Archive for January, 2011

Hear My VOICE: Thenuja Tharmeshwaran ~ “I am always my father’s favourite”

Thenuja Tharmeshwaran

Thenuja Tharmeshwaran struggles and unable to forget the traumatic past Thenuja Tharmeshwaran (15) waits with hope at the entrance of her school~ Kondavil Hindu Maha Vidyalayam in Jaffna district in Sri Lanka. Her eyes are full and filled with tears and roll down her cheeks while she shares her agony with me sitting closer in Jaffna, North of Sri Lanka. She wears a pristine White pleated frock which is the school uniform with Light Blue and White tie, her hair is middle parted, neatly plaited into two and tied with matching brilliant blue silk ribbon. Red stone circle ear studs add colour to her complexion. A White pair of shoes tightly tied and feet are fixed to the cement floor. She sits straight on a Brown plastic chair and makes instant eye contact. Her fingers are crossed and she keeps quiet most of the time thinking deep. Black round “Pottu” (dot) is placed perfectly between her two eyebrows along with…

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Hear My VOICE: Velupillai Yesupalan ~ “My father is my role model”

Velupillai Yesupalan

Velupillai Yesupalan feels empty and withdrawn Velupillai Yesupalan (16) seems nervous and unsettled as he waits at his school during the morning break~ drinks interval as it is called here in Jaffna. He wears a pair of Dark Blue shorts, White short sleeve shirt with the school batch stitched on the pocket of the shirt on left. A pair of his Black shoes removed and kept outside the library of his school. Normally shoes are removed when entering the library, because it is compared to a shrine and considered sacred. Feet covered with a pair of Cotton socks upto his knee are fixed firmly to the Grey cement floor. He takes a while to settle down and talk to me. He is a Grade 11 student of Kondavil Hindu Maha Vidyalayam in Jaffna district, North of Sri Lanka. “I do not have a father. He was killed during the war. I feel sad and depressed, because I am fatherless. My…

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Fire and Storm: Essays in Sri Lankan Politics by Michael Roberts commends citizen journalism during war

Fire and Storm -

Fire and Storm: Essays in Sri Lankan Politics is the latest book by Prof. Michael Roberts. Michael was trained in history and the social sciences at Peradeniya University in Sri Lanka. Read a fuller description of the author on his blog and watch a recent interview, produced for broadcast TV and featured on Groundviews here. Referring to the bloody end of war in Sri Lanka, when original content and debates on Groundviews interrogated stark ground and political realities, Michael has this to say of the site and citizen journalism in Sri Lanka in the introduction to the tome: “It is to the credit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives website, Groundviews…. that it raised this Catch-22 situation in full-frontal style on 3 May 2009: “would killing 50,000 civilians to finish off the LTTE bring peace?” When, predictably, this question was misunderstood, the Groundviews editors clarified the issue thus: “This post intends to interrogate extremism. The numbers in the quote are…

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Political Opposition in a Nihilistic Sinhala Society

group_karma

[Editors note: The intense and interesting debate this article generated resulted in a longer response by the author. Read it here - Political Opposition in a Nihilistic Sinhala Society: Responses and clarifications.] Taking off from the present This new year loaded my “In box” with that ritualistic “New Year” wish which said, the year would be “wonderful-happy-prosperous-peaceful and even healthy”. Just one meanwhile opted out to say, this traditionally accepted “wish” had been so for decades and virtually forgets poverty, discrimination and injustice and instead wished “strength to treat all humans as equals with justice”. Unfortunately, both the commonplace wish and its antipathy means little or nothing, in this present day Sri Lanka. This Sinhala society as a collective entity has no such will, though individuals may show a dislike to what’s around them. Its the societal mindset that matters. Governments reflect that and so are their budgets and plans. Budget for this year (2011) is no good proof. It…

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Hear My VOICE: Jalajakumari Selvarasa ~ “I could often feel the nostalgia”

JalajakumariSelvarasa

Jalajakumari Selvarasa is convinced and lives daily with hope Jalajakumari Selvarasa (41) is very duty conscious in a bottle green traditional Shalwar Kameez. She sits at the entrance of the women’s side of the springs, and gives the instructions in Tamil to the devotees who visit “Keerimalai” springs in Jaffna district, North of Sri Lanka. She shows the way with her shiny smile to the new comers here in “Keerimalai“. Keerimalai literally translates Mongoose Hill in English. Naguleswaram temple is one of the five hallowed Lord Sivan temples (Panchcha Ishwaram) in Sri Lanka. Naguleswaram temple is situated here in “Keerimalai“, which is 50 feet above the main sea level. “I am happy to be here and help the devotees. It is a sacred place and sanctity should be maintained at all times. I am doing a small service to the community” says Jalajakumari Selvarasa while wearing a cotton cap to compete with the balmy weather here in “Keerimalai” . Red…

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The Offer from a Sri Lankan Tamil Man

My King! I propose a deal with you COMPATIBLE with my Membership of our country I hold so dear which you do not wish to deny. My King! Here is your part: Abolish anything and everything INCOMPATIBLE with our heritage and culture with unwritten rules of our value system with diktats of our many Gods. My King! Ban them mini-skirts for exposed knees are not only INCOMPATIBLE with our Ways and Norms, but cause road accidents too. Sigiriya damsels, hence My King, don’t show their knees, you see. My King! While you are at it I suggest a list of things to ban; All INCOMPATIBLE with our Ways and Norms, and cause my stomach to turn too. political promises un-kept, cash transfers in brown envelopes, beating suspects on arrest, locking up for weeks, months and years, attaching bodies to tree, decoupling souls to go free, Ban ‘em all, My King!, ban ‘em all. Gracious King! Here is my part: I…

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Hear My VOICE: Arumugam Varatharajan ~ “I want to feel “belonged”

Arumugam Varatharajan

Arumugam Varatharajan wants to spend the rest of his life in his ancestral house The time is 12.10PM, it is lunch time in Sri Lanka. The scorching Sun shines bright in Jaffna, North of Sri Lanka. Arumugam Varatharajan (56) wrapped in an old Blue Sarong and wears no shirt as the weather is balmy. He is seen busy stitching bags at his small tailor shop in Kondavil~ Jaffna district. A ladies’ bicycle is parked on the wall. His shop also has candy, shampoo and pen for sale. A piece of used sack is placed on the steel pedal of his old USHA sewing machine to comfort his tired feet. A straight line of White Holy ash from the nearby temple still stays on his forehead amidst non-stop sweat, which proves he is an ardent devotee of Goddess. “I left my ancestral home in Kaankesanthurai, which is in High Security Zone (HSZ), in 1990 along with my family. Ever since, I…

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A critique of the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill

Juanita Arulanantham & Andi Schubert Introduction[1] This briefing paper highlights some of the key aspects of this Bill and attempts to provide the reader with a basic introduction to the issues and implications of the Bill in its current form. We first examine the change in the electoral system and some of the implications it will have on the exercise of franchise (point 1) and then discuss the implications of the changes being made to the amount required as a deposit and the way it could affect the smaller parties and independent groups (point 2). In point 3 we briefly deal with the changes to the youth quota from a mandatory 40% youth quota in nomination lists to a 25% youth and women quota  and how it affects women and young people. Point 4 addresses the changes to the nomination period which has been shortened to 1.5 days from the previous 7 day stipulation while point 5 deals with the…

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A-Z of Sri Lankan English: H is for had

I recently listened to someone telling a story in the course of an informal conversation. The speaker was a Sri Lankan whose first language is English, and the story involved a group of people raising funds to build a Buddha statue. Halfway through I realised that he was relating the story entirely in the past perfect tense (they had gone to the temple … they had asked the monks …), and as I continued listening, I realised that he consistently used this tense throughout the story. There was no reason according to standard English grammar for using the past perfect instead of the simple past (they went to the temple … they asked the monks …). The reason he chose the past perfect tense was because he was relating a story which he had heard from someone else. In other words, he was subconsciously signalling a certain distance from the facts of the story, allowing for the possibility that his…

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Reconciling Sri Lanka

Reconciliation

Due to Sri Lanka’s geographically strategic location coupled with its natural and economic resources the absence of war will give us a chance to move in the direction of a vibrant South Asian economy based on a fiscal program concentrating on exports, tourism, self sufficiency and Post War infrastructural development. However, this cannot be achieved by one section of Sri Lankan citizens alone and it will take inter community cooperation and coordination for Sri Lanka to emerge into its true potential. Hence, it is essential that we are sensitive to ethno political and social grievances when we work towards a climate in which all Sri Lankans can share the benefits of economic and infrastructural development. The real question we should be asking ourselves right now is whether we can create more opportunities for ourselves to establish a sustainable peace with the end of war in Sri Lanka by creating a culture of inclusiveness, equality and respect for all communities in…

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About Groundviews

Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"

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