Sri Lanka: weather cock rulers ruled by gusts of wind
Posted on September 23rd, 2013
By Mario Perera, Kadawata
You don’t need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows
So sang Blob Dylan.
Much was been said and repeated day in day out about the Tamil nature and its inherent tribal instinct with all those extra rational hereditary religious and social bonds and inputs that keep it in place. To be Tamil is to see, hear, touch, taste, feel and want only what is Tamil. To be killed, raped, robbed, plundered, exploited is totally tolerable if it is by Tamils. That is the Tamil psyche that was, is and will ever be. As regards others the innate attitude is: take as much as they give and ask for more, ever more, until the little becomes a lot and the lot becomes ALL. What is given is not grace but obligation. What is given is taken as their due and thereafter the giver, if non Tamil, counts for nothing. The Tamil Midas turns everything he touches into Tamil. So it is from the low caste coolie to the high caste Supreme Court judge. Exceptions to this time tested rule are so few so as to be worth their weight in purest gold.
The ink that has flowed in these columns on that topic would outdo the swirling flowing mass of the great Mahaweli. Yet the ship of state followed its own stubborn journey upstream, fully against the tide convinced of its self assumed infallibility. Whatever their motivations the ruling clan was not only out of tune with the majority voice but stupid and destructive to the core. The government became a -Ëœgallus cantans extra chorum-â„¢ a grating, flat, disharmonious voice singing outside the choir of which it was the elected conductor. The French expression says it even better: comme un coq avec un pied dans la merde-¦like a rooster with one foot planted in shit. It reaped what it sowed and what it reaped was the whirlwind. The parallel power, the mighty religious force, the one clad in yellow muted its own voice and watched with arms dangling by its side. Indeed they also serve who stand and wait.
The stitch in time that would have saved nine never materialized. One reader likened the ensuing scenario to the great betrayal when nobles, those in the glorified sarongs, fancy trousers as if embarrassingly covered by a span of cloth, puffed up shirt sleeves, duns caps, and the others in their yellow gowns, the guardian deities of the nation, betrayed the country by what became known as the Kandyan Convention. September 21, 2013 will be a DAY OF INFAMY, comparable to that infamous day of March 14, 1815, when a junta of treacherous gullible Kandyan chiefs of Sri Lanka handed over Sri Lanka-â„¢s Sceptered Crown to the Perfidious Albion! (Ananda, USA).
Now those very same, the elected nobility and the yellow clad ones in high places with sannas papers to validate their claim to nobility, shouldered one another in betraying the country by ratifying an ignominious convention called the 13A.
This country ever since the 2nd Century BC has been a country under siege and it continues to remain so. Its victories could well be called pyrrhic victories. None of them had an enduring impact. The latest, the one that opened the largest vistas of hope, was achieved in 2009. And now that thirty year endeavour ‚ with the rivers of blood that flowed to rid itself of the perennial besiegers proved to be sterile and was brought to naught because of the boomerang placed in the hands of the rulers, the boomerang of the 13A. The Maha Raja won the war but lost the peace right from the commencement. He assumed the traitorous culpable risk of seeing the country broken into pieces.
If we have eyes to see, let us see and not allow our visions to be clouded by imaginary landscapes. Governments have come and gone, judges from the low rankers to those who sit on the most glorified seats of judicial power yet very aptly called -Ëœbenches-â„¢ (!) have themselves risen and faded away. Society has existed and continues to exist with its inherent strengths, call it language, culture religion, and weaknesses such as caste or other. But has anything changed in the condition of the besiegers and the besieged? What is nevertheless alarming is that besiegers are going from strength to strength while the besieged are cringing with fear and never broken loose from the fetus position.
This nation will not be saved by any system of power exercise, call it monarchy, democracy with its diverse and varied constitutions producing parliamentary or executive power wielders. This nation has always been in a state of war, in a permanent state of encirclement; a punching bag to all and sundry desirous of flexing their muscles.
From time to time a savior emerged ushering periods of defiance. The one we all look up to is the immemorial figure of Duttu Gemunu. Most of the saviours were not the natural products of existing structures such as monarchies, electoral systems or party affiliations, but individuals endowed with a sense of a personal vision. They were visionaries and trail blazers. Such was the Anagarika Dharmapala. Such was also D.S.Senanayake who had the vision to install Sinhala colonies in parts of the East before an untimely death took him away. So too with the Sangha. If there is a toothless sector of the population, then it is none other than those who bear the title -ËœMahanayake-â„¢, a title conferred by secular hands. The defense of the country lay in the hands of individual monks and their proven disciples.
As for rulers trying to show case our democracy, let us face the sad fact. Electorates, given the Hobson-â„¢s choice to vote for, will usher the same nincompoops to seats of power. Yet from the point of view of the survival of the Sinhala Buddhist Nation, that is yet again a sterile exercise. What we are living in is a fool-â„¢s paradise. We are not even a country of the blind with a one eyed Cyclops as king. We are a nation led by the blind. The family junta at the head has proved itself to be as blind as bats.
We are a nation where saviours end up as betrayers. This is the irrefutable lesson of history. Can we ever forget that stirringly patriotic address to parliament when the newly crowned Maha Raja fresh from a war that no one thought was winnable boldly and categorically stated: Firstly the motherland, secondly the motherland, and thirdly the motherland, asserting the right of all to live anywhere in a country where every piece of land was for all. We can rightly imagine the identical orator now reduced into an -Ëœandarey-â„¢ and addressing the very same parliament but with another tune: Umbey kateth pas, magey kateth pas. That was what the astronomic sums poured into the north for development yielded by way of gratitude to the unsuspecting foolish giver. The present ruler will one day, and the sooner it comes the better, rue his trail of deceit and deception by beating his breast and crying to the heavens: MA-HINDA-¦because of ME.
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Until that day dawns our megalomaniac ruler will still live up to his reputation undaunted. Very soon he and his family oligarchy will indulge in a dance macabre when the Commonwealth Bundy Morgans play the organ and its Sarah-â„¢s beat the drum. And then the curtain will fall leaving our intoxicated dancers floating in their seventh heaven wrapped in the ethereal fumes of an evanescent glory, a glory that never was, while other astronomic sums would in the process have flowed down the drain. As for the betrayed and impoverished nation what else but to intone:
How deep is the night; No moon tonight; No wandering star to guide us with its light
If we are a nation betrayed by our saviours to whom shall we turn for salvation? Is their still a semblance of hope? If there is hope it does not lie in the executive presidency, or in parliamentary select committees, or in the electoral processes where depraved donkeys are proposed to inconscient electors with only nose tips as horizons and no other choice but to duly vote them in.
Still we do have ground for hope, and that is our history. Whatever be the nature of the weather cocks that run and ruin this country we have a history. The lesson of history is that this country has survived as a unitary nation. This history has unshakeable roots. It is not at the mercy of the winds that make our weather cock rulers shake, rattle and roll with every puff of air. That this weight of history will carry our Sinhala Buddhist nation through this crisis is our only hope. In this history we trust. The rest is not worth the ink we waste on it. The power holders are worthless trinkets that will be swept into the dustbin of that saving history, the bulwark and bastion of the nation. The Maha Vamsa Kathawa must roll on-¦over moor and fen, over crag and torrent, till the night is gone. In that hope do we, this orphaned nation, lay our battered and beaten trust.
Mario Perera, Kadawata
September 23rd, 2013 at 2:35 pm
“Illa Kema”
This is what Rajapakse get for betraying the Sinhalese and Muslims who were ethnically cleansed from the Northern Province.
He had the opportunity to do away with the 13th Amendment straightaway after the war was over. He did not do it! He had the opportunity to say that Sri Lanka needs more time immediately after a 30 year war for holding any elections in the North and East. He did not do it!He could have taken time to find all the military and terrorist hardware still buried in the North. He did not do it! He could have taken time to resettle all Sinhalese and Muslims who were chased away from these lands before holding elections. He did not do it! Above all he could have pointed out the inequities faced by the Sinhalese who has done so much for ending the Terrorism in Sri Lanka. He did not do it!
I guess the time for his doing is over. From now onwards he can go on pilgrimage to Jaffna instead of to the Vatican; for that will be from where all the power flow!
Ever since the end of the 30 year war at the cost of life and limb of the of our Ranavirwoes 99% of whom were Sinhalese, this President has blundered on the political front. All what he has done can be seen as measures to placate the Christian Colombians and their poodles the Buddhist Colombians and through them the ungrateful minorities – the Tamils and the Muslims. He has gone on to appease his Christian Family, the Christian Church, the Christian West and their agendas for world domination and here in our context – South Asia.
He believes he can get a reprieve from the so called International Community by feeding the Devil! He does not yet know that he is on the slippery slope to oblivion as Sri Lanka’s hero. Defeat of Terrorism and the biggest terrorist hostage rescue operation in recent history is fading into insignificance before his kneeling down to appease the Racist Tamils.
Now that the Eelamists are in the driving seat in the North, they will invite all “International Worthies” by passing Colombo. A likely visit by Hillary Clinton straight to Jaffna will diminish all the cardboard cutout glory in the South and set the direction of future Sri Lanka politics for ever.
Only hope that is left is for the Bodu Bala Sena to re-kindle the nation, as Ven Anagarika Dharmapala did once. It is time to expose the pretenders to the glory of Mother Lanka, for they have turned out to be another lot of power hungry politicians, not very different from those in the past!
September 23rd, 2013 at 4:44 pm
Rajapakshas have betrayed the nation for CHOGM.
Rajapakshas were branded TRAITORS by British rulers in 19th century. Now they want to prove to the British they are NOT traitors of the British empire. They have done well!!
Not even RUN-NIL went down so low in giving away the entire north to LTTE (TNA). MR is a traitor. Lets calla spade
September 23rd, 2013 at 4:45 pm
Rajapakshas have betrayed the nation for CHOGM.
Rajapakshas were branded TRAITORS by British rulers in 19th century. Now they want to prove to the British they are NOT traitors of the British empire. They have done well!!
Not even RUN-NIL went down so low in giving away the entire north to LTTE (TNA). MR is a traitor. Lets call a spade, a damn spade.
September 23rd, 2013 at 8:49 pm
It is very difficult for others to fathom how Tamil speaking Sri Lankans in the North think. The worst kind of slavery is one’s inability to think independently. Tamil speaking Sri Lankans in the North have a mentality that they are superior to others and give flying f*ck about what other people think about themselves. Tamil ethnic politics or identity politics did NOT die on the banks of the Nandikadal. Delivering peace, offering freedom, providing development has no bearing on the minds of Tamil speaking Sri Lankans in the North. It does not matter what is done, or what is devolved for Tamils…. IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH. Their goal is not for Unity or Co-Existence… it is to be as SEPARATE as possible…. The spirit of any agreement of Devolution is to foster brotherhood but still maintain Ethnic Identity, but if you look at the Tamil Mentality you can see that there is absolutely no desire for any of this.
Jaffna Tamils voted Eswarapatham Saravanapavan MP who robbed millions and millions from the same Jaffna Tamils years ago. Member of Parliament Eswarapatham Saravanapavan’s SABRA FINANCE was not really bankrupt. He manipulated in such way to steal the investors money. Look at the wealth Eswarapatham Saravanapavan MP enjoy today.
September 24th, 2013 at 4:46 am
Dear Mario,
You are marvellous in your words of thought! Salutations and grateful thanks for standing unshaken in front of truth & justice in defence of the NATION. Your noble patriotism is wholesome and full. Best wishes!
Also, thanks to great comments before this.
September 24th, 2013 at 7:27 am
Nalliah Thayabharan
North have a mentality that they are superior to others and give flying f*ck about what other people think about themselves. !
Why you are so angry about this mentality , this is not against any Monther Lanka law of land !
Why this Kolaveri !!!
Live & let live !!!
We both community are living together last 2,500 years (according to Mahavamsam) & will live another 2,500 years more… , as you & me are bye passer !
Lorenzo
MR is a traitor ! May 2009 you call him Thesiya Thalaivar !
MR have vision ! He promised after may 2009 He will give 13 Plus !!!!
I hope & pray , Maththara Sinhalavan & Urumpirai Demilaya can united our mother Lanka for ever !
September 24th, 2013 at 8:44 am
Tamil Caste Wars see SEPARATISM as the ONLY UNIFIER to accept each other across their caste barriers – you know, have a common IMAGINARY enemy, as usual.
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For the correct account of what happened in Kandy, and the fall of Kandy to the British, please read Dollapihillai’s book “The last days of Kandy”. This book gives the true lineage of the last King of Kandy, as well as a true account of events that led to the surrender.
It must also be noted that one of the Kandyan leaders who surrendered to the British, Kappetipola Maha Dissawe, later fought the British after joining the rebel Sinhela upcountry peasants. Before fighting the British he sent back to them whatever army equipment the British had given to him to fight on the side of the British. Such was the honor of the man. We are proud of such Kandyans.
September 24th, 2013 at 12:49 pm
Know the beast called the Tamil. To quote: “To be Tamil is to see, hear, touch, taste, feel and want only what is Tamil. To be killed, raped, robbed, plundered, exploited is totally tolerable if it is by Tamils. That is the Tamil psyche that was, is and will ever be. As regards others the innate attitude is: take as much as they give and ask for more, ever more, until the little becomes a lot and the lot becomes ALL.”
That is equally applicable to the mentality of the Nazi regime. Since the Nazi’s believed they are a superior race any act they performed is above reproach. Genocide on the Jews can also be translated to genocide on the Sinhalese. The very concept of the Hindu Caste system which sees mankind is unequal, that some by birth are superior to others and those by birth are inferior to others is a concept that Hitler would find quite satisfactory.
By calling all provinces that would have gone to make Eelam “Tamil Homelands” is hardly any different to the Nazi concept of “lebensraum” Living space which the Nazi Regime used to annex lands from neighboring nations. Just like it took the might of the allied powers to bring complete defeat of the Regime and this philosophy the Buddhist Sanga needs the power to crush this superiority Complex based meant to compensate an inferiority complex.Given that the Tamil culture has created a high civilization it however does not address the issue of complexion. The Tamils are the darkest people in India where the definition of man has been codified by the ancient Hindus.
In this concept those who have an olive complexion, European features, tall in stature, straight black hair, a hair less body which does not carry a body odor are placed as the perfect man. those who are black in complexion, kinky to curly hair, body odor, short in stature, low browed, Non European features such as a wide nose are the lowest among man. Tamils are by and large very dark, short, curly to kinky hair, short and stocky, many with wide nose are the epitome of this lowest level of man according to the ancient Hindu scriptures.
To compensate they have taken on a hyper superiority complex where everything they say or do is “superior” to the rest of India. Their civilization is defended with the ferocity of a person who suffers from a deep sense of an inferiority complex. This is also seen among the black population in the US. The Tamils are driven with a relentless purpose to prove their worthiness even if that means the death of many.
September 24th, 2013 at 1:00 pm
BW,
We do not think it has anything to do with genetic get up or physical looks. It is just that, I guess, we are not humble enough to realise that all are basically made of the same materials of earth and if we take off the skins, look pretty much the same. Same diseases, same feelings, same hopes for happiness, and so on.
It is not the Tamil people in general who are at fault. At fault is the Caste system and Tamil leaders who are thinking along Caste lines and USE the Sinhala people as the reason/unifier for Tamil problems. This using of Sinhala people in this dangerous and absurd fashion has to stop.
I have met many good Tamil people. If left alone to grow and flourish, most Tamils will be as good as others on earth.
September 24th, 2013 at 2:07 pm
Why we lost our ‘Sceptered Crown that came down 2500 years to Perfidious Albion’ ?. I think that is because one of the Kandian kings named Rajasingha found that Arya Sinhala women not appealing enough and wanted to marry a Dravidian.
Why we lost North is because our ruler found the honor bestowed on him by the locals not enough and wanted the adoration by the Indians and the IC.
September 24th, 2013 at 5:45 pm
Lemme see, now under whose patronage did all those TAMIL ILLEGAL MIGRANTS enter Sri Lanka via the Mannar route ?
It wasn’t under the patronage of JRJ or MR !
And who is opposing the removal of the 13-A ?
Aha ! QED !
September 25th, 2013 at 4:03 am
aloy,
Please read Dolapihillai’s book. It is an accurate rendering of events of that time.
According to this account, the last King of Kandy (Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe), was not of royal lineage. His mother was a Tamil courtesan and his father a Court VIP who frequented her home in the now Peradeniya area. The ordinary people of that era who carefully observed these events, preserved their observations as ‘Mathaka Katha’, as was customary.
King Rajasinghe II was murdered while returning on horseback from a ride to visit this courtesan, by the one (Pilimatalawe Maha Adigar, who also visited the same Tamil courtesan), lusting for the Throne.
Truth is stranger than fiction.
September 25th, 2013 at 4:47 am
Fran Diaz
I have met many good Tamil people. If left alone to grow and flourish, most Tamils will be as good as others on earth !
Tamil & Sinhalese are living together in mother Lanka at least last 2500 years !
Time to time they have fight as newly elected CM said this is family matter between husband & wife .
We both community made mistake & We both paid (Very heavy price) for it !
Now matter is over ! like Leela in this froum said Tamil may have valid point what their asking but way they are demanding is not appropriate.
What Tamil were asking excectly What we got in NP election not more not less( it will lead to separtation , divition etc… is BS).
We Tamil are fully satisfy now . Now Yal devi , Air Lanka & Colombo express (Bus) will connect us for ever !!!
Live &let live !!!
Unity is diversity , You are Sinhalavan & I am Demilaya that is always !!!
one more thing …as King Elara respected Bhuddism our Newly elected CM also will respect !!! trust Me !
September 25th, 2013 at 6:08 am
Fran,
IF we believe your story, what Aloy says is still TRUE.
The king went after a Tamil prostitute instead of seeking pleasure in native women. Had he remained with native women that tragedy would NOT have happened!
Also according to the little I know a Sinhala king from Kandy married south Endian women. Then all these women’s brothers grabbed power after the king’s death.
MR also goes after FOREIGN HONOR & PLEASURE in CHOGM, UNHRC, UN, NAM, Tamil Madu, CASINOS, etc. neglecting the respect of poor locals who elected the Miserable Ruler. He will NEVER get it. After getting all the benefits they will kick his butt, mark my word.
SL has turned into a country where Sinhalese CHILDREN get killed for asking for water but Tamil TERRORISTS get REWARDED for trying to break up the country.
How many days did Shri Vikram Rajasingham last after killing Maththuma Pantarayan (a Sinhala child, a bystander of the whole affair)?
I don’t think MR will last longer than that. (Unless he turn the tide dramatically.)
September 25th, 2013 at 6:11 am
“If left alone to grow and flourish, most Tamils will be as good as others on earth.”
INDIVIDUALLY yes.
Collectively, NO!
September 25th, 2013 at 8:30 am
Lorenzo,
Aw, come on, let’s get real here.
All over Europe, during those times, it was the same. Marriages were arranged for the sake of political gains and peace between countries/areas. It was the common practice for British Kings to get brides from Spain, Germany and the rest of Europe. King Henry VIII had five wives.
There were similar practices in Sri Lanka re the Royal Court. It was the common practice among Asian kings to have concubines. These were practices we have to accept as ground realities of those times.
In the case of Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe, the British sent whiskey to the Court and got the king hooked on hooch. The king in his drunken stupor could not think rationally and during such bouts made horrendous errors of judgment. He killed his courtiers and leading families. That is why the king was betrayed and handed over to the enemy British by his own people.
No other reason. But, the fact remains that the last king of Kandy was a ‘pretender’ to the throne through no fault of his, but the fault of a conniving Adigar.
Foreign interference in Lanka came mainly AFTER the 1983 Riots. Who was responsible for the 1983 Riots ? Who arranged these Riots ? Same with Weliweriya.
The North has to be settled. Since the 13-A has been imposed under Duress (JRJ’s time), and Lanka forced to go with it, we may as well use it to advantage.
See all events through the inner eyes and you will see the truth of matters.
September 25th, 2013 at 12:27 pm
Fran Diaz,
You are mistaken, old chap …. King Henry VIII had SIX wives, not Five. They were:
1. Catherine of Aragon, m. 1509 – 1533, A Devout, Chaste Catholic, she was divorced and cast aside by the king for the primal sin of not delivering a male heir! Her daughter Mary I became the Queen of England for a short time and died soon after …. during childbirth! The divorce forced upon her by Henry VIII, on the pretext that she had consummated her marraige to her previous dead husband contrary to her claims it was never consummated, caused the split from the Catholic Church thus creating the Anglican Church, with Henry VIII as the head of the Church.
2. Anne Boleyn, m. 1533 – 1536, Executed because she cheated on the king with a male guard, but really because she could not produce a male heir and would not divorce him without a fuss to make way for wife #3.
3. Jane Seymour, m. 1536 – 1537, Died giving birth to a sickly son who soon died leaving Henry Rex again hierless.
4. Anne of Cleves, m. 1540 Jan. – July, Smartest of them all, gracefully accepted divorce and retired with a hansome reward to live in a castle, thus preserving her head on her homespun shoulders. A woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do to survive the kings pleasure those days.
5. Kathryn Howard, m. 1540 – 1542, Executed. The original “dumb blonde”. Instead of tending to her duty delivering an heir, played fast and loose with all and sundry …. and lost her head on the chopping block!
6. Katherine Parr, m. 1543 – 1547. Widowed by the death of the king, was in fact a model parent to the king’s daughters (Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, and Elizabeth I, the daughter of the beheaded Anne Boleyn, who survived to become England’s greatest monarch), and nanny to the king in his dotage as he rotted away from excessive eating that led to gangrenous diabetic legs, and lost his mind to syphilis. Married her “platonic” lover, who shared her fierce religious views, soon after the king’s death.
The key to understanding Henry VIII was his firm comittment to deliver a healthy male heir to rule England after his death to perpetuate the Tudor line. He failed … big time … in delivering a MALE SUCCESSOR … but unknown to him … SUCCEEDED BRILLIANTLY … for his daughter, the “Virgin Queen” Elizabeth I became … without dispute (even by Queen Victoria a century ago and Queen Elizabeth II of our own time) … the Greatest Monarch of Britain!
Poor guy … he need not have killed his beloved second wife … the mother of Elizabeth I … who he loved the most of all his wives in his futile quest for a healthy boy … after all!
We should heed the LESSON of the much married Henry VIII’s life: DON’T BE A MALE CHAUVINIST PIG and TrREASURE your daughters as MUCH as your sons!
September 25th, 2013 at 12:53 pm
Ananda – USA,
I realised my error and was later wondering who was going to see the blip in my message ! Thank you for pointing it out. Yes, Henry VIII had SIX wives to get a boy child for the Throne of England. I saw the film ‘Anne of a Thousand Days’ which captured the era perfectly with Richard Burton as Henry VIII – a perfect role for him.
England certainly has had her times with Royalty, and so has Sri Lanka to a lesser degree because of the size of the island and the mitigating Buddhist influence.
September 25th, 2013 at 2:27 pm
From the above narrative what we can see that the English people tolerated a disgusting ruler and along the way someone with a vision emerged and made that nation great. They are a truelly remarkable set of people to make an empire on which the sun never set and in some way still take the leadership of the world. I was watching their parliament debate live on the TV and followed every word their MPs spoke and it is a thing all democracies should emulate. Ultimately it is not their PM who won but the majority voice of the people. Perhaps due to that WW111 averted.
The lesson to our rulers is never force anything on the people. Otherwise same fate that befell on Serbia’s ruler will fall on them: ICC will come calling and your own people will hand over you to them
September 25th, 2013 at 2:35 pm
aloy,
Rule under King Henry VIII was not all bad for future generations. Henry VIII broke away from the rigid Catholic church of that time and formed the far more liberal Church of England which ultimately paved the way toward Democracy. His daughter, Elizabeth I, was a great Queen. So all in all, he made a huge contribution to England.
I agree with you that the mode of practice of Democracy in the House of Commons in the UK is a good thing to emulate.
September 25th, 2013 at 3:23 pm
Fran,
“Foreign interference in Lanka came mainly AFTER the 1983 Riots.”
Nonsense! Endians – RAW – A FOREIGN INTERFERENCE – started training Tamil terrorist groups since 1972!!
With their training they killed in 1975 a Tamil mayor in the north!!
By July 1983 LTTE had ALREADY BECOME a very powerful terrorist group capable of taking on the army.
Endian, Korean and CIA operatives were behind 1971 riot too. Some accounts say CIA was behind the killing of SWORDB in 1959. Please don’t make baseless statements.
September 25th, 2013 at 3:26 pm
Ananda,
A blast from the past.
MCP. Rings a bell!
September 25th, 2013 at 3:49 pm
Lorenzo,
Yes, Indian interference came earlier due to the Cold War.
But it was the 1983 Riots and the EXODUS of Tamil people to the WEST that caused the west to step into Lanka. I really think one of the reasons is that they do not want any more ‘refugees’ from Sri Lanka, and I cannot fault them on that count. The 1983 Riots were a set up to down Lanka and arrange the Exodus of Tamils. It gave India the chance to further pounce on Lanka and impose the 13-A under Duress.
Lessons Learnt indeed !
September 25th, 2013 at 9:48 pm
OK guys … all of you whiz bang smart **** … who among you can unravel this one?
What is the similarity between the Prince of Wales and a football?
September 25th, 2013 at 9:52 pm
OUCH! Handing over the Northern Province to the Eelamist TNA has not satisfied this Tigress in United Nations Clothing!
Ai … Ai …. Yooo! How shall we save our skins? We married a female wrestler … and see the mess we are in! Ai … Ai … Yooo!!!
…………………
UN Rights Chief calls for continued attention to the human rights situation in Sri Lanka
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 25, Geneva: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanetham Pillay has called for the continued attention of the Human Rights Council to the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and will be making recommendations in March next year on appropriate ways the Council could continue that engagement.
Presenting the report on Sri Lanka entitled “Promoting reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka” through her Deputy Ms. Flavia Pansieri, the High Commissioner at the 24th Session of the UNHRC in Geneva on Wednesday, Pillay has expressed hope that the Sri Lankan government will invite the Special Procedures mandate holders on missions to the island.
While expressing appreciation to the government for its invitation and its excellent cooperation during the planning and conduct of her visit from 25-31 August 2013, Ms. Pillay commended the impressive achievements made by the Government, with the help of the international community, in resettlement, reconstruction and rehabilitation in the relatively short period since the armed conflict with the LTTE ended in 2009.
Although the majority of the people displaced at the end of the war have returned, they are facing difficulties resuming their livelihoods, the High Commissioner has said.
Noting the compulsory acquisition of private land in Trincomalee, Mullaitivu, Jaffna and Kilinochchi by the military, Pillay has asked the Government to initiate a clear timeline for demobilization, disarmament and disengagement of military from activities that are meant to be civilian.
While welcoming the Government’s move to accept an additional 53 recommendations of the LLRC to be implemented via the National Plan of Action, the High Commissioner suggested holding public consultations on the LLRC plan of action and involving national and international NGOs both in its implementation and independent monitoring on the ground.
She noted that the separation of the police from the Ministry of Defence under a new Ministry of Law and Order despite headed by a retired military general as a welcome step. Also welcomed was the appointment by the President of a new Commission of Inquiry into disappearances.
However, Pillay regretted that there was no new or comprehensive effort to independently or credibly investigate the allegations which have been of concern to the Human Rights Council. She encouraged the Government to use the time between now and March 2014 to engage in a “credible national process with tangible results, including the successful prosecution of individual perpetrators, in the absence of which she believes the international community will have a duty to establish its own inquiry mechanisms.”
Expressing alarm at the recent surge in incitement of hatred and violence against religious minorities, the Rights Chief said her office is ready to assist the new legislation on hate speech proposed by the Minister of National Languages and Social Integration and suggested a visit by the Independent Expert on Minorities. The High Commissioner has offered the assistance of her office to provide any technical assistance the Sri Lankan Government may require to implement the recommendations of the LLRC and its other obligations.
September 25th, 2013 at 10:58 pm
Fran,
King Henry VIII’s quest for a healthy male heir, and the accidental creation of the Anglican Church with the English Monarch at its head as a result of it, did indeed enormously BENEFIT the People of England.
It freed the Monarchy of England from INTERFERENCE of the Roman Papacy, which until then had presumed the right to exercise a veto on who may or may not be the monarch not only in England, but also in all Christendom. While that prevailed for many more centuries in Continental Europe, after the creation of the Anglican Church, Englishmen became Sovereign unto themselves.
Although Henry VIII’s revolutionary act in search of a divorce at first sight increased his powers as an absolute monarch, it seeded the foundation for the ultimate transformation of the Absolute Monarchy of England into a Constitutional Monarchy. It did so by severing all aid to protagonists in England from co-religionists in Continental Europe. Once the Church of England gained ascendency over Catholicism in England (and this took time up to and beyond the English Civil War) as a patriotic, homegrown religion unique to England … there were no co-religionists abroad for most English people!
This denial of a religious reason to foreigners to interfere in the succession to the crown of England, made the power of the English monarch rest squarely on the will of his people and his popularity among them.
Already, in King John’s (1166 – 1216, son of King Henry II of England) time, the Nobles had forced the king to accept the Magna Carta limiting his powers. The creation of Church of England about 400 years later, severed the link to Catholicism and made asking for aid from Catholic countries to make war on the Anglican people of England an UNPATRIOTIC act in the eyes of the English people. King Charles I (1625 – 1649) who was defeated in the English Civil War, who was first offered a Constitutional monarchy by the victorious Oliver Cromwell, was beheaded by Oiver Cromwell for doing precisely that: plotting to bring in Irish and Spanish Catholic armies to restore him to the throne. The identification of most English people with Anglican faith helped achieve Cromwell’s victory, and established forever the supremacy of the Parliament over the monarch, who became a “Constitutional” figurehead without any real control over governance of the nation.
September 26th, 2013 at 5:13 am
Ananda,
They are both waiting to be kicked.
September 26th, 2013 at 5:14 am
Great breaking news.
Supreme Court has decided provincial councils have NO land powers! Beautiful!
September 26th, 2013 at 12:58 pm
Sri Lanka Supreme Court rules land powers reside with central government, not with PCs
Thu, Sep 26, 2013, 07:51 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 26, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court today in a ruling, sure to have a significant impact on government’s power devolution efforts, stated that the land powers in Sri Lanka were vested with the Central Government and not with the Provincial Councils.
A three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Mohan Peiris, Justice Eva Wanasundera and Justice Sri Pavan gave the ruling when an appeal filed by the Minister of Plantation Industries was taken up.
Despite the three-judge bench delivering independent decisions on the case, the bench agreed that according to the 13th Amendment the land powers were vested with the central government.
September 26th, 2013 at 1:08 pm
Who are we FOOLING?
Not Sri Lankan PATRIOTS! We believe what Sampanthan and Wigneswaran have proclaimed, and the TNA PC Election Manifesto PROMISED the Northern Tamils: GRAB the Northern PC NOW and go for the Separate State of EELAM LATER.
There will be no HOLDING BACK these Racist followers of the late unlamented Surya Deva NOW …. Their demands will NEVER END …. MOLLYCODDLE SEPARATISTS and that is what you get!
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Tone down pro-Tamil Eelam rhetoric: TN Congress to parties
By Express News Service – CHENNAI
September 26, 2013
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president BS Gnanadesikan has asked political parties in Tamil Nadu to tone down their pro-Eelam rhetoric in the wake of the landslide victory of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the recently-held polls to Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council.
He said the TNA victory on the poll plank of achieving political rights for Tamils within a united Sri Lanka was a proof that the stance of the Congress party had been right all along.
“Our stance is in favour of a political solution in a united Sri Lanka. This is also the stance expressed by the Tamil National Alliance president Sambandan and Chief Minister Designate Wigneshwaran,” said Gnanadesikan in a statement on Wednesday.
“For many years, deep distrust and hatred have led to a number of incidents and have disrupted the peaceful life in the island. Now, there is a glimmer of hope that Lankan Tamils will be able to lead happy lives,” he added.
“Some in Tamil Nadu need to understand that their pointless noise and rash challenges will not help one bit to save Sri Lankan Tamils,” said Gnanadesikan, hitting out at politicians who had interpreted the election result as a call for a separate Tamil Eelam.
Gnanadesikan also said the state unit of his party has placed a set of suggestions to External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to be taken up when he visits Sri Lanka during the first week of October.
The state unit has asked Khurshid to push Sri Lankans for the wholehearted implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution and the withdrawal of the military from Tamil areas. Also on the agenda was a plea to find a lasting solution to the fishermen issue.
In his statement on TNA’s win, PMK leader S Ramadoss, has cited the campaign of island president Mahinda Rajapaksa and his party that a vote for TNA would mean endorsing the demand for Tamil Eelam and a return to the days of war and said the people had answered him through their choice. MDMK leader Vaiko has said the provincial government would not be able to solve the problems of Tamils and only a referendum on Eelam would be the ultimate solution.
September 26th, 2013 at 1:29 pm
Bravo … Gotabhaya!
“It is nothing but unfair to blame the UPFA merely because those in the South backed by the US Embassy here cannot win elections at any level”
However, we have allowed the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA to drive a dagger deep into the heart of Motherlanka. We CONTINUE to let TRAITORS get away with TREASON, ENCOURAGING their belief they are IMMUNE to RETRIBUTION under SRi Lanka’s laws.
Dear Defence Secretary, how about LAUNCHING an Investigation into ALL TREASONOUS ACTIVITIES of the TNA during the last 30 years, including the SEPARATIST Proclamations and Manifestos during the PC Election, to ENSURE that those 6,000 sons and daughters of Sri Lanka DID NOT DIE IN VAIN?
INVESTIGATE, ARREST, PROSECUTE, CONVICT and severely PUNISH all overt and covert TRAITORS now posing as LEGITIMATE politicians clamoring to get in PEACE through foreign blackmail, what they failed to win through murderous terrorism. How about it, Dear Gothabhya?
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GR tears into US Embassy over PC polls statement
By Shamindra Ferdinando
September 25, 2013, 12:00 pm
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday alleged that the US Embassy in Colombo was pursuing a political agenda extremely detrimental to Sri Lanka’s interests.
Although the government was doing everything in its power to restore democracy following three decades of war, the US embassy was all out ot undermine it, Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said. He was responding to a US statment issued in the immediate aftermath of Provincial Council elections in the Central, North Western and Northern regions.
The US Embassy said: “A process free of violence and intimidation in the Northern Province is required for greater civilian administration and to help further the reconciliation process four years after the war. These elections provided a starting point for that process. Democracy is not simply about elections, however, and more must be done to ensure that Sri Lankans of all communities can live with peace and dignity that they deserve.”
The Defence Secretary said he hadn’t ever come across an assertion which was as unfair as the one that democracy was not simply about elections. “We are a multi-party country. As all know, even at the height of the war, Sri Lanka conducted elections. It is nothing but unfair to blame the UPFA merely because those in the South backed by the US Embassy here cannot win elections at any level.”
The Defence Secretary said that some bankrupt political parties, too, had echoed the US Embassy.
Recalling America’s and some European countries’ criticism of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution which did away with the presidential term limit, the Defence Secretary pointed out the recent overwhelming victory achieved by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to secure an unprecedented third term. Would anyone dare challenge the German Chancellor’s right to lead the country for a third term having won the people’s mandate, the Defence Secretary asked.
The Defence Secretary said Sri Lanka had lost over 6,000 officers and men fighting the LTTE during eelam war IV. Of them, over 3,000had sacrificed their lives on the northern and Vanni fronts from March 2007-May 2009.
The Defence Secretary said that Western powers had kept mum when the LTTE and its proxies ordered Tamil speaking people to boycott the presidential election on Nov. 17, 2005.”The TNA would still have been a prisoner and a TNA-run NPC would never have become a reality if Prabhakaran had survived the war.”
The first ever Northern Provincial Council polls were meant to facilitate the post-war national reconciliation process, the Defence Secretary said, stressing that it would be a serious mistake to misinterpret the TNA’s overwhelming victory at last Saturday polls to promote separatist sentiments.