dbsjeyaraj.com

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• 1. S.Thillaiambalam  |  October 30th, 2009 at 1:09 pm

  Raj Rajaratnam is a Sri Lankan Tamil icon. He is symbolic of Tamil iniative and persevarance. A self – made billionaire with a desire to help others

• 2. R.S.Karunaratne  |  October 30th, 2009 at 1:37 pm

  Good artical. But can you write about the case filed in the US by relatives of victims killed by LTTE terrorism also

• 3. John Balachandran  |  October 30th, 2009 at 2:00 pm

  The penalty for white collar crimes is very heavy with twenty to thirty year sentences being the norm in USA. This guy is just a modern day example of Emil Savundranayagam another famous conman of the 1970’s and a disgrace to tamils worldwide.

• 4. Vinod Joseph  |  October 30th, 2009 at 2:28 pm

  DBSJ, you have put forth a very interesting argument:

  “It is to be noted that the security fraud charges against Rajaratnam relate to unfair advantages gained through insider trading. He is not facing any charge of de-frauding clients, employees or investors.

  Arguably the insider trading charges can also be construed as a manifestation of excessive zeal on the part of Rajaratnam to procure for his clients the best possible returns on their investment.”

  Every fund manager wants his fund to do well so that investors in his fund get the best possible deal. However, please note that the fund manager’s fee is based on the performance of the fund. Most fund managers are paid on the basis of two things: (i) the value of the funds they manage and (ii) the performance of the fund.

  So, if the investors get a good deal, the fund manager also gets paid more.

  In other words, the argument that Raj indulged in insider trading on account of his excessive zeal to procure the best possible returns for his clients, doesn’t hold water.

• 5. suds  |  October 30th, 2009 at 2:37 pm

  I have been following this blog for quite some time, for the first time felt that the nuetral voice was missing. The fact that the arrest of an Ivy league billionaire evokes ethnic sympathy, Makes me wonder if we tamils dont have that many heroes to look up to (he is not exactly mahatma gandhi ). Every person is presumed innocent under the law but not many people get away with financal fraud when there is taped evidence against them.. How does desire to earn clients the best return justify insider trading? why are even trying to justify these acts?

  Anyway am eagerly awaiting comments from fellow readers on how this could be a consiracy hatched by Basil Rajapakse and funded by RAW

• 6. Ratnam  |  October 30th, 2009 at 3:27 pm

  Reading the Srilanka newspapers I got the idea that this guy had swindled the public. Only now I know what offences he really has done

• 7. Rajiv Menon  |  October 30th, 2009 at 3:43 pm

  There’s lots of jealousy&resentment in Wall street over South Asians doing well in stocks&shares. This is a blatant act of racism aimed at teaching South asian upstarts a bitter lesson

• 8. confused confucius  |  October 30th, 2009 at 3:45 pm

  This guy is a genius! No wonder he may be the richest Tamil. Unfortunately he too is like Pirpaharan well known for the wrong reasons.

  Greed, greed, greed!!

• 9. Alfred  |  October 30th, 2009 at 3:52 pm

  I cant understand why a billionaire should do insider trading to get a few measly millions? 20 million is peanuts for a guy worth 1. 3 billion

• 10. Michael  |  October 30th, 2009 at 4:18 pm

  A very thin line divides legitimacy and illegitimacy when it comes to gathering business info. Galleon has trod on the margins I think

• 11. Ranjit  |  October 30th, 2009 at 4:41 pm

  Roomy Khan has been blackmailed into taping conversations and framing up Raj. The case will be thrown out if it comes to court. Will it ever despite the media hype?

• 12. Ashok  |  October 30th, 2009 at 5:08 pm

  My firm has done business with Galleon. Nothing illegal in their methods and approach. My bosses were satisfied

• 13. Dexter  |  October 30th, 2009 at 5:42 pm

  # 4 Vinod Joseph,

  Whether Raj R did “insider trading” is yet to be determined. But the point made is he did not defraud his clients and higher return was generated. Every client looks forward to that.

  Are you saying making a higher fees by bringing a high return to the clients is not the right thing to do?

  Isn’t this what be an individual, an enterprise be it a business, political office or charity they all have “customers” to whom they have to bring in high returns. This is what drives the world.

  By doing so they stand to reap higher rewards and this is not wrong.

• 14. Expatriate  |  October 30th, 2009 at 5:45 pm

  Many people here are jumping to conclusions about Rajaratnam’s guilt.

  First, there is the presumption of innocence. Wiretaps don’t tell the whole story. If you look at the clear fact that the Govt/FBI thought that Rajaratnam was going to flee when he was in fact making a normal visit to the UK, the FBI and the Govt were wrong and were misled; so what if they were equally misled earlier during the wiretaps?

  And usually, there is a grand jury indictment before arrest or at the same time as arrest. In this case, there is no grand jusry indictment yet. Some former prosecutors have argued that it is a case of the Govt. being rushed before they have a clear case. To me, that shows the Govt. case is weak and there is some cluelessness shown by the FBI.

  Then there is the SEC lawyer Robert Koizumi, asserting Rajaratnam was “not a master of the universe, but a master of the Rolodex,” saying that Rajaratnam’s success was not based on fundamental research or ‘genius trading strategies.’

  The truth is that fundamental research alone doesn’t lead to market beating returns. There is a great deal of luck and other factors involved. Even Nobel laureates in economics don’t know the best way to make money in the markets.

  So, for a government lawyer like Mr. Koizumi to assert so, based on his own imperfect understanding of the markets, is silly grandstanding. In many fields, such as journalism, business, politics, etc., being a ‘master of the Rolodex’ is what actually gives people a career edge. For a non-Caucasian immigrant like Rajaratnam to become a ‘master of the Rolodex’ in the US is no mean feat.

  Though insider trading is unethical, whether it is criminal is debatable. It is victimless and made criminal when capitalist societies pretend to be egalitarian when it suits them. Milton Friedman, the economist libertarian used to say that there should be more insider trading, not less. There was a dean of George Mason University School of Law who used to argue that insider trading should be made legal. Even now, there are many articles in the WSJ as well as other journals by some professors saying that Rajaratnam’s actions shouldn’t be criminalized.

  My impression is that with the very competent lawyers he has now, Rajaratnam will be OK (meaning no or very minimal jail time) but may have to pay some hefty fines.

  It is true that he got greedy and stepped into gray areas where there are many ethical questions; he should have stayed away from such practices.

  But it doesn’t amount to criminality, and a good lawyer can first attack the original permission to get the wiretap as the information the Govt. furnished a judge to get permission for the wiretap came from a convicted felon whose mental health may be questionable. The lawyer may also argue entrapment; if there was entrapment, it doesn’t help the Government’s case. If the judge is forced to decide that wiretap as evidence is inadmissible, the case crumbles.

  Then there is the way Govt. interpreted it. Advice like “buy, sell, buy, sell” caught in wiretaps may be argued as not very different from the way an accountant advises clients on how to avoid IRS audit when they file tax returns. It is not as incriminating as some people think. There is always a cat and mouse game between law enforcers and citizens, in the same way drivers routinely exceed the speed limit when there is no police to watch them. That is not criminal.

• 15. Tulips  |  October 30th, 2009 at 6:28 pm

  Raj Rajaratnam = Education + perseverance + responsibility to help needy

• 16. janakan  |  October 30th, 2009 at 7:07 pm

  Any hand in sl intelligence. there seems to be a systematic attack on the prominent figures who support the tamil cause.

• 17. Arunan  |  October 30th, 2009 at 7:31 pm

  # 5 Suds, Whether Basil Rajapaksa and RAW hatched this or not some in both relevant camps are acting in the much anticipated manner.

  While Indians love to think and act if the term “South Asian” means only them, they are trying to distant them selves and trying hard to see that Raj is not referred to him by that term as much as possible.

  See Business Week:

  “In India, a Sigh of Relief Over Rajaratnam’s Sri Lankan Birth”

  And Rajapaksas?

  Take a look at SRI LANKA STATE OWNED MEDIA, Lake House/Daily News of Sri Lanka etc. They seem to be “claiming credit” as if this was a “KP” type incident.

• 18. shankar  |  October 30th, 2009 at 7:41 pm

  to comment 9 Alfred

  I also was wondering about that unless the real amount he is getting is much more than the 20 million which is officially disclosed. For a man who gives kenny rogers 4 million to sing “the gambler ” over and over again at his birthday bash, why take so much of risk for 20 million.

  One thing in his favour is the principal witness Roomy Khan has fabricated evidence in a previous case, Raj has got the best lawyer in town who will tear her to shreds.

  What goes against him is these taped conversations. Very hard to beat charges when technology is against you. For example try beating a speeding fine, when they produce the photos of your car. Of course you can say you were not the one in it, but that will take you into another cess pit.

  And also the number of companies involved is a worry for him. If it was just one or two, you can try to see where are the weak spots and defend. But when there are so many as DBSJ has listed, it becomes very difficult.

• 19. Gloria Abraham  |  October 30th, 2009 at 8:10 pm

  Even a billionaire is entitled to presumption of innocence unless proven guilty. So let’s not jump the gun in pre-judging Raj before the legal system does so

• 20. jcnars  |  October 30th, 2009 at 8:14 pm

  Those of you familiar with the tamil movie NAYAGAN will recollect this dialogue: “EDHUVUME THAPPU ILLAI…NAALU PERUKKU NALLADHU PANNA”

  (Your means are justified if you want to help those around you)

• 21. Expatriate  |  October 30th, 2009 at 8:31 pm

  #2 Karunaratne,

  The TRO was not banned until very recently. As long as it was a legal charity in the US, anyone was entitled to donate money to it. That is true even if the TRO is shown to be linked to the banned LTTE, if the donors have no knowledge of it. So if it is true that Rajaratnam made contributions to the TRO, it was all before the ban, and it was legitimate. Those people who try to cash in on the publicity surrounding the insider trading case of Rajaratnam by filing a case in NJ, will find that their case will be dismissed in pre-trial hearings.

• 22. Frank de Silva  |  October 30th, 2009 at 8:46 pm

  It is ironic to see that the first reaction from many tamils is to label this as a sri lankan conspiracy, instead of thinking logically that RR was someone who was lucky to get away with being a crook for so long. All over the world we have examples of “benefactors” who benefit people with others money, and all get what is coming to them. Lalith kotelawala is a example of a man of the same calibre. Anyway RR is history with his hedge fund disolved and he will soon be behind bars for a long time

• 23. Kulasingham  |  October 30th, 2009 at 8:51 pm

  When Rajaratnam invested in Lanka and invigorated Colombo Bourse the Sinhala elite was falling head over heels trying to ingratiate themselves with him. But now after his fall from grace in US the same people are distancing themselves from him and attacking him viciously as a racketeering tiger financier

  Ingratitude has always been a hallmark of the majoritarian mindset

  Raj should know who his real friends are

• 24. Fran  |  October 30th, 2009 at 9:25 pm

  If RR was involved in insider trading or not is one matter, and his lawyers and the state will fight it out, anyone will have to pay for their wrongdoings ( Royal or peasant) but he is innocent until then.
  However, in Sri lanka the knee jerk reaction from the representatives of “majoritarian rulers” and their supporters were thankless and cruel as usual.

• 25. Ranjan from Toronto  |  October 30th, 2009 at 9:51 pm

  RR was not a novice at this hedge fund business. He is a Harvard trained manager who must have known exactly what he was doing. Insider trading is one of the biggest no-no’s in the financial industry in North America so he would have known the risks. He also should have known that with the kind of returns that he was generating, the spotlight would be on him. If the evidence against him is mainly phone taps, he will indeed be in a very stick situation.

  But as the pundits say, everyman in innocent until proven guilty. So let’s wait and see how this develops. But one should also note that in the big financial scandals of US in the last 10 years that involved very large sums of money, like Enron, Worldcom and others, the principle characters were always found guilty. When it comes to white collar crimes, US authorities appear to know what they are doing most of the time. So I think RR is in for a very tough time.

  What is also interesting is to see the reaction in Sri Lanka where he was very heavily involved in the Colombo stock Exchange.

• 26. Moorthy  |  October 30th, 2009 at 10:12 pm

  Very glad to see US Justice dept stating in press release that until accusations are proven Raj is entitled to be presumed innocent.

  Quite different to Sri Lanka whare all Tamils are presumed to be guilty unless they prove themselves innocent y bribing Gota or Basil or Douglas or Karuna

• 27. Expatriate  |  October 31st, 2009 at 12:12 am

  #16 Shankar,

  Taped conversations don’t implicate Mr. Rajaratnam that much as many seem to think. These are more of a problem for the executives involved in the case than RR. In most instances it seems , he didn’t directly receive inside information, but he got it from third parties. So the case against him is weak, but against others like the IBM guy and the New Castle lady are stronger. Executives have a fiduciary duty to their companies not to reveal material information, which they probably violated. It is well known that Galleon follows rumors vigorously as a strategy, so RR can argue the tips he received from thrid parties were part of a standard procedure to confirm thousands of rumors. Just because certain rumors are non-public doesn’t mean it is inside information.

  So I don’t think that the number of companies involved makes the case against him stronger. A fund with the size and the kind of success Galleon had cannot operate on a strategy based mainly on inside information. I challenge anyone to show they can generate that kind of returns by following inside info from third parties as the main strategy. Galleon itself lost money in the AMD trade and that undercuts the government claim.

  #25 Ranjan,

  RR was not Harvard trained, but Wharton (U of Penn) trained. Enron, Worldcom, etc were clear cases of fraud; the money wasn’t there at all; insider trading is completely different and the US government hasn’t won many such cases. The only prominent recent case is Martha Stewart,; she went to jail, but her case was very clear-cut and her defense was very clumsy. In the eighties, there were Ivan Boesky, Michael Milliken, et al., who also went to jail, but their cases were also clear-cut.

• 28. Natives  |  October 31st, 2009 at 12:16 am

  There are lot of south east Asians who are very successful and established in the investment community. RR was one among them before Oct 16. Things changed for RR after he made the call to his daughter who is in College at 3:00am on Oct 16. He was heading to Europe with his wife to celebrate his wife’s 50th birthday and to attend a business meeting to setup an investment fund for SL.

  It is sad to see a Sri Lankan and a Tamil to be in this light. Sometime when you are successful, one becomes blind to the rules. RR ran investment fund at Needham securites and began to beat standard SP500 returns from far back in 1990. Needham managment encouraged a culture to go beyond the rules get any type of info to beat typical returns from vanilla funds. This involved RR and others to push anyone for nuggets of information that would provide an edge. He was relentless in getting information and built a huge network of friends from college(Wharton) and others who would share information.

  Most of the people who are implicated in this scandal are from south east Asia( SL, India, Bangladesh.). Intel guy, McKinsey guy, Moody’s contact, Tipper A, PR consultant to Google. The US government will be able put some of them in jail, but they are not going to be in jail for a long time, at maxmium 2 years or less. They have already lost the credibility and their profession. Hopefully this would be good lession for others not to push enevelope to get the next dollor or euro to please some one around you.

  This is what RR said in an interview in 1997: Which could be the cause of the current crisis.

  “At some point, you stop working for money, you work for pride. We want to win, we want to be the best investors in this emerging growth sector. ”

  I wish DBSJ could shed some light on RR interactions with SL govt, current & opposition MPs and Tigers( other than published TRO involvement).

• 29. Palitha  |  October 31st, 2009 at 12:49 am

  Raj started from virtually scratch and built up a vast financial empire. He is a role model not only for Tamils but all of Sri Lanka. Let’s hope he gets through this crisis with flying colours

• 30. Malathi  |  October 31st, 2009 at 2:01 am

  Good article. Learnt all the details of the case

• 31. Sanjeeva Gunaratne  |  October 31st, 2009 at 3:03 am

  Mr DBSJ has put all the facts clearly so that the reader could arrive at a good judgement. Majority of local press reported the incident with accusations hitherto unheard of Mr Rajaratnam.We have never heard his name associated with the LTTE until his arrest.He has substantial investments in certain blue chip companies which also came into light after his arrest. If he was a an LTTE funder, why no action was taken at the time of making those investments years before his arrest ? Is it something like the cheap local politics coming into play ? However, Mr Rajaratnam , though pleaded not guilty , does seem to have committed a crime. Unehical trade practices to increase huge profits will not go unpunished. In the meantime Sri Lankan authorities must conclude a fair and a thorough investigation to determine if he in fact funded LTTE through TRO and whether he has funded/bribed local pliticians ant to what extent.Mere ad hoc accusations won’t go a long way. If he is innocent of the charges and did not fund the LTTE to blast bus loads of innocent civillians, we all should be proud of him because he is a talented Sri Lankan who rose to great heights at a such a relatively young age.

• 32. nallurkantha  |  October 31st, 2009 at 3:10 am

  This is how rich become more rich.In this case the question is whether he resorted to wrong means.No politics.Some insane Tamil brothers try to link this to politics.Certain Tamils with very very narrowminded ness try to protray him as a great saviour.Madness.Enjoying the maximum out of the successive Sri Lankan goverments’ policies such as free education free health and number of progressive measures intended to uplift the poor Sinhalase and Tamil people some Tamils say tamil cause and so on.Madness.

• 33. confused confucius  |  October 31st, 2009 at 3:12 am

  #20 JCNARS
  ——————
  Good (stupid) logic!
  Pirapaharan did this and you see lots of credit card scammers with the same attitude. Probably this where the Sri Lankan tamil society headed before got shot like Vellur Nayagan. Thankfully all the dictators around the world including the nepotists in Sri Lanka…….. help the “Nalupeyr” around them and do “Ella thappu”

  Take from confucius —- “Ella thappum thapputhan”; don’t do it and prevent others from doing it!

• 34. thuppariyum saambu  |  October 31st, 2009 at 3:37 am

  #5 suds:
  Long time; good point about lack of heroes; Peradeniya (79 entry) education has done you good — correct?

• 35. Vinod Joseph  |  October 31st, 2009 at 3:46 am

  #13 – Dexter

  Robinhood helped the poor, but was nevertheless a thief/robber.

• 36. Glen.Eagle12  |  October 31st, 2009 at 5:08 am

  What about Rajapaksha bro’s deeds they have done and are still doing heeps of illegal atrocities ,genocide,and human right abuses in Srilanka to satisfy their customers- the Sinhala Buddhist supremacistes .

• 37. Richard Seneviratne  |  October 31st, 2009 at 5:23 am

  Why do people say that a person who is arrested for insider trading is a “role model for all tamils”?? Werent people saying the same of pirapaharan before his downfall too? Werent people saying this of the infamous financier Emil savundra? A good role model for tamils would be A.R Rahman for example.

• 38. Glen.Eagle12  |  October 31st, 2009 at 5:35 am

  Eminent doctors earn lots of money for them selves by saving lives , teachers ,professors, busines men, lawers ,etc doing their best to serve their customers and on the processes earns lots of wealth for them selves are they criminals?

• 39. local guy  |  October 31st, 2009 at 8:33 am

  # 27 Expatriate

  “RR was not Harvard trained, but Wharton (U of Penn) trained.”

  Well U Penn / Wharton is where he attended for MBA.

  Does this mean he wouldn’t have attended or participated in the numerous Harvard programs or work shops for business managers and executives?

• 40. P Velupillai  |  October 31st, 2009 at 8:56 am

  Stock market traders all appear to be thieves. I attended a seminar on trading a couple of years ago where the theme was”No accumulation without speculation”. In Sri Lanka, common thieves are referred to as “IRC’s”. In this short life in the world, why does anyone require a flat in manhattanin , a house in Connecticut and another in Florida? Why should one steal other people’s wealth and accumulate riches only to go away from this world with nothing?

• 41. Lucky dick  |  October 31st, 2009 at 9:15 am

  How he made the billions of money started as an employee of investment bank? All the money he made was illegal and defrauding the public. US attorney should investigate the source of finance to his sucess.

• 42. gordon  |  October 31st, 2009 at 9:27 am

  to the sinhala community why are so jealous when the media told he is richest srilankan in the world .
  hi has helped your country which is one of the poor country in the world.he will fight for his innocence

• 43. Ranjan from Toronto  |  October 31st, 2009 at 9:52 am

  #27, Yes JJ is from U Penn. My mistake. And I agree, most of the other previous cases in US involved clear fraud. That does not appear to be the case here. However, I think the perception that the general public has is that JJ is involved in fraud. Having said that insider trading charges that he has been hit with are serious and if he is found guilty, that will be the end of his future as a fund manager as no one will trust him after that.

• 44. jagansriram  |  October 31st, 2009 at 10:45 am

  my dear folks,
  ever since raj rajarathnam saga hit newstands we are seeing pro and anti raj stand being taken by tamil and sinhala friends.let me objective though i am a tamil from india i came to know about raj rajarathnam only thru dbs blog becoz he contributed $1m for rehabilitation of former ltte child soldiers.

  afterwards news trickled about his investment in srilanka and india as well.outset one has to applaud raj rajarathnams achievement despite the recent insider trading charges.as every one knows wall street world is a fiercely competitive one.where even a small information can make a difference.in this competitive environment most of the people who are in that field are bound to commit some mistake or other.

  how can one explain the fact that millions and millions of american as well as global jobs were lost becoz of investment bankers mad rush to make money last september 2008.many investment banking firms disappeared eg bear sterns,lehman brothers.worlds onl y aaa rated life insurance companys owners have not been charged for any wrongdoing despite the fact that they were responsible for financial crisis in america.world financial markets are like this very competitive even if you dont want to commit a crime peer pressure will see that you do so.so it does not come as a surprise that raj rajarathnam has fallen in this trap.

  lets keep in mind that junk bond king mike milken,showwomen martha stewart were also charged for wrong doing.as far as one friends remarks about some ltte terror victims suing raj rajrathnam since american is a haven for litigation any one can file any case against any one so it does not matter.

  but if we take it to a logical conclusion even tamil victims can also file case against sarath fonseka and gothabaya rajapakshe since they are also american citizens.

• 45. dingiri  |  October 31st, 2009 at 12:34 pm

  Is he a villain or just a businessmen who went a little too far? I am sure 95% of Sri Lankan businessmen (Sinhala Tamil and Moslem) would have done the same without batting an eye lid. One just needs to look at the number of wealthy businessmen who are in default on loans from the State Banks, BoC and PB.

  A few points that need to be bourne in mind by those wishing to vindicate him as well as those wishing him a long retirement in jail…

  On the face of it, Insider Trading sounds like a crime without a victim. But the indeed there are victims. If he unfairly made money from insider information there also were others who lost money in the deal . These invariabley being our own pension funds that are heavily invested in these US blue chips.

  Is he a villian for contributing to the TRO? I’m not convinced he is. What if he donated the money in good faith? I dont think anyone claims that all of the TRO funds were used for terrorism. At least a proportion of it would have gone to build destroyed homes, replace lost fishing boats, hospitals etc. I can understand people wanting to give to the TRO as there was a dispute between the Government and the LTTE at that time over control of the Tsunami aid. The Govt and LTTE both wanted full control over the disbursement of funds in the LTTE controlled areas and as a result no funds went into those areas for rehabilitation. This was where the TRO stepped in, raising their own funds from the Tamil Diaspora. I’m sure the LTTE muzzled in and took control of some of the cash but at least a portion of it would have gone to the Tsunami victims. It is uncharitable to label as a terrorist suppoter anyone who contributed out of compassion and generosity.

  Also remember he invested heavily in the Sri Lankan stock market at a time the LTTE was trying its best to destroy Sri Lank’s economy. Anyone who sold Sri Lankan shares during the war years therefore would have benefitted from Raj’s investments that would have contributed to keeping share prices up. Those who call him a Tiger and rejoice at his arrest would find at least a little bit of envy and anti-tamil tribalism in their motives.

• 46. Ciero  |  October 31st, 2009 at 12:53 pm

  From The Financial Times:

  Raj Rajaratnam provided relief funds to Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0HvfC2-3ok

• 47. Anton  |  October 31st, 2009 at 1:26 pm

  Well, good writing. Lets wait and see what happens. This article nor his lawyers comments does not make him not guilty.

• 48. MMA Jamaldeen  |  October 31st, 2009 at 1:56 pm

  Good article Mr.Jeyaraj

  What is remarkable about this is the way in which all the details of case against Raj are written. Until I read this I thought he had defrauded people who invested in his company. Only now I get the correct picture

  When reading stuff about him in Lanka newspapers I saw a lot of venom against him. Automatically he was attacked as tiger because of being Tamil I think

  You have dealt only with the actual case. This is very refreshing

• 49. Marlene  |  October 31st, 2009 at 2:07 pm

  Frank de Silva # 22

  Whats ironic Frank de Silva is how some in Sri Lanka wants to ‘disown’ Raj R at this juncture.

  It was his delve in the Sri Lankan stock market soon after LTTE was defeated help draw attention to the opportunities to the other investors.

  Now with him may be on the sidelines, less number of investors will be jumping in.

  Sri Lanka has several ‘credibility’ issues not just the all familiar ‘conduct of the war’ but also how international business matters were handled.

  Be it the Petroleum hedging saga to Sri Lanka Supreme Court nulling the privitization of state eneterprises, needed a convincing investor to shed the limelight on Sri Lanka. Will the markets not need him any more?

  Well reportedly he was in the midst of creating a $200 million dolar infrastructure fund.

  All this is a loss for all Sri Lankans.

  Let the justice system take it course.

• 50. Fran  |  October 31st, 2009 at 2:21 pm

  RR is Tamil billionaire and he has higher connection in south and in fact he helped SL whatever ways he thinks was right, one should respect that. however, the reaction from SL Gov. and its chauvinistic supporters to RR’s alleged crime will highlight the plight of an helpless poor peasant minorities ( never stand a chance in SL).

• 51. Dexter  |  October 31st, 2009 at 2:30 pm

  # 35 Vinod Joseph,

  I am not talking about Robin Hood nor are Hedge Fund Investors poor peasants.

  I am only saying gaining high rewards for best returns for clients by legal menas – there is nothing wrong.

  Robin Hood used ilegal means to benefit his ‘clients’ – sort of like the LTTE and The Govt. of Sri Lanka doing ilegal activities claiming for the betterment of their “clients”.

  Also

  Ponder This: Should Insider Trading Be a Crime?

  from Smarty Money

  http://www.smartmoney.com/investing/stocks/ponder-this-should-insider-trading-be-a-crime/

• 52. Herman  |  October 31st, 2009 at 2:35 pm

  A fine piece of detached writing devoid of emotional outbursts this way or that way. In a climate where hatred is spewed against RR as a tiger and a criminal this article comes as breath of fresh air. Explaining the truth will not go down well with the wolf pack waiting to tear up RR on account of his ethnicity. This article itself may be criticized for being objective and disapassionate.

• 53. senaka  |  October 31st, 2009 at 2:52 pm

  Thank you for this informative article

  All the ones I read in Colombo dont give such info. They only describe Rajaratnam as tiger and swindler.Only you provide what the charges really are

• 54. Chitranganie  |  October 31st, 2009 at 3:13 pm

  Thanks DBS for this article full of information

  Why is he risking legitimate billions for illegitimate millions?

• 55. Expatriate  |  October 31st, 2009 at 3:44 pm

  Dingiri,

  “On the face of it, Insider Trading sounds like a crime without a victim. But the indeed there are victims. If he unfairly made money from insider information there also were others who lost money in the deal . These invariabley being our own pension funds that are heavily invested in these US blue chips.”

  This is the usual argument against insider trading but it is not valid.

  Markets are inherently unfair; for instance, many people sat out of the real estate market during the bubble years, judging correctly that the market was in an irrational bubble and prices would have to fall sharply. That would have given them an edge in their stock market investments as well. They were right except that unpredictable and massive government intervention sought to prop up the bubble, which distorted the market more than any insider trading could. And in that instance the government sought to ‘unfairly’ even ‘criminally’ protect big banks, big house builders, et al, causing ordinary investors a lot of headache. These same banks, especially Goldman Sachs, profited from the intervention massively and its employees laughed all the way to the bank with big bonuses. It was more ‘criminal’ than any insider trading.

  Markets are never really ‘free’ or ‘fair.’ If that were not the case, these banks and insurance companies like AIG would have been allowed to fail.

  Those pension funds that invest in such a market know that damn well; they are just as ‘greedy’ as other investors; indeed pension funds were among Galleon’s investors and invested in many hedge funds and mortgage investments.

  The argument that insider trading has “victims” is based on the false belief that markets are free and fair.

• 56. Gamini  |  October 31st, 2009 at 4:15 pm

  Funny to see the Tamil mind set in these columns, justifying any crime provided there is some elusive greater good.
  This was the justification for the tigers suicide bombing and terror, “its ok long as its for the greater good”.

  Similarly Raj can violate the US security laws long as the proceeds of his ill gotten gains go to tsunami victims.

  The stock market is the ultimate zero-sum game when Raj makes a profit from any trade based on insider info the other side of that trade looses most likely someones pension fund.

• 57. Siva  |  October 31st, 2009 at 5:22 pm

  A Tamil Icon?Any of you remember Emil Savundranayagam?He too WAS a Tamil icon,even claimed that he had a higher doctorate.
  I do hope that Raj is made of different stuff and will be able to bounce back.
  Cheers,
  Siva.

• 58. Dias  |  October 31st, 2009 at 6:52 pm

  #55 Expatriate:

  True, markets and neither free nor fair. But that does not mean they should be made more unfair. The entire purpose of market regulations and disclosure laws is to try and make them as fair as practicably possible. It is becasue of that the Bush admininstration brought about strict disclosure laws – so that the average person knows when a trade has been made by an important insider such as a CEO. This information gives the public fair access to this information to make a determination.

  Similarly, the Obama admininstration in now contemplating in bringing about laws against super-computer trades that gives the brokers of these computers a 1/2 to 1 second advantage on trading. An excellent idea that will further level the field.

  Insider trading in the US is perverse. I hope this case will send a strong message to anyone who resorts to non-public sources for information that the feds may be listening to their conversations.

  Finally, free market enterprise does not mean crookish methods enterprises – a seeming South Asian specialty to which a few American Sri Lankans have added spices. They should go back to their local fish markets.

• 59. Rifad  |  October 31st, 2009 at 7:20 pm

  Many rich people when they become rich its a pattern to create a good PR, usually they will set a special budget for that, in order to talk good about them, so please do not just talk nonsence, defenetly there will be a congrete eveidence for his arrest and just wait for the many breaking news about him.

• 60. Professor Sam Maheswaran  |  October 31st, 2009 at 9:54 pm

  Dear Mr. Jeyaraja,

  I was informed that Raj is the son of Rajaratnam Master. I knew Rajaratnam’s father when he taught very briefly at Jaffna Central College (JCC) soon after he graduated from the University of Ceylon in the early 1950’s. His father who was affectionately called Rajaratnam Master fell in love with a student from the HSC class. At that time she was living as a guest at RR. Nallia’s house down 1st cross street. The master left his teaching position at JCC and pursued Accountancy in a well known firm in Colombo. He qualified as an Accountant, got married to the love of his life and was very successful working for Singer Company in Colombo. At that time the couple was living down Boswell Place in Wellawatte. I lost track of the Master for a couple of years. In the 1960’s I found out that he and his family immigrated to the US and was living in New Jersey. I too was in the US pursuing a Ph.D. degree. The reason I kept track of him was because me and other students at JCC really admired him because he was a brilliant teacher. It was a sad day for a lot of HSC students when he left JCC. I knew Master Rajaratnam’s two brothers. One was a teacher and the other was an Apothecarist. They were all Christians but the Master may have converted to a Hindu because he married a Hindu lady. If my memory is correct, one of his brothers was married to Kirupa Moses from Vembadi High School. I was saddened to read about his son Raj’s problems with the US law. Raj looks much darker than his parents’ In closing, please convey my heartfelt sympathies to Raj’s parents and I pray that he will be exonerated in due time. Would someone get back to me if my story about Raj’s parants are incorrect.

  Dr. Sam Maheswaran
  Emiritus Professor of Microbiology
  University of Minnesota
  St. Paul;, MN 55108

• 61. Jayan  |  October 31st, 2009 at 9:57 pm

  RR did insider trading and now a big mess. But when you think about what is happening here in SL, R Bros. & Co. robbing the Sri Lankan public in grand scale and getting away. We don’t even know how much money thaey are steeling.

• 62. muruganuk  |  October 31st, 2009 at 10:23 pm

  56. Gamini’s comment regarding the “Tamil mind set”, may just as accurately be placed on the Singhalese and their mindset of destroy the TIgers, tame the Tamil people for the common good of the Sri Lankan (read Singhalese) ’sovereign’ state, whatever the cost:

  - probably between 30,000-40,000 Tamils blown up during the war mostly by SL armed forces shelling
  - 300,00 Tamils interned in camps (malnourished, raped, deprived of their liberty etc ad infinitem)
  - deteriorating democratic institutions that are increasingly failing to protect even Singhalese (as they have failed Tamils)
  - a Rajapaksa dynastic kingship increasingly set in stone
  - increasing international isolation
  - exponentially increasing international disrespect of the singhalese populace

  for the Tamils, who struggle to make sense of either the “intellectual deficit” and/or “moral deficit” displayed by the Singhalese masses, media censorship aside, especially over the last 10months, comments by the Gamini’s of this world serve only to confirm prejudices about the Singhalese we wish to be untrue (but fear are so…)

  “Gamini” (Dissanayake?)…one has to remind oneself is a common enough Singhalese name (as common as David/Smith – in the UK) and that the two are actually different individuals…

• 63. Ilaya Seran Senguttuvan  |  October 31st, 2009 at 10:48 pm

  At least his father and members of his family reading these columns will have the satisfaction of knowing many-Tamils, Sinhalese and others-stood with this talented gentleman of Lankan origin at a time when his world collapsed around him.

  If he comes out of his troubles lightly, I am sure he will help Sri Lanka further in a spirit of forgiving those who behaved rather strangely. As another reader points here he acted in the interest of his own investors taking advantage of information he gathers from the industry.

  That is what we all do. Inside trading really should mean someone within the selling organisation makes available information to him hiding this from all others by pre-meditation. This does not appear to be so in this case. Surely, who is the investor who wants to risk his precious money with a broker who does not know what is happening within the industry.

  Anyway, my own feeling is those invisible sources who want to discourage a non-Caucasian become too big will have the day eventually. It is a dog-eat-dog culture out there in Wall Street and morality-ethics comes a poor second.

  Incidentally, it is curious that the other Tamil billionaire in Malaysia-controlling Maxis-is also in some kind of similar trouble in the past few days. What a strange coincidence?

  ISS

• 64. Praveen  |  October 31st, 2009 at 11:31 pm

  Insider Trading is a serious offence in Western Countries especially in the States for obvious reasons.If the evidence as stated are true Mr Rajaratnam has used insider trading as a regular tool to enrich his clients as well as himself.

  Monitoring of suspect trading is a regular process in Stock Exchanges world wide. Wire traps are an indication that Mr Rajaratnam’s activities have been under extensive scrutiny.

  This investigation has nothing to do with his ethnic background, and it is absurd to say that it is part of a vendetta against the South Asian Investment Specialists.However the fact that four South Asians acting in concert make you wonder whether these people have a special tendency to do illegal deals regardless of their consequences.

  Insider Trading is common among relatives and friends of Legal and Financial people who work on Mergers and Acquisitions.But they are “Tips” to buy or sell a few shares and make a little money.

  The prognosis does not look good for Mr Rajaratnam.This is a well timed warning for other people in similar positions especially the South Asians that unlike ourr homelands, New York is a fair but firm place.

• 65. Sakthi  |  November 1st, 2009 at 12:15 am

  When Sinhalese are going to think differently? He is a Tamil, there is no doubt about it, but he is a Sri Lankan. Why don’t you think that if he is one of the wealthiest men in the world that pride goes not only to Tamils it goes to all Sri Lankans?

  Remember the honor AR Rahman brought not only belongs to Tamils it belongs to all India. If a child had done a mistake (mind you RR is still innocent until proven guilty), the mother does not abhor her child, but will defend with all her might. This is the time we Sri Lankans have to defend this hapless man with our kind words, instead we are torturing him with venom.

  Let us say RR funded LTTE? So what? R Premadasa funded LTTE, MGR funded LTTE, Late Indira Gandhi funded LTTE, Dr. Karunanithi funded LTTE, M R brothers funded LTTE, but just because now LTTE is lost, you are talking about this poor man. Also when you single out RR, it makes all the other businessmen in USA and Sri Lanka saints.

  Can you expect any businessman to be a saint? Don’t forget his contribution to Sri Lankan economy. Somebody in this blog compared him to Emil Sountharanayagam, are you stupid or what? Please note it is this inherent attitude of Sinhalese against Tamils kept Tamils always at a distance.

  About 4 years ago when Mr. Ananda Krishnan, a Sri Lankan Tamil, one of the wealthiest men in the world ( estimated to have a net worth of US$7.4 billion) visited Sri Lanka, I was talking to a Sinhalese gentleman and he didn’t have a kind word for AK. I felt the only problem AK had was his Tamil background. I didn’t waste my time to educate the Sinhalese gentleman, the Sri Lankan background AK had.

  # 29 – Palitha – Thank you for your real Sri Lankan attitude

• 66. TCK  |  November 1st, 2009 at 1:04 am

  I would like to reiterate 29- Palitha’s comment here:
  ‘Raj started from virtually scratch and built up a vast financial empire. He is a role model not only for Tamils but all of Sri Lanka.’

  Having said that, how sad it is.. to see a billionare going behind bars for a fraud of few millions.! How stupid can people be? Just to throw away all of it.

  OK firstly, thanks very much and congratulations to DBSJ for this highly informative and investigative piece of reporting. A balanced, ‘to the point’ article without being biased one way or the other.

  Now, a bit about what we are reading below your article.

  1. RR’s greed is not any less or more than the 500 odd people above him in the rich list. He was just unfortunate to get caught.

  2. He is an Ex-Sri Lankan (NOT a Sri Lankan) as DBSJ has very correctly noted. But as I hear, he did have a lot of ties with the country. I think it is fare to assume these had positive and negative impacts.

  3. If he was funding the LTTE, that should be condemned and if proven he should be punished for it.

  4. If he was planning/ funding the rehabilitation of the LTTE cadres & planning infrastructure projects in the north as mentioned here, he should be congratulated for that.

  5. His involvement in the CSE is not something he did out of love for the country. it is a business deal driven by profits. So he does not get a special ‘pat in the back’ for that one.

  6. Although I can understand the almost biological need to do it, it is laughable to see how people are trying to justify his alleged crimes just because of his ethnicity…! How can insider trading be a lesser fraud? just because one cannot pin point the victim does not make it a ‘white crime’.

  It is also sad to see some people trying to say it is ‘typical’ because he is Tamil. One can also say it is ‘typical’ for South Asia.! (the ducking and diving type) One can also say, that for all the good he had done in the past, he has dragged the general image of the ’south asian immigrant’ in to the drains.

  It is not wrong for Sri Lanka to distance itself from him. After all he is an American Investor here. (Who also might have funded terrorism). So Should we expect Sri Lanka to stand beside ANY American Investor when he is charged with a crime like this just because he gave us money? I think not. His ethnicity does not matter one way or the other.

  I would urge every one to remove the racial bias from this whole issue and to wait to see what comes out. Due to his Sri Lankan origins, I sincerely hope he is found not guilty comes out of this mess clean. But as far as the ‘image’ goes, the damage is already done.

  He is a US citizen but I hear he became a dual citizen of Sri Lanka also…………..DBSJ

• 67. don  |  November 1st, 2009 at 1:15 am

  I am a small scale share market investor (not in Sri Lanka). If I knew his moves in SL share market, I would follow him. As we all know by now he was the bigest single investor in SL stock market, he donate money to TRO, and in his caliber, he is well above the law in SL. some people says he help SL, some says he help SL Tamils, some says he help LTTE. what i believe is he help him self. SL stock market is volatile market before the war ends. well for the money he spent, he had a better chance of getting some valuble info which can gain the edge in SL stock market. so you can do the maths. people like this don’t care about any one except them. either SL govt wins or LTTE wins he makes his money..

• 68. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 1st, 2009 at 1:42 am

  DBSJ why do you keep calling Rajaratnam ‘tough Tamil tycoon”, you make this sound like a moniker in an ethnic boxing match..I can almost hear the announcer “in the defending corner we have Raj “Tough Tamil Tycoon” Rajaratnaaam..he doesn’t look that tough, in fact with those cheeks and baby face he looks like your typical overfed first-born Sri Lankan mama’s boy…..

  Cos he’s Tough,a Tamil and aTycoon.Also 3″T’S sound nice……….DBSJ

• 69. puma  |  November 1st, 2009 at 2:11 am

  I think Rajaratnam Went to deliver a speach at an accounting Seminar in Colombo couple of years ago. Obviously his bad period started then.
  Defrauding investors is a minor think compared to insider trading.
  Artificial hedgings and business decisions made on non public informations undermine the very fabric of the Investment industry. Whether they made profit or loss is secondary. That’s why every Securities Course re iterate that Insider trading is against the law and the licensing bodies cancell one’s trading license immediately. Irrespective of the court outcome, without the licence, even for a few months, he is ruined.

• 70. Prince  |  November 1st, 2009 at 3:50 am

  Raj R is a man who made his millions the hard way. All hedge fund managers in US have engaged in insider trading. Its part of the territory. So let’s not adopt hypocritical stances on him simply because he’s a Tamil

  The racial venom displayed here by the “Sinhalayo” is appalling

• 71. Dinesh  |  November 1st, 2009 at 4:49 am

  Very illuminating piece. Got to know the case against RR

• 72. Ram2009  |  November 1st, 2009 at 5:42 am

  Insider trading was made out to be a “crime without a victim” by the spivs in the City, and on Wall Street, who made billions by doing so. Whether committed by the directors of a company or by the Rajaratnams of this world, it is a crime that must be eliminated. The stock markets of this world are meant to be level playing fields for all participants, but as it transpires they never are. “Gaining the edge” is exactly what it means, by fair means or foul, mostly the latter because this information is meant to be privileged before it is released to the market to the market as a whole.

• 73. Ajith Ratnarajah  |  November 1st, 2009 at 5:53 am

  The entire industry works on inside information and nothing more. This is absolute rubbish. If anyone in this world thinks the corrupt financial services industry does work on pure skills and not inside information that is like saying an army goes to battle without intelligence but pure men & weapons.

  We have seen through this financial crisis how the entire industry is a bunch of crooks who were saved by tax payers money all over the world after recklessly living off every tom, dick & harry in the street.

  Raj is probably guilty as much as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and every other investment bank in the world. So yes he is guilty of insider trading but so is all the other low lives in this industry. If the financial industry thinks that the world has confidence in them they are just kidding themselves including the SEC.

  Regards

  Ajith

• 74. SLN Corea  |  November 1st, 2009 at 7:32 am

  Whereever there is a Tamil businessman, be careful, there’s a lot of racist sabotage against him

• 75. singaram  |  November 1st, 2009 at 7:33 am

  Fraud by Indian owned companies is rampant in the US. Everything from money laundering, immigration fraud, signature fraud, tax frauds etc. etc. are committed with the help Indian owned accounting and law firms. In order to get H1 visas all kind of forgery is done that is hard for the US to trace back in India. L1 visas are obtained for relatives by falsifying documents. It is a whole sale scam to get green cards fraudulently.

  IT companies win contracts using Indian employees who work in other companies to give insider information Young couples who are both working IT/other professionals bring domestic servants from India posing as relatives in order to get the visas. They are paid pittance and work illegally at their homes taking care of their children and working as cooks for them.

  The US citizens are only aware of the Mexican problems while these guys go unnoticed. I have known people who have come into the country as IT professionals with degrees in biological sciences ! Some do not even have a college degree but claim to be IT professionals !!

  In the case of the allegations against Raj it is possible many fund managers do these things irrespective of their native origin. May be Raj is the first to get caught and we may see more to follow. I can only admire the authorities for what they have done. If the authorities go hard on these folks we may see some realistic prices for the securities we invest in.

  I am sorry I have picked the Indian community for their crimes. I do not know about the other communities to talk about them. It is possible they too do these. The sheer number of the Indian influx by fraud is not fair to the rest who want to come and work and settle in the US honestly.

• 76. Ilaya Seran Senguttuvan  |  November 1st, 2009 at 7:38 am

  Siva # 57 – I wonder if Emil S is an appropriate comparison He sold Car Insurance to unsuspecting clients (Auto & General Co ???) at the latter stages at rates cheaper than most established Insurers when his company did not possess the solvency needed – something what Lalilth K, Sakthivi and friends were found to do. The young and up and coming David Frost used the occasion to blow it up when there was an anti-immigration cry in the UK in the early 60s. Emil’s Company ran for some years without trouble is something that should be remembered but this is no excuse for selling bogus Insurance cover. Here again the Brits at that time had no appetite to tolerate an “Indian nigger” in what was essentially a white domain. Emil also tried to move with the royalty, the high and the mighty buying expensive yachts etc and eventually his ego finished him.

  Raj R did nothing of that sort. And as to giving money to the LTTE, it is well known MRs victory had something to do with a cash deal with the Wanni Lord a-la Wedding Sam, Emil Kanthan et al. So as they say, sauce for the goose must surely be for the gander as well.

  Raj R did not stoop low. A graduate of the prestigious Wharton School in Philadelphia that “manufactures” economic whiz-kids; then a senior employee in a leading US Bank and then to Wall Street are the natural steps to success in the Big Apple. Someone writes here RR paid $4 million to Kenny Rogers for a song. I have no info to dispute this but I know friends
  In Cbo who deal with RR who say while he was very wealthy he was not recklessly extravagant. With a smile they say, he had the traditional frugal genes of the Jaffna man in him. Such a man, I think, will be careful not to squander money entrusted to him , his personal and the integrity of his highly respected extended family.

  ISS

• 77. Tilak de Silva  |  November 1st, 2009 at 8:56 am

  Raj rajaratnam is a victim of his own family upbringing. I say that with no disrespect to him. His father was the loudest, most ardent spokesman, supporter for LTTE and openly promoted the campaign of sepertae stae for Tamils in SL. When LTTE campaign began his father among few other Tamils in NY, was so critical og SL govt: and the country they grew up, provided education, gave them all the opportunities.
  I sincerely wish Raj would beat these charges brought against him, he is a hard working, generous man, which ever the charity or organisation he believes in.
  I have met him in London during his days in Sussex University, I wish him, his family well

• 78. Kosala Wickramaratne  |  November 1st, 2009 at 10:08 am

  Analysis & Traders need all the info and will do everything possible to get infor privy to insiders. Breaking the law is just unwanted side effect.

  Is RR the only one involved in insider trading? No, Not at all. He is the one who got caught !! Is RR being singled out for his skin colour? I don’t think so. May be he was careless and left a trail.

  RR is one of us, like the vast majority of you who are either born in Sri Lanka or have parents from SL. He worked very hard to get where he is and as a Lankan, I’m proud of his success.

  In the post sub-prime era, bailout weary governments, central banks & regulators are keen to show that they have a handle on the financial markets and how they operate. They are under pressure from investors to demonstrate the system works, as it should.

  I wish RR the best of luck in his defence of all these charges.

  And another thing, some racist comments posted here stink so bad, I’m ashamed to be Lankan.

• 79. Sinho.  |  November 1st, 2009 at 10:29 am

  It is very unfortunate that RR had to come to this situation. When it comes to insider trading, it is a very thin line. A lot of people go to extraordinary measures to obtain information that will give them that edge.

  When it comes to hedge funds, I think all top performers have a great rolodex. I am sure the rolodex of a fund manager in the caliber of Soros will consist of contacts of Presidents, prime ministers, finance ministers, CEO’s, etc..

  I think RR was at the wrong place at the wrong time. After some big financial scandals in Wall street (Maddoff, etc..), the US authorities had to get someone to prosecute big time to save their face. After reading about RR, it is evident that he built Galleon from scratch with his intelligence, hard work, and perseverance.

  Compared to the millions he has accumulated for Galleon, the questionable trades relating to insider trading is just miniscule. I think as Sri Lankans we should be proud of what he has made for himself, and hope that he gets through these hard times with courage.

• 80. Expatriate  |  November 1st, 2009 at 10:38 am

  Dias,

  “True, markets and neither free nor fair. But that does not mean they should be made more unfair.”

  You cannot talk about adding more ‘unfairness’ into the system without first eliminating the fundamental unfairness, or fraud, of the system itself. How can the same Govt that unfairly aids some people while penalizing others through its intervention in the markets prosecute some people selectively for insider trading?

  This ’sending’ a message and ’setting an example’ by prosecuting Rajaratnam is a rather primitive notion in light of repeated Govt intervention, from the tech bubble, the LTCM failure to the real estate bubble and the great recession.

  If anyone needs to be in jail, it is Alan Greenspan. He inflated repeated bubbles and did a mea culpa in front of the Congressional committee, saying he was wrong about his understanding of the markets all along.

  That is like the Pope acknowledging that he doesn’t know anything about God or Jesus after all, and it was all a fraud. (I do in fact consider religions a fraud, but that is another matter). Greenspan was the Pope of American capitalism and confessed that he was a ‘fraud’ all along. I will support vigorous prosecution of insider trading only after Greenspan, Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke are put in jail first and the system undergoes a fundamental overhaul, with transparency made the cornerstone.

  Bernanke was part of the Greenspan Fed for many years and didn’t dissent; and well after it had become clear that there was a massive real estate bubble, he maintained that there was no bubble. He then intervened massively, shifting the burden of high inflation and reduced quality of life to our children’s generations. Such things are career-ending in other fields. These people should be prosecuted first.

  You are picking on South Asians unnecessarily–insider trading is rampant on Wall Street among all ethnic communities, and its criminalization, without first overhauling the whole capitalist system with transparency, is misguided.

• 81. Strategist  |  November 1st, 2009 at 11:01 am

  Share market is not a zero sum game. all can make money when the prices go up..
  People who bought or sold the shares because of RR deals, would have still done the same even if RR deals were not there….

• 82. Srini  |  November 1st, 2009 at 11:33 am

  South Asians being employed in Wall Street in higher numbers is also due to changes in demographics, particularly in and around NYC.

  This has been the same throughout the pattern of ethnicities and their dynamics ‘coming and going’ around NYC over decades.

  It has also to do with ‘globalization’ the role of Indian companies etc.

  None of these are about to change and it is less likely that there’ll be any sort of backlash against South Asians in Wall St as a result of this.

• 83. Ranjan from Toronto  |  November 1st, 2009 at 12:16 pm

  #70 All hedge fund managers may engaged in insider trading, but fact is that it is illegal and he should be prosecuted if he did so. He is not the first one to be prosecuted and he certainly will not be the last. That he is Tamil is just a coincident to this story. And the fact that he is a good philanthrope is also incidental. Lalith Kothalwela who has turned out to be one of the biggest frauds in Sri Lanka’s history is also one of the people who has donated most to charity there.

  As for “racial venom” if it is OK for the Tamil Diaspora to demand that conduct of the war against LTTE by the GOSL properly investigated and accounted for, why is it not OK for someone to demand that RR’s actions be looked at the same way as he was one of the main contributors to TRO and other LTTE controlled charities?

• 84. Good2know  |  November 1st, 2009 at 2:08 pm

  Fraud by Indian owned companies is rampant in the US. Everything from money laundering, immigration fraud, signature fraud, tax frauds etc. etc. are committed with the help Indian owned accounting and law firms. In order to get H1 visas all kind of forgery is done that is hard for the US to trace back in India. L1 visas are obtained for relatives by falsifying documents. It is a whole sale scam to get green cards fraudulently. IT companies win contracts using Indian employees who work in other companies to give insider information Young couples who are both working IT/other professionals bring domestic servants from India posing as relatives in order to get the visas. They are paid pittance and work illegally at their homes taking care of their children and working as cooks for them. The US citizens are only aware of the Mexican problems while these guys go unnoticed. I have known people who have come into the country as IT professionals with degrees in biological sciences ! Some do not even have a college degree but claim to be IT professionals !!

  In the case of the allegations against Raj it is possible many fund managers do these things irrespective of their native origin. May be Raj is the first to get caught and we may see more to follow. I can only admire the authorities for what they have done. If the authorities go hard on these folks we may see some realistic prices for the securities we invest in.

  I am sorry I have picked the Indian community for their crimes. I do not know about the other communities to talk about them. It is possible they too do these. The sheer number of the Indian influx by fraud is not fair to the rest who want to come and work and settle in the US honestly.

• 85. MSSJ  |  November 1st, 2009 at 3:02 pm

  Raja – King, Ratnam – Gems [October 27/2009] . This king of gems or gem of kings, or even king of frauds how ever we may call him, was subject to jealous and envy for his splash or flashy life style, arrogant and aggressive business attitudes. Would the government prosecutor or approver have gone to this extent against a white man in America? I doubt.

  Raj is not a Rockefeller clan or another son of India’s rags to riches business tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani, father of Anil and Mukesh of USD 91.41 billion wealth. Ambani Sr. had a humble beginning hiring a table and a chair for two hours a day at Indian Rupees 20 [US$ one in 1950s] to do his clerical work, at Byculla, a harbour front county. He too was said to have conducted business in the same manner Raj is alleged, but led a simple life though his sons live like modern day jet set Maharajahs in a country where half the population earns one dollar a day.

  In his native Sri Lanka Raj was received with open arms as a booster to the local stock market. Though he enjoyed the friendship of the highest in the land, now a section of the authorities and media paint a negative picture of him. If a Tamil can become a traitor for donating money willingly or unwillingly to the brutal LTTE, how do we call those befriended the murdering terrorists to win election at huge financial cost?

  When the BBC referred to Rajaratnam as Sri Lankan, a local daily paper blackguarded the BBC saying its remarks brought disrepute to the island nation, forgetting the fact that Raj was a dual citizenship holder. Would have they disowned a Sinhala entrepreneur in the same manner?

  Let the US courts decide whether Raj was right or wrong according to law but it is better for Lanka to treat him as a businessman who over stepped his border. He has my sympathies but I condemn his lavish life style out side his own country that brought him misery.

• 86. Aathavan  |  November 1st, 2009 at 3:22 pm

  Rajaratnam & Rajapakse

  Both Rajaratnam and his team and Rajapakses and their ministers did the same crime.

  They took the money that does not belong to them.

  Rajaratnam used inside information for personal profit. Rajapakse stole Tsunami relief fund for personal profit. (and the entire Rajapakse Clan is continuing to steal state coffers as well as commissions for any work done in Sri Lanka

  The Reality: Rajaratnam is facing the court of Law. Rajapakses are above the Law. But both are thieves.

• 87. S.A.A  |  November 1st, 2009 at 3:44 pm

  It is inconceivable that the alleged insider information supplied by Tipper A who is working for a fee, supplied them only to Raj Rajaratnam. What has miffed the FBI is the financial genius in a man from the third world who was able to correctly analyse it and make money most of the time and sometimes even losing. It is striking how biased the US authorities are from the way they treated Madoff, an out and out fraudster to the way they are treating Raj Rajaratnam who by all accounts is a financial genius and not a white Anglo Saxon product of the developed West. I cannot forget the zealous with which some Muslims are held in Guantanamo because the religious charm necklaces and bracelets had inscriptions of a grid allegedly representing the streets of New York and somewhere amongst the grid the digits 9 and 11 allegedly representing 9/11. The measure of US paranoia is aptly demonstrated by the treatment people with names such as Khan or Mohammed receive at US Customs.

  I have no doubt Raj Rajaratnam is innocent and will be cleared of all the charges but would cost him a great deal of money to himself and his business as these allegations had stirred his investors and inevitably caused to redeem their investments before maturity.

• 88. Ceylonese  |  November 1st, 2009 at 6:08 pm

  I understand RR was wiretapped to gain intelligence on his LTTE connections. During the process they stumbled upon the insider trading fiasco, and he is now facing the consequences. Is he still under investigation for financing terrorists?
  I would also like to know the following :
  Could it be true that RR invested monies for senior tigers, and the starter capital for his company came from LTTE?
  Was there any connection between anti communists, the christian church and LTTE?
  No doubt you will write about it when the time is right.

  Not when TIME is right but only if &when FACTS are right…..DBSJ
  .

• 89. shankar  |  November 1st, 2009 at 6:41 pm

  To comment 68- DBSJ response

  DBSJ

  How about tough tubby tamil tycoon tyson.

  He has already come up with a right hook for bail reduction and only a matter of time before the left uppercut will floor Preet Bharara.

  Nopes Tyson is inappropriate! Tough Tamil Tycoon is best!!……DBSJ

• 90. Jayan  |  November 1st, 2009 at 8:47 pm

  Now RR has to defend himself in the US courts for insider trading. Will MR Bros. & Henchmen ever be tried in any court of justice for the crimes they have done; robbing public money, pocketting tsunami funds, 10 percent commission from every tender & killings etc.

• 91. Chamini  |  November 1st, 2009 at 9:24 pm

  I am surprise to see some of the comments related to LTTE & Rajaratnem. This shows clearly how some of the Singhalese people mind works or can say how small brain they have. If a Tamil person become successful in the world then they all drum up that he / she is a LTTE . This is exactly what happened to MIA. People should write their comments bit more sensible.

• 92. Gunaratna  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 12:21 am

  After fall of Praba, another srilankan tamil fell to disgrace. Next one may be who?DBS Jeyaraj.

  I think Mahinda, Gota & Sarath will “fall” soon as war criminals…..DBSJ

• 93. banu  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 2:38 am

  well RR is guilty or innocent is irrelevant at this point coz when the us government (the greatest democracy in the world) has somebody in thier crosshairs there is very little chance for that individual to escape those charges especialy after 9/11. RR will have an uphill battle.

  So it seems us and lankan govts are not that different atfer all.

• 94. Nihal Markus  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 3:20 am

  Rajapakse(s) will never fall as war criminals. They have to be given credit for calling prabhakrans bluff and ending the war. Now we are not afraid to send our children to school without been scared if they would be blown to bits! We are not scared to travel in a bus without wondering if there is a bomb under a seat. We non tamils sri lankans are able to go to the north and east freely rather than enter through a LTTE checkpoint labelled “For foreign citizens”! There have been six kings called Mahinda and all were great kings including our current king.

  I dont think Mahinda the fifth was a great king& Apey Mahinda is an elected president not a king with divine rights………….DBSJ

• 95. TK  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 3:22 am

  Hello Folks,

  Tamils once again has proved that they can spin the whole world using thier own (not borrowed) brain. Don’t celeberate that you have got only 2 so far. There are thousands.

  Well done folks. Keep it up.

• 96. Ajith Ratnarajah  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 3:56 am

  Hello DBS,

  Do you have any inside info on the Gota & Sarath saga. I dont think the US action will lead to anywhere. It seems to be a smoke screen. What are your thoughts ?. I think they are just trying to pressure Mahindha and tell him your not the super power we are the super power. His administration thinks they can ignore the west and go it alone with India & China so I think the US just wants to inform him that they too have a say in Sri Lanka. Thats all. At the end a deal will be stuck that keeps everyone happy but the refugees in the camps will still suffer. What are your thoughts ?

  However the momentum that is taking place in UK and US is something that is quite shocking. If two countries ban Sri Lanka (US and UK) then 51% of the net positive trade balance will be affected. Sri Lanka will have no choice other than to surrender itself to the IMF.

  I wish the LTTE had gone about 20 years ago because this is how Tamils should have launched a political struggle internationally. Anyway I hope now this action will lead to sanctions against Sri Lanka.

  Just now there was a breaking news in Australia, it said Sri Lankan judges were refused transit visa entry into Australia.

  Regards

  Ajith

  DBSJ RESPONDS:

  Hi Ajith, I think either Sarath is psychoing Gota with a “con” about US wanting to give evidence against the def secy or Gota is fixing Sarath by planting story that SF may “betray” country to US.No junior US official is brash or stupid to call SF on son inlaw’s phone & ask him to “testify” against def secy.

  Yes I do hope to write about this great “feud” between Gota-Mahinda vs Sarath. There is no principle or policy difference here. Pettiness,Paranoia & personality clashes among pint-sized men with giant size egos

• 97. shankar  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 4:10 am

  to comment 91-gunaratna

  you have omitted KP. Next ones could be Karuna .

• 98. pf Mendis  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 5:21 am

  raj was at s thomas’ those days.they were fun time

• 99. kaluyaka  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 5:27 am

  68 R S Wickremasinghe
  You are a bit slow getting off the blocks this time.
  Was it a bit hard to digest ?.

  Anyhow your duel with Navin and also with Don
  is very interesting.

• 100. kaluyaka  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 5:58 am

  It is a pity that at the moment Sri Lankans are in the news for negative reasons. RR in the USA, Asylum seekers in Australia and Sarath Fonseka again in USA. What more to come. ?. War crimes against our leaders.?.

  Whatever it is our leaders should not thumb their noses
  against a giant like USA. The reality is, SL is a poor third world small country. MR, GR SF and co. are heros for us
  Sr Lankans (for about 70 percent at the moment), but for the rest of the world, especially for the westerners they are a bunch of corrupt officials from a Banana Republic.
  As long as they do not criticise USA, they are OK like
  Marcos, Gen. Musharaf and Saudi King. But remember what happened to General Noriega, Saddam Hussein
  and milosovich. Therefore, our leaders should do a favour for themselves and watch what is coming out of their mouths. I remember DBSJ was saying that there
  are different ways to skin a cat. If the US wants, they can make life pretty difficult to our heros.

  I would like mention a good old Sinhala saying and that is ‘ Pahath thenning yai gala jale’ which means
  ‘The water flows from the lowest point’.

• 101. Compassion  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 11:43 am

  DBSJ,
  I like it and agree with your answer to # 91. It is on it’s way. Not far away if people don’t realise it.

  Side note
  For a tamil from Colombo who has more friends with the majority community in SL if the lankan media is so harsh then the Tamils form other area’s don’t stand a chance with no financial clout.

  All I can See is it is trying to take advantage of the situation and confiscate all his assets in SL by the Rajapakse clan.

• 102. mercator  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 1:10 pm

  it’s interesting to note the defence of RR by some commentators based on his ethnicity, smarts, gregariousness, kindness etc etc.. What everyone seems to forget in this fog of pride is that insider trading is ILLEGAL.

  Get a grip people. If he engaged in it, he was breaking the law.

• 103. Surya  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 2:39 pm

  I am very surprise a Tamil man worked very hard and got to this level. Isn’t it trading stocks is gambling and knowing how to cheat is the basic requirement to be a good gambler (unless we are born lucky)? Everyone is cheating (little or big) in a way to keep their business up & running (whether by bribing, submitting fake resumes to get job, selling goods for cash without receipts, getting internal information etc…) Some (or many) of rich people have cheated in small/big to get to their destination whether it is Dhirajlal Ambani from India or some of the biggest wall street firms. There is no excuse for cheating and it is not acceptable. But when hearing people like Geoffrey Canada, volunteered to be one of five co-signers, that tells something about Raj. Good luck Raj!

  Good writing, I am reading “…Dravida Naadu Separatism…” series.

• 104. Thales  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 2:59 pm

  mercator # 101,

  Take a pill. Nothing proven in court. Not even Indicted yet.

  # 94

  The majority Sinhala army slaughtered innocent civilians mothers and children due to their minority complex, with money $$ begged and borrowed from all over the world.

  Good luck with peace and prosperity and hope for rule of democratic governance my a tyrannical majority

• 105. Vic  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 3:01 pm

  Among Mr. Rajaratnam’s strongest supporters is Geoffrey Canada, the chief executive of the Harlem Children’s Zone, a charity that runs after-school programs and workshops for poor children and their families. After Mr. Rajaratnam’s arrest, Mr. Canada appeared in court to vouch for Mr. Rajaratnam and volunteered to be one of five co-signers of Mr. Rajaratnam’s $100 million bail. Prosecutors initially asked for Mr. Rajaratnam to be held without bond, calling him a flight risk.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/business/02insider.html

• 106. Gowtham  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 3:42 pm

  At least two things driving people here to try and convict someone who is not even indicted yet:

  1) Jealousy
  2) Racism

• 107. Panadurapakshaya  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 4:03 pm

  #68: RS Wicks:

  man, do you always have to say what I think before I say it myself? The minute I read the title, I was astonished – what is DBSJ thinking?

• 108. shankar  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 6:17 pm

  to comment 99-kaluyaka

  you say we should not thumb our noses at the US. Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka, our illustrious old senile primeminister went one step further and put his thumb up hilary’s bum. Unfortunately you advice comes too late with that idiot well and truly rousing her up by personal attacks against her by bringing up the monica lewinsky saga. Probably wanted to show the srilankans he is a well read man. What do you think will happen if you do that to any woman let alone the most powerful one in the world. She will never forget it even after 20 years and when the time is right she will fix you in style.

• 109. shankar  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 7:27 pm

  Anyway looking at his photograph{Though DBSJ always manages to make them look handsome} i think a stint in prison will do him good. I have noticed after a short stint there they always come out looking healthy and refreshed.

  You are more or less getting a health and wellbeing reallife course at tax payers expense. And whereas now you will take sunlight and other things for granted, when you get out your perpective on life will be different and simple things like looking at the beautiful sky, and the greenery will be pure pleasure.

  Raj look at the brighter side, and just try to reduce the sentence as much as you can without going to courts. spend your time writing your memoirs, like Hitler did with “mein kamph”.

• 110. Ranjan from Toronto  |  November 2nd, 2009 at 11:01 pm

  What is really interesting here is that for an article about a Tamil tycoon accused of illegal activities, people are responding with a lot about Rajapaksha brothers and Sarath Fonseka. The old bait and switch tactic perhaps?

• 111. sydney-Tamil  |  November 3rd, 2009 at 12:51 am

  I am thinking that somethings is going on beind the scenes that we do not understande. “Onnume Puri-yalle ulahath-thiley).

  Can he arrest be conicences with the demise of LTTE? Was there a stonger hand (no, I not mean SF/MR/GR gang) behind all there?

• 112. sydney-Tamil  |  November 3rd, 2009 at 1:04 am

  99. kaluyaka | November 2nd, 2009 at 5:58 am
  War crimes against our leaders.?.

  That will be fantastic;

  I have a correction for your question; It should read;

  War crimes against our war criminal leaders ?.

• 113. sydney-Tamil  |  November 3rd, 2009 at 1:06 am

  >109. Ranjan from Toronto | November 2nd, 2009 at

  Dear Ranju, I guess there is no hard and fast rule about posting;

  After all it is not an exam paper where you have to stick to the point strickly.

• 114. Dilshan F  |  November 3rd, 2009 at 11:15 am

  Insider information is required in many instances.
  Marraige – to find out what the would be inlaws feel. Girl friends – insider info is very important at the early stages.
  Divorce – definitely insider info required. The whole intelligence is about insider info.

  The only problem here is more than what seems to be.

  What else did the wire tapping disclose?

  Links to Obama?

  My wish is for RR to be what he is a brilliant businessmans.

  My other wish for RR IF he was in cahoots with the LTTE is for him to receive what the law intends.

  I have no quarrel with him if he supported he Tamil community here because if he does not support then who will?

• 115. Nostradamus  |  November 3rd, 2009 at 7:25 pm

  # 110 sydney-Tamil

  I liked your citation of Chandra Babu old song, one of my old favorites.

  “Onnummae Puri-yalle ulahath-thiley”

• 116. Surane  |  November 3rd, 2009 at 10:59 pm

  It appears that the investigators have been over zealous in their investigations . He may be exonerated unless the wire taps and documentary evidence are per se incriminatory. He is not a Kothalawala and there are no victims.

• 117. Sumithra Perera  |  November 3rd, 2009 at 11:29 pm

  Raj is a good man. What harm has he done to us – nothing, absoultely nothing

• 118. Ben J  |  November 4th, 2009 at 9:09 am

  Hi David,
  this article was very informative.
  I noticed some of the readers are Justifying the insider trading. it is very wrong and it is illegal. Mr Raj Rajaratnam was arrested based on the information given to the
  US Government by various sources. whether he is innocent or not, we will have to wait and see. there is no racial issue in this case.there are so many company CEO’s and Directors were procecuted recently. these guys were too greedy. last year,they were making billions of Dollars, when we were loosing thousands of Dollars from our super funds and shares.
  If Mr Rajaratnam did insider trading, then he should be prosecuted according to the Law. on the other hand, if he did not do the insider trading, then he should be released.

• 119. shankar  |  November 4th, 2009 at 6:10 pm

  DBSJ

  Thanks for the twitter. That was good.

• 120. Ilanko Sivanesh  |  November 4th, 2009 at 7:38 pm

  We Tamils. Are we a cursed race?

• 121. Indunil Kumari  |  November 4th, 2009 at 7:44 pm

  Dear Don

  I like you to write a Special about General Sarath Fonseka’s miraculous escape from the US.

• 122. kaluyaka  |  November 5th, 2009 at 5:35 am

  95 Ajith Ratnarajah

  Mate, you are waiting until something negative happens
  to SL or its leaders to jump up in joy.

  What sort of people are you ?. You had free education, free health facilities etc. and you are not grateful for what you had from SL. Before LTTE started killing people, life was good for you guys. Now you are wishing that other countries introduce sanctions against SL and trying to get them to do jus that. If sanctions are introduced,
  only the poor Sri Lankans will suffer including Tamils.
  People like you (not all Tamils) can be compared to
  a cancer in a body eating away while living in that body.

  Don’t be too excited about the SL judges not getting
  transit visas to Australia because it got nothing to do
  with the situation in SL or asylum seekers. The judges were refused transit visas because they were on their way to Fiji which kicked out Australian and New Zealand diplomats saying those two countries were interfering
  in Fiji’s domestic matters. Commander Banimarama
  is responsible for all that.

  So there you go Ajith. Just relax buddy as nothing really bad has happened to our beloved motherland.

• 123. Murugan  |  November 5th, 2009 at 5:42 am

  Strike anybody else odd he was about to travel to London and Switzerland? that rhymes with Toronto and Norway.
  This has more to do with the finishing blow to boys. And less to do with the sillarai.

  Wiretaps picked something up during the Relief Organization investigation. Then they blackmailed somebody into cooperation. Hilton buy-out was in 2006. Sounds like its from wiretap picked up during the investigation of Relief funding.

  Without massive organization, nobody will take political demands seriously.
  These guys don’t want to let a financier revive any attempt at massive organization.

  If the war taught anything, don’t believe what appears on the surface.
  Just logically think about who benefits from bringing down somebody known to have financed Tsunami Relief in the past? And who exactly brought him down?

  Their position is as clear as water. Just look at how the boat guys have been treated up north.

  Scared that a burning ember will kindle a fire.

• 124. Don  |  November 5th, 2009 at 7:38 am

  In my view any one who indulges in Hedge funds, insider trading etc are crooks. But that is the corporate business world of today. Any one who does this gets an undue edge over the other fellow. The crook thereby gains money for him and his clients while another looses. It is immoral and unethical. RR has been prosecuted before and has been caught for tax dodging etc But of course every rich guy more or less does it. This includes Paul Keating former PM of Australia who had to admit he payed less than 10% in tax when he sold his pig farm. Kerry Packer the richest man in Australia openly admitted he paid less than 10% in tax because according to his own words, government does not deserve any more! When all the time, other hard working people pay anything between 20 to 50% in tax. Whether we like it or not our superannuation funds, house loans etc can easily end up with these people. Even so called independent rating agencies have connived with global investment banks and ended in the pocket of these dodgy market manipulators and the out come was the current recession. They are all a part of the modern corporate gravy train where average man has to put up with it and see his little funds go down the poop. So when one of two of them get caught, I rejoice because the law has got up from the long sleep.

• 125. AssaiPazham  |  November 5th, 2009 at 3:47 pm

  From nytimes…
  For Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire hedge fund manager charged with trading on inside information, legal problems are nothing new….more below

  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/business/02insider.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&8dpc

• 126. Ganesh  |  November 5th, 2009 at 10:37 pm

  Latest update can be found here:

  http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/05/galleon-14-accused-insider-dealing

  -Ganesh.

• 127. kaluyaka  |  November 6th, 2009 at 7:16 am

  111 Sydney -Tamil

  For all those who thought that SF is going to spill the beans, it is dissapointing. Isn’t it.?.

  The man is back home in SL and to whom it may concern
  can stick their green card wherever they want.

  Ha, ha , ha

  The”troubling” aspect is what transpired in US citizen Gota’s “undisclosed” interview with US officials in September?…..DBSJ

• 128. wesley  |  November 6th, 2009 at 12:42 pm

  # 118 Ilanko asks: We Tamils. Are we a cursed race?

  No. Perhaps a lot more ambitious than Sinhalese and sometimes those ambitions have got out of hand.

  # 120 Kaluyaka asks : What sort of people are you ?. You had free education, free health facilities etc. and you are not grateful for what you had from SL.

  The link below will help you understand what many in the Tamil diaspora really want:

  http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20091105/bs_prweb/prweb3152014_3

  #121 Murugan says : If the war taught anything, don’t believe what appears on the surface. Just look at how the boat guys have been treated up north. Scared that a burning ember will kindle a fire.

  Murugan is possibly right as the links below explains:

  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/taken-in-by-tamil-tall-tales/story-e6frg6zo-1225794053578

  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/tamil-spokesman-alex-a-smuggler-says-sri-lankan-government/story-e6frg6nf-1225795200705

• 129. shankar  |  November 6th, 2009 at 6:40 pm

  to comment 121-murugan

  Don’t let your imagination run riot, buddy. This is a simple case of insider trading. All the hedge fund managers do it.. But they do it discreetly, whereas Raja may have been more reckless, or maybe he was targeted to make an example to others. What you state is pure speculation. Now the next time some tamil gets into trouble you will say Gota. If karunanithi dies, you will say Gota. if vaiko is arrested you will say Gota. If there is floods in batticaloa also, you will say Gota.

• 130. shankar  |  November 6th, 2009 at 6:43 pm

  Murugan

  I also forgot to say many tamils , when they get up in he morning will first thing have a look under the bed to satisfy that Gota is not there.

• 131. Kasippu  |  November 6th, 2009 at 7:28 pm

  #120
  ” Just relax buddy as nothing really bad has happened to our beloved motherland.”

  Royal or peasant, no difference, the Lanka a land without a mother and a paradise for the people who live in a perpetual state of denial.

• 132. Nostradamus  |  November 6th, 2009 at 7:33 pm

  Nobody expected SF would spill the beans and so his abrupt departure was not disappointing.

  But seeing him beat a hasty retreat to safer shores with his tail tucked between the legs was amusing. Must have been a humbling experience for the apparently brave soldier.

  The General must be calling the Green card sour grapes now.

• 133. Liyanage  |  November 6th, 2009 at 8:05 pm

  When one of my countrymen is arrested and prosecuted in a foreign land, I will stand by him regardless of his race, religion and beliefs and I expect that from every other countryman or woman who call it “Srilanka” or “Eelam” for that matter.

• 134. dilshan f  |  November 6th, 2009 at 9:01 pm

  whats super about this blog is that DBSJ writes a superb article, Then the comments itself are so interesting to read. those for and against. Its like the great farmer throwing rice at the chicken, all scramble to get some grain. some pecking others in the meelee.
  Great going guys

• 135. Ex Lankan  |  November 6th, 2009 at 11:40 pm

  Despite all the euphoria and the great expectations of the pro Tigers and a few Sinhala twits,the General has arrived home safely.

  Homeland Security probably had a chat with the General and enriched their data bank with respect to the International Tiger Network.

  Sarath Fonseka’s strategic withdrawal.By the way all the fuss was made by the war heroes & patriots about SF but nothing about Gota’s quiet sell – out…………DBSJ

• 136. Fran  |  November 7th, 2009 at 1:20 am

  #130
  It will come true only when fellow countrymen stop violating each others rights, until then story is all about feud between uncivilized tribal brothers.
  Probably, we can learn a lot from many foreign lands.
  May be we can import qualified individual to lead Sri lanka for a few years. People have nothing to lose.
  It is something different from what we are doing since 1948.

• 137. kassipu  |  November 7th, 2009 at 1:55 am

  #127

  Sure enough, Gota may soon looking for a hiding place, under a bed not a bad place to be. American beds are a little higher and comfortable underneath. But he should make sure that SF is not already there. We do not want a patriotic battle under a bed in a foreign land especially When DHS is looking for their company.
  I am sure our tamil brothers will take them under their bed, not a threat any more.

• 138. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 7th, 2009 at 2:31 am

  What are the odds of SF to do a Musharraf and take over SL in a coup de’tat upon his return????

  DBSJ RESPONDS:

  SF has much support among rank & file but divided support with officers.The Rajapakse regime is paranoid about such possibility &has re-structured army hierarchy with loyalists in key positions. The Sinhala hawks are split on this question. There is rapidly rising discontent with Rajapakse regime over corruption, nepotism, maladministration, inefficiency etc. SF could tap into this. On the other hand SF is not of Govigama caste.

  If SF attempts a coup it will be crushed with the direct help of India. Even the west will indirectly help suppress it

  I suspect SF will be bumped off soon & blame put on residual tigers. There will be an outcry but then it can be contained by the Rajapaksa regime. Before physical assassination SF will be character assassinated by Rajapakse roterweilers

• 139. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 7th, 2009 at 8:32 am

  I suspect SF will be bumped off soon & blame put on residual tigers. There will be an outcry but then it can be contained by the Rajapaksa regime. Before physical assassination SF will be character assassinated by Rajapakse roterweilers

  Then his only option is to jump on a boat and high tail it back to the open arms of asylum offered by the US State Department to back the US…unless….

  SF will announce his prez candidacy this week I think. He will have to jump the gun to preempt hatchet job on him by Rajapakse regime. I wonder what Rajapaksas will do if & when SF throws his hat in the ring now?…………………DBSJ

• 140. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 7th, 2009 at 8:36 am

  Before physical assassination SF will be character assassinated by Rajapakse roterweilers

  Bloody hell, you better block Navin, Shankar and Don from commenting on this blog then.

• 141. TCK  |  November 7th, 2009 at 9:49 am

  95. Ajith Ratnarajah
  Seems to be waiting to see Sri Lanka as a country and nation fall on its knees… what sad sad people. The best way to oust MR will be to make a more honest leader with a back bone at least as strong as MR’s. Expecting to punish a nation is not right.

  “I think Mahinda, Gota & Sarath will “fall” soon as war criminals…..DBSJ”
  This may or may not happen. But one thing is certain, the majority of Sri Lankans even those who oppose the IDP camps, and the general conduct of the govt. (which I must say is not that different to any one before this) would agree in one thing.

  Without these three, getting rid of LTTE would not have been possible. Further, if any one thinks, the continuation of the LTTE for another decade would have been better for the Tamils, I think that person must be living in a dreamland. At least now, there is the possibility that things could eventually change for the better. We have hope.

  So I think, this trio have done a great service to the rest of us living. They have risked their lives to end the LTTE for the better of the rest of us. (And incidentally, if alive for them also.)

  Same can be said about anyone who had to sacrifice their lives willingly or unwillingly (including all the civilians) so that the conflict could finish.

  We all wish that the LTTE could have been ousted without any civilian deaths. But we all also know, there is no such thing as a perfect clean war.

  So while I have my reservations about the current govt & their actions, I am greatful for one thing. We have been given another chance. We have been given hope.

  For the sake of all those who lost lives for this, and for the sake of those that will sacrifice their lives for this in the future, lets make most of it.
  Jumping up and down with joy expecting the fal of a nation is not at all the right thing.

• 142. Fran  |  November 7th, 2009 at 11:39 am

  #135
  Either way SF is toast. In the motherland or foreign land.
  MR brothers know it very well that they just can not afford to go down( life or death issue for them). Powerful neighbor (India) and the west will prefer MR bros over SF( China may well be happy with SF). This translates into sinhala boat people, and tamil human smuggling contacts coming handy to their cousins.
  Plight of minorities is not going to change much, but there will be enough of silent sympathy/empathy and understanding from their suffering majority cousins- but no help,and too late.
  ( Certainly MR bros will enjoy the trust of minority blood brothers more than their own even to take care of their own physical security- finally dream team with communal harmony around MR & co)

• 143. Liyanage  |  November 7th, 2009 at 6:26 pm

  #133

  VP, the self proclaimed “Thalaivar” violated the rights of thousands of fellow countrymen for more than 30 years. But that doesn’t mean I would brand every other countryman as a “terrorist”. I’m afraid that I do not have the same mentality as yours. The issue with a few individuals like you is that you tend to genaralise a whole nation simply because of the actions of a few. Please grow up!!

• 144. Fran  |  November 7th, 2009 at 7:29 pm

  #140
  I always ready take advise from a learned people like you, and I promise you that I will grow up and I am struggling to do it since 1948 like many other fellow sri lankans. Thank you my friend, you are killing me with kindness.

  “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”
  OM HELDER CAMARA:

• 145. Murugan  |  November 7th, 2009 at 8:30 pm

  Shankar.

  Not Gota. You totally missed the point. A very important point.
  I am talking about those who betrayed at the end.
  During the flag raising on the beach. Who did a confidence trick on the plenipotentiary?

  Got it now?

• 146. shankar  |  November 7th, 2009 at 9:42 pm

  To comment 135 Wicky

  Your quote “What are the odds of SF to do a Musharraf and take over SL in a coup de’tat upon his return????”unquote.

  He definitely will. But it will take time. He has to get onto twitter and communicate with the 300000{200000 current and 100000 in the pipeline}. You see he is persona non grata in the army camps, just like what he did to Janaka{Janaka must be smiling from up there}

  In the meantime Mahinda is hugging them all over. By the time he hugs the 200000 and a couple of million more civilians, it will be just right for the election.

• 147. Srivikrama  |  November 8th, 2009 at 3:58 am

  Difficult days ahead for MR …… If General Fonseka becomes the common candidate …. the Sinhala Buddhists floating vote bank will be spilt … then MR will have to woo the minority votes by giving concession to the Tamils…… early release of the IDP …greater autonomy etc …. then the patriots will label him as traitor ….and Somaramas will get in to action . MR needs to be very careful.. he is still the best choice for SriLanka

• 148. shankar  |  November 8th, 2009 at 5:13 am

  DBSJ

  Thanks again for the twitter. That was very interesting. Things are moving faster than i thought. I knew they will take off his security. Next step of the plan is to shoot him dead as you say and blame it on LTTE, as what Premadasa did to Lalith. But they might think twice about that, because then there will be all out war between the Sinha regiment and the Gajaba regiment.

  Nothing certain or definite.Just a possibility.That’s all. Why dont you & other readers join twitter at http://www.twitter.com & register as a follower of my tweets? You’ll get them instantly then…….DBSJ

• 149. Navin  |  November 8th, 2009 at 6:30 am

  144. Srivikrama:

  If SF contests as a common candidate, then all those UNPers who are waiting to vote for anybody but Ranil will definitely vote for him.

  On the other hand, though a split in SLFP or nationalist non UNP vote is possible, I doubt it whether people will go against MR. The people in rural areas are for sure more loyal to MR than SF. So they will vote with MR. People in suburban areas will be disgusted with SF should he team up with those who said he is not even fit to lead the salvation army in the not so distant past. So they are unlikely to vote with him either. The JVPers will vote with SF but their numbers do not count out side of Thisamaharama area. So at the end of the day, my guess is MR will still get most of the non UNP votes. It all depends on how the UNP vote base compares with the non UNP vote base.

  I’m more worried about what would happen in a post MR scenario. MR and SF basically have the same nationalist policies. However, unlike MR, SF has nobody to support him.

  Though UNP is backing him as a presidential candidate, UNP is unlikely to support him should they come to power. So who is going to support SF to form a government? Neither the blues nor the greens in this country want to change the system. They want freedom to do as they see fit. SF must be day dreaming if he thinks he can control these politicians like he used to control soldiers.

  The system cannot be changed by merely purging it of errant politians as long as people keep appointing them. For their representatives to change, people need to change first themselves. It takes social development to change the state of affairs which happens slowly.

  The worst SF can do is in the event things become so unmanagable, dissolve the government and try to run the country by himself. If SF is pushed to a corner, even that’s not impossible.

  It would be the forces who are waiting to see the downfall of this country who would be the ultimate winners.

• 150. Ilaya Seran Senguttuvan  |  November 8th, 2009 at 8:30 am

  Re. Liyanage (#130) Good to hear your comments. if you are a Sinhalese and many of them now begin to feel this way, we have reason to be happy. The notion we are all part of one family should be sincere and must grow. That is the key to national unity. And from unity will flow prosperity with the right political direction.

  ISS

• 151. dilshan f  |  November 8th, 2009 at 11:25 am

  I have had simple discussions with SLArmy guys and a few officers. Unlike pakistan Sri Lanka defence forces are not politiced rank and file. SF is not a respected by his own kind like Kobbekaduka who was a charismatic leader. SF is an Authorotarian type. without a title he becomes a ‘NIKAN Silva’ same as the previous CJ.

  Sadly I thought he had better brains than to travel to US to get his green card visa and live off the dole in the old age.

  SF – if he is so stupid will be like the Siddalepa Mudalali who also ran for presidency.

  Even the JHU was a failure. so what make one think that SF will be a match for veteran politicos like MR!!

• 152. Ex Srilankan  |  November 8th, 2009 at 5:49 pm

  Ref Comments 135 & 136, unlike Tamils,Sinhalese do not worry about the castes anymore.Not being ” Govigama” would not have any bearing if he wants to contest as a Presidential candidate.

  Running the Armed forces is totally different from running the Country in a democracy.Third world democracies are all corrupt and i display nepotism.Only difference among them is the degree of these practices.If one thinks SF can fix these problems it is just day dreaming.I am sure even SF knows it.

  Tamil diaspora is hell bent on exacting revenge on SF and the Rajapaksas.Some are openly expecting that SF will be bumped off.Opposition is rubbing their hands hoping that SF will bring them the goodies.

  SF has good fortune.as well as good brains.Otherwise he would not have survived the LTTE suicide attack to come back from near death and finish them off completely.

  I am sure he will be able weather the current plot hatched by the pro Tigers and the opposition as well.

• 153. shankar  |  November 8th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

  DBSJ

  I did register on twitter some days ago, but was unable to proceed from there. It was rather confusing for me as the website did not seem to give clear instructions

  Come on Shankar,Try again please………..DBSJ

• 154. shankar  |  November 8th, 2009 at 11:43 pm

  Here is a small titbit from an article that might interest some.

  “President Mahinda Rajapaksa is set to officially announce next Sunday which poll will come first, the Presidential or the General Election. As revealed in the Sunday Times, Government sources say, he has opted for a Presidential poll first.”

  DBSJ, as you said on twitter Mahinda can refuse the resignation and Sarath will be up the gumtree. But won’t it be humiliating for Mahinda, and also dangerous to have a sworn enemy as the head of the amed forces.

• 155. Don  |  November 9th, 2009 at 12:27 am

  SF has cooked his own goose. He has muddied the water. But it is not him who will be bumped. MR has unseen support. The rabble shall be tamed unfortunately. Reminds me the story when Gen Montgomery was asked at end of war why he doesn’t go to politics. He said “the war is horrible, killings and terrible human suffering. The only thing worse is politics!” He knew his station in life. Many of us, our ego’s don’t allow it to be known.

• 156. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 9th, 2009 at 12:33 am

  DBSJ, SF maybe not a damp squib, perhaps now pesky thorn, and maybe yet a wooden stake, if not to be a silver bullet.

• 157. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 am

  Shankster #150,

  You better hurry up and figure out twitter, you are falling behind the pack of Rajapakse rotweilers running after SF, maybe it is true you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

• 158. Indunil Kumari  |  November 9th, 2009 at 5:59 am

  My problem with MR is he is not a serious leader, but a fun loving person, just like Chandrika. he is not an intellectual too. MR does not give enough hoots about the nation’s burning problems. Remember what Lasantha said – MR wants his brothers to run the country and left him alone .These are not traits of a good visionary leader. Gotabhaya will be a fine President, but he can’t come up as long as MR is there. Anyway Ghota now wants to retire, he knows there’s no future for him; even MR won’t give him anything more. Nimal Siripapla, DMJ, Maithreepala Sirisena et al will never allow Ghota to come up as those iditos will cut every brillaint person from coming up. To be honest, Ghota is much more of a brillant man than SF. he is also an intellectual, so is SF. The war was won thanks to ghota not SF. SF is better than MR because SF is not corrupt (nor is Ghota). SF was the only non corrupt Army commander for a long time to come. But after SF becomes the President, it will be the UNP who will impeach him ASAP. Sri Lanka is for more politcal thuderstorms and hotwater – lets fasten our seat belts. Chamal and Basil are not leaders, useless creatures

• 159. Bandara Atapattu  |  November 9th, 2009 at 7:26 am

  Why carry on this discussion about SF? He will be equally bad news for eelam-seekers like the Rajapakshe clan, if elected as the EP. Probably even worse. He is after Tamil blood and will be more ruthless than any other Sinhalese nationalist politician, we have ever seen.

  In any case, he is a nonentity to the equation and will not be able to bail out the bankrupt UNP or the Alliance or what ever they call themselves these days.

  Find out why:
  http://www.island.lk/2009/11/08/politics1.html

• 160. kaluyaka  |  November 9th, 2009 at 8:12 am

  While everyone is discussing whether to accuse MR and Co with war crimes, there is something very important
  going on in Indunesia. 78 Sri Lankan Tamils are
  aboard an Australian customs vessel ‘Oceanic Viking’ and refuse to disembark unless there is a guarantee that they are given entry to Australia.

  These people are economic migrants and not refugees.
  If they are refugees, they should be wiling to go to any country giving them refuge. They only want to go to Australia, and Australia don’t want them. How can anyone go to someone’s house if they don’t want them in their house. In the past LTTE gave a really bad name for Tamils by being the most ruthless terrorist organisation and now these opportunistic people
  are not helping to change that reputation. I think they are making it worse for the Tamil community.

  For God sake have some pride.

• 161. mercator  |  November 9th, 2009 at 3:46 pm

  When did this turn into a thread on MR and SF???

• 162. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 9th, 2009 at 6:28 pm

  What do you think DBSJ, could SF not turn over a new leaf as an angel of reconciliation in his bid for the presidency? Surely not the first time this has happened in SL politics….

• 163. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 9th, 2009 at 6:36 pm

  152. Don | November 9th, 2009 at 12:27 am

  SF has cooked his own goose. He has muddied the water. But it is not him who will be bumped.

  You seem to have completely missed the point in following events. SF has been pushed to the point of no return. The gauntlet was thrown down by the threat of marginalisation and violence, once the Rajapakse regime identified his public profile as a threat to their electoral credibility. So it has been with others in the past.

  Between your childish folk-philosophising about ego and your insipid wikipediaing, you are so blinded by your Mahina adulation that you cannot see how your idols have blundered badly and thrown a lifeline to the opposition.

• 164. Don  |  November 9th, 2009 at 9:57 pm

  It appears that Gen Jagath Jayasooriya was promoted SLA commander over the head of the nearest senior officer to Gen Fonseka. If so who was this officer? or were there many officers senior to Jagath?

• 165. Ex Lankan  |  November 10th, 2009 at 5:16 am

  Comment 157,Surely there would have been one or more officers more senior. General Jagath was closely involved in the final phase of the humanitarian operations by providing the logistical backing for this mammoth operation. So he is more suited to look after the post war climate ,as it involves expertise in his field.

  General Fonseka has said many times that he selects officers on merit and ability , and it is the correct approach than just the seniority.

• 166. sadhic  |  November 11th, 2009 at 1:35 am

  with the given situation a partial or modified version of ahimsa will get freedom for Ellam. The bottom line is GoSL should run away on its own..

  The planning and action should be in a such a way that fight real/virtual/economic/political etc should be between every individual of SL Tamils to every other individual of SL Singhalese..

  The golden words are
  “No one in this will world can win an individual Tamil. And as a contrary, Tamils as a Team can Never Win- The reason is their very same golden language THE TAMIL”
  The Only other way to mobilize the Tamil mass is they need to be controlled by means of book/principle and NOT by a leader..this is a distinct difference of a Tamil community to that of any other community …

  Secondly during fighting it is very important that your are gaining strength day by day and not vise versa . Wining is simply possible if you can maintain a resistance always and simply gain your strength . In fact no need to attack the enemy. just protest and increse you strenght. You will become too big for the enemy to handle …but , unfortunately what happened is exactly opposite …

• 167. shankar  |  November 11th, 2009 at 2:19 am

  DBSJ

  Thank god Nirupama did the ‘yagna’ in tamilnadu. Now Nothing to worry. Sarath will not contest and even if he does will come a cropper.. Nothing will go right for him when the gods are against him, unless he also goes and does a ‘yagna’.

  I did not know she was married to a tamil. That is why Mahinda goes around saying, there are tamils in his family.

• 168. Don  |  November 11th, 2009 at 5:44 pm

  158. Ex Lankan
  According to B.Raman, Indian analyst, there were 7 generals senior to Jagath when he was made the SLA commander. He was not the preferred candidate of Sarath Fonseka. The decision was made by GOSL, thus making it a matter of contention according to some.

• 169. shankar  |  November 12th, 2009 at 12:04 am

  After lunch with the president Sarath had expected to be offered the primeministership, but mahinda only asked him whether he would like a doggy bag for the leftover food.

• 170. shankar  |  November 12th, 2009 at 9:28 am

  to comment 154-Bandara Attapatu

  “Rajapaksa said if the General resigned to contest the presidential election, he would accept the resignation “within half-an-hour.”

• 171. shankar  |  November 12th, 2009 at 6:07 pm

  following news article confirms the camp we are in namely China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Myanmar, Sudan, NorthKorea, Cuba.

  “KANDY (AFP) – Myanmar’s junta leader General Than Shwe said he was “thrilled” to be in Sri Lanka, where he was given a 21-gun salute and an elaborate red-carpet welcome at the start of his four-day state visit Thursday”.

  The Myanmar leader said this was the first time ever he was given such a reception anywhere in the world

• 172. Stephen Jones  |  November 12th, 2009 at 8:46 pm

  According to B.Raman, Indian analyst, there were 7 generals senior to Jagath when he was made the SLA commander. He was not the preferred candidate of Sarath Fonseka.

  The only comments I’ve heard from the head of the SLA have seemed fairly sensible, which is more than can be said of Fonseka.

• 173. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 13th, 2009 at 12:25 am

  DBSJ,

  Sarath Fonseka espouses a repugnant form of ethnic supremacy, but what hope for any kind of effective opposition in Sri Lanka without him? Mahinda is the frying pan, but is the fire an SF candidacy or yet another limp defeat by Ranil at the polls??

  Can SF renounce his nationalist instincts and become an enlightened multiculturalist in his ascension to opposition candidate?

  The surest possbility of nation-building lies in the fact the JVP and TNA can lie together in the same (hot) bed?

  MR deserves some credit for taking the challenge head on, rather than shying behind legalese and jurisprudential chicanery as so many others have in the past.

  Game-on!

• 174. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 13th, 2009 at 12:30 am

  Is it also not true that the displaced, now resettled, hopefully rebuilding Tamils of the north may benefit from a political rivalry as both seek to woo the northern vote-bank? Two ‘nationalists’ pitted against each other may both have to moderate to gain the minority vote and thus th electoral edge.

• 175. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 13th, 2009 at 3:23 am

  Shanks, looks like Sarath has stepped off your merryground even with Mervyn Silva’s goondahs doing a standover. Will others follow?

• 176. shankar  |  November 13th, 2009 at 4:21 am

  Mahinda seems to have got a bit rattled after Sarah and Mangala visited the Raja Maha Vihare. He is organising a huge allnight pirith ceremony at his house, with hundreds of monks chanting the whole night, which will blow off both of them out of sight, out of mind.

• 177. Don  |  November 13th, 2009 at 10:15 am

  165. Stephen Jones
  Please note the following item from SF leaked confidential letter to MR. This is what I was trying to point out at 161.

  2. Appointing an officer pending a disciplinary inquiry who performed duties only as a holding formation commander in the final battle as my successor, disregarding my recommendations to appoint Major General G A Chandrasiri as the Commander of the Army who was the then Chief of Staff and an officer with an exemplary service as the Security Forces Commander in Jaffna for over 3 years.

• 178. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 13th, 2009 at 5:11 pm

  These are highly worthwhile issues to see contested and scrutinised politically.

  Quote from Fonseka’s resignation letter:

  14.The plight of the IDPs is also a point of great concern to me. Thousands of valiant soldiers sacrificed their valuable lives to liberate these unfortunate civilians from the brutality and tyranny of the LTTE in order that they could live in an environment of freedom and democracy. Yet, today many of them are continuing to live in appalling conditions due to the lack of proper planning on the part of the government and the IDPs who have friends and relatives elsewhere in the country must be given the choice to live with them until proper demining has been done in their areas.

  15.Your Excellency’s government has yet to win the peace in spite of the fact that the Army under my leadership won the war. There is no clear policy to win the hearts and minds of the Tamil people, which will surely ruin the victory, attained paving the way for yet another uprising in the future.

• 179. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 13th, 2009 at 5:12 pm

  “Mahinda seems to have got a bit rattled after Sarah and Mangala visited the Raja Maha Vihare. He is organising a huge allnight pirith ceremony at his house, with hundreds of monks chanting the whole night, which will blow off both of them out of sight, out of mind.”

  Shankar, will you be there to strum your sitar?

• 180. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 13th, 2009 at 6:23 pm

  After Karuna and now this, noone can deny Ranil is a crafty bugger.

• 181. shankar  |  November 13th, 2009 at 7:14 pm

  to comment 167- Wicks

  The country will certainly benefit with healthy competition. No point in Ranil contesting and adding another defeat to his illustrious career. We have to understand that Prabhaharan decimated the UNP leadership, and also Athulathmudali would have been a great leader if Preme had not done him in. So Ranil was the last of the Moynihans, so to speak. He has been doing his best, but his best isn’ enough. So it is certainly best for the country to bring in fresh talent and try to replenish all those leaders who were killed earlier.

  As for the tamils i don’t know whether it will make any difference. As DBSJ pointed out, it is like deciding between tweedledee and tweedledum. For tamils i think Manmohan Singh and Rahul Ghandhi are more important than the Srilankan leaders, and the tamils via Karunanithi have to go in that direction. The Tamils must

  1. Acknowledge that the leader of tamilnadu, is the leader of the tamils of Srilanka. Even when there was the Jaffna Kingdom, it was only a vassal state paying tribute to the Chera, Chola , Pandya kings. The Jaffna King was just a self appointed one, of no real royal lineage.

  2. The Jaffna Tamils having this superiority complex over the Indian Tamils, have brought upon themselves, all that has happened.

  3. Successive Sinhala leaders with their chauvinistic vote getting policies have little by little pushed the reluctant Srilankan Tamils who preferred to be closer to the Sinhalese than their brethren in Tamilnadu, into the arms of the Indian tamils and consequently into the spere of Indian influence.

  4. This is an irreversible process, and now it is too late to do anything. Tamils leaders in Srilanka must have permanent office’s in Tamilnadu, and spend more time there meeting the people at the grassroots level.

  5. It will be the push factors from India that will get anything for the Tamils of Srilanka and not any Sinhalese leaders magnanimity. Though the Sinhalese leaders have very effectively played the China card the Tamils have not done the same with India.

• 182. shankar  |  November 13th, 2009 at 7:46 pm

  Starter pistol has been fired and election race has started. Excerpts from an article

  “The sources said a group supporting the government had burnt tires along the road attempting to block the UNF motorcade heading to Kandy. During the clash several vehicles have also been damaged, the police said.

  A journalist representing ABC radio network in Colombo, Shanaka Karunaratna, and S. Ratnayake, a security officer of the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe were also critically injured in the attack”

  .

• 183. shankar  |  November 13th, 2009 at 8:11 pm

  Mahinda gave the visiting Myanmer leader a 21 gun salvo.

  Sarath gave Mahinda a 16 gun salvo

  He also gave Ranil a one gun salvo,when he resigned, though he was asked to wait till the presidential election is announced.

  Ranil is in dreamland if he thinks Sarath is his puppet and he will be the real leader. The power behind the throne.

• 184. shankar  |  November 13th, 2009 at 9:00 pm

  here is an interesting sentence from Fonseka’s resignation letter. How can Mahinda justify not giving the same protection given to the former Navy Commander.

  “Also, I wish to bring to Your Excellency’s kind notice that over 100 men, six escort vehicles and a bullet proof vehicle have been placed at the convenience of the former Commander of the Navy, Admiral WKJ Karannagoda. I presume that such arrangements would be made available to me, considering the threat factor I am facing, which Your Excellency is well aware of.”

  Here is another one from the letter. Sheiks or Sikhs, what does it matter, they are all the same turbans.

  “. I would also wish to quote an example in the case of the former Indian Chief of Army Staff General A S Vadiya, instrumental in leading the Indian Army in Operation Blue Star against the Sheiks at the Golden Temple, Amristar in 1984, was assassinated whilst on retirement in 1986 purely in revenge of his victories

• 185. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 14th, 2009 at 1:45 am

  The good people of the south are not stupidly jingoistic like many of the diaspora on this blog. They have supported third columns in Sri Lankan politics to deliver change from the material miseries that the Walauwe elites and later the JVP failed to change. War is a misery. Corruption is a misery. Nepotism is a misery. Inefficiency is a misery. Hunger is a misery. Now the war is over, and a key figure from that ‘accomplishment’ has carried his credibility to the opposition, they will set their votes on the hard issues that matter, not on ephemeral false ideologies that potbellied nostalgic twits with misty-eyed delusions about life in motherlanka before they migrated, are hung up rueing, long having long lost touch with the daily realities on the ground….

• 186. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 14th, 2009 at 6:11 am

  “As for the tamils i don’t know whether it will make any difference. As DBSJ pointed out, it is like deciding between tweedledee and tweedledum. For tamils i think Manmohan Singh and Rahul Ghandhi are more important than the Srilankan leaders, and the tamils via Karunanithi have to go in that direction.”

  You forget Shankar that the margin of defeat in the 2005 election was the 400,000 boycotted votes in Jaffna and the Vanni, ALL Tamil. Now that the LTTE are caput, there should be a free contest for those votes. I am keen to know if the average Tamil would be more inclined to support a TNA-UNP-UNDF configuration or a SLFP-Karuna-Pillayain-Devananda configuration. What do you think?

  Also there be many Sinhalese, who were always fed up the tidal levels of corruption, violence and incompetence unleashed into every sphere of Sri Lankan life who will return to support the opposition now they have a specialist military figure to handle the question of national security. Many of the hardline nationalists will also now be split. SF will win much of this chauvinist feeling, if he begins to channel public condemnation against Mahinda’s allies, Pilliyan and his bandits in the East.

  The best chance for peace in Israel was when an ex-military general Ariel Sharon held the reigns. The unfortunate irony is that after all his dirty deeds in Gaza, only his prestige could unify the average Jew behind a plan to give the Palestinians more concessions. There is every indication that SF will have similar support from the South if he begins to talk of settlement. Time will tell.

  I am not sure what you mean by forming alliance with Tamil Nadu. India has a hands off policy to Sri Lanka, any public political alignment of SL Tamils with Indian Tamils will stir chauvinist sentiment in the South

• 187. Murugan  |  November 14th, 2009 at 9:19 pm

  Shankar

  “The Jaffna King was just a self appointed one, of no real royal lineage.”

  Jaffna Kings were of the highest royal lineage. You don’t know what you talk.

  Aryacakravartis were of the highest descent. From the Ganges.

• 188. shankar  |  November 15th, 2009 at 5:21 am

  Murugan

  I don’t know about the entire history, but i know that the first aryacakaravarti was a common thug just like ‘Dr’ Mervyn Sylva, known as Magha who came from Orissa and changed his name to Segerajasingham1. His more related to i think Vijaya’s mob, than us and his behaviour also was same.

• 189. Murugan  |  November 16th, 2009 at 3:28 pm

  Kalinga Magha means that the original founder is from the Eastern Ganges Dynasty of Kalinga.

• 190. shankar  |  November 16th, 2009 at 7:57 pm

  to comment 186-Wicks

  Your quote ” I am keen to know if the average Tamil would be more inclined to support a TNA-UNP-UNDF configuration or a SLFP-Karuna-Pillayain-Devananda configuration. What do you think?”unquote.

  An average tamil will be pushed to vote for the latter group if Fonseka is the presidential candidate of the former. Also the JVP in the former will also be a push factor to vote for the SLFP. Many tamils will also not vote at all. Ranil is the only one who can get their votes. So Ranil should contest and Fonseks should contest under the JVP banner. A three cornered contest is the best for the UNP.

  Your quote”I am not sure what you mean by forming alliance with Tamil Nadu. India has a hands off policy to Sri Lanka, any public political alignment of SL Tamils with Indian Tamils will stir chauvinist sentiment in the South”.unquote

  1. Iam not talking of an alliance. They are our blood brothers. With one stroke of their ego the Jaffna tamils cut them out and overnight became a minority from a majority. It is the sinhalese who should be the minority, not us. Iam merely advocating to get it back to the original status, so that we are in a stronger position to bargain for power sharing. Also throuh Tamilnadu pressure can be applied on New Delhi which in turn can put pressure on Colombo.

  2. As for your Indian hands off policy to Srilanka, are you kidding. In Aussieland you must be having a big backyard for your house. Are you having an hands off policy for that too. Has China got hands off policy towards Taiwan?

  3. As for chauvinistic sentiments in the south. Who cares? Already it is overflowing and has been so from independence. However I believe in assuaging these sentiments somewhat by trading off power sharing with encouragement of sinhala settlements in tamil areas. Power sharing and mixing up the people is the best way to go for Srilanka. It is a win-win situation for both sinhalese and tamils. The path we have so far treaded has been a loss-loss one for both.

• 191. shankar  |  November 16th, 2009 at 7:59 pm

  to comment 186-Wicks

  Your quote ” I am keen to know if the average Tamil would be more inclined to support a TNA-UNP-UNDF configuration or a SLFP-Karuna-Pillayain-Devananda configuration. What do you think?”unquote.

  An average tamil will be pushed to vote for the latter group if Fonseka is the presidential candidate of the former. Also the JVP in the former will also be a push factor to vote for the SLFP. Many tamils will also not vote at all. Ranil is the only one who can get their votes. So Ranil should contest and Fonseks should contest under the JVP banner. A three cornered contest is the best for the UNP.

  Your quote”I am not sure what you mean by forming alliance with Tamil Nadu. India has a hands off policy to Sri Lanka, any public political alignment of SL Tamils with Indian Tamils will stir chauvinist sentiment in the South”.unquote

  1. Iam not talking of an alliance. They are our blood brothers. With one stroke of their ego the Jaffna tamils cut them out and overnight became a minority from a majority. It is the sinhalese who should be the minority, not us. Iam merely advocating to get it back to the original status, so that we are in a stronger position to bargain for power sharing. Also through Tamilnadu pressure can be applied on New Delhi which in turn can put pressure on Colombo.

  2. As for your Indian hands off policy to Srilanka, are you kidding. In Aussieland you must be having a big backyard for your house. Are you having an hands off policy for that too. Has China got hands off policy towards Taiwan?

  3. As for chauvinistic sentiments in the south. Who cares? Already it is overflowing and has been so from independence. However I believe in assuaging these sentiments somewhat by trading off power sharing with encouragement of sinhala settlements in tamil areas. Power sharing and mixing up the people is the best way to go for Srilanka. It is a win-win situation for both sinhalese and tamils. The path we have so far treaded has been a loss-loss one for both.

• 192. shankar  |  November 17th, 2009 at 3:34 am

  Murugan

  You are right that Magha was known as Kalingha Magha but that was not due to the fact that he was from a Kalingha dynasty. Present day Orissa was known as Kalingha and Magha came from there with 24000 soldiers and invaded Srilanka. Nothing much is known about the ancestry of that thug.

  The Aryachakaravarthis were anyway not of royal lineage. Most of them came from a family of Tamil Brahmins from Madurai. So that is why iam saying the tamils of Srilanka must realise that there no difference between Jaffna and Madurai. It is like Anurathapura and Polonnaruwa of Rajarata.

  Cakaravarthi is merely a job title given by the Pandya kings to their nobles. That was why i said it was just a vassal state of the Pandya kingdom.

• 193. RS Wickramasinghe  |  November 17th, 2009 at 10:10 am

  “An average tamil will be pushed to vote for the latter group if Fonseka is the presidential candidate of the former.”

  How can you be certain that a political alliance with the TNA and UPDF will not bring Fonseka toward the centre? Will the average Tamil fail to take heed if both these parties endorse him as presidential candidate?

  Too early to say but its infra-dig for SF to be seen as reaching out to non – Sinhala , non – Sinhala Buddhist votes……………DBSJ

• 194. shankar  |  November 17th, 2009 at 7:34 pm

  Wicks

  The poblem is that Srilankan political history has shown on numerous occasions promises are given and promises are broken. You can’t blame the pollies because there is a disease called amnesia. The tamils are not going to buy anything that Fonseka says now. The only way that you an win over the tamils is by acion, as one deed is better than thousand words.

  Srilankan politics has lost all credibility and become a joke. Just see how everyone promises to abolish the presidency. In this world does anyone say they will get rid of their own job. But our politicians do. They are the first in the world to say they will bring rice from the moon too. When the moon comes up the starving people rush out of their mud huts.

• 195. RS Wickramasinghw  |  November 17th, 2009 at 8:56 pm

  “The tamils are not going to buy anything that Fonseka says now.”

  Even the most embittered cynics in the electorate will vote for the least bad option, if only to prevent things from becoming worse, especially if their representatives in the TNA and UPDF tell them so.

• 196. Bala  |  November 22nd, 2009 at 1:53 am

  60. Professor Sam Maheswaran |
  Dear Prof. Maheswaran
  I too was at JCC at the time Raj’s father was teaching there before he became a name synonymous with Singer Sri Lanka.. I was witness to the romance with (I forget her name). His brothers’s name was Paramanathan who was a classmate of mine and was married to Kiruba.. I confirm that what you have said is absolutely factual. Who knows I may even know you. Thank you for refreshing our memory as I am now a septugenarian

• 197. Bala  |  November 22nd, 2009 at 3:06 am

  To #60 – Prof. Maheswaran
  All what you have stated are absolutely correct . Thank you for reminding us of the old days

• 198. James Raymond&hellip  |  December 5th, 2009 at 4:12 am

  James Raymond…

  Why is it that we execute our free speech, and yet we still get verbally slammed for speaking our mind?…

• 199. shankar  |  December 17th, 2009 at 9:15 am

  I read in an article that when the tsunami struck Raj was in Srilanka and he told the MD of John keels that he is giving 5 million dollars to build houses and to split it equally to all ethnic communities.. 400 families have benefitted from this and are very grateful to him.

  5 million dollars is 5 million dollars even for a rich man and this shows he is a goodhearted generous man.

• 200. shankar  |  December 25th, 2009 at 8:09 pm

  It is better for Raj to make a deal with the prosecutor, like paying twice the gain made, for each charge than go through a lenghy harrowing court case. He does not look like a man in the best of health for me. Raj can always tell people he did it for health reasons , not because he was guilty. I believe the first time wiretapping has been involved in securities fraud, is quite disavantageous fo him, because everyone would have been caught with their pants down. Poor Raj, i feel for him.

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