Two non-Hindu politicians (Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi) prepared a court document denying the Rama-Seetha story. It took NM Perera thirty years (1935-1964) to visit the Dalada Maligava with a tray of jasmine flowers. Some terrorist-supporting Tamils sarcastically write that “though a Christian, the late Kadiragamar’s funeral rights were conducted by Buddhist monks.” Karuna, a one-time ruthless killer is not hated by the average Sinhala woman any more. People used to call C.A.S. Marikkar, “Sinhala Marikkar.” Jeyaraj Fernandopulle has a better chance to be a second Kadiragamar.Write to Reply
By: C. Wijeyawickrema
By using the term “conscience,” some Tamil writers (example, “The Voice of Conscience,” S. Thavarajah, Island, 5/30/2007) tried to give a “moralistic bath” to fairness and justness. I do not wish to take that path or ask whether Mr. A’s plea is morally justifiable for the simple reason that what is moral is influenced by one’s religious convictions. For example, the American president and the ex-prime minister Tony Blair and a large community of Christians, world-wide, believe that the God is on their side in their invasion of Iraq. Killing for self-defense is tolerated under the Judeo-Christian tradition but not according to the Buddhist way of life.
Because of subjective (internal mind) issues inherent in terms such as “fairness,” “justness,” and “consciousness,” I wish to ask Mr. Anandasangaree an objective (external to the inner mind) question. Does his plea pass the reasonableness test?
Mr. Anandasangaree’s plea for a fair and just political solution is based on the thesis that “the unitary label will not deliver a [much needed] political defeat for LTTE [Prabakaran] and unitary state will not be acceptable to Tamil and Muslim people.” This thesis does not have the support of verifiable/verified facts. People in Jaffna, Trincomalee or Batticaloa did not then, or do not now, oppose the term unitary. It was the Colombo-living separatist Tamil leaders who propagated anti-unitary ploy to protect and continue the privileged status they enjoyed under colonialism. Mr. Anandasangaree’s alternate thesis that only under a united label that Tamils-Muslims-Sinhalese could live together in harmony is also redundant because Tamils and Muslims in the North and East are moving to South to live in harmony in Sinhalese villages.
Under a vocabulary of fair, just and conscience one could hide the old “F” formula which is lurking in the dark. But an application of the reasonable wo/man’s test could throw some light on why sharing of power with people (instead of creating a new set of Tamil politicians) has no connection with a constitutional label. I believe in the concept of empowerment of people at the village level proposed to APRC by the SLFP in April 2007 which is similar to the Panchayathi Raj Institutes system implemented by India in 1976 under the Panchayathi Institutes law, and wish to submit the following set of questions for Mr. Anandasangaree’s consideration.
1. Does he accept SJV Chelvanayagam’s “theory” that there is a traditional Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka?
2. Does he reject the Pondicherry sub-model under the Indian “F” model? (the late Neelan Thiruchelvam rejected it)
3. How does he propose to handle the demands of Muslims in the East (Oluvil declaration) and the Indian Tamils in plantation areas?
4. Does he know that the idea of a separate Tamil state in Ceylon first began in 1919 just one year after Tamil leaders in India demanded a separate country for them in India?
5. Does he think that the colonial master who said “India is a myth” and promoted “the idea that there are two Indias,” yet rejected GG Ponnambalam’s plan or SWRD’s federal proposal for Ceylon because they did not want to apply any more the divide-and rule policy in Ceylon?
6. Does he not think that the reason for rejecting Ponnambalam-SWRD plans by the British was realities of geography and history of Ceylon?
7. Does he deny that in 1948 there were two Ceylons? The Colombo-Ceylon of SJVC-Naganathan-DSS-JRJ-NM-Colvin-Leslie-Sir John-civil servants and the Village Ceylon of Sinhala-Tamil speaking masses?
8. Does he deny the fact that Nehru’s language-based federal set up installed in 1956 did not help the Indian common man or woman, but created a second tier of set of corrupt and exploitative politicians at the regional level?
9. Does he deny that this was exactly what has happened with the white elephant called the PCs in Sri Lanka?
10. Does he deny that the Indian F system that he marvels at is on logs (kota uda)? The use of presidential rule power has become a thing in the past and the Indian PM is depending on Tamil Nadu or other regional votes to keep his job.
11. Does he deny that no matter what happens in Sri Lanka, the Tamil Nadu factor is going to be a permanent “threat” to Sri Lanka due to the shallow sea separating the two land areas?
12. Does he not know that in Tamil Nad there are demands for two separate states within itself and Sri Lanka is an easy escape goat for Tamil politicians to divert such demands with Ravana identified as a just Tamil king who fought against the evil Rama and Seetha? Karunanidhi says Rama is a myth.
13. Does he think that Karuna was wrong in giving up claims for a home land and demanding “give us what Colombo gets?”
14. Does he deny the fact that the Tamils and Muslims are richer than the Sinhalese in Colombo or in other towns and cities in Sri Lanka?
15. Does he deny the fact that Tamils and Muslims have other lands as home lands (or source regions) whereas for the Sinhala Buddhists of only 15 millions or so Sri Lanka is the only “fair and just” source region?
16. Can Mr. A deny that the problem in Sri Lanka is mismanagement by a group of Colombo people and an Indian F model will not be the solution to people’s misery?
17. Why does he not think that the solution is eradication of corruption, crime and the dirty politician after the military solution to the terrorist acts of a small group of Tamils? Even the Hindu editorial says that terrorists must be militarily defeated (9/17/2007). This was also the story that General Petreyas told the American Congress last week.
18. Why does he think that a “unitary constitution will give room for further agitation” but an “F” constitution will not give room for further agitation? The history of “F” is exactly the opposite of this.
19. If Mr. A is right in telling us that “a unitary proposal will kill the hopes Tamils” why is it that more and more Tamils want to come south and live amongst the Sinhalese?
20. Why does Mr. A not see the need to empower people at the village level? How does a Hindu village or a Muslim village affected injuriously by a unitary constitution?
21. Why does Mr. A not see the need to arrange administrative units on the basis of ecology and not on language or religion? What is wrong with water basin-based village boundaries and district or provincial boundaries?
22. Would Mr. A please read the following books which document how the Federal giant USA is failing in serving its people to come out of poverty and misery? Yes, poverty and misery inside the world’s super power.
(a) The Radical Center by Ted Halstead and Michael Lind (2001) – how the two political parties (Republican and Democratic) ruined USA
(b) Where have all the leaders gone? by Lee Iacocca (2007) – how corrupt the American political leadership has become
(c) Assault on Reason by Albert Gore (2007) – how the experiment called the American Republic is failing so rapidly
(d) The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders’ Cure for Royalism by John Nichols (2006) – why President Bush should be impeached for violating the U.S. Constitution
Two non-Hindu politicians (Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi) prepared a court document denying the Rama-Seetha story. It took NM Perera thirty years (1935-1964) to visit the Dalada Maligava with a tray of jasmine flowers. Some terrorist-supporting Tamils sarcastically write that “though a Christian, the late Kadiragamar’s funeral rights were conducted by Buddhist monks.” Karuna, a one-time ruthless killer is not hated by the average Sinhala woman any more. People used to call C.A.S. Marikkar, “Sinhala Marikkar.” Jeyaraj Fernandopulle has a better chance to be a second Kadiragamar. JHU said it would vote for Bakir Markan Marker instead of Ranil or Chandrika if the three were in presidential contest. Mr. Anandasangaree declined an offer by JHU for a seat in the parliament. It was a Muslim, Abdul Kalam, last Indian President, who said that the solution to world’s problems lies in Buddhism.
A Buddhist cannot discriminated against another human being (human rights?) because his/her way of life is based on the concept of impermanence (anichcha); unlike in the western religions in Buddhism life is cyclical (birth and death) and not uni-directional. Some politicians with non-Buddhist birth ware Buddhist masks for political reasons but from the Anagarika Dharmapala to Gunapala Malalasekera no Buddhist leader preached discrimination.
Is there any lesson that Mr. Anandasangaree could learn from the above facts about fairness and justness? Mr. Anandasangaree has not shown, at least to this writer, who had lived with Tamil roommates and a lot of Tamils, that he is still not taking the Ponnambalam-Chelvanayagam path of betrayal of both the ordinary Tamil and the Sinhala. The fact that Prabakaran is all out to kill him may allow some anti-national NGOs and some foreign ambassadors to project him as a symbol of “moderates” (moderation) but he, the million-rupee salaried NGO mudalalis and the so called international community, cannot use that as an excuse to ignore the need for him to pass the reasonableness test. I hope Mr. Anandasangaree would prove me wrong.
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