaitra 1, 1879 (March 22, 1957).
Although we don’t have direct evidence of Thiruvalluvarr’s birth day, this day has been chosen with reference to available (indirect data) from Sangam and post-Sangam Thamil literature.
The opposition to the change in the Thamil New Year from Chiththirai to Thai mostly emanates due to a lack of proper understanding of astronomy. Added is the natural tendency to resist change.
The Earth has three types of motions: motion around its axis, motion around the Sun, and motion of its axis due to wobbling of Earth. The Earth rotates around its axis in 24 hours, which causes day and night. In the Northern Hemisphere we see that all but one of the stars and planets rise in the east and set in the west. The one star that does not rise or set is the polar star (Dhruv Nadchchathiram or Polaris), which is located directly above the Earth’s North Pole. The Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees on the plane of orbit around the Sun. This causes changes of seasons during the year. The seasonal changes have nothing to do with star or planets as widely believed by Astrologers and Almanac casters.
The second type of motion is the rotation of the Earth around the Sun in 365 days to complete one revolution in an elliptical orbit. Using modern instruments for exact observations of the universe, the Earth takes 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes and 9.50 seconds to complete one revolution with respect to the stars (sidereal year). With respect to the orbit, it takes 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45.50 seconds to complete one revolution (tropical year). The difference in time is 20 minutes and 24.00 seconds as follows:
Solar year,
365
d.
5
h.
48
m.
45.50
s.
Sidereal year,
365
6
9
9.50
Difference,
20
m.
24.00
s.
This difference is caused by the third type of motion of Earth, the wobbling of its axis, which astronomers call processional movement (precession of equinoxes) of the pole or axis of the Earth.
The ancient Thamils lived in close touch with nature. Astronomy and astrology very much influenced their lives. With regard to the year, the Thamils started it with the Vernal Equinox. Astronomers have determined the sun transiting Aries at 0 degree as the Vernal Equinox, that is the day when the sun rose exactly in the east, coincided. This was about the year 285AD. With the lapse of centuries, the New Year falls now, about three weeks after the Vernal Equinox. The Hindu solar year is sidereal, and since it is in excess of the tropical year by 20 minutes and 24.00 seconds, it does not keep step with the seasons. The seasons fall back one and half days for every hundred years or one day every 71.6 years.
It is not correct to say that Chiththirai has always been the beginning of Thamil New Year. Nachchinarkiniyar who wrote a commentary to Tholkaappiyam says Thamil New Year started in August (Aavani) and ended in July (Aadi). This demonstrates the fact that Aeries (Medam) is not the start of the reference point in the Zodiac during Tholkappiyar’s time.
The Thamils/Hindus divided the year into “Uttarayanam” the first six months after the winter solstice and “Dhadshanyam” the second six months after the summer solstice. The former was considered health-giving, bright period for man and animals for during that period the days became longer and longer. Thus “Uttarayanam” was celebrated by Thaipongal and Paddippongal (the cattle festival). Most of the temple festivals in the Thamil country were also fixed for this bright period. The beginning of the “Dhadshanayam” was marked by “Adipirapoo” (July 1-Hindu calendar). These six months were considered not a very bright period for men and animals because the days became shorter and shorter.
One of the major drawbacks in counting Chiththirai is that it is not a continuous year. Its cycle consists of 60 years. This cycle of years is useless to record historical events. And their (so are some of the months) names are not Thamil. They are in Sanskrit. The mythological story attached to the birth of the years is extremely vulgar and obscene. As usual with Hindu mythologies a perverted mind must have invented the story.
A close look at the six seasons given in Thamil literature reveals that they are out of sync with the actual seasons experienced at the equator.
Kuthir Kaalam – cold period : Iyppassi, Kaarthihai – Thingal
(mid October to mid December)
Munpani Kaalam – early misty period (evening dew): Maarkali, Thai Thingal
(mid December to mid February)
Pinpani Kaalam – late misty period (morning dew): Maasi, Panguni Thingal
(mid February to mid April)
Definitely Mid June to mid-August is not the rainy season in Northeast of Ceylon or Thamil Nadu. They are in fact hot and humid months. The rainy season is from October to November (Iyppasi to Kaarthikai) and not from mid August to mid October.
The coolest months are December – January (Maarkali – Thai). It is in January (Thai) the farmer harvest the first sheaves of a harvest. They are grinded and mixed with old rice and used for Pongal. The actual harvest season does not take place in January. It takes place in February and March. This is due to change in seasons due to precession.
January 14th too has astronomical significance, in that, the Sun (Earth) commences its Northerly transit.
In fact there are four (not three) transits of significance by the Sun in its journey from south to north and north to south. They are:
Winter Equinox-March 20/21
Summer Solstice-June 21
Autumn Equinox-December 22
Spring Equinox-March 20/21
This is true only in regard to the Northern hemisphere. It will be the exact opposite of those living in the Southern hemisphere. When it is summer in the Northern hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern hemisphere. So in regard to spring and autumn.
As already mentioned, the arrivals of the seasons have been changing at the rate of 1 degree per 71.6 years. Westerners found spring coming earlier (March 10) than the Julian calendar showed viz March 21. To adjust the extra days Pope Gregory ordered the deletion of 10 days i.e. October 5th was followed up with October 15th. The Gregorian calendar still has a few seconds difference. But the calendar can hold good fairly accurately for the next 1000 years!
Due to the precession of the equinox, the Sun will be at the 1st degree of Libra at the spring equinox in 11,232 years! Those who think that almanacs and calendars are cast in iron should mark their calendars! The zodiac of the two systems (Tropical and Sidereal) will be exactly opposite one another! Ayanamsha will be 180 degrees 0 minutes!! It would be interesting to those who oppose Thamil New Year shifted to Thai first to incarnate at that time just to join in the debate!
In Vedic or Sidereal astrology the calculation of the Sun passing through the 1st degree of Aries is marked by the Sun actually passing through the observable fixed stars making up the constellation Aries and has nothing to do with the seasons. Because of the precession of equinoxes at a rate of 50.26 seconds per year, .difference between the tropical zodiac and sidereal zodiac increases every 10 years by 8 minutes 22 arc seconds.
The Thamil/Hindu calendar has gone awry and no correction was made for precession of equinoxes. This is the reason why the real seasons are not synchronizing with months mentioned above. Poet Subramanian Bharathiyar has pointed out this discrepancy in one of his essays.
Those who claim that Chiththirai New Year ushers in Spring (Venil) has to re-think. It really falls on March 21st! A good 24 days earlier. So are all the Hindu auspices festival and ceremonial days.
The “wobble” and the precession of the equinoxes were known to the Ancient Egyptians, although the first official “discovery” of it was made by an Ancient Greek astronomer, Hipparchus, who was born sometime around 190 B.C. It was noted because the Sun was in a slightly earlier position at the time of the Spring Equinox each year (as measured against the fixed stars). Because the movement slips backwards (Westwards) through the zodiac, it is called precession (as opposed to a forward-movement which would be called progression).
Now 1 every 71.6 years doesn’t sound like too much, but it certainly adds up over 2,000 years or so, and this is where we get into the different Zodiac systems.
The determination of Thai first as Thamil New Year is now a fait accompali. One cannot unscramble a scrambled egg! History is heavily stacked against intellectually discreditable individuals for they live in the past!
The change of Thamil New Year has not altered or modified the Panchangam or Thamil Almanac as some foolishly think or argue. What has changed is the reference point (in a circle any point could be considered the reference point) in the Zodiac. Instead of Aeries 0 degree being considered the birth of Thamil New Year, the reference point has been shifted to Makaram 0 degree the birth of Thamil New Year!
There is reference in Thamil Sangam literature to the celebration of Thai Neeradal, but there is absolutely no reference to Chiththirai New Year in ancient literature!
The shifting of Thamil New Year from Chiththirai first to Thai first is a milestone in the history of Thamils.
The ‘Tamil Nation’ website was launched in 1998. The Editor, Satyendra Nadesan, an Attorney at Law based in the United Kingdom, represents one strand of the Tamil diaspora who had left Sri Lanka in the early 1980s. Many appear to have since lost touch with the ground reality in the island. The recent controversy surrounding Mr. M. Karunanidhi’s decision to shift the date of the Tamil New Year from April to January demonstrates the disconnect between sections of the Tamil diaspora and the Tamils who remain in the island.
[A Tamil devotee walks as drummers perform with traditional drums at a Hindu temple as they celebrate Tamil new year in Vavuniya-Photo Reuters Via Yahoo! News]
Mr. Karunanidhi rushed through legislation in Tamil Nadu on January 29 to discontinue the observance of the April new year. The unspoken undercurrent was to de-Hinduize the Tamil calendar and assert Tamil Nadu’s separateness from the rest of India. He proposed that Thai Pongal in mid-January be established as the Tamil New Year instead.
Little did he realize that Thai Pongal itself had a lot to do with Hindu civilization. It is hardly Tamil to begin with. This Hindu holiday in January is celebrated throughout India as Makara Sankranti. Makara Sankranti, in fact, is the biggest event in the Kumbh Mela which falls every 12 years. It is the harvest festival in Tamil Nadu, not the traditional New Year! It never marked the start of the Tamil calendar.
A ‘Tamil Nation’ Op-Ed dated February 10 gave wide publicity to Mr. Karunanidhi’s decision and urged that Tamils worldwide abide by the new diktat. A second editorial on April 12 defended the controversial move by M. Karunanidhi to shift the date of the Tamil New Year. It argued that the Tamil identity was reportedly secular, not religious. When even the pro-LTTE Tamil Net discreetly condemned Karunanidhi’s decision, the ‘Tamil Nation’ website chose to defend it! It is ironic that while second-generation Tamil immigrants in Canada and Europe have understandably assimilated into those cultures, a UK-based website set up to purportedly defend Tamil culture urges those back home to disown the traditional Tamil New Year. The April New Year had been celebrated in Tamil Nadu for over a millennium and can not be vetoed by such politicized legislation.
Fortunately, the ground reality back in Sri Lanka is very different. The Tamils in Colombo, Batticaloa, Jaffna and Vavuniya observed the traditional Tamil New Year on April 13 with hope and prayer despite the difficult situation. The All Ceylon Hindu Congress clarified that the traditional Tamil New Year was in April, not in January. This followed public consultations. Tamil public opinion in Sri Lanka vehemently opposed any change to the date of the New Year.
Karunanidhi’s efforts to bring forward the Tamil New Year to January had more to do with reconciling Tamil culture with the western calendar that starts on January 1. A so-called Tamil nationalism premised on the suppression of Hindu tradition can and should never succeed.
It was heartening to note that Jayalalitha Jayaram of the opposition AIADMK and Vaiko of the MDMK had condemned the move by Karunanidhi. This would likely be reversed in the next year. Sources in Tamil Nadu reveal that judicial litigation challenging the Karunanidhi decision is on the cards.
Regardless, the people of Batticaloa, Jaffna and Vavuniya can speak for themselves without the intervention of London-based websites.
Ms Gandhi said her visit was ‘completely personal’
Priyanka Gandhi, daughter of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, says she has met a woman serving a jail term for her father’s assassination.
Ms Gandhi said she met Nalini Sriharan last month in a prison in Vellore in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a suicide bomb in May 1991 while he addressed an election rally. India has always blamed the attack on Tamil Tiger rebels.
Sriharan was convicted for being part of the assassination squad.
She was initially given a death sentence along with three others.
But her sentence was changed into a life term, following a plea for clemency by Rajiv Gandhi’s widow and Congress Party president, Sonia Gandhi.
Mrs Gandhi appealed on Sriharan’s behalf because she had a young child.
Correspondents say Priyanka Gandhi’s visit is highly significant because her father’s murder shocked India and turned many people in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere against the Tamil Tigers.
In 2006, they expressed “regret” for the murder in a move which correspondents say was a realisation by the rebels that the assassination was a huge mistake.
‘Completely personal’
“Yes, I did visit Vellore to meet my father’s assassins,” Ms Gandhi told private television network CNN-IBN.
Ms Gandhi confirmed the visit took place on 19 March in the prison where Sriharan is lodged.
“It’s completely personal, I don’t want to say anything about it. I needed to make peace with all the violence in my life,” she said.
“I don’t believe in anger or violence and I refuse to let it overpower me. Meeting Nalini (Sriharan) was my way of coming to terms with my father’s death,” Ms Gandhi said.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Priyanka Gandhi’s brother and Congress party MP Rahul Gandhi said he was aware of the meeting.
“Both me and my sister don’t believe in violence and her meeting Nalini was in this context,” he said.
Mr Gandhi said he had no plans to meet Sriharan.
Earlier, The Times of India newspaper quoted Sriharan’s lawyers – who say they have been briefed extensively by their client – as saying the meeting was “very cordial”.
The newspaper quoted Ms Gandhi telling Sriharan, “My father was a good person… Had you known about my father’s good nature, you would not have done this.”
50 is generally considered the dividing line between youth and middle age. Oddly, Chanaka, who died in a car accident at the age of 38,was simultaneously a portly middle aged man and a callow youth. His precocious political consciousness and manner of speech belied his age. But, his gentle demeanor and childlike innocence led to his early death, with his reckless and drunken friend Ryan Holsinger behind the wheels.
