Biased reporting by the ABC against Sri Lanka in support of the Terrorist Organisations: Protest by Sri Lankans
Posted on October 26th, 2011
Dr. D.ChandraratnaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
We as Sri Lankan Australians wish to register our protest at the recent programs aired by the ABC ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ supporting the false accusations by the supporters of the LTTE terrorist organisation aimed at destabilising Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ You have been a gullible accomplice to this ruse by your bland acceptance of the claims made by two Australian citizens who travelled to Sri Lanka to aid and abet a terror outfit which killed hundreds and thousands of innocent people in that country for three decades.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ You have been sadly unaware of the attempts by the LTTE to move the US and Australian judiciary against the government of Sri Lanka over accountability issues still pursued the LTTE bid to divideƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the country on ethnic lines in spite of losing its conventional military capability. You are giving ample publicity to the vilification campaign funded by the LTTE to negate the attempts being made by Sri Lanka to do their task of rehabilitating the former combatants including hundreds of children who were trained as suicide bombers. By giving uninterrupted publicity to their propaganda campaign who are inadvertently aiding the LTTE which is active overseas to cause a rift between the Rajapaksa government and the international community.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is nothing but a part of their overall strategy to isolate post-war Sri Lanka.
Here are the facts regarding the ABC 7.30 report of the so called eyewitness account of Meena Krishnamoorthy. Your eye witness was an LTTE cadre Krishnamoorthy Navarangi Meena aka Eelanadee, a Sri Lankan born Australian citizen.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Meena had returned to the then LTTE-held area in 2004 on the invitation of the LTTE and had three years later married a hardcore LTTE cadre. She had received a six-month military training programme and served the LTTEƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Malathi ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”regimentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ until the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009, these sources said. Your ABC Four Corners repeat of the ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ UKƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Channel 4 News which based its unsubstantiated ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Killing FieldsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ on comments attributed to Sri Lankan born UK passport holder Vaani Kumar was an LTTE ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Malathi regimentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ colleague of Meena. They were in the Vanni together at the end of the war. It is well known that the LTTE propaganda is backed by a section of the international community and primarily three NGOs, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group actively aided by the UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillai, herself an ethnic Tamil. Military intelligence in Sri Lanka says that the international media and human rights watchdogs had stepped up the vilification propaganda using LTTE women in their offensive.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ You should also be aware that South Africa-based Vathsala Devi, an ex LTTE cadre (wife of LTTE leader Ramesh) recently moved the US judiciary against Sri Lanka. Another leading woman activist is Sampavi, former LTTE/TYO (Tamil Youth Organization) activist is presentlyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ playing an active role in Australian Tamil Congress (She represented ATC in the recent meeting with Green PartyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Australia) ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Using Meena, a section of the Australia media had targeted President Rajapaksa, UN Ambassador Palitha Kohona, and Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka High Commissioner for Australia, intellingence sources said.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The military has also identified MeenaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s husband, Irasarathnam Thayakaran Meena had been among a selected group of LTTE cadres sent to South Africa to follow a course in law and briefly coordinated LTTE activities in Malaysia. Her husband, Thayakaran, had joined the LTTE in 1993 and served the Imran Pandiyan Special Regiment which massacred thousands of innocent civilians in Sri Lanka. He had been among those sent on a special mission to Johannesburg in Nov. 2003 and returned to country in December the same year.
In fact the current accuser, the Sri Lankan educated engineer resident in Melbourne, who acted as another foot soldier for the Terrorist organisation who ought to be hauled before the Australian judiciary for aiding terror organisation just like those who aided Al, Keida by the Australian Federal police for violating the International human rights conventions of which Australia is a signatory. This retired engineer Jegan Waren admitted that he is a supporter of the terror organisation, theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ LTTE. It is pretty obvious that his trip to the war zone was well before the civilian casualties, and was to help the LTTE.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In that case, why isnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t, Jegan Waren, who is an Australian citizen, guilty of aiding and abetting terrorism? How does this action differ from David Hicks story? David Hicks was found in the war zone and was goaled for years. Why is the double standard?
Jegan Waren and also his lawyers talk of discrimination. The simple question to be asked is how could he have become an engineer if he was discriminated? The answer is that he like all other Tamils benefitted from the free education provided by the Sri Lankan Government to this day. The slogan of discrimination is another big lie to substantiate their claims for a separate State. Their State ought to be Tamilnadu. Why donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t they take arms against India for a separate State? ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Is it because terrorism would not stand a chance in a powerful country like India.
It is bad enough that the terrorists who support the LTTE had migrated to unsuspecting countries like Australia, Britain and Canada under the guise of refugees. It is worse when the unsuspecting media is manipulated to publish their stories for publicity. LTTE blood money is used for this purpose. I hope you are privy to the fact that recently Netherlands gaoled several so called Tamil refugees who had gained entry to that country for terrorist activity.
You as an organization which claims excellence in investigative reporting seem to have missed the truth by a long shot.
AS AVID ABC LISTENERS AND VIWERS WE DEMAND THAT WE BE HEARD
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Dr. D.ChandraratnaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
October 26th, 2011 at 5:47 pm
Pardon my off-the-cuff delivery if I am wrong SL Patriots in Australia, but I think there is a sizable remnant piece of the White-Australia racist-kooks in the various Australian governments, various Australian media and of course the in the Australian fringe political parties (aka LOSERS) such as the Green Party and as it is now no longer fashionable to be batting for that odious White-Australia racist-kook policy, these same Australian racist kooks have now decided to go on fanning and promoting other racist ideologies (no different to how heroin addicts switch to another pusher if their regular pusher was no more) and this is why they are now promoting the Tamil racist-separatist-terrorist’s agenda in Australia. Now the fact that these LTTE scum are known to be sitting on a war-chest of over $4 Billion, well, I guess they are thinking what’s wrong in scraping-off some of GRAVY while we get our racist-kook fix.
Otherwise, how can one explain the pain, the extent to which these obviously pro-Tamil-racist-separatist Australians go to today to bash Sri Lanka and demonize the Sinhela majority of Sri Lanka?
OaO Asithri
October 26th, 2011 at 5:58 pm
SL organisations in Australia are not very active partly due to lack of funds in them. LTTE organisations have billions with them and racist groups are behind them for money. That’s how greens, etc. pay their bills. And Aus is always looking for ways to interfere in the region.
October 26th, 2011 at 6:20 pm
The most damning part is according to the 2006 Australian Government census: there are 47,000 Sinhalese in Australia -concentrated into boroughs of Melbourne at that- and 6000 Tamils.
Yet Tamils “run the show” like they do elsewhere.
It speaks clearly of the in action and attitude of the Sinhalese there. Many are of “JVP descent”. Ironic the previous Governments of Sri Lanka sent them and their families their from the 71 and 88 incidents to “help them move on” and they do nothing but display their hatred towards Sri Lanka. When Janaka Perera was made Ambassador both the Tamils and these Sinhalese protested with crowds of equal number. (Similar situation in Japan).
These Sinhalese have already indoctrinated their children with hatred for Sri Lanka and an ugly deep unpatriotic attitude. Australia is home to “Liger Tions”. A bunch of tarts who supported the LTTE, their actions, the creation of a Tamil state and “punishment” for Sinhalese who did not agree with the “sufferings of Tamils”. They were more vicious in their activities than the Tamils. Best of all was most of them came under attack (beatings, acids hurling, shops destroyed, cars and homes pelted) following the war victory in May 2009. And THEY STILL follow this crap “ideology” of theirs.
October 26th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Lorenzo,
The problem is Sinhalese in Australia, like other places in the West, are dis-united and not bothered. I don’t blame them for being “not bothered” and wanting to cut the umbilical.
What i dislike is their own rabid hatred for Sri Lanka driven by their political tunnel vision where SLs stupid politics not just crosses borders but generations as well.
Melbourne to Sinhalese is Tornoto to Tamils.
Why does it not appear that way? Especially with the attitude/editorial policies of the Australian media being worse than that of Canada and the UK for that matter.
It also saddening that Sinhalese who do try to do something, get little support from others, are attacked by others, or end up fighting amongst themselves over “who should be in charge” (of some organisation etc), “what game plan to follow” (of some action in support of SL) and who “should get credit”. As a result of a combination of all these factors there is a low turn out. And for such low turn out in Australia where the Sinhalese out number Tamils by vast numbers is very disappointing.
Tamils are simply far more united when it comes to the “cause”.
October 26th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
Lorenzo is correct, Sri Lankans in oz are not effective at all in countering the Tami Terror propaganda.
We have fallen into the trap by having an ex Navy Commander as our HC. The Admiral is pre occupied in protecting his own name as he himself now become a target for media.
Groups like SPUR, Canberra Support Group and other oz Lankaweb regular contributors are disunited and ineffective, while Tamils in Australia are running the show. This is clearly evident for any media watchers in Australia during this week.
Tamils have ICJ, NGO, ALP MPs, Greens, media, Bruce Haigh, Gordan Weiss, Malcom Fraser, Damien Kingsbury, Jack Lynch, Tamil Tigress book, etc to name a few to humiliate Sri Lanka and to destroy the good name of our Lanka. We are in the receiving end, ever since we finished the LTTE.
I am proposing that we should not host the CHOGM in 2013 in Colombo. These “war crimes” accusations will flare up and we will become centre of scrutiny again. The west will allow us to host the CHOGM in 2013, to trap us again and to force their agenda.
Every time we defend Sri Lanka in public, we are reminded of the issue of “war crimes”. It’s PR disaster for us and its heart breaking!!!
October 26th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
Sadly, as the writer of this article has pointed out, the unsuspecting and naive ABC like other sections of the Australian media have been taken for a good ride by the Tiger lobby, a group that is well entrenched, well organised and perhaps most of all, very well funded. The reporters who ‘do’ these stories are for the most part, good, well meaning persons but unfortunately have little or no knowledge of Sri Lanka or the real backgrounds to the stories they cover and are not sharp enough to critically evaluate the ‘evidence’ provided by the so-called eye witnesses.
There have been enough cases of Tamils who have obtained residence in countries like Canada and Australia on the bogus claim that their lives were in danger in Sri Lanka, only for them within a short time thereafter, to return to visit the island. I won’t be surprised if the two ‘witnesses’ Meena and Jegan Waren are also in this category. One simple question that the reporters could have asked these people was why they saw fit to return to the island after previously fleeing it for their own safety.
Unfortunately it does not seem to occur to them to ask these questions and well meaning persons like John Dowd also fall easy prey to these clever ‘witnesses’
I agree with love_lanka that Sri Lanka should withdraw its offer to host CHOGM 2013. After all, if people like the Canadian PM consider they don’t wish to attend, why bother? Also, this will leave Sri Lanka’s detractors with at least one less opportunity to direct their venom on the country.
October 26th, 2011 at 9:48 pm
I agree with you all.
Frankly in the diaspora, it is Sinhalese led groups against Tamil led groups. Combined groups are not there, inactive or anti-Sri Lankan. Sinhala groups in Australia are now running behind reconciliation and they don’t want to do anything that would “hurt” Tamil groups. So they keep silent allowing Tamil groups to do whatever, reach politicians and discredit Sri Lanka in the name of reconciliation.
Tisara Samarasinghe doesn’t know anything about diplomacy. He is not a career diplomat anyway. He wants to do reconciliation between Sinhalese and Tamils in Australia.
hitapu aththath nehe, paya gahapu aththath nehe!
Now nobody in Australia defends Sri Lanka. Even those who want to do are scared that they be blamed for disturbing reconciliation. Of course very few individuals do it individually. That’s all. Tamils are organised and have one aim – discredit Sri Lanka. They are not bothered about nonsense.
Sinhala groups should first decide if they want reconciliation or protecting Sri Lanka. The two are contradictory.
This time Australian government saved Sri Lanka from needless trouble. Sri Lankan groups did nothing. They only take photos with the Rajapakshas and Samarasinghe and show to their friends. That’s all they do.
October 27th, 2011 at 4:24 am
I agree that Sri lankans are still divided into Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims both in the country and outside the country. As long as this division is there, it is going to hurt us in the international arena. To defend Sri Lanka we need unity among Sinhalese, Tamils and muslims. Our anti tamil slogans not going to help in protecting Sri Lanka. The real threat to Sri Lanka is not the tamils or LTTE. It is from the international (West) and India. LTTE and tamils are (carriers) used by them. If they are not there, then they will use muslims or Sarath Fonseka or JVP or any group even murderd Parath’s family. The extremist elements within Sinhalese do not understand the need for recolcilliation, open discussions and the need for the governance of rule by law. The politicians can come and go. Today’s hero become tomorrow’s dictator and vice versa. today’s enemies may become tomorrow’s friends and vice versa. But Sri Lanka should remain as Sri Lanka, that is peace loving, justice for every citizen of Sri Lanka.
October 27th, 2011 at 7:51 am
Can I just add my take to the problem of the Sinhalese community in Australia. In general, once they set foot in Australia, they act like strangers in the house, afriad of offending every other community in Australia so they are very quick to agree with every view even if it is false. Tamils on the other hand are very quick to take citizenship and claim their rights as equal citizens of Australia. They are not afraid to befriend non-Sri Lankans and talk persuasively to them. Sinhalese on the other hand, tend to huddle together much more, reluctant to make friends that are non Sri Lankan or feeling shy to converse in English. That is some of them. Then there are others that go to the other extreme and try to shed everything about their background. They tend to go from one extreme to the other. Notice how Tamils have Australian Federation of Tamil Associations, Tamil Australian this Tamil Australian that and so on. They are very well organised and public relations concious. Tamils, in general, are not embarassed to go around saying they are Tamils and they have no sense of collective guilt over LTTE atrocities, the caste system, no embarassment about the filthy condition of Tamil Nadu etc. No sense of collective guilt whatsoever! It sounds like a silly statement but some pathetic Sinhalese in Australia go around hiding the fact that they are Sri Lankan, they are so embarassed by the negative publicity etc and they go around exaggerating the bad things about Sri Lanka! I have witnessed this myself. One of them, whose parents hail from down south, calling himself a “black Tasmanian” even pretending to me he cant speak Sinhala (until I overheard him chattering in Sinhala to relatives!). Another one, who cant even disguise her Sri Lankan accent, going around the workplace claiming she was born in Australia and “well integrated” and agreeing that Tamils face organised “persecution”. I have met more Burghers (and even the occasional Tamil) who is willing to call a spade a spade and stand up for Sri Lanka. It is sad to say, but generally speaking – Sinhalese in Australia = permanent strangers “arselickers” and “shitkickers”. (My apologies to the handful who arent like this).
October 27th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
sarath Says:
October 27th, 2011 at 4:24 am
“I agree that Sri lankans are still divided”
Agree with who? The issue everyone else is agreeing on his the disunity of the Sinhalese? What on earth has your s “agreement” got to do with that of others?
sarath Says:
October 27th, 2011 at 4:24 am
“The extremist elements within Sinhalese”
Oh yes of course its always the fault of Sinhalese.
Please tell us about Tamil racism, extremism and supremacist mentality and why that should not be dealt with? Why must the “overtures of goodwill” be from the Sinhalese only? Why must Sinhalese bow their heads in apology and “know their place” all the time? It is this attitude advocated and promoted by the likes of how Sinhalese should behave (and only Sinhalese) by the likes of people such as you that leads to weakness and the abuse of Sinhalese by everyone. Nowhere else in the world is a majority community so abused and tortured by others and their own than in Sri Lanka.
October 27th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
@Voice123
Part of he problem is the mindset of Sinhalese best encapsulated by the likes of sarath who has commented prior to yours. It is one ripe with subservience and slave mentality.
This is what he has to say elsewhere too:
sarath Says:
October 27th, 2011 at 2:03 am
“Particularly, India is watching us with caution. It is very dangerous for us to make the WEst and INdia as our enemies. They are utterly wrong and biased but they are powerful and has the capability to do whatever they want.”
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2011/10/26/world-leaders-must-stop-humiliating-sri-lanka/comment-page-1/#comment-13466
Tremble! Tremble! They will never be our friends, such do not exist. Nations do not have permanent friends or permanent enemies. They have permanent interests. Bowed head syndrome and mental enslavement is not the answer. We must work on ways to overcome such hostile peoples/nations. Not live in fear of them, otherwise we do not deserve a State.
I suppose that is a result of 500 years of brutal oppression at the hands of the West where they did their best to crush and destroy our independence and strong will when our people continually fought against their domination. Tamils were not inflicted with this. But the most damning thing is that when Sinhalese emerge trying to destroy this mentality and propose one of strength and strong will power they are brutally attacked, insulted, degraded, character assassinated, demonised, mocked, humiliated, labelled and eventually “exiled” in some form by other Sinhalese seemingly content with their lives of mental slavery and white worshipping. It is what befell Anagarika Dharmapala. Until Sinhalese mentality changes and this worshipping all things foreign Sinhala people will always be crushed in some form.
October 27th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Raju’s Soap Box rant.
Let’s cut to the chase. In his view..
Sri Lanka only belongs to Sinhala Buddhist and no-one else.
Deport, kick out all Tamils, Muslims, Burghers, Hindus, Christians, Colombians and Injuns.
Wonderful!!
Now we know why the current MR and his cahoots are insulted, degraded, character assassinated, demonised, mocked, humiliated, labelled and eventually “tagged” for ever as inhuman.
October 27th, 2011 at 4:02 pm
Oh lookie here Marco the cry baby has soiled the carpet again!
Poor kid always wants to make himself feel and look important.
October 28th, 2011 at 9:17 am
@Raju, your point is noted. Here are some more examples. (I have deliberately mixed and jumbled these facts up so as to protect privacy. It is NOT my intention to embarass any individuals but purely to help educate the Sri Lankan community worldwide of the types of pathetic behaviour of a handful of opportunistic Sinhalese people in Australia – giving a bad name to the entire community). I feel there is an urgent need to address these issues. Example. There was a Sinhala Buddhist lady who went around claiming Buddhists women in Sri Lanka are victims of a Buddhist “sharia type” law which prohibits them from walking outside of the house without a male chaperone. She said Buddhist men would rape them if they did this. She also claimed she couldnt return to Sri Lanka because her parents would “kidnap” her and force her to get married! Immediately she got lots of sympathy from Australian women of the extreme feminist persuation with special sensitivity to third world countries (we call them feminazis here). She tried to get permanent residence on the refugee card (oppression of women by “Buddhist sharia-style law”) but failed of course. However she managed to snare a white Aussie bloke and got married so she got citizenship. As if that was not enough to satisfy her, she then went around saying she was so lucky to have married this man and not a Sri Lankan because this man treats her better than any Sri Lankan treats his wife. How does she know this? So she is needlessly discriminating and vilifying her own Sinhala people! How self defeating. Is this true there is a Buddhist sharia type law in Sri Lanka against women? (Even if it is not true, it sounds like a great idea for LTTE and separatist propoganda no?) There is another story of another person – a man who is living in Australia but shy to talk in English. He is functional in English as he needs to use it to work in Australia but socially, he refuses to talk to other Sri Lankans unless they talk to him in Sinhala. He comes across as really rude and arrogant. He does not recognise that not even all Sri Lankans, especially in Australia, are not Sinhala speaking. Again, I would describe this approach as utterly self defeating.
October 28th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Raju,
I guess from your response i was not far wrong with my analysis.
Voice123,
There are “bad” apples in every basket.
Let’s not generalise.
October 28th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
@Marco
Saying there are good and bad apples in every basket merely states the obvious, and does not get us anywhere. It is the sort of language politicians use at election time. It is not my intention to count good and bad apples or to point fingers at individuals or even communities anywhere. Some people have rightly commented above that members of the 75,000 strong Sinhalese community in Australia (this number only includes those born in Sri Lanka and who tick that language spoken at home is Sinhala on the Australian Bureau of Statistics census forms – so the actual number of ethnic-Sinhalese in Australia is considerably higher than 75,000 – I would estimate about 200,000) are ineffective in the face of the barrage of false propoganda against Sri Lanka over the last 3 decades. Even worse, they often wittingly or unwittingly fuel the LTTE separatist propoganda mill for selfish purposes eg to get popular (as individuals) with non-Sri Lankans. It is clear there are urgent issues facing the community if the types of self-defeating, opportunistic, self-hating behaviours described above is prevalent and they need to be addressed however for future generations of overseas-born Sri Lankan children to move around in a reconciled and dignified manner with their counterparts in the Tamil community or indeed participate fully in the mainstream society in the immigrant receiving countries such as Australia and Canada. The entire community cant ignore this sort of negative attitudes forever and try and cultive more positive self-images.
October 28th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Thanks for sharing that Voice123 it is indeed pathetic to see such activities.
Also do be wary of our little chappie Marco here. He’s of the NGO type and loves to engage in scoffing at Sinhalese who do bother in trying to defend the country. See here his slimy unwanted scornful comments against those Sinhalese who protested against Channel 4 and their fight against that injustice -one perpetuated and thoroughly enjoyed by his type of “clan” should we say.
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2011/10/04/18592/#comment-12815
You can also see such “clan” behaviour from his comments in this very topic in which he provides (once again) unwanted responses to me where he plays the stale “minority oppression” card, which is highly amusing considering my comments were purely on Sinhalese (within and out of Sri Lanka) and their flaws, as we have been discussing. Yet Marco jumps in and tosses something completely unrelated (and fraudulent in its own basis) to the course of the discussion. But of course that is how people like him operate when spreading their myths, soothing their egos and earning that pay packet.