WHY DON’T YOU “EXERCISE” YOUR BLOODY “CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY” AND SAY WHAT NEEDS TO BE SAID ABOUT THE REPRESSIVE MONARCHY THAT HAS EMERGED IN SRI LANKA WHICH IS THE PRIMARY PROBLEM THAT EVERYONE IN THIS COUNTRY IS FACING. Talk is bloody cheap, particularly when one is a poorly-disguised apologist for the present bunch.

The fact that Dayan Jayatilleka has welcomed what you have to say only confirms the REAL content of your presentation!

I have never known a “pacifist” eager to wave a flag until now. I suppose flag waving, yahoo “pacifists” are not a rarity after all.

If you’ve made a happy and successful life for yourself somewhere in a European country, wouldn’t it make more sense to wave the flag of that country? Why would you even make an issue of waving the Sri-Lankan flag? Besides, I am sure Sri-Lanka has plenty of people who are proud to hold up the Sri-Lankan flag any day. You don’t need to worry about that.

While you revel in feelings of bitterness, a true pacifist would be looking at ways of bringing people together.

As for your academic “success”, I just say, ptooey!

Unfortunatley, yes, 99% Tamils are pro-Eelam. Yes, 99% Tamil Diapsora are in favour of Eelam and LTTE, that is the conclusion we made after the referendum held in Canada, Norway, EU, UK. So If you say me “you represent a stance that all Tamils are potential terrorists and LTTE backers” I cant disagree, can I? Below you will find the outcome of the Eelam referdum around the world. 99% say they want Eelam. Are y ou coming from a another planet to not to see the reality?

No anti-Elamist will allow war crimes investigations in Sri Lanka. SF made a statement on personal issue with GR, and that is well known. He will never go to war crimes investigation, he knows that himself very well. He was the commander of Army. He is a hero. There were no intended crimes against civilians. Civilians caught in fire. It cant be compared to Nazi-Jews. GOSL protected and rescued Tamils. Pro-Eelamist want to go for two-state option in Sri Lanka through warcrimes/genocide path, just like in other conflicts back by Europeans, the former colonial slave traders. They created the problem in Sri Lanka bringing colies from South India. They messed/messing up every where. Thats why terror diplomat like Miliband shamlesly appear in Eelam platforms. Miliband is an embarrasemnet to British people. He is a nerd to say “no” to WTF/BTF. White British are begging Tamil votes. It is not very far that those Tamils ask a part of Britain as Eelam. Tamils want Eelam every where. They are planning are a global netwerk of Transitional government. That is:

“A Government in Exile represents a government that has been deposed by invasion or revolution and exists outside of its homeland.” http://www.uktamilnews.com/?p=5986

Here are the facts for youd kind perusal:

TAMIL DIASPORA: 99% “YES” TO EELAM/LTTE

1. Largest possible turnout, 99.33 percent British Tamils aspire Tamil Eelam – 01 February 2010.
In an unprecedented turnout that brought 64,692 Eezham Tamils to vote in the referendum held last weekend in UK, 64,256 (99.33%) said they aspire to the formation of independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the contiguous north and east of the island of Sri Lanka. 185 (0.29%) voted against and 251 (0.39%) votes were spoilt. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31116

2. 99.2 percent voters consent Tamil Eelam in Holland: – 25 January 2010
In the referendum held in Holland on Sunday on the formation of independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the North and East of the island of Sri Lanka, 2,750 voters participated and 99.2 percent of them aspired for it. 2,728 said yes, 9 voted no and 13 votes were invalid. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31058

3. Overwhelming turnout of voters in Germany, 99% mandate Tamil Eelam – 24 Jan 2010 99.2 percent of voters said yes to Tamil Eelam in an impressive turn out of more than 90% of eligible Eezham Tamil voters for the referendum in Germany on Sunday. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31054

4. 99 percent Norway Tamils aspire for Tamil Eelam – 11 May 2009
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=29326
Out of 5,633 votes polled, 5,574 votes were in favour of Tamil Eelam and 50 votes went against it. 9 votes were invalid.

5. 99% assent Tamil Eelam in overwhelming turn out of 31,000 in France 14.Dec. 2009. 31,148 eligible Eezham Tamil diaspora voters over 18 in France participated this weekend in the referendum to say yes or no to independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam and 30,936 of them have said yes.
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=30793

6. 99.8 percent say yes to Tamil Eelam in Canada referendum – 20 December 2009. 99.82 percent of 48,583 voters mandated independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the poll conducted in 31 centres across Canada, Saturday.
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=30845

you represent a stance that all Tamils are potential terrorists and LTTE backers, and anybody, any NGO or any government asking for an independent inquiry into the war crimes of GoSL and LTTE is manipulated by LTTE supporters. You see what the GoSL doing with the opposition party supporters and you dare to criticize and you asking for the release of SF? how come, they are doing it for the betterment of the country and SF threatened the GoSL to reveal the War crimes and potentially bring them to Hague, so it is though correct to put him behind the bars, isn’t it? Why are you feeling all of a sudden that this is your democratic duty to ask to free SF at the risk of a war tribunal?
In the second WW the Germans killed 6 Million Jews among many more from other EU countries and most Germans were not asking why and were backing Hitler, but a few had the guts to say no and opposed the system to be hanged. Whom do you think being more patriotic? Or would you say if the majority backed their then leader, they are patriotic? then you accept it was right to kill 6 Mil. Jews. Democracy is an instrument to preserve the basic human rights, and if the basic human rights are not respected it means that we are moving towards a dictatorship, and it smells like that in SL.

I am a Tamil, an outspoken pacifist but not willing to accept any kind of crime against man kind, either in SL or somewhere else. I am living happily in an European country, academic and highly successful. I lived through the war in SL, experienced intimidation in the hands of SL Forces and the Tamil extremist whoever it may be, but I am not a supporter of war or a separate country for Tamils in SL provided that all Srilankan citizens have the same rights and duties and not discriminated. And until any SL Govt. is wise enough to implement the basic rights of its landsmen, their won’t be any trust and however no peace in SL. It is a sell out for our country, and Srilankans who parade for separate county for Tamils or a Sinhalese Buddhist homeland with alien rights for the minorities or assimilation in to the majority are not really wanting lasting peace for their fellow citizens. SADLY and UNFORTUNATELY.

What exactly constitutes treachery? We need to unpack that “traitor” label. Is one a traitor if one is against a government but for the people? Also, what does it mean to be an Eelamist–what world view does an ‘Eelamist’ hold to justify separatism? I think if one were to interview 100 Eelamists, we will find they have different world views (especially about race, nation, democratic rights, history) and that the only thing they agree on is having a Tamil Eelam.

It’s probably best to avoid these labels, or at least define how you’re using them. Otherwise, it’s just about trying to demonize anyone with a different opinion.

“So there’s an equation being made here that if a Tamil person attacks GOSL and security forces, that makes them an Eelamist!”

From a Sinhala viewpoint, anyone who criticizes the GOSL while being silent about the LTTE is an Eelamist.

In my view, these people are no better than the Sinhalese who will never acknowledge that the GOSL or armed forces made mistakes, and accuse anyone doing so of being a “traitor” (familiar term in the pro-LTTE lexicon).

I just saw your post today, buried beneath the worthy musings of others. Anyway…

Running away from problems is not a solution – that’s true if you add the qualifier *some.* On the other hand, let’s look at the other side of this. Even if you stick around to face the problem, and your objective is to arrive at an optimum solution, the right *tools* are required. Let’s add some context to this: in politics, the right tools are a set of qualified politicians, a constitution that employs some kind of checks-and-balances mechanism, and an effective judiciary. The us-vs-them, terrorists-vs-patriots, those who love the country vs. those who don’t – this kind of dichotomy cannot be adapted to the tools I’ve mentioned. The best tools are those that integrate – and you cannot integrate extremes, and still remain an extremist. The problem with S. Lanka as I see it is that it simply thrives on extremes. It is not *rational* to expect optimum solutions when your approach is always extreme. If you recall your younger days, there was a time when you *guessed* the answer to questions like 3 +8… at some stage you learned a more logical approach so that such guessing became unnecessary. You learned that positive addition implies a larger sum. And you learned the positions of 3, 8, and 11 on the number line. The intuition provided by such internal rationalization is what finally allows us to move away from extreme approaches (guessing is also an extreme approach).

Unfortunately, S. Lanka is still like the small child guessing his sums…instead of asking why, guess again, and again, till your guess is right (= loan from IMF, or support from India/Iran/Libya etc.). People in the South want to *guess* the right politician. They want to *guess* that by eliminating the LTTE and suppressing/subduing the remaining Tamils, another *Singapore* will somehow emerge from the ashes, and compete with India & China.

Well, there’s nothing wrong with guessing, except that you’re usually (almost always) wrong. Even in that most logical of human disciplines, mathematics, the best one can do with guessing is narrow it down to a confidence interval – which in itself is no guarantee that the outcome is as expected. I don’t know how much longer S. Lanka will play these guessing games, but as I don’t consider guessing to be rational (excluding that for which empirical data exists), neither do I consider such behavior to be in the better interest of the nation as a whole.
Without the adaptation of the tools I mentioned earlier, the future of the country is zero-sum. As to why I suggested people leave, remember that a democracy is not built overnight. To reach a consensus on which tools are correct can take a decade. To implement the tools can take several more decades. To see long-term results can easily take a half-century. When the best intellectuals like Dayan J. are still waxing eloquent about Mao and Stalin – indeed, when there is a dire shortage of intellectuals altogether- the actual process can easily take a 100 years. India did not experience an economic miracle right after Independence, even though the political models that India adopted were far superior to that of SL. The economic miracle was the cumulative result of a lot of preparatory work, encompassing a span of 50 years, which in itself was not uniform across India.

I am not a pessimist, by any means. I just don’t see SL going anywhere *significant* (the colloquial term is *upwards*) for a very long time. Perhaps those individuals who bowed to effigies of *Mahinda* after the war was won have a different set of expectations. My response would be along the lines of “tell me who your friends are, and I’ll know who you are.”

I accept that I have some language (English) problems. You yourself have detected some of my mistakes several times. I am not worried about it. I am happy about myself.

But don’t get angry with me. I don’t detest you. But I like you. In a way I see you as a hero fighting for your ethnic group, not expecting anything personal. Though I do not agree with many of your views I accept your right to views (especially fair views) and also your views initiated many valuable discussions. Though I drastically criticized your views, I have no such attitude towards you. I like you. Don’t get angry with me please.

Thanks!

“if the enemy is holding civilians hostage, government forces should halt gunfire.” you said.

Can you elaborate more on this with real world examples

Separatist Terrorism is eleiminated. Suicide bombs, massacres by LTTE have ceased. Crimes happenning even in the most civilized societies. Even in societies where there was no civil war for a century. We just came out of a civil war, rapes, murders can happen. You are exaggerating couple of incidents to tarnnish Sri Lanka. You want to spread the message that Sri Lanka has a bad governance and The LTTE and Eelam was/is the best and the only solution for the conflict. You want to say LTTE never raped, murdered, looted, harrased, terrorised peopl… Just like you brain washed EU that Sinhalese genocide Tamils. They (west) realizes the reality, yet they promote Eelam (by sponsoring referendums) to heal hearts of their Tamil voters. The reality is Sinhalese never hatred Tamils or genocided Tamils but wag a war against separatist terrorists. They lived peacefully together until and while Eelam war I to IV was going on. If you are a Sri Lankan you supposed to consider Sri Lanka as your motherland. Incidents cannt be used to divide the country or to kill people. Take a family, for an example. You are like a doctor advising parents to kill children or send out of house if children are acting abnormally or do what they are not supposed to do. You are telling the family should be cornered from the society (sanctions, “Say no to Sri Lanka”). I am saying, those kids should be corrected, teach them good and bad and consequences. Learn the parents how to parent their kids. Then the children and the family will be useful to the society. Like wise, a government should not be discarded for minor incidents. Critics will always be influencial for future decision making of the country. That’s why honest disccustions are fruitful rather than being biased, resentful, incidental. I am a critic of this government for having resticted freedom on media and speech. I have criticised them. You said “the party with power should make the move to include the party without power (for no other reason but because it is practically easier for the dominant majority to make real change)?”, thats why I voiced for relase of SF. But I am against warcrime investigations, because it is a legitimmate right of a goverment to combat terrorism and casualties are inevitable. I am for reorganizing the system with zero tolerance for crimes, corruption, thuggery, beaurcracy and many areas need improvements. You want to digg into history saying there was an Ealam state(never existed). That make you a Ealamist. We must make sure all enjoy freedom, opprotunities and security we have now after eliminating LTTE terrorism.

NoEalamInSL

At last, I get it! I’ve been wondering why people keep calling me an Eelamist although I have consistently maintained that I don’t support separatism. So there’s an equation being made here that if a Tamil person attacks GOSL and security forces, that makes them an Eelamist! I deplore GOSL’s conduct of the war: if the enemy is holding civilians hostage, government forces should halt gunfire. A government is meant to protect its citizens, even if they are not of the same race. I expect governments to uphold citizens’ security. But that doesn’t mean that I think separatism is a good idea.

What I gather from this equation is that when people tell me not to be an Eelamist, what they really want is that I should stop criticising the government. Sorry, no can do. I have nothing but contempt for the present regime.

“There are many Sinhalese women raped by Tamils too.”

Could you provide one example?

“1. Why did you forget your claim for 2/3rd of the coastal line in this instance?
4. In any case, if they are the least fertile part is how does it become a justification for Tamils to claim it?”

I don’t understand your reasoning. The Tamils are clever because they want 2/3 coastline (the best land), but they are foolish because they want the least fertile land (the worst land).

In any case, the ultimate reasoning behind “Tamil homeland” was provided by ModVoice in the Sinhala Nationalist burden thread:

““It will not guarantee no communal violence. However, those residing outside N-E will have a relatively safe place to go to in case of such emergency, – “emergency” refers to anti-Tamil violence

It is this belief, not silly “Jaffna Kingdom” or “Tamils were in SL before Sinhalese” that is at the crux of Tamil nationalism. The only way to defeat Tamil nationalism is to prove this belief wrong.

“9. More than all of the above how do you over rule the heritage of Sinhalese in those areas, who had been the sole owners of what you claim for centuries, when Tamils were limited to North India? I don’t say that Sri Lanka now belong to Sinhalese alone.”

However, **the Sinhala racists who DO claim that Sri Lanka belongs to Sinhalese alone have used your precise (and flawed) reasoning that the Sinhalese are “sole owners” of the land**. These exact views led to the sort of misguided policies that pushed the Tamils into war.

It is one thing to argue that the Sinhalese have a history in N-E Sri Lanka equally as old as the Tamils; it is quite another thing to claim that the Sinhalese had “sole ownership” which is disputed by literary and epigraphical evidence.

“2. How did you come to the conclusion that these are the least fertile part of the island?”

This is not true of large parts of Eastern Province, but Northern Province is relatively desolate. This is why Premadasa focused his efforts on holding the East and not the North.

“3. How did you come to the conclusion that Sinhalese wouldn’t even voluntarily settle in these areas?”

Because of the pattern of failure in state-sponsored settlement schemes (something that the Eelamists somehow fail to acknowledge). The best book on this topic is Robert Muggah’s “Relocation Failures in Sri Lanka: A Short History of Internal Displacement and Resettlement.” Most of the book concerns Tamil displacement, as they were the community affected most by the war, but it also addresses Sinhala displacement as a result of JR’s policies.

“If you are not prepared to engage with the issue of what you think Sri Lanka should give Tamils (a long-settled people on the island), please don’t waste my time insisting that I should justify something that I don’t believe in.”

What I wanted to show is that the demand for “Tamil Areas” (as claimed by you and many others on various reasons) solely for Tamils is unreasonable and unjustifiable.

I gave enough reasons to show that it is unjustifiable. Do you have anything to dispute them or against the facts given by me? Can you still justify that claim?

I am sure it is an unfair demand.

Thanks!

You try to make a picture yourself “unbiased” but the reality is infavourable, you keep attacking GOSL and security forces. Do not make this a platform only for Eelamists. I am glad at least I can leave my comments. Crimes happen everywhere. A good government will find the criminals and bring them to justice. You cant blame the government for every crime happens in Sri Lanka but GOSL has a responsibility to take control measures to reduce the crimes. That is what every govt supposed to do. Take USA, EU, UK for example. Crime are there, they take effective methods to counter them. Do not forget Sri Lanka is a developing country, you cant expect a system of a developed country. Those developed countries had a stage similar to us after the WW 2 & 3. They joined together to safe guard states and individual rights. After years of evolution they are in a better stage now. People in these forums are Sri Lankan diaspora using previledges of improved facilities. Majority Sri Lankans do not have computers. Our literacy is 98%, our computer literacy is 20%. So, first realize the ground realities. Sri Lanka is a country battered from a generation long (30yrs) terrorism harboured by Europeans. We eliminated terrorism which Europeans considered never would be. Sri Lanka is bouncing back better than expected by EU. Europeans thought the cost of war is so high that Sri Lanka will have bad ecnomy for coming decades. But SL is doing much better than expected. See IMF report. Europeans ceased GSP TAX concessions on HR basis and terrorists lobbying. Now we are focusing on democracy and reconcliation. I support MR government while I criticize its wrong doings. We also have to apprecitate the good things they do. Do not take political milleage from “incidents” such as drawning man, rape, etc. Those incidents are being rectified by bringing the culprits to justice. There many pending. What we have to focus on, is to see the big picture. Uniting all ethnic groups, eliminating hatrism and shoulder economic development. Those incidents should not be barriers to reconciliation. Criticise government, push them for better governance but appreciate when doing good in the mean time. Dont yell all the time! That doesnt help. If you love Sri Lanka dont speak in evil minds, resentment. I do not justify any violence, but it will be more result oriented if we shoulder reconcilation efforts. Talking of casualties in combatting terrorism is counter productive. GOSL did what it had to do as any other Govt would do. Post war stage is on democracy, development and reconciliation not on accusing each other.

NoEalamInSL

It’s interesting isn’t it, that there is all sorts of evident to what the LTTE did to Sinhalese, but no similar links to what the Sinhalese did to Tamils. Whenever there are any, you guys deny anything like that ever happened. Do you see Tamils denying their violence against Sinhalese?

You say that all humans are capable of violence. Indeed they are. So why don’t you tell us about Sinhalese violence against Tamils to balance out accounts coming from the other direction. There is only one reason why Tamils appear to have been violent against Sinhalese but not vice versa: I’m referring to government control of information. Please be honest and admit that if there are no or few accounts of Sinhalese violence against Tamils, it is because the government is suppressing evidence and not because such violence has not taken place. Don’t take refuge behind your government’s corruption.

“Make the other feel belonged with you.”

Would you say that in all relationships, the party with power should make the move to include the party without power (for no other reason but because it is practically easier for the dominant majority to make real change)? I would think that in all countries the onus is on the majority community to make the minority feel welcome. Perhaps it is because Sri Lanka doesn’t know this basic common sense that it is in the position it is in.

“There are some terrorists breeding machines appear in forums cultivating hatrism aginst Sinhalese among Tamils.”

And there are no ‘terrorist breeding machines’ appearing in forums cultivating hatred of Sinhalese against Tamils? It is all one way? That shows your bias, doesn’t it? I can see many examples here of it, including your own posts.

“Sri Lanka has a civil law and GOSL is responsible for maintaining the law and order. There is a justice system, if one has rape some one, follow the procedures without cultivating hatrism or generalizing. I do understand the legal system is not efficient as it is expected to be.”

So, if the legal system is not efficient as it is expected to be, is there really rule of law in your country? Isn’t an efficient legal system a minimum requirement to make a claim that SL observes rule by law? On what basis then do you claim that it is Tamils raping Sinhalese and that it’s not happening the other way around? If there are no cases of Tamil women being raped by Sinhalese, is that because it didn’t happen, or because the legal system is not functioning efficiently? I believe there have been many claims that raped Tamil women have not been able to have their cases heard in court. No doubt you will say that the women are bluffing. But how do you know if it was never brought to court?

“People who promote hatrism and defend those perpetrators who committed mass murders in Sri Lanka for the sake of a Tamil Eelam have bood in their hands!”

People who caused a terrorist group to come into existence by bullying a minority also have blood on their hands.

“If anyone wants a solution for a issue, explain what went wrong, how can we correct it? We keep blaming each other for over 30 years. We lost valuable lives. One blames SL Army, the other blames the LTTE.”

How do you distinguish “explaining what went wrong” from “blaming”? If the Tamils explain that they have been denied their equal rights, you would call that “blaming” right? Please say what you really mean–that Tamils should beg for their rights without saying that they have indeed all this while been denied full rights in the nation. If Sinhalese do not want to accept that they did any wrong, doesn’t any explanation of the current situation that points to them not having done things they should have attended to as a majority community in power become “blame”? Maybe among your group, you can get away with your crap, but the rest of us can see right through you.

If you really believe in communal harmony, please tell us HOW it should be achieved. If you don’t do that, then we can conclude that you are more interested in warding off blame being cast on your community than in solving the problem.

And if you’re not seriously interested in offering viable solutions for communal harmony, please don’t bother to engage me in debate.

I asked you to say what political and cultural rights SL’s Sinhalese need to give to the other communities in the nation. You have not answered that. All you have said is what the SL Tamils cannot have, i.e. Tamil Eelam. What is it that they CAN have?

I think your answer to the above question is that the SL Tamils should be given NOTHING. You are not saying that Sri Lanka belongs only to the Sinhalese?Indeed you are! That is why you say that the Tamils were limited to South India. The significance of that statement is that Sri Lanka was occupied only by the Sinhalese. Historians know for a fact that the Tamils had been living in SL for centuries. Only irrational people like Sinhala nationalists would believe that Tamils who lived right next door to Sri Lanka, with even a natural bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka in the old days, were not present in Sri Lanka but that Sinhalese came all the way from North India to settle in Sri Lanka.

It’s very interesting that even when Tamil post-ers say they are not Eelamists, you guys only want to engage the issue of Tamil Eelam. Tamil Eelam is not even in existence, but you talk as if it is and that it is oppressing Sinhalese! If you guys were sent to a psychiatrist, you would probably be found to be insane, for preferring to deal with a fiction rather than with facts. If you are not prepared to engage with the issue of what you think Sri Lanka should give Tamils (a long-settled people on the island), please don’t waste my time insisting that I should justify something that I don’t believe in.