Reconciliation Initiatives cannot exclude Sinhala Diaspora
Posted on June 11th, 2015
Shenali D Waduge
From the UN Secretary General downwards a chorus of people are chirping reconciliation and plugging the word into every press release issued. The latest is a press release that follows secret talks between Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, a Norwegian former envoy who is besotted with the Tamil factor, South African NGO and groups supposed to represent the Tamil Diaspora. One of the key outcomes or demands of these discussions is to consider LTTE as political prisoners and release these hard core unrehabilitated cadres while on the gesture of reconciliation lift the ban on the LTTE and LTTE fronts declared banned under UN Security Council Resolution 1373.
It is from the population of 20million Sri Lankans that people have migrated to foreign shores. When Sinhalese are over 74% of the population it is natural that the migrations over the years would be more Sinhalese than Tamils or Muslims. A case and example in point is that while there are only 50,000 Tamils in Australia there are 90,000 Sinhalese in Australia. Therefore, even though the largest concentration of Tamils may be in Canada, the likelihood of Sinhala Diaspora prevailing across US, UK, EU and other parts of the world demands that if the new government intends to indulge in any discussions of reconciliation with Diaspora it must always include the Sinhalese Diaspora groups as well (whether they are represented as organizations or individually).
No decision can be taken without the Sinhalese Diaspora having a say otherwise it is a sheer hypocrisy and a one-sided opinion only.
Moreover, what must also be highlighted is the present discussions taking place are with groups linked to and banned as LTTE fronts. These groups were linked to LTTE in being linked to LTTE they have been guilty of soliciting funds through various legal & illegal means to provide financial and material support to LTTE terror. This makes these groups anti-Tamil because we continue to argue on the logic that while ALL TAMILS ARE NOT LTTE – ALL LTTE WERE TAMILS! Therefore throughout the conflict these groups were serving the interests of the LTTE and not the Tamils.
This is proven by the Human Rights Watch report that showcases with examples of how LTTE diaspora groups were forcing Tamils overseas and in Sri Lanka to donate to the LTTE cause. Organizations and individuals who had been involved in extortions and other rackets raising funds, carrying out fund raisers to collect money to buy arms, ammunition and other materials should have no right to be making decisions on behalf of the Tamils who were living overseas in fear and having to monthly contribute to the LTTE kitty or else face fatal or body harm – numerous cases of deaths, bodily harm to Tamils, destruction of their shops, property for those that failed to make monthly disbursements are examples that can be highlighted.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/ltte0306/5.htm
Funding the Final War” LTTE Intimidation and Extortion in the Tamil Diaspora (45 page report)
I have a brother there [Sri Lanka]. I don’t want him to get hurt. I’m going to do whatever they ask.
—Toronto woman asked for funds by the LTTE
When they asked for the money, they looked at their file. They asked how long we had lived in this house. After we told them, they said, ‘$5,000.’”
It is with these same groups that discussions are taking place because they are looking for more ways to generate income using the Tamil Cause as an excuse.
Whereas there are countless Sinhala Diaspora groups throughout the world who had been doing an untiring service to the nation attempting on their own without assistance of the State to challenge and counter the false propaganda that these LTTE linked Diaspora groups were engaged in over decades.
These Sinhala Diaspora groups need to be given due credit for the work they have done. They are unsung heroes & heroines amongst them who have voluntarily and from their own personal funds without expectations gone out of their way to put their birth country first realizing the unfairness & injustice being meted out to the country by the UN, foreign envoys, NGO paid lackeys, other international organizations all of whom had some links with these LTTE diaspora groups at personal levels questioning their integrity of unbiased decision making.
What needs to be categorically said is that if the Diaspora is to be involved and any entity is to seek the views and opinions of the Diaspora, the Sinhalese Diaspora cannot be omitted from these discussions or decision making.
Any time discussions are being held by the GOSL with Diaspora groups the Sinhala Diaspora must be represented and no decision can be taken by discussing only with Tamil Diaspora especially the groups that had links to LTTE which show cases that they are not representatives of the Tamil people. Tamils living abroad are keeping silent because their lives are being threatened by these LTTE linked diaspora therefore they should never be included in any discussions whatsoever.
With the new government not realizing the extent of the dangers involved and the manner fund raising overseas has recommenced, we return to square one where Tamils living overseas return to fear and donating to a bogus cause because it enables these LTTE linked groups to become rich!
Whereas the Sinhala Diaspora groups have never solicited funds except to use their own personal funds to counter the lies internationally and project the truth. Therefore, the view point of the Sinhala Diaspora needs to be taken stock of at all times!
June 10th, 2015 at 2:30 pm
Perhaps the readers of this Web Page would have missed another meeting by an organization self styled as “Non Resident Tamil of Sri Lanka (NRTSL)” based in UK and addressing a gathering of “Britishers”. The Chairman of the meeting was one Mr. V. Sivalingam and the Founder member is named as Mr. Shanthan Thambu. I have given my comments on this meeting and their demand of establishing a “Ministry for Overseas Srr Lannkan Affairs, through another web page. I have simply asked them: What about Sri Lankan Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Moors; Sri Lankan Burgahrs; Sri Lankan Malays etc and WHY ONLY “Non Resident Tamils of Sri Lanka (NRTSL)? These IDIOTS did not know that they were addressing “BRITISHERS” who are composed of a variety of communal origins and they had the “GUTS” to call themselves “Non Resident Tamils of Sri Lanka”. Equally like “BRITISHERS” why they too cannot call themselves – “SRI LANKANS”.They know it; but it is another PLOY by this so called “DIASPORA” to disintegrate the Tamil ordinary citizens of this country and carry on with the subtle move to establish that “Dreamland” called Tamil Eelam. I hope the Government will not FALL for this. We are watching.
June 10th, 2015 at 2:55 pm
I totally agree with your point that Sinhala Diaspora should be the dominant part of this Diaspora programme.
The moment the government starts to deal with Tamil diaspora alone, this will give credibility their illegal activities in their foreign domiciled countries and the government will come a cropper. Hope the Sinhala diaspora group will liaise with the President soon before these events unfold,hopefully not, with a regime change after the elections.
June 10th, 2015 at 10:28 pm
”These groups were linked to LTTE in being linked to LTTE they have been guilty of soliciting funds through various legal & illegal means to provide financial and material support to LTTE terror.”
When this is a fact that no one can disagree upon, Samaraweera has embarked on a dangerous exercise of directly negotiating with a banned organisation disregarding the Singhalese Diaspora. It is an act that unarguably rubbishes their claim of good governance. Samaraweera acting on direct instructions of his boss ”Bandit Queen” is hell bent on satisfying the salmon eater Solheim, the west and the diaspora for $$$.
June 10th, 2015 at 10:40 pm
Who gave the right to this minority government to engage in reconciliation? They came on the promise of Yahapalanaya and rid the country of corruption. How can we trust them to handle reconciliation, when they have failed to sweep the roads of Colombo in the last five months?
June 10th, 2015 at 10:45 pm
It’s true that the GOSL shouldn’t have forgotten Sinhala Diaspora if they have conducted a genuine Reconciliation initiatives. Unfortunately SRL does not have a legal GOSL at present. The group who govern the country have mislead the public right at the beginning when they grabbed the power and they do every possible damages to destroy and wipe out Sinhala nation from this land.
June 11th, 2015 at 12:25 am
59 ARMY CAMPS HAS BEEN CLOSED AND THOUSAND OF ACRES OF LAND GIVEN BACK TO TAMILS AND TAMIL DIASPORA GOING TO HAVE A RALLY IN THE NORTH BY END OF THIS YEAR. What’s going on man with this bloody traitors to the land? Do we want to face another blood bath or do we need peace to live like human beings? How can we trust Tamil Diaspora who robbed,Financed and destroy our land for thirty long years? Do you think they will just take their share and keep quite? Nonsense! Did anyone remember 2004 when Ranil the pimp gave Prabakaran to have a separate land in writing in front of western coup plotters? Why our bastards talking to those same groups again and taking decisions which will be danger to our Motherland? We have to do something.It’s a do or die game for the sake of our country. We cannot allow anyone connected to LTTE to have his or her say in Sri Lanka’s future.
This Jaralapalanaya Govt is closing down camps from the danger areas in North and open camps in peace areas in South. They don’t talk about Sinhala victims,They don’t talk about Sinhalese who lived in North and East? No one talks about Arantalawa,Anuradhapura,Kandy massacres? Why no death penalty for terrorists? why only drug traffickers? Why no investigation about Batalanda?
Any Govt except UNP who will come to power next time must investigate the following traitors to the Motherland. Choura regina on her connection to LTTE Diaspora,Ranil for aiding and abating and Financing LTTE during his tenure in office and also Batalanda Massacre, Rajitha,Champaka,Awamangalaya for helping Foreign Govts to install a puppet Govt, Ravi for money laundering, JVPer’s for murders during their uprisings,LTTE murderers for their massacres of innocent civilians etc. These traitors must be punished if not they will do more harm to the country with the help of foreign NGO’s and foreign Govts. who plotted to overthrow the previous Govt of Mahinda Rajapksa. Sinhalaya should not wait idle while few traitors sell our land to Tamils and Muslims without any heart and love to the land they were born.
June 11th, 2015 at 3:14 pm
Our Thanks to Shenali.
* It is very important that the Sinhala Diaspora stay steadily engaged.
* It is very important that all of the coastline is guarded on a forever basis.
* It would be a wise move that the Tamil Language is removed as a National/Official language of Lanka.
* It would be a wise move that Tamil Nadu issues new birth certificates without the Caste factor.
All this will protect not only the Sinhala population but also the Tamil population of Lanka and Tamil Nadu, and others of India, and the region.
June 11th, 2015 at 4:04 pm
ඒකීය රටක දෙමළ ඩයස්පෝරා සමුළුවක් පැවැත්වීම නීති විරෝධියි
ඇමැති පාඨලීගෙන් විදේශ අමාත්යාංශයට ‘ෂොට් එකක්’
ලසිත දුමින්ද
ඒකීය රටක දෙමළ ඩයස්පෝරාව සහභාගි වන ජාත්යන්තර සමුළුවක් පවත්වන්නේ නම් එය නීතිවිරෝධී කටයුත්තක් බව ජාතික හෙළ උරුමයේ මහ ලේකම් හා විදුලිබල බලශක්ති ඇමැති පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මහතා ඊයේ (11 වැනිදා) පැවසීය.
දෙමළ ඩයස්පෝරා සංවිධාන මෙරටට ගෙන්වා සමුළුවක් පැවැත්වීමට විදේශ කටයුතු ඇමැති මංගල සමරවීර මහතා ගෙන ඇති තීරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මාධ්යවේදියකු නැගූ ප්රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් ඇමැතිවරයා එසේ ප්රකාශ කළේය.
ආරක්ෂක අමාත්යාංශය රාජ්ය නොවන සංවිධාන ඇතුළු ආයතන රැසක් තහනම් කරමින් පසුගිය කාලයේ ගැසට් නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කළ බවද, එසේ තහනම් කළ සංවිධාන සමග සාකච්ඡා කිරීමෙන් සිදුවන්නේ රට තුළ යළි ත්රස්තවාදයට උඩගෙඩි දීමක් බවද ඇමැතිවරයා කීවේය.
මැතිවරණය ඉලක්ක කරගෙන ඇතැම් පාර්ශ්ව දෙමළ ඡන්ද ලබා ගැනීමේ අරමුණින් මෙවැනි පිළිවෙත් අනුගමනය කරන බවද, එසේ කිරීමෙන් සිදුවන්නේ රට ත්රස්තවාදයකට හා අන්තවාදයකට දෙසට තල්ලු වීමක් බවද පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මහතා පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.
තහනම් කළ සංවිධාන සමග සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට හෝ සමුළු පැවැත්වීමට රාජ්ය මට්ටමින් කතිකාවතක් ඇති වී නැති බව කී ඇමැතිවරයා එසේ කිරීමට ජනවාරි අට වැනිදා ජනතාව ජනවරමක් ලබාදී නැතැයි ද පැවසීය.
විදේශ අමාත්යාංශය රටේ නීතියට අනුකූලව කටයුතු කළ යුතු බවද, තහනම් කළ හෝ නොකළ රාජ්ය නොවන සංවිධාන මෙරටට පැමිණෙන්නේ නම් ශ්රී ලංකාව ඒකීය රටක් වශයෙන් පිළිගෙන පැමිණිය යුතු බවද පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කළේය.
ඇමැතිවරයා මෙම අදහස් පළ කළේ ඊයේ (11 වැනිදා) පෙරවරුවේ බත්තරමුල්ල පිහිටි ජාතික හෙළ උරුම මූලස්ථානයේ පැවති ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදීය.
June 11th, 2015 at 4:06 pm
It is shocking how the a word constructed to represent Jews , “Diaspora” has not reached Sinhala people too.
We have a country. We should not use this word at all.
June 12th, 2015 at 9:10 am
It is shocking how the a word constructed to represent Jews , “Diaspora” has not reached Sinhala people too.- We both came from Holy Land of Lord Bhudda mate, You know what Bhudda said about life , life is a circle !!!
We both are Diaspora Now !!! Ayyo My Mother Lanka .