High time to address of the Tamil Community

(By Lenin Benedict – Toronto)

As the President of Sri Lanka clearly recognized in his victory speech upon the defeat of the LTTE, there can be only two groups in our motherland: those who are patriotic and their opposite – the two sides of the same coin. It is true that if a nation is to be strong, it needs more patriotic people than the unpatriotic.

The question is as to how you define each league. And, of course, how do you judge their patriotic and unpatriotic ways? Neither the President nor his Government has ever formed a set of guidelines to follow in order to be a patriotic; so it will be very hard to define a person in terms of patriotic credentials, particularly in Sri Lanka.

During the heyday of the LTTE, the brutal organization set out its own rules to identify traitors – anyone who are opposed to their modus operandi. The individuals who bundled into this unfortunate category came from all walks of life: people belonging to other political organizations who are opposed to the outfit; government officials who didn’t supports the LTTE; even people who supported various other organizations; individuals who simply held different views through multitude of schooling.

Although, these human beings descended into wolf den from different directions, the fate became the same – death by torture or firing squads.

The organization who introduced suicide bombing to the world of terror, was not short of painters either; the elements of this layer of the organization lost no time in painting otherwise descent human beings as traitors for things as trivial as offering food to its opponents or even talking to a soldier of the Sri Lankan army or the IPKF. That was the way the outfit governed what it called its own people.

In a conversation with a good friend and a person who stood by me in our fight against LTTE in Canada, I came to know about the recent political developments and change of policy by the President and his Government regarding the political solution on offer for the Tamil minority. While making comments about the wrong policy of the government and its long term impact, my friend assumed that I have fallen into a trap of Tamil nationalism.

It was really a serious conversation; but it did upset my friend who immediately branded me as a Tamil nationalist. The same friend has stood by me like a strong pillar when I fought vigorously against the Tiger Terrorism, against all odds. However, suddenly I have become a Tamil nationalist in his eyes. How come? There were always arguments from my side, that there should be a change in the mindset of the Tamil community. But, I started to feel nowadays that there should also be a change in the mindset of Sinhala community, for a pragmatic solution for the conflict.

As for Implementation of 13th Amendment of the constitution, I have come across some friends who were very dear to me in the days of opposing the LTTE propaganda, were very much displeased with this idea and went to the extent of breaking their friendship with me. Someone even wrote to me that his heart started bleeding when he read about my support for the 13th Amendment, which might makes the separation inevitable at some point in time.

And some were very sad about my support for the 13th Amendment and wrote me mails saying that they never expected this of me. So, do my Sinhala brothers expect me just to oppose the Tiger Terrorism and not to speak about a political solution to my own community? Are my highly-respected-and- trusted Sinhala brothers so partial towards their own community to at the expense of Tamil community? No doubt, the mindset of my Sinhala brothers also has to change like that of my Tamil brothers.

Our fierce fight against the Tiger Terrorism and its propaganda was not just an accident. It was based on principle: a policy decision to fight against Terrorism to bring Democracy to Tamil community and Peace to all communities in Sri Lanka.
The sacrifices made by many Tamils who were opposed to the Terrorist Ideology of the LTTE, have also contributed to the defeat of the LTTE in many ways.

Some have sacrificed their own lives and family members for their strong belief that Peace and Democracy is possible only after the LTTE was totally wiped out. Many of us have never entered the country of birth due to the threat of the LTTE. The entire Tamil community has politically suffered for decades and is longing for a permanent and sustainable political solution which might bring peace and democracy to the community in particular and to the country in general.

I was anticipating that there would be an initiative on the part of the majority community and our allies in the fight against Terrorism, for a solution for their minority brothers. But to my amazement, there is a big silence among dear brothers belonging to the majority community and the Diaspora who worked with us in fighting the LTTE.

Do the majority of the Sinhala community feel that it’s not the right time to talk about a political solution or it’s wrong to talk about political solution at all? Are the moderate and progressive Sinhala voices fearful for the reaction of the die-hards in their own community?

At the crucial time of the war against the powerful LTTE propaganda, our Sinhala brothers should understand that we moderate and progressive Tamils have clearly taken a very strong stand against the LTTE in the Diaspora, without the fear for consequences.

Is it fair to brand those who opposed the Tiger Terrorism fearlessly at the expense of life and family, as Tamil nationalists? Let’s hope that my Sinhala brothers in the Diaspora don’t fall prey to Sinhala nationalism instead of Sri Lankan Nationalism. They may not be able t defend themselves in front of Tamil nationalists if they do so.

By branding us unpatriotic or Tamil nationalist, they only help the LTTE proxies and supporters to gain more control over the Tamil community in the Diaspora.
Is that something that my Sinhala brothers want or expect?

The results of Jaffna municipal council and Vavuniya urban council elections are a clear indication of the strong grass root support for the Tamil nationalism. The victory of Tiger proxies poses a potential danger and threat to national unity.

Unless the problems of the Tamil community are addressed properly and an amicable solution is found while addressing the aspirations of the Tamil community, the threat for division will be alive.

To avoid the horrible things that happened in the past and stop the Tamil community from falling prey to communal forces, it’s our duty as moderate and progressive Tamil forces, to raise our voice for a political solution, which we believe that the 13th Amendment would bring about.

If someone does not believe that our goal and aim is to save and protect the Tamil community before they go back to communal politics of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), it’s not our fault.

If the worse comes to the worst, the moderate forces are not to be blamed. We leave it to future to decide on our behalf.

Let the history judge us. To me, supporting the country is much more patriotic than supporting the ruling party. We should not take the eye off the ball.

Long Live Sri Lanka! Long Live the Unity!