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Firstly, it must be said that Aloy Perera's article is unlikely to go down as a serious, polished or reasoned contribution to the debate on important matters of re-defining the much-traumatised national identity of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankans after nearly 500 years of colonial rape and plunder.

Perera's writing is incoherent largely due to his failed attempt to portray the image of an erudite and to deal with a large number of issues which are not connected to each other. (No wonder the Independent News Group went bust and Aloy is 'freelance' these days!).

Also his views seem to be coloured by his own personal circumstances and the unbridled hatred against certain people (who appear to be living in the same part of the world where he is residing). His vindictive is unacceptable.

Perera's quoting of an American to criticise 'patriotism' displays his general ignorance of world affairs and is ludicrous: the world knows that most global problems (eg, war in Iraq) originate from the extremist 'patriotic' views of the American establishment who are expecting the entire world to act to safeguard American interests (either you are with us or you are against us!) at the expense of their own! Our Perera is an exception.

Let us leave all the 'rubbish' Perera has written about 'thovil' and 'aturayas' etc, and deal with his core issue of 'What is in a name'. We can start by analysing his own name Aloy (the more cuddly, shortened form of Aloysius) Perera: The boy's first name Aloysius (Latinised version of Luigi Louis, also related to Ludwig) is of Old German origin, meaning "famous warrior".

The 'warriors' at that time were the colonisers who were venerated because of their successes in plundering and murdering native peoples and taking possession of far-flung lands in Latin America and Asia. The name was popular in all European colonising countries, particularly in Italy in the Middle Ages, and was made popular by the 16th century Italian saint Aloysius. However, the name was made popular more recently by the makers of "Sesame Street", by naming one of the Muppet characters, a wooly mammoth, Aloysius Snuffleupagus. (Our 'Aloy' will be disturbed to learn that the "Childrens' Work Shop" apparently named this character largely after a high-profile pedophile featured in the TV program "60" Minutes').

Let us look at the origin of Aloy's surname 'Perera' (with apologies to numerous other Pereras): the name Perera has been traced back to a Jewish clan in the city of Toledo in medieval Spain, then following various family branches to Portugal, the Netherlands and France, where rabbis and mystics, bankers and healers made up an interesting cast of historical characters. (A Gautemalan born American friend of this writer with the surname Perera has traced his family origins to Toledo). As is well known, some of the European jews, apart from those connected to the royal families, joined Portuguese ships invading Asia, as overlords as well as 'Spanish' slaves (the donors of other colonial names to Sri lankans such as De Silva, Dias, and the first name that became the surname Fernando), commonly used by the Portuguese in their proselatyzing and philandering voyages.

Now, with a name like Aloy Perera (presumably with a brown skin, possibly of the Roman Catholic faith), how can Mr Perera identify himself as a person of Sri Lankan origin. Simply, his identity has been 'mucked up' by the colonisers, compromising his own ability to address the situation now.

Aloy needs to trace his own origins: he might find out that his ancestors, possibly costal people, disgruntled due to discrimination by the Sri Lankan society at the time on the basis of caste or vocation (like fishing) fell pray to colonisers' designs by adopting the very same philosophy that sanctioned the massacres of their bretheren, the plunder of their property and desecration their religious and cultural monuments.

This goes on to show that names 'do matter' (now don't quote a hackneyed phrase from Shakespeare about roses, this is real life) in establishing one's identity in terms of regional, racial and cultural origin. By destroying this identity, they enslave you.

Look at the Afro-Americans in the US and the Carribean. As part of slavery, they have been baptised, 'wholesale' under the names of their slave masters. A black person with a 'white' name like Martin Richardson is still discriminated in the US, based on his Afro-American background.

People like Aloy are playing the passive and subservient role that justifies this world order, just as the colonisers anticipated.

May God help our 'Aloy' open his eyes.

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