While savouring President Rajapakse’s victory, I couldn’t help noticing certain news items popping up about the retiring President CBK. She had apparently snatched five bullet-proof vehicles, five Defender jeeps and plus more vehicles for her entourage. Wait there’s more, before leaving she hurriedly issued cheques to the tune of 200 million Rupees to various organizations and a cultural fund. And more, her new official residence will be the former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadiragamar’s official residence on Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 7 and her new office is in the Ranaviru Seva Authority at Torrington Place. But wait, how can she live without staff? So she handpicked 49 for just that. If you thought all these are outrageous, this was in spite of receiving a gift - a half acre land from Sri Jayawardanepura to build a new residence, from her own cabinet for services rendered to the nation and in addition to the usual complement of security, accommodation and staff granted to retiring Presidents.
Flash! Enter our new President, he ordered the relevant banks to stop payment for the 200 million Rupee cheques. Hail our new President, magnificent action!
Question, was she ever aware that she was swindling the state? I say this is woman’s scorn – seeking vengeance for dispatching her to a marginal personality in our politics. But I suspect her vendetta began months ago when she saw her overzealous efforts to thrust a questionable Tsunami deal with the LTTE falter and maligning her attempts to flatter herself. The Nobel Peace prize was in her grasps, so she heard from the Norwegian trouble-shooter. When the Supreme Court blocked it she didn’t give up her dream of receiving such accolades and expected her successor Mahinda (supposing he wins the Presidency) to continue her vain efforts so she can claim the glory for herself along with Prabha. Perhaps it was like an aspiring actor dreaming about an Oscar!
Candidate Rajapakse figured he has no time for such childish fantasy, he saw far more serious issues that needed his attention should he get elected. He chose not to pay any attention to her demands that he carry out her ill-timed, ill-conceived scam with the terrorists.
Well, the scorn of this woman took a turn to the worse – she began global tours of goodbyes to fellow leaders at state expense, just when the Presidential election campaign began for Rajapakse. She ignored and stayed out as though she didn’t know that man at all. Perhaps she thought the world wasn’t noticing her gambit.
To aid her cause she brought her beloved brother Anura, who in 1994 campaigning against her remarked vividly about her anatomy to the electorate. Anura had other plans – to become Prime Minister as though it is succession to the throne after her. The Bandaranikes were seen openly critical of Rajapakse’s stance on the ethnic issue and seems pretty livid at him for not towing with CBK’s agenda. By the wayonly morons weren’t aware that they were conspiring with the opposition to defeat Rajapakse.
For President Rajapakse and all those who voted for him, it was a major relief when the final vote was counted – the victory was achieved despite CBK's best efforts to see Rajapakse defeated.
In 1994, I vouched and voted for her. I believed she was the ‘Joan of Arc’ that we desperately needed after the ravages of the UNP after eighteen years. I was misled and cheated by her gloated promises of nation building - I don’t think I was the only one felt that way. Fed-up, I left for Canada to begin a new life and now I get vote for Tories in January '06.
Reflecting on her achievements after twelve years, there is hardly anything that we can look back and say she was an awesome leader who made a difference to ordinary people. Fortunately I have the statistics to prove that the economy or the networth of the masses barely improved, many more died in the battlefield and then there was chaos in her governance - how could we miss that! People didn’t trust her any more, she was becoming a disillusioned tyrant like her mother was. Glad she is gone - alas, that's my thought but I hear now she wants Kadir's seat in the parliament to screw Rajapakse again, when will this end?
Please tell me if we need to define a new meaning for "woman's scorn"?
People, our best hope lies with Rajapakse to bring peace and should there be peace any time soon, I wonder if she plans to claim the Nobel Peace prize retroactively.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Dancing with Prabhakaran
On Saturday 26th November 2005 the LTTE leader (Prabhakaran) made the much awaited statement regarding the future of the ethnic conflict that has been embroiling for too long.
Surprise, surprise what a telling statement it was! It showed a weaker-terror mastermind who bullied every know human in the island until he subjugated each one. Pundits were predicting a raging response to the peace overtures made by the newly elected popular nationalist President of Sri Lanka – labeled as a “hawk” by those who were disappointed by his win. Cries of war were broadcasted globally to undermine Presidents’ win by the conspiratorial media sympathetic to Tamils. All feared the worst and I for one wasn’t moved by any of those calculated exercises to derail any deserved justice to the majority of the population who were victims of terrorism long before US came to know about terrorism. From what I see from this vantage point Prabhakaran’s twilight zone is shrinking pretty fast.
There are several key factors for Prabhakaran’s descend. The most significant is the new view on global terrorism and the notoriety now assigned to the LTTE which lead to EU restrictions. The next is the depleted cadre numbers and the low moral among them to fight another war. They don’t have the stomach to fight a losing war. It is amusing to learn that today’s LTTE cadre is well represented by the child-soldiers who were conscripted and forced to wear the infamous “cyanide capsule.” But there are other killing reasons for Prabhakaran to pause and ponder, that’s the infighting within the much feared brutal regime he had created oppress threats from within and outside. Apart from the famous breakaway of the Karuna group of the Eastern command, there are reports of splits in the power base in London and whistle blowing in Australia that lead to the most recent arrests by Aussie counter terror police.
I am much delight by the turn of these events for the simple reason that there must be a peaceful resolution to this conflict. Since the inception of the insurrection the LTTE has stood fast on their determination eliminate any one who uttered any counter view to their claim on a homeland for Tamils in the North and East excluding over a million or so other Tamils in the rest of the island.
My praise goes to the newly elected visionary President Mahinda Rajapakse for his foresight. He is a mastermind who will eventually out-fox Prabhakaran at his own game of chess. Rajapakse is the representative of those who felt that Prabhakaran has committed gross rights violations in his power hungry adventure that has cost the lives of over 60,000 and counting. Rajapakse has indicated to all that he intend to move with direction and purpose, and I have no about he’ll deliver a lasting solution under his terms.
In the recent elections Prabhakaran ensured that Tamils in his enclave didn’t vote, disenfranchised nearly half a million or so Tamils on his orders. What does that tell us about the man? He doesn’t believe in democracy and has never allowed Tamils to choose a representative to settle this conflict – in fact over a twenty five year period he had systematically eliminated the entire Tamil leadership, thus leaving him as the only conspicuous one. What an irony for the Tamils, they gave in to his extortions and never chose him; he just walks brandishing a knife with a throat slitting expression. From what we have seen from his record no one can trust him to exercise civility. In short he is the monster that devil chose to enter this world.
No matter what deal he strikes with President Rajapakse I like to see if all Tamils agree that their envoy is Prabhakaran through consensus. It means calling for fresh polls in those areas affected by Prabhakaran’s decree. My concern is that Prabhakaran is not the person to head any authority that continues to brutalize Tamils. He has created a culture of violence and he shouldn’t be forgiven just because he wants peace now. Let there be free and fair polls to choose one.
Surprise, surprise what a telling statement it was! It showed a weaker-terror mastermind who bullied every know human in the island until he subjugated each one. Pundits were predicting a raging response to the peace overtures made by the newly elected popular nationalist President of Sri Lanka – labeled as a “hawk” by those who were disappointed by his win. Cries of war were broadcasted globally to undermine Presidents’ win by the conspiratorial media sympathetic to Tamils. All feared the worst and I for one wasn’t moved by any of those calculated exercises to derail any deserved justice to the majority of the population who were victims of terrorism long before US came to know about terrorism. From what I see from this vantage point Prabhakaran’s twilight zone is shrinking pretty fast.
There are several key factors for Prabhakaran’s descend. The most significant is the new view on global terrorism and the notoriety now assigned to the LTTE which lead to EU restrictions. The next is the depleted cadre numbers and the low moral among them to fight another war. They don’t have the stomach to fight a losing war. It is amusing to learn that today’s LTTE cadre is well represented by the child-soldiers who were conscripted and forced to wear the infamous “cyanide capsule.” But there are other killing reasons for Prabhakaran to pause and ponder, that’s the infighting within the much feared brutal regime he had created oppress threats from within and outside. Apart from the famous breakaway of the Karuna group of the Eastern command, there are reports of splits in the power base in London and whistle blowing in Australia that lead to the most recent arrests by Aussie counter terror police.
I am much delight by the turn of these events for the simple reason that there must be a peaceful resolution to this conflict. Since the inception of the insurrection the LTTE has stood fast on their determination eliminate any one who uttered any counter view to their claim on a homeland for Tamils in the North and East excluding over a million or so other Tamils in the rest of the island.
My praise goes to the newly elected visionary President Mahinda Rajapakse for his foresight. He is a mastermind who will eventually out-fox Prabhakaran at his own game of chess. Rajapakse is the representative of those who felt that Prabhakaran has committed gross rights violations in his power hungry adventure that has cost the lives of over 60,000 and counting. Rajapakse has indicated to all that he intend to move with direction and purpose, and I have no about he’ll deliver a lasting solution under his terms.
In the recent elections Prabhakaran ensured that Tamils in his enclave didn’t vote, disenfranchised nearly half a million or so Tamils on his orders. What does that tell us about the man? He doesn’t believe in democracy and has never allowed Tamils to choose a representative to settle this conflict – in fact over a twenty five year period he had systematically eliminated the entire Tamil leadership, thus leaving him as the only conspicuous one. What an irony for the Tamils, they gave in to his extortions and never chose him; he just walks brandishing a knife with a throat slitting expression. From what we have seen from his record no one can trust him to exercise civility. In short he is the monster that devil chose to enter this world.
No matter what deal he strikes with President Rajapakse I like to see if all Tamils agree that their envoy is Prabhakaran through consensus. It means calling for fresh polls in those areas affected by Prabhakaran’s decree. My concern is that Prabhakaran is not the person to head any authority that continues to brutalize Tamils. He has created a culture of violence and he shouldn’t be forgiven just because he wants peace now. Let there be free and fair polls to choose one.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Time for a new LTTE leadership
Diehard Sri Lankan Tamils living in western countries always miss out on vital facts when they submit arguments for a separate homeland by craftily ignoring the suffering of fellow Tamils in Sri Lanka under Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) now.
The ludicrous contention that Tamils are subject to violent acts was first introduced by equating those with the South African Apartheid and when that failed they moved on to equate to Serbian genocide and ethnic cleansing. The mass exodus of Tamils from Sri Lnka was well engineered by the LTTE while they also masterminded mass exodus of Sinhalese to the South from Tamil areas who chose not to seek refugee status in wealthy nations in the West unlike Tamils who did so for economic reasons.
Tamil diasporas belief that the leader of LTTE – Prabakarans’ promise to deliver their homeland “Eelam,” and LTTE's political hegemony are not, and will not be, synonymous. I would add further that the concept of Eelam pre-existed Prabakaran and the LTTE. The wonderful news to the rest of the world is that it will last much longer after the life of this organization and its leader - a stark reality for Tamil aspirations under Prabakaran. The losses incurred by the Tigers in the battle field - powerless to engage in fully-fledged conventional type warfare and despite the heavy investment in cadres, weaponry and international organizational effort, and now they are mostly depleted as the result of nature - Tsunami.
In short, now that the LTTE has demonstrated its reduced military prowess exposed by the inability to deal with the breakaway Eastern commander Karuna and felt the limitation to terrorism, the LTTE has to present its own detailed political plan under a new leadership. Any further prevarication and the threat to resort to military action means that the LTTE will only further betray the Tamil people.
The loss of Jaffna to the Sri Lanka defence forces (SLA) in 1996, after many years of it functioning as their virtual 'capital' of the LTTE-controlled Eelam state, was a tremendous blow not just to Prabha, but to the Tamil people as a whole. It is a far greater disability for the Tigers than their loss of political legitimacy following the unilateral breaking of the 1995 ceasefire or the condemnation received from the EU recently.
No doubt LTTE's currently weakened position is due to their loss of Jaffna as its capital city and the thickly populated and agricultural intensive regions of the Jaffna Peninsula - the pride of Tamil culture. And it is very unlikely that it ever be in their hands again with the continuing military support coming to GOSL from India, China and the US. Military experts argue that by breaking the ceasefire and provoking SLA offensives - offensives that finally saw the LTTE driven out of the Jaffna heartland - the Prabakaran has betrayed the Tamil people's struggle for self-determination. Of course, this is not the only way that the LTTE has betrayed the cause for which they were the first to take up armed struggle.
Prabakaran’s vicious authoritarianism and hegemony have also decimated the political leadership of their ethnic community and has neutered the overall organizational strength of the multi-force and multi-party movement for Tamil self-determination. If these are not lessons to be learnt, then Tamils will never gain their dignity much less their homeland.
Sinhalese will listen to a new Tamil leadership - not to LTTE’s Prabakaran and his cronies.
To achieve either Eelam or confederated Tamil self-rule by civilian, political, institutional means Tamils must begin to question the leadership of Prabakaran just the same way one spirited Col. Karuna (Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharana) questioned the LTTE. It is time to change LTTE leadership.
The newly elected President Mahinda Rajapakse of Sri Lanka has a different direction to the path the LTTE wish to take Sri Lanka. Read my future blogs on new perspectives to the Tamil issue.
The ludicrous contention that Tamils are subject to violent acts was first introduced by equating those with the South African Apartheid and when that failed they moved on to equate to Serbian genocide and ethnic cleansing. The mass exodus of Tamils from Sri Lnka was well engineered by the LTTE while they also masterminded mass exodus of Sinhalese to the South from Tamil areas who chose not to seek refugee status in wealthy nations in the West unlike Tamils who did so for economic reasons.
Tamil diasporas belief that the leader of LTTE – Prabakarans’ promise to deliver their homeland “Eelam,” and LTTE's political hegemony are not, and will not be, synonymous. I would add further that the concept of Eelam pre-existed Prabakaran and the LTTE. The wonderful news to the rest of the world is that it will last much longer after the life of this organization and its leader - a stark reality for Tamil aspirations under Prabakaran. The losses incurred by the Tigers in the battle field - powerless to engage in fully-fledged conventional type warfare and despite the heavy investment in cadres, weaponry and international organizational effort, and now they are mostly depleted as the result of nature - Tsunami.
In short, now that the LTTE has demonstrated its reduced military prowess exposed by the inability to deal with the breakaway Eastern commander Karuna and felt the limitation to terrorism, the LTTE has to present its own detailed political plan under a new leadership. Any further prevarication and the threat to resort to military action means that the LTTE will only further betray the Tamil people.
The loss of Jaffna to the Sri Lanka defence forces (SLA) in 1996, after many years of it functioning as their virtual 'capital' of the LTTE-controlled Eelam state, was a tremendous blow not just to Prabha, but to the Tamil people as a whole. It is a far greater disability for the Tigers than their loss of political legitimacy following the unilateral breaking of the 1995 ceasefire or the condemnation received from the EU recently.
No doubt LTTE's currently weakened position is due to their loss of Jaffna as its capital city and the thickly populated and agricultural intensive regions of the Jaffna Peninsula - the pride of Tamil culture. And it is very unlikely that it ever be in their hands again with the continuing military support coming to GOSL from India, China and the US. Military experts argue that by breaking the ceasefire and provoking SLA offensives - offensives that finally saw the LTTE driven out of the Jaffna heartland - the Prabakaran has betrayed the Tamil people's struggle for self-determination. Of course, this is not the only way that the LTTE has betrayed the cause for which they were the first to take up armed struggle.
Prabakaran’s vicious authoritarianism and hegemony have also decimated the political leadership of their ethnic community and has neutered the overall organizational strength of the multi-force and multi-party movement for Tamil self-determination. If these are not lessons to be learnt, then Tamils will never gain their dignity much less their homeland.
Sinhalese will listen to a new Tamil leadership - not to LTTE’s Prabakaran and his cronies.
To achieve either Eelam or confederated Tamil self-rule by civilian, political, institutional means Tamils must begin to question the leadership of Prabakaran just the same way one spirited Col. Karuna (Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharana) questioned the LTTE. It is time to change LTTE leadership.
The newly elected President Mahinda Rajapakse of Sri Lanka has a different direction to the path the LTTE wish to take Sri Lanka. Read my future blogs on new perspectives to the Tamil issue.
Tamil Overkill
Tamils must realise that not even Nostradamus couldn’t come up with a prophesy about a homeland called "Tamil Eelam. "
Let me educate the readers on certain facts coming from an island nation we call Sri Lanka, which some of you may know as Ceylon to remind you the golden colonial era for Tamil. I don’t know how much you know about the recent history over there, there were more Sinhalese killed than Tamils, by Sinhalese law enforcement agencies and Tamils terrorists.
During the leftist JVP insurrection (I) in 1971 scores of Sinhala youth (NOT Tamils mind you) were killed by the very forces you describe as the Sinhalese police and the military. As a kid I saw bodies floating in the Mahaveli river, just too many to count. Some estimates place this figure at 40,000 – they simply disappeared without a trace, names were wiped off registries. They were gone just like the nasty times in Chile during Gen Pinnoche. Then there was the JVP insurrection (II) from 1987~90 during Premadasa era, and more were tortured and senselessly killed by the very same Sinhalese police and the military. This time the toll was much higher, estimates put at least 60,000 killed and missing. I remember seeing plenty of charred bodies of Sinhalese in the suburbs of Colombo, just too gruesome to describe. In total, we can estimate the Sinhalese losses at 100,000 and now add to that another 35,000 as a result of Tamil terrorism since 1983. We have a grand total of 135,000 Sinhalese casualties in the last thirty years as victims of both Tamil terrorism and Sinhalese police and military! I wouldn’t put Tamil casualties more than 30,000 and that includes intragroup killings by Tamils thugs like the LTTE.
Therefore, the Tamils’ hideous declaration that Tamils were victim of systemic oppression in Sri Lanka is a falsehood and fortunately it is not destined to influence future conflicts around the world.
I would make the point that Sinhalese police and the military couldn’t give a hoot about who they confront, unfortunately they are dressed and armed to complete a mission.
Today we all have become victims of vicious violence in Sri Lanka by design and if we go by the casualty figures, the Sinhalese have every right to feel they are the “victimized and oppressed majority” in Sri Lanka. Their voices must be heard first, if not, given the level of hypocrisy and brutality unleashed by the LTTE and Eelamists, the Sinhalese do reserve the right to seek separation from Tamils –imagine what that would do to Tamil heritage in Sri Lanka.
Let me educate the readers on certain facts coming from an island nation we call Sri Lanka, which some of you may know as Ceylon to remind you the golden colonial era for Tamil. I don’t know how much you know about the recent history over there, there were more Sinhalese killed than Tamils, by Sinhalese law enforcement agencies and Tamils terrorists.
During the leftist JVP insurrection (I) in 1971 scores of Sinhala youth (NOT Tamils mind you) were killed by the very forces you describe as the Sinhalese police and the military. As a kid I saw bodies floating in the Mahaveli river, just too many to count. Some estimates place this figure at 40,000 – they simply disappeared without a trace, names were wiped off registries. They were gone just like the nasty times in Chile during Gen Pinnoche. Then there was the JVP insurrection (II) from 1987~90 during Premadasa era, and more were tortured and senselessly killed by the very same Sinhalese police and the military. This time the toll was much higher, estimates put at least 60,000 killed and missing. I remember seeing plenty of charred bodies of Sinhalese in the suburbs of Colombo, just too gruesome to describe. In total, we can estimate the Sinhalese losses at 100,000 and now add to that another 35,000 as a result of Tamil terrorism since 1983. We have a grand total of 135,000 Sinhalese casualties in the last thirty years as victims of both Tamil terrorism and Sinhalese police and military! I wouldn’t put Tamil casualties more than 30,000 and that includes intragroup killings by Tamils thugs like the LTTE.
Therefore, the Tamils’ hideous declaration that Tamils were victim of systemic oppression in Sri Lanka is a falsehood and fortunately it is not destined to influence future conflicts around the world.
I would make the point that Sinhalese police and the military couldn’t give a hoot about who they confront, unfortunately they are dressed and armed to complete a mission.
Today we all have become victims of vicious violence in Sri Lanka by design and if we go by the casualty figures, the Sinhalese have every right to feel they are the “victimized and oppressed majority” in Sri Lanka. Their voices must be heard first, if not, given the level of hypocrisy and brutality unleashed by the LTTE and Eelamists, the Sinhalese do reserve the right to seek separation from Tamils –imagine what that would do to Tamil heritage in Sri Lanka.
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