28 March, 2024

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Winds Of Change In Jaffna

By Noel Nadesan

Dr Noel Nadesan

Dr Noel Nadesan

The war radicalized Jaffna and it was inevitable that we could never again return to the good old Jaffna we knew.  There were signs of a new Jaffna emerging imperceptibly even during the war years. I have visited Jaffna 13 times in the last five years.  But nothing signified the change better than  the international symbol I saw in Jaffna when I visited the place last in January 2014. For the first time ever I saw one of the best international symbols in the heart of Jaffna. It was the face of the bearded Colonel of Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was a giant leap for Jaffna to abandon the traditional  “porichci koli”  and go for KFC. To me it was like our people abandoning betel and opting for chewing gum. This to me is the ultimate symbol of Jaffna breaking away from the feudal past and arriving at last in the 21st century.

Talking of climate change one cannot feel it better than in Sri Lanka. We travelled from north to south and east to west. There is a palpable change that you can feel and see. Just not the roads but the attitude and the new spirit that is visible in the faces.

One bright evening, as I was walking with my wife on a narrow street in Wellawatta, Colombo, — a predominantly Tamil suburb —  I received a mobile call from a young widow in Kilinochchi. I have sponsored her for last three years. I was to meet her on the way to Jaffna. She rang to regret that she would not able to meet us at Kilinochchi as she had begun teaching voluntarily at a local school. She thanked me profusely for the financial help given to raise her family.  She informed me that her children were doing well at school. I was happy to learn of her progress which I took as a general indicator of the progress made by the twelve other widows who had lost their husbands during the war.  I have been helping them for the last three years.

The widow who spoke to me was Lakshmi.  She has two children below the age of ten.  Just a year after the war I saw her in a rebuilt house, which was built with government assistance, but did not have any door. She did not have any money to install a door. Nor was any financial support forthcoming.  With the backing  of a local friend I was able to organize some help to  her family and I was happy to learn that the domestic situation had improved.

In March 2009, I went to Colombo with likeminded 25 expatriate Tamils from Europe and North America on the invitation of the government. It was a critical time when the war had reached a climactic moment. The goal was to engage the Lankan government to help the Tamil people who were taken by LTTE as human shields for the protection of LTTE leaders.  We were in discussions for two days with some of the key government officials, though our mission was a failure due to LTTE obstructions and obstinacy. We were not involved in the politics of the time. We were continuously engaged with the government in rehabilitation of post-war situation such us regularly visiting refugee camps and submitting our observations to the government for improvement.

There are many important facts that need to be put on record.

Thirty years of terror and violence perpetrated by LTTE were brought to an end by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Whether we like him or not we have to concede to this hard fact.The  ending of a war is a defining moment which opens up new possibilities.  This is not a small achievement. Ending a war proved to be as difficult as waging a war. The frustrated Tamil Diaspora who financed Prabhakaran’s  futile war decided  to pursue the war through other means. They went on the war path from abroad. They decided to fight from the safe shores.

After financing all the violations of international humanitarian law committed by LTTE , they became human rights champions overnight.   It was the war in which more Tamils were killed by our “liberators” than all others put together.

Considering the suffering, the deaths and destruction caused by the futile war of Prabhaharan and his “liberators” the attempt of Diaspora to carry on as if nothing has changed is as futile as the war. We have to recognise the gains of peace if we are to move forward. Politics can cloud the issues and make us easily forget the bloody past.

LTTE was not a small outfit. It claimed that it had defeated the world’s fourth largest army when it forced the IPKF out of Sri Lanka. LTTE claimed that it had a state with an army, navy and air force not only to threaten the Government of Sri Lanka but even to kill Indian prime minister as well. But in the end they lost everything. During the last days of war, knowing the inevitable military defeat, the LTTE took cover behind 400, 000 Tamil civilians hoping  to raise an international cry. Taking cover behind unarmed civilians is a shameful act not worthy of our so-called heroes. It was a cowardly act. The “liberators” gave cyanide pills to the brain-washed youth and they took cover behind the civilians. They shot the Tamil civilians running away from them.  In addition, they killed all the captured army personnel. The Sri Lankan army not only defeated LTTE but also rescued all these captured people. Of the displaced people 95% were able to resettle within three years and infrastructures were rebuilt in the Northern Province. Almost 95 % of active LTTE cadres were rehabilitated and released in the society.

I agree there are a few areas that still need remedial measures that could speed up the process of reconciliation among the communities. But our political Tamil leadership is bankrupt. For this the entire blame is to borne by LTTE for eliminating not only political leaders but also potential social leaders in last thirty years.

What we need is a new leadership that can read the sign of KFC in Jaffna and move with the times. Going back to confrontational politics can only lead us tortuously to political turmoil again. What we need is a pragmatic leadership that brings relief to the war-weary people of the north and east. Our people cannot live on a diet of politics forever. We need economics to raise our heads from the depths of misery. We have to postpone politics for the time being. With politics we will be forced to spill only blood. With economics we can move forward to regain what we lost during the past 30 years in useless politics.

The choice before us is simple: it’s either politics or economics. If we opt for politics  we are going back to Eelam which we lost. If we opt for economics we have a chance of regaining the future we lost in May 2009 Historical examples justify this. Take, for instance, the case of the Germans. If after losing the war, had they returned Hitler’s fascist politics where would Germany be today? It was because the pragmatic Germans opted for economics and buried their politics for good they were able to rise from the ashes of defeat.

The Germans and the Japanese won all what they lost in their futile wars. We can do better than them if we can get our politics right.

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Latest comments

  • 7
    7

    Noel
    Please read below phrase, This is not a joke (elsewhere published in the internet) a fitting reality on the current regime and their stooge.

    An Afghan, upon landing at Colombo Airport, declares himself as the Ex-Minister of Ports & Shipping of Afghanistan.
    The Immigration Officer was puzzled and asked :

    “But there is no sea in Afghanistan. How can you be the ex- Minister of Ports & Shipping?”

    The Afghan replied: “Oye Haramzaade ke aulad, don’t you have a Minister for Law & Justice in Srilanka?”

    • 5
      5

      ha ha a good one Siva.

  • 6
    6

    yes we do have KFC all over North and East
    Killing Fields Continuing

  • 3
    4

    This srticle is lot of contradictions. I quote

    “Thirty years of terror and violence perpetrated by LTTE were brought to an end by President Mahinda Rajapaksa”

    then he goes on to say and I quote…

    “. we have a chance of regaining the future we lost in May 2009.. “

    ———————————-
    Here is another quote
    “… The goal was to engage the Lankan government to help the Tamil people who were taken by LTTE as human shields ,,,”

    “though our mission was a failure due to LTTE obstructions and obstinacy…”

    The Govt ordered all NGO’s out of the war zone…and here he bales the LTTE
    —————————————
    “…We were continuously engaged with the government in rehabilitation of post-war situation such us regularly visiting refugee camps and submitting our observations to the government for improvement.”

    Not any more? The Govt kicked you out?Wh Where is the improvement?
    Have you read the latest report on the account of the victims that were hekd in thos so called rehabitilation camps?

    your efforts were wasted it seems your observations were filed in the bin and the motive of the Govt in providing access to you guys is to eye wash the IC.
    ————————————————————-

    I quote again
    “I saw one of the best international symbols in the heart of Jaffna. It was the face of the bearded Colonel of Kentucky Fried Chicken.”
    “….It was a giant leap for Jaffna…”

    your expectations from the Govt for international investment in NE is very low?
    ————————————————————

  • 11
    5

    It is most heartening to read rare but true articles like the above. Even better is the fact that there were 25 other voices accompanying Noel Nadesan. Their efforts to materially help the folk in ‘Jaffna’ is commendable when the majority on the forum seem to be doing exactly the opposite, by opening old wounds and hindering reconciliation.
    As he says OUR politics need to be better, based on economics and NOT on religion, ethnicity or language.

    • 4
      6

      What do you mean by reconciliation? Who hinders reconciliation? The new wound is much worse than the old wounds. It is true Economics and Politics need to be better but the economics of Rajapakse family & Co grow exponentially but the economics of people and the Nation declined exponentially. The politics should become cleaner but it has gone into a level where people cannot speak about economy of the Nation.

      • 4
        7

        The Rajapakse family ENDED the blood letting which has been going on for near 30 years. Almost all Sri Lankans are grateful for that single event. Their politics is another matter, but then again, they are no better no worse than the other lot. Also notable is the fact that the lead Opposition party has been making noises about ousting the present regime, and it seems NOT by democratic means. I wonder whether Biswas is willing to spend US$5 billion to achieve the same, helped by the traitorous ‘Sri Lankans’ abroad as Nuland did in the Ukraine with a coalition of Zio and Neo Nazis.

        The Sri Lankans are entitled to get rid of the Rajapakse clan democratically, and ONLY democratically.

  • 9
    4

    Dr.RN & Dr.NN

    -If you don’t toe the Tiger line,
    -If you don’t attack the government in power,
    -If you don’t propagate war,
    -If you don’t propagate racial hatred,
    DOESN’T MATTER HOW HONEST YOU ARE.DOESNT MATTER HOW COMMITTED YOU ARE.DOESNT MATTER HOW FORESIGHTED YOU ARE.YOU WILL BE BRANDED AS A TRAITOR,LACKEY,STOOGE etc.,etc.
    The ones who started these are Our TULF leaders and unfortunately it is still continuing.
    I know Dr.NN is helping some families who were affected by the war.

    YOU BOTH ARE IN LOIN CLOTHE AMONG A SEA OF NAKED RACISTS , EXTREMISTS AND WAR MONGERS .

  • 10
    4

    Thank God Dr Nadesan lives in Australia.

    Aussies are the smartest among the West although they are the youngest.They don’t take bullshit from the LTTE Tigers or anyone else.

    Just imagine If Nadesan runs into Nediyawan or the Reverend, or the dudes in Scarborough …

    Even a blind person can feel the difference and the positive vibrancy of life in Jaffna for the inhabitants living there .

    But the Vellalas and Christian migrants there from Colombo wouldn’t admit it,

    If they do, they would be letting down their dear Diaspora and its Geneva Group.
    .

    BTW,

    Dr Nadesan has done the trip 13 times both pre and post Nanthikdal.

    Wonder how many of these rabid attackers of Nadesan have done the it, after Prabakaran departed?.

    • 0
      6

      Nadesan: I have visited Jaffna 13 times in the last five years.

      Mahadenamutta: Dr Nadesan has done the trip 13 times both pre and post Nanthikdal.

      Mahadenamutta must have booked the tickets for Nadesan.

  • 4
    6

    It’s alright for Nadesan to say what he understood because we understand his mental capacity. But how come Dr. Senaveratna accepts Nadesan’s comparison between Tamils and German(s)y. Tamils were victimized by fellow Sinhalese citizens whereas the Germans or Germany had to faced almost entire world. Nazis were sworn enemy to Jews, but (nowadays)Germans are ashamed of what the Nazis did to the Jews in their name and still paying compensation for the victims. Is SL government ready to pay anything to the victims? Never.

    I hate Tamil Tigers only for their atrocities to their own people, our people, the Muslims and innocent Sinhales, however, what they said about Sinhalese governments and their “Mahavamsa” mindset are right.

    If tall buildings, good roads, clean public toilets in Colombo are all a sign of so-called development then I prefer North Korea to be put ahead to my country Sri Lanka. Peace, which prompts the people to enjoy their life, means happiness, which makes the people to participate in developing the country.

    In my experience with Tamils they are not greedy as far as politics are concerned. If you allow them for their fair share then they will cooperate with everyone. So it is not minority Tamils or Muslims to adjust, it is the majority and/or the majority government ought to give them an assurance that they are protected, their rights are respected.

    Mr. Nadesan you made me feel today after reading your article I’m wrong in my long-lasted opinion that Tamils are educated. I don’t think you need a title “Dr.” to say what you have said. Anyway if you still believe the KFC things and German and Japanese attitudes towards development then you have to resume learning political ABC again.

    • 0
      1

      I hear he has a degree in treating diseases of animals. They are also called doctors – like dentists. No harm done.

  • 7
    3

    enlightening article on transformation after war and more closer to reality than what is reported normally- thankyou. KFC – I guess what the author means is that Jaffna is becoming more like Colombo more inclusive of “others” be it American KFC or anything else. which I think is a good thing.

  • 2
    2

    Though Dr Nadesan is quite a decent genteel sort of a person who has never lost his temper with me over a decade of a close association and/or friendship; whilst his wife continues to be my GP for well over a decade; I am re-presenting the following for even a belated response from my archives for him to reconsider his quest for cheap publicity and persistence in a morally untenable stand in “missing the woods for a tree” and supporting the current ruling elite that is led by an Ali-Baba (Loku-Baba) and the much more than 40 odd thieves that are plundering a country to rack and ruin solely to satiate their primarily self serving desires quite similar though on a much larger scale than VP and his gangs under facade of serving a sick country with much more than one nation and great chequered history and geography.

    “”Dear Shameless Moku Nadesan,

    Your psychology is no different to that of Balasingham Prabaharan or for that matter even VP. Your ilk thrives on being talked about them be it good, bad or ugly. Utter indifference is the antidote for your ilk which I shall endeavour to practice in the future but as a parting info try to improve your intrapersonal knowledge but that too may be impossible due to your genetic and mematic heritage. I am sorry for your wife who is labouring to give the luxury of wantoning wasting other peoples time and showing gratitude to a set of people who have given you and Sivanathan free helicopter rides to the North and who knows of what other pleasures and money was provide for your Eluvaitheevu Eco-Tourism Project. Are you deaf and blind sans any reasoning powers to be as stupid as not recognise that they are no different to the LTTE that you so loathe.
    Why have you not responded the three emails below?

    Fw: : Dr Nadesan, Editor Uthayan lambastes Channel 4 http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/2576
    Tuesday, 26 July, 2011 10:35 AM
    From:
    “Mahul Spencer”
    View contact details
    To:
    uthayam@optusnet.com.au, “Nadesan Noel”
    So Mr NNSN, You really are compromised and feign to be philanthropic not unlike KP who hardly had a choice (even though there too is doubt as to whether he really surrendered or was captured) but you have to “”Cling on to the tail”” for your own life’s sake having seeded and loaned yourself to eco-tourism under an false pretext. You seem almost beyond redemption and want the messenger shot rather than act on the message. You are in no position to act independently. One has to be really sorry sympathetic to the likes of you as I have failed with you in as much as with TJ as both of you were hell bent on your own personal self aggrandisement agendas.
    http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/2576
    Basil Rajapaksa wants to develop Neduntheevu/Delft into eco-tourist resort
    19 July 2011, 5:09 am
    by D.B.S. Jeyaraj
    Economic Development minister & Presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa has blueprint to develop Neduntheevu/Delft into an eco-tourist resort—– Forwarded Message —-“”

  • 1
    5

    A vet surgeon promoting KFC?
    That says all about him

  • 2
    4

    Apparently my comment of, March 21, 2014, 7:37 am did not get across, the way I meant it to. Sorry.

    Let me try again:

    Noel Nadesan accuses LTTE of eliminating political leaders and also potential social leaders. He did not tell us why LTTE let him live when he is a leader himself.

    He is telling us that what we need is a new leadership. Is he telling us that the leadership of CVW in NCP is nothing new.

    He advises us to choose economics over politics. I am telling him why Tamils are unable to choose economics, when the economic opportunities in the North are being ‘robbed’ for Tamils by GR and the SL army, in the pretext of national security. I am also telling him that there is no security threat if a person of his standing can make 13 trips safely.

    He credits MR in full, for bringing the terror of LTTE to an end. I am asking him to stop being so generous, and to keep his share of the credit to himself.

    He says that LTTE took cover behind 400,000 Tamil civilians. I am telling him that if MR had given him the real figure of 400,00 while telling us that it was around 60,000, we do understand the intimacy between the two.

    I was wondering if his like-minded 25 people who travelled with him to Colombo in March 2009 would be willing to endorse his views even today.

  • 0
    0

    I have difficulties in forwarding articles in the Colombo Telegraph to my friends. When I click on the e-mail app, the e-mail format does not appear.
    I know in Sri Lanka your paper is blocked, but I live in Australia !

  • 2
    6

    Though some of the criticism of the LTTE by Nadesan is valid, the general tone is superficial, even vacuous, ignoring the grave core problems that the Tamil population faces in Sri Lanka, and emphasizing the fiction of progress with KFC.

    Sinhalese extremists like H.L.D. Mahindapala and Ranjit Soysa frequently mention Noel Nadesan and Kanthar Balanathan as their supporters. The latter haven’t denied it, and their vacuous writings confirm they long ago became ‘uncle Toms.’ Balanathar’s idiotic, incoherent musings sometimes carried on LankaWeb, even more than the skullduggery of Asian Tribune and K.T. Rajasingham, are an utter disgrace to his Alma Mater in Point Pedro.

  • 6
    4

    Nadesan has hit the nail on its head with this observation:

    “During the last days of war, knowing the inevitable military defeat, the LTTE took cover behind 400, 000 Tamil civilians hoping to raise an international cry. Taking cover behind unarmed civilians is a shameful act not worthy of our so-called heroes. It was a cowardly act.”

    Prabaharan had never been a hero. Unlike Karuna, he had never been known to have led the LTTE fighters from the front.

    He could have surrendered and saved the Tamils he was holding as hostages. He didn’t and met with his fate taking with him most of those unfortunate Tamils he was holding as hostages.

    When he was surrounded by the SL forces in Vanni during April-May 2009, Indian government had sent several messages asking him and his outfit to agree to surrender. When I met the then Indian National Security Advisor MK Narayanan on 13 April 2009 in his New Delhi Office along with a leader of a Tamil group and pleaded with him for India’s intervention to save the Tamils facing certain annihilation, he told us that he had sent this message through known LTTE channels but LTTE had not responded. He said even a ‘token’ surrender of arms would suffice. He told us that the writing was on the wall for the LTTE from the time of Karuna’s defection. Narayanan asked us too to pass the message to the LTTE leadership. On my return to Sydney, I personally passed this message to a former LTTE cadre based in Sydney who in turn conveyed the message on to Ratnam Master (an LTTE intelligence leader known to be close to Pottu Amman and Prabaharan). There was no response

    I later learnt that Prabaharan did indeed consider surrendering and asked Vaiko and Nedumaran for their opinion. These two rascals Vaiko and Nedumaran had reportedly told Prabaharan that this was a ploy by the Indian Government to get Congress to win in Tamil Nadu at the impending Lok Sabha elections and had asked him not to agree to the Indian government’s proposal. They have reportedly asked him to hold on until the Lok Sabha results are known because they were sure that Jayalalitha would win and would become the King maker in a hung parliament. Apparently this idiot Prabakaran swallowed this stupid and self-centred advice from Vaiko and Nedumaran and met his fate at Nandikadal.

    Yes, Nadesan is again right in calling for a new Tamil leadership. But, I am afraid this would not happen.

    The eventual fate of the Tamils, as predicted by the former Central Bank governor, will be that they will be reduced to a manageable minority. Pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora elements will continue to make noises for some more years from their comfort in the western capitals and carry on with their annual “kavadi” to Geneva human rights parleys. If and when the Sri Lankan government agrees to become a client state of the US, the SL Tamil issue will be removed from the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council.

    • 4
      0

      Thank you for that interesting snippet.

    • 2
      2

      “Apparently this idiot Prabakaran swallowed this stupid and self-centred advice from Vaiko and Nedumaran and met his fate at Nandikadal.”

      It is stupid of you to believe this bull about Vaiko and Nedumaran. Did VP fight all those years just to keep those two Indians happy? And if he really wanted to surrender, there was still time. You want us to believe that M.K.Narayanan, then the Indian NSA, would communicate via some unknown Naga from Sydney, and the LTTE would take that as a serious communication from the GoI ? I have never heard of any Naga, Nagarajah or Nagapampu from Tamil militant circles (except for the guy who died a long time ago and had an alternative group to the PLOTE and LTTE), and unless you were part of some group like the ENDLF that India nurtured, your claim of access to Narayanan is just puffery.

      • 4
        0

        Agnos

        There is no need for puffery. And there is no need to tell idiots like you about my relationships with those in the Indian establishment. Losers like you are just arm-chair critics. People like you are the curse of the Tamil community and the very reason for the present sorry plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils.

        I will not be bothered by your criticisms. Yes, like Nadesan I am thankful to Mahinda Rajapakse for eradicating this LTTE menace.

        • 0
          1

          I didn’t know that I needed an endorsement from a man consumed by Batticaloa regionalism, with a history of saying on CT that he hated Jaffna Tamils and loved Karuna Amman.

  • 3
    1

    The root cause of the ethnic problem seems to be that we did not have KFC there in jaffna early enough.If it was there in the 1970’s instead of coming the next century,A stout rotund thug like fellow would have been busy munching it day and night instead of killing alfred Durayappah.

  • 3
    1

    This fellow should not be licking his fingers after KFC. He should be licking shit off Rajapx’s back.

  • 2
    1

    This is a commendable article in its efforts to promote a positive vision that Sri Lankans can hope for. However, it is wrong to tarnish the Tamil diaspora community as pure separatists. Most live in multicultural liberal countries and as a result have prospered. What the author needs to recognise is that in both japan and Germany reformed from ethno fascist states through a massive and overwhelming international intervention including foreign troops who occupied those countries and secured the new liberal peace. The overwhelming Tamil view is that Sri Lanka cannot be reformed from within – recently authors like dayan jayatillke (who argued for absolute sovereignty) has conceded that reform can only come from without. What Tamils worldwide and in Sri Lanka will not compromise on is an illiberal peace – the rights they enjoy as individuals and as a community who originate from that island are sancrosanct – deliver those rights, bring to justice those who have violently attacked the Tamil community from independence onwards and the vision espoused can be achieved – without justice and equality there can be no economic wealth – only conflict and poverty.

  • 2
    1

    What we are witnessing here is panngkottai attack. I will explain why :

    1) Dr.Noel is being condemn for being a vet and not a doc. The doc live in manssions in UK USA and fund the LTTE with pocket change.

    2) They eat KFC during their medical consultancies but want Porricha Kooli when they go on Holidays

    3) They are ready to brand all non-LTTE’rs as traitors.

    Same behavior all along. So it is good that MR did a big fix – in his moronoic way not much different from the over educated pannkotta way. Dumb brutal, hypocritical and impervious to reason.

  • 1
    2

    Noel is differentiating Economics from Politics.

    Is that Possible! What does this kind of thinking tell us about Noel’s brains or lack thereof!

    His advice about KFC as the sign of Modernity and Progress from Jaffna Feudalism is another genius comment fit to be placed among the sayings of Gandhi…What a crook?

  • 1
    2

    Mr. Nadesan your entire article is focused on vilifying LTTE. The current problem is an army occupied rule forced on Tamils. Our women are being raped,kids have no educational facilities, Still abduction arrests and press subjugation go on.Tamil lands are grabbed and forced Sinhalese settlements take place in the north and East. Army takes over agriculture, commerce and fishing in the north depriving the lively hood of local Tamils.The provincial council cannot function without being obstructed by a military Governor.
    You are saying just improvement of economy will be enough to solve these problems. There was not a single mention of the above problems, not even a mention that our people should not be ruled by an occupying army.but a whole heap of ant LTTE venom comes out in your writing.

  • 1
    2

    As a writer ,I received many negative comments but I am happy to rub salt on many pro- EElam supporters. they criticized me instead of my article -that ok because there are losers. other Anti Rajapaksa – Sinhalese also ganged up with losers.
    I see Lanka as one country and still President Rajapksa is popular among majority –This called democracy.
    Other clarifications there are more than 100 brothels in Melbourne so I do have to go to SriLanka also I do not need sponsorship from SL government because I am comfortably living in Australia and travelling my own to many countries in last 5 years including china, Egypt and Europe – You can access my face book-Noel Nadesan and blog –http://noelnadesan.com)

  • 1
    0

    Why not try to look at the big-picture? As people like Noel Nadesan, R Sivanathan with a changed initial to M for the CT, Nagarajah shortening his to Naga and Kanthar Balanathan calling himself Sandilyan at times are all supporters of the current SL regime not out of much reason and/or rationality but rather due to the of hatred for the LTTE and its ruthless misgovernance based on its primarily self-serving leader and its ethnic and/or racial prejudice based on and begotten of the majority Singhala-Budhists chauvinism post independence. I have had “one on one” association and/or relationship with these at different times and observed that they have all suffered great personal losses from within the Tamil communities and are trying to get even by giving expression to these imbalanced thoughts and feelings. They are in reality” missing the woods for the tree”.

    There are many like them including me who have not resorted to the same misguided tactics and approach to this never wending perpetual and perennial problem for centuries and millennia follow sporadically as we learn from history. Yet I do appreciate their candour to some extent in not hiding behind pseudo and/or false names under which many others are venting their spleens. I doubt if any two persons perceive the world identically, as even identical twins too differ despite their similar if not the very same genes as their memes will differ through their upbringing and experiences. Hence all these clashes and chaos should not surprise us that much when nature itself cleans the slate and repeatedly rewrites almost 90% of the history of living forms through mass extinctions. Humans too being an experimental prototype by-product of a life form are all inherently flawed to fight and/or flight as well as eat and/or be eaten through the mediation of sex whilst the earth and its land masses will itself continue to be recycled through plate – tectonics through much longer time-periods.

    • 1
      1

      Mal,
      Thanks for the info.
      I don’t think the guy who goes as M.Sivanathan is the same one you have in Australia. He is probably a guy in Canada paid by the EPDP to write on the internet forums. I remember seeing his other aliases on some forums in the mid 90’s.

      “…they have all suffered great personal losses from within the Tamil communities and are trying to get even.”

      They can get even with LTTE and hardcore LTTE supporters, but to ignore the horrendous abuses by the Rajapaksas and to support the extremists among the Sinhalese is to make the same mistake that the LTTE and its supporters did concerning VP. There will be consequences for these people just as there were consequences for the LTTE.

  • 0
    0

    Agnos,
    Thanks for confirming of I am not the same person as Sivanatham.My name is Rajaratnam.Sivanathan known as Raj Sivanathan. Spencer this is my first reply to CT. I NEVER GOT FREE HElICOPTER RIDE EITHER. CURRENTLY I AM IN TRINCO spending my own money employing affected people in a farm.

    • 0
      0

      3nd response “”winds of change” by Noel Nadesan in the Colombo Telegraph.

      I don’t believe “Agnos” or R Sivanathan as I suspect both of you are the self-same and even are is using other names as well for psychiatric couch treatment over the CT columns. R Sivanathan who once informed listeners and the wife of that Balasingham Prabaharan of the Inbathamil van-oli 24hr Tamil radio has also at other times narrated his trips to Jaffna without disclosing his partner Noel Nadesan or his means of transport. Noel Nadesan initially offered this and many other opportunities to suck-up to the Rajapakse’s (which I declined even as I had declined from the others to meet with VP as I had done my home work on both these character and equated them on par in intelligence, integrity and ability as early as in 2005 in DBSJ’s columns) to me and on my rejection that R Sivanathan went with him. The tone, tenor and language usage all very similar if not the very same as when I speak to RS even as recently at the Telipalai Old Union College past pupils gathering. Will this so-called “Agnos” give his contact details for me to speak to him on a one to one basis if he is real? I am on 61 3 9560 7126 and email address is with CT.

      • 0
        0

        Mal,

        You have got me mixed up. If you read my posts carefully it will be clear. I have been posting on CT for a long time.
        If you click on my name, it will take you to my blog, and it will show you that I have been in the US all along. I have never been to Australia. I haven’t been to Sri Lanka in more than a decade, nor have I ever personally known the people you mention. I have been very critical of the Rajapaksa regime all along. I broadly support the TNA as represented by Sampanthan, Sumanthiran and Wigneswaran.

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          Yes Thanks Agnos,

          Will read them and get back to you with more info based on RS’s reply to Anpu.
          mcs

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      How did you get your farm and money? Thanks

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    So-called Agnos,

    “I don’t think the guy who goes as M.Sivanathan is the same one you have in Australia. He is probably a guy in Canada paid by the EPDP to write on the internet forums. I remember seeing his other aliases on some forums in the mid 90′s.”

    I have not been in SL since coming to Australia in Dec 1986. Then it was more due to VP and his minions and now its due MR and his minions as my impartial and non-partisan comments are likely to be misinterpreted as well as in their limited thinking and feeling if you are not 100% with them you are against them as George Bush junior said soon after 9/11.

    I would appreciate your responding to the following and you may even call me on the Tp number I gave you as well as give me your Tp number. ON what basis are you thinking that these two Sivanathans are not the same but different people? Notwithstanding RS’s denial that I doubt on the basis of all the outpourings in the CT under MS. When did you last have contact with RS? Where may I see your pix like in My Space and/or Face Book or anywhere on the WWW? Where is the evidence for you state that you know of the other aliases MS uses and what are they? You can give me your real name by calling me or giving me your Tp number as there is much more than I can communicate that way that through this means for my suspicions that MS and RS and one and the same.

    Should you not respond to this then I will have to presume that you are an RS man put up to this by him. Trust you will understand my scepticism as your identity is not established and nor is the so-called MS identity and there are only two real people here namely RS and me.

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    Mal,

    Please don’t assume things. I have never had any contact with any Sivanathans. Sorry that I am busy with my professional life to get into those silly games, or to make phone calls over these trivia.

    But you seem a decent sort of older person, so let me conclude with some details: even back in the 1990’s there was a guy in Canada who wrote using the handle Siva and other names. He would write to some SL/Tamil internet news groups ( e.g., soc.culture.tamil, soc.culture.sri-lanka) all day in sheer volume, and that would have been possible only for a jobless guy who was being paid to write stuff on the internet. And he used very crude language (e.g., the vulgar Tamil word for bum-sucker) against anyone who criticized EPDP/Devananda, and a lot of caste related words. And M. Sivanathan used the same crude language, style and caste related stuff. So I arrived at an educated guess with a high confidence ( not 100% but 95%) by connecting the alias ‘Siva’ to M. Sivanathan, the same style, the same caste related discussions and the same vulgarity. Beyond that I don’t know any of them.

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    So-called Agnos,

    Thanks for your response but if you consider this trivia then why did you get involved it at all? That’s an unacceptable flimsy excuse.

    It’s on a similar basis that I am as certain as you are that MS and RS are the self same on the basis of the content of material and the English language usage, expressions on a one to one basis and other manners of expressions and lack of proper fluency and proficiency at times in English in the CT columns notwithstanding RS’s denial. Further, Noel Nadesan in better times has told me that the SL army helicopter flew RS and him which too are being denied by RS. Further RS has not responded to Anpu’s query. You have no real verifiable identity like me over these columns and don’t further don’t wish to speak with me despite my giving you my contact details. ” Seivana thrithach chei” anything done is worth done well and not in a sloppy manner.

    You have not given me yours that I may verify and confirm or repudiate. Hence I have to take what you state with quite a dose of dose of salt and am entitled to be sceptic in the absence of any further reliable evidence. Even if another MS comes claiming he is the real Mr McCoy, MS and that RS is not him then that too would need to be verified with his real identity, photograph on a one to one basis on more reliable and verifiable and corroborative evidence. Until such time what I have stated of the 4 four cannot be challenged as these and other similar such peoples hatred of VP and LTTE is making them avail of the situation for them for cheap publicity and self aggrandisements in cash and/or kind whilst blinding them to the ongoing worst to-date, familial monstrosity under the facade of Nationalistic, Singhala-Budhist, chauvinistic-supremacy that has come to governance through a form of mass-hysteria, stealth and deceit, having bribed VP and his minions since so-called independence from the British.

    “The nature of the universe is such that ends can never justify the means. On the contrary, the means always determine the end.” (Aldous Huxley)
    “There is something in human history like retribution; and it is a rule of historical retribution that its instrument be forged not by the offended but by the offender himself.” – Marx (The Indian Revolt)

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    We can do better than them if we can get our politics right.”
    This is the crux of the whole issue
    CW and his team may get the politics right but the “Southerners “will never get it right as it is not in their interest! They also have JVP& The Buddha Balavegaya to prevent any settlement
    Dr.Nadesan ‘ analysis is flawed,full of contradictions and gives comfort to those who think nice roads and KFC will solve the problem!
    The people of the North demonstrated their real needs at the last Provincial council elections despite the infrastructure developments .We all must listen to that and not to those who dance to the tune of their pay masters.It s the fault of the state to allow a state within a state and neglect it’s responsibility to a section of it’s own people .The responsibility is with everyone who sponsored violence ,discriminatory constitutions and laws and neglected the North and East over the past 60 years. Do not blame only the LTTE.They are only part of the problem and the tune played by Noel Nadesan and there’s with similar views will not was always.It is becoming a sale tune even n he South!!

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    Reading the published article and the numerous comments one gets the feeling that the spin doctors of the Sri Lankan diaspora, be they Tamils, Singhalese, Muslim or others have done a great job in brainwashing their followers. It is about time that they all got the message that no future government in Sri Lanka will allow a repeat of what happened with the LTTE. I was in Jaffna in October 2013 and talking to various people got the firm impression that a better lifestyle and jobs for themselves and their children was their main concern. If the Tamil diaspora used their funds to start new businesses in the North and East to give the people a better future, their efforts would be more appreciated than the negative propaganda that is not helping the cause of their common people. Wake up mate before it is too late.

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