Rathika Sitsabaiesan: your statement on Sri Lanka in parliament on 29 Sept. 2011
Posted on October 4th, 2011
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 Canada
4 October 2011
Rathika Sitsabaiesan,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
NDP MP for Scarborough-Rouge River,
OntarioƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
House of Commons,
Ottawa
Dear Rathika:
I have just read your statement in Parliament of 29 September 2011, when you said:ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Mr. Speaker, last night I joined MPƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s from all parties in hosting a screening of the documentary, Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Killing Fields. It moved me, as did everyone else there.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
Sadly, Canada and the rest of the world has stood idly by for far too longƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ And John Baird, the Minister for Foreign Affairs responded saying: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Mr. Speaker, we did not sit idly by at the United Nations on Monday where I brought the plight of human rights violations to the floor of the general assemblyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
With that statement of yours I chalked you as the 34,822nd Sri Lankan-Tamil in Canada who have been disingenuous when spewing their bile all over Sri Lanka unfairly, and I am keeping count.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
This number includes that six-year old Tamil kid who was wearing a T-shirt with Prabhakaran silkscreened on the front and carrying a red Tamil Tiger flag behind a barrier on Wellington Street opposite the parliament buildings in Ottawa in late April 2009ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ who was among the 20,000 Tamil demonstrators wanting Canada to save your Tamil Tiger leaders from being annihilated by the Sri Lankan soldiers.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ When a TV reporter approached him and asked him on camera, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Why are you demonstrating?ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Pat came the answer, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-They are killing my peopleƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Who are they?ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ the reporter asked, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-I donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t knowƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ was his reply.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ When the TV reporter asked him, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Who is he?ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ pointing out to the face of Prabhakaran on the chest of his T-shirt.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-I donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t knowƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ was his reply.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Rathika so much for the brain washing of innocent Tamil kids by your Tamil adults and you happen to be a product of that generation after you were brought to Canada when you were five-years old by your parents to give you a better life, not that they were discriminated in Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As they would tell you, their best friends in Sri Lanka were the Sinhalese, from the majority community.
That number also includes the young Tamil woman who was demonstrating on Parliament Hill in early May 2009.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ She was interviewed by a senior CBC reporter.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ She was introduced as a student from York University. She said on camera, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-You people donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t know, when my Tamil ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ people land on the tarmac at the Colombo airport, they are shot dead.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I was disappointed that the reporter was not quick on the draw and respond, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-I just donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t understand.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ You Tamils must be having a death wish knowing you all will be shot dead on the tarmac when you all land, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ then why do your people go to Sri Lanka in plane loads ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ during Christmas time. Why?ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ So much for the God damn lies Rathika by your Tamil people.
But let me hasten to add, that I have met a few hundred, moderate Sri Lankan-Tamils who are residing in Ajax, Mississauga, Scarborough and Markham who arrived with the post-1983 exodus like you and your parents, who are hurting with your nasty shenanigans wanting to pin Sri Lanka to the wall with your damn lies.
And as for Minister John Baird, he was lucky that I wasnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t representing Sri Lanka at the UN, as I would have pointed out the plight of the human rights violations of Canada of her indigenous peoples, especially their women and ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ that he had no right to point his finger at Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-See who is talkingƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, I would have said.
Rathika,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the reason why I called you a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-disingenuousƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Tamil is because, you were not truthful with your skewed mission to hurt Sri Lanka, which you do not know anything about, as you still havenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t stepped onto the kabook soil of that pretty island since you were 5-years old, where your parents thrived enjoying the free-education that they soaked in.
Not showing your 15 MPs the sequelƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ video Lies Agreed Upon after showing Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Killing Fields is dishonest and nasty.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Why didnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t you?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Were you afraid that the 15 MPs would have said, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Holy Cow! Rathika.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ You are not expecting us to believe that invective crap that has been produced by Channel 4, are you?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ We are livid for you wasting our valuable time.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Just stop pushing your nasty agenda on Sri Lanka and challenging our intelligence.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
HereƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s my challenge to you Rathika.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I will wage you a $1000 that you donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t have the honesty and gumption to show Lies Agreed Upon to the same audience at the same venue and get the Conservative MP, Patrick Brown to co-host it.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Are you game?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Invite me when it happens and I will be their with brand new ten $100 bank notes to hand over and pat your back for being courageous and honest for accepting my challenge.
What your honesty would have told the Speaker of the House and your parliamentary colleagues that day was: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Mr. Speaker, last night I joined MPs from all parties in hosting a screening of two documentaries, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Killing FieldsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and its sequel ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…” Lies Agreed UponƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. It made all of us visibly angry for Channel 4 pushing the lies about Sri Lanka in ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Killing FieldsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and I apologize to my colleagues for requesting them to sit through the screening.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ At least now we know that the Channel 4 video is a lie which even Amnesty International is bicycling around the world seeking Brownie points as a conduit to seek more funds for their operations, and painting themselves as a questionable Human Rights Organization.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I am disappointed in AI too.
But my real reason for my rising to speak to the House is that it is time that Canada apologize to Sri Lanka and its people for aiding and abetting the 27-year old war by the Tamil Tiger terrorists, by letting my Tamil Diaspora collect 2-million dollars a month for 13 long Liberal years and stuffing that money into the Tamil Tiger war chest to buy a lethal armoury to kill and drag this war for that so many years.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I admit that I am ashamed of these Tamil terrorists who happen to be from my Tamil community.
Mr. Speaker, I demand that the redress, among other things should be a formal apology, and ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ individual compensation for the victims who have been maimed for life, and the families of the dead from the three bomb attacks using Hexogen and TNT explosive materials that were bought in 1994, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ with a cheque cutƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ from aƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Canadian-Tamil personƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s account in a Bank in Vancouver, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ from the Rubezone Chemical Factory in the Ukraine.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The three attacks were; the truck bomb with these explosives which brought down the Central Bank Building in the heart of Colombo on 31 January 1996, that killed 114, and maimed 1338 others for life;ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the World Trade Centre and Galadhari Hotel again in the heart of Colombo on 15 October 1997, killing 12 and maiming for life another 113; and the attack on the sacred Temple of the Tooth Relic, the Sri Dalada Maligawa on 25 January 1998 in Kandy in the hills of Sri Lanka killing, 12 and maiming 13 others for life.
Mr. Speaker, we owe the redress to Sri Lanka and its peoples and let us not wait 47 years as we did to redress the World War II ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ British ColumbiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Japanese-Canadian community whose interment started in ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ December 1941 after the Pearl Harbour bombing.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Let us do it now.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Thank You, Mr. Speaker.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
WellƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦.RathikaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦.. Show your honesty.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Speak out. Show that you are a honest Sri Lankan-Tamil like the honest, moderates that I have met from Ajax, Mississauga, Scarborough and Markham. They are all good people with whom I have no qualms to share my plate of rice and curry.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ But, with you…..hmmm…..I really do not know!
Sincerely,
Asoka Weerasinghe
October 4th, 2011 at 5:51 pm
Excellent article Asoka. There are many Tamils really hate Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans. I am not sure why. May be they have a social trauma passed-on to them by others before them. I think this unfortunate passing -on will continue for a while before vanishing into thin air.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:45 pm
Dear Asoka,
I always admire and read your excellent articles because like majority of Sri Lankans living in our country and overseas I can understand the passion that you have to eradicate false propaganda about our motherland. People like you bring joy and recognition to our beautiful nation, when Western countries trying their best to nail down our country. You should be recognised and value by our Government, and endorse as an envoy to promote our country especially for tourism.
People like Rathika are not interested to support Sri Lankans (regardless of their ethnicity) because they do not gain anything from it. She doesn’t have a clue how beautiful our country is, and the hospitality that you get from of our people from the time you land at Katunayake International Airport. How long they can fool the Western world? I believe it is only for a short time.
Lasantha Jayalath
October 5th, 2011 at 7:04 am
Asoka Weerasinghe
Ref:Channel 4 pushing the lies about Sri Lanka in ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’
Please explain me What happend in may 2009 .
How atleast one person in a family in Vanni ( settled backed from IDP caps from 270,000 ) have lost a part of body (hand ,legs…).
PRIYAN WIJEYERATNE
Ref:There are many Tamils really hate Sri Lanka (Sinhalese)
Agreed ,unfortunatly They never seen good side of majority Sinhala Peoples !
eg: I am no making up , You can tavel to any part of Sinhala area with out any fear you can ask water (vathuru) but not in Tamil area (Tanni- Water)
jljay1
Ref:the hospitality
Agreed , Sense of humar & Hospitaly We Tamil need to learn from Sinhalese !
What We need a political settlement for long term solution !
We should sort out our problme ourself , we do not need indian or western or UN etc…..
TNA & SLFP(&UNP) should bring a home made solution !
October 5th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
As usual, Asoka maintains that LTTE did not kill any Tamil people. That is his racist look. Many thousand Tamil families lost their bread winners of their familes. They were the brave soldiers who lost their lives for the country. Governments never help those people or worry about them because they are Tamils.
He never explain why UNP Sinhalese have honeymoon with LTTE or its proxies.
Asoka is a CARD carrying conservative member. Is he going to resign from the party now?
October 9th, 2011 at 2:02 am
Actually, Asoka, this woman is a Canadian, just like you and this question is between two Canadians. The Sri Lankans in Sri Lanka are pretty amused by what this woman has to say, and they don’t really care what happens in the Canadian/Ontario parliaments. Canada had never wielded any political power in the world arena, and never will.
Its good that Asoka is highlighting the LTTE atrocities, etc, but still this is a Canadian problem. Just as this woman is a Canadian citizen, like Asoka, Prabakaran’s sister and other relatives are also live in Ontario as Canadian citizens. There is no difference bewteen them and any other Canadian citizen.