Comments on: ADDRESSING THE NATIONS OF SRI LANKA https://groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka Journalism for Citizens Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:51:13 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.1 By: nihal pathirana https://groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1577 Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:51:13 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1577 LTTE are admired in the manner in which they have stood against the oppression if given to choose between GOSl and LTTE quickly the people will choose LTTE.” The Letter of island (21/02/2008 ) written by Mr.Annandasagree is worth reading. He is a man of substance one of the signatory to the Vaddukoddy convention of 1972 former member of parliament for Killinnochchi has appealed to Prbahakaran to give up separation, and cry for Eelam which is unachievable. He said that Prabakarans accusations that the Sinhalese are unleashing violence against the Tamils is ridiculous unbelievable and unacceptable. “You are trying to clean your hands soaked in blood by such silly charges”. When the whole world knows the majority of the Tamil population is living in the midst of Sinhalese and Muslims in the south far away from their homes, that too out of fear of you and to save the children from conscription. The people who have crossed to the cleared areas and the letters found in a pocket of a dead LTTE soldier form the bunkers of Mannar district is a clear evidence to the validity of the above statement.

The Sinhala Buddhists have never or ever descended to the animal politics, .Prabhakaren and his coterie of murderers has killed innocent Sinhala pregnant mothers and infants in their arms we Sinhala Buddhists never retaliated blame the Tamils we believe in Karma the past actions that is what the Buddhist philosophy is based. If Buddhism only confined to the temple walls we would not have retained this religion for the last 2500 years with foreign invasions and colonial rule. There are black sheep in every community bring utter disgrace to their race and religion one cannot generalize Sinhalese are racists. The Srilanka belongs to all communities. Mr. Anandasagree has accepted the fact that Sinhalese Tamils and Muslims have lived in this country for generations enjoying each others hospitality .It is only the imagination of Prabhakaren that Sinhalese are immersed in the poison of racism. The jingoistic politicians of both Tamils and Sinhalese are responsible for the this sorry state of affairs in this country misleading both communities to gain power

The Sinhalese Tamils and Muslims have enjoyed each others hospitality for generations and there have been no violence against any Tamils in Colombo or its suburbs though prabhakeran tried many times to incite Sinhalese by killing innocent civilians in Colombo with his black tiger suicide bombers. The Sinhalese have patience tolerance always have sentiments to their neighbors. (THERE IS NO MORE KAPANAWA KOTTANAWA GAHANAWA SENTIMENTS AMONG THE SINHALESE)

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By: Hemamali https://groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1576 Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:04:12 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1576 Cyberviews, we were not born yesterday in order NOT to realise that there are alternate points of view. But the alternate points of view do not necessarily mean they are the RIGHT points of view or that they do justice by all communities. If we are to keep all communities happy then there must be compromises but the compromises are always from the majority community. Sri Lanka has devolved power from the Centre to the Provinces by bringing in Provincial Councils at great cost to the country (It is a huge cost burden for a tiny impoverished country) to appease the minority communities and made Tamil an official language on par with Sinhala – which other country in the world has given so much to the minorities other than Sri Lanka (Thesawalama law, exclusive universities plus exclusive laws for the Muslims who can marry 4 wives and increase their population by 20% each yearand many others too numerous to mention here) ? Yet the minorities keep demanding more and more unreasonable rights and privileges that no other country in the world has even allowed the indigenous natives whom they decimated to have e.g USA, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, etc. So much for fairness, justice and reasonableness? It is about time the minorities in Sri lanka convinced the majority that they are being reasonable with their fancy, whimsical and totally unreasonable demands which no other country would be prepared to allow on their own soil.

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By: chad https://groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1575 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 10:05:50 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1575 Cyberviews, there’s no point us trying to convince the Hemamali’s and Nihal Pathiranas of this world! There is no understanding of the real issues…only justification of this great Sinhala Buddhist love and compassion!! See, even a mention of the 83 riots and hemamali comes back with why no Tamil person acknowledges Sinhala compassion in hiding so many of us during the riots. Obviously, she has not spoken to anyone who went through it…perhaps they do not have any friends from minorities either!
Incidentally, isn’t ‘Ceylon’ a corruption of the Dutch word ‘Zeylan’?? Hemamali talks of her endless list of deprived minority rights…well, I’d like to ask her what her great, compassionate, SInhalese did to the Veddha people???? Kicked em out n grabbed their land huh? GOing by legend, what did Vijaya do to Kuveni??? THe sinhalese seem mighty proud if this!!!

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By: cyberviews https://groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1574 Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:18:34 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1574 Point taken Nihal. But I would like to submit my concluding comment to this debate by reminding you that this long polemic stemmed from the post by Michael Roberts, which together with his previous post in this forum: “Split Asunder – Four Nations in Sri Lanka”, was an attempt to place in context the Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict – territorial rights – being at the core of it. It was your and Hemamali’s responses to the article that prompted me and some of the others – eElam Boy, Rio, Chad, S Ranasinghe – to react to your comments. Why do you want my comments reagrding your question about

“a monoehinic monolithic state exclusively for the Tamil nation which consists 11.9% of the total poulation with one third of the land”

or Hemamali’s question

“does justice, equity and tolerance involve grabbing a huge chunk of land from the North and East (two thirds of the coastal belt and one third of Sri lanka’s land mass) just for the exclusive enjoyment of just one community called Tamil despite having one homeland ten times bigger than whole of Sri lanka they are trying to grab a second homeland?”

because MR’s analyis was tyring to explain the reasons why the Sri Lankan polity has got polarised with such irrational arguments. If you are serious about wanting answers to these questions in the spirit of seeking the truth – you should follow the discourse and read the researched material. a good book to start with is: “Sri Lanka – The Arrogance of Power – Myths, Decadence and Murder by Rajan Hoole of the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna)” It is a book that, in an unbiased way, helps you see the woods by taking you through the trees. But I am sure you would not do this – but it is only if people like you and the Hemamalis, or for that matter apologists for the LTTE, read such literature, and realize that there are alternate points of view, that hope for Sri Lanka will dawn.

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By: sham https://groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1573 Fri, 08 Feb 2008 04:22:27 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1573 good one hemamali,
can we have some mor e comments on her questions/?

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By: Hemamali https://groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1572 Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:49:07 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1572 Chad, so you think I am racist for saying that Sri Lanka should be a unitary state to be enjoyed by all communities but do NOT think that Tamils are racist for asking two thirds of the coast and one third of the land for their exclusive enjoyment despite the fact that majority of the Tamils (9% and NOT 11.9% ) live outside of this area. All Tamils want “Eelam” despite having already one homeland in Tamilnadu which is ten times bigger than Sri Lanka. What a warped sense of justice you and the great Buddhist Cyberviews have?
Incidentally, a freind of mine asked when all Tamils fearlessly refer to part of Sri Lanka as “Eelam”, why the Sinhala people are afraid to call Sri Lanka by its rightful name “Sinhale” which was the name that was written in the Kandyan convention Sinhala version when the English took over the country in 1815. The English version of this convention had the name “Ceylon” which apparently is a corruption of the word Sinhale meaning the land of the Sinhala people. Cyberviews please go and read in Wikipedia that Fa Hien in the 5th century CE and Hiuen Tsian in 7th century CE in their writings have referred to our Island as Sinhale and unfortunately for the just, fair and truth seeking non racist Tamils this evidence cannot be bulldozed or erased away to rewrite history which seems to be their favourite passtime.
Talking of 1983, I have yet to hear a single Tamil person publicly stating that how many Sinhala people took huge risks in hiding many Tamils in their houses and how many of them donated blood and took care of the injured Tamils while the UNP led mob went on their rampage killing innocent Tamils. While the whole Sinhala race got tarred with this single brush of contamination, the Tamils had the whole world opened to them to migrate and further tarnish the image of the Sinhala people with their blatant lies and propaganda – while continually attacking us verbally and holding a gun to our heads, they are demanding Eelam. India on the other hand put a stop to all this nonsense by legislating – Unlike SL they nipped it in the bud and dared to interfere in Sri lankan internal affairs by forcing Provincial Councils down our throats. Tamil is only a regional language in India restricted to Tamilnadu while it is an official language on par with Sinhala in Sinhale. Where in the world do Tamils have so many privileges other than in Sri lanka thanks to Buddhist fairness and tolerance? In fact, in which country in the worls does a non indigenous person have so many rights and privileges other than in SL. Wikipedia or not has Mighty super power USA given as many rights or privileges to the native Indians who are the legitimate owners of that country or for that matter Australians to the Aboroginies or the Norwegians to the Sami people or the Kiwis to the Maoris? this list is endless.

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By: S. Ranasinghe https://groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1571 Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:29:47 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1571 So, Nihal Pathirana, what do you have to say about the Sinhala nationalist claims, that Sri Lanka belongs exclusively to them? These nationalist have excluded not only the Tamils, Muslims and Burghers, but also the only people who have a right to Sri Lanka – the Veddha community. The origins of the Sinhalese, according to populist claim, stem from VIjaya and his band of merry men from Bengal. Shouldn;t the Sinhalese then be claiming part of Bengal as thier homeland????
Why on earth are you people insisting on this whole Sinhala – Tamil divide??? Why cant we as Sri Lankans, celebrate our differences instead of making it a platform for hate?? It seems to me that the Sinhala chauvanists have bought wholesale into the myth that Sinhalese are Aryan and Tamils are Dravidian. WE ARE ALL OF THE SAME STOCK….dig back a couple of thousand years and you would find Tamils who were Buddhists too. Why cant we build bridges instead of burning them at every corner..
Fighting terrorism is one thing, but what has the government ever don to reassure our Tamil, Muslim and Burgher citizens that they are part of our country??? Take ID cards..Why do Tamil citizens hav thier ID in both Sinhala and Tamil, while th SInhalese hav it just in Si€nhla??? That’s racism, coz you wouldnt need to know tamil to recognise that two lines in two languages means the prson is not Sinhala. Remember how easy it was to identify Tamil victims from their ID cards in the 83 riots???
I guess this will be like pouring water on a duck’s back, coz you and the likes of Hemamali will neever change your views and will turn right around and accuse me of being unpatriotic and pro LTTE!! TO you, there is no ethnic discrimination- only a terrorist problem. Well, Sinhala racism causes Tamil nationalism. But of course you dont see it that way…
Ennough said.

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By: nihal pathirana https://groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1570 Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:50:53 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1570 Refering to Hemamali, what cyber news has given a beautiful sermon on buddism on eight fold noble paths leading to Nirawanna, diviating from the main issues such as the land rights,we would like your comments on a monoehinic monolithic state exclusively for the Tamil nation which consists 11.9% of the total poulation with one third of the land.

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By: chad https://groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1569 Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:25:06 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1569 Thanks Cyberviews, for your reply to Hemamali. I’m just as amused by her assumptions that we are all Tamil just because we dare hold an opinion different to hers. In fact, I’m from a Sinhala-Tamil background – the Sinhala far outswimming the Tamil in the gene pool!! Does that make me an ‘intellectual’ with an inferiority complex??!!! Anyway, having witnessed first hand, the riots in ’83 and the level of racism that exists amongst the hemamalis of this world, i fear that such views will never change. They are too deeply entrenched in their pschye. They simply cannot see the bigger picture. I can only feel more doom n gloom round corner for Sri Lanka…

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By: cyberviews https://groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1568 Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:07:35 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2008/01/27/addressing-the-nations-of-sri-lanka/#comment-1568 Hemamali, it is funny that you jump to the conclusion that because I hold ideas that are opposite to that of yours, I am a Tamil (and due to the added liability of an inferiority complex, consider myself intellectual!) You have also concluded that MR, Rio and Chad are Tamils simply because their views are different! Incidentally, by the accident of birth I was born to Burgher, Christian parents. Thankfully they did not impose race and religion on me and this helped me to grow up respecting other nationalities, religions and cultures. I married a girl, who again due to the accident of birth was from a Sinhala Buddhist family. As for my children I did not want them to acquire religion as an accident of birth. While for schooling purposes I asked them to study Buddhism, they were given the opportunity to choose their religion when they came of age. Like me they have become agnostics with a deep respect for Buddhism and because we do not have to wear it as a sword to protect our identity, have been able to appreciate the Buddha’s teachings, especially the importance of the Middle path or the Noble Eghtfoldpath, namely: right view,right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

These teachings together with the emphasis Buddhism places on the freedom of thought, and the tolerance of other views, helped us adopt an evidenced based, scientific approach in the search for truth, whether it relates to social issues or matters of concering the natural world.

Nation building, minority rights, unitary state, federalism, governance mechanisms, constitutions, human rights etc., are all topics which are part of a social scientific discourse. This discourse, rooted very often in specific contexts, have over the years been able to define the terms, clarify the issues, and develop solutions to societal problems based on principles of democracy, justice, tolerance and equity. Principles that have been found beneficial to human society. Large countries like USA, India, Canda or Germany, or small ones like Belgium, Switzerland have been able to solve their power sharing problems through appropiate mechanisms adopting these principles. A recent example is the Achinese secessionist demand and the power sharing arrangment that was worked out between the people of Aceh and the Indonesian government.

Therefore when you claim that “Even the unintellectual Hemamali knows that this is not justice by any sense of the word. Please do not try to misuse and abuse the tolerance and fairness of Buddhist people.”, I would still maintain that you do not know what “justice” means in the context of the social scientific discourse I refer to, which transcends paritisan polical ideology, nor do you know what “Buddhism and tolerance” means in the context of my reading of Buddhist teachings, which for me is not a blinker I have acquired through an accident of birth, but a profound inspiration in the search for the truth.

Therefore in the spirit of the Eightfold Noble Path you will reamin unitellectual until you make the “right effort” to gain the “right view”. Therefore please read, question, research, discover. A good place to start is the reference list given in the PDF version of MR’s article “Split Asunder – Four Nations in Sri Lanka”. But if you find that like eating humble pie, just go to Google or Wikipedia.org and type in words like “devolution” “uniltary state ” “justice” “nation” and you realise how much there is you do not know and how blind you are. You will feel ashamed of the degree of your prejudice and the puerility of your writings. As for Buddhism, though I am sure as a Buddhist you must be well versed in the teachings of the Buddha, a reading of the 142 page book “What the Buddha Taught” by Ven Walpola Rahula will be a good refresher course in reminding you of the esence of the Buddha’s teachings.

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