I have been reading your articles for the past few years with avid interest. You have the correct pulse on what is really going on back home and in the expat community. No wonder you draw a large number of moderates to your site.

The obvious immediate concern (as also apparent from the many comments) is the Tamil IDP camps. I started writing a comment on helping the IDPs and it turned into a long request/essay of sorts.

So, I will email it to you now. I really put my heart into writing it. I know I am asking too much, but if you can find time, please read it.

The personal details about me are in the email.

The email is sent to dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com. Please scan for the subject header “Reconciliation: Helping and Healing the Tamils in the IDP Camps”.

I wrote this comment here to alert you about my email. So if you want, you can delete this comment now. Thanks.
A Volunteer for Peace

I propose that you should set up a paypal account for receiving donations. I read plenty of news papers and only rarely come across unbiased articles like yours.

I am for helping you in anyway I can for educating us, the readers and promoting healthy discussions.

I am sure many who visit this website pay some sort of a news paper company.

WHY NOT HELP DBJS HELP US?

I believe it is our responsibility to look after each other.

People think about.

“wow! lol. its like saying “hey, i call you names, you call me names, everybody calls each other names, but you are to blame yourself for the attacks from certain group because it does not like to be called names while it continues to do so”. How childish is that? are you saying that we have to somehow be “subdued” and play a “subservient” role just because the opposition behaves like spoiled brats?. sorry…no cant do.”

Well, in India, we don’t get killed for calling others names. The south indians call north indians brainless and the northies call southies uncouth loud mouths. But we don’t get killed for this. If you say that you are happy getting killed go ahead. None stopping you. And you conveniently ignored this part of my post.
“We all know very well that only a few muslims are trouble makers in India. Has that changed the majority’s apprehension of muslims?”

Majority mentality is the same everywhere. It’s a fact. It can’t be helped if you don’t get it. This is what I meant being practical. Even in enlightened western democracies the majority mentality is inescapable. One example: During Christmas, even if you are not a Christian, you will be gently nudged to celebrate Christmas. Nothing explicit but you can’t deny the underlying connotations.

“the lankan government denied using heavy weapons till irrefutable proof (in the form of satellite pics and HRW, AI reports) came to light. later on they accepted that they were using those weapons.”

When and where did they accept? I didn’t read any such reports.
Well, we are going in circles. Let me stop here.

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You come across as an idealist. Let�s be more pragmatic here please. India and SL are not matured democracies. They are still evolving. Give them some lee way. You are imposing matured western democratic standards on them. These transformations will take time.////

whence did advocating justice for tens of thousands of civilians killed become “idealism”. I’m sorry, we do not live in the 1900s, but in the 21st century. Just don’t try to excuse such blatant human rights abuses as actions of governments which are still”evolving” (or whatever you want to call it.) 1948 Ceylon was much more “evolved” than the one we have right now, FYI. Ignorance is not an excuse.

as for the MR strongman comment, do ends justify the means? when the “end” might trigger more problems than the ones that existed? seems to me that it is you who has a rather naive and simplistic take on world affairs. the srilankan government “won” the “war” but created more enemies, and is doing so every passing day.

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You have to start somewhere. If you keep insisting that you will start only after ideal conditions are restored, I am afraid you are not going to see any real peace in the near future./////

what you mean by “peace” is something that’s imposed on the minority, without their consent. its like trying to marry someone without working out the conflicts/issues they have. its absurd and silly. just because its called “peace” does not make it so. and seriously? “peace” by a guy who just killed more people in a week than the tigers did in their entire existence?

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The strategy of GOSL to declare toward the end of the war that they were not going to use heavy artillery was a clever one. In the future, if at all there is a war crimes investigation, the decision makers would say �we did declare that heavy artillery would not be used but it appears that some field commanders didn�t follow this order and violated them. We have no objection whatsoever in prosecuting these people for their violations� Ha ha ha! There you go. So you will be ending up punishing brigadiers and major generals.////

You need to get the facts straight. the lankan government denied using heavy weapons till irrefutable proof (in the form of satellite pics and HRW, AI reports) came to light. later on they accepted that they were using those weapons. instead of being a “clever” ploy, it simply undermined whatever credibility the government had(if it had any left by that time, that is).

As for your comment about brigadiers and generals being punished while those who ordered these crimes going unpunished, i would suggest that you look at similar cases around the world, the Serbian war crimes trial, the Kosovo one and others have one thing in common. guess who testified against their “masters”? these so called major generals and brigadier generals. heard of a thing called plea-bargain? or amnesty agreement? If you believe that those military officers will NOT accept amnesty(either full or partial) in return for testifying against their masters; you must be living in LaLa land. There is ample precedence for this around the world, especially for the war crimes tribunals. Btw, did you think that Gothabaya helped the junta by claiming on tv ” Hospitals are legitimate military targets” ? Yet again you seem to display staggering amounts of naivete regarding such issues while preaching everyone else to look at the “global context” etc etc etc . maybe its time to practice what you preach

As for your repeated comments about our superiority complex, Rajan has given a very apt reply.

///I am not talking about Indian attitude here. In fact, Indians are one of the most racist characters in the world. I fully concur with that. But the point is, the SL tamil attitude is causing problems for their existence. If they don�t change it they will be in trouble. We don�t have such a problem in India.////

wait..let me get this straight…you accept that pretty much every single south Asian community has this problem, but “somehow” we lankan Tamils brought upon the problems upon themselves because the opposition was unwilling to take such ribbing?(as if the opposition was not doing the same thing). wow! lol. its like saying “hey, i call you names, you call me names, everybody calls each other names, but you are to blame yourself for the attacks from certain group because it does not like to be called names while it continues to do so”. How childish is that? are you saying that we have to somehow be “subdued” and play a “subservient” role just because the opposition behaves like spoiled brats?. sorry…no cant do. I’m flabbergasted by this recurring theme in your posts..that somehow bad and unsavory behavior should be tolerated. Please stop being an apologist for such actions. Again…we don’t live in the dark ages.

btw thank you for calling me “emotionally disturbed” or whatever while claiming to be looking at the “big picture” . I can see how well you look at the “long term solutions” by the comments you have made. good luck with that. and while you are at it, why not dismantle the law and order system in every developing country? surely according to you we should not expect those people to behave in a sane and responsible manner right?.

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PS:
here is what your “strong arm” man is doing now

///The Sri Lankan government�s announcement that it was ending its special inquiry into conflict-related abuses underscores the need for an international commission to investigate violations of international law by government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Human Rights Watch said today.

�Sri Lanka�s presidential commission of inquiry started with a bang and ended with a whimper,� said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. �The need for an international inquiry into abuses by both sides is greater than ever.� ////

I’m sure that you would excuse this too as something thats ok for “developing” countries to do.

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#91

thank you the80Factor, i agree with the points you make, already thanks to the junta Lanka is looked upon as some 3rd world dictatorship. “White terrorists” and “western colonizes” ? seriously? lol if only people would realize the damage the MR&Co is doing to the country.

……………………………..
# 87 Nissanka

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The immediate need is to solve the IDPs problem. Just imagine, people who lived in nice houses are now confined to a small tents.
Again someone will say this is GOSL�s fault or VP�s fault. The bottom line is about 300,000 of our fellow citizens are going through hell. Mind you this is a Buddhist country.//////

i agree that the IDP’s are the main concern. we have to do everything we can to aid them. but who is keeping them in this position? they are certainly not internally “displaced” people, but “detained” people. the gosl can end this horror in a moment if they were to allow at least the children and the elderly outside these camps. At least they could allow international aid agencies to provide the people with food and shelter, and other aid. why are these things not happening?

the GOSL will use the suffering of this people as a “cash cow” to rake in money and to divert any call for an investigation into the human rights abuses. Not only have they ruined these people lives, but use the IDP’s as pawns in a game to save their own skins while enriching themselves further.

PPS: this is not a Buddhist country. and even if you meant it in a philosophical sense, i doubt Buddha would have liked to set foot in this island for the past 60 years.

I guess my dear Sinahala friends got me wrong without reading my Comment # 9 properly.

If you read my previous post # 76 on (http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/705) you will see my liberal views. Lots of my immediate relatives are married to Sinhalese and I have nothing against moderate Sinhalese.

What I am critical about is the influence of religious extremism in Sri Lanka. You can see all around the globe that the single root cause for terrorism currently is due to religious extremism. That is why I questioned about the influence of Maha Sangha in Sri Lankan Government.

We have had enough watching these constant quaking of ?R Regime? and Maha Sangha claiming the ?pre-historic, historic, post-historic? existence of Buddhism in Jaffna and all parts of SL, proving ?Buddhist Superiority? with this and that, and all those religious ceremonies since the end of war. Most people view this as ?Religious Fanaticism?. When high order Theros relentlessly involve in these kinds of activities, obviously Tamils have the right to criticise that these are the people behind all these ethnic problems. Instead of claiming the historical entity of Buddhism in SL and its ?superiority?, why can?t we all learn to respect each others religions and cultures enjoy each others company? Isn?t it the path we should take to re-build our Nation? Buddhist Vihara in Jaffna would have never been vandalized if Tamils were given their rights in the first place. It was certainly a cultural identity we all could have cherished and enjoyed.

Whenever King MR confers the ordination of Buddhist monks, he always makes sure to mention that SL needs more monks to discipline the country. Well, ?R Regime? recruits more army and more monks to strengthen the military and religious power in politics. Good luck for Democracy in SL!

Furthermore, what do you think of recruiting children as young as 5 years in to monastic orders which is actively campaigned by MR and his Prime Minister to cope up with the shortage of monks? MR and his PM defend this barbaric act saying that they are saving these young children from poverty by providing them food and lodge! Can ?R Regime? do this to their children or to their grandchildren? Shame on them. Besides being President of SL, King MR?s cabinet post is Minister of ?Religious Affairs and MORAL Upliftment?. Honestly child recruitment of monks is MORALLY much, much worse than recruitment of child soldiers which of course LTTE carried out of desperation. I am not defending LTTE by any means anyway. Right now we are very concerned what those monks in IDP camps are doing to those unfortunate kids. Just because Buddha ordained his son Rahula at very young age DOESN?T make child monk recruitment correct.

Whole world is going downhill following stupid religious craps in all religions. See what is happening in Iran now. I wish Iran to have a revolution and hang all those Mullahs. 20, 30 years ago Afghanistan was such a liberal secular country with women?s rights and so on. Now see the plight of that country.

From our house there are churches in all N, E, S and W directions and literally all in-between directions within walking distances. United, 7th Adventist, St. Mary?s, St. Joseph?s, Anglican, First Baptist, last Baptist,…Faction, faction within faction? You name it. I?ll take you there. A British friend visited us went for a walk around our neighbourhood and commented that we live among Devils. I have no clue, what he meant. Churches are to breed devils or to shoo away devils?? People have had enough of problems due to religious craps.

Lot of people in this Blog discuss history, religion, what is said in what religion etc. etc.. You don?t need to follow any religion to be a good citizen. Being good and bad is as simplest as black and white. It all depends on individual?s upbringing. Whole world should be taught to respect and admire the cultural, linguistic, architectural, and archaeological aspects of ALL religions around the world and leave out other religious craps.

Why do we even care about history or what is said in what religion? Why can?t we take good things in each religion, culture (and leave the bad things out) and respect each other and enjoy each others company and live peacefully.

Ulysses, Salute to you for your command of knowledge in history and other world affairs. Have you also read that Jaffna was once Nagapatina pre-historically and ancestors in Jaffna evolved from Naga, the snake!!!! Don?t worry. Our ancestors came to Nagapatna only in 13th century according to our Sinhala brothers. Who knows from which lizard we evolved from? Perhaps we all should accept Darwin?s theory of evolution and get on with our life.

Once one of my Parkistani friend said, ?Why the hell we all fight with each other. We all look alike and our ancestors were from Indus valley civilization. Shouldn?t look beyond that?. Correctly said.

SL should give priority for developing the economy of the country instead of promoting Buddhism. That?s why I said we should develop good work ethic by reducing public holidays instead of having all full moon holidays. I lived in Kandy and I know how many Sinhalese go to temple on Poyas. Besides if anyone wants to go to temple, they can do it before or after work and there are enough retired elderly people to participate in religious activities during day time.

I have heard lot of people saying that now the war has finished, now we need to build our economy and make our country like Singapore. Do you know in Singapore you have to start work early, finish work late and also work on Saturdays with a very few national public holidays in between? I also heard that ?R-Regime? declared 17 th of May as a national public holiday naming ?National Liberation Day?. Good luck for the SL economy!

Refer to Leo and Alyanee’s comments

Through your and others articles and the comments by readers we have seen 99% of the comments had one purpose in unity, which is �Reconciliation, Peace and Democratic of Sri Lanka”

You have a wide audience and most of them are good hearted and forward minded people. I would really appreciate if you could lead this discussion platform to build a forum that we can call Sri Lankan� Solidarity for Democracy and Peace, or whichever is deemed fit to say. I have a strong feeling that there is much more we can do as a group rather than an individual.

Currently from what we see, all those one sided media and their lobbies are diverting the people from the reality and it is spreading the hatred feeling rather than bringing people closer and together.
.
I would really appreciate if you can bring face to face the Tamils and Singhalese brothers and to help build a democratic Sri Lanka.

One small correction, Mr Shanthikumar. I did not say that the children must be looked after by Tamil charities. They can be any charities- provided they are charities that work for the benefit of those children. No narrow nationalistic or communalistic institution should take them and turn them into young people in their own image. That would be a disaster for the children as well as for everyone around.

I have nothing against charities run by good broadminded Sinhalese people. My wife and I have been helping a particular charity that looks after disabled children in the South for many years. In fact, there is a Sinhalese child directly sponsored by us. We have been doing this right through these troubled times and will continue to do so for a long time to come.

I am sure I am not alone in recognising the importance of getting these children into safe environments. I know there are good people in all communities. In fact, I think we, the good people are the majority, but we have been keeping quiet lately.

So, friends, please, let’s have all our voices raised in union. “Let those children go”.

JMP

“The question begging is Why the chinese are circling? Is this not because of India hobnobbing with US and accomodating their containment ideas of China?”

That India hobnobbing with US to contain China is the reason for Chinese encircling is a simplistic view. But, surprisingly, many subscribe to this view even though it’s only a minor consideration in Chinese overall strategy. FYI, Karakoram Highway in POK was completed by Chinese in 1998 and the agreement for the development of Gwadar port was entered into in 2001 and the development of Thilawa (Myanmar) port project started in 1999. All this happened much before the US hobnobbing with India. If anybody learned a bigger lesson in the collapse of the USSR it’s the Chinese. They have realized that military might is useless if not supplemented by economic might. So, they embarked on an all out strategy to make sure that Chinese long term energy and transportation needs are fully secured for the foreseeable future. Gwadar secures middle eastern oil supply. Myanmar port helps avoid Malacca straits and Hambantota is a refuelling and replenishment stop for both Malacca and Thilawa routes. Of course, all these will serve as listening posts of Chinese Navy. But their target is US navy Cent com and not India. Frankly, China considers India as an irritant rather than a threat. Both China and India have realized that they cannot militarily subdue each other and both are too big already for skirmishes. That’s why despite all the posturing on Arunachal Pradesh , China is not moving froward much on that. If they get it fine. If not, nothing is lost is their attitude. China desires to be economically on a par with US and its military plans are only supplemental to that. Its apprehensions come from the fact that US would never let anyone reach parity or overtake it economically. Big countries are not going to go to war with each other these days. It’s only economic interests that override anything else.

For your other points,
1. I am not covering up for anyone here. I am only defending India’s long term interest. The same concession as to MR/RAW/IPKF (as you put it) was not extended to VP simply because of the fact that he failed to capitalize on opportunities to politically settle the issue.

2. It’s not might is right. It’s the attitude of the majority in any society. That’s a fact. I brought in the muslim issue in India to underscore the majority mentality. These are perceptions. It’s very difficult to change perception. We all know very well that only a few muslims are trouble makers in India. Has that changed the majority’s apprehension of muslims? You and I do not represent the ordinary joe on the street. The same goes for sinhalese perception of tamils.

3. I am not talking about Indian attitude here. In fact, Indians are one of the most racist characters in the world. I fully concur with that. But the point is, the SL tamil attitude is causing problems for their existence. If they don’t change it they will be in trouble. We don’t have such a problem in India.

4. My reply to Ulysses serves well for this also. I am not looking at the issue from the emotional angle of suffering of the tamil race alone. I look at it from the larger angle of long term peace. I, however, fully understand the pain experienced by the likes of Ulysses. They are emotionally disturbed and I can comprehend that. But solutions stemming from emotionally charged anger would not serve the long term interest of anyone.

“All if this would have no happened if not that Indian government of yours which you defended oh so mightily in the previous post did not scuttle the United nation’s motion to send an investigation team in the first place.
Should i remind you which nation was adamantly opposed to the UN’s call for investigation into these abuses?”

Don’t get emotional, please. I need not tell you that when it comes to foreign policy the bottom line for any govt is self interest. India’s self interest at this stage dictates that it vote in favor of SL. This is again the problem with you people. Indian foreign policy is not subservient to SL tamil issue. Sorry, it’s much bigger than that. If necessary, SL tamil issue can be sidelined and this is what happened in this case. India has bigger skeletons in the cupboard than GOSL ,so if you think that India will vote in favor of forcing some other country to open its cupboard, you are sadly mistaken. Morality and emotions don’t play any role in foreign policy. It’s only cold calculated moves. In fact, only in the last decade or so, India is learning this art well. Prior to this, it was mired in the stupid non-alignment gang mentality. In the recent Gaza offensive, US supported Israel knowing fully well that the civilian plight was appalling. Big countries always play like that. Again, bottom line is, self interest.