Shripal Nishshanka Fernando

If the present Sri Lankan leaders are going to sing the same old song which was solely composed by India in 1987 for their own benefit, then the recent military victory would be a total loss and in vain. Our brave men and women of the valiant forces did not sacrifice their lives for the leaders to play with the country. They were marching for the complete freedom of the whole country and the nation and never for a particular region of the country let that be North and East or anywhere.

When 92% of Sri Lankans can speak and understand Sinhala, why this tiny country which has a population of 20 million should be divided according the regional languages? In other words 18.4 million of Sri Lankans can speak Sinhalese and just 1.6 million cannot speak this language. Nobody wants a favour to be given to Sinhalese but Sri Lanka is the only country in the world for the people called Sinhalese. When the Sinhalese were so generous and had their mind set up for helping others, Tamils who migrated from South India could settle without any problem whatsoever. When the Tamils have Tamilnadu as their place of origin, they can fulfill their aspirations conveniently in that state which is way larger than Sri Lanka geographically and the Indian government constitution protects their rights.

The Tamils living in other countries should adjust to the governing values of those individual countries or otherwise they better go back to their place of origin.

The Thirteenth Amendment is a destructive course for Sri Lanka which if implemented would be a foundation stone for a racist Ealam State. This most dangerous amendment shall be scraped for good and Sri Lankans shall never ever let that destructible constitutional change to take place.

Late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi could professionally pierce the nostrils of late Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayawardane and the result was a series of political catastrophes for Sri Lanka. Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was by forcedly introduced to Sri Lanka by Rajiv and his administration and JRJ succumbed to the pressure.

JRJ era was the worst and the most dangerous period for Sri Lanka and the dignity of Sri Lanka was severely damaged by JRJ and the regime.

The first disastrous act of JRJ was the neglect of the report produced by NIB (National Investigation Bureau) to the president in 1978. In that report, NIB had produced ample amount of proof of Indian government training of terrorists to fight in Sri Lanka for a separate state in the North and the East. JRJ had completely omitted the report. When JRJ was releasing Kuttimany and many other smugglers and criminals from the prisons, again the NIB and opposition leader Sirima B. had objected. But the stubborn JRJ said he can solve any problem by his ‘Just Society’. Later Kuttimany joined with Prabhakaran and other terrorists and robbed many banks to raise funds for terrorism.

Then letting the 1983 communal riots to spread uncontrollably in Sri Lanka was another major failure by JRJ. This was the foundation stone of Tamil Ealam Diasporas.

Had JRJ let the Vadamarachchi operation to be completed, Sri Lanka would have been the most successful country in the present world with a self sufficient economy.

Once again JRJ succumbed to the pressure by Rajiv and stopped the Vadamarachchi Operation just couple of hours before Prabhakaran was to be captured by late Brigadier Kobbekaduwa.

Rajiv forced JRJ to sign the Peace Accord threatening the country will be conquered otherwise and introduced the 13th Amendment which recognizes North and East of Sri Lanka as original birth places for Tamils. This amendment is a total contradictory to the real and true history of Sri Lanka where till the 17th century there was no Tamil living in the East of Sri Lanka. The English rulers settled Tamils in the East only after the 1818 revolutions and riots in Sri Lanka to teach a lesson to the Sinhalese who were continuously rioting against the invaders.

JRJ’s traitorous behavior to harm the sovereignty and the dignity of Sri Lanka is not a surprise at all as he had proposed Sri Lanka, then Ceylon to be a state under India in the late forties unsuccessfully.

Present Sri Lankan leaders should never consider implementing this disastrous Thirteenth Amendment ever if they genuinely consider an independent Sri Lanka for the future generation.

When Indira Gandhi, the mother of Rajiv had initiated the Tamil terrorism by funding the Tamils to fight against the legitimate Sri Lankan governments, how Sri Lanka should seek advice from them (India)? It is exactly like somebody is asking the thief how to retrieve the theft item. Sri Lanka was raped by India many times and Sri Lanka should have a dignity at least now to stand up by its own courage and power.

The saddest thing for Sri Lanka is its worst neighborhood. India never helped Sri Lanka genuinely but always had its profitable motivation behind every move or planted problems in Sri Lanka for a short term or long term.

Can somebody forget what happened when Sri Lanka requested Indian help to fight terrorism? They always bowed to Tamilnadu pressure and twisted the hands of Sri Lankan governments. Thankful to Pakistan, China, Middle East and few other countries Sri Lanka could wipe-out the terrorism completely.

If the Thirteenth Amendment is to going to be implemented, then it is like the Ealam the terrorists were fighting for is granted and presented and that will be a most traitorous act of all time!

herold leelawardena

A man named EVR Periyar is a Tamil. And Tamils are only one of the races among Dravidaians. In the 1930s he had wanted all the Dravidaian of then Madras state to get together and ask the British for a separate country. However, Periyar had not claimed Dravidaians face problems for being Dravidaians.

 Periyar had set up a political party named Dravida Kazhagam (DK) solely for separation purpose in the 1930s, and came up with a slogan; ‘Dravida Nadu for Dravidians.’ What is also notable is; Periyar had come up with his slogan on the basis of race long before Jinnah thought of demanding the separation of Pakistan on the basis of religion.

 The Chief Minister M Karunanidi of Tamil Nadu had been one of Periyar’s staunchest followers. So much so, Karunanidi’s DMK and Jayalalitha’s AIADMK are both off shoots of Periyar’s party DK.

 Soon Periyar realized that other than Tamils, not many Dravidians had a lot of interest for ‘Dravida Nadu.’ So, he changed his slogan to ‘Tamil Nadu for Tamils.’ It was a more refined, racist and an apt demand for Tamil mindset. Perhaps that was the first clear demand for a separate country for Tamils.

 Like for Dravidaians in India, Tamils in Sri Lanka never had any special problems for them being Tamils. In fact, Tamils were the privileged lot during the British Raj. But, eminent writer, DBS Jayaraj says; a Sri Lankan Tamil named Visvalingam had first mooted the demand for a separate state or Eelam in the 1930s.

 For one thing; the Tamils demand for Eelam has nothing to do with the so-called discrimination. For another; we could visualize how desperate Tamil leaders had been to get a separate country for Tamils. Therefore my endeavor here is to show that the 13th amendment in full, or federal, or con-federal will not be enough for Tamils to give up what they longed for all this time.

 When DMK won the elections that was contested on the platform; ‘independence for Tamil Nadu’ in 1962, all exploits by Periyar and his supporters have reached the peak. A huge number of DMK supporters descended to Chennai to scream; independence for Tamil Nadu.

 It was a deciding moment for India. And Pundit Nehru, the Prime Minister of India had acted swiftly. He amended the Indian constitution such that all legislators and aspirants were compelled to stop using words that would have deemed to promote to divide India. Indeed, it has been a simple but an effective stricture on the separatists ever since.

 Would be legislators had to drop such word like ‘separation’ from their vocabulary if they wanted to contest elections in India. M Karunanidi, MG Ramachandran and many well known separatist leaders dropped their vociferous demand for separation and choose to contest elections. From then on, separatists could only dream for ‘an independent Tamil country’ in India.

 To date our politicians failed to understand or appreciate the smart move by Pundit Nehru. Perhaps very many of them do not know it. Had we follow him and amended our constitution accordingly; Sambandan and company may not have gone around the world as Mps of Sri Lanka to degrade our forces.

 Indian law had not banned its legislators seeking a separate country for Tamils outside India. So, not only they dreamt but had become very active supporters of the Eellamists in Sri Lanka in time to come. And later on, they had pinned all their hopes on Peripaharan to get their dreams come true.

 Anyway, all Dravidians other than Tamils had decided to hang on to one India.

Hindis, the majority race in India appreciated their move. So much so, they have endorsed two non -Tamil Dravidians, Narasimha Rao and Dev Gawda to be the Prime Ministers of India later on.

 A number of Tamils too have aspired to be the Prime Minister of India as well. But none reached that high position to date because they couldn’t get the support of the Hindis. Besides, Hindis may have thought that the Tamils were jingoists and the most untrustworthy of all Dravidians. The situation of the Tamils of Sri Lanka for the past thirty years has not been different.

 Tamil leaders of Sri Lanka continue to have a similar mindset to that of Periyar and company. They were no different to their Indian cousins. The criminals that waded for Eelam by war are all but decimated. So, Eelam protagonists may be in disarray right now; but they are certainly plotting for new schemes.

 Some of them want to follow the footsteps of late Ponnambalams, others want to follow Chelvenayagams and yet some others want to follow Amirthelingams. But the most vocal and the powerful of the lot, the Diaspora Tamils wants to follow the footsteps of Peripaharan. In spite of their different roadmaps; they all have one goal. And that is Eelam.

 Diaspora Tamils are the most vocal and most powerful of all Tamils. They are more than one million in numbers. They are not the type that accepts offers based on 13th amendment, federal or con-federal. They want an offer that is based on ISGA. Otherwise, they say; they would continue their Eelam project from the lands of the west or beyond the shores of Sri Lanka. NGOs, INGOs, evangelists, neo colonists and the liberals know this very well. It is those that they bribed or duped that do not know it.

 Minister Witharana and his mafia ought to tell us how he intends to satisfy Diaspora Tamils within the ambit of Mahinda Chinthana? Or is he going to dangle with Mahinda Chinthana to satisfy them. Or is he telling us to ignore the Diaspora Tamils and settle with the puny lot.

 Indian Tamil leaders are buddies of the Diaspora Tamils in their heart and to their soul. They are as powerful as the Diaspora Tamils or even more. They too are determined to have an Eelam in Sri Lanka because they cannot have it in India. Soon or later this powerful combination will swallow the puny Amirthelingams the same way LTTE did it before. So, what do we get by satisfying the puny lot. Problems, and nothing but problems.

 Those that follow Amirthelingams footsteps may not believe in the NGO prophesy of the comings of Peripaharans to get them Eelam. They may not believe that they will ever get Elam by war as well. Pilleyan, Devananda and Sangaree are only some to name a few of them.

 Pilleyan has been asking police and land powers even before concluding the Eelam war. Upcoming chief minister of the Northern Province too would do the same in time to come. Mr. Sangaree wants to start with federal but name. They want to compete and sell to their voters who could get more. They want to get back to the typical Tamil politics of yesteryear. It is evident that their road map to Eelam is through the 13th amendment in full.

 None of these people would be content with the powers through the 13th amendment that is constraint by the unitary constitution. The fact that they are determined to get 13th amendment in full and what they say next, I quote ‘to start with’ show their dogged determination to get more and more power. Their hanging on to separatist party tags is a proof of their long term aim.

 These Amirthelingams have no power of their own as they are. But with the powers of the 13th amendment they will have the necessary muscle to organize ‘peaceful’ campaigns to demand more power. Mr. Sangaree has the expertise to organize the Sathygraha and to craft conflicts with the government as his predecessors did in 1970s.

 Key question we should ask them is; would majority Tamils benefit from the 13th amendment? We say; no because; majority Tamils lives outside the Northern Province. So what is the point then? We say; it is to bread Eellamists for another war.

 Tamils cannot have both worlds; equal status and open ends here, and hundred percent Tamil status and close ends in the north. This country should be open for all citizens, anywhere and everywhere. There should be no historical home lands, no internal self- determinations or no Tamil nations here in Sri Lanka.

 Tamil Nadu was demarcated from Madras state on race basis. Ninety percent of the citizenry of ‘Tamil Nadu’ are Tamils. There are sixty five million Tamils live there. That is as much as twenty five times of all Tamils that lives in Sri Lanka. That is where the Tamil nation should be based on. That is where the historical Tamil land had been all along. There is no dispute for the existence of three Tamil kingdoms that was there in Tamil Nadu since the time of written Tamil history.

We have no problem in agreeing with anyone that Tamil Nadu is the traditional home land for all Tamils.

 The claim that North and East of Sri Lanka are traditional home lands of Tamils is only a devious scheme of their road map to Eelam. Other than LTTE stooges no scholar has come up with any historical proof of a lineage of Tamil kingdoms of Sri Lanka like that in the Tamil Nadu.

 The said Tamil kingdoms of Chera Nadu, Chola Nadu and Pandya Nadu had their share of internal fights. But never once any of those kingdoms sought help from their brethren, the so-called Tamil kingdoms in Sri Lanka. How could they, there were none.

 However, there was an interesting outcome of a fight between Pandayans that took place in 1163 and 1179. Parakkirama Pandyan is said to have held the capital city of Madurai when Kulasekhara Pandyan had laid siege to it. Parakkirama Pandyan had sought help from the Sinhala king Parakramabahu the great. He had sent an army under Lanka Putra that defeated Kulasekhara and put Parakkirama Pandyan back in his thorn.

 Scholars say; those three Tamil kingdoms have taken turns to invade Sri Lanka throughout their history. At times they had colonized part of Sri Lanka by chasing Sinhala kings away from their capitals. But invaders had never settled down in Sri Lanka like the Sinhalese did because they were mare raiders who wanted to plunder the wealth of our country. Just like the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British. Had they brought down their kiths and kin in large numbers and settled down in Sri Lanka, Tamils would have assimilated the Sinhalese and would have been the majority of this country long long ago.

 British had brought down all most all the Tamils that live in the upcountry. Dutch had brought down the bulk of the Tamils that live in the north and east before that. Even so, Tamils make up less than sixteen percent in Sri Lanka. What is more important is that seventy five percent of the Tamils live outside the Northern Province. That is why, the 13th amendment is a wrong solution for a non-existent problem.

 All Sinhalese accept that Tamils are citizens of this country with equal rights. So, the government should do everything within its power to safeguard that right. It should continue to make room for all races to reach highest political and civil administrative positions in the country.

 However, the government should not alienate its will, the legislative power or any part of this country to Tamils, Muslims or a section of Sinhalese for that matter.

 Herold Leelawardena

DAYAN JAYATILLEKA

There is nothing that our enemy, the Tiger international network and the pro-Tiger, pro-Tamil Eelam Tamil Diaspora would like better, than to see a gap open up in the partnership between Sri Lanka and India; a gap that they will seek to manipulate in consonance with their Western patrons and friends. The non-implementation of the 13th amendment will open up such a gap. The implementation of the 13th amendment is not a give away or dilution of our military gains. It is the necessary political accompaniment of them and the guarantee of the consolidation of our military victory. It is in our national interests and a guarantee of our national security.

One of the silliest arguments against the implementation of the 13th amendment is that it is a stepping stone to or somehow related to the Tamil separatist cause. If that were the case, Prabhakaran would have accepted it, not rejected it and gone to war against the Indian Peace-keeping Force, damaging his relations with India and culminating in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, an atrocious crime for which he paid this May. At the very least he would have abandoned or suspended the war against the IPKF that he began in October 1987 and negotiated for privileged entry into the provincial council. Prabhakaran took a grave risk and waged this war, his second war, precisely because he knew that provincial autonomy as envisaged in the Indo-Lanka Accord and contained in the 13th amendment a year later, was a death trap for Tamil secessionism. This is because authentic moderate reform is a death trap for extremism anywhere, anytime.

 Why compromise on the basis of the 13th amendment, ask the extremists on both sides of the ethnic divide. The answer is that anything else would be too risky. Open up the issue again and the Sinhalese may offer less, the Tamils may ask for more and the world may see an even more divided island.

 There are two types of people who assert that President Mahinda Rajapakse is against the 13th amendment or does not intend to or will not implement it. These are the Tamil ultranationalists, the Tamil hawks and their fellow-traveling Sinhala doves, who say that no devolution will emanate from the Rajapakse administration, and the Sinhala hardliners who oppose any kind of devolution and attempt to use President Rajapakse’s patriotic profile behind which to hide their extremism. Some even invoke Mahinda Chinthana, oblivious to the irony that Mahinda Rajapakse can be safely trusted to know the letter and spirit of Mahinda Chinthana better than anyone else.

The position of the President and Government of Sri Lanka on the 13th amendment is clearly set out in two contemporary documents, namely the joint statements of May 21st and 23rd issued at the conclusion of the visits of the high level Indian delegation and that of the UN Secretary General respectively. Both statements reiterated the Government’s commitment – indeed one referred to the President’s “firm resolve”– to implement the 13th amendment. Both statements also indicated a political dialogue which would explore further possibilities. I quote:

 “Both sides also emphasized the urgent necessity of arriving at a lasting political settlement in Sri Lanka. Towards this end, the Government of Sri Lanka indicated that it will proceed with implementation of the 13th Amendment. …Further, the Government of Sri Lanka also intends to begin a broader dialogue with all parties including, the Tamil parties in the new circumstances, for further enhancement of political arrangements to bring about lasting peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.” (May 21, 2009)

“President Rajapaksa expressed his firm resolve to proceed with the implementation of the 13th Amendment, as well as to begin a broader dialogue with all parties, including the Tamil parties in the new circumstances, to further enhance this process and to bring about lasting peace and development in Sri Lanka”. (May 23, 2009)

The statements carried in the Indian media following the reciprocal recent visit of a top level Sri Lankan delegation to New Delhi shed light on what GOSL means by going beyond the 13th amendment. Mention had been made of a second chamber which would contain and represent the provinces. The somewhat less authoritative APRC has also been the source of some newspaper reports of another possibility of movement beyond the 13th amendment by means of a restructuring of the concurrent list of powers held conjointly by the centre and the provinces. Since this is speculative at the moment, it need not detain us further.

 The confusion arises over three qualifying terms: “full” or “fully”, “minus” and “plus”, as in full implementation of the 13th amendment or not; 13th amendment minus or 13th amendment plus. What is forgotten is that we are already at 13th amendment minus and is likely to remain minus in that specific respect, namely the de-merger of the North and East. So even if we upgrade the 13th amendment in certain respects (second chamber, reduced concurrent list), it will never be an unambiguous plus. It will be plus something, minus merger.

 This leaves the issue of the full implementation of the 13th amendment. Here too, the question does not arise in one sense because the de-merger has taken place and what would be implemented is not the 13th amendment in full. The discussion, to be frank, is about two other matters: police powers and land. Here too the fuss is less than warranted. Even Minister Muralidharan has said that the devolution of police powers is not a matter of urgency and Minister Devananda has made matters even simpler by saying that all he wants as an immediate step is for the Northern Province to enjoy the exact same powers as have been devolved to the other Provincial Councils in the island.

 Therefore we do not have to agitate our society with the issue of Police powers at this moment. However the issue will not go away, and should be addressed in the interests of national security. It is one thing for an almost totally mono-ethnic military to defeat an equally mono-ethnic enemy militia in mid to high intensity warfare. It is another for a mono-ethnic military to maintain a necessary long term large scale presence in a territory almost totally inhabited by a different and disaffected ethnic community, without the benefit of a local, or should I say “home grown” intermediary. Unless and until it becomes ethnically integrated and representative of the island’s demographics as a whole, the Sri Lankan military must not be drawn into and bogged down in policing functions which bring them into possible relations of contradiction with the local inhabitants. Some commentators have upheld as example India’s military cantonments, forgetting that India’s is a highly multiethnic military at all levels. It is therefore in the interests of the Sri Lankan military to have a local intermediary or auxiliary force and it is equally necessary that this force work with accountability and discipline, within a regulatory framework.

 The next issue is that of land, which is at the heart of most ethnic and civic conflicts. The land provisions of the 13th amendment were carefully worked out by India and Sri Lanka, as Dr Sarath Amunugama for one will testify – and it may be less than prudent to seek to unilaterally roll back that understanding.

 Historically this is the best time to effect a political reconciliation between the Sinhala and Tamil communities in Sri Lanka. If we do not do so internally, space opens for external interference. If a minority anywhere in the world remains disaffected and domestic reconciliation is not forthcoming it is natural that it would look to co-ethnics elsewhere and to outside powers for support. Today is the best time to draw or re-draw our political contract in a way that brings us together. The Sri Lankan armed forces have reunited the entire territory of the island. The Tamil extremists are weakened to an unprecedented extent by the destruction of their vanguard the LTTE. They can no longer sustain hard-line positions. President Rajapakse has the trust of the Sinhalese to a degree that none of his predecessors had, thanks to his leadership of the liberation war against terrorism and separatism. He can therefore carry the Sinhalese with him into a settlement of the underlying and pre-existing issues. Thus this is the best time for a moderate compromise.

 Postscript: Wijeyawickrema’s Version

It is a delightful but fitting irony that Dr Wijeyawickrema’s critique of my views on the 13th amendment and his attempt to invoke the authority of President Rajapakse, was published in the same issue of The Island which carried on its front page a head line which read “Angry MR refuses to bow down to JHU, Hints Champika’s may quit, if he so wishes” and goes onto report that ” An angry President yesterday warned Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka not to hinder his efforts to implement 13th Amendment to the Constitution and guarantee devolution of power to the provinces. Now that a 30-year war had been brought to an end, the aspirations of the people of the North and East should be met, he told a group of government ministers at Temple Trees yesterday, according to highly placed sources.” The editorial of the Island on the same day (‘Taedium vitae of the Saffrons’) complements the President’s remarks and completes the argument. So much then for the Wijeyawickrema version of Mahinda Rajapakse and ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ on the 13th Amendment.

Dr Wijeyawickrema believes that “Erich Fromm has shown us that Karl Marx was not a Marxist” and that “Marx and Engels appear more like Buddhists and not Hegelians”. His reading obviously does not extend to Alvin Toffler’s Future Wars which details how US military thinkers sent a team to study the game-changing Israeli armored counter-punch in the face of Anwer Sadat’s 1973 attack. He believes that I was among those who held that the war is not winnable, when I had unambiguously stated ” WHY PRABHAKARAN WILL LOSE” in the Sunday Island of October 17, 2004, over a year before the new President and army commander took their posts, having been described in 1995 by the LTTE’s Jaffna Inside Report as “a unique character due to his pathological hatred of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam” and having lectured by invitation at every military academy in the country including to joint audiences of Sri Lankan and US Special Forces.

 Dr Wijeyawickrema is humble enough to suggest that the most intellectually gifted and credentialed leader in today’s world, President Barack Obama, has not read Senator Fulbright’s book, which he suggests “is full of Buddhist politics”. Dr Wijeyawickrema himself is certainly full of something, and it ain’t Buddhist politics.

 One final comment though. He makes three references to my father, Mervyn de Silva. “Perhaps like his father those days”…” the 1984 search for a solution project of DJ’s father”… “We have no way of knowing what DJ’s father thought about the 1962 police-navy coup or the statement quoted below by Prof Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekara”. Now, DJ’s father was alive and writing in print for a good half a century, from 1949 to 1999, the Ceylon Observer and Daily News certainly had his commentaries on the coup attempt of 1962, and in any case Dr Wijeyawickrema could very well have written in to the papers and posed these questions to him in print. He does not seem to have done so. The result might have been quite entertaining, but perhaps Dr Wijeyawickrema was a little more rational than I thought! By the way Neville Jayaweera’s 2002 September Sunday Observer recollections of Mervyn do contain a hilarious anecdote about him and Prof Malalasekara from November 1954, and the Howard Wriggins work which Dr Wijeyawickrema so painstakingly cites contains in its short acknowledgement, words of thanks to Mervyn de Silva (aged 30 at the time).

 (These are the strictly personal views of the writer).

J Kumarasinghe

Dr D S Bandarage, Father of Modern Management passed away peacefully, this morning (2 July 2009). 

 During the late 40s Dr Bandarage was appointed as the Personnel Manager of Shell Company of Ceylon (one of the four multinational companies operating in Sri Lanka at the time). Afterwards, he worked as Personnel Manager at Lever Bros (now Unilever) for several decades. These are major watershed appointments in the Sri Lankan management arena because they were the first occasions that a native born Sri Lankan was appointed to set up Personnel Departments in Sri Lankan multinational companies. Dr Bandarage went on to serve as General Manager, Director and Chairman in leading Sri Lankan companies and Government Corporations. Dr Bandarage served as a UN adviser in Africa.  The Kenyan Government, including the then Prime Minister of Kenya, Daniel Arap Moi, felicitated Dr Bandarage’s efforts to rehabilitate and streamline Kenya’s ailing management and administrative system.

 In the fifties, sixties and seventies Dr Bandarage had emerged as a giant in Sri Lanka’s Management field.  He was instrumental in establishing the Institute of Personnel Management (Inc).  This was way back in 1959.  In the formative years of the institute, he was the President of the Institute and held this position for a very long time.  He was the first Fellow of the Institute of Personnel Management in Sri Lanka.  With other Sri Lankan management luminaries of the time, Dr Bandarage worked tirelessly to promote Modern Management in Sri Lanka, and was instrumental in setting up several Sri Lankan Management Institutions. He served as a visiting lecturer of Management Studies at the Universities of Colombo and Sri Jayawardanapura.

 Thanks to Dr Bandarage’s contributory efforts Sri Lanka today is well abundant with a huge reservoir of management talent.  The management fraternity of Sri Lanka today must thank Dr Bandarage for working tirelessly in the 1950s, 60,70s and 80s to unlock doors for them to enter into the private sector with opportunities and traineeship, at that time dominated by the British or English only speaking Sri Lankans.

 In the last two or three decades Dr Bandarage had been involved with management development activities of Sri Lanka, but had also been extremely involved in the propagation of Buddhism.  Being a great Buddhist and a philanthropist himself, in the recent past Dr Bandarage donated monies to charities and Buddhist institutions, especially towards the propagation of Sinhala Buddhist values in rural and urban Sri Lanka.  Dr Bandarage has been a long standing active member of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress and the YMBA. 

 Dr Bandarage’s residence at 7 Ohlums Place in Colombo 8 was always open to the down trodden to come and relate their unfortunate plight.  Dr Bandarage helped them with words and deeds.  Until recently on every Sunday he conducted classes to disadvantaged university graduates numbering about 20 who are studying for the administrative exams (former Civil Service exam where he was an examiner and panel selection member).  These classes were conducted free of charge at his home.

Dr Bandarage is the father of 6 distinguished children  among whom are the distinguished professor of Harvard/MIT, Professor Asoka Bandarage (daughter), Rohan (Chartered Engineer, Australia) Wasantha (daughter) who heads the UN Peace Keeping Forces in New York, and the prominent Sri Lankan barrister practising in the High Courts of Canberra, Chanaka Bandarage. Dr Bandarage’s wife, Thilaka, is currently recuperating from a surgery in Australia.

His funeral arrangements are to be notified.

Dr D S Bandarage’s Home Phone Number – 2694301

Piyal Samarakone – Dubai

King who rules the country knows what is best for his fellow citizens. That’s why he is The King with people’s mandate. This is the undisputed norm since the tribal era in the ancient world. To a greater extent modern day kings are no different to olden age kings in term of decision making, as they all got plenty of aides & advisors around. Therefor invariably bulk of the out come neither palatable for the tribe nor for the king.

This has been the trend and the tradition and Sri Lanka is no different or immune to this. However there were kings who did what exactly good for the people not for the short sighted aides or colored factions we called them Great Kings and ancient Sri Lanka blessed with plenty of them and we are the proud sons and daughters of those Great Kings.

Fortunately for the country, present day King is much more astute than his modern-day predecessors and displaying all the positive signs to become a great king. He sees no party color in people which marginalise and divide the masses. He has won the hearts and minds of majority of the common people already, not in theory but practically. Strive to bring justice for the innocents who were left along for decades depriving basic needs. He is trying to practice what he preaches and willing to embrace the short term unpopularity to reach the much expected long term results. He is not confined to the palace, only to make sure that he would not loose the pulse of the people and shows good signs of not slowing down thinking that “job done.”
His personal charisma is powerful enough to lure the masses to follow his ideology, strong enough to face the ill-sighted stiff opposition, even within his own political realm.

More importantly he got handful of men around him capable of delivering good results but challenges are enormous and even Famous Ten Giants multiply by ten would not be adequate to meet them.

Hitherto, his handling of offshore issues proved positive and brought good returns by keeping our national interests intact, naturally not without hiccups. Nevertheless, his clear understanding of which bloc we belong to and be aligned with is vital for the future than at present.

Besides all the pleasant contemplations in people, certainly not without qualms as the nature of the task is daunting. The opportunity thrust on us today is rare and once-in-a century kind of a thing.
The status quo is conducive to commence the long run transformation to full fill the aspirations of the masses which they deserve in return, indeed.

His emulation of King Dutugemunu the Great was much expected reality, as he had the will, courage, able men and material to face the enemy. Will this courageous king of our time emulate the King Parakramabahu the Great?…… Time will tell

We are in threshold of a new beginning, and its quiet evident that present day generation may not be able to relish the entire anticipated good results.

Expectations are quiet unprecedented, wish the present day King capable of taking the entire nation into new heights. If so, becoming a “Great” may not be imminent but inevitable.

Wasantha Bandara Ranagala

“He won the war but it is his hurrah boys who are trying to go places on victory! It is like a bevy of dancing girls staking claims for the IPL trophy on grounds that they cheered for the winning side!”

I am absolutely with you on the foregoing part in your yesterday’s editorial. Being fervent fans of your art of writing, we wouldn’t miss your editorials after the headline even from this far flung land. Aren’t they resourceful?

Having said that would you mind if I add to your editorial a few lines in the fowling order.

1. Up until 17 Nov 2005 where was HE MR? Queen Chandrika and the gang including the SLFP bigwigs were getting ready to perform the last rites for him.  Wasn’t this hurrah boys at the risk of their lives made the impossible a possible. No lesser person than MR himself paid tribute to their -JHU/JVP- unrelenting effort attributing the razor thin victory to them.

2. Remember where MR was when the Queen with her hurrah boys nearly gave ISGA/PTOM on a platter to that megalomaniac. While HE was maintaining a deafening silence these hurrah boys did not hesitate to put their lives on the path of the juggernaut formed by Ranil, rolling at break neck speed with peaceniks/IC/India et al. We still believe HR was patiently waiting for the right moment, sign of a mastermind.

So “This is the harsh political reality that not only the Saffrons but also the Rajidano must come to terms with.”

On the other hand, with no MR at the helm in the nick of time, today we would have been applying for Eelam Visa from down under.

Wasantha Bandara Ranagala

Ranga Welaratne

“A one eyed turtle, whose life span is immeasurable, lives at the bottom of the sea.  Once every 100 years, it rises to the surface.  There is only one sandalwood log floating in the sea with a hollow in it suitable to the turtle’s eye size.  Since the turtle is one eyed and the log is tossed about by the wind and waves, the likelihood of the turtle finding the log is extremely remote” this is how the Lord Buddha illustrates how difficult it is to be born a human being in the cycle of reincarnation.

If you had asked anyone five years ago, “Can Sri Lanka eliminate the tigers?” they would have given you a probability very close to the one above. 

Prabhakaran himself, not long ago, on the 27^th of November 2008 said “Sri Lanka is living in a dreamland of military victory. It is a dream from which it will awake. That is certain”.  Now the Rajapaksa government has realized this dream, in the process of which the aforementioned Prabhakaran was killed. 

What Lord Buddha said about the turtle and the sandalwood is certainly going to be true for Mr. Prabhakaran’s chances of being born human again.

But the now the emerging question is how did the Rajapaksa government realize this dream?  I think it comes down to one thing.  Leadership.

Before we look at the how and why it all worked out for this administration it’s best to see how and why the previous administrations failed miserably.

I am not an expert in political science but it is evident that we have had politicians over the last 30 years, but never a leader who believed in finishing the war.  The difference is quite distinct.  Politicians are all about themselves, they stake their whole career on survival in the political process.  Leaders on the other hand have a vision, believe in something extraordinary, and they are all about the people they serve.

The Past.

It is common knowledge that third world politics are filthy, corrupt and insincere. When it comes to Sri Lankan politics this holds true more than most. Hence, even before new governments are sworn in, all the presidents and prime ministers had to repay their debt to their allies and benefactors.  Nepotism runs in the spinal cord of Sri Lanka’s civil and the military system. All the plum roles are handed to favorites and family instead being allocated according to merit and ability. This is one reason that Sri Lanka has one of the world’s largest cabinets.

Theodore Roosevelt once said “The best leader is the one who has best sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it”.  When it comes to the previous Sri Lankan administrators this is exactly what they didn’t do.  Previous rulers of Sri Lanka kept appointing ‘Yes’ men as defense secretaries (with the lone exception of Ranjan Wijeratne) and incompetent generals in the three branches of the armed forces to make sure that there would not be any conflict of interest between them and the government.

Politicians’ meddling with war is nothing new in the modern world.  Sri Lanka is no exception.  The politicians sent Lankan troops to war to achieve their political agendas.  They often tried to ‘liberate’ a village or a highway before a major election. They did not have a well defined military strategy, the military were highly politicized, and thus Sri Lankan soldiers were sacrificed in thousands.  There is a clear example of this; in 1992 the presidential commission revealed irrefutable evidence of political treachery.  In order to get the Indian army to leave Sri Lankan shores President Premadasa authorized a clandestine operation to supply arms to the LTTE (as revealed in the commission’s report).  During the same time LTTE assassinated Lt Gen Denzil Kobbekaduwa and massacred 227 policemen who had surrendered to the LTTE in Batticaloa.

All the politicians who got to the top want to be there as long as possible. So war or no war was not the question. Whatever they could do to prolong their stay at the top, while getting rich, was the only thing they cared about (most of them anyway).  To some, war was a welcome distraction to avoid the real questions like unemployment, inflation, education and health care.  As long as the war was being propagated they did not have to find answers to these questions. Both parties could fight out the elections back and forth by arousing unjust nationalism and with false promises.

What made the difference this time?

“A Leader is a Dealer in Hope” – Napoleon.  This is exactly how President Mahinda Rajapaksa rolled.  He put all his chips on the table, took a huge gamble on the country, his reputation, the party and the international community in deciding to go to all out war when the cards were stacked against him. Now there is no wonder Mr. Rajapaksa is grinning like somebody who has won the jackpot. This is because he truly has.

Undoubtedly one of the President’s best achievements was to hire the right team to lead the war against the LTTE.  His shrewdest decision was in the selection of his defence secretary.  His predecessors did not have the fortune of having a decorated war hero as a brother, who had fought fiercely against the LTTE himself on the battlefield.  Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa had served in the army for over twenty years and knew how the enemy operated and what needed be done to achieve military success.  None of the previous Sri Lankan defence secretaries were of the same pedigree.  Like no other government previously these two brothers looked after each other and went to war.

In previous administrations being a general in Sri Lanka’s three branches of armed forces was a thankless job.  Apart from a few fringe benefits you are constantly worried about your vehicle been blown apart. Your orders were coming from a President who had no idea about the military strategy but wanted to score some political points by using the military to their personal advantage.  So you were sure to sacrifice your own reputation and hundreds of lives of young soldiers. And you were never quite sure you had been chosen because you were the best man for the job or because you always said ‘Yes’ to the President.  Your name and reputation was constantly scrutinized in the every shop corner of Sri Lanka.

But this time the President put his best men forward to head the armed forces.  No one in Sri Lanka (apart from some obtuse politicians) would argue otherwise. These leaders had gone though the ranks, they were tough and, having served for many years in their respective forces, the war had a somewhat personal connotation to them.  These men were leaders, people looked up to them, their soldiers would never second guess them and in return these men protected their soldiers.  They would not sacrifice their soldiers for political points; they would say ‘NO’ when the request was absurd.  They would lead by example, they empowered and promoted others like them, they built and implemented strategies and stuck to them, they did not give time lines but they all said one thing;  they would finish the job, which they did, very well. 

In addition, as Roosevelt said, the President did not meddle with the military’s decisions. His orders were clear and concise ‘Finish the war and get rid of terrorism’.  He left the ‘HOW’ part to the people who knew best.

What lies ahead for the President

LTTE’s brute and the rest of its charismatic leadership are gone but its brains and financial backing around the world is still at large.  The LTTE Diaspora may not have the implementers on the ground today but will it still be the case in five years or more importantly in thirty years time?  How can Sri Lankans stop Eelam ever surfacing again in this beautiful country? Well I think the answer lies somewhere between politics and economic growth.

It is time that Sri Lanka starts looking at where it wants to be in thirty years into the future.  How do Sri Lankans want their country to look in 2040? Once there is that vision policies need to be put in place to ensure it gets there. The Sri Lankan military has completed with aplomb the task that they had been entrusted with and now it is time for Sri Lankan politicians, too, to walk the talk and plan long term.

To begin Sri Lanka need to acknowledge that a political solution is a must.  It can be home grown or imported but it should recognize all people in the country as one. All communities whether Tamil, Muslim or Sinhalese must be given equal opportunity and be able to live with the dignity that all people deserve.  The new solution must empower all ethnicities and get rid of chauvinism whether it is uprooted from Colombo, Jaffna or Baticolloa.  It should look beyond the borders of the provinces and recognize the liberty of the each individual.  Putting in place policy to do this is no simple task.

The second pillar to stop such groups from ever arising is economical growth. Imagine a country with a higher GDP growth every year, low unemployment, low inflation, higher education for everyone, quality health care, how often would you see people taking up arms to breakup such a country? Yes, I am talking about a developed country.  What do we need to do to get there? We need great visionaries who can think of that country in thirty years time, we need leaders who do not think about filling their pockets but about the welfare of their people. We need law makers and policy makers to pave the way to creating that dream country.

Sri Lankan armed forces have laid the foundation to create that dream country. The soldiers have made great sacrifices to the nation and all Lankans are indebted to them. Sri Lankans should fly the flags high and should salute and show respect to the forces. All this should and will be done but the best way to pay tribute to their legacy is to actually create that dream country. Let not the blood, sweat and tears of the soldiers and their loved ones go to waste, or ever be forgotten.

Can the current president and the administration do this? After the triumphant victory they certainly have the mandate to do it.  I think the President can take a leaf out of his own book.  How did he achieve this great military victory?  He put the right people to do the right job.  He put in place the experts at every level to achieve this military victory. Can he say the same thing about his cabinet? Can president Rajapaksa look at everyone one of his ministers in the eye and tell them they are in the position because they are the best person in the country to do that job.  I do not know the answer but for his sake and the sake of the country, I certainly hope so.

Great leadership

As we have read in the history books Winston Churchill was probably the most popular Prime Minister that Britain has ever had (1940- 1945). Being the Prime Minister of Great Britain (and a war hero) during the World War II, many attribute him with being one of the main reasons, if not the reason, for the allied forces winning the Second World War. At the end of the war his approval rating was over 80% (1945 May 8) but he lost the General Election in the same year in July.  Historians believe that Churchill achieved something superhuman and when it came to the election he was spent, it was almost an anticlimax.  President Rajapaksa should make sure this is not the case for him. His superhuman task is still ahead of him, he needs to ensure that the country is rebuilt.

Many French believes the Father of the New France is Charles De Gaulle who was the French General during the Second World War and subsequently became the President of France. As the President of France he created new republican and political stability. He strengthened the European community, expanded international relationships, created high industrial growth, lowered unemployment and controlled inflation. To this day, the French believe he was the most influential modern French Leader. 

Can President Rajapaksa achieve what Charles De Gaulle achieved for post-war France?  He has achieved something superhuman, but will he now seize this opportunity to create political stability, racial equality, and develop the country and the Sri Lanka that we all dream of?  To become that leader in Sri Lanka, it would certainly be like the one eyed turtle looking at the sky through the floating sandalwood log.

Wouldn’t it?

Investment Promotion Minister Navin Dissanayake

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, At the very outset, let me tell you that this symposium could not have been organized in a better time. The timing is so perfect on so many fronts; on the domestic front, the war is over, there is an increasing demand for foreign capital not only in the northern and eastern provinces, for there has not been any meaningful investment in these two regions during the last three decades. The socio-political forces have overridden the financial and economic needs of the day in these two provinces. However, in the rest of the country too we cannot be too content of the pace at which investment has been flowing.

 There are many reasons for this. The global recession that set in during last quarter of 2008 engulfed not only the western capitalist economies; its adverse effects began to seep into the developing countries like Sri Lanka, in particular, and the South Asian region, in general. At a time when an Auto giant like General Motors is declaring bankruptcy, when financial mega companies like Lehman Brothers are collapsing, what are the options open for an ailing mixed economy in Sri Lanka? Theses are the bitter questions that we must ask ourselves if we are to face these problems and find solutions to them. How can we improve our ranking in the business world and compete with the growing economies in the west like USA, UK and Scandinavia but also in the east like Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. Unless we position ourselves against our superiors in the West as well as in the East, we are bound to fail in our attempts to bring in better times for our people. In other words, we must raise our bar, so to speak, and in this context, I must tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that the Board of Investments and the Ministry of Investment Promotion are taking very meaningful and tangible measures to improve our means and methods of attracting both foreign and domestic investment. If there are obstacles in the infrastructure facilities, we will clear them, if there are impediments in the release of land for the various projects, we will eliminate those impediments so that the land is handed in the shortest possible time; if the concern is obtaining permission from the environmental agencies, we will expedite those procedures.  

Especially in relation to the particular region we are geographically place in, namely the SAARC region, we stand among the top in availability of infrastructure facilities. That includes India. We are more a very poor country. We have graduated for that abysmal category to the middles-income category. However, we cannot be content with that rating. My vision is to raise our per capita income from US$2000 to US&10,000. Let us make a collective effort to raise our growth rate 10% in ten years. It is possible if we apply ourselves, not as individuals, but as a cohesive community of investors and beneficiaries, in other words, as a total entity of a nation. There lies our salvation, and there lie your profits. For profits follow economic activity. And economic activity follows investment.

 We have good examples from our recent past. The accelerated Mahaweli Development Scheme is such a program. How was such a gigantic project completed in such a short time like six years? Five major dams, Victoria, Kotmale, Maduru Oya, Randenigala and Ulhitiya and their head-works were completed; hundreds of thousands of hectares were opened up for cultivation in the downstream of the Mahawelu ganga. More than one hundred and fifty thousand families were settled on these lands, social and irrigation infrastructure was constructed to facilitate the settlers. How was this achieved? It was by decisive leadership, single-minded dedication, a sense of urgency thereby creating the phrase “accelerated”, total focus on the part of all those who executed the work, and above all, investment. If the investment was not forthcoming, there would not have been the Mahaweli program; there would not have been electricity. In the twenty first century major part of Sri Lanka would have been in darkness if not for the hydro power electricity generated by the Mahaweli head-works.

 The building blocks in the twenty first century are Japan, India and China. The US has realized it, the rest of Europe has realized it and those three countries have realized it. The progression of China and India from the third world to the first world in terms of economics is remarkable. The growth of their domestic product is phenomenal, so that the global recession that has enveloped the all other countries is having not so critical an impact on India and China. On the other hand, Japan stands alone as the biggest bi-lateral donor of the world. Japan’s good relations with Sri Lanka have extracted a promise from Japan that they will invest two billion US dollars in the next five years. So let us do our bit. And the contribution by organizations like Business for Peace Alliance in this regard is commendable and praiseworthy.

 In that context, our attempt will be to make the surrounding environment as investor-friendly as possible. In this regard we are bound to face severe competition from the other developing countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, China and even India. Today I see before me some very friendly and known faces. I see some strangers too in our midst. To both these groups, either friends or strangers I state most emphatically that we are sensitive to the needs of the investor and that sensitivity is further sharpened to accommodate the socio-politico-economic needs of a people.

 Therefore, the role played by an organization such as Business for Peace Alliance is not only vital, it is essential. To galvanize an investor community on an accelerated footing is our primary objective and I am sure that BizPact will contribute its mite towards attaining this goal. One of the most difficult tasks, at a time when the economies in the world are gripped by a recession of global proportions, when the people all over are losing jobs on a progressively increasing scale, when the lending institutions are crippled by sudden withdrawals by the depositors, is to ask  prospective investors to pitch in. Here in this venture, my Ministry and the Board of Investments will make a deliberate and conscious attempt to accelerate the procedures, overcome the obstacles and employ more helpful methods to assist the investor. We will rest only after achieving the desired result so that we may say at the end, to paraphrase Winston Churchill: “never in the annals of business investment, was so much done for so many by so few”.

 I take this opportunity of thanking Suresh de Mel, Chairman of Business Alliance and other members of this prestigious organization for affording this occasion to me to address you. As I said at the beginning of my address, this symposium could not have been better timed. The need is present, the opportunities are present, the incentives are present. Your organization by its very structure is a network of all main regional Chambers of Commerce throughout Sri Lanka. In that sense, your organization has a unique qualification to host a conference of this nature.

 Present today are some members of the Sri Lankan Diaspora in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia. I take this opportunity to appeal to their sense of patriotism and to their good business sense. Your investment will not only be in the context of profit making, but also in the interest of your motherland. My office is open to all of you, should you decide to meet me to iron out any difficulty.

 In conclusion, I extend my sincere and best wishes for the success of this symposium and my heartfelt thanks to the organizers for inviting me.

Thank you, all.

By Anil Perera

Many people have written about the need for national reconciliation and unity between Sinhalese and Tamil communities in Sri Lanka. They stress the need for a dialogue between the Sinhalese and Tamils and the importance of a political solution to solve the conflict. All previous attempts to come to a negotiated solution with Tamil separatists were failures. While there are several reasons why they ended up in failures, I believe we failed to take into account a key factor which allowed the LTTE to take naive governments of R.Premadasa, Chandrika Kumaranatunga and Ranil Wickramasinghe for a ride. They simply failed to understand the Tamil mindset and in their naivety thought that the Tamils think the way Sinhalese do. There are major cultural differences between Tamils and Sinhalese, which, although not a hindrance to unity between two communities, should be understood by all Sinhalese to prevent unscrupulous elements in the Tamil community from taking advantage of them.

Tamils and Sinhalese have a lot in common and almost all of us have good Tamil friends. But have you ever wondered about the differences? In general Tamils are more hospitable than Sinhalese. Some of us naively assume that this hospitality is an indication of the willingness of our Tamil friends to live with us as Sri Lankans. While there are some genuine people, most of the Tamil Diaspora in Western countries play a double game. Your Tamil friend may host you to a dinner, may go out of the way to help you if you need help and may appear to be craving for your friendship. But in reality he may have willingly sent money to the racist LTTE and may have silently applauded when the LTTE killed innocent Sinhalese men, women and children. You on the other hand would not even do anything to counter the LTTE propaganda, help our soldiers at the battle front or even speak out against the LTTE, for the fear of hurting the feelings of your ‘good’ Tamil friend.

Most Sinhalese assume that the Tamils think the way we Sinhalese do. This false assumption has enabled the unscrupulous elements in the Tamil community such as the LTTE to take undue advantage of us. Therefore, it is vitally important to be aware of our cultural differences and keep them in mind when dealing with Tamils. I do not intend to condemn Tamils for what they are. Centuries of cultural conditioning have made Tamils what they are and Sinhalese what they are. It is not my intention to claim that culture is superior to that of Tamils. But we need to have a clear understanding of the differences.

Comparison of Sinhalese and Tamil Cultures using Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

Dutch Professor Geert Hofstede found five dimensions of culture which are useful in the interaction between national cultures. These dimensions are widely used to help understand different cultures around the world. While Sinhalese and Tamil cultures are similar on certain Hofstede dimensions, there are marked differences on other dimensions. Let us see how Sinhalese and Tamils fit into Hofstede’s five dimensions.

Power Distance Index is the extent to which the less powerful members of a culture accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. In simpler terms this means that there is a large gap between those who have power (leaders) and those who do not have power. The society’s level of inequality is endorsed by both the followers and the leaders.

Both Sinhalese and Tamil cultures have high power distances and that may be the reason we worship our leaders despite their shortcomings and reluctant to challenge them.

Individualism (versus collectivism) is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. In individualist societies everyone is expected to look after himself and his immediate family. In collectivist societies people are integrated into strong, cohesive groups which continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.

Both Sinhalese and Tamil cultures are collectivist without a question. But Tamil culture is collectivist to a higher degree. This explains why Diaspora Tamils always like to live in ethnic ghettos of their own even in Western countries.

Masculinity (versus femininity) refers to the value placed on traditionally male or female values (as understood in the Western countries). Masculine cultures value competitiveness, assertiveness, ambition and accumulation of wealth. People from feminine cultures are modest, caring and place more value on relationships.

This is a major difference between Sinhalese and Tamil cultures. Although there are individual exceptions, in general Sinhalese culture is feminine and Tamil culture, similar to the Indian culture, is masculine. We need to keep this in mind when we deal with Tamils. We should not let more assertive and ambitious Tamils walk all over us. This was clearly evident during the peace negotiations Ranil Wickramasinghe’s government had with the LTTE when the LTTE delegation dominated the ‘feminine’ government delegation.

Uncertainty Avoidance Index deals with the extent to which members of a society attempt to minimize uncertainty. People of uncertainty avoiding cultures take less risks and are comfortable in structured situations. People from uncertainty accepting cultures take more risks.

Uncertainty Avoidance Index of Sinhalese is higher than that of Tamils. As descendants of people who took risks to cross the Palk Straits to escape poverty of India and as descendants of mercenaries, Tamils are naturally risk takers. That explains why the LTTE was successful in getting the better of the government forces for decades. The LTTE took far more risks than our forces and our forces stuck to conventional tactics with which they were more comfortable. The situation was reversed only after the government soldiers took more risks to carry out daring operations against the LTTE.

Long-Term Orientation (versus short-term orientation) is the importance attached by a culture to the future versus the past and the present. Values associated with Long Term Orientation are thrift and perseverance and values associated with Short Term Orientation are personal stability, protecting one’s ‘face’ and fulfilling social obligations.

Sinhalese culture is more short term oriented and Tamil culture is comparatively longer term oriented. While Tamils are thriftier and more persevering, Sinhalese attach a lot of importance to ‘saving face’.

It is not fair to stereotype all Sinhalese and Tamils as fitting into Hofstede’s dimensions the way I have described above. But this is true for a majority of both Sinhalese and Tamils, although there are exceptions. A handful of Sinhalese who are more masculine, who accept uncertainty and who are longer-term oriented compared to the general Sinhalese population provide us the leadership in political, military and business establishments.

What I would like to stress is the fact that we need to be aware of the mindset of the Tamils when we deal with them. It is important not only for the purpose of safeguarding our interests, but also to build a meaningful relationship between the two communities based on trust and equality.

By Walter Jayawardhana

An alleged pro-LTTE supporter in Australia Amalathepan Srikantharajah (25) of Girraween was arrested by Australian detectives, charged over the throwing of acid on two Sinhalese students and attempting to murder them.

The incident which received international condemnation was also rebuked by the Australian government .

 The unprovoked attack took place in the immediate aftermath of the fall of the Tamil Tigers at the hands of the Sri Lanka military and the death of its leader Prabhakaran.

 The two Sinhalese victims, Chahunika Werasinghe (27) and housemate Jayasiri Watawala (22) were attacked in their home by Sri Lankans, alleged to be Tamils , upset over the unfortunate end of their movement back in Sri Lanka.

 The police are looking for the other offenders, the coordinator of the effort, Strike Force Dorwood Commander Albert Joseph said. He further added by saying, “a male person has been charged with attempted murder, break and enter with intent to commit murder, and use a corrosive substance to maim another person”.

 Apart from the acid burns on their faces one also suffered stab wounds to the stomach and a broken ankle.

 Commander Albert Joseph said in a statement:

“Extensive investigations have been conducted by the Strike Force Doorwood investigation team and as a result
The man arrested today already faces a charge of failing to disclose the identification of a passenger in his vehicle following the incident and two other men have previously been charged with concealing a serious offence.

Detective Inspector Joseph said the two victims had been informed of the latest arrest which is the first directly related to the attack. Police also said the two victims are recovering from their horrific injuries caused by the acid.

The 25 year old man is currently being transported to central local court where he will face court on Wednesday.