“Given that the Tamil electorate voted decisively against secession in 1970 and decisively for it in 1977, the conclusion is inevitable that Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike should bear considerable responsibility for the birth of the Tamil Eelam struggle.”

Alas, Dayan needs an education on the history of Tamil militancy which started before Mrs. B had a chance to ruin anything. The first Tamil militant group was the Tamil Manavar Peravai (Tamil Student League) established in 1970, if you don’t count the Thangadurai group (later became TELO) that first met in 1969- V. Prabakaran’s original group.

Why do you think Nietzsche thought that the night has no stars, nothing but bats and owls and the insane moon? Nietzche is sceptical about humanity it seems even before the two world wars took place in the 20 century.

I am sceptical of humanity myself as I live in a country which has fought two JVP insurrections and four Ealam wars over a period of 38 years.

Every generation has its challenge posed by history? We had useless leaders who ruled this country from independance. We had no statesman and still do not. That is why this generation had to face a challenge in fighting a war.
If the present administration rides roughshod over minority rights as they seem to be doing right now then the next generation is probably going to face a bigger challenge and possibly fight another war.
It is not a wonder that so many of our educated/not so educated youngsters have decided to leave this country the land of their birth and seek refuge in the West.
Remember this country was stable and had no wars during the British colonial period. We may not have that kind of unity or stability for generations to come.

You were right to dismiss the veiled threat by Subramaniam

It is preposterous that such a threat can be even issued. For those like Subramaniam who pose threats, all I can say is any objective to move forward the aim of a Tamil nation, will be regressive and dissipate any little chance that it may see the light of the day. Frustrations can give way to such views or actions but remember that the world gave the brutal SL regime a passport to massacre the Tamils (mostly the innocent ones) because of the violent nature with which the Tamils moved their cause. If you, and the others similar to you, sincerely believe in the attainment of a Tamil nation, then do not give cause to suppress that by proposing or professing violent means. In fact, it is a non-starter at all.

Dayan can go on quoting the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. His citation of the American civil war to justify the war against the Tamils (not just the LTTE) is littered with personal prejudices. Just like the SL regime which made use of him and unceremoniously dumped him when he had served its purpose, let Dayan go on blabbing and just take no notice of him. Doing otherwise just boosts his ego.

Dayan J’s argument of “if this had not happened”, then “that would not have happened” – on hindsight, is irrational.

All these massacres by the armed forces, listed in “Lest We Forget”, added up in the minds of the tamils and made many of them gave active and passive support to the LTTE.
Many sinhalese are/were unaware, of these massacres.
This is the same army which carried out the final massacre of 30,000 civilians during the days before 18 May 2009. They – the commanders and the lower ranks – were mentally conditioned by what they had done earlier, but had not even been reprimanded.

The day the UNP elects a patriotic leader, ( and that day is not far) that’s it for this sort…

Shoba, I am old indeed but chronologically am still younger than Prabhakaran was when he breathed his last….And if I am not mistaken, I’m younger than Pearl Thevanayagam too! 🙂

Having been in danger if apprehended while underground, of being disappeared by Athulathmudali’s death squads; having been given more pages than Prabhakaran by Wijeweera in his book, when his killers were on the rampage; having known from the sole survivor that the JVP killers who cut Daya Pathirana’s throat had wanted to elicit my whereabouts of which he was unaware; having had Ops Combine’s top NIB officer Senaka Silva rush from the deep South to Ossie’s home in Colombo to tell me that his last interrogation of a JVP military wing guy had elicited my name as a priority target; having been on the pillion of ISU leader Dharmasiri’s motorbike wearing his helmet just the evening before he had the back of his head shot off by a JVP death squad; having been asst secretary of the SLMP when the JVP was shooting up all our election meetings in 1988-9 and had killed 117 members, including burning some families alive; having been in the East with Pathmanabha with loaded hardware by our heads and bedsides when the LTTE attacked just a few hundred yards away; having been almost beaten to death by a mob in Kanatte; having been named in writing in Jafna Inside Report by Anton Balasingham ( writing as Brahmagnani) that ” Dayan Jayatilleka stands out as a unique character because of his pathological hatred of the LTTE”; having been walked on Galle Face green by Prof Peter Schalk — a friend of Prabhakaran’s– who came to warn me as a friend that he had seen my name on an LTTE blackboard, which was usually a signal for a suicide bomb hit; having been given Commandos belonging to the VVIP security squad by Special Forces commander Gamani Hettiaarachchi when I lectured at his military academy because he had obtained an evaluation the LTTE’s threat to me; having been walked to my car by the US Charge d’affairs to the UN Geneva (now in Iraq) and told in a shocked tone that I should have a bullet proof vehicle far more than they should — after having exhausted my nine lives two decades back, all I have to say to you and your death threats, Subramaniam, is, (a) you think I give a damn? (b) in the constructive suggestion that the great US novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr made in Slaughterhouse Five: ” Why don’t you take a flying f*** at a rolling doughnut? Why don’t you take a flying f*** at the moon?’

I am sorry I do not know how to say that in Tamil. Yours is the kind of intimidatory attitude that ensured that all your Tigers got dead on May 18-19.

Post-colonial Sri Lanka, had no philosophy to guide it. Independence provided unbridled freedom and the power to the politicians and their ‘Catchers’, as we Sri lankans would call them. The constitutions and laws were asses to be ridden on. Instiutions, were obstacles that stood in their way and had to be destroyed. National wealth was there to be plundered. The people had to be kept stupid, to make sure they can be relied on to vote for any donkey with a big mouth and purse. The education system was degraded for this purpose. We have ninety odd percent literacy , co-existing with one hundred percent stupidity ! Religion has been degraded to the point that it is the ‘Amudey’ that covers our spiritual and moral nudity.

Our militants, whether of the JVP or the LTTE were also the products of this system.. They resorted to overt violence to attain power, whereas our politicians have for decades used subtle violence to attain and hold on to power. When it came to a shove and a push, our politicians were capable of beating the militants even at violence.

The whole political system in Sri Lanka has to be changed. What is existing has to be demolished and re-built brick by brick. The tragedy is that we do not have the clay to make the required bricks! Our politicians have ensured this.

Your delightful comment is a joy to read.

You manage to outwit the old fox, Dayan Jayatilleka.

Then perhaps our generation does not have to live with the bloody mess they contributed to create.