28 March, 2024

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What Political Contract & Which Political Order For Sri Lanka?

By Dayan Jayatilleka –

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

Critique Of Wigneswaran’s Call For Federalism

This is the reality today: Anything and everything within this Constitution, but nothing outside this Constitution. A two-thirds majority is possible for moderate constitutional change, reform; but a two-thirds majority is unlikely and improbable for a change of Constitution. ‘Constitutional reform’ is possible and desirable, defined and delimited as reform of the existing Constitution and within it, but Constitutional replacement—a new Constitution—is not. If there is no political dialogue, no political process, no Constitutional reform whatsoever, there could be a nonviolent revolt in the North. But if there is an unabated drive for Constitutional replacement (inevitably, unalterably, perceived as the retreat or retrenchment of the Sri Lankan State from the North) there could be a non-peaceful revolt in the South, which will wreck the economy. The only answer, the only way out, is a Presidentially-driven, politically multilateral, broadly consensual, negotiated Constitutional rectification and renovation. Vasudeva Nanayakkara has suggested this in the media.

What is the heated debate about the Constitution really about? What is it bringing to the surface from deep within the collective psyches of the Sinhalese and Tamils and/or their respective political elites? It is the question of the Social Contract governing the island. In that the Social Contract on the island is about political power and power relations, the Constitution is more correctly understood as the Political Contract that mirrors and molds the Political Order.

Having lost a bitterly fought, long war, by what logic do the Tamil nationalists believe that a new Constitution more reflective of their aspirations can be put in place? Not having won the war for the State, by what logic do the UNP leadership and ex-president Kumaratunga think that their effort to radically restructure the postwar political order will be seen as legitimate and acceptable? If the Tigers and their Tamil support base had agreed to a negotiated settlement, a new Constitution could have been part of that transition, but they didn’t and the war ended in a clear defeat and a clear victory, therefore a new Constitution which effects a tectonic power shift to the Tamil majority provinces is outrageously absurd.

Having beaten the Tamil separatists but not the Indian neighbor in that war; having won the war with Indian support, and having lost the civil war over devolution in the late 1980s, by what logic do the Sinhala nationalists think that they can avoid paying the debt incurred for Indian support in that war, still less roll back or hold back the results of the 1987 Accord?

The Tamil nationalists think they can undo the results of 2009. The Sinhala nationalists think they can undo the results of 1987. They are both wrong. What went wrong for Mahinda Rajapaksa is that he was deadlocked by those who tried to undo or ignore 1987 (and the foreign bills of 2006-2009), on the strength of 2009. What is going wrong now is that the Yahapalana government is being pushed by those who think that January 2015 can undo May 2009. 

What the island needs is a permanent partnership of North and South. That partnership can only be based on co-ownership. What are the terms of that partnership and ratios of that co-ownership? The extremists, or more accurately, the irrationalists, of North and South have similar traits. They just aren’t willing to share ownership on a realistic or reasonable basis. The extremists among the Southern majority are unwilling to share the ownership of this island with the Tamils and other minorities, though they are willing (except in the case of the rabid Islamophobes) to adopt a policy of benign (and sporadically malign) tolerance of their presence. The extremists among the Northern minority want an equal share of state power and political space with the overwhelming majority and if not, they want their own separate political space.  Thus we are intractably deadlocked.

Chief Minister (and Old Royalist) C.V. Wigneswaran gave an interesting interview the other day to a Colombo newspaper, in which he intelligently argued the case for federalism: 

In my reply to Dinesh, I said if Comrade Philip and his wife who owned their Mulgedera in Boralugoda, occupied the entire estate and if Dinesh and his brothers came of age and married and had children and Comrade Philip gave portions of the Mulgedera to his children to put up houses and live in their allotted portions of land, Comrade Philip will continue to occupy the Mulgedera but the children will put up new houses for themselves in their allotted areas. They will visit each other and have the best of relationships. But each son would be entitled to special rights over the plot allotted to him. ‘That is federalism,’ I said. Centre sharing its power with the periphery!” (‘Federalism Made a Dirty Word by Politicians—Wigneswaran’, Interview by Sulochana Ramiah Mohan, Ceylon Today, Oct 22nd, 2017)

OK, so let us accept the analogy and consider the country, this island, as a piece of property, an estate. The state is the common, shared home we build on that land. Since that land is a small island we cannot build two separate homes or allow them to be built. Nor can we allow a room at the end of the home abutting the neighbors, with free access to the unfriendly neighbor, a neighbor who is hostile to the inhabitants of the rest of the home; indeed to the majority of the householders.

The reasonable or realistic political right of the Tamils of Sri Lanka as a community is best exemplified in the title of Virginia Woolf’s book ‘A Room of One’s Own’. She was talking at the time, the early decades of the 20th century, about the irreducible space required by women writers, and more generally of women of creative talent—one might say of women in general. She advocated an income and a room with a lock and key. The same argument is true of the Tamil minority of Sri Lanka. This being a small island, the case for a house of one’s own cannot be sustained. What is feasible here on this island, this ‘estate’ (to use Wigneswaran’s metaphor), is a common home with a comfortable room of one’s own.

Of course there are those Sinhala extremists who would grudge the Tamils even this. “Why a separate room? Isn’t that separatism?” they say. Since you watch TV in our common living room and you dine at the main table, and can use any toilet, why do you need a room of your own? This attitude betrays an insensitivity that is incapable of recognizing a distinct identity, the need for privacy and an irreducible space of one’s own. What is true at the individual and personal level is also true at the political and collective level. The Tamil Question is one of adequate autonomous political space and power. Put plainly, a degree of collective freedom, not as individual citizens because they already enjoy that, but as a collective in the geographic area they think of as home. Some Tamils think that this political space is not achievable within a single country. Some think it is, but if it is not, they would seek it outside the present confines of the state. Some think it exists but it is inadequate because it is not equal to that of the Sinhalese.

What is sad is that few Tamils recognize that an autonomous or potentially autonomous political space already exists, and it does so within the country. There may be problems with that space, some legitimate dissatisfaction with it, but those problems can be negotiated. This really existing space is the 13th amendment and the system of Provincial Councils. What needs to be done is to accept and recognize that and proceed to negotiate renovations and modifications, without calling into question the architecture of the house as a whole or demanding another.

Some of the Tamils or even most may want a separate house, but that cannot even be the subject of discussion, whatever the abstract right of self-determination, because all concepts are subject in their actual working out, to the constraints imposed by geopolitical reality. This is true not only of self-determination, which has its limits on a small island, but also the right of national/state sovereignty, which has its limits for an island neighboring a giant subcontinent which contains co-ethnics/ethnic kin of some of the inhabitants on the small island.

When one concedes the reality that the Tamils are a distinct people, one encounters several ironies. Each side uses the term distinct to its advantage. Sinhala supremacists use it to stereotype Tamils (one prominent spokesperson even wrote that they were “brainwashed from birth”) while the Tamil supremacists use it to make a claim of being not merely distinct but distinctive, special, and therefore deserving of special status. An argument actually goes that there is no point in the Tamils having the same provincial autonomy as the Sinhalese because theirs is a special situation. This overlooks the facts that ‘specific’ is not a synonym for ‘special’, and that the specific will be manifest in the policy agenda of that elected Council. It does not require a special status for the Council, above and beyond those in the rest of the island.

This is not to say that the Tamils do not have great achievements to their credit, but on this island they are not the ones with a claim to exceptionalism. The unique combination of the Sinhala language, Theravada Buddhism and an overwhelming majority make the case for Sinhala exceptionalism on this island. However, exceptionalism does not mean, should not mean, and must not be allowed to mean, domination. Certainly there are valid claims for Tamil exceptionalism but since they, unlike the Sinhalese, have a “global ethnoscape” (to use Darini Rajasingham’s phrase)–not as recent immigrants but as compact communities with deep roots– those claims will have to be made elsewhere, probably in the neighborhood, rather than here. The last place on the planet that special political status beyond their demographic weight within its borders, will be accorded to the Tamils based on some claim of being a special or chosen people with a distinct destiny, is the small island of Sri Lanka. This is not the island on which to build a Tamil Zionist homeland.      

The Sinhala extreme Right cannot abide the idea of a Tamil homeland (the ’87 Accord called it an “area of historical habitation”). But it is perfectly feasible for different peoples, distinct collectives, to regard some areas as civilizational and historical homelands within the common homeland of all of us, Sri Lanka, just as we regard some places as our respective hometowns within this, our country. The problems are either when a homeland is seen by the relevant community as outside the common Sri Lankan homeland (as was Tamil Eelam) or regard their homeland as exclusively theirs, i.e. as ethnically cleansed of other communities.

Furthermore, a particular ethno-cultural homeland within a common national homeland cannot have the same political status and rights as the larger common homeland. The former is a sub-unit within the larger national unit or a sub-structure within the unitary state structure. And it is not a federal state unit. There cannot be mini-states within the Sri Lankan state, or, as President Premadasa insisted, there are no provincial governments; there is only one government. No ethnic homeland can decide whether or not the national armed forces should be stationed there and in what numbers or ratios. This is all the more so when the ethnic homeland in question is a strategically sensitive border area, and/or when it has been an intense conflict zone, spawning suicide terrorism, for three decades up until less than a decade ago.     

In a common home shared by an extended family, everyone or every nuclear family must have a room, but the allocation of rooms must be according to nuclear family size i.e. on the basis of need. Thus the political space i.e. the share of political power enjoyed by a minority community, will never be the same as that enjoyed by a majority community any more than a minority shareholder of a company will have an equal share of control over the decision-making and destiny of the company. There are exceptions, especially in authoritarian secular systems (Syria, Rwanda), but it tends to be the norm in ‘one person-one vote’ democracies. The Soulbury Commission tried to explain as much to the Tamil representatives.   

To return to the analogy of rooms in a common home, rooms may be of different sizes but in the interest of justice and fair-play, they must be equally comfortable, of the same quality and have the same furnishing and amenities. Thus the Provincial Councils of the North and East must have the same powers and functions enjoyed by the Provincial Councils of the rest of the country. Of course the occupants of the rooms will share the common spaces of the house, of the common home. Thus the Tamil people, will, as they do now, be represented at all levels thanks to universal suffrage and the proportional or mixed system of representation.

The Tamils will continue to punch their weight at the center but cannot be expected to punch above it, unless they change their paradigm. For instance, nothing in the law or the Constitution prevents a Tamil or Muslim from being elected the leader of Sri Lanka, and one could imagine Lakshman Kadirgamar reaching such heights. However utopian it may seem, Kumar Gunaratnam is already seen among radicalized youth as a potential leader of the country.

This presupposes however, that the Tamil or Muslim personality concerned has succeeded in communicating successfully with the Sinhala people and transformed himself/herself into a truly national i.e. Sri Lankan leader, transcending the ethnic and religious divides. This needs a paradigm shift and is the paradigm shift that is needed. It is hardly unfair. Had Barack Obama sounded like a member of the New Black Panthers or the Black Lives Matter movement (which I can empathize with), he could hardly have expected to be elected the President of the United States or even the candidate of the Democratic Party.    

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Latest comments

  • 4
    2

    Dayan you are on fire ……firing one after another ….you must be on a productivity bonus scheme

  • 7
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    If Federalism fails secede is the only solution for Sri lanka. Let the Tamil people call for a referendum for North and East.

    • 2
      0

      Let ALL Sri Lankans, not just Tamils, call for a referendum on the North and East. But you wouldn’t like the result would you? So you guys keep at it until you get the result that you want.

  • 2
    4

    Tamils don’t want federalism. We want Tamil Eelam. Is that clear?

    What is proposed is even less than federalism!

    So what hope for SL.

    • 2
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      SIVA: Why Tamils are this dumb ?

      • 2
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        Jimsofty the Dimwit

        “SIVA: Why Tamils are this dumb ?”

        They share their DNA with South Indians just like you.

    • 2
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      Siva
      You can’t have both Ealam AND the right to live anywhere Tamils(Tamil speaking people) in other areas will be required to move into.imto Ealam . They will be desenfrachised like your brothers in the estates.
      Soma

      • 2
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        somass ji

        ” They will be desenfrachised like your brothers in the estates.”

        JR granted them citizenship when Hindians caught him by his b***s in 1987. Another perverted history by somaas ji.

    • 1
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      Thank you it’s crystal clear. That is why you will get nothing at all, you just cannot be trusted..

    • 1
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      Siva,

      Just say what you want. Please do not say “We”! People like you want to perpetuate the misery that the Tamils have endured. The Eelam is a pipe dream that will never materialise and not needed. I am a Tamil by the way before you attack me!

    • 1
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      Good luckYou must be a real lunatic. Angoda is the best option for you and not Tamil Eelam

  • 8
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    Another long winded blabber of an article which i can simplify once again:
    ‘We won the war and Tamils wont get anything if we can help it’
    But things can change drastically. Once upon a time the LTTE looked invincible and many would not have thought they would fall. Today many Sinhala nationalists think they are invincible and can do anything they want to minorities. You too may be shocked in the near future when things suddenly change.

    • 5
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      The SL Tamils may have lost the war but they have not lost their rights to federalism or self-determination. Federalism is not separation and it is the rights of North & East Tamils. Only its denial will force the Tamils to seek separation. In most of the countries in the world, a minority with a separate territory is granted a federal state because only in a federal state a minority but a territorial majority can work cohesively with others. The ground reality as the whole world can see is that the Sri Lankan Tamils are still having a clearly defined (Tamil speaking) territory in the North & East of Sri Lanka where they are living as a separate majority with a separate culture. The demarcation between the Tamil and Sinhala territory (separated by the river during the early period) has existed from ancient times. It is supported even by the Dutugemunu story in the Mahavamsa where King Kavantissa tells his son Dutugemunu “The region on this side of the river is enough” and warns him not to invade the land of the Damilas. However much they try, nobody can change the demography of Tamil North & East of Sri Lanka which was Tamil, is Tamil and will be Tamil forever.

      If the Sinhalese continue to deny the rights of Tamils and insist that the whole of Sri Lanka belongs to them and will continue to remain as a unitary state, it will only push the Tamil leaders to seek alternative measures like mobilizing large masses (tens of thousands) for a civic uprising in Sri Lanka and abroad (Pongu Tamil, Ezhuka Tamil, etc.) calling for a UN sponsored referendum for the North and East? What the Sri Lankan government and the whole world (especially UN and the International community) should know is that the Tamil speaking people of North & East Sri Lanka have already given their mandate by voting overwhelmingly for an Independent Tamil State in Sri Lanka in the 1977 general election.

      • 1
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        Siva
        You can’t have both Ealam AND the right to live anywhere Tamils(Tamil speaking people) in other areas will be required to move into.imto Ealam . They will be desenfrachised like your brothers in the estates.
        Soma

        • 2
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          somass ji

          “You can’t have both Ealam AND the right to live anywhere Tamils(Tamil speaking people) in other areas will be required to move into.imto Ealam .”

          You have automatically lost your right to be concerned about the entire country. I suggest you better limit your discussions only about your Sinhala/Buddhist Fascist Ghetto. You are making a big fool of yourself and you might find yourself in a situation where even your grand children question your lack of wisdom (in fact your stupidity).

        • 0
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          soma,

          Dayan writes:

          “This is not to say that the Tamils do not have great achievements to their credit, but on this island they are not the ones with a claim to exceptionalism. The unique combination of the Sinhala language, Theravada Buddhism and an overwhelming majority make the case for Sinhala exceptionalism on this island. However, exceptionalism does not mean, should not mean, and must not be allowed to mean, domination. “

          What does he mean by exceptionalism? Then he argues that the exceptionalism should not mean domination; do you agree with that? If so, how do you explain the post-independent Sinhala Buddhist assertion? Without this Sinhala Buddhist domination, the LTTE would not have materialised; there would not have been 56, 72, and 83; don’t you think so? Isn’t Dayan trying bury a large pumpkin in a plate of rice? Who are you guys trying to kid?

    • 0
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      Tamils and other minorities in the island only want all the rights, status,dignity that the Sinhalese have and enjoy.
      It is simple as that.
      Nothing more or less.
      Sinhalese live predominantly in the South and the Tamils in the North and East, along with other. minorities throughout the whole country.Scottish or Catalonian experiments could be futile in the island.
      All can live in one country as a United nation peacefully and in harmony as long as they have the knack of tolerance and a willingness to do so.
      A long winded article denying that possibility is quite iunnecessary.

  • 4
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    If no new Constitution is approved then we are governed by the existing constitution of which 13th Amendment is part of it. Government will have no other alternative but to implement 13 to its full. In such a scenario where the Provinces operate under full 13th Amendment powers, what can these Pundits do other than hide their heads between their legs.

    • 3
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      Park

      You are right!

      They do not need a two-third majority in parliament or a referendum to implement the 13th amendment in FULL.

  • 1
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    Tamils have to be braod minded. Those who comment here are just coolies living i the west, they do not talk anything sensible that works for Tamils and for the country. Just greed. YOu Tamils are the ones who screw up the country for Tamils living in sinhale as well as for everybody.

    • 2
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      Jimsothy,

      Weather it is a Sinhala elite educated in Royal/Ananda, Vishaka/Devi Balika, Peradeniya/Colombo, Oxford/Cambridge, Harvard/Yale, etc or the uneducated Sinhala village coconut plucker/toddy taper, Vatti amma, or trishaw driver, there is hardly any difference when it comes to habits, attitude, behavior, and thinking. It is very difficult to differenciate an educated Sinhalese from an uneducated. They all have the same low mentality and narrow mindedness. Sometimes I feel that the coconut pluckers are much more intelligent than these so called ‘Educated’. It is their inherent nature.

      • 0
        0

        And people like you complain about racism! Also gon demala learn how to spell Appuhamy

        • 2
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          Paul

          Your rage blinds you stupid man. Its Appuchamy not Appuhamy. Appuchamy sounds like a Tamil Name Meaning: Appu – father or grandfather. Chamy, Swamy- god, …..

          • 0
            0

            Thank you, I didn’t realise that Somapala was a Tamil name.

            • 1
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              Paul

              “I didn’t realise that Somapala was a Tamil name”

              There are Tamils by the name Indrapala, Somapala and so on.

    • 2
      0

      What is wrong in being a Cooli? Unlike educated fools who write articles based on their bias, the Cooli may be stating heartfelt feelings.

  • 1
    0

    “The Tamil nationalists think they can undo the results of 2009. The Sinhala nationalists think they can undo the results of 1987. They are both wrong.”

  • 2
    1

    Brilliant Analogy from Vellala Wiggy……..
    Aloysious Senior got the Lease to Madugastota Estate for 50 years…. And it is 450 acres..
    Sambandan has been pressing his mates Dr Ranil and Bodhi Sira for thousands of acres in Wiigy’s new Territory, for free……….
    May be they are going to give each Tamil a Block , when Wiggy becomes Federal after Dr Ranil and Malwaata Boss get it past the post……….
    I will be happy if our Dalit cousins there become owner occupiers ……..
    But I am not happy about our Dalit cousins in the South…….
    Simply because we will have only 2/3 of the Land to share among 20 Million…..
    And we have to give even Tamil and Wahabi cousins each a block if they decide to stay put in the South……..

  • 11
    1

    Does DJ sound like an ultra racist or a person with some decent egalitarian views. This is what he is preaching to his fellow Sinhalese racists: ” nothing outside this Constitution”

    He is advocating that the Tamils must not be given any additional rights outside of the current Constitution. Did he ever serve in the SL Military? Did he loose any of his close relatives? Did he feel the effect of the 30 year brutal war? Its fun for him to sacrifice the poor Sinhalese for his racist agenda.

    He is basically begging and challenging the Tamil people to come up with a better Prabakaran.

  • 2
    1

    Thero is fooling him, forced by his desperate eager to recognition. The entire essay is rubbish, Chaff, Shallow, empty….. (Please don’t mind to fill up with the entire synonyms you want). The understanding of the subject Thero talks is zero for him. What else you can expect from a student, had his papers prepared by Castro’s writers and Submitted to Lankawe University! There are many things to debut and contest in this essay. But I fear if I take that many comment spaces, CT may chop them all out. So let me, once again, stay with Thero’s American Example “Had Barack Obama sounded like a member of the New Black Panthers or the Black Lives Matter movement (which I can empathize with), he could hardly have expected to be elected the President of the United States or even the candidate of the Democratic Party. “

    One day in 1963, it was a fine summer morning, in June. With their minds filled with dreams, the American kids had been bustling around the doors of the Universities’ of their favorite, to become future masters on their selected specialty. One black boy and a girl too were walking toward the one fine university in the South- Alabama, like every other kid in that land. They wanted to take the benefits of the US Supreme Court verdict of Brown Vs Board of Education. The registration was legally completed. The Kids had to have their subjects approved and the fee to be paid. The university doors were open. But those kids could not walk in. Democratic governor Wallace was standing in front of the door like a Kandy Ayatollah. Union government AG asked the governor to clear the way, but no avail. He called the American President.

  • 1
    1

    This president is the one told once to Castro if the Russian (USSR) missiles are not taken out of Cuba, Castro would take the American ones too as bonus, with the Russian ones. Castro heeded to that talk. The same President nationalized the State Guards and ordered them to clear the Governor from the doorway of the University. Within four hours, General Henry went to the university and told to governor, “Sir it is the sad duty of mine to explain you that this is America; here your Thero games or Ayatollah games doesn’t work. It is the American President’s order to me to get you out of the door”. Governor Wallace move away and the Black students completed their registration. Even after the Lankawe Supreme Court had ruled that asking for Federalism is not coming under the draconian 6A, the Governor Wallace of Lankawe, Thero de Silva cannot allow Tamils to have that Court Order verdict for practical Politics. Unless a Kennedy born in the Sinhala Community and tell Chinnaiya( If Chinnaiya already out then Jeyam) to duct tape the mouth of Thero de Silva, Thero cannot be fixed.

    In USA, that National Guards remained in the university placed against KKK and other white supremacist to protect Black students, in resistance of Governor’s protests. Here a white Democratic President was working to abolish segregation. A White democratic governor was working to preserve the White- Black differences. They both were elected whether one was receiving the support of KKK and other was protecting the black students from the KKK. That type craziness is also part of the American democracy. We all thought American would not vote to President Trump, but went wrong. Now Thero is predicting that if Obama had behaved like Black Panthers he would not have become US president.

  • 1
    1

    We cannot deny Thero statement, after seeing the above American incidents. But the amazing addition of Thero is that SJV or Sampanthar are extremists like Black panthers or KKK so they could not become the presidents of Lankawe, but JVP’s breakaway faction Kumar Gunaratnam will become Lankawe president, because he is unlike Vijeya Weera JVPyers or Black Panthers. This is the man predicting that Wimal Weerawansa, Kamal Gunaratna, Brother Prince or his new drama partner Buffoon the Rear Admirable will be the next president of the Wild Life Sanctuary. Let me ask a question from you guys the readers, “Do you still believe Thero is just a little bit biased and crooked only, but not one who doesn’t know even the A,B,C of the world political matters?” Do you guys still thinking if this Sinhala Buddhist Cuban Communist Extremist guy can spell the word moderation? Isn’t the Old Royal guy, in the Lankawe jungles, in JVP camps, sleeping with the school’s girls in the name of rebelling against the government? Does this extremist is explaining that Old King became president because his JVP participation is treated like Communist Lenin’s October revolution or Castro’s February revolution or Hugo Chavez February Revolution?
    Neither the Sinhala Chauvinist Communist left, Thero De Silva, nor the Sinhala Buddhists, who as per Thero the Sinhala Rights are ready to accepts any reasonable aspiration of Tamils, but prepared only to label them as Black Panthers if not Black Tigers.

  • 1
    1

    Where is this question, from a man, who assume Sampanthar is an LTTE extremist so who doesn’t fit to be president, but Vijeya Veera JVPyer, Gunaratnam is moderate, who will become Lankawe President, “Would Obama have become president if he were like Black Panthers” is fitting in Lankawe politics? Is Obama is purely non extremist moderate? Didn’t he oppose the entire Senate during the war? Didn’t America ever had an extremist? How Jr. Bush did become as president? Is that the only qualification that being a non-Black Panther is the one needed to become a president? Was Hillary a Black Panther? Are Americans ready to vote for a woman president? Is Jessy Jackson a Black Panther? Are all the blacks lost the presidential elections are Black Panthers? Who is Dr. Ben Carson? Is there any solid standing that if one is Black Panther but has all Obama’s records, yet still be rejected? Can one become a leader in Lankawe if he/she is not a Sinhala Buddhist Extremist? Isn’t Thero is saying the referendum will be rejected by Sinhalese? Why reject? Because Sinhalese are the only moderates but the entire world and UNHRC who are asking for constitutional changes are extremist? From the time of Don Stephen, can even one of the leader elected in the election and decorated the top chair of Lankawe can be called a non-Sinhala Chauvinist? In which brand wine bottle Thero discovered this new discovery that if Tamils are not Black Panthers they too can become Presidents?

  • 3
    2

    Dayan J.
    ” a particular ethno-cultural homeland within a common national homeland cannot have the same political status and rights as the larger common homeland. The former is a sub-unit within the larger national unit or a sub-structure within the unitary state structure. “

    Please consider two Principles of the Chaos theory.

    1. Initial conditions determine final outcome.
    2. A whole is composed of parts which in itself is a whole which is a part of a whole.”

    Can a apolitical system in Sri Lanka be created that abide by the Principles above.

    • 7
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      nagalingam ethirveerasingam

      I think you have mistaken this public racist for someone else.

    • 0
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      nagalingam ethirveerasingam,

      Thero De Silva is explaining how the majoritarianism works. He is grace enough to remind Tamils how fruitless will be attempting to undo it and unpractical to voice against it. He is sincerely expecting Tamils to understand while they complain the pain of receiving the minority treatment they too need to show empathy for the pain he would suffer to depart the comfort of the Majoritarianism. His Machiavellian philosophy’s principle states dismantling majoritarianism can be detrimental to the chauvinism. So he is convulsing to explaining the practicalities of his theories in “full, part, part in the part and part of an atom”. Essentially, he is explaining that Tamils are the elements here in Lankawe to serve the Chauvinist Sinhala majoritarianism and accept the second class treatment of minority status, or play lesser part in the Lankawe Sinhala Buddhist Democracy, no freedom.

      As usual, the shallow diplomat is trying to confuse readers a subject, Democracy, where majority solution implemented and Majoritarianism, where Chauvinists grab the power and run the government. He is arguing that he is removing the separation line between the two as Tamils have no other escape routes, only one way, which is to surrender to the Majoritarianism.

      Thero has explained the practicality of inescapability of the Tamils from the Thero class Chauvinist grips. Probably this knowledge may be new to Thero, but Tamils had been explained the practicality of asking equal status from Sinhala Chauvinist, in 1976, at Vattukkottai by SJV. So Vattukkottai convention will be followed diplomatically, until Tamils receive their full freedom ( not part), no fear to Rapist Army or Kandy Ayatollahs.
      The last UN envoy who has visited Lankawe has pointed out that Lankawe using Rapist Army and Sinhala Buddhists as scarecrow of Tamils to suppress genuine investigation will only reinforce the efforts like Yasmine Sooka like ones.

  • 2
    2

    Dayan again gloats to his heart’s content ~ “……….Having lost a bitterly fought, long war, by what logic do the Tamil nationalists believe that a new Constitution more reflective of their aspirations can be put in place?………….”.
    Dayan, You belonged to a Tamil Liberation group. What are they doing now?
    Several countries helped in the win – remember Gota said “We fought a war for India”.
    So Dayan, Is a force fed solution the only way out?

  • 1
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    Politics come at the onset, governance comes afterwards. Who owns the water? Who pays for the health care, whose responsibility is education? Yes one may have a room with a key, but is there to be room service too? Does Vasu have the answers, or do you Dayan?

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    How did the Tamils Come into South ? Answer is simple. The South was developed and the north was neglected. All government departments were centralized.All factories were established in the South. Even to get a Passport, file a case in Supreme Court, to fly over to other Countries you have to come to Colombo. Once upon a time there were flights and sailing ships to India from Palali and Talaimannar respectivly.. But where are they today?. English Teachers’ training college was at Maharagama. Universities were in Colombo and Peradeniya till the other universities were established relatively recently.Cricket matches were held in the south till recently and many more. During the so called LTTE period people from the North and East shifted to Colombo not only fearing the LTTE but due indiscriminate bombing and arrests of youngsters by the army.Even after the war people from the North/east are unable go back and mind their occupation as the lands are still occupied by the army. No attempts are made to ‘rejuvenate’ the Cement Corporation, Paranthan Chemical corporation. National paper Corporation etc. But ethanol factory is being constructed to make the people there drunk. Who is constructing it . The notorious gang caught up in the FCID . Many more could be mentioned,. But what purpose does it Serve?
    These are only good for arguments but doesn’t bring the desired results.

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      Well you have to realize the fact that the center of population is located closer to Colombo. Therefore it is natural that people from distance places have to travel to Colombo to fulfill their needs. This is same for the people of Giruwaya also. So don’t think this as something unique to Tamils.

      The point is my friend, that Tamils come to Colombo; the heart of Sinhalese population just to being closer to the Capital city. But, how can they do come to Colombo and live peacefully among Sinhalese. If, Sinhalese are discriminating them as you say they should try to go to some other country like the Rohingyas’ are doing in enmasse. They don’t do that don’t they?

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        Tamils understand that every (Sinhala) citizen has his/her right to like or dislike allowing government to modify or rewrite the constitution.
        Changing the constitution is apolitical process. It is not yours or Thero’s mouth is shut on that. But you and Thro thinking that Tamils should keep their mouth shut is a DS’s time politics. You two are blind to see Tamils are protesting to your attitude only, not for your right to talk on the constitutional change. Yours, Thero’s class are struck in the Don Stephen time and like to add power to Ranil cheat further. You are failing to understand your right to talk is not affecting the Tamils right to refuse to travel to Colombo, but to have their businesses fished in Jaffna and Batticaloa. .More the growth of the diaspora Tamils, they will be more success in the future to influence the IC and have their rights fully recognized & problems solved. Now the West wants Ranil on the seat because of the geopolitics associated with Ceylon. Out of the 70 years of political struggle of Tamils, this phenomenon has settled to Tamils disadvantage for only about last 30-40 years. In fact it was not there when Mrs. Gandhi was there, but it turned against Tamil only after Rajiv came to power. Tamil may want to wait and see in the future how India, China America plays on this role for Tamils side. Tamil Eelam is not Catalonia. This is South Sudan. It is not a mere question of establishing and upholding political rights of Tamils. It a reaction to the genocide being carried out by a community falsifying history, militarizing and occupying Tamils lands with 1:2 proportion, to wipe out Tamils, and this struggle is an attempt to save the Tamils using UN declared political freedom to individual and groups.

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    Some where in CT, another, looks like a Australian descending from england is saying that many nationalites ccome to australia are assimilating in to their culture. This is the norm evvery where in the western world.—-Those so-called leftists who studied the western way now are promoting Tribalism and separate ethnic enclavees. Why is it the leftists promotng western way of devide and rule or in this case we destroy our country in order to earn some dollars.

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    Don’t fool yourself DJ. Nobody won the war. We all lost!

    And we are still stumbling about in the dark looking for a solution to the reason we went to war in the first place.

    The longer it takes for those who can to find a solution, the harder it becomes as the rapidly growing feral nationalist mob put up their barricades.

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