Hi Jonathan Kay,
I read your article in the National Post with interest.
I am a moderate Singhalese living in the USA and I have always been quite bewildered by the Hate that even the "moderate" tamils have for the Singhalese. They talk of discrimination as you quote the Canadian/Tamil businessman as saying that they "hunger for revenge". He talks about "discrimination for many years". I am sorry, but I fail to see the discrimination he is talking about. Have you been to the city of colombo? Do you know that about 30% of the population in the city is people of Tamil origin? They live side by side with the Singhalese enjoy the benefits given to all the citizens irrespective of race, children go to Tamil schools travel in the same public transport without any discrimination and live in absolute harmony with their Singhalese brothers and sisters. The same applies to every other part of the country but the North where there is a predominance of Tamils.
I am not for a moment saying that everything is good in Sri Lanka and I am the first to admit that there are some areas where the majority Singhales must give some concessions to the Tamils. But these issues to my mind are minuscule and did not warrant an armed uprising. They talk about the 1958 riots and the 1983 disturbances. I admit that this was a low point in our history and I am sure the Singhalese are ashamed of the excesses that occurred during these periods. But remember that these were reactions to extreme provocation like;
1. LTTE attacking several villages in the North Central Province and killing hundreds of innocent civilians while they were asleep. They beheaded the entire population in the village, threw babies into fires and slit the stomachs of pregnant women and threw the fetus in the jungle.
2. They ambushed a busload of civilians, separated the Singhalese from the rest and shot them in cold blood by the roadside.
3. They attacked a Buddhist temple in the North Central Province and killed the head priest.
4. They ambushed and killed 13 soldiers in Jaffna.
Again, I do not condone the action of the Singhase during that time but what the Tamils fail to realize is that their entire armed struggle has been vicious and brutal.
I have many Tamil friends and have had several of them throughout my life.In fact my best friend when I was growing up and when I was a young man was a tamil and I would have laid down my life for him. We now live in separate countries and although we do not see each other often, my affection for him has not diminished. However now when I mingle with my Tamil friends, we diplomatically avoid discussing the situation in the country. This so very odd because during my younger days we would kid each other about our respective races, me having a jibe about his Tamil idiosyncrasies and vise versa. I think we are all far too sensitive to even try doing this now!
My personal views on the issue is that feelings have hardened on both sides over the last 26 years. Tamils were brain washed by the LTTE and other extreme elements to believe that they had a chance of creating their own country. This was a big thing for them. After all, remember this is supported by the entire Tamil population of the worrld. This is the largest single race in India. There are over 60 million Tamil people in India and perhaps another 10 million Tamils elsewhere which includes Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Mauritius, Africa, America, UK, Europe, Australia to name a few countries that they live in large numbers. I think they all support a separate state for themselves. Perhaps first in Sri Lanka and then extending to India?
Leaving that aside, I think the Sri Lanka Government must make a consorted effort to win the hearts and minds of the Tamil Diaspora after this war is over. We have no hatred towards our Tamil brothers and sisters and we must show them that we accept them with open arms as our equals. We only appose any attempt at separation.
Jivaka Atapattujivaka.atapattu@gmail.com
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