Salute to Tissaranee, Sara and Jehan
As I scanned the Sunday newspapers today, I saw the ‘wanted’ faces of Sara and Jehan and the bold article by Tissaranee who are but a few brave patriots in our country who are virtually sticking their necks out to uphold the time tested values of  justice, peace and equity in our beautiful isle.
Criticizing the regime is deemed as high treason and poor Tissanayagam had to pay the price for it through a showcase trial that warned everyone to shut up or else! Yes, many of us had a gut feeling that we were headed in the direction of a dictatorship but were never thought it will catch up on us so quickly and stealthily. Corruption has pervaded out entire system of governance led by the executive. Ironically, the victory over terrorism has given the leadership a free hand to behave in a dictatorial manner. It is easy to govern a poverty stricken unsophisticated mainly rural populace whose sole focus is rightly on economical survival. The masses now live in bondage to a feudalistic fiefdom called the Rajapakse dynasty which is surrounded by sick sycophants representing the elite from both the public and private sectors and now the academia as well who are thriving on the status quo which creams off whatever that is left of a failed state -wealth that is made though corruption, bribery and sacrifice of national interests in order to perpetuate their own power. It is indeed sad to see that pictures of the Tamil business sector kowtowing to the President purely for self aggrandizement in exchange for keeping their mouths shuts against the lack of freedom and respect for their own community starkly represented by extrajudicial internment of IDP’s. It is in this milieu that true patriots, who have little or no stake in the bid for power, have to operate, facing hostility and perversity from all quarters.
Religion has been abused the world over as a tool of suppression, division and persecution by repressive regimes. As far back as the Pharonic period in Egypt, religious dogma and ritual have been useful tools, used by the rich and powerful, to keep a poverty stricken semi literate majority in fatalistic bondage to their rulers. Sri Lanka is no exception and continues to do so to date. One cannot blame our society as even the clergy are culpable as they emphasize religious dogma and ritual over observance of religious values in daily life. It is only through the elimination of poverty and improved education that secular governance has emerged in most developed nations. Spiritualism and religion are now considered personal and private matters whereby it is not even taught in schools in the West. The post Christian era is now characterized by much deeper and more encompassing values such as a strong sense of social responsibility, environmental consciousness and realization of an interdependent and common destiny for all mankind in this world rather than the hereafter. In keeping with the times, even the Vatican has extended its list of mortal sins of murder, adultery, stealing and lying to name but a few to include 21st century issues such as genetic experimentation, pollution, social injustice, drug abuse and excessive wealth.
Unfortunately, Sri Lankans are still caught up in a time warp whereby belief in the supernatural and performance of rituals are paramount. The rulers also find it a convenient means of displaying their piety and religious fervor in public to mask their covert greed for power. This is the sad reality of our socio-political culture and that of many authoritarian regimes who are now our ‘good friends’ such as Burma which uses Buddhism, Iran which uses Islam and Nepal which uses Hinduism for political gain.
If we are to escape the trap of bigotry borne mainly out of sectarian beliefs, we need to look towards the West in search of broader more humane values which underpin the reality of the delicate balance of life on earth and the need for mutually sustaining relationships. It is foolish to condemn and confront the West for past injustices as they have already treaded the path of development we are on right now. We have much to learn and gain from their experiences in order to avoid the pitfalls in pursuit of the fast track to progress.
We must dismantle the counterfeits who claim to lead this nation out of violence and poverty. Terrorism can be conquered by counter terror but for how long? Inequity breeds hatred and deprivation which in turn leads to discontent and violence. Hatred will continue to breed in the heart and minds of the marginalized if they are not provided with recourse. Let us support those who advocate the time tested values of democracy, justice and equity for all irrespective of caste or creed. Support the true patriots!
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What an absurd article? The writer is confused about the messege he/she want to bring forth.
The Srilankan rural sector is not poverty stricken, they eat three meals a day, kids go to school and they have roofs over their heads. They may be unsofisticated in western sense, but they are proud upright people with great human values. If you go to Europe or North America, one could see great artificial wealth, all build from stolen assets of Asians, Africans and Native Americans. In Sri Lanka their is nothing which is stolen from others.
If you want to see a corrupt govenments, just look at USA. A President can be elected from the back door. That could never happen in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankans never had bondage, the modenn day slavery is a very british and american invention. You write about feudalistic fiefdom in sri Lanka, luckly no living Sri lankan has ever seen it in Sri Lanka. Which Grade 5 Russian history lesson did you lift that prhase from?
Sri Lanka is not a semi literate country. The adult literacy rate is over 90%. True it is not high as Kerala, but it is very impressive. Sri lanka has free education even in universities, free hospital and medical care and now free protection from terrorism too. The richness and happiness in Sri Lankan life is not measurable by Per capita income. Dont believe in LTTE properganda about Sri Lanka. Visit Sri Lanka and see for yourself.
Human rights abuses can never be condoned — and the right to freedom of speech and expression is not negotiable. However, while reading this article I keep remembering drawing room conversations of many Sri Lankans who during the CBK and Ranil eras kept saying that Sri Lanka is not ready for a democracy and that it is a dictatorship that will lead us to prosperity. To those same people who now complain of the Rajapakse regime – all I can say is – this is what a dictatorship looks like – and it ain’t pretty!
I disagree though with the writer when he says that we should look to the West for more humane values. The West has not proved to be more enlightened than the East when dealing with their perceived enemies. Terms such as Abu Ghraib, Waterboarding and Guantanamo send chills down the spine – and we will never get statistics on civilian deaths in Iraq during Gulf War 2. What the West does have – and which we should envy – is a freer media and more importantly an involved citizenship which makes its voice heard when Government actions go against popular and deeply held values.
I don’t think that everything this Government is doing is bad – and I am willing to give it more time before I give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. But I do agree with the writer that human rights are sacred – and that, we have to preserve!
another foreigner without a national Consciousness!!!! who thinks just criticizing the state without considering any of the factors its operating in is the trendy thing to do to become a so called academic…
Sri Lanka is neither capitalist nor is it socialist. It is largely rural and feudal. Most of our people are engaged in agriculture and will be so for generations to come from the looks of it. Whether we can develop the country economically when such a large number of its people are engaged in agriculture is the question ?
while admitting to not reading the article fully, lion boy i disagree with that our rural sector gets to eat three meals a day. mala, and pushpa, who work as carekleen people in our office struggle to eat lunch everyday. not of course because of gastrointestinal issues, but because they don’t have money, i think. poverty is in the pink of health, breathing the fresh village air, enjoying the freedom of the great outdoors in sri lanka and possibly , welcomed as a benign cousin by lion boy and his simbas.
tissanayagam did seem to side with the ltte, and this would have hurt any right thinking sri lankan.
His thoughts were very different, and whatever said and done, articulate, and to his credit, only the materialization of a much held tamil view, a view some people think is right, and others think is racist. either ways, like someone said, karuna did much more to incite terrorism, than this journalist voicing, and explaining his views publically.
Oh come off him getting money for from the ltte, the main thing is, was what he did illegal, hatred inspiring or not?
As far as money and past terrorist support is concerned, our parlimentarians should lead by example (by going to jail)
Another lost soul! An [edited out] who knows nothing about what [he] is talking about. Have you ever been to Sri Lanka? What do you know about the rural sector? I am from a remote village and spent half of my life there before migrating to the West. If you want to learn about human values, go to a rural village in Sri Lanka. [Edited out].
[Editors note: Dear Lal Lanka, it would be appreciated if you could refrain from using insults in your posts and contribute constructively. For further information, please refer site guidelines].
The rural sector is able to have three meals a day because they are able to grow manioc and bathala in their home gardens. Some rural people have about two meals of manioc and bathala per day. They do eat rice and curry as well(some people have rice for all three meals or at least two)
Bread may not be easily available though.
People in the cities feel the cost of living more because city folk do not grow their own manioc, bathala, rice or vegetables. That is not to say that rural folk do not feel the cost of living. They do.
A country’s progress should be measure by the ‘quality of life’ of its people – I find it difficult to agree with some of the assertions here about the lack of poverty based upon a roof over the head and access to school. If the roof is of cadjan and the school one with little if any facilities, if the three meals a day are from garden produce then we have a long way to go. Its no real secret that our recent governments have become increasingly corrupt, lining their own pockets at the cost of the very people who elected them in good faith. While the East has as good examples as the West, sadly, the powers that be seem determined to kill the goose that lays the golden egg while seducing every segment of the populace.
To niranjan, and lal
lala who sings of the greatness of rural life says: “I am from a remote village and spent half of my life there before migrating to the West. ”
To niranjan:
Pakaim, our domestic in 1994/5 lived near the dehiwala railway tracks, and when her son died of his unformed palette condition, had to contend with the fact that he didn’t have enough nourishment to be strong enough, or seek better medical help than the general hsopital could provide.
Of course, she wasn’t the only one since, recently, a 13 year old boy died in the estates of lack of funds, and economic clout necassary for food, emdicine, transport, of even to be taken seriously.
Some of the estate people are yes, lucky, like their sinhala counterparts, they go on to become housemaids, and send money back home. id like you to take a look at this week’s sunday times, and the internet to see how man of them end up abused, raped, killed, and cheated.
So much for growing battala and manioka. Why dont u ask a few people from the gama and see if they agree with you:D they might just show you something new to do with the battala and manioka:d
“April 4th, 1984. Last night to the flicks. All war films. One very good one of a ship full of refugees being bombed somewhere in the Mediterranean. Audience much amused by shots of a great huge fat man trying to swim away with a helicopter after him, first you saw him wallowing along in the water like a porpoise, then you saw him through the helicopters gunsights, then he was full of holes and the sea round him turned pink and he sank as suddenly as though the holes had let in the water, audience shouting with laughter when he sank. then you saw a lifeboat full of children with a helicopter hovering over it. there was a middle-aged woman might have been a jewess sitting up in the bow with a little boy about three years old in her arms. little boy screaming with fright and hiding his head between her breasts as if he was trying to burrow right into her and the woman putting her arms round him and comforting him although she was blue with fright herself, all the time covering him up as much as possible as if she thought her arms could keep the bullets off him. then the helicopter planted a 20 kilo bomb in among them terrific flash and the boat went all to matchwood. then there was a wonderful shot of a child’s arm going up up up right up into the air a helicopter with a camera in its nose must have followed it up and there was a lot of applause from the party seats but a woman down in the prole part of the house suddenly started kicking up a fuss and shouting they didnt oughter of showed it not in front of kids they didnt it aint right not in front of kids it aint until the police turned her turned her out i dont suppose anything happened to her nobody cares what the proles say typical prole reaction they never…”
this is an excerpt from the 1st chapter of George Orwell’s ’1984.’
…doesn’t it remind you of the majority in Sri Lanka during the last days of the war?…remember the so called “NO Fire ZONE?”
if you don’t find the last line of my comment funny, please consider it really bad taste. appologise for the sad attempt at wit niranjan and lal
Island Girl…you said “Abu Ghraib, Waterboarding and Guantanamo send chills down the spine”….have you forgotten our very own ‘Wadda tis dekka”….do you also think that the police and armed forces give tea and biscuits to suspected LTTErs in their custody? [Edited out]
sadly I see only shallow comments on my article. True, I may have diverted from my objective of saluting the true patriots maybe because it was a spontaneous outpouring in attempting to analyze the bigotry of the Rajapakse regime and its anti western stance which is courting disaster to our impoverished nation.
concerned citizen
“Terms such as Abu Ghraib, Waterboarding and Guantanamo send chills down the spine”
The difference is you can go Abu Grahib or Guantanamo and do an investigation. At least the West did not deny these things happened. What about the execution video – can any patriot admit it was real? What about Rajapakse in his victory speech saying there had been zero civilian casualties? The West is not perfect but at least there is accountability.
*you can go to
Concerned Citizen,
Who are the critical theorists that have influenced your “analysis”? Why don’t you read some scholarly material before rambling off like a lunatic. You make sweeping generalizations, and do not back up any of your claims with even an inkling of evidence.
What I come across here is subtle hate literature trying to pass of as informed opinion by a “concerned citizen”. How perverse!
half and half,
I do visit rural areas and know what people eat. They certainly do eat bathala and manioc in addition to vegetables grown in their own home plots. Both bathala and manioc are easy to grow and is a staple diet in rural areas. Some of them who own paddy fields grow their own rice as well. They sell part of it and use some of it for their own consumption. Of course they have to purchase other food stuffs, clothes etc. For that they need money and as you said quite a few of them go abroad to earn it. Quite a few of them suffer abroad as you said. But not all. Not all housemaids suffer. Some have found decent homes to work in. However, all of them do a great service to this country by remitting money and by the way the majority of people in the rural sector do eat three meals per day.
There are certainly cases of undernourishment , starvation or even death as you say, but they are a minority.
In Your Face…why is it that when you majority chaps disagree with someone’s view, you’ll call them lunatics etc? You majority guys have been ‘IN OUR FACE’ for the past 61 years! Why can’t you’ll be honest enough to call a spade a spade! Any ‘lunatic’ should know by now that you have to break at least one egg to make an omlette! But in Sri Lanka they made a ‘Brilliant’ omlette without breaking any eggs (Zero Casualties)…when Lasantha was killed, it was called an ‘International Conspiracy’ to tarnish the image of the government…when the MTV/MBC TV station was attacked and burnt…it was claimed that they did it to claim the insurance money…
ha..ha…ha…for how long can you guys keep fooling yourselves? People don’t call this country ‘THE LAND OF THE BLIND’ for nothing!
Heshan,
It seems you’ve really lost it…omlette and all! I am not a “majority chap”; I am a “minority” woman that sees the LTTE as the worst thing that ever happend to Sri-Lankan Tamils. Got that?
Hey, President Bean,
I didn’t know people of your kind even read George Orwell. Man, most people who read our brother Orwell are cool – not [Edited out] neo-cons!
Do you even understand the concepts of ‘Big Brother’, ‘newspeak’, ‘doublethink’ and ‘doublespeak’?
Why do you waste so much precious time quoting chunks from Orwell, when you can simply ask people to read him? Don’t you people have a voice of your own? It’s a crying shame; you are trying to be revolutionary but from the sound of your talk, not even a medieval monk would consider you “revolutionary”.
Come to think of it, ‘Big Brother’ is probably just a TV show to you.
We, black people – you and I – must unite! This, brothers and sistahs, is the real revolution!
“I am a “minority” woman that sees the LTTE as the worst thing that ever happend to Sri-Lankan Tamils. Got that? ”
You must be one of those who beat drums and danced in the streets when your new “King” Mahinda declared victory. Don’t worry; “King” Mahinda plans to be around for at least 20 more years… one by one all the opponents will be eliminated… unfortunately, I can’t exclude your ppl from that. Plz refer to the “Mihin Airlines” fiasco to see how this guy does business.
Heshan,
Still want to control the Tamils, huh? Bad idea, buddy, your prince of darkness is stewing in a place that only Dante captured so well: the inferno. You, and your little friends, once danced to the drum beat of your tone deaf leader, and now you begrudge us Tamils who all along pointed out that your leader had no rhythm, no soul.
Don’t worry about “King” Mahinda, your leader awaits you in the lowest circle!
wow.. talk about sweeping generalisations…
sri lankans are this.. sri lankans are that… they’re primitive cave men… religious fanatics… they dance with the satan in a boiling cauldron inside a fiery cave, they eat children for breakfast. blah blah.. thanks for taking the liberty to generalise a demographic that includes me.
getting rather tired of concerned citizen’s own opinions. i am satisfactorily AWARE of his opinions now after few mundane articles. can we please stop now?
does he even know about catholic schools that exist in western countries?
In Your Face,
It’s good to see you’re focused on the afterlife. Your “King” Mahinda won’t be offering you much, not in this life anyway. China and India are a different story – they’ve already got a good chunk of prime real estate; padding for the “Kings” estate if you will. So you see, the “King” is rather busy accumulating wealth for himself to bother with the petty concerns of a minority like you. Enjoy the show; the “channel” won’t change for a long time!