“By the way, if Sergei de Silva Ranasinghe is NOT an analyst, how come he publishes in Jane’s, the renowned strategic studies publication, and the Diplomat, a top journal of international affairs in Oz, and is invited to speak at the Lowy institute and other Aussie think tanks? They don’t usually pick people off the sidewalk, and I rather doubt that any of these anonymous critics would get an invitation.”

I am been very mistaken. I am thinking the Doctor Dayan wanting people to be respected for what they are saying and not for whetehr they are talking to the Lowy, publishing with the Jane, thinking with the tanks or walking with the dinosaurs.

By the way, if Sergei de Silva Ranasinghe is NOT an analyst, how come he publishes in Jane’s, the renowned strategic studies publication, and the Diplomat, a top journal of international affairs in Oz, and is invited to speak at the Lowy institute and other Aussie think tanks? They don’t usually pick people off the sidewalk, and I rather doubt that any of these anonymous critics would get an invitation.

Sergei, don’t lie. The quota system was district based, not ethnicity based. You comfortably hide that Tamils in districts like N’Eliya, Mannar, Mullativu and Batticoloa benefited from that system. And the enrollments were only 60% of the admissions. Other 40% was merit based. Elite Tamils of Jaffna started whinging against the system when they saw low caste Tamils from Highlands were also getting some chance for education. Still in SL >20% of University entrants are Tamils. What are you whining about?

Since, the above is a “Sinhala” version of events, can we have a “Tamil” version of events for comparison’s sake?

This interview could have been given by a Sinhala govt minister or a bought-over Tamil [edited out]! I suspect Sinhala people will give 100% marks for this interview as it sounds like sweet music to their ears. (Remember what JRJ said would make Sinhala people happy?). How many in the North-East would read this I wonder.

One positive aspect of the ending of the war has been that, it has allowed an opportunity for discussion into issues such as governance, transparency (in regard to the conduct of public bodies including the NGOs) and also as Dr Saravananthan has stated, into the rights of all our people as citizens of Sri Lanka.

May be it is presumptuous to think that such a debate can indeed take place at this juncture, but it is important that Sri Lankans capture the middle ground to influence the future path of our country. If not, the danger is that over time, extreme views of those who are motivated by self-interests, will lurch this country back to the dark ages once again. This is a brief window of opportunity. Point scoring will not suffice to the present needs.

As Dr Saravananthan has stated, the thirst of the Thamilan(in SL) is for economic emancipation and not for Thamil Eelam homeland. The sooner we all join hands in achieving this, the sooner we can consign the word Eelam to the dust bin of history. For the mavericks in the diaspora the Tamil Eelam will always mean Shangri-La, but for the rest of us Sri Lanka is Shangri-La. The time when sufficient numbers of the North-East youth, regardless of ethnicity, begin to achieve the living standards of their brethren in the diaspora, while remaining at home, the sooner they will begin to charter a course away from the doomed Eelam.

Are enough Sri Lankans going to help those in the N&E in this endeavour?, If not they will reap the whirlwind again. This time however, there will be no blame on GGPs, Chelvas, Amirs or even the Prabhas. If ever such a whirlwind blows, the Sinhalese will lose more than the Tamils.

Tamil resettled are unhappy about the unfairness in the distribution of funds by the Sinhala NGOs – Sarvodaya, Sewa Lanka, Green Movement, Colombo City Rotary Club, led by a Sinhala zealot named Jaliya Bodinagoda and his friend Chintaka Rajapakse

Yes, another Rajapakse into the fray 🙁

The Tamil farmers among the resettled families in Vanni accuse the officials of Sarvodaya for having sold them at a high price making huge profits for themselves, sources in Vanni said. The Sarvodaya officials buying black grains and other grains whole sale in Colombo market at low prices sell them in packets as quality seeds at high prices.

The people of Vanni already rendered destitute by the war on Vanni are further cheated by unscrupulous men in organizations like Sarvodaya.

The gullible Norwegian Green Movement and American Ceylon Mission a Christian organization are trusting the Sinhala NGO’s – Sarvodaya, Sewa Lanka, Green Movement, Colombo City Rotary Club and give them generous donations but not check their work

Meanwhile, the agricultural implements issued to the resettled people in Vanni are found to be of poor quality and unsuitable for use in Vanni.The people of Vanni already rendered destitute by the war on Vanni are further cheated by .

Initial investigation has revealed that around four million rupees had been swindled by the Sarovodaya NGOs in Tamils areas of the war – affected of North – East of Sri Lanka

The inferior quality seeds which had been sold by the unscrupulous Sinhala NGOs the to Tamil resetteled in Puthoor, Mathiyaamadu and Pu’liyangku’lam in Vavuniyaa district and in Thellippazhai and Koapaay in Jaffna district. They had also been sold to the famers in Mannaar district.

The seeds sold by Sarvodaya sown by the farmers investing a lot of money in their cultivation projects had failed to germinate.

The enraged farmers had demonstrated in front of the Sarvodaya offices in their respective areas.

BTW

Does Mahinda Rajapaksa is approving the cheating by Sinhala NGO of the destitute Vanni Tamil farmers and laughing at their misery, starvation ?

http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/09/22/what-australia-can-learn-from-sri-lanka-about-security/
Sergei DeSilva-Ranasinghe, who is studying for a masters degree at Curtin University and is billed as “Analyst, South Asian and Indian Ocean Region Politics and Security”.

The theme of his talk is “Counter-insurgency Lessons from Sri Lanka”. Boasting of his contacts with the Sri Lankan government, DeSilva-Ranasinghe does seem to be able to reach some influential audiences. Earlier this week, he addressed military and government officials in a talk at the Royal United Services Institute of the ACT, giving a free preview of the line he is likely to take at the “summit’.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/most-tamils-real-refugees-say-experts-20100714-10b5k.html
…The claims that between 25 and 50 per cent of Tamil asylum seekers were either terrorists or terrorist sympathisers were made by a postgraduate university student and defence analyst, Sergei DeSilva-Ranasinghe, in yesterday’s Australian.
”You’ve got people here who’ve essentially been radicalised, who’ve fought and (may have) committed acts of terrorism, and they’ve come here without any sense of being rehabilitated,” he said.
A representative of the Australian Tamil Congress, Dr Sam Pari, said Mr DeSilva-Ranasinghe’s comments were part of a ”smear campaign”.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/panglossian-picture/story-fn558imw-1225851121519