{"id":86917,"date":"2019-04-02T16:19:37","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T23:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=86917"},"modified":"2019-04-02T16:19:37","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T23:19:37","slug":"history-rejects-tamil-ngo-politics-of-jehan-perera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/04\/02\/history-rejects-tamil-ngo-politics-of-jehan-perera\/","title":{"rendered":"History rejects Tamil-NGO politics of Jehan Perera"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Hate speech comes in various shades of lies. It is the curse that haunts\ncurrent of global politics. It runs from white supremacists in America to the\nboot-end of New Zealand. On the way to New Zealand it links up with Tamil\nsupremacists and their NGO agents in Sri Lanka. Some lies are blunt like the\nTamil extremists who passed a resolution in the Northern Provincial Council\nbranding the democratically elected states since independence (1948) as\ninstruments of Sinhala genocidal criminals. This is not only a lie that\ncontradicts historical facts but also hate speech coming from the highest level\nof Tamil politics. It is a prime example of distorting history to demonise the\nSinhala-Buddhists as the implacable and inveterate enemies of the Tamils. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

History, however, tells a different tale. History says that (1)\npractically all elected states, with one or two exceptions, consisted of\nCabinet ministers drawn from the minority communities and were supported by one\nor the other leaders of minority parties, including G. G. Ponnambalam and S. J.\nV. Chelvanayakam and (2) of the 71 years of independence, Jaffna and some\nadjacent parts of the nation were under Tamil Pol Potist gun of Velupillai Prabhakaran\nfor 34 years. So on the norm of collective responsibility, if the\ndemocratically elected states were guilty of genocidal acts then the\nresponsibility should be shared by a collective of all community leaders and\njust not the Sinhala leaders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

History also tells us that the Sinhala state\u201d (Tamil terminology to\ndenigrate the democratically elected state as a racist instrument) cannot be\nheld responsible for the genocidal killings of Tamils by Tamils when North was\nunder the rule of Velupillai Prabhakaran.  He began his career by\nassassinating an unarmed Tamil civilian, Alfred Duraiyappah, the Mayor of\nJaffna, on July 27, 1975 for not toeing the mono-ethnic extremism that rejected\npluralism, liberalism and democratic politics. Duraiyappah was also the Jaffna\norganiser of the SLFP. Tamils who advocated diversity, pluralism and liberalism\nwere gunned down without mercy. This was the only way that Prabhakaran could\nmaintain his myth of being the sole representative of the Tamils\u201d. His Pol\nPotist cult was based on mono-ethnic extremism rejecting peaceful co-existence\nwith the other\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hating the other\u201d \u2013- even a dissident Tamil \u2013- was the unrelenting\ntactic that determined and sustained the intransigent politics of Prabhakaran.\nIt was his bitter anti-other\u201d politics, legitimised by the Tamil supremacist\nideology contained in the Vadukoddai Resolution (1976) , that satiated the\nTamil appetite for violence against the other\u201d \u2013 i.e, Sinhalese, Muslims,\nTamil dissidents etc. His ruthless tactic of killing the other\u201d made him the\nmost hero-worshipped icon in the Tamil culture of hate. He like Sankili, who\nmassacred 600 Tamil Catholics on the Christmas\u2019 eve of 1544 for owing\nallegiance to the King of Portugal, demanded total obedience to his will.\nPrabhakaran inherited the Sankili culture of killing dissident Tamils and the\nother\u201d. And he took to the Sankili culture as if was his mother\u2019s milk. His\nsole weapon to impose his fascist will was to kill Tamils who refused to pay\nhomage to him. And the more he killed the more the elated Tamils rushed to fund\nhis violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He never stopped killing as long as he was alive. It stopped only on May\n19, 2009 when his body was found floating in Nandikadal. He ended his futile\nwar by shooting and bombing the Tamil civilians running away from him seeking\nshelter in the camps opened up by the Security Forces. So for 34 years \u2013 from\nthe first shot fired by Prabhakaran to assassinate Alfred Duraiyappah (1975) to\nthe last shots fired at Tamil civilians fleeing the futile Vadukoddai\nWar (2009) \u2013 peninsular politics slipped from the hands of the traditional\nleaders which consisted exclusively of Saivite Jaffna Vellalas (SJVs) and fell\ninto the grip of gun-toting Tamil Pol Potists. The elitist SJVs embraced the\nnew breed of Pol Potists lovingly as their boys\u201d. Reason: the SJVs had pushed\nmono-ethnic politics to the extreme end and they had nowhere to go except to\nthe boys\u201d who were urged to take the guns to achieve the elusive Eelam. The\nboys\u201d were the SJVs last hope. They were waiting in the wings hoping that the\nchildren of their Vadukoddai Resolution would wrest Tamil Eelam from the hated\nSinhalese and deliver it into their hands,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hate politics inculcated into the minds of the Tamils took an unexpected\nturn when the boys\u201d first turned their guns against the fathers of the\nVadukoddai Resolution. Thanthai\u201d (Father) S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, who went\nthrough every word of the Resolution and endorsed it, escaped the wrath of\nPrabhakaran only because he died before the boys\u201d got fully organised with the\npower of the gun. But Thanthai\u2019s\u201d successor, Appapillai Amirthalingam was\ngunned down in his home in Colombo. The militarised gun culture of Jaffna\nreduced the Tamils to be obedient worshippers of Prabhakaran. His killings surpassed\neven that of his guru Sankili. S. C. Chandrahasan, son of S.J. V.\nChelvanayakam, is on record saying that Prabhakaran had killed more Tamils than\nthe others put together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was confirmed by V. Ananadasangaree, Leader of the TULF, who\nrepeated Chandrahasan\u2019s statement and added that the Tamils were given the\ndemocratic right to protest when Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike opened the Jaffna\nUniversity but he can\u2019t even step into Jaffna under their liberator\u201d\nPrabhakaran. He wiped out the entire Tamil leadership of Jaffna to make him\nthe sole representative of the Tamils\u201d.  So who has been the genocidal\nkiller of Tamils? Clearly history debunks the toxic anti-Sinhala-Buddhist propagandists\nwho are bent on deifying the most bestial killer of Tamils, beating even\nSankili. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coincidentally, with the rise of Tamil Pol Potism came the Vadukoddai\nResolution which was passed unanimously by the Jaffna Tamil leadership aimed at\nthree main objectives: (1). declaring war to achieve Eelam by denouncing\nnon-violent politics in the democratic mainstream; (2) endorsing the\nweaponising of peninsular politics and (3) the militarisation of Tamil youth,\nmostly the poor low-castes as the privileged SJV youth were sent overseas. The\nnew breed of low-castes tasted power for the first time with the kalashnikov in\ntheir hands. The rest, of course, is history.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The war-mongering Vadukoddai Resolution provided the necessary\nideological justifications to accelerate and sustain Prabhakaran\u2019s brutal\nviolence which was waged against anyone who opposed him, including the Tamils\nand the Indians who gave him succour. He never stopped killing Tamils even in\nhis last days. He ended his futile war by shooting and bombing the Tamil\ncivilians running away from him seeking shelter with the Security Forces. In\nshort, he began and ended his career by killing Tamils. The guns fell silent on\nMay 19, 2009 when his body was found floating in the Nandikadal Lagoon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So for 34 years \u2013 from the first shot fired at Alfred Duraiyappah to the\nlast shots fired at Tamil civilians fleeing from his failed state   \u2013\nthe gun-culture of Prabhakaran ruled Jaffna and the Tamils in general. He\nrejected the international and national peace deals without providing any\nalternative to restore peace, security or Eelam to the Tamils. He, along with\nthe Tamil leadership that legitimised violence in the Vadukoddai Resolution,\nhas to bear the responsibility of waging a war that took the Tamils only into\nthe muddy depths of Nandikadal. It was futile war driven by his bloated and\ninsane ego that led the Tamils into a dead-end. So who has been the genocidal\nkiller of Tamils? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is against this background that Jehan Perera\u2019s statement accusing the\nmajority\u201d (he means Sinhala-Buddhists) of not creating a culture of pluralism,\ndiversity and liberalism should be tested. The acid test is recorded in\nhistory. It says that the majority\u201d fought the longest war in Asia within a\ndemocratic framework, however fragile it may have been. The Sinhala state\u201d\nprovided security to the Tamil MPs and other Tamils hunted by Prabhakaran. The\nTamil MPs were given the democratic right to oppose the Sinhala state\u201d. David\nFeng, an official of the UNICEF, commented that Sri Lanka is the only state\nthat supplied medicine, food, welfare and non-military essentials, including\npayments to pensioners and government servants, to those living in a territory held\nby the enemies of the state. Besides, President Chandrika Kumaratunga offered\nthe North and the East to Prabhakaran for him to run it for ten years without\nan election. Ranil Wickremesinghe signed the notorious Ceasefire Agreement\nvirtually handing over the North and the East to Prabhakaran. The list is\nunending. Despite this historical evidence Jehan Perera joins the Tamil\nhate-mongers to demonise the South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The North and the South consist of two distinct cultures. The Northern\nculture consisted of a closed society ruled by feudal Hindu casteist hierarchy\nwhich first morphed into anti-Sinhala-Buddhist racist and later, in the\npost-Vadukoddai period, into Pol Potist fascism. The Southern culture consists\nof an open society that embraced the diverse ideologies shipped from the West.\nBoth cultures were staring in the face of Jehan Perera for him to evaluate\nfairly. And yet he writes that there is no diversity, pluralism, liberalism in\nthe South. There are two possible explanations that could account for this\nconclusion: either 1. he is nuts or 2. he is lying through his teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denying realities and distorting history is another form of hate\nspeech.  Jehan Perera\u2019s career in the NGOs has been quite transparent. His\nmission has been to give respectability and validity to the\nanti-Sinhala-Buddhist propaganda manufactured by the Tamil lobby. In his\narticle in The Island<\/em><\/strong> (11\/2\/2019) he recycles the\nanti-Sinhala-Buddhist narrative of the Chief Minister of Northern Province,\nC.V. Wigneswaran, dressed up in NGO clich\u00e9s. Though the NGOs and the Tamil\nextremists come from two different ends of the political spectrum they both\nhave one common aim: demonise the Sinhala-Buddhists to gain maximum political\nmileage both at home and abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of the Chief Minister of Northern Province, C.V.\nWigneswaran, it is predictable that he would engage in crude\nanti-Sinhala-Buddhist narratives because he has to survive in an electorate\nthat responds only to mono-ethnic extremism that is structured to exclude\nnon-Tamils. But Jehan Perera claims that he is working for a plural vision of\nsociety\u201d. If so, why is he regurgitating the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist narrative\nthat was first launched by G. G. Ponnambalam in 1939 in Navalapitiya with the\nsole intention of promoting divisive mono-ethnic extremism of peninsular\npolitics? Ponnambalam\u2019s attack on Sinhala-Buddhists and the Mahavamsa<\/em><\/strong>\nsparked off the first North-South communal riots. The anti-Sinhala-Buddhist\nnarrative of Northern politics has not deviated one micro-mini atom from the\nanti-Sinhala-Buddhist version manufactured by Ponnambalam in 1939. In fact it\nintensified in the subsequent decades to meet the demands of increased\nanti-Sinhala-Buddhist propaganda pushing federalism in the forties, separatism\nin the fifties and finally Tamil Pol Potism in the seventies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To check whether the majority\u201d (Sinhala-Buddhists) is what Jehan Perera\nsays they are I double-checked with Malinda Seneviratne, a leading political\ncommentator, to find out whether any of the Southern Provincial Councils \u2013\ninstitutions of the majority\u201d whom Jehan Perera loves to hate — has passed a\nsimilar resolution branding the Tamil Pol Potists as genocidal killers\u201d. He\nsaid NO\u201d. This is one simple example of the differences between the two\npolities of the North and the South. Though the lunatic fringe in the South did\nrun berserk from time to time, provoked by the irrational extremism of Northern\nbigots, the Sinhala-Buddhists, by and large, had maintained a tolerant,\npluralistic and diverse culture throughout their history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fake theorists like Jehan Perera blame the Mahavamsa mentality\u201d without\nknowing that nowhere in the Mahavams<\/em><\/strong>a<\/em> is it stated that\nour island is for the Sinhala ethnics only. It states categorically that our\nisland is (to be made) a fit dwelling place for men\u201d(MV -1:43) \u2013 i.e., for all\nmen irrespective of race, caste or creed. The Mahavamsa mentality\u201d is\ninclusive, pluralistic, diverse and liberal for peaceful coexistence \u2013 all of\nwhich are fundamental principles which flow from the compassionate teachings of\nthe Buddha. It is this Mahavamsa<\/em><\/strong> mentality\u201d that made the South\na democratic and open society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There isn\u2019t a better political text in Sri Lanka to pursue the vision\nof pluralism\u201d (JP\u2019s phrase) than the Mahavamsa<\/em><\/strong> which has defined\npluralism\u201d and diversity\u201d by stating clearly that the mission of the state is\nto make our island a fit dwelling for men.\u201d The Mahavamsa<\/em><\/strong>\nmentality\u201d, in its essence, is an unambiguous concept defined to create a\nbenevolent, tolerant, and liberal state, with justice to foe and friend alike.\nBut to Jehan Perera there is no pluralism, diversity and liberalism in the\nSouth, implying in the same breath that the Tamils could find these values only\nin the haven of Jaffna, if they are given their exaggerated political demands.\nHe ignores the historical fact that the casteist SJVs and subsequently Pol\nPotist Prabhkaran never gave the Tamil Thurumbars<\/em><\/strong>, the lowest\ncaste, their God-given right to walk in sunlight (by the SJVs), or the\ndemocratic right to dissent (by Prabhakaran). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denying the visible historical realities, Jehan Perera continues to\noperate on the basis of delusional and fake theories. He continues to\nregurgitate Wigneswaran\u2019s hate politics in NGO patois. Isn\u2019t the\nhate-mongering, mono-ethnic extremism and consistent intransigence of Jaffna\npolitics, refusing to accept pluralism, diversity, liberalism and peaceful\nco-existence the root cause of evil since independence? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He claims to be a product of the Harvard University. But one thing that\nthe Harvard University has not taught him is that in a conflict in which two or\nmore parties are involved there is no validity in blaming only one party.\nBlaming one party (in this instance the Sinhala-Buddhist alone) is like\nlistening intently for the missing sound of a clap with one hand. The Zen\nBuddhist disciple who was asked to explore by his Master the meaning of this\nkoan would have been awakened by the emptiness and the meaninglessness of the\nsound of one hand. I hope that one day Jehan Perera too would wake up to the\nenlightened reality of knowing that he can\u2019t attain the political nirvana he\nhopes to achieve if he keeps blaming only the Sinhala-Buddhists with\npoliticised accusations manufactured by tendentious Tamils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(To be continued<\/em><\/strong>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala Hate speech comes in various shades of lies. It is the curse that haunts current of global politics. It runs from white supremacists in America to the boot-end of New Zealand. On the way to New Zealand it links up with Tamil supremacists and their NGO agents in Sri Lanka. Some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86917","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=86917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86917\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}