H. L. D. Mahindapala

In alerting the Parliament to oppose moves by western nations to harass Sri Lankan VIPs the Speaker, W. J. M. Lokubandara, has given leadership to a cause that has been without a voice for too long. His voice should be a warning to the foreign interventionists that Sri Lanka is not going to roll over and fawn at the feet of the Western bullies. His clarion call, coming from the highest seat in Parliament, should make the Big Brothers in the West aware that there are limits to stand over tactics. LokubandaraƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s voice indicates clearly that the Western tactics are counter-productive and is pushing Sri Lanka further away from the West. The Western think-tanks and the pundits allied to them in the local NGOs, as usual, have misread the mood of the nation which is now under the spell of the new nationalism. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Any bullying is bound to get the back up of Sri Lanka. In any case, Sri Lanka has a right to say: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Enough is enough.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Lokubandara has made this very clear in his call to the Parliament to stand up to fulfill its duty.

During the Vadukoddai War and after it ended in Nanthi Kadal Lagoon on May 18, 2009, Sri Lanka has been kicked around on the floors of Western parliaments in a manner that is reminiscent of the time when Winston Churchill was the Colonial Secretary in the twenties. When Western hirelings like Pakiasothy (ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-PakiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚) Saravanamuttu and Jehan Perera are given free visas and airline line tickets over the counter to deliver their anti-Sri Lankan expertise in Western seminars and when obstacles are thrown in the way of Sri Lankan officials then it becomes abundantly clear that the West is out to harass Sri Lanka for not toeing their line. Speaker LokubandaraƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s call coincides with the unusual incidents abroad of Sri Lankan officials being treated with utmost severity, if not contempt.

Our Parliament has taken a very passive role, taking every kick given by Western parliaments without a murmur of protest. It is the common practice now for every Tom, Dick and Harriet in Western parliaments to tip the bucket on Sri Lanka. Manipulated by the anti-Sri Lankan NGOs and the Tamil lobbies these MPs raise questions, make offensive and unsubstantiated allegations in their parliaments and generally open the doors of parliamentary premises to demonize Sri Lanka.

With their silence Sri Lankan parliamentarians have allowed the Western parliamentarians to walk all over them. Western parliaments are used consistently by the Tamil Tiger agents and the NGOs to declare war on the Sri Lankan parliament and it looks as if our Parliamentarians have surrendered. These foreign MPs are misleading their governments and exacerbating the political divisions in Sri Lanka. Their ignorance of Sri Lankan complexities and their willingness to parrot anything fed to them by the Tamil lobby are not conducive for peace or stability in Sri Lanka. On top of this some of our parliamentarians like the Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe, go on missions abroad to add fuel to the fires lit by the Western Parliamentarians.

Recently Wickremesinghe was a guest of the International Democratic Union ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” the holy brotherhood of right-wing fundamentalists allied to the Church like Tony Blair, George Bush, John HowardƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  etc.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚meeting in Australia. During WickremesingheƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s visit the raging issue of the day was about the living conditions of Aborigines. One headline in The Australian screamed that 12 Aborigines were living in three rooms while some MPs and the misguided fringe of the Sydney University NGO, led by Associate Prof Jake Lynch, were asking questions about the living conditions of the IDPs in the Vanni.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Why havenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t our MPs raised question in our parliament about the housing and education of the Aborigines in Australia? Or the living conditions of the native Indians in America? Or the latest crimes against humanity committed by the British government which had no compunction in cleansing the Diego Garcia of the domiciled Chagossians ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” mostly Afro-Asians –ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  for its partner in crime, USA, to build a military base in the Indian Ocean? Which MP has raised questions about the one million Iraqis killed (the latest body count) as a result of the American invasions? Or civilians killed in Afghanistan by blind drones?

By raising questions in their parliaments about Sri Lanka the Western MPs are not only attempting brazenly to impose their will on the natives but also to capture the moral high ground as if they are lily white maidens who had not sold their virginity to the highest bidder.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  But the known reality is that some MPs in Western Parliaments are ready to drop their trousers or lift their skirts for the highest bidders. There are instances where MPs in UK were caught raising questions in Parliament for a fee. Princess Diana intended father-in-law, the owner of Harrods, Mohammed Al Fayed, admitted that he paid money to two Conservative Party MPs, Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith, to raise questions about his citizenship. Then there is Keith Vaz, a corrupt Labour MP in UK abusing his powers to intervene in a judicial case, raising questions in support of the agenda of the Tamil Tiger agents. His parliamentary conduct on several issues lacks integrity. Whenever his Tamil constituents ask him to jump he asks how high. This explains a lot about his integrity.

The Canadian Parliament is no different. The usual suspects linked to the LTTE, raise questions and make wild allegations ranging from genocide to depriving the Tamils victims of the late Velupillai Prabhakaran of food, medicine and other essentials ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” all of which are without any factual foundation. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” just to appease the Tamil vote bankƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Jim Karygiannis, Liberal Party, MP for Scarborough-Agincourt, Albina Guaneri, Liberal Party, MP for Mississauga East-Cooksville, Judy Sgro, Former Min. of Immigration, Liberal Party, MP for York West, Bob Rae, Foreign Affairs Critic for the Liberal Party, MP for Toronto Centre and Jack Layton, Leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), MP for Toronto-Danforth are some of the bleeding-heart do-gooders whose commitment to the Tamil Tiger agents increases with the flow of funding and votes.

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-These are all MPs from the Greater Toronto Area with a fairly large resident Tamil population in their riding, who often take up issues relating to Tamils based on the input from the pro-LTTE lobby.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ They are always invited to attend pro-LTTE events organized by the support groups using some generic type of association name such as Tamil Cultural, Sports/Students/Arts & Technology, etc,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ says Mahinda Gunasekera, a leading Sri Lankan activist in Canada..

In Australia there is the notorious, John Murphy, Labour Party MP for Lowe. He developed a sudden attachment to the Tamil Tigers after the Tamil votes increased to a sizeable block in his electorate. Privately, Tamils boast that they fund him generously to defray costs of electioneering.

This is the general pattern. All parliamentarians allied to the Tiger agenda are suspect because they are under obligation to their Tamil constituents in one form or other. They are no better than the TNA MPs in Sri Lanka. Their support depends on the number of votes or the amount of funding they can gather from Tamil lobbies. In the post- Prabhakaran, and, of course, post-ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-KPƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ period, the Tamil lobbies are fighting exclusively with money now that bullets have no impact in changing the ground situation in their favour.

The fact that MPs in Western parliaments are for sale is a worrying factor for national leaders struggling to clean up political corruption in their backyard. President Barack Obama is waging a battle to eliminate lobbyists from the Washington loop. Flushed with collections from the Tamil diaspora the Tamil lobby has been an influential factor in Western parliaments. So it is not surprising to find, in recent times, parliamentarians of the West have rushing to rubbish Sri Lanka at the drop of a cheque in their pockets because they encounter defence from the Sri Lankan Parliament. If they are given a taste of their own medicine their superiority complex might come down a peg or two and they might think twice about getting away with bullying the Sri Parliament.

Sri Lankan Parliament should take a leaf from their book and even send a parliamentary delegation, if they can find the reources, to visit the prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, or the aboriginal homesteads of America and Australia and produce reports on their living conditions. Sri Lanka should certainly send a Parliamentary delegation to England to probe into the living conditions of the uprooted citizens of Diego Garcia who have no home, no income, no jobs and hope ever of returning to their original homes.

Why havenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t our parliamentarians taken up this issue of the uprooted people of Diego Garcia with Britain, USA and the UN? Why do we allow them to raise questions about us and why havenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t we raised questions about their violations on international humanitarian law? Why hasnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Under Secretary for Children, raised the plight of the children evicted from their native land? Why is the UN content with barking at the moon on the violations of human rights by the Big Brothers of high morality?

By not reacting to the violations of human rights by the West the developing countries have handed over the moral supremacy to the West. If they are scrutinized the way the non-Western ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ countries are scrutinized they will not have a leg to stand on. The Westerners act as if they are above the law because the others are powerless to police them. They project the image of being clean because the rest of the world does not have the resources to hire NGOs to take them to task. They have the global media, NGOs, human rights watchdogs, academics to glorify their actions while magnifying the faults of the less fortunate countries.

Go to any crisis-ridden country and you fill that almost 98% of the mediators, facilitators, aid workers, peace-negotiators, human rights activists have their homes in the West. The locals are recruited only to add some colour to the white supremacists in their role as judges, juries and the executioners. Has anyone heard of an African or an Asian mission of investigators probing and writing reports on the seamy side of Western instituitons? Which journalist of Asia or Africa has visited Guantanamo Bay? In the first place which one of them will be given visas to visit Guantanamo Bay? Since our journalists canƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t go there why havenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t our parliamentarians opened their mouths and told them a few of the home truths about their dirt which they prefer to sweep under the carpet.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

The prevailing system is heavily loaded in favour of the resource-rich West. They are in command of the key monitoring and report-writing institutions that their victims have no way of combating the superior force of power silencing their voices. Even some of our parliamentarians tend to kow-tow to their ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-superiorsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ in the West if they are given a seat in their institutions. For instance, Wickremesinghe value his appointment as Deputy President of IDU (Asia) and write reports that are not favourable to the Asians. It is apparent that during his recent visit to Australia he has been telling tales to his right-wing colleagues in the Liberal Party. Yesterday (May 14, 2009) Julie Bishop, the Shadow Foreign Minister (Liberal Party coalition) told Parliament: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The coalition recently had an opportunity to discuss these issues directly with the Sri Lankan opposition leader and former Prime Minister, Mr.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Ranil Wickremesinghe. I appreciated his willingness to talk openly about past and present circumstances in Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Now the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-willingness (on WickremesingheƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s part) to talk openlyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ is not surprising because he hopes to get political mileage by talking ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-openlyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ about Sri Lanka.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Anyway, should not the Parliament to which he owes his entire career be informed of the role he played in his capacity as the Deputy President (Asian) of IDU? As Deputy President (Asia) he had to present a report on Sri Lanka. What did his report say about Sri Lanka? He is forever asking the government to reveal this and that which is fair enough. ShouldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t same rule apply to him? The Opposition too has an obligation to tell the people what they are doing behind the peopleƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s backs. After all, if he told the Liberal Party opposition in Australia about Sri Lanka donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t the people of Sri Lanka have a right to know what he told Australia and IDU? But knowing the backlash at home how can he reveal the negative report he presented to IDU and Australia? So why hasnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t any MP raised the question of what he told the IDU? Are our parliamentarians still stuck in the old colonial mentality believing that Western parliaments are so perfect in upholding human rights and all that jazz and we have no right to question their political conduct?

Right now there is a massive assault on Sri Lanka driven by the West. When the US Peace Institute, invited ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-PakiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and Jehan as experts on Sri Lanka they were signaling that the Americans were going to side with the anti-government forces. Of course, it is always cheaper for Americans and the West to hire a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-PakiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚or a Perera than posting an expensive diplomat to do their leg work. These two NGO hireling may be experts in knowing the agenda of the West. But what is their expertise in reading the pulse of the people? If they are such great experts why did they fail to provide a single formula to end the Vadukoddai War and restore normalcy before it ended in Nanthi Kadal Lagoon? They dutifully hailed the Western formulas but where has it taken them or their patrons in the West?

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-PakiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ has moved closer to the political platform of Wickremesinghe, Rauf Hakeem, Mangala Samaraweera with the TNA tagging along. They are ready to go on the war path whatever the formula that will be presented by the government on the devolution package. In addition, the new American Ambassadress, Patricia Butenis, has already signaled that she will speak her mind when she arrives here. That means she will be the latest addition to the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-PakiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚-Wicky-Haki-and-Mangy coalition. With her it will be ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-PakiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚- Wicky-Haki-Mangy-and-ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ButeyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ coalition! Wow! It will be fun to watch this caravan rolling down the road to nowhere.

Of course, the self-destructive UNPers would wallow obscenely in the embarrassment that will be caused by ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ButeyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ putting pressure on the government. The UNPers have lost time and again because they failed to grasp the big picture repeatedly. But then when the nation is saddled with a Leader of the Opposition who had no qualms about insulting the heroic soldiers what can you expect? The only thing he hasnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t done so far is to extend an invitation to Yutio Hatoyama to join in the anniversary celebrations of the Japanese raids on Sri Lanka in World War II.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  However, it is too early to rule this out. After his ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-juck-muckƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-toot-tootƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ politics you never know whatƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s up his sleeve, eh?