Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="tharinda07" data-source="post: 5089801" data-attributes="member: 21844">The solution IV&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; by Nalin de Silva<a href="http://www.island.lk/2009/07/01/midweek5.html" target="_blank">http://www.island.lk/2009/07/01/midweek5.html</a>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; It is unfortunate that a series of weekly articles each&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; confined to about 1300 words on a single theme cannot be written as&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; invariably there would be distracting snippets by &quot;distinguished&quot; and&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; respected&quot; &quot;scholars&quot; and others that need immediate responses. This&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; series on the solution has to give some space this week to respond to&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dr. H. L. Seneviratne who is respected by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka. In fact&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dr. Seneviratne refers to an article by Dr. Jayatilleka on his late&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; father Mr. Mervyn de Silva where according to the former &quot;the best&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; answer&quot; to the &quot;bevy of writers&quot; who have asked what the problem of the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Tamils that demands a &quot;political solution&quot;. The recognition of&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &quot;scholars&quot; worldwide is generally on a reciprocal basis and I have no&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; grudge against &quot;respected scholars&quot; as these descriptions are relative.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; In any event Dr. Jayatilleka does not quote his father but merely states&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &quot;At the same time Mervyn would stress that the issue of the alienation&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; of the Tamil people and the complex challenge of accommodating Tamil&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ethnic identity within the Sinhala fears and ancient memories&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; emphatically do not lend themselves to a military solution&quot;. In spite of&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dr. Jayatilleka’s reference to &quot;Sinhala Bushiness&quot;, Dr. H. L.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Seneviratne fails to identify the injustices that are caused to the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Tamils merely because they are Tamils. The closest he comes is a&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; statement that late Mr. Mervyn de Silva would have made according to Dr.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jayatilleka on the so called alienation of the Tamils. I wish the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; sociologist Seneviratne elaborated or developed on this theme and was&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; more specific on it for the benefit of others who are trying to identify&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; the illusive Tamil grievances. 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The statement that the Tamils are alienated cannot be&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; attributed to either late Mr. Mervyn de Silva or Dr. Jayatilleka as the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; latter is only stating that the former would have stressed this point&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; within a complex of ideas. However, since Dr. Seneviratne quotes it with&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; approval we have to request him to provide us with the necessary&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; explanations. Could he identify these Tamil persons who are &quot;alienated&quot;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; in Sri Lanka? Is it a recent phenomenon or does it have a history?&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Incidentally are the Sri Lankan professors in USA an alienated lot? What&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; recognition they have in the American Christian culture, which is a&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; variety of Anglo Saxon Christian culture, which is the dominant culture&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; in that country? Do the Sri Lankan professors in USA belong to the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; dominant culture in that country? In any event did the non English&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; speaking Tamil people feel alienated at the beginning of the twentieth&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; century? If so from what were they alienated? Did the non English&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; speaking Sinhalas, especially the non English speaking Sinhala Buddhists&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; feel that they were alienated from the government in the early part of&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; the twentieth century? If at the beginning of the twentieth century the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; English speaking Tamils did not feel themselves alienated from the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; British Raj (when I say the English speaking Tamils I mean the majority,&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; obviously not including the few who opposed the British Raj) how did&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; they become or feel alienated in the fifties? If Dr. Seneviratne is&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; prepared at answer these questions together with some other questions I&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; had asked him as well as Shanie on supremacy we would be able to engage&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; in some dialogue. Incidentally Shanie who has written on pluralism&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; should clearly define what is meant by the term. Is it pluralism that is&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; found in all the other countries where people of different cultures&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; could live but under the hegemony of a dominant culture such as a&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; variant of the Anglo Saxon Christian culture or something else, and has&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; to be defined unambiguously. Just by repeating catch words such as&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; pluralism supremacy Shanies are not going to achieve anything by trying&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; to fool the Sinhala people. They may be able to carry on their&quot; project&quot;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; with few Sinhalas such as Dr. H. L. Seneviratne but definitely not with&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; the non English speaking Sinhalas who cannot be fooled. 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; We were discussing the two paradigms on which the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; stories of Tamil racism or the Tamil problem have been woven and had&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; begun to describe the first story based on the Judaic Christian Culture&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; and the Greek Judaic Christian Chinthanaya. The story takes the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; following form. &quot;Tamils had been living in this country from time&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; immemorial until Arhant Mahinda came to Sri Lanka and &quot;converted&quot;. (The&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Arhant Thero did not come here as a missionary and was not interested in&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; so called conversions unlike the various evangelical organisations that&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; are all out to convert people to various Christian Churches all over the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; country.) After that the section of the Tamils that became Buddhists&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; created a new &quot;race&quot; speaking a language called Sinhala with the help of&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Pali and most probably pushed those Tamils already living in the country&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; to the North and the East. 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; (The story is not at all clear on this). In any event&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; there was a Tamil kingdom in the northern province (though Tamil&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ethnicity had not been created by then!) when the Portuguese came to Sri&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Lanka. The Portuguese captured the Tamil kingdom which was then won over&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; by the Dutch and finally by the British. However, when the British went&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; back (did they?) they did not give back the original Tamil state to the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Tamils but to the Sinhala imperialists. The Sinhala imperialists&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; discriminated against the Tamils after 1956 by first making Sinhala the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; official language then by standardising marks at the G. C. E. A/L&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; examination, by distributing land in the eastern province to the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Sinhalas and there by altering the demographic pattern in the eastern&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; province (who established the demographic pattern? Was it a &quot;natural&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; pattern&quot; or an externally imposed pattern? In any event why worry about&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; demographic patterns in provinces created by the British artificially?).&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; S.J. V. Chelvanayakam who had formed the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; (Lanka Tamil State Party) way back in 1949 to establish a separate state&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; as a solution to the discrimination of Tamils by the Sinhalas after 1956&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; (how did Chelvanayakam know in 1949 of the impending discriminations&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; after 1956?) staged non violent protests (that incited the people to be&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; violent) which were put down violently by the Sinhala state. As a result&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; the innocent Tamil people were forced to take up arms (thus justifying&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Prabhakaran, the other violent leaders and all the murders committed by&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; these terrorist groups including the LTTE) and for thirty years fought&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; with the Sinhala army to be free from the yoke of Sinhala imperialism.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; According to some Tamil racists Prabhakaran wanted peace and was&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; prepared to negotiate with the Sinhala government but the latter was not&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; sincere in its attempts. Some so called moderates take a different line&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; from this point. According to them people had to be won over from&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Prabhakaran who wanted an Eelam and for this purpose an alternative to&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Eelam had to be proposed that could attract the people and also would be&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; a solution to the discriminations against the Tamils by the Sinhala&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; government. The solution that has been proposed is devolution of power&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; to enable the Tamils to look after their affairs in their homeland in&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; the northern and eastern provinces which the Sinhala extremists have&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; opposed from the very beginning.&quot; 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; This story is full of contradictions and just like the fairy tales&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; with contradictions which are not understood by the babies is good only&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; for one thing. That is to put some English educated Sinhala &quot;scholars&quot;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; into sleep while the Tamil terrorists prepared for action with the help&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; of the western powers. From an interview given by K Pathmanathan the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; international rogue and arms supplier to the LTTE it is clear that&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Solheim (he had given a separate interview to India Today) and some so&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; called international leaders had been in touch with the terrorist&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; leaders including Prabhakaran until the last moment. Pathmanathan is not&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; prepared to divulge the names of the &quot;international leaders&quot; as at&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; present and for this reason alone the west will give all the protection&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; to this terrorist rogue as they would not want a captured Pathmanathan&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; to spill the beans. We will deal with the contradictions of the first&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; story on &quot;Tamil problem&quot; next week.
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; </blockquote>

[QUOTE="tharinda07, post: 5089801, member: 21844"] [CENTER][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=5][COLOR=Blue]The solution IV[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/CENTER] [FONT=Verdana] [COLOR=Black] [/COLOR][/FONT][LEFT][FONT=Verdana][COLOR=Black]by Nalin de Silva[/COLOR][/FONT][/LEFT] [url]http://www.island.lk/2009/07/01/midweek5.html[/url] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][CENTER][FONT=Verdana][LEFT][SIZE=3][COLOR=DarkGreen]It is unfortunate that a series of weekly articles each confined to about 1300 words on a single theme cannot be written as invariably there would be distracting snippets by "distinguished" and respected" "scholars" and others that need immediate responses. This series on the solution has to give some space this week to respond to Dr. H. L. Seneviratne who is respected by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka. In fact Dr. Seneviratne refers to an article by Dr. Jayatilleka on his late father Mr. Mervyn de Silva where according to the former "the best answer" to the "bevy of writers" who have asked what the problem of the Tamils that demands a "political solution". The recognition of "scholars" worldwide is generally on a reciprocal basis and I have no grudge against "respected scholars" as these descriptions are relative. In any event Dr. Jayatilleka does not quote his father but merely states "At the same time Mervyn would stress that the issue of the alienation of the Tamil people and the complex challenge of accommodating Tamil ethnic identity within the Sinhala fears and ancient memories emphatically do not lend themselves to a military solution". In spite of Dr. Jayatilleka’s reference to "Sinhala Bushiness", Dr. H. L. Seneviratne fails to identify the injustices that are caused to the Tamils merely because they are Tamils. The closest he comes is a statement that late Mr. Mervyn de Silva would have made according to Dr. Jayatilleka on the so called alienation of the Tamils. I wish the sociologist Seneviratne elaborated or developed on this theme and was more specific on it for the benefit of others who are trying to identify the illusive Tamil grievances. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=3][COLOR=DarkGreen] [/COLOR][/SIZE][LEFT][SIZE=3][COLOR=DarkGreen]The statement that the Tamils are alienated cannot be attributed to either late Mr. Mervyn de Silva or Dr. Jayatilleka as the latter is only stating that the former would have stressed this point within a complex of ideas. However, since Dr. Seneviratne quotes it with approval we have to request him to provide us with the necessary explanations. Could he identify these Tamil persons who are "alienated" in Sri Lanka? Is it a recent phenomenon or does it have a history? Incidentally are the Sri Lankan professors in USA an alienated lot? What recognition they have in the American Christian culture, which is a variety of Anglo Saxon Christian culture, which is the dominant culture in that country? Do the Sri Lankan professors in USA belong to the dominant culture in that country? In any event did the non English speaking Tamil people feel alienated at the beginning of the twentieth century? If so from what were they alienated? Did the non English speaking Sinhalas, especially the non English speaking Sinhala Buddhists feel that they were alienated from the government in the early part of the twentieth century? If at the beginning of the twentieth century the English speaking Tamils did not feel themselves alienated from the British Raj (when I say the English speaking Tamils I mean the majority, obviously not including the few who opposed the British Raj) how did they become or feel alienated in the fifties? If Dr. Seneviratne is prepared at answer these questions together with some other questions I had asked him as well as Shanie on supremacy we would be able to engage in some dialogue. Incidentally Shanie who has written on pluralism should clearly define what is meant by the term. Is it pluralism that is found in all the other countries where people of different cultures could live but under the hegemony of a dominant culture such as a variant of the Anglo Saxon Christian culture or something else, and has to be defined unambiguously. Just by repeating catch words such as pluralism supremacy Shanies are not going to achieve anything by trying to fool the Sinhala people. They may be able to carry on their" project" with few Sinhalas such as Dr. H. L. Seneviratne but definitely not with the non English speaking Sinhalas who cannot be fooled. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=3][COLOR=DarkGreen] [/COLOR][/SIZE][LEFT][SIZE=3][COLOR=DarkGreen]We were discussing the two paradigms on which the stories of Tamil racism or the Tamil problem have been woven and had begun to describe the first story based on the Judaic Christian Culture and the Greek Judaic Christian Chinthanaya. The story takes the following form. "Tamils had been living in this country from time immemorial until Arhant Mahinda came to Sri Lanka and "converted". (The Arhant Thero did not come here as a missionary and was not interested in so called conversions unlike the various evangelical organisations that are all out to convert people to various Christian Churches all over the country.) After that the section of the Tamils that became Buddhists created a new "race" speaking a language called Sinhala with the help of Pali and most probably pushed those Tamils already living in the country to the North and the East. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=3][COLOR=DarkGreen] [/COLOR][/SIZE][LEFT][SIZE=3][COLOR=DarkGreen](The story is not at all clear on this). In any event there was a Tamil kingdom in the northern province (though Tamil ethnicity had not been created by then!) when the Portuguese came to Sri Lanka. The Portuguese captured the Tamil kingdom which was then won over by the Dutch and finally by the British. However, when the British went back (did they?) they did not give back the original Tamil state to the Tamils but to the Sinhala imperialists. The Sinhala imperialists discriminated against the Tamils after 1956 by first making Sinhala the official language then by standardising marks at the G. C. E. A/L examination, by distributing land in the eastern province to the Sinhalas and there by altering the demographic pattern in the eastern province (who established the demographic pattern? Was it a "natural pattern" or an externally imposed pattern? In any event why worry about demographic patterns in provinces created by the British artificially?). S.J. V. Chelvanayakam who had formed the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (Lanka Tamil State Party) way back in 1949 to establish a separate state as a solution to the discrimination of Tamils by the Sinhalas after 1956 (how did Chelvanayakam know in 1949 of the impending discriminations after 1956?) staged non violent protests (that incited the people to be violent) which were put down violently by the Sinhala state. As a result the innocent Tamil people were forced to take up arms (thus justifying Prabhakaran, the other violent leaders and all the murders committed by these terrorist groups including the LTTE) and for thirty years fought with the Sinhala army to be free from the yoke of Sinhala imperialism. According to some Tamil racists Prabhakaran wanted peace and was prepared to negotiate with the Sinhala government but the latter was not sincere in its attempts. Some so called moderates take a different line from this point. According to them people had to be won over from Prabhakaran who wanted an Eelam and for this purpose an alternative to Eelam had to be proposed that could attract the people and also would be a solution to the discriminations against the Tamils by the Sinhala government. The solution that has been proposed is devolution of power to enable the Tamils to look after their affairs in their homeland in the northern and eastern provinces which the Sinhala extremists have opposed from the very beginning." [/COLOR][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=3][COLOR=DarkGreen] This story is full of contradictions and just like the fairy tales with contradictions which are not understood by the babies is good only for one thing. That is to put some English educated Sinhala "scholars" into sleep while the Tamil terrorists prepared for action with the help of the western powers. From an interview given by K Pathmanathan the international rogue and arms supplier to the LTTE it is clear that Solheim (he had given a separate interview to India Today) and some so called international leaders had been in touch with the terrorist leaders including Prabhakaran until the last moment. Pathmanathan is not prepared to divulge the names of the "international leaders" as at present and for this reason alone the west will give all the protection to this terrorist rogue as they would not want a captured Pathmanathan to spill the beans. We will deal with the contradictions of the first story on "Tamil problem" next week.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][SIZE=3][COLOR=DarkGreen] [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/CENTER] [/QUOTE]

Verification

Payakata winadi keeyak tibeda?

Search

Latest ads

Reply to thread