By Shelton A. Gunaratne©2009

On the last Friday afternoon of April 1994, David Klos and I walked to the shopping street on Nankai University campus, just behind the wall that separates Nankai from Tianjin University. There, while a street barber gave me a haircut for ¥ 2.50 (or 29 U.S. cents), Klos settled on a stool at a nearby watering hole to inebriate himself with beer. Inebriation facilitated him to indulge in the local custom of spitting on the floor and trampling on the spit. Thereafter, we stopped by at a Western music audiotape shop, and hobnobbed with a few local professionals, including a lawyer and a surgeon who admitted their inability to earn enough money in their professions.

This anecdote highlights two features of China that made an indelible impression on me during my five-month teaching assignment in Tianjin during the first half of 1994:

• Chinese are accustomed to spitting on the floor no matter where.
• Chinese professionals like doctors and lawyers do not earn big money.

Klos, a fellow Minnesotan married to a Chinese woman, was one of four American English teachers whom I met during dinner at the restaurant of the International Guest House on Tianjin University campus on the Friday (Feb. 18, 1994) I arrived in Tianjin. The others were LeAnn Patterson from Texas, John Martin from Georgia, and Ben Lee from California. Being from Minnesota, Klos and I felt quite comfortable to join for afternoon or evening walks and excursions. Living at the guesthouse also enabled me to meet with numerous visitors to the Tianjin campus.

The students’ habit of spitting in the classroom bothered me at first. One cold afternoon, I was jogging along a crowded street when my nose started dripping. I stopped to clear my nose in the open when I heard a woman screaming at me in Chinese. Obviously, her gestures indicated her disgust with my action. I could never reconcile her objection with the Chinese tolerance of spitting.

The meager earnings of the professionals in socialist societies represent an attempt to prevent excessive tanhā (craving), vedanā (feeling) and upādāna (grasping) leading to more dukkha (unsatisfactoriness) in society.

 Going American

One Saturday evening (April 23), a week before my haircut, three of us—Klos, David Dong (a Taiwan businessman staying at the guest house) and I—walked to the “English Bridge” on Tianjin campus to make fools of ourselves. Of course, it was Klos’s brainchild. The Chinese students were so determined to practice Yankee English that they gathered on the bridge spanning the large pond in the campus courtyard every Saturday evening to do just that. All conversation on the bridge had to be in English, American style (not the British). They were eager to pick up conversations with any foreign visitor to the bridge.

Klos proposed that I spurt out some gibberish (in an imaginary language), which he would “translate” into Yankee English. So we walked to the “English Bridge” to act out our prank. Our students gathered around us to see our amusing performance. I delivered a nonsensical harangue in Sinhala while Klos rendered it (whatever he imagined I said) in English. Having amused ourselves with this puerile act of deception, we walked through the park on the eastern side of the campus to have a sly look at the romantic couples. Finally, we ended up at a dance hall on the northern side of the campus to become spectators.

I found the “English Bridge” to be a mere symbol of the Chinese longing to go American. On my train trip to Xi’an, China’s ancient capital, on May 18, I met a soldier of the People’s Liberation Army and a chemical engineer both of whom were eager to speak English with me. Thus, I gathered that the desire to learn American English went well beyond the Tianjin University.

These episodes illustrate another feature of Chinese life in the mid-1990s:

• Chinese were obsessed with learning American English, the language of the superpower.

  Contact with Students

The Chinese obsession with English extended to how they identified their nāmarūpa as well. Each student had an American name added to their Chinese name. So the four students who paid me a social visit on March 30 identified themselves as Cathy Zhu Yin-hue, Lily Chen Yuwei, Nancy Nan­-lin and Susan Su Jing.  Lily and Nancy had already visited me on March 24 to escort me on a tour of the new and the old libraries. They also picked me up for a celebration of the final day of the spring festival and treated me with dinner and beer at the No. 2 Dining Hall. Cathy and Nancy, together with Sonny Zhung Shi, visited me again on April 8, and took me out on a picnic to Shuishan Gongguan (Aquatic Park) and the zoo. My diary entry says:

We rode bicycles to the eastern gate of the park, which we reached about 2.20 p.m. We walked along the northern edge of the Dongho Lake to the Lotus Pavilion, then south to Culture Square, where we sat down to eat the snacks that the students had brought. Then we walked further south to the zoo to see the peacocks, the swans, the bear and the panda, among other animals.

A week later, I invited Cathy, Nancy and Sonny for dinner at a restaurant. The day before I left Tianjin, Lily and Cathy visited me again to say goodbye.

Many more students, both male and female, visited me for consultation and conversation. I saw only minimal segregation of men and women in China. For instance, on my trip back from Xi’an with Lu He-chuan, section chief of the university’s International Coordination Office, on May 22-23, I was surprised but not dismayed that we had to share our cabin with two Chinese women on the opposite side. Unfortunately, the women did not try to practice their English with me although I greeted them in Mandarin! These observations enable me to see two more highlights of life in China:

• Chinese do not have hang-ups on having close contacts with the opposite gender.
• Chinese students want to like and be liked by their teachers

Lu joined me for the Xi’an tour because it was sponsored by the International Coordination Office to fulfill a provision in the exchange agreement between Moorhead and Tianjin. It was an all-expense-paid excursion to a major tourist attraction. Our train left Tianjin at 10.15 a.m. on Wednesday and reached Xi’an at 12.15 p.m. on Thursday (May 19). We checked into Hawaii Hotel.

On Friday, we visited the Tomb of Qin Shi-huang, the first emperor of Qin (246 BCE -210 BCE). Then, we went to the Museum of Chin Pottery Figures to see the 6,000-odd life-sized terracotta figures of soldiers and horses. Next, we stopped at the Huaqing Pool, the hot springs used by Chinese rulers, at the foot of Lishan. Our final stop was the Banpo Neolithic Village.

We spent Saturday doing a walking tour of Xi’an exploring the Forest of Stiles Museum, the City Wall, the Great Mosque, and the Little Goose Pagoda, among other places.

We spent a couple of hours at the Shanxi History Museum Sunday morning. In the afternoon, we went to the Xi’an Railway Station to board the train back to Tianjin. Our train left at 2.20 p.m. Two women from Tianjin joined our soft-sleeper berth along the way. I greeted them in Mandarin. At breakfast time Monday, the two women offered us a banana. I thanked them, again in Mandarin. Lu and I got off the train at Tianjin West station at 2.40 p.m.   

The Sri Lankan students in Tianjin 1994: Tachini Aloka Bannaheka from Kuliyapitiya (left) and Anura Gamage from Weligama (third from left) attended Tianjin University. The other two— Sisira Kumarage of Gampola and Laksiri Lokuliyana of Ambalangoda—attended Tianjin Medical College.  

Exploration by Self-propulsion

During my stay in Tianjin, I invariably spent the late afternoons walking, jogging or cycling in the campus vicinity and beyond. I located an area of exploration for each day in a detailed map of Tianjin so I could gain a thorough grasp of the city. Often, Patterson permitted me to use her bicycle for my citywide explorations.

Examples: On a Saturday (April 30) afternoon, I took off on a 2.5-hour bicycle exploration of the southern edge of Tianjin city. On a Monday (May 2) afternoon, four of us—Stacy Hahn (an exchange teacher), Katie Walker (a 12-year-old visitor from Seattle), Klos and I—bicycled to Xigu Park in the northern suburbs of Tianjin. On a Wednesday (May 4) afternoon, I went on a 3.5-hour bicycle tour of central Tianjin. On a Thursday (May 5) afternoon, I took off on a three-hour bicycle tour of the southeastern edge of Tianjin city. On another Thursday (June 2) afternoon, I took the Tianjin underground train from Nanjing Lu to West Railway Station to see the Grand Mosque and tour the surroundings by self-propulsion. I marveled at the thousands of Chinese a-riding their bicycles back and forth every day using self-propulsion as a substitute for petroleum, which they left for overconsumption by the Yankee Doodles. Based on my observations, I concluded:

• Chinese prefer self-propulsion (by bicycle or foot) to motorized transportation to get around in the immediate vicinity.

Li Xiaozhao also assisted me to make connections with the two Sri Lanka students at Tianjin. On the second Saturday (Feb. 26) after my arrival, I stopped at the foreign students’ dormitory to say hello to Anura Gamage from Weligama (but not from my village of Pathegama) and Tachini Aloka Bannaheka from Kuliyapitiya. They, in turn, paid me a courtesy call on Tuesday, and introduced me two Sri Lankan students studying at the Tianjin Medical College: Sisira Kumarage of  Gampola and Laksiri Lokuliyana of Ambalangoda. All of us joined for lunch at the dormitory the next day. Gamage often helped me overcome my language problem with vendors on our shopping forays.

Next: Part 11B Double-dipping in Tianjin

[The writer is a professor of mass communications emeritus, Minnesota State University Moorhead. He dedicates this installment to the memory of his grandfather, Keliduwa Vidanagamage Charles Appuhamy, village headman extraordinaire of Pathegama.]

By Shelton A. Gunaratne©2009

My sojourn in China was part of my first sabbatical, which meant paid leave. In the 1990s, Moorhead State had an exchange program with Tianjin University in China that encouraged faculty on sabbatical to participate in this program. Tianjin agreed to pay me a supplementary salary of ¥ 1,500 per month and accommodate me in a unit at the university’s International Guest House in exchange for teaching English composition. That local salary was much higher than the salary paid to Chinese faculty although the tanhā (desire) of some exchange scholars, who complained about their salaries, inflicted on themselves and the host university much dukkha (sorrow). However, the foreigners often had to pay much more than the locals for travel, rent, food, etc.

My 20-weeks in China began on Feb. 17, 1994, when I landed unexpectedly in Shanghai because poor visibility prevented my Northwest flight from landing in Beijing. It was the day after, a Friday, about 11.30 a.m. that I landed in Beijing.

 Li Xiaozhao, an administrator at the International Coordination Office of Tianjin University, was waiting for me at the airport. She shuffled me into a vehicle for the 130-kilometer ride southeast to Tianjin. The driver, Wong Yu, stopped at a typical Chinese restaurant half-way through the journey for lunch (cuttlefish, chicken, soup, etc.). The trip to Tianjin cost more than ¥20 in tolls. On the Tianjin campus, Li helped me to check in at the guest house. Unit No. 401 on the fourth floor became my office and residence for the next five months. From my experience, I concluded:

• Chinese do not give priority to find office facilities to all faculty members in their colleges and universities. They make no distinction between the private (home) and the public (office).

 Teaching Composition

Tianjin had no journalism program at the time. Shude Ding, vice chairman of the department of foreign languages, and his colleague Yang Fengning visited me in my living quarters, which served as my office as well, on Saturday (Feb. 19) morning. They told me that they have assigned me to teach three classes in English composition—two for juniors on Monday and Friday, and one for seniors on Tuesday.

I conducted my first class, a composition course for double majors, on Feb. 21. Coordinator Chen Dezhong accompanied me to the classroom in Building No. 8. Chen introduced me to “Billy,” my class assistant. My diary entry says, “After the two-hour class, it was hard for me to feel whether the class understood my lecture even though I wrote most things on the chalkboard.”

The next morning (Tuesday), I gave my introductory composition lecture to fourth-year seniors—mostly females—in Building No. 18. My diary says, “The students did not appear to be familiar with the basic concepts I dealt with even though they have had composition for one year.” 

On Feb. 25 (Friday), I repeated the lecture I gave Monday to the third-year English majors.

This weekly routine of teaching the three classes continued for the entire semester.  I incorporated journalistic approaches to teaching English composition: How to compose a news story using the inverted-pyramid structure; and how to compose a feature story using narrative style and anecdotes. I compared the thesis of a traditional essay with the lead of a hard news story or the theme of a feature. I took this approach because the students told me that they have been inundated with lectures on the eight parts of speech.

As testing time approached, I advised the students to focus on paragraph development, an important aspect of essay writing.

I administered a two-hour final examination in Composition to the senior class on May 10. The results were OK. Only one student failed.

With the assistance of Klos, I administered the two-hour Composition Final Examination to junior English majors and double majors on Sunday, June 5.  The performance of the junior English majors resulted in two A’s, 15 B’s, nine C’s and three D’s. The grade distribution of the double majors was weaker: 11 B’s, 29 C’s, two D’s and two F’s.

 Re-union with Family

My family—wife Yoke Sim, son Junius and daughter Carmel—arrived in Beijing on June 9 to join me in China for the rest of my stay. I welcomed them at the airport and took them to the Xi Yuan Guesthouse of the Beijing Polytechnic University. We spent the next three days touring the main attractions of Beijing: Great Hall of the People, Tiananmen Square, Mao Zedong Mausoleum, Tiantan Park, Forbidden City (Gugong Museum), and Summer Palace (Yiheyuan)—“one of the best sights in Beijing.”

I brought my family to Unit 401of the International Guesthouse in Tianjin on Sunday (June 12) night. I introduced them to students and colleagues during the ensuing period. Philip Xiao and Mike Zhang, two of my students, agreed to purchase train tickets at the cheaper locals’ rate to enable my family to travel to (a) Taian and Qufu in Shandong Province, and (b) Shanhaiguan and Beidaihe in Hebei Province.

We took the train from Tianjin to Taian, where we spent two nights (June 19-20) to experience the arduous climb of Taishan (also called Dai), the 1,545-meter sacred mountain of China. My diary says:

Our climbing distance to the top was 7.5 kilometers from the Base. We started the climb about 6.45 a.m. We reached Zhongtianmen (the Midway Gate to Heaven) about 9 a.m. It was about 11.45 a.m. that we reached Nantianmen (the South Gate to Heaven).  The top part of the climb was very steep, and it was an achievement that all of us reached the top.

Photo -The Gunaratne family—Yoke Sim, Carmel and Junius—reach the top of Taishan (also called Dai), the 1,545-meter sacred mountain of China, June 20, 1994 

After resting in Lee Hwa Hotel in Taian for another night, we left for Qufu (June 21) to visit the Confucius Temple and the burial mounds of the great sage (551 BCE – 479 BCE) in the Confucius Forest. We stayed overnight at Yingshi Binguan.

 Again, we took the train from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan on June 26 to reach the Eastern Gate of the Great Wall. Staying overnight at Jingshan Hotel, we explored the “First Pass under Heaven” early next morning. We walked north on the wall, then hired a motor tricycle driver to take us to Meng-jiangnu Temple, which tells the story of a woman whom Emperor Qin Shihuang wanted to marry but drowned herself in the Bohai Sea to demonstrate her dukkha concerning the emperor’s hand in the death of her husband; and the Old Dragon Head, where the Great Wall meets the Bohai Sea.

In the afternoon, we took a bus ride to the Beidaihe Beach Resort—the Communist Party’s summer retreat until 2004—where we stayed overnight at the Guesthouse for Diplomatic Missions. Junius and Carmel enjoyed our visit to the Lianfenshan Park and the evening walk on the beach. We spent the next morning further exploring the Middle Beach and the surrounding streets of Beidaihe. In the afternoon (June 28), we got into an express train at Beidaihe that brought us back to Tianjin at 5.40.

On Wednesday (June 29), all four of us and four others attended a farewell banquet at the guesthouse given by Zhang Qing-liu, director of the International Coordination Office. Zhang presented a bell to me and a silk scarf to Yoke Sim.

Several of our Tianjin acquaintances, including the Sri Lankans, came to say goodbye to us the next day.  Early morning Friday (July 1), my wife and two children left the guesthouse for the Beijing Airport on their return trip to Minnesota. Zhang Qing-liu was at the entrance to the guesthouse to see them off.

I left Tianjin on Sunday (July 3) to continue my sabbatical at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. But my first stop was Seoul to attend, and present a paper to the annual congress of the International Association for Mass Communication Research.

 Indulging in Journalism

Although my short stay in China had very little to do with doing or teaching journalism, I could not resist the eruption of my journalistic itch to reflect on my China experiences. The China Daily published two of my letters: 

• The letter headed “Tianjin needs English signs” appeared on June 7, 1994. I wrote it to demonstrate the problems I encountered in finding places during my explorations in Tianjin:

“Tianjin is attracting many tourists. It has two national universities—Tianjin and Nankai—where numerous foreign students study and foreign experts teach. …

“Yet getting around Tianjin is not easy for tourists who cannot read Chinese characters. Only a handful of street signs—Nanjing, Heping and Hongu streets—are written in pinyin. Places which travelers might visit or frequent, such as railway stations or subway stops, do not have pinyin or English signs.

“But the Tanggu-Kingang area, part of Tianjin municipality, does quite well in this regard and identifies most streets in pinyin or English. I hope that Tianjin can follow their example. Shelton Gunaratne. Tianjin.” (China Daily 7.6.94)

• The letter headed “Ban swindlers from airport” appeared on July 1, 1994. I wrote it to express my umbrage about the swindlers who attempted to entice me into various scams on the day (June 9) I came to Beijing Airport to welcome my family:

“Tourists who arrive at Beijing’s Capital International Airport need some protection against unscrupulous taxi drivers who demand exorbitant fares. These drivers hang around the arrival hall of the airport waiting to pounce on unsuspecting foreign tourists.

“[On June 9] … one taxi driver demanded 500 yuan ($57) for the trip to the city. Another, who had the tacit approval of the clerk at the China International Travel Service (CITS) desk, wanted 200 yuan ($23). In fact, the CITS clerk told me that it would be inconvenient for us to take the airport bus and then take a taxi to our destination, the Beijing Polytechnic.

“[We] … took the airport bus which cost us only 48 yuan ($6) for four people. We got off at the second stop (Swisssotel-Hong Kong Macau Centra) and hopped into a Yellow cab that charged us 18.5 yuan ($2) for the journey to the Polytechnic. …

“The Beijing city government should take immediate action to prevent the unscrupulous taxi drivers from cheating tourists. …  Shelton Gunaratne. Tianjin.” (China Daily 1.7.94) 

• I also wrote a letter to China Daily on April 17 drawing attention to overcharging for treatment at the dental clinic of the Tianjin Medical College. However, I have no record of its publication.

 Next: Part 12 A Summer Stint Back in Malaysia

[The writer is a professor of mass communications emeritus, Minnesota State University Moorhead. He dedicates this installment to the memory of his uncle, Keliduwa Vidanagamage Leslie Ariyasena (a.k.a..Ratagiya Mahattaya).]

Walter Michael in Canada

The article appeared in National Post on 22nd October 2009; heading with “Passenger wanted in Sri Lanka” is an early warning to Canadian Authorities to close the door to “International Terrorist” use the Canada as safe haven for their terror activities. The ship involved of carrying this 76 so called “Refuges” to Canada is belong to International Terror group LTTE without any doubt. The mystery of the Origin, Registration, and mailing address of this ship show it is in a bad business. In 1983, Sri Lankan riot has allowed hundreds of Tamils to take asylum in Canada. The most people who were took asylum that time are not directly affected by the riot. Their financial ability was allowed them to fly thousands miles away country to seek asylum opportunity. However this is the ideal dream land for other Northern Sri Lankan Tamils who were fail to seek this opportunity. Subsequent immigration law changes has bared this opportunities to unskilled and not qualified Tamils.

This “human smuggling” is organized by International mafia and LTTE who has proven record in past how they involved this crime. Rightly said by Alykhan Velshi, the Minister’s director of communications and Parliamentary affairs: “We won’t allow Canada to become a place of refuge for terrorists, thugs, snakeheads and other violent foreign criminals. Nor will we support those who want to create a two-tier immigration system: one tier for law-abiding immigrants who wait patiently in the queue and a second, for-profit tier for criminals and terrorists who pay human smugglers to help them jump the queue.” Mr. David Poobalapillai is advocating for this illegal asylum seekers in order to get his popularity among the Tamil community in Canada.

His dream is to become a Member of Parliament one day in Canada with this Tamil votes. However that will be a day dream for him and it will never going to materialize. He is playing politics with this issue and making mockery to Canadian Authorities saying that the ship’s passengers would face torture or death if deported to Sri Lanka. Recently Tamil Nadu Politicians who has visited to Sri Lanka IDP camps has reported to Indian Prime minister that Sri Lankan Government effort to resettle this people and finding solution is genuine. They are convincing Tamil Nadu Province Government as well Indian Central government to send back Sri Lankan Tamils in Indian refuges camp back to Sri Lanka. European Union has tightened up their refuge status laws and screening every case carefully.

Member of EU-Netherlands is on his way to deporting illegal Tamil Immigrants back to Sri Lanka as they found there are no fears of death or torture to Tamils as claimed by Mr.David Poobalapillai. LTTE front Organizations in Netherlands is running around to stop this decision but Netherlands Government is firm in their decision. It is an open secret in LTTE circle that Canada and Australia are the safest place for their activities which laws are very generous according to the “Human Rights”. Even though LTTE is lost its ground and military ability in Sri Lanka but its International network and financial ability not failed. They need human resources to run these international activities, as part and partial of this action is sending asylum seekers to these countries through their ships and boats.

As David Poobalapillai said, Canada Air space is very much tightens for asylum seekers and they use sea as the illegal entry to the country. He said that families, relatives and friends are willing to accept this illegal immigration. His statement is shows that he and his CTC -Canadian Tamil Congress is highly involved this human smuggling who are part of this crime. RCMP should look into CTC involvement and it may bring more truth out in this business. Canadian Government should stand on the word said by Alykhan Velshi and should not allow this terror immigrations to re-group in this land.

Liberal or Conservative Politicians should see this issue in same manner to hold the Canada is a free country from this terror group. CTC (Canadian Tamil Congress) is manipulating this issue as a Tamil vote bank to both parties but as a Canadian we never allow this small group to dominate our freedom.

By Our Canadian Investigator

Tamils living in Canada was mislead and misguided by Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) by saying that Sinhalese are not a trustworthy and ruthless behavior community who are not treating Tamils in home land Sri Lanka equally and not respecting their rights. CTC blames blindly that Sri Lankan Government as a Sinhalese Government for genocide Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka and Promote LTTE psycho theory which is justifying killing any one who oppose their policy. This racial mentality they have planted in younger Tamil generation whose parents were taken Canada as their asylum country.

 This young generation Tamil Canadians who are growing with hate trance against to Sinhalese community who are also Canadian citizen. University’s in Ontario was penetrated with these narrow minded young kids who are spreading anti Sinhalese mentalities among Tamil students with the instructions of CTC. Tamil students who are friendly with Sinhalese students were warned by this crowed and told them to stop any relations as “they are our enemy”.

Tamils who associate with Sinhalese community social events or High commission in Canada were named as traitor to Tamil community by CTC. They were harassed by giving threatening calls.

However all these top men in CTC who preach this anti- Sinhalese mentality never practice in their life. The good example is recent wedding taken place where CTC top man’s son got married to Sinhalese girl with the blessing of his parents. This function was well attended by other CTC & WTM top men including CTC spoke person MR.David Poobalapillai.

Our investigation raveled this double standard policy of this CTC members are not for anything only gets their own benefits from present Government in Sri Lanka. The bride of this wedding is Grand daughter of former Sri Lanka freedom Party strong man and former influential tourism minister , who was a cabinet Minister in Madam Srimavo Bandaranayake regime. Still the family has very close relationship with Cabinet ministers and party leaders in present regime too. The bride teach Sunday school at Buddhist Temple in Mississauga. It shows all preaches are for other and not for them. It is a selfish coward mentality of these so called Canadian Tamil Leaders.

After LTTE was defeated by Sri Lankan forces and peace has installed in Sri Lanka, the opportunity of investment in Sri Lanka look brighter. CTC top members who run behind the LTTE flag now realize to make some connections to invest and get benefits from present government. This wedding may bring some personal benefits to this CTC member.

We are more welcome inter-race marriages between Sinhalese and Tamils who are son and daughters of Mother Sri Lanka. We need to build one identity as Sri Lankan. This change of mind and heart of CTC members should spread to other Tamils and Sinhalese in Canada to encourage inter-race marriages not for their own personal benefits. As we know there are Tamils and Sinhalese are marrying to other nationalities they are far away from our culture and customs. We are happy to say that our daughters and sons are married to white or brown skin but shame to accept our Sri Lankan inter-race marriages. We need to change this mentality.

We wish this couple for long life, and wish to change the mentality of the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) members for sake of future generation.

By Dr M D P DISSANAYAKE

For many years, Indian Tamils came illegally by boat or swam through Chavakachcheri to Sri Lanka( then Ceylon). During the recently concluded War against Tamil Terrorists, there are no reports of many Tamils leaving Sri Lanka to India or other countries, because they all thought Prabhakharan will be their Prime Minister of Eelam and Norway government had all emergency plans to recognize Eelam. Vast majority of Tamils, I would say 99% of them, prayed and expected Prabha to find a homeland for them. But President Mahinda Rajapakse, Gothabhaya, Sarath spoiled their plans. Now their hopes are in tatters, those who did not leave Sri Lanka during the War, are now trying to find an alternative place to avoid further investigations against them.

Since being elected Prime Minister in 2007, Mr Kevin Rudd had enjoyed a massive popularity gain percentage over opposition leaders, viz. Dr Brendon Nelson and the current leader of Liberal Party Mr Malcolm Turnbull. Since 2007 Mr Kevin Rudd had to face many serious issues, one of which was the global financial turmoil. He and his Treasurer Mr Wayne Swan took timely action to ensure growth, employment, investment, education, infrastructure development, education by injecting Federal Government funds to avoid an economic disaster. Many other government leaders have thus far failed to find a practical solution to come out of global recession. Global financial melt down did not melt down Mr Kevin Rudd’s popularity.

Last week poll by Newsweek, has shown a dramatic reduction of Australian Prime Minister’s popularity, in as much as 6% points. This was caused by one single factor, i.e. tamil illegal migrants issue. The TV and radio talk back shows continue voice Aussies anger, if the government allows these suspected terrorists are allowed to enter to this peaceful land.

If you are a peace loving person, friendly, honest you are accepted in Australia. If you are properly qualified and possess necessary skills, you can rise to the highest position. But to enter Australia there is a procedure. Tamils on the Boat have apparently paid well over $20,000 per person, to enter into Australia. They are refusing to disclose their identity. If you are skilled in the relevant category, you need not spend $20,000. The question is where these guys have found such vast amount of cash, are those the hidden resources of LTTE?

One Tamil on boat complained that his 9 months old baby daughter cannot get enough milk each day. (How about breast feeding, Thambi Nadarajah?) Australian government is apparently spending $75,000 per day to look after these Tamils but one woman on boat cannot get enough milk to feed the 9 months old baby. These boat people are well dressed, wear many jewelleries, speak good English, can spend $20,000 per person, to illegally migrate to Australia. How can they be asylum seekers? Why are frightened to disclose their identities? Who is funding them?

By refusing to disclose their identities and to land voluntarily as temporary asylum in Indonesia, they are already breaking the law. How can Australia, Canada, Indonesia can make these Tamils happy? We as Sinhalese have tried and still trying to make them happy with so called “Uthuru Wasanthaya” .((I think Uthuru Wasanthaya is an absolute waste of time and money, instead must settle Sinhalese and Muslims in North and East). Is there a single Tamil who says “ Thank you” to Sinhalese? None. If you ask a Tamil, “: From which country you originally come from?”, the answer is “Ceylon”. But suddenly the Tamils on boat are calling themselves with headline banners. “We are Sri Lankans”, instead of calling themselves as “Ceylonese”. That is to draw the sympathy and next few weeks will unravel the true identity of these (suspected) terrorists who are being hunted by the Government of Sri Lanka.

“The Australian” newspaper on its edition of 5 Nov, had the front page headline as “Solution to Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers”. According to the story, these Tamils if accepted into Australia, will be employed as “unskilled” workers, exactly the same way Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) gave jobs to Tamils as Cleaners ( Sakkiliyas) etc.

India has done enough for Tamils. Sri Lanka has done much more than what India has for Tamils. But those who cannot live peacefully in their own country peacefully, cannot live anywhere else peacefully!

All these Tamils on boat must be sent back to Sri Lanka, let them be screened under a joint Aussie-Sri Lankan UN panel of Inspectors to determine and identify who they are.

Jay Pathbey USA

I live in the USA and read the Lankaweb, Lankapage, Expressbuzz, Sunday Times, Sunday Leader, Daily Mirror, Island, Daily News, Sunday Observer and whole lot of other E-newspapers includng Oh Yes! the Tamilnet, almost religiously, to learn about what is happening back home..

It is very interesting to read these newspapers and to disseminate how oftentimes the same news is reported in various newspapers. We expatriates are greedy for news about our little Sri Lanka, and we in the West over a period of time have learnt to respect press freedom, fair reporting, accurate reporting and unbiased reporting. In this aspect, in this day and age of fair and accurate reporting one paper stands out. The Tamilet. All the other newspapers report what ever news that is available about Sri Lanka, the world, opinions, politics, and so forth. Tamilnet on the otherhand is unique.

 For example, the arrest of Raj Rajarathnam, the President of the Galeon Group – a Hedgefund, that was caught red-handed for insider trading and for making very large sums of money illegally. This man, a TAMIL, who is alleged to have been quite influential in Washington inside-circles was a very rich man. He is known to be the 262nd richest man in the USA. He has been supporting the LTTE, The Democrats, Hilary Clinton, Obama and who knows who else during the last US presidential election.

 In short he is alleged to have made a lot of money by unfair means and he is also is a very strong LTTE man. Then he had the gumption to pledge a large sum of money (one million dollars) to the Sri Lanka Governments effort to rehabilitate the LTTE fighters not to mention that he is alleged to have paid one million US dollars to Mr. Ravi Karunanayaka. One million dollars for a man who is worth a seven billion dollars is like one rupee to a man with 7,000 rupees.

When one adds the list of criminals almost all of them tamils, who came out of Sri Lanka, the drug dealers, arms dealers, human smugglers, conmen, thieves, murderers, suicide bombers, kidnappers, mass murderers, pimps, who have made headlines allover the world in the recent past, it is obvious that a kingpin like Raj Rajaratnam who supported the LTTE’s terror campaign  as anyone of the above types of criminals who contributed and caused the violence in Sri Lanka that left more than 70,000 people dead.

 Still not one word about Raj Rajaratnam and Tamilnet keeps mum. Does Raj owns Tamilnet.

 When one reads the news items in Tamilnet it appears that Mr. Raj Rajaratnam’s arrest is less important than a tamil man looking for his wife who was airlifted to Anuradhapura for medical treatment. In fact the way this news item is reported makes one feel that the soldiers abducted this injured woman for fun. On the other hand Raj Rajarathnam is head lines in all the US newspapers, the Bloomburg news, the CNBS and the MSNBC as well as in Wall Street Journal, Financial Times , BBC news, Strait Times, CNN and Fox News, etc. to mention a few.

 Every effort by rational people like us to make a comment or to post an opinion in the Tamilnet is ignored. The magic word for Tamilnet’s reporting is “Our source in Colombo”.This E-newspaper, probably composed by a disgruntled individual (obviously a Tamil Tiger living in Canada or somewhere in the West) is the most vile and disgusting piece of NEWSRAG that I have come across in the media. Whatever happened to the educated Tamils. Are they not educated anymore. Trash is Trash. The Tamilnet looks like a prostitute in the civilized world of newsreporting. Selling something sacred for a cheap buck.

By Dr. Mervyn D. De Silva

No sensible and discerning Sri Lankan voter will dispute the contention that this country has been governed for quite sometime without any sense of direction, patriotism, and dedication to the needs and aspirations of the general populace. The country’s economy has had a perilous passage with the strength of its development, natural resource, and human-resources bases being persistently eroded.

 Fire sales of the nation’s assets built over a period of decades with the sacrifices, sweat, and toil of the people, to politically influential local and foreign oligarchs, on the dictates of International Institutions that have been entrusted to take the market in its most unbridled architecture to the far corners of the world, were hastily embarked on.

 Strong, carefully targeted, government intervention to de-politicize state enterprises, free them from direct political control, place them under qualified and competent professional management, and convert them into profitable and competitive undertakings like Singapore’s state-owned Singapore Air Lines, never received even the fleeting attention of the so-called servants of this nation. Perhaps, if that sensible and prudent path was chosen, the question that would immediately arise is, from where else will the commissions and kick backs arrive for the secret bank accounts in local and foreign banks, luxury houses and villas here and abroad, funds for children’s education in British and American Universities, and all the other closely linked lucre the new rich will die to possess?

 Next, the high rate of crime; the rapes, the abductions and disappearances, the brutal murders, the assassinations, both as private agendas and state instigated , the gang robberies and thefts, the swindles, the politically motivated violence, and the blatant cheating at elections to gain power fraudulently. This is more than the required quota of evidence to show that the fabric of our society is being torn apart, pessimistically beyond the point of no return. Fundamental democratic, moral, social, traditional, and religious values are being trampled upon with impunity by individuals and cliques who yield political, money, and underworld-mafia power. They have placed themselves above the laws of the country because they enjoy unlimited political patronage.

 Are we, the people, who have for so long been piously and vociferously proclaiming our love for the motherland as respectful keepers of the sacred trust bequeath to us by those who have come before us, and those who are in their thousands sacrificing their lives for the preservation of the territorial integrity of this same country them, going to live in the selfish comfort of continuing to remain disinterested and complacent? Or are we not going to come out of out torpor and confront ourselves with the facts that Sri Lanka is facing its greatest threat at the hands of the internationally proclaimed terrorists and, a degraded and despicable polity? And, should the people not forcefully demand from those notorious time servers who will be calling at their door steps to beg them for their vote that they must put an end to the era of political irresponsibility, immorality, indecency, and even behaviour bordering on rank animality?

 Politicians should clearly understand that the county’s economic and social problems cannot be solved by burying them and all other misdeeds of past governments under the carpet, expecting the rest of the nation to listen to the homilies of their leaders, who like themselves can pretend to be paragons of virtue. The record of the last government is well known and still fresh in the minds of the people. The record of the PA government which was given a mandate by the people to clean sweep the political Augean stable of 17 years, but which followed the same policies and style of governance of the UNP and dared to go even beyond, despite solemn promises, is before the people to be seen today.

 The time has therefore dawned for the people of Sri Lanka to forcefully demand that all contesting parties present their policies in clear crisply stated point form and not in vague, verbose, language that merely confuse the people and, be honest and truthful about it.

 Even, the most crudely designed statistical survey of what is currently in the minds of the majority of people who constitute the national electorate, will show that their woes are many and, so are their demands as stated in what follows:

 (1)    The people are fed-up, disillusioned, and disaffected with the old style politics and policies of the UNP and the SLFP led PA that have demonstrated an abysmal lack of political morality and sincerity, whether in government or opposition.

 (2)    The people feel they have no control over their lives, or laws and constitutions, passed that effect them and have realized that politics is not working for the good of all the people of this country; only for the usual few who have the means to lawfully or, unlawfully usurp power, anyhow, somehow.

 (3)    The people are alarmed at the complete breakdown in law and order, the criminalized politics, politicized criminals and the metamorphosis of the “servants of the people” at a lighting rate into demigods.

 (4)    They are shocked  at the rate at which this country’s constitution is changed, then gloated over by one party and condemned by the other. And, the preoccupation with frequent, distracting, elections.

 (5)    And, they are confounded when political parties come into power, renege on promises made in their manifestos, adopt new anti-people policies, and claim that they were given a mandate to do just that – even to set the country ablaze!

 It is quite clear now that the people have become the helpless victims of the destructive politics of our corrupt self-seeking political leaders and the global economic disorder presided over by the G-8 countries.

 As a developing country we see our independent policy-making capacity being eroded and we adopt policies made by other entities which on balance are detrimental to us. Global Institutions have become major makers of an increasingly wide range of policies that were traditionally under the jurisdiction of national governments. To meet these challenges and defend our interests we need patriotic, hawk-eyed, qualified, competent, and experienced, legislators who can understand the intricacies of modern scientific and technological subjects and the language of geo-politics.

 Today, the emphasis that has been placed on privatization, foreignisation, and export oriented industrialization, is seen as a justification for over looking all our social concerns and authentic development itself. Look at the near collapse of the administrative/management machinery of government and the law and order authorities that have become paralysed on account of politicization. Look at the confusion in the field of Education, our universities and our schools, state hospitals, and the transport sector. Yet, while the people grind their teeth fighting the ever increasing cost of living, large sums of state funds are doled out to the “anointed” and spent on frequent unproductive globe trotting jaunts by politicians and the politicised administrative vassals.

 Feeding the hungry and helpless, caring for the sick and disabled, providing employment for the younger generation, taking the lead in ensuring a sound education, recreation for the young, providing efficient and affordable transport, removing the barriers to make accessibility to resources on behalf of the poor and marginalized, and giving dignity and security to the senior citizens: these are the very purposes of economic activity, not some policy options that can be tossed aside.

 The people, the majority of them, from all accounts would rally round candidates and parties that stand for:-

 (1)   A nation that will reach a state of balanced development through sustainable economic development that respects the ecological environment, social development, and the development of civic society.

 (2)   A socially oriented market economy that is consonant with the dictates of economic and social justice and which would be intrinsically Sri Lankan in character and mounded by the imperatives of national development objectives in all its forms.

 (3)   The management of the economy is such a manner that article 25(1) of the Universal declaration of Human Right s which reads:

“Everyone has a right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control” is achieved.

(Incidentally this declaration was adopted and proclaimed on the 10^th December 1948 by the general assembly of the United nations which is all but forgotten in the context of the increasing suffering half of humanity endures because of an absolute shortage of will and morals nationally and internationally and especially the G-8 countries.)

 Readers’ time and space does not permit a more in-depth treatment but, being merely a guide a few of the other demands can be summarized as follows highlighting the more important ones.

(1)   The people want the preservation of the unitary state, unity and the national identity of Sri Lanka.

 (2)   The people want  absolutely clean elections to ensure the return of people’s representatives through free and fair elections by the exercise of Universal Franchise which is the cornerstone of democracy.

 (3)   The people want an absolutely independent Judiciary, Public Service, Bribery and Corruption commission, Auditor General, and Police and Security Services.

 (4)   The people want an unfettered media with the blatant abuse of the state owned media stopped forthwith.

 (5)   The people want and yearn for an exemplary form of governance that is knowledgeable, intelligent, skillful, accountable, transparent, disciplined, that spends wisely and has a certain spiritual and moral vision of life.

 Finally, over all, there has to be renewed study and search for an alternative political system that will bring politics within a controllable frame work which will not only ensure true participatory democracy within a unitary state but which will provide true devolution and sharing of power at the centre. In such a participatory political structure the role of the politician, the public service, and the judiciary, are clearly defined and as required in any authentic democratic governance, the opposition too becomes part of the government vide, draft by W. B. Wewegama, (1996) “A participatory democracy within a unitary state”.

 As the elections draw closer all patriotic citizens are duty bound to realize the mighty power of their vote and use it wisely by casting it for men and women of integrity, even crossing the political divide, considering the depths to which parliament and the polity has been dragged down. Then, perhaps, there could be some hopes for building a politically stable, economically strong, socially just, united and peaceful nation with a value system that regards all our identities, all our cultures, and our common heritage with pride. Human life in the small individual slice that is mine happens to have subsisted on a great diversity of sources and in acknowledgement of my plural indebtedness. I truly hope that a beginning can be made on these lines, after the general election concludes.

Vajeeragnana Warnakulasuriya, Melbourne Australia

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Honorable Mr. Stephen Smith
Federal Government of Australia 
Canberra

 Dear Mr. Smith,

 Dilemma of the Boat People and Mighty Australian Prime Minister Mr.Rudd!

Non of these people left Sri Lankan shores to set sail to Australia, it is now abundantly clear that they have been living in Malaysia and Indonesia for some time and they seized the moment to sail to Australia with concocted stories of harassment, genocide, killing etc as plausible stories for the countries in the West to believe.

The bearded Tamil, who said he picked up his American accent while working at a call centre, refused to reveal his full name, saying he feared that if he identified himself, his family in Sri Lanka, would be targeted. But according to Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry, he is Kulaendrarajah Sanjeev, a 28-year-old people-smuggler who worked out of a base in India & wanted in Canada. The other people smuggler Abraham Lauhenaspessy, known as “Captain Bram”, is also on this boat. So this is a well-organized boat trip.

 Unfortunately Mr.Rudd’s attempt to arrest the arrival of the boat people has misfired and now he is left with no choice, but to give residency to the entire lot. Knowing the weakness of the Australian administrators, they have now issued the government an ultimatum; we are staying aboard come what may.  Excellent choise, which in fact a sailing three star Resort as Mt. Joe Hocking MP said.

 Eventually they will be brought to Christmas Islands or some Australian shores. Why is that? because of the threats! Or else we shall fast unto death, or commit suicide! So when they are brought to an Australian jurisdiction, how is the assessment going to be, lets take the only scenario, Okay only you, you and you are eligible as refugees, the rest has to go back to Sri Lanka! Will they accept that, it is an emphatically NO!

 Now the Australian HEARTS will bleed in the country, Mr.Rudd who appears to be the smartest of them all Prime Ministers thus far, cannot afford to be the first one term Prime minister on this issue, while Mr.Howard kept a record being in the office for the longest period.

 What will be the solution then? in the absence of ordering them to go back to wherever you came from is the Hobson’s choice? Absorb the lot to Australia!

 This attitude of the boat people is the result of the coaching by their counterparts who live in these countries that make even the coarse hearts to bleed. The West has now become compassionate having shed their barbaric past, so much so they have become gullible to believe blatant lies of unsuspecting “respected” LTTE Tamil supporters in the West. This is so obvious due to the fact that even with glaring evidence of these lies been exposed by their own making; the gullible West is prepared to embrace them with over flowing milk of human kindness. If they are prepared to believe these stories, it is nothing but sensible to get down the entire IDPs totaling 160,000 now, let alone the 68 awaiting in Oceanic Viking in Indonesian waters.  

The options that the West (including Canada) has with regard to this issue is either to turn and send them back to where they came from making it a lesson for others or take the lot to avoid genocide as they claim.

 Either way, whether its’ due to boat people or ETS if a double dissolution of the Government is to take place, the Australians of Sinhala origin will not favour the current government. We cannot afford to buy favours of the influential Voices nor Hearts of the country, as we have not extorted money from the Sinhala community unlike the Tamil LTTE supporters anywhere in the Globe for cheap verbose! 

 Yours Sincerely,

Vajeeragnana Warnakulasuriya,
Melbourne
Australia

Insight By Sunil Kumar Nov.6th 2009

That the LTTE and their supportives around the world, particularly in Canada have not given up their ambitions to re-group becomes very apparent through this report which is a strong incentive for the Government of Sri Lanka to take prompt action in order to persuade the Canadian Government that the Tamil Tiger movement still has its cells around the world and that it must never forget that many Canadian cities could still be targetted as ideal breeding grounds for the terror group to re- organise and that there is a visible danger of Canada being subjected to the type of terrorism that the LTTE of past notoriety are capable of despite their elimination in Sri Lanka!

 There have been many expert opinions expressed on this threat by renowned terror analysts such as Professor Rohan Guneratne currently based in Singapore as well as many others whose insights have been pooh poohed by sympathisers of the LTTE some of whom even include big names in various administrative echelons of Canada and what this item reveals is a frightening possibility that unless very stringent measures are taken to remedy it, Canada and the world could be faced with a huge dilemma regardless of the arguments put forward by the lawyers who are defending the people apprehended by the Canadian Authorities where the conflict of interests stick out like a sore thumb!

The last paragraph of this report sums up the painful reality of why Canada has become a safe haven for LTTE terrorism and LTTE sympathisers and the sooner the group of “Refuge Seekers” are thumb printed, their mug shots taken and shipped back to Sri Lanka in shackles to face the authorities on terrorism related charges, the better off Canada, Sri Lanka and for that matter the entire would be as there can be no second guessing as to the intensity with which these desperate criminals and their allies are seeking to re-group! That there could be civilians who are bona fide refugee seekers becomes invalid the moment the consensus becomes one related to the type of individuals who have organised this attempt to reach Canadian shores(Tamil Tiger Terrorists~ some who have managed to escape the dragnet of the Sri Lankan and International Authorities)) and they too most unfortunately are part of the terrorist enclave on the ship by their presence alone!!

Read On!!!!!

 Independent Report from Tom Quiggin from Canada~ Oct. 27th 2009

 “A dozen men on the Ocean Lady are LTTE members”The successful interdiction of the Merchant Vessel Ocean Lady by the Canadian Forces was based on advanced intelligence, most probably aided by law enforcement agencies in Toronto. This has no doubt helped Canada prevent a major terrorist infiltration. When the ship attempted to enter Canadian territory on 16 October 2009, the Canadian Navy patrol frigate HMCS Regina was working with law enforcement and intelligence agencies to interdict the ship. Investigations to date have revealed that Ocean Lady is a ship owned and operated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). This ship was previously known as the Princess Easwary and it had been used by the LTTE to smuggle weapons from North Korea to Sri Lanka. On board were both genuine refugees and terrorists, including at least one member of the suicide squad of the LTTE wanted by INTERPOL. For more than a decade, Canada had earned international notoriety as the most important international safe haven for LTTE propaganda, fundraising, and procurement.

Canada politicians of all parties must start saying “no” to the pressure groups that support terrorism in Canada. More than a dozen men from a ship now docked in British Columbia have already been identified as members of the terrorist group. This well maintained and professionally operated vessel was not a tramp steamer as its appearance suggest, but rather a part of the LTTE fleet. If sources had not told Canada that the vessel was approaching our shore line, it probably would have been able to lands its human cargo and disappear again to repeat the same mission. The LTTE had lost a part of its naval and marine force in the war last year, but at least three other vessels besides the Ocean Lady are thought to still be in service, carrying out smuggling runs.

It has emerged that the militarily defeated LTTE have not disappeared, but rather they are dispersing. The most popular destination areas for their fighters and supporters will be well known terrorist safe havens such as Canada. Other target areas for their fighters will be Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and other European countries. According to figures from Sri Lanka, 10,000 or more LTTE fighters and supporters have been identified and are being held, but a few thousand have escaped. As such, we can expect that literally hundreds of individuals will want to escape to countries such as Canada.

While it is clear that this is an LTTE operation, more pressure is being placed on politicians at the constituency level and at the national level to have them accepted as refugees. It is hoped that these same politicians will then pressure the country’s front line bureaucrats to speed up the process and avoid taking a thorough look at these individuals to determine who they really are and how they came to be in Canada.

The ability of terrorist pressure groups to operate in Canada and influence politicians is well known. In 2000, then Finance Minister Paul Martin and Member of Parliament Maria Minna went to a fund raising dinner for the LTTE put on by FACT (Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils.) Despite being warned about the true nature of the dinner by both the RCMP and CSIS, the Finance Minister lent his considerable weight and presence to the dinner. As such, he was legitimizing a terrorist group known for having invented the suicide bomber belt after having pioneered the modern day use of suicide bombers (well before al Qaeda would do this). By that time the LTTE had also led the way in developing female suicide bombers and had assassinated Rajiv Gandhi, a former Prime Minister of India. On top of everything else, the LTTE was infamous for its oppression of other Tamils and using children as fighters. This was the same Paul Martin who asked for support from the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) in 1990, five years after the Air India disaster killed 331 people and at a time when it was known the ISFY was connected to terrorism.

Notwithstanding the recent finding of the Government of Canada that the LTTE is a terrorist group, we still see MPs supporting it in public. The MP for the riding of Bramalea-Gore-Malton, Gurbax Singh Malhi, was on Parliament Hill this year telling demonstrators waving LTTE flags that “”I’d like to let you know I’m helping you guys. I’m behind you because you are fighting for a right cause.” At the same time, elected officials from various levels of government are still seen in public in 2008 and 2009 supporting yet another banned terrorist group, the ISFY.

To his credit, it would appear that Prime Minister Harper has warned his Members of Parliament that they are not to attend community affairs if the event sponsor may have terrorist links. This must be seen as some form of progress, but much remains to be done as we can see from the current situation.

The state of affairs that is emerging from the interception of this ship will test various functions of the government. The Canadian response will be complicated by the fact that Canada has no foreign intelligence service and its vision is therefore often limited or even blind in a crisis. Because Canada lacks the sovereign capability to collect and analyse its own foreign intelligence, we as a country have to go cap-in-hand to other countries, institutions or individuals to provide us with intelligence. This is problematic, of course, as other countries will often provide only selected intelligence designed to influence us, rather than support us.

This deficit could be partially corrected by building an open source (yet still capable) terrorism and national security studies centre. This has been done in other countries such as Australia, Singapore and in Scotland (UK). However, Canada has not even done that, so tying into the highly valuable network of foreign centres is done on a sporadic and personal basis, rather than in an organized manner. Canada does get highly valuable information from these centres on occasion, but the expertise and skills needed to reciprocate for full cooperation are not there.

The LTTE will continue to target Canada as a safe haven for its fighters and for fund raising. As Canadians, we should be all too aware of how conflicts “over there” can affect us “over here.”

The still unsolved largest mass murder of Canadians on Air India Flight 182 should serve as a guide as to how the right steps should be taken in the first place, not afterwards. Canadian politicians of all stripes must put aside their vote seeking goals and aim higher to protect Canada and Canadians.

MEDIA RELEASE -Ministry of Foreign Affairs Colombo

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama handed over today (6 November 2009) to the Heads of Missions of the EU member states represented in Colombo, individually addressed letters to his counterparts in the EU member countries, together with a copy of the document captioned “Observations of the GOSL in respect of the Report on the findings of the investigation with respect to the effective implementation of certain human rights conventions in Sri Lanka”. A similar letter addressed to the President of the European Commission was also handed over to the Head of Delegation of the Commission in Sri Lanka.

 The Minister recalled to the Heads of Mission that in view of the importance Sri Lanka attaches to her relations with the European Union, President Mahinda Rajapaksa had assigned four members of the Cabinet, namely the Ministers of Export Development & International Trade, of Disaster Management & Human Rights, of Justice & Law Reforms and Foreign Affairs to analyze the European Commission Report of 19th October, 2009. Minister Bogollagama in conclusion expressed confidence that the Observations provided by the Government of Sri Lanka would be extensively examined by the European Commission and the findings reflected in its recommendation to the Council of the European Union. This he said would facilitate the continued constructive engagement on the relevant issues between the Government of Sri Lanka and the institutions of the European Union.

 Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Colombo

6th November 2009