Comments on: US Tamil Tycoon Rajaratnam fights tough legal battle

By: shankar

shankar — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:09:43 +0000

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.

By: shankar

shankar — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:15:47 +0000

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.

By: James Raymond

James Raymond — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:12:39 +0000

James Raymond…

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

By: Bala

Bala — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:06:01 +0000

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

By: Bala

Bala — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:53:39 +0000

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

By: RS Wickramasinghw

RS Wickramasinghw — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:56:59 +0000

“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.

By: shankar

shankar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:34:40 +0000

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.

By: RS Wickramasinghe

RS Wickramasinghe — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:10:34 +0000

“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

By: shankar

shankar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:34:01 +0000

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.

By: shankar

shankar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:59:44 +0000

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.