Generosity on the part of Sinhalese and pragmatism on the part of Tamils is now required
By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
History tells us that ports are not only a driver of rapid development but a multiplier of modernization, and the Deep South, which after centuries of neglect has generated and benefited from a provincial power shift, will never be marginalised again.
The quiet pride, hope and gratitude that most Sri Lankan citizens feel with regard to the Hambantota port and our long standing friend China, must be set alongside another lesson about our friends that we could learn from another recent development which has not drawn anything like the attention it merits.
If anyone should be called upon to testify before the Lessons Learnt panel, it is surely Mr Pathmanathan, better known as KP, who in an interview given to DBS Jeyaraj makes disclosures —or allegations— which are truly shocking. He says that several Western states stood ready to evacuate the top leadership of the LTTE, including Velupillai Prabhakaran, to safety in a third country. This is what he has said, on the record:
"I was in touch with international political leaders, top bureaucrats, diplomats, opinion-makers of different countries and also high –ranking UN officials. I contacted some of them directly. Influential people contacted some others on my behalf. In March 2009 I thought I had made a breakthrough but sadly Prabhakaran rejected the proposal.
I had a tentative plan with international endorsement. The LTTE was to lay down arms by hoarding them in specific locations. The words used were "lock –off". That is arms particularly heavy weapons were to be locked off in specific places. They were to be handed over to representatives of the UN. Afterwards there was to be a cessation of hostilities in which the people were to be kept in specific "no firing zones". Negotiations were to be conducted between the Govt. and LTTE with Norwegian facilitation.
Tentatively about 25 to 50 top leaders with their families were to be transported to a foreign country if necessary. The middle level leaders and cadres were to be detained, charged in courts and given relatively minor sentences. The low-level junior cadres were to be given a general amnesty. The scheme was endorsed by the West including Norway, EU and the USA. The Americans were ready to send their naval fleet in to do evacuation if necessary.
I don’t think there was any official intimation to Colombo but maybe they were sounded out informally. But the plan was never concretized because the main man concerned, Prabhakaran rejected it. I had written an outline of the plan and sent it to him for approval. If he said "Proceed" I would have concretized it and started work on implementing it. But when I faxed the details in a 16-page memorandum he rejected the 16 pages in just three words ‘Ithai Etrukkolla Mudiyathu’- ‘This is unacceptable’." (KP Speaks Out -2, DBS Jeyaraj Column, Daily Mirror Saturday, August 14, 2010)
If his disclosures/allegations were true (and if they weren’t I would have expected a contradiction) not only was KP, at the time a representative of a proscribed and notorious terrorist organisation, in touch with highly placed sources in the UN system and the West, but Prabhakaran, the man who stood accused of responsibility for the murder of a former Prime Minister of India, a Sri Lankan President, Foreign Minister, and Opposition Leader, was a candidate for evacuation by US forces. From their safe exile the top leadership of the LTTE would have re-kindled the dreadful war that ate at the entrails of Sri Lankan society. All Sri Lankans must surely digest the implications.
A cautionary note, though. Nothing that others can do to us can be quite as damaging as the gross strategic mistakes we ourselves make and the correct turning that we ourselves fail to make. The doctrine that ‘by oneself is one defiled’ and the injunction to ‘turn the searchlight inwards’ holds true for countries, nations and societies too.
Just last week, ISAS, the institute at which I am currently based, was a third leg of a tripod that hosted an especially interesting event on South Asia’s future at the National Library of Singapore. The catalyst was the Boston University’s Pardee Centre for Long Range Studies which tied up with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) and the Institute for South Asian Studies (ISAS) to discuss ‘South Asia in 2060’. The seminar was chaired by Prof Simon Tay, head of the SIIA, which describes itself as ‘think tank for a thinking society’, and author of Asia Alone: the Dangerous Post Crisis Divide From America.(I was glad to gather that Nihal Rodrigo and Dr Rohan Samarajiwa were contributors to the Pardee Center’s study).
Of the four factors that were identified as the key determinants of the future of each South Asian society and South Asia as a whole, the first and the last were: identity. As the Director of the Center of Long Range Studies from Boston, himself an Asian, said, the repetition of the term identity was neither mistake nor witticism. The first reference to identity was the current problems of identity of each society and the final reference to identity was how these would evolve and consequently how, as sum total, the identity of South Asia would evolve over the next fifty years.
The panellists were senior scholars or scholar-diplomats heading various institutions of advanced studies. Each South Asian state was treated in turn and their references to Sri Lanka were lucid and significant. The consensus was that "having overcome the challenge of terrorism, Sri Lanka had the potential to effect the fastest turn around in South Asia and catch up with the economic renaissance of the rest of Asia on condition that the Tamil minority was successfully integrated and a broadly inclusive identity was finally forged, as it had not been since Independence".
Thus, these top-notch analysts, none of them biased Westerners, clearly identified "the successful integration of the Tamil minority" as the most decisive single task facing post-war Sri Lanka, and the one which would ultimately determine whether or not there would be sustainable economic prosperity and social development, as distinct from temporary episodes of economic growth.
To my mind, this requires generosity on the part of the Sinhalese and pragmatism on the part of the Tamils, or if one may reduce it to single requirement, enlightened self-interest on the part of both communities and their leaderships.
No area of policy requires more careful thinking through than that of the state in the former high conflict areas of the North and East. These policies have their effect along two axes.
The first is that of the integration of the Tamil minority and the overall project of nation-building. Nowhere is this more fraught than in a region where the populace is predominantly of a different, aggrieved ethnicity and/or religion than those of the makers and implementers of policy. Alienation can lead to resentment and resentment to resistance. Even if resistance does not lead to revolt and rebellion by a future generation, a sullen alienation will hang like a dark cloud over the picture of post-war Sri Lanka that the world sees.
Since our giant neighbour contains 70 million Tamils who consider themselves as having a relationship with the Tamils of Northern Sri Lanka (the proceedings, patronage and optics of the International Association of Tamil Research conference in Chennai this year should have put paid to any doubts on that score), our relationship with our Tamil citizens cannot but impact on our relationship with our giant neighbour.
Given the entrenched presence of the Tamil Diaspora in Western societies and the animus it has towards Sri Lanka and the Sinhalese, the proposition that Sri Lanka’s primary strategic relationship must be with the West looks untenable. Colombo must brace itself for continuing pressure from that quarter while striving to communicate better with those states and societies. The worst case scenario is not pressure from the West and the institutions it dominates, but pressure from the West and an absence of integration with the East.
Sri Lanka has to find its place as a liked and respected member of the Asian family and derive protection from that place. Increasingly critical scrutiny from the Global North is a problem but not the most serious one; intrusive scrutiny from the North combined with discomfiture, detachment and distancing on the part of the Global South, is a far worse prospect.
31 Comments
The motto of new Vietnam is : Motto: Độc lập - Tự do - Hạnh phúc
"Independence - Freedom - Happiness". When Ceylon got independnece from Britain in 1948, the Tamils and other minorities ( except many of the Indian and Pakistani origin residents of Ceylon lost their rights) also believed they too had similar motto and have equality and level playing field.
Unfortunately the Sinhalese majority using the one man one vote system , high jacked every thing and claimed the soverignty and territorial integrity is their sole proprietary and imposed their rule through devious constitutional changes and state terror. Even after the war they are consolidating their hold further and plan to make more consitutional changes to suit their rule but no sharing of power.
It has gone to the extent that international socialist like comrade Dayan wants the Tamils to be pragmatic, prostrate and beg for generosity from the sole proprietors of the Island.
Some want KP to give evidence to the SL truth commision or quotes KP . But they do not advocate Queen Elizabeth 11 or a British Prime Minister past or present, or UN reps or other European reps , to ascertain certain historical facts prior to 1948 or the time European Governments whose ancestors brought the Island under their control.
Also they do not advocate the trio from India who were close to MR brothers when the war was going on to give evidence.
Above all does comrades Professor Vitharane and DEW has anything to reveal through their honest evidence about the APRC and Ptomb ?
a lasting solution should be found based on the understanding, and not based on the generosity or pragmatic since both can change with time.
Srilanka which is being heralded as the next Singapore should adapt the Singapore model to integrate the Tamils into the mainstream.
The manner in which the Western powers,, treat Singapore is extended to Srilanka once the same model is adopted, there shoudln't be any problems.
It will also allay the fears of Dr Jayathillaka.
Sir, we Sinhalese are always giving and generous to the Tamils but they never appreciate it.
We were initially prudent in our generosity but as years went by and our kinship grew we became more giving of ourselves to the Tamil people of Lanka. Many will disagree with me but just look at the historical records we started at cautiously in the “giving” process but rapidly progressed as years went by. Well nobody can deny that we “gave” much more to the Tamils in 1983 than in 1956 and 1977 but we topped it all off in May 2009. Our “giving” Buddhist nature permitted us to give shelter and food to 200K Tamils in the safety of barbed wire and 5* luxury accommodation with private en-suites to each family. Many foreign nations (US, UK, EU) were critical of our giving nature but we did not succumb to such vile jealousy of our generosity, thus we continued to “give” to the Tamils. Our recent act of giving has been to make them feel wanted and as part of our extended family, we have requested the Tamils in Wellawatte and Kotahena to register with the local police. – It is for their benefit, so we can invite them to dhannas and parties.
We have also gone to pains of “giving” the following to the Tamils
• A spectacular new library – after the vicious LTTE burnt the old one
• We are in the process of engaging Namal Rajapakse in granting him building rights to the CO-OP which was also burnt by the terrorist LTTE
• We are giving the Hindu and Christian Tamils of Jaffna to embrace the inner peace of Buddhism by building a Vihara in every nook and corner
• We have embraced multiculturalism by have buddist monks teach in boys only school – it is for physical and academic purposes( the physical portion is carried out at the monks digression )
• We have built culture friendly villages in the East and Vanni for the Sinhalese people so they can embrace their Tamil brethren. We did not charge one penny from the Tamils to have these Sinhala people move from Cinnamon Gardens (Colombo 7) to live in Tamil farmers land. Look how magnanimous we are.
• The Tamil people are now so secure with 24*7 military surrounding around Jaffna and Vanni that by “God” they have no fear of the LTTE or any other terrorist org
• Thru our giving nature we have given them a commission to investigate any mishaps that happened during the operations of May 2009. Even our highly sophisticated software (it produced the result even before the commission was formed) which gave the results that not one civilian was killed by our brave troops during the battle.
We Sinhalese are always ready to give now the Tamils have to be pragmatic and accept our acts of “giving” and not complain about stuff like human rights, war crimes etc .
When DJ penned this piece,
he was not aware of the MR-GR decision in relation to
SF Court Martial Verdict was going to be and used
the words "Generosity of the Sinhalese" as a Header!
There is not going to be any change even if KP gives evidence at this
"Commission" Mr. DJ !!
What sort of 'Generosity' on the part of Sinhalese can the Tamils expect, for them to become pragmatic Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka? As we have repeatedly pointed out, unless you and the majority Sinhalese change your 'mind-set'detach from the Mahavamsa myth, none of you will ever show any generocity. Please don't create any more illusion to hoodwink the readers.
Secondly KP has spun a net and has traped you so that you and your likes could be kept busy braking your head to find the truth. I hope your brain is spinning fast enough to get enlightend to prevent any more new things to be imagined.
"The first is that of the integration of the Tamil minority and the overall project of nation-building" what exactly do you mean by integration? is it to convert like many who did in Chilaw and Puttulam in the 1920's or what Gotta told his soldiers; kill the men and rape the women so the B's-illegitimates would be Sinhalese! Your polititicians do not understand the term nation-building. A Ceylonese Nation was built by British during their rule of 150 years. Can't you see what they did! Tamil proverb a "Flower garland in the hands of a monkey". The present state is due to selfish Sinhala politions and ignoramus Buddhist monks.
Next interesting passage from your article is this:-The panellists were senior scholars or scholar-diplomats heading various institutions of advanced studies. Each South Asian state was treated in turn and their references to Sri Lanka were lucid and significant. The consensus was that "having overcome the challenge of terrorism, Sri Lanka had the potential to effect the fastest turn around in South Asia and catch up with the economic renaissance of the rest of Asia on condition that the Tamil minority was successfully integrated and a broadly inclusive identity was finally forged, as it had not been since Independence". The misinformation,illogical facts propagated using PR companies in USA&UK; millions of US Dollers of Srilankan Tax payers money spend by successive Governments on false propaganda have made these scholars 'illiterate' with the true history of Srilanka,and on the true nature of the Sinhalese masses between 1972 to date. Do these Scholars know the Barbaric acts meeted out on innocent Tamil citizens in 1956,58,61,74,77,81 and 1983? How proud can you be? you Sinhalese rulers created terrorism and you claim that you have over come the 'challanges of terrorism'. I hope you would agree It was not "terrorism" as pictured, but it was the "liberation struggle" of Tamils to win their fundamental political rights; that was suppressed with the help of the Western democracies, Indian, China and Russia's communism -'Bootleg any dissidents, confused Pakistani's and Iranians. Don't be a braggart soldier Dayan!
In this Post war period, please show some remorse, help with reconciliation, reconstruction of the Tamil area's infrastrctures, give space for Tamils to have their political freedom as equal citizens, this way you will build a nation not otherwise. In the name of development foreign funds being squandered to build military cantonments, Buddhist Viharas, and plunddering Tamil peoples farming lands and their lively hood, and expect the Tamils to be pragmatic? have your brain scanned to eleminate the tumour that is growing within.
The article - just like many of his other pieces - simply reflects his unashamed and "generous" acceptance of the Sinhala supremacist politics. Well, that's what his "pragmatism" is all about. When decoded, "generosity and pragmatism" means nothing but "less arrogance" and "submission". But no reason for surprise: what else should we expect from an unprincipled ex-radical paid employee of the chauvinist Sri Lankan state.
Could Dayan tell us what is Tamil Pragmatism please. Is it ones described below or more:
1. Do not ask for equal rights. Be a subservient minority. Accept what the Sinhalese give from time to time due to their generosity and be satisfied.
2. Do not ask for devolution of power as the total power to do whatever necessary will always be controlled by the Sinhalese for their own benefit.
3. Do not protest in the deliberate changing of democratic pattern as Sinhalese want to be the majority race in every nook and corner of Srilanka.
4. Do not protest against any violence unleashed on Tamils, as the Sinhalese are jealous of the wealth of Tamils and want to destroy their properties.
5. Do not expect any justice from Police or Courts when you get into a conflict with Sinhalese as they are the chosen people who cannot be touched.
Mr Dayan :- Do you know the definiton of Generosity
Mr. International Community :- being kind to people
Mr. Dayan :- No Idiot. Burning people alive is generosity.
Mr. International Community:- Opps :
Dear Dr Loku Banda
Your piece of high class, tongue in cheek satire is greatly welcomed.
You are quite right. We are renowned for "giving" all in the name of the blessed one.
I was witness to how our generous 'givers' gave the "works" in Wellawatte in 1983, haplessly abetted by passing selfish motorists who didnt volunteer but were forced to donate the petrol. It was a no holes barred "giving".
All this was benevolently approved with nodding acquiescence by that wise old sage JRJ, whose acts of 'giving' have been monumentally recorded in the last few decades with indelible ink in our memory. To remind ourselves, he gave us - Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and Burgher , the lot - the combined "works" in a most unforgettable manner. His penchant for "giving" was so well suspected, it was that wise old yet very selfish bird Dr. N.M. who said never give JRJ the spoon, knowing how sumptuously he would "give" us all !
It is really cute for DJ to find so many twists in the tale (tail!)which obviously he is still unfolding. His honesty of purpose is well above question.
What "Dhana" indeed, all round!
Dr. Loku Banda, very interesting comment. Please write more. I need to know more about this generosity stuff of Sinhalese Governemnts. I usually love to read whatever DR. DJ writes, but this time when I noticed the word GENEROSITY in the beginning of his writing, decided not to read the entire article. Because, the Tamils know the genorisity of Sinhalese Governemtns, so why waste time, but just read only the comments. Here you are, whatever I had in my mind comming out from your hand. I feel you have more to write, but you don't want to offend those desperate Tamils who haven't so far enjoyed the generosity of Sinhalese Governemtns. Don't worry about those stupid Tamils who don't know the true meaning of GENEROSITY. They have to learn to understand BEGGERS HAVE NO CHOICE! You Keep Writing!
Generosity on the part of Sinhalese and pragmatism on the part of Tamils is now required
By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
My question is to everyone:
If hegemonic Sri Lanka in totality is BAD because there is a Sinhala majority.
WHY is it that a hegemonic Tamil majority in the Northern and Eastern province be accepted as holy and untouchable ?
Why this duplicity ?
It is a fact that ALL if not most Sinhalese consider WHOLE of Sri Lanka as there country of birth. And to give credit to the Sinhalese we have NOT said that other NON-Sinhalese should NOT consider that Sri Lanka be their HOMELAND as well.
Of course, there are structural issues in governance and models of governance.Lack of governance is a generic problem to ALL in Sri Lanka not to Tamils only.
Tamils have insisted that they have to be in control of the areas of the country that they are in majority. (This is the long standing grievance). Control mean executive control.
So Tamils do not subscribe to Sri Lanka being the HOMELAND for ALL.
Unless Tamils accept this fact this problem is not going to get solved. Especially , when there is an ethnic community that is indigenous to Sri Lankan geography only is there (ie. Sinhalese)
Sinhalese general population has accepted multiculturalism long time ago. But multiculturalism is a 2-way street. Ask any Tamil person in a developed western country.
Dr. Loku Banda, Amen to that!
Sinhala_Voice
I am truly with u Sinhal_Voice.Hope tamils understand it.
That is the only problem they have presented in different words to hoodwink the world.
Ah LTTE very very bad, terrorist movement killed many Sinhala, Muslim and burger civilians and recruited child soldiers. But, we Sinhalese are very nice buddist people we did not kill Tamils in 1956 , 1977 and 1983. Our brave soldiers did not gang rape children in Lanka( Krishanti was a sham to discredit our brave forces) or in Haiti( The lies have come to haunt Haiti- it was Karma that they got the massive Earthquake), we did not bomb Temples, Churches, Mosques, Schools, Hospitals and Libraries. We Sinhalese people are very very good human beings. Our buddist monks only preach tolerance and according to buddist principles deal in ahimsa in the parliament and in the blessing of the guns at the war front. Look at JHU our monks only speak tolerance and goodwill.
We Sinhala people are very good- the Tamils for no reason got together funded a ruthless movement and attacked the peaceful Sinhalese. Remember in 1983 because our armed forces are mainly buddists and shun violence they were kept inside the barracks for three days when the violent Tamils were attacking the poor Sinhalese in the south.
Now the LTTE is gone we have the Tamils behind barb wires for their own safety. We have also requested the Tamils to re register in Kotahena and Wellawatte so we can send them invitations to our parties. We Sinhalese are good good people but now the LTTE is gone the Tamil people will also become very very good like us.
We Sinhalese are very good people we do not need UN to investigate us we will do our own investigation we are not a barbaic nation like Rwanda, Serbia etc where the UN had to investigate we will do our findings. We have a very powerful software that gave us the results of the inquiry even before the formation of the commission.
If not for the LTTE we Sri Lankans always lived in harmony with our brothers and sisters. There were not anti Tamil riots in 1956,1977,1983 no muslim riots in 1915 and in the 70's we did not kill six muslim in a Mosque in Puttalam nor did we open fire on the muslims in Kandy during Chandrika's Time. We are very peaceful when the students(JVP) had an uprising in 1971(LTTE was behind this as well) we gave them all detention and hakkuru to resolve the issue. Same thing in 1989 when the students(JVP) revolted against homework again we gave them detention but this time we gave them Sherbet(IPKF brought the syrup with them). We are good good people. We would have been saints if not for the LTTE.
We Sinhalese love Sri Lanka that is why we never leave that country for the Middle East, UK or Canada and we do not have cricket matches, baila concerts etc in Toronto, London Dubai etc.
Ha Ha, Dr Loku Banda, here comes more GENEROSITY stuff from a Sinhala Voice:-
"It is a fact that ALL if not most Sinhalese consider WHOLE of Sri Lanka as there country of birth. And to give credit to the Sinhalese we have NOT said that other NON-Sinhalese should NOT consider that Sri Lanka be their HOMELAND as well."
You Tamil Speaking people, you all are beggers you don't need self respect, enjoy the GENEROSITY whole heartedly offered, or perish. Now be gone!
Dear Sinhala _Voice, You too have just shown your ignorance on the history of this ethnic conflict. When it was a Ceylonese society (built by British Colonial masters) and given to us in 1948; instead of building and strengthening the nation called as CEYLONESE it was dismantled by Sinhala Majoritarian arrogance. A dynamite was placed to the foundation by SWRD. However,the Tamils wanted to be within the unitary system of governance and were pleading for some pact that would treat us as equal citizens. The price we paid by the Sinhala generocity,SWRD in 1956,till JRJ 1983. Colvin said two language will be one nation and one language will cause two nations. This garden path of destruction was created by Sinhalese and not the Tamils. However, one should understand that if one is hit repeatedly if you cowdown then you are a fool, so the Tamil youths took up arms to fight for their rights which were denied during peaceful acts. But the history ended in a protracted Racial war. That war being fought behind closed doors[hidden] to the International communities, with the false propagand of fighting terrorism. An 'internal war' was fought with the help of many countries. weapons, intelligence, money, mercinaries and traitors from the Tamil community. Yet GoSL don't want to accept that this was now a International problem and strenuously Preventing the UN and other agencies poking their nose to findout what exactly went behind the close doors. Was it really the war on terror or a GENOCIDE?
“Enlightened self-interest” should be the driving force to usher in real reconciliation. “Successful integration of the Tamil minority” is certainly ideal as put forward many a times by the entire world - but to no avail yet. Curiously, the resolve, will and rapid action to usher this in has been lacking for years now compelling, among many, for the “Toronto Star” in Canada last Sunday to comment editorially -on the Tamil refugees in Vancouver matter. The Star suggests to the Harper administration to remind the Rajapakse regime as couner "Canada does not have a Tamil problem. It is Sri Lanka that has the problem… the regime has failed to make the country’s large Tamil minority feel secure after crushing the tigers”
Lankan intellectuals, the academicia and civil society duty-bound must continue to offer counsel and shape the opinion of the regime that hardly seems to listen even to eminently sound advise so far. But even to remotely suggest, again in different language, Tamils should count on the “generosity on the part of the Sinhalese” in the path of solution is to take the condescending feature to new lows – that lacks both finesse and reason. It is unacceptable to the Lankan Tamil nation – although this may be thrown around whimically only because they are a seventh of the populace. The esteem and prestige of an ancient people cannot be governed by the rules of arithmetics but more by reason and accommodation in an environment that hoarsely claims it is a product of the teachings of compassion and enlightenment of as long as two millennia and half.
ISS
Tamil separatists like Naveen, Dr. Eswaran and Raja are Tamils who are not being very pragmatic in their approach to this whole affair. This is why we peaceful generous Sinhalese people find it hard to deal in a humanitarian manner with you people. We wanted our Tamil brothers and sisters to embrace true “Sri Lankism” by introducing the Sinhala only act, like the Indians we wanted to unify the country under one Umbrella ( but unlike the politically naive Indians we did not want create diversity among ourselves by divulging authority to state/provincial governments).
As true good buddists we embrace other cultures look at the number of burgers amongst us we were quick to adopt/integrate with the Dutch and the Portuguese and now our ministers have declared that Chinese will be part our curriculum. Tamil people are largely xenophobic they did not embrace the cultures of the Dutch, Portuguese (except for some progressive Tamils in the East), IPKF, SLA, SLAF and the peaceful Muslims. We even “embraced” the lion.
Our clergy is not hierarchical or snobbish like the Hindu clergy we treat all the Tamils equally, our clergy was there in the forefront since 1956 to the present. Our clergy was there with the “Sinhala” commoners during the carnivals of 56, 77, and 83 and till present. Whether it is a
Tamil Shop burning ceremony
Tamil business burning ceremony
Tamil house burning initiation
Blessing of the killings of Tamils (for their own good)
Encouraging Tamils embrace “one Lanka” by denying fundamental rights to them (We have to take away few things from people in order for them to appreciate it).
Parliamentary sit-ins
WWF wrestling matches at the parliament
Relocation of Colombo 7 Sinhalese to the jungles of Vanni
Dayan,
Why are you preaching this sermon now only,
? if you have done the same sernon in 2002 ? just after Elephantpas debacle to and at the time of pease talks started to the Sinhala , also then people would have respected your sermon or even you as a respectable person worth lisining. It shows your biaus you canot be a true scientist of either poilitics or science any one can trust.
The top UN diplomat believes that Sri Lanka was born to the Sinhalese and the minority are fleas, and hence talks of generosity and pragmatism. Thank god you are not talking about using dog flea shampoo to eradicate them.
You should hang the Chapter III of the constitution in your house and read it everyday for more enlightenment. KP's thalaguli seems very palatable and makes the man with the PhD, gullible. Is it indeed KP's thalaguli or HMV (His masters voice).
Dear Dr Jayathilaka, please don't be another Achcharu Mervyn Silva, and devalue your doctorate.
ISS,
Sinhalese have to be concious of the rules of arithmatic. That is the only saviour of Sinhala nation. If not for the arithmatic rules, Sinhalese would have been in the extinct species list of the Smithsonian Institute.
Sinhalese know what happened to them in the North where the arithmatic rules didn't work for them. They became extinct! That is the pragmatism of Tamils so far experienced by Sinhalese.
The survival instinct says that Sinhalese must ensure the arithmatic rules work for them in every nook and corner of Sri Lanka. That is the truth they learned through a bloody sacrifice of a whole generation.
Never again!
More and More Generosity stuff. Thank you, thank you Dr. Loku Banda. I am impressed.
Hela (Aug 19)might be assured in the present issue there is arithmetics(17+3) and imagined arithmetics(3+65) Hela is savvy enough to know the days of gunboat diplomacy died many decades ago. Imagined arithmetics as Voltaire reminded us "belief in absurdities will result in atrocities" gave birth to 1977 and then the epoch-making 1983. In today's world there is no danger to the Sinhala race at all. Just about everybody here knows it except those to whom "politics is business" for which this is an important marketing tool. Malfeasance is one enterprise that has produced the jet-set of contemporary society. This has now become dynastical business and that will complicate matters further. We (Hela and all) must protect the country, the religion and the people from the contamination of bogus patriots, scheming Mullahs-Rasputins, pseudo-nationalists and 21st centuty Dutugemunus all of whom individually and collectively taken us for a ride from 1956 fattening their purses. Nobodies have become somebodies by the score. Those who came to politics in dirty Bata slippers in broken bicycles came out only a few years later in gleaming Mercedes 450s, Pajeros out of their Colombo 7 mansions and Palaces in their electorates. What are the Income Tax and other authorities doing is what the ordinary citizen's query. The authorities are silenced and as in the days of the colonial raj they are given crumbs from the table to keep their gab closed. The larger majority are slowly beginning to realise the folly and the the pernicious, the charlatans are gradually being exposed.
So - for Pete's sake don't blame me and my people.
ISS
ISS (Aug21),
Why single out 1956?
1956 was not the start of all evil. It may have open the door for some who wore Bata slippers also to take a share of the pie which was only the preserve of English educated servants of the colonials till then. This is a lie you and I know (though you pretend not to know & still tries to perpetuate). That is my issue. We all know the catastrophic consequences of this lie brought on your people (you may have escaped to still feast on that misery. Apologies for being so harsh). The lie allowed the parasites to feast to date.
How do we protect our country & religion from parasites if we are not honest? The experiences of arithmatic as I stated earlier has so far been proven correct unfortunately (which is something I would like my people to get out of).
You and your people cannot be absolved from blame (I am not clean either) as you were willing participants to some extent though you may not have personally shot/bombed & killed my people (but your idealogy that 1956 is the source of all evil did!).
If we want to start afresh and get rid of the parasites, we must begin with ourselves by acknowledging our past sins & mistakes and acknowledging the hopes & fears of all fellow Sri Lankans. It helps if we can open our doors to others. Generosity & pragmatism are relevant in that sense.
dear dj,
in the same breath you should have mentioned about your present presidents dealing with ltte chief in 2005 elections.how he won the election by paying ltte and how tamils are paying for that folly on their part by electing a sinhala race monger instead of ranil wickramasinghe.well said dr.easwaran your analysis is very incisive as you said british handed over ceylon to sinhalese and we can find flowers like jaffna,batticolao,trinco on the one side and ceylon thread (naar) on the other side.dj i dont think one can expect generosity on the part of sinhalese as they say in tamil "sattiyile irunthathan agapail irukkum" simply becoz they dont have one.how can u expect a person to give which he does not have.srilanka can never become another singapore becoz sinhalese will not allow any tamil business man to grow.singapore has had two indian presidents in devon nair and sr nathan who is the present one.did srilanka have a single prime minister who belonged to a minority community.lakshman kadirgamar was to become one sinhalese accepted him becoz he was married to a sinhalese and he never considered himself to be a tamil this was foiled by our present president.every one has the right to dream but dreams cant substitute for reality.let us accept reality dj come on wake up.waka waka pls subsititute e for a.
In responding to Hela (Aug 21) one must point out the peculiar nature of our political discourse. If you ask one learned with a UNP inclination when the slide began towards racial-political disorder, economic decline, breakdown of governance and the eventual threat to the breakup of the country – the answer will be 1956. If you ask one with a SLFP/PA bias it will be July 1983. Arguably, those outside both these loops are likely to answer the beginning of what might be the end we have been witnessing for some years now, in many ways, is 1956. Doubtless, SWRD re-gained for the Common Man his lost dignity and place; to Buddhism the lofty position it was its due but suppressed by Colonialism albeit a more tolerant British later. I rejoice with these. SWRD, the enlightened man he was,
realized although he eventually secured his political revenge over the Uncles, Cousins and Nephews the tool he used to achieve this was going to be disastrous to the unity of the country. And so he came out with the B-C Pact in a form of atonement - that the Tamils accepted. But the very forces he created and on whose shoulders he was brought to the victorious pedestal were to destroy him. He tore up the very agreement he originated and signed in the face of naked intimidation. That, some analysts, note is the beginning of the end of the tranquility of the land.
Hela and fellow-travellers, who may have benefitted by the Ape Anduwa Revolution (certainly nothing wrong with this) may contest this – but the vast majority of the politically conscious will disagree with him.
The English-educated he refers to as exclusively enjoying “the pie” consisted more of Sinhalese than others. The Kotelawalas dominated the Graphite Mines, the Soysas the Coconut-Tea-Rubber empires, the De Zoysas, de Sarams and the lot were dining and wining at Buckingham Palace on money made from arrack renting and were quite content with the Knighthoods and OBEs. Insurance, Bus transport and other were to come later to bring forth our own business elite. Tamils were nowhere here. They succeeded in what would be called today as the knowledge-based industry – the law, medicine, engineering and so forth. The Sinhala Only Act and the Language of the Courts Acts were designed to break the Tamil dominance in these. What have we today asa a consequence? The equivalent of QC’s unable to talk English or poor in law; Judges of the Supreme Court - no betterm with few exceptions. The medical profession unable to control ordinary contagious diseases whereas the more deadlier chicken-pox, plague and malaria were confronted by the better educated Sinhala and Tamil professionals learned in English. The cumulative result today is our men and women are slaving in the middle-east as domestics and worse with one arriving two days ago having suffered a Jesus-Christ like fate of being nailed. Those with a smattering of English from Kerala (India) are ending up as Clerks at salaries ranging from US$300-500 whereas our workers end up with US$100-200monthly. That is one of “benefits” of 1956. Yes! The Sinhalese celebrated they were freerer than before but if you recall SWRD on his Independence Day Speech you know this was not much of a victory as he said, in the brilliance that was always undeniably his, political freedom means little if the common man does not enjoy freedom from hunger, disease and all other (meaning a good education, full employment, a free and peaceful society etc) How do we measure up here today, Sir?
I take you on your own words “if you want to start afresh..” I suggest you come out of this charade of denial. Please accept your mistakes and try to change those who pushed you into this abyss? Can you? What the Tamil people ask today is their natural and due right – forgive me, there is no place here for generosity you refer to as Dayan Jayatilaka does - to run their affairs in their areas (which you defined in 1958, 1977, 1983 and when ex-DIG Kotakadeniya (JHU) and friends asked half-dressed women, children and others during those mid-night rides a few years “to go to your own areas”)
Coming back to arithmetics where we started this let me tell you 3-4 of 20 does not deny us justice or functional equal rights. As the learned Colvin R. de Silva argued “Just because we are five times more than the Tamils does not mean we must ask for 5 plates of rice while they just a single”
The “War” is over and is spoken of only to pass the Emergency Regulations through every month.
The LTTE and whatever is long gone but the Sinhala people are kept terrorized “the diaspora” is deadlier and is planning to attack - just to keep the attention of the people away from the actual Cost of Living. Wimal Weerawansa and Mervyn Silva are used as stage actors here and some believe they should be nominated for the Oscars. What is needed is efficient management of the economy to produce a large enough National Cake sufficient for us all. Our problem from 1956 has been a shrinking cake. Politics, in a way, is a battle to access diminishing resources in a country becoming poorer by the year. Peacen and Unit cannot be accomplsihed with new and larger Army Cantonments, an over-sized military presence, a garrison
environment or accelerated Colonisation in the North-East. The regime must get real. The imposed crime on the Tamil people must not be allowed to continue. They must be made to go back to their homes, farms, fishing, schools, places of worship. Their infra-structure and economy must be built rapidly. That is the key to our shared and peaceful future. Thuggery in the form of an oversized military, threats or intimidation will not bring results. Please understand me in perspective, my friend. May peace be upon us all - soon.
ISS
Some people still think English is the panacea for all and sundry.
These people must be oblivious to the current state of the Nation despite the full frontal attack lasting three decades by the Tamil diaspora, to bring the country to its knees through their hero Mr Prabakaran.
No 61 among three hundred odd ? is not bad Aey?
Middle East jobs are a lot better than the arduous labor under the Sun for the Million odd Indian Tamil labor who get only a pittance.
Some Elite Tamils do not seem to recognize the pitiful state of the Estate laborers for the last 100 years the same way they ignored the poor "Kallathoni" people from South India.
Yet the same people insult the poor women, mainly Muslim who work in the Middle East.
May be, domestics from Estate families for the Colombo Tamils are scarce because of the competition, and the few available demand a payment unlike in the past where they were forced to work from dawn to dusk for a left over bowl of food.
I think the latest IMF report card is a must read for these doomsayers.
Daya, You have hit the nail on the head.
Was it not generosity when Jaffna received a lions share of the national investment on education / subsidised rail transport / protected market for the produce, generous level of provision in government employment. How was it repaid by FP leaders, appeals to the Crown to suspend moves for independence, 50 -50 demands, outright corruption in works departments with corrupt fellow characters coming on as overseers, sabotage of all nation building attempts with Sathyagrahas, posing with cyanide pill wearing youngstes. In my day good percentge of of our dons were of Tamil heritage, perhaps Jaffna Vellala caste, whose forefathers may have migrated to cultivate the Tobacco plantations of the Dutch. THey were wonderful teachers and did their best, but I must say there were rumours about the conduct of practical tests marking of AL papers etc. that tilted the scale in favour of the Jaffna folk.
More recently we saw the trusted and celebrated lawyer, who rose to the highest leve of Attorney General turn over to the LTTE side after leaving government service. Who knows how he conducted his service while in service.
One of the 'educated ' writers a 'Dr' has the gall to write that Ceylonese nation was an invention of the British. Sadly they had to wipe out a few thousands and import few thousands more to achieve the task.
We should look at our neighbours to see how they are coming out of divide and rule policies adopted bycolonial masters, Tamil Nadu and its treatment of minorities, Dalits, Muslims, and also inside how Jaffna society treated its own folks belonging to 'low' casts in its hey day, how LTTE treated Muslims. The Tamil diaspora groups would do well to concentrate on uplifting the lot of the downtrodden in their home country both in the North and Tamil Nadu.
Lawyers across the ethnic divide almost unanimously accept Shiva Pasupathy was one of the finest
Attorney General's the department ever had. In the many decades of his service to the Dept amd the country, there was never an indication he was partisan. While it is upto him to comment on what his political leanings and activities were after he left
Sri Lanka, I believe he refused to play any role - advisory or otherwise - that would have been considered remotely as being inimical to GoSL interests. If he agreed to be present in Conferences where peace to Sri Lanka was the object in which there were both GoSL and the other side he is reported to have done so only for the purpose of offering his advise to arrive at a peace arrangement for all Sri Lankans.
ISS
We have heard this mentioned so many times before but have to repeat this ad nauseum now and then. It is but the height of hypocracy many among us speak against the call to give English the heights it enjoyed to the benefit of all our communities - and, yet send their children to study English as a medium for higher education and professional mobility. Talking of Sinhala Only and coming to political power while sending the children of the high and mighty to England, while the children of the yakkos had to make do with bilingualism in local schools, met with the ire of most people in the country. Even today those who speak publicly against English silently whisper to the magul kapuwa to ensure the boy for the darling daughter must be "good English-speaking " Somapalala-epa is the general message. Tamil and Sinhalese did not die because English education was in demand. Why, some would even say both languages found their nadir relatively during British times. That is because the educated among both races were proud of their two languages and culture - and kept them strong and healthy. English-educated both among the Sinhalese and Tamils were equally proficient in their own languages to a large measure.
ISS