By Charles.S.Perera
Lankaweb.comNovember 22, 2011
Writing to the President of Sri Lanka Anandasangaree says, « Although both of us entered Parliament together in 1970, I am more senior to you in age and in politics. Hence I have a moral duty to tell you frankly what I feel about every one of your actions and decision. »
Although the writer did not enter Parliament with Anandasangaree, he knows that Anandasangaree was a member of the LSSP . And as the writer is of the same age as Anandasangaree he thinks he also has a moral duty to tell Anandasangaree that he is the worst Tamil racist and a hypocrite.
His membership in the LSSP had been bogus and hypocritical, because if he was a sincere member of the LSSP he cannot today speak in the language of a separatist Tamil racist. He was awarded the 2006 UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize for the promotion of tolerance and non-violence, which he did not deserve.
He calls himself a patriot, and the writer challenges his patriotism. A patriot is one who loves his country and his compatriots whatever their race, colour or religion. A patriot does not seek to divide the people, a patriot loves the unitary status of his country, and does not seek to divide it territorially or communally. But Anandasangaree divides people as Sinhala and Tamils, he does not work for the unity of the people, he wants federalism which is a sort of divisionism. Therefore he is not a patriot.
If Anandasangaree wants to be a real patriot , he should give up his call for a Federal Constitution or an Indian model. He should not treat the Tamil Community as a different entity. He should instead be a bridge to bring in the Tamil Community into the mainstream of the Sri Lankan people without allowing them to tear away from the fabric of Nationhood.
Sri Lanka could progress faster if all communities get together to give a hand . It is the Tamils who stand on the way of progress with their pseudo “ethnic problem” and show to the world outside a division within. It is the Tamil diaspora which has brought Sri Lanka to disrepute, accusing the President and the Armed Forces for military crimes when they know very well that the elimination of terrorism was a necessity for any progress and that the military operations were against the terrorists and not against the Tamil people.
If the civilians were to have died it may have been inevitable and it was a sacrifice to end thirty years of suffering, and find at last peace and security for every one. Hiroshima and Nagasaki stand symbols of human sacrifice for the greater unity and peace of the world, at least that is what the West believes.
Now that the terrorism is over the expatriate Tamils should if they want to be real patriots contribute to the work in progress in Sri Lanka, and join hands with all Communities to develop the country to make the people happy, peaceful and prosperous.
Anandasangaree should help Sri Lanka not by demanding Federalism, but by getting the Tamils to fall in line with the rest of the communities to create Communal Unity.
His statements are pungent with hypocrisy, as when he says, “ I am one who is not communal and had been always saying that I wish to have a Sinhalese family as my neighbour on one side and a Muslim family on the other. I have still not changed my views in this matter.” Is that to show that he is not communal, and is that the way to bring the Communities together ? He thinks he could fool people with that kind of trash.
Anandasangaree as an elderly Tamil politician, living in safety amoung the Sinhala people in the South, had a greater role to play for the reconciliation of the two main Communities of Sri Lanka the Tamils and the Sinhala, if he did not try to play the Tamil Nadu game of separating the Tamils from the Sinhala. He also raises the GG Ponnambalam’s out dated demand for 50-50, but in a different way.
The permanent solution to the so called ethnic problem in Sri Lanka is there before every ones eyes , but the Tamils including the UNESCO prize winning Anandasangaree do not want even to look at it. The Solution is, that the Tamils should try to forget their Tamilness and accept to be patriotic Sri Lankans à part entière and unite with the other communities to form a larger Nation of Sri Lankans, where there would be no Sinhala, Tamil and Muslims but just Sri Lankans. That is what the President Mahinda Rajapakse meant once when he said that there are no minorities and majorities.
The fear of the Tamils is that the they will be assimilated into the Majority, otherwise there is no reason for the Tamils to ask, to be treated separately with a special devolution of power. The whole of the ethnic problem stems from this failure of the Tamils to give up their fear of loosing their Tamilness.
It is typical of the Tamils, this is what DBS Jeyaraj says on his article on Nedumaran’s book on Prabhakaran which he says would be Nedumaran’s magnum opus the “ hagiography “ of Prabhakaran. DBS Jeyaraj says “……… I am very proud of being a Tamil. My pride is based on the notion so well articulated by Namakkal Ramaligampillai one time poet laureate of Tamil Nadu.” Is he a Sri Lankan or of TamilNadu ? If he is a real Sri Lankan he should have at least said I am proud to be a Sri Lankan Tamil.
This stems from an inferiority complex of the Tamils. They do not want to accept being Sri Lankans . The black African Community in America understood that accepting to be Americans is the way out of their isolation, and became a part of the larger people of America, and that is how today a black African is the 44th President of USA.
They had the intelligence to understand that they had to accept being Americans, but the Tamils in Sri Lanka and the prize winning Champion of tolerance and non-violence are unable to comprehend that simple essential unity of people of all communities to build a Nation out of them.
Sampanthan and his TNA cohorts were slaves of Prabhakaran and did what ever the Thalaivar asked of them, spying for the terrorists in the Parliament. They were therefore free from the wrath of the uncertain moods of the Thalaivar the terrorist leader.
Anandasangaree was not selected by Prabhakaran to spy for them , therefore he feared Prabhakaran, who would have eliminated him if it became necessary. Therefore he played a double game living with the Sinhala people in the south, but echoing Prabhakaran’s call for a homeland by harping on a Federal Constitution.
Anandasangaree wanted to be different from Sampanthan the proxi of Praphakaran, therefore he did not ask for a separate Homeland for the Tamils, but he thought it was better to go step by step before he could arrive at making the North and East the Tamil Homeland, therefore he opted for Federalism.
Anandasangaree is an old political fox, who thinks he could get what he wants , by pretending to be friendly ( tolerant and non-violent) with the “Sinhala modayas” and moving along with their ideas until the time is right to “jump the queue” to bag in what he wanted a Tamil Homeland, or North and East as a separate Province under a Federal Constitution.
Therefore Anandasangaree mooted the Federal theory, and when he found that the Sinhala people would not accept it, he changed it to an Indian Model. He knows how to wriggle his way out of a situation, to get back to his demand to which he sticks stubbornly, when the time is ripe.
It was the Tamils who created the so called “ethnic problem” to enable them to get a Tamil Homeland established in the North and East.
There is in fact no “ethnic problem” at all. But it was created artificially, to divide the country to have a separate Tamil Homeland. That is why all this Anti Mahavamsa theory of Narapalasingham, and the rewriting of the Tamil history insisting on the presence of Tamil settlements in the North and East prior to the advent of the Sinhala.
Anandasangaree says, “ I am yearning to see the dawn of peace in its true form in this beautiful Island of ours, in which from time immemorial the Tamils and the Sinhalese had lived in peace and harmony along with Muslims and many other ethnic groups, before the country gained its independence.”
He does not mean a word of what he says. He is vehemently opposed to any large numbers of Sinhala people taking permanent residence in the North and East. He will call it colonizing, which in fact what the Tamils have done in the South.
Anandasangaree says, “ What was going on in this country since independence in 1948 is not fully known to the present generation. They hardly know what a peaceful country Ceylon was in the good old days. I am one who had lived throughout this period and had witnessed and experienced all good and bad events that took place in our country. ”
In the good old days the south of Sri Lanka was a paradise for the Tamils from the North . The British colonialists following the divide and rule policy pampered the Tamils giving them important places in their administration pushing the Sinhala to the background.
The Jaffna Tamils came to South and opened shops and boutiques. Only the Tamil men came to the South leaving their families home, not wanting to socialize with the Sinhala. The well to do vellalas came and settled down in Colombo sending their children to best of schools to make them Doctors or Engineers.
The North and the East was left for the Tamils to live as they want, the majority of the Sinhala people were not interested, either in settling down or even to know about the Northern Provinces .
That is why Anandasangaree is nostalgic for the old times. If things would have been the same today North and East would have been their uncontested Homeland. Anadasangaree knows very well that neither North or East voted for any candidate of the LSSP the political party which stood for all communities. There was I think just one LSSP Member from the North in the House of Representative. Not seeing a future being a member of the LSSP Anandasangaree changed camps.
In a way the terrorism brought some thing good in its wake, the Sinhala people of the South became aware that the North and East are after all part of the whole of Sri Lanka and that they have an interest in those parts of the country as well.
That is what irks Anandasangaree, North and East becoming close to the South and the possibility of more Sinhala people settling down there. Hence his demand for an Indian Model so that the North and East could be kept a Tamil enclave as it was in the good old days.
If Anandasangaree wants a real reconciliation of the Communities and make Sri Lanka a peaceful place as it was , the time is ripe now. The Sinhala people are ready to make any sacrifice just to bring the Communities together. But do the Tamils want it, and would the Tamils in the North and East forget their Tamilness to create a United Nation of all Communities, stepping out of their narrow Communalism ?
This Communal integration forgetting the Tamilness does not mean that the cultural and religious values of each Community is to be devalued, but there is all the more reason that the parity of status of different Communities should be maintained in forming a multicultural Nation.
The Sinhala people have been inviting students from North and East to the South to stay with Sinhala people to understand more of each other. Do they profit from the occasion ? Has Anandasangaree gone to meet these young people who came from the North and East and spoken to them of the necessity to unite to forget their minority complex and become part of the larger community of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people ?
No ! the UNESCO award winning tolerant and non-violent Anandasangaree would not do a thing like that. He knows that if the Sinhala people in the South were to bring the whole population of Tamils from the North and East and entertain them for even for one whole year, they will go back and become once again Tamils with their racial hatred to the Sinhala people.
Federalism or Indian Model means nothing to the ordinary Tamil people, even if every one of them in the North and East makes their daily morning Salaams or Namasthe to Tamil Nadu, what they want is to live peacefully, with daily amenities and plan a future for their children.
The Federalism and the Indian Model is the dream of the high class Tamils who want to dominate the poor low caste Tamils with ruling power in their hands with a Parliament of their own, with their own Police and land rights.
Only means for Sri Lanka to forge ahead with peace and prosperity is by being an undivided people united to coordinate with one another for an ambitious program of development as a country of a united community of people.
Anandasangaree says, « The turning point was the passage of the Citizenship Acts and the situation got aggravated with the passage of the Act making Sinhala as the only official language of the state in 1956. »
That is all nonsense, because it was necessary to make a difference in an independent Sri Lanka, where the colonialists ruled the country the way they want by denying the Sinhala people their rightful place, burning their villages , killing their people when they rebelled against these savage invaders who had continually harassed them, insulted and denigrated the culture and the religion of the Sinhala people. That necessity was understood only by SWRD Bandaranaike. He did what was necessary, to give back to the people what had been denied to them for nearly 500 years.
The Tamil people did not take part in those rebellions, whether it was against the Portuguese, the Dutch or the British, though they claim they have a long history as settlers in Sri Lanka. How many Tamils fought along side the Sinhala Soldiers against terrorism ? In the long history of Sri Lanka the Tamils have not played any role to defend the country except of course few exceptions like, Lakshman Kadirgamar, Jeyraj Fernandopulle and few other Muslims and Malays.
Anandasangaree should be happy because he is there today, free to speak out his mind because he had been with the Sinhala people in the South whose children had fought the terrorists to rid him of the fear of assassination by a wayward terrorist.
His theme of complaint through out the long article revolves round the ethnic problem and the advice to implement an Indian Model. But this ethnic problem he speaks of does not exist any more, even if did in some ways existed before.
Now with the implementation of the Mahinda Chintanaya, even the language problem has been settled and the Tamils share all rights equally with all other Communities. And the Tamils like Anandasangaree, Sampanthan etc. raise a Tamil ethnic problem knowing well that no such thing really exists now, but yet to make an issue of it merely to bring disrepute to Sri Lanka and allow interference by the foreign countries into our internal affairs, and hoping for some politically beneficial fallouts for themselves.
Anandasangaree insists, « A unitary system will not be acceptable to the minorities, the Tamils in particular. It will never serve as a permanent solution, since it can be meddled with, by some others when you and I are no more. I had been repeatedly saying that only the Indian Model will be acceptable to the minorities as the only alternative to a “Federal Model” if the term “Federal” is allergic to some. Otherwise it would be the best and the most acceptable one. »
What is special about the Tamils that a unitary system will not suit them. If it suits every one else it is democratic that the Tamils accept what is accepted by everyone else. It is people like Anandasangaree who should make them understand that simple reality and bring the communities together without holding onto a separatists ideology.
Everything is not hunky dory in India despite Anandasangaree’s eulogy of India as a Model. India which is a leading nation today claiming leadership in the South, with its own atomic bomb, preparing to send Indian men into Space, is unable to provide equality of opportunities to all the citizens of the country. The low caste untouchables have still to find their place in the Indian Society.
There is ethnic problems in Assam, Sikh and Hindu conflict in Punjab. India still has Hindu Muslim conflicts. It has very racist Tamil politicians in TamilNadu. Tamil Nadu has taken away the power of the Central Government of India which is being made to dance to the tune of the Nedumarans, Jayalalithas, Vaikos, Karunanidhis or the We Tamil Movement of Seeman. Is that the glorious Indian Model Anandasangaree dreams of for Sri Lanka ?
Anandasangaree goes on with his eulogy of India , « ..A majority Hindu country has a great Muslim Scientist as Head of the State and treat him with due honour. ….Another highly respected leader is the Prime Minister of India from an ethnic group that forms only 2% of its population and the leader of the ruling Party who is a very highly respected lady is one, not born in India. This great neighbour of ours has found unity in diversity; why can’t we have powers devolved to our regions on the Indian pattern? “
But this has been made possible by India having no divisive political parties except in TamilNadu. Sri Lanka could easily have the same possibilities if the Tamils come down from their sacrosanct Tamilness and accept to be citizens of Sri Lanka without having racist political parties for Tamils, such as the :
Tamil Eelam Liberation Army, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization, Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal,Tamil National Alliance, Tamil National Liberation Alliance, Tamil National People’s Front,Tamil United Liberation Front.
Anandasangaree should demand that these Political parties with the Tamil Label be banned and all citizens of Sri Lanka, Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and others should join the two main political parties as in America, UK or France. Then the country will select as President the leader of the political party that has won the elections. It may be a Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Malay or Burgher. For that to happen we need not be a country with a Federal Constitution, or a Constitution with that of India as a Model, but we should be a United Nation, without any Community demanding to be different from the rest of the Communities .
The rest of the letter need no reply as it is the repetition of the same ethnic problem, the Federalism against a Unitary system, and if allergic to Federalism requesting to opt for the Indian Model.
Mr. Anandasangaree, you will soon be eighty years of age. The future is short for you, but the past had been long. When the end is near we become more and more nostalgic about the past and forget the present and try to project the past into the future as a model for the present generation to emulate. But the present generation has more wonderful things to do than you had been doing through out that long past. Therefore, do not try to make the past a model for the future generations.
The President Mahinda Rajapakse who you knew as a young man has matured. He has shown to every right thinking man and woman that of the many Heads of State of Sri Lanka we have had from the Prime Ministers to Presidents, President Mahinda Rajapakse stands out as the man who did the most to this country of ours within the short time he was given the reins of leadership.
He had driven away the terrorists that were menacing the very existence of Sri Lanka as a Unitary State. He has reconstructed North and East as no body had ever been able to do before. He had brought the once poverty stricken South to an important centre of political and commercial activity. He had built roads and railways as none had ever dreamt of doing before. He has developed our country into a middle income State.
But all those who criticize him despite all that he has done for this country, has done nothing. It is only Mahinda Rajapakse who has shown to every one of these critics what, a President with a vision , determination and effort could do, within the shortest possible time to turn a dream into a reality.
Therefore, Mr.Anandasangaree, Mahinda Rajapakse is not a “podiyen” who dropped from the last rain, and he knows what he is doing and it is up to you to wish him well and allow him to do what he wants to do in his own way. From what he has done so far there is no reason to think that he will disappoint any one of us in the future.
All progressive work in Sri Lanka to develop it economically, culturally, and socially had been mostly the indifatigable effort of the Sinhala people . While Sampanthan and the TNA, Anandasangaree, Kumar David, Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, DBS Jeyaraj et al make a hue and cry about an ethnic problem and collect international awards, the Sinhala people are at work in the North-East South and West of Sri Lanka for the betterment of the people and development of the country.
