Why do Buddhists believe that an Anti-Conversion Bill is necessary ?

For Buddhists, being born into a Buddhist family is not a coincidence, it is the fruition of accumulated wholesome Kamma. Therefore, any one who tempts a Buddhist with money and gifts to reject Buddhism into which he was born, to accept another’s religion is in a way a “criminal offence”. In Sri Lanka there are the Buddhists , the Hindus and Muslims and none of them practice conversion. It is only the Christian Church and the Evangelists that practice this “criminal” offence of stealing faithfuls of another religion to their own.

National Christians Fellowship of Sri Lanka had organised a protest campaign against the Anti Conversion Bill at the Vihara Mahadevi Park in Colombo. It is they who thrive on conversion, and there is no reason why they should be given the freedom to continue their “criminal “ activity. The proposed Anti conversion Bill will put a stop to their continued damage to our Nation, its own religions and culture.

If these Christians and Evangelists are generous humanitarians who want to help the people to rise above their poverty and suffering they my certainly do so, without asking the poor people to change their religion in exchange for their generosity. If not that would be a commercialisation of religion.

The necessity for an Anti-Conversion Bill, arises from the fact that for number of years there had been an effort by certain Churches and Evangelists to infiltrate into rural areas in Sri Lanka, some in the guise of good Samaritans constructing roads and bridges, seeking at the same time poor people in villages to be converted to their Christian faith by allurement, or offer of incentives such as financial aid and gifts.

It is known in some of the villages in Sri Lanka, that these pseudo “Samaritans”, after converting a family to their Christian faith on promise of offers of gifts and aid, make them stand on the floors on which the images of the Buddha and Buddhist books had been laid and covered with mats, to conduct prayers to their new God. It marks their renouncement of their old religion, accepting the new divine faith.

The conversion of Buddhist, and also Hindus in Sri Lanka began with the advent of the conquerors and the establishment of colonial rule. The converts at the beginning were mainly from the urban maritime areas. The Catholic Missionaries carried out large scale conversion of the poor fisher folk from the maritime villages.

But the rural villages within the country remained Buddhist “uncontaminated” by the Missionary efforts of conversion. It is these villages that are being targeted now by the present day Christian Missionaries, and Evangelists. They convert poor villagers in developing countries, perhaps to outnumber the Christians from Western Countries giving up Christianity to accept Buddhism.

Buddhism had never employed conversion as a means to propagate its teachings. The Buddha himself was against conversion, and told his disciples to be an example. It was that example that attracted many persons of other faiths to Buddhism. Many Brahmin ascetics who came to defy the teachings of Buddha in dialogue, at the end of their questionings asked the Buddha to accept them as his disciples. The Buddha asked them on many occasions to go back and reflect on the decision, and accept it only if they are convinced of the truth of his teachings.

Therefore, the Buddhists believe that no body has the right to take away from any one, the religious faith into which one had been born and in which one remains. To do otherwise would therefore amount to a “stealing” of another’s birth right.

An individual may of course on his own change his religious faith, and that is his right which no one will contest. What the Anti-Conversion bill opposes is the inducement to change one’s own religious faith in to which one is born, to another religious faith. It could also apply to Christians as well. No body has the right to force or induce an Anglican to become a Catholic which would also amount to an unethical conversion. Or to convert a Christian to Buddhism by force or inducement would also become an unethical conversion.

Apart from the fact that no one has the right through force or inducement to change the religious faith into which one was born, and accept another faith, the Buddhists believe that it is a rare opportunity to be born a human being. It is only a being who has accumulated wholesome kamma that is born as a human being. And to be born a human being into a Buddhist family one should have accumulated still more wholesome kamma. Therefore, converting a Buddhist by all types of inducements to another faith, is to make him forfeit his karmic “gift” to find an end to a seemingly endless cycle of births and deaths in Samasara.

The Buddhists also believe that it is the:

( a) ignorance of the four noble truths: the truth of suffering (dukkha), the truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya ) which is the clinging attachment, the truth of the cessation of suffering (nirodha), and the truth of the path to cessation of suffering (magga), and

(b) not living according to the eight fold path: the right view( samma ditthi), the right thought ( samma sankappa), the right speech( samma vaca), the right bodily action (samma kammanta) , the right livelihood( samma ajiva), the right effort (samma vayama), the right mindfulness( samma sati), and the right concentration (samma Samadhi) are the causes of a being’s continued suffering in the endless cycle of deaths and births in Samsara.

Therefore, to the Buddhists , the believers of other religions have false views, and wrong understanding. The early Christian Missionaries by converting the Sinhala Buddhists to Christianity had taken away from them the essential kammic gift of acquiring right view and right understanding making them aimless wanderers suffering in Samsara.

The Buddhists do not interfere into the freedom of those who believe in other religions or other Gods, but they would like those of other religious faiths not to interfere into their and their children’s freedom to follow the teachings of the Buddha.

During the Colonial rule the children of Buddhist families had only Christian Missionary Schools for their education. In these schools the catechism classes were compulsory for all students which became a means of converting Buddhist Children to the Christian faith. The Sinhala Buddhists were an under privileged group under the Colonial Rule. Towards the end of the 19th century many thought the Buddhism will disappear from Sri Lanka.

It was when Buddhism in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) was at its lowest ebb that the Great American benefactor Sir Henry Steel Olcott came to Sri Lanka on the 16 May,1880 along with Mme Helena Blavatski. They were the pioneers of the Theosophic Society and later declared themselves Buddhists. SirHenry Steel Olcott was disliked by the Colonial Rulers of the time, because of the welcome he had received from the Sinhala Buddhists.

When Sir Olcott and Blavatski were invited to give a lecture in Kalutara ,the Government Agent of the district had ordered that no government building or the veranda of a school or even its steps should be given to hold any lectures by Sir Olcott. Such was the colonial attitude towards the Sinhala Buddhists at the tim.

It was Sir Olcott who gave new life to Buddhism and Buddhist culture in the then Ceylon. It was thanks to him that separate Buddhist Schools were founded for the Sinhala Buddhists. We have come a long way since then . Sri Lanka is now an Independent Sovereign State and has to reorganise itself without leaving any one to plunder from our people their birthright. Therefore it has become necessary to the Sinhala Buddhists and the Hindu Tamils to safeguard their religions, and culture from being mutilated by intruders, by legal enactments.

There are unscrupulous, Christians who attempt to convert unbelievers by allurements, they are not of God’s choice and should be weeded out, as Mr. Charles Schokman says. For that purpose a Legal Instrument to dissuade such attempts of conversion is essential. There are no possible dialogue to stop conversions, there fore the availability of a legal prohibition would be a deterrent for those who attempt to convert persons from one faith to another.

Love and compassion are not the monopoly of one religion. Buddhism a religion or a philosophy discovered by a “man” and not a creator God, is a philosophy of love to
all beings. It teaches its followers to pervade universal love to all living beings. Buddhism is pragmatic with a philosophy based on what is perceptible and could be experienced to arrive at what is imperceptible.

Where as religions with a God head is based on unseen, imperceptible concept of a God’s love, to arrive at another unseen and imperceptible concept of a Paradise, Buddhism is based on suffering, to arrive at a state of non-suffering.

These are facts that should be left for people to realise on their own, by reading, listening and discussion, but not converting them to other faiths by allurements, incentives or use of force.

That is why an Ant-Conversion Bill is essential, for Sri Lanka that had gone through natural and human perils to reorganise itself into a nation un-interfered by any foreign NGOs, good Samaritans, or religious quirks.

The Anti-Conversion Bill is a much needed legislation,

With the triumph of the Armed Forces over terrorism in the North, the presentation of the Anti-conversion Bill in the Parliament for its second reading is a triumph over the continued erosion of Sri Lankan Cultural values.
The erosion of our cultural values started with the conquering Nations from the west laying their feet on our shores to colonise the country. They brought along with them the Missionaries to convert the heathens- as our forefathers were called by them, and educate them to bring them into the fold of their Christian civilization.
Many generations after, our people who had been converted to the religion of the conquerors, have forgotten that their forefathers were denied the freedom of conscience and the freedom of expression in the choice of the new faith, but accepted to be converted to a foreign religion of which they knew nothing, merely for the privileges that were offered to them for accepting their Gods.
For the Buddhists as much as it was for the Hindus, the foreign Gods of the Colonial rulers were false Gods forced on their people in the process of a planned conversion to the faith of the Colonialists, to prepare the natives to accept the colonial rule as a divine system of governance prepared for them by their Gods.
The religion was an important arm of the conquerors to bring the natives into the their faith, to make it easy for them to rule the conquered countries, without opposition and rebellions. The British colonialists sent specialists in to their new colonies, to study the religious faith of the people, to prove to them the falsity of their faith, and the value of their own . They continued their conversion by very subtle ways introducing the religions to the poor and uninstructed persons., and to ambitious elements who sought wealth and privileges.
However, there was a British scholar a son of a Welsh Congregational Minister Mr.T.W.Rhys Davids who after passing the Civil Service exam was posted to then Ceylon. He was the Assistant Government Agent in Anuradhapura. Unlike the British Soldiers, Administrators and the Missionaries Rhys Davis was an intellectual and a scholar. He had studied Sanskrit . In Sri Lanka he came across Pali-the language in which the Buddhists texts had been written.
Mr.Rhys Davids, studied Pali and read the Canonical writing of Buddhism. He was greatly interested in the teachings of the Buddha, finding in it an incomparable depth of meaning. And unlike our fore fathers, who not being well learned in Buddhism, readily embraced a foreign religion of lesser value, for employment and privileges offered by their colonial masters, Mr.T.W.Rhys Davids promoted Theravada Buddhism, and Pali Language in England.
Speaking about Buddhism Mr. Rhys Davids had said, “Buddhist or not Buddhist, I have examined every one of the great religious systems of the world, and in none of them have I found anything to surpass, in beauty and comprehensiveness, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths of the Buddha. I am content to shape my life according to that path."
Mr.RMB Senanayake writing an article against the Anti-Conversion Bill say, that Jesus had said that the Word of God must be proclaimed throughout the world. Jesus warned that it was not going to be easy for it would entail persecution but it is not an exhortation but a command which every Christian is expected to follow. We Christians are required to follow Gods commandments rather than man’s where they clash. So it is our duty to oppose the so-called Anti-Conversion Law.
But we the Buddhists are not bound like Mr.RMB Senanayake to follow commandments of any God, and therefore, we have a right to defend Buddhism, and stop the continued attempts to rob our people of their faith in Buddhism, because of their poverty, or ignorance of the greater value of Buddhism, against those who attempt to convert them as the Colonial Missionaries converted our forefathers to believe in their false Gods.
There are no genuine conversions , or imitation conversions, all conversions or attempts to convert are wrong and should be opposed. For that purpose the present Anti-conversion Bill is a much needed implement long awaited by right thinking persons. No legislation is 100 percent perfect. It is in being implemented that imperfections could be put to right. Therefore we should in the first place have a Bill passed and available to be implemented to stop further acts of conversion.
It is in the name of conducting humanitarian work that the “crime” of conversion had been going on unobserved. Therefore, such work should be taken over by non-religious institutions. Sri Lanka is predominantly a Buddhist Country, and Hinduism is the second important religion, and both these religions are affected by Christian conversions, and therefore the Anti Conversion Bill is an important legislation, to stop furher activities of conversion.

Thank you Mr. President, Commanders of Armed Forces, Defence Secretary, and the Brave Soldiers of the Infantry, Navy, and the Air Force.

Thank you our Brave Armed Forces, you have done what lot of people both local and International thought would be an impossible task, which they pontificated should be settled not by an impossible military solution, but by both parties entering into a negotiated settlement.

They little knew the heroism of the Sinhala Soldiers. They won the war against terrorism for all of us Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and all other Communities who have made this land their home.

Why is it necessary to celebrate the capture of Mulativu ?

Because it is the last bastion of the Terrorists, and this victory marks the end of nearly thirty years of terrorism.

Because it is the end of the suffering of thousands of poor Tamil Civilians, who had been kept as a human shield by the terrorists, to protect themselves from the bombardments and artillery fire of the Sri Lanka Government Forces.

Because it is also the end of the comedy that had been enacted by Karunanidhi and his jokers Vaiko, Nedumaran and all the rest, trying to force the hand of the Central Government of India to call for a cease fire , to save the terrorists, and give them a new lease of life.

Because it is the end of thirty years of terrorism , helped by Norway, UK, Germany , the International Community, UNHRC, Human Right Watch, Amnesty International, Bruce Fein, Blakes, and Chilcotts.

Because it is the end of the International Community , their Agents, Agencies, and our neighbour India calling the Sovereign State of Sri Lanka, to sit with the terrorist for a negotiated peace settlement.

Because it is, also to tell the world –the International Community that we the Sri Lankans are a Nation to be reckoned with, a nation that has the potential to be great, an ability to go through” hell” to find the “heaven” we seek. It is symbolical of the determination of the people of this country to reach a pre-set target under what ever dangers, and road blocks there may be.

Because, we are a Nation that has the courage, and the force to advance, and not to retreat.

In this victory we have lost many a brave heroes who dedicated their lives to give the people -the children of mother Lanka, a “tomorrow” which is free from fear, and uncertainty. A “tomorrow” for us to build a lasting fraternity to unite as Sri Lankans without separating our selves as Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or else. A “tomorrow” when we would stand together as a Nation with the same hope and the same dream, and to tell our selves that we will never again allow our hopes, and dignity of a Nation be destroyed by a terrorism of any sort.

We owe this victory to a one man, and his determination to eliminate terrorism from Sri Lanka for ever. “Defeat” was written in large letters every where he turned,. Nevertheless, he placed his unwavering trust in his Commander of the Army Sarath Foneseka, and the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, and the Brave Armed Forces of the Infantry, Navy and the Air Force, and entrusted them with the task of carrying out military operations with a view to eliminate the well armed ruthless force of terrorists, no one thought the Government Forces would ever be able to defeat. This man with the undaunted determination to eliminate terrorism from his beloved Mother Lanka is the President Mahinda Rajapakse.

We also celebrate the Victory of the capture of Mulativu, to show our gratitude to the President Mahinda Rajapakse, the Brave Armed Forces, and to remember those heroes that gave their lives in the battle against the terrorists.

However, it is difficult for us not to give a thought to those Tamil youth who gave their lives to a cause which was not theirs, but that of a murderous psychopath, mislead or forced to fight “his war”. We recognise the bravery of those who risked their lives, and those who gave theirs, for a cause which they were made to believe was theirs.

In this celebration of the Victory we should also hope that our youths should never be mislead by an individual or a group, to make them a party to break away our motherland, to make a homeland to any group or a community, as we should stand united now as never before to always defend our motherland to keep it a unitary state.

Police Investigations are slow and inefficient. The President should get a new team of Criminal investigators.

The President Mahinda Rajapakse has already accomplished an unparalleled service to his country in getting together an efficient group of people as a team, and reinforcing the Sri Lanka Armed Forces to take up the challenge to eliminate terrorism from Sri Lanka. That alone is worth the peoples gratitude to the remarkable qualities of leadership he brought with him to the high office he occupies.

Nevertheless, the qualities he provided to the Defence and Armed Forces of the country, is lacking in the Police Force of the country. The Sri Lanka Police Force continues to show a lack of methodology and efficiency in its investigations and bringing criminals to books. There are far too many criminal cases assassinations remaining unsolved.

The Police Department seems to have no clue, as to who were the perpetrators of assassinations and murders beginning from late Mr.Lakshman Kadirgama to recent case of the criminals who attacked the editor of Rivira Upali Tennakoon. These assassinations and criminal attacks could have been carried out by the terrorists , the underworld mafia, a group of absconding military personnel, or carried out by unscrupulous individuals employing criminals on contract.

Every time an assassination, arson or looting takes place the Presidents issues orders calling for a thorough investigation, but thereafter nothing comes out of it. The Police Department should be held responsible, and not the President or the Government, for the continuous assassinations that had been taking place at least during the last two years if not beyond. The criminal investigations are the responsibility of the Police Force.

The Police arrests suspects and nothing seems to be going beyond these arrests. In the case of the attack of the MTV studios the suspects brought to court had been released by the Magistrate, as the investigations had not been carried out by the proper branch of the Police Department. That shows that there is no coordination between the Police and the CID. The inefficiency of the Police Department gives rise to accusations being levelled at the President, the Government and the Armed Forces as directly or indirectly involved in the assassinations, arson, and burglaries.

The President should re-organise the Police Department, and infuse into it the same qualities and efficiency that he gave to the Armed Forces, and make it more active and carry out investigations with more vigour and efficiency. If the Police department had carried out their investigation properly and rapidly after the assassination of the editor of the Sunday Leader, the second attack on the editor of Rivira Upali Tennakoon, may have been averted. The attack on Rivira Editor seems to have been carried out by the same group that assassinated the editor of the Sunday Leader. If not by other criminals employed by the same “contractor”.

How many more assassinations have to be carried out before the criminals are arrested or at least some clues are found. As it is the police investigations are pathetically slow and inefficient and no body can expect any positive out come from the investigations.
The assassination of the Sunday Leader, had been carried out in broad daylight in the presence of eye witnesses. An efficient criminal investigators could have easily sifted enough evidence to lead them to the perpetrators. These ,investigations will give positive results only if carried out promptly without lapse of time. One or two days after an incidents, if the investigators have not found clues to follow up , they have then failed.

As it is the investigators have already failed in the three recent criminal incidents one of breaking up into the MTV Studios, the Assassination of the editor of Sunday Leader , and the attack of the editor of Rivira.

The President should shake up the Police Department , changing the Present IGP, and getting more efficient people into its service. If not the assassinations will continue and the President and the Government may continue to be held responsible by the local and foreign opponents of the Government and the President

Replying Keith Jones of the World Socialist Website- In Sri Lanka there is no anti-Tamil war, but there are military operations against Terrorists

Keith Jones’ long articles on the header “Washington’s criminal role in the Sri Lanka states anti Tamil war”, in the World Socialist Website on the 12 January,2009 is on a wrong premise. First because there is no war in Sri Lanka, and Second because the military operations carried out by the Sri Lanka Government is not against the Tamil people of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka does not have an anti-Tamil governmet; The Sri Lanka Government is at present carrying out military operations against a group of terrorists. The fact that the terrorists happen to be Tamils; does not mean the military operations are against Tamils.
Mr. Jones, should not accept terrorism as a revolution of the proletariat. If he does so the whole concept of socialism would be in danger. He should have perhaps examined a little more about the history of the terrorism in Sri Lanka before he precipitated to write an article against a government trying its best to end the scourge of terrorism that had lasted more than two decades, hindering all progress, barring the country’s attempts to develop its potentials to become a developed nation.
If Mr. Keith Jones’s article is meant to help socialism, then it is barking up the wrong tree. The Government of Sri Lanka is carrying out military operations to end thirty years of terrorism under which the people of the country including the Tamils suffer and the ordinary people have shown a willingness to be patient, despite the economic difficulties they face in every day life, with the government in its effort to end terrorism at all cost.
Therefore, all parties whether socialists or capitalists should be with the government to end terrorism. The Socialists should support the governments’ effort to militarily end terrorism, without interfering by exposing theoretical views of socialism, when the necessity demands the government to act in the interest of the country and the people.
Mr. Keith Jones is perhaps not aware that the terrorists in Sri Lanka have the support of a rich Tamil diaspora which is contributing 200 to 300 million dollars per year to enable the terrorists to set up a separate State for the Tamils, which is not what the ordinary Tamil people living in the country want.
The terrorist with this budget of unlimited resources pay handsomely for favourable propaganda to make it seem to be freedom fighters. There are some journalists and anti terrorist lobbyists earning millions of dollars trying to create a different image of the terrorists. There are websites which try to white wash the terrorists calling them freedom fighters or rebels. One should not be carried away by the false propaganda to disrupt a people to rise out of its suffering. That would be contrary to Socialism.
Mr.Keith Jones is not aware of the atrocities committed by these terrorists. The American Government believed that the Government of Sri Lanka will be able to solve the terrorist problem by a negotiated settlement, and had been pushing the government for that end. But the attempts of different governments, with the Norwegian Government as a mediator, to come to a negotiated settlement failed. The terrorists insisted on the setting up of a separate State for the Tamils. Neither the Tamil political parties nor the ordinary Tamil people living in the country want a separate state for the Tamils.
The terrorists finally showed their opposition for a negotiated settlement by Claymore bomb blasts targeting civilians, and assassinating politicians, intellectuals, and Members of security forces, using suicide bomb attacks.
They used a suicide bomb attack to assassinate the Prime Minister of India Late Rajiv Gandhi. They used suicide bombers to assassinate President Premadasa of Sri Lanka, the Presidential Candidate Gamini Dissanayake, and Ranjan Wijeratne, the Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was assassinated by a sniper, attempted to assassinate with suicide bomb attack the former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the Commander of the Army Sarath Fonseka, and the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse.
Finally, they closed the sluice gates of a tank depriving water to thousands of farmers. It was only then that the present government had to use the army to have the sluice gates opened. America new that it was not possible ,to negotiate peace with these terrorists. The Sri Lanka government finally resorted to the only available alternative the military operations to end terrorism.
The present Government of Mr. M. Rajapakse is the only government that gave the correct leadership to the country, and the responsibility to the Army to wage military operations to end terrorism. The Military operations have proved successful to drive the terrorists to the furthest corner of the jungles they dominated. If the government does not successfully end terrorism now Sri Lanka will fall back to what it had been for the last thirty years with a ruthless group of terrorists hindering development and progress, and terrorising the people.
Is that what the World Socialists want ? I do not want to write at length on this, the facts I have given above and some search in the internet by Mr.Jones may assure him that the Sri Lanka government is fighting against a band of ruthless terrorist and any country whether Capitalist or Socialist, would be happy to rid of the likes of them.
In Sri Lanka there are two main Political Parties. One is the Capitalist UNP and the other the Socialist SLFP which has formed the present Government. The UNP signed a CFA with the terrorists which allowed them to buy the most modern arms and armaments and other military equipment to kill and massacre people. They owned twelve ships to transports arms and armaments, they had three Air Planes., and a battalion of trained Suicide bombers. The Government Armed Forces were not well equipped to fight the terrorists, and the terrorists were a law unto themselves.
It was only the present government that took a determined effort to end terrorism by modernising the Army. If this government is ousted it would be the Capitalist UNP government that will come into power, and all gains in the fight against terrorism will end and the rein of terror will continue.
Is that what the World Socialists want ?

( World Socialist Website: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/pers-j12.shtml)

Exchanging View with a contributer to Ireport of CNN

Nuwan, (http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-177382?ref=email )

Perhaps in your dislike, which is your right, for the President Mahinda Rajapakse, you do not want to know my reasons to compare him to Obama. I am not comparing the persons but the impact each one of them had on the political scene of their respective countries. Obama has brought change to America after 200 years of its history. Rajapakse also brought change to Sri Lanka after 60 years of Independence.

I do not question you the “dirty work” Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse has done , because it is your opinion, and you have your right for your opinion. But Rajapakse is an ordinary man. He is a simple man of the country, without any pretension to be different. It is in the way one looks at him that one sees a “mask” on him. But in reality he wears no “mask”.

It is best to get your information from different Sri Lanka journals and then evaluate the news without trying to fit him into a frame of your choice. The Island News paper is a good source of information. Of course if you are prejudiced against a person no one can change your prejudices, unless you yourself decide to change them, to look at the same person differently.

I do not see any “dirty acts” in which he was engaged. He was elected as the President with a good majority. He is popular among the people Sinhala,Tamils and Muslims. It is not possible for him to get be involved in any sort of Mafia activities, when he is on the “spot light” of political observers. He has not encouraged or taken part in corrupt activities. All allegation were made by his opponents like Mangala Samaraweera and Wickramasinghe but they could not prove the allegations. He is a true patriot –because he loves his country, his people and is very religious.

Nuwan, you have the right to know the truth, and you are quite entitled to your opinion. If there is any thing worth criticising we should criticise with facts and figures to support our criticism, that is also being positive.

About respecting court orders, there was a delay, I think it is because the budget had been drawn up fixing prices for commodities on a given date. Any changes have to be done taking into account the balancing of the budget at new rates fixed by the Court. Fixing of prices is not the business of a Chief Justice. I think he was carrying his judicial powers too far.

The war was forced upon Mahinda Rajapakse . If you had followed his political past , you should be aware that when Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse became the President he invited Prabhakaran to meet him for peace negotiations. He refused and instead he got a suicide bomber to assassinate the Army Commander. He then got ,a claymore bomb exploded targeting a bus in which 87 civilian people were killed. Then Prabhakaran closed the Sluice gates at Mavil aru, depriving the farmers of water, which was the beginning of the military operations.

The President is not a saint because he is fighting a war. If you are not sympathising with the terrorists you will understand that terrorism is the most devastating issue a government has to face. It stops every other development and progressive projects. You may have read how happily the Tamil people in Sri Lanka reacted when the terrorists were chased away from Elephant Pass. Please see: http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/01/10/sec02.asp to read the reaction of Tamil people. Truth is one and it has to be searched objectively, looking at events and people without hatred, dislike, or anger, because those emotions blind us to reality.

I suggest you google “ Noel Nadesan” and “Thomas Jhonpulle” both Tamils who writes knowledgeably about the Sinhala, Tamil relationship. Please also go to the Lankaweb and read some of the articles appearing there. I will write an article enlarging what I have written to you in Lankaweb soon.

I enjoyed this exchange of views with you. I wish you everything best for the New Year 2009.



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NuwanSam // 17 hours ago
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Dear UCSP, You comparison of Mahinda Rajapaske to Obama is a true insult to a great leader. I supported Obama and his campaign and Mahinda Rajapakse does not come close to him. He is trying to put a mask and portray him as a great leader and cover up all the dirty work he does under that mask.

I do not belong to any political party in SL either but I know what is happening inside. I get information about these dealings and all these killings are done with the fullest support of Mahinda Rajapakse's regime.

If Mahinda Rajapakse is a true patriot as you claim, he would have not enagage in these dirty acts and encourage corruptions and hide them.

I am a positive person but we all have a right to know the truth. Presiden Bush also asked Americans to be positive when he waged a war agaisnt Iraq unncessarily. Being positive does not mean that we have to shut our mounth and allow these people to eat the country alive. Sri Lanka is a democratic society and not these people are destroying institution and individuals that goes against them. They do not respect the decision of the highest court in the country; the supreme court. That is not democracy of the people, for the people, by the people.

Sri Lanka is going throug a difficult period. I agree with that. But this family regime does not do any thing to make it any better. The only thing that gives it oxigen is the war. War is not the only thing matters to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka economy is in ruin. People are suffering more than ever. Living has become a struggle to more and more. For those who live outside Sri Lanka, war is the only thing that matters. But for me people does matter too. I do a lot of work in Sri Lanka in villages and I know what is going on. I do not just rely on the papers to get my information.

You can believe that Mahinda Rajapakse is a saint because he is fighting a war to get rid of terrorist. Wait and see. And you will some day see the reality. I had a lot of hope in that man too. In fact I helped him in his campaign believing he will do something good. I know the gravity of the mistake I did for my home country. So now my goal is to educate those who are willing to listen about this grave danger Sri Lanka is facing.

We have a choice to become blinded by this regime propaganda and cover ups. Or we can make an effort to find out the truth and do something about it. I choose to do latter because I still love the place where I was born and I have done a great deal of work for it and continue to do so.
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ucsp // 20 hours ago

The events taking place in Sri Lanka are certainly disturbing but for that matter our Island Home the Pearl of the Indian Ocean is not a tyranny.

It is a long series of events that have culminated to what we witness today. We have still not reached the end of it. Therefore, we have to be patient a little more to see the end result of what the country is going through today. Some speak of the present government as a state of tyranny, ...
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Is Sri Lanka a Tyranny ? asks Nuwan Sam in Ireport of CNN

The events taking place in Sri Lanka are certainly disturbing but for that matter our Island Home the Pearl of the Indian Ocean is not a tyranny.

It is a long series of events that have culminated to what we witness today. We have still not reached the end of it. Therefore, we have to be patient a little more to see the end result of what the country is going through today. Some speak of the present government as a state of tyranny, some as a state of corruption, some as anarchy, some as a dictatorship, some as a state in a civil war.

But it is not all that, it is only a country asserting itself to be an independent democracy. It is like being born as a child with birth pangs, which develop into other forms of problems, like teething, reaching adolescence, then adult hood, matrimonial problems, and finally family problems. In the same way a country too has its problems, from being independent from colonialism, and asserting to be an Independent democratic Sovereign State.

We have more problems now than we had before, because we are the masters of our situation. Nuwan, please look at any country that is said to be “developed”. They have gone through the same throes of pains , conflicts and reconciliations.

It is wrong to say that the current government is the most corrupt that Sri Lanka ever had since its independence in 1948. This government seems corrupt because it had inherited lot of problems that had not been settled by the previous governments. In putting into order the disorder it inherited, different people get hurt. The greatest problem this government inherited is the terrorism that had been eating into the country for the last 30 years. In trying to settle that it meets with the opposition not only from the terrorists, but also from other politicians and their agent, who would like to benefit from the situation of crisis to oust this government and take its place.

The political corruption is not unique to Sri Lanka, just google “political corruption”, and you will have hundreds of websites that enumerate political corruption in almost all nations- the rich or poor, developed or undeveloped countries of the world. This government of Mahinda Rajapakse came into power two years ago, and it was determined to end terrorism before looking into solving problems of corruption. As it intended this government launched a military operation to end terrorism. It has begun to show results. That is already some thing we should be happy about.

Recent events of killing journalists, and vandalising TV stations have caused great concern. Those who are opposed to the government, accuse it as the perpetrator of these acts, without showing any proof that the government is involved in these activities. The Government is popular, it is carrying out a successful military operation against terrorists, therefore, the opposition political parties who are waiting to make this government unpopular and seeking to oust it from power is making these allegations, to make the government unpopular among the people.

The Defence Secretary is a war veteran, who has twenty years of experience fighting against the terrorists as a Commander of a battalion of the Sri Lanka Army. He was asked to come from America where he was living after retirement, to organise the Sri Lanka Army. He is not a cruel man who would act like a mafia leader to kill any one that opposes him. He is there to help the army and the proof of the know how he had brought to the army is the success of military operation to defeat terrorism.

The country is going through difficult times, but we should have the patience, and trust in the present government. From what this government has done so far, we can expect it to introduce efficient controls to remove corruption and put into effect develop programmes for the country. America took a long time to accept all its citizens as equals. No body thought that a coloured man will ever become the President of USA.

There is no reason for us to believe that our country will not rise from what it is to day, to be a great country. Sixty years after Independence, Sri Lanka too has its Obama. He is called Mahinda Rajapakse. Be positive Nuwan Sam. I am not from any political party, nor am I a friend or relative of the President or any one of his Ministers.

I am an ordinary citizen who had seen many changes, many governments and many Presidents, and take my word Nuwan, this President Mahinda Rajapakse is different , if he fails to raise Sri Lanka from where it has fallen, for the world to see the dazzling Pearl of the Indian Ocean, no one will ever be able to.


A reply to URL below:


http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-177382?ref=email

The Assassination was an act of cowardice

Though I am not a reader of any Leader Publications, I was really saddened by the assassination of the young editor Lasantha Wickramatunga. The brutality of his murder shows to what extent we have lost respect for human life. What satisfaction has the killers got from the cowardly brutality used on the person of the Editor ?

It was still more sad to read the reports of his death in Transcurrent, which accuses the President without actually naming him. So does the Times online. It is the absurdity of twisted reporting that makes people angry. The “great” anger has no limit, it could make a beast of a man.

Therefore, in writing one has to be careful not to blame any one with out having clear evidence. The fact that the late Mr.Wickramatunga was writing against the government does not necessarily mean that the government was responsible for his killing.

The danger of such accusation is that the investigators may be led astray making the real killers get away undetected. It has become a habit to accuse the government every time some one is killed, some place has been vandalised as in the case of Sirasa, or some one abducted in a White Van.

This has to stop. At least when we are announcing the brutal killing of a young man, we should have the politeness not to mix the feeling of hatred touch the man who had died. That does not speak well of the writer, nor is it being respectful to the dead. Transcurrent should be ashamed of making the brutal assassination of a young journalist an occasion to show its hatred to the President and the Government.

This should be a lesson to other editors too, criticism of government is some times taken far too excessively. Everyone knows that the President is doing an excellent job, even if one does not accept his politics, and there is no reason for him or the Commander of the Army or the Defence secretary to send killer squads to every one that writes against them.

The Leader news papers were going too far with their criticism of the Government. And the Leader news papers were not respectful and did not follow respectable journalistic ethics. It is alright if the Leader news papers were supporting Ranil Wickramasinghe, but it some times turns to those it criticised before, in order to attack the President or his government. He had made many enemies.

A news paper editor should be more objective in writing. Even if the journalists do not agree with the policies of the government, or do not like the President, they have a duty to praise the Army and the Soldiers for their military successes and thank the President and the government for having made it possible.

May the killers be found and punished. The killers even if not caught will never be happy, they will continue to live in the hell of their own making.

Our deep sympathies to the Family of the late Mr. Lasantha Wickramatunga.

May he attain Nibbana

Sri Lanka Government Forces

Brigadier Shavendra Silva
Commander 58 Division


This can be highlighted as the highest achievement by the military in its effort to liberate the Wanni and the North from the clutches of the LTTE as this is first time in military history of the country in which troops were able to reach Pooneryn after commencing operations from the South.

Also this can be the highest achievement by the military as the LTTE has lost one of its most important strongholds. Now they are left with only Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

We were able to clear the entire Western coast from the clutches of the LTTE enabling the civilians to use the entire Western coast for commercial and military purposes. By denying the western coast to the LTTE we were able to cut off the LTTE’s link with the Indian coast from the Western coast.

It is a relief for the military as this enables us to open a land route to Jaffna for military purposes for the first time in 20 years.
Not only for military, the civilians population will also be able breath a sigh of relief now as no artillery rounds will fall into Jaffna hereafter with the capture of Pooneryn since this was used by the LTTE as a launching pad to harass the civilians in the Jaffna peninsula. So this will be a message of peace for the civilians living in Jaffna.

This is a proud moment for the troops of the 58 Division as they achieved this task sacrificing their lives and limbs for the sake of liberating this fertile land in the North Western coast from the clutches of the LTTE.



Army Commander
Lt. General Sarath Fonseka



Capturing Pooneryn is one of the important milestones in our efforts to liberate the entire North from the clutches of the LTTE. It marks the opening of a land route to Jaffna through A-32 road after 20 years. A lot terrorists perished in this battle. We are poised to achieve victories on the other fronts as well.

Felicitations our brave heroes of the Government Forces.

We cannot thank you enough our brave heroes of the Government Forces, for the task you have undertaken to free our motherland, of the uncouth terrorist virmins. You have taken risks, gone through physical and mental sufferings we can little imagine. Some of your companions have made their ultimate sacrifice. You have taken risks to save the motherland putting your lives in danger. You have done all this for us without distinction of our race, colour , or religion, so that we , our children, and generations thereafter may have this motherland of theirs’, an undivided Unitary State where the Sinhala, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers and Malays may live as a Nation of Sri Lankans.

You have done this not to receive applause, but as true heroes of our Nation, to free our country from the terrorists, who were ruthless murderers, who assassinated many a great sons of our land.

Please forgive those who unwittingly minimised your heroism, fail to recognise the risk you were taking to save this motherland of “ours and theirs”. While you fought your valiant battles without knowing whether your next step would be on a personal mine , or wading in waist deep marshy waters carrying your guns and back packs not knowing whether you would be the target of an enemy bullet, when you had cramps of hunger while crawling on the ground to be safe from the enemy, we shamelessly waited in comfort to get news of your victories, or defeats. We prayed for you when we heard of your victories, we were saddened by your defeats, but we wept for those who died by your side.

Those who were hard hearted, who could not understand your suffering, the price you are paying to save the motherland, were critical of your violation of human rights, when you violated none, critical you claim the motherland as belonging to you, when you claimed no ownership. You are not politicians but real heroic sons of Sri Lanka.

A journalists who believes he is the cream of defence reporters said the capture of Poonaryn is not significant, as there are many pockets of active terrorists elsewhere. This sad reporter believes a military victory is annexing a whole territory all at once. He does not know that wars are won by taking villages, towns, and provinces one after the other. For us, every step you take into terrorist held areas, every square meter you have taken from the terrorists, is a victory, for which we honour you, and pray for your safety.

The Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora will not hail your victories, for they live in clover in foreign lands, dreaming a Tamil Kingdom for themselves in the north east, for which they are paying the terrorists to continue to fight a loosing war.

Pardon them, our valiant heroes, for they are angry men who think of only of themselves, and what they can get out of your sufferings, after your brave heroic deeds are done.

But, those others know that you go through all that suffering and take all those risks ,to save this motherland for all those who share it, to live in peace and unity.

After poll contemplations on political problems of Sri Lanka.

Julius Nyarere


Milton Obote


Kwame Nkruma




Provincial Council Elections of the 23rd August, was a demonstration of peoples’ demand for an end to terrorism, and the confidence they have placed on the President Mahinda Rajapakse as the one who is capable of responding to this popular demand.

In analysing the peoples’ choice at the polls, one should be careful not to not mix ,(1) the liberation of the civilian population in Wanni, (2) the rampant corruption, and (3) the ethnic problem. These are three different problems, which in my opinion were not uppermost in the minds of the voters. The solution to these three different problems, have to be found in a sequential order, one at a time.

If the political analyst is a Tamil, you can bet your “ last rupee”, that the racial hatred towards the majority community will be seen through the analysis, with the assertion that there are those of the majority community who seek to dominate the minority communities. The relevance of this argument may not have any direct relation to the topic under analysis, nevertheless, rhetoric of hatred has to be spewed out. The “cancer” is this mental attitude, which stops the Tamil political analysts from thinking beyond the so called “majorities’ desire to dominate the minorities”. It is this biased opinion, perhaps springing from an inferiority complex, which is the root cause of the “ethnic problem”.

If we are to profit from the results of the polls, after twenty five years of spouting venom at the Sinhala majority in various ways, and the possible end to terrorism which is in the horizon, we should make these two events the catalyst to rid ourselves of all prejudices with intelligent apperception of the different aspects of the problem, that keep the Tamil and the Sinhala Communities away from a meaningful integration.

On the other hand, the Sinhala people, who would analyse the political situation after the polls keeping the “ethnic problem” in mind , and bracing to the continuous potshots taken at them as the “ majority”, by unconcerned Tamil racists, they will be awakened to the fact that they are after all the “majority”, and question what right the 13 percent of the Tamil Community has, to ask for equal rights. Therefore, it is pertinent to ask why the heavens do these morons of Tamil political analysts, have to systematically broach the question of Sinhala majority. They should merely ask for the rights of the Tamil speaking people, not claiming to equate themselves to a majority.

However, it has to be emphasised, that the Sinhala people do not claim special rights over and above the minority communities. It is only a figment of the biased, complexed minds of the militant Tamils-the politicians, journalists, and political analysts. Therefore, it is relevant to ask what, after all, are the rights that the Majority Sinhala Community enjoy, that the minority communities are deprived of ( other than the language )? This claim for equal rights is a creation of the interested politicians beginning from Ponnambalm, Chelvanayagam, and the rest, to wield political power within their communities. For the last 25 years I have heard about an existing “ethnic problem”, without any one explaining what exactly is this “ethnic problem”.

Of course, the Sinhala people have a special claim which they profess as a duty to save, for which in a way the Sinhala Buddhist soldiers are giving their lives in numbers to rid this blessed Island, from being desecrated by the terrorists. They want to save this Island from being divided and mutilated, as it is the land that was visited by the Sublime Buddha, the blessed One, and where his teaching, the pinnacle of Buddhist faith, is enshrined.

This claim the Sinhala people make, is not in any way to subordinate the rights of the Tamil, Muslim, and the people of other faiths. On the other hand the preservation of this Island as a whole, with its sacred glory, would be a common heritage for all the people, their children and the generations to come.

That said, every one agrees , that the Tamil Speaking Communities( Tamils and Muslims) should be given the right to use their mother tongue Tamil, in all correspondence with the government and receive replies in the same language, thus giving Tamil the same official status as the Sinhala Language. Secondly one also agrees that the Tamils should be given equal opportunities in education , without any racial discrimination. Thirdly , one agrees further more that there should not be any racial discrimination in providing employment opportunities to the persons of the three communities.

These are matters that could be settled without calling names to each other, harbouring intense racial hatred towards the Sinhala, because they happen to be the “Majority”. This continued anti Sinhala racism, condemning every thing connected with the Sinhala, such as their religion- Buddhism, their history, their historical chronicle- the Mahavansa, may harden the Sinhala peoples’ attitude towards the Tamil Community, which will not help to construct a durable Unity of Communities.

There is no question now, for the army to withdraw from Wanni without having removed the terrorist scourge. As long as the canker of it continues, there would never be an opportunity for the civilians in the Wanni to revolt against the terrorists.

The UNP and the JVP are adopting a divisive political attitude. Their continued opposition is to matters that the Government will attend to according to its election manifesto Mahinda Chintanaya, when the times would be propitious after the elimination of the terrorists, which is its priority at the moment.

The people who vote for the UNP are the people who are still attached to the old UNP of the D.S.Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake, CWW Kannangara, A.Ratnayake, DB Wijetunga and other role model politicians, and those who inherited an old guard political affection to the UNP, from their parents, and the elders. The People, on the other hand, seems to be running away from Ranil Wickramasinghe, with his band of windbags, the market politicians- Lakshman Kiriella , Tissa Attanayake, SB Dissanayake, and the rest. If the UNP leadership is not changed, the present UNP politicians will soon end up in the political morass, despite their cache of the block votes, which seems to seep from the seams.

Since the departure of Wimal Weerawansa, JVP has lost its political attraction. Amarasinghe, Lalkantha, and now Anura Dissanayake drive people away from the JVP. These three are negative personalities that have dimmed the light of an essential young political group which had vast possibilities, and a bright political future. The ordinary members of the JVP should revolt against its present outmoded leadership to bring back the break away group lead by Wimal Weerawansa, and be a part of the governing body, if it wants to revitalise its political image. Lal Kantha that opposes every thing, and Anura Dissanayake who speaks of blood baths, hark back to the days of JVP’s tumultuous revolutionary period, which may frighten away the people from JVP.

Mahinda Rajapase is a great political figure- a rare gem in the political landscape. He is a world class political leader, a statesman. He is a charismatic politicians, who has a personal magnetism that exudes confidence. He is sincere and dedicated to the political cause he spouses to unite the people without discriminating against their racial, or religious differences.
He is a genuine leader of the people, who is simple, who is uncomplicated, who thinks like them, and acts like them. He is a person who could be identified with the ordinary masses.

Mahinda Rajapakse is the only political leader among the many we have had, who having evaluated the immense material and intellectual riches of the nation, is driven by a passion to muster these potentials to develop the nation economically, socially and culturally to bring it in line with any developed country in the world.

As an example from the developing countries, we could mention the political leaders of Singapore, Malaysia, Cuba, China or Viatnam. Julius Nyerere, the President of. Tanzania, was such a visionary leader. But he was never given a chance by the International Community. So were Milton Obote of Uganda and Kwame Nkruma of Ghana..

Mahinda Rajapakse’s inherent leadership capacity should be recognised, and we should rally round him to make him realise his vision.

It is an insult to one’s intelligence to compare Mahinda Rajapakse, to Ranil Wickramasinghe who has no leadership qualities- a politicl moron.. He is a politician running after his own gain, like a grey hound running after the lure. People of the North and East will surely place their trust in Mahinda Rajapakse, rather than on Ranil Wickramasinghe. It is already evident in the East. If the people of North and East do not trust Mahind Rajapakse, it would be because they are lead by their nose by selfish political leaders and Ullemas, for whom the political vision for our country does not go beyond the end of their noses.

However, the Provincial Council elections show that the ordinary Tamil and Muslim people are turning to Mahinda Rajapakse, and they are ready to turn away from the old Political Parties like the CWC of Thondamans, and the SLMC of Rauf Hakhim, that they were forced to follow through sentimental attachment roused by rhetoric, or zealotry( or Muslims Religious Councils).

Once the war against terrorism is over the Government may have the time to turn to eliminate corruption, set up development projects, begin progressive programmes to unite the communities in to a Nation of Lankans , bound by the common object of brining peace and prosperity. In order to make it a reality we should not turn away from now available forces, to seek alternative forces else where, in another time.

To chew and digest by the Tamils, and the Muslims of Sri Lanka, who seem to consider the Sinhala majority a barrier to unity and development of Sri Lanka, I give below an extract of Michelle Obama’s speech made on the opening day of the Democratic Convention in Denver, “…..You see, Barack doesn’t care where you’re from, or what your background is, or what party, if any, you belong to. You see, that’s just not how he sees the world. He knows that thread that connects us — our belief in America’s promise, our commitment to our children’s future — he knows that that thread is strong enough to hold us together as one nation even when we disagree.”

Commemorating the First death Anniversary of Wesley Muthiah


On the 4 August,2007, one year ago our dear friend Wesley, parted from us leaving an emptiness amidst those who loved him, and all those who had come to know him well. A memorial to Commemorate his life and work will be held in London by his family on the 9th August,2008.

More often, people are taken for granted when they are living and active. But once a person has departed, we begin to see him differently, for what he was in reality, we question, we begin to see what is missing since he had left us, and we measure him from his work, and memories he had left behind.

Wesley seemed to be a man in a hurry, a man who did not waste time with small talk, but came strait to the subject he had in mind, and walked away cheerfully as he came, leaving behind an indelible aura of his endearing personality, friendly disposition, and his inert goodness.

That is how I remember him, when I met him fifty years ago in Matale. He spoke to me about socialism, and having gauged my interest in what he had been talking, and being assured of my political sympathies, invited me to his home to meet a few of his friends with whom he proposed to form a LSSP Group in Matale. He was able to generate the enthusiasm of every one present and the Matale LSSP Group , thanks to him, took wings that day. It turned out to become an active group.

Wesley was a Labour Officer, in Matale, and his work took him to the tea plantations, where he met the poorest of the poor in Sri Lanka- the Tamil Estate Workers. The contact with these poor people, gave meaning to his political work. He was determined to help them to rise above their suffering. He organised the Matale Estate Workers Union, with a liaisons officer. as a contact man between the Estate workers and the LSSP Group in Matale.

Even after leaving Sri Lanka, Wesley did not forget his dear Estate workers. He collected Sewing machines, type writers, and computers, and with the help of his friends, set up workshops in the upcountry to help the children of the Estate workers.

Wesley was a socialists, who did not seek fame, popularity, political position, financial gain or self aggrandisement. He was a selfless man- a kind we rarely meet. He had taken away the “ I , and Me “ complex, giving himself selflessly to the cause of LSSP. At the time he organised the LSSP Group in London, he had been admitted to the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn. He had to read for his Bar Examinations, but the organising and keeping alive the LSSP Group, left no time to prepare for Examinations.

He was dedicated to the cause of LSSP, and stood by it unwaveringly through out its different phases of existence. Even when every thing was bleak , Wesley was looking forward to a resurgence of the LSSP.

Marx’s dictum that the religion is the opium of the masses, was taken out of context by the forces against Marxism to make it unpopular. But Marxism stood for a political system that could alleviate the suffering of the poor masses. The world has changed and the Church has evolved. When the Roman rich sought entertainment, throwing gladiators into arenas to meet their death, Jesus spread the words of love and peace to the poor Romans. Significantly, Jesus performed miracles for the benefit of the poor.

Wesley knew to separate religion, from politics. He was a Christian not merely because his father was a Pastor, but because he felt the Presence of God. He did not take issues with any religion. Once when I said that Buddhism dos not believe in a self, he turned to me with a smile and said, “I breath therefore I am”.

He with his gentle ways, was able to bring his Church to the cause of socialism. His beloved wife, had even organised needlework, and language classes to the poor members of the congregation of their Church in Sri Lanka. He had introduced traditional decorations, and drummers to Church Ceremonies.

Socialism was in his blood, it came from within him. It made him frank, honest and likeable. He was comfortable in a socialist surrounding, wherever it was. He once came to France, along with his wife to attend a Festival Organised by the French Workers Union. He came with a load of books written in English. When I told him that the crowds at the Festival will be mainly French, and books written in English may not interest them, he laughed at me, and took the whole load of books to the Festival Ground. Before, the lunch hour was announced, Wesley had not only sold the whole load of books, but had also made a number of contacts, who had given their addresses to him, asking him to send the book by post !!

He was an endearing person, to my knowledge he made only friends, and no enemies. He would hardly say a harsh word, though he liked to tease others, and laugh when they take offence ! He did not impose his point of view. He accepted criticism of the LSSP, and gave possible reasons for the errors committed by the Party. However, if the criticism was not justified he would quote from books, relate incidents and go all out to prove that the criticism was not justified.

The greatest contribution of Wesley, not only to the LSSP and the Left Moment of Sri Lanka but also to future generations of politicians, historians, and students, is his writings. When the Public Records Office of London released the secret files documenting Britain’ s persecution of Ceylonese anti-war freedom fighters, Wesley conceived the idea of writing the history of the LSSP and the Left Movement in Sri Lanka.

He contacted late Sydney Wanasinghe, a fellow member of the Party and got him interested in his projected. This partnership, resulted in the issue of the first book, “Britain, World War 2 & the Sama Samjists”, in January,1996, followed by, “ Bracegirdle Affair” (1998), “ We Were Making History”, (2002), “The Case for Socialism”(2004), “Two Languages One Nation-One Language Two Nations” (2005) and “ Socialist Women of Sri Lanka” (2006).

These works will stand a monument to Wesley’s dedication to the cause of LSSP, and the Left Movement of Sri Lanka.

His beloved wife Tencey- patient and devoted stood by him through out his long service to the cause of the LSSP and the Socialist Left Movement of Sri Lanka. Later on he had the support of his two affectionate sons Ninesh and Romesh, and then his two daughters-in-law Nina and Geeta. He was a happy grandfather, and adored his grandson Rawishan.

May he Rest In Peace.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Janaka Perera, and Pillaiyan Chandrakanthan.

Pillaiyan Chandrakanthan

Janaka Perera

Gotabhaya Rajapakse

(Three persons with three different backgrounds. Three persons with three different visions)

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, was a soldier-Commander of the Gajaba Regiment. He retired from his military service as the Commandant of the Kotalawala Defence Academy. He was the Administrator of the Loyola law School in Los Angeles , when he was called to enter into politics as the Secretary of Defence of the Government of Sri Lanka. He is a dedicated patriot for the cause of his mother land. His vision, now, is to redeem parts of his motherland held by the terrorists- who he fought against and helped to drive them from Jaffna to the jungles of Killinocchi, and give back to the people of Sri Lanka the whole of their motherland without abandoning any part of it, for an Eelam State of the loathsome terrorists led by murderous psychopath Prabhakaran.

In this new role as the Secretary of Defence, Gotabhaya does not mix politics with military activity. He, as an experienced Serviceman, coordinates the three defence forces, the Army, the Air, and the Navy, and participates in the planning of military strategies with the Commanders of the Security Forces, leaving them the responsibility for the execution of the plans.

He has allowed the Security Forces to conduct its military offensive, modernising the army by providing them with necessary equipments. He also serves as the spokesman of the Army, to the President and the Government. The Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse keeps the politicians away from interfering with the activities of the armed forces. That was an important contribution which has resulted in the unprecedented success of the Security Forces.

Whatever is said by the media and his political enemies, as a politician he is not corrupt, and as an experienced former soldier, he is dedicated for the cause of the Armed Forces. His larger vision is to make a success of his service as the Secretary of Defence, to allow the government and the people of Sri Lanka regain the lost pride and prestige of the beloved motherland. He has given up a lucrative post, to take over a risky task as the Defence Secretary, in which capacity he narrowly escaped death from a terrorist attack in which an auto-rikshaw laden with explosives was driven on to his vehicle.

As a Buddhist his aim is to preserve this Land of ours, sanctified by several visits of the Buddha, where his original teachings are preserved, and therefore revered by the Buddhists of the entire world, in its entirety without any part of it severed by an unholy demon of a terrorist.


Janaka Perera, was a soldier-a Major General, Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army. It was when he was the Commander of the Army in the North Western Province, that he captured the leader of JVP Rohana Wijeweera, and suppressed the JVP insurgence. He was responsible for Liberating the Jaffna Peninsular from the terrorists, chasing them away to the wilds of Killinocchi with the able Regimental Commanders Gotabhaya Rajapakse and Sarath Fernando, under his Command.

It was when he was the Commander of Jaffna, that 40,000 soldiers were stranded in Jaffna at the mercy of a possible terrorist attack due to lack of transport. The Indian Government, with whom the then President of Sri Lanka negotiated for ships to transport the stranded army, refused to provide the requested means of transport. The army however, with the support provided by the Government of Pakistan halted the terrorist march towards Jaffna. Janaka Perera who retired after 34 years service in the army, was sent to Australia as the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka.

After his retirement from Diplomatic service, he has taken up politics to espouse the cause of a right wing political party, who sympathies with the terrorists Janaka Perera himself was fighting against and drove away from Jaffna to the jungles of Killinocchi.

Janaka Perera has accepted the leadership of a failed political leader- Ranil Wickramsinghe, who was responsible for signing a CFA, prepared by the terrorists Leader Prabhakaran and a Pro- terrorist Norwegian negotiator, giving parts of North and East to be kept under the control of the terrorist, without consulting the then President or the Parliament of Sri Lanka.

By joining with the right wing, pro-terrorist political party the UNP, Janaka Perera has tarnished his respected image as the Army Commander who launched the Operation Riviresa, which lead to the liberation of the Jaffna Peninsular from the terrorists.

Why did Janaka Perera, take this step to make his maiden entry into Politics, through a party which is pro terrorist. UNP is a party of the rich, and well to do elitist class, which believes that the rich should give the leadership to the poor and under privileged. Janaka Perera probably prefers to be with them for his future prestige, rather than join a Part which is of the people, and dedicated to serve the Country, and save it from destructive Terrorists.

Janaka Perera’s vision is rather selfish, and shrouded in clouds of uncertainty. He seeks his own personal prestige by stepping into politics by seeking to be the Provincial Chief Minister of North Central Province, and thereafter enter the Parliament. The reason for him to accept a Political leader, who has nothing for his credit, other than several failures in his search for political recognition, may be his Christian religious affinity with the leader Ranil Wickramasinghe.

Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, was a child from Batticaloa recruited by the terrorists. His name was changed by the terrorists to Pillaiyan. Pillaiyan was serving under Karuna Amman- a terrorist, also a native of Batticaloa. When Karuna Amman was the terrorist leader of the Batticaloa District, he broke away from the main terrorists group of Prabhakaran, on the grounds that the terrorists recruited from Batticaloa, were made to take risks, but were not duly recognised by the terrorists of the Jaffna Tamil stock, and formed the Karuna Faction. Pillaiyan followed Karuna, and became the deputy leader of the Karuna Faction.

The Sri Lanka army began a campaign against the terrorists in the Eastern Province in 2002 when the CFA was ineffective. The Karuna faction which also wanted the terrorists away from the east, indirectly helped the army by making intermittent attacks on terrorist groups. This acceptance of the Karuna faction by the Army, interested Karuna Amman to give up terrorism to follow a democratic process. He formed the TMVP as a political party, with Pillaiyan as his deputy. Due to an internal rift in the TMVP, Pillaiyan took over its leadership and Karuna left Sri Lanka to London.

In the meantime the East and the North, the two Provinces that were recognised as one under an Agreement with India, was separated. The army launched an offensive against the terrorists in the East and with the help of the Karuna Faction (TMVP)drove the terrorists out of the East.

In the subsequent election for the Eastern Provincial Council, TMVP contested the election as an ally of the UPFA and won a large number of seats. Pillaiyan having shed his former terrorist affiliations , became a convinced full fledged Democrat, and as the leader of the TMVP became the Provincial Chief Minister, a significant appointment, that was contested by the Muslim leadership, due to their inability to understand the implication of Pillaiyan’s appointment in view of the continuing military action against the terrorists in the North.

However, Pillaiyan being more intelligent, accepted the socialist camp, in his political venture, rather than the reactionary terrorist sympathetic UNP, selected by Janaka Perera for his maiden entry into politics.

Pillayan has shown a brilliant political acumen since his acceding to the position of the Chief Minister of the East. He seems to have so far shown an excellent capacity to understand the democratic political system, and demonstrated an honest desire to work together with people from different communities.

His vision is the progressive development of the East, which had been neglected due to terrorism for a long period of time. He also wants the unity of the different communities in the East, and works with the government to make a reality of his Eastern development programme. He cooperates with the government to make the motherland a happy place for all the people of the East without any communal distinction, to live together in and atmosphere of détente and harmony.
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In conclusion we observe that of the three persons, it is only Janaka Perera a war hero coming from the past, that decided to take a different path, abandoning a President and his Government, who have recognised the role of the Army allowing it to carry out its responsibilities without political interference, to join hands with a failed politician whose object is to discredit the President in power and his government and to become the President of Sri Lanka. Janaka Perera though he was a Commendable Military Commander, has shown his naiveté in the choice of his political camp.

Janaka Perera is selfish, seeking his own personal benefits, while Gotabhaya and Pillaiyan are dedicated to protect and serve the mother land for the common good of all Communities.

Janaka Perera should have rested on his laurels, receiving the respect of people, and their gratitude for the role he played in the Operation Riviresa, driving the terrorists out of Jaffna Peninsular.

The Communities of Sri Lanka should bury their whatever hatchets of discord, to build a united Sri Lankan Nation.

The said to be the Invincible Terrorist Army of the Sun God, is at last brought to its knees, and his mighty terrorist armed forces are running in disarray. We the people of Sri Lanka should be ever grateful for the Commanders of the Combined Military Forces of Sri Lanka, for bringing back to our country the pride it had lost. The International Community who was out to make us come to a peace settlement with the terrorist and eventually divide our country like India, has failed in its endeavour.
Incidentally, as the Commander of the Army made a statement to the press that the Army is seeing the tail end of the “war” against terrorism, Swaminathan Natarajan of the BBC Tamil Service writes in the BBC News website, the most twisted and negative article, “ Sri Lanka’s east in shadow of war” .
This had been by and large the foreign media comments that had been, an on going journalist retching against all efforts of the Sri Lanka Government and its Army, through out the last two years in its successful military action against the terrorists.
This success story of the Sri Lanka Security forces will not be received well by the International Community and the British Colonialists. It is a well known fact that the British Colonialists practiced its- now famous divide and rule policy in the administration of its colonies. They tried it with great success in India.
To India they brought in Jinnah who was already engaged in the British politics, having left India after his famous 14 points were rejected by the Congress . The British probably had a hand in using him as a wedge, between the crack that was appearing between the two Communities in the course of India’s struggle for independence , and probably kept on striking on Jinnah the divisive desire, which finally resulted in the split between the Muslims and Hindus, and the formation of Pakistan by the break away Community of Muslims.
The British Colonialists failed to do the same in Sri Lanka before Sri Lanka was granted independence, and belatedly tried their best to put right their failure, by splitting Sri Lanka using the LTTE terrorists as the “wedge”, between the Sinhala and the Tamils.
The Tamil Diaspora most of who left Sri Lanka in 1983, espoused the terrorists’ demand for a separate Tamil Eelam, making the terrorists their heroes- freedom fighters. But the terrorists were nothing but a group organised by Prabhakaran to make a reality of his Eelam dream. It was the bitter memories with which the Tamil Diaspora, were made to wrench away from their bellowed motherland, that made them embrace the terrorist cause for a separate Tamil Eelam.
The interested parties who were looking forward for personal benefits that may “fall on them”, from a political separation of Sri Lanka, fanned the Tamil hatred against the Sinhala and Sinhala Buddhists. The communal uprising of the 1983, was not a Sinhala sponsored movement, there were other actors who played their part to make it take the aspect of a Sinhala-Tamil racial riot.
The Sinhala never had any grudge against the Tamils for the colonial manipulation of minority as a wedge, to keep the communities apart for the convenience of their colonial rule. The idea itself, of Sinhala Supremacists with a Mahawansa mindset, discriminating against the Tamil minority, is a completely false concept, created apparently by the Tamil intelligentsia, for reasons better known to them.
Of course, after the independence the Governments of Sri Lanka had taken measures to put right the colonial discrimination against the Sinhala, which had been instituted to keep the Sinhala Majority from rising against the British rule, along with the minority Tamils.
Those actions of the Sri Lanka governments, now condoned by the Tamil diaspora, were exagerated to distance the minority Tamils from the Sinhala, which resulted in the first uprising of the communal riots in 1957 after a Sinhala man was supposed to have been assassinated in the North. The subsequent communal rights were the distant results of the first. It is high time that these unfortunate deplorable events are forgotten, and the Sinhala and Tamil rise from the past errors, who ever was responsible to them, and begin to build a united nation of Sri Lanka.
The great victory of the Security Forces, over the disastrous terrorism, is no doubt also due to our President Mahinda Rajapakse, who allowed the Commanders of the Combined Security Forces to carryout their responsibilities in complete independence, without any interference.
The nearly three decades of terrorism have given a chance for each Community to reflect, and bury the wretched hatchets of discord, and unite together as brothers and sisters in this land where we were born, and live together as the children of one great family.

Don’t bring your wars to Canada, says the Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day

The Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, should be congratulated for his quite appropriate stand taken against those who raise funds for terrorist activities abroad. In allowing continued collections of funds for such activities the Canadian government itself indirectly contributed to terrorism in Sri Lanka, and other countries. Having understood this fact, the Minister Mr. Stockwell Days had taken a pertinent decision which is praiseworthy. This should be followed by other European countries as well, and specially Australia.

It is normal that those immigrants to foreign countries keep in contact with their home lands, and help their families, or the people of their country of origin by making voluntary contributions for their welfare.

The immigrants if accepted in to a country and given the citizenship of that country, are for all intents and purposes citizens of that country, whether it is Canada, France, and so on. Such citizens should abide by the laws of that country, and should not engage in any activity that would bring discredit to the adopted country. In Canada, a Canadian may be of Sri Lankan, Indian or Pakistan origin, but as a Canadian, he is integrated without distinction of his origin, colour, race, or religion. They can if they are interested in political activities join the political parties of the adopted country as any other citizen.

That is the wonderful liberty in foreign countries such as Canada, USA , France etc. In these countries there are no political parties. designated to Tamils, Indians , Filipinos etc., every one is a Canadian, or an American, and has the liberty to join the main political parties .

This, unfortunately, has not happened in Sri Lanka. The Tamils, and Muslims and Sinhala have their own political parties. Therefore, the main Communities in Sri Lanka, the Tamils, Sinhala and Muslims are politically, racially and socially, divided.

The terrorism in Sri Lanka is a result of this division. We should take an example from countries like Canada, and follow their political systems, and the Tamils, Sinhala and Muslims, should join the existing Political Parties which have no distinctive nomenclatures, such as Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim. That would give political equality to all communities, and will end communal antagonism. This is a way to bring about peace and Unity to Sri Lanka.

Therefore, the Canadian Tamils should refuse payments to extortionists, or willingly contribute to terrorist front organisations to kill, maim or cause suffering to men, women and children in Sri Lanka. They should instead advise all Tamils, both in Canada and Sri Lanka to Unite, and integrate into the political system of Sri Lanka as Sri Lankans without identifying themselves as Tamils.