By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole –

It was Marie Antoinette who, when the French rioted for bread, asked why not give them cake? It did not work for Marie but President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) seems a firm believer in her bag of tricks. She believed cake will work in place of bread despite the price, but does AKD? Can Tamils be bought over so easily?

Many of us in the Tamil Country were willing to forget that one of the JVP’s five lessons in 1971 was that we Tamils are intrinsicallly chauvinistic and a fifth column for India as Indian aircraft and helicopters straffed JVP positions in 1971.

JVP’s General anti-Tamil political position

Despite not being the main target of the 1971 violence, the JVP’s ideology was distinctly nationalist and chauvinistic towards the Tamil community. Key elements of this anti-Tamil stance included the JVP’s communalism then. There were strong rumours about we Tamils being so reactionary and staunch agents of India meriting execution if aged over 60. Age and being reactionary went together in their minds. Unfortunately this was widely believed and heard by those who were in universities in 1971 but there is little in print to support this.

However, there is much to support that the JVP never recognized the specific issues facing the Tamil community regarding language, religion, and culture. They failed to acknowledge the violence Tamils endured and opposed any moves towards power-sharing or autonomy. The JVP used the historical and geopolitical backdrop of India’s large size and influence to stoke fear among the majority Sinhalese community. That fifth lesson warned that any Indian presence on the island would empower the Tamil liberation struggle, which was painted as a threat to national sovereignty. This strategy proved effective in mobilizing its predominantly rural Sinhalese base in 1987-89.

President AKD was a child at the time and many of us were quick to overlook his association with that JVP. Many felt exhilarated about the promise of hope, especially our youth —Tamil, Sinhalese, and Muslim — who long for a different future. With this confidence, we voted him in as President in 2024. 

Impact on the Tamil community

The ideology propagated through the “Indian expansionism” lesson contributed to the atmosphere of ethnic mistrust and hostility in Sri Lanka. It cemented a view among some Sinhalese youth that Tamils were not to be trusted, and that Tamil problems were to be met with suspicion instead of solidarity. Some Tamil militants, on the other hand, began to work in tandem with JVP. Many Tamil militants in fact joined the JVP in the 1980s (with non-LTTE militants even living in JVP camps).

Is the Honeymoon Ending?

AKD, said to have the gift of the gab, is flailing in the air among Tamils during his presidency. Today (18 Nov. 2025) many websites are putting out stories on the wealth of many big JVP members. The President’s landed proprty is allegedly put at Rs. 60 million and the PM’s at Rs. 10,555,615. It is likely the Sinhalese Deep State (SLFP, SLPP and UNP) is up to its tricks and trying to revive its carcass through brazen promises. No source is given in these stories but this shows the government is under attack.

However it is a time when many Tamils are waking up and reassessing their hitherto lulled opinions on the AKD government. A once positive view changed after AKD was caught lying in April.

Tamils With  20/20 vision remember 1971

The cataracts in worn-out Tamil eyes fell, and their vision Improved, after AKD’s prevarications exposed him progressively with the local government election campaign. Ambitious for a win with Tamils, and fearing an erasure of his impressive presidential triumph, AKD risked his reputation of a glib gab. He prevaricated. He promised in Mannar at a local government election rally on or about 29 April, “we will open a tourist boat service to Talaimannar and the islands within a month. Then he asked for a month’s extension and then for 4 months. No progress yet with the 5 months gone.Can Tamils believe him after this broken promise?

This had brought new focus on the President’s much touted foundation stone laying for the new international cricket stadium on 1 Sept. 2025. Old Boys Associations are boasting of their next Big Matches there; others of ICC Cricket there.

The Stadium is a Show for the UNHRC

The 60th regular, prescheduled session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), started on September 8, 2025. Unsurprisingly, AKD went to Jaffna and laid the foundation stone on 1 Sept.. The connection to 8 Sept. was lost on the southern Press. The loud boastful fanfare over AKD’s breaking tradition by not putting his name on the foundation stone seemed lost to the English press in the bluff and bluster in Sri Lanka, but not in Geneva.  The Jaffna stadium project has not been mentioned in UNHRC discussions because the nature of the opening gave away the government’s manipulative intentions, to deflect long-standing human rights concerns in Sri Lanka.

Why the Stadium did not come up in Geneva

AKD’s incredulous claim that the new stadium in Mandaitivu is a sign that the government is doing things for Tamils, is belied in the Tamil press. When blind eyes see, they see a lot more than what normal eyes do! The Pandora’s Box is opening, box after box. It has been brought out by the private Tamil press that the stadium is one big hoax. Reason 1 is that there is no budget for it in 2025.

The English-language press on the other hand is bought and kept on Tamil concerns by the Deep State. The Wijewardene heritage (Lake House, Upali, and Wijeya newspapers) serving the needs of the Communal Deep State, will not dampen its service in suppressing Tamil grievances – with an occasional article to show a feigned neutrality and concern for Tamils. So good Sinhalese folk are kept in the dark.

The international stadium was mooted when the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation gave the land it had from 1976-1984 for this purpose – an urgent need to whitewash JR Jayawardene’s bloody hands after orchestrating the riots. But there was nothing done of substance. In 2017 sports minister Sumathipala revived the idea for GS Division J/107 with a 30-year lease. The supposedly 50 acre plot upon survey showed only 49. Then saying 49 acres are not enough, the Velanai Pradeshya Sabai used the 15 acres allocated to it to permit development on only 5 acres and gave 10 acres to the stadium. But cricketing authorities claim they need over 100 acres for a viable stadium.

Like in the biblical analogy of God rewarding the sheep with his right hand and punishing the goats with his left, the government stage-manages its largesse to Tamils, giving something with its right hand while taking it away with its left. A 30 acre plot in the hands of forestry officials, God’s left hand, seems unlikely to yield anything useful. Their terrible twins in the government’s archaeology officials have already restricted access to the nearby Jaffna Fort by building a dangerous wall that is a hazard to traffic. Together these officials have blocked many Tamil aspirations such as when a stadium was mooted for Mankulam because Mandaitivu had insufficient water. The Archaeology department, known in Tamil as Thol Porul Thinaikalam, is known as Thollai (problematic) Thinaikalam among Tamils because of their obfuscation as the government’s left hand. It is as if the government, pretending to be God’s generous right hand, cannot order it to comply with government policy.

Showing lack of good will, the public request to annex Mandaithivu to Jaffna Town goes ignored, not even including Manadaithivu police into the Jaffna Police Station a mere 3 miles away and insisting it be part of the Kayts Police Station 15 miles away. No Tamil believes the government has no power to accede to a request so practical and practicable.

For an international stadium the surroundings need hotel room, restaurants, shops, entertainment facilities  etc. That is more land. When these suggestions came up during the good governance time, those making making good suggestions asked why the government did not agree when the people lived bereft of these but now suddenly talk about restaurants and hotels in pretended generosity. Talk of the stadium was given up.

A special factor was the amount of water needed. On a normal day, it would take 65,000 litres of water to maintain the stadium grounds. On days the stadium is used, 150,000 to 200,000 liters of water would be required . When the government could not find water as the Mandaitivu population fell from 300,000 to 50,000, where will the government find this water from?

Initially 50 acres were deemed necessary and allocated, but then in the good governance period it was found upon survey that it was only 49 acres and thought that with ancillary facilities another 30 acres were required. At this point without land, in the time V.Manivannan was Mayor of Jaffna, he offered 10 acres of government land in Kondavil. But locals feared that their garden land would become commercial. A municipal resolution soon put a stop to the plans.

The Sinhalese Communalist Deep State boasted of a sports ground in Mannar but did nothing. Then they planned a stadium in Jaffna in 2018 proposing a budget for Rs. 5000 million. At the time a bag of cement was Rs. 980 and a tipper load of sand Rs. 345,000. But today these construction costs are 300% up! That is, the cost of a similar-sized stadium would be Rs. 1,500,000 million. The government’s cheating endeavor stands exposed considering that there is no budget proposal for a stadium, not even for the year 2027.

Before reaching the site of the stadium, one has to pass through 2 acres of land belonging to the Velanai Pradeshiya Sabai which has leased those 2 acres to a businessman who refuses to vacate citing the investments he has has made in building a rest house.

Many Tamils do not believe the stadium will ever come.

Corrupt Tamil and Sinhalese Businessmen and Government Endangering Public Health

The South has always been corrupt, but the North has historically been less so (in part because there is less protection for corrupt Tamils). Even the war was unable to ruin the Tamils (with the exception of LTTE maneuvers to wring every penny from the Tamil people). Under this government, however, a corruption nexus is taking over. The following examples demonstrate how pervasive this corruption is– and how it is putting human life at risk.

1. Jaffna People Unaware they are Drinking Human Waste: Strict Rules apply to how lavotory waste is sent into Septic Tanks in ways it does not go into underground water. However, the people of Jaffna are drinking this waste. The base of these Septic Tanks is floored with concrete. Expensive bowsers donated by the Japanese to the Jaffna Municipal Council supposedly remove the waste as the tanks get full. A load costs Rs. 25,000 every few months to remove. But the concrete floors are approved and after the first filling and removal, testify householders, the municipal labourers remove the floor for Rs. 5000. Thereafter the dirty water flows into wells through the holes letting the sewage go into the underground water.

Many hotels with 3 or 4 floors are also approved with no evidence of proper licensing of sewage removal. The licensing process is very corrupt.

A bigger dimenion of the problem is that at least two of Jaffna Town’s biggest hotels with over 5 floors have a small tank on the third floor accepting toilet flush water from those floors, which are then let off into the drain by Hospital Road. Then, around 11 pm, the flush water is released from the upper floors.

The improper flushing of waste creates major risk to the population and to the environment. In addition, the Municipality’s bills do not show the revenue collected when the water is properly removed. This reflects a massive loss to the municipality.

2. The Monk Mafia: Similar to the previous item is the Ariya Kulam Guest House for poor Sinhalese pilgrims visiting Naga Vihara and staying at the guest house across from the temple. In yet another instance of Sri Lanka being for Buddhists, the guest house is run by the Navy. Reporters have seen  hundreds of guests staying there for about Rs. 2000 a day. These reporters testify that the toilet water is allowed to drain into the sewers, which then goes into the drinking water supply. But fear of the monks, who are powerful with immense political connections through the Sangha, the Navy that runs the guest house, the police, and the government run by Sinhalese and corrupt officials, means that no one can report the issue, endangering the health of all who are innocently and unknowingly drinking this waste water.

3. Corruption in Hospitals: The pond between Veerasingham Hall (the defunct Regal Theatre) and the Clock Tower was used to collect dirty hospital drainage. The hospital’s foul poisons ran into the pond via the drain by the old cooperative car wash on Clock Tower Road, in front of Cargills Food City. This was like how Trinco Hospital’s biological waste and even needles were dumped in the sea. In an elaborate fraud scheme, foreign loans were used to build tanks behind Jaffna’s Sri Lanka Telecomm building where the hospital waste is electrically and chemically treated and reduced to waste and supposedly carried away. These tanks remain unused. The electric treatment should cost millions. The Ministry of Health sends the waste to the tanks where, without treating it, it is dumped into the sea where beche-de-mer feast on it and we Tamils in turn feast on the sea cucumbers. There is no evidence of the Ministry paying the bills for treatment. It is believed to be a massive fraud perpetrated on the public coffers by hospital mangement and Ministry of Health personnel.

There are an umpteen private hospitals in Jaffna without demonstrable facilities for waste removal. When queried how they got licensed, they respond that they have contracts with companies in Colombo. However no contracts show up in official records.

At a time when the South is booming with hospitals, many patients from the Northern Province come with great difficulty to Jaffna Hospital, the only hospital with decent facilities available to them. They are forced to spend on rooming and transport. This is even while many doctors are looting from the hospital, as recently exposed by Dr. Arjuna Ramanathan (who was resoundingly elected MP by a grateful population). When the government refused to budget for these looted hospitals, a Tamil doctor came forward a few months ago to spend approximately seven billion rupees of his own money to give a multi-storey building to Jaffna Teaching Hospital in memory of his parents. Another gave to refurbish Inuvil hospital. Tamils are asking why this President that we voted for is not protecting us as he should.

One Dr. Giri from Inuvil made similar exposes. Then when he went for some innocuous medical treatment, the medical personnel used the opportunity to declare him a lunatic, so that they could find him medically unfit to practice and forcibly terminate him. Ministry of Health officials were certainly complicit. Dr. Giri then went to Anuradhapura to get himself cleared. The three-member panel, reluctant to contradict the Jaffna doctors, only said he is now well. He is now back in service, but with the stigmatized reputation as one who went mad and is now cured. He is careful not to speak up any more.

4. Further Corruption in Municipalities: Another Dr. Umasugi Nadarajah makes astounding accusations of corruption against many, including the police, members of the judiciary, and even the Bribery Commission, fearlessly confronting the high and the low. For example, she filed police complaints against constables for not charging the upper-class people who light fires on the road. When the JMC lawyer asked her to file private action (instead of filing action himself, as is his job) she asked him why he is drawing a salary of 100,000/- a month. The magistrate who heard the complaint ordered a cursory 100/- fine on the people lighting the fires. Now, at her insistence, her complaint has gone up to the the High Court. There has been no time to assess all her claims, but her accusations are not receiving the serious examination they deserve. Instead, reporters I spoke to dismiss her as mad and an SJW (I.e., Social Justice Warrior), one who is warring against all sorts of social ills.

After taking on the Bribery Commission, and being labeled mad, Dr. Nadarajah received recognition at last this week, when the Court of Appeal (19th September) ordered the JMC to take all necessary steps to reduce air pollution in Jaffna. AKD must ensure that she is never punished by the authorities or medically declared mad simply for the courage of speaking up.

Can an Honest Government Deal with the People through Corrupt Officials?

The AKD government claims to be corruption-free, yet there are instances of corruption being overlooked when it comes to dealing with the Tamil public.

N. Vedanayagam, Governor of the Northern Province, is a man of immense integrity. He has written to AKD twice or more detailing the corrupt activities of Jaffna’s Government Agent. He apparently said he would quit unless the GA is removed. That removal has not happened – nor has the Governor subsequently resigned. When the Governor does not keep his promise, his integrity too is tarnished. This is the risk to men of integrity who are forced to work with the corrupt.

Similarly the University Grants Commission by convention has one Tamil among its seven members. Vasanthi Arasaratnam is well known for corruption, both in terms of money and in awarding undeserved promotions to her yes-men and women. She has been flagged by the Auditor General for corruption over awarding tenders (which Jaffna University helped her cover up). The newly appointed Chancellor of Jaffna University was till recently pictured on TamilNet.com (presently under maintenance) opening a monument at Jaffna University for Black Tigers.

When corrupt officials are the face that the people see of the AKD government, the people begin to wonder how the NPP finds candidates for public appointments.

The pertinent question is this: Are we Tamils being sung asleep by the NPP’s lullaby or blinded to the Red Hope taking over and quietly killing Tamil resilience?

We in the North want a clean government. We wish that this hope will be fulfilled by AKD. He must survive for Tamil aspirations to be realized.