Sharanga,

They are mostly funded by their Diaspora relatives. When this is not available, they sell their property and borrow to finance such a perlious adventure. Please see my response to Sarath Fernando on this subject.

The Tamils overwhelming desire now is to have a lifestyle similar to those of their relatives and friends in the west. The Óppresion’ factor is manufactures now, to support the ineveitable asylum application. The Tamil Diaspora and the Tamil politicians are heavily complicit, both willfully and innocently, to promote further migration of Tamils from Sri Lanka. If this trend continues Tamils in Sri Lanka would disappear like the Dinosaurs!

Dr.rajasingham Narendran

Sarath Fernando,

Briefly,
1. The ‘Tamil Diaspora-like life’is the main lure. The Tamils who took pride in their educational attainments, employment as professionals and positions at various levels of government service, now take ‘being in Canada, France, Uk, Europe and Australia’, as a special qualification and take pride in it. They would like to go to ‘Veli Nadu'( a foreign country), of course in the affluent west, at any cost.

The lure of a Dollar/ Pound/Euro income is overwhelming, patently discernible and destroying the ‘hard Work’ethos. This is ultimately what will undermine the Tamil Communities in the north and east. The Tamil-Diaspora promotes this trend by fertilizing a parasitic life style among many recipeints of their dole and the image they create of easy money in the west. Further, the fact that those who could not afford even a bicycle , now drive around in cars in the west, is also a lure.

2. There are also many Sinhalese and Muslims, who are among the ‘Boat people’, while the Tamils are the majority.

3. The war has affected the Tamils much more than the other communities, but the way out is not illegal migration seeking ElDorados. Tamils should be helped to find adequate livelihood and restore the north and east prosperous.

4. Óppresion’ (as of now), is not the reason for this new wave of illegal migration

Dr.Rajasingham Narendran

Dear Rajasingham,

If as you say, “They (the “Boat People”) are the fortune seekers or the so called economic refugees. They are mostly the people who want an easy way out to earn more and consume more.” could you explain why it is almost entirely made of Tamils from the North & East, and not Sinhalese and Muslims? What makes you think that there aren’t poor-enough Sinhalese and Muslims with similar “fortune seeking” incentives or that their brethren abroad are either incapable or not generous enough to support similar voyages of significant Sinhala and Muslim “Boat People” concentrations? Just curious as to why you think just the Tamils have such loathsome need for an “easy way out to earn and consume more.”

Incidentally, in the same vein, may I ask what your motivation was for seeking opportunities abroad following the degree here in Sri Lanka at the free University? I am certain you had more honourable reasons and not merely swayed by the “easy way out to earn and consume more?”

Heathen,

Point taken

Dr. Narendran,

According to some reports, it costs about $9000 to travel in these boats to Australia, and more than 1400 have been caught last year. They seem pretty desperate, and I find it hard to believe that the reasons are purely economic. But perhaps you know more about this than I do.

I agree with most of what you say apart from Vickramabahu Karunaratne being an intellectual.

Yes, the Sinhala chauvinism galvanised the Tamil National movement and Vice-versa.

My argument is that you will never find a solution to the problem unless you define the problem first. There is no point in blaming Rajapakse for procrastinating the ‘solution’ when TNA themselves are disingenuous about what they want.

Your points are well taken. However, the pot and the kettle are yet black. All intellectuals should break out of the prisons of parochialism, narrow mindedness and individual experiences, and have an aerial view of such matters. We definitly have many qualified men/ women, but few intellectuals. Emotions yet take precidence over the intellect. After all our humanness is only skin deep and the animal is yet lurking within us.

Imcidentally, the ‘Boat people’ are not the oppressed. They are the fortune seekers or the so called economic refugees. They are mostly the people who want an easy way out to earn more and consume more. If large passenger ships in large nubers are berthed all around Sri Lanka and volunteers are invited on board ,with the promise of residential rights in the west, most people in Sri lanka will line up to board, irrespective of their station in life, education or communal identity! The reasons are not hard to identify. This is food for thought for the government. Would the Singaporeans or Malaysians do this?

Dr.Rajasingham Narendran

Heathen,

I personally don’t believe in nationalism or arbitrary geographical boundaries which I believe are parochial or tribal whether it is Singhalese, Tamil, German or Jewish).

Neither do I. But nationalism and arbitrary geographical boundaries are very real in the real world. As much as I like to be a LISP gensym and live inside a quantum computer with my brain being replaced by parallel processors, we live in the real world, so we have to take a stand.

It may be true that Tamil nationalism was not initially caused by legitimate Tamil grievances. But there is a connection, isn’t it? The latter fuels the former, and in turn the former fuels the latter.

Is it because the failed Dravidastan movement in South India?
Does that mean should we break-up Sri Lanka according to ethnicity? Why stop there….. what about religion and caste?

Politics is about giving real world solutions to real world problems. So if the only solution for grave problem is to beak-up the country according to caste, so be it.

However, I don’t think breaking-up Sri Lanka is the right solution here. It would certainly solve the Tamil problem. But it would create a Sinhalese problem. Imagine how much would be our defense spending if there was Tamil nation as our neighbour with their own powerful armed forces. Imagine how demagogues would exploit that paranoia to gain and maintain power. We’ve already seen this happen. We don’t want more of it.