The ghost of Lord Soulbury in London: Sinhala-Tamil politics after the war
by Rajan Philips
The voting at the January presidential election brutally exposed the two solitudes in Sri Lankan politics. The Sinhalese voted in clear preference for President Rajapakse while Tamils along with Muslims, equally clearly voted against him. In fact, the TNA was blamed for contributing to Sarath Fonseka’s defeat by openly supporting him. That was a tad far fetched, as the real clincher about that alliance was how the government used the state media to misinform the Sinhalese that Fonseka was making a deal with the separatists.
With the controversy over Fonseka’s arrest, and the April election becoming a contest for a two-thirds majority for the Rajapakse regime in parliament, the Tamil question appeared to be dropping below the political radar. It was marginalized in the Sri Lankan parliament before the guns started blazing, and it is becoming marginalized again after the guns have been silenced. The TNA and other Tamil organizations are scrambling to field candidates in the North and East and make good of a politically bad situation. The bold new phenomenon in postwar politics is the emergence of Muslim politics in its own organizational right.
In his now almost annual and mutually-admiring interview with the (Madras) Hindu, the President laid out the limited parameters for the future of Tamil politics in Sri Lanka. But the Sri Lankan Tamil politics is no longer confined to the borders of Sri Lanka. After a long war, the Sri Lankan state has reasserted the physical borders of the Sri Lankan polity, but Tamil politics has become assertively borderless. The much maligned Tamil Diaspora is now foot loose and fancy free for it to take political potshots at the Sri Lankan government.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown meets GTF delegates-pic: Sandeshaya
In a dramatic stage show in London, the Global Tamil Federation, a new umbrella Tamil organization for likeminded Tamils from fourteen countries, launched its inaugural meeting, on Wednesday, 24 February, in the Mother of all Parliaments with welcoming speeches from the very top drawer of British politicians. British Foreign Secretary David Milliband, Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague and Liberal Democrats Shadow Foreign Secretary Ed Davey addressed the meeting. The domestically embattled Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave a private audience to a select group of the delegates. Attending from Sri Lanka were a Buddhist monk and an Islamic cleric, along with a South African parliamentarian, Sisa Njikelana.
The British support for the event was welcomed by the GTF organizers: “the British Government, more than any in the world, knows our history and is most competent to understand our situation.” The British government defended the participation saying “the UK firmly believes that the only way to achieve lasting and equitable peace in Sri Lanka is through genuine national reconciliation. The UK will engage with all members of the Sri Lankan community who share this goal, whether overseas or in Sri Lanka.” The reaction in Colombo was predictably was one of incense, including a diplomatic scolding and blaming the British for helping yet again in the rebirth of the Tigers.
Lord Soulbury
Historical and current ironies
Those conversant with the late Edward Said’s (the great Palestinian scholar and intellectual who taught at Columbia University) concept of Orientalism, that captured the essence of the colonizing and colonized mindsets of the 19th and 20th centuries, will recognize the competing interplay of the colonized mindsets in the creation and aggravation of the Sinhala-Tamil conflict in 20th century Sri Lanka. Whether it was the preposterous claims to Aryan-Dravidian racial difference and civilizational superiority, or the more mundane squabbles over political representation, the mainstream Sinhala and Tamil leaders took their case to the British rulers as (colonized) supplicants, made adversarial pleas, and prayed for British judgment (not justice) favouring their side against the other.
They never attempted to pool their resources to cooperatively work out solutions among themselves, as it was done in India by the Indian National Congress. Rather, they deployed their resources combatively, to enthuse their respective supporters and to impress the British rulers. The culmination of this colonial-historical process was the Soulbury Commission to hear petitions and recommend constitutional reforms for the colony that was Ceylon to guide its path to gradual independence. The principal leaders of the Sinhalese and the Tamils rather than making common cause in formulating an inclusive political framework went their separate ways to outsmart one another.
The Soulbury Commission rendered its judgment and gave Sri Lanka its first constitution after independence. The Tamil leaders felt shortchanged but Lord Soulbury assured them that the Commission had produced a constitution with adequate minority safeguards, and that it was the best that ‘the wit of man could devise’. Ten years later, in the wake of the tumultuous years of 1956 and 1958, Lord Soulbury would remark that had he and his Commissioners had the experiences of the 1950s, they would have produced a different constitutional arrangement.
The ghost of Lord Soulbury must have been hovering around the Gladstone Room of the British House of Commons when David Milliband, William Hague and Liberal Ed Davey addressed the inaugural meeting of the Global Tamil Federation. The former British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Dominick Chilicott, used to occasionally muse about Britain’s historical responsibility to facilitate a political solution in Sri Lanka. The government of Sri Lanka took exception to Mr. Chilicott’s statements as betraying the hangover of the colonizing mindset. Colombo will now interpret the London show more as British electoral opportunism – or inter-party competition for British Tamil votes – than as hangover of British colonialism.
But electorally opportunistic or not, none of the British politicians said anything unpredictable or untoward at the inaugural meeting. All of them emphasized the need for non violence, criticized the LTTE, promoted a just political solution and promised that Britain will continue to work with ‘all Sri Lankans’ to achieve a political solution and lasting peace. In a more open and ambidextrous assessment, the International Crisis Group (ICG) has called on both the Government of Sri Lanka and Tamil Diaspora to find new approaches to resolve the political conflict on the island that continues even after the war.
On the one hand, says the ICG, the Sri Lankan government “must address the legitimate grievances at the root of the conflict: the political marginalisation and physical insecurity of most Tamils in Sri Lanka”, and on the other, the Tamil Diaspora must “move(s) on from its separatist, pro-LTTE ideology … to play a useful role supporting a just and sustainable peace in Sri Lanka”. The British politicians and their counterparts in the US, EU and Australia, or even New Delhi are not saying anything different. Only that the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Diaspora are hearing things differently. They have got used to imagining what they want to hear, and play deaf to what they ought to hear.
For the government of Sri Lanka, regardless of what the Western governments and organizations actually say, so long as they are critical of the government for its intransigence and inaction towards a political solution, they are all LTTE supporters and enemies of the Sinhalese. Equally, for the Tamil Diaspora, the West is right in criticizing the Sri Lankan government especially on war crimes, but the West is off the mark when it makes the same accusations against the LTTE.
The government of Sri Lanka has gone further, trying to find non-Western support for its position to countervail the West’s sanctions against it. The list of countries where support is solicited is growing: in alphabetical order, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, Russia, Venezuela and so on. But to what end? And never mind China is allegedly becoming the new colonizer of Africa.
The Sinhalese, save for the facilities the American Missionaries built in Jaffna, have historically been and continue to be the bigger beneficiaries of Western munificence – at the level of the state, as elites and as recipients of development assistance and private capital inflow. Even the flow of arms from the West to the government of Sri Lanka did not go dry during the war despite the diplomatic war of words between the two. So, why insist on cutting their own nose against the West just to spite the Tamils? Would it not be wise for the government to work with the West in engaging the Tamils and the Muslims more positively and productively?
Instead, the government appears to be fishing for new Tamil supporters to promote an agenda of so called development in the north and east while ignoring the reality of the political question. On the one hand, this approach is the continuing curse of cooption. On the other, it was the neglect of development of the north and east and the restriction and denial of opportunities for jobs and higher education in the south that became the political problem and gave the LTTE and other militant organizations their disenchanted recruits. The political genie cannot be now put back in a development bottle just because the present government says so. And there can be no development worth talking about, in the vocabulary of our time, which does not involve the democratic participation of the people who are the purported target of development.
The tired and failed path of political cooption is not the way to proceed if the government is serious about building bridges between communities. The Muslims are tired of cooption and the Tamils have never been anything but cynically hostile about it. The government has to be flexible and positively deal with the Tamil and Muslim representatives elected by their people rather than asking the people to elect those whom the government would like to see as their representatives. The government has to learn to deal with Tamil and Muslim representatives even if they are elected to be part of the opposition and not the government.
18 Comments
It is welcome that the Tamils have now a legally recognised and constituted international body to look after their interests. I think this will have a wide following and role to play in the future.
This is the logical outcome of the failure of the Govt to engage with the minorities and to provide a democratic solution to their problems. The minority members bought over by the govt are not true representatives of the minorities and have sold their people to further their own political careers. Hence the Govt should seek to engage with bodie like the Global Tamil Federation instead of just labling them as terrorist.
Sri Lanka's gravitation towards "non Western" countries did not occur in a vaccum. Neither it occurred by design as the major political formations in Sri Lanka are generally Western friendly. Though the writer tries to white wash the Western intentions as innocent, well meaning and humane, their actions clearly point towards manipulating the internal political structures of Sri Lanka to serve Western interests and keeping the rebel Tamil leadership alive and intact to use as a tool of pressure.
The failure of Western designs manifested clearly in their actions in arms embargoes, attempts to bring SL on to UNSC agenda, attempt to condemn SL in UNHRC, suspension of GSP+ & allowing overseas separatist groupings to continue to undermine SL. There was only one choice SL govt had if they did not want to capitulate to Western pressure. That is to counter balance the Western pressure with "non Western" support. To date there is no genuine attempt by the West to alley SL fears. Their continued moral support to separatist forces despite warnings by US Foreign Relations Sub Committee convey only one message. That is Western interests currently do not align with the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. Luckily for Sri Lanka, the East is sufficiently strong and resourced to counter Western attempts to dominate rest of the world.
On the other hand, the Tamil leadership and their theoreticians have been competing (and not partnering) with Sinhalese to dominate Sri Lanka through out the history. They sided with South Indian invaders in the past. Then they sided with the colonialists to gain educational and economic favours. Then they sided with India to destabilise Sri Lanka and now they attempt to side with the West to destabilise Sri Lanka. India learned it's folly at the expense of 1,200 Jawans and the life of it's former prime minister. One day the West will also realise the brutality of the monster it is feeding on it's soil.
SL govt.'s development programme for North & East of the country specifically aimed at addressing the root cause of the conflict as expressed by the West. That is to provide opportunuties to populations in those regions to advance economically in line with the rest of the country and safeguard their culture & heritage. If the West is genuinely interested in achieving durable peace, they should support SL development efforts rather than the punitive & disruptive measures they are following at the moment.
mmmmmmmmmm... as I see it,
Politics have become a cushy occupation be it for the Minorities or to the majority. Thereby, issues are much in contention at election time and thereafter pushed to the back burner.
GTF have an agenda of their own which is to the akin of the GOSL, that is taken to the West to discuss.
The West hidding their true aspiration show neutrality in calling for NATIONAL RECONCILLIATION.
Nobody is aware of the broader sense of National Reconcilliation. [ Even during the war & todate, there exists a reconcilliation between communities nationally & hence the absence of a definite definition is a mere rhetoric]
Criticism of the LTTE by the West at this juncture is a mere fallacy which can not appease the GOSL for the simple reason the average Sri Lankan is a political animal. The West may be able to make the GOSL politician to eat it but it is not possible for the GOSL to make the masses swallow it.
If such West criticisn was true in its honest sense, how come the war dragged on for so long ? The Fund raising & demonstrations take place capitals ? Free flow of Western Funds to the Terrorists ? Various INGOs, Media, Christian Organisations backing to the Terrorists remained uabated ?
What is this Just Political Solution mean without a clear definition? It can be construed in many ways.
Address the greviance at the root cause of the conflict ?
How could this be adressed?
First and foremost, the GOSL must know for sure whether the GTF represent the Tamils of Sri Lanka or the Tamil Terrorists movement of Sri Lanka ?
Then we experienced external influence at the concluded PE where there were clear exertion for a regime change?
Then we observe from time to time the pressure exerted by the West inorder to alter the course of an Election result. EU action of GPS issue is a clear indication. Then the Catholic Bishops asserting pressure on the President on the release of Opposition Candiate after a lapse of a period of time.
Then, GOSL discovers Crisp $$ bills belong to the Oppostion Candiate. From where did he get these? Who gave it to him ? For what ? When ? How Much ? ect,
There can be no sincererity when it comes to the Tamil issue as there is so much outside influence from various quaters to change the political course to favour certain hidden elements.
To add insult to the injury, GTF in their tongue in cheek attitude seek to involve the West INSTEAD of coming to Sri Lanka and sit down with the GOSL to resolve the issue.
This is a clear indication the NON EXISTENCE OF A TAMIL ISSUE IN SRI LANKA.
There is a Tamil Issue in word in place for hidden elements to force their hidden agenda on Sri Lanka.
UNLESS AND UNTILL THESE HIDDEN ELEMENTS DECIDE TO KEEP THEIR HANDS OFF KEEP THEIR UNSOLICITED FUNDS OUT OF SRI LANKA TO BUYOVER PEOPLE AND "GTF" SINCERELY ENGAGE THE GOSL, Tamils in Sri lanka will have to do with whatever the GOSL can offer them that are within the means of GOSL.
This is a wider hidden issue with no bearing to the Root of the Conflict.
All propaganda that we hear, see & read today is to promote that hidden agenda by the invisibles who want to lay their claws on Sri Lanka.
THIS IS NO DIFFERENT WHAT HISTORY DEPICTS IN TH EUROPEAN CIVILISATION.
HOW THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE INDULGED IN GENOCIDE.
HOW THE CATHOLIC CARDINAL CHARLES OF LORRAINE ATTEMPTED TO UPSTAGE & GRAB THE FRENCH THRONE FROM VALOIS.
THEN WE READ ABOUT THE CATHOLIC CARDINAL RICHELIEU OF FRANCE SIDES WITH THE PROTESTANTS TO FIGHT OFF THE CATHOLIC FORCES IN THE (30) YEAR GERMAN WAR WHICH WAS NOT ESSENTIALLY RELIGIOUS.
Hence, is there a actual Root Cause of the Tamil issue ??????
Thank you Rajan Phillips for amplifying the real issue under "Historical and current ironies " . You resemble S.Rajaratnam one of the founding fathers of modern Singapore mainly because of your beleves and the constant advocacy for a better politics by the major political parties of Srilanka.
I sincerely hope Sinhalese Intellctuals and nationalists like Victor Ivan, Dr.Nalin Swaris, Dr.Dayan Jayatilleke,and Dayapala Thirangama at least agree with your essence of the arguement that negotiations should be with Tamil , Muslim and other minority representatives elected by their people ( but I would like add that under conducive environment for elections with proper resettlement of the IDPs and voting rights for all ).
Here are what the above 4 I mentioned stand for, incontrast to Rajan Phillips's stand :
1.Victor Ivan correctly said in his recent article that Mahinda is the Sinhalese representative.
2.Sinhalese existential theorist and former Minister in Trinco after the Indo - Srilanka Pact of 1987 has already been advocating Mahinda should deal only with EPDP, PLOT and TMVP.
3. Dr. Nalin Swaris who admires the role Dayan Jayatilleke played from Geneva in defending Mahinda regime with the support of communist and socialist countries, is treating Dayan as a spent force like Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan SLFP Vice President in his recent article.
4. Dayapla Thirngama who is arm twisting the Tamils and warning them whom ( which party ) they should elect, how should and why should as their represntatives.But fearing that TNA may get the majority representation he is warning or indirectly threateneing the Tamils "TNA must disavow separatist politics and accept a political solution within a unitary state "
Sinnathamby Rajaratnam is described as “Mr. Rajaratnam is one of the founding fathers of modern Singapore. He was a rebel and a revolutionary. He was an intellectual and a man of action.” Tommy Koh, Ambassador-At-Large, Singapore.
Both Rajaratnam and the above 4 I mentioned are born in the same Island but unfortunatele what a contrast in their believes and advocacies.
May I also quote the statement by one of the founder memebrs of the PAP which has been governing Singapore ( the country where Dayan Jayatilleke has gone to take up his new position as an academic ) since her seperation from Malaysia and some excerpts from the recently published book "Singapore Lion " a biography of S.Rajaratnam.
The statement and excerpts are :
i. In a statement that was to be his political credo all his life, he said:
“I who belong to a minority group will not, under a democratic constitution, feel very alarmed if the Legislature should not have a single representative from my community. On the contrary, I may be very alarmed if certain individuals from my community should worm their way into the legislature.”
ii. He was particularly merciless on those who manipulated racial sentiments for political gains, a theme he had expounded on as early as 1947. In one of his strongest columns headlined “The Hoax of Communal Solidarity”:
“when the communal leader suppresses the sob in his throat and intones ‘as a Chinese, you can be assured I shall fight for the rights of the Chinese”, or ‘I am a hundred percent Malay and you can rely on me to look after the welfare of my Malay brothers’, or “I am an Indian and I will protect the interests of Indians”, our communal demagogue is indulging in a hoax.”
iii. “A science of politics may not acquire the precision of astronomy but I believe that it will at least ensure that politics does not remain at the level of thinking which governs astrology and alchemy”
iv. “After all, politics is basically a method of organizing human society with a view to ensuring the happiness, security and prosperity of the individuals who comprise that society – whether that society embraces a nation or, as it must eventually, the whole of mankind.”
Srilanka needn't worry about Milliband and Brown who are desperate to hang on to power in the midst of rapidly dwindling British voter support for the Labour MPs cheating of Government allowances..
They are now desperate to garner the support of minority ethnic block votes.Tamils are their only choice as the Muslims from India , Pakistan and other countries would not have a bar of them after what Blair and Brown did to them.
the US senator Bob casey has given the cold shoulder to the GTF by endorsing the economic development path to reconciliation. as envisaged by the president.This is a clear indication that America is not going to encourage the Milliband, Solheim hidden agenda of dividing the country along racial lines.
One thing the writer got right is the clear mandate the Sinhalese have given the President to develop. the country. And the mandate is for another seven years and the President will make Srilanka a prosperous nation to be reckoned with.
The sorry state of the coalition partners after the thrashing at the hands of Rajapaksa does not indicate a good out come at the parliamentary elctions. The number of candidates alone in Jaffna district seats is an indication of the disarray that the TNA has caused following the presidential election.
99.5 percent of the Diaspora Tamils are no longer citizens of Srilanka,How can they dictate to a government that has been returned to power by a vast majority which want the government to look after their future.
The diaspora can have GTF meetings in London, Oslo and Toronto but these won't have any bearing on the Rajapaksa government.
Only influence the diaspora can have in Srilanka is through genuine investments based on purely economic reasons.
First the west used LTTE as a tool to push its own interest in Srilanka. When LTTE was on its knees the west did its utmost best to stop the inevitable defeat of the LTTE so that the west do not lose its influance. If the writer or anyone says any thing contrary then they are unwittingly fooling themself or intentionaly trying to fool others. The west does not care about sinhalese or tamils as long as either can be manupilated for its own benefit.
Now the LTTE is gone & what is left if it's international arm like BTF. So the west is using them as a tool to influance Sri Lanka.
In cricketing terms ,Its a "googly" and we the comman sri lankan people can read it from the bowlers arm itself since we have faced a dozen "googlies & flippers" since independence & we can see it comming long before the bowler (west)start his runup.
It is hillarious to think the west has "good intentions" for its actions. Not only in Sri Lankan matters but for any international matter. Who could blame them? Thats what any superpower would and should do to hold its power on the globe.So anything contrary as i said earlier is making themself fools or tring to make others look like fools. A supper power with "good intentions" is a reality exist in dreamland only.
China is no saint, but we can live with them as we have done over 2500 years. At least the chinese does not have a colonial mindset.
The BTF is like the drowning man that would cling on to anything. It does not have any influnce in Sri Lanka and they know that. This show is for thier own servival within the tamil dispora who is demoralised and devestated and would jump for joy anything that would ,at least in their eyes, that looks like a support of sorts for their ealam dream that died on 17/05/09.
Where our local Tamil breatheran stands will be seen during the next election and not so distant future. Whether they will stand for devolopment , reconciliation and slowly work on ultimate restoration of the sri lankan tamil race that was dragged to their grave by LTTE/BTF/WEST or whether allow to continue to be used as pawns by wolves hiding in sheep clothing.
Rajan says " ....The Sinhalese, save for the facilities the American Missionaries built in Jaffna, have historically been and continue to be the bigger beneficiaries of Western munificence – at the level of the state, as elites and as recipients of development assistance and private capital inflow....." and "...Instead, the government appears to be fishing for new Tamil supporters to promote an agenda of so called development in the north and east while ignoring the reality of the political question."
Rajan, being an academic must refer to the real influx of money as for hundreds if not thousands of development projects at least over the last 30 years to Jaffna and the so called "Tamil homeland areas" by various governmental and non-governmental agencies. In fact an in depth study should be made of the total input of aid and loans granted and address the issues of where the aid/money went. Down a deep black hole Rajan? or did the long term "trickle down effect", of the expected benefits, create a deep fissure in the Yalpanam limestone soil . The ordinary Tamil people got nothing but shepherding from the frying pan to the fires of terrorism.
So what is the ".... reality of the political question." Rajan wants the Sri Lankan government to address? A mono-ethnic racist enclave contradicting and depriving the other ethnics of the Universal declaration of Human Rights, Article 13.(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
The Sinhalese share the state with all ethnicities as seen in the South and the Central region where they were a majority some years back. Perhaps the much maligned Colombans stand as testimony to that. Why is the Universal declaration of Human Rights Article 13 ignored and Constitutional Amendment 13 of the Sri Lankan constitution given a mono-ethnic racist bias for residence and fundamental human rights? Big brother next door may have to explain that to the Panda conservationists at the UN on that! The Panda may ensure that the former territory of the Lion does not become the eternal territory of the Tiger. In a dynamic world, all changes are possible depending on who is supporting whom. If the boys and girls down Bloemendal Lane can live as good friends sharing the water, the schools, the hospitals, and even each other's sisters and brothers why cant we all follow their example Rajan?
There is a saying "beggars can't be chosers." I think this applies to a great extent to the Tamil polity. By supporting the LTTE and only the LTTE the Tamils destroyed themselves when the LTTE was destroyed. Now people like Mr Phllips are making demands left and right. It is not going to work. It is up to the Tamil population to show some change of heart and move against separatism. Otherwise they will continue to be marginalised.
This entire discussion appears to be based on an assumption that the present day realities and perceptions will continue to remain unchanged indefinitely. They will not.
The blood is still fresh on the ground and the last of the gun fire is still echoing in distant places. The generation that faught the war, wanting a decisive goal have got their's; one total satisfaction and other the total opposite. The ongoing teeth gnashings are only to be expected in such a situation. In post WW-II defeated Germany and Japan, survivors hated the occupying victorious forces with passion. They swore undying vengeance then. But what happened as reconstruction and prosperity benefitted the next generation, provides a glimpse of what may happen here in SL too. Human history provides boringly repititive and dependable behavioural examples.
Let the hate mongers suffer on both sides. These are monsters who deserve ill health, physical and mental anguish for their inherent evil.
The next generation growing today, including my own kids are barely conscious of ethnic differences. They are amused by the causes of the war and consider it abjectly stupid. They are correct and provide us hope for a better future.
1.Not only the Sri Lankan government but even some of the commentators think that one who criticises the government is necessarily pro-LTTE. Read the article carefully please. In which of his articles has the author sounded pro-LTTE?
2.''In fact an in depth study should be made of the total input of aid and loans granted and address the issues of where the aid/money went'' will open the eyes of many in the South and will not be cheated by their politicians and will genuinely fight for fair treatment of Tamils.
It seems that GTF is engaging with everybody else but the GOSL.
This amply demonstrate the superiority complex of Jaffna tamils which is a root cause of ethnic problem.
It is said that GTF is promoting the boycotting of SL goods. It is disgusting to see that British govt. giving state patronage to such an organisation.
Sri lanka should withdraw from commonwealth and discourage british colonial mentality by discouraging British education etc. (CIMA, IET etc.)
We also should apologise the Argentine people for supporting Britain in Falkland war and accept Argentina's claim for Falklands.
Harshe, What about stop playing cricket with other 'commonwealth' countries...
When declaring isolation, one has to consider 70% of the people did not vote for Rajapakse.
Harshe, They don't want to travel on this Myanmar path. Please respect their wishes.
Internal colonialism in an island in a geopolitically strategic location.
Poor Tamils, sorry. International Law has yet to evolve something that can deal with internal colonialism of Buddhists who don't understand the dhamma of Buddhism.
Our friend from the Buddhist Sinhals supremacist cabal is doing a rather poor job in creating Tamil hatred in the minds of Sinhalese. `They (Tamils) sided with S.Indian invaders in the past etc..``
Good Sir, was it not the Sinhala Kandyan nobles who facilitated the Naik kings against our own Sinhala kings???.."they sided with the Colonials" to gain
favour etc is the very same charges Sinhala political leaders traded against each other from the 1930s till the 1960s... So for God's sake, go find something
more poisonous to satisfy your clearly sick mind.
ISS
What Soulbury said or not IS IRRELEVANT. What matters is the legitimate grievances of the majority of the country. This can be followed by legitimate grievances of ALL minorities, if they sre genuine and legitimate.
The Brits (and the other barbarian europeans before them) destroyed the social fabric of this land. They are continuing their selfish interests from the other side of the ocean. The west does not 'own' the world anymore, although they would like to pretend that they do. Tamils, Sinhalese and all citizens of Sri Lanka must UNITE and show the TAMIL DIASPORA and selfish hypocritic west wher to poke their finger !
Ajit, it doesn't matter to you hundreds of thousands are in detention and transit camps and other camps? They're half-starved, half-clothed, half-body inside a hut and half-body outside a hut, and their socio-economic-environmental fabric is nearly pulped. What are you asking them to do?
The comment "beggars can't choose" above (Nimal, Feb.27) reminded me of the millions or hundreds of thousands of rupees in gold and cash that the people in the IDP camps handed over willingly to the govt following LTTE defeat during the months of June -August. Any knowledge about how this wealth was spent or its whereabouts?
it has been very informative reading the article and the subsequent comments by sri lankans both tamils and sinhalese. the problem of sri lanka cannot be viewed thru political terms alone. it is a hsirotical matter or rather the philosophy of history.
history is very cruel towards societies when their leaders make terrible errors. the appeasement of british PM Lord Chamberlain in 1938 at munich began the reign of terror of europe by hitler and lasted another 7 years causing much death and destruction.
tamils are no different than other societies where their leaders made terrible errors of judgement causing much death and destruction to their society. sri lanka or ceylon never existed in 1598 when the portuguese made 2 separate treatied with the 2 sovereign rulers in the island - one with the tamil kingdom of jaffna and another with kingdom of kandy.
the subsequent change of rule from dutch and british was due to political changes in europe.
the tamil leaders in the 1940s, could have asked for a separate nation based on the treaty signed by their ancient king in 1598. besides, they shud have had a vision of the future of sri lanka in a one person one vote system.
unfortunately, the tamil leaders never had this vision as mohd ali jinnah had for pakistan.
may be the then tamil leaders believed too much in the 1945 UN charter that saaid swords would be beaten to make ploughshares and also must have deeply influenced by mahatma gandhis politics. gandhis was fighting against the british who developed a sense of rule of law and democratics rights and as such gandhi was successful. if indian had been ruled by eg the russians under stalin , gandhi would have been silenced at the very first moment of his protest.
this is what happened to the tamil leaders who believed too much in non violence and a chnaged world after the second world war.
so, tamils have to just accept that their problem today is a terrible historical blunder. but thye can take heart in that there are many other societies that also suffered genocide and suppression such as the jews, cambodians and recently the people in rwanda where an estimated 800 000 people were hacked to death in a matter of 100 days.
everything else that happened to the tamils after feb 4 1948 would be described by historians as details of the mistake of the tamil leaders before feb 4 1948 however painful it has been to the victims. this has been inevitable to many societies in history.
one of the victims of sri lanka was rajiv gandhi. actually, he shud have died during the guard of honor when a naval rating tried to smashed his rifle
on the head of rajiv gandhi. this is a world's first incident. if contact had been made, rajiv gandhi would have collapsed in a pool of blood and died.
unfortunately for the tamils, that never happened. rajiv gandhi was condemned to go the way of his mother indira gandhi for making terrible mistakes on the bad advise of their policy makers. operation bluestar wasnt necessary at all. india with a big army could have blockaded the golden temple and cut off supplies. the sikh rebels would have been easily flushed out. but she had to make a violent statement by sending her army to storm the temple resulting in her death.
the same violent mistake was committed rajiv gandhi. he missed a violent death in combo in 1987. but he could not escape his violent death in 1991 for the war crimes of the IPKF. the LTTE was just a product of sri lankan politics and the historical mistake of tamil leaders of pre independent sri lanka.
in a way, the death of rajiv gandhi can be attributed to the mistake of their policy makers in new delhi. what would new delhi have said, if rajiv gandhi had died at the hands of the naval rating?
one upshot of the deaths of indira gandhi and rajiv gandhi is transformation of sonia gandhi. this italian born lady became a naturalised citizen of india and also the most powerful person in modern day india.
she is wise enough to know that the silly RAW and officials in new delhi in the PMs office gave such stupid advice to her mother in law and husband which resulted in their tragic deaths. her revenge is a grab of power of the congress party and ensure that her son rahul gandhi's life doesnt in the same manner as her mother in law and husband thru bad advice of congress party officials and the bureaucrats of new delhi.
but eelam tamils need not fret over the past . many leaders and societies around the world had made such terrible errors. they shud make the right decisons in a democratic manner that would earn the respect of the present world which is very much made up of democracies. their most important job would be to advise the policy makers in new delhi that the people of tamil nadu are different from the eelam tamils even if they share a common language. the eelam tamils shud cut off their links with the politicos of tamilnadu. they are just a bunch of selfish corrupt officials. worst they tell many lies to their own people.
what lies ahead for sri lanka? it is entirely in the hands of its people.
sri lanka became a tragic comedy when its fonseka ,ex chief of army was dragged away like a common criminal or another suspected of treason against the govt sri lanka!
in any case, i would like to wish the best for the people of sri lanka.