By Romesh Hettiarachchi –
Romesh Hettiarachchi
Akka,
Look, we need to talk.
While we’ve never agreed on Sri Lankan issues, some of the stuff said last week was unacceptable. While your views are not representative of most Sri Lankans I know, I write this letter to you hoping to frame my thoughts in a way that resonates with you.
1. Diasporas Matter
Let me begin by addressing the start of our conversation: why should Sri Lankans care about the Diaspora? For one: the opinions of the Diaspora matter to Sri Lankans. President Rajapaksa understood this; his whole campaign was premised on the idea that Sri Lankans should fear the Tamil Diaspora. Even today, Sinhalese nationalists and Buddhist radicals continue to use the idea of the “Tamil Diaspora” as a propaganda tool.
A second reason: Members of the Diaspora have skills, knowledge and money that could be leveraged to benefit all Sri Lankans. Your reservations about the Tamil Diaspora arise from your failure to acknowledge the sheer diversity of the Tamil Diaspora. Take my friend Bala for instance, a Tamil nationalist living in London. Bala is frankly brilliant, gregarious and all round awesome . We simply disagree when it comes to issues relating to Sri Lanka.
Which is why referring to the “Tamil Diaspora” as terrorists is maddeningly inaccurate.
2. Differences between Sri Lankan and Tamil Diaspora
The Tamil Diaspora (those who identify as exclusively Tamil living outside Sri Lanka) and the Sri Lankan Diaspora (self-identified hyphenated Sri Lankans living outside Sri Lanka) were born in different circumstances.
The Tamil Diaspora was a product of several violent episodes in Sri Lanka’s history. As a result of the violence culminating in Black July, Bala’s family fled to the UK as refugees. In London, Bala’s parents experienced tremendous hardship, unable to find employment in part due to systemic racism and the difficulties speaking English. Bala’s dad, a professional, was subject to verbal abuse while working two jobs to feed his family and send Bala to school. Notwithstanding these experiences, Bala’s father still supports his extended family in Sri Lanka. Bala does his best to remain connected to their ancestral community – it was Bala who showed me that Tamilnet was not only a news site but a tool to remember their history; a tool that recognizes the relationship between the Tamil and Sinhalese languages. These experiences are etched into Bala’s history; such experiences cannot be forgotten simply because it is asked.
Acknowledging the experiences of the Tamil Diaspora does not diminish our own Diasporan experience. I’ve told Bala how Uncle Hasindu has deep animosity against the Tamil community after he was forced to leave Sri Lanka due to the intimidation and violence the Tamil Diaspora funded. Bala knows Chaminda’s near escape from suicide bombers attacking public buses. You of course know the warnings Aunty Manel has given us about speaking out on political matters; fears based on her own experience living through the JVP insurrections and the ensuing security measures imposed by later governments. For most of the Sri Lankan diaspora, we are keenly aware of what may happen to us or our loved ones if we upset the apple cart. These experiences are etched into our family history; such experiences cannot be forgotten simply because it is asked.
3. MIA: Sri Lanka 2015?
As a result, the Sri Lankan and Tamil diasporas politicized differently. While the Tamil Diaspora organized themselves into formal political advocacy groups, our community without ties to the Government largely chose to remain apolitical. The Tamil Diaspora frame every decision taken by the Government as a political one; the Sri Lankan Diaspora assume all government decisions made are pragmatic and unbiased.
MIAs Channel 4 interview demonstrates these differences in politicization. MIA‘s early assertion that “Sri Lanka is basically the same government with a different face.” is clearly not true: the President is different – so much so that MIA says President Sirisena is “unknown” – as is the Prime Minister and cabinet. The retired member of the military as governor of the Northern Province has been replaced by a civilian. MP’s of Tamil descent have been appointed to key positions in the government including the Ministry of Resettlement and Reconstruction.
All of these are signs of progress.
But while MIA is wrong in many respects, at least MIA understands the crucial points: Tamil people voted for the benefit of all people of Sri Lanka (1.44) and want peace, dignity and the simple things: homes, education, jobs and government participation (10:00). What ought to be notable is what MIA does not say: the Tamil people want self-determination. (Also notable: MIA is open to visiting Sri Lanka! Someone get her ticket now that the travel ban against foreigners has been lifted!)
Again, signs of progress.
4. The Sri Lankan and Tamil Diaspora: Mirror Images?
Sure, MIA analyzes Sri Lankan political issues through the eyes of her own experience. But you are no different. Consider:
- “Canadian politicians will always be influenced by votes in the Tamil Diaspora.” If so, then why do you argue with me when I point out that Sri Lankan politicians are influenced in the same way by their constituents? If you demand your voice as a minority be respected, shouldn’t you demand the voices of the minority population be respected in Sri Lanka?
- “The “Tamils” should not be able to visit Sri Lanka” How do you expect the Tamil Diaspora to learn that Sri Lankan Tamils don’t want Eelam if they aren’t exposed to Sri Lankan Tamils?
- “The “Tamils” should identify as Sri Lankan” The Tamil Diaspora would probably be more willing to identify as Sri Lankan if you treated them and respected them as if they were Sri Lankan.
- “The Tamils are insular and will never allow a Sinhalese/Sri Lankan person to lead them.” I don’t know if that’s really true – after all the Sri Lankan Tamils did vote for President Sirisena – but be honest are you be willing to cast your vote for a Tamil politician?
I get it: the Tamil Diaspora were silent while the Tigers eliminated dissent and held no elections. Yes, it is hypocritical for Tamil activists to preach the virtues of self-determination in the face of this silence. And yes, in February 2009, prominent Tamil activists resisted calls for the Tigers to lay down their arms and doubted evidence that civilians were forced by the Tigers to stay in the conflict zone. Many lives would have been saved if the Tigers laid down their arms in February 2009. Yes, the international community has a short attention span.
But MIA is right: Five years after May 2009, fear of the LTTE and the Tamil diaspora cannot be the dominant policy consideration for Sri Lanka. While Sri Lankans may always need to be vigilant against extremism, such vigilance cannot be at the expense of the rights and security of minority groups or general civil liberties. As the Dhammapada says:
Hostilities aren’t stilled through hostility, regardless.
Hostilities are stilled through non-hostility: this, an unending truth.
5. Responsibility to Rebuild: Role of the Diasporas
There remains a need to ensure progress in Sri Lanka is mirrored in the Diasporas. The Responsibility to Rebuild (R2R) doctrine may play a role in this regard. The R2R doctrine was first articulated when the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) Doctrine was proposed in 2001 as the obligation of the international community to provide “full assistance with recovery, reconstruction and reconciliation, addressing the causes of the intervention was designed to alt or avert.” Although R2R is not official UN policy, the international community continues to have an interest in ensuring there is no return to conflict as others have indicated.
With President Sirisena facing daunting challenges to address the needs of the war-affected and impoverished, the Sri Lankan and Tamil Diasporas may be able to provide some assistance. In my experience, many in the Sri Lankan and Tamil Diasporas would welcome a role in assisting in the rebuilding of communities in Sri Lanka if there are no expectations are attached to participation. That’s how Bala and I became friends: I didn’t expect Bala to identify as Sri Lankan and Bala didn’t expect me to agree to political questions. Bala and I not only have a stronger understanding where each of us are coming from, but we have found our friendship has enormous value when working on issues of mutual concern. Our friendship better enables us to assist the people we care so deeply about.
International organizations may also have a part to play by incentivizing engagement between the Sri Lankan and Tamil communities. Such roles may include:
- facilitating and funding formal and informal interactions between and within Diasporas to promote constructive engagement and working together to address and fund the needs of Sri Lankan communities all across the island, particularly those most in need of assistance or
- holding the communities accountable for positions and statements that undermine peace and justice in Sri Lanka.
Conclusion
Akka, I know your looking for way to categorize me based on the content of this letter. I think the conflict has conditioned any of us to mentally classify people based on statements they make, reacting to what we think is being said rather than responding to what they actually are saying. I certainly have struggled with this in the past.
And you are right, I can’t speak on behalf of the Tamil Diaspora; I simply write based on my experience of the Tamil Diaspora through my Tamil friends. Overwhelmingly, my Tamil friends have proven to be people of integrity and talent. You don’t see these qualities simply because they are Tamil. It is easy to write diatribes against those we don’t understand or respect while remaining closed to their real (and often emotional) experiences. While happy the Tigers no longer threaten the lives and livelihood of the Sri Lankan people, Bala has helped me recognize the importance of empathizing with the emotional significance that May 2009 means to others. In validating the experiences of the Other, perhaps the Sri Lankan and Tamil Diasporas can learn ways to work together to free the prisoners in the Sri Lankan Dilemma.
I began this letter by hoping some aspects of this would resonate with you. This is no certainty of this. If you do intend to criticize me, remember the five keys of Right Speech Bhante taught us. Regardless, while I know I’ll always be “Looney Malli” to you and the rest of the family, remember that I will always consider you family.
I simply wish your definition of family was more inclusive.
—
*My deepest thanks go to the members of Kathae Kadai. These letters could not have been written without such vibrant discussions.
Romesh Hettiarachchi is a lawyer and mediator in Toronto, Canada and was a former director of Sri Lankans Without Borders. Romesh can be reached @romesh_h. The previous two reflections written in the form as letters can be found here and here.
Although Bala and the other named individuals are all constructs, the experiences described are real. I would particularly encourage readers to learn more about the real hardships some members of the Tamil Diaspora faced by checking out the Roots of Diaspora Facebook page (again, no affiliation). Thanks go to the participants in the Kathae Kadai facebook forum, whose discussions made these reflections possible.
pasel / January 19, 2015
Ramesh
this is call freedom of speech and freedom of expression
Sorry you don’t have it Sri Lanka for long time it takes time to taste these
/
Off the Cuff / January 19, 2015
Dear Romesh Hettiarachchi,
Your narrative has started from the middle. Sri Lanka’s troubles did not come about by accident. Let’s look at a bit of history to understand the problem.
During Dutch occupation the Sinhalese Kingdom extended up to Elephant Pass in the North. The Dutch built a fort to protect the Dutch held Jaffna peninsular from the armies of the Sinhalese Kingdom of Kandy in the mainland.
Here is a record from the Dutch National Archives confirming that.
http://www.atlasofmutualheritage.nl/en/location/?id=813
At the time the British arrived, 85% of Lanka had Forrest cover.
This was Crown Land of Native Kings.
1. The British enacted the Crown Land Enforcement Ordinance in 1840 to claim the unoccupied and uncultivated land in the Kandyan kingdom (Farmer 1957:90- 91). As a result of this ordinance, 90% of the land in the Kandyan highlands was designated as land belonging to the British Crown (Herath et al, 1995:77).
2. The Waste Land Ordinance Act of 1897 (and the Crown Land Encroachment Ordinance in 1840), annexed more lands as crown lands where villagers could no longer claim them according to the new British imposed rules (Roberts 1979:233, Obeysekara 1967: 98-100).
3. The majority of the Sinhalese villages effectively lost the structural prerequisite of land tenure systems (Obeysekara 1967:101).
4. The ‘Land Settlement Ordinance of 1889’ allowed the colonial authorities to sell these STOLEN lands at will. “Many villagers in the Kandyan area were deprived of their high lands formally used for chena cultivation or grazing the cattle” (Mendis 1951:85).
The Sinhalese were not prepared to slave on the Land they owned. Their interest was growing food for self sufficiency not Cash crops to enrich a Slave master.
Even 150 years later, the affects of the Waste Lands Act and related Laws was as follows.
“According to the 1946 census on population in the agricultural sector of the island, 40% of the agricultural peasant families found in the former Kandyan Kingdom were landless while there were 26% landless agricultural families recorded in the wet zone” (Herath 1995: 79).
To overcome the opposition from the Sinhalese the British imported Alien labour from South India. Ethnically they were Tamils but had Pariah status amongst indigenous Tamils. The numbers so imported exceeded the TOTAL indigenous Tamil population of Lanka. All of them were settled in the lands robbed from the Sinhalese. This was equivalent to resettling the WHOLE indigenous Tamil Population of Lanka inside the Sinhalese Hinterland by robbing and dispossessing the Sinhalese of their land.
In 1911 there were 531,000 ALIEN INDIAN TAMILS in the Kandyan Kingdom. In that year there were ONLY 528,000 indigenous Lanka Tamils.
Nowhere else in Sri Lanka has the indigenous population been made landless and deprived of a livelihood, forcing them into total penury as what happened in the Kandyan hinterland. Nowhere in Lanka has a massive demographic change been carried out by a government as what was done in the Kandyan hinterland.
To borrow a phrase from you “such experiences cannot be forgotten simply because it is asked”
Thus Land has been the Central Issue. It is still the Central issue with all the exclusive Tamil homeland claims. If there is an exclusive homeland for the Tamils where is the exclusive homeland of the Sinhalese and Muslims? How do you propose to solve that problem?
Here are some excerpts from your essay
“Which is why referring to the “Tamil Diaspora” as terrorists is maddeningly inaccurate”
I agree as I have Tamil friends within that diaspora who are not terrorists or even terrorist sympathisers. A Tamil Canadian friend of mine feared to advertise his business for fear of extortion. Another Tamil friend’s father visited Lanka and went to see his properties in the North. He found that those have been taken over by the LTTE. To his dismay he was not allowed to leave without payment of a large some of money calculated on the number of years my friend lived overseas in the UK. He paid up as the alternative was the loss of his aged father. I am sure that these were not isolated cases.
Who can call these victims terrorists? They are from the Tamil Diaspora and are definitely not terrorists.
But it is a fact that the Canadian Highways got blocked with people flying a sea of Terrorist Flags of the LTTE. I was writing to the Canada Post then and the anger of the Canadians were palpable. That was a phenomenon the world over where ever there was a concentration of such terrorist sympathisers. In contrast, no protests happened when the LTTE was sending children to war. Remember the Baby Brigade of the LTTE?
Thus the indifference toward the conscription of Tamil Children who died and got maimed in their thousands was in stark contrast to the massive mobilisation to save Prabahkaran. When Prabahkaran’s life was in danger the Pseudo Humanism that lay dormant for nearly three decades surfaced. What would you call that especially when it was these Terror Flag wavers who funded the war big time and ran it by Proxy?
You see sir, judging by the noise made and the number of Terrorist Flags that flew in overseas capitals, the majority of the Tamil Diaspora are Terrorists because they have the blood of Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims, Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs etc on their hands.
You say “What ought to be notable is what MIA does not say: the Tamil people want self-determination”
Are you putting words in her mouth?
There are many other things that MIA did not say or campaign against with the same fervor.
Most importantly what about her SILENCE when Tamil Children were led to the slaughter by her father’s close friend? No compassion for them?
Ms Adelle Balasingham trained and commissioned the Baby Brigade of the LTTE. Her gift to the children was a necklace with a Cyanide capsule as the pendant. Do you hear MIA campaigning for Justice on behalf of the dead children?
Javier Aguilar of UNICEF was interviewed in Colombo by BBC correspondent Stephen Sackur on Hard Talk (3:28 onwards). He says they have reports of about 8000 missing children. He also states that this is just a minute fraction of what went on (4:20 onwards). He also state that during the last 6 months at least 200 children per month were taken from their parents for the war effort including 9 year olds (4:38 onwards)
If 8000 is a minute fraction what would the whole be? 40,000? 80,000? 100,000?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gXbFPoDWSI
Did you hear MIA’s Bleeding Heart crying for them then?
Do you hear MIA’s Bleeding Heart crying for Justice on their behalf now?
But we all know that the murderess Adele Balasinham is living right under her nose!!!!
Arul Pragasam is Mia’s father though he posed as her uncle then. He was a close friend of Prabahkaran and is the founder of the terror group EROS that set off bombs amongst civilians. He had his terrorist training in Lebanon. Obviously he did not waste anytime brain washing his daughter all the while posing as her uncle.
When the Tamil people are distributed all over the island what exactly do you mean by self determination? I support devolution of power. I support a 13A with the contradictions within removed. I support equitable distribution of Lanka’s Public wealth. But no sane citizen of Lanka can support a homeland claim that claims 40% of the Land Mass and 60% of her coast line for a fraction of the Total Tamil population of Lanka. Please remember that a million Indian origin Tamils are living in the Hill country on land dispossessed from the Sinhalese.
“The Tamils are insular and will never allow a Sinhalese/Sri Lankan person to lead them.” I don’t know if that’s really true – after all the Sri Lankan Tamils did vote for President Sirisena – but be honest are you be willing to cast your vote for a Tamil politician? “
Of course the SL Tamils voted for President Sirisena but you are being naive with your interpretation.
Watch the following 3 videos of the District Development Council of the NPC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCBWqJ0WOCU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNpzECALZBU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y84QZcPU3nY
This council is normally chaired by the Chief Minister but the Northern Council has a Co chair appointed using Presidential powers. That Co chair is Minister Douglas Devanada, the Head of the EPDP another Tamil Terrorist organisation which escaped massacre by Prabahkaran by siding with the govt.
The overwhelming majority of the Tamil people in the North despise him. A vote for Mahinda or abstention from voting meant domination by Devananda for another 8 years and 2 months. A very strong reason for them to vote for Maithripala Sirisena.
The TNA and the Tamil people wanted good governance and law and order as some of us did from the South. They also wanted the military governor replaced by a civilian, non of which MR gave them. Two more strong reasons to vote for Maithree.
Ask yourself if the Tamil people will vote for Maithree as the Chief Minister of the Northern Province. The honest answer would be a No. Hence what you imply is not why they voted Maithree.
The answer to the last part of your question is yes. Majority Sinhala electorates have chosen Tamils and Muslims as their representatives. They still do. Secondly many Sinhalese would vote for an upright Tamil like Mr Luxman Kadiragama who puts his country above his ethnicity. I would do so without batting an eyelid.
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Anpu / January 19, 2015
OTC is hiding the elephant …
/
Off the Cuff / January 19, 2015
Oh no Anpu I am just starting to expose the Tiger in Sheep’s clothing Ha ha ha!!!
Can you contest anything I have written above?
Here is the second part. Have a good read and let me know what you think.
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/letter-to-the-sri-lankan-diaspora-dear-akka/comment-page-1/#comment-1750967
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Javi. / January 22, 2015
“Oh no Anpu I am just starting to expose the Tiger in Sheep’s clothing Ha ha ha!!!”
`Werewolf Mahawamse`(is real) Goo Walla Boo`ts.
Tigers live in India and China and in your zoo but no time in Ceylon four legged. Ambedkar Hena:
Hinawa (laughter) Ants in Hena Hinna ambude.
Have you seen the world famous ant industry of China??
Ants and elephants can invent a giant telescope or discover a new variable star but can’t have a library or museum.
/
Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Dear Jadi,
Here is something that all Rational people can Laugh about.
What was requested of you was simple.
It required ONLY a basic knowledge of English that even a 5th grader will possess.
Please tell the CT readership what the word presence means within the extract of the ICC Statute, I again reproduce for your convenience.
ICC Statute
(xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;
You have written many posts after the question was posed. All we see is incoherent gutter language and no answer.
Do you think that is Intelligent?
Hope that tickled your funny bone as well!!!
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Javi. / January 22, 2015
Do you think that is Intelligent? Hope that tickled your funny bone as well!!! Kind Regards, OTC
___
Off The Nut,
You got a rocker fart that has tickeled your ba**s Phew!!
Have a good day and wash those dirty panties and scrub those smelly fteet
puta madre
/
Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Dear Jaadi,
Quoting only the last sentence?
Why did you skip the rest? Amnesia?
You have got a bad bout of diarrhea.
Please get some med instead of soiling your pants.
Hope your diarrhea stops long enough to give that long overdue answer
ICC Statute (xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;
What does presence mean in the above?
Kind Regards
OTC
/
Native Vedda / January 19, 2015
Anpu
This person is a liar (already proven), plagiarist, racist, suffering from selective amnesia and Sinhala/Buddhist ghetto mentality.
/
Off the Cuff / January 20, 2015
Dear Tamil separatist in a veddha mask,
Thank you for responding.
If you have the brains and a command of the English language sufficient to compare the ICC Statute definition of a Human Shield and the twisted logic used by the UNSG’s POE to EXONERATE the LTTE of using Human Shields, please contest what I have written exposing the UNSG’s POE (the link is available in the comment you responded to above). The actual comment is on this page.
If you fail to contest you will prove to the CT readership that you are a brainless idiot that makes noises like and empty vessel.
I hope you are up to the task.
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Javi. / January 20, 2015
” ICC Statute `definition` of a Human Shield and the twisted logic used by the UNSG’s POE to EXONERATE the LTTE of using Human Shields, “
Off the Coup!
What you have `doodled` repeatedly is hogwash and Ambedkar would be rolling in his grave- `
Definitions are matters of convenience therefore it is all the more important for one to analyse precisely what he means by the concept- You never had 4 D’s
`Attitude`.
“you are a brainless idiot that makes noises like and empty vessel.”
Have you ever seen Walking Owl: Whom??
Shit bucket go saddle the pigs for all I care.
/
Off the Cuff / January 21, 2015
Dear Jadi,
Thank you for your response.
You say “Definitions are matters of convenience”
Does the Law where you reside in, change the definition arbitrarily “as a matter of convenience”?
You say “….. more important for one to analyse precisely what he means by the concept”
Thank you for your wisdom.
But fools rush in where angels fear to tread said Alexander Pope.
Could you please utilize that overflowing “wisdom” of yours to analyse precisely, what the word PRESENCE means in the following extract of the ICC Statute, governing the War Crime of using a Human Shield?
“(xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;”
Awaiting a Lucid, Intelligent exposition of your opinion for the benefit of all of us who read CT.
Should not be too difficult for a man who claims to have an an unparalleled Education!
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Javi. / January 21, 2015
Thopi…
Palayan Yakooo….
Shit Bucket, sihal buddhist.
Appe Ratte we dont need to be told by Yuppies with no heritage.
Tell me in French and Spanish Per fovour because my sanskrit is better than the pali you copied with the spanish master language.
Puta madre.
/
Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Dear Jadi,
We all know that you scavenge. But instead of spilling shit why don’t you answer the question?
The ICC Statute defining the war crime of using a Human Shield states,
xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;
Since you claim a First Class Education, can you precisely say what the word “PRESENCE” means in that definition?
BTW that definition is in English.
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Javi. / January 22, 2015
Queens Counsel won’t have work at Inner Temple if they stuck to the meaning of one Word of law.
You were born with a freudian slip OTC.
Literature is 2 dimensional like the engineering drawings shown to laymen.
All law is for outlaws because they are left to be broken-
Sections of law come in higher algebric lies.
(@_@)Precencia- `to have the presence of mind` – `slap all five fingers`
its all in the mind and not your ambude presence of the appellant or accused.
That is what Statellite surveys and wormsview photography that co-relate all ¬WereLion` bloody actions prove.
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Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Dear Jadi,
Why are you blabbering incoherent rubbish?
Is that representative of you First world First class education?
You seem to be parading on CT without even an Amude and your tail is on display to the dismay of all of us (except for that like minded following of yours).
Please take a bath, it stinks to high haven!
Still groping for the meaning of the word “PRESENCE” ???
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Javi. / January 22, 2015
You need more than a bath beggar boy- drown your imbecile self.
you never seen power in your life `mango ` the pervert in London the paris assasin?
/
Off the Cuff / January 23, 2015
Hey Jaadi,
Still groping for the meaning of the word “PRESENCE” ???
Get someone to refer to a dictionary. You seem to be unable to do so on your own.
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
sach / January 21, 2015
And the Aswer sets in….
/
Javi. / January 21, 2015
the man who belives in a Cold Head than a
Warm Heart is a Fool..
/
Lanka Liar / January 20, 2015
No they nor,ally hide the Buffalos
/
Off the Cuff / January 21, 2015
No the Buffaloes are aimlessly running Hither and Tither not knowing what to do.
As of this writing there are 14 Buffaloes that have gone into a spin! ha ha haa.
Kind Regards
OTC
/
Paul / January 19, 2015
Well done OTC. Another well written factual response. They will criticize you but are unable to counter the points you raise.
/
Native Vedda / January 20, 2015
Paul
This person is trying to sell second hand car without an engine, wheels, …. steering wheel, … etc.
You have almost bought it.
If you believe what this person has written you will believe anything.
The kindom was known as Kandyan Kingdom and not as Sinhalese kingdom. Read what Atlamutualheritage state:
During the 17th century the Company was engaged in a war of attrition with the king of Kandy, who had close ties with Ceylon’s Buddhist population. There was a narrow tongue of land at Elephant Pass a fort was built to guard the border with the king’s territory. Elephants captured on Ceylon were herded past here to Jaffna to be sold in India, hence the name Elephant Pass.
This person thinks he ia the best con artist this island has ever produced.
Ommission and commission of facts do not give credibility.
Before you pat this man’s back fact check yourself.
/
Off the Cuff / January 20, 2015
Dear Tamil Separatist in a Veddha Mask
Ha ha ha what made you post that here without making a direct challenge under my comment which dealt with the subject? Cowardice and fear of exposure?
Please note that I provided the link for this little known source because I wanted people to refer to it and read it for themselves (as you have done). I wanted people to know the REAL extent of the Kandyan Kingdom to stymie FRAUDULENT counter claims to the East by the elastic boundaries of the purported Exclusive Tamil Homeland.
This source is unimpeachable and Independent of the much maligned Mahavansa, the favourite whipping horse of Tamil Separatists. Hence you and other Tamil Separatists who have no guts to discuss the issue directly, are in a quandary not knowing what to do.
You have made an idiotic and Puny attempt to discredit the contents available at the source.
The Dutch Govt record proves that during Dutch occupation of the Jaffna Peninsula the Boundary between the Kandyan King’s Territory and the Dutch ruled Jaffna was at Elephant Pass.
Elephant Pass is where the Jaffna Peninsular connects to Mainland Sri Lanka. Hence a claim to any part of the East as being a part of a Traditional Tamil Homeland Fails.
You say “The kindom was known as Kandyan Kingdom and not as Sinhalese kingdom”
Are you trying to suggest that the inhabitants of Kande Uda Pas Rata (the Kandyan Kingdom) were Tamils and not the Sinhalese? It was inhabited by the Sinhalese and hence it is a Sinhalese Kingdom. What an ignoramus you have turned out to be to clutch at straws like that!!!
The Kingdom was known as the Kande Uda Pass Rata. Any Sinhalese will understand the meaning because the name is Sinhala. It means the five countries up in the hills.
It is not Elephant Pass either, it is the literal translation of the REAL name “Ali Mankada” which btw is Sinhala.
To the indigenes, Sri Lanka was known as Sri Lanka and not as Ceylon or any other foreign imposed name. Many examples abound Mumbai not Bombay, Kolkata not Calcutta, Bahratha not India etc … That was an idiotic challenge, man in the Veddha Mask!
Under the circumstances, that description you authored, namely, “This person thinks he is the best con artist this island has ever produced” seems to fit you to a Tee, ha ha ha.
Please note that before the Dutch built their Fort at Elephant Pass the Kandyan King’s Elephants traversed the Jaffna Peninsular on their way for sale in India!
That signifies that either the Portuguese or the Jaffna Tamil Kingdom had cooperated with the Sinhala Kandyan Kingdom for some reason.
I hope you are not trying to run away from the challenge I issued to you in my post of January 20, 2015 at 1:56 am above. It’s a joy to exchange views with you so please do not run away.
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Ram / January 20, 2015
Your arguments are way beyond the abilities of a civet cat. I do understand that you have to do so for the benefit of others on the forum.
/
Native Vedda / January 20, 2015
Ramuuuuuu
Good to have you back.
“I do understand that you have to do so for the benefit of others on the forum.”
Unlike you (habitual liar) the rest of the forum sharers are aware of the difference between truth and lies. They are generally well informed and honest except a few. You are one of the exception and OTC is another.
You should visit this forum often where you will learn a truth or two.
/
Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Dear Humbug Veddha,
Two Days have gone by without a response to my challenge. Are you such a coward?
Here are AUTHENTIC extracts from the ICC Statute and the UNSG’s POE report.
ICC Statute
(xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;
UNSG’s POE Report
237. Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions: Credible allegations point to a violation of Common Article 3’s ban on the taking of hostages insofar as they forced thousands of civilians, often under threat of death, to remain in areas under their control during the last stages of the war and enforced this control by killing persons who attempted to leave that area. (With respect to the credible allegations of the LTTE’s refusal to allow civilians to leave the combat zone, the Panel believes that these actions did not, in law, amount to the use of human shields insofar as it did not find credible evidence of the LTTE deliberately moving civilians towards military targets to protect the latter from attacks as is required by the customary definition of that war crime (Rule 97, ICRC Study)
The Darusman lead POE have EXONERATED the LTTE of the War Crime of using a Human Shield.
According to the ICC Statute, which is the International Law, the LTTE is guilty.
You said this is a Lie.
Now prove it. Lets see who the Liar is
I am sure you will not have the guts and the integrity to do so.
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Dear Ram,
Notwithstanding what this shameless humbug who is ashamed to disclose his ethnicity says, every time he contested what I wrote he got muddied. This loss was too big a blow to his ego.
He was existing by his wits. Wisecracking and grandstanding instead of factual argument. Factual comments was a challenge he could not overcome.
Here is an example of his writing
“The stupid Tamils suffered last time when IPKF arrived because the Sri Lankan armed forces who were supposed to defend this island were found hiding behind their women folks and VP’s fat bottom”
He deliberately hid the fact that the SL forces were confined to barracks by the Indo Lanka peace accord when the IPKF arrived in SL.
I challenged this obvious Lie and he got well and truly muddied.
It was this statement that made me realize that this humbug was actually a Tamil Separatist. That’s why I now address him as a Tamil separatist in a Veddha Mask.
Now he wont directly challenge me but will make snide remarks to others.
If you ask him to prove the questionable things that he writes, instead of arguing his case, he will fall back on slander.
That’s his character and how he has been brought up by his parents.
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Ram / January 23, 2015
Quite.
/
Javi. / January 22, 2015
Off The Nut from not pot background off shot has found a sling and broke his arm trying to wear it.
The breed counts even here in the west. You can never break 2 engineers with your new found poop idoma.
There is word here that you were `mango` on this forum (affilated to wordpress which you still are) and you were involved in an organised murder at Paris?? Can you describe it because DJ might involve you now that CID is on to it at paris.
/
Off the Cuff / January 23, 2015
Dear Jadi,
What was requested of you is simple for anyone with even a basic knowledge of English.
Please tell the CT readership what the word presence means within the context of the ICC Statute.
I again reproduce it below for your convenience.
ICC Statute
(xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;
You have written about 20 posts after the question was posed. All we see is incoherent gutter language and no answer.
Why is that?
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Off the Cuff / January 21, 2015
Dear Humbug Veddha,
A day has gone and so are you.
Tamil separatist humbug has run away when challenged.
Cannot even compare two paragraphs of English to give an opinion!
As I said a day ago you don’t have the brains to counter my comment of January 19, 2015 at 7:27 pm (on this page).
Lost your Amude humbug?
Good luck and take care when you move through the Bush, you might lose more than your Amude!
ha, ha, haa.
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Off the Cuff / January 20, 2015
Dear Paul,
I am used to this empty vessel who is ashamed of his own ethnicity posing off as an Aborigine.
Let’s see whether he takes up the challenge and try to justify why the UNSG’s POE subverted the ICC Statute to exonerate the LTTE.
The POE has incriminated itself and these guys who depend on that are shaken up.
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Javi. / January 20, 2015
Hoo, in that case
Why not deliver a barrow load of manure in his lounge.love his butt.
Like dabulla sevura, no underwear it gets him scratchy.
/
Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Dear Jadi,
That is right up your alley isn’t it?.
BTW why are you shying away from analysing the ICC Law on Human Shields?
Is the English used too complicated?
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Javi. / January 22, 2015
“Pre_sen_cia” Latino
Snail, means just like your bunker space,
A Slug with a crash helmet attempting to Swim.
toma toma toma ven aqui ven aqui!
(take it, take it, take it, come here, come here
here, here, here, come here, come here
drink, drink, drink, come here, come here)
tubo de luz (fluorescent tube)
a device for detecting the `presence` of subhumans in la isla in comunicado.
_-
You are in Hell keep washing you own `Goo`ta Goo offshot panties.
Cold Head the freaks of civilization.- `Invertebrate O_ff T_he C_oup .
We go in twos `to have the presence of mind` not to be awed by `angels`- Vassa Kavi(charms)- Freudian slip in your ambude-
`WereWolf Mahawamse is Terrorist Dog_ma.
That is where the investigations would end- go jump in the sea then no see filthy ambude.
/
Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Dear Jadi,
What was requested of you is simple for anyone with even a basic knowledge of English. Please tell the CT readership what the word presence means within the extract of the ICC Statute I again reproduce below for your convenience.
ICC Statute
(xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;
You have written many posts after the question was posed. All we see is incoherent gutter language and no answer.
Do you think that is Intelligent?
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Javi. / January 22, 2015
Off The Nut,
The Heyna that hunts with a pack comes from a hole and needs to go back to the hole- you never had a pedigree dalit scum.
/
Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Dear Jaadi,
Your comments attest to your pedigree and you intelligence!
However are you still searching for a dictionary to find the meaning of “presence” within the context of the ICC Statute that I quoted?
ICC Statute
(xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;
You have posted about 15 comments but non of them answered my question.
Why are soiling in your pants when asked for the meaning of “presence” ?
I suppose you bit more than you can chew.
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
sach / January 21, 2015
man that is a lot of information. People like you should share knowledge with others. at least start a website…
/
Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Dear Sach,
I have not thought about maintaining a website but I have challenged false propaganda by Eelamists for several years.
I first started in the Canada Post where separatist were having a grand time as they were unopposed.
But here is a Utube channel that might interest you. He has a large archive of videos that you can use
https://www.youtube.com/user/NoEalamInSL
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
sach / January 23, 2015
thanks for the link…between start a website or atleast a blog….so that knowledge sharing would be possible..
Knowledge is the key..
Many sinhalese were deprived of learning history in this country and Eelamists are manipulating really well.
When a person gets knowledge it is possible to see their hollow arguments…Keep doing the good job…
Start a blog atleast so we can gather like minded people..
/
Off the Cuff / January 24, 2015
Dear Sach,
I will explore how best I can make some of my comments available on the Internet with links to the original comment.
Thank you for the suggestion.
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Amarasiri / January 19, 2015
Romesh Hettiarachchi and Akka,
“The Tamil Diaspora was a product of several violent episodes in Sri Lanka’s history”
Yes, correct, and the root cause goes to Racism and Chauvinism of Both Sinhala, especially Sinhala Buddhists ( Courtesy of Monk Mahanama and Mahawansa) and Tamils.
So We ended with One-Language Two nations, instead on One-Nation, Two Lanhuages.
We are trying to sport it Put.
By the way, do you know what a Language is? A medium of communications.
What is money? A medium of Exchange.
In Sri Lanka , the Old Definition of Language was Medium of Racism and Chauvinism.
Still, Many Sinhalese and Tamils are stuck on the old Definition.
By the way, both Sinhala and Tamil are Para-languages, just like the people.
Furthermore, there are a lot of Mutaals ( முட்டாள்), Modayas, Fools left among the Tamils and Sinhala Left . So, this is high time the Tamil and Sinhala Mutaals ( முட்டாள்), Modayas, Fools got their act together, before the rest of the world leave all the Paras, Sinhala and Tamil,
Mutaals ( முட்டாள்), Modayas, Fools on the wayside.
/
Siripala / January 19, 2015
Akka? what do you mean? You mean nangi????
/
Ram / January 19, 2015
Is she 38 but going on 12 ?
/
Javi. / January 20, 2015
rip van winkle. travel.
/
Javi. / January 22, 2015
it means – : Adare Kiyanna Danne (dont know how to say i love you because he missed the `I`)
/
Rupathy / January 19, 2015
I said it before and I say it again. What had happened and what is happening is not unique between Tamils and Sinhalese. Whether they are are diasporas or not.
It has happened to other communities. Canada and America is made of diasporas from many countries. 1st generation, 2nd generation, 3, 4, 5 and so on.
No one forgets where they come from even if they are 5th generation Canadians or Americans and they will favour based on their wishes and wants. While becoming successful, influential and caring towards the people they left behind. Again this is not unique. This is what humans do.
/
Ranjan / January 19, 2015
Well written article. Tamil diaspora truly speak of the political needs of Tamils back home more than any politician or journalist in the island, after all Tamils back home are their kith and kin. It is nonsense to try to seperate the both. It will be interesting to note the opinion among the diaspora about TNA.
/
radhika / January 19, 2015
northern province governor replacement is a civilian ? ha ha what are his credentials? what is his past dear?
/
Upul / January 19, 2015
once you remove everyone who claimed political asylum under false pretenses ( in Canada it was a cottage industry) who do you have left to call the ‘diaspora’ ? Just the free-educated carpet baggers?
/
Javi. / January 20, 2015
Jar syndrome,
you really got this `TWA syndrome`
Dr Nomis mac_quack_wood assist in that- check his driver.
/
Anpu / January 19, 2015
Thamby Romesh,
I agree with most of what you have written.
Please comment on the following.
With love
Anna Anpu
What do you think about (1) Militarisation of North and East (2) Sinhalease colonisation of North and East, (3) War Crimes and (4) What is your opionion about this?
A clinic based at the American University’s law college has called on the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) to investigate charges of genocide against the Sri Lankan state and refer the country to the International Criminal Court.
In an article, published in the college’s Human Rights Brief, the UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic details aspects of Sri Lanka’s genocide against Tamils, including killings, measures intended to prevent births and the government’s intent to destroy a group in whole or part.
“The obligation to prevent and punish genocide under the Genocide Convention is not a matter of political choice or calculation, but one of binding customary international law. The Office of the High Commission on Human Rights’ Investigation on Sri Lanka (OSIL) should investigate and report on the charge of genocide in its submission to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2015. The UN Security Council should refer the situation in Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court for prosecutions based on war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide,” UNROW argued.
The organisation, which has advocated on behalf of victim of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka for 5 years, also called on domestic courts in countries such as the US, to take action under universal jurisdiction and prosecute officials guilty of the crimes.
“Alternatively or concurrently, domestic courts in countries that may exercise universal jurisdiction over the alleged events and perpetrators, including but not limited to the United States, should prosecute these crimes. Top Sri Lankan officials, starting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, must be brought to justice,” it said.
See full article http://hrbrief.org/2015/01/the-legal-case-of-the-tamil-genocide/
In light of the report, several academics and organisation joined UNROW in calling on the OISL to investigate whether Sri Lanka committed genocide against Tamils.
We, the undersigned individuals and organizations, respectfully request the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) to:
1. Investigate the allegation that the Sri Lankan government committed genocide against Tamils; and
2. Recommend that the UN Security Council refer the Sri Lankan situation to the International Criminal Court for investigation and prosecutions, as appropriate.
Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic
Yale Law School
New Haven, United States
Center for Constitutional Rights
New York City, United States
Sentinel Project
Toronto, Canada
RISE: Refugee Survivors and Ex-detainees
Melbourne, Australia
Dr. R. Cheran
Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminology, University of Windsor
Kimberly Curtis
Human Rights Lawyer and Journalist
Golriz Ghahraman
International Criminal Lawyer and Former Assistant Prosecutor at the Extraordinary Chambers
in the Courts of Cambodia
Dr. Kevin Jon Heller
Professor of Criminal Law, SOAS, University of London
Dr. Milli Lake
Assistant Professor, School of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University
/
Off the Cuff / January 19, 2015
Dear Anpu,
The ICC Statute has very clearly defined a Human Shield in the following.
“(xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;”
UNSG’s POE has made the following statement in their report
237. Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions: Credible allegations point to a violation of Common Article 3’s ban on the taking of hostages insofar as they forced thousands of civilians, often under threat of death, to remain in areas under their control during the last stages of the war and enforced this control by killing persons who attempted to leave that area. (With respect to the credible allegations of the LTTE’s refusal to allow civilians to leave the combat zone, the Panel believes that these actions did not, in law, amount to the use of human shields insofar as it did not find credible evidence of the LTTE deliberately moving civilians towards military targets to protect the latter from attacks as is required by the customary definition of that war crime (Rule 97, ICRC Study)
We all know that civilians were held near or at Military targets by the LTTE.
What made the UNSG’s POE to disregard the ICC Statute and Exonerate the LTTE of such a grave crime?
Was it a monetary consideration?
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Rajash / January 19, 2015
Romesh
I am dissapointed with you. I thought you would address your Sinhala brothers and sisters back in Sri Lanka, in your third and final letter. Perhaps it’s too complex for you to handle. Diaspora bashing is easy.
Romesh
I am disappointed with you, I was looking forward to your appeal to your Simhala brothers and sisters back in Sri Lanka
You have decided to,play it safe
Now you are also bringing you own classification of the diaspora
The Tamil Diaspora (those who identify as exclusively Tamil living outside Sri Lanka)
and the Sri Lankan Diaspora (self-identified hyphenated Sri Lankans living outside Sri Lanka) were born in different circumstances.
so in your classification the Tamils living out side Sri Lanka are not Sri Lankans. With a stroke of a pen you have made them stateless
And you fail to define who constitute your Sri Lankan diaspora. Does this group,only include the elite Sinhala people who are fleeing the country after the election with their million dollars stashed up in the banks in US and Switzerland.?
/
Annan / January 19, 2015
Dear patronising Malli, perhaps you should read this very telling article before presuming to speak for other people from Sri Lanka:
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/letter-to-a-liberal-sinhalese/
/
Adnan / January 19, 2015
I think the letter is addressed in the last part of the article. Also I don’t think he ever presumed he spoke for other people in Sri Lanka.
/
Real Peace / January 19, 2015
Romesh
Thanks for your touching letter
We should isolate the “LTTE diaspora” from the Tamil diaspora and make them unpopular. GOSL can take many initiatives to achieve this (I’m glad some are already underway)
Before the general election:
1. Removing ex military personnel from civil service in the NE
2. Confining military to the barracks; police to maintain law & order in NE
3. Release political prisoners who have not been charged
4. Commence settling displaced people in their original homes. Provide grants to rebuild their homes
5. Provide grants to those families who lost their bread winners in the war.
6. Take initiatives to engage and collaborate with the UNHCR
7. Allow the rememberance events for the fallen cadres. I believe the proscription of the LTTE must continue.
8. In the interim budget allocate sufficient funds to the NE to carry out the above tasks
After the general election:
1. Negotiate a viable and comprehensive political solution with the TNA.
The above objectives once achieved, the “LTTE diaspora” will vanish without a trace!!
/
Lanka Liar / January 20, 2015
LTTE diaspora is used to getting orders from above. So they have lost the capacity to think. They just claim to be working for the interest of Tamil people. They all know that unity is paramount for the Tamil people to achieve whatever they want. Yet they are all divided because of petty minded ego. If they cannot sacrifice this ego and unite as one what right they have to advice the Tamils, or even to comment about the Tamil affairs. Many are dancing singing poetry reading marching even playing games to celebrate the heroic failure of the Tamil people. As long as they get a piece of paper to write something, a stage to stand on and speak something they are happy. Many are doing what they are doing to get some recognition from the society and to prove their existence. That’s all they are, not a cohesive modern educated knowledgeable lot. You can easily see their talent when they appear in the TVs and other media to articulate their views. Very pathetic. This is what LTTE gave to the Tamil people. Push them back by at least 60 years of development and help to create the so called diaspora which is nothing but people waiting for orders. Nobody is there to give orders now. So they are waiting and blabbering..
It is pity the good educated Tamils Tamils who form the majority doesn’t want to get involved with this clowns.
/
Roomi / January 19, 2015
You do know that when you say “the Diaspora” it refers to the Jews? Also you seem to be confusing the word diaspora with people who migrate willingly. The word diaspora is heavily connected to forced expulsion, and not generally used to all expats. K
/
Ram / January 19, 2015
” Let my people go ” conveys a very different meaning. However, I have to agree that the Judaics referred to (the diaspora) had designs on land that belonged to others, which they forcibly ‘liberated’ from the latter, under ‘divine guidance’, if you believe in such.
/
Real Peace / January 19, 2015
Kirubaharan
I agree the UN mandated war crime investigation must continue.
Can I ask you, as an HR activist, if you have ever called for an independent investigation into the execution of over 400 surrendered policemen allegedly by the LTTE? If not, why didn’t you?
/
Off the Cuff / January 19, 2015
The pseudo HR activist (just check his website for confirmation) is not here. So why address a comment to him?
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Ram / January 19, 2015
Romesh,
Your Bala is a construct, but mine isn’t.
In mixed company, he starts his conversations with ‘you Sinhalese bastards’ (to the great discomfiture of his own wife, a nice enough lady), even though he was one of the very first to get dual nationality when it was possible to do so, and purchase a property in Kandy, not in his ‘beloved’ Jaffna. Fortunately NOT many Tamils come anywhere near his attitude to the Sinhala
/
Kuhan / January 19, 2015
Romesh Malli
Excellent and timely article.
See you in Toronto in July to continue with the discussion.
Bohoma Sthuthi
Best Kuhan
/
Gota Hetti / January 19, 2015
Rommy Hetti, you old humbug, who are you trying to fool? What parts do you disagree about SL with your friend Bala?
Is it on:
Devolution of power?
Do you believe in the ‘zero casualties’ tall story and Bala doesn’t?
Are you against an international investigation into crimes committed during the last days of the war?
Why didn’t you condemn what the Rajapaksas’ were doing before?
Did you condemn white vanning and extra judicial killings that took place under the MR regime?
Some of you Sinhala di ass porans are nothing more than closet racists. Stay there in Canada and come here on holiday, but don’t talk crap.
/
j.muthu / January 19, 2015
Appu Romesh,
u should educate stone age Sinhala Buddhist b4 writing any bull & horse shit. Sinhala Buddhist fools still live in stone age world….educate them first b4 u advising any one…good luck…
/
Romesh Hettiarachchi / January 19, 2015
Re my personal opinions, Anpu and Rajesh, I haven’t articulated them as I do really believe Sri Lankans voices are more
important to be heard than mine. I’ve lived outside Sri Lanka for the majority of my life; who am I to tell them what to do…
As for the other questions Gota posed, this letter was based on a televised conversation I participated in just over a year ago. You may find some answers you seek there.
http://theagenda.tvo.org/blog/agenda-blogs/sri-lanka-and-canadas-sinhalese
/
Romesh Hettiarachchi / January 19, 2015
Also have to say that asking these questions is an indicator of what I had written above:
“I know your looking for way to categorize me based on the content of this letter. I think the conflict has conditioned any of us to mentally classify people based on statements they make, reacting to what we think is being said rather than responding to what they actually are saying.”
/
Javi. / January 21, 2015
Romesh Hettiarachchi,
The world today does not make sense
so why are you writing that it does??
When a nation denies the happiness of the individual
then its stems from a sick & unbalanced mind- `Dogmas`
To achieve you need thought.
Imagine if you had no imagination then what would things be like??
/
sach / January 21, 2015
please refer to Off the cuff’s comments and understand the historical context. Most sinhala diaspora learn about SL through western media.
/
Javi. / January 21, 2015
Such says
“”please refer to Off the cuff’s comments and understand the historical context.””
Cold Head the Freaks of Civilization.-`Invertebrate Off The Coup- Stupid.
In la isla en comunicado
Is Romesh Goo’ta Boo`ts Lobbyist as We have Seen Paisley’s DUP or is the Colony Boy Funking in the land of immigrants.
Thinking of apples and maggots. the shit buckets.
??Do you still want to retain Sinhala/Buddhist origin myth based on bestiality, parricide and incestuous relation??
*Sihala Buddhist have no shame that almost 1 million sihala Buddhist women are sent to the medieval middle as maids/sex slaves on command while India and pakistan with large muslim populations has banned women for going there on employment at that level though they starve and die in that country.
/
sach / January 21, 2015
May god protect and cure Javi from his mental disease!
Amen
/
Javi. / January 22, 2015
Bedeviled Such says:
“”May god protect and cure Javi from his mental disease! Amen “”
Too bad I hid a Boot
Ah, Satan sees Romesh
Lionel Bopege ate no Basil
Do geese see God?
God saw such was a dog
Goo`ta sinned
/
Javi. / January 22, 2015
Such Rajaka the bolt stop hanging on your window
??Do you still want to retain Sinhala/Buddhist origin myth based on bestiality, parricide and incestuous relation??
___
When you have enemies and disliked by your friends…that is the time.
Werewolf Mahawamse same as Hitler Ideology. You should go back to your 4 legged position for there to be peace or dispersed like the Diego Garcians.
Cloned Pests and Parasites can do that very quickly its smarter than a tsunami.
We have 40k Seuvra Nuts to crack first.US has already remove religion from state because you are no better than ISIS- you are the classified terrorist sihala tamil.
The documented history of the island begins with the arrival of Bandit Prince Vijaya, it is stated that the island was inhabited by three tribes during this time Dewa, Nagas and Yakkas. But now only real sinhaleese cast is Deva cast other all cast came from south India.
Chinese legends often describe weretigers as the victims of either a hereditary curse or a vindictive ghost. Ancient teachings held that every race except the Han Chinese were really animals in disguise, so that there was nothing extraordinary about some of these false humans reverting to their true natures. Alternatively, the ghosts of people who had been killed by tigers could become a malevolent supernatural being known as “Chang”, (伥) devoting all their energy to making sure that tigers killed more humans. Some of these ghosts were responsible for transforming ordinary humans into man-eating weretigers. Also, in Japanese folklore there are creatures called bakeneko that are similar to kitsune (fox spirits) and tanuki (raccoon dogs).
BTW the marathas are the only Martial race of Hindia not the Rajputs ( “son of a king”) by law because it was a british setup of a soup (which the brits admitted in 1818 the last battel for east india company in full) so indira Gandhi by law stopped all payments and confiscated.
Same as your Deva=Rajput borrowed ambudes.
Rajputs of north india: privy purse was cut off during Indira Gandhi’s administration under the 1971 Constitution 26th Amendment Act.
/
Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Dear Sach,
Have you noticed that ALL Tamils who trumpet the UNSG’s POE has fallen Silent and avoids discussing The ICC Statute defining the crime of using a Human Shield? That tells the story.
This is the relevant section from the ICC Statute
xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;
In view of the above how the UNSG’s POE Exonerated the LTTE (237 of the POE Report) raises many questions regarding their integrity.
That they had an incentive they could not refuse is clear.
That this incentive was great enough to risk their reputation is also clear.
While the more intelligent Tamils have stayed silent, fools and imbeciles like “Gutter Language Javi” and “Tamil Humbug in a Veddha Mask” unsuccessfully tried to contest (one directly and the other indirectly) and are now wallowing in their own vomit.
Many have tried but no one has been able to give a logical explanation as to why the POE prostituted the ICC Statute.
Kind Regards,
OTC
/
Rajash / January 20, 2015
Romesh “I haven’t articulated them as I do really believe Sri Lankans voices are more important to be heard than mine.”…..” I’ve lived outside Sri Lanka for the majority of my life”;…. “who am I to tell them what to do… “
On the same token who are you to tell the Tamil Diaspoar waht to do?
They probalby live in Sri Lanka more time that you did and were driven out of Sri Lanka by the Sinhala racism, Sinhala thugs and the war.?
“Sri Lankan voices are more important to be heard than mine” in the same token diaspora voices are more imprtant to be heard that yours. what right you have to lecture to them?
oh yes….i got it ,, you rae not a Tamil Diaspoara you are not the bad diaspora …you are thet “Sri Lankan diaspoara”… you did not flee the country, you are a professional, you are not stacking shelves at the supermrket …so you are not toilingm you speak fluent English in Canadin accent so you are above the Tamil Diaspora?
You are full of double standards and a snobbish nose!
/
Javi. / January 22, 2015
Romesh Hettiarachchi, (solicit-or)
“I know you think that I as a liberal Sinhalese am “Sinhala-splaining”, defending “Sinhala Supremacy” and am completely ignorant about my “Sinhala Privilege“. As you know I have little patience with the Privilege discourse. But if you want to use the Privilege discourse, then perhaps you should “Check your Privilege” – i.e. the intersectional privileges you (and I), enjoy as being a member of the Diaspora living outside Sri Lanka. Amongst the many privileges we enjoy in the Diaspora is talking about Sri Lankan issues in the abstract: rarely will we be affected directly by the issues we endlessly discuss.”
When two containers on the highway crash head on it’s called an interaction generally at an intersection. Accident can be intentional like your gloomy city in Little Scotland or the crashes of Lanka.
All mules aren’t sterile!
Tonto, don’t you feel that you are the minority with no sea!merada! ?
Where is `Goo`ta `Boo`ts per favour??
/
Ajith / January 19, 2015
Dear Romesh,
Thank you for your valuable views about Diaspora. I agree with some of them and disagree with some of them. I don’t agree with differentiating Sri Lankan Tamils from Diaspora Tamils. I don’t agree with classifying LTTE as a bad or terror group and those who supported LTTE as bad Diaspora. You don’t categorise JVP as a bad or terror group. The fact is there was terror in this nation by individuals, groups, organisations, state since 1948 in various forms. You cannot isolate LTTE terror from other terrors.
The most important thing is you have to get rid of in your mind that it is Sinhalese state. It is a state for Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. If you are going to work out for a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka then LTTE also should be part of it. Tamils and even LTTE always maintained that if they are agreeable for an alternative to a separate state. Of course LTTE involved in terror but not worse than that of State terror or JVP terror. There was political side in the LTTE terror but there was no political side both in JVP and State terror. Until 8th January Mahinda was not a terrorist but from 9th onwards we show evidence of his coup to captuare government by a terror plot, we now know billions of money was corrupted and we hear that he was responsible for number of assasinations. Can you isolate those people who voted for Mahinda because of his terror?
Both sides should understand there were mistakes happened and we should avoid those mistakes and find ways to bring peace, harmoney and prosperity to all who belongs to this small island. It is a great opportunity to bring trust between communities by ensuring their security concerns and protecting their human rights. I am sure most of our population understands what is good and what is bad. The recent election showed that all three communities contributed towards rule of law, good governannce and you can build up Srilanka as a prosperous state politically and economically if you aoocomodate all srilankans to participate. Whether it is those Tamils who live in Sri Lanka or whether those Tamils who went out of Srilanka are only concerned about their security and there should be a reasonable secured devolution package within a united undivided Srilanka. They don’t want more than that. Those Tamils outside Srilanka are prepared to contribute their valuable resources, skills and experience towards a better Srilanka.
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Rajash / January 20, 2015
Romesh
please write to you Akkai, Nangi,aiya, mali, thathai, amme, appuhaamy,
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Richard Kaz / January 20, 2015
I agree with the general thrust of this ‘letter’ although I understand, it is not directed at me but at the Sinhala Diaspora. But the following sentence is a problem:
“MIA‘s early assertion that “Sri Lanka is basically the same government with a different face.” is clearly not true:”
Sri Lankan history since independence shows that MIA’s statement is the default position that any Tamil would take with good reason. Although the replacement of the NPC Governor is a good sign, there is a long long way to go. After all, the new Governor is a member of the Sri Lankan establishment, the Sri Lankan state and the Sri Lankan state’s historic treatment of Tamils is horrific including periods under the UNP.
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Off the Cuff / January 20, 2015
Dear Richard Kaz (and Romesh Hettiarachchi)
You say ” Sri Lankan history since independence shows that MIA’s statement is the default position that any Tamil would take with good reason”
Apparently your knowledge of SL history is limited to what you have learned from biased sources. If that is so, you are ill equipped to generalise as you have done. I have tried to give some background information in my post of January 19, 2015 at 6:29 pm above.
You have written about a Default position of ANY Tamil. Actually what you are writing is the default position of a SEPARATIST Tamil not ANY Tamil.
Instead of writing on my own, I will let some Tamils explain matters to you. Please let me know whether you still feel that your generalisation is valid. I have edited all extracts for length.
(BTW, MIA is a brainwashed Tamil. Her father was the founder of the Terror organisation EROS that set off bombs targeting Civilians).
I am writing from Sri Lanka. I am a Buddhist and a Sinhalese. Today I was pleasantly surprised as I was able to connect to Sri Lanka Guardian without the use of a Proxy. In the immediate past, this site was blocked. Freedom of speech is getting restored.
Thomas Johnpulle – A Tamil gentleman
Following the Black July riot we stayed at St Lucia’s Cathedral, Colombo-13 for a few days before moving into a family friend’s house near the St Anthony’s Church. After repairing the house and furnishing, we moved back to our home by year end. We were thankful our most valuable property – the land – was intact. We could go back and reclaim it and no one would restrict us. Thereafter thankfully life got more predictable without any similar occurrences. However, the same cannot be said about 20,402 Sinhalese and close to 75,000 Muslims permanently evicted from Jaffna in the 1970s and in 1990. Even their immovable property was stolen! This makes it much worse than the Black July. Needless to say for over four decades, they have not returned. It is high time to hand them back their immovable property in Jaffna so that one of the most despicable episodes of this nation’s history can be put to rest.
It must be done to build trust, win hearts and minds of the people, to reverse the total wipe out of Muslims and Sinhalese in Jaffna and in return find an amicable solution to the land problem in Jaffna. Without reciprocating, nothing good will come by.
Unfortunately there are some groups totally insensitive to these facts due to racism and selfishness. Little they realize unless this episode is put to rest, associated problems cannot be resolved.
Fate of properties of 95,000 people
According to the 1971 census there were 20,402 Sinhalese in Jaffna but by 1981 their numbers fell to 4,615 and then to zero after war started in 1983. What is interesting is most of them were forced to leave Jaffna before the war started. It was communal politics and threats of extreme violence that climaxed in 1975-77 that terrorised them to leave their homes and businesses in a hurry. Their attempts to sell their properties failed as the property prices were hit due to the escalation of violence. Buyers knowing the desperation of sellers demanded dirt cheap prices. But most properties were simply annexed. After 1983 none of them could even visit their places. By 1989 when there was a respite in fighting, more than 10 years had lapsed giving those who annexed these properties complete rights by way of proscription. 25,000 people on average would have owned 7,000 to 8,000 properties. They lost everything including land. Most unfortunate part is that these properties were grabbed not by the LTTE but by civilians who were neighbours of Jaffna Sinhalese. After war’s end, all LTTE held land has been claimed by security forces but private property belonging to Jaffna Sinhalese were annexed by private individuals and could not be recovered back. Some have since sold them to unassuming buyers.
This process repeated in 1990 when close to 75,000 Muslims were similarly chased out of Jaffna. They were given only 48 hours and allowed only 100 rupees (about 2 US dollars at that time) to be taken with them. They too lost everything. Once again it was private civilians who annexed most of these properties. Remaining High Security Zones cover only a negligible extent of evicted Muslims’ properties. 75,000 people would have had 20,000 to 25,000 properties. When a cessation of hostilities was declared in 1994, some of them travelled back to Jaffna which was under LTTE control then. New owners refused to hand back the properties. By 2002 when another ceasefire came into operation and the army was in control of Jaffna, proscription worked to denounce them their right to property. As Tamils we must spare a thought for them, else they won’t spare a thought for us.
Today Jaffna is Tamil only. There is no diversity among the civilian population. It is of utmost importance to correct this historical wrong that is in par with the July 1983 riot, if not worse.
Adverse impacts of broken trust
These two events boomeranged back in most unexpected ways. As part of the proposed political solution, Tamil negotiators demand land and police powers! It is futile even to expect they will get any unless they show by conduct they respect the land rights of evicted Sinhalese and Muslims. For this all their properties must be handed back to them. Otherwise no one in right mind will trust them for 35% of the landmass of the island. Sinhalese and Muslims are vehemently against any land and/or police powers to provincial units for this very reason.
There was a time when the Sinhalese promoted Tamils to the top post in the nation. Sir Ramanathan was promoted to the highest post of the colony by the Sinhalese. His brother was made the president of the largest political group of the Sinhalese – Ceylon National Congress. Since then this trust was broken. Apart from Lakshman Kadirgamar and Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, no Tamil was able to win the support of the majority to command a nationally significant governing position.
Northern Province and the Eastern Province are two separate provinces. A national referendum can merge them. But only a small percentage of people will support it without correcting past wrongs of evicting people from Jaffna. Owing to demographic distribution, the Eastern Province has a Tamil political minority. It is a matter of time since the Eastern Province had a Muslim Chief Minister. When that happens, it totally buries Tamil homeland claims relating to the East. The only way out of this predicament is to win back the trust of Muslims and Sinhalese. Unless that happens soon, the Eastern province will veer away from the North politically and culturally. Without handing back the land of Muslims and Sinhalese in Jaffna this is unlikely to happen. Its long term consequences will be very dangerous. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (the single most powerful Muslim party in the East) was created by the neglect of Muslim interests by Tamil parties. Since then SLMC has aligned with national political parties further strengthening its political power. Tamil leaders losing the Eastern Province will have a significant geopolitical impact.
Winning hearts and minds is a two way process. While non Tamils must win the hearts and minds of Tamils, it is the duty of Tamils to win the hearts and minds of non Tamils. Otherwise there is little need for non Tamils to keep winning the hearts and retaining them. LTTE extortion tactics and threats are dead currency today. As with any contract, valuable consideration must pass both ways for there to be any continuity.
Finding a long lasting and amicable remedy to the ethnic problem needs the participation of all. Threats and pressure cannot bring a lasting solution. They fizzle out as geopolitics changes if not earlier. Eventually only people to people trust will remain. This is why their problem is our problem and we must resolve it first for our problems to be resolved. Without reciprocation, the land problem in the north will never be resolved (http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2012/07/editorial-only-reciprocation-can-solve.html)
………………….
Ms Perle Thevanayagam is a Tamil journalist of repute living in the UK. She also left SL and is today a member of the Tamil Diaspora. Read what she says.
Mr Sebastian Rasalingam’ article, Sinhalisation of the North and Tamilisation of the South in yesterday’s Sri Lanka Guardian, is of utmost necessity and urgent issue Tamils need to address if we are to reach closure on our prejudices and shine the torch inwards for
permanent integration into Sri Lankan polity and obtain our legitimate rights from the majority Sinhala government.
Tamil leaders have systematically fuelled caste based hierarchy and even abroad they cannot desist from trumpeting their castes while paying obeisance to the LTTE leader for championing their rights. When I wrote on Jaffna’s Caste Curse in mid ‘90s for The Sunday Leader most of my friends ridiculed me and said I was living in cloud cuckoo land.
As a 12 year old I became conscious of how Tamils used the caste system to enslave least 75 percent of the Tamil population by obtaining their services virtually free based on their belonging to the servile class. I wondered about my own family’s hypocrisy when on the one hand they practised Catholicism to the letter treating our servants kindly and generously and on the other never allowing us to mix with those who are perceived to belong to lower castes. They even interrogated my classmates before they could be allowed into the hall.
I was touched and enlightened by this scholar Mr Rasalingam’s honest, erudite and simple explanation on the fate that befell Tamils and why Tamils need to change their attitudes. They are still living in the dark ages carrying with them the burden of ignorance, arrogance and narrow-mindedness.
No amount of militant or political solution can gain Tamils their rights unless this caste menace is eradicated even by enforcement of laws.
Please accept my congratulations on this excellent article Mr Rasalingam.
(http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2011/06/pernicious-caste-curse-of-tamils-living.html)
………………..
Ms Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam is a member of the Tamil Diaspora who lives in Australia. Mr Sebastian Rasalingam’s writings resonated within her. Here is a small extract from her. I strongly suggest that you read the full article.
I strongly believe that the State should have a clear program of settling Sinhalese in the villages of the North, and at least some Tamil IDPS in the villages of the south. The Sinhalese, with 75% of the population, would be demographically highly pressurized and hence the move to the sparse regions of the North and the East would be no different than the move of the White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestants (WASPS) of the US East coast to the “homelands” of the Hispanics West in the USA. Such redistribution of population, and NOT devolution of power into the hands of corrupt regional lords, is the best investment for long-term peace in Sri Lanka. Such a redistribution of population will also strongly undermine the Caste and gender discrimination endemic in traditional Tamil society with its Manu Dharma. Sinhalese society is far far less caste conscious, and accords greater power to its womenfolk. (http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2011/07/tamil-royalty.html)
…………………
Thomas Johnpulle
“Contrary what some observers propagate, the ethnic problem didn’t start in 1956. The concept of Tamil Elam was inaugurated by Sir Ponnambalam Arunchalam as far back in 1923. In 1931 a highly disproportionate 50:50 representation was sought to represent people on an ethnic basis which was actually 70:30. Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kachchi (Lanka Tamil Kingdom Party) was formed in 1949. It has changed its English name from Federal Party to Tamil National Alliance over the years; however, the Tamil meaning remains same.
After a resounding political mandate, the Official Language Act was passed in 1956 making Sinhala the only official language while allowing reasonable use of the Tamil language. It was a very peaceful transition. There were no violent acts, no satyagrahas, no large demonstrations and no serious protests apart from a small protest near the parliament without mass participation. Though it was seen as discriminatory and a great inconvenience, Tamils started to learn the Sinhala language. By then only less than 4.9% of Ceylon Tamil men and less than 1% of Ceylon Tamil women were fluent in English. In the case of Upcountry Tamils it was near 0%. More Tamils were fluent in Sinhala than English at that time. The 1956 Gal Oya regional riot had nothing to do with the Official Language Act which was the result of communal elements trying to assert ethnic enclaves in the East where a multi ethnic irrigation settlement was built in the late 1940s. The riot didn’t spread as it was based on a village level issue and not a national one”.
“As a UN member Sri Lanka upheld equal rights to all individuals and caste stood in the way of equal rights to all persons. Going by this commitment on 12 April 1957 the Social Disabilities Act No. 21 was passed in parliament. Tamil children of ‘lower castes’ could attend school regularly only after this act. People of ‘lower castes’ could participate in religious rites in Kovils without any disturbance from ‘high caste’ individuals. A reawakening happened in the north among previously marginalised Tamils”.
“Prevention of Social Disabilities (Amendment) Act No. 18 of 1971 was introduced to overcome the weaknesses of the previous act. The initial act required an aggrieved party to take the matter to court. However, most ‘low caste’ Tamils were poor and couldn’t afford to go to court. The amendment authorised police action in case of a complaint.
This was to be the last nail on the coffin of Tamil caste discrimination. Tamil race based political party leaders were furious. They restarted their satyagraha campaigns and peaceful protests against the government action. In 1965 the government introduced laws to use predominantly the Sinhala language in government offices. However, no large scale Tamil protests were seen. But after the 1971 amendment act, protests started to grow.”
Christian groups spearheaded the movement to petition court on any alleged discrimination they came to know. However, it didn’t go down well among the Vellalar ‘high caste’ people. A number of ‘high caste’ Tamils were humiliatingly punished for caste discrimination. Resentment grew against the government. Tamil politicians sensed the double danger of dismantling the caste system and mainstream political parties penetrating into the Tamil community. They took up a racial slogan that pit Tamils against Sinhalese. It worked well in the short run as racial sentiments and fears were drummed up. In the short term it unified Tamils across the caste/region/class divide. Large scale protests, satyagrahas and demonstrations broke out. Ministers were mobbed, Sinhala letters were tarred over a petty issue (having a Sinhala letter instead of English letters in vehicle registration numbers) and a civil disobedience campaign was launched by Tamil race based political parties (Tamil Kachchi and Tamil Congress).
All this happened in 1957 more than a year after the Official Language Act was passed (within 24 hours) and implemented.
In 1957 Bandaranaike and Chelvanayagam (the leader of the Tamil Kachchi) came to a secret pact widely known as the B-C Pact. People, the parliament and even the Cabinet were not informed of let alone sanctioned it. It wasn’t approved by the parliament and therefore lacked legal binding on the parties.
Strangely no resolution of the language issue is found in the B-C pact. Instead it was more about devolving regional power! This is clear proof that it was the Prevention of Social Disability Act and not the Official Language Act that triggered Tamil resistance although the latter was cited as the root cause. The proposed solution had nothing to do with the Official Language Act. By gaining regional control, Tamil race based parties would make the provisions of the Prevention of Social Disability Act powerless and continue to rule over ‘low caste’ Tamils.
“In 1973 university standardisation was introduced as a means of equitably distributing taxpayer funds across the country. It disadvantaged students from Colombo, Galle, Jaffna and Kandy of all ethnicities but was favourable to students from Batticaloa, Nuwara Eliya, Vanni, Monaragala and other less developed districts. The percentage of Tamils in universities hardly changed but the composition between Vellalar Jaffna Tamils and other Tamils changed. Jaffna Vellalar Tamils were furious over it.
Meanwhile this made the government and mainstream political parties even more popular among non-Vellalar Tamils. Although the 1977 election which was held under the first-past-the-post system hid the growth in support for mainstream political parties, it was clearly shown in percentages and margins. TULF failed to get the addition of percentages of ACTC and ITAK. Votes for SLFP and UNP increased in 1977 though under the election system they couldn’t win seats.”
(http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2011/10/tamil-caste-discrimination.html)
……………….
Mr Sebastian Rasalingam grew up in the Jaffna peninsula. He moved to Mannar after world-war II. Later he moved to Hatton and married an Indian origin Tamil Lady and finally came to Colombo. Now in his 80s he lives with his offspring in Canada.
Today the propaganda of the Tamil Separatists stands in the way of peace on this island. You would not know how to get at the truth as the False propaganda is overwhelming.
If you really want to know how Sinhala Society treated Tamils and how the Tamil Society treated their own, you should research the copious writings of this honest man, who I have grown to respect and admire. He almost single handedly brought down the Cadjan Curtain. You could also get hold of a copy of Dr Jane Russell’s PhD Thesis “Communal politics under the Donoughmore Constitution, 1931-1947” which is available as a book from Thisara Publishers.
The poor Tamils worked in the properties and homes of the upper-caste Tamils. We could not go in buses, or attend school. Our very presence was `polluting’. When the buses were nationalized by SWRD, the CTB allowed any one to travel in them, That angered the Tamil leaders. It was the Church that grudgingly opened doors very slightly to the oppressed Tamils by allowing them to learn English and read the Bible. In my young days I sat on the class-room floor or carried a low stool from class to class, as only the high castes could sit on chairs. The teachers treated me and and another child like me as excreta and punished us for daring to be there. But I thought that was the law – each had his station in life.
When I moved to Hatton, and later to Colombo, I found a very different world. It was a transforming experience for me and my wife to find that our work mates, mostly Sinhalese, would actually sit with us and share a cup of tea, as if that was normal. We found that we could go to night school and study without been threatened, beaten up, or go and borrow books, and do things that would bring swift retribution `back in the North’. Our dwellings would have been torched, and our women would have been raped with impunity.
This was in the late 1950s, when Mr. RMB is claiming that the Sinhala bill was introduced to `hurt the Tamils’. There were far more horrendous things going on in Tamil society. Young Tamils knew nothing about the south, and everything they knew was what they heard from their ruling masters and poisonous propagandists. We implicitly obeyed our Periya Doreis and the Tamil pamphlets told the `truth’ – the Cingala were our enemies. Very few young Tamils had ever traveled to the south. In our young days low-caste people were not allowed on trains although there was no such law. In the 1950 and 1960, `low-caste’ Tamils could go in trains in the Sinhalese areas, but after Vavniya we ran the risk of being assaulted and even thrown out of the train. All Indian estate workers in the early days went to India on foot, avoiding high-caste Tamil areas on their path, as their women could be raped as `rightful game’ by tradition, and they could be ordered to do menial work for the right of passage, or the privilege of drinking water or lighting a fire.
Kind Regards,
OTC
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Richard Kaz / January 21, 2015
My version of Sri Lankan history is learned from biased sources?? All the racism and the racist violence and threats of racist violence that I, my family and friends experienced in Sri Lanka are learned from biased sources and not actual experiences?? Did we dream them up??
There are plenty of Tamil apologists for the Sri Lankan state who have benefited by politically aligning themselves with the state for various reasons. It is then easy to selectively quote from these apologists. However the experience of overwhelming Tamils who live or have lived in Sri Lanka is in line with what MIA said, history shows change in governments make no difference for Tamils. I for one am open-minded about what the new government might do, but given the past form, I am not very optimistic.
As for your claim that the default position is a Tamil separatist one, all it does is show your majoritarian arrogance. Thats right, you having admitted to being a Sinhalese, speak for the Tamils, know the default position of the Tamils.
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Native Vedda / January 21, 2015
Richard Kaz
You are attempting to educate a shameless person who is a habitual liar and a professional plagiarist.
He used to have two side kicks one is Banda and the other is mechanic. It sees even those hardcore Sinhala/Buddhists too do not want to associate with this shameless man/woman.
Now he has a new recruit Ramuuuu who is also a habitual liar. One cannot educate a racist.
He will bore you to death.
Take care.
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Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Dear Richard Kaz,
From your name I assumed you to be a foreigner but now you claim to be a Tamil who has personal experience of the Riots. This makes you at least 37 years old (assuming that you were 5 years old then). This means that your Tamil mother was married to Mr Kaz (your father) at least in 1977 and you were living in Lanka at that time.
I assume you were living amongst the Sinhalese in the South when you were attacked by these “Sinhala racists”. Did you receive any help from these racists during that time?
Our Tamil neighbors ran to our house seeking safety when the mobs were attacking Tamils. They did not run to the police but sought the help of a Sinhala Buddhist family. Was that because they thought the Sinhala were racist?
Our family gave them refuge, fed them for weeks and finally delivered them to safety. All of this was done at great risk to our lives (and our property).
We were not alone in that endeavor many others Burghers and Sinhalese did the same. That is why so many of you were saved. Did your parents or relations or friends ever tell you that? If not don’t take my word for it but please refer to the reports of the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) for confirmation. You could also ask one of a handful of persons who acknowledge this like Dr Rajasingham Narendran. The majority of Tamils who were helped in this way do not acknowledge it publicly.
You seem to have been brainwashed just like MIA was brainwashed by her Terrorist father.
You say “There are plenty of Tamil apologists for the Sri Lankan state who have benefited by politically aligning themselves with the state for various reasons. It is then easy to selectively quote from these apologists”
What you are really saying is that any Tamil who dissents with your view is an apologist of the SL Govt. The corollary is any Tamil who have separatists views is an apologist of the Terrorists. Both these positions are idiotic. It is the Bush doctrine of “Either you are with us or against us”
I gave you verbatim what Tamils have written about Tamil society. Those views are not mine but that of Tamils. Can you prove that ANY of the person’s who authored those are lackeys of the SL govt?
Many others have written about Tamil society in Jaffna. Amongst them is Dr Ethirweerasingham Nagalingam, the Olympic Silver Medalist and the First President of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF).
What you have said is the knee jerk retort of a Brainwashed Tamil, who cannot face facts and is flustered by the Truth. No argument is presented as there are no facts to support an argument.
You say “However the experience of overwhelming Tamils who live or have lived in Sri Lanka is in line with what MIA said”
The overwhelming number of Tamils STILL live in the South amongst the Sinhalese not in the North amongst the Tamils. They also own houses and immovable property in the South.
The Diaspora Tamils who left Lanka (purportedly out of fear of death) are buying Houses and apartments in the Sinhala South not in the Tamil majority North. That is why there was a howl when Dual Citizenship was suspended.
Why would a Tamil buy house and property in the Sinhala South instead of the Tamil North, if as you say, they fear for their lives? The logic does not add up does it?
You say “MIA said, history shows change in governments make no difference for Tamils”
Did MIA say that the Tamils have given up the Exclusive Tamil Homeland claim with govt changes? History shows that they have not.
It has been established that during Dutch rule of Jaffna the boundary between the Dutch ruled Jaffna and the Sinhala Kandyan Kingdom was at Elephant Pass. Yet the Separatist Tamils claim the East as their exclusive domain.
A govt has a responsibility to all her citizens not just to the small fraction of Tamils who live in the North and East. The majority of Tamils live in the South and only about 5% of the population lives in 40% of the Land Mass that is Sri Lanka.
Show the Sinhalese that you do not have ulterior motives when you claim 40% of Lanka as Tamil territory when more than half the Tamils live amongst the Sinhalese while the Northern Province has been ethnically cleansed of ALL Sinhalese and Muslims.
You cannot maintain a rigid untenable fixed position and expect the attitude of the rest of the population to change. I do hope you can be open minded though you have been close minded about the Tamil views I presented.
You say “As for your claim that the default position is a Tamil separatist one, all it does is show your majoritarian arrogance”
I presented Tamil views that you have been summarily dismissive of. Is that majoritarian arrogance or the arrogance of a minority with a majoritarian complex?
You say “Thats right, you having admitted to being a Sinhalese, speak for the Tamils, know the default position of the Tamils”
You need to reread my comment carefully.
What I said was that YOU are wrong with your default position and I gave you examples of Tamils who have diametrically opposing views to yours. Hence you don’t know the default position of Tamils you only know the default position of terrorist sympathizers like the Terrorist Offspring MIA.
You say “Thats right, you having admitted to being a Sinhalese, speak for the Tamils, know the default position of the Tamils”
I cover my identity with a pseudonym to protect my family and myself from fanatical separatists. I have no reason to hide my ethnicity and religion hence I declare it.
There is a HUGE difference between Declaring something and admitting it. Please look it up in a dictionary.
On the other hand your name led me to believe you are a neither Tamil nor Asian.
You see Richard Kaz, I did not speak for the Tamils. Tamils spoke for themselves. Reread my post again before you arrive at foolhardy conclusions.
Kind Regards,
OTC
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Richard Kaz / January 22, 2015
You know what they say about people who assume too many things, hence I don’t want to be part of your assumptions and I will from now on take the wise advise of Native Vedda and hit the ignore button. Cheers.
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Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Dear Richard Craz,
Admitting defeat so soon?
I suppose the balloon of that arrogant aura burst when FACTS are presented.
You are no better than the silly buffoon who is not a Veddha but calls himself one as he is ASHAMED to admit that he is a Tamil. What do you think of a person who disowns his/her own parentage?
Apparently Mr Richard Craz, You too tried to Hide your own Ethnicity by hiding behind a NON TAMIL NAME until it came out with your uncontrollable anger on reading my first reply to you.
Next time take that Ethnic mask off and flush that so called pseudo “Open Mind” of yours in the toilet and engage in an honest discussion. It does not matter whether it is pro or against terrorist and separatists. Then we can respect your views whether we agree with them or not.
Kind Regards,
OTC
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Siva Sankaran Sarma / January 22, 2015
Excellent posts OTC, you’ve really got these shameless LTTE monkeys climbing over each other running for cover :D I’d like to echo the previous suggestion that you start a website (a simple blog perhaps) to serve as a repository for your great rebuttals to peelamist propaganda.
/
Javi. / January 22, 2015
Siva Sankaran Sarma Menon David Blacker Tatto Butt,
hey flu bug! Stop bugging them and get into your mini minor
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Native Vedda / January 22, 2015
Wee Thamihz Senior Journalist Siva Sankaran Sarma Menon
“you start a website (a simple blog perhaps) to serve as a repository for your great rebuttals to peelamist propaganda.”
Great to hear from you.
Aren’t you just being sarcastic to this habitual liar and professional plagiarist?
/
Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
Hello Tamil Separatist in the Veddha Mask,
I see that you have crept out of that hole you were hiding in for 3 days. Great to Hear from You too.
The ICC Statute has very clearly defined a Human Shield in the following.
“(xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;” UNSG’s POE has made the following statement in their report
But the UNSG’s POE has Exonerated the LTTE of that war crime (please refer 237 of POE report)
Like a fool you said these are Lies when anyone can Google and find them.
I challenged you to prove that it’s a Lie on January 20, 2015 at 1:56 am and today its almost midnight on 22nd but no rebuttal from you.
Here is the post
If you have the brains and a command of the English language sufficient to compare the ICC Statute definition of a Human Shield and the twisted logic used by the UNSG’s POE to EXONERATE the LTTE of using Human Shields, please contest what I have written exposing the UNSG’s POE (the link is available in the comment you responded to above). The actual comment is on this page.
If you fail to contest you will prove to the CT readership that you are a brainless idiot that makes noises like and empty vessel.
The Great Veddha imposter has failed to respond to that challenge for 3 days. What can be expected of a Brain dead Idiot!!!
Kind Regards,
OTC
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Off the Cuff / January 24, 2015
Dear Siva Sankaran Sarma,
I will explore how best I can make some of my comments available on the Internet with links to the original comment.
Thank you for the suggestion.
Kind Regards,
OTC
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ranjan / January 20, 2015
great article. It would be best if we could encourage tamils to move back to india, or even claim their homeland in india. After all they have all the rights they need. They get free medical care just like the rest of the country, free education in tamil, right to open a business and trade, worship any god they want, and most of them a rich, and needless to say tamils run the gold market in SL. It is their mindset of serving their white masters that encourage them to move to mostly white countries.
Had we treated them like malaysians, effectively rooting out their claim to any land in SL, we could have encouraged them to move out of the country. But guess the past govt. didn’t have such a astute strategy. That is no many fronts, such as foreign or economic policy.
Tamils must realize they will never have self determination in SL , or be treated equally if they do not adapt and integrate with the majority. For a start they could learn to speak Sinhala. It will help them gain more reconciliation.
After killing 9 policemen and infurating the Sinhalese, and starting tyhe whole conflict, the tamil scums blame everything on the majority. Of course you are bound be socially marginalized if you don’t speak and integrate with the majority. Not all in SL but all over the world.
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Lanka Liar / January 20, 2015
Tamils know where to move and when to move. If you want you move.Nobody is bother where you move
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Richard Kaz / January 21, 2015
What an ignorant and racist piece of rubbish you have written. Your version of history is only in your narrow mind.
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Off the Cuff / January 22, 2015
That is rich, coming from a Tamil racist Hiding behind a Non Tamil Name!!!
Kind Regards,
OTC
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