The Ghost of Chelvanayagam Still Haunts Sri Lanka
Posted on March 19th, 2011
MahamahaRaja
The scale of Thursday’s electoral triumph for Mahinda Rajapaksa’s UPFA coalition was somewhat unexpected. Many believed that though a UNP defeat was inevitable, there would be significant erosion into the SLFP’s margin of victory due to the opposition’s slogans having some resonance with the polity: the cost of living has indeed increased, and corruption is flaunted by connected individuals with reckless disregard for how the general population will react to it.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ But it turned out that the population is still willing to endure these two problems, for they prefer the destruction of Tamil terrorism which comes with the SLFP’s corruption over the destruction of the nation which always comes with UNP corruption. Plus, it may be that the opposition’s regular references to Tunisia and Egypt — where they highlighted increasing cost of living and corruption as similarities with the UPFA regime here — actually backfired.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ For, people realised that in actual fact, if these problems were present in those two countries, then perhaps it wasn’t the alleged economic mismanagent in Sri Lanka which was causing the problem. World food prices and oil prices have been increasing significantly on the back of natural disasters in major grain producing countries as well as the Middle Eastern upheavels of the early part of this year. And an intelligent population such as ours would have had no trouble in finding out that even the developed countires have been affected by this.
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The defeat of the JVP terrorists in their stronghold of Tissamaharama at the hands of the UPFA further shows the support Mahinda Rajapaksa has engendered in all parts of the country. Even more surprising is that Northern regions, though predictably voting for racialist parties, did place the UPFA second as against the UNP which has been strong there given the latter’s anti-Sinhalese Buddhist, pro-Tamil terrorist stance. More than anything else, this appears to show that there is a great affinity from all segments of the population with the UPFA. Why else would every quarter except a few die-hard UNP strongholds vote for the incumbents?
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ And this brings us on to a concerning issue: the re-emergence of ITAK.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Though subsumed into the overarching Tamil National Alliance brand for much of recent history, the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi party’s idelogies of Tamil racial supremacy and the use of violence to give physical form to their evidence-lacking fabricated history, has been the core of the Tamil psyche since the party’s founding in 1949 — when the old colonial power structure which unfairly favoured Tamils was still in place and strong. Now, all pretences have ended, and the TNA has revealed exactly what it is.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Malaysian-born St. James Vellupillai Chelvanayagam became a major player in Sri Lankan racialist politics, initiating his ITAK Tamil party based on the Tamil ‘homeland’ myth and Tamil racial ‘superiority’ when he along with other leading Tamil political leaders realised that there would be no way the British would create a South African style Tamil-dominated apartheid country in Sri Lanka. However, they were confident they could create this for themselves.
Long before any riots (many instigated by Chelvanayagam himself), any language laws (which brought Tamil-medium education to the majority of Tamils), any university standardisation (which gave the hope of university for the majority of Tamils) or any settlement programs (which provided land to all three main races in equal proportion), Chelvanayagam was fixated on the idea of following the White South African model — a ruthless tiny minority ruling over a large easy-going majority.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Though alien to the country, the invading whites of South Africa were able to hold onto power by suppresing the locals and using every possible method to restrict wealth, education, weapons and land from the original inhabitant blacks. Leading Tamils such as Chelvanayagam were fascinated with this, and felt that the relaxed Sinhalese with their non-confrontational peace loving Buddhist civilization in Sri Lanka could easily be subsitituted for the blacks of South Africa. Thus, they hoped, the alien Tamils could rule the Sinhalese homeland.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It was at this time that creating a well-trained cadre of Tamil fighters was first mooted, and further engineered crises and media manipulation was required before this idea would gain acceptance among the Tamil population at large. But the power-hungry Tamil elite underestimated the resolve of the ‘easy-going’ Sinhalese Buddhists, and the rest is history!
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Yet again, it is clear that when given the choice between racialism and unity, most Tamils still haven’t learnt the lessons from the very recent past. While the ITAK’s official translation of their party name into English and Sinhala is ‘Federal Party,’ the direct translation reveals their real sinister aims: ‘Party for a Tamil State in Sri Lanka.’
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As Tamils seem unwilling to realise that racialism will get them nowhere, I think it is foolish to allow ethno-parties like ITAK, TNA, PLOTE, EPDP etc to exist. It is time to be firm. Only secular, sane parties will bring development and prosperity to our nation. The cause of the vast majority of Sri Lanka’s problems has been the existence of Tamil parties, ITAK chief among them.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Why should the peace-loving majority sit by and watch as they try to start a new round of Tamil terrorism? Hasn’t this country suffered enough under the machinations of Tamil supremacist racists? It is time we lance the boil of Tamil terrorism once and for all: the government must ban these Tamil parties, and settle the northern and eastern lands with southerners. There is no other way to ensure the safety of our country.
March 19th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Tamil in the north and east elected ITAK. They did the same mistake again. Until ITAK voiced for Tamil
there were peace amoung Tamils and Sinhalese. ITAK was ´responsible for the Past 30 years of war.
First of all tamils who want peaceful life must be thankful to Hon.President Rajapakse who liberated
the country from the Terrorist. Many of them lived in the South until LTTE defeated by Sri Lankan Army.
Now they went back to North. Now voted to ITAK who supported LTTE or closed their mouth
to save their own life.
March 19th, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Tamils in the north and east ALWAYS voted for ITAK, ACTC, TULF, TNA. All these are racist political parties based on Tamil racism. Unfortunately this will not change. In 2001, 2004 and 2010 also Tamils in the north and east voted for these parties. 1994 and 2000 were exceptions because people were prevented from voting in the north especially due to war, violence and LTTE control.
Tamils in the north and the east will ALWAYS vote for Tamil racist political parties. It will NEVER change. This is the reality. They have not built at least one public toilet, one school, one road or anything but still they will solely because of Tamil racist views these parties hold.
Tamils in Tamil Nadu ALWAYS vote for Dravidian racist parties. Same logic. This will NEVER change no matter how bad, corrupt, foolish and useless these parties are.
March 19th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
UNP did gain from their massive defeat a year ago.
Elections were not held in some UNP power bastions like the CMC. Had these been held, UNP vote percentage would have increased. They will still lose overall, but their losing margin would reduce.
Elections were not held in Jaffna and Vanni. If elections were held in these areas ITAK would have won many more seats. I tip ITAK to win a landslide in the north. That’s how Tamils in the north vote. Racist parties are more important to them than development oriented OR multiethnic parties. Tamil Nadu Tamils are the same.
March 19th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Tamils are Tamils. They cannot be treated with equality as the do NEVER treat other races with equality. That is a sad fact Sinhal Budhist majority should accept and move on , treating minorities fairly but firmly. Never give them too much ! Follow Singapore,Malaysia, Australia, Japan, China and other countries. What elese you should give ?
March 19th, 2011 at 5:13 pm
Its all a question of trust. Unfortunately that trust has been destroyed and by the action of the tamil community and the response to it by the sinhalese are further eroding that trust. For devolepment of that trust you must have the ability to think of the common good.
March 20th, 2011 at 2:06 am
The last phrase is vital,succinct and goes to the root of the issue: Why should the peace-loving majority sit by and watch as they try to start a new round of Tamil terrorism? Hasn’t this country suffered enough under the machinations of Tamil supremacist racists? It is time we lance the boil of Tamil terrorism once and for all: the government must ban these Tamil parties, and settle the northern and eastern lands with southerners. There is no other way to ensure the safety of our country.
YES INDEED : the government must ban these Tamil parties, and settle the northern and eastern lands with southerners. There is no other way to ensure the physical integrity of our country.
I have read this solution being advanced over and over again in these columns. Of special mention are the articles on this subject of Kumar Moses. There is no other solution but this: ESTABLISH SINHALESE SETTLEMENTS IN THE NORTH AND EAST. This solution is not just a matter of political expediency, but a RIGHT. This right was won by the shedding of Sinhalese blood (the vast majority of those who died for the liberation of the motherland). Their blood is crying out and will always cry out enacting and reenacting their final death spasms for the freedom of Mother Lanka.This is the solution, the only solution, the once and for all measure that will seal the lips of all for whom Sri Lanka is a pawn in the game of their political ambitions. There is no time for procrastination. The Rajapakse government has been given mandate after mandate, to seal definitively the freedom of this country obtained with the blood of our village youth. Let Sinhala settlements sprout up in the north and the east, out of the soil drenched with the blood of our youth. That is the future for which they died. It is principally for this that MR is being elected over and over again, not for the parippu and the bandakka and the pathola.
Mario Perera, Kadawata
March 20th, 2011 at 2:13 am
Tamils who live in north and east must accept they are belongs to Sri Lanaka. They don´t live in the past before
200 years. Situations are changed. When they say we are Tamils what about Tamils in the Estates and in the South? Have they open heart to accept all Tamils are Tamils? They are brain wasched by Tamil Politicians
as same as diaspora by LTTE. They distroy themself. During the last days of war what happend?
Diaspora Tamils tried to safegurd LTTE and not Innocent Tamils. The same do the politicians in Sri Lanka.
They want tosave their party and family to keep monoply in the Tamils Politic.
ITAK I know from my childhood.. They fight for own country more than 50 yeras. Have they their own Office in Jaffna? Do they have any proposal of social and rural Development of poor people in Jaffna?
We all Sri Lankan must work hard to change mind of those people. Liberate from Politicians
use Tamil in front of their Organisation and cheating the world.
March 20th, 2011 at 2:31 am
Dear Mari Perera,
Tamils who live in Sri Lanka and all over the world are allways thankful to the Southern youths who
gave their life for the Sri Lankan people. You know in the world truth has no chance immediately . But Who lies is a winner always. unfortunately and purposely Many tamils were killed. The reason is propaganda of LTTE.
We must lay a foundtion for a new country withuot racism. We must love each others and show the world
we are one as Sri Lanakns without any Language,Religious Fundametalism. If we fail, our enemies inside and outside are awaiting to use the chance. They will disturb our life in Sri Lanka. Approach the the problem with
love and harmless way to our country.
March 20th, 2011 at 6:10 am
Very good article thanks.
“Long before any riots (many instigated by Chelvanayagam himself), any language laws (which brought Tamil-medium education to the majority of Tamils), any university standardisation (which gave the hope of university for the majority of Tamils) or any settlement programs (which provided land to all three main races in equal proportion), Chelvanayagam was fixated on the idea of following the White South African model — a ruthless tiny minority ruling over a large easy-going majority.”
The root cause of the problem in the Island Country is the absence of UPHOLDING the country’s Sovereignty of Indigenous Hela/Sinhela Nationhood, which the settler-Tamils of Tamil Nadu national origin realized early days and decided to exploit the easy- going nature of the Hela People. Despite liberating the Hela Island from Tamil invasive terror at a massive sacrifice of Hela lives, in spite of being a small nation, unlike the major Tamil populous of the world of over 100 millions, who are in collusion with the Hela-Tamils to capture Heladiva, in their inability to free Tamil Nadu (Tamil country) – we are still ignorant of the ongoing threats. The core threat is UNLIKE in any other national sovereign country, the so called artificial Srilankan nation is “multi-national” in its concept by the official recognition of “Tamil” which must be official ONLY in Tamil Nadu. As long as this official recognition is there, “Tamils” will strive for nationhood. Identifying ourselves (Helas) the indigenous people as a “race” is another major error in nullifying our NATIONHOOD status on a par with settler non indigenous minorities. We are the NATION, it is INCLUSIVE of all settler minorities just like in other indigenous national countries, which is a MINDSET.
” Though alien to the country, the invading whites of South Africa were able to hold onto power by suppresing the locals and using every possible method to restrict wealth, education, weapons and land from the original inhabitant blacks. Leading Tamils such as Chelvanayagam were fascinated with this, and felt that the relaxed Sinhalese with their non-confrontational peace loving Buddhist civilization in Sri Lanka could easily be subsitituted for the blacks of South Africa. Thus, they hoped, the alien Tamils could rule the Sinhalese homeland.”
Fine example to illustrate what happened in the Sinhalese homeland, in fact it is an attempted undercover invasion to convert Heladiva (SL) into a second Tamil Nadu. The reference to “racist parties”, we should understand it is much worse as these are really “alien-national parties” directly threatening our National Sovereignty.
March 20th, 2011 at 8:39 am
There is no terrorisim in Srilanka.
There is no time left to waste . We have to work every second to unite the Country unite Tamils, Sinhalese,Muslims and Burgers
Goodness, This is the best time to unite the country. We could not do it for the last 35 years
If we can not unite the country now we are nuts we are fools
( 1)
Let UNP contest in Jaffna elections . SLFP and other parties should support them
Look at Quebec Province In Canada. Yes There is Parti quebec asking for separation . For many years the Premier is always Partiqubec . Now the Premier is Liberal
This is the only province where Tories and Liberals unite and only LIBERALS contest in the Provincial elections
UNP got one Candidate in Jaffna. It is a big deal . They got over 10000 votes .
What Slfp should do is to talk to UNP and have UNP contest in Jaffna . You do not split the votes then
I hear some people In this forum calling Ranil a traitor and other sinhala politicians as traitors
What nonsense it is ? Do not bark like idiot. How dare you are to call Leader like Ranil a traitor
This is the word used by LTTE when they killed Tamil scholars who wanted Unity with sinhalese
It is a curse for Srilankans to call others Traitors if we do not agree their policies
No one call President Carter or Bill Clinton traitors in USA . The policy, the thinking of every President is different
How could SLFP unite UNP for the sake of unity when people calling names on UNP leaders? HA
( 2 ) Please show compassion to the Villagers in Jaffna. There are farmers, laborers , carpenters who just want to earn money and have a normal life
ALso there were many children without parents , mothers lost hands and limps in the war.
LTTE took these people with them as humanshield and the tragedy is too too bad
I cried so many nights when I saw the pictures people were dying and children were crying for help
We can not talk of past it is not going to help
I hear there are already people from South helping their brothers and sisters from North . It should continue
Show compassion and love .You can win the hearts and minds of people
Do not make fun or ridicule because they look different , the cultcure is different or religion is different
This is not the damn time to talk about Who came first and who came last
We have to work hard for unity
( 3 ) I thought for a long time EPDP was a good party and always help the Govt . It could be true
I met few tamil friends in a function . All of them are happy to see the LTTE is gone and there is everlasting PEACE in Lanka
A friend mentioned people are scared of EPDP because of kidnappings and killings . What nonsense it is?
A person can make one mistake it can be excused not second time
If EPDP ( Douglas) is involved with Kidnappings and killings Govt should not associate with them . It gives Tamils a wrong message if Govt associate with such a Group
( 4 ) Govt should engage talk to ITAK . Just sit down and talk .Be friendly with them You do not need to hate them. SHow them compassion and love
It is nothing wrong to have talks as long as they know this is a United Srilanka no divisions any more
Do not antogonize them because the party got tamil name
Proverbs 17:9
Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends
I want to see in actions I pray for it
March 20th, 2011 at 8:41 am
what I meant was UNP got one MP in Jaffna
March 20th, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Jimmy,
(1). Absolutely not! Multi ethnic parties should win the way they contest. If not Jaffna ethnic composition should be changed so that these parties win no matter how they contest. It is democratic.
(3). EPDP must stay and continue their paramilitary work as long as Tamil racist parties are there. Violence is part of the game if Tamil racist demands are to stay. As long as ITAK stays and spits out Tamil demands, EPDP must stay and engage in counter measures. EPDP has its following better than the UNP and SLFP!
(4). They should talk to them but should never give their demands. Any demand that generally benefit people of all races directly may be goven but certainly not a demand that would only benefit Tamils directly.
Anyway these are only temporary. The only long term solution is to settle southerners in the north in very large numbers to make Tamils a minority in the north. Tamils are a very good, law abiding and friendly minority around the world in any region, but a horribly bad majority in any region. They should not be allowed to be the majority in any district in the north and east. Upcountry Tamils have conducted very well. So have the Muslims and all other minorities.