Subidcham Editors, Please Remove Your Blinkers and Look Again!!!!

Ramanie de Zoysa

Charles Perera’s excellent article of the 11/10 has not been removed- it is proudly displayed under the heading ‘Lankaweb Latest Political Analysis’!!!!

It must be a classic case of seeing what one wants to see and hearing what one wants to hear! Subidcham Editors of Independetsl website have needlessly thanked Lankaweb for REMOVING an “OFFENSIVE” article when Lankaweb has continued to publish the article in question in bold letters in a bright coloured feature column!!!

The attempt made by Independentsl columnists Subidcham Editors and Jacinta Cruz to intimidate Lankaweb’s writer and patriot, Mr Charles Perera through slander and abuse should be held in utter contempt by every person who values an individual citizen’s right to hold and express a view without being terrorised either physically or verbally. Jacinta Cruz, or most likely the person who is covering under the nom-de-plume Jacinta Cruz, has quite typically showered Mr Perera with the usual derogatory adjectives reserved by Tamils for those Sinhalese who choose to speak the truths they find unpalatable. In his/ her diatribe titled “Sinhala chauvinism and political opportunism is not Sri Lankan patriotism” published in Independentsl website Jacinta dishes out many of the typical ugly labels such as “narrow-minded prejudices”, “intolerance”, “racist chauvinism”, “religious bigotry”, “utter hate” so on and so forth to Mr Perera for the simple reason he was honest enough to say that the “King has no clothes on” when everyone else is pussy-footing around King Sangaree flattering him over the beauty of the clothes he has everyone believe he is wearing! Mr Perera speaks for a resounding majority of the Sinhalese when he says that: (quote)

“Mr. Anandasagaree, you and the politicians like you, GG Ponnambalam, Chevanayagam, Sundaralingam are responsible for the terrorism we witness to-day. Then as now you want your pound of flesh, nothing less. You were stubborn, unbending, undemocratic, and there was no room for compromise in your camp. Even today despite the ongoing deliberations by the All Party Conference to find a solution to the so called ethnic problem, your head swollen, with the crown of a peace maker proposed by the UNESCO, ask still for the pound of flesh. You say, that the Tamils of Sri Lanka will not accept any other solution other than a federal solution based on Indian model.

One thought of you as a reasonable, mature politician, who thinks twice before you talk. But with the stance you have taken about your Indian Model Federalism, you too stand with them the racist terrorists, a rabid, intolerant racist. You think of your people instead of thinking of all the people. Because in this intolerable terrorism forced upon us, we want politicians who speak for the people, and not narrow minded communalists like you.”

I salute Mr Perera for his forthrightness and his candid analysis of what the majority of Sinhala people are thinking when they hear a Parliamentarian drawing a salary from the Government of Sri Lanka to serve the entire country, serving communal politics with statements such as ‘Tamils of Sri Lanka will not accept any other solution other than a federal solution based on Indian model’. Subidcham comment that “If Mr Anandasangaree advocates a federal solution on the Indian model, it is his right and for expressing that, if he is going to be verbally gunned down, his advocacy as a member of a minority community is even more justified” is simply self-serving humbug. Mr Sangaree is not speaking as a citizen. He is voicing the official position of the Tamil homeland brigade making irrational demands in favour of his community at the expense of the rest of the country while getting paid by the Sri Lankan State and sitting in Colombo well protected at great expense to the public purse. Mr Ananada Sangaraee can not pose off as a “moderate” and take such an uncompromising stance such as “Tamils will not accept any other….” On the contrary Mr Sangaree is not on record ever advising what the Tamils of Sri Lanka can and should do for the country like a parliamentarian with integrity should be doing- it is always about what the Tamils want and how much more Tamils want!

Mr Sangaree is not the demi-god or the hero both Jacinta and Subidcham Editors make him out to be. The initiators of Tamil racism and terrorism are now spread out in all shapes, sizes and colours. Some such as Devanada, Karuna and Ananda Sangaree who took up arms against the Sinhalese and Sri Lanka are now posing under the cover of “Tamil moderates” living in safety among the Sinhalese in Colombo while they continue to bat for the “Tamil homeland” cause expressing unbending, anti-Sri Lankan, Indo-phile statements. The singular reason these people are ‘anti-LTTE’ seems to be because somewhere along the journey to Eelaaam they fell foul of the LTTE Wanniyars who managed to hang on to their firepower through cunning and manipulation where these so-called ‘moderates’ failed. They appear to have entered the ‘mainstream politics’ only to safeguard their back sides - they show no concern for the country as a whole. They want to keep the North and the East merged while breaking up the rest of the country on a so-called federal model of the Indian kind. Merger for us but splinter for everyone else, they say- a federalist devolution for every province; but the North and the East must remain merged so that federalism offers Tamils two provinces merged with powers and resources of two provinces vested in one large federal state for Tamils! Two for the price of one for Tamils! If this is not self- serving communal politics Pol Pot isn’t dead yet! And these are moderates!

It is high time Sri Lanka rejected the present system which allows Tamils and Muslims to be represented on communal lines while the other members of the community mainly the Sinhalese serve the nation as a whole- as they should be.

When Jacinta talks about “1958, 1977 and 1983, three of the worst kinds of terrorism that were directed against the Tamils” s/he is taking things out of context. While not condoning any ill-treatment the Tamils have ever been subjected for any reason, I fail to see how the terror caused by rioting Sinhalese in the said three periods can be any worse than the terror the Tamils are subjecting Tamils as a result of the soured march to an Utopian Eelaam. Jacinta has also no qualms about the terrorism waged by Tamils against the Sinhalese over the last 23 years. A measure of honesty in admitting that the Tamil greed for more than their fair share (50% power and resources for a population of 7-10%) at the expense of other citizens has been the root cause of the continued destruction of this beloved country since Independence would go a long way in halting the sorry saga of falsehoods, pretences and terrorism in Sri Lanka.

Jacinta asks “Why was Charles Perera silent on this betrayal of the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka by the UNP (referring to the CFA handing over territory to the LTTE Wanniyars)? I can assure Jacinta that Mr Perera has published eloquent articles on this very point over the last few years; at times on a daily basis.

Mr Sangaree’s India worship asking India to meddle/ intervene in Sri Lankan affairs is absolutely repulsive to the majority of Sri Lankans. India is a hostile neighbor and has been so through thousands of years of history with no signs of this changing in the near future. Mr Sangaree should properly be condemned for this anti-Sri Lankan act.

It is a falsehood to say that the Indian model of federalism has quenched the Tamil thirst for separatism on a racial basis. Tamil Naadu’s threat of separatism has never ceased since India’s Independence and Vaiko, Ramdoss et al are prime examples of this discontent. The anti-Hindi pro-Eelaam movement in Tamil Naadu has produced an entire sea of hate literature giving reasons as to why Tamil Naadu should cede from the Indian federal Union. To quote a mere couple of examples K. Anantharaman (TAMIL TRIBUNE, September 2000) argued that “non-Hindi states of the "Indian Union" are economically discriminated and exploited by Hindi states and therein lie one reason for the freedom movements in some non-Hindi states from Nagaland in the east, Punjab on the west and Tamil Nadu in the south and many states in between.” He comments “Here is a recent example of this economic plunder of non-Hindi states by Hindi states. Lion's share of taxes is collected by the Indian Government (Central Government) and then doled out to state governments in the form of financial loans, grants and assistance. It has been well established that Hindi states get an unduly higher share of these monies. Recently, in August 2000, the Eleventh Finance Commission set up by the Indian Government further increased these monies to Hindi states while further reducing the share of many non-Hindi states. Andhra Pradesh will get 9.4 billion Rupees less every year, Tamil Nadu will get 9.0 billion Rupees less every year, Kerala will get 7.3 billion less and Punjab will get 2.5 billion less. Maharashtra and Karnataka are also adversely hit. Where does all the money taken away from these non-Hindi states go? The Hindi-belt states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan will see a hefty increase in their financial assistance from the Indian Government….”

Also Thanjai Nallankili, a Tamil nadu secessionist wrote “India is an artificial country. Today's "Republic of India" is the remnant of "British India", the geographical area conquered and ruled by the British in South Asia as their prized colony. Today's India comprises of many nations, namely, Assom, Bodoland, Karnataka, Kerala, Khalistan (Punjab), Maharashtra, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, etc. etc. Does each of these nations, do each of these peoples, participate equally or does one or more of the nations dominate the others and run Government of India for their own benefit? During the British colonial rule it was easy to say that British India was run by the British, serving their self interest. Has the independence of India from British rule merely changed the rule from British hands to someone else? In essence, have Hindians become the de facto rulers of "independent" India over and above all other nationalities?”

These writings are certainly not isolated rantings of a few crazed individuals but represent a vast amount of hate literature combined with undercurrents of insurgent activity of the Tamil secessionist movement of India which the Indian State keeps at bay through the extensive use of spying and censorship carried out by Indian intelligence services. So much for the federal rose garden of the Indian kind promised by the Indian Government and the likes of Mr Ananda Sangaree who are peddling their own unwholesome agendas under the cover of problem solving!