I have linked to
Mahesh Rajasuriya on Facebook, after he read my article '
Global Enslavement or the Collapse of Western Economic Model' and emailed me about it. Naturally I decided to check his background out, and subsequently I emailed him:
'I have read a little background at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6703831204 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Tiger. We hear about the Tamil Tigers from time to time here. Are you against their aim of "The creation of a separate Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka"?'
His answer is captured here in the interests of more enlightenment, especially to those that read any of my stuff, because it is giving me food for thought, and an insight into yet another struggle on this planet. I have stuff to say about this, and must get it down here soon, perhaps after a day or three of reflection:
Dear David,
I took longer than usual to reply because I wanted to do it after careful thought. Today every citizen in Sri Lanka is very concerned of the international image of our country.
I can write up a book in reply to your question, but here are some important points. It is up to you to synthesise the answer.
* Many years back I strongly supported the Chechen "freedom fight". I was passionate about their cause. But suddenly one day I thought: why I support Chechens? I did not have a good answer. I did not know much about their history. It was just because they were the minority, underdogs in the fight, that I supported them. When I was in Melbourne recently for two years, I felt many Ozzies feel the same way about the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka.
* Tamils are a great nation but unfortunately they do not have a country of their own in the world. It is not a surprise that all Tamils consciously or subconsciously would support formation of a homeland, like the Jewish people did.
* The LTTE (Tamil Tigers), current leaders in the fight for a separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka, would not have an existence if the war ended. They will have to continue fighting just to stay in power, and if they form a country, they will have to use military rule. One Tamil friend of mine confessed that he did support LTTE, but when they killed one of his university teachers, a strong human rights activist, he realised what their agenda was.
* Sinhala and Tamil cultures are fundamentally different from the Western culture. Further, Sinhala and Tamil cultures have many unique features on their own. Amalgamation of these cultures in an artificial way is a crime. If it is successfully done, then we would have a new nation, be it Tigon, or Liger, or whatever, that would look like the current Aborigine nation in Australia, a nation whose cultural backbone is broken.
* Natural amalgamation of the cultures is a wonderful phenomenon in the history of humankind. There are people in a certain part of the district I am currently working in that have a Sinhala name and a Tamil name, can speak both languages, or speak Sinhala and write Tamil. Along the A9, highway from Kandy to Jaffna, there are villages where the travellers, especially truck drivers, used to rest on their long journey from Colombo to Jaffna in the olden days. There was a unique culture in these villages. It was difficult to spot if they were Tamil or Sinhala without careful scrutiny. They ate, sang, traded and also slept with the Tamils.
* Many elements that thought Westernisation is the solution to our plights deliberately instigated racial hatred in 1980s. Many Tamils were killed, burnt alive and had their property looted. But what nobody knows is how thousands of Sinhala people risked their lives to protect many Tamil families. And many more silently wept inside.
* The Sinhala, as well as the Tamil, nations have gone through a great transformation during the last quarter of the century. True, we have not bridged our gaps yet. But there is a strong feeling that we will. Learning Tamil is mandatory for every child today. There has not been a single racially motivated killing since 1983.
* Sri Lanka or Ilankai, in Tamil, has a bright future. It has to evolve its own way of dealing with today's challenges. We have been great in the management of environment and natural resources in the history. If we are to successfully cope with the current challenges of global warming and economic collapse, we need to use some of our cultures' inherent qualities.
* Shall we march ahead with so much hope and dreams or shall we divide and create pure Tamil and Sinhala states?
Kind regards,
Mahesh.
