{"id":151287,"date":"2015-09-24T13:36:53","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T08:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=151287"},"modified":"2015-10-04T07:14:28","modified_gmt":"2015-10-04T01:44:28","slug":"kumar-ponnambalam-the-murky-politics-of-heroes-traitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/kumar-ponnambalam-the-murky-politics-of-heroes-traitors\/","title":{"rendered":"Kumar Ponnambalam: The Murky Politics Of Heroes & Traitors"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rajan Hoole<\/span><\/a> \u2013<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. Rajan Hoole<\/p><\/div>\n

Tamils & The Political Culture Of Auto-Genocide<\/a><\/span> \u2013 III<\/span><\/p>\n

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A separate tragedy was that of Kumar\u00a0Ponnambalam<\/span><\/a>\u2019s, who was murdered six\u00a0months after Neelan<\/span><\/a> on 5th January 2000.<\/p>\n

Kumar will be remembered for being one of Neelan\u2019s harshest critics in his latter days, for vocally supporting the LTTE\u2019s positions and even appearing on foreign platforms of the LTTE. However, on looking back, his career marks an enigma that is characteristic of these tragic times. What would surprise many is that in the early 1990s he was perhaps the boldest and strongest critic of the LTTE.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a Rotary Club forum in Hotel Taj Samudra on 30th April 1991 (Sunday Times<\/em>), he suggested that one reason why the Premadasa Government chose to speak to the LTTE was because, \u201c[It] was one group capable of mass human destruction, which is all that it can do…<\/em>[and] Everybody is frightened of the local thug<\/em>.\u201d He added:<\/p>\n

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\"Kumar<\/a>

Kumar Ponnambalam<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cAn LTTE top brass told me on 1st December 1988 that there is no point in anybody talking to the LTTE about elections: \u2018How can you talk about elections with a warrior?\u2019 he asked me. Consistent with this stand, the LTTE passed death sentences on all those who collaborated in the 1989 elections…<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI, for one, am very clear about what obtains in the North and East. There is no democracy there. Either one toes the LTTE line or you perish. You dare not open your mouths against the LTTE. There will be no elections hereafter. Mark my words. It\u2019s the gun that rules. The brains and the tongue have been silenced for ever.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He further said about a year later (Sunday Times<\/em> 29.3.92):<\/p>\n

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\u201cI disagree with Mr. Thondaman\u2019s proposition that there was no way the LTTE could be isolated from the Tamil people…. There is a limit to everything, it is the abject fear on the part of the Tamils, specially those in the peninsula, to open their mouths, that is preventing Mr. Thondaman from getting the proper signals. I am amused at the claim of the LTTE that it is the sole representative of the Tamil people at the moment….. The\u00a0TULF used to claim the same thing with arrogance. It did not last long… Today it is the LTTE\u2019s turn. It cannot last long… a time might come when today\u2019s \u2018outcasts\u2019 in the eyes of the LTTE, would refuse to sit with the LTTE at the same table.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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At this time (1990-95) the LTTE controlled Jaffna. An LTTE man calling himself Kakka<\/em> wrote in the Jaffna paper Eelanatham<\/em> that during the campaign for the 1981 June DDC elections, he and Seelan (Charles Anthony) had been sent to the Tamil Congress party office in Jaffna to talk to Kumar Ponnambalam. Their orders were to ask him to withdraw from the elections, and if he showed any hesitation, to shoot him on the spot. He offered to withdraw if given a letter and his life was spared. The TULF won the election. Evidently, the LTTE did not take Kumar seriously except as a marginal nuisance. Some of his anger against the TULF was no doubt legitimate.<\/p>\n

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However by August 1994 Kumar Ponnambalam was airing a stridently pro-LTTE position. This may have been a reaction to his anger against the other Tamil parties, especially the TULF, Neelan\u2019s party, whom he felt were slighting him after stealing a march on him by unfair means. He had fallen out with the SLFP following its rejection of the common DPA manifesto before the 1989 General Elections. He was also unhappy with Premadasa\u2019s UNP to which his leading ACTC colleague Motilal Nehru had crossed over. He was facing isolation and taking a pro-LTTE line was partly a ploy which he hoped would win him Tamil votes in Colombo. Personally, he was a courteous man who was also a loyal friend. It is however unlikely that he had any illusions about the LTTE.<\/p>\n

In Kumar\u2019s talk on 30.4.91 above, he also said: \u201cIs it a status symbol that one supports the LTTE? I know many Tamils who go out of their way to show they support the LTTE. This is the manifestation of a deep-rooted inferiority complex! Why, I even know of a UNP candidate of the City who told my sibling that the LTTE is supporting him!<\/em>\u201d Kumar in time followed the precedent of the UNP mayoral candidate. How did he plunge\u00a0into this murky course that he was so clear about?<\/p>\n

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The dubious Police investigation into Kumar\u2019s murder has tended to compromise the Government (see Sect. 21.1.6). The LTTE leader\u2019s response to the murder too had surprised\u00a0people. For a man he could not have taken seriously, the LTTE leader was quick to grant Kumar the title of Maa Manithan<\/em> – a \u2018Truly Great Man\u2019. It was the same or similar kind of honour bestowed on the late Prof. A. Thurairajah, and Prof. C.J. Eliezer of Australia!<\/p>\n

*To be continued..<\/em><\/p>\n

*From Rajan Hoole\u2018s \u201cSri Lanka: Arrogance of Power \u2013 Myth, Decadence and Murder<\/span><\/a>\u201d. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish. To read earlier parts click here<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":117868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8,6968],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial","category-popular-columns"],"yoast_head":"\nKumar Ponnambalam: The Murky Politics Of Heroes & Traitors - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/kumar-ponnambalam-the-murky-politics-of-heroes-traitors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kumar Ponnambalam: The Murky Politics Of Heroes & Traitors - 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