Can we End this Cycle of Hatred?
I am amazed at the mobilization of young people from the Tamil Diaspora around the world to protest against the Sri Lankan government’s purported human rights violations. When often the younger generation of immigrants forgets the old country to a future in the new one, it is incredibly positive that the Diaspora feels so passionate about this difficult conflict on behalf of their community. Maybe once the conflict is over, they will come back to Sri Lanka to rebuild the country together. However, there is long way to go for reconciliation between the two communities as so much hatred has manifested, especially amongst the Diaspora overseas.
We have all been affected by this ruthless conflict. I had close relatives and friends lost to LTTE attacks and bombs. Yet, I differentiate the LTTE from Tamil people. In my daily life in Sri Lanka, we work, play sports and socialize together. I am sad this is not the case with the international Tamil community in separating the government from Sinhala people. Like in any community there are Sinhala extremists but I find most are compassionate towards other communities as I come across a diversity of people on a daily basis as an organizational trainer.
Young Minds of Hate
Back in Ontario, my Canadian friend Kerry was excited when her 7 year old daughter came home and said she has a Sri Lankan friend in her new class. They invited the new friend home after school one day. When Kerry told her that she too has a close Sri Lankan friend, the visitor came back with, “Is he Tamil or Sinhala ?”. Kerry was taken aback by this and said, “I am not too sure but I think he is Sinhala”. To Kerry’s surprise, “Oh we hate the Sinhala” was her reply. When Kerry asked her whether she had met any Sinhala people, she said no.
Many months later when I met Kerry during a visit to Canada, she related this story and we lamented that this impressionable seven year old had been taught to hate. Maybe her parents were subjected to hatred or violence back in Sri Lanka, but is it wise to burden a child with such a strong toxic emotion, which she will carry for the rest of her life ?
The Diaspora
So, I am sad at the fact that the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora, especially, the young, many of whom have never been to Sri Lanka, are growing up with such extreme feelings towards the Sinhala people.
A friend, a Canadian of Sinhala parentage told me recently that a long time friend of his had told him, “As a Tamil Canadian, I should not be hanging out with you”. He was shocked by this, but that is what it has come down to. Even friends who never looked at race before are now putting their identity as a Tamil or Sinhala before friendship.
Sad this happens in a place 10,000 kms away from where the real conflict is taking place. The irony is that in the old country we are already talking about reconciliation and rebuilding relationships.
An Intercultural Dialogue
I was part of such an event last week in Pollonnaruwa, not too far from the conflict. Seventy university students – Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala – from around the country were brought together by a core- group of sixteen multi -ethnic students from Colombo based universities through a British Council sponsored project called Intercultural Dialogue – to explore culture, identity and history to look towards a common future as Sri Lankans.
It was an emotionally charged three days. One session had the distinct races exploring a ‘Time Line’ to inquire how the three communities see history shaping Sri Lanka to what it is today. The Sinhala team presenting the turning points in History as Bandaranaike’s Sinhala only policy in 1956, burning the Jaffna library and black July in 1983 struck a chord with the Tamil team who got up and said, “We never realized Sinhala people looked at our history in this way”. The Tamil team had the same events in their presentation and immediately found common ground to work from. Ironically the Muslim team felt marginalized when they said, “See, neither Tamil nor Sinhala team mentioned us and this is what is happening to us, we are caught between both sides and ignored by all”.
The programme used dialoguing techniques such as the ‘Fish Bowl’ to discuss difficult emotional issues to create better understanding. One young Tamil student studying Arts, Drama and Film Making in the Eastern University lamented his parents not letting him go to Colombo to continue his studies. A Sinhala student then spoke and said, “Yes, your parents are right in discouraging you coming to Colombo. This is a difficult time with all the security. When I see a young Tamil person in the bus, I too wonder. But all this will change soon enough”.
When a Muslim student said, that the Sri Lankan constitution forbids a non Buddhist to become President, the leader of the Colombo based core team of organizers, a law student, said, “ I have studied the constitution very carefully and it does not state anywhere that the person has to be a Buddhist. It just states that the President must safeguard Buddhism as the national religion.” He went on to state in fluent Sinhala, “I am a Tamil and I aspire to become the President of Sri Lanka in twenty years” to which there was great applause from everyone, and surprise from the Tamil students who did not realize the leader of the core team was a Tamil.
Teaching the Biology of the Brain
As a part of the learning for the programme, my colleague and I as facilitators made a presentation on our emotions and spirituality. We based this on the biology of the brain and how our reptilian brain, which ensures our basic physical survival and the limbic brain, which balances our emotions have to work together. This way our natural moral compass gets activated through the strong limbic nourishment first from our parents and then our close relationships. When this nourishment is positive and appreciative, it makes for emotionally well balanced individuals with high self esteem and good physical health. We also worked with some practical breathing exercises to illustrate how the breath is a powerful tool in controlling emotions and the ego to develop a positive attitude towards life.
A combination of learning new theories on the brain and emotions to dialogue made these three days a rich and a novel experience for everyone.
The programme ended with mixed teams producing plays done in a combination of Sinhala and Tamil languages to depict Tai Pongal, a Tamil wedding, a Muslim wedding, Sinhala New Year celebrations, a Sinhala wedding and a comical rendition of “Nari Bena”, a folk tale about a fox wanting to marry a beautiful girl.
I came away from these 3 days with a renewed sense of hope that these university students will eventually make a difference to this troubled nation. They will approach the future not from the male dominated Military Industrial age of the past, which is left brained and reptilian. They will approach it from the new Conceptual age, which is a partnership between the right and left brains, male and female, the yin and the yang and in limbic balance. It will be based more on dialogue, understanding, creative relationships and a sense of community through the power of balance.
I really hope that the young people in the Diaspora will eventually visit Sri Lanka to see for themselves that amongst all the negatives that is shown through media which is to do with the government and the LTTE, there is also compassion and understanding between people and a shared past to build a common future on. I see that acted out in the way civil society made up of all the communities are mobilizing to help the displaced people.
I also hope that they are able to transform their toxic emotions of fear and hate to a more balanced one of openness and flexibility in the way the university students in Pollonnaruwa found out.
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Lalith >>
Thank you for this very nice article. How any responsible parent could teach their children to hate through such gross generalization is unfathomable and is tantamount to child abuse. Such “brain-washed” children and adults who are responsible for perpetuating that hate, are seen everyday in internet forums like these, full of prejudice but low on compassion and understanding.
We are all grateful for the efforts you are putting into building these bridges. IMHO, such efforts at building a national identity and promoting understanding have yielded far greater results than the violence and savagery espoused by the LTTE and its supporters. I am hopeful that with the demise of the LTTE, more moderate Tamil voices will be able to rise above the racist cacophony of the extremists, since the threat to their lives is now absent, and we can all move towards the plural society we want to see. I hasten to add that Sinhalese nationalist sentiment must also be dealt with, but IMHO, even the more extreme manifestations of Sinhala Nationalism today seem to have a live and let live policy, which is not to be seen in the LTTE/Tamil nationalists. Which is why I tend to be generally more critical of it although I hold no sympathy whatsoever for either group of extremists.
Thank for this article. I appreciate the hope that you seem to have which comes through your writing. And I too am sad to hear of the polarization and generalization of people into their ethnic identities and making sweeping statements like “we hate the sinhala”… makes me feel sad and wish for more understanding among the people. Your story reminded me of another sweeping generalization experience I had several months ago. When a European friend of mine met the Sri Lankan ambassador to a European country, he mentioned that he knew a Sri Lankan colleague (me) who was interested in peace and does nonviolence training, etc., The first question he (the ambassador) asked was – is this a Tamil or Sinhalese? And when my friend said, “I am not sure, but I think Tamil” (he knew very well, but was a bit hesitant to reveal this due to the tone and speed with which the question was asked… and immediately the response came, “its probably a terrorist”! My European friend was shocked… especially since he had just said that I was interested in peace and nonviolence… Sadly, when I heard this story a week later, I wasn’t surprised (though I WAS hurt and angry) since this wasn’t the first time I and many others in my community been accused and/or assumed to be “terrorist” – simply for being Tamil. I was glad that I wasn’t there at the time this conversation took place since I probably would have shown my hurt and/or anger in my face or with words and that might have “proved” to the ambassador that I am “terrorist”.
People see what they expect to see… and in the long run, you get what you expect also.
While what a child says at a dinner table is sad and can create division, what a representative of a government says in an official function… that can cause a lot more damage and carries much more weight. Of course the purpose of sharing this story is not to compare who did more damage… but only to point out that these kinds of over-generalizations are flying about among all of our communities. We Sri Lankans (of all ethnicities) are more alike than most of us would like to admit.
As for the comments of “Disgusted”, it may help you to have compassion for the “extreme” positions if you consider that since all of us are born human, those humans or communities who become extreme must do so because they are pushed to that point by their environment or the experiences they have had or lack of hope for having an impact on things that matter to them or some other “extreme” cause… So, if you/we ask the question this way: what underlying hurt or wounds or hopelessness or needs make people espouse such extreme sentiments and instead of blaming and labeling them, put our energy into finding ways to address those needs, we might be able to CREATE that plural society you and I both want to see… not just talk about it.
In this way of thinking, if you are hearing more “extreme” nationalist sentiments from Tamils, could it be because the Tamils have been and are in more desperate situation than the Sinhalese?
Compassion and understanding are more than words… we can start practicing them right now by trying to understand those whom we want to label and dismiss as “extremists” or “terrorists” or “nationalists” or whatever… By first of all remembering that they are human beings and started out the same way we did.
To answer the question posed in the title of the article… Yes, I believe we can end this cycle of hatred. We Can heal our drift and live together – appreciating our diversity of two beautiful languages and 3 or more distinct cultures… mutual appreciation and cooperation instead of mutual distrust, fear and hatred. We can start by looking at the ways in which we want to excuse our “side” and blame the “other side” and ask ourselves with self compassion why do we want to do this (fear is my guess)… and we can look for what might be leading/causing people to say or do things that are so hateful? If we assume that there are good reasons for what people do, even when they do hateful things, we can find it… and often, we find that those “good reasons” for hateful behavior or words are often things like hurt and wanting to be listened to or wanting some choice over their own lives or wanting understanding for the pain they have experienced in the past or other things of this nature that we can all relate to… There is much more to say on this but I will leave it for now. If you are interested in more, email me at: karunai@gmail.com
Ops. The email address for Karunai is not karunai(at)… but anpu.karunai@gmail.com
Nice article. I see a lot of parents infesting the young minds in western world. I am a Tamil, living in the US for a long time. I went for a birthday party recently. The birthday was for a kid, whose dad is a friend of mine. I met another kid there, who is of Sinhalese origin, born and raised in the US. The kid asked me whether I am from India and I told him that I am from Sri Lanka. Next question was, “Are you Sinhalse”? When I said, “No. I am Tamil”, he told me that his parents have told him not to talk to tiger supporters. See the hatred here.
Actually, I should be the one who shouldn’t be talking to Sinhalese. My dad was burnt alive by Government backed Sinhalese thugs during 1983 riots. I should have vengance. However, I don’t think these few guys who did that don’t represent the community as whole.
The point is, both sides are putting hatred in their kids minds. If I hate you, you made me hate you. In my case, Sinhalese made me hate them. Still, I don’t.
I had (metaphorical) lump in my throat many times in my long journey in this world(I’m 62) but never as large as now and hurting as much as now.
In my prevous message I referred to the 3-day Inter-cultural Dialogue.
The lump is gone.
What is said about Tamil and Sinhala parents instilling hatred in their children among the diaspora is very sad..
But that very sadly continues to happen inside Sri Lanka too.
One main reason is that there has been so many episodes of press censure at crucial times and the people in the South have not been learning about the suffering of the Tamils as a result of the structural violence of government institutions and under the army of occupation for decades.
So let’s put the dialogue into practice.
Do the people in the South know about the present conditions in the ”holding camps” in Vavuniya?
Do they even know what’s happening in the East now?
I believe the second step of the ”Inter-cultural Dialogue” is taking busloads of the Southerners all over the Northeast( there are camps all over the Northeast0.
This has been my view for a few years. But i find that it’s also the view of at least a few INGOs that have worked in Sri Lanka.
I am NOT angry – I am EXTREMELY sad.
FREE media would be of great help.
Simultaneous Inter-cultural Dialogue among government employees in departments would be of much greater help.
Is this like the sort of ”meetings” in towns and villages several years ago?
karunai >>
You said: “In this way of thinking, if you are hearing more “extreme” nationalist sentiments from Tamils, could it be because the Tamils have been and are in more desperate situation than the Sinhalese?”
Yes. They most certainly were in a more desperate situation.
Karunai, my position is not one of hatred towards the LTTE or the cadres who died for it. Many of the people who died are not people who died thinking they were doing the wrong thing. In fact, it was quite the contrary, the people who died were quite convinced they were fighting for their people and sacrificing themselves for a higher cause. I understand and sympathize with it.
But my point was not that.
My concern is for the “ideas” that are being spread. The “idea” that militancy is the answer is what is costing us dearly. It is this “idea” that must be defeated and it is incumbent upon all of us to defeat it. Similarly, it is the “idea” that Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhalese that must be defeated.
These ideas *must* be defeated not by killing people, but by highlighting the moral and intellectual poverty of those ideas. The LTTE unfortunately was an idea that could apparently *only* be defeated by military force. Please see the article posted by Jehan a few days back, it should prove most illuminating to the point I’m trying to make.
This is also what I meant by having no sympathy. I have naught but disgust for the “idea”. I have great sympathy for the person who is needlessly dying for it but what good does that do to anyone?
So hence my greater disgust for the Tamil Nationalist “Idea” due to the violent nature it has evolved into. We must defeat this “idea” and get them to a live and let live position. The Sinhalese nationalist has already arrived at such a position as far as I can see. Please don’t interpret it as attempting to assign blame, that’s an entirely counter-productive exercise and my apologies if it came out that way. I hope my point is now clear.
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I will second that. I was rather disgusted to see the anti-Western propaganda being doled out. I do not think the West has any hidden agenda. If Sri Lanka completely rejects the West, for example by adapting JVP economic policies, it will easily become another Zimbabwe. Secondly, the media plays a pivotal role in promoting change. There are many, many changes that need to occur. In particular, the Southern people need to realize the rest of the country (except perhaps Kandy, to some extent) is nothing like Colombo; they are lagging far behind. If the nation is to experience adequate development, power needs to be devolved in order to empower local communities.
The workshop you describe is fascinating. Such dialogues should indeed be held everywhere that the Tamil and Sinhala communities live together in large numbers. Perhaps you can provide more details on the topics that were discussed or point me to an organization that can provide relevant information. I’m a young member of the Canadian Tamil Diaspora and I can assure you that scores of us would be interested in any and all efforts towards genuine reconciliation between the two communities.
I am happy to see that there are still some who realize that reconciliation is possible. It is up to the Sinhala majority to prove that the political agenda is not at the mercy of Sinhala Buddhist extremists like the JVP and JHU. Socrates pointed our that in a democracy the politics is driven by the worst populist elements and in the struggle for power politicians will seek to divide the populace on the basis of religion and race or ethnicity. Now it is a question of Sinhala nationalism versus Tamil nationalism and I doubt that the present government can bring about any reconciliation. The triumphalism of the present regime shows the wisdom of Socrates and damns the hope of reconciliation.
But I think hatred will not resolve any problems whether in politics or in any other sphere. Let us see at least if the present regime will stop the abductions, disappearances and extra-judicial killings of Tamils to ensure the personal security of the Tamil people at least. The good men among the Sinhalese are silent and do not speak out. Others worship the government in the name of patriotism. My government is always right and the allegations of human rights abuses and war crimes must be false. justice must be meted out. We failed to do that when Premadasa resorted to human rights violations when suppressing the JVP in the 1988-89 period. So the present regime resorted to the same strategy. But jusitce demand either punishment or confession and forgiveness. There is no hope that these things will take place. But I agree that the Tamil people abroad should not vent their hatred against the Sinhalese abroad. Two wrogs wont make one right.
Dear Ramanan,
I am awed to read of the courage and heart that you had which allowed you to overcome such painful experience (of your farther being burned alive) and keep your heart from turning to hatred and vengeance… for you to be able to know and to say “I don’t think these few guys who did that don’t represent the community as whole.”
I believe in my heart that its possible to heal any wound and recover our wholeness. And I am heartened to hear such stories because it reinforces my hope and trust in the resilience of the human spirit. As your example shows, as painful as some experiences can be, we can CHOOSE how to respond to the events of our lives, not have to be forced into reacting in a negative and unhelpful way. Even if the “normal” response might be to close our hearts and turn to thoughts or actions of vengeance or hatred, its possible to choose forgiveness and to let go and move on. We may be victimized at times in our lives but we don’t have to be victims forever. A poet once said that the “Living well is the best revenge” and of course we cannot live well if we carry hatred and anger in our hearts. That harms us more than anyone else.
What those specific people did to your farther (and to countless others) in 1983 is atrocious. What you did to heal and let go instead of holding onto it and perpetuating the suffering is heroic. Thank you for sharing your story. I know there are many such stories that are untold. I look forward to the day when those stories are told more and more.
Great piece – this is what we need more of.
I just wanted to share a similar experience I had a couple of years ago at a Sri Lanka v India match in Canberra Australia. The crowd was mostly Canberran Sri Lankan and Indian expats who were out to have a good time. I was there with my close friends who a multicultural bunch of Sri Lankan Muslims, Sinhalese and Tamils.
Anyway as the match begun several bus loads of Tamil folks who weren’t from Canberra arrived with LTTE flags, wearing red shirts with maps of ‘Eelam’ and political slogans. When they arrived they started identifying local Tamil Sri Lankan’s wearing the Sri Lankan cricket shirts and telling them to remove them and put on the red Eelam shirts they’d brought with them and asking them to go sit with them and away from the “Sri Lankans”. Throughout the day we witnessed them walking around pressuring Tamil youths to do likewise.
They approached us and asked if we were Sinhalese of Tamil and my friend, a Muslim originally from the East, replied in Tamil that we were all sorts and that both he and I were Muslim. They sniggered and went on their way. Later another group of Tamil youth came up to us, they were local Tamil’s who earlier that day had been wearing Sri Lanka shirts but now were wearing the Eelam shirt. They recognized our Tamil friends and in English started asking them “are you Tamil or Sinhalese” and one of my Tamil friends said sarcastically “I don’t know, why don’t you ask my father next time you come around for dinner”. They started getting abusive and telling them not to sit with these Sinhalese so-and-so’s and Muslim Osama’s. Our other Tamil friend asked them to leave us alone and that we just came to watch cricket and they threw a beer on him and called him a traitor. We later laughed when we found out they couldn’t even speak Tamil and had never even been to Sri Lanka.
We were harassed throughout the day by Tamil youths. They threw objects at us as we cheered the Sri Lankan team and when we waved our flags when a wicket fell or boundary was hit, they jostled their way into the Sri Lankan crowd and started waving LTTE flags trying to instigate a response. Thankfully everyone was very calm. A bunch of Sinhalese guys in our area kept everyone calm and told people not to react because it would reflect badly on the Sri Lankan cricket team.
The Tamil Diaspora in my experience is particularly bad in the way they indoctrinate their children against Sinhalese people. Its not just something you can put down to wild emotions that their community is experiencing in the death throws of their militancy – it’s been that way for years. Throughout my 15 years in Australia it’s something I’ve experienced over and over. Sinhalese people are very indifferent to Sri Lankan issues and don’t even want their kids to speak Sinhalese or actively practise institutionalized Buddhism. 90% of Sinhalese people I’ve met in this country as coconuts, brown on the outside and white on the inside – they are totally Australianised and have no interest in Sri Lanka outside cricket. The same can’t be said for the Tamil’s I know.
”We must defeat this “idea” …. …. ”
If there is a even a small change in the structural violence that generated it you may expect a change in the ”idea”.
Had there been indignity and injustice for a few or for a few years it may be possible. If it shows signs of abatement even after sixty one years it may be possible.
TNA members can’t meet Ban Ki-Moon?
The brutally battered IDPs cannot be freely helped by aid agencies?
Northeast has been officially an open prison for three years and unofficially for decades? The people in these open prisons are only slightly better than those in Manik Farm.
No investigations of thousands of abduction-murders in the last few years alone?
Leave alone the tens of thousands of ”disappearances” under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in the last 30yrs?
I shouldn’t even have started to enlist…. it looks like that the indignity and injustice is totally unknown and incomprehensible.
When the politico-socio-economic fabric of a people have severely deteriorated to an inhuman condition ….. …..
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punitham >>
List the rights that the violence of the LTTE has gained for you. Now list the rights this same violence has taken away. Now list the right that were gained *before* the rise of the LTTE. What do you observe?
Yes, state violence has always been a problem, but you’re very much mistaken if you think it’s limited to Tamils. Stop thinking of yourself as a different race all the time and think from the context of being a Sri Lankan person, you’ll see that the issue of oppression is common to all. It’s a systemic problem in the govt. You know what happened to Sinhala youth during the JVP uprising. Rather than
thinking everything that happens is racially motivated, join the majority of moderate people and fight with the rest of us to get these issues solved.
The more you bring out your own racialism, the more you ostracize yourself from the rest of the ethnic communities. But many of the problems that remain today have *nothing* to do with race.
Tell me, is there any discrimination in terms of education and employment opportunities today? Who are the people who managed to correct those issues? Wasn’t it the campaigns by moderates in all ethnic groups?
The remaining issue is state violence, which I reiterate, is a common issue to all.
The moderates in all communities cannot fight to correct that issue if the Tamil nationalists are creating a whole new different set of problems and exacerbating the situation. In fact, it’s legitimizing a culture of violence as the govt. claims that there is no other way to protect the security of the average person.
Fight against those in your community who advocate violence for starters, in other words, fight against militant nationalism. Join and integrate with the moderate people in fighting to correct the rest. Don’t expect changes as long as you see the rest of us as your enemy. We are not your enemy!
I find it extremely amusing that the best critique of Tamil nationalism which “Mohammed” can come up with, concerns Tamil youth at a cricket match in Australia!
I totally agree that there is hatred among the Tamil and Singhala communities but I refuse to accept that this hatred is only being passed through the Tamil generations. I have personally had experience, on more than one occasion, where SInghalese children have come and said to me that their parents have told them not to talk to Tamil people. When asked why? They reply that Tamil people are trying to steal their country!
Is this appropriate???
First of all, there is a WRONG teaching towards Singhalses youth that Sri Lanka belongs to only Singhalese. If parents even knew their own history properly, they will know that there were 3 kingdoms prior to British Colonisation. 1 Tamil kingdom and 2 Singhalese kingdoms. The British joined the 3 kingdoms for ease of administration and obviously the supremacy of the majority took place leading to suppression of minority! Tamils are only asking for what was theirs in the first place. I don’t anything wrong here!
Secondly, Tamil youths internationally have so much anger only because there is no country to call their own. The suppression that was inflicted on their own family members has caused them to behave this way. It is easy to say, and very attractive to say that everyone can live together peacefully, but that can only happen when we all have equal rights. It has been hard enough for Tamils, and Singhalese, to fit into to the countries that they have not become resident in, but at least the Singhalese can call Sri Lanka their motherland. Tamils, at this point in time, can not, all because of a few extremist politicians who choose to suppress the minority populations. Now over 25,000 Tamils have been killedin the last 5 months, it is impossible to win back the trust of the Tamil community after the 25 year long civil war. This could have all been solved if they were given their own state back, as they have been asking.
It is highly unlikely that things will change until this happens…
To Somewhatdisgusted
This is not a personal attack on you, but from first hand experience, yes there is discrimination in employment and education, today.
To enter university, why is it that Tamils have a quota system?
This leads onto Tamils studying courses that they do not wish to study in order to enter university hence affecting employment.
Why do you need to be Buddhist to become a politician?
Why is singhala the national language?
This all stems from majority status. If we are considered fellow citizens, why should we not be able to enter uni in the same merits? Why can we not become politicians?
If the governments can guarantee equality in everything for all communities, then fine, we can live happily ever after, but if they refuse to do this, then I think we deserve the right to ask for separate state, which I reiterate was a Tamil kingdom in the first place. We are not asking for your state.
Tamilan >>
Thank you for your comments, but I think the grievances you mentioned no-longer exist.
1. There is no ethnicity based quota system in existence now. The current quota system is region based and affects all ethnicities equally.
2. Both Sinhala and Tamil are now national languages (There are still some implementation issues however)
3. There is no need to be Buddhist to become a politician? Whoever said this? The TNA is actually a well-known LTTE proxy. The assassinated Lakshman Kadirgamar was the foreign minister, tipped to become even prime minister. There are many Tamil politicians in both main political parties.
Please read this analysis by Pradeep Jeganathan, a well known academic, for a much more detailed critique of the current state of grievances: http://www.pjeganathan.org/south-paw/2009/5/17/sri-lankas-conflict-an-interview-with-pact-part-iii.html
Admittedly, there are still a few issues remaining, but I honestly don’t think there are insurmountable issues, certainly nothing worth blowing yourself up over. And please don’t forget that some additional issues (or at least the excuses for them) like extra security checks have been a direct or indirect result of the LTTE.
Tamilan, you may also wish to question the veracity of these claimed kingdoms. I don’t really care whether there was one or not, because either way, each person in this country *must* have equality, but there’s enough fabricated history floating around to make it all rather tiresome.
Please read this article on these post-colonial historical fabrications by Sinhalese and Tamil nationalists: http://www.pjeganathan.org/south-paw/2009/5/4/sri-lankas-conflict-an-interview-with-pact-part-i.html
And I agree with you on your final point, the govt. must provide equality to one and all. No questions there.
@Tamilan
I am surprised at your opposition of the quota system to enter university. If at all, I think the people from Colombo are at a disadvantage because of the system. The quota system was put in place to give equal opportunities to students from rural areas to enter university. Because otherwise the university system would have been inaccessible to underprivileged people in those areas. So I can see no sense in that particular argument. The argument you present regarding the need to be Buddhist to become a politician is answered in the above post as well.
“………………against the Sri lankan government’s purported human rights violations”
This says it all.Here is a defender of all the atrocities and injustices past and present (future is being plotted) who is puzzled when the victims & their relatives/friends protest.
The latest pathetic howler is that jaffna residents have been exempted from obtaining passes to travel from and to the north as a “magnanimous gesture of the president on his birthday” ! ! – by those who ‘whitewash’ the government daily.