The end of one man and the legacy of another: We cannot glorify death
Repost This ArticleYesterday we were given a body whose death left me strangely numb. While it was a man whose brutality I condemned, it was not a death that I could celebrate. It was not only that the event came to us bearing the stench of fresh blood from the camps and battlefields of the Vanni – but it was also all the talk that Prabaharan got what was ‘due’ and that this was ‘poetic justice’ for someone who lived by the sword to die by the sword.
Rather, the enormity of what Prabaharan had robbed us of is not susceptible to easy equations. Even in the last months there have been thousands killed through Prabaharan’s death dance with Rajapakse. Moreover, the people that Prabaharan had killed – Neelan, Kathesh, Rajani, and thousands of other less famous – were too big for him. They were too big to be captured in some clichéd ode to poetic justice their own vision of justice was more generous and forward thinking. They were too big to be avenged by the killing of a man who could not think beyond the horizon of an AK-47 their own vision of our collective future was more complex and pluralistic. There is no cosmic arithmetic where the killing of Prabaharan can avenge, compensate or provide closure for their loss.
As Prabaharan leaves the stage there are others who have taken over his script“ this time amongst Temple Trees not Vanni jungles. As with the LTTE’s killing of Tamils in the name of Tamil rights, Rajapakse’s address to parliament yesterday claimed the military campaign was a humanitarian operation that carried a gun in one hand, the Human Rights Charter in the other. The celebration of battlefield victories and the assertions of invincibility in the President speech echoed Prabaharan’s own heroes day speeches extolling the LTTE endurance against the odds. The speech’s military triumphalism situating this event in mother Lanka’s historic battles against the likes of Elara was not unlike the parallel deployment of perennial struggles and racist myths in the Pongu Thamil celebrations that were the hallmark of Prabaharan’s own toxic alchemy of ethnic chauvanism and militarism. This was but one of the many ironies that attended the public performance of Prabaharan’s body.
Over a decade ago, Prasanna Vithanage’s film, Death on a Full Moon Day, presented a haunting indictment of the government’s cynical use of poor Sinhala youth as cannon fodder. It took us to a coffin sent home without a body – a death that could not be moaned. In contrast, Prabaharan’s body was presented to us by that same government as a death that cannot but be celebrated. These last few months have brought on a war that has been hidden from external view – a war with no witnesses as one commentator has noted. In contrast to the thousands of unaccounted bodies in the Vanni, Prabaharan’s body was witnessed again and again on television, in viral internet videos, overexposed and over-posed. The spectacle of his body, the hoisting of flags and the beating of drums, the street dancing and victory fever, providing collective ownership over all the atrocities that attended the killing of Prabaharan “ownership but also a perverse redemption in the name of a racist nationalism. Redemption that wipes out the horrors inflicted on people in the Vanni as dispensable bit players in this drama. Thus, once again the Rajapakse machinery carries echoes of the pathologies unleashed by the LTTE that, as Rajan Hoole noted in today’s Indian Express, turned decent folk into cowards or killers.
Ten years ago, days before Prabaharan’s machinery killed him, Neelan gave what is now one of his most famous speeches in parliament in opposition to the death penalty. These words are inscribed into many of our heads “We cannot glorify death, whether in the battlefield or otherwise. We, on the other hand, must celebrate life and are fiercely committed to protecting and securing the sanctity of life, which is the most fundamental value without which all other rights and freedoms become meaningless. Neelan himself, in his gentle but principled way, would have protested the orgy of celebration that met Prabaharan’s dead body. He would have instead reminded us, as he did in that same speech that we need to turn our attention to bring an end to the human suffering, the displacement, the destruction and the senseless loss of lives both of combatants and of civilians.
It is the legacy of those who inspired us by their life affirming vision of our collective future that moves us forward.
Very well said, and timely food for thought for all Sri Lankans- especially Sinhalese – the majority of whom are ‘loosing the plot’ due to victory euphoria. There is nothing to celebrate, all that is left is death and destruction on all sides. The state ought to declare a period of mourning for the victims of this war. It is not a time for celebration but for solidarity with those suffering in the north, those who lost their loved ones (including the millions of Tamils and Sinhalese).
It is not these precious spirits who have rid Sri lanka of the “Pol pot of south Asia”, ( Pulitzer Prize winner John f burns in the new york times) thereby preventing the murder of more ketheshes and padmanabhas. if it were left to these fragile wafflers wielding strident prose and dangling their ethics on their sleeves, the entire island would still be in that dark shadow of Tiger fascism. The same was true of the years 1986-89, and the JVP terror. That too had its temporizers and picky spirits, who remain alive because the state and its allies decapitated the JVP, crushed its military capacity and saved society. I felt the same when I heard of Prabhakaran’s death as I did when i heard of Wijeweera’s.
what I see here is that srilanka was fighting against a group of terrorist who conducted brutel killings for morethan 25 years. If any one of my age surely remember how LTTE came to border villages and genoside sinhalies and Muslims. AS honest srilankan we have sole right to be happy or celibrate the end of LTTE. Yes its true there is indeed distruction to our country during this war. My question is do you want to keep the wound and live for another 100 years or treat the wound and recover. not in north but in south people have sacrified. but for an unity in srilanka. This is our country no any one else. and don’t comment by hiding the curtain of sinhalies names
Many find the lighting of crackers, fireworks and dancing on the streets of Colombo to celebrate the death of Prabakaran in bad taste.
In 1984, following the assassination of of the then Indian PM Indira Gandhi there were scenes of some misguided people of the Sikh community celebrating likewise in the streets of London.They were brainwashed about Khalistan by a religious cum racial fanatic called Bhindranwale.,
Now there is no talk about Khalistan, it is forgotten, and there is a Sikh pm elected for the second time.That is India and it is progressing.
Prabakaran like Bindranwale who claimed a separate Tamil state is now gone.
It is now up to the leaders of the majority Sinhalese community to satisfy the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka.
Do they have the willingness and capacity to do it ? That is the question.
Now is not a time for the Sinhalese to celebrate. Instead at least three or four things need to be done by the GOSL. 1. Make Sinhala, Tamil and English all required languages to be learnt by all Sri-Lankans. The language was the main issue that created this ugly mess.
2. Give as many cabinet posts to moderate Tamil politicians who wish to join the govt.
3. Respect the opposition as much as possible and not stamp out freedom of the press and expression particularly in political affairs. It is better than the people oppose the govt. by the pen and not by the bullet.
4. Encourage all groups to settle all over the island and not segregate themselves in just one areas like the Afro-Americans and Hispanics do in most big cities in the US.
Looks like Dayan has forgotten what almost happened to him and a few others under JR in 1985!
There is no way a decent human been can glorify death nor support terrorism regardless of who is committing the atrocities. As a Sinhalese, I would have liked to see an unequivocal apology to the Tamil community in the Presidents victory speech for at least the well recorded, repeated, organized and often state sanctioned atrocities committed against the tamils in 1956, 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983 in a spirit of reconciliation. I believe such a public apology will go a long way in convincing the Tamils that a better, equitable, fear-free future has a chance. We the Sinhalese majority has a special duty to go out of our way to make the Tamil (and other minorities) feel secure and welcome in a truly united Sri Lanka.
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“Let’s celebrate life, not death” ~ Kethesh Loganathan
Vasuki your words say it all. The ability to celebrate death exposes what we have failed as humans; we have failed to seek what’s left of the good in us. VP’s death undoubtedly marks a huge moment in history but it is also starkly symbolic of the fact that the Tamil community is now a broken one; the absolutely tragic end to what began as a genuine aspiration of a community which was subsequently led to follow the wrong path, plagued with ambivalence and abuse of power; it is symbolic of the bitterness of the Tiger cadres who have surrendered to a future of uncertainty and disappointment? What is there left? How do we infuse this community with a renewed hope?
While those of the diaspora remain divided in terms of the reality, how will the reality in itself affect those still physically and mentally scarred by the decades long conflict that has now ended. The Tamil diaspora is truly symbolic of those who did not have the gall to fight it out in the battle fields nor have enough guts to stomach the reality of the truth that violence is not the means to the end. The challenges indeed are of unbelievable proportions… and a celebration now, premature and inhumane…
SahaSamvada has confuised a phrase of Neelan’s for that of Kethesh’s. As for Ruki, I haven’t forgotten the oppression visited on all by JRJ, but he was an authoritarian, not a barbarian, as Wijeweera and Prabhakaran were.
For all those crying for the ‘civilians’ of the vanni…forgetting the civilians in the rest of the cournty…
(Dr. Nadesan is the Editor of UTHAYAM, the Tamil community newspaper in
Australia. He led the recent delegation of Tamil expatriates to open a
dialogue with the Govt.of Sri Lanka)
Dr. Noel Nadesan-, Australia
The Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, deserves the congratulations
of all Sir Lankan regardless of their ethnicity. More than any other
community, the Sri Lankan Tamils owe him their thanks for ending their
misery. As every body knows Tamils in Sri Lanka were under the delusion
of Tamil Eelam. His victory should at last cure this mental illness of the
Tamils. Sri Lanka has at last found the leader who can act above the
pressures of communal forces that had beveled Sri Lankan politics for the
last 60 years.
President Rajapaksa arrived on the political scene at a time when all the
communities were sick of this war. All communities wanted an end to the
futile war. He arrived at the correct time to win the backing of all
peace-loving people.
His political leadership was strengthened by his brothers Basil Rajapaksa
who played a key role in the political field and Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the
military field. He was ably assisted by a talented military commander,
Gen. Sarath Fonseka. This is the first time in last thirty years
political leadership did not interfere in military matters. Nor did they
use military successes to their political advantage though the advantages
fell into their lap automatically. .
LTTE performed pathetically by rejecting Norway mediation, demanding
parity of status with the Sri Lankan government and by sending imbeciles
for the negotiation with Sri Lankan government. A look at the list of the
Tamil negotiators made it clear to me that LTTE was not interested in
negotiating peace. Most of them are from Australia where I live. I will
not even send them even to buy a packet of cigarettes from the corner
shop, let alone bargaining for Eelam. Prabakaran dream was shattered when
the Eastern commander Karuna split with the Wanni leadership on genuine
grievances. Predictably LTTE leadership sent a team to kill him so. He had
no option but to defect to the government.
LTTE killed the Sri Lankan foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar during the
ceasefire with Sri Lanka. The government maintained commendable restraint.
LTTE, however, overstepped its mark when it attempted to assassinate the
military commander. War was inevitable as LTTE increased tensions and
violence.
In Mavil Aru and Mutur, LTTE gave legitimate reasons for the Sri Lankan
government to counter-attack which ended on the beaches of the Jaffna
lagoon. These are some reasons that led to Eelam War IV. But there are
also deeper and intrinsically ingrained reasons for the war. It is little
known that Veluppilai Prapaharan’s personality was not conducive for
peace. He revealed his sadistic tendencies from a young age. As a young
boy he was given to killing garden lizards and birds with his catapult. He
is a school drop out who quit school at the age of 10. It was during this
time that the Jaffna student agitated on the language issue and admission
to university. Prabhakaran was engaged more in internal and personal power
struggles even during this time killing his opponents. In 1979 April he
killed his comrade-in-arms, called Suthumali Pattkunam, when he was fast
asleep. By this time he was addicted to killing. The internecine warfare
among Tamil militants began in the seventies. All these happed before
1983. We cannot blame the Sri Lankan government or Sinhala community for
the crimes committed by Tamil militants. . Tamils were killed even for
petty thefts. Early in 1982, when I was passing Columbagam and Kachcheri
Road in Jaffna, I saw the body of one petty thief left to rot on the road.
I was told that he was killed by Tigers and he was left there as a lesson
for others. This is the first time I realized that Jaffna was breeding a
fascist outfit. What most do not know is that he was born with sadism in
his bones. As a young boy he was once playing marbles with another young
Tamil boy. He soon found that he was losing to his friend. Angered by this
he took a stick and poked in his friend’s eyes, blinding him forever. That
is Prabahakaran.
That cruelty turned me off the LTTE. I also made it a point to study his
tactics more closely. His cruelty was also predictable. But it is sad to
note that his fascist cult attracted many intelligent people. And some of
them even became victims of his fascist cult.
When I was in India helping refugees during 84-87, I had opportunity to
learn more about him.I had the opportunity to listen to his order to
liquidate TELO issued through the wireless set up in Chennai. I was also
getting first hand information about LTTE massacring other Tamils in
Kanthankarunai in Nallur. After I received the news of the massacre news,
I felt sick in my stomach. I can still remember the feeling even after 22
years…
After coming to Australia I was disappointed that the Sri Lankan
governments allowed it to be hoodwinked by the Tigers. My fellows Tamils
too supported this “pathological serial killer” (Prof. James Jupp) in the
name of Tamil Rights. .
Tragically, some Tamil writers and NGO groups built a halo around him and
created the myth of Prabahakaran as a mighty warrior. He basically used
expatriates’ money and Jaffna Tamils ingenuity to build a human fortress
around himself, using Tamil civilians as stones for his walls..
Interesting thing is he believed in his invincibility. He had a grand ride
until the Sri Lankan army commander Sarath Fonseka took him on. His
determined effort to continue the war relentlessly until the Tiger outfit
is crushed has paid dividends. He has liberated not only Sri Lanka but
also Tamil community at last.
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Ahh… the “Buddhist” nation in its triumphal moment of glory! More like, the “Sinhala-Buddhist” nation at the height of its 2500 year DECLINE. Let me add to the list: the use of chemical/phosphorous bombs, the mowing down in cold blood of any LTTE leadership who surrendered, the days long victory celebrations exclusively in the South while tens of thousands of IDP’s, many separated from families, wallowed in dusty refugee camps, and finally, Mahinda Rajapakse’s failure to meet even a single IDP personally.
“Neelan himself, in his gentle but principled way, would have protested the orgy of celebration that met Prabaharan’s dead body.”
Ahh… the “Buddhist” nation in its triumphal moment of glory! More like, the “Sinhala-Buddhist” nation at the height of its 2500 year DECLINE. Let me add to the list: the use of chemical/phosphorous bombs, the mowing down in cold blood of any LTTE leadership who surrendered, the days long victory celebrations exclusively in the South while tens of thousands of IDP’s, many separated from families, wallowed in dusty refugee camps, and finally, Mahinda Rajapakse’s failure to meet even a single IDP personally.