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Congratulations on your much
deserved victory in the 2008 Presidential Election
SRI LANKA UNITED NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF CANADA Box 55292, 300 Borough Drive, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada M1P 4Z7
By E-mail November 6, 2008
Senator Barack Obama
President Elect – United States of America
P.O.Box 8102
Chicago, IL 60680, USA
Dear Senator Obama,
Congratulations on your much deserved victory in the 2008 Presidential
Election
We are writing to congratulate you on your much deserved victory, which
is both a historic and significant achievement in all respects. You
stood up to the challenges and won the hearts of not only the people
of America but all those people around the globe who live in hope and
look forward to positive change in the world.
We have watched your campaign with a great deal of interest and are
truly inspired by your commitment to bring about changes that would
help people to re-connect in a mutually beneficial way, instead of using
one’s power and resources in an unconcerned and exploitative manner.
Speaking at the 2004 Democratic Convention, you were quoted to have
said: “There is not a Black America and White America and Latino
America and Asian America – there’s the United State of America”.
The Irish Sun of January 9, 2008 referring to an interview given to
google quoted you as follows: “ The problem of the 21st century
is the problem of the other. The problem of the other also affected
the US where there was a race issue”. Further, speaking about Sri
Lanka, he said, “that a vicious civil war raged in that country
even though everybody there looks exactly the same.”
As Canadians of Sri Lankan origin, we would like to clarify the position
relating to Sri Lanka which is our motherland. Sri Lanka is a tiny island
which is 1/16th the size of the Province of Ontario where we now live.
We consider Sri Lanka founded by the Sinhalese several millennia ago
with a recorded history dating back to 2600 years, as being today the
common homeland of all its people belonging to Sinhalese, Sri Lankan
Tamil, Moor (Muslim), Indian Tamil, Burgher, Malay communities as one
country just like the USA. The problem is that the Tamil minority that
benefited from the preferential treatment and largesse meted out by
the last British colonial administration is unwilling to let go of the
dominant status so acquired, and has continued to organize themselves
on communal or racial lines to seek an exclusive region to be dominated
by the Tamil community. The problem lies not in the way they look, but
in the way they think by excluding themselves from the mainstream and
separately seeking exclusive regions for their domination.
Furthermore, there is no civil war in Sri Lanka. The people of the
different ethnic, religious, social and cultural groups live side by
side in peace and harmony. The government has had to undertake a military
operation to rid the country of the internationally designated terrorist
group called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which has been
carrying on a campaign of terror in pursuit of forcibly carving up
territory to form a separate state, including suicide bombings, ethnic
cleansing, bus and train bombings, mass murder of Sinhalese and Muslims,
killing of Tamil political leaders and civilians deemed dissidents,
that continues unabated for the past 32 years with no end in site, despite
numerous attempts to negotiate a peaceful resolution. The LTTE has been
banned by the USA from as far back as 1996, but unfortunately members
of the Tamil Diaspora residing in the USA and other western countries
have been contributing funds to this group raised through willing donors
and extortion, to destabilize Sri Lanka and keep it on edge. The current
military action is rapidly clearing the areas usurped by the terrorists,
whilst at the same time freeing the civilians who had been virtually
enslaved by the terror forces, allowing the needed space for the leaders
of the political parties representing the constituent groups within
the democratic stream to arrive at an acceptable and sustainable arrangement
of governance that is satisfactory to all.
We look forward to joining you in your efforts to reversing the environmental
deterioration, taking steps to provide food security, and ushering in
an era of constructive dialogue to resolve conflicting issues that stand
in the way of global peace. We wish you good health, strength,
and abundant wisdom to lead America and the people of the world.
Yours sincerely,
Mahinda Gunasekera
Honorary President
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