By Michael Roberts –
Dr. Michael Roberts
When one of the early LTTE fighters of the period 1974-to-1984, namely, Chinniah Rajeshkumar whose nom de guerre was Rāgavan revealed to the world the processes leading to Tamil militancy in the 1970s and elaborated upon the early activities of the Tamil Tiger underground organisation, one snippet of information was a revelation. Pirapāharan, he said, “had with him a copy of Mein Kampf” and derived “the idea of eliminating the other” from Hitler (Rāgavan in Kadirgamar 2009 and Roberts 2012). Rāgavan’s riveting Q and A session with Ahilan Kadirgamar remains a critical supplement to the studies of Pirapāharan and the LTTE in their early underground guerrilla days. It adds to the stock of information presented by such authors as A. Sabaratnam, MR Narayan Swamy and DBS Jeyaraj.
This information is now augmented by the serialized writings in Tamil by Ganēshan Iyer, another early fighter who was also the LTTE Treasurer at one point. Whereas Rāgavan broke from the Tigers in 1984, Iyer was part of a faction that split earlier in 1980.
The Tamil lobby in the diaspora, of course, is not of one mind. It will contain a wide spectrum of views besides factions seeking to attain a significant position. After the downfall of the de facto LTTE state in Sri Lanka and Pirapāharan’s death under fire on 19 May 2009, the many LTTE international arms subject to Pirapāharan’s control in the halcyon days of the LTTE split into three factions.
Rāgavan’s interview was among the material that I utilised for a draft article entitled “Inspirations and Caste Threads and in the Early LTTE” (2009, still unpublished), so I immediately arranged for a translation of two chapters of Iyer’s account. This body of writing has provided key information for the composition of an article “Inspirations: Hero Figures and Hitler in Young Pirapāharan’s Thinking” which has since appeared in two web sites (Roberts 2012 a, b). However, I also offered one of Iyer’s chapters – a translation by Parames Blacker — immediately to the editors of the web site, Colombo Telegraph, because it was important for the world-at-large to have this material for their reflections (see Iyer, “Hitler’s Rejuvenation of Germany as Inspiration for Prabhakaran”).
This memoir from Iyer was also circulated to the clusters of chain mail addresses at my disposal. I do not have a computer brain that makes the addressees vivid in mind. Victor Rājakulendran in Sydney was one of those who received this communication. It clearly stoked his anger because he immediately sent me a sharp memorandum of protest. This is a document of significance in itself, though hardly matching that of Ganēshan Iyer.
Rājakulendran is no ordinary Tom, Dick or Harry. The following presentation of self in the site sauce provides his biography in brief:[i]
“Sixty-two year old Dr Victor Rajakulendran was born into a Tamil family in the north of Sri Lanka and studied at Columbo University, before taking up post-graduate studies in America and finally settling in Australia 20 years ago. Today Dr Rajakulendran works as a research entomologist and lives with his wife in Quakers Hill, west of Sydney. He has a daughter who recently married, and in his spare time he likes to play tennis. He also works tirelessly on behalf on the Tamil people of Sri Lanka. Dr Rajakulendran hosts a regular Tamil language radio program on Sydney community radio and is involved in representations made to the Australian government on behalf of Sri Lankan Tamils…”
Even after Prabhakaran’s corpse had been shown on television and identified by former senior colleagues now co-operating with the Sri Lankan Government, Tamil settlers in Australia refused for days to accept Colombo’s word. Victor Rajakulendran, a spokesman for Australian Tamils, insisted the images had been Photoshopped. “The only question is: when the man is going to resurface,” he told me.
He is featured in the web site TamilNation.com as “an active campaigner for the Tamil cause [and] a Tamil Community broadcaster in Australia.”[ii] More vitally, he was recently the Secretary of the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations. It was in this capacity that he marshalled a body of Tamil youth from Sydney (for the most part) to gain entry to Manuka Oval in Canberra during Sri Lanka’s ODI cricket match against India on 12 February 2008, there to mass at a strategic point, display red flags and present a declamation of the Sri Lankan government in the language of liberalism, namely, as the voice of “humanity” (Roberts 2011: 99-103).
Insofar as this demonstration did not deploy Tamil Tiger flags in the fashion adopted by LTTE functionaries at other venues in the world, this was an act of subterfuge (Roberts 2011: 99-103). But that is by the by. What matters is Rājakulendran’s official position as a LTTE and/or Tamil spokesperson in the recent past. Indeed, he has appeared regularly in the airwaves in this capacity, on one occasion being engaged by SBS in a debate entitled “The Tiger Trap” which involved such renowned figures as the security analyst, Rohan Gunaratna and Sam Zarifi, an Amnesty International spokesman.[iii] It was at this session that Rajakulendran even intimated that he could be a target for cloak-and-dagger interdiction from the Sri Lankan government in the manner which befell KP Pathmanathan, the head of LTTE’s international operations in late 2009.[iv]
He is clearly part of the Tamil Tiger lobby in Australia today which is vigorously targeting the government of Sri Lanka with allegations of war crimes. This engagement as well as his history of advocacy means that he will be known to the university intellectuals, radical-liberal journalists and human rights activists who have shown sympathy for the cause of the Tamils of Sri Lanka as underdogs and ‘oppressed minority,’ namely, such individuals as Jake Lynch, Antony Lowenstein, Gordon Weiss, Damian Kingsbury, Bruce Haigh, David Feith, Lee Rhiannon and John Zubrzycki. Indeed, to this day he assiduously attends all forums in Sydney where the Sri Lankan situation is discussed.
For these reasons his thinking is of some relevance to anybody interested in “Tamilness” and the worldwide Sri Lankan Tamil lobby as it stands today. The Tamil lobby in the diaspora, of course, is not of one mind. It will contain a wide spectrum of views besides factions seeking to attain a significant position. After the downfall of the de facto LTTE state in Sri Lanka and Pirapāharan’s death under fire on 19 May 2009, the many LTTE international arms subject to Pirapāharan’s control in the halcyon days of the LTTE split into three factions. The faction under Rudrakumaran of USA emerged as the principal flag-bearer and has institutionalized itself as Thamililam in exile under the rubric “Global Tamil Forum.”
I have no information regarding Rajakulendran’s present position within these new alignments and re-arrangements. But, on the basis of a priori reasoning, I suggest that he is one with the majority of those Tamils remaining associated with the Tiger and Tamil cause (a) in being deeply attached to “Tamilness” in the sense Sri Lankan Tamil;[v] (b) in continuing to regard Pirapāharan with some reverence; (c) in remaining firm in his support for the LTTE endeavour and its goal of Thamilīlam; while (d) also being eager at every opportunity to bring the government of Sri Lanka into disrepute in the court of world public opinion.
It is within this context, therefore, that readers must dwell on the angry note he sent me by email on the 31st January 2012 as soon as he received the translation of a chapter from Ganeshan Iyer’s work (and also my immediate reply in the same spirit):
Dear Michael
I think we have met once briefly in Zurich at “Geneva Call” workshop.
Thanks for sending this. But, what is the purpose of circulating this at this time. Tamil Diaspora who knows LTTE well are very clear in their mind, VP called off the armed struggle just before he disappeared and gave the responsibility in the hands of the Tamil Diaspora to carry on the struggle in a democratic and nonviolent way. Not a single shot has been fired by any of the LTTE cadres who still remain elusive in Eelam jungles and suburbia since then. That is the discipline VP has built into his armed forces and that is what this goon Ganeshan Iyer is trying to criticize after leaving the movement and you people are clamoring to translate and circulate. What do you think you gain by doing this? All what I can guess is that you get a good night sleep with the satisfaction that you have done something great.
As I have told Damien Kingsbury last year in a workshop in Melbourne, LTTE is a History now but a Good History. I told him that if not for LTTE, he (Damien) and myself won’t be in that room in Melbourne and discussing about the Sri Lankan crisis for two days leaving all our weekend chores neglected at home front.
That is reality my dear Michael. Thanks to “Sept 11” and George Bush Senior, that Gothabaya could claim that he annihilated the invincible LTTE and pretend like you to be a recent day Dutagemunu and fool all the Singhalese. whole world knows who annihilated LTTE. Therefore basking on this pseudo-victory and trampling on the democracy in Sri Lanka, especially in the North and East, and pitching China against India and surviving for the moment, will not take Sri Lanka anywhere and will not save the War Criminals from the Jaws of Justice either.
As Mahintha is worried and expresses again and again, “We have annihilated LTTE but we have to deal with the Tamil Diaspora”, Sri Lanka has the darkest days ahead for her as well as for her leaders in the present government. Why don’t you start writing on the future than circulating some dead horse stuff from the past?
With regards
Victor
Roberts to Victor Rajakulendran, 31 January 2012
Victor,
I cannot remember you, but I am old and forgetful.
I am also a historian and a historian of ideology including all forms of nationalism and extremism, including Burgher, Tamil, Sinhala, German etc. Since you have not comprehended that, there is no point in us exchanging views.
Stuff my stuff in your wastepaper basket. I will continue to decipher your stuff.
Michael
Concluding Remarks
This short essay will adhere to the promise held out in the last line of my response, albeit briefly. The principal objective, however, is to make the world at large and Australians in particular aware of the lines of thought favoured by an important Tamil Australian activist.
In his view the LTTE remains a shining example, a “good history,” for all Sri Lankan Tamils to follow. Tamil migrants must now pursue a democratic non-violent path, while gaining inspiration from the fact that Tiger cadres “still remain” hidden in the “Eelam jungles and suburbia” (whatever the latter word means). This claim beggars belief.
It is a notion that he has held from May 2009 onwards. When Hamish McDonald of the Sydney Morning Herald compiled a news item (Mcdonald 2009) on the demise of the LTTE in May 2009, he noted that: Even after Prabhakaran’s corpse had been shown on television and identified by former senior colleagues now co-operating with the Sri Lankan Government, Tamil settlers in Australia refused for days to accept Colombo’s word. Victor Rajakulendran, a spokesman for Australian Tamils, insisted the images had been Photoshopped. “The only question is: when the man is going to resurface,” he told me.
In mid-2009 Rajakulendran was not alone in affirming that Pirapāharan was alive and would resurrect their struggle. As indicated in blog comments and pro-LTTE web-sites, a number of true believers lapsed into a state of denial. The shock arising from the comprehensive military defeat of the LTTE by the forces marshalled by the Sri Lankan state[vi] appears to have generated strands of catatonic irrationality. Whether the virtual deification of Pirapāharan as a godlike military genius who would lead them to Thamilīlam contributed to this measure of delusion is a conjecture that calls for investigation.
It is unlikely that we will ever know the numbers or proportion of Tamil migrants spread across the world who adhered to this delusion (not unlike the delusion of those Indians who refused to believe that Subhas Chandra Bose did not die in a plane crash: Borra 2007). What we do know now is that Victor Rajakulendran continues to believe that the LTTE’s military capacity in Sri Lanka remains dormant, but alive.
The obdurate character of such delusions suggests that some hardcore Tiger supporters in the diaspora had invested so much hope and power in Pirapāharan that they simply could not envisage his passing away. Pirapāharan, their talaivar,[vii] was a man who had achieved so many victories against all the odds and set up a state that was an apotheosis of their sentiments and hopes. For this reason he was revered and worshipped as a god incarnate. Ergo, he remains immortal and could not be dead.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bavinck, Ben 2011 “Pirapaharan as uncompromising killer prone to vengeance: testimonies from the Jaffna heartland, 1989-91” http://thuppahi.wordpress. com/2011/11/01/ as uncompromising killer prone to vengeance: testimonies from the Jaffna heartland, 1989-91
Borra, Ranjan 2007 “Subhas Chandra Bose, the Indian National Army, and the War of India’s Liberation,” The Journal of Historical Review, 3/ 4: 407-439.
Iyer, Ganeshan 2012a “Military Training in the German Nazi Mould amidst Internal Dissension in the early LTTE, late 1970s,” trans by Parames Blacker, in http://thuppahi. wordpress.com/2012/01/30/military-training-in-the-german-nazi-mould-amidst-internal-dissension-in-the-early-ltte-late-1970s/.
Iyer, Ganeshan 2012b “My Notes on Experiences with Fellow-Fighters,” chapter 9 in My Entries on the Eelam Struggle,” [as trans, by Gobi Ponnuthurai for Michael Roberts].
Jeyaraj, D. B. S. 2009 “Prabhakaran: Powerful Symbol of Tamil Armed Struggle,” 29 May 2009, in www.transcurrents.com.
Kadirgamar, Ahilan 2009 “Interview with Ragavan on Tamil Militancy (Early Years),” http:// kafila.org/2009/02/16/interview-with-ragavan-on-tamil-militancy-part-i/.
McDonald, Hamish 2009 “Beaten by his Hubris,” 30 M ay 2009, http://www.smh.com.au/ world/beaten-by-his-hubris-20090529-bq7q.html.
Montgomery, A. 1994 “Subhas Chandra Bose and India’s Struggle for Independence,” Journal of Historical Review, March-April 1994. 14/2: 2-5.
Narayan Swamy, M. R. 1994. Tigers of Sri Lanka, Delhi: Konark Publishers Pvt Ltd.
Narayan Swamy, M. R. 2003 Inside an Elusive Mind. Prabhakaran, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.
Narayan Swamy, M. R. 2010 The Tiger Vanquished. LTTE’s story, New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Ragavan, 2009b “Prabhakaran’s Timekeeping. Memories of a Much-Mythologised Rebel Leader by a Former LTTE Fighter,” Sunday Leader, 24 May 2009.
Roberts, Michael 2000“Sinhala-ness and Sinhala Nationalism,” in G. Gunatilleke et al (eds.): A History of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka: Recollection, Reinterpretation and Reconciliation, Colombo: Marga Monograph Series, No 4.
Roberts, Michael 2006 “The Tamil Movement for Eelam,” E-Bulletin of the International Sociological Association No. 4, July 2006, pp. 12-24 [reprinted in Roberts, Fire and Storm, Colombo, Yapa, 2010, pp. 203-18].
Roberts, Michael 2009 Inspirations and Caste Threads in the Early LTTE, unpubd. mss in process.
Roberts, Michael 2010 “Hitler, Nationalism, Sacrifice: Koenigsberg and Beyond … Towards the Tamil Tigers,” in http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/hitler-nationalism-sacrifice-koenigsberg-and-beyond-%e2%80%a6-towards-the-tamil-tigers/.
Roberts, Michael 2010 Fire and Storm: Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications,
Roberts, Michael 2011 “Cricket as Protest Arena: Tamil Incursions,” in Roberts, Incursions and Excursions in and around Sri Lankan Cricket, Colombo: Author, distributed by Vijitha Yapa Publications, pp. 77-110.
Roberts, Michael 2012a “Inspirations: Hero Figures and Hitler in Young Pirapāharan’s Thinking,” http://colombotelegraph.com/2012/02/10/inspirations-hero-figures-and-hitler-in-young-pirapaharans-thinking/.
Roberts, Michael 2012b “Inspirations: Hero Figures and Hitler in Young Pirapāharan’s Thinking,” http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/inspirations-hero-figures-and-hitler-in-young-pirapaharans-thinking/
Sabaratnam, T. 2003 Pirapāharan, [a biography in chapter segments] serialised in http://www. sangam.org/index_orig.html.
Spittel, Gloria “Keeping the Cause Alive: The Post-LTTE Tamil Eelam Support Network,”
http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/keeping-the-cause-alive-the-post-ltte-tamileelam-support-network/
Tekwani, Shyam 2009 ‘The Man who destroyed Eelam,” http://www.tehelka.com/home /20090523/default.asp.
Thottam, Jyoti 2009 “Prabhakaran: The Life and Death of a Tiger,” Time, 19 May 2009, http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1899590,00.html.
[i] See http://www.thesauce.info/2009/09/04/victor-rajakulenrdan-works-for-tamil-people/
[ii] http://tamilnation.co/forum/rajakulendran/index.htm
[iii] See http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/transcript/id/600216/n/The-Tiger-Trap.
[iv] KP was also Pirapaharan’s best man at his wedding in India in 1984.
[v] Not all Sri Lankan Tamils subjectively attached to their “Tamilness” were supporters of the LTTE; and this is even more widely applicable today because some LTTE supporters of the recent past have indicated some disenchantment with the impractical course adopted by the LTTE leadership in the last decade. An understanding of the concept “Tamilness” in my thinking can be gleaned from a reading of my work on “Sinhalaness” (Roberts, 2000).
[vi] Note that Rajakulendran cannot yet bring himself to admit that the victory was secured largely by the efforts of the Sri Lankan armed forces.
[vii] Talaivar means “leader,” ‘big man,” and “boss” in Tamil and is in wide usage for local men of importance. However, it is arguable that its usage for Pirapāharan was such that it developed a meaning akin to “supremo” and “Fuehrer.”
Added by Colombo Telegraph on February 22, 2012
RIGHT Of REPLY:Dr.Victor Rajakulendran’s Response To Dr.Roberts
Nihal P / February 21, 2012
So, the same flimsy “evidence” for drawing a connection between Prabhakaran and Hitler, except now an added twist: finding a link between “Thalaivar” and “Fuhrer” via nonsensical semantics. Perhaps in his next masterpiece, Roberts will wax eloquent on Prabhakaran’s admiration of the Vedic Aryan swastika, his fascination with Madame Blavatsky, and his desire to emulate Parisian architecture in “Tamil Eelam”. He may even find an extraordinary connection between the Berghof and Prabhakaran’s bunker!
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David Blacker / February 21, 2012
And you can counter it by producing your substantial evidence on how Germany won WW2, the US won the Vietnam War, the Jews nuked Japan, and how Ranil Wickramasinghe was never elected as Prime Minister.
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Nihal P / February 21, 2012
Here is Blacker describing his first “experience” with a woman (a corpse, to be specific):
“I myself have helped dispose of (dead) bodies in this way (aka abuse female corpses), and we did make crude juvenile jokes. We were all just 19 or 20 years old, and you joke about everything if you don’t wanna go insane. Many of us had never even seen a real naked woman before, so obviously we commented, even though they were dead. It isn’t a polite tea party, but it isn’t a war crime either.”
http://groundviews.org/2011/06/21/the-story-of-the-hypocrite-in-a-tamil-man/
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David Blacker / February 22, 2012
Where have I said that this was my first experience? Once more, Unterklokommandant Heshan displays his lack of an English education :D Besides, at least what I have related actually happened; unlike your claims about the Jews, the Germans, the Vietnamese, and the UNP.
Also, why have you edited my comment by adding your own words in brackets? Having to lie to make your point? Jesus won’t want you for a sunbeam now, Unterklo :D Maybe He can use you as an enema.
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Kathiravan / February 21, 2012
As a self claimed ‘Historian’, will Michael Roberts agree that the Tamil people of the island of Sri Lanka have a distinct language, culture, value system, customs different to those of the Sinhal people and that they have livend in the island as a sovereign people governing a defined terriory in the north-east of the island prior to the advent of cololonial powers? Will he agree that the Tamil people in Sri Lanka have been subject to violations of their individual and collective rights including thieir right to life by a permanent Sinhala majority since the island gained independence in 1948 from the British? Will he agree that Tamils were subject brutal violence by Sinhala goon squads and the almost all Sinhala security forces even before the rise of Tamil militancy? Will he agree that the successive Sinhala dominated governments in Sri Lanka signed pacts with Tamil leaders to gain political power and dishonour the pacts immediately after?
Will Michael Robers agree that the Sinhala political establishment in Sri Lanka has systematically denied the Tamil people of all civilised avenues to raise their grievance – democratic, constitutional, judicial and non-violet that led to the rise of armed resistance in self-defence and restore their statehood based on their right to self-determination? Will he agree that at every parliamentary elections held in the north-east of the island since 1977, the Tamil people in spite of coming under the occupation of an ‘alien’ army had demonstrated their political will to exercise their right to self-determination. Leaving a side the LTTE which is an inevitable outcome of the brutal nation oppression of the Tamil people, will Michael Roberts agree that the Tamil people as any people aroung the globe are entitled to have a political view about their identity and their right to decide their political, cultural, economical and social future? The Tamil Diaspora at large have been and will continue to speak up for the legitimate rights of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka and will be willing to invest in the Tamil homeland only when it regains the political authority to decide its own destiny.
Why should the ‘Historians’simply keep barking about terrorism and LTTE when the fundamental causes of the long drawn out conflict in Sri Lanka is yet to be resolved, the rule of law and true democracy for all in the island to be restored, alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are independently investigated (not by the alleged perpetrators) and genuine reconciliation achieved to bring peace to the island and the region?
I only hope that as a ‘Historian’ you will positively contribute towards achieving this nobel goal.
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padraigcolman / February 27, 2012
Why do people who disagree with Michael Roberts describe him as a ‘pseudo-academic’, ‘a self claimed ‘Historian’’, a ‘bogus scholar’ etc.? Was he not a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford? Has he not spent decades teaching at institutions of higher education? Has he not published a vast amount of scholarly written work? I am sure he could produce many certificates to prove that he is qualified to call himself an academic. He can probably produce a ton of pay cheques from universities.
Is it not possible to challenge his views without the ridiculous pretence that he is a charlatan?
“I only hope that as a ‘Historian’ you will positively contribute towards achieving this nobel goal.”
I knew he was distinguished but I did not realise that Professor Roberts was a contender for the Nobel Prize.
“that they have livend in the island as a sovereign people governing a defined terriory in the north-east of the island prior to the advent of cololonial powers?”
Other historians might challenge that claim.
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David Blacker / February 28, 2012
When you can’t play the ball, play the player.
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padraigcolman / February 28, 2012
David. Our friend Nihal is, of course, an expert in ad hominem playing the man instead of the ball. He has added a new dimension now by insulting my father who died in 1972.
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David Blacker / February 28, 2012
I don’t think there’s any dimension too low for the Unterklo.
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dingiri / March 6, 2012
So Michael Robers should agree with you that “The Tamils lived in the island as a sovereign people governing a defined terriory in the north-east of the island prior to the advent of cololonial powers”?? I am sure he will agree with you if there only was some evidence to support your claim. Instead what we have is a whole lot of evidence to contrary.
Even Elle Gunawansa will agree that a Tamil kingdom existed in the Jaffna peninsula only and not far beyond that, at the time the Portugese arrived. That is common knowledge and is taught in schools all over the country. But please enlighten us as to when the Vanni and the Eastern Province g0t annexed to that State? Instead they were well within the borders of the Kandian kingdom and there are Portugese, Dutch and British maps as well as records that attest to that fact. And that is if you dont want to consider the abundant archaeological evidence over the length and breadth of these lands. These remains are almost exclusively Buddhist and are built in the Sinhala style.. Sandakada Pahanas, Guard Stones, Watadages etc.. There are over a 1000 stone inscriptions in the Prakrit language which Sinhala (and not Tamil) is derived from which is further conclusive evidence.
So before lamenting about Sinhala racism please also try to understand what triggered that resentment towards Tamils. Today the Sinhalese have excellent relations with all other minorities, Moslems, Malays Burghers. But the Tamils have incurred the ire of not just the Sinhalese but even the Moslems and Burghers. Why?
Perhaps the other communitys have wisened up to Tamil designs to help themselves to 1/3 of the country’s landmass by falsifying history and peddling it all over the world. They somehow seem to have concluded that all the jungle land in the country should belong to them just because it fell within the British defined Northern and Eastern provinces. And that they should be entitled to 4 times as much land per capita than their fellow citizens!
If the Tamils didnt demand disproportionate rights and entitlements throughout the 64 years of independence perhaps there would not have been Sinhala resentment.
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vsk / February 21, 2012
LTTE is finished and no more in the picture.
Don’t hide the true that they were interim players of this long due.
If you know your history , you will agree with me that this is an issue since Sir Ponnampalam brothers.
Talking about LTTE is an easy pretext found by those are against ANY political rights to the Tamils!
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Rory Winter / February 21, 2012
I don’t know Michael Roberts’ background but this kind of article, aimed against an organizer in the Tamil diaspora, makes me wonder what Roberts’ hidden agenda might be. Is he simply an intellectual who has taken personal umbrage with Mr Rajakulendran … or is he being commissioned to make attacks such as these by the GoSL as another Dayan Jayatilleke?
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Nihal P / February 22, 2012
Yes, it’s interesting why Roberts keeps on going after the diaspora. I would say that Roberts is probably being paid (by GOSL) to write these articles, given that they lack any intellectual merit.
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Mango / February 22, 2012
@Nihal/Heshan: The ultimate irony of an intellectual void like Nihal/Heshan who simply lies, accusing a noted historian of “lack[ing] any intellectual merit”.
Proof of Nihal/Heshan’s general idiocy and intellectual bankruptcy:
“Torture is justifiable if there are laws that say it’s okay.”
“Women who marry more than three times are whores.”
“North Korea is not a member of the UN.”
“US won the Vietnam War.”
“Neither England nor Germany nor India have a President.”
“Ranil Wickramasinghe wasn’t elected in 2001.”
“Hitler actually won WW2.”
“Japan doesn’t have a military.”
“Humans evolved from chimps”.
“if the Muslims took responsibility for their own actions, torture would not be an issue.”
..”Americans are very careful about who gets tortured..”
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David Blacker / February 23, 2012
Add this to that list of Heshan/Nihal’s, posted here on Colombo Telegraph: “Sinhala-Buddhism is a failure from start to finish. One should put it on the same pedestal as Bolshevism, fascism, and homosexuality.”
I wonder how he classes homosexuality a failure. Probably his failed attempts to get a date in the Village on Friday nights :D
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Dr Dayan Jayatilleka / February 22, 2012
Hey Rory? ‘Commissioned’? Moi? I was writing this stuff way before representing SL, when I was no oonger representing it , and even when GoSL wasn’t saying them ( such as during Ranil’s CFA). Why do you think Victor Rajakulendiran attacked my interview on SBS ten years ago?
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padraigcolman / February 28, 2012
Rory, what is your hidden agenda to be looking for hiden agendas. Professor Roberts can be checked out. He has published a lot. Someone condemned him to me as an LTTE sympathiser. Go figure!
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Mohanasundaram / February 21, 2012
Just one question to Mr. Rajakulendran, If VP is alive will there be any infightings among the Tamil diaspora such as the split in the transnational government etc.
Cheers!
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eureka14 / February 24, 2012
The oppressed are bound to have infighting if the oppression goes for a long time – 64 years is a very long time
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Mango / February 21, 2012
Rajakulendran’s simply going through the Kubler-Ross ‘Stages of Grief’ to better deal with destruction of his dream (nightmare) state. His email reply suggests that he’s still at the ‘Anger’ stage.
The stages are identified are thus with relevant Eelamistic thoughts for each stage.:
Denial (this isn’t happening to Eelam!)
Anger (why is this happening to Eelam? How could this happen to Eelam? Who betrayed Eelam?)
Bargaining (I promise I’ll be a better person if…one day Eelam can be achieved)
Depression (I don’t care anymore if Eelam is never achieved. I feel suicidal) Overwhelming feelings of hopelessness, frustration, bitterness, self pity, mourning loss of VP as well as the hopes, dreams and plans for the future Eelam. Feeling lack of control, feeling numb. Perhaps feeling suicidal.
Acceptance (I’m ready for whatever comes, even a Sri Lanka cleansed of Eelamish tendencies)
Does he really believe that VP “called off the armed struggle”? That’s hilarious. Lack of acts of violence by leftover LTTErs is characterised as ‘discipline’, rather than them seeing with their own eyes the futility of re-starting any sort of armed struggle against an unforgiving and ruthless State.
He then repeats the meme about the LTTE having being defeated by non-indigenous, non-Sri Lankan forces. This was the Eelamists’ version of 9/11 conspiracies. Pakistanis flying SLAF jets, Indians manning artillery etc. All of it rubbish because there was plenty of evidence that the SLAF in particular had become a very effective locally run organisation with local pilots, technicians, etc.
Odd, indeed. Very odd.
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Shabeena / March 11, 2012
Dear Suriyan,Thanks for your visit and comment.I ateloubsly agree with you from the point of a commercial media channel. If you look at from the National interest, I think it is unfair.There are other things you can have exclusive rights. Live broadcast of Dr. theesaththin kural Anton Balasingham’s cremation, recent fighting, recent speech by a prominent LTTE commanders, pongu thamizh event, some documentary of day to day life in Tamil Eelam, even maaveerar naal events from other countries are some of them.I did not say LTTE being unfair. I know our leader’s speach is broadcasted free. It is the media channels that is putting a value on a priceless speach. Our leader’s speach is extremely important and expected not only by Tamil diaspora but international community. I think Maveerar naal will be much important than an independent day!If you look at the National interest, it is our duty to take our leader’s message to everybody. Yes, of course TV channels can broadcast a good 45 minutes of speach just only audio. But that is not same as broadcasting the video as well. Even the other aspects of Maveerar naal; showing every thuyilum illams can create much impact.Well, my point is that I once believed that another TV channel as anti-Tamil media when they did not broadcast our leader’s speach or Maveerar naal event from Tamil Eelam. It is later I realized that they were not given rights to broadcast. Imagine many people believe this and people try to alienate that TV channel. This will create a divide within ourself.Finally, as a commercial TV channel, your point of view is right. But in National interest, it is best if the Maveerar naal, [independent day] events do not have any exclusive rights. Of course we can have exclusive rights, once Tamil Eelam becomes a stable country._______CAPitalZ
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Padraig Colman / March 11, 2012
What??!!!
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Pingback: RIGHTOf REPLY:Dr.Victor Rajakulendran’s Response To Dr.Roberts « Colombo Telegraph / February 22, 2012
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SenC / February 24, 2012
Michael Roberts and Dayan Silva Jayatilake are two prospective candiates to work for Syrian President Bashhar Al-Assad.. He is another one calling his people armed thugs to kill his own people and the journalists.
Similarities are well suited for these two sycophants who are depicting themselves from Marxists to Human Rights activists to philosophers.
Xinhua writers cannot imagine about Mullivaikkal, Benghazi, Holms, but Tianenmen square.
UN Watch asks;
So who’s responsible for Ambassador Jayatilleka’s departure, the Sri Lankans or the Israelis?
http://blog.unwatch.org/index.php/category/sri-lanka/
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eureka14 / February 24, 2012
I don’t know what Pirbhakaran admired but he was definitely violent – violent because for him 28 years of structural violence of successive governments was too much to keep quiet and failure of 28 years of peaceful struggle for justice was more than he could tolerate. He became more violent with the increase in structural violence of successive governments. But Any leader who cannot serve justice and equality to all his citizens is not better than a Hitler.
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Thanga / February 24, 2012
I must confess that I am ignorant about the self-styled “historian and a historian of ideology including all forms of nationalism and extremism, including Burgher, Tamil, Sinhala, German etc….” Dr.Michael Roberts.
If in fact he is a renowned historian, how come he is ignorant of who Visvanathan Rudrakumaran is? How come he mis- identifies “The faction under Rudrakumaran of USA emerged as the principal flag-bearer and has institutionalized itself as Thamililam in exile under the rubric “Global Tamil Forum.” This slip is not ignorance, but stark ignorance. Rudrakumaran is the Prime Minister of the democratically elected Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam(TGTE). The Global Tamil Forum is a different kettle of fish based mainly in Britain. Yes, there are factions among Diaspora, but all of them are committed to the goal of Thamil Eelam!
Again what is this song and dance about LTTE leader “had with him a copy of Mein Kampf” and derived “the idea of eliminating the other” from Hitler (Rāgavan in Kadirgamar 2009 and Roberts 2012)…..” This is the first time I am hearing that the LTTE leader had with him a copy Mein Kampf. This notwithstanding, what is the logic behind the argument that Prabhakaran was another Hitler or he was an admirer of Hitler? Prabhakaran was a voracious reader. He himself has said that he was inspired by reading Hindu epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana and its heroes Veeman and Ravanan. He has also said that he was influenced by reading historical novels like Ponniyin Chelvan written by the famous Tamil writer Kalki. This novel depicts the glory and splendour of the mighty Chola Empire (9th – 13th centuries) under the rule of Raja Rajan 1 and his son Rajendra 1 and their naval exploits in the Indian Ocean. Another novel he liked was Kadal Pura written by the novelist Chandilyan. He named one of the many war ships owned by the LTTE as Kadal Pura. He was also influenced by reading speeches of Subhash Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh both of whom were involved in the armed struggle for independence from Britain. He said in one of his rare interviews that he was fascinated by Napoleon and Alexander the Great, devouring books on their lives. To his credit Prabhakaran remained a confirmed secularist and religion never influenced his decision-making.
I don’t who this Iyar is. Iyar is a caste name. He appears to have left the LTTE in 1980 just 4 years after the formation of the LTTE. So what are his credentials to write “history” about LTTE?
The question whether Prabhakaran is alive or dead is immaterial. Prabhakaran is part of Tamil history and part of Tamil psyche. He will be remembered by generations and generations to come. And liberation movements never die with their founders.
As proof, books on LTTE leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran and the Eelam occupied an entire stall at the recent Book fare in Madurai book fair. “Over 25 books on Prabhakaran and the Eelam have been published in the last two years alone after the end of the Sri Lankan ethnic war. These books are attracting new readers,” said the person manning the stall of Tholamai Veliyeedu. A 1000 page book on the life of Veluppillai Prabhakaran written by Pazha Nedumaran, an LTTE insider will be released soon. Prabhakaran is the only leader whose birthday is celebrated right around the globe in a grand scale!
Prabhakaran was a brave, self-less and dedicated leader who lived by example. A leader who never slept on a mat or used a pillow!
As ex-president Chandrika Kumaratunga pointed out Prabhakaran is a creation of Sinhala – Buddhist chauvinism. And Sinhala – Buddhist chauvinism still lives on. A good example is Dayan Jayatilleke who hides his racism in verbal gymnastics. “The uncompromising stance of Sinhala chauvinism has left us with no other option but an independent state for the people of Tamil Eelam,” Prabhakaran said in his Maveerar’s Speech in November 2006. As a young man he heard about a Hindu priest at Panadura town who was caught by a Sinhalese mob during the 1958 riots, tied to the cot on which he was sleeping, doused with kerosene and burnt to death. “Ours was a God-fearing society and the people were religious-minded. The widespread feeling was: when a priest like him was burnt alive, why did we not have the capability to hit back?”, Prabhakaran would ask one day.
Ceylon was never one country. It was split into different regions and when the colonial power Portuguese set foot there were 3 Kingdoms, two Sinhalese (Kotte and Kandy) and one Tamil (Jaffna Kingdom). So the likes of Dayan Jayatillake should thank the much despised British for having amalgamated the Northeast with the rest of the island. One of the reason advanced by Sinhalese leaders for reneging on the agreement to field Sri Ponnambalam Arunachalam for Colombo West was the argument that Tamils’ territory is not Colombo but Northeast. The leaders of the National Congress had promised Ponnambalam Arunachalam the nomination to contest the Colombo city constituency at the parliamentary election held under 1920 reforms and later they changed it in favour of James Pieris prompting the former to abandon the National Congress.
So the caravan moves and we shall not rest until we shake off Sinhala hegemony imposed on the Tamils by military force which is the reality today.
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David Blacker / February 27, 2012
“A leader who never slept on a mat or used a pillow!”
:D
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padraigcolman / February 27, 2012
Reminds me of that Monty Python sketch about the Yorkshiremen.
“Prabhakaran was a brave, self-less and dedicated leader who lived by example. A leader who never slept on a mat or used a pillow!”
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Mango / February 27, 2012
Prabha definitely loved his inflatable li-lo and his swimming pool.
Ah, the sacrifices he made for the struggle… :) :)
http://tinyurl.com/75blwh5
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Pingback: Dr.Victor Rajakulendran’s Response To Sinhala nazi Dr.Roberts – EelamView / February 25, 2012
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Pingback: An Angry Tamil: Kathiravan confronts Roberts | Thuppahi's Blog / February 27, 2012
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Angel Gabriel / February 27, 2012
My personal favorite “Americans are very careful about who gets tortured”. Now, I won’t be able to beat that one even if I tried really hard. Can anyone top that?
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padraigcolman / February 28, 2012
Alexander Cockburn noticed this in a signing statement made by President Obama: “Over the last several years, my Administration has developed an effective, sustainable framework for the detention, interrogation and trial of suspected terrorists…” Sustainable torture?
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Pingback: Another Angry Tamil: Thanga for Pirapaharan as indelible “part of the Tamil psyche” | Thuppahi's Blog / February 29, 2012
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Pingback: Facing Two Angry Tamils: Interpretations Of Past And Present « Colombo Telegraph / March 8, 2012
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Pingback: Addressing Two Angry Tamils: Heat, Distortion, Truth, Fact, Mendacity and Eternal Enmity | Thuppahi's Blog / March 9, 2012
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Pingback: Facing Two Angry Tamils: Interpretations Of Past And Present | Colombo Telegraph / March 16, 2012
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