From: Sara
Ananthan, Sydney, Australia, 13 December
2005
Practical implications of diplomacy
and statecraft - We learnt that up amongst the
heavenly bodies, a blazing super star which turns into
an omnipotent sun leaves behind a trail of failed stars
all around it which eventually end up as satellites of
that super star. It appears even down below at our
earthly level, we are to witness such heavenly
spectacle when it comes to international power play or
statecraft played out between nation states where the
blazing super states and the aspiring super states also
appear to leave behind a trail of failed states which
are forced to end up as satellites of these super
states if they wish to have any chance of survival. But
the stakes are much higher in this worldly power game
as the survivals of whole societies are placed at
colossal risk.
In this article, "The ouster of
democracy", published in "The Guardian", Gary Younge
writes about the plight of hapless citizens of Haiti
who are enduring grinding poverty and crippling chaotic
state administration in their unforgiving struggle for
survival for the past 200 years. http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1164195,00.html
This is an excerpt from that article.
"All books about all revolutions begin with a chapter
that describes the decay of tottering authority or the
misery and sufferings of people," wrote Polish
journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski in his book, Shah of
Shahs, about the Iranian revolution.
"They should begin with a psychological chapter, one
that shows how a harassed man breaks his terror and
stops being afraid. This unusual process demands
illuminating."
From the dawn of human history, when
people started to live in societies, it has always been
a challenge for rulers and statesmen to create an
orderly society so that each and every member of that
society will eternally strive for the mutual benefit of
both society and also its individual members. The
purpose of all laws ever invented by humankind and even
all the religious teachings were only meant to uphold
popular justice in order to ultimately create an
orderly society. But the application of statecraft and
diplomacy by nation states seem to defy all these
hallowed principles as the ultimate aim of statecraft
is only meant to benefit that particular state. This
abnormality found in statecraft may be a hangover from
ancient times where a defeated state's rulers and its
people may have had to even pay with their own lives.
Therefore statecraft was devised in such a way that the
interest of that state was deemed paramount and always
upheld even at the cost of any moral or ethical
concerns for affected people.
It appears that this tendency continues even today in
this age of globalizing world where we are incessantly
reminded that we are all equal stake holders of a
global market for our own mutual benefits. If nation
states strive to use statecraft only to exploit each
other amorally for supremacy what kind of societies do
they hope to create as this moral degradation at the
highest level of state power will ultimately pervade
down to the very roots and eventually tear apart the
moral fabric of all those societies that have become
part of this sordid game.
Highly placed policy makers, learned advisers from all
these multitudes of think tanks and unscrupulous lobby
groups are the ones that are ultimately instrumental in
shaping these amoral policies who are blind to these
stark realities as they are only preoccupied with their
own survival rather than the welfare of the wider
global society.
From: A
Visitor from USA - Subject: Heard in Internet
Circles - 25 November 2005
From: Dulan To: Sumane
Dear Sumane
First of all Ana Pararajasingham is an old
Royalist few years younger to us. He was totally non
racist and came from a good Christian family. He is a
FCMA. He used to work as an accountant in Zambia and
got immigration to Australia. He came back with his
wife of one year, on-route to Australia. He chose
July 1983 to make this journey. Both his
house in Borella and his wives house in Wellawatte was
torched and they lost most of their stuff but escaped
with their lives. He was in a camp in Methodist College
in Colpetty before he flew off. He really is a very
nice regular guy. Of course now he knows that living
under a Sinhala government under any circumstances is
not a feasible option.
Today any Tamil anywhere can live with
dignity due to LTTE's ability with whatever tactic to
keep the Sinhalese at bay! Tamils were attacked in
1956, 1958, 1961, 1966 before they took arms.
Someone makes 4 key points:
1.LTTE is now weak
2.Muslims were not included in the
struggle
3.Why was there no election boycott
in East
4. LTTE did this only to hide the
true numbers of Tamils in NE
1.My response is that the hypothesis of
LTTE being weak has been the theme of Sinhalese
forever! When Mahttaya the deputy of Pirabakaran was
killed this was the story, when Indians came this was
the story, when Rajiv was killed this was the hope,
when Tsunami came the story was Praba died from Tsunami. Just forget it.
A mere 10,00 to 15,000 15 yr -18 year olds have shown
the door to a country's 150,000+ strong army, navy,
airforce and a National government. For God sake if
LTTE is weak go after them - kill Praba all over again
and take control. This is just a dream
2.In a freedom struggle to occupy your
land you have to be strategic. First thing is you want
is absolute loyalty and trust. Obviously LTTE cannot trust Muslims who did not
feel the need for a separate State as they stayed on
the fence. Once a separate State is established the
Tamil state will have the confidence to call back
Muslims and even Sinhalese to live and work in North ,
but not yet.
3. It is not true to say that there is
no election boycott in East. Only around 50-60% have
voted. Thus probably significant number of Tamils have
not voted. (Also remember it was after 1948 that DS
Senanayake and other Sinhala leaders shifted the
demography of the East by sending
Sinhalese. On the other hand when Mahavali was done
it was not diverted to Tamil areas though the Master
Plan had it. )
4. LTTE pressurized Tamil people to
vote in 2004 election and they elected 21 members.
Surely if they want to hide 'any numbers' why did they
create a political party that supports them (TNA) and
ask people to vote!
LTTE did not want Ranil to come back as
they did not trust him. He was trying to corner them
with a joint SLFP_UNP platform to give a 'Federal'
State. With India too supporting this and the West
supporting this solution they would have been
pressurized to accept. They are not interested in such
limited autonomy, they have struggled too long and
sacrificed too much for a separate state. This is what
the Tamil people need even if some of them do not do
not know it! It is up to a few leaders to show the
way.
Before the Portuguese came we had 3
Kings including a King in Jaffna , our last so called
Sinhala King in Kandy was a Tamil. Now 50
years of stupid Sinhala rule has shown how they
have driven the country from being one of best in Asia
in 50's to been one of the worst. When Lincoln fought
for liberation of slaves he had to kill. This may not
have been the wish of most Americans. They would have
preferred the statues quo. It is the same with
Tamils.
There can be many Tamils all over who
prefers a Federal solution but it is up to the
leadership to do what is right. If some uneducated
stupid Tamil villager cannot understand the big picture
that is his problem. No one can please them all. It was
not stupid democracy that made the biggest changes in
the World. It was war and clear leadership by a few.
The rise of China, the rise of USA, etc etc was all
done in this fashion. Does anyone talk of how poor
Chinese peasants had to suffer due to Mao's struggle
and even subsequent mistakes? What matters is
historically he made the decision to unite China.
Even Praba and LTTE is temporary. As
far as I am concerned let him be dead even now. Over
time if Tamils have a separate State, democracy will
come and Tamils will show the Sinhalese how good they
are. We must look at things not with our sense of time
but with an historical sense of time. What happened in
our subjective experience and our life time is nothing.
We are talking of building a new country, obviously
some have to suffer, many have to die, many injustices
happen, this is not a picnic it is liberation from
stupid Sinhalese. Please let me have Ana's email as I
have lost touch with him for about 2 years. Send this
to all you have copied the mail. Regards, Dulan
From: Ivan
Pedropillai, Editor, Tamil Writers Guild, 18 November
2005
Sri Lankan Presidential Election result
- Tweedledee or Tweedledum; it does not matter a jot
or a tittle to the Tamils
The Sri Lankan presidential election that was held on
Thursday, 17th November 2005 has produced a result
that is of supreme irrelevance to the Tamils of the
country. The Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda
Rajapakse of the UPFA has won the race receiving 4.88
million votes or 50.3% of the total cast to become
the Sinhala nation's fifth President. He has beaten
the former Prime Minister and UNP candidate Ranil
Wickremesinghe who received 4.70 million votes or
48.4% in a close-run race . It is reported that most
Tamils did not cast their votes in this election. The
Election Commissioner has put the voter turnout at
some 75%.
This election should have been Ranil Wickremesinghe's
opportunity to build bridges with the disenfranchised
Tamil community by pursuing a programme for equality,
justice and peace for all citizens of the country. It
is obvious from the figures of votes reported that he
had a significant proportion of the Sinhala
electorate supporting his policies for economic
development and racial harmony and that he lost by a
wafer thin margin. When considering that his rival
Rajapakse by his virulent anti-Tamil stance had
forfeited the right to Tamil votes, Wickremesinghe
could have harvested the votes of all reasonable and
moderate Sinhalese and as well as those of a majority
of the Tamils and other minorities, if he had only
shown some statesmanship and political fortitude.
But he and his senior cohorts like Moragoda and
Dissanayake tried to outbid the devil himself by
claiming during the hustings the dubious battle
credits for sinking Tiger supply ships and for
turning over the treacherous Karuna and his brigands.
Sinhala triumphalism was to be his path to electoral
glory. They also paraded the hoary chant that they
had got the LTTE in the vice of Western governments
and international public opinion. Wickremesinghe had
still to learn the lesson that prosperity and
leadership need courage and vision, and he has now
paid the price for feebleness and chicanery. He has
once again lost his chance to become President of the
country and there is no doubt that he will now be
cast on the scrap-heap of politics where he will be
remembered as a good but weak man who was always out-
manoeuvred by his old contemporary in politics,
Chandrika Bandaranaike.
The new president Rajapakse took a hardline against
the Tamils by entering into a pre-election agreement
with the extreme Sinhala racist party, JVP, which has
consistently advocated no political compromise with
the Tamil parties and supported a military campaign
for the annexation of the traditional Tamil homelands
within a unitary Sri Lanka. He also allied himself
with the chauvinistic party of the Buddhist monks,
JHU, which has campaigned relentlessly for the
domination of the Buddhist religion and the Sinhala
race in the fabric and politics of Sri Lanka.
Mahinda Rajapakse, on the other hand, as the outgoing
Prime Minister in the government of President
Chandrika Bandaranaike had previously supported the
continuation of the Cease Fire Agreement with the
Liberation Tigers. He had also been a vocal supporter
of the P-TOMS agreement with the LTTE to deal with
the administration of foreign funds for tsunami
relief in the north and east. But the principles and
consciences of Sinhala leaders are like those of
Faust, available to trade with the devil of Sinhalese
racism and political opportunism. Rajapakse saw no
dilemma in shedding his previous support for these
watershed agreements for communal amity and
constitutional progress.
He has now won the prize that he has always wanted
and is an undeserving second-rater for the
position.... He had feared that because of his
lowcountry birth and his undistinguished background,
the more sophisticated Bandaranaikes would keep him
out on this plum position.
The Tamils have to view these events with
circumspection. The madhouse of politics in Sri Lanka
is once again in the hands of the inmates of the
asylum. Rajapakse along with the JVP and the JHU have
got the time bomb in their hands and can summon the
roll of the war drums. It is up to them to engage in
racist war cry and to shatter the fragile peace that
has prevailed in that blighted country for nearly
three years. Or, it is up to Rajapakse to abandon his
ill-gotten friends of the extreme racist fringes and
go forward in peace to implementing the Oslo accord
and to restart peace talks.
The Tamils have been but innocent bystanders in the
national politics of Sri Lanka since independence.
There will not be a single Tamil in government this
time again except for a few quislings. The Tamils
will not want to be marginalised for ever and it is
up to Rajapakse to grasp this opportunity to pursue
peace with justice and prosperity or to reap the
harvest of dragon's teeth that he and the country
will inevitably sow if he is hell-bent on a
destructive Sinhala majoritarian and anti-Tamil
course.
From: Vigna
Tharmarajah, USA,15 November 2005
Need for A Cyber Memorial
: "Only Man is Vile - the Tragedy of
Sri Lanka" is a book written by William McGowan,
an American who spent time in Ceylon during IPKF
battles. I was browsing a few pages last night and I
was reminded - once again - of the horrors of 1983. The horrors that
McGowan did not witness, of course, but were
"borrowed" from Shiva Naipaul's Unfinished
Journey, a book I never heard of before. The
horrors in gory detail made me reflect on the plight
of us in Sri Lanka.
The victims of 1958 and of 1983, many of whom were toddlers and
children, were burnt and raped and mutilated by
Sinhalese thugs, aided and encouraged by the
government of the day. Do we at least know the names
of the victims? Do we have a memorial or website that
lists them? We as Tamils should do at least that to
remember them as victims for they were killed and
burnt and robbed of their what-may-have-been
Arunasalam's-like lives merely because they were
Tamils and were vulnerable. A stronger, secure and
more prosperous Tamil nation in whatever way, shape
or form is still the best way to pay tribute to their
lives and to those others who chose to give their
lives for a better future for the Tamils.
From: An
Expatriate Australian Tamil, Sydney , 12 November
2005
A Piece of Advice to
Prof. Dayan Jayatilleke: Holier-than-thou
attitude serves no peace - It is not too late for a
National Soul Search.
Dear Prof. Jayatilleke,
I am not a Professor or any kind of intellect. I am an
ordinary Tamil living in a corner of the world. I long
for peace in my country of birth just as you do. On
reading the news item: 'Realignment of Sinhala
Nationalist forces spells trouble for Sri Lanka Peace -
Gajendrakumar' [TamilNet, November 05, 2005], my
heart urges me to share with you some candid thoughts
that came to my mind. And I have elected to convey them
to you as well as to other 'serious' peace seekers via
the helpful cyber press.
Mr. Gajendrakumar Ponnampalamm MP, who
made the above observations at the Washington forum on 'The Sri
Lanka Peace Process: Dead end or is there hope?'[
Summary ][
Audio
] - organised by the Centre for Strategic and
International Studies in association with East-West
Centre on 4 November 2005 lamented the imminent
collapse of the peace process. Sri Lanka's Ambassador
to the US, Bernard Goonatilleke, attributed the
deadlock in the peace process to Norway, Ceasefire
Agreement, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and LTTE but
predictably not the Government of Sri Lanka!
What caught my attention the most was
the following news:
"Dayan Jayatilleke said LTTE was the
cause for the collapse of the past four peace
efforts. He said LTTE will not be satisfied by
federalism as evidenced by its assassination of
several eminent Tamil federalists including Neelan
Thiruchelvam and Appapillai Amirthalingam. He said
International community [US and India] should first
send a strong message to the Liberation Tigers to
shun violence, and if this fails, they should be
prepared to augment the Sri Lanka military to subdue
the LTTE!!! "
Professor Jayatilleke, peace is a
product of goodness. Peace is an outcome of truth and
justice. And peace is about the future. If we do not
want to look forward, but forever harp on the past,
there is no hope for peace or future. But since you
have chosen to dwell on the LTTE's past at the forum, I
wish to rekindle your thoughts on the State and its
terrorism of the 70's and 80's, let alone the 50's,
60's, 90's & 2000's.
I left my country Illankai (Sri Lanka in Sinhala) in
the mid eighties when I was 31, so I have sound
memories of the political events in the island before
the assassinations of Amirthalingam (1989) and Thiruchelvam (1999). For the most part
of the 70's and 80's there was no press freedom or
judicial independence in the country,
and civil liberties were severely curbed.
In October 1972 Mr S J V Chelvanayagam, the revered
Tamil Leader of the Federal Party, resigned his seat in
Parliament and challenged the government to contest him
on the validity of the 1972 Republican
Constitution. Prime Minister
Srimao Bandaranaike refused to hold a by-election until
February 1975! When Chelvanayagam won back his
seat in the by-election held 2 ½ years later with
a crushing majority, he said this in his victory speech:
"…. We have for the last 25
years made every effort to secure our political
rights on the basis of equality with the Sinhalese in
a united Ceylon. It is a regrettable fact that
successive Sinhalese governments have used the power
that flows from independence to deny us our
fundamental rights and reduce us to the position of a
subject people. … I wish to announce to my
people and to the country that I consider the verdict
at this election as a mandate that the Tamil Eelam
nation should exercise the sovereignty already vested
in the Tamil people and become free."
In January 1974 the 'Fourth International Conference
Seminar of Tamil Studies' was held in Jaffna and
Tamil scholars from all over the world attended this
week long conference. This greatest international
conference ever held in Jaffna was marred by tragedy on
the final day. The town was in a festive mood and an
unprecedented crowd of over 50,000 people had gathered
at the esplanade opposite the hall where the Conference
was being held. It was after 8.00 pm when armed
Sinhalese policemen arrived in a truck and jeep made a
relentless attack on the people. Tear gas and gun shots
added to the terror and overhead electric wires were
brought down by gun shots. Seven
people died in the resultant stampede and thousands
were injured. My sister, a brother and a cousin
narrowly survived the stampede. I went and saw the
carnage the following morning.
In the July 1977 General Elections, the Tamil United
Liberation Front (TULF) won a resounding victory in the
north and east on a mandate to establish an
independent state of Tamil Eelam. Mr Amirthalingam,
who was the leader of the TULF, also became the Leader
of the Opposition by a strange quirk of fate. The
Sinhala people's sense of fury at this development
led to the mob attacks on Tamils which
in August ballooned into island-wide anti-Tamil riots.
One half of Jaffna Super Market, the adjoining central
bus station and scores of wholesale and retail shops
were burnt down by the police. I have vivid memories of
showing around the gutted bazaar to family friends from
Bandarawella who had made their first ever visit to
Jaffna on August 16, following a pilgrimage to the holy
shrine of Madhu. Elsewhere in the country hundreds of
Tamils lost their lives, thousands sought refuge in the
Tamil areas in the north. The police and army were on
the side of the Sinhalese thugs, looters and murderers.
Did the government of the day do enough to quell the
riots?
1981, May 31- June 1: Two nights of
anarchy, arson and terror. Sinhalese policemen and a
set of Sinhala hoodlums imported into Jaffna by the
government went about burning down everything: the TULF
office; the house and jeep of V. Yogesvaran, MP for
Jaffna; the office of the only Jaffna daily Elanadu;
and to cap it all the Public Library - the soul of
Jaffna's pride - with its 97,000 volumes, precious
tomes and rare ola manuscripts. Statues of Tamil
scholars in the bazaar were beheaded. All these
outrages went on while two senior cabinet ministers,
Defence Secretary, Inspector General of Police and
security forces were in the town to ensure law and
order at the impending District Development Council
elections on June 4.
July 1983: The worst ever island-wide
anti-Tamil rioting of July 24-29 saw hundreds of Tamils
massacred, thousands of Tamil homes and shops looted
and burnt, and over 75,000 Tamil refugees lingering for
weeks in several camps in Colombo alone. My wife and I,
like hundreds of others, had the divine protection to
stay alive. Fifty four Tamil political detainees, some
held from 1981 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act,
were massacred in Colombo gaol by Sinhalese
prisoners, aided and abetted by prison officers.
Murder and torching in Nuwara Eliya and other
up-country areas caused large numbers of plantation
Tamils flee their line rooms to the relative safety of
the northern towns. The active participation of the
police and armed forces was evident - yet President
Jayawarderne remained indifferent through it all.
What I have mentioned so far, Prof. Jayatilleke, is
only the tip of the iceberg of the State violence. And
I wished that in 1983 the International Community
(India & US) sent a strong warning to the Sri
Lankan Government and its military machinery to shun
violence in favour of a political solution, and when it
failed, assisted the Tamils to realise their legitimate
political aspirations! Wishful thinking indeed. But,
had it done so, Amirthalingam, Thiruchelvam and thousands more Tamils
and Sinhalese would have been alive today!
For the past five decades, use of repressive force and
prevention of political change taking place through
constitutionalist and political channels had been the
order of the day. The 'Round Table Conference' of the
80's, the 'Devolution Package(s)' of the
90's and 'Constitutional Reform' of the
2000's are all nothing but long tedious deceptive
dramas of the Sinhala polities. Suppressing Tamils had
been their underlying scheme. But let's face it. The
draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act,
insidious War for Peace, Chemmani Mass Graves and Bindunuwewa Massacres - all have failed
to stifle the psyche of the Tamil Nation.
So, looking for scapegoats in the peace process (eg.
LTTE violence) is not an option for Sri Lankan
government anymore. We need a 'new order' and 'real
solution' here and now. Tamil Homeland is real, Tamils right to self-determination is
real, and Tamils are oppressed in the Sri Lankan
unitary state is also real. Burying your head in
the sand or joining the chorus of democracy in the
north won't provide solution. George Washington or Nelson
Mandela or even Mahatma Gandhi didn't insist on
democracy first for their people - they all wanted
freedom first!
If you really care, it is not difficult to understand
where Mr Pirabhakaran is coming from:
• Respect for Tamil Rights
• Creation of a Tamil state in complete
equality with the Sinhalese state so that both nations can live
happily side by side.
In fact, these are 'goal posts' set by
the Tamil leaders since the 50's into which the LTTE
has been kicking into since the 70's. Ambassador
Gunatilleke, career diplomat for nearly 3 decades and
former Director General of the Peace Secretariat in
Colombo, seems to be unaware of this 'unfeigned' cause
of the Tamils. How can peace become a reality in the
northeast with security forces trotting guns on the
streets, occupy people's homes, farms, schools and
places of worship even after 3 ½ years of signing
the Ceasefire Agreement?
At the International Conference on the Sri
Lankan Conflict held in Canberra in 1996, Justice Marcus Einfield, Federal
Court of Australia and member of the International
Commission of Jurists, said:
"… … After all, if the
majority was not willing to embrace the minority and
grant them due recognition, a dignified status and an
equal opportunity to a fair chance, they must set
them free. Oppressing and terrorising them are
not options.
"The plea by the Tamils for
self-determination should be respected by the
community of states. It is true that
self-determination does imply some erosion of
sovereignty and in some places it may so liberate
national minorities as to give them separate
statehood, and membership of the United Nations.
However, the existing list of UN members and
non-member states is not inviolate, and there
are, and there will be cases when the price of
untrammelled sovereignty, calculated as it is in
human misery and suffering, is too high. …
…The enjoyment of Human Rights can be increased
in many cases by recognising the right of peoples to
some form of autonomy, even independence - this much
is evident from the UN charter."
Also spoke at the same conference was
Mr Kumar Ponnambalam, Barrister, human
rights advocate and courageous Tamil leader, himself a
victim of pro-government gunmen for exposing the
hypocrisy of the Sinhala state. I wish to conclude my
reflections with his forthright opening remarks:
"As the minutes roll by, the
intransigence of the vast majority of the Sinhalese
on the Tamil Problem is getting stronger or worse.
Indeed, in some quarters, and surprisingly at the
higher echelons of society, one could perceive today,
marked and naked hatred of the Tamils displayed by
the Sinhalese. … … This must be clearly
understood by the international community, if they
are to play some part in helping to sort the crisis
in Sri Lanka. And, it is this same intransigence of
the Sinhalese that is preventing 'Peace with Justice'
in Sri Lanka even at the moment."
It is not too late for a National Soul
Search.
From:
G.Amirthalingam, London, United
Kingdom, 12 November 2005
It is exactly 500 years since the
Portuguese came to Sri Lanka in 1505 AD. To commemorate
this event and to briefly revisit the period when Sri
Lanka was colonised by western powers, I have written
an article ...
Sri Lanka - 500 years
ago……!
It was exactly 500 years ago the first Europeans set
foot on Sri Lankan soil. According to historical
records, in earlier times, Roman, Greek, Persian,
Egyptian and Arab travellers and tradesmen had visited
this island purely for commercial purpose but the
arrival of the Portuguese in 1505 AD set forth a series
of events that changed the destiny and history of Sri
Lanka.
At the time of the arrival of the Portuguese, Sri Lanka
had over 2000 years of history behind it. The Island
was divided into three kingdoms: Kotte Kingdom was
ruled by Vira Parakrama Bahu, Kandyan Kingdom was ruled
by Senasammata Vikrama Bahu and Pararajasekeran was the
king of Jaffna Kingdom. There was an organized
community system, religions and traditions, legal laws
and moral codes, art and architecture, customs and
calendar. The end of Sri Lankan sovereignty, for over
430 years, began with the arrival of the Portuguese
followed by the Dutch and the British, depriving Sri
Lankans of their freedom. They lost their rights and
the experience of self-governance and the gradual
progression which would have evolved into a stable
system.
The Portuguese embarked on a journey to the East,
mainly for the purpose of capturing the spice trade
from the Arabs, who were controlling the lucrative
Western Spice market. Another reason was to propagate
Catholicism to the East. Their initial contact with Sri
Lanka was only a token gesture. They made acquaintance
with the king of Kotte and exchanged gifts. But when
they came back in 1517 AD, their intentions were
serious. They built a fort near Colombo with the
reluctant permission of the King of Kotte.
From then onwards, the Portuguese took control of the
spice trade by destroying the Muslim's monopoly in the
market.
They went into religious conversions and local
administration with alarming ruthlessness. People in
the coastal areas were subjected to Roman Catholicism
through force and fear. By 1620 AD, about 100 years
since their arrival, Portuguese controlled almost all
the coastal regions of the Island. Their many attempts
to capture the Kandyan kingdom never materialized. By
this time The Dutch were in Indian waters, with the
same intention that the Portuguese had when they
arrived. The Dutch were in contact with the Kandyan
king who was in favour of inviting the Dutch in order
to oust the Portuguese. The Dutch also wished to defeat
the Portuguese in order to take full control of the
spice trade. With this in mind The Dutch stepped in
officially and routed the Portuguese by 1658.
Intermarriages that took place between the Portuguese
and the natives resulted in a new race known as the
Portuguese Burghers who became part of the Sri Lankan
community.
The Dutch administration of the coastal areas was more
orderly and with an iron fist. The Dutch also brought
in Calvinism, a new religion to the island. Calvinism
is a term that refers to the doctrines and practices of
the Reformed Church or Reformed Protestantism.
Many Catholics were converted to Calvinism along with
followers of Buddhism and Hinduism. The Roman Dutch Law
was introduced to Sri Lanka by the Dutch which is
applied in the legal system to this day. Furthermore,
they built many churches and schools to propagate their
religion. The Dutch also introduced water-ways in the
form of canals to transport heavy goods to the ports.
Some of these canals are in usage even today.
Descendents of the Dutch who are known as the Dutch
Burghers became a race of some distinction.
In 1794, France was at war with Holland and defeated
them. The ruler of Holland, Prince of Orange, took
refuge in England. This was an opportunity for the
British to annex all the Dutch colonies to their
empire. They obtained a written instruction from the
Prince of Orange to allow the British ships to enter
and take control of all the Dutch colonies in order to
prevent a French invasion. British forces moved quickly
into Sri Lanka crushing resistance from the Dutch
forces who were unaware of the agreement. By 1796, The
British had established full control of the Dutch
controlled areas.
The Kandyan kingdom was resisting capture by the
Portuguese and The Dutch successfully, likewise many
attempts of the British failed to capture Kandy. They
manipulated the internal feud between the Kandyan King
Sri Wickrama Raja Singha and his disgruntled chieftains
to achieve their aim. The British saw the King as a
despot and a ruthless tyrant. Kandyan King's method of
punishment by impaling, crushing by elephants,
dismembering his opponents and traitors were horrific
in the eyes of the British and cited them as insensate
and cruel. Ironically, the same method of punishments
that was meted out to the convicts was common in
Britain and other western countries at that time.
Ultimately with the help of the chieftains of Kandy the
king was captured and banished to India. Kandy was
surrendered by a convention to the British on the 2nd
of March 1815.
When the British took
over the Maritime Provinces from The Dutch these areas
were divided into three Commanderies, namely: Colombo,
Jaffna and Galle but it was the British who merged
these three regions along with Kandy and brought the
island under one authority without the consent of the
people. This undemocratic merger eroded long-held
rights of the people as citizens of their own land. It
was this political stigma that has hung over the island
ever since. British rule in Sri Lanka ended on the 4th
of February 1948 when Sri Lanka was granted
independence.
Sri Lanka was subdued by every colonizer with their
military might and was made to accept their demands and
command in order to achieve their commercial, religious
and political ambitions. Even though Sri Lanka
benefited from colonisation it should not be forgotten
that the colonizers too were reluctant to relax their
grip as they saw the island as a profitable concern. In
spite of colonial rule over 430 years, Sri Lanka has
not lost its religious rituals, cultural traditions and
social customs.
For further information visit website: http://www.asbooks.com
From: Sara
Ananthan, Sydney, Australia, 23 August
2005
State Craft & Diplomacy - I read 18 August
2005 tamilnation.org - Reflections,
with interest especially the statement - " ..Small
states survive only in the interstices created by the
major powers .."
May be a little reflection on three well known
historical figures (statesmen ?) who have written about
state craft or diplomacy may provide some additional
insights into the way statecraft is being practiced even
today.
1. Machiavelli, Niccolo
(1469-1527) is the Italian statesman and writer who
many people consider the father of modern political
science. Machiavelli explained most of his ideas in
his treatise " The Prince ", in which Machiavelli
called for a leader to use any means necessary to
preserve the state, resorting to cruelty, deception,
and force if nothing else worked. As a result, many
people thought that he supported the use of cruelty
and deceit in politics. Even the word Machiavellian
came to mean, cunning and unscrupulous. It appears,
he was viciously unscrupulous
and appears to support the western notion that " All
is fair in Love and War ".
2. Kautilya (300 B.C.) born a member of the Brahmin
caste and advisor to Chandra Gupta Maurya (321-298
B.C) was the Indian political philosopher. He wrote
the treatise Arthashastra. These are some relevant
excerpts from An Examination of Kautilya's
Arthaśāstra -
" All but unknown in the West, the
Arthaúâstra by Kautilya (Chanakya), is
considered one of the greatest political works of
the ancient world. Written nearly three centuries
before the birth of Christ, the famous Nineteenth
Century sociologist Max Weber said of it, "compared
to it, Machiavelli's The Prince is harmless." In
it, Kautilya expressed the desire for his king to
conquer the world and to aid in that goal he
offered an analysis of which kingdoms he considered
natural allies and which inevitable enemies, gave
advice on who should be attacked and when, how to
treat defeated enemy soldiers and citizens, when to
make and break treaties, and even described a
calculated willingness to make use of
assassination, which he called "silent war", as a
legitimate means to achieve victory. He advocated
the use of secret agents, not only for
assassinations, but to sow discord among enemy
leaders; he viewed women as one of the most
effective weapons of war - especially in the role
of secret agent; believed in the use of either
religion or superstition to inspire his own troops
and demoralize the enemy's, and heartily approved
of the spread of disinformation...The fact that
countries act in their own self-interest was a
timeless principle of Kautilya's
Arthaúâstra.."
The following is an excerpt from
Kautilya's Arthasastra on War and
Diplomacy in Ancient India by Roger Boesche under
the section " Using Secret Agents, Assassins,
Disinformation, and Propaganda "-
" Much of this disinformation made
use of religion. Placed strategically, astrologers
"should fill [the king's] side with enthusiasm by
proclaiming his omniscience and association with
divine agencies, and should fill the enemy's side
with terror."
Once more the needs of the state
are primary and the king commands religion to serve
the state: "He should make (Brahmins) recite
blessings invoking victory and securing heaven."
Singers and poets should "describe the attainment
of heaven by the brave and the absence of heaven
for cowards." Secret agents who have infiltrated
the enemy side should use animal blood in order to
"cause an excessive flow (of blood) from honored
images of deities," and then interpret that as a
sure sign of future defeat for the enemy.
Kautilya wanted anyone associated
with religion or superstition-"soothsayers,
interpreters of omens, astrologers, reciters of
Puranas" and so on -to proclaim to his own troops
and to the enemy the king's "association with
divinities" or "his meeting with divinities,
"creating confidence on his own side and
simultaneously terror and misgivings among enemy
soldiers. Those priests in charge of interpreting
omens must make certain that dreams and other signs
are always favorable to the king's efforts and
unfavorable to the enemy. Every kind of
superstition can be useful. And for Kautilya,
religious authorities must be for hire".
3. Sun
Tzu (400 BC) the Chinese military strategist, in his
treatise "Art of War" has also advocated the use of spies and other
unscrupulous methods to win a war.
A read of the treatises by these three
learned men appear to support the notion that the " End
Justifies the Means " when it comes to applying
statecraft or diplomacy. In that sense, there appears
to be no morality when it comes to statecraft and the
principles applied appear to be amoral. The fact is
that countries act only in their own self-interest. It
appears to be even more amoral as countries act not in
the self interests of their entire population but in
the interests of vested self interests groups and
various lobby groups who can make use of powerful mind
altering media methods to hoodwink the ordinary people
and to advance their goals using state power.
But of those above three, Kautilya
appears to be the wiliest and most dangerous. He is the
first in the history of humankind to have advocated
that state and religion should be separated but at the
sametime commandeered religion to serve the state. He
advocated exploiting human weakness (human nature and
its corruptibility) using the target people's belief
system such as religion, astrology and superstition to
advance statecraft under the section (The Science of
Punishment " in the Arthashastra). This is most amoral
as the belief in almighty or spirituality is one of the
noblest things that separates humans from animals and
provides succor for many people in their day to day
lives. All religions in their purest forms emphasis
that god is nothing but love. It is this realization,
trancending the divisions in humanity,
that will alone save our planet from annihilation.
We need to look at the current issues that confront our
globe, such as Global Warming and Global Dimming. David
Sington concluded recently in "Why the Sun seems to be
'dimming' ….
"Even the most pessimistic forecasts
of global warming may now have to be drastically
revised upwards.That means a temperature rise of 10
degrees Celsius by 2100 could be on the cards, giving
the UK a climate like that of North Africa, and
rendering many parts of the world uninhabitable. That
is unless we act urgently to curb our emissions of
greenhouse gases..."
All this calls for urgent attention
across the artificial borders of nation states. It is
time that countries stop their self destructive
unscrupulous methods and work for the betterment of
the entire humanity as we do not have any other planet
to call our home yet.
From:
Erajh
S Gunaratne, BA(Hons)Arch(Lon), BArch(Hons), M
Arch, Australia, 21 June 2005
I respect the response and agree
with almost everything it says, unfortunately my
knowledge on what happened in the past is very limited,
whether views expressed by Sara Ananthan are biased or not is
unknown to me. I would appreciate if my email address
is not put on public display. Thank you.
Response by
tamilnation.org: As requested we have removed your
email address.
From: Sara Ananthan, Sydney,
Australia 13 June 2005
Re: Letter to Tamil Nation by Erajh S
Gunaratne We are eternally thankful for your
response - especially those wonderful links. That's
the beauty of our tamilnation.org. This is my response to Erajh S
Gunaratne -
I have been deeply touched by your
letter especially the spin "...I was very impressed
with the remaining Hindu architecture in
Jaffna..."
This begs an equally important
question. So what happened to the rest of the Hindu (?) (No, the Tamils do not
discriminate by religion) Tamil or Dravidian
architecture in Jaffna (No, in our beloved Tamil Home land - the so called North
East provinces of Sri Lanka).
Who bombed those buildings
out of existence? Was not that due to Sri Lanka's genocidal war? Who burnt the
Jaffna Library, who bombed the Navaly Church, Madu Church
and killed and injured those pour souls who took refuge
there? This is only just the tip of an ice berg. Please
read the rest
of the atrocities. It's an impressive testimony to
the modern Sinhala Buddhist Chauvinism of Sri
Lanka.
To be fair, please note that the plunder and
destruction was a joint effort by Sinhalese armed forces and the
IPKF thanks to our mother India who also
has an amoral unholy alliance with this Sinhala
Buddhist Chauvinism due to
their own vested self interest in our 'beautiful
little gem of a country'.
We note your sadness regarding the taxes that local
businesses in Jaffna pay to the LTTE and your joy at
the 'efficiency of the LTTE checkpoint and the friendly
staff (even though some did carry guns)'. Your remark
about guns makes one wonder whether you had failed to
notice the forty thousand or so of your Sinhalese
kinsmen who are armed to their teeth and holed up in
Jaffna. What are they doing there? Who is paying the
taxes for their upkeep in an alien land? Isn't it a
huge burden on the collective shoulders of the people
of this 'beautiful little gem of a country of
ours'?
|
Buddhist
Monk inspects Sri Lanka artillery at the war
front
|
Instead of writing to tamilnation.org, please consider writing a
moving letter to that impressive array of Sinhalese
owned Newspapers in Sri Lanka or even some
like minded Newspapers of
mother India to appeal to those Sinhala Buddhists monks who are on that
farcical relay fast unto death, to prevent aid
reaching the Tsunami survivors.
These Tsunami victims
have no permanent residence to live even after six long
months. Isn't that an impressive record for the gem of
a little country of ours? Imagine the psychological
trauma that these poor souls will be undergoing. The
least we can do is to give them material help and
support so that they can lead a normal life as best as
they can.
We hear daily those unfortunate mothers, fathers and
children weeping in BBC Tamil and other Tamil Radios
complaining that they could not sleep in the temporary
tin sheds even in the middle of the night, due to the
absorbed heat.
Their surviving little ones are
becoming even sicker due that heat. So they sleep on
the open, on the same beach without any shelter facing
the elements - and mind you, more than two thirds of
these Tsunami victims are our Tamils. So they cry and
weep in Tamil, a language, you or those Sinhala
Buddhists monks cannot understand - and you may not
comprehend even a single syllable of their cry or plea.
Their cry for help may not
move you, but it moves us and even more powerfully our
Tamil
National Leader Pirabakaran and his valiant
soldiers who rescued and helped their brethren
even before those killer Tsunami waves had receded from
the shores of our Tamil homeland. In the initial days,
they tended to those Tsunami victims without any outside help because there
was a complete black out on this tragedy.
Please note that therein remains the eternal truth that
we are different to you. Even though we may look the
same, contrary to what you say, we Singhalese and
Tamils are different. We are culturally and socially
two distinct nations brought together by the folly of our
colonial master Britain and the vision less
forefathers of yours and ours. We the present
generation, are collectively paying that price now. We
note what you say about your Jaffna uncle, but as a
role model, you may want to consider following the true
Sinhalese kinsmen of yours, such as Adrian Wijemanne and Brian
Senewiratne.
From:
Erajh
S Gunaratne, BA(Hons)Arch(Lon), BArch(Hons), M
Arch, Australia, 12 June 2005
Dear Tamil Nation,
I have read the article by Dr. Rajasingham Narendran,
and being a Singhalese Buddhist I am very impressed
with his views. I do read other articles at
tamilnation.org but this article on the Buddha
statue has had a very good effect on everybody
including myself. Other articles I have read have
sometimes astonished me or deeply saddened me.
Even though I am a Singhalese Buddhist,
I come from a family that is very mixed racially and of
an open and liberated mind. My uncle for one is a
Jaffna Tamil who believes in peace above all, and my
thoughts and heart are very much with him. I am only 25
years of age and ever since my birth I have watched our
beautiful little gem of a country torn apart by
different political beliefs and the greed and vanity of
a few has become the end of many innocent lives. In my
belief I will never consider Prabakaran as a hero, only
as a murderer of his own people, the only recognition
he deserves is in hell. We Singhalese and Tamils are
not different.
We are all Sri Lankans. I can
understand the plight of the Tamil people...but I do
not think it is the plight of the Tamil people.. I
think it is the plight of all Sri Lankans. We have
peace at last. For the first time in my life, I
travelled to Jaffna, I was overjoyed at the efficiency
of the LTTE checkpoint and the friendly staff (even
though some did carry guns). I was saddened to look at
a once great city, slowly picking up. I was further
saddened to hear how the LTTE taxes the local
businesses. Some might say they are happy to pay for
their comrades in arms...but is all this necessary..
people already on the floor with heavy burdens on their
shoulders do not need any more difficulty do they? I am
an architecture student and I was very impressed with
the remaining Hindu architecture in Jaffna. I would
like to change this differentiation between the
Singhalese and Tamils. We are one, we are Sri Lankans.
Thank You
Response by tamilnation.org: From time to time, we receive
letters such as yours from Sinhala Buddhists concerned
with the prevailing situation in the island of Sri
Lanka. One such letter was one that we received more
than five years ago in November 1999 and you may find
our
response on that occasion of interest.
We note the belief that you have chosen
to express in particularly strong terms -
"I will never consider Prabakaran as a hero, only as a
murderer of his own people, the only recognition he
deserves is in hell".
You will not be surprised if many
Tamils feel that the way in which you have couched your
belief is gratuitously offensive. Be that as it may,
you are right to point out that the LTTE has, from time
to time, taken action against those who have been shown
to be informers and collaborators of the enemy.
Unfortunately, an armed struggle for freedom from alien
rule is no afternoon tea party. Here you may find the
article on Tamil Informers of interest.
Having said that, if the Sinhala people
and the Tamil people are ever to have some
understanding of each other, it may be helpful for the
Sinhala people to address seriously the question as to
why it is that hundreds of thousands of Tamils living
in Tamil Eelam and in many lands recognise Pirabakaran as the leader of Tamil Eelam. The Maha Veera
Thinams and Pongu Thamizh rallies give
visible and poignant expression of the feelings of the
Tamil people, both young and old. Is it that these
Tamils are brainwashed? Or are they simply stupid? Or
is that decades of discrimination have led them
to learn in the crucible of harsh experience that the
practise of democracy within the confines of a unitary
state has had the inevitable result of rule by a
permanent ethnic Sinhala majority, who speak a language
different to that of the Tamils and who trace their
heritage to origins different to that of the
Tamils.
Yes, the Tamil people, like the Sinhala
people do yearn for peace - and an independent Tamil
state can and will live in peace with an independent
Sri Lanka. The real question today is to negotiate the associate
structures which will encourage this process. We
find the views expressed by Prince Hans-Adam II of
Liechtenstein on Self Determination & the Future of
Democracy, persuasive
"...Let us accept the fact that
states have lifecycles similar to those of human
beings who created them... hardly any Member State of
the United Nations has existed within its present
borders for longer than five generations....
Restrictions on self-determination threaten not only
democracy itself but the state which seeks its
legitimation in democracy..."
Dr. Rajasingham Narendran is ofcourse
entitled to express his views on the way forward. Many
Tamils may however wonder as to 'who is to bell'
Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism -
and, indeed how. The 50 year record of broken pacts and impotent pleas for
justice lend credence to Professor Marshall Singer's
remarks at the US Congress Committee on
International Relations, some ten years ago -
"...One of the essential elements
that must be kept in mind in
understanding the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict is that,
since 1958 at least, every time
Tamil politicians negotiated some sort of
power-sharing deal with a Sinhalese government -
regardless of which party was in power - the
opposition Sinhalese party always claimed that the
party in power had negotiated away too much. In
almost every case - sometimes within days - the party
in power backed down on the agreement..."
The recent fast by the Buddhist monk
Sobita Thero, and the assurance given by Sri Lanka
President Kumaratunga that she will not sign any Joint
Mechanism Agreement without consulting the Maha Sangha
shows that nothing much has changed since her father Prime Minister
S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike tore up the B-C pact at the
instance of the Buddhist monks in 1957. There may
be a need for Sinhala Buddhists genuinely concerned
with the suffering and the destruction in the island of
Sri Lanka, to address in a meaningful manner the
continuing threat posed by Sinhala Buddhist fundamentalism. A
useful starting point may be a study of
Prof.H.L.Seneviratne's Buddhist Monks and Ethnic Politics: A War
Zone in an Island Paradise and Professor
S.J.Tambiah's Buddhism Betrayed?
From: Brian Senewiratne Brisbane,
Australia, 22 May 2005
Good wishes for Adrian Wijemanne's 80th
birthday
In March
2005, I called for worldwide prayers for Adrian
desperately ill from a serious chest infection
complicating myeloma (a type of bone cancer). Whoever
looks after things on this globe seems to have
listened. Adrian recovered and is now on his way to
celebrate his 80th birthday on 29 May 2005. I am now
calling for worldwide good wishes to be sent to this
extraordinary man ( [email protected] ).
Adrian is one of very few Sinhalese (others being the
late Bishop Lakshman Wickremesinghe and my uncle the
late Edmund Samarakkody) to have freed themselves from
the shackles of Sinhala chauvinism to campaign for the
right of Thamil people to live with equality, dignity
and safety in the country of their birth. This is not a
fight between the Sinhalese and the Thamils. It is a
fight between injustice and justice. It is not a
question of who wins the war between Sinhala chauvinism
and justice for the Thamil people. What is important is
where we stand. It is a tragedy that there are fewer
and fewer Sinhalese who can see the entirely
justifiable cause of the Thamil people struggling, not
for a separate state or even a federal state, but for
the basic human right to exist as equals in a
multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious country.
I pray that the eyes of the Sinhalese will be opened.
Unlike my prayers for Adrian's survival, this prayer
has not been answered.
If prayers are not going to be answered, then it has to
be the pressure of the international community, in
particular the crucial aid-givers. They must be
convinced that the racist bigoted regime in Colombo
(there is not much difference between the government
and the opposition) must be brought to book, as was the
equally repressive and unjust regime in apartheid South
Africa. If the entrenched racism in that powerful
country has been dismantled, it beggars belief that a
poverty-stricken 3rd world country, out with a begging
bowl for survival, cannot be compelled to change its
utterly intolerant policy.
The ammunition for this international 'attack' has been
supplied by people like Adrian Wijemanne who has
written more sense than any Sinhalese I know of. That
is why his survival and function are so important.
The December 2004 tsunami was the defining event. If a
major national catastrophe, where the Thamil areas
suffered more than 70% of the damage could not generate
the compassion and action of the Sinhala government in
Colombo, what hope is there for a united, undivided Sri
Lanka? Yesterday I met the MP for Batticaloa. He says
that despite all the hype, not a single house has been
built by the government in this devastated area where
half the population has been rendered homeless. The
damage in the South (both in areas that were damage and
even not damaged (!), is proceeding at full pace With
the tsunami damage, we are not talking of restoring
damage from a civil war. We are talking of a
humanitarian crisis from a national catastrophe. If a
calamity of such proportions cannot get the Sinhala
regime in Colombo to rise above its entrenched ethnic
and religious chauvinism, what hope is there for an
undivided country? If there was any doubt that a
separate Thamil state was necessary, the post-tsunami
handling of the situation in the Thamil areas has
surely provided the answer.
As for Sri Lanka's political leaders, Sinhala leaders
to be specific, the Sinhala people can elect whomever
they want. It could be Chandrika Kumaratunga with her
10 year record of 'leadership' (read: destruction of
the Thamil area and its people), the non-performing
Ranil Wickremesinghe (the LTTE called off talks during
his regime), Somawansa Amaratunge and his friends whose
claim to fame rests on their massacre of thousands of
their own ethnic group, the Sinhalese, including
intellectuals and even Buddhist monks, and the
extensive destruction of Sri Lanka's infrastructure,
including agricultural equipment, in the 1988-89
insurgency, Elle Gunawansa of 1983 Thamil massacre
'fame' and his anti-Thamil brethren in the JHU, so be
it. If the Sinhala people are comfortable with these
people as 'leaders', that is their problem. However,
the Thamil people, the Thamil nation, which has not
elected these people as 'leaders', do not need to be
saddled with them. If ever there was a case for a
separate Thamil State, it is the abysmal quality of the
Sinhala leadership, to say nothing of their serious
corruption, gross incompetence and complete lack of
vision.
If Adrian is spared for a few more years, he may see
what he has campaigned for all these many years -
justice for the Thamil people. It is in this spirit
that I ask you to join with me in wishing him a very
happy 80th birthday and many more to come.
From:
Subramanian , Executive Director, Manitham,
www.tamilinfoservice.com/manitham,
8 April
2005
Sub : Urgent Appeal for an International Independent
Investigation on Sethusamudram Project - Public
participation in Signature Campaign [see also
Sethusamudram
Ship Canal Project in Tamils - A Trans State
Nation]
Manitham, working to promote Human
Rights, Protecting Environment, has issued
an Urgent Appeal for an International Independent
Investigation on Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project
[SSCP]. Public also can take part in this Signature
Campaign by signing with Manitham web site :
http://www.tamilinfoservice.com/manitham/form/petition/2005/1.php
[see also Hindu Report of 7 April 2005]
Manitham has already submitted a detailed report
[http://www.tamilinfoservice.com/manitham/environment/sscp/ir.htm
] on SSCP on 30-07-2004 itself. In the report, it has
raised a lot of doubts on the SSCP, which has not been
cleared till today by the Union government officials
and has not taken care to other environmental factors.
But it is being shown interest to implement the project
without proper investigation.
Manitham is totally condemning this type of proposal.
Now Manitham decides for an Urgent Appeal and it has
also decided for a signature campaign through public
participation, urging for a full and detailed
International Independent Investigation on
Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project [SSCP].
Herewith we are enclosing a copy of the Urgent Appeal. As
this is very important issue facing before us, we are
requesting you to publish it widely in your media.
From: Brian
Senewiratne, Brisbane, Australia, 26 March 2005
A Prayer for Adrian
Wijemanne
As Adrian Wijemanne lies desperately ill with a serious
pneumonia complicating myeloma (a type of bone marrow
cancer) I am calling for world wide prayers to whoever
determines these things, to spare his life. Adrian's
loss will be a major blow to the struggle of the Tamil
people for justice at the hands or a brutal and
irresponsible regime in Colombo.
There are those who are fighting with guns, and laying
down their lives in the process, to free the Tamil
people from Sinhala domination by taking on the
military might of the Sri Lankan armed forces assisted
and even rescued(!) by international 'helpers'. There
are others who are fighting the Government policy of
Sinhala-Buddhist ethno-religious chauvinism using the
equally effective pen. The two outstanding exponents of
the latter are Adrian Wijemanne and Subramanium
Sivanayagam who, for some strange reason, are both
afflicted by the same deadly disease, myeloma. The loss
of either of them will be a major blow to all of us who
support the entirely justifiable struggle of the Tamil
people, not just for peace, but for peace with
justice.
In my (very) personal and highly biased (!) list of
unsung heroes in the Tamil struggle, there are five -
all but one (Siva) in their 80s and even 90s! Leading
the pack is C.J.T.Thamotheram, the eminence grise of
the Tamils in the UK. It was this amazing man, now in
his mid 80s and with a crippling ailment, who woke me
up at 4am to tell me about Adrian and to invite me to
join a "Forum of Writers" he had just set up to counter
the anti-Tamil activities of that Tamil Foreign
Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar. Then comes Adrian, the
leader of those Sinhalese who have been able to
distance themselves from Sinhala ethno-religious
chauvinism. Then there is the outstanding journalist,
Subramaniam Sivanayagam, who has
sacrificed his entire career and has lived the life of
a gypsy, for the cause of the Tamil people. He was the
founder-editor of the Saturday Review and several other
papers, the author of "The
Pen and the Gun" and the just-released "Sri
Lanka: Witness to History", the Foreword of which was written by
Adrian. The latter records in minute detail the
suffering of the Tamil people over the years, a
remarkable work. Then there is V. Navaratnam, born
1910, now in Canada, once the veteran MP for Kayts and
the author of "The fall and rise of the Tamil
nation". Last but no least, Sabapathy Thillairajah
of Washington, that extraordinary octogenarian who
seems to spend his life, or what is left of it, keeping
us informed of what is going on in Sri Lanka.
Four have been removed from my list because they have
left the planet. Prof. Christie Jeyam Eliezer, the
doyen of Tamils in Australia who wrote the Foreword to
my booklet on the 1983 Tamil massacre Into his shoes
has stepped his extraordinary wife, Ranee, thankfully
still alive! Then there was the only Anglican saint I
know of, Bishop Lakshman Wickremasinghe, the Bishop of
Kurenegala, an outstanding Sinhalese who was killed by
the shock of the 1983 massacre of Tamils. On the other
side of the 'Christian divide', Bishop Bastiampillai
Deogupillia, the courageous Roman Catholic Bishop of
Jaffna who refused to be intimidated by thugs in the
Sri Lankan armed forces who thought it fit not only to
drop bombs but even buckets of faeces on his home,
despite which he opted to stay with his flock in their
hour of need. Then there was my mother's brother,
Edmund Samarakkody, the veteran LSSP politician who
fought so hard for the rights of the Tamil people and
who refused to join political prostitutes in his party
when they crossed over to accept ministerial positions
in Sirima Bandaranaike's Government, thereby setting
new standards in political integrity.
Adrian Wijemanne is the Sinhalese "gift" to the Tamil
people in atonement, if that is possible, for the
terrible damage done to them by the likes of the
Bandarinaikes, who have been responsible for the
shedding of more Tamil (and Sinhalese!) blood than any
other family, the arrogant dictator Junius Jayawardena
and his hoodlums, the murderous Cyril Matthew and his
villain-in-arms, Venerable Alle Gunawanse Thero whose
hands are soaked with July 1983 Tamil blood, and today's
so-called Sinhalese "leaders" who are, in reality,
political opportunists determined to wreck the peace
process and plunge the country into yet another war,
for their own political and economic gains.
Adrian and I have two things in common. We are both
Sinhalese and we both believe with unshakeable faith
that the Tamil people will be liberated from the
Sinhala regime in Colombo. It is not a question of "if"
but "when", and at what cost in terms of human
suffering. The responsibility lies with the Sri Lankan
Government. It is not a question of a release of the
Tamil people from a chauvinistic regime but from a
chauvinistic policy, even entrenched in the Sri Lankan
Constitution, that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala-Buddhist
nation. If a Sinhala nation is the policy, then there
is no alternative to the establishment of a Tamil
nation. It is this that has been presented and argued
with such force and irrefutable logic by Adrian
Wijemanne.
For more than 40 years as a Physician, I have not
infrequently realised that having come to the end of
the road with Medicine, one has to leave the rest to a
greater power. This is where we have got to with
Adrian. I am a Christian but not one who believes that
the billions who are non-Christians are heading for
eternal damnation! I have been able to distance myself
from the arrogance of the Christian establishment and
have learnt to respect the beliefs of others. There are
those who believe that events on this planet are
"predestined". They may be right. There are, however,
others who believe differently. It is to them that I
appeal for prayers, cutting across the man-made
boundaries of religion, to save the life of Adrian, at
least until he sees the Tamil people, who have a
special place in his heart, liberated.
From:
Sangarapillai Sampanthar, United Kingdom,
24
February 2005
About Benny Hinn - I had not
heard of Pastor Hinn, as he is called, until I came to
Bangalore. There was a lot of coverage and
advertisements about his forthcoming Festival of
Blessings. As the publicity material equated idol
worship and prostitution as cardinal sins some Hindu
organizations objected to his visit. Large numbers of
police had to be deployed to ensure safety.
Nevertheless on the first of the 3 days of the Festival
damage was done to public transport vehicles before the
police could intervene.
Nisha was able to get me a good seat so I attended on
the second day. I had a good view of the platform
though most people had to watch one of the 70 or so
giant screens that were set up. They could not see the
entire platform as the camera concentrated on the
performer.
Pastor Hinn and his entourage of over 90 people
traveled by private jet to India and stayed at the
Lalitha Palace Hotel. (Room rate Rs 17000 plus).
He traveled to the venue by Helicopter and after
circling the crowds announced that there were over two
million people at the venue. I stood on a chair and on
all the three sides as far as my eye could see I saw
only the crowds.
On the first day Hinn announced that he will not accept
donations and that his ministry will bear the cost. On
the second day, when I was there, after working the
audience into a frenzy, but before the healing part of
the proceedings, Hinn said that his show - his word not
mine - was costing millions of dollars and would they
make generous contributions when the collection box was
passed their way. On the final day also there was a
collection.
In addition, the audience was invited to become
"partners" and most people near me delivered completed
cards. Being a "partner" involves making a commitment
to pay regular monthly contributions of the order of Rs
500.
(When I went to Sai Baba'a ashram no one solicited any
money. What is more, in the initial briefing we were
told to beware of people claiming to be able to arrange
a private interview with Sai Baba for a consideration.
We were told not to part with our money, as interviews
were not arranged that way.)
Hinn, dressed in expensive white sherwani type suit,
did not exude piety or holiness (unlike the Pope or
Mother Teresa or some other committed Christians that I
have come across). He was a typical American brash
showman. The translation of Hinn's speech was
brilliant, the translator faithfully reproducing
instantly every nuance and tone of Hinn.
Some dignitaries were assembled on the platform. Hinn
said the Bible asked us to respect those in authority
over us. We were asked to rise up, raise our hands and
pray for them. They were introduced to Hinn. Hinn did
not try to push Dave Gowda, a former Prime Minister of
India, his daughter, grandson or the Catholic
Archbishop who were on the platform. He did push
others. One or two - 20stone MLAs - did not move at
all. Some took a step or two back. Others lost their
balance. They were caught from behind by Hinn's
assistants, slowly laid on the ground and almost
immediately picked up and had no difficulty standing. I
could not fathom the reason for this display.
Many of the dignitaries on the platform were from
Andhra Pradesh. They may have been there to see whether
they can recommend the A.P. State Government to be as
supportive of Hinn's projected visit next year to
Hyderabad as the Karnataka State Government was of
Hinn's visit to Bangalore this year.
Hinn said that Jesus tells him every day that miracles
do occur. (But next day he said that when he meets up
with Jesus he would ask why some are cured and others
are not) He asked everyone to stand and touch with his
or her hands the part of the body that was diseased.
Then he said "in the name of Jesus let tumors shrink,
let the blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak etc ",
or words to that effect, and asked those who have been
cured to come up to the platform and share the good
news.
His assistants chose the ones to be allowed on the
platform.
Hinn produced a woman who had Diabetes for twenty long
years and who has now been cured. We were asked to
raise our hands upward and shout, "Praise the Lord". A
person who was blind and who could see now came on
stage. Hinn asked him to follow him and darted across
the platform with the formerly blind man now following
him. A woman who had cancer and who was now cured came
up. Then there was a formerly deaf and dumb person.
When Hinn asked him to say 'Jesus' he said so, though
not in a normal voice but in the voice of deaf people
speaking. A child who could not walk before came up and
started running on stage when Hinn told him to do so. A
newspaper reporter who had managed to convince Hinn's
assistants that he coud not walk before came up to the
stage. As he was also 'cured' we said 'Praise the Lord'
for him too. All these people he pushed and they fell
to the ground though not the reporter who was able to
write about it next day.
Some Hindu organization said, probably without any
solid evidence, that Hinn should be arrested as one
person, when he fell did not get up but died of a heart
attack. They were worried that Hinn was bent on
conversion. They need not have. Hinn himself said that
he did not come to convert. He did not say that he came
only to collect money though.
Hinn said that Jesus loves Hindus, Muslims etc also.
Christians as well as people of other faiths were also
amongst those cured. Thus it was not a case of 'Convert
and be cured' or 'Cure me and I will convert'. It would
appear that one can believe anything provided one also
believes that Christ can cure anyone who has faith that
Christ can do so. Washing away one's heritage was not a
prerequisite. Neither was it a promise. However whether
to be saved by Jesus one has to take a dip is an open
question.
An Indian priest exuding piety sang some beautiful
songs in a mellifluous voice and at the end bent down
to touch Hinn's feet. To Hinn's credit he quickly bent
down himself and they were head to head for a few
minutes which masked the attempt of the Indian priest
to demean himself.
Of course Jesus saves the poor, downtrodden and the
sick. He seems to have had something against the
wealthy though. Hence the saying about the eye of the
needle and the camel.
Some people thus see a niche market and target the rich
and the not so rich. If they cannot get them to Heaven
by any other way they can at least make them poor so
that Jesus can take over.
I have seen people making their way to the Festival
walking on all fours. Others were carried. I have seen
the utter despair of some of those who were not cured.
To be told you do not have enough faith or that your
time has not come is no consolation. Hinn is guilty of
giving false hopes to some very desperate people.
Hinn says it is Jesus who cures - but at his behest (my
addition). When asked, I did not touch any part of my
body- I did not know which part to touch. I was almost
dehydrated, as I did not drink any water for fear of
having to go to the toilet, which was almost one km.
away. After several hours of sitting down I had an
attack of gout by the time I left. It may well be that
someone had gout and for him Hinn's prayers worked. So
his gout, having to go somewhere, came to me.
One thing about prayer has always bothered me. Heaven
must surely be a better place than this world and Hell
a worse place, though no one to my knowledge has come
back to tell us that. If that is so, why should one
pray to be cured of illnesses to prolong one's stay in
this world? Should not the prayer be "Oh Lord, take me
unto you as quickly as possible"? Could it be that
those who pray for good health and longevity are not
truly convinced that there is a better place for them
to go to? Hence their desire not to want to leave the
place they know for an unknown and unknowable Heaven
but to want their situation here and now to be
improved.
