CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

An Apeal to - Anandasangaree, D.B.S. Jeyaraj , S.Narapalasingham, Thisaranee Gunesekaram, to be "engaged writers", to make their writings a vehicle for – Tamil & Sinhala Unity.

By Charles. S. Perera

In Sri Lanka racial hatred of the Tamils towards the Sinhala has become their "mind set"-to use their own word.. If one were to go through the articles appearing in many Tamil Websites there is no one Tamil writer who avoids making derogatory racial remarks about the Sinhala. The reason for their hatred comes from the fact that the Sinhala is the majority Community. When terrorism has once been eliminated, the communities that populate the Sri Lanka nation should make an attempt to get rid of this racial hatred. If that is not to be the case, even if terrorism has been eliminated the cancer of hatred will continue to eat into our society, creating dissention in one form or another, always remaining as an obstacle to national development.

If one were to objectively look at the problem there is really no Sinhala supremacists as such. None of the Sinhala writers on political issues, write against the Tamils, their language, religion, or culture. But on the other hand, the Tamil writers not only write against the Sinhala politicians but also against every thing that has any relation to Sinhala, their history- the Mahavamsa, and their religion- Buddhism. The fact that the Sinhla are the majority has to be accepted as it had not been an artificial creation. It was like that and the Sinhala people did not carry out any genocide to become the majority community in Sri Lanka.. The fact that there had not been a Tamil, President or a Prime Minister is not entirely due to the fault of the Sinhala.

The writings of the Tamil contributors to journals and websites show, that their hatred has blinded them to reality. They see the Sinhala the cause of all the problems of the Tamil people. The beginning of riots of 1956, 77 etc. were not against the Tamils though later on the sentimentality caused a mass uprising, that saw no bounds. The Sinhala people who are against the terrorists are not against the Tamils, that is apparent in their not allowing their anger to develop into a back lash against the Tamil Community in the South, as a revenge for the killing of the innocent people in Kebethigollawa, Dambulla, Colombo, Welioya etc. by the terrorists.

It is persons like Mano Ganesan , who provoke the Sinhala people against the Tamils. Mano Ganesan's office as Parliamentarian does not give him the licence to be a rabid racist. That is the reason why Mano Ganesan should be cautious in making continuous attacks against the President and the Government. It is time that Mano Ganesan, and others like him, think of the future of Sri Lanka and work for the Unity of all people of all communities, instead of creating dissension. Mano Ganesan's article , "What Dayan Jayatilleke fails to understand", in the Tamil Week, in reply to Dayan Jayatilleke, is dancing where angels fear to tread. In it he is only retching poison of anti-Sinhala Buddhist verbiage, and it is not worth commenting.

Mano Ganeshan making a speech after the death of Thamilchelvam, made a strong appeal to Tamil people to unite to fight the Sinhala Government of Mahinda Rajapakse, while Wimal Weerawansa of JVP invited all the members of the LTTE to throw away the cyanide capsules around their necks, and join them to develop the country. This is the remarkable difference between a rabid racist, and a patriotic socialist.

There are long dissertations, by numerous essayists about the place of Tamils in Sri Lanka after 60 years of independence, in the Tamil Week website, reading them one may think that in Sri Lanka the Sinhala are doing far better than the Tamils, having profited from the underprivileged situation of the Tamil population. The fact is after 60 years both the Sinhalese and the Tamils have not made any significant advancement together, because of the disunity of the two communities.

There were of course persons like Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan who promoted Sinhala Tamil Unity. It was people like G.G.Ponnambalam, and Chelvanayagam who distanced one community from the other for their personal political gain. To-day there are no Tamil Leaders of the calibre of Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan

It is time that we get more people like the late Lakshman Kadirgamar to re-build confidence and friendly relations between the two main communities in Sri Lanka for a brighter future, and progress in the next sixty years.

The Tamil writers, should be "engaged" writers, "engaged" to the cause of unity between the Sinhala and the Tamils. The news papers like the Leader group, and journalists such as Kusal Perera, and Thisaranee Gunasekaram, should re-examine their writings. It is time that propagation of hatred towards the Sinhala, and Sinhala Buddhist is changed to write towards tolerance , understanding, and unity, to forget the past, and to lay new foundations for a real unity of the Communities that make up the Sri Lankan Nation.

If all those who write against the President Mahinda Rajapakse, could change their attitude to let him complete what he has started at least until the end of the term of his office, it will be a service to the nation. If the nation is not satisfied with the President Rajapakse, he could be defeated at the next Presidential elections , and until then we should respect him for what he has done so far, at least with regard to terrorism in Sri Lanka, if not for any thing else.

The main cause of division , and of disunity, is because of the political division of Communities. When you take the names of the main Political Parties such as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, United National Party, Jatika Vimukti Peramuna, Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, Communist Party, Lanka Samasamaja Party, they could be Political Parties of the Sinhala , the Tamil or the Muslim. There is no discrimination, or communal connotation even in the name of the party.

But it is the other way round when it concerns the Tamil and Muslim Communities. They are racial even in their choice of Political Party names- Tamil United Liberation Front, Eelam Peoples Democratic Party, Upcountry Tamil Front, Tamil Congress, Liberation Tamil Tiger Eelam, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation, Tamil National Congress, or again Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, and Muslim National Unity. That is the main reason why Sri Lanka remains divided and separated according to Communities.

There should be a national re thinking to disband Political Parties with communal reference and divide themselves into Main Political Parties of all Communities. This should be made the means to get away from this diabolical multi-racial distinction, which is in itself a racial discrimination to segregate themselves from the Sinhala majority. Is it really for the benefit of the Community they represent or to give leadership to the organisers to be in command of their respective Community or a part of the Community ?

What if we were to have just the UNP, SLFP, MEP, JVP, Communist Party, and the Lanka Samasamaja Party, as political parties with the Tamils and Muslims, and Sinhala as members ?

Then we my one day have, not only Tamil, Sinhala or Muslim Ministers, but also Tamil, or Muslim Prime Ministers, and Presidents as well.

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