Judy Mariampillai

Dear Mr P S Suryanarayana

Mr P S Suryanarayana is Editor (Current Affairs) at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), anautonomous research institute at the National University of Singapore

I read review about the book Tamil Tigress was published in one of the papers. I thought , it is worth to expose some of the serious untruthfulness in the book.

The title of the book starts with the title ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Tamil Tigress: my story as a child soldier in Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s bloody civil war by Niromi de Soyza ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…- which was initially published by the Australian publisher Allen and Unwin in 2011.This book sounds quite intriguing as it is difficult to find an insiderƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s account .After reading the Tamil Tigress book and the questions raised by the leading critics who are historians and scholars, I thought it is worth to unfold the truth about the book and the author niromi De Soyza.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I am not an activist . I am a just reader who is interested in Sri Lankan affairs and related to Ajanthi ( we called her Nirmala)ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  who was the centre piece of the book. Here are some of the challenges raised by the scholars and historians and Niromi de Soyza yet to answer the questions. Many journalist wanted to have a face to face meeting or phone interview. De Soyza refused to answer those questions.

a. False claim by Niromi de SoyzaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  as a Child solider

The book title started with a story of the child soldier. In fact the author Niromi De Soyza ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ was not a child soldier when she joined LTTE. Niromi acknowledged that her year of birth was 1969 in many interviews. In page 103 she claims her birthday is in mid-June. Therefore ” two days before Christmas in 1987″ she was 18. Niromi was no longer a child (Under 18). It is part of the deceptive marketing.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ b. Artificial image to portrayed the Author Niromi de SoyzaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

From the launch of the first edition, Niromi ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ has been portraying her artificial image .The following facebook linkƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  showed the actual andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  artificial image . The real photo was taken in 2012 >>.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ (reference 1)

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ c. Making up false stories to suite the audience .

During the launch of the first edition of the book in July 2011, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Niromi de Soyza spoke against the Sri Lankan Government to get the supportƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  fromƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  the Sri Lankan Tamils Diaspora in Australia .Her attempts were miserably failed as the majority Tamils immigrated to Australia were under skilled migrants category and they easily discerned Niromi De SoyzaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ deceptive methods.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Niromi de soyza mentioned during the ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ interview ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ with Allen &Unwin , the publisher of the Tamil Tigress book that she was proud for not associating with the Sri Lankan community . However ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Niromi de soyza ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ failed to realise that sheƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  landed as a student ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in the Australian soil and claimed refugee status and completed her Bachelor and Master degree program under the Australian taxpayerƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s money !.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In the recent publisher’s trade exhibition in Byran bay, Niromi de Soyza demonstratedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  the cyanide capsule [common practice by LTTE ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ suicide cadres to avoid getting into Sri Lankan armyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s hand] ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ using her hand ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ with condom cover. After realising her support for the illegal boat people is not welcome by the Australian community,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Niromi de Soyza is currently wearing a new cloak called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…- Motivational speakerƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ . Author de Soyza often uses her crocodile tears to get the full attention of the audience in most of herƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ public meetings.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ During the recent interview with ABC about the indefinite detention, Niromi De Soyza focused only the promoting her own book not about the refugees in the detention centre.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Niromi de soyzaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ first public forum was on the 19 July 2011 in AIIA NSW. The program forensically investigates allegations that up to 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed as Sri Lankan Government forces moved in to destroy the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE) . I attended the forum.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I also attended her public appearance in Melbourne along with two leading Sri Lankan academics and journalist . Sri Lankan journalist publicly challenged her about her untruthful and contradicting statementsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  in the book Tamil Tigress and during the radio interview . Author of Tamil tigress book ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ was unable to answer those allegations against her.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Niromi De Soyza ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ spoke about her compelling reason for her to write the book was to give voice for boat people in Australia. Niromi de Soyza is becoming unpopular about her compelling reason as Australian Government and opposition support the off shore processing for the illegal migrant. After realising the threat to her own popularity , Niromi ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ de soyza removed the ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ video clip from her own website . The video wasƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ explaining the reason for writing the book. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ De Soyza is using the religion to sell her book to the catholic community . She wrote her review in the catholic magazine under the title of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-In 1987, 17-year old Niromi de Soyza shocked her middle-class Catholic Sri Lankan family by joining the Tamil Tigers ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…- .With that quota she spoke about the made up stories ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ among the catholic school children .ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

After failure of convincing her own Tamil community in Australia, De Soyza ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ wanted to get into Sinhalese Australian migrant community . Melbourne is a place where most of Sinhalese speaking people live in Australia. When she presented to the Sri Lankan community, a couple of leading Sinhalese native speaking academics and a well-known economistƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  had confrontedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Niromi de soyza ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ at a public meeting in Melbourne .

De Soyza claimed that she was with the LTTE group for only eight months . because of the ill treatment to her boyfriend Roshan (lover) ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ by the LTTE leaders and later Roshan was murdered ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in India ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ lead her toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  pour her hate feeling through one chapter. She grew up in Jaffna with her father who worked in Middle east country for the sake of money, Rejection of the society by the cast system lead her to motivate her to write a book initially and later changed her thought to make fortune out of portraying her close friend Ajanthi ( Nirmala) in her book.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ d. Deceptive promotionalƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ methods are widely used by the Author Niromi de soyza ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to sell her book Tamil Tigress

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Deceptive promotion of Tamil Tigress ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ North AmericaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The review of the Tamil Tigress bookƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  was written by Koom KankesanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  a Canadian Tamil recently exposed by the editor of theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ New Direction of Time .

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Soon after the review was published in the ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ New Direction of TimeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in Canada , Many readers who knew the truth commented to KoonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s review .But the reviews, which challenged the author Niromi De Soyza, were removed by the request of Koom Kankesan.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Here is what Geoffrey says ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ IƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ve removed a certain comment at the request of Mr. Kankesan. IƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ve done this not because I am taking a side in the matter. I know little about it. I like him so IƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ve agreed to his request. ThatƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s all ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ .ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I commended GeoffreyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s openness and truthfulness.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Untruthfulness of the Tamil Tigress author Niromi de soyza and her book not only mislead authors like Koom KankesanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  and DBS Jeyaraj , but alsoƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  lead the readers to portrait aƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  bad image about the ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ DBS and Koom Kankesan.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ You can view the comments from the editor of The New direction of time under comments section ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  http://thenewdirectionoftime.com/2012/07/02/tamil-tigress-reviewed-by-koom-kankesan/#comments

Deceptive promotion of Tamil Tigress ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in India

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ After the second edition , published in India ( changed the cover from Tamil girl with gun to Tamil girl wearingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  sari )ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  AuthorƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Niromi de Soyza wrote her own review andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  published in the Indian mediaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  under the title of ” LTTE tortured and killed while fighting Indians: Ex-cadre’s book

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Deceptive promotion of Tamil Tigress ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in Sri Lanka

Knowing the danger of the having the last chapter of the first ediNiromi de SoyzaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  removed the chapter ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-AfterwardsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ in the second edition .

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ e. Why did Niromi De Soyza remove the last chapter from the first edition?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In the Last chapterƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-AfterwardsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ ,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Niromi De SoyzaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  openly criticised against the government of Sri Lanka and calling for the international community ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”s involvement in Sri Lankan affair . Compelling reason for her to remove the chapter so that she can sell her book inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  the local bookstores in Sri Lanka .

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  f. Niromi de SoyzaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Compelling reasons have changed with the new opportunities to sell the book

Compelling reason started with voice for Sri Lankan boat people in Australia , now voice for peace and harmony and charity ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ . observers predicts her might change anytime in the future to gain more popularity through the controversial stunt and hot topics in the market.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A leading Sri Lankan historian like Prof Michael Robert, Adelaide brought the untruthfulness and her contracting statements ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ during the Australian Radio interview to the day light . However Prof Robert was biased towards to the Government of Sri Lanka and for ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ that reason Tamil community ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ did not take Prof Michael’s article into account.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

After attending the public forum in Melbourne, Australia organised by Dr.Sarvananthan (ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ an EconomistƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ) , Dr.SarvananthanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ brought Niromi’s fake identity to the day light. Dr.Sarvananthan was against the Tamil DiasporaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ because of that reason Tamil people even did not take his criticism into consideration.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In the recent interview which was published in the Island (19/09/2012) , De Soyza did not speak about her favourite topics such as the human rights violation by the Government of Sri Lanka or Asylum seekers by the boats to the Australian Shore. Niromi de Soyza was only concern about promotion of her book Tamil Tigress.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Niromi De SoyzaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ class mates from the schools she studied ( Holy Family Convent and Chundikuli GirlsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ College) in Jaffna ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka started to question Niromi de Soyza about the actual motive of writing the book other than making money by portraying her close friend Ajanthi ( Nirmala) . They could not find any other motive behind it.

Author Niromi De Soyza should answer to the allegation brought by critics.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Her continuous silence will lead to more unanswered questions.

Reference

http://groundviews.org/2011/12/22/niromi-2009-versus-niromi-tigress-2011/

http://groundviews.org/2011/12/28/clouds-of-deception-jeyaraj-anoints-and-cloaks-niromi-tigress/

http://groundviews.org/2011/08/31/forbidden-fruits-niromi-de-soyzas-tamil-tigress-noumi-kouri-and-helen-demidenko/

http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/niromi-de-soyzas-first-excursion-into-the-media-limelight-in-may2009/

http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2011/08/farce-of-fake-tigress.html

http://sundaytimes.lk/110925/Plus/plus_07.html

http://www.getreading.com.au/50-books-you-cant-put-down-2012/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tamil-Tigress-The-fake-memoirs/426676137369106

http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2012/09/unfolded-truth-about-tamil-tigress-book.html