Comments on: Mass Marriage, Vavuniya

By: SomeOne

SomeOne — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 05:43:04 +0000

In an interview with an army officer I heard that he was saying “â€¦they have given every thing to these peopleâ€¦”

Hope that they haven’t given child too. What a disgrace!!!.

By: Sohan Fernando

Sohan Fernando — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 06:23:21 +0000

Yes, nice piece!

Dayan says:

Does this guy have something against marriage?

And I say: does Dayan have something against understanding context?! I recall a lecturer once told a student “do you really not understand, or do you just WANT to not understand?”

Other than Dayan, everyone else clearly can see that “this guy” is not against marriage but rather against THIS particular seemingly manipulative mass murder (oh I meant marriage).

…no consultation
with bride or groom…

I suppose that phrase is NOT just poetic license?
Does anyone know, is there reliable reportage that some or all these couples had little choice? I just assumed it was their free choice.

By: Pearl Thevanayagam

Pearl Thevanayagam — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 11:53:08 +0000

Cosidering where Dayan comes from, we need to empathise with him for his rather emotional outpourings.

To give the devil its due, Dayan has spent his life searching for an answer to the injustices committed by capitalists and suppressors be they the government or the insurgents.

It is to his credit that although he is now an armchair critic he was an active guerilla following Marxist ideology. And he dallied with Tamil militancy for whatever cause.

Perhaps with his talent for poetry Indran should take the stone Dayan throws at him and build a house of meaningful poetry to add to his existing ones.

But I still do not agree with Dayan’s Sinhala supremacy theory.

By: Indran Amirthanayagam

Indran Amirthanayagam — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 11:12:57 +0000

Dayan, if you dig deeper into your shelves of Sri Lankan poetry, you will find “Elegy For Neelan Tiruchelvam”, the lead poem in Ceylon R.I.P: Selected Poems of Indran Amirthanayagam. That particular selection was made by Regi Siriwardenea a great writer, translator and friend.

As for your broad and rhetorical and directed to nobody in particular question about the poet and his stance on marriage, why don’t you ask him directly? He can be found at http://indranamirthanayagam.blogspot.com

Thanks, by the way, for your suggestions of themes. Perhaps if we move to private space and engage in dialogue we may be able to fine-tune our selection of themes for our individual public utterances. Individual email may function a bit like marriage, a private matter between two human beings and their god, not their brigadier.

By: justitia

justitia — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:28:55 +0000

What is the future of these married couples? Without homes to live in and livelihoods to earn money to live on? This is not clear.
Are they going to live in camps and have children born into captivity? This is a tamasha organised by the military.
Even if they are resettled in their former homes and livelihoods, they will still be a militarised society – watched and harassed.
This has never been reported anywhere else.

By: Tanuja

Tanuja — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:16:35 +0000

absurd propaganda or a pathetic move to suppress future witnesses to war crime allegations?

By: Tmama

Tmama — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:47:39 +0000

Brilliant,

SriLankans show that they are genuine in their compassionfor these young folks. THese unfortunate folks were the cyanide wearing fodder for the who were conscripted to fight for the dreamof their fascist leaders.

But beware, there are some scoundrels in theWest who would still like to take over their control and start another thirty year campaign.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:20:56 +0000

This is very unfortunate what is going on in other parts of the world, while we take our civil liberties for granted.

By: Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:12:04 +0000

Does this guy have something against marriage? I don’t recall reading ironic poems by him on the Sun God ( Surya Theivan) also known as the World Leader ( Sarvadesha Thalaivar) or child conscription, the suicide assassination of Neelan Tiruchelvam, young Tamil rolling on tarred roads behind portraits of Prabhakaran and stuff like that.

By: Pearl Thevanayagam

Pearl Thevanayagam — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:15:51 +0000

How about a mass second marraige ceremony for politicians and their paramours so it brings some decency and legitimacy for the mistresses?.

Surely we can change our marriage laws and place them under Emergency Regulations.

By: MCM Iqbal

MCM Iqbal — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:34:58 +0000

There is no limit to what a government and military drunk with power can do to the land which was once a paradise on earth.

By: ModVoice

ModVoice — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:46:59 +0000

If I recall the BBC report correctly, these young couples are to be resettled in what is called a “Peace Village.” A peace village that is heavily guarded by military – what a joke!
Even those top ranks who gave the orders are enjoying much better status – courtesy of lankan justice.

By: Heshan

Heshan — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:00:36 +0000

A nice piece that highlights the absurdity of the whole affair. The military should play no role in civilian affairs, period.