{"id":79574,"date":"2018-07-24T15:58:25","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T22:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=79574"},"modified":"2018-07-24T15:58:25","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T22:58:25","slug":"open-letter-to-r-sampanthan-mp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/07\/24\/open-letter-to-r-sampanthan-mp\/","title":{"rendered":"OPEN LETTER TO R. SAMPANTHAN MP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

20 July 2018<\/p>\n

OPEN LETTER TO R. SAMPANTHAN MP<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hon. R. Sampanthan, MP representing TNA<\/p>\n

Leader of the Opposition of the Government of Sri Lanka<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka Parliament<\/p>\n

Colombo, Sri Lanka.,<\/p>\n

Dear Mr. Sampanthan:<\/p>\n

What is this dishonest garbage that you had cried to the UN Resident Coordinator Terence D. Jones the other day.\u00a0 Were you on your knees Sam when you cried choking with your cry-baby twaddle with tears<\/p>\n

dripping down your cheeks? So you elevated the ego of Terence as the Tamil\u2019s Godfather.\u00a0\u00a0 Come on Sam, for Pete\u2019s sake give your non-separatist Tamil clan a break.\u00a0 Don\u2019t embarrass them, as I know that they think you are a no good fool, as they want to live in harmony with the majority Sinhalese who have been their friends for donkey\u2019s years. Several of them are known to me.<\/p>\n

Reading your piffle, you got my goat, Sam, when\u00a0 you said: We don\u2019t want the military to run farms on OUR lands when they are doing now, we want them to exit from these commercial activities which hinder the livelihoods of OUR people.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

HARO…HARA<\/em>\u201d You silly silver-haired fool.\u00a0 Since when did you get the notion that the North of Sri Lanka was OUR\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong>Tamil land.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t your classroom teacher, Mrs. Sivalingam Amma at kindergarten\u00a0 teach you and your school buddies to sing with her cane turned choir mistress\u2019 baton swaying left to right\u00a0 like the arm of a metronome<\/p>\n

This land is your land,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

this land is my land, <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

from Dondra Head\u00a0 to Point Pedro<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

this land was made for you and me.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As I was walking that ribbon A9<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I saw above me that endless fine<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jaffna-Matara skyway,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I saw below me Tea-green valleys<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

as this land was made for you and me.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t you remember?<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t you remember as a curious podiyan asking your Appah<\/p>\n

(A. Rajavarothiam), in the early 50s, who was then the Superintendent of the Gal Oya Project Stores, where they had relocated the denizens of the dense jungle, where no Tamils lived, yet the jungles were criss- crossed by the\u00a0 tracks of Veddas, the aboriginal people, the elephants, sloth bears, deer, leopards and the monkeys, and the air<\/p>\n

was the territory of thousands and thousands of mosquitoes, before these dense jungles were cleared\u00a0 for the massive Gal Oya Project\u00a0 This was the project initiated by our first Independent Ceylon\u2019s Prime Minister D.S.Senanayake Snr. to distribute among the landless Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities land to eke out a living by cultivating them.\u00a0 And now, you disingenuous bully wants to claim that cleared real-estate as OUR<\/strong>\u201d land.\u00a0 That is carts loaded of poppycock, isn\u2019t, it Sam?.<\/p>\n

Did you not ask your Appah, if we Tamils claim that this area belonged to Our\u201d <\/strong>Tamil community, where did you all find our Tamil People hiding from the denizens of the dense jungle, prior to 1940s?\u00a0 Surely, there were no large rocks and caves of such for us Tamils to live in hiding?\u00a0 Were there?\u00a0 If you did ask, what did your Appah say, I\u2019d like to know?<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s cut out your Tamil-Blarney Sam, and cut out your words OUR LAND<\/strong>\u201d from your vocabulary which are really, active words \u00a0<\/em>of \u2018spoiling for<\/strong> a fight<\/strong><\/em>\u2019 <\/strong>with the other communities that make up the united Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

You say Our (Tamil) people are unhappy with government.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> and complained to your Tamil Godfather, Terence Jones. Do you really think that My (Sinhalese) people are happy with the government?\u00a0\u00a0 Na…not really!.\u00a0 I have even heard the expression from some rural Sinhalese people directly – oya okkoma hora yakku, mahaththaya!<\/em><\/strong>:\u00a0 I am tending to believe them.\u00a0 So what the heck are you bickering and belly-aching about?<\/p>\n

Your Tamil people are lucky to have a voice in you to complain. however\u00a0 arrogant.\u00a0 But my Sinhalese people, unfortunately, do not have a honest voice to speak for them and they are voiceless. That is the difference with that reality check, Sam.\u00a0 That is indeed the Rub and you guys are winners by default..<\/p>\n

Sam, you who were demanding OUR<\/strong>\u201d land in the North, where the British missionaries\u00a0 who started to arrive in the island starting in 1812<\/p>\n

were able to increase the schools particularly in the North<\/strong>, within a very short time – the Baptists had 16 schools, Wesleyans 81,\u00a0 the Church Mission 36, the American Mission 96, and the Roman Catholics had 61 throughout Ceylon yet your parents preferred to send you to Christian schools outside your OUR\u201d land, like St. Anne’s College at Kurunegala, and St. Sebastian College in Moratuwa. So they preferred their young Sam, eat, drink and breathe the unpolluted air what the majority Sinhalese youngsters did.\u00a0 How come Sam? Were you that much of a disingenuous twit\u00a0 or did you go off the rails later having been brainwashed by the separatist-Tamil notion that there is only one Tamil enclave\u00a0 in the island\u00a0 of Ceylon, and that is in the North and East to call it OUR<\/strong>\u201d land?<\/p>\n

And so you Tamils went about ethnic cleansing the Jaffna peninsula and the East to make an almost pure Tamil enclave.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did you tell Terence Jones how you Tamils went about ethnic cleansing the North and East.\u00a0 If not why not, Sam? Tell him that between 1971 and 1981, you Tamils terrorized and kicked out 27,000 Sinhalese who had\u00a0 lived there for generations.<\/p>\n

Tell Terence how you rascals on 13th August 1977 stoned and kicked out 400 Sinhalese undergraduates and lecturers from the Jaffna campus, They were brought South in a convoy of buses escorted by the Police and Army, while they were lying on the floor away from the hail of stones and rocks.\u00a0\u00a0 My nephew was one of them who was studying Statistics at the Faculty of Maths.<\/p>\n

Did you tell Terence how in October 1990, your separatist Tamils gave 100,000 Muslims 24 hours starting from Chavakachcheri to get out, leaving all their gold and other valuables at the nearest mosque, making Idi Amin look like an angel as he had a heart and gave Uganda-Indians three months to leave Uganda,\u00a0 These Muslims lived for generations in the North and East of the island.<\/p>\n

Come on, Sam, show me your honesty.\u00a0 Surely there must be a faint streak of humane humility in your Dravidian bones.\u00a0 Let’s see it.\u00a0 Let\u2019s show it.\u00a0 The island until this repugnant saga was – This land is your land, this land is my land, from\u00a0 Dondra Head to Point Pedro \u2026.\u201d <\/strong>\u00a0Don\u2019t understand you Sam, and you most certainly got my goat.\u00a0 And as I said earlier – spoiling for a fight.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And you complain to your Godfather, Terence Jones, We don’t want the military to run farms on our lands which they are doing now, we want them to exit from these commercial activities which hinder the livelihoods of our people..\u201d <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Sam, that is bullish, that is crap, that is sick.<\/p>\n

Alright then, Sam, if I read your logic right, that if the North is OUR\u201d<\/strong> Tamil land, then I assume you would say that the rest of the island is THEIR\u201d <\/strong>meaning the majority Sinhalese-land.\u00a0 Right Sam!.<\/p>\n

I want to know what your reaction would be, if I take your Tamil Godfather Terence Jones by his hand and walk down the mile long Main Street in Colombo\u2019s Pettah, and pointing out to every third shop and tell Terence, I want these Tamil shops – Paskaralingam Jewellery Store, Sorthilingam Thosai Boutique, Ganeshalingam Sari Emporium<\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0\u00a0 Jothilingam Spice Mill Store, Yonilingam Pharmacy, Kanagalingam Hardware Store,\u00a0 Sivalingam Buriyani Hut, Amirthalingam Gold Emporium,\u00a0 and all the other Tamil Stores and Shops along the Main Street strip exit, and go up North to Sampanthan\u2019s OUR\u201d Tamil land as these Tamil commercial activities in Colombo\u2019s Main Street hinder the\u00a0 livelihoods of my Sinhalese people.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Touche! \u00a0I want ethnic-reciprocity, as what is good for your minority Tamils should be good for my majority Sinhalese.\u00a0 Won\u2019t you accept my premise?\u00a0 Let\u2019s be fair, Sam.<\/p>\n

You know what, Sam?\u00a0 My\u00a0 Made in Kand<\/em>y knife cuts both ways and not one way as the Made in Vadukkodai <\/em>knife\u00a0 does, that you seem to use….\u00a0 I hope you got it and will not go belly aching to your Godfather Terance saying \u2026\u201dNo, no Godfather Terence Jones, I want to have the cake and eat it too.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And then Sam, I read that you have told the Outgoing\u00a0 American Ambassador Atul Keshap during his courtesy call .\u201dIf the Government does not deliver, the Tamil people are not going to be second-class citizens in this country<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 Phew! Really, Sam, did you really tell him that. I just can\u2019t believe that you are such a blithering, arrogant,\u00a0 Tamil Senior who has an obnoxious attitude thinking that your Tamil blood is a Royal crimson in colour, better that my Sinhalese blood which you think\u00a0 is a paler red and not a Royal crimson as yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam, I was disappointed in you and I wished that you would have reworded your complaint truthfully thus.<\/p>\n

Ambassador Keshap, it’s true that we minority Tamils ruled the roost over the Sinhalese, for 131 years during the British colonial divide-and-rule policy being treated as the privileged minority\u201d, and the majority Sinhalese, 75% of the population as the wronged majority\u201d and as Second Class citizens and were the 10%\u00a0 Tamils of the population were the First class citizens.\u00a0 In the eyes of others, this divide seems unfair, but we loved and gloated on it and we didn\u2019t want to let that privilege go.\u00a0 Ambassador Keshap we are not prepared to accept that classification as \u2018second class\u2019 citizenry.\u00a0 Sorry Sri Lanka, we want to regain our 131 year old privileges as the Privileged minority.\u201d\u00a0 I say to you Sam, and pass it on to outgoing Ambassador\u00a0 Atul Kasap,\u00a0 that this Sinhalese-Buddhist, Asoka Weerasinghe, says: Dream on Sampanthan, dream on!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A wee voice tells me that you believe that you have finally met the\u00a0 ultimate Sinhalese-Buddhist racist.\u00a0 Right, Sam?\u00a0\u00a0 Wrong, when this Sinhalese-Buddhist,<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Came to an agreement with the father of the 7-year old young Tamil Kumar (not real name) to adopt him until I help him to accomplish his dream of becoming a Tailor.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Here\u00a0 is the story.\u00a0 Let me roll back the years to January 1975.\u00a0 I\u00a0returned home to cremate my Dad who passed-away on 29\u00a0December 1974.\u00a0 I was sitting in the front garden of the house\u00a0 with my brother who too had returned from Sweden for the\u00a0 funeral.\u00a0 This young Kumar, clean looking in shirt and shorts,\u00a0with three horizontal stripes of ash on his forehead,\u00a0 he was\u00a0 awed by the two rateng arepu Mahathayas\u2019.<\/strong>\u00a0 So we called him.<\/p>\n

    \u2018What is your name?\u2019 <\/em><\/strong>we asked.\u00a0 He told us his name. \u00a0\u2018What<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0class are you at school?<\/em><\/strong>\u2019 I asked. \u2018I don’t go to school<\/em><\/strong>\u2019 was his<\/p>\n

    response. So what do you do during the day<\/em><\/strong>?\u201d I asked.\u00a0 I go <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to work, Sir<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d he said. I work for a tailor on Sea Street\u201d <\/em><\/strong>he<\/p>\n

    continued. What do you do at the Tailor shop and how much <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 are<\/em><\/strong> you paid?\u201d\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0was my next question.\u00a0 I sweep the floor, <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 keep the Tailor shop clean, make them tea, and sew buttons\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and buttonholes and I am paid one rupee a day\u2019, <\/em><\/strong>he said.<\/p>\n

    \u201dWhat do you do with the rupee?<\/em><\/strong>\u201d I asked.. \u2018I give it to my <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mother\u2019, <\/em><\/strong>he said.\u00a0 I believe the bus fare from\u00a0 Dematagoda to<\/p>\n

    Pettah was 5 cents.\u00a0 By then I was livid. Go home and bring<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0your Father\u201d<\/em><\/strong>: I insisted.\u00a0 He lived in a large compound with about<\/p>\n

    30 one-room row-houses.\u00a0 The father came, a Tamil like you<\/p>\n

    Sam, who worked at the abattoir on Baseline Road.\u00a0 I admonished<\/p>\n

    this Tamil saying in Sinhalese (I wasn\u2019t competent to speak<\/p>\n

    Tamil).\u201dWhat the heck are you doing to your son?\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 go to school, he can\u2019t read nor write, what do you expect him <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to do when he grows up.\u00a0 Let\u2019s come to an agreement.\u00a0 I will<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 adopt him until he accomplishes his dream of becoming a <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tailor.\u00a0 From now on he only gives his Mother 50 cents\u00a0 a day <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 from his pay.\u00a0 I will have him bank the money he saves.\u00a0 For <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 every 50 cents I give him one rupee and 50 cents and he <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 deposits in his bank account.\u00a0 And he still goes to work and <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 attends evening School at the Buddhist\u00a0 temple and learn<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 English.\u00a0 And if I hear that you had forced Kumar to take\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 money out of his bank\u00a0 account and give you the money I<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 will lynch you from that mango tree<\/em><\/strong> (pointing to the one in<\/p>\n

    our front garden).<\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0I met the People’s Bank Manager at the\u00a0 T-junction, and explained<\/p>\n

    to him young Kumar\u2019s dream of his life, to become a Tailor. I<\/p>\n

    want to help him to get him there.\u00a0 I want to open an account for<\/p>\n

    him to bank his savings.<\/p>\n

    The Bank Manager explained that it wouldn\u2019t be a problem as<\/p>\n

    long as\u00a0 Kumar could sign his name. So I got him to sign his name<\/p>\n

    hundreds of time in a ruled exercise book until he was competent<\/p>\n

    to do it.\u00a0 The account was opened.<\/p>\n

    Every time I returned home he was given a Singer Machine<\/p>\n

    Company sewing kit of scissors, thread, needles, buttons, pins,<\/p>\n

    pin-cushions, fabric shears, zippers, etc.\u00a0\u00a0 The result of this<\/p>\n

    cooperative\u00a0 effort was that\u00a0 Kumar at age 25 was an independent<\/p>\n

    Tailor, with his own Singer\u00a0 sewing machine gifted by the<\/p>\n

    Sinhalese-Buddhist surrogate Dad, and\u00a0 renting a space in a<\/p>\n

    Kallathon<\/em>i-Tamil laundry.\u00a0 I then cut my adoption-umbilical cord<\/p>\n

    having given this young poor Tamil Kumar, a son of an abattoir<\/p>\n

    butcher, a life<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    My question to you Sam, being a gung-ho Tamil politician<\/p>\n

    promoting reconciliation with the Sinhalese community, have<\/p>\n

    you helped a single poor Sinhalese, and given the person a<\/p>\n

    Life?<\/p>\n

    With this Metta <\/em><\/strong>gesture of mine would you label me as a<\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0Sinhalese\u00a0 Buddhist racist<\/em><\/strong> who is resisting your claiming the<\/p>\n

    North and the East of the\u00a0 island as your Tamil Home\u201d and an<\/p>\n

    eventual Eelam.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be embarrassed to tell me, I have done <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    sweet\u00a0 buggerall,<\/em><\/strong> Asoka<\/em><\/strong>\u201d if that is indeed your answer.\u00a0 At least<\/p>\n

    you are being honest..<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Sam, my coming after you for claiming that the North is OUR\u201d<\/p>\n

    land meaning, the Land of the Tamils, and excluding me a<\/p>\n

    Sinhalese-Buddhist who believes that all of Sri Lanka, every<\/p>\n

    square inch of land belongs all peoples of Sri Lanka, you might<\/p>\n

    think you have finally met a true Sinhalese Buddhist racist.<\/p>\n

    Right, Sam!\u00a0 Na…can\u2019t be, especially when no Canadian-Tamil<\/p>\n

    who happen to be your people, came out to defend your Tamil<\/p>\n

    Culture, when Ottawa\u2019s lawyer Matt Garvey argued in court to<\/p>\n

    defend a Tamil man who still believed that he was in Killinochchi.<\/p>\n

    and\u00a0 that he could kidnap a Tamil woman even in Canada\u2019s<\/p>\n

    Ottawa, was an acceptable Tamil cultural trait.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Do you know who came to the Tamil men\u2019s defence in public?<\/p>\n

    Sam, sit on a chair and put your seatbelt on in case you drop<\/p>\n

    onto the floor in shock.\u00a0\u00a0 It was yours truly, the Sinhalese-<\/p>\n

    Buddhist,\u00a0 Asoka Weerasinghe from Ottawa.\u00a0 Did I hear you<\/p>\n

    say Haro…Hara…Praise the Lord!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    The Ottawa Citizen<\/em><\/strong> of Friday, September 12, 2003, carried\u00a0 this<\/p>\n

    letter of mine:<\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0Lust, not tradition, led to kidnapping.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Re: Tamil courtier accepts guilt, Sept. 10.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lawyer Matt McGarvey has confused lust with Tamil tradition <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in his defence of his client, Sureshtharan Nadarajah, who<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 kidnapped Bamini Maheandralingham to try to force her to<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 accept a thali<\/em> the symbolic marriage necklace.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sure, the thali,<\/em> also known as Mangalayum, is the\u00a0 most<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 important symbolic tradition to be tied around the neck of<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the intended bride, at an auspicious time agreed by the<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 families of both parties.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This gesture implies that she is now tied to his community <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and now takes the responsibility to uphold the ethnic,<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 cultural position and status of his family.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 However, the lawyer gives the impression that Tamil men<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 have the habit of kidnapping women to force them to accept<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the thali.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0This is nonsense.\u00a0 Generally, Tamil men know and are <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 respectful of this cultural tradition, which also inculcates<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 them to respect their mothers, sisters, daughters and<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 women in general.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What Mr. Nadarajah did was to break the golden rule of<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Canada, to live by the law of the land that gave him this<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 privilege to live here.\u00a0 He cannot just kidnap Tamil women<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 willy-nilly, as they have the freedom to walk in the open 24<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 hours a day in Canada without being harassed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was kidnapping for lust, not because kidnapping a Tamil<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 woman who he wanted to marry was an accepted tradition <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in\u00a0 the rich Tamil culture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Asoka Weerasinghe,\u00a0 Gloucester.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>So, Sam, do I look like a Sinhala-Buddhist racist?\u00a0 Na…not<\/p>\n

    half.\u00a0\u00a0 But you would be certainly right if you would say that<\/p>\n

    this Sinhalese-Buddhist guy, Asoka Weerasinghe in Ottawa<\/p>\n

    is not happy when we\u00a0 Tamils claim the North and East of\u00a0 the<\/p>\n

    Island as\u00a0 \u00a0OUR Land<\/strong>, which excludes him.\u00a0\u00a0 Darn right Sam,<\/p>\n

    Not that he is Not happy\u201d, but he resents it. As he says under<\/p>\n

    his breath,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pox on all those who want to dissect Sri Lanka<\/p>\n

    into two. Even surreptitiously and hoodwinking the masses with<\/p>\n

    the treacherous adoption of a new Constitution.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have<\/p>\n

    to second guess me, Sam!<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Let Me try one more incident on you Sam.\u00a0 Let me roll back the<\/p>\n

    years to 1994.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    So this Sinhala-Buddhist racist, Asoka Weerasinghe\u2019s phone<\/p>\n

    rang\u00a0 at breakfast time on 5th December 1994. A voice<\/p>\n

    introduced\u00a0 himself as the lawyer representing a Tamil friend of<\/p>\n

    mine,\u00a0 a resident of Montreal, Quebec, to inform me that my<\/p>\n

    friend had\u00a0 passed away of a heart attack the day before.\u00a0 He<\/p>\n

    was\u00a0 a 72-year old bachelor, a former Virologist at the Montreal<\/p>\n

    General Hospital and an old boy of Kingswood College, Kandy.<\/p>\n

    He had appointed me as the Executor of his Will.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    That request almost made me fall off the chair. Why me, when<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 he had so many Tamil friends in Montreal and a family in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ottawa, with whom he spends every Christmas,\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 I asked<\/p>\n

    the lawyer.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0Let us look at it this way, Mr. Weerasinghe.\u00a0 He obviously<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 trusted you with his fortune he had stacked away in the <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bank.\u00a0 Please honour your friend with his request\u201d,<\/em><\/strong> said the<\/p>\n

    Lawyer\u00a0 And I heard my wife\u2019s voice requesting me to Honour<\/p>\n

    our friend.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    So I did,\u00a0 dispersing his fortune equally to his nephews in Sri<\/p>\n

    Lanka, and\u00a0 Australia and a niece in the UK.\u00a0 Tracked down<\/p>\n

    two of his sisters in\u00a0 Madras, India.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Go figure, that one Sam.\u00a0 This was an act of Metta<\/em><\/strong> and<\/p>\n

    friendship with members of the Tamil community, and not<\/p>\n

    reconciliation as you Tamils were no Paragons-of-Virtue<\/em><\/p>\n

    \u00a0sans<\/em> the word Sorry<\/strong>\u201d as part of their vocabulary..<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    So you\u00a0 want to dissect that beautiful island of Ours into two.<\/p>\n

    Claim the North and East, which amounts to 33% of the<\/p>\n

    sovereign real estate bordered by 66% of the coastline as<\/p>\n

    OUR<\/strong>\u201d meaning Tamilo land. Ha!<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    That is extreme, that is bullish, that is sun- dried<\/p>\n

    patties of cow-dung, Sam. Cut out that rubbish, and go get<\/p>\n

    a life, and you do absolutely\u00a0 nothing to displace the 54% of<\/p>\n

    Tamils in the South, who seem to be happy living and inter-<\/p>\n

    marrying with the majority Sinhalese, or else they too would<\/p>\n

    have got on a plane with a legitimate passport and arrive at<\/p>\n

    an airport in the West, saying that they do not have a travel<\/p>\n

    document, having flushed it in the toilet, and begging for refuge.<\/p>\n

    Right, Sam!<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \u00a0Haro..Hara!<\/em><\/strong>, give this Sinhalese-Buddhist a break., Sam.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Sincerely,<\/p>\n

    Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)<\/p>\n

    (Born and bred in Colombo, son of a CGR steam locomotive-<\/p>\n

    driver and an old Nalandian)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada 20 July 2018 OPEN LETTER TO R. SAMPANTHAN MP Hon. R. Sampanthan, MP representing TNA Leader of the Opposition of the Government of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Parliament Colombo, Sri Lanka., Dear Mr. Sampanthan: What is this dishonest garbage that you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asoka-weerasinghe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}