H. L. D. Mahindapala

Dear Mr. Sumanthiram,

I am forwarding just this one last letter to you not because I expect a reply — you dodged me in Melbourne and also dodged my questionnaire sent to you as requested by you — butƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ for two other reasons. First, ifƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ myths, fictions, concoctions and lies are not challenged they are accepted as theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ truth naturally because there is no alternativeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ narrative to test and verify imagined constructions of the mind far removed from reality.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Second,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ it is time to dealƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ with some of the key issues that you and your leader, R. Sampanthan, have raised both at home and abroadƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ever since the Vadukoddai Resolution (May 1976)ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ sank in theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ NandikadalƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Lagoon.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ (May 2009).

One recurring theme in your speeches and attacks on the GOSL is the accusation that the Tamils cannot expect “dignity, equality, justice and self-respect” in a Sri Lankan state. This accusation leads you to conclude that the Jaffnaites can get equality, dignity, justice and self-respect only under a federalƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  or preferably under a separate state.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I note that India too has begun to repeat this theme. Preneet Kaur, the Indian Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs in answer to a question asked in the Lok Sabha recently as to why India voted against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), said in a written reply: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-India voted in favour of the resolution ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Promotion, Reconciliation and Accountability in Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Geneva on 22 March 2012. The vote was in line with the GovernmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s consistent stand to advance the objective, namely, the achievement of a future for the Tamil community in Sri Lanka that is marked by equality, dignity, justice and self-respect.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

This necessitates an inquiry into the alleged accusationsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ whichƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ are promoted as theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ revised line of attack on GOSL to extract more concessions — i.e, 13 + and all that — for the Tamil separatist lobby to advance to the next step on the road to Eelam. You seem to have run out of steam on the usual litany of “grievances”, “aspirations” etc and now latched on to “dignity, equality, justice and self-respect”. Well, as you know, any inquiryƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ into these accusationsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ must begin with the status accorded to theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ JaffnaitesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in the history of Jaffna.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ That is the fist baseƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ which can reveal how much “dignity, equality, justice and self-respect” were given to the average Jaffnaite by the ruling elites of Jaffna in all its phases.

In the history of Jaffna adumbrated by me earlier I divided the history of Jaffna into three main periods: 1. the pre-colonial period; 2. the colonial period in which the Vellahla elite were the dominant casteist sub-rulers with total religio-social control over the daily lives of the Jaffnaites and 3. the post-independence period dominated by the federalist/separatist agents (hereinafter, the “Vadukoddians”) which includes Velupillai Prabhakaran, the inhuman genie that cameƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ out of the Vadukoddai bottle of 1976. The inseparable affinity between the Vadukoddians and Prabhakaranists is sealed by theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ symbiotic relationship between theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  PrabhakaranistsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and the Vadukoddians who feed on each others blood for survival.

Now my question to you is simply this: in which of the three period/s did the Jaffnaites enjoy dignity, equality, justice and self-respect in the peninsula/north where the Vadukoddians hope to set up a federal/separate state? The scattered evidence of the history of Jaffna — starting from Yalpana Vaipava MalaiƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ (YVM)ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and ending in theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ reports of theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) (Jaffna) which documented most of the last phase ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ PrabhakaranƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ‘s regime — confirm that at no time in the recordedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ historyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of JaffnaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ did the average Jaffanites enjoy dignity, equality, justice and self-respect to make them feel that they belong to the human race, let alone Tamils. Tamils have a history of treating their own people as outcasts who should be kept far apart as possible without even coming within their range ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  eyesight.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Some were treated as subhumans.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Jaffna was an exemplary enclave which demonstrated man’s cruelty to man in all its “insane fury”.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ (YVM).

For instance, without going far to fetch new evidence, it is fair to ask you and Samapanthan what dignity, equality, justice and self-respect you both got from Prabhakaran when youƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ bothƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ stood before him, with cap in hand, to survive the next day politically and physically without fear of being assassinated by his goons. Unlike in the Vanni you and Sampanthan had the equality and the right, with that of any other MP of any community, to stand up in ParliamentƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  “the Sinhala state”, as you prefer to call it, and attack President Mahinda Rajapakse and his government, mark you, with the police protection given by the “Sinhala state”. How long do you think you would have survived if you went on the war path against your leader, Prabhakaran, even with the security given to you both by “the Sinhala state”? Remember what happened to Appapillai Amirthalingam, Mr. Sumanthiram? As you know, Mrs. Amirthalingam and her son visited the Sinhala policeman when they returned from Canada to thank him for risking his life to protect her husband but not Prabhakaran. Why? Wasn’tƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  it because she found justice, dignityƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and self-respectƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in the “Sinhala state” and not in Tamil Peelam, eh Mr. Sumanthiram?

You both are lawyers and you should be the most competent Tamils in the profession to speak of the legal system of your “Liberator/Saviour”. How many cases did you and Sampanthan initiate in Prabhakaran’s courts to rescue the Tamil dissidents, or the children dragged forcibly to fill his depleted cadres, or theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Tamils imprisoned in barbed wire cages in which they had space only to sit and not move one inch in any direction? Didn’t you both go along merrily with the oppressive cruelties of the day like your legal predecessors before? Your lawyers, from Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan downwards, were the defenders of the most reactionary, oppressive, unjustƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ casteistƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ status quo in the north. Your lawyers never spoke for the oppressed people of Jaffna. Your lawyers appeared in court to defend theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ feudal andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ casteistƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ privileges of the Vellahlas to prevent the average Jaffnaite even to bury their dead according to their cherished traditional rites. The best of your lawyers never stood up in Parliament or courts to defend the rights of the Jaffnaites to enter a temple, go to a school or sit in a bus. Is that the dignity, equality, justice and self-respect you gave your own people? If you both were decent and honest shouldn’t you have jointly told this to foreign governments before levelling accusations againstƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ GOSL about denyingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ justice andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ dignityƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to TamilsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ so that they couldƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  have a balanced view ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  who denied what to whom?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Down the ages the average Jaffnaite never gotƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the justice he deserved because the rulingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Tamil elite ganged up against the “asangha” (the outsiders). The written record reveals that your history is seeped in the blood of theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Tamil victims of ruthless Tamil victimisers at the top. Your political culture denied the basic rights of Tamils to live as human beings. Ironically, you turn round and accuse the GOSL of doing things to Tamils which you have done to your own people from the time you settled down in the northern tip. As you know — and you cannot deny this — if the Jaffnaite got any justice, either in courts or in the administrationƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  it was in the courts of “the Sinhala state” and in the Sinhala administration, despite all their shortcomings. That is why you were a lawyer practising in the courts of the “Sinhala state” and not in Prabhakaran’s courts,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ isn’t it Mr. Sumanthiram?

For instance, when C. Suntheralingam, the caste fanatic slapped a low-caste man, the government of the day had to get down a Muslim judge to preside over theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ proceedings fearing that,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a Vellahla caste judge would side with him. Besides, like you and Sampanthan, none of your brilliant lawyers, including G. G. Ponnambalam and S.J. V. Chelvanayakam, would have a had chance to step into any of the courts in Prabhakaran’s regime, if the loved their lives. More than that,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ they would have considered it beneath their dignity to step into kangaroo courts to obey the commands ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ half-literate factotums serving not justice but tyranny of a fascistƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ mass murderer.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ You will admit thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ they, like you, practiced in the courts of “the Sinhala state”ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ because the best of Tamil lawyers could find security and justice — not to mention success — only in the courts of “the Sinhala state” and not in Prabhakaran’s Tamil courts. Ponnambalam Jr. went as far as conducting cases in Sinhala in the courts of “the Sinhala state” and not in the Tamil courts of Prabhakaran — his political hero whom he worshipped. Why, Mr. Sumanthiram? Why did Tamil lawyers practice in Sinhala courts and not in Prabhakaran’s Tamil courts,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ if, as you say, there is no justice? You will, of course, find theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ oddƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sinhala kalu koat karayas talking anam – manan for panam complaining about the lack of Tamil translators in courts. Despite the language disabilities the courtsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of “the Sinhala state”ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ have dispensed with the justice to all communities to the best of their ability. After all Rome was not a built in a day and refinements have been put in place to remedy most of the legal disabilities and impediments.

The dignity of the Tamil man is another issue that you whip up to convince the world that you are the victims of the “Sinhala state”. This would have been justified if you, Sampanthan and your party had actively campaigned to raise and uphold the dignity of the Jaffna Tamilian each time he was kicked around by your oppressive political culture. For instance, can Sampanthan tell us what liberalistic role he played, and where he was, when the low-castes were refused entry to Maviddipuram Temple? Did he, or his colleagues in the Federal party, starting from S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, stand up for the dignity, equality, justice and self-respect of hundreds of thousands of what they called the “minorities” — a euphemism for the oppressed low-castes — who were threatened with death if they crossed the outermost court of the Temple?

I was there at Maviddipuram at the height of the crisis. I didn’t see any of your leaders in the forefront opening the doors for the low-castes to enter the Temple. Where were they if they were the defenders of the dignity of the Tamils?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I was there in Parliament as the lobby correspondent of The Observer. I didn’t hear Chelvanayakam speaking about the discrimination against the low-castes by the upper-caste Vellahlas. Prof. Bryan Pfaffenberger, who made a brilliant study of the Vellahla caste system, wrote that the Tamil leadership “tip-toed out of the crisis” which, of course, cast the burden on N. Shamugathasan of the Communist Party to carry the load on his shoulders.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ You will, no doubt, agree, Mr. Sumanthiram,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ that there is noƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ other place on earthƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in which aƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Hindu TamilƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ can enjoy dignity, equality, justice and self-respect except under the grace of their God’s roof. If dignity, equality, justice and self-respect were denied to the average Jaffnaite in the sacred temples of the Hindu God/s which other secular institution could have given the basic dignity to be a human being free from the humiliation of political oppression and social ostracism — the perennialƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and defining characteristics of the Jaffna political culture in all three phases of its history? Which other community known to you in Sri Lanka, Mr. Sumanthiram, had institutionalized inhuman oppression and denial of the basic human rightsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ throughout its history to its members other than the Jaffna religio-political culture?

If the Jaffnaite felt liberated and respected as a human being wasn’t it when he came out of theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ casteist gulag ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ JaffnaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to live among the other communities in the open society of the south? Of course, the Vellahla caste elite and later the low-castes who ran Prabhakaran’s regime did enjoy, under their respective political cultures, their brand of justice and dignity which, of course, was anathema to the non-Vellahlas and the non-Prabhakaranists. The inner circles of the ruling elite, like in any fascist regime, enjoyed exclusive privileges that were denied to the rest. The rest were treated like pariahs — one of the Tamil words that entered the pages of the Oxford English dictionary. ThisƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ is an indicationƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the world outside JaffnaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ has recognisedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ that one of the main contributions of your cultureƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ has been toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ produce pariahs.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Also, of all the Sri Lankans, it was the Tamils that were designated and condemned as terrorists by the international community. You will now realise that you belong to the most cruel political culture that degraded your own kind to the low level of pariahs, or terrorists. Isn’t your subhuman political culture responsible forƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ reducing your peopleƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to pariahs and terrorists?

So, considering the fact that your ancestors and political predecessors were the most inhuman offenders of denying justice, dignity, equality and self-respect to your own people Mr. Sumanthiram, what moral right have you or Sampanthan to accuse the GOSL of the crimes you committed against your own people? Your inhuman caste system denied even a drop of water to your fellow Tamils who did not belong to the upper-caste. No Tamil man was denied water, or entry into KataragamaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ kovils run by Sinhala-Buddhists, or a school in the Sinhala south. You are a good example, Mr. Sumanthiram. You are a post-1956 product from a school run by “the Sinhala state” in the south. Can you tell us the discrimination you faced either because your were a Tamil, or because ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the Sinhala Only Act? You are mouthing the anti-Sri Lankan slogans not because you were denied dignity, equality, justice and self-respect at Royal college, Law College or in the “Sinhala state” courts butƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ only because you can gain some political mileage out of demonizing “the Sinhala state” which has given a status to the Tamils that no state — not even India — has given to the Tamils.

You may not know this, or you may not want to recognize it because it is politically disadvantageous to you, but once I point out the facts you cannot deny that the only state under the sun that has given the Tamils the highest status, dignity and respect is what you call “the Sinhala state”. Take the case of the Sri Lankan flag. There are 193 flags flying at the UN and of this the only flag that has given the Tamils a place of dignityƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ , honour, gloryƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and respect in the international community is the Sri Lankan flag. When the President of Sri Lanka, or any other head of state, salutes the Sri Lankan flag they salute all three communities, giving respect, dignity and equality to all communities, just not the Sinhalese. The only stamp in the world that has given Tamil a dignifiedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ international recognition is the Sri Lankan stamp. Tamil is also given respect and dignity in the currency notes, in passports, and in Air Lanka — the only international carrier that announces in Tamil.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Not even India, which is your original homeland, hasƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ given the Tamils the dignity and respect that the “Sinhala state” has given the Sri Lankan Tamils. This is not tokenism. These are the highest symbols of the stateƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ . To be on an equal footing with that of Sinhalese at the peak level is the highest dignity and respect that can be given to the Tamil minority. A denial of these facts reflects only the level of your intelligence to grasp the facts staring in hour face and not the failure of the “Sinhala state”, Mr. Sumanthiram.

Your leader also makes references to “developing our….. culture and tradition”. Has not the GOSL and kings and queens of the past pursued consistently a progressive policy of promoting Tamil language, culture and Hinduism? When the first university was opened at Peradeniya D. S. Senanayake established a chair for Tamil. Since then two Tamil universities have been set up in the north and the east. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was the first head of state toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ bestow official recognition to the Tamil language and enshrine it as as a language of the state in the statute books.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ When the Jaffna Tamils were concerned about their “pure”culture being polluted by the cheap exports from Madras Mrs. Sirimavao Bandaranaike banned the imports of films and magazines from S. India to protect your culture. One of the biggest Tamil festivals — the Vel festival — is held in the south. Kataragama is one of the biggest Hindu temples in Sri Lanka whereƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  the doors are open to all Tamils, irrespective of their caste giving them equality before man and God.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The list isƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ long. But youƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ never stop accusing the Sinhalese aboutƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ practices that you had imposed on your people without shame or moral concerns.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

For instance,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ when the Tamil language was given official status in the state of Sri Lanka you cried that it was not give parity of status. You were given the right toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ be the official language in the north and the east which is all what you would have got if you gotƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ your separate state. But Bandaranaike gave the right to theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Tamils to communicate with the central state in addition to the provisions that entitled them to run the north and east in Tamil. You were given the best of both worlds and yet youƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ raised Cain about the Sinhala Only ActƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ complaining thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ not giving parityƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of status.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Let me repeat to make it abundantly clear: the Tamils were not denied their right to run their north and east in Tamil. Nor were they denied the right toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ deal with the centre in Tamil. Their demand was to have parity of status. You said that it was an attempt to destroy Tamil language and Tamil culture. Fifty six years have passed since then. According to the frenetic fears raised by your predecessors, purely to justify divisive and violent politics, Tamil language should have vanished from the face of the earthƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  under theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ impact of the Sinhala Only Act. Has it happened Mr. Sumanthiram, orƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ isƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Tamil still in the state thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ it used to beƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ when Arumuka Navalar was making a bid to revive Tamil and,besides, aren’tƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ you still using it in Parliament and in official dealings more freely than before?

More importantly, your leader speaks of aƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  JaffnaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  “culture” as if you have the most exquisiteƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and unparalleledƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ culture in the world. Such boasts would be valid only if you have a culture,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ don’t you think so, Mr. Sumanthiram? Do you honestly think that you have a culture to talk of, Mr. Sumanthiram? According to the claims of Vadukoddians like Sampanthan and you, the Jaffna Tamils have been in this business of developing Tamil culture and tradition from the year dot — long before the Sinhalese came. So can you kindly show us one single bit of art, architecture, poetry, dramaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ , musicƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  etc., that could match that of the S. Indian culture or the Sinhala-Buddhist culture? Can you show us an Ediriweera Sarathchandra, a Piyadasa Sirisena, a Martin Wickremesinghe, an Amaradeva, a Gunadasa Amerasekera, a Mahagama Sekera, a Sagara Palansuriya, a Lester Peiris, or an Ivan Peiris, to mention only a few drawn fromƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ only the 20th century?

Of course, I must concede that your Tamil culture surpassed the Sinhala culture and beat the hell out of all communities, including the Jaffna Tamils, when your culture produced two of the great mass murderers in the history of Sri Lanka — Sangkili and your brutal master Prabhakaran. I do bow to the superiority of your political culture which turned men like you and your leader Sampanthan into mice before your great leader. After all he obtained your silenceƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ , consentƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ — and even praise — each time he plucked Tamil kids from their parents’ breasts and sent them to an early grave. Is this the culture that you and your leader want to develop under your “unrestricted authority”?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Talking of “unrestricted authority”, didn’t the master you worshipped in Vannni also exercise “unrestricted authority” when he decimated your fellow-Tamil leaders in your party? Where was your leader Sampanthan when Amirthalingam, Tiruchelvam, Loganthan, Mrs. Tiranagama — others are too numerous to mention — were slaughtered in cold blood? Sampanthan says that he is getting impatient with the Sinhalese because his patience “has its limits”. How come Sampanthan’s patience didn’t reach the limit when his own colleagues and kith and kin were slaughtered for no earthly reason other than incurring the wrath of the leader you worshipped day and night? Doesn’t this mean that he had all the patience in the world to turn his head away when the defenceless Tamil people were thrown to the crocodiles in the Iranamadu tank simply because he had no room in his prisons for dissidentsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ but he has no patience toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ go along with theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ current progressiveƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ process designed, however tardy it may be,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to lift the Tamil people from theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ depths into which they were driven byƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  the failed Vadukoddian policies of his party and politics?

When you and your leader talk of a Tamil culture you must do a reality check to see whether it exists outside your limited imagination. The blunt fact, Mr. Sumanthiran, is that you have no culture except the culture that began with the mass murderers, oppressorsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and torturersƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of your own people, and ended with the slaughter of your own colleagues under your very eyes which you turned away fearing that you would be the next victims of the brutal Tamil culture that you and your leader boast of so pompously. You have no history except the history written in the blood of your innocent people who were oppressed for centuries by your sanctimonious leaders. You have no religion except the casteist hierarchy that refused to give your people a drink of water, a place in the temple or even the right to bury the dead according to your Hindu rites. You have no art except the art ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ humiliating, dehumanizingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and subjecting your long-suffering people to a misery from which they had no escape from their birth to the grave.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ You have no monumental architectural achievements other than the mountainous pile of corpses on which your leaders stood up as self-proclaimed liberators of the helpless Tamil victims sent to a premature, needless death. You have no values except the values of casteist “purity” which denied your people the right to walk in daylight in case they polluted the the sight of Vellahlas who might happen to see them. You have no morality except the immorality that deniedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ justice, dignityƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and self-respectƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ for your people to live and walk this earth like any other human being. You have no principles except those that enabled you to justify the ethnic cleansing of Muslims, Malays and Sinhalese. You had no ears to hear the cries of Muslims massacred in Kathankudi when their heads were bowed in prayer. You had no eyes to see the ethnic cleansing of Muslims who were raped and expelled within 24 hours from Jaffna. You had no compassion or conscience to defend your own children being abducted on their way home from school and thrown into a futile war that achieved nothing in the end. Zero! Zilch!ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

You, of course, had an innate tendencyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ for the “insane fury”(ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ YVMƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ) that gripped your leaders from time to time to go berserk, targeting anyone who stood in their way. But you have no heroes who could serve as iconic models of humanity, except Sangkili and Prabhakaran — two of the most despicable specimens of humanity who are glorified in the bloody Jaffna culture. You gave no peace to your people on earth except the peace of graveyards that cried to high heaven cursing the stupidity of your leaders. Your perverted politics produced only bogus Gandhians who distributed wooden pistols at satyagraha sit-ins. Your blood thirsty culture was confirmed by your “Thanthai” (ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Father,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ S. J. V. Chelvanayakam) when a Tamil fanatic cut his veins and dipped his finger in the blood to put the mark of death on the forehead with a blood-red pottu. Your leaders liquidated more Tamils than all the others put together. Haven’t you tortured your people enough down the centuries, Mr. Sumanthiram? Must you take them back to the past of the failed Vadukoddai Resolution that has taken them nowhere, eh Mr. Sumanthiram?

You don’t even have a flag except the most obscene flag under the sun where a snarling tiger puts his head out of a ring of 33 bullets (a la MGM lion) superimposed on two crossed rifles with fixed bayonets. There isn’t a single redeeming feature in it. Each symbol in it reminds you of death, butchery, barbarism and beastliness. It can be argued that both Prabhakaran and the flag heƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ conceived in his fetidƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ imaginationƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and drawn according to his specifications byƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a cheap street artist in Chennai represent quite aptly the subhuman culture of Jaffna. The Tamil culture oppressed, persecutedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and brutalized Jaffna and you will never find two better icons than Prabhakaran and his flag to symbolize the crimes against humanity that came out of the womb of Jaffna.

If, however, there is anything else in your culture that can make you proud of being a civilized human being please tell us, Mr. Sumanthiram. We would like to know. Can you think of another community that reduced their own people in living memory to subhuman slaves? Weren’t your socio-religious practices worse than that of apartheid in S. Africa or the KKK in the Bible belt of America? You even lack the basic integrity to tell the truth, or face the truth. You have the gumption to get up in parliament and say that “the trust that the minorities reposed in the majority community of this country was broken, and that was broken by the D.S. Senanayake Government. One of the first few pieces of legislation that was passed disenfranchised over eight hundred thousand Tamils of recent Indian origin, and it took another forty years before they could regain the fundamental right, the basic right of belonging to this country, that of their franchise. That was a great betrayal,” you said. You craftily omitted the vital fact that it was passed with the support of G. G. Ponnambalam, the then sole representative of the Tamils at the time.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If G. G. Ponnambalam, the arch Tamil conservative, approved itƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ doesn’t it mean thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Jaffna political culture did not respect and trust any other Tamil-speaking peoples other than their own Vellahlas. And if it was good enough for Ponnambalam and all the other minority leaders, including the Muslims, who voted for it why was it bad only for “DS”?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This is typical. You blame everything on “the Sinhala state” even when the foundations of the nascentƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ nation was built on the advice and consent of your leaders.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

This is the distorted theme that you and your predecessors have been playing repeatedly to make your mob look pure and put the blame only on what you call “the Sinhala state”. Incidentally, this was also an accusation levelled against the founding father of the UNP. So what was the leader of the UNP, Ranil Wickremesinghe, doing when the founder of his party and Father of the Nation was being vilified by Tamils who worship fascist Prabhakaran and attack democratic liberals like D. S. Senanayake? Not surprisinglyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Wickremesinghe was playing his usual role of a “pon-air” with “katay-pittu” trying to plant another flag in Sumanthiram’s hand, I guess.

D. S. Senanayake did what every leader in the post-colonial world did: he definedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ criteria for citizenship, a primary requirement for any state.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The colonial masters had left a seething mass of discontented indentured labour and like all legacies of colonialism it was left to the new leaders toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ define the contours of the new nation. The new nations were not obliged to carry the burdens of British imperialism who plundered theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  resources and exploited the people. In re-defining theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ criteria for theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ nation’s citizensƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ “DS”ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ was not unfair or unjust.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He offered citizenship toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the Indian workers who had the ancestral qualifications, leaving outƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ only the new comers.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The leader of the plantation workers, S. Thondaman, committed the biggest blunder of boycotting the registration of those workers entitled to citizenship. Indian Tamils who could prove that their grandfather lived in Sri Lanka were automatically entitled to be citizens. Thondaman ordered them not to submit their applications until he realized his mistake at the eleventh hour whenƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ there was time to rush in only a limited number ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ applications.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Consequently, a large number was left out. Eventually, after forty years, as you say, Mr. Sumanthiram, the issue was settled non-violently. How long did your leaders take to recognise your ownƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Jaffna Tamils as human beingsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  — let alone citizens –ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ with the right toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ walk the earth as your equals, or with dignity, Mr. Sumanthiram? In any case, “DS” was proved right when the Indian government later accepted, under Sirima-Shastri pact, a substantial amount of Indian workers as their citizens.

Besides, when did the Jaffna Tamils admit the Indian “coolies” as their equals? Wasn’t it the Jaffnaites who spied on “kallathonis” creeping in through northern portsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in fifties,sixties and seventiesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and tipped off the Navy who grabbed them and sent them back to India? Why are you shedding crocodile tears for the Indian “coolies” when your leader, Chelvanayakam, picked up this issue not to better the conditions of the Indian workers but to boost the numerical strength of the isolated politics of Jaffna Tamils? Perhaps, you may not know this, Mr. Sumanthiram. The only thing that Chelvanayakam bought in the south was a tea estate. Can you tell us how he improved the conditions of Indian “coolies” in his estate, if he was that committed to the estate workers?

You can see how you shamelessly distort politics and lie through your teeth to put the blame on “the Sinhala state”. All this goes to prove that you and your leaders are a bunch of bankruptƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ prevaricatorsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ who are exploiting the misery of the Tamil people for your survival in competitive electoral politics.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Tamil leaders have been the curse of the Tamil people. Not that our Sinhala leaders are any better, particularly the type like Wickremesinghe. But our mob has proved time and again their capacity to maintain a democratic framework — not a five star one though — within which they could solve differences and problems non-violently, except when they were faced with fascist violence from north and the south. Your mob even with “the unrestricted powers” — something which our mob didn’t have — could not run a decentƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ regime that gave even a modicum of respect or dignity to the Tamil people, let alone other communities.

So when you talk of Tamils not having “dignity, equality, justice and self-respect” in Sri Lanka go and tell that to the blinkered decision-makers and policy-makers in foreign governments, or fanatics like Vaiko, and of course, the marines.