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WHAT HAPPENS IF AND WHEN THE LTTE IS VANQUISHED?
by Anton J.N. Selvadurai
TamilWeek
http://tamilweek.com/news-fe atures/archives/1264
June 18 2008
MD
This is the question that is in the minds of almost every one these
days -- especially the thousands of displaced Tamils from their homes
in the northeast, whose homes have been occupied by the Sri Lanka
Army for over 10 years.
Autonomy for the Tamils has been promised, but like a thousand broken
promises one wonders whether any will be granted. The reasonable use
of Tamil promised decades go is still to be officially implemented.
Will the Tamils be allowed to have all they need to fulfill their
aspirations like in the various states of the US and India? Will they
be allowed to live quite happily in the single unitary state of Sri
Lanka with a sense of belonging?
Will the national cricket team include at least three to four Tamils
selected purely on merit? I ask this question because it has not been
happening all these years. Even in some schools ethnicity plays a
part in the selection of teams.
The idea that Sri Lanka was more or less gifted to the Sinhala
Buddhists by Lord Buddha seems to die hard and makes life quite
difficult for the Tamil Hindus. The only hope is that there would be
a change of thinking like in Turkey where they have decided to spend
large amounts of money on the development of the infrastructure in
Kurdish areas to reduce poverty, which feeds violence.
The Turks have been historically a very aggressive and violent people
and have also been accused of a genocidal war against Armenia where
millions of Armenians have been killed. The feudal war against the
Kurds could have been avoided if they had been shown some sympathy
and understanding and Kurdish areas had been developed instead of
making them life-long enemies.
In Sri Lanka too, the Sinhala Buddhist majority allowed themselves
to be overtaken by jealousy of the better-educated Tamils instead
of acknowledging that their dry zone environment forced them into
education for the sake of survival.
Using the glorious Buddhist principles of metta, karuna, muditha and
upekka they should have developed the Tamil areas so that the Tamils
would have remained in their home areas instead of coming down south
and taking up job opportunities available to the Sinhalese.
However, this rational and intelligent thinking was overcome by
jealousy -- a very strong emotion -- thanks to the 'frogs in the well'
sangha and the political ambitions of Bandaranaike, Jayewardene and
the rest.
All that is needed now is a small group of right thinking, honest
statesmen to resolve this intractable problem or continue to live
like fools when peace and prosperity is just a whisker away.
by Anton J.N. Selvadurai
TamilWeek
http://tamilweek.com/news-fe atures/archives/1264
June 18 2008
MD
This is the question that is in the minds of almost every one these
days -- especially the thousands of displaced Tamils from their homes
in the northeast, whose homes have been occupied by the Sri Lanka
Army for over 10 years.
Autonomy for the Tamils has been promised, but like a thousand broken
promises one wonders whether any will be granted. The reasonable use
of Tamil promised decades go is still to be officially implemented.
Will the Tamils be allowed to have all they need to fulfill their
aspirations like in the various states of the US and India? Will they
be allowed to live quite happily in the single unitary state of Sri
Lanka with a sense of belonging?
Will the national cricket team include at least three to four Tamils
selected purely on merit? I ask this question because it has not been
happening all these years. Even in some schools ethnicity plays a
part in the selection of teams.
The idea that Sri Lanka was more or less gifted to the Sinhala
Buddhists by Lord Buddha seems to die hard and makes life quite
difficult for the Tamil Hindus. The only hope is that there would be
a change of thinking like in Turkey where they have decided to spend
large amounts of money on the development of the infrastructure in
Kurdish areas to reduce poverty, which feeds violence.
The Turks have been historically a very aggressive and violent people
and have also been accused of a genocidal war against Armenia where
millions of Armenians have been killed. The feudal war against the
Kurds could have been avoided if they had been shown some sympathy
and understanding and Kurdish areas had been developed instead of
making them life-long enemies.
In Sri Lanka too, the Sinhala Buddhist majority allowed themselves
to be overtaken by jealousy of the better-educated Tamils instead
of acknowledging that their dry zone environment forced them into
education for the sake of survival.
Using the glorious Buddhist principles of metta, karuna, muditha and
upekka they should have developed the Tamil areas so that the Tamils
would have remained in their home areas instead of coming down south
and taking up job opportunities available to the Sinhalese.
However, this rational and intelligent thinking was overcome by
jealousy -- a very strong emotion -- thanks to the 'frogs in the well'
sangha and the political ambitions of Bandaranaike, Jayewardene and
the rest.
All that is needed now is a small group of right thinking, honest
statesmen to resolve this intractable problem or continue to live
like fools when peace and prosperity is just a whisker away.