“It’s no point belly aching about the regime, we have to ensure that it is held accountable to it’s people and provides for all of it’s people and their rights equally. There is such a thing as civic responsibility I believe, and I think it’s bloody high time we started exercising it!’

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.

Marisa de Silva:
Let me take you up on one statement you have made and it is NOT being done out of context: “The only solution has to, and will be a political one” Pray tell what has transpired since, in the opinion of the government and many other people both here and abroad, the LTTE has ceased to exist. HAS THERE BEEN THE SEMBLANCE OF ACCOMMODATING THE TAMILS IN ANY WAY? The only thing worse than chauvinistic racism are utterances that try to come across as “holier than thou.”

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!