By Rajiva Wijesinha –
Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha MP
In May 2009, Sri Lanka seemed on top of the world. Under President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan government and forces had defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which had dominated Tamil politics in Sri Lanka. It had survived conflict with not just successive Sri Lankan governments, but even the might of India.
Though the Tigers had been banned by several countries, there was some sympathy for them in many Western nations who could not distinguish between them and the Tamils of Sri Lanka, who they felt had been badly treated by successive Sri Lankan governments. Fuelled by a powerful diaspora that sympathized with and even supported the Tigers, several Western nations had tried to stop the war being fought to a conclusion. When this attempt failed, they initiated a special session at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, but the condemnation they anticipated of the Sri Lankan government did not occur.
Instead, Sri Lanka initiated a resolution of its own, which passed with an overwhelming majority. It received the support of most countries outside the Western bloc, including India and Pakistan and China and Russia and South Africa and Brazil and Egypt.
Less than three years later, the situation had changed. A resolution critical of Sri Lanka was carried at the Council in Geneva in March 2012, with India voting in its favour. It had been initiated by the United States, and won support from several African and Latin American countries, including Brazil, that had been supportive previously. Next year an even more critical resolution was passed, with a larger majority, followed in 2014 by a Resolution which mandated an investigation by the Office of the High Commissioner. India voted against this Resolution, but it still passed with a large majority.
Meanwhile international criticism of Sri Lanka has increased. It had a tough ride over the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting held in Colombo in November 2013. Though the British Prime Minister withstood pressures to boycott the event, the Indian Prime Minister did not attend. The Indians did not engage in overt criticism, but the Canadian Prime Minister was extremely harsh in explaining his absence. And the British Prime Minister made it clear that he would raise a number of issues suggesting that Sri Lanka needed to address several grave charges.
How had this happened? How had a country that dealt successfully with terrorism, and did so with less collateral damage than in other similar situations, found itself so conclusively in the dock within a few years? How had it lost the support of India, which had been strongly supportive of the effort to rid the country of terrorism?
India had made clear its commitment to the welfare of the Tamil population of Sri Lanka, but the Sri Lankan government had initially acted in accordance, and managed to resettle all the displaced, to rehabilitate former combatants, and to rebuild the war ravaged areas more swiftly and successfully than had initially been thought possible. Despite all this, in the election to the Northern Provincial Council, in September 2013, it was trounced by the Tamil National Alliance, which had been under the control of the LTTE while it existed.
What made the government so unpopular amongst the Tamils whom it thought it had liberated, and for whom it had developed infrastructure so effectively? Why internationally had the impression been created that the Sri Lankan government was catering to a Sinhala Buddhist constituency, with no regard for pluralism and the pursuit of reconciliation? Why did the Indian government seem upset with progress when so much had been done?
These essays will attempt to answer the above questions, by looking at the ultimately destructive contribution of several individuals to whom the President had entrusted a range of responsibilities. My own view is that the President himself had wanted to move towards reconciliation, and also to address several questions that other countries had raised, but those he thought would fulfil these tasks had failed him. Of course the ultimate responsibility is his, and his failure to ensure that those working on his behalf fulfilled the policies he had enunciated cannot be excused. But it needs to be understood, if Sri Lanka is to move forward from the morass in which it now finds itself.
Before discussing the problems caused by individuals in whom the President had reposed trust, I will set out here the major errors that I believe occurred in the last four years, to bring us to the current position.
First, in July 2009, soon after the seminal victory at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Sri Lankan ambassador in Geneva, Dayan Jayatilleka, who had been the architect of that victory, was summarily dismissed. Significantly, another ambassador had described the protective wall he had built as an empire. Yet the Sri Lankan government got rid of a diplomat who had commanded this level of confidence amongst his colleagues.
Second, when the American government in October 2009 addressed a list of questions about the conduct of the war, posed in a conciliatory manner, the Sri Lankan government failed to respond. This was though the questions were based on a Foreign Policy assessment by a committee chaired by John Kerry which suggested that the US government should engage more sympathetically with Sri Lanka.
Third, when the former Commander of the Army alleged that decision makers in government were responsible for the execution of Tigers who had come forward with White Flags so as to surrender, he was accused not of lying, but of being treacherous. This created the impression that what he had said was true. In fact he had made a very different allegation some months earlier, in claiming that he had been ordered to spare people carrying White Flags but, since he knew their enormity, he had acted as required. It would seem that his position then was that he was the hero of a tough war, whereas the government had been soft. But a few months later, he was able to present the government as the tough guys, a trap into which they readily fell.
Fourth, though the President had frequently promised interlocutors from the Indian government that he would move swiftly on greater measures of devolution, statements to this effect were rejected by various government spokesmen. The understanding the Indian government thought it had was never confirmed by either the President or the Minister of External Affairs, though the Indians believed the position they had put forward had been agreed.
Fifth, understanding the damage done by the new ambassador in Geneva, the President recalled her and replaced her with a trusted confidante, Tamara Kunanayakam, but the Ministry of External Affairs sent a massive delegation to Geneva in March 2012 which subverted her efforts and embarrassed the Indian government. Following the vote, she was dismissed.
Sixth, despite difficult relations with Britain, the position of High Commissioner there was left vacant for several months, and the opportunity to establish good relations with the new Conservative government, following the low level to which they had sunk while David Miliband was Foreign Minister, was lost.
Seventh, following her removal from Geneva, the President asked Ms Kunanayakam to serve in Cuba with a brief to develop better relations throughout Latin America, but the Ministry of External Affairs did not allow this initiative to go ahead.
Eighth, though Dayan Jayatilleka was appointed to Paris several months after being dismissed from Geneva, he was subject to harassment, from the Ministry of External Affairs as well as the Ministry of Defence. Having finished his contract, he returned to Sri Lanka but has not been deployed effectively.
Ninth, the President’s commitment to address accountability issues was forgotten until after the UN appointed its own panel of investigation. Though the President then appointed a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, its interim report was ignored, whereas swift action could have overcome some of the criticism raised in the UN report.
Tenth, there was no rebuttal of the charges made in the UN report, even though several of the allegations it recorded contradicted what UN records of the period in question had established.
Eleventh, though the President asked in December 2011 for an Action Plan to carry out the recommendations of the LLRC , nothing was done about this until after the HRC Resolution of March 2012. A Task Force to implement the Action Plan did not meet for several months, and only began to act and report coherently in 2013.
Twelfth, the negotiations between government and the TNA, which the President initiated in 2011, were sabotaged, with the government for the most part failing either to put forward any ideas of its own, or to respond to those the TNA put forward.
All these inadequacies need to be discussed. I propose to do this through an assessment of those in whom the President reposed trust but who, in fulfilling their own agendas, failed to deliver what he and the country needed.
Robert.R / September 25, 2014
This fellow still defending Tamara and Dayan.
Why don’t you join those to in the wilderness?
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Thiru / September 25, 2014
Rajiva Wijesinha,
“How had this happened? How had a country that dealt successfully with terrorism, and did so with less collateral damage than in other similar situations, found itself so conclusively in the dock within a few years? How had it lost the support of India, which had been strongly supportive of the effort to rid the country of terrorism?”
Are you being truthful in the above questions which carry with them some false premises? Don’t you know about the deliberate killing of tens of thousands of Tamil civilians near the end of the war? Who are you trying to fool? Do you think the world is full of fools?
For a start it was not terrorism – it was a war of liberation of oppressed Tamils with occasional bouts of violence.
“What made the government so unpopular amongst the Tamils whom it thought it had liberated, and for whom it had developed infrastructure so effectively?”
Rally, your government liberated Tamils? Again I ask, do you think people are fools?
“Why internationally had the impression been created that the Sri Lankan government was catering to a Sinhala Buddhist constituency, with no regard for pluralism and the pursuit of reconciliation? “
Don’t you know all the pogroms let loose by Sinhala Buddhist regimes since independence and all the discrimination that Tamils have suffered? Man, you can really pretend!
“These essays will attempt to answer the above questions, by looking at the ultimately destructive contribution of several individuals to whom the President had entrusted a range of responsibilities.”
Don’t try to find scapegoats, it’s the truth that Sinhala Buddhist governments since independence have oppressed Tamils. Now the most vicious regime of all is trying to erase the Tamil nation in the NorthEast with rampant state facilitated Sinhalese colonization of the region.
Please don’t try, you may have a degree from Oxford, but honesty and integrity are more important in one’s writings if they are to be taken seriously.
You are an agent of the most notorious regime that is ruling Sri Lanka now.
May be you need to be hauled before Geneva to answer your perjury about war crimes and Genocide of Tamils.
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Leon / September 25, 2014
Third. Excellent piece of writing. ” less collateral damage”. my foot.
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Amarasiri / September 25, 2014
Rajiva Wijesinha –
RE: Enemies Of The President’s Promise
“In May 2009, Sri Lanka seemed on top of the world. Under President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan government and forces had defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam,”
True, it was dominated by Meglo maniac and Racist, VP like those in the South. VP was a product od Racism and Chauvinism of the Sinhala “Buddhist” South, dominated by the Bad and Ugly Sinhala “Buddhists”.
Enemies Of The People= The President, His cronies and shills.
Rajov, if you want to be good Citizen, do what Thomas Paine did in 1776. Expose the king and corruption you are trying to defend.
Can you be the Anonymous Author the and Produce Sri Lankan version of Common Sense in Sinhala, Tamil and English? You will do as much service to Lanka, the Land of Native Veddah Aethho, just like Thomas Paine did for America and France, instead of being a Shill. You can expand this write up, and get there. Say, Because I have Common Sense, I will not vote for Mr. Rajapaksa.
Rajapaksa had the opportunity. The power corrupted them. The People are sick of them. They even used Buddhism towards their ends. Even Sinhala Buddhists are fed up them, and they are showing their true colors.
An Anonymous Author like Thomas Paine is needed with a Common Sense Pamphlet to expose the King, King George, the Rajapaksa Clan. Read, the Common Sense Pamphlet , by Thomas Paine, that inspired the American Revolution along with the other events. Common Sense (pamphlet)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Sense_(pamphlet) Produce a Commons sense Pamphlet for Sri Lanka and say why it is in the best interest of the people of Sri Lanka to remove the King, aka Rajapaksa Dynasty from power and let the Republic be a Republic and Not a dynasty. This Pamphlet, in Sinhala, Tamil and English, need to be sent to each and every Sri Lankan Citizen, just like Thomas Paine’s Common Sense pamphlet. Common Sense[1] is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–76 that inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to declare and fight for independence from Great Britain in the summer of 1776. In clear, simple language it explained the advantages of and the need for immediate independence. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate sensation. It was sold and distributed widely and read aloud at taverns and meeting places. Washington had it read to all his troops, which at the time had surrounded the British army in Boston. In proportion to the population of the colonies at that time (2.5 million), it had the largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history.[2]
Common Sense presented the American colonists with an argument for freedom from British rule at a time when the question of whether or not to seek independence was the central issue of the day. Paine wrote and reasoned in a style that common people understood. Forgoing the philosophical and Latin references used by Enlightenment era writers, he structured Common Sense as if it were a sermon, and relied on Biblical references to make his case to the people.[3] He connected independence with common dissenting Protestant beliefs as a means to present a distinctly American political identity.[4] Historian Gordon S. Wood described Common Sense as “the most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era”.[5]
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jansee / September 25, 2014
Aiyo Amarasiri, how on earth you can ask the good professor to be a Thomas Paine (TP)? Surely, you are not hoping that the good professor would end up being beheaded? Of course, he will become a martyr, just like TP. What do you think – which way the professor will go?
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Amarasiri / September 26, 2014
jansee
“Of course, he will become a martyr, just like TP. What do you think – which way the professor will go?”
It was a challenge to the Good Professor.
Does he want to be a shill and white-washer for the regime of the “King George”, “King Rajapaksa”? Kings are hereditary, and cannot be removed, unless there is a revolution, like what happened to “King George” in America.
However, Rajapaksa is NOT a hereditary King. Sri Lanka is a Socialist Democratic Republic and is elected. Rajapaksa is trying to establish a Family dynasty, with “Prince” in waiting. It is up to the People to put a stop to this. Will this “Professor” help? Or, will he be another shill and white-washer just like the many others?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine
At the time of his death, most American newspapers reprinted the obituary notice from the New York Evening Post,[64] which read in part: “He had lived long, did some good, and much harm.” Only six mourners came to his funeral, two of whom were black, most likely freedmen. The writer and orator Robert G. Ingersoll wrote:
Thomas Paine had passed the legendary limit of life. One by one most of his old friends and acquaintances had deserted him. Maligned on every side, execrated, shunned and abhorred – his virtues denounced as vices – his services forgotten – his character blackened, he preserved the poise and balance of his soul. He was a victim of the people, but his convictions remained unshaken. He was still a soldier in the army of freedom, and still tried to enlighten and civilize those who were impatiently waiting for his death. Even those who loved their enemies hated him, their friend – the friend of the whole world – with all their hearts. On the 8th of June, 1809, death came – Death, almost his only friend. At his funeral no pomp, no pageantry, no civic procession, no military display. In a carriage, a woman and her son who had lived on the bounty of the dead – on horseback, a Quaker, the humanity of whose heart dominated the creed of his head – and, following on foot, two negroes filled with gratitude – constituted the funeral cortege of Thomas Paine.[65
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Amarasiri / September 26, 2014
Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha MP
RE: Enemies Of The President’s Promise
Raja-Paka, Enemies Of The Citizens Promise in order to Maintain Family hegemony, will expose the culprits, criminals, shills and white-washers…
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MRCURSE / September 25, 2014
Buddy describes about his buddy. So pathetic. I wash yours and your wash mine. This is what reminded me while reading this peace.
You both are really good actors and academics too – but you failed to help the nation being caught by the facist – MR. There the folks cant respect you anymore.
People are today infected by the virus called Rajapakshe. This particular virus is even more dangerous than the EBOLA.
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Robert.R / September 25, 2014
Just defending his buddy Dayan who was shamed only a few days ago and exposed badly.
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Leelage malli / September 25, 2014
Dayan has some knoweldge on internationl diplomacy. Thamara should also have that. But both to be kept away from active diplomacy today should have fair reasons for MR administration. Normally, senior Diplomats are the assets for the country s future, but this man MR to choose otherway around – explains everything. Dayan is idiosyncratic guy in lanken politics, but Tamara and other guys to be kept away – is a curse for our future. I have no doubt, UNP or JVP govt would surely choose the best cream to represent the ISLAND in outside world.
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Thiru / September 25, 2014
Rajiva Wijesinha,
You may be able bring a dozen peripheral and impertinent reasons, or rather excuses as to why Sri Lanka and its present regime finds in this mess.
You are merely skirting around the truth: You may be able to get away with such arguments in an Oxford Union debate, but not in the University of the Street where people don’t flaunt their degrees, but with sharp intellect and integrity they expose the facts and truth to support their arguments.
Fact number one: Sri Lankan regimes since independence have discriminated, oppressed and sponsored massive pogroms against Tamils.
The war of liberation of Tamils is portrayed as terrorism by the regimes for 3 decades.
No genuine will or intent to address the Tamils historical rights of three millenniums has been taken by any of the regimes since independence. On the contrary actions have accelerated to obliterate the Tamil nation in the island.
If you are honest and have integrity rebut my statements with facts and true actions by the regime/s.
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Sirimal / September 25, 2014
Simply saying president s vision was so good to appoint tea tasters or former millitary guys as ambassadors – but forgetting any senior men and women that had collected exp in that areas. Even a 10 year old would get easily where the buggers went wrong.
By the day the idiot get caught – volks have been punished as nothing worst be their destiny. By today, not many can afford the life in the country. Even the daily essentials are multiple time expensive than in India or other SA countries. But no salaries are made higher accordingly.
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Leon / September 25, 2014
You have enunciated 12 reasons for the predicament the GOSL is in.
You have stated this whilest being a minister of this Govt. It also reflects your inability to convince your worthy colleagues to follow what you stated in your article. Isn’t it time to quit this Govt and be more critical than be with this odious Regime?
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Bedrock Barney / September 25, 2014
May the name of Rajiva Wijesinghe be a rampart, and the knowledge that he lives a bulwark, against all open or secret enemies of his Presidents’s promises! – Johnston Fernando (aka John ‘arraku johnny’ Adams)
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punchinilame / September 25, 2014
…”But no salaries are made higher accordingly.” comment reminds one of
this Prof. as one who is drawing two salaries – one as EPs Consultant the
the other as an MP – so all this writing-task? He cannot afford to give
up this luxury.
The down-fall of the State in all the 12 points is due to the double-
speak nature of MR and he alone must bear responsibility and not “problems caused by individuals in whom the President had reposed trust”!! If he
could take out Dyan (for a reason) why not any other individual?
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K.A Sumanasekera / September 25, 2014
Christian Faction new Pin Up Boy boy Harin says he fell short of the finish line because the Estate Tamils didn’t vote for him.
We thought the TNA represented the whole Tamil Inhabitant population.
And they want this Homeland to accommodate the lot, so that they can live in Peace. Harmony and Prosperity away from the BBS and the other extremists.
Why didn’t the TNA field a team?.
Harin says he only wanted another 7 or 8 thousand votes.
And this good Dr is stillon about 2009..
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pran / September 25, 2014
My God, he is redefining” carrying water”. Stop going to town for DJ. When looking from far we too thought you guys are honest, intelligent, peace loving diplomats. And honest political analysts. But time showed your true selfserving natrue to all of us. DJ is an arrogant buffoon who thinks he knows all and I am not sure how can someone with such a colorful personality be loved in the diplomatic circles. Simply because he is not diplomatic.
No matter how much you try to whitewash MARA. He blew it, no one is to blame. He could have been the president forever had he taken the opportunity presented to him in 2009 to heal us, but not to divide and conquer. If he was honestly interested in reconciliation, genuinely worked towards ethnic harmony, he should have personally checked the progress of the projects. MARA was given an once in a life opportunity of to heal this nation, and be the true hero and carry us towards development. He only had to install good governance and put right people based on merit at the right positions. Instead they turn to corruption of historic proportions, unlike any other government in the history of SL. Almost all of our Sri lankans( despite their ethnicity) are peace loving without any vested agendas. MARA regime took this god given chance to reconcile, to acquire wealth and power only for them. People of SL are smarter , pls stop. Stop pressing garlic as common-lore goes, and insulting the common man’s intelligence!
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Tamodaya / September 25, 2014
Which Tamil is begging for a repeat of May 2009?
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Praba from Grave / September 26, 2014
Tamodaya
It is Minister Karuna
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Park / September 25, 2014
I am not sure which planet Rajiva is from!
His starting statement:
In May 2009, Sri Lanka seemed on top of the world.
Yes to some extent this statement is correct, but only to a certain extent. Sri Lankans were happy because LTTE was decimated. But deep in the hearts of most Sri Lankans, irrespective of their race or religion there was sadness as the military has used excess power to defeat the LTTE and in the process many civilians were killed. So for Rajiva to glorify that Sri Lankans were on top of the world is a wrong statement.
He also comments that Sri Lankan soldiers did better than Indian soldiers. But he has conveniently forgotten to mention the type of force and the tactics used by the Sri Lankan army, which was unlawful and the Indian army did not use those tactics.
When LTTE was defeated the so called diaspora was not organized. Even those diaspora members who were supporters of LTTE did not want to oppose Sri Lankan Government, other than a few radicals and those who financially benefited by keeping LTTE alive. Most of the diaspora members were of the opinion that equal rights will be given to the minority after the war. This never happened and Rajiva is part of the government which did not give these rights to the minorities. Rajiva is still a member of the government that has not fully implemented the constitution of the country. The support for reigniting LTTE came about only after few years when the diaspora began to recognize that Rajiva’s government will not solve the minority issues.
Let me put Rajiva straight. Only reason why Sri Lanka is in trouble today is because of people like Rajiva supporting Rajapakse government. For the privileges enjoyed by him he does not want to leave the government and find a solution for the minority issues.
Rajiva Sri Lanka is in this situation because of people like you and Dayan. Don’t tell us bed time stories. Re-writing Mahawamsa is enough, re-writing the war is not warranted.
By the way in an earlier column I asked Rajiva to comment on the bill he has submitted to control NGOs. He has still not done so. I am not sure if he has submitted such a private member’s bill, or what is in that bill. If he has submitted a bill then he should have the guts to discuss the same in public so that there will be participation of the readers of CT.
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Dr Romesh Senewiratne-Alagaratnam / September 25, 2014
Dear Prof Rajiva,
Thanks for this insight into the workings of the Sri Lankan government. It raises a few questions and answers others.
Why was Dayan Jayatilleka sacked after doing such a good job for the SL government at the UN?
What is the truth about the white flag incident? What does Sarath Fonseka say now? Did the order to kill the surrendering LTTE bosses come from the Defense Secretary himself?
Who is obstructing the implementation of the LLRC recommendations, if the President is supporting its full implementation? (I can guess)
Sounds rather like Sri Lanka is becoming a military dictatorship under Col Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
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Anpu / September 25, 2014
“Why was Dayan Jayatilleka sacked after doing such a good job for the SL government at the UN?”
You mean lying?
“Who is obstructing the implementation of the LLRC recommendations, if the ****President is supporting its full implementation****? (I can guess) “
http://groundviews.org/2014/09/09/infographic-llrc-implementation-statistics/
President also promised the full implementation of 13+++++.
“Sounds rather like Sri Lanka is becoming a military dictatorship under Col Gotabaya Rajapaksa. ”
you are right on this. He thinks he can escape. We will wait and see.
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thondamannar / September 27, 2014
Entire Tamil diaspora was shaken by Tamil Chelvam’s wifes statement released a few days ago from France.
” She satates, No White Flag surrenders by the LTTE higherarchy.
This statement has caused ripples of waves in Europe.
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justice / September 25, 2014
Tamara Kunanayakam in a previous avatar,as member and activist of the World Christian Students Federation, gave a long list human rights violations in sri lanka to the former UN Human Rights Committee.
Subsequently she met Mahinda Rajapakse in Geneva and was recrited by him as a diplomat, and her view changed dramatically, and she became a defender of the Lankan regime.
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Ram / September 25, 2014
Another Christian led astray by the Tamil ‘Christian’ hierarchy, and converted to dump anti-national activity by a chance meeting with the President.
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n. ethirveerasingam / September 25, 2014
Rajeeva,
You wrote, “…followed in 2014 by a Resolution which mandated an investigation by the Office of the High Commissioner. India voted against this Resolution, but it still passed with a large majority.”
India abstained from voting for the March 2014 resolution. Please see link below:
http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14447&LangID=E
The reasons you give are not the reasons why you, Dyan, Tamara, GL and others from SL failed to defeat the Resolution. The facts – photos, video clips, satellite pictures and analysis by independent research orgs, eye witnesses and victims reports – are overwhelming evidence that supports the need for an independent investigations to get evidence and determine the truth or otherwise of the evidence that is already there.
As members of or appointed diplomats by the government, given the brief to defend it, you and the others are, like defence attorneys, duty bound to defend the Commander in Chief and his rank and file.
As a citizen, if you are convinced that no war crimes or crimes against humanity took place during the war then I would think that, now that all efforts by the GoSL has failed to stop the Resolution, you would advise the President and his cabinet to let the UNHRC investigators to visit and conduct their investigation.
Your article reads like an excuse why the Govt failed to defeat the Resolution. The evidence is overwhelming. It is horrific. The govt trying to discredit them failed. Political canvassing failed. Now what is left as a Member of Parliament is for you to advise the govt and the public to let the Independent Investigators come to Sri Lanka and collect the evidence from the witnesses and victims. You, the govt and the armed forces can appear before the Investigating teams and try to discredit the evidence (Look at the picture that appears with your article.)
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C. Wijeyawickrema / September 25, 2014
MahindaR has a complex to use black-whites like Dayan and Rajiva with Christian background.
He got in to a big mess with them as advisers. It is too late now. We need a third force, not MahindaR not UNP. JVP cannot do much. BBS can organize a coalition. Begin with No 13-A …..
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Cynic / September 25, 2014
Rajiva would have us believe that Rajapakse is being led by the nose by his advisors! Does this not beg the question ‘Is that what leadership is about?’As Harry Truman said ‘The buck stops here.’ It would appear that it is not a characteristic of leadership, Sri Lankan style, which is always to pass the buck and avoid responsibility! There are never any resignations on a matter of principle. So Rajiva cannot be expected to quit the government! Of course he must be there to give ‘best’ advise to MR!! He does not have the guts to blame the president for any government decisions – from mishandling the post war situation to sacking the Chief Justice! Of course the president was ‘ill advised’!! Go tell it to the marines!!
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Harry Hatton / September 25, 2014
a self opinated fool ! Every thing in the world will work fine if Rajiv & dayan do it ! Two big egoists who have gone far beyond their actual talent level . dayan was a marxist, premadasist, vijaya kumaratungaist and now a dayanist ! Rajiv was always a rajivists and maybe Wijesingheist ! In other words a I (eye) specialist !Always I ,I and I !Why dont these two jokers rule the world !
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / September 25, 2014
“What made the government so unpopular amongst the Tamils whom it thought it had liberated, and for whom it had developed infrastructure so effectively?”.
Answer: Assuming that the Tamils in the war-affected north, were stupid, deaf, dumb, blind and feelingless.
The government tried to fashion a new leadership for the Tamils, using the most detested individuals in the Tamil community, who had no values, principles or scruples and were corrupt to the core.
The government tried to force this leadership on the Tamils, who knew instinctly what the government was upto.
The Tamils were the mute witnesses to the highway robbery and brutality these individuals were indulging.
With all the laudable infrastructure re-building/building and resettlement activities going on, the government failed to provide JUSTICE to the war-affected Tamils as individuals and a community. A large segment of the war-affected Tamils were mired in poverty. The needs of the war-orphans and widows were swept under the carpet, while they were exposed to exploitation from the dregs of the society around them.
The government was issuing licences for liquor bars with gay abandon (of course to favored individuals who could pay the hidden price) while not creating productive employment opportunities in the war-affected north.
Land was stolen under the aegis of the government in broad day light with blatant disregard for civilized norms.
Former LTTE cadres were recruited into the services of the armed forces and given a long leash to prey, spy and exploit the Tamils.
Former LTTE bigwigs -the sharks- were also pampered and given undue and undeserved importance, while the small fry were imprisoned without due process or after rehabilitation, continuously harassed.
There was scant concern for the feeling of the near and dear of the war-missing, who constituted a significant proportion of the population.
The government failed to TRUST the Tamils and empower them politically.
The government failed to recognise that the Tamils had genuine and long standing grievances that had outlived and survived the LTTE.
The government was under the illusion that the infrastructure CAKE it was offering was the substitute for the BREAD of political power-sharing the Tamils were demanding and had paid a heavy price for.
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran
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Ram / September 25, 2014
Trust is something earned, and after the brutal 30-year war, the northern Tamil political leadership was untrustworthy in anybody’s book. The TNA was the creation of the LTTE terrorists, still led by the same failed leadership. The President would have had to be utterly naïve to have put even a grain of trust in them.
Wigneswaran on the other hand was trusted to a great extent, and even mentioned as ‘the common candidate’ at the next presidential election, but yet became a turncoat the moment he realised he wanted the TNA leadership at any cost. Now he dreams of running foreign affairs from his castle in the air in Jaffna. Sri Lanka has had a narrow escape.
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Salted Fish / September 27, 2014
Ram
You have clearly stated the mission statement of the Rajapakse regime. This what Mahinda, Gotabaya, Kehilia etc were saying to undermine the elected Tamil leadership and C Wigneswaran.
I guess you are a Sinhalese wearing a Tamil coat (of Ram) to propagate the government agenda.
Hope you will not get the share of the 12.5% increase in the defence spending of the government.
The name Ram is Godly. Why not change it MAR (Mahinda Rajapakse) to extend the government’s campaign.
Dr Rajasingham has put forward some very serious issues. Instead of responding, you have gone on the rant.
You are in fact a turncoat.
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Hameed / September 25, 2014
Goodness me is this guy still around with his hackneyed piffle defending the prez like as if he was a saint? Doesn’t he know the buck stops with the prez?
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Bensen Burner / September 25, 2014
Dr. Wijesinghe, are you trying to make out that Rajapaksa’s war against the LTTE was not a war against the Tamil people? When you refer to the Tamils who were liberated are you referring to the Tamil refugee families who were kept within barbed wired fences many of whom are still trying to eke out an existence? Is one to presume that we are in for another 12 articles relating to this matter on Rajapaksa’s hypocrisy for God’s sake. Is there any chance that you could spare the reader of this drudgery? One should be most grateful. Bensen
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Mahesan Nirmalan / September 25, 2014
Dr Romesh Seneviratne Alagaratnam/ Dr Rajasingham Narendran, the list of events that both of you have provided is merely a manifestation (or a symptom) of a deep-seated ideology. This ideology – commonly referred to as the ‘Jathika Chintanaya’ was articulated by the likes of Dr Gunadasa Amarasekara and Prof Nalin de Silva. From a somewhat dormant form in the previous decades, it was brought to the forefront (or rather re-articulated) in the 70s onwards by this group. The ideology is based on the concept that the whole of Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhala Buddhist community or the ‘Hela Jathiya’ and the culture of Sri Lanka should rightly be based around the Tank, Temple and the Dagoba. Everything else is alien and cannot claim to be part of the ‘Hela Boomiya’. They detest the concept of an inclusive ‘Sri Lankan identity’ that gives other ethnic minorities their rightful place and in this context they share several similarities with the Tamil separatists.
As far as I know, people like Dr Dayan Jayatillake or Prof Rajiva Wijesinha did NOT contribute to this ideology at any stage due to their wider reading of the situation and elite academic/social backgrounds. Consequently – as far as the ‘Jathika Chintanaya electorate’ was concerned, the two of them (and many other sinhalese from similar backgrounds) were ‘Thuppai’ traitors and greater enemies of the ‘Hela Jathiya’ than even the LTTE. That is why DJ lost his job and that is why RW has been marginalised now. The regime used them for their tremendous intellect and their ability to be articulate in handling the International community during the war, but once the job was done they were discarded as they were potentially big liabilities for the electoral success of the ruling family……that is the fact, and I can bet my last dollar that both RW and DJ know this in their hearts. (by the way I do not know either of them personally nor have I been paid a ‘comis’ for writing this)
The ‘students’ of Prof Nalin de Silva and Dr Gunadasa Amarasekara in the 80s and 90s are now men/women in high positions and the list include some of the very prominent members and high officials of JHU, NFF and I suspect even the Ministry of Defence. This is the background within which these debates are taking place. I honestly do NOT believe that the President himself contributes to this ideology, but am not sure about some of his immediate family members who control the security forces. The serious difficulty now facing the ruling family is that the the call for ‘Jathika Chintanaya’ and the consequent marginalization of all ethnic minorities is a strategy with a very limited shelf life and one of diminishing returns. The ‘battle calls’ that have to be made using fringe groups such as the BBS or RB, will invariably marginalise all minorities including the Muslims and Christians and the Sinhala Buddhist electorate – with its high literacy rates and built-in (or cultivated) leanings towards love, fairness and ‘Sadaranaya’, is bound to see through the hypocrisy of it all. The erosion of the very values based on the noble teachings of Lord Buddha – recently highlighted by Mr Sunil Perera from the Gypsies (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB4iS0LIQ3A&feature=youtu.be) is very obvious to this electorate and the ruling family is bound to pay the price for this greatest betrayal of all…….the betrayal of the true Sinhala Buddhist values of ‘Muditha’, ‘Meththa’ and ‘Karuna’ at every level in society. Sad but true.
It is not my intention to be patronising towards either of you when I write this comment, but these are some facts/personal impressions, that I thought members of this forum should know. Many people who make some vile comments here slandering people like DJ, RW or anyone else who do not contribute to one of their extreme visions for the country and its people I love – are in my view, either ignorant of this background or are ‘planted mercenaries’.
Best wishes
Dr Mahesan Nirmalan
Manchester Medical School
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Dev / September 25, 2014
I will let Native Veddha give you details of the vacillating positions Dayan has taken in the past 2 decades since the short lived North-East PC. He changes his position to whatever benefits him.
If Dayan was more broad minded then why join a regime very early on itself had shown its ugly face (long before the terrorists were defeated)?
They are too many to list but lest we forget shall we remember the many who were forcefully evicted from Colombo for “security” that the SC had to stop? Why did they stay silent?
What about the murder of Lasantha?? Why did Dayan who you so beautifully defended stay silent and more importantly continue to stay with the regime???
Dayan/Rajiva are simply the other side of the same coin!
Rajiva has been with the regime for years, the argument that he can do something being inside than out no longer holds, then why does he not quit???
Perks !!
Have you not read the clear succinct article a few days ago by Shayamon:
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/dayan-at-the-cross-roads/
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Native Vedda / September 25, 2014
Dev
“I will let Native Veddha give you details of the vacillating positions Dayan has taken in the past 2 decades since the short lived North-East PC. He changes his position to whatever benefits him.”
Where do you want me to start and where do you want me to stop? I wouldn’t know where to stop?
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Dev / September 26, 2014
I still remember him (Dayan) advocating Douglas for the CM’s post. So much for his “intellect” that Mahesan here talks about.
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Native Vedda / September 26, 2014
Dev
Here is something that Dr Jackyll and Hide wrote in 2012 opposing elections to provincial council in the North instead proposing an interim council and he recommended few people to the Council:
“It can consist entirely of Tamil political and civic personalities of proven moderate views and non/anti-Tiger track records such as SC Chandrahasan (Mr SJV Chelvanayakam’s son), V Anandasangaree, D Siddharthan of PLOTE, Sritharan (‘Sugu’) of the EPRLF, Nesan Shanker Raji of EROS and Douglas Devananda.”
Have you heard of any of the proposed team members?
Please read the full article below:
Set up an interim administration for North comprising non-anti LTTE moderate Tamils under a distinguished Tamil Governor
13 February 2012, 8:41 pm
by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
If there is any point on which broad social and national consensus is obtainable it is precisely the flawed character of the CFA and its results. This criticism is not limited to Sinhala and Tamil hardliners.
A serious scholarly study by the Norwegians has produced a Western liberal critique.
None of it has had the slightest effect on Mr Wickremesinghe. He refuses to confront the fact that the CFA was seriously lopsided in favour of the Tigers because at the time of signing, the LTTE was on the back-foot, with its leaders dodging the deep-penetration operations of the LRRP which had already taken out six key figures, including Shanker, who had planned the raid on Katunayake.
Mr Wickremesinghe obviously sees nothing wrong in the CFA that allowed the Tigers to move into areas they could not win through battle, including Jaffna, while the Sri Lankan state could not move reciprocally into Tiger controlled areas. He is totally devoid of regret over the throwing to the wolves or rather the Tigers, of Directorate of Military Intelligence operatives over the infamous Athurugiriya safe house case, which was never heard of again.
He has no regrets about facilitating the transferring sensitive electronic communications gear to the Tigers, permitting them to bring in sensitive military equipment including underwater gear unchecked through the Customs, and permitting the uplink through Rupavahini of Prabhakaran’s Hitlerian Mahaveera day speeches.
He sees nothing wrong in the murder (doubtless by the most painful means imaginable) of several dozens of Tamil personnel working for Sri Lankan intelligence and special operations, during the CFA, partly as a result of the disclosures during the interrogations of the DMI personnel. He has no problems with a CFA during which a senior police officer was killed by the Tigers in Dehiwela and Major Muthaliph slain in Pamankada.
He has no word of self-doubt about the CFA during which the Tigers built up their forces to a point that access to Trincomalee harbour was threatened by insurgent heavy guns.
Mr Wickremesinghe does not share the sense of national humiliation that the entire period of the CFA generated, nor is he sensitive to that feeling. He remains resolutely incapable of self-criticism on any score on any matter whatsoever, including the drastic devaluation under his leadership, of the electoral and political fortunes of his part.
Mr Wickremesinghe’s latest statement reveals that he and his party will remain decisively vulnerable targets of patriotic criticism at any future election, however shop-worn the nationalist project may have become by that time.
He has also demonstrated by this new statement—which is not entirely devoid of accurate and sensible points—that he is producing for the political ‘export market’, not for the domestic one; and if it is for the domestic market at all, it is for a slender minoritarian niche.
He appears to be positioning himself as part of an externally propelled strategy of regime change. In sum, he remains a puppet and a proxy and is determined to remain so. It is his comfort zone, and so long as he inhabits it with his dwindling party, the power-bloc is comfortable too.
Quaint and quirky as Mr Wickremesinghe’s antics are, much more important is the current confusion in the polity, over devolution and the dialogue with the TNA. Some seem to think that it is dangerous to enable the TNA to take control of the Northern Provincial Council and that therefore the 13th amendment should either be scrapped, shelved or subverted, while others assume that there is nothing politically the matter with the TNA and even if there were, it would be a greater travesty to tamper with devolution of powers to the provinces in order to forestall a takeover by the TNA.
I think the debate is wholly wrong-headed and posits a zero-sum game when there need not be one. Certainly we have a serious strategic conundrum: conceding to the TNA which has yet to accept the 13th amendment (and says it ‘rejects’ it) and/or criticise the terrorism of the Tigers, full provincial powers at the strategic Northern rim adjacent to a hostile Tamil nadu; powers including an armed police force easily convertible into a militia, would be utterly imprudent.
Conversely, scrapping or tampering with the existing 13th amendment would take us back to the 1980s in terms of our relations with the Tamil community as well as with our giant neighbour and the world beyond.
I must digress at this point to commend strongly, two relatively recent reports which contain brilliant suggestions as to how to proceed painlessly, with, within and upon the basis of the 13th amendment—one by young constitutional lawyer Asanga Welikela in his study of the Eastern Provincial Council and the others by the low-profile Institute of Constitutional Studies (ICS).
To return to my main point, a bit of clear thinking can help and a gradualist approach may provide a solution. Until the TNA comes to its senses, it can remain the voice of the Tamil people of the North in the country’s important legislature. It is neither necessary to hold Northern Provincial Council elections now, nor dilute the powers devolved under the 13th amendment.
It is by no means necessary to prolong the present politico-institutional vacuum in the North. Existing legislation and presidential power permit the setting up of an Interim Administration or Interim Council. This was declared by JR Jayewardene in September 1987 and rejected by Prabhakaran, and considered on several occasions by President Kumaratunga, while never implemented.
This then is the way to cut the Gordian knot: set up an Interim Administration for the North, vested with the powers of the 13th amendment except perhaps for police powers.
It can consist entirely of Tamil political and civic personalities of proven moderate views and non/anti-Tiger track records such as SC Chandrahasan (Mr SJV Chelvanayakam’s son), V Anandasangaree, D Siddharthan of PLOTE, Sritharan (‘Sugu’) of the EPRLF, Nesan Shanker Raji of EROS and Douglas Devananda.
Appoint a distinguished Tamil governor for the province. Let the TNA speak out and participate in parliament. A prolonged peacetime spell in a parliamentary political life at the centre will draw that party out of its ethnic enclave and dysfunctional ‘domestic Diaspora’ mentality, absorbing the MPs into the mainstream.
Meanwhile, the youth (who embody the future) and private enterprise must conceive and construct a new, inclusive, pluralist Sri Lankan identity at the social, cultural, artistic, economic and inter-personal levels, quite irrespective of the politicians.
http://transcurrents.com/news-views/archives/8001
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / September 25, 2014
Dr.Mahesan Nirmalan,
Thanks for your input. The gibberish underlining the ‘Jathika Chinthanaya’ as titled now, had come into focus at independence, though it was emerging in the 1930’s. This was then the ‘Dutugemunu Principle’ of total domination over all minorities by the Sinhala-Buddhist majority and over time the absorption of the minorities identities into the Sinhala-Buddhist identity. Some aspects of it were also described as the ‘majority with a minority mindset syndrome’ at one time. It was poetically likened to Dutugemunu lying down in his bed curved up and having dificulty sleeping, because he was hemmed in by the Tamils on one side and the deep blue sea on the other!
Making the Tamils, a ‘manageable’ minority was one step in this process of removing the Tamils hemming in the Dutugemunus on one side! Creating conditions for their exodus, as was done with the Burghers and subsequently the Tamils, was part of this grand scheme. The disenfranchisement of the Tamils of Indian origin soon after independence was the first step in this direction. Sinhala only, multiple communal riots and the standardizations schemes were all part of a grand design.
The Tamil insurrection and the LTTE phenomenon, helped accelarate this process tremendously. It was manna from the heavens to the Dutugemunus. Now it is the turn of the Muslims.
It is the Nazi philosophy being applied with greater sophistication in a step by step manner. It is a relentless and extremely well focused march. Nothing can stop it, though events may slow it. The Rajapakses and the leaders before them are only foot soldiers, who are rewarded with power and wealth, for marching to the beat of the behind the scenes drummers.
Fortunately, this grand design is not known to the vast majority of the Sinhala-Buddhist population. If they knew they will be shocked, shamed and furious. There is a shadowy ‘Papal Conclave’ that is directing this grand design and its progress. ‘Dutugemunu’ is on the march yet!
I have been insisting the Sinhala people-the vast majority- should be treated as the friends, sympathisers and backers of the Tamils and other minorities. They should not be confounded for the Dutugememunu-principle minority amongst them. They should not be treated as THE enemies.
They are one of the most decent people in this world. Their decency has been shamelessly exploited by the Dutugemunu-principle pilots. They have been sinned against more than the minorities. They are blamed for sins that they did not commit. We should work with them to weed out the Dutugemunu principle that is destroying the body and soul of this beautiful isle.
Dr.RN
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Native Vedda / September 25, 2014
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran
While we are on vast majority of Sinhalaese/Tamils/Muslims, etc its worth reading the following article published some years ago:
Op-Ed: Why the Peaceful Majority is Irrelevant
History lessons are often incredibly simple.
Published: Sunday, March 18, 2007 4:46 PM
I used to know a man whose family were German aristocracy prior to World War II. They owned a number of large industries and estates. I asked him how many German people were true Nazis, and the answer he gave has stuck with me and guided my attitude toward fanaticism ever since.
“Very few people were true Nazis,” he said, “but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.”
We are told again and again by experts and talking heads that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unquantified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars world wide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behea
The fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.
d, murder, or execute honor killings. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard, quantifiable fact is that the “peaceful majority” is the “silent majority,” and it is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people. The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a war-mongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across Southeast Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians – most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet. And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery? Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were “peace loving”?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt; yet, for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by the fanatics. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because, like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Bosnians, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians and many others, have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us, watching it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts: the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/6996#.VCREQvldUsY
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / September 26, 2014
Native Vedda,
The SILENT or SILENCED majority in any community, country or in the world-at-large, ultimately pay the price for their silence in many ways and carry the burden of historical guilt. In the context of a Sri Lanka the majority of Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims are no different. The dumbing of the silent and silenced permits the noise and misdeeds of the likes of the modern day Dutugemunus and Ellalans to prevail and wreak havoc. A democracy cannot function through regular elections -which in the case of Sri Lanka have become the sea shore fish auction- alone. Without vibrant civil society activism, intellectual activism and a vibrant -honest to question and expose- media and of course a JUST and hawk-eyed judiciary, democracy is rendered a whore-house. The noise and the malice of the few, becomes the burden of the many!
Dr.RN
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Dev / September 26, 2014
if memory serves me right, our dear Dayan wanted Douglas (someone who is accused in India of murder) to be our chief minister !
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / September 26, 2014
Yes. Dayan has been a persistent promoter of Douglas Devananda. This was in line with what the MR government desired. It was part of a grand design to fashion a leadership acceptable in tune with the ‘ Dutugemunu Principles’ for the Tamils- a Vichy France situation.
Dr.RN
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Native Vedda / September 26, 2014
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran
Premadasa and Mahinda used to have two Rottweilers when they met difficult dignitaries.
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Anpu / September 25, 2014
Mahesan,
“either ignorant of this background ” You are one of the ignorant one. Please read Dev message. Dev September 25, 2014 at 5:43 pm..
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Anpu / September 25, 2014
“One of the main speakers in the Stalinist Study Circle ( STC), who spoke about the Tamil rights and their right for self determination and who justified the Tamils armed struggle, was Dayan Jayatilleke. Not only that, he and his comrades formed an armed organisation called “Vikalpa Kandayama.”
With the leftist ideologies as their base, the STC joined with some of the Eelam liberation organisations, and worked for the self-determination for the Tamils. I used to meet them in Kandy and Colombo and had discussions with them. (Nobody can underestimate the impact of the analysis and sharp explanations put forward by Dayan Jayatillake on the liberation wars in the third world and on oppression by imperialists worldwide.)
Vikalpa Kandayama was banned in 1986 on the accusation that it conspired to topple the Sri Lankan government. Dayan Jayatilake went into hiding. The Sri Lankan police and the armed forces were combing the country looking for him. When he was about to be captured, he contacted me.
Even many of the good friends of Dayan Jayatilake refused to help me when he had to flee from his hiding place in Colombo. In the end, we managed to take him from his hiding place to another safe place outside Colombo. We did this after taking him to see the late Vijaya Kumaratunge, actor and husband of Chandrika Kumaratunge, at midnight. Vijay Kumaratunge helped me. (In this regard, without even asking his wife Chandrika or anybody else, he helped me immediately. He was a unique person.)
Dayan Jayatilleke later escaped to India. Then, after getting pardoned by the SL government, he came back to Sri Lanka and became a minister in a Regional Council.
What is Jayatillake, a person who moved intimately with the Tamil liberation organisations, doing today? Today, he writes without cease how the Tiger liberation struggle should be crushed. “
http://www.tamilnation.co/forum/sivaram/041010.htm
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Robert.R / September 25, 2014
By accusing others of being planted mercenaries are you not any different from the government that accuses anyone who criticizes it as a “terrorist”? Why is it that you cannot tolerate any differing views?
As for Dayan/Rajiva and Tamara, I think these quotes by the great Martin Luther King Jr. are very suitable,
1) The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
2) Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
3) In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
4) The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.
And finally, especially for Rajiva,
A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
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Dr Romesh Senewiratne-Alagaratnam / September 26, 2014
Dr Mahesan Nirmalan,
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, which I did not find patronizing in the least. I agree that Sinhalese nationalism has been a problem when it comes to peace and harmony in Sri Lanka. So has Tamil nationalism.
Unfortunately nationalism tends to assume the superiority of ones own nation with corresponding devaluation of the achievements of other nations and peoples.
Romesh
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Sarath Fernando / September 26, 2014
Dear Mahesan,
It is very laudable that you almost single handedly thrust yourself to defend Dayan and Rajiva based solely on your conviction that they have been unfairly slandered. However, what is disappointing is that you fail to establish why you would characterize any of the very many criticisms in this forum as slander – don’t you think establishing that should have been your first step, if your conviction deserves any respect?
Before going further, let me take the lowest point of your commentary, which is the statement “Many people who make some vile comments here slandering people like DJ, RW or anyone else who do not contribute to one of their extreme visions for the country and its people I love – are in my view, either ignorant of this background or are ‘planted mercenaries’.” This is typical “Dayanish” defence – not unlike Dayan’s pronouncement as “domestic Diaspora” anyone who didn’t support Mahinda, anyone who supported Ranil, and anyone who favoured an independent investigation of the occurrence at Nandikadal.
Let me ask you one very simple question, even if you do not want to address any of my other observations that follow.
If you sincerely believe that the criticisms presented here are by “planted mercenaries” can you enlighten us as to WHO YOU THINK are funding these “mercenaries”? Is it the diaspora, is it Ranil, is it Mahinda, is it GL or Bogols, is it India, or is it the Western colonialists? What would be their motivation in funding these “mercenaries” to slander Dayan or Rajiva? What would be the pay-off? If you do not have any answer for this, then don’t you think you are the one who is committing slander (defined as “saying something false and malicious”?
Mahesan, the common and unrelenting revulsion you witness in the blogs that follow Dayan’s and Rajiva’s articles results not from any disrespect for their academic achievements, but rather for their unhesitant willingness to prostitute their earned talents for vile privileges, so unbecoming of academics, intellects and diplomats, the various hats they yearn to wear. Remember the audience revulsion for the Hungarian Professor Zoltan Karpathy in My Fair Lady – it was not that he was any less of an academic!
Do you think Mahinda slandered Dayan in the Aljazeera interview when he implied Dayan was prostituting for an NGO? If it was a slander, how come Dayan could not defend any more than merely, meekly asking “can the President name the NGO?” The issue was not whether he was working for an NGO or not, but rather whtat the President was willing to declare about Dayan’s integrity to the global media.
Your suggestion “The regime used them for their tremendous intellect and their ability to be articulate” is laughable. Let me tell you why. When the President had to deliver a speech in Australia, I believe in one of the UN sessions in 2010 or so, he asked neither Dayan the Political Scientist for his intellect nor the Professor of English for his articulation – instead the President paid a high-schooler from Pottinger group rather handsomely for that task. When the issue came up post-delivery, Dayan confessed that he wasn’t even aware that the President needed a speech written – no one even bothered to mention that to him. That is how much the regime depended on Dayan’s intellect or Rjiva’s language skills. What the regime wanted was willing soullessness (hence the President’s conviction that he expressed on Aljazeera), but properly masked by academic covers adequate to hoodwink internationals – it was neither the intellect nor the articulation that was of concern.
When the prudence of victory celebrations was discussed in the year after the war, Dayan, in his enthusiasm to curry favour of the admin through pseudo-patriotism, very aggressively supported majoritarian excesses expressly stating that “after all it is the majoritarian aspirations for domination that was behind the protests against apartheid” Do you really think that Dayan, the “venerated” Political Scientist, didn’t know better? Wasn’t he playing to the gallery? Why else did he make that assertion?
When discussions surfaced on the need for independent investigations later in 2009 (in the pre-Channel 5 period), many in the civil society in the South indeed expressed the wisdom of seeking fairness to all, not just to the majority. The wisdom was that “Justice must not only be done, but must also appear to be done” Both Dayan and Rajiva championed to shut up that possibility, demonizing any pro-investigation initiatives as that of the dreaded “civil types” or “domestic Diaspora,” one of the many among Dayan’s canards.
What is the worst thing that would have happened if the country had agreed to the independent investigation in 2009 promptly? A stitch in time saves nine! How much has snowballed in between the 2009 and 2014 UN sessions? Couldn’t the country have saved all this cumulative repugnant embarrassment in the last five years and be well on its way to reconciliation among all brethren. Who, if not Dayan and Rajiva are responsible for pushing the country to become such an international outcast? Now, both Dayan and Rajiva want to distance themselves and point fingers at everyone else – the Diaspora, Foreign Ministry, Rajpaksa’s, and any they can find. And, you think it is the rest of the world slandering your heros!
Mahesan, you are indeed correct in one aspect: there certainly is much ignorance involved in how Dayan and Rajiva are being assessed – however, I am sure you are now convinced that unfortunately your finger was pointed in the very wrong direction!
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Robert.R / September 26, 2014
Beautiful, no other word can suffice.
Dayan has been laid bare naked and exposed for the world to see what he is really like.
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kali / September 26, 2014
Dr:
For once you are talking without a heavy night of boozing with your Thevaram Friend. But what a sobering thought paying the following compliment to RW & DY.
It is not my intention to be patronising towards either of you when I write this comment, but these are some facts/personal impressions, that I thought members of this forum should know. Many people who make some vile comments here slandering people like DJ, RW or anyone else who do not contribute to one of their extreme visions for the country and its people I love – are in my view, either ignorant of this background or are ‘planted mercenaries’.
*** Actions speak louder than words and RW & DJ although might not have played a part in the Genocide but are equally culpable in trying to help MR hide the Forensic Evidence of Genocide. In that sense they are more dangerous than those who preach hatred through their writing. So don’t patronise us by painting a picture that both are innocent.
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Asoka Adhihetty / September 25, 2014
Has he brought all these issues to the notice of the President ? Has he briefed the UPFA Parliamentarians on these failures ? Has he brought out these issues during parliamentary debates ? The answers to all these questions are a firm NO. If he cannot get his viewpoint across to the President or the UPFA rank and file should he remain a parliamentarian ? Given this situation, should not he resign from the UPFA National List ?
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Indra / September 25, 2014
“All these inadequacies need to be discussed. I propose to do this through an assessment of those in whom the President reposed trust but who, in fulfilling their own agendas, failed to deliver what he and the country needed.”
President REPOSED trust. (ha, ha)
This article is vintage intellectual prostitution!
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JHK / September 25, 2014
There is this common lie going around that Sri Lanka somehow defied India to defeat the LTTE
India was the number 1 players in helping end the war.
They had commandos using chemical weapons on the ground during the latter stages of the war.
They helped the LTTE many years before that.
But decided to get rid off them later
You have to discard the silly idea that a foreign nation only supports one side.
Watch the Blood Diamond movie where the South African mercenery group help the rebels in Sierra leone in the beginning but later help the Sierra Leone government defeat them. Hollywood is giving hints to how real life global politics occur
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Mahesan Nirmalan / September 25, 2014
Anpu/Dr RN thanks. The key point in all this is that over the past 30 years or so there were many opportunities that could have been grasped to marginalise this ‘Jathika Chintanaya’ (JC) Group and rectify this ‘relentless march’ alluded to by Dr RN. President Premadasa and President Kumarathunga in particular offered the ‘Tamil leadership’ at the time several opportunities. These however were squandered away……because the Tamils started to believe in their own propaganda. The role the Tamil diaspora played in believing and – to an extent, propagating some of these ‘myths’ that gave the space for the LTTE to squander away these opportunities is – in my view, simply inexcusable. That is what I have personally being trying to highlight through the brief comments I make in these columns. While, highlighting the anti-minority agenda orchestrated by the JC Group, it is absolutely vital that we all stick to principles that are just, acceptable to all reasonable Sri Lankans (the likes of DJ/RW included), all sections of the Community (that includes Sinhalese living in the North/East, Muslims, the Indian Tamil population and the wider Region. It CANNOT be based on the “Aanda paramparai meendum oru murai aaza ninaipathil thavarenna” mindset (What is wrong in the people who ruled once wanting to rule again) or other historical myths that the country has been donated to the ‘Sasana’ by the ancient Royalty.
The basic components of this approach should include:
1. Commitment to Tri-lingualism
2. Commitment to the development of an ‘Inclusive Sri Lankan identity’ that allows all groups of people to protect and cherish their own identities within a united Sri Lanka
3. Decentralisation of power to the extent (and only to the extent) that it does not lead to the disintegration of the country along ethnic lines.
4. Commitment to the free movement of all people to all parts of the country
5. Control of the police, judiciary and electoral commissions by an independent authority free of political interference
In following these goals change is inevitable. Just like the movement of people to Eastham, Toronto, Leicester, Glasgow, Paris etc. etc. has led to irreversible changes in these societies, the North and East of Sri Lanka will also change……we will change….and our children will change…..that is inevitable. We need to embrace these changes positively because ‘Palayana kalithalum puthiyana puhuthalum vazuwala’ (The loss of old ways and the acquisition of new ways is not wrong). Change – as depicted by the cosmic dance of Shiva is ever present and inevitable.
Dr Mahesan Nirmalan
Manchester Medical School
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Robert.R / September 26, 2014
While what you say is all true (in this post) you have very conveniently avoided the points raised by
Anpu
Dev
Native
about the positions of Dayan and Rajiva that are based on their on survival and promotion than national identity. You initially started by defending these two who have remained with the government for their benefit while (as I highlighted using Martin Luther’s quotes) stronger, more honest men would have stood up to be counted.
Are you accepting that Dayan and Rajiva are not the men the country needs but mere weak souls who are looking out for their own good ? (nothing wrong with that but let us at least be honest and accept that rather than have pretensions of greater good like these two have)
Two questions good sir,
1) You also sign your replies highlighting your position, I wonder why? Do you want some extra respect of your qualification? Are you expecting your replies to be accepted without question due to this reason?
I raised appoint about calling anyone who disagrees with your view as planted mercenaries, you avoided answering that.
2) You mention loving the country, why not come back and serve the country rather than preach from afar?
Thank you,
Robert
(just a regular guy who does a regular job) to put food on the table for my family and I)
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / September 26, 2014
Dr. Mahesan Nirmalan,
I was one who thought that May’ 2009 would be the turning point in Sri Lanka’s modern history. I thought all of us had learned an unforgettable lesson. I was wrong. While the ordinary Tamils and Sinhalese who have continued to live in Sri Lanka, have been taught a lesson, many of their politicians and political activists have not been. The government and the Dutugemunus who back it, have drawn the wrong conclusion from the lessons and have assumed that the war-wariness of the Tamils, gives them the right to go for the final kill, in terms of achieving their long term Dutugemunu objectives. The Tamil leadership, as represented by the likes of Sambanthan, Sumanthiran and Wigneswaran have learned their lessons, though the discordant noise of the hot-empty-heads are yet heard,
The Tamil leadership – civil and militant- no doubt have through fool hardiness and deluded by the illusions that were self created, have apparently missed several golden opportunities in terms of their reactions. However, I wonder whether these opportunities would have reached fruition even if the Tamil leadership had reacted as we think they should have. The elections to the NPC was an opportunity, the Tamil leadership and the Tamils reacted to positively and democratically. However, the results were not to the liking of the government and the Dutugemunus, We see the consequences unfold on a daily basis now. This was the minimum the Tamils opted for and is in our constitution. When the Dutugemunus have no will, the Tamils will have no way!
It is said in Tamil, ” Verndaatha pendil, thottalum kutram, thodavittalum kutram ( whatever an unwanted wife does -touches or does not touch – is a mistake)”. We Tamils, in fact all minorities, are in an (for now) un-winnable situation, due to the yet unrelenting march of the Dutugemunus. In American parlance, there seems to be no alternative for the minorities but to ‘ Circle the caravans’ in the interest of self preservation. We have to draw into our shells to preserve our identities, values, heritage, culture and way of life. Jingoism, violence and empty rhetoric are not of course the answer. We should do what we can by ourselves to strengthen the Tamil community living in the north, east and the hill country, educationally, socially, culturally and economically. It has to be an internal process. We have to remain and thrive as Tamils within Sri Lanka, come what may. This requires realism, wisdom, vision, some pride, awareness of our rich heritage and unflinching determination.
Dr. Rajasingham Narendran
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BBS agent / September 26, 2014
Narendran, You guys have clearly fashioned your own predicament.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / September 26, 2014
BBS agent,
Fashioned or fathomed?
Dr.RN
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Dev / September 26, 2014
The regime used them for their tremendous intellect …..
Since you claim to not know them but that of course did not stop you from defending them, can you speculate why these two (especially Rajiva) continue to stay with the regime despite their “intellect” ???
Five years surely given their intellect they should realize it is not working…..
Didn’t their intellect work when Lasantha was slaughtered in board daylight ?
I wait your defense of these two !
Your arguments in their defense holds no water.
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Dev / September 26, 2014
This maybe a repost, sorry, my internet got cut while posting this comment.
Dayan in this article a few days ago on CT:
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-morning-after-uva-govt-and-opposition-at-the-crossroads/ (emphasis mine)
If Mahinda wins the Presidential election—which is likely, and may I say, would not be undeserved
So if Dayan has been sidelined by the racists and he is so full of intellect (you called him an intellectual not me) why is he still groveling behind the president and supporting him? (other than for perks and privileges ?)
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / September 26, 2014
Dr.Mahesan Nirmalan,
Please read the following link for my response to Niro Disanayake’s article on ‘Why Prabaharan is the best friend of the Sinhalese’ in 2005:
http://www.tamilweek.com/DutugemunuStrategy_EllalanResponce_1030.html
Dr.RN
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Mahesan Nirmalan / September 26, 2014
Robert, thanks. I believe that people who comment on public matters in public fora, must clearly take responsibility for what they say and what they write. Hence, I wish to declare my identity and I find it hard to take comments made by others in anonymity…….unless there is a good reason for doing so. If you go through the comments in CT in response to some well thought out arguments you will see abuse, filth, hate-mongering, character assassination etc. etc. none of which are helpful in getting to what’re we all – you and I included, want to get to. I have no problems with opposing views, but I do have a problem with hate mongering in anonymity.
As far as DJ and RW are concerned, I do not know them sufficiently to pass judgement either way. All I would say is that they have the integrity to say what they want to say clearly and in an articulate way. In judging events one always has to take the intention (‘ulnokkam” in Tamil and “Chetanawa” in Sinhala) into account. It is true that many people (including DJ) may have changed their views on Tamil resistance that came up in the wake of 1959, 1977 and 1983…….and that is because the Nature of Tamil resistance changed to a point it became a cancer within the Tamil Society and war became inevitable. I was in the Nallur Temple amongst thousands of other refugees when fighting started with the IPKF. The modus-operandi of the LTTE convinced me on the day of one very very sad fact……….this ‘highly malignant cancer’ cannot be controlled without very ‘radical surgery and chemotherapy’. Significant damage to the civilians was the inevitable outcome. I do not think that people who defended the government and the army at the time can automatically be labelled as the baddies. It all depends on their motives:
If the war was fought and the actions of the government at the time was defended with the intention of creating a fair country we can all call home…….just like the death and destruction inflicted at the battlefields of ‘Kurushestra’ I do not see a problem with that…….after all that is what Lord Krishna did……all those lies and deceptions……..because the motive was the destruction of evil.
If on the other hand the motive behind the war and it’s defence in public fora was for the creation of a Sinhala Buddhist country and the total domination of the minorities, what happened…..all those deaths…….all those mutilations become a huge crime against humanity. In the case of RW and DJ, I simply do not know their “Chethanawas”…….it is only they, in their very private moments will know that.
Thanks for giving me an opportunity to express these views. It is almost therapeutic.
Dr Mahesan Nirmalan
Manchester Medical School
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Mahesan Nirmalan / September 26, 2014
Dear Sarath, I have no issues with opposing views expressed with respect and the writer has the integrity to take responsibility for what is written by clearly identifying himself/herself. But I do have problems with slander, character assassination and abuse made in anonymity……that is not helpful. I have elaborated on this further in my previous reply to ‘Robert’
Best wishes
Nirmalan
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Burning_Issue / September 26, 2014
Nirmalan,
“But I do have problems with slander, character assassination and abuse made in anonymity”
Why do you think people on these forums use anonymity? Is it because they want to slander people? There are ample evidences exist showing that the regime is unscrupulous and uses white vans to abduct, torture, and murder people for dissent. The regime not only target those who are suspected of dissent but also harass the relatives and friends.
Many people who contribute on these forums using anonymity articulate eloquently. DJ and RW have these forums to counter any accusations that they face. If they deem such accusations as slanders, of course they can expose such individuals. You came to their defence without fully comprehending the vicissitude of debates, avalanche of articles from DJ, accusations and counter accusations that took place on these forums. People did not just start accusing DJ and RW for hypocrisy and arrogation for sake of slandering them. DJ and RW themselves have earned such a reputation by their perfidious and surreptitious methods that they employed.
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Robert.R / September 26, 2014
You really have not replied to my questions especially my second question, you profess love to this country but live in UK, why?
Are you no different to the diaspora who want Tamil eelam living in Toronto but won’t send their kids to die for it ? I call that hypocrisy.
Please don’t count “visiting” I mean come back and live here if its so great.
As for not replying to people who post anonymously, again easy for you to say living safely in UK, the former president of this country CBK feels threatened by the tapping/surveillance then what about the ordinary folks?
I think Sarath Fernando seems to have given even more evidence about Dayan (not that I needed convincing).
To me Dayan is a hanger on, that sucked up to Premadasa, sucked up to Mahinda and now getting ready to suck Sajith if he comes to power. (apparently CBK turned his overtures down).
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Dev / September 26, 2014
Not only Chandrika, Ranil too turned him down I suspect, hence the hatred Dayan has for him.
I am no fan of Chandrika or Ranil but I think they were wiser than we gave them at least in this instance.
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Dev / September 26, 2014
Well we maybe posting anonymously but let us pause and listen to what Mahinda, the president of this country says to Al Jazeera (around minute 18)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EClY1E7_5Fw
In that he says Dayan works for a powerful NGO against the country (the country you claim to LOVE).
So what do you say to that? Are you still supporting Dayan who is working against the country you LOVE?
Alternate explanation to his sacking:
He was not sidelined because the regime used their “intellect” and no longer needed them but maybe because he was a traitor?
Are you now going to accuse the president of this country of being a planted mercenary too?
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Sarath Fernando / September 27, 2014
Dear Mahesan Nirmalan,
I am afraid your response can only be described as utterly pathetic — a rather lame and disingenuous copout.
First of all, having denounced the Dayan/RW critics as possible “planted merceneries”, you do need to have the courage and the integrity to answer the simple inevitable questions ” WHO DO YOU THINK are funding these mercenaries, what is the motivation and what would be the pay-off?” Without an answer to that, you become not merely a slanderer, but a rather nauseous hypocrite as well! Anyhow, I will let you give that a thought.
Your now resorting to blame the issue as related to anonymity of comments is nothing but an old-hack used by Dayan, the now-invisible David Blacker, both Rajasingham brothers among a few other like-minded ones, who have all now wised up to the futility of that attempt. Do you not even understand the rationale behind the “witness protection” initiative?
If you are truly unable to even fathom the reason why given the Sri Lankan environment over several decades now, many have wisely opted to remain anonymous, then I am sad to say you have no business trying to write anything even bordering on reality about the Sri Lankan crisis. Period!
If it is the quality of the anonymous comments that you take issue with, I have a constructive suggestion for you. No doubt you have heard the dictum about “ballage wade” and “booruwage wade”. Have confidence in the CT editorial board to decide how to define, handle and control any inappropriate comments or behaviour– and if you have any suggestions on the standards they set and maintain, kindly communicate that with them instead of taking liberty to bundle the many concerned observers here as either ignorant or planted mercenaries.
I do regret having to pen this so forcefully, yet unapologetically, but there are times when nothing less than “calling a spade a spade” would do.This is certainly one of them.
Best wishes to you too!
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kali / September 26, 2014
Prof:
A leopard never changes its spots and you and Dyan try hard to hide your spots but let me pick holes in your argument.
*** Mahintha is a Born RACIST and no use pretending otherwise and shift the focus to someone else. They all work in tandem with Mahintha the headless THUG and Gotha the CRIMINAL Linchpin.
You think we are idiots to buy the following arguments.
1) USA has allowed LTTE to protest against Mahintha.
2) What made the government so unpopular amongst the Tamils whom it thought it had liberated, and for whom it had developed infrastructure so effectively? Why internationally had the impression been created that the Sri Lankan government was catering to a Sinhala Buddhist constituency, with no regard for pluralism and the pursuit of reconciliation? Why did the Indian government seem upset with progress when so much had been done?
*** Who are you trying to fool with the above. The Tamils have been imprisoned by the Sinhalese for the last 64 years and they are yet to be liberated from Sinhalese Tyranny. What infrastructure are you talking about and there is none. You have built Roads for the Army to Move and for the new Sinhalese arrivals to settle in Tamil Land.
These essays will attempt to answer the above questions, by looking at the ultimately destructive contribution of several individuals to whom the President had entrusted a range of responsibilities. My own view is that the President himself had wanted to move towards reconciliation, and also to address several questions that other countries had raised, but those he thought would fulfil these tasks had failed him.
*** MR is the commander in chief and his only agenda is colonisation and not the welfare of Tamils so don’t pretend that he was let down .
All these inadequacies need to be discussed. I propose to do this through an assessment of those in whom the President reposed trust but who, in fulfilling their own agendas, failed to deliver what he and the country needed.
*** The twelve errors you have talked about are Comedy Of Errors . MR is a master of Deceit and he tried to fool so many people for so long some by paying for their services but that is all a thing of the past.
13th Amendment will be implemented and North & East will be merged and MRs Grand plan of Greater Sinhala Lanka is in tatters. Just consider the following.
A) OHCHR wants accountability in Lanka
Sept 23 (CG) The UN OHCHR, has in its oral update on the investigation on the war in Sri Lanka, noted that a fundamental and far-reaching accountability process in Sri Lanka, addressing both past and ongoing violations, is absolutely necessary for Sri Lankans. In the oral update, which will be formally communicated to the UNHRC at its ongoing regular session on Wednesday, OHCHR says
B) India tells UNHRC it backs 13A in Lanka
Sept 25 (CG) Indian delegation to the UNHRC says it backs the implementation of the 13th Amendment to the constitution in SL. While raising some concerns over the war crimes investigation on Sri Lanka by the OHCHR, the Indian delegation said its stand is that it wants Tamils in Sri Lanka to have an acceptable political solution.
MR is no longer in Charge of Tamil Destiny. You will be wasting your time with the following– I propose to do this through an assessment of those in whom the President reposed trust but who, in fulfilling their own agendas, failed to deliver what he and the country needed.
Take a long Holiday and when you come back you will find that all the Tamils from the South would have moved to the North and the New Sinhalese Arrivals back to their Homeland. We can all live happily ever after.
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mada pokuna / September 26, 2014
his daddy took two salaries as well and whenever possible pocketed mp’s allowances many a time (daddy would accompany mp’s abroad for this or that confab)
profa takes 2+ salaries and regular trips abroad and writes bull.profa never saw the evidence.in 2009 may 19 early days, resolution passed not due any man or woman but as other countries had not/did not have full info on war crimes.
profa go take a nap.
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ASHAN / September 26, 2014
pray what stops the presidents from doing exactly what he wants
he replaces the commander of the army and th Cj at his whim and fancy so what is there to stop him from replacing these so called “sabators”
And pray can you name some of these ememies of the presidents promise
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Antany Peter / September 26, 2014
The president’s ruling party doesn’t contest a fair election in the country, the people in the South can’t have three meals a day, and the people in the North are under military rule. But the President is talking about the UN’s credibility. He must understand one important thing; the UN has credibility, that is why he has been given an opportunity to give a speech at the UN general assembly. However, Sri Lanka doesn’t have credibility that is why it has refused to allow the war crimes investigators. This week, President took a photo with Obama and his wife. Look at the photo, I don’t have to tell you who hasn’t evolved as better human beings. African slaves came a long way compare to some racist Sinhalese leaders ;-) Those Sinhalese leaders are curse for Sinhalese, disgraceful for Sri Lankans and shame for 21st century humanity. Above all, the Rajapaksa regime is the least educated government in the history of Sri Lanka, more than 40% MPs haven’t passed 10th grade, and more than 50% of MPs haven’t passed the 12th grade. And this regime has killed more innocent people than any other government in Sri Lanka. Therefore, we mustn’t expect any wise or responsible action from the Rajapaksa regime. I urge India and the international community to pressure the Rajapaksa regime to do what is right and admirable for the 21 century.
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