Page 1
2、行FāF唱
 

-r- 但 习 i 门 门 -F 塔 *~ 区 × >. 日

Page 2
2 TAM TIMES
TAPROBAN Sri Lank
APPOINTED
ë
夺●
፱y U° Emir AIRLINE OF TH
FLY TO COLC HEATHROW, GATWIC
AN Enjoy the delights of ECONO
AVAILABLE ONL
1. 35 Kgs Baggage allowance for a (WHILE TRAVELLING TOC FLys 2. Personal Video System with 15 foዘ” 3. Twenty-two(22) Audio channels CHOICE 4. Comfortable reclining seats with
5. Daily flights from Heathrow, five
& four(O4) from Gatwick.
AN
Duty Free Shopping in F
፤LY U° FLY TO CC
for
Before 25 M فقال
& We Will give you a TRIPt( FOR ANE)
&
A TRIP TO MELBOURNE F
For accurate information ATO Contact Our ŠZavesČongus.
84136 London Office - 4, Kingly
initi Tel: O171437 6272 VISA W Colombo Office - 252 Galle Re
WEEKENDPACKACE:FR
NCLUDESACCOMMOA
CONLY BE3BO (FACILITES:- FREEUSE OF GYM. 4072 I SONNES SRI LASKANKAR
 
 

15 FEBRUARY 1999
NE TRAVEL s
a Tours
FOR இந் 5
ateS
HE YEAR 1998 ം?
M
)MBO FROM "For
EK OR MANCHESTER
D MY CLASS on the Boeing 777*
ONCERTAIN SECTORS
adults + children 2 - 11 years' OLOMBO (SPORE ONLY)
V channels FLY TIS & Individual telephones. for
leg rest. STYLE
(O5) weekly from Manchester
D abulous Dubai Airport
OLOMBO “ሚ”ሡs
for
ARCH '99 *(.
SINGAPORE & JAKARTA TRA 50
OR AN EXTRA E100 ONLY
!, reservations and fares this: Kamini, Upali or Chris Street, London WIR 5LF
307434392, ENN
ORIA / fEDITETR EL - 0,860 - 39 83
DAYDINNER TO SUNDAYLUNCH ONUBOARD WIN-SHARING ASS
PSR PSRSON ASUM, SWIMMING POOL & DISCOTHEQUE
LLLLLL LLLL LLLLLLLL LL0LL L qALLL 000L0LL LLLLLLLL0L

Page 3
15 FEBRUARY 1999
ISSN 0266 - 44 88 Vol. XVI No. 2 15 FEBRUARY 1999
Published by: TAMILTMESLTD PO Box 121, Sutton, Surrey SM1 3TD United Kingdom Phone: 0181 644 0972 Fax: 0181 241 4557 Email: prajan(a)gn.apc.org
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION
UK/India/Sri Lanka........ w w - - - £15/US$25 Australia............................................... Aus$45
(Australian Bank cheques only) USÁ................................................................................................................... US$35 Canada................................................... CanS40 All other Countries....................... £20. USS35
Views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the editor or publishers. The publishers assume no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or artwork.
CONTENTS
A Culture of Violence 03 News Review 04 A Controversial Election O8 The National Question 13 The Sri Lankan ldentity 15 ICRC's Role 17
Politics of Cultural identity 18 Rajiv Murder - Fresh Probe? 24 Of Monkeys and Squirrels 25 The Reluctant Crusader 27 Classified 30
A Cut
The assum ernment undel that the politics by the United N the widespreac to the North ( among many, government
That large assaults and e tion campaign rigging by Way bogus votes. , group recorde 45 days of car of the violenci itself in that e\ returning to th malpractices e The oppos of the ruling p have claimed t In the after Wickremasing righteous indig ing mainly res. regime, of whi cal violence di was routinely not only the o activists and party thugs, bl the armed for cal Violence. D ment, recent ( political violer UNP leaders Sonnel from t during the NC its familiar pri
Recalling asserting the defence agai ruling PA, inc pated in mar government tions are free outcome. To malpractices an abdicatior ment and th( the eyes of til
One ass sion headed tion related recent electi( threat to der Would be th men, irrespe book and a
 
 
 

TAMIL TIMES
tion to power in 1994 of the Pedples Alliance (PA) govPresident Chandrika Kumaratunnga generated the hope of violence which characterised the previous 17-year rule ational Party (UNP) also would at last come to an end. But violence that accompanied the recent election campaign entral Provincial Council (NCP) has dashed that hope hcluding those who are generally sympathetic to the PA
number of incidents of violence, including intimidation, en murder, were Committed during the recently held elecis not in doubt. What is worse is the allegation of voteof impersonation and crude stuffing of ballot boxes with An interim report by an independent election monitoring | a staggering 675 incidents of violence that took place in paigning in the Province reflecting the scale and intensity !. One is compelled to ask whether history is repeating en under the present government the country is already e days of political violence, abuse of power and electoral xperienced under the previous UNP regime. tion parties, mainly the UNP, have accused the supporters arty of indulging in violence while government supporters hat the UNP too had resorted to violence. math of the election, the Opposition and UNP leader Ranil he cried foul and indulged in a pathetic display of selfnation accusing the government party supporters of beponsible for the violence. It was during the previous UNP ch Ranil Wickremasinghe was a leading figure, that politirected at the opposition during elections and other times practised. Such violence was so intense and pervasive that pposition political parties but also journalists, human rights academics were cowed into virtual silence. Not only the It also the forces of law and order including the police and ces were drafted into the practice of institutionalised politiespite its defeat in 1994 bringing into power a new governvents have shown that the UNP's legacy of the culture of ce still persists and appears endemic. The fact that the ip deployed some notorious and discredited former pere security forces to constitute so-called self-defence teams P election campaign demonstrates that it has yet to give up clivity to political violence. and citing the UNP's past record of violence or repeatedly democratic credentials of President Kumaratunga is no st the accusation that over-enthusiastic supporters of the uding some of its leading members in the province, particif incidents of violence during the election campaign. The as a constitutional and democratic duty to ensure that elecand fair and that the Will of the electorate is reflected in the permit the commission of acts of violence and electoral with impunity designed to subvert the will of the people is of its constitutional and democratic duty. Such a governje who lead it will soon lose their democratic Credentials in e people. nes that the appointment by the President of a Commisy a retired Judge to investigate into the allegations of elecolence and other malpractices that occurred during the campaign reflects a recognition on her part of the serious pcracy in Sri Lanka. And it is hoped that the investigation ough, impartial and not unduly prolonged and the guilty ive of their political or party affiliation, would be brought to ropriately dealt with.

Page 4
4 TAMIL TIMES
/
须
%
Elections to the Wayamba (NorthWestern Provincial Council) were held on January 25. Three independent election monitoring groups - the Movement for Free and Fair Elections (MFFE), the People's Alliance for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) and the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) - reported a series of events of intimidation and violence during the election campaign, leading up to large-scale violations of election law on election day. Accusations were primarily leveled by the UNP, the JVP and the New Left Front against the PA, by the PA against the UNP, and by the MULF against the SLMC. However, the extent of complaints against the PA, including accusations against MPs and even Cabinet Ministers, were the most serious. Following the declaration of the PA as the winner of the Wayamba elections, both the UNP and the JVP filed action in Court challenging the decision.
There were many protests from groups in Wayamba who had been intimidated and deprived of their right to vote, as well as from the monitoring groups and other independent observers. Some sections of the clergy of Wayamba, both Buddhist and Christian came out with strong statements decrying the violence and intimidation. The response of the PA was to launch a highly personalised attack on the monitoring groups, accusing them of being agents of the Opposition (the UNP) and of being funded from abroad. In addition, the Foreign Ministry went so far as to write officially to the diplomatic community in Colombo, asking them to refrain from commenting on the Wayamba elections. This in turn created a real furor in media circles.
The President was in Switzerland, attending the sessions of the World Economic Forum, during the elections. On her return Sri Lanka, she expressed her dissatisfaction with the manner in which the elections had been conducted, and said that all
those implicated during the electio ished, including h These sentiments her Independence February 4.
The President Committees, one t tions of miscondu tions, and the oth nges to the electic belying the rhetori ment of several PA been directly assc violent incidents a Wayamba Provinci The Wayamba sulted in creating a sis in Sri Lanka. O. PA’s reaction to monitoring groups level of confront with groups and in been supportive of On the other, rift within the PA itself the consequences of unfair practices Ministers have th record expressing the turn of event Ashraff was amon which is a constitu PA, also issued as the violence.
Human rights broader conseque. absence of minori and opinions withi In addition, they failure of Provincial cratic practice, suc PC elections, lead illusionment with the devolution of
Among the mo: of the Sri Lankan el emerge from an Wayamba PC elect ity of public offici; Returning Officers ficers at the variou and Police officials curity - to withstar
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

15 FEBRUARY 1999
n acts of violence ns would be punir own colleagues. were reiterated in
Day message of
lso appointed two o look into allegait during the elecr to propose chain laws. However, was her appointmembers who had ciated with some s Ministers in the al Council.
election has remajor political criin the one hand, the the independent has led to some ation developing dividuals who had the PA in the past. s have developed , as to how to face of the accusations . Several Cabinet 2mselves gone on their dismay with s. SLMC leader them. The LSSP, ent member of the tatesmen decrying
roups are raising nces, such as the y representatives the Wyamba PC. point out that the exercises in demoas the Wayamba o widespread disany proposals for 1ᎤᎳeᎢ. t critical problems 2ctoral system that analysis of the ons are the inabills - who serve as ad Presiding Of. polling stations - - who provide sel pressure and in
timidation from politically powerful individuals who prevent them from carrying out their lawful obligations as far as the polls process is concerned. Polls Monitors reported many instances where Police officers remained silent bystanders while the polls station was invaded by an armed gang who proceeded to grab ballot papers, mark them and stuff them into the ballot boxes, and other instances where Police had refused to entertain any complaints, especially those made by members of opposition parties and groups against the PA which is the party in power. In addition, the lack of space for the representation of minority opinions and points of view within the existing electoral structure has been proved once more by the results of the Wayamba election. While the Wayamba elections results were creating a furore, on January 28 the Supreme Court delivered a judgment which was a stunning indictment of interference in the work of the Elections Commissioner by the executive arm of the government. In its decision, the Court ordered the Commissioner of Elections to set dates for elections to the five Provincial Councils where elections should have been held in August 1998. This has led to many expressions of concern from many different quarters, especially those who voice fears of escalated repetitions of the violence and intimidation that was seen in the Wayamba. A Bill containing an amendment to election law, which would empower the Commissioner of Elections to allow Secretaries of parties concerned to alter the list of names of candidates in the nominations lists submitted for the August 1998 elections which were postponed, is now before Parliament. Certain sections of this Bill, according to a Supreme Court decision, have to be passed with a two-thirds majority.
The monsoon has brought military operations in the North and East to a virtual standstill. There have been several reports of civilian fatalities caused by aerial attacks made by the SLAF in the parts of the northern province that are close to the Jaffna peninsula. The shooting of a M24 helicopter on one such shelling mission was a grim reminder of the LTTE's acquisition of surface-to-air missile power in recent times. During January, there were also several clashes

Page 5
15 FEBRUARY 1999
between the Navy and the LTTE's Sea Tigers on the seas in and around Mullaitivu. Meanwhile, report of shortages of essential items continued to flow in from the Vanni.
The shortage of man and woman power continued to pose a major question to any military strategy that could be devised in the future. Following a number of amnesties and recruitment drives, in January the Defence Ministry announced that it would continue to prosecute deserters. However, in the case of any voluntary surrenders, those persons would be considered Absent without Leave and penalised accordingly.
The creation of a Joint Operations Bureau under the leadership of former Army chief Daluwatta and the bringing of this JOB under the authority of the National Security Council headed by the President seemed also to indicate some changes in decision-making structures within the Defence establishment.
Throughout January there has been speculation that the Ministry for Constitutional Affairs was pressing for the proposals for Constitutional Reform to be brought before Parliament without further delay. If this was done without achieving some accommodation from the UNP, however, it would probably lead to a defeat of the proposals, thus setting in motion an action plan that could include a nationwide Referendum on the proposals. The almost clandestine return of EPRLF leader and former Chief Minister of the North-East Province, Varatharaja Perumal from India also fuelled speculation regarding the government’s latest agenda with regard to the peace process.
There has also been some degree of speculation about the EPDP’s objectives behind taking over the rebuilding of a statue to Sivakumaran (the first cyanide suicide) at Urumpirai in Jaffna, and PLOTE’s objectives in distributing calendar with a graphic depicting a battle between a lion and a tiger.
The level of violence in presentday Sri Lanka has been cited as a cause for concern by the Police Department. According to statistics compiled by the Police Department, there were l l 57 murders in Sri Lanka in 1998, of which only 247 were reported from the North and East. They also said there were alarming in
creases in cases robbery.
Amnesty Intel to press the issue centres operating dressing its conc ment as well as tc Urgent Alerts it ha over 15 names o have been reporte missing in the Va cape of one detair to many revelatio Norwegian Se foreign Affairs, M Lanka during Jan ings with governm as with represer political opinions Foreign Minister Australia to carr paign to appeal prevent the LTTE fund-raising anc tions in their col also several disc sentatives of the following reports smuggling arms a chased in Cambc coast via Thailan
WAYAMBA ELE Following th elections to the Council at the enc ipala Jayaweera, the Sri Lanka Ad was appointed G ince on January : created by the si the former Gove) awala.
The election ced in earnest in ary. The Wayam of 2 Districts, K lam, with a tota There were 446 for election, wit vincial Council Kurunegala, 15 nuS Seats.
There were ter-allegations violence levelle ties. A detailed linked to thes documented by election-monito EL and MFFE. observations r as well as the

TAMLL TIMES 5
rape and armed
tional continued fillegal detention in Vavuniya, adms to the governPLOTE. In several compiled a list of Tamil youth who as abducted and niya area. The ese from a camp led s in this regard. retary of State for Lunde, visited Sri ary and had meet2nt officials as well atives of various Also in January, Kadirgamer visited on with his camo world leaders to from establishing propaganda secntries. There were issions with repreThai government, that the LTTE was nd ammunition purbdia on to the East d.
CTION
e announcement of Wyamba Provincial of January, Mr. Sira senior member of ministrative Service, vernor of the Prov, filling the vacancy dden resignation of nor Hector Araww
2ampaign commene first veek of Janua Province consists runegala and Puttaof 1,359,295 voters. :andidates standing 52 seats in the Prop for grabs - 35 in , Puttalam and 2 bo
legations and counf intimidation and at all political parIrvey of the violence elections has been e CMEV, while both ng groups, PAFFRave made their own arding the violence olation of election
laws. Among some of the key incidents reported were :
January 02: SLMC office in Viruthodai, Puttlam set on fire, January 05 : The house UNP candidate Gamini Dissanayake was shot at, January 10 : The UNPoffice in Mawatagama attacked by armed gang, the office was badly damaged, January 12 : 384 official polling cards were seized at gunpoint in Mundel, Puttlam District, on the very first day of distribution, January 13 : attack on Patrick Fernando and other members of the New Left Front, January 16 : UNP supporter T. Siva killed, January 19 : JVP meeting attacked at Pannala, about ten people injured; January 20 : PA office at Andigama Junction in Anamaduwa attacked, PA supporter Wijedasa assaulted at Meegalewa; January 21 : Kurunegala District UNP MP D.M. Bandaranayaka complains of death threats, VN
The violence during the election campaign resulted in 3 deaths. One of them, of PA Gamini Weerasinghe, was reported to have occurred as a misfire. The most disturbing of the reports was the one from Mawatagama, where the body of a youth who was abducted by persons identified as belonging to the security forces was found dumped a few days after his abduction. Assault and sexual abuse of several women and children were also reported. The reports of the monitoring groups have detailed information on all these cases.
Throughout the election period, the monitoring groups, religious leaders and other independent observers appealed for a cessation of the violence and intimidation. On January 21, a few days before the elections, the Chief prelate of the Wayamba Sangha Sabhawa (the highest Buddhist authority for the Province) along wit over 30 other Buddhist monks and priests of Catholic, Muslim and Hindu religions issued a joint appeal to the President, to the Leader of the Opposition and to the Chief Ministerial candidates of all the groups standing for election, calling on them to ensure peaceful elections. The statement expressed concern regarding the escalation of election related violence in

Page 6
6 TAM TIMES
Wayamba, and in particular regarding the entry of various underworld thugs into the Wayamba area. The statement issued by the Civil Rights Movement of Sri Lanka called on the voters of the Wayamba not to vote for any candidate who resorts to violence or encourages acts of hooliganism.
The Police Department too was involved in monitoring election-related violence in the Wayamba. On January 21, IGP Kodituwakku announced that on the basis of their information, the Police had made an assessment of which areas tended to display a propensity for violence and had decided to provide special security for certain polling stations. Accordingly, 357 of the 1,162 polling booths in the Wayamba Provincial Council election had been selected for the provision of special police security. He also said that all policemen covering polling booths were to be armed.
On January 19, a group of several key Colombo-based diplomats visited the Wayamba Province on a fact-finding mission. While there, they met with Senior PA and UNP politicians involved in the ongoing campaign. The diplomats visited several trouble spots such as Wariyapola, Kuliyapitiya, Ridigama and Anamaduwa to see for themselves the situation prevailing there.
They also elicited information on the disturbances from local residents and had discussions with Christian and Buddhist dignitaries, representatives of organizations monitoring the elections as well as political parties.
CVLANLIFE INTHE NORTHAND EAST
North :
The situation in the Jaffna peninsula remained tense, with frequent clashes between the LTTE and the military creating a sense of insecurity in the community in general. Development work such as the rebuilding of roads has come to halt due to rain. The landmine eradication programme set up by the UNDP is still in its awareness-raising phase, with the actual clearing of landmines due to start in April. Statistics from the Jaffna hospital showed that there had been a reduction in the number of persons wounded by landmines, from l l l in 1997 to 40 in 1998. The Council of NGOs in Jaffna District, headed by
Mr. Ganeshalinga active, making ré tions to the gove various problems ian population C Among the issues on are : the diffic fishing community ban on fishing in peninsula; the fac dren under 5 in t been detected to su ishment, the fact th istrar of Births an ing in Jaffna, that of over 500 perso sector in Jaffna.
In the context tensions, people h address made by E Thomas Savudran he appealed for pe lar called on the L extremist position: There were se vilian deaths repor ninsula in the mo Selvamalar (36) w mnarachchi on Jan cil member for V Anthony (26) was Jaffna on January P. P. Nishan was LTTE in Kopay; " shot dead by the curfew, one, Kavit Chavakachcheri c the other, Divya dead in Gurunaga PLOTE leader T. ( shot dead on Hosp town in broad dayl On January 30, a 2 others were kille from Pooneryn. have been severa essed to the Antimittee in Colomb pearances of yout the names mention istie Johnson Bas Sinnathamby Thav Pararajasingham B kam,
The resumptic between Jaffna an vate individuals v sense of relief by been waiting for portunity to travel fact that the fligh the SLAF could of lem for travelers. F

15 FEBRUARY 1999
m, continues to be gular representarnment regarding faced by the civilof the peninsula. they have focused ulties faced by the by the continuing some parts of the t that 22,473 chilhe peninsula have uffer from malnourhat there is no Regd Deaths functionthere is a shortage innel in the health
of the prevailing ailed the New Year Bishop of Jaffna Dr. ayagam, in which ace and in particuTE to abandon its
S. veral reports of cited from Jaffna penth of January. C. as skilled in Vadauary 4, Town Counelvetithurai, Jacob killed in Nelliady, 13, On January 23, shot dead by the Two persons were army for violating nasan was killed in bn January 23 and nathan, was shot r on January 24, a handramohan was ital Street in Jaffna ight on January 25. Christian priest and 2d in a shell attack In addition, there complaints addr-Harassment Como, alleging disapn in Jaffna, among ed have been : Chrilraj of Gurunagar, araja of Nallur and askaran of Chunna
»n of air transport d Colombo for priwas greeted with a
persons who had months for an opback and forth. The ts are operated by course pose a probHELITOURS began
operating one flight a day from Colombo to Jaffna and back, with the same rules regarding Defence Ministry clearance for travelers applying as before.
Vanni :
Although there were no major military operations in January, there was a severe clash between the LTTE and Sri Lankan security forces in Mankulam in the first week of January. The biggest clashes, however, were at sea, in and around Mullaitivu,
Complaints of shortages of essential items - food, drugs and fuel including kerosene - continued to be a main focus of reports from the Vanni. A report from the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) in Kilinochchi stated that 52% of the children under 5 in welfare centers in the Kilinochchi District were malnourished. The resurgence of malaria in the Vanni was another area of concern.
East : Electricity was restored to Batticaloa on January 13, Thaiday. Reports in January indicated that the LTTE had turned its attention to disrupting telecommunications, several small telephone communication boxes within Batticaloa town itself were blown up during the month.
There continued to be clashes between the LTTE and the military. In Eravurpattu, one person (N. Sabanayagam) was killed when a group of persons transporting a patient to hospital in a bullock cart during curfew hours was shot at by military personnel at an army checkpoint. On January 8, Kanapathippillai Alakaiya (64), father of 3, was shot dead by unknown persons at in Eravur, on January 18, Ehamparam Anantharajah (17) of Mylampaveli was shot dead by unknown people at Saththurukkondan in Batticaloa.
At the end of January, there was a clash between the army and the LTTE in Mankerny in Valaichenai, following this incident, the army shelled the area and 2 civilians were reportedly to have been injured.
The ship LANKA MUDITHA has begun plying between Trincomalee and Jaffna carrying over 1200 passengers on each trip. It is hoped that this will relieve some of the pressures on people who have been stranded on both sides, waiting for the transport situation to improve.

Page 7
15 FEBRUARY 1999
TAMLS IN THE SOUTH
Following the blasting of several transformers in Colombo (2 in Pettah and 3 in Kotahena) plus the discovery of several more bombs strapped on to transformers, there has been heightened surveillance of the Tamil community in particular living in Colombo Central and in the KotahenaModera area.
The National Front against Terrorism held a meeting in Colombo at the Pubic Library Hall on January 12, and released its National Plan of Action against Terrorism. Among the most reprehensible of the proposals set out in this Plan are : the issuing of special Identity Cards to Tamils who have come from the north or east to the south; the holding of entire families responsible for whatever terrorist acts are committed by any one member of the family, setting up armed paramilitary task forces within public and private sector institutions and creating 100 paramilitary villages in the border areas. In a newspaper distributed at the same meeting, they published a list of names of those identified as traitors to the Sinhala nation, the names of several persons working at INFORM were on the list. In addition, in that newspaper, there was a warning issued to all patriotic citizens’ to watch out for Tamil infiltration into Sinhala neighborhoods, with a call to attack and drive out any intruders, especially singling out persons who come around to collect old bottles and newspapers (the ragpickers of society) who are most often Tamil.
On January 19, Tamil political detainees at Kalutara Prison once again launched a fasting campaign to call attention to their plight. The detainees situated themselves on the roof of the Kalutara Prison. There continue to be reports of the transfer of the Tamil prisoners to Boosa in Galle but
INVOLUNTARY REMOVAL AND DSAPPEARANCE OF PERSONS
On Monday January 3, the Secretary of this Presidential Commission, Mr. M.C.M. Iqbal, released a statement to the press in which it cited the Registrar of Deaths as having so far received 18,136 applications for death
certificates on beh sons. The Secreta that an interim rep by the Commissic 3.12.98.
The Commissic by Mrs. Manouri Attorney-at-Law, brought before it w In January, the sittings in Matara Buttala, and heard sions.
According to eral, over 100 mer have already been ments before Mag High Courts on thi monies heard by th all the AG’s Dep they have looked which there had garding involvem the Police and the a appearances whic 1988 to 1990. Ofth had been served in summary proceed dered in Magistrat detailed for furthe the CID, and 103 v to lack of evidenc
LABOUR AGTA The Governm ers' Association ( to strike on Januar drew this action sions with Health There is a great ( levels in the heal the recommendat Task Force which the President in 19 other workers o
ዝጠnni| Fom
wish to paylrent lam sending you ag. Please send an int.
enclose a donatior
of................... Name
Address..................
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

TAML TIMES 7
f of missing perhas also stated rt was submitted to the press on
l, which is headed Muttettuwegama, lad 10, 135 cases en it started work. 'ommission had , Hambantota an over 500 submis
ne Attorney Genbers of the Police served with indictstrates Courts and
basis of the testie Commissions. In artment says that into 283 cases in peen evidence rent of members of rmed forces in dish took place from ese, 75 indictiments High Court. 45 noings had been ore Courts. 60 were er investigation by vere discharged due
-* w
TION nt Medical OfficGMOA) threatened y 17 and later withfollowing discusMinistry officials. eal of unrest at al h sector regarding ons of the Health was appointed by 28. The GMOA and
ganisations in the
Annual Subscription Rates
my subscription for one year/two years/three years
subscription on behalf of. luctory copy to
tik/indiaStitankă. Australia. As $4500 (Australian Bank cheques only) .
Sanada. Carn$4336 Atother Countries: £2000AUSS3500
f............... My chequeldraft/M.O. in favour of Tamil Times Ltd is to the total value
...Pos Code.
health sector are demanding that matters relating to transfers, promotions and personnel matters be handled by the Cabinet, and not be devolved to the regionas. In particular the GMOA has stated its opposition to what it calls interference by the Special President Advisor on Social Infrastructure, Dr. Tara de Mel, under whose aegis the Health Task Force functioned.
VTOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN:
During the elections, there were several complaints of harassment and abuse of women who were candidates, or supporters of political parties. The JVP complained of the intimidation of several women who had been appointed to work as Polling Agents for the JVP on election day. A woman campaigner for the UNP was assaulted and had her clothes torn in the process, while another women who was a UNP supporter claimed that acid had been thrown on her while she was engaged in campaigning for the candidate of her choice.
On January 27, a report from Iyankerni, a Muslim village south of Batticaloa, said that 3 women had heir heads forcibly shaved and were then tied to lamp-posts as a punishment for immoral behaviour. Observers said the Jihad group was responsible, and added that all 3 of the women concerned had been working in West Asia previously. While the details of the case are not clear, this incident sends out a warning signal about the rise of fundamentalist ideas among the Muslim community of the Eastern Province and also points to the increasing problems faced by women in such situations.
50US$2500
Deleteing whichever IS Inapplicable
(BLOCKCAPITALSPLEASE)
Tel.No

Page 8
8 AM TES
ACONTROVERS
ELECTION
D BS Jeyaraj
he results of the recently concluded Provincial Council elections to Wayamba or the NorthWestern Province in Sri Lanka indicate that the ruling People's Alliance Government led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga has registered an impressive victory. It would however be difficult for the impartial observer to describe the result as a success for the PA in view of allegations of widely prevalent violence and vote rigging. Grandiloquent pronouncements by PA leaders about their sweeping win tend to sound hollow when contrasted against charges levelled by the chief opposition, United National Party, other political parties like the JVP, NSSP etc along with election monitoring bodies and religious dignitaries. The conduct of the controversial poll has undermined to a great extent the credit claimed by the government and has raised serious questions of credibility,
The North-Western Province consists of the hinterland Kurunegala and littoral Puttalam districts. During the recent poll Kurunegala had 960,241 voters divided into fourteen electoral divisions while Puttalam had 398,055 in five polling divisions. Kurunegala had 800 polling booths and 82 vote counting centres as opposed to Puttalam with 360 booths and 36 counting centres. The Wayamba Provincial Council comprised 52 seats including 35 for Kurunegala and 15 for Puttalam. A further bonus of two additional seats would accrue to the party polling the most number of votes. The current election recorded 30 including two bonus seats for the PA, 19 seats for the UNP and 3 for the left wing Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberation Front). The JVP has waged two abortive armed insurrections against the state in the early seventies and late eighties.
In Kurunegala the PA polled 405,431 votes or 56. 16%, the UNP 273,892 or 37.94%, and the JVP31,221
or 4, 32%. Accord ing scheme of pr sentation the PA UNP 13 and the J the PA gained 160 56.97%, the UNP and the JVP 10,759 basis the PA got JVP 1 in Puttalam.
At face value ing in office for fo has seemingly not customary anti-il and has recorded cess with an enha elections to the l the North-Wester March 1997 the IPA in Kurunegala and The UNP got 276, and 104,802 in Putt liamentary electio ceiving 366,756 o negala while the U or 47. 1%. In Put 150,609 got 53. 127,671 or 45.5%.
The previous e provincial council i in the lead with 44 (269,768) in Kuru Puttalam (122,830 (22 1,896) in Kur (89.355) votes. Th third force name United National F1 had 117,893 or 19% 26,203 or 11% in DUNF With PA b the first administra NWP. In 1994 a DUNLF joined til other faction alig After the split the Provincial Counci ing from some DU election saw a furt while DUNF withs going over to the U Srimani Athulatl with the PA. In sp litical estrangem

15 FEBRUARY 1999
ling to the prevailoportionate repregot 20 seats, the VP 2. In Puttalam, ,722 of the votes or 105,876 or 37.53% 9 or 4.03%. On this 8, the UNP 6 and
the PA despite beur and a half years suffered from the incumbency factor tremendous sucnced voter base. In ocal authorities to n Province held in A obtained 349,300 60.615 in Puttalam. 675 in Kurunegala alam. The 1994 Parns saw the PA re5. 09% in KuruNP gained 332,577 talam the PA with 6% and the UNP
lection to the NWP n 1993 had the UNP % of the total vote negala and 50% in ). The PA got 36% unegala and 37% ère was, however, a y the Democratic ont (DUNF) which 6 in Kurunegala and uttalam. It was the acking that set up tion in 1993 in the segment from the he UNP while the ned with the PA. UNP captured the again with backNF members. This hersplit in the erstome more members NP while its leader mudali remained te of an earlier poent she appeared
along with Kumaratunga on platforms during the campaign.
An interesting fact that provides a penetrating insight into the voting trends was the postal voting pattern. Contrary to the overall trend of a PA sweep the postal voting done by government servants from the province displayed a different shade of opinion. In Kurunegala district it was the UNP that got the highest 5,715. The PA came second with 5,482 and the JVP third with 505. In Puttalam the PA topped with 1,469 but the UNP came a close second with 1,287 and the JVP third with 132. Thus it was the UNP that led in terms of postal voting by a flimsy 51 in the whole province. It has been the norm in most elections for the pattern of postal voting to reflect the overall trend of voting without much difference. But in this case the end results showing a gross distortion of the postal voting pattern itself lent much credence to the allegation of vote rigging by the PA.
Although fraudulent voting patterns have been clearly visible it would not be correct to assume that the PA victory has been due to this factor entirely as charged by opposition parties. In the same context the UNP debacle too cannot be attributed to this feature alone. PA Minister in charge of the media, Mangala Samaraweera as well as Sirisena Cooray, former UNP Minister and right hand man of the late president Premadasa have posed the pertinent query as to how the UNP managed to poll nearly 38% of the vote if in fact mas rigging occurred on an unprecedented scale as charged by the UNP. The logic in these statements point to the fact that despite the violence and fraud it has been possible for sufficient quantities of genuine voting too. Nevertheless that alone is no criterion to whitewash the mass scale irregularities that marred the poll and say that it was a free election.
It cannot be denied that sections of the PA did indulge in illegal manoeuvres to increase their votes while correspondingly decrease the tally of their opponents. Yet it is also clearly established that the PA using all the resources at the Command of a party in Power aged an intensive propaganda campaign too. The chief plus point in the PA campaign was the intensive campaigning done by Kumaratunga who visited each and every

Page 9
15 FEBRUARY 1999
Polling division in the province staging 19 mass rallies. She remains the single most popular mass figure among Sinhala politicians and is the greatest vote gathering asset of the PA.
In addition to Kumaratunga several senior ministers of her government also engaged themselves vigorously in the poll campaign. The people of the province found themselves beneficiaries of several progressive measures and promises including jobs for unemployed graduates to speedy and efficient buses and trains. A vast number of election pledges including a separate University etc were also given. People attending rallies in which Plantations Minister found themselves being presented with coconut plants. Kurunegala, Puttalam and Polgahawela form the Coconut Triangle” in Sri Lanka. Thus the present of coconuts was very well appreciated. But this was clearly a flagrant violation of election law.
Thus the PA being in power was in a position to persuade the moneybags of the area to part with massive donations which in turn were channelled to the lower echelons in the form of financial incentives. PA ministers in charge of the campaign were able to coax, cajole and coerce oodles of rupees. Ministers who hailed from Matara district in particular were more able in this respect. This factor was certainly helpful to these ministers in tapping the Wayamba Business Community because most of them have their roots in the deep South too.
The North Western Province has the highest rate of war casualties among the seven Sinhala Provinces. The poverty and unemployment in this illdeveloped Province has made soldiering the main avenue of employment for the youths. Kumaratunga in her campaigning did strike a responsive chord when she alluded to this. She made it clear that her government had a concrete plan to end the war and that it was being delayed because of the UNP. The customary salutations to the fallen'heroes' were also made. Another point in this respect was the pledging of a huge amount of money for future development of the Province. It was also pinpointed that in spite of the UNP ruling the province for nearly ten years no meaningful development was made. The PA campaign spearheaded by Kumaratunga made ample use of the past negative
record of the UN massive human ri leashed in the Pro Chief Minister ar candidate Gamini era does not have in the sphere of aspect was exploi The UNP pla by displaying on holy trinity assoc the human rights South. These wer Udugampola and retired Army Gene The reasons behil is perplexing. It tended to demons elements of the PA tough too. If that one can only say pletely. The North has suffered terril seeing these evil ienated voters fro) In contrast to the UNP campaig ibility and relied and house to hou cause of Kumara red campaigning too was compellec UNP leader Ran lacked the charisr Kumaratunga, wh was forceful in a cies and promise suffered from a s project what he leader adroitly p comings in the go to drive home to proposed to do tc on. The resolutio) lem being a prin Wickremasinghe conviction, a ke to inspire people party. He could o he was against t ently state what The UNP a choice of its Chi ant too. Jayawi been Chief Mini his minus points ted clearly durin ce. The PA car Nawinna, a scio ily. The mild ma unassumingly pc with his counte UNIP sections ol

TAMIL TIMES 9
'. Particularly the hts violations unince. Former UNP its current chief ayawickrema Peran enviable image uman rights. This ed to the hilt. ed into PA hands heir stage an unated closely with violations of the former policemen Gomes along with ral, Lucky Algama. d this UNP move may have been intrate to the violent that the UNP was was the motive then it backfired com-Western Province »ly in the past and icons” naturally aln the UNP.
the PA campaign in lacked high vison pocket meetings se canvassing. Betunga“ s highpowe, Wickremasinghe l to follow suit. The il Wickremasinghe na of his opponent, ereas Kumaratunga ticulating her polis. Wickremasinghe ingular inability to tood for. The UNP npointed all shortvernment but failed the voters what he remedy the situatito the ethnic problary example. Thus s politicking lacked element necessary into voting for your ily say clearly what ut could not coherhe stood for. o suffered on the f Ministerial aspirkrema Perera had ter earlier. As such had been spotlighhis tenure of offilidate was Sarath of a business famnered Nawinna was ular in comparison art. Moreover prothe media launched
a vicious personal attack on Nawinna during the campaign. A development that only added sympathy votes for him. Jayawickrema Perera created more difficulties for himself by boasting that the election was a contest between himself and Chandrika Kumaratunga. Pitting himself against Kumaratunga albeit on home turf was a monumental blunder.
There was also the fact of divisions within the party. Wickremasinghe has been unable to wield a firm and cohesive leadership like his predecessors Premadasa, Dissanayake or Jay-ewardene. Factionalism is rampant. It was rumoured that there were differences between Wickremasinghe and Jayawickrema Perera too. This debilitated the UNP campaign.
Another factor was that it was the PA that was ruling as the Central Government. It was not clear to the Wayamba voter that even if the North Western Province voted for the UNP that act by itself would lead to a government change. On the contrary voting for the UNP under a PA government that may continue in office for a while would be detrimental to the interests of the Wayamba children of the soil. Voting for an all island regime change during Parliamentary elections as compared to voting at a Provincial poll is likely to have different impact on voting patterns in a relatively undeveloped region.
Given these reasons there are some analysts who feel that even if the campaign had been clean and devoid of violence the PA may still have won but with a smaller margin. An example cited is the electoral district of Bingiriya where thanks to the decent yet strong PA party apparatus a comparatively clear election took place. There the PA got a majority of more than two thousand but nowhere near the ten thousand plus gained in other places. Bingiriya was a point in favour of both viewpoints. It demonstrated that even without rigging the PA could have won. At the same time it proved the UNP argument that the PA had rigged polls in its favour because a thumping majority was not possible here.
It has been reported that Kumaratunga herself had been critical of her henchmen for Sullying through violence a poll that would have yielded victory for the PA. Thanks to the violence and fraudulence the lustre of

Page 10
10 TAMIL TIMES
the PA success has been irredeemably dimmed. There is no denying that the enhanced majority it gained was to some extent at least due to the violently illegal atmosphere prevailing before and during election day although quantifying it in definite terms is not possible. If this prognosis is correct then it is indeed unfortunate that this state of affairs has been allowed to tarnish the PA victory and erode its credibility greatly.
The run up to polling day was a pointer of things to come. The efficient and impartial Police Chief of the area Abeygoonewarde was transferred out and another Jayewardena installed. More than 40 senior policemen were also transferred out. The Provinces Governor too resigned gracefully and was replaced by another. Even as the campaign proceeded hundreds of armed men all claiming to be henchmen attached to prominent figures of the PA turned up in the Province. In addition the indigenous violent elements also began flexing muscles. The most notorious personality was a PA member ofParliament, Dassanayake, nicknamed Thalagoya' (Iguana) against whom there are many court cases including murder charges in progress. His wife was a candidate this time.
Independent observers noted that prior to the poll the province was a sea of blue” (the PA colour). There was no sight of Green” (The UNP colour) very few posters or flags of the UNP were visible. In spite of 15,000 policemen being deployed in the Province during the campaign they were more or less bystanders while violence and intimidation occurred on a widespread scale. UNP supporters were prevented in most places from canvassing for votes. Two deplorable incidents were where the children of a UNP candidate were forced to Swallow cowdung and crawl on the road. The other was where a group of UNP supporters including women were stripped naked and compelled to run on the road. All these were done at gunpoint.
An interim report was issued by the non-governmental organisation, the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence, some days before polling day. That portrayed the qualitative nature of pre-elections violence. Some salient points are as follow:-
1. This election is proportionately
more violent (in te incidents) than the elections of 1997. dents were recorde the present campai 44 days of the cam tal of 335 incidents the same geograph 2. The incident alitatively more ser ported at the local tions for the same F nce, allegedly, two tempted murders, jury, 175 assaults, 18 reports of arsor in the Provincial Co compared with or tempted murders, t jury, 84 assaults, four acts of arson local government
3. This campai significant increas persons whose part not been identifie with the 1997 electi against the PA and a slight decline an tively The JVP's sł lations has decline cal and percentage 4. A significan campaign is the ri alleged violations ups or parties. The reflects the polari the PA and UNP t Whereas in 1997 5. aints were against the IPA and UNP, i paign the two part unt for all but 0.7% against perpetrator filiations have bee 5. The number ainst persons of u filiation has increa figure of 25.67% te This reflects a shar to l99 incidents.
6. Within the D gala and Puttalam, Kuliyapitiya, Maw; duwa and Puttalam est number of inci 53, 40 and 34 resp
7. 49 incidents tal recorded involv arms, which is hig age for the local tions.
8. In the poli

15 FEBRUARY 1999
rms of numbers of local government A total of 675 incid in the 45 days of gn, whe-reas in the paign in 1997 a towere reported from ic area. S reported are quious than those regovernment elecorovince. For instamurders, nine at40 incidents of in28 robberies and have taken place ouncil campaign as he murder, no aten incidents of in14 robberies, and in the run-off to elections. gn has recorded a e in violations by ty affiliations have d. In comparison ons, the allegations UNP have shown d increase respecare of alleged viod both in numeri
terms. t difference in this lative absence of against other grototal violence thus sed aggression of owards each other. 07% of the complgroups other than n the present camies together acco6 of the allegation 's whose party afn identified. of complaints agnknown party afsed from the 1997 29.48% in 1999. p increase from 86
istricts of Kurunethe police areas of thagama, Anamarecorded the highdents totalling 52, actively.
or 7.26% of the toed the use of fireher than the avergovernment elec
xe areas of Ana
maduwa, Wariapola, Kobeigane, Giribawa, Kuliyapitiya, Puttalam, Rambodagalla, the PA has allegedly been responsible for more than two-and-a- half times the number of violations than the UNP, and the number of incidents recorded in each is over 15. In Gokaralla the UNP has allegedly committed twice the number of violations than the PA has. Gokaralla and Maho are the only police areas, in which the total number of incidents exceeds 15, with a significant increase in violence allegedly by the UNP
9. 22 individuals have been named in complaints made to the police. Of these, D Dm Dassanayake, Pa Member of Parliament for the Puttalam District, has been cited as the alleged perpetrator in 13 incidents, one of which is a case of injury, 2 assaults, 4 allegations of threat and intimidation, one robbery, two acts of mischief and 3 threats, of the others Anthony Maximus (PA) is the accused in 5 incidents, Sarah Nishantha (PA) in four and M Thaha Anoss alias Anju (UNP) in five incidents, including one attempted murder and two cases of injury. Notable is the fact that two UNP MP's from outside the Province (Susantha Punchinilame & AMS Adhikari) have been accused of alleged violence.
The extent of the violence was visible before, during and after the Polls. The police recorded 1,364 complaints regarding incidents of violence and election malpractice since the campaign was launched on 7 December. Of these 846 were from 7 December to 24 January while 578 were on 25 January or election day. Independent monitoring bodies such as CMEV and PAFFEREL too registered complaints in four digits. According to the figures recorded by the election monitors there were 394 complaints against the PA, 66 against UNP, and one against the JVP on the day of the poll. Two complaints were made against the police. In 199 cases the victims had been unable to identify the perpetrators. There were 31 postpoll incidents. Eight were against the PA, 12 against the UP and one against the JVP. Victims could not identify the violent elements in ten cases.
The election monitors also received 1,693 complaints in the pre-poll period. 851 were against the PA, 304 against the UNP, one against the JVP, two against the police and 528 against

Page 11
15 FEBRUARY 1999
unidentifiable unknown persons. Of these 1,000 complaints were from 7 December to the commencement of the last week before elections. The last week saw 693 complaints.
The UNP alleged rigging in more than 600 polling booths. It complained justifiably that its polling and counting agents were chased away by PA gangs. Several journalists too witnessed intimidation and vote rigging. Two monitoring bodies the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence and the Peoples Action Front for Free and Fair Elections also issued reports confirming the Vote rigging and condemning the polls exercise. There were many instances where stuffing of ballot boxes was done openly with scant regard for the observing monitors. The PAFFEREL declared that the elections were irretrievably flawed' and wanted the election cancelled. The response of some PA ministers was bizarre. They accused the independent bodies of being UNP stooges and in a facetious counter charge said that it was the defeated UNP that had rigged the polls.
The most severe indictment came from the Catholic Church. There is a strong concentration of Catholics along the seaboard in Puttalam district. The Catholic Archbishop, Nicholas Marcus Fernando, himself a son of the Wayamba soil was unprecedeintedly harsh on the government. Addressing a prize-giving at the Catholic College of St Peters in Colombo, the Archbishop made a hard-hitting speech that portrayed his sense of grief and frustration at the recent development. Excerpts of his speech are as follows.:-
“I wish to touch upon a subject which is of great topical and national interest. A few days ago we had an election if indeed it can be called an election in the northwestern Province. Surviving that event was like winning a war. We heard people speaking of violence and fraud in the past. Certainly nobody justifies wrong doings of the past. But there is so much that is ugly, hypocritical and immoral in the present, that there is no need to hark back to the past. Violence and fraud can never be justified. We want deeds, not words.
“On Monday 25 January this year the people of Wayamba (Northwest) woke up from their sleep and suddenly realised that they had become sec
ond class citizens c political purposes right to vote had from them. It was to fifty years of ir Lanka. The peopl mand, as their rig
“One should any governing b power by blatantl win the respect o such a body mora fabric of our natic apart. We cannot dread to think of \ to our country if few more exercise ple will lose all democratic process ing a prolonged w east. An unfortu this war is the cult is gradually grippi long as the war la ric and political jc and fire-arms, its killings we cannot ing this culture ending the war is Marred elections, frustration, are no process,” the Art
The Catholic ce as well as the : reiterated their crit ct of the Wayamba pendence Day m In spite of the ling polls the elec Dayanda Dissana He himself stated powered under th gal opinion was d the Commission have the power cedure. One thing Dissanayake is n elections Chief). instructed by P1 nga, did exercise respects. Incid Court has criti Chief severely fo with Presidentia poning elections other Provincial ( gency provision In the case ( officials of 212 ( Puttalam) polli formed the Cor vote rigging coi boxes. Nine ba

TAMIL TIMES 11
Sri Lanka. For all their democratic been taken away n ironic memorial ependence in Sri of Wayamba de, a fresh election. onestly ask: Can dy that grabbed unethical means the governed? Is y legitimate? The hal life is coming go on like this. I hat would happen ve were to face a of this type. Peosonfidence in the We are experiencar in the north and ate side effect of ure of violence that ng our country. As ;ts - with its rhetostling, its deserters news bulletins and think of overcomof violence. Thus another imperative. leading to further : likely to help that phbishop said. Bishops’ ConferenArchbishop himself icism of the condupolls in their Inde2ssages. Clamour for annulions Commissioner yake did not do so. that he was noteme law to do so. Levided as to whether r does or does not nder elections prohowever was clear. Seshan (Ex-Indian The Commissioner, }sident Kumaratunis authority in two ntly the Supreme sed the Elections complying meekly directives in postindefinitely to five ouncils under emer
the Wayamba poll 4l-Kurunegala, 71g stations had inmissioner of some erning some ballot it boxes were also
missing from the Kurunegala district. The number of votes involved amounted to 39,116 from Kurunegala and 8, 174 from Puttalam. Elections Chief Dissanayake has declared null and void all 47.290 votes. Acting strictly in terms of election law Dissanayake went ahead and announced the PA as the winner. The PA chief candidate, Sarath Nawinna has taken office as Chief Minister.
The UNP however has announced that it will boycott Council sittings. It also got one of its district organisers to file a breach of fundamental rights application. This was a measure to obtain speedier justice as elections petition cases tend to drag on indefinitely. The Supreme Court, refusing to grant the interim relief, sought that the Elections Commissioner be directed not to make or gazette the declaration of the results of the poll. The Courts, however, granted leave to proceed with the petition alleging that elections were not free and fair. Argument would be heard on 15 March. The Elections Commissioner was given one month to file objections.
President Kumaratunga in her address to the nation on Independence Day has referred to the Provincial poll violence and stated that action would be taken against the culprits even if from her own party. It remains to be seen whether she would be able to implement this pledge. One reason for disbelief about her intention is the recent promotion to two police officers under a cloud over their acts of omission in Wayamba. Also Neranjan Wickremasinghe, son of Cabinet Minister, D P Wickremasinghe has been made Provincial Minister. Wickremasinghe was one person against whom there were many allegations of violence. Likewise Indra Dassanayake, wife of the notorious Dassanayake has been made Deputy-Chairperson of the Council. These are not acts that inspire confidence in Kumaratunga's professed intentions. If preliminary reports are to be believed many senior politicians from her party have been complicit in the violence.
The violence unleashed has been used for a two-fold purpose. On the one hand supporters of the UNP have alleged that they were intimidated into refraining from or prevented from voting. On the other there is evidence that massive rigging and impersona

Page 12
12 TAMIL TIMES
tion has taken place. It is clear that
the climate of violence created before polls and maintained on polling day was definitely detrimental to the opposition parties. A negative feature was the terrorising of the minorities
in the Province particularly the Tamils
of recent Indian origin living in pockets in Dodangaslande and Mawattegama in the Kurunegala district. Also one of the three persons killed in election violence was a Tamil, Sivakumaran, the treasurer of the Kuliyapitiya UNP Branch. The Christians in the Catholic belt of Puttalam along with various enclaves of Muslims were also intimidated to a great extent.
A transparent post-poll feature is the perceived discomfort of the government despite having obtained an electoral victory. There was a conspicuous absence of the “cock-a-hoop' attitude usually displayed by the victors on such occasions. Later some posters showing a smiling Chandrika with the slogan “Wayamba yukthiya Ratata Sakthiya” (The Wayamba strategy is strength to the Country) appeared. It remains a puzzle as to
who was respons e.S.
When media r the US embassy ut the violence a tices during electio nistry reacted by tial missive to all tutions. It warned gon that expres: would be treated domestic affairs. have gone on rec tions officials wh toral malpractice a wise office bear sons of election spotlighting elect have been told th them in courts fo mation.
Generally elec Western Provincia have attracted th tion or activity. In aggravated imp was seen as a “te ater exercises su tial or Parliamen poll was conside
CHEAPEST FLIGHTS
OXFORD CIRCUS
CARLTO
MWorldwide
(k) ADVAN(
WRLDWIDE MILLENNIUM FAF
(29 ADVAN
SUMMER FARE
coloMBo £365) (MAD
LONDON - COLOMBO - SPOF LONDON - COLOMBO
- EASTER HOLIDAY FA ADVANCE PURCHASE SUMMER A. ADVANCE PURCHASE MILLENNIU
SIGHT SEEING DERATES IN SRLANK
r
Cal BNIE OR WAEESA
No: 18, Great Portland Str FAX: 0171-636 2676 V
e-mail: info00arltonleisure.(
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

»le for these post
ports appeared that as concerned abod fraudulent pracns, the Foreign Miending a confidenhe diplomatic instithem in polite jaring such concern as interference in Also PA ministers ord accusing elec) highlighted elecs UNP agents. Likers and spokespermonitoring bodies iral misdemeanours at the PA will sue r slander and defa
tions to the Northl Council would not s amount of attenthis case it assumed ortance because it sting point” for grech as the Presidentary elections. The :red as a gauge for
15 FEBRUARY 1999
assessing the popularity level of the incumbent government. It was expected that once the Wayamba weather-cock indicated the direction of the political winds forthcoming electoral winds too would blow in a similar direction. Ironically the violence and fraudulence has defeated that objective. A clear analysis is not feasible under present circumstances. One reason for the indignation about this election is that it has proved to be a regressive measure. The UNP in its time has also been guilty of massive election violence and fraud. But people expected a difference under the dispensation of the PA under Chandrika Kumaratunga. In fact even the UNP ensured a comparatively free and fair poll in 1994 that saw the PA win. The NWP election has been a grave disappointment in the sense that the PA too has demonstrated that it is no better in government than the UNP. The PA contention that the UNP did it too does the PA no good.
Yet the silver lining has been the courage of election monitoring bodies, sections of the clergy (Catholic and Buddhist) and the media in focu
ESURE
7travel e74gent"
E PURCHASE
ES NOW AVAILABLE
2E PURCHASE
4568
WEARE FULLY BONDED BY THE CIVILAVIATION AUTHORITY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ALL OUR WALUABLE CUSTOMERS.
S NOW AVAILABLE
AS E375 TORONTO Σ169
E - MELBOURNE RETURNE510 - SPORE RETURNE445
RES AND SEATS AVAILABLE OLIDAY FARES AND SEATS AVAILABLE HOLIDAY FARES AND SEATS AVAILABLE
OURS TO SRILANKA
TE CECR) O) ECo CASKO O LS m
N O171 (636 76356 et, Oxford Circus, London W1N 5AB ebsite: http://www.carltonleisure.com
pm Emergency Phone: 0831 541 200 GO

Page 13
15 FEBRUARY 1999
sing attention on the violence. If the Elections Commissioner was of sterner calibre a sea change could be effected. It was the same case with the police. It must be noted that in a few booths where election and police of ficials stood firm no rigging could be done. Although the PA has committed a great travesty now the cresceindo of criticism against the PA is something that cannot be ignored by this or any government in the future. A related reason for the importance of this election was the absence of possible elections to other Provincial Councils. At the time elections to the North-Western Provincial Council was announced there was seemingly no prospect of polls to the Provincial Councils of the Uva, Sabragamuwa, Central, Western and NorthCentral Councils being held. All five had been postponed indefinitely by Presidential Council.
During the election campaign the Presidential secretariat announced that elections would be held to those Councils shortly. A few days later the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark judgement that the original act of the President in postponing polls was not within the ambit of powers under emergency regulations that could be exercised by the President. This was consequent to a petition filed by two journalists of the Free Media Movement. This defining of the limits of Presidential authority has ensured that polls to the other five Councils will be held shortly. Also there is a possibility of elections to the defunct North-East Council being held too.
This indeed augurs well for the strengthening of democracy in the country. In the aftermath of the North-Western Provincial Council elections the crucial question that arises is whether these elections too would be on the same lines as that of Wayamba. Unless swift measures are enacted to prevent a repetition of the North-Western Provincial poll the prospects for meaningful democracy in the island nation are quite bleak.
Nevertheless the PA can salvage its lost prestige if it conducts the next five PC elections on the same day in a free and fair manner. If it does creditably then the Wayamba black mark may be erased a little. But if it loses badly then it will be morally bound to dissolve the Wayamba Council voluntarily. O
he paper by D (Tamil Times, D ing from a Ma interesting reading. Besides the an mindset, the Sinha that Buddhism in it found only in Sri Lal leges granted to a would seriously im of Buddhism. The also entrenched with Tamils came as inva exist at the sufferanc people. The indiger never looked at the subsequent settlers have always been based on that premi in the attitudes has effect on attempts settlement of this years rendering it
No doubt, there sporadic waves of n dia both as invasio ment. These got abs South and in the N ern parts imbibing tureS.
I subscribe to th nically the Sinhales kan Tamils are the ence being that the language with Ary Tamils speak a Dr For the Tamils, c South India was má language they spok they embraced. Iı question came to majority of the Sri L able to relate bette rather than to the parts. It was inter dian Tamil soldiers hostility towards th ils during the days Keeping Force.
Jayatilleka qui the national questic questions of the f reach of the Sta
 

TAMIL TIMES 13
Revisiting
ational Question
S. Jayahanthan
ayan Jayatilleka ecember 1998)berxist stance was
inority complex ese also believe ; pristine form is ka and any priviny other culture pair the position inhala psyche is the idea that the ders and that they e of the Sinhalese Ious Tamils have mselves as being . Their demands from a position se. The difference had a profound for a negotiated uestion over the impossible
were successive nigration from Inns and for settleorbed both in the orthern and Easthe respective cul
e theory that eth2 and the Sri Lansame, the differSinhalese speak a an roots and the vidian language. ltural links with de possible by the 2 and the religion
fact, before this
crisis point, the nkan Tamils were to the Sinhalese Indian countersting that the Inshowed a natural indigenous Tamf the Indian Peace
: rightly states that 1 is bound up with rm, structure and 2. The Soulbury
Constitution, manipulated in its making, relegated the Tamils to a position of inferiority. Instead of eliminating representation on a racial basis, it made it inevitable. It gave the country, with a multi-racial society, a unitary structure of government based on the Westminster system. The safeguards it had for minority interests, however were ineffective.
In November 1945 when the State Council debated the Soulbury Constitution presented as a white paper, D.S Senanayake, the leader of the State Council and the then leader of the Ceylon National Congress later to become the first Prime Minister as leader of the United National Party, in order to allay the fears of the minority members declared, “On behalf of the Congress and on my own behalf, I give the minority communities the sin
cere assurance that no harm need you
fear at our hands in a free Lanka'. The subsequent events, however, say it all.
Lord Soulbury having served a term of office as Governor General of Independent Sri Lanka was later to admit: “I now think it is a pity that the Commission did not also recommend the entrenchment in the constitution of guarantees of fundamental rights.” . Jayatilleka's option No.3 is Federalism. Federalism is a centripetal concept. It has been successful in federations of states having come together both for the common good of the nation and for the individual good of the states concerned. Successful federations, to mention a few are: U.S.A Canada, Germany, Italy, Australia, Switzerlznd, Malaysia etc.
In India the federal system has not proved a success primarily because unwilling and reluctant partners with centrifugal aspirations were brought together to constitute a federation of Indian states. Fissiparous tendencies of states have been a constant threat to the unity of the nation.
S.J. V.Chelvanayakam, the leader of the then Federal Party and the then

Page 14
14 TAMEL TIMES
acknowledgedleader ofthe Tamilpeople campaigned for a Federal system of government. He was shouted down as it were and branded a racist wanting to divide the Sri Lankan nation. Much to the contrary Chelvanayakam's approach to the question of federalism was centripetal. He did not envisage the division of the country or the Sri Lankan nation. He believed in all communities comprising one nation but with constituent states with a government at the centre thus preserving the sovereignty of Sri Lanka, and also its integrity. The Tamil people have had to pay a big price in the form of race riots for merely asking for a federal system of government..
Chelvanayakam was even prepared to settle for a watered down version of a federal system in subscribing to the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact (B-C Pact), in an agreemententered into in 1957 with S.W.R.D Bandaranaike the then Prime Minister. Perhaps, Jayatilleka in his option No.2 avers to similar lines of this agreement in reference to “one state but more political space at the periphery, different relations with the centre.” The B-C Pact had to be abrogated. Since then the Tamils were not offered anything close to it. Perhaps J. R. Jayawardena, in hindsight would have regretted his protest march to Kandy demanding the abrogation of the Pact. A paradigm of Jayatilleka's reference to Confederalism in option No.3 would be the emerging European Union in its current form. This is again centripetal in its conception.
Origins of the Crisis
1970 was a fateful year for the Tamils. Having been elected with a resouinding majority as the Prime Minister, in coalition with the major Marxist parties, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party (CP), the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranalike did not require the support of the Tamil parties to maintain herself in power. Tamil Parliamentary representation entered an era of sterile politics never to be reversed.
Emboldened by her success in quelling the petit-bourgeoise insurgency led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) during the second year of her rule by the massacre of thousands of Sinhalese youth in the South with
ruthless brutality, to negotiate with settle this questi In the new C with claims to cre as a precursor to society, was entr time Sinhala O. mained hitherto o liament. Nay, Bu the religion of the safeguards provi tion of the minori Constitution wer The remain Tamils, who thou fluence of the so the government w for equal status Bandaranaike wc due rights in the stitution, were sh Mrs. Bandarai rule the Tamils of with a new bree “SLFP Organisers phants, political ti lomaniacs. The he the District Politi were of course Ta the people as th the intermediaries people and the go liamentarians elec represent their c. political wilderne ers vied with eac Madam’s eye for while some were the crumbs.
Not being abl respect from the form their tasks, the police and the killed the Sinhala during the insurg were now poised towards the Tami Aided and ab isers, the bases in cial and econom Tamils were syste The co-operative : immense economi Tamils and built voluntary effort subservient tool The introduction tion” for entry ti closing of two lea to be converted puses vere some undermined the e

15 FEBRUARY 1999
she was in no mood the Tamil leaders to
). onstitution of 1972, iting a socialist state achieving a socialist 2nched for the first hly” which had rehly as an Act of Parddhism too became State. Even the few ded for the protecties in the Soulbury
removed. ng hopes of the ght that with the incalled Marxists in ho at one time stood or the Tamils, Mrs uld recognize their making of the conattered haike now sought to the North and East i of persons called ... drawn from sycourncoats, and megaad of this crowd was cal Authority. They mils. Despised by ey were, they were between the Tamil vernment. The parted by the Tamils to ause went into the ss. These organish other to catch the the plums of office, happy to settle for
e to command any amil people to perthey had to turn to : army who having youth in the South ency with impunity to turn their guns S. atted by the organnportant for the soic security for the matically destroyed. ector which was of c importance to the p over the years by was reduced to a of the government. of “standardisaUniversities, the ding public schools o University camof the factors that ducational base.
The army and the police struck terror into the fabric of the Tamil society. Small farmers, petty traders, fishermen, could not go about their business withoat being harassed either by the army or the police. Innocent people were subjected to intensive searches at check points. Youth were arrested, tortured and thrown into jails. The people felt threatened, intimidated and humiliated.
It is in this atmosphere that the militant youth who had secretly vowed to creating a separate state for the Tamils began to act.
A crude form of justice from an "Unseen Hand” began to emerge with the assasinations of some SLFP Organisers and police officers who were seen as betrayers of Tamils. In their desperation the Tamil people began to tacitly endorse these killings. Pre-conditions for the entrance of the militants on to the political scene were now ideal.
Taking the cue from the militants the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) an amalgam of Tamil parties in desperation decided to request the Tamil people for a mandate to campaign for a separate state. At the general elections of 1977 the Tamils in the North and East, overwhelmingly voted for the request for a separate state for themselves. Some SLFP Organisers who were bold enough to contest at the elections realised that the stones and brickbats they got were far in excess of the votes they received. The Tamils by this time had ceased to entertain any hopes of constitutional changes.
The militants were not there to just to mouth slogans. They had a definite focus, aspirations and their clear priorities.
The successive governments created further conditions for the progressive growth of the militant movement
The New Century
There is no doubt that any negotiated settlement involving only the main players, is a far cry.
When we pass into the next century it will dawn on the players that the issues in contention have become irrelevant and obsolete especially in the global context. During this century we carried on a fight from where Dutugemunu and Elara left. Perhaps, (continued on next page)

Page 15
15 FEBRUARY 1999
OF SRI LANKAN IDE
Dr. V. Ambalavanar
Note on classification
At a certain stage starting from the turn of the 19" Cen were introduced within communities in Sri Lanka (e.g. Ka Low-Country Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils, Indian Tar Moors, Indian Moors) in the published data on Censu The Census of Population 1981 has done away with within the Sinhalese and Moors Communities. It is the vi that the distinction between Sri Lankan Tamils and Indi also be done away with. Consequently, in the discussion sification Tamils mean both Sri Lankan and Indian Tam community. Also, the term Tamil speaking people is u. Tamils and Moors as one single group.
Sri Lankan Identity
Recently some persons asked a Saint who visited the country about the solution to the ethnic problem in the country and the violence that is going on. His simple reply was “All of you remember that you are Sri Lankans and learn to live together. That is the way to get out of the present mess and march forward as a Nation.
Yes. We have been too preoccupied destroying what is left of our
identity as Sri Lal to be reminded al ple thing in life. M years back, whe Census of Popula were 2,400,380 p. try. A Census in l fore independence were 6,657,339 p. that time. The last tion taken 17 yea vealed that there w sons in the coun count was taken.
(Continued from page 14) Dutugemunu and Elara took up the fight from where Rama and Ravana left.
A protracted discussion on who is more indigenous to the country is an exercise in futility. It is as ridiculous as a debate on whether the first monkey that appeared in Sri Lanka was a Sinhalese monkey or a Tamil monkey. Does it matter whether the monkey embraced Hinduism or Buddhism. (but of course, in India there are still a whole lot of Hindu monkeys hovering around the numerous temples!)
In due course Sinhala and Tamil as media of communication could well become irrelevant. They will be important only in so far as the media of the respective cultures. As important are the fauna, the flora and other issues of the environment.
In their pre-occupation with the
conflicts relating ligion the Sri Lank stepped the more lating to capital a The dichotom bour is itself bec irrelevant as the g ses froman indus mation age wher. be in knowledge, development, in ammunition. Ifw an society will b hind time.
Foreign assis and concerted ba ited for a perman tlement.
Our children and a better qual they have to live. war must end wi ment to the confli
 

TAMIL TIMES 15
tury, distinctions ndiyan Sinhalese, nils; Sri Lankan s of Population. the distinctions ew of the author an Tamils should below, the clasils as one single sed to cover the
nkans that we need bout this very simfore than a hundred n we had the first tion in 1871, there ersons in the coun946 (i.e. 2 years be) showed that there ersons in Ceylon at Census of Populais back in 1981 rerere 14,846,750 pertry on the day the
to language and rean society had sideimportant issues rend labour.
y of capital and laoming increasingly lobal economy pasrial age to an inforinvestment should skills, research and stead of arms and miss this, Sri Lank: two centuries be
tance on a serious sis has to be solic:nt and positive set
need a better future ty of life, but first, For them to live, the h a political settleit. O
According to the Census of Population taken in 1871, 69.57% of those counted were Sinhalese, 22.26% were Tamils, 6.81% were Moors and 1.36% were other groups. In 1946 the corresponding percentages were 69.40, 22.75, 6.15 and 1.70 respectively while in 1981 they were 73.95, 18.22, 7.05 and 0.77 respectively. By and large the Moors have been and are Tamil speaking or often bilingual.
It is clear from the above that from the outset when modern statistical methods were used to count and categorize people (i.e. from more than three quarters of a century prior to independence), Sri Lanka which was earlier known as Ceylon has been the home of three major communities - Sinhalese, Tamils and Moors. In other words Sinhalese, Tamils and Moors have been living in the Indian Ocean Island of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) as Sri Lankans (Ceylonese) for well over 4 generations. It is also clear that more than a quarter of the inhabitants have been and are Tamil speaking.
It is the right and duty of every one of us to understand that all of us are Sri Lankans first irrespective of the community to which we belong and Sri Lanka is not the country of any particular community only. We need not go back and probe history to understand this logic behind the Sri Lankan identity and weaken our Nation.
For the Tamil speaking people the Sri Lankan identity is extremely important because this identity only helps them to talk about their rights and denial of them by successive governments. This is particularly important at the present juncture when many Tamil speaking people and organizations are keen to get a third party mediator to resolve the ethnic problem and bring about peace.
For the Sinhalese, this Sri Lankan identity is equally important. If this is not accepted and the rights of all communities to live peacefully with dignity and honour is not ensured, it will be the Sinhalese, and not the Tamil speaking people, who will accelerate the destruction of the Sri Lankan identity and precipitate the separation of the country.

Page 16
16 TAM TIMES
Homes of the major communities in Sri Lanka
In 1871, 83.38 per cent of the people lived outside the North and East while 16.62 per cent lived in the North and East. This changed to 88.6 per cent outside North and East and 11.4 per cent in the North and East by 1946. By 1981, the people living outside North and East came down to 85.96 per cent and those living in the North and East rose to 14.04 per cent. This is not surprising because the North and East of the country consisted of some of the driest parts where the nature is most adverse to agriculture.
In 1871, only 0.51 per cent of the Sinhalese lived in the North and East while 63.29 per cent of the Tamils and 29.71 per cent of the Moors lived in the North and East. These changed to 0.80 per cent, 38.7 per cent and 31.09 per cent respectively in 1946 and to 2.54 per cent, 52.9 per cent and 34.98 per cent in 1981. It is thus clear that the Sinhalese preferred to have their homes outside the North and East while a little over half the Tamils and about onethird of the Moors preferred to have their homes in the North and East.
Outside North and East, the Provinces with substantial Tamil population are the Central and Uva Provinces. In 1881, 27.69 per cent of the Tamils lived in the Central Province while 6.34 per cent lived in the Uva Province. The corresponding percentages in 1946 were 28.78 and 9.42 respectively. In 1981, these percentages were 19.61 and 6.70 respectively.
In terms of distribution of population by major communities, the following tables are worth noting:
Table 1 - Population of Sri Lanka by major communities
Percentages Community 1871 1946 1981
Sinhalese 69.57 69.40 73.95 Tamils 22.26 22.75 1822 Moors 06.8 O6.15 07.05
Table 2 - Population of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka by major communities
Percentages Community 1871 1946 1981
Sinhalese 00.38 O2.00 03.17 Tamils 95.49 93.82 92O3 Moors O3.46 O3.79 04.58
Table 3 - Population of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka by major communities
Percentages
Community 1871 1946 1981
Sinhalese 06.33 09.87 24.99 Tamils 59.03 48.75 4206
Moors 33.12 39.06 3234

15 FEBRUARY 1999
Table 4 - Population of the Central Province of Sri Lanka by major communities
Percentages Community 1881 1946 1981 ܀
Sinhalese 51.38 54.49 65.62 Tamils 40.18 38.39 26.41 Moors 06.8 05.93 07.31
Table 5 - Population of the Uva Province of Sri Lanka by major communities
Percentages
Community 1881 1946 - 198
Sinhalese 6870 57.35 76.17 Tamils 26.30 38.34 1982 Moors 03.66 03.19 O3.49
Tables 2 and 3 clearly reveal that the vast majority of the people in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka up to the time of independence belonged to the Tamil community in particular and the Moors. The movement of the Sinhalese into the Eastern Province has taken place in large numbers only after independence.
Table 4 reveals that prior to independence a little over half the population in the Central Province was Sinhalese while well over one third was Tamil. This picture changed to about two thirds Sinhalese and a little over one quarter Tamil by 1981.
From table 5, it is seen that, prior to independence, the Sinhalese formed between half and two third of the population in the Uva Province while the Tamils formed between one quarter and one third of the population. By 1981 the Sinhalese population rose to a little over three quarter while the Tamil population declined to about one fifth. These changes and the ones noted in the previous paragraph reflected the results of the repatriation of a large number of Tamils from the plantations to India under the agreement between the two countries.
This discussion on evidence from Census of Population taken in Sri Lanka since 1871 clearly show that
1. Sri Lanka is multi ethnic, 2. The Sri Lankan identity applies to the Sinhalese, Tamils and the Moors who have been living in the country for generations,
3. The Northern and Eastern Provinces have been mainly the Home Provinces of the Tamil speaking people, 4. The Home Provinces of the Sinhalese have been the seven Provinces other than the Northern and Eastern Provinces,
5. Between one quarter and one third of those living in the Central Province have been Tamils, and
6. Between one fifth and one fourth of those living in the Uva Province have also been Tamils.
*The author of this paper was an Additional Secretary to a former President of Sri Lanka.

Page 17
15 FEBRUARY 1999
Twenty years ago, when the General Hospital in Jaffna became a Teaching Hospital (JTH), it had more than its ample quota of highly qualified consultants and specialists (35) along with the requisite supporting staff, who undoubtedly contributed to its smooth and efficient functioning.
With the rapidly changing situation in the peninsula and the onset of the fighting, events took a dramatic turn. The year 1990 for instance, saw the reversal of the conditions that prevailed 10 years earlier for the people of Jaffna, as far as facilities were concerned, and in particular the health services.
Transport suffered badly, affecting greatly the flow of supplies to the peninsula. The rapidly deteriorating civilian security situation and adverse conditions resulted in many an executive, or government servant, seeking less turbulent pastures in the outh. The health and medical services were the most affected having the highest numbers leaving the peninsula.
1990 also saw the advent of the ICRC to Jaffna. The humanitarian needs of the people was their focus, with health warranting immediate action. The conflict situation had resulted in an increase of maladies and diseases and the number of specialists serving in JTH had dwindled to a meagre 6. The drug supply was parlous or minimal. Urgently needed medical equipment barely left the medical stores in Colombo. Few doctore were available to even man the clinics at JTH.
The ICRC, with agreement of the government, and also having obtained security guarantees from the LTTE, introduced a ship service whereby it was possible for the seriously sick patients, in need of further treatment, surgery and therapy to be transferred to Colombo. Patients were transferred to Trincomalee via ICRC vessel and thereon to Colombo overland. The patients were selected by the Director of JTH, on the recommendations of the specialist, and arrangements were made with the health authorities, and Ministry of Defence to effect the necessary clearance for
ICRC's Role in the Pr of Essental Medical
travel. Ever since this service, a mir were conducted needy patients of age, 30 patients
were sent to Col and brought back each voyage.
Year N0 1994 718 1995 (Di 1996 314 1997 688 1998 566
In addition, th transported the n for the JTH along the health dept., stationery.
“Patients are on the basis of treatment, such as radio and chemo patients for urger neurology patient scan, patients for giogram, lithotrip ment, et al....
If we could gi JTH at least once sity for 20-30 pat lombo once a m. when such patie ble, they would 1 companist there to 5-10 on the v out Dr. Ms Kar Director of JTH for improvement cially the older in using the toil presence of an I time of admittan pitals would be the situation co some sort of re she added.
Let us see : on board the ve. age 37/98 of 28.
PᎢ 62yrs. (] ant complains ago. No surgery to JTH 3 month mended for las
 
 

TAM TIMES 17
he inauguration of mum of 4 voyages monthly for the affna. On an averand bystanders) mbo for treatment after treatment, on
f Patients
placed) 311
e ICRC vessel also nuch needed drugs with equipment for and at times, even
generally selected the urgency of the cancer patients for therapy, cardiology htly needed surgery, s for CT scan/MRI laser treatment, ansy, review of treat
it specialists to visit a month, the necesents to travel to Coonth can be averted its are old and feeeed a bystander/acby denying a place aiting list” pointed agaratnam, present As for suggestions she said that espeeople had difficulty is on the ship”. The 3RC delegate at the e to the various hosery useful, whereby ld be reviewed and ef brought about,”
me of the patients el “Java Gulf (voy
1998): ale) retd. public servgall bladder 3 yrs berformed. Admitted ago and now recomtreatment. Waiting
list for 2 months.
PN. 30 yrs. (female), works as a colonisation officer in DS office Sandilipay... had complained of nose bleed 6 months ago. Was operated in July, but difficulty in breathing. Colombo biopsy report tested for Carcinoma in the nose. 4 months on the waiting list. Accompanied by her mother.
Mrs. T. S. 60 yrs, stones in the kidney operated twice. Recommended for laser treatment in Colombo found difficult to make up mind to go to Colombo owing to family responsibilities. Accompanied by husband.
KN. 17 yrs, (male) Consequent to panic and fear during the frequent fighting, had a problem of fear of loud noises.
The 726 ton 'JAVA GULF, has a capacity for 800 tons of cargo, and has l l crew members, including the Captain. Each voyage takes approx. 45 passengers (30 patients, 15 VIP ( including important govt. officials).
For travel both ways, clearance from the Ministry of Defence must be obtained. Passengers booked for the voyage from KKS to Trincomalee meet at the ICRC Delegation in Jaffna in the afternoon, and then leave by convoy to KKS. Travel time from KKS to Trincomalee is approx. 12 hrs (depending on the seas). From Trincomalee to Colombo by land convoy it takes a further 6 hours, with a short stop in Habarana. The patients returning to Jaffna, leave the ICRC Delegation in Colombo at 6.30 am. A JTH
doctor accompanies the patients both
ways, and is authorised to use the emergency medical kit on board, when necessary. An ICRC Convoying Of. ficer is present on every voyage. Passengers are served with all 3 meals and tea on board. JAVA GULF costs the ICRC $3500 USD per day, and if presently on a 6 month charter.
Yet another service by this vessel, has been the conveyance of mail between Jaffna and Colombo, free of charge. In the words of the Chief Post Master, Jaffna, thanks to the goodwill of the ICRC, enormous quantities ofmail are being exchanged with minimum delay.... this valuable service is most welcome at a time when other avenues of transport are extinct, and greatly appreciated by people from all walks of life.”
“As medical personnel, on behalf of the people of Jaffna, we are grate
(continued on next page)

Page 18
18 TAMIL TIMES
BOOK REVIEW
THE MODERN SOVEREIGN AND THE POLITICS OF CU
DENTITY IN SRI LAN)
Review by Prof. Alfred Jeyaratnam W
Culture and Politics of Identity in Sri Lanka edited by Mithran Tiruchelvam and C S Dattathreya (International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo, 1998) is an important contribution by ICES to the lively and ongoing debate on the highly politicised ethnic problem in Sri Lanka.
Not a little of the success of this exercise must be attributed to the ceaseless endeavours of Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam. PThambirajah, the chief librarian of ICES has functioned as the human dynamo in preparing the collection for publication, and praise is due to him for his industry and dedication to the intellectual enterprises of ICES.
ICES, Colombo was the brainchild of Robert Goldman of the Ford Foundation and a few others such as the indefatigable Dr Neelan. The Centre has become a hive of intellectual activity for Sri Lanka’s peaceniks and those in the island who are genuinely interested in advancing the cause of peace. Apart from the conferences, seminars and lectures by reputed international scholars, ICES (Colombo) has also published several volumes of work by researchers, all of which have provided an intellectual feast to the knowledge seeking elites of Sri Lanka.
There are eight chapters in this volume, the work of deeply committed and serious minded scholars, all of them free of vitriol and avoiding stirring up the hornet's nest.
The purpose of this volume is as Mithran Tiruchelvam states in the Introduction to favour as much as to nourish the reader's palate, providing
(Continued from page 17)
ful for the magnanimous service rendered by the ICRC to the Health Services,.... and special mention must be made of the kind and considerate crew of JAVAGULF, said the Director of JTH, in conclusion. O
a sampling of the ( topics, methodolo perspectives eng scientists today.... volume do find ge questioning of cul identity in Sri Lanl The key to the Jayadeva Uyang Biographies of the State. In fact it wou appropriate to have first chapter beca penetrating overvi of what used to be state. It is not tha itself be internally became disintegri external forces. Th had its day and today are structu their sovereignty under an umbrell,
common currency, ment, reduction o and so on. The Eu NAFTA are exam ding of the nation greater significanc hasises, is the m state which from totemistic concept. the calamitous yea watershed when ti Uyangoda comme “... I have beg some of our devoted to ima political assoc enable for exal period of globa ement of capit lab-our. I, for see a South A longer be a p) ions.” Uyangoda cla further by conclu “In my thinki state sovereig tisation of stat

15 FEBRUARY 1999
STATE
TURALI KA
ilson
'clectic diversity of )gies and critical aging the social the essays in this :neral unity in the tural and political ca. : whole volume is oda's chapter on : Decaying Nation uld have been more : placed this as the use it gives us a Lew of the erosion the modern nation t this state has let self destructed or ated internally by e modern state has what is in vogue res which modify and bring them a union with their freedom of movef customs barriers ropean Union, and bles of this outmostate. What is of e, Uyangoda empajoritarian nation his viewpoint is a In Sri Lanka it was r, 1958, a veritable btemism took over. nts (p. 179): un to believe that nergies should be ging fresh forms of ation which would nple, in the present lisation - free moval and all forms of one, would love to sia which will no ison house of nat
rifies his position ing (ibid):
ng, de-centring of nty and democra; borders would lay
the basis for a multiplicity of South Asian republics which should ideally replace the existing system of majoritarian nation-states.” In an earlier section Uyangoda observed:
“I begin to wonder why there is such a faithful commitment to this belief in Sri Lankan exceptionalism.” Totemism, majoritarianism and exceptionalism with its sense of manifest destiny along with being the custodian of a unique religion and an ancient civilisation are the bywords of the political Sinhalese today. In contrast with this prevailing passion for the over-centralised British colonial state, J K Galbraith described India as a functioning anarchy of 700,000 villages. Thus today as Uyangoda quite rightly comments, the nation state is a thoroughly outmoded concept, just going out of currency and the object of adoration and worship by the apt phrase of Uyangoda, Sri Lankan exceptionalism. Only in this state do we still have relics of the nineteenth century quoting from midVictorian books on parliamentary procedure and antiquated Queensberry rules. Those who therefore excoriate all forms of devolution including federalism are clearly barking up the wrong tree.
Patrick Anderson’s “Talk About the Passion” (Chapter l) gives us a rich and succinct analytical survey of the controversial writings of three learned Catholic priests, Fathers Aloy Pieris, Michael Rodrigo and Tissa Balasuriya.
Anderson's commencing paragraphs take a historical sweep of the Buddhist-Catholic controversy in the midnineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the turbulent fifties and sixties. Catholic dialogians and defenders of the Catholic position emerged during these phases as protagonists of the Catholic doctrine. Interestingly the Second Vatican Council's sessions of 1962-65 by its less dogmatic approach have cited a more liberal view of other religions. Nirvana (Buddhism) and Karma (Hinduism) are apparently accommodated for the very first time. Vatican II postulated that other religions enshrined different ways of approaching change. So it seems that all of us, Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims are now exempted from original sin and the gat

Page 19
15 FEBRUARY 1999
eway is open to the pearly gates and our souls are saved.
Anderson has done a careful and incisive analysis of the writings and thoughts of three erudite Catholic priests, Fathers Aloy Pieris, Michael Rodrigo and Tissa Balasuriya. Father Pieris shines as a dialogian and as editor of Dialogue, he used the journal as a vehicle for putting across his controversial thinking. Pieris is the proponent of a liberation social theology and he sees the pressing question today is that of the place of the poor in the social ideologies of the dialogue between rich and poor. Essentially Pieris is an advocate for the poor against the state where God is the Liberative Agent and has made a covenant or defence pact with the poor against the agents of Mammon. Michael Rodrigo was like Pieris, a committed dialogian. For Rodrigo life in the community is the distinctive form of human experience. So he used a Buddhist village where he learned about and experienced the lives of the poor. Rodrigo's thinking approximates to that of Pieris, Rodrigo being essentially an abstract thinker.
Father Tissa Balasuriya's contribution to the evolution of Christian ideology is original and unique. In his work, he concentrates on Mary, the mother of Christ, and he develops a revisionist assessment of Mary. Balasuriya also concerns himself with the role of the poor in society and to this extent he is a revisionist Marxologist. The social and political thinking of Pieris, Rodrigo and Balasuriya unfortunately do not cross the borders of the conventional state. So that it is within this outmoded nineteenth century sovereign state that their thinking operates. Besides the three priests lived in the most troublesome times and we do not come across any references to the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils and the horrors of terrorism that has plagued the island. The burning question is not only that of the poor, though they have their ramifications through every nook and cranny in Sri Lankan society. More crucial is what does the state do to curb and discipline its army men when they blatantly violate human rights and perpetrate crimes against humanity.
In sum, Pieris, Rodrigo and Balasuriya constitute a vanguard of liberation theologians where they see the
conflict in the st and poor and wh state to perform order to strength balance, the state a positive role. It state to provide argument concl nificant observat “All religions and to varic oppressive an World theolog a form of inte which is con with the doct spiritual expe religions can with the con liberation that We are still gmatic confines ( ion state. Jani d “Shifting Frames es the reader on a tour of what was : Sinhalese nation as usual, is a pr writes serious st guide especially comprehensively of Sinhalese soci manifold comple tionships. The ri gama is here spe idly that we get how the politica in those times u state. The model state was the c reinforced by the civilisation. It is porary phenom ainly cannot b days of King D this would be t on a tattered pi ently woven tex factory. This w uous constructi be nearer to the eignty holding peripheral regic ernment but ni the appurtenar authority. The cing de Silva observe in the “She inves nitive disso tion embod ween ideal reality”

TAM IMES 19
gle between rich 2 they expect the lfare functions in the poor. For the nust also perform necessary for the r the poor. Their es with the sig
re in various ways is degrees, both liberative. Third needs to develop -religious dialogue :rned not so much nal insights or the ences that different ffer one another as ibution to human each can make.” within the paradif the sovereign natSilvas chapter on of Masculinity” takilluminated guided most probably a prostate. Jani de Silva, ofound thinker and uff. She provides a 7 an informed and analytical overview al structure with its x consanguinal rela»le of the village or lled out so very lucfresh insights into l system functioned mder the king or the n centralised unitary peration of Britain habits of a business essentially a contemnon and most certtraced back to the ittu Gemunu. To do ntamount to tacking :e of fabric to a recile straight from the uld be an incongr. Jani de Silva might paradigm of a sovergalactic sway over , a weak central govertheless exhibiting is of kingly or state itors succeed in placontext when they Introduction: gates a kind of cognce of group formal in the distance bet:rsonhood and social
and they add:
“De Silva discovers how the symbolic orientation of language to reality exposes the ascriptive, hierarchialand fraternal words of young Sinhalese males.” The remaining five chapters written by Michael Schafter! Marisa Angell, Sasanka Perera, Sunil Bastian and Shari Knoerzer form part of the unity of this entire work if they are looked upon as off shoots from the main tree of knowledge provided by Jani de Silva, Patrick Anderson and Jayadeva Uyangoda. Marisa Angell's critical discussion in her chapter, “Understanding the Aryan Theory” is both revealing and instructive.
The crux of the Sinhalese dilemma lies in their vain belief in their origins in the cradle of the human race” publicised by the German Aryanist, Marx Muller. They, the Sinhalese, had no share in this vicious publicisation of Aryan social origins. Unfortunately misguided but eminent religious propagandists such as Anagarika Dharmapala seized on it as a way of advancing the notion of the superiority of the Sinhala race as against the Dravidian Tamils. The British Colonial rulers stood aside and winked at the whole process, not unsympathetically. Angell provides an excellent narration of the development of the Aryan theory of language and race. Strange as it may seem, it was a Britisher, Sir William Jones, a civil service judge in Calcutta who first propounded his theory at a 1788 meeting of the Royal Artistic Society of Bengal. Jones findings were regarded so influential that he came to be known as the father of the Aryan theory of languages. Jones was followed by other Englishmen such as Reverends Robert Spence Hardy and J G MacVicar but neither of them approached the stature of Sir William Jones.
The German Aryanists, Max Muller and later Friedrich Schiegel were quite active in their writings so much so that R A L H Gunawardena named Muller as the Aryan racial theory’s “most effective propagandist.”
These racial theories coincided with the majoritarian needs ofa racially dominated nation state even when plurality and multi-ethnicity were cross cutting factors not merely within borders but across borders as well. They only helped justify majority ethnic hegemonism. In recent times,

Page 20
20 TAMIL TIMES
Not a lot to ask í
If your accountant can say "yes" way to securing 90% LTV on sec we will advance up to 75% LTV. available.
And if that sounds simple it's be
Call us on:
O181-880–4388
for details.
Lee Valley Technopar Fax: 0044-181-880-43
Securing
YOUR HOME IS AT RISK IF Y
MORTGAGE ORAN
Applicants must be aged 21 ar Written quo
 
 

15 FEBRUARY 1999
(Othese two questions, you will be well on the ond-time purchases and for First Time Buyers If you require a remortgage, 90% LTV is also
cause we believe in keeping things that way.
N Finance Ltd.
k, Ashley Road, London, N179LN 35 Email: inter@dpk.infotrade.co.uk
/Our financial future
DU DONOT KEEPUPREPAYMENTSO OTHER LOAN SECURED ON IT. is
NA
i over. All loans subject to status and conditions. ations are available on request.

Page 21
15 FBRUARY 1999
modern historians in Sri Lanka such as CR de Silva have rejected this theory
Sasanka Perera's chapter on The “Victims” throws much needed light on the sufferings of women, especially their menfolk at the hands of the yet all consuming state. The majesty of the state and as an instrument of brutal repression is brought to our attention. In this piece, we begin to realise the slow, imperceptible erosion, in the nineteen nineties of the sovereign state. The agent of this eroding process is none but the emergence of human rights as an important issue and states are obliged to respect human rights if they are not to be viewed as outcasts in the comity of nations. Additionally the factor of aid especially from international credit agencies and aid consortiums and the possibility of it being curtailed are deterrents to the wanton violation of human rights and the committing of crimes against humanity. Sasanka does not mention any of these adverse consequences resulting from the deviant behaviour of defaulting states but the consequences of the state’s violation of human rights have been amply spelled out elsewhere and is a matter of grave concern to the democracies of the world.
Sasanka states that the worst violence was between 1987 and 1991 when the state and the JVP (People's Liberation Front) went on a killing spree. He links up these enormous and brutal killings with the sad human tragedy that befell women who had to bear the brunt. He writes (p.94):
“Many of them saw the brutal murder of their husbands and other male kin and had to endure the repression of the normal modes of mourning as per the demands of either the JVP or the agents of the state.” Two developments which were not quite anticipated in the earlier decades became increasingly clear in the nineteen nineties modifying consequently the sovereignty of the fast dating sovereign state. Globalisation and the revolutionising of information technology have compelled repressive states to conform to international standards of decency.
NGO's are another break on the supremacy of the sovereign nation state. They have become prominent and powerful bodies in their efforts
to monitor a state's rights.
Sunil Bastian, a already a well-esta founded reputation work on various fa Buddhist state in S his chapter on De and Ethnic Conflic avours to analyse th lopment NGO’s in 1 support for the Tam and for the devolu their traditional are: still yet another bre nation state. Bastia “...when we tal
We are COCC force that is b even stronger i The increased with foreign f and official de ance in particul important elem foreign aid in tries...’ Bastian quite ri these NGO’s ther reform the state in more transparent secondly they are s strengthening civil from the level of d is a search for go aid-giving states. 1 might be noted, m. of the sovereign s Bastian engag and international sovereign state. I thinking that the s been diminished of new modes of engulfment of the sation and revolut technologies.
Bastian's sec among Internation ies him at his mos conflicts, he assert terpretation of th in countries as d and Rwanda. The understanding he generalising of a with the generalit flicts. Bastian i term conflict ( what is going on i of the discredite the specificities to an understa

THAML TIMES - 21
record of human
ound thinker, has lished and wellfor his dedicated sts of the Sinhala i Lanka. Here in elopment, NGO’s § , Bastian endee politics of devehe context of their 1 minority’s demion of powers to s. The NGO’s are ck on the arrogant in writes:
of NGO’s today,
ed with a major ound to become n the near future. inking of NGO’s inding in general velopment assistar makes them an ent in the role of developing coun
ghtly states that in e is a strategy to order to make it and accountable, een as a means of society and lastly onor policies, there od governance by All three factors, it dify the arrogance Eate. as with the ethnic challenges to the is clear from his vereign power has y the intervention thinking and the planet by globalionised information
ion on “Debates Il NGO’s” identifinsightful. Internal , give rise to misin
sociology of war tant as Sri Lanka 2 is a confusion in 2, a totalising and particular situation ofinter-ethnic consists, “The single nnot characterise Bosnia and snacks practice... ignores tremely important ding of internal
conflicts.” (p. 119)
But it is his section on “Limitations of the Concept of Development” (pp. 122-30) which bring out certain outstanding killer theorems. He avers: 1. development includes much more than mere growth and the trickle down process does not occur automatically unless the poor are targeted. 2. a fundamental objective of development strategy that hopes to shape capitalism and to give the disadvantaged a state is to change these relationships so as to enhance the capacity of the less powerful to determine their own living conditions and control resources. The overall effect of this approach states Bastian, is an uncritical attitude towards the structures of capitalism within which many of these target group-oriented projects operate. Obviously we are here close to the thesis that the state should be the instrument of the poor and become their welfare dispensing agency.
We are close to the British Labour Party view of the Attlee era that the modern welfare state is the answer to the poor. Bastian’s verdict is that such are the attitudes of the neo-liberals. He is not opposed to the idea but the substance of his thesis is that we should give welfarism a chance before transitting to the Marxist state. The reform of the state structure is therefore one of the goals of this school of thought. This would mean experimenting with other structures of modernisation and by implication we cannot eliminate federalism as an end solution to the inter-ethnic conflict. Certainly the tried and failed antiquated unitary state is by no means a panacea to the ills that plague our contemporary society. Such a simplistic unitarian response will not eliminate conflict. But this Marxist proposition that the ills of society are attributable to the class struggle between rich and poor and that the state is the repressive instrument of the haute bourgeoisie and the petite bourgeoisie is too simple and uncomplicated an explanation of a highly complex phenomenon as the modern state. The Marxists therefore argue that a better equitable redistribution of scarce resources along with rapid economic development which will reduce unemployment and make

Page 22
22 TAMIL TIMES
available to everyone poor in society a fair deal will necessarily involve a reform of the state and the introduction of new institutions and reformed structures to achieve the goals of a redistributive society.
Shari Knoerzer makes a skilful dissection of the political behaviour of the scattered and itinerant Muslims of Sri Lanka. She seeks an answer to the puzzling question: what can a thinly spread minority such as the Muslims do in an ocean of Sinhalese in the majoritarian hegemonistic state. One response is for them to play the pliant and subservient role as an appendage to the majority political parties which they had been doing until the other day. Another is for their leadership to be in constant low profile in the political firmament lest excessive posturing brings them opprobrium. Their cringing stance to date can be attributed to the fact that they are looked upon with a loaded prejudice by the Sinhalese Buddhists and the Ceylon Tamils. There have been three critical anti-Muslim riots by the Sinhalese in recent times, the one in Hambantota almost at the turn of the century, the acme in the 1915 riots and
the Puttalam sho security personne
The problem community is that been dictated to by fish and exploitati
entrated mainly in
the suburbs. This picuous, wealthy ntatious and very the social envy th the wealthy Sinha ombo-centred lead to exact the supp Muslims because lims living amic Tamils in the vil insignificant numb and existing on t tence that they v their leaders will c them. The Tamils Muslims with dis Muslims often cc teachers in the si the majority of Tamils, discourag dren from aspiring instilling into ther to tradesmen or he Federal Party pha
SEATS AVAILABLE
Return fares to MADRA Daily flights from H
Return fares to PERTH/DARWIN/ FrOm £400 plus airport tax - 1 Return fares to BANGKOK & Sl
Special fare to and many more special fa
USA, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, AFRI(
For further information and se:
Te: O7 4927OO
We are bonded by Civil Aviation A
EMERGENCY PHONE SERVICE FOR IMMED TRUST TRAVELTRUST TRAVELTRUS
 
 

15 FEBRUARY 1999
otings in 1976 by l. with the Muslim its members have a self-serving, selve leadership concColombo city and leadership is consand vulgarly ostemuch unaware of ey provoke among lese elite. The Colers have been able ort of their fellow by and large, Muslst Sinhalese and lages are such an er and mostly poor he edge of subsisainly believe that leliver the goods to too look upon the dained superiority. omplain that their econdary schools, whom are Ceylon a their school chilto higher education n that they only fit rdsmen. During the se (1956-1977) in
Tamil politics, the Federalist leaders especially S J W Chelvanayakam and other seniors spoke eloquently of the Muslims being part of the Tamilspeaking peoples of Ceylon. In fact, there were electoral agreements between the Federal Party and Muslim candidates in constituencies where either Muslim or Tamil candidates could win with the votes of the other community. There were several such electorate victories but the Muslim victors failed to honour their pledges to the Federal Party after entering Parliament.
Knoerzer unfortunately fails to analyse the Muslim-Tamil relationship during this 1956-77 phase. There was a serious effort by the Federal Party to establish a permanent link that they
even successfully elected a middle
level Muslim politician, Mashoor Moulana to Parliament who true to form crossed over to the government soon after entering the Senate. During the Eelam wars in the North and the East, the Muslims incurred the suspicions of the Tamil Tiger leadership. They were suspected of passing on vital information to the Sinhalese army and accused of being indifferent and
91245770"
TO ALL DESTINATIONS S £405 plus airport tax eathrow Terminal 3
BRISBANE/MELBOURNE/SYDNEY lights from Heathrow Terminal 3
NGAPORE £275 plus airport tax COLOMBO E350
res on schedule airlines to:
A, MIDDLE EAST, INDIA, EUROPE
ats availability please call us on:
FX: 07- 49 7747
uthority for your financial security
|IATE TRAWEL GO907383 554 920 O5 O6S
TRAVEL.TRUST TRAVEL.TRUST TRAVE

Page 23
15 FEBRUARY 1999
unsympathetic to Tiger cadres operating in their midst. Consequently Muslims were shot and killed while in their mosques saying their Friday prayers. These shootings at random occurred mostly in the Eastern parts and they of course provoked brutal retaliations. The most deplorable was when the Tigers expelled the entire Muslim population in the Jaffna peninsula, some 75,000. In a matter of days they were asked to move from their homes which cost them tremendous losses in property. These Muslims were accused of providing intelligence to the Sinhalese army.
The solution to these serious problems came when the Muslim intelligentsia in the Eastern province inaugurated their own political party in 1981. Knoerzer rightly observes “the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) marks the transformation and Islamicisation of Muslim politics in Sri Lanka” (p. 136). This party has become pivotal in the island's politics because the Muslims constitute the third largest vote bank in the country. The party was founded by its current leader, M H M Ashraff who is now a minister of cabinet rank in the People's Alliance government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga. It has the support of the young Muslims and its leaders are also drawn from this age sector. The SLMC aspired to be a national party but is still region-based, in the Eastern province. The conventional method in Sri Lanka’s political culture is to appoint the leader of the party to the cabinet in the expectation that this could contain discontent. Ashraff's entry into the cabinet has not, however, solved the Muslim problem. The Muslims though they had not been targeted have benefited considerably from legislation enacted since independence. The Paddy Lands Act alleviated their landlessness. The nationalisation of the schools and admission by racial quota to the universities provided Muslims a larger number of the reserved places for backward areas and for the disadvantaged. Since the Muslims came mostly from such areas and were considered educationally and economically handicapped. These quotas have not always been filled because of a dearth of Muslim candidates.
Problems have arisen, however, over the question of devolving powers
to the regions esp where the Muslim One section of M fers to remain a This section prefe united community nes of a unitary s being that it woul single minority in minority in two dif mutually hostile those who argue f lim unitaScrway o interests. It is prob gonists of a Musl end have their wa The fundament how can a minorit state function with ter to itself. One w servient and in lov challenging the st Muslims have cor icy and conseque mistreated.
Another is to ntages at the expe and bellicose minc Lankan Tamils. Muslim opinion h in this latter direct process the wrath halese politicians the Muslims agai eby allegedly se policy of divide a nkan Tamil respo to appease the Mu ership and bring a Tamils under the Tamil-speaking This kind of court placed minority l for most of the period but withol guess is that the tinue to remain a but with a more sc will always seek ti bargains. In the that has been g them and the Tam out that the con permanent sore t dimension to th another example broken-backed s
What does a the confines of a ( one hundred acI the sovereign sta attempts an answ essay “From Vict

TAMIL TIMES 23
-cially those areas are in a majority. slim thinking prenited community. s to continue as a within the confiate, the argument be better to be a one state than a erent and probably states. There are or a separate Musprotecting Muslim able that the protam unit will in the
W. al question here is 7 in a hegemonistic out inviting disasay is to remain subv profile and avoid te. The Sri Lankan formed to this polntly avoided being
try to gain advainse of a rebellious brity such as the Sri Major sections of ave tended to veer tion arousing in the of the Tamils. Sinhave also stirred up nst the Tamils thereking to pursue a ld rule. The Sri Lanse has been to try Islim political leadll Muslims with the broad rubric of the )eoples of Ceylon. ng of a strategically Las been persisting post independence it much success. A Muslims will conbifurcated minority lid leadership which drive hard political sharp competition enerated between ls, it cannot be ruled lict will become a lumb and a further : riven island, yet
·f the disintegrating vereign state. lational park within ty comprising some 's have to do with ? Michael Schafter 2r in his interesting ria to Vihara Maha
devi’. The vicissitudes of time pushed the eccentric old queen (Victoria) to the background and the forces of nationalism brought Vihara Mahadevi to the forefront. Mrs Bandaranaike dignified the park by leading a demonstration followed with a protest meeting in the premises of the park on the day the Dudley Senanayake government had Parliament enact regulations for the use of the Tamil language in January 1966. Schaffer gives us a detailed narrative of the historical evolution of the park since its inauguration in 1866. There is a successful attempt to link the park with the evolution of the state. Schafter writes:
“.... in fits and starts, and never completely, the park was transformed from a formal urban garden for the city’s elite, to a more romantic green space, and then into a somewhat decaying democratic space with rides and amenities aimed squarely at the urban middle class. How this happened, when and why, traces the history of a city and a country which over the years since the park first opened has seen economic growth, evolving colonial rule, independence and political strife.” The park only served a rich clieintele and was meant to be a pleasure ground for the wealthy residents of what were then suburbs of the city of Colombo but are now part and parcel of Colombo - Slave Island, Kolpetty and Maradana. But in the course of time, it had become a vice park and, as was remarked by the then Prime Minister, Ranasinghe Premadasa, the happy hunting ground of all vagrants, petty thieves and other undesirable elements in society.”
Schaffer concludes with a significant observation:
“.... the park’s changes have ref. lected some of society’s own changes, from reaching to urbanisation to carry out the marks of divisive nationalism to exhibiting an imperfect democracy and a frayed welfare state...” The last sentence in Dr Schaffer's essay contains a telling note of caution:
“As such the future of the park, in its small way, will continue to say something about that state of Sri Lanka’s public culture at
large.” (continued on next page)

Page 24
24 TAM TIMES
T N Gopalan
here just seems to be no end in sight to the probe into the assassination of the former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Six years and seven months since he was felled by a human bomb in Sriperumbudur, one year since a special court set up to deal with terrorist offences sentenced all the 26 accused before it to death and six months since the Justice Milap Chand Jain Commission submitted its final report on the “conspiracy behind the assassination' none seems the wiser.
Even if the evidence relating to the actual carrying out of the assassination revealed the hand of a vengeful Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as to the involvement of others in the conspiracy to the diabolical crime, nothing has been conclusively proved one way or another and many things remain in the realm of conjecture.
It is in such circumstances the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the federal investigating agency of India, has sought permission to reopen the investigations into the as
(Continued from page 23)
This volume is an important contribution to an understanding of the contemporary Sri Lankan state. The editors need to be congratulated for putting all the various chapters together in book form. Each of the essays and their contributors from Patrick Anderson to Jayadeva Uyangoda belong to a rare band of objective thinkers and researchers who have brought their singularly unprejudiced minds to bear on a highly complex subject. There is a golden thread that runs through this volume that of the disintegrating sovereign state however imperceptible this thread may seem: when one completes reading the essays of high quality and puts down the book, even a reviewer such as myself begins to have a hope that our country still has a future. O
sassination, saying upon “fresh materia findings of the Jain Though as thir first week of Februa fore whom the petit returned it twice sé tails,”. The chances ance would finally later. But the questic next?
Why is the CBI the investigations? it difficult to convi judge of the court Prevention of Terro ruptive Activities A legitimacy of its cla
In January the in effect revived the fore which the trial had taken place, b come defunct after judgement. A new j nam was named fo1 vaneedham who ha sale hanging had b. ter he delivered the dently the move u. instructions was a the re-opening of t For the case could further proceeding before the court t original trial had ta Anyway what c up to at this stage Court is to deliver petitions challengi tence handed down in the case chargein 1992)
Political motive med to be behind th rrassing Chief Mir by interrogating hi to humour the eve the BJP, Jayalalitha top-brass could their own agenda present initiative saver for the prer
 

15 FEBRUARY 1999
that it has come l” following the Commission.
gs stood in the ury, the judge beion was filed had 'eking “more deare that the clearcome sooner than on remains - what
eager to re-open Why is it finding nce the presiding set up under the ist and Anti-Disct (TADA) of the ims? state government TADA court beof the 26 accused ut which had behe delivery of the udge Vadivel Rat
· the purpose. Nad ordered wholeeen moved out afjudgement. Evinder the Centre's imed at enabling he investigations. be re-opened and s conducted only before which the Ken place. xactly is the CBI when the Supreme its verdict on the ng the death sento the 26 accused sheeted way back
s are widely assu2 move, like embaister Karunanidhi m, of course only truculent ally of Jayaram. The CBI lso be pursuing in the matter. The could be a face1ier investigating
agency if the apex court acquits many of those sentenced to death.
The CBI told the TADA court that following the submission of its report by the Jain commission and the setting up of a Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) by the centre to follow up the commission’s recommendations fresh investigations were warranted.
The judge first sought more details like who authorised the CBI to seek permission to re-open the investigations, what was the nature of the fresh evidence it had come upon, etc. He was also upset that a lowly Superintendent of Police of the CBI had come before him with a scrap of paper and wanted him tò grant permission to re-open the case. Normally the Public Prosecutor is entrusted with such a job.
A few days later the CBI counsel did present himself before the Judge but did not provide anything more than the directive from the Centre to the MDMA to resume the investigations. He also contended that under Sec. 173(8) of the Criminal Procedure Code which was being invoked to reopen the case only a formal consent of the judge was required and that the judge had little discretion in the matter.
Vadivel Rathnam, a rather maverick judge, flew into a rage and retorted that it was inconceivable that when there was a provision to seek permission from a court, the latter should have little to do in the case except sign on dotted lines. “I’m not a government official, mind you,” he told the counsel sternly. Left with little option the CBI counsel promised to come before the judge yet again with all necessary details.
The counsel, Jacob Daniel, later told this correspondent, “While I refuse to join issue with the judge, I can only say that we are on a strong wicket. There is nothing in the law that could stand in the way of re-opening a case if the investigating agency so desires. Sec. 173(8) of the CrPC. is very clear on the matter. It is only a courtesy on our part to seek the formal consent of the court before which the trial of the original case took place. The supreme court has of course said that it is desirable to seek the consent of the court in such circumstances, but it leaves little room for discretion for the judge.”

Page 25
15 FEBRUARY 1999
He also maintained that it was not necessary to produce before the court the “fresh evidence” which the CBI might have come upon and which in turn necessitated a further inquiry. In fact doing so would only alert those whose roles the multi-disciplinary agency (MDMA) would like to investigate. “Well of course we would be willing to produce the case diary before the court at an appropriate time, but not at this stage.” He also seemed to feel that even if the judge chose to reject the petition to be put up before him with the details he is calling for, the CBI could go before the Supreme Court and get the ruling overturned. But then for all the bluster on the re-opening of the investigations, the CBI, still seems to groping in the dark on what it intends to do after getting the clearance.
One after another, the officials this correspondent spoke to conceded, “It is a fact that we don't have an iota of fresh evidence which would make the re-opening sensible. The Jain commission report is such a farrago of nonsense as a leading editor had caustically remarked that it would be thrown out of court straight-away by a second class judicial magistrate. We're citing it to only to bolster our case for re-opening and seem non-partisan. Actually were only doing the bidding of our political masters, leave it at that...”
They seemed to imply that the Centre wants to keep Jayalalitha in good humour by hauling up the Chief Minister Karunanidhi and also to placate Sonia Gandhi herself, sending her signals that they mean business in the assassination case and would not leave any stone unturned to get at the culprits.
It is becoming crystal clear that the BJP would do anything, just anything, to remain in power. The MDMA saga itself is unedifying. Even in its Action Taken Report (ATR) the Centre sought to surreptitiously include Karunanidhi's name in the list of suspects whereas the Jain Commission says in its final report that his interrogation would have been relevant in many circumstances.
Only when Murasoli Maran protested vigorously, the Centre agreed that the Tamil Nadu Chief Ministers name figures in the chapter Stand of the SIT on theories beyond the LTTE and made the necessary correction.
Still Karunanid amaniam Swamy a figure in the list c rogated as per the pect should seem Jayalalitha. She c hilt Jains observa Report wherein h ing comments aga the context of the ment given by hir ing his reign in 19
But then the pc it is further said, be playing its owi ing as it does that could acquit som sentenced to deat
ethu means a And it is als discovered by journey to Lanka. shlands, he arrive to find the Ocean for a few days. ' whose homelan along Rama’s jol ern Tamil Nadu, which brings out t the depths. The Sethu to be buil prays to Siva at Vanara Sena gets the bridge is com vellous feat, led tect Neelan. Eve tle squirrel has lord praises the his affection on
The moderr project is histor ography, politic: ned way back in by the British, it of the day. The by the Atal Biha not going to lir the Ramayana e fronts, the Gul Palk Bay. Indi George Fernand ful campaign in lay a rail line

TAMIL TIMES 25
along with Subrd Chandraswamy those to be interTR and the pros|uite exciting for ld exploit to the ons in the Interim had made scathst Karunanidhi in lleged encourageto the LTTE dur3-9. tical factors apart, hat the CBI could game, apprehendhe Supreme Court or most of those It is in fact poin
ted out that at one stage the threemember bench presiding over the hearing of the petitions challenging the sentence observed in the open court, “it seems to be a case of judicial massacre.”
The CBI legal team in fact concede at the very least the sentence would be commuted in quite a few cases. The CBI top-brass appear to apprehend getting eggs on their faces and hence as a face-saver they are expediting the reinvestigation - so that they can still say, “ the case is not yet over...” And so Rajiv's ghost is destined to haunt the Indian polity for some more time tO COme. O
HiUSamuIraIII: nkeys and Squirrels
Ramesh Gopalakrishnan
feat of the bridge. ) the land's end, as Lord Rama in his Crossing the mars at the coast, only King ignoring him The poet Kamban, il lies somewhere rney in south-eastdepicts Rama’s fury he Ocean King from king agrees to the 2. And after Rama Rameswaram, the into action, and lo, leted. It was a mary the Vanara archi'one including a litrole in it. And the quirrel, showering
Sethu Samudram 's fight against geand ecology. Planhe mid-19th century s yet to see the light w “bridge” planned Vajpayee regime is land-masses as in c, but join two seapf Mannar and the s defence minister , who led a successhe early nineties to ing India’s western
coast, called Konkan Railway between Mumbai and Mangalore, announced, in January last, that a new Rs 735 crore project would be implemeinted in four years' time. The project will cut the Rameswaram island into two at a point close to the Kodhandaramar temple near what remains of the town Dhanushkodi which had been swallowed by the sea on a fateful stormy night in 1964. At this spot, a deep gorge will be dug and a 31feet-deep canal made out of it to enable even big ships pass through.
The reason trotted out by various Tamil Nadu politicians for the failure of the project to take off all these years is the sustained obstacles put forth by successive Sri Lankan governments. Sure, once the project gets over, Indian cargo and military ships need no longer sail around the Sri Lankan island as they are doing now, also, the bridge can take the international maritime traffic, slowly eliminating the prime position enjoyed by the Colombo port. India has two allweather ports at Tuticorin and Cochin where large ships can berth. And hence, according to this viewpoint, Colombo will lose its sheen to these two ports. This is why the Colombo governments have been protesting against the project, they say.
Those familiar with south Indian

Page 26
26 TAMIL TIMES
geography know that the Adam's Bridge, which spans the sea between Rameswaram and Talaimannar, is made up of sand bars (called as theedais by Lankan Tamils and Tamil Nadu fishermen).
These bars ensure that the sea is only 11 feet deep at some places, canceling the possibility of ships going through and allowing only boats of militant groups and refugees to pass through. In fact, the British, under whose colonial rule India and Lanka were together, had periodically worked out various schemes. In all, nine schemes were prepared for the Sethu Samudram project, of which the one prepared by Dr Arcot Ramaswamy Mudaliar in 1922 assumed significance. Dr Mudaliar had disagreed with the earlier schemes which had wanted the canal to be dug along the Adam’s Bridge itself. He also ruled out the project being built east of the famous Pamban bridge as suggested in earlier schemes.
Ultimately, he decided that the canal should be dug in the Indian mainland itself. The same idea had been mooted by the author of the first
project way back i all this and the repo missions and Tam decisions failed sponse from the I. which decided to : in 1989, saying that nomically viable.
Tamil Nadu pol saw red in this mo that the then prime 1 dhi, was getting di Lankan president F dasa after the lat withdrawal of the I ing Force (IPKF) fi Was not the K over on a platter t prime minister Si ayake, they asked. That the defenc lved in the curren lot over India's se the region. The Il wants to put its s over a region whic mained under the Lankan militant g dealing in petrole assorted anti-soci
WE ARE ATOL BONDED
74848
AIR SAVERS
FOR THE PROTECTION OF OUR CLIENTS
Agents for AIR LANKA, GULF AIR, BRITISH AIR WAYS, SINGAPORE AIRLINE, MALAYSIAN AIR, AIR INDIA, AIR CANADA, CANADA 3000 SPECIAL OFFER E450 COWERS Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Colombo Stop over permitted from Sep. 1st to 30 Nov 98
E E COLOMBO From 349 + Tax BOMBAY From 311 + ax MADRAS From 400 + Tax DELH From 346 -- Tax SINGAPORE From 390 + Tax SWISS From 100 - Tax TORONTO From 210 - Tax GERMANY From 75 - Tax SYDNEY From 485 + Tax OAKLAND From 390 - Tax
SEATS AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR AIRLINES CALL PARAM
FOR RESERVATIONS FOR CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR HOLDAYS BOOKINGS
TE ; 0 1 6 1 -542 2226 FAX: 218 1-428 2546 MOBILE: 996
236 ERTON HIGH STREET, SOUTH IMBLEDON, LONDON S19 AU
OPEN 7 DAYS AWEEK
40 1 262

15 FEBRUARY 1999
in 1860. However, rts of several comil Nadu assembly to evoke any reIndian government scrap the schemes it was not not eco
iticians once again ve. It was obvious miniser, Rajiv Ganesperate to mollify čanasinghe Premater demanded the ndian Peace-Keep"om Lanka.
Cachativu handed o the then Lankan
rimavo Bandaran
:e minister is invot project speaks a 'curity concerns in ndian government tamp of authority h had hitherto re
control of armed roups, smugglers um products and al elements. Also,
the majority of Indian coal-laden ships take this route, from Eastern India’s coalfieds to the southern states. The location of the 31-feet canal well inside the Indian landmass indicates that India does not want to take the risk of digging the canal along the Adam's bridge. This implies that India does not envisage the ethnical conflict in Lanka to peter out in the next three-four eyes. Also, fishermen from Ramanathapuram district can go south without taking the risk of getting shot at by Sri Lankan naval personnel.
The decision to launch the Sethu Samudram project has been welcomed by all political parties in Tamil Nadu. However, the parties are unaware of the fact that frequent shipping could cause enormous damage to the environment, especially at the Gulf of Mannar which has been declared as a National Biosphere Reserve. In any case, It will be clear from the next few months as to what extent this project would be implemented in right earnest, like the way the monkeys and the squirrel did in yet another yuga. O
We Fly You Anywhere, Any Time on Scheduled Flights. At low Prices
BEST FARESTO Madras On British Airways, Air Lanka, GulfAir, Air India & Lufthansa Colombo on Air Lanka, Gulf Air, Emirates
Kuwait Air &Royal Jordanian
Toronto. On
Air Canada, KLM & United Airline
i. Best Hotel Bookings in Madras & Colombo
Cheap Travel Insurance Aranged
Please phone Siva
Open 6 days: 10am. to 8pm.
361 London Road, Croydon, Surrey CRO 3PB C Tel: 0181 665 0206 ravels Limited
sinkAER
Fax: 0181 689 2576

Page 27
15 FEBRUARY 1999
Karunanidhi - The Rel i Dravidian Crusad
T N Gopalan
he septuagenarian DMK chief Karunanidhi would like to somehow believe that he has not lost his Dravidian moorings in the course of his pursuit of power. Every once in a while he makes some noise or other on the Dravidian principles, raising hackles among the predominantly Brahmin media.
The unwary, naive or helpless Tamil nationalist sections get excited of course over the renewed war cry and start praising him. But before you say Tamil, the controversy dies down, for a busy Chief Minister has moved on to other “pressing issues of the day and the Votaries of the Tamil Tigers are left twiddling their thumbs.
In the last couple of months, at least on three different occasions the Dravidian ideology came to the fore only to be shoved on to the backburner for the nth time.
Tamil as medium of instruction in the primary schools, Tamil archanas in temples and finally the “kunkumam” controversy hogged the headlines briefly in the local Press before being forgotten altogether in a matter of weeks if not days. An examination of the issues involved and the way Karunanidhi handled it all would give some insight into the way the Dravidian movement has been evolving in the State.
First on having Tamil as the medium of instruction in primary schools. Nothing could be more disgraceful to a movement founded avowedly to promote the interests of the Tamil society, read the non-Brahmin castes, than to have to hum and haw for over three decades - the time the Dravidian parties have been in power - to take a tentative step forward in making Tamil a medium of instruction in primary schools, that is those with classes up to the fifth.
But there were roars of approval when the Government issued a directive to the effect that nursery schools must compulsorily teach at least three subjects like the Social Studies and the Mathematics in Tamil, otherwise they would be de-recognised.
(Most of the not anyway recei tal grants and so uld not amount to still the nursery sc strongly proteste ian” measure is a order also said tha the linguistic mit whose mother-ton uld teach Tamil a upto the Eighth St agencies misinter mean that Tamilw pulsory right upto all schools which students who opt than Tamil as the like Hindi or Frenc The upper cla: the latter category a furore.
And even the pecially the BBC, ently because they pression that the would be affected As usual som crusaders started idhi for his comn assertion of our c ter late than neve The truth wa elite would not be subjects in classe and nothing mor to such schools jects through the When this ci to a top Governn ceded that even pulsory upto the schools run by t ties was a project ght out. Doing sc dents of those sc ning three langu face of the che policy of the Dra and English.
“We are wo could suggest class hours and teachers for thi Such is the com
 
 

TAM TIMES 27
imary schools do : any governmene-recognition wouch for them. That hools’ associations the “authoritarifferent story.) The in schools run by orities (like those ue is Telugu) shos a third language Indard. Some news preted the order to is being made comeighth standard in would then mean or a language other second language, h, would be affected. ss wards belong to , and so there was
foreign media, esgot excited apparwere under the imChristian schools
a uninformed Tamil lauding Karunanitment, “This is an ultural identity, bet,” and so on.
out in a day. The touched. Only three up to fifth in Tamil , though some sops hich teach all subIamil medium. rrespondent talked ent official, he connaking Tamil comeighth standard in e linguistic minorinot completely thouwould mean the stuools would be learges, that flies in the shed two-language idian parties, Tamil
iering whether we aching Tamil after e can appoint Tamil purpose, he said. itment of the DMK
government. The matter is rarely discussed in public fora these days.
No DMK or AIADMK government ever took any effort to popularise Tamil medium courses, rather they did not care to ensure that those who graduate out of such courses faced no difficulty in getting jobs.
“If only some way had been found to ensure that the Tamil medium graduates were properly equipped and also that they got some preference in the job market, Tamil medium would not have been at a discount as it is now,” it has been pointed out.
There was a tentative effort by the DMK regime as soon as it came to power in 1967 to introduce Tamil as compulsory medium of instruction in certain courses in the colleges, but that only sparked off furious student protests - inevitable in the absence of job guarantees - and the government backed down. After that no one heard of that ever again.
When the sons and daughters of all the DMK and AIADMK VIPs make it to English medium schools, some of them even studying Hindi, what kind of credibility they would have among the people at large"?
The much-vaunted two-language formula giving, as it does, the pride of place to English, has itself enormously damaged the prospects of Tamils emergence as the pre-eminent language of the state. But no introspection has been done on this score thus far.
And then the Archanas. The selfproclaimed Tamil enthusiast and Minister for Tamil development, appropriately named Thamizhkudimagan, one day announced that provision would be made for performing archanas in Tamil in temples for those who desire to do so.
Ha, how dare you, This is the thin end of the wedge. How could you interfere with the cherished customs and traditions of Hinduism, why should the Government poke its nose into religious affairs, would it try and tell the Muslims to conduct prayers in Tamil, screamed the conservative sections, the maverick Cho Ramasamy leading the charge.
The other side rallied behind the government. Pazha Nedumaran, the anointed champion of the Tiger cause, conducted an opinion poll among those turning up at the Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple and de

Page 28
28 TAMIL TIMES
clared that an overwhelming majority of the worshippers preferred Tamil archanas and not the Sanskrit ones. Again the issue was hotly debated for a few days and some harsh words were exchanged.
But no one would take note of the fact that hardly a few of the devotees ever demanded Tamil archanas. Why should they care anyway? For those seeking solace from religion what matters is that God should be coaxed into granting the boons they are looking for and not the language in which the prayers are offered.
And such has been the impact of the Dravidian movement on the vast non-Brahmin masses that they still hold Sanskrit in some awe, as some divine language. Even the Brahminpriest-free-self-respect marriages are few and far between.
And pray when did the Dravidian movement undertake any systematic campaign to motivate the believers to ask for Tamil archanas apart from their platform rhetoric and Brahmin-bashing? No surprise then this controversy too petered out quickly.
The last one was the kunkumam controversy. While presiding over
the marriage of a b) cabinet ministers, k also a close associ lin, the Chief Min scathing comments sporting kunkuma head and exhorted back to the cherish ciples of the Dravi While predictat strong exception and termed them a his erstwhile proteg VaiKo, accused hi ards and hypocrisy a section of the pooned him for his In fact Dinaman per, generally syn splashed a large pl his wife Dayalu An ing kunkumam, is tilak on the forehe oom, while standi her rationalist hus straight from the V rein Karunanidhi ha call.
He later wonde was all about. All was to draw the att
COME ANDUOINTHE AND ACTIVI
The Bharatiya Vidya Bh in Music, Dance, La
inclu
MUSIC: Karnatic and Hindustani VoCal With Harl
Mridangam
DANCE: Bharatan
Certificate Courses in: Karnatic Music Theory, an LANGUAGES: Hindi, Gujarati, Tam YOGA: Iyengar and Hatha Yo
DRAMA CLASSES in r
CLASSADMISSIONS MAYBE CONS
The Bhavan is the largest Institute it Apart from educational courses, many fine
ALSO . . . visit the Bhavan's E For more details, ring/write to: The Bhavan Ce
LONDON W149HQ. Telephone 0171
OUTREACH CLASSES IN INDIAN These take place, 5pm - 8pm on Mor Stanley Avenue, off Ealing
Ring/Write to the

15 FEBRUARY 1999
other of one of his C. Ponmudi who is ate of his son Staister made some on the practice of m on one’s forehis cadres to hark ed rationalist prindian movement. bly the BJP took a to his comments Inti-Hindu, one of es, MDMK leader m of doublestandon the matter and Tamil press lams inconsistencies. i, a Tamil newspanpathetic to him, hotograph wherein mal, herself wearseen putting on a ad of the bridegrng by the side of band - that scene ery marriage wheld made his clarion
red what the fuss that he had done ention of his youth
wing to the rationalist principles.
“I am not legislating against the practice. I'm only calling upon my followers to shed irrational habits. What's wrong with that, why should anyone get worked up about it?” he wanted to know.
When asked about his own wife's sporting a large red dot on her forehead, he went on the backfoot and said, "Let the womenfolk persist with whatever they are doing. It’s dificult to see why the men also should seek to emulate them on that score. I’ve always felt saddened that the Dravidian ideology is becoming progressively diluted and hence I expressed my concern there,” he said.
When it was pointed out to him that one of the senior party leaders, the Speaker of the state Assembly himself, PT.R. Palanivel Rajan, was always seen with sacred ash and kunkumam on his forehead, he could only say weakly, “Well many who believe in god are in our party, I can't deny. Rajan is one of them, I can't say anything more on that.” The Speaker is a deeply religious man and he makes no bones about it. He dares even call on the Kanchi Kamakoti Shankar
BHAVAN'S CLASSES TIES IN 1999
havan runs 22 Courses Inguages and Yoga
ding:
monium, Bengali Music, Flute, Sitar, Tabla, Vina,
and Violin
atyam and Kathak
dArt and Archaeology of The Indian Sub-Continent il, Bengali, Malayalam and Sanskrit ga, Meditation and Pranayam 7ajor Indian Languages
SIDERED THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
the UK for Indian Arts and Culture erformances and exhibitions are presented lookshop for CDs, books etc.
tre, 4a Castletown Road, West Kensington,
381 3O86/4608 Fax: 0171 381 87.58
ANCE, MUSIC AND LANGUAGES: days in Alperton Community School Road, Wembley HAO 4JE Bhavan for details

Page 29
15 FEBRUARY 1999
acharya in public. His father P.T.Rajan, a veteran leader of the Justice Party during the colonial days and a leading of the light of the anti-Brahmin movement, was a trustee of the Madurai Meenakshi temple, and the Speaker still basks in the shine of that reflected glory -- none in the DMK, not even Karunanidhi, cares to tread on his toes on the issue of his religious beliefs.
Palanivel Rajan was rewarded with the Speakership because he stood by Karunanidhi when another senior leader from Madurai threw his weight behind Vai Ko when he revolted against the increasing prominence given to Karunaidhi's son Stalin. These days the leadership indeed finds it difficult to reconcile itself to his ways, though it would not go public pn the matter.
Ironically the Chief Minister chose o keep quiet on the dig taken by Vaiko over his yellow shawl. “If you’re really against any kind of superstitious practice, how is that you don’t say anything when your own family members take to religion and frequent temples and you yourselves would not shed your yellow shawl?” he wanted to know.
There is indeed some mystery about the yellow shawl found constantly around his neck. Though the Dravidian leaders do sport some shawl or other, earlier Karunanidhi used to wear shawls of different colours, but inexplicably he has been sticking to yellow for sometime now. Some have even claimed that the yellow shawl was gifted by a dubious godman called Kalki - yellow is the favourite colourof his cult. Since he stormed back to power in 1996 and he was also apparently cured of some neck-ailment after he started wearing the yellow shawl, Karunanidhi would not give it a go-by, it has been speculated. To this day he has not satisifeatorily explained why he is sticking to yellow.
As it happens he turned the spotlight on the rationalist issue at a time when a
section of the press ostentation attendi brother's marriage.
“We have alwa folk. The enthusias take the marriage as should not be misc tentation; we don’t pees on marria-ges. Jayalalitha and then the kunkumam issi calculated diversion ted he had spotted s ers wearing kunku word through one c he was bleeding, th but then the DMK something only to p deeply school them ing principles of t ment,” he had exho It may be recall in 1990 too when h ister he called upor back to the roots wh state convention. E Dravidar Kazhaga Dravidian parties, v ing Brhamins in sor district, cutting their ing at their tufts an furore and Jayalalit crest of her popula him. An embarrass halt to the campaig He could be gei rationalist principle rious yellow shaw much more so than chalantly flaunts h been very inconsis them, taking them and conveniently fo does not.
The apologist Karunanidhi shou slightest sign of p Brahmins, scared clout. And there ar.
maidd
Shipping & Air Freight
எமது ஆதரவாளர்களுக்
கொழும்பு சென்று வருவதற்கான வி o COMPLETE DOCUMENTATION SERVICE o MMEDIATE NSURANCE COVER s MPORT & EXPORT o AR, SEA & LAND
o WC O AL o PA O CC
 
 
 
 

TAM TIMES 29
vent to town on the g on the minister’s
s been very simple n of the cadres who their family function instrued to mean osspend crores of ruhe said in a dig at went on to dwell on e. Perhaps it was a iry tactic. He regretomeone of his workmam. “When I sent fus asking him why : man wiped it away, men should not do ease me They should selves in the foundne Dravidian moveted. :d here that way back e was the Chief Minhis followers to get tle addressing a DMK But subseuqently the n, the mother of all vent berserk, assaultne areas in Thanjavur sacred threads, hackd so on. There was a ha then riding on the ity strongly criticised ed Karunanidhi cried yn post-haste. neuinely committed to 's barring the mystebusiness, certainly Jayalalitha who noner beliefs, but he has tent in championing up when it suits him rgetting them when it
always bemoan that ld be daunted at the otest from scheming she is of their media those who contend it
was the orthodoxy combined with the powers at the national level, still in the hands of the upper castes, which had browbeaten a genuine movement of the people like the Dravidian into submission.
What kind he or she is who retreats with alacrity whenever confronted by opposition, they would not explain. And what kind of a movement could give birth to an outfit like the AIADMK or a leader like Jayalalitha who is a standing rebuke to every canon of the Dravidian principles, but who had the audacity to call herself the latest stage in the evolution of the Dravidian movement?
What happens to the movement when the General Secretary of the very party founded by Periyar turns into a courtier in Jaya’s durbar?
But then the larger issue is what indeed Periyar EVR himself, the holy cow for the Dravidian ideologues, was doing when he saw right before his eyes his own cadres turning their back on the rationalist principles. He had seen Karunanidhi’s depradations in his first stint, still he would not utter a word over the way his protege was feathering his own nest.
At one level those who remained with the DK started wavering on the rationalist principles – as some used to jibe that roadside Ganesh temples started mushrooming after he started breaking Ganesh idols. At another the intermediate castes which rose to power thought nothing of trampling upon the Dalits.
During all that time, all that Periyar would do was rave and rant and not take up any campaign either to cleanse his own organisation or crusade for integrity in public life. Apparently for him the end of the Brahmin hegemony was the consummation devoutly wished and nothing much remained after the consummation. No wonder the Tamil society presumably led by the Dravidian parties continues to flounder with no light at the end of the tunnel. O
šačksówkašKWEK. Awe:"**...szw.www.six:
கான அதிர்ஸ்ட லாபச்சீட்டு Dான ரிக்கட் ஒன்று இலவசம் RLDWAVDE DESTINATIONS
SIZES RWEIGHTS CKING & CRATING SERVICE LLECTION & DELIVERY
INTEKSÁll(ONÁl.
終瀏公 リ
N
嗣
ESTABLISHED 1966 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK
FAX 0181-208 1882 15 BURNLEY ROAD NW10

Page 30
30 TAMILTIMES
CLASSIFIED ADS
First 20 words £10. each word 60p charge Box No. 23. (Wat 17 1/2% extra). Prepayment essen
The Advertisement Manager, mil Times Ltd, PO Box 121
Sutton, Surrey SM13. Phone: 0181-644 0972 FAX: 0181-24
MATRIMIONAL
Sri Lankan parents established in UK seek professionall partner for their UK qualified graduate daughter, British citizen, employed, 35, religion no bar, confidentiality assured. Please write with details. M 1079 C/O Tamil TimeS.
Tamil Hindu Aunty in UK seeks educated bride for caring responsible nephew, 31, 5'2", British Citizen, accountant (ACCA) in permanent employment, Mars seventh house. Reply with horoscope and details. M 1080 C/o Tamil Times,
Jaffna Catholic parents with good family background seek groom for daughter, 34, accountant, British Citizen. Please Send details. M 1081 C/o Tamil Times.
Jaffna Catholic parents seek partner with good family background for daughter, 27, CIMA finalist. Send details. M 1082 C/o Tanil Tines.
Friend seeks groom for attractive, Catholic administrative officer in London, 39. Send details. M 1083 C/o Tannil
irreS.
Sister seeks professional bride for handsome, Ph.D., engineer, 33, 5'11", non-smoker in excellent employment in London. Please send details. M 1084 C/o Tamil Tinnes.
Jaffna Tamil brother in UK seeks partner for Sister, 24, working in bank in Sri Lanka, Mars seventh house. Send horoscope, details. M 1085 C/o Tamil Times.
Uncle (London) seeks professional Christian groom for niece, 29, father Colombo docfor. M 1086 C/O Tamil TinmeS.
Sri Lankan Christian Tamil parents seek groom for youngest daughter, 27, GCE (A Level), working in Emirates Airline office, UAE. Send details. M 1087, C/o Tamil
Times.
Sri Lankan Tamil parents seek bride for son, 29, 5'9" pharmaceutical executive working in Canada. Send details, horoscope. M 1088 C/o Tamil TirmeS.
Jaffna Hindu parents in UK seek professionally qualified bride below 25 for Son, 28, Ph.D., (Chemistry) in employ. ment. Send horoscope, details. M 1089 C/o Tamil Times.
Jaffna Hindu parents seek partner for son, 39, educated and settled in US, MBA, CPA, in excellent employment. Send details. M 1090 C/o Tamil Times.
WEDDING BELLS
We congratulate the following couples on their recent Wedding.
Dr. Partheepan son of Mr. & Mrs. Narendran of 110 Deans Lane, Edgware, Middx., HA8 9NR and Dr. Nirodhini daughter of Dr. & Mrs. Murugananthan of Moorlands, North Drive, Sandfield Park, Liverpool L 12 1LD on 31st January 1999 at Brent Town Hall, Wembley, Middx.
Kiritharakopalan son of Mr. & Mrs. Periyathamby of 1 Jefferson, 83/85 Sudbury Avenue, Wembley, Middx., HAO 3AW and Subathira daughter of the late Mr. S.D. Balarajah and Mrs. P Balarajah of 21 Haydon Park Road, Wimbledon, London SW198JO or 7th February 1999 at South Borough School Hall, Surbiton, Surrey.
Vasanthan son of Mr. & Mrs. Mahesawelu of 17 Fredrica Road, Colombo 6 and Pathma daughter of Mr. E. Thillainayagam and the late Mrs. Thillainayagam of 16 3/9 Amarasekera Mawatha, Colombo 5 on 12th February 1999 at Hotel Sapphire, Colombo 6.
 

OBITUARES
Mrs Kamalamalar Ariyaratnam, retired teacher, Jaffna Central College, beloved wife
teacher, Jaffna Central College and later Principal, Kanagaratnam MMV, Jaffna, loving mother of Dr. Jeyakumar Ariyaratnam (Canterbury), Dr. Rajkumar Ariyaratnam (Bolton) and Mr. Shanthikumar Ariyaratnam (Hong Kong); beloved Sister of late Dr. Arufrajah Arulampalam (Cannock), MrS. RaSamalar VÎVeKarlaf)- than (Italy), Dr. Thangarajah Arulampalam (Mansfield) and Mrs. Thirumalar Selvasingham (Malaysia) passed away on 19th December 1998 in Canterbury, Kent. Funeral service took place on Thursday, 24th December at St. George's Baptist Church, Canterbury followed by burial at Canterbury cemetery. - Contact
Address; Dr. J. Ariyaratnam, 9 Ealham Close, Canterbury, Kent CT4 7BMW Tel 01227 4542O6.
&S
Justice Satchi Ponnambalam, Retired Judge of the Supreme Court of Belize, beloved husband of Vasanthi,
15 FEBRUARY 1999
father of Sunnathi, Jamuna and Menaka, father-in-law of David Courtney and Jules Vascuesz, loving grand father of Patrick, Alexander, Priya and Sahar; brother of the late P. Anandakumar and Mrs. S. SivaSubramaniam of Chundikuli; brother-in-law of late Nirmala, Leela, S. Balaratnam, Colombo and Dan Muthuveloe UK; son-in-law of the late Genna Sittampalam passed away peacefully following a prolonged illness on 31st January 1999. Funeral took place according to Hindu rites in Belize. - 24 New Town Barracks, Belize City, Belize, Central America.
Mrs. Regina Rajanayagam, beloved wife of P. Rajanaygam (Senior Solicitor of Bexley Council and Editor, Tamil Times), daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Savari (Mannar); sister of Cecilia Lawrence (Mannar), Rathnam (Tamillnadlu), Jesuthiasan (Sri Lanka), Anton James (Paris) and Prince (Tamilnadu), sister-inlaw of Dr. Arasaratnam (Hemel Hempstead), Mrs. Parames Selvaratnam, Nadarajah (both of Colombo), the late Shanmuganathan and Mrs. Mahes Sivayoganathan (Colombo) and aunty of Sharmini and Anthony (London) passed away peacefully after a brief illness. Regina was laid to rest On 18.2.99 at Hither Green Cemetery, London SE6 after a Requiem Mass at St. John Fisher Church, Bexley, Kent.
Mr. Rajanayagam and members of his family wish to thank all friends and relatives who attended the funeral, sent messages of sympathy and floral tributes, made donations
Continued on page 31

Page 31
15 FEBRUARY 1999
Continued from page 30
to the Haematology Research Fund of the Queen Mary's Hospital Trust and assisted them in various ways during the period of great sorrow. - 13 Arbuthnot Lane, Bexley, Kent DA5 1 EH. Tel 01322 550191.
Mrs. Panumathy Niallainahan, beloved wife of the late Supiramaniam Nallainathan, retired Udayar of Urumpirai, Jaffna, beloved mother of Kumareswary, Chandradevi, late Mallihadevi, late Sathyamoorthy, Vallinayagi, Meenambigai (all of Sri Lanka), Kurumoorthy, Sothymathy, Sarveswaramoorthy (all of UK), Kumarachandran, Sakunthaladevi (both of Canada) and Kanagambigai (Australia); mother-in-law of Vaithialingam, Rajadurai, Pandithavarathan, Sivasithanparam, Somanathan (all of Sri Lanka), Susila, Ruban, Ambiga (all of UK), Ariaratnam, Parankirinathan (both of Canada) passed away peacefully and was Cremated at Kanate On 30.01.99 from 18/1 Ednonton Road, Colombo 6. She also leaves behind 30 grand children and 25 great-grand Children.
The members of the family thank all friends and relatives who attended the funeral, sent messages of sympathy and assisted in various ways during the period of bereavement. - 96 Inglehurst Gardens, Redbridge, Ilford, Essex. Tel: 0181 551 262O.
Revision Classes for G.C.E., & 'A' Level June '99 by qualified private School teacher Specialised in Chemistry. For details Contact: MrS. N. Latha
Te: O181578 6201 in Greenford.
Mr. Chelliah Nadarajah (Broker), formerly of 42nd Lane, Colombo 6, beloved husband of Pathmavathy, loving father of Malathi (Madras), Sivakumaran and Vasuki (both of UK); grandfather of Dharani &
Gopikrishna (Madras); Thanusha, Nimalan & Renuka; Saravana & Krishna (all of UK), great grandfather of Shurthi (Madras); father-in-law of late Yogarajah, Rajeswari and Dr. Rajan Namasivayam, brother of the late Saraswathy, Thilaka wathy, Ariyaratnam, Manonimani, Thiyagarajah, Kanagaratnam, Sabaratnam, Pathmanathan, Kumarasingam, Paramanathan and Vadivambikai (UK) passed away peacefully on 18th February 1999 on his 91st birthday and was cremated on 20th February.
The members of the family thank all friends and relatives Who attended the funeral, sent messages of sympathy and floral tributes and assisted them in several ways during the period of bereavement. - 104A CarShafton Park Road, Carshalton Beeches, Surrey SM53SG.
Mr. C. Vinayagamoorthy, Retired Senior Civil Engineer, Ealing Council; Chairman, Sri Rajarajeswari Amman Temple Trust. Permanent Trustee, Britannia Hindu (Siva) Temple Trust, beloved husband of
 
 
 
 
 

AMILTIMES 31
Sugunawathy, loving father of ynkaran, Dental Surgeon 3irmingham, Dr. Vidya, Vewham Hospital, London E6 and Dr. Myuran, Mayday Hosoital, Croydon, son of the late Candiah and late Nalapillai of Earlalai South, son-in-law of the late Ponniah and Rasammah of Alaveddy, brother of Sivasothy, late Sivapathasundaram, Shanmuganathan (all of UK), Balasubramaniam, Vaira Vanathan, Sockalingam, Thirunavukkarasu (all of Canada), Sivanandasothy, Sivananthan, GnanaSothy and Gnaneswaran (all of UK); brother-in-law of Chinniah (UK), Kamalambikai (Sri
Lanka), late Navamany, Pakiasothy, Soundararani, Sridevi, Kaladevi (all of Canada), Ragunathan, Swarna, Chandrapala, Malini (all of UK), Saravanapavan, Punithawathy (both of Sri Lanka) and Thilagawathy (South Africa) passed away peacefully on 11th February 1999 and was cremated on 18th February.
The members of the family thank all friends and relatives who attended the funeral, sent messages of sympathy and floral tributes and assisted them in several ways during the period of great sorrow - 65 Revel Road, Kingston, Surrey KTf 3SL. Tel: 018 1 942 2013.
OBITUARY cum IN MEMORAM
Our Aiyah Mr. K.P. Thambusamy EOrn: 26.01.1915
Our Amma Mrs. Sellamah Thambusamy Born: 19.09. 1917
Rest: 24.05.1996
Rest: 18.11.1998
Kathirasar Ponniah Thambusamy (K.P.T.), Proprietor, The Cheapside - Jaffna, Point Pedro, Kilinochchi, and Colombo of 'Sellagri, 105 Manipay Road, Vannarponnai, Jaffna, beloved husband of late Sellamah; loving father of Balasubramaniam(Madras), Sivasubramaniam, Sivanathan, Ganeshalingam, Ravintharan (all of Colombo), Sarojinidevi (Doha), Kamaladevi (Canada), Vimaladevi and Sakunthaladevi (both of UK); father-in-law of Vamadevan (Engineer, Doha), Kathirkamathamby (Engineer, Canada), Dr. Sritharan (Maidstone Hospital, UK), Dr. Mahesan (UK), Gowri (Madras), Pathmini, Rohini, Ranee and Nalayini (all of Colombo); loving grandfather of Thayabaran (Accountant, UK), Vithyabaran (Engineer, Sri Lanka), Sarves waran (Madras), Srikumar (Colombo University), Balambikai (Madras), Prabaharan (South Bank University UK), Siva Periya, Siva Ramya, Mayuran (all of Colombo), Dr. inthumathy Surendran (USA), Krishnakumar (Computer Analyst, USA), Jeyatharshan, Arulirajah, Kartheepan, Janaky (all of Colombo), Krishanthy (Medical College, Canada), Senthuran (Canada), Logi (Kingston University, UK), Kaji (St. Marys Medical College, London), Ganan (Eton College, UK), Jenarthanan (Colombo) and Sangeethan (UK) passed away peacefully on 28, 11.98 and the funeral took place from his daughter's residence 14 Castle Lane, Colombo 4, Sri Lanka on 29th November. We thank all relatives and friends who attended the funeral, sent messages of sympathy and supported us during the period of great SOYOW, in loving memory of Mrs. Sellamah Thambusamy on the Third Anniversary of her passing away On 24th May 1996. Love and Remembrance Last for ever
Sadly missed and fondly remembered by all.
- Dr. Sritharan and Mrs. Vimala Sritharan (daughter), 'Shree Rangam', 203 Willington Street, Maidstone, Kent ME 158EE.

Page 32
32TAMILTIMES
IN MEMORAM
In loving memory of Mr. Chelliah Sivasampu on the seventh anniversary of his passing away on 9th March
1992.
Sadly missed and fondly remembered by his two sons.
In loving memory of Mr. S. Sithamparappilai (Ponniah Master) of Alaveddy, Sri
Lanka, retired Principal, Arunodhaya College on the sixth anniversary of his paSSing away on 5th February
1993. Aiyah.
We thank the almighty for you, whose love, devotion and sacrifice were endless, unselfish and enduring. Unseen, unheard but always remembered by your childen
Thilakavathy, Mangayatkarasy, Mangaleswary, Sel varanee and
Umapathysivarn; sons-in-law Kandiah and Sabaratnam,
daughter-in-law Suchitra, grand Children Usha, Varathan, Nalini, Nanthini,
Seyone, Kugan, Umaipalan, Uma, Kalaimagal, Thirunagal, Mythily, Tharan, Mohan, Yohan, Poorany, Ragulan Ponnaiah, great grandchildren Bhairavi, Rudran, Abhirami, Luxmmi Selam, Ahimsa, Sebastien and Cynthuja.
Appreciation on page 33.
Sixth Death Anniversary
In loving memory of Mr. Chittampalam Subramaniam (Orator) on the fifth anniversary of his passing away on 18th February 1994.
Sadly missed and fondly remembered by his wife, children, son-in-law, daughters-inlaw, sister, nephews and grand Children
Vallipuram Sellathamby (Attorney-at-Law, J.P., U.M., Point Pedro) Years may pass but your memory Shall remain fresh hearts. Remembered with love and affection. On the third anniversary of your passing away on 21st February 1996, by your wife, children, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and grand children. - 50 Wiltshire Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 7ON.
in our
In loving memory of Thayapary Rasaendiran on
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

15 FEBRUARY 1999
Utaiwan, Monti, Manee,
and their Families.
Second Death Anniversary
18.1.35-4.2.97
ln Remembrance of Mohandas Kanthyah Samuel We are thankful for the happiness you brought To our lives and miss you very much. You will always have a place in our hearts With much love from uS all.
Rasamanie, Brothers Indran and Peter, Sister Chandra
Mike and Allan. Mother
the first anniversary of her passing away on 3rd February
1998.
Sadly missed and lovingly remembered by her husband Rasaendiran and daughter Rajini. - 34 Grangeway
Gardens, Redbridge, Ilford, Essex IG4 5HN.
Mrs Sivagamasoundaram
First Death Anniversary
In loving memory of Mrs. Sivagam a sound a ram Pararajasingham who passed away on 5th February
1998. A devoted wife and a dearest nother.
Deeply missed and affectionately remembered by your ever loving husband, children and families, nephews and nieces. - 27 Mayford, Howard Road, Surbiton, Surrey KT5 8SB.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
March 1 to 14 London's Leading Restaurant Red Fort at 77 Dean Street, London W1 V 5HA presents Coastal Cuisine along with a Cultural Festival of Mohiniattam by Radhir Marar, Vocal & Veena Music by G. Elangovan and Mridangan by Chanda Shekar Tel 0714372115. Mar. 1 Full Moon; Masi Mahan. Mar. 4 Casinir. Mar. 6 South London Tamil Welfare Group (SLTWG) Drop In. Tel: 0 181 542 3285. Mar, 8 Feast of St. John of God. Mar. 9 Feast of St. Francis. Mar. 13 Eekathasi; SLTWG Women's Group meet. Tel: 0181 542 3285. Mar, 17 Amavasai; Feast of St. Patrick. Mar 18 Feast of St. Cyril. Mar. 19 Feast of St. Joseph. Mar. 20 Sathurthi, SLTWG Drop In. Tel: 01815423285. Mar 21 Karthigai Mar. 22 Shashti. Mar. 23 Feast of St. Turibus. Mar. 25 Sri Rama Navami; Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Mar. 27 Eekathasi, 11 an Colombuthurai Sri Yoga Swamigal Abhishekam & Guru Poojah at Shree Ganapathy Temple, 123 Effra Road,
Continued on page 33
Festival of St.

Page 33
15FEBRUARY 1999
Continued from page 32
London SW19. All Welcome. Mar. 28 4.30pm Kokuvil Hindu College O.S.A. (UK) presents Variety Entertainment of Vocal Music, Dance & Light Music in support of Handy Perinbanayagam Memorial Fundat Acton Town Hall, Main Street, Acton, London VV3. Tel 0181 6808578/204 2567/O 1293 881181.
Mar. 29 PirathoSam. Mar. 30 Pankuni Uththiran. Mar. 31 Full Moon. At Bhavan Centre, 4A Castletown Road, London W14 9HG. Tel: 0181 381 3086/4068. Mar. 13 7.00pm Shankara Asian Arts presents Bharatanatyam by Dr. Srindhi Chidambaram. Tel 0171 610 1575/402 2O33. Mar. 21 2.00pm Talk by Prof. B.M. Hedge. All welcome. Mar. 27 6.30pm Bhavan's Benefit Performance. Kathak by Gauri Tripathi. Mar. 28 6.00pm Bhavan's Benefit Performance. Bharatanatyam by Sangeeta Banerjee.
AUSTRALIAN NEWSLETTER
The Tami Senior Citizens Association of Sydney won an award for good practice among Senior Citizens' Clubs and Centres, for forming community networks, establishing a diverse programme of activities and providing a supportive welfare role for the wider Tamil community. The award was presented at an Awards Ceremony at the Sydney Town Hall by the Chairperson of the Ethnic Communities Council and was accepted by Col Ramanathan, President of the Senior Citizens' Association.
The association celebrated the Thai Pongal festival on January 16th at Homebush Primary School Hall. The programme included Bharatha Natyam dances by students of Mrs. Karthiga Ganeshan, a veena recital by Mrs. Varalakshmy Sritharan, a percussion recital by students of Mr. Lagudas, a vocal recital by Mrs. Chandrakala lango and the singing of old favourite songs by the PA. Jegendran Group. The evening ended with the serving of refreshments.
Australia Day, the national day of Australia is celebrated every year on January 26th. There were grand celebrations in Sydney, with open air concerts in the city and glorious fireworks that lit up the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.
Many Sri Lankan lamis participated in the Australia Day celebrations, organised by the Strathfield Rotary Club, at the Strathfield Park, where Mr. Laurel O'Toole, the Mayor of Strathfield, welcomed the large crowd. Proceedings began with the singing of the National Anthem - Advance Australia Fair, followed by community singing and the Australia Day Address by Mrs. Margaret Whitlam, wife of the former Prime Minister. Her address was followed
by the presentation Awards and the Citize many migrants who h of Australia. The forma with a prayer for the n
Mr. S. Sithar Indelible FOC
Great T.
Alaveddy Mixed Englis ble beginnings gradua tum and during subs
fested itself as Aruno
speedy and spectacult ordinary school to a was entirely due to the dedicated service of more dearly called "P was a teacher for sev Crowned his career a, can never dare to th College without him. of this institution and and the reputation College enjoys have Ponniah Master's enc have had the privileg dents, will definitely f influence on their lives He was a strict disci, task master. There is r that his intellect Could Chemistry, Physics, Geography, History Christianity or Hinduis, ject, he was knowle present unenviable : between teacher and was one of reverenc pline and dedication. Our teacher bade uS t« however trifling, like g to buy stamps or Whe the entrance. These a drean COrne true.
He was hard and reserved and ShOWe( frown - only in the ci woven was an inta thread of love and a dedication towards t well-being of his stuc those who could disc “English Literature” in Sri Lanka at press Ponniah Master de Beau Geste, Oliver Cities, Thirty Nine Deserted Village, Mo more were the lite Ponniah Master in willing consent. The the story or the poe Classroom. We Wel was an exhilarating his method of teach He was a veterat race. He has left bef On the Sands of time

TAL- IMES 33
of Australia Day ship Ceremony for d become Citizens proceedings ended tion.
parapillai - prints of a
acher
School from humy gathered momenquent years manihaya College’. The rdevelopment ofan full fledged college untiring efforts and fr. Sithamparapillai, nniah Master, who 2ral years and later the Principal. One ink of Arunodhaya le was the architect al name and fame that Arunodhaya to be attributed to eavour. Those who e of being his stuel the impact of his
Dlinarian and a Stern Io area of knowledge
not penetrate. Be it Algebra, Geometry, , Tamil, English, in, whatever the subdgeable. Unlike the state of relationship student, in his case it 2 and respect, discit was our prayer that ) carry out an errand, ping to the post office ling his bicycle up to accomplished, it was
harsh on us, very no Smiles but stern ass room - but interngible and invisible ffection, an altruistic he development and ents - only visible to
rn thern. a subject unheard of nt was one in which rived most delight. Wist, A Tale of Two teps, Daffodils, The te D'Arthurand many try waters in which ersed us - with Our very atmosphere of was evident in the left spell-bound. It xperience. Such was
and a victor in life's ld indelible footprints
K. Selvadurai, A. Sandrasegaram.
Miss Daisy Salvaranee Rasiah - A Tribute
Miss Rasiah as I have respectfully addressed her, was one of my beloved teachers in my teens. She endeared herself at Vembadi by her simplicity and her very quiet but pleasant ways - an almost permanent impish smile on her face is what I recall She achieved her goals very effectively by a purposeful sincerity that was very forceful. The work done - never raised her Voice Or Chided the Students.
Her response to our erring ways was just a correction, often with a customary smile. The most, the worst of us could elicit from her by our teenage mischief was a struggle Within to Control herself. What frustration she had to bear, we were too immature to realise then. Anything amused her as much and She would burst Out With uncontrollable laughter and then struggle to collect herself. To us, She was guiltless and loveable and we revered her, Our mathematics teacher.
As a friend she was genuine and caring. Her friendship was understanding and without censure. She cared for people as people. It was not in her nature to judge anyone. Even though she was rather limited in moving around, more towards the end, one was amazed at the amount of data she possessed about each and everyone who was within her circle of friends. This probably was also her way of gathering experience of life and Miss Rasiah interestingly enough was often able to give Out Solid advice, that too in her usual unassuming quiet way. One could easily sense that she belonged to a very close knit family and a remarkable atmosphere at that to have been nurtured in to have resulted in such a nature in her.
Ill health, misfortune were all taken in her stride and tackled calmly with composure as far as I could see - an example to the younger generation of her family who have been close to her all their life. Even the situation in our country was only something she was interested in, for analysis and action in a responsible way, when action was called for Gratitude, for what God had allowed for her, was her response to the whole situation. She felt strongly for people who had less, and she did whatever was in her power to do, to help or assist where possible.
She loved her family very much. She was interested in the welfare of each niece and nephew much so that listening to her, one felt close to them oneself even though one has not met them. She was very proud of them all. Great Will be their loSS now at this earthly parting. But her memory and what she was in life will surely be a continuous source of inspiration to them and all her friends too.
Therefore it is only right and our bounden duty to thank God at every remembrance of her, and be very grateful for this lovely gift that God has bestowed on us. Birth, life and death are but events in God's Creation. Love is what makes life a gift, in turn to be used for the extension of love.
Thy kingdom comel Thy will be donel
Dr. (Mrs.) Thiagawathy Agnew.

Page 34
34 AML TIMES
Motor & Home
I n S u ra n c e
All Classes of Insurance Transacted At Very Competitive Rates Young Drivers Specialists Special Rates for Ladies/Mature Drivers Building O Fire Liability O Shop/Office O Health Insurance O Instalment Terms Available Computerised Quotes
J. Kulendran
Beddington Insurance Services (Wimbledon) Limited 157 Hartfield Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 3T.J.
Tel: O181543 5181 Fax: 0181543 0728
We Excel in The Personal Service We Provide
FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE Personal efects
ain | SHIPPING & AIR CARG
& Weekends BOMBAY . KUALA LUMP
இலங்கையின் கப்பல் போக்குவரத்து களஞ்சியங்க கிரமமான, நம்பிக்கையான சேவை.
* கொழும்புக்கு அர்ப்பணம் மிகுந்த உன்னத சேவை. (1 பெட்டிகளிலிருந்து, முழு அளவிலான தனிப்பட்ட பொருள் 20அடி , 40அடி முழு வர்த்தக சரக்குகளுக்கு விசேட கட்ட யந்திரம், யந்திர வகைகள், உபகரணங்கள். * சலவை யந் போன்ற வீட்டுப்பாவனை மின்சார உபகரணங்களுக்கு வ உங்கள் பொருள்களுக்கு இலங்கையர் பலரும் விரும்பு 9 உலகளாவிய விமான பொதி
20e 2kazzzate - Woodgreen E ä ീelഗ്ഗർ) Suite 412,
நீங்கள் தொடர்புகொள்ளவேண்டியவர்கள்: Harry Mahendran Asoka Fernando
 
 

15 FEBRUARY 1999
Excellent Property for Sale
Well Situated and Sought After Freehold Property - Shop and Residential Quarters, Haydons Road, Wimbledon facing Ganapathy Temple - For Sale.
Please COntact: 0181542 5140/543 3318 (UK)
Nathan & Chelva
alla Solicitorsama YOUR SATISFACTION ISOUR HAPPINESS
We offer you Prompt and Proper Service in all Legal Matters. Legal Aid Work also undertaken.
Partners: K. Chelva Nayagan, T. Sri Pathna Nathan,
(Forner Advocate of Sri Lanka
169 Tooting High Street, London SW17 0SY Te: O181-672 1800 Fa): O181-672 O105
WTIWEWTA
O TO COOMBO MADRAS UR - TORONTO - MONTREA
- / DOOR TO DOOR
CORER SERVICEO (IMBIOS MADRAS (DOCUMENTS ONLY) FROM E20
SHIPPING e. TRAWE
6 தினங்கள்) * தேயிலைப் ர்கள் வரை. * கார், மற்றும் உணம். * மின்சார உற்பத்தி திரம், குளிர்சாதனப்பெட்டி ரிவிலக்கு. ~~SXX~~~ ம் முதல்தர துரித விடுவிப்பு வசதிகள் அளிக்கப்படுகின்றன.
சேவைக்கு எங்களை நாடுங்கள். 9
(Air & Sea cargo
World-wide destinations Collecting UK wide : O Goods supplied
for export WAT free , (2O'Containers-1000
Motor cars 600
OPEN7DAYS AWEEK
USSness Centre

Page 35
Ohe Girst & CBest Oa
VISTUS NOW FOR LATES 220. GOLD
JEWWELLERES
Thali Kodi, Necklace sets, Pathakkams, Various types of Ear Studs
WE AREAT YOUR SERVICE SEVEN DAYS AWEEK
23o UPPER TOOTING ROAD
征亚:OI81-7673445 Web: http://www.
స్టోలో SKY WI Ο ܘܓܢ SLLS NO TRAVEL
RKY ర BRINGS YOU A GRAN
ON ARL
from list JonuOryt 6 WEEKLY NON-STOP FLIG EVERY DAY EXCEPT FRIDAY, FL APPROXO 12HOURS & COLO
AT ONLY E3
(SipROYAL Jc Ο TO GOLOBO
E365 R
(Special rafes in m
− il 19 Tooting High stre Tel: O181-672 -- Internet: Http:
e-mCil: OClOG MOOile, O850 876 92
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

TAMIL TIMES 35
uif Jewcftcr C-In
Gondon
R
WIDE RANGE OF STOCKS ALWAYS AWALABLE
Jimmikkies, Panchayuthams, Chains, Bangles Etc. Etc...
WE PERFORM THALI POOJA AS WELL
FAX: O 8,767 35753 uxmi.com/Western
NGS LTD) గుర్కి
u1 A AGENIS 7 %%
D NEW YEAR OFFER 列 冷
స్ట్రా> % ANKA 9 ترامیمవ
) 23(C MC(Ch 1999
S O & FROM COOMBO G TIME LONDON - COLOMBO
MBO - LONDON || || 1/2 HOURS
95 RETURN
ORDANAN
TUbIC UUEKULY ETURN TICKENG
iny Colombo Hofels) et, LOnCOn SVV7 OSY 91.11(6 Lines)
SkyWingS,CO.uk A
SkyWingS.CO, uk 為與無益
FOX: O181-672 095
DAYSA week

Page 36
(C) UnaCCOmpanied baggage
(9 Personal effects (9 Household goods
( Vehicles, Machinery etc.
To Colombo and other World-wide destinations
( - COLOMBO - Y fortnightly shipments go by sea to our most modern bonded Warehouse, built
for your convenience ܓܠ
LAKSIRISEWA, 66 NEW NUGE ROAD FELIYAGODA V Te: 575576 أص
The most trusted and reliable name in t
APPLE AIR
MAN AGENT for COLOMBO
(OT BriTisHaIrwrmys * QATTALJA அ4/ Si? ROYAL JORDANIAN --FF, LI K S)
TEL: 0181 - 5630364
FAX: O181-748 4912 r E-mail: apple airg, apple air.btinternet.com Web Site: www.btinternet.com/-apple air-apple air
BUL.GARAM El 298 + IAX KUWAT 385 +TAX GULF F396 - TAX EMRATES 475 - TAX
QATAR E 370 + TAXI RLANKA FAOO-TAX BA ON RECUEST JORDANIAN F375+TAX
MAN AGENTS FOR جمیل ہے۔ BALKAN, QATAR & BA NATe 338 A KING STREET F. 738O8 LONDONW6 ORR Travel Insurance plus Hotel Reservations
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

MAGNIRN
AIR LANKA
Fares caso. Vailable on GULF AIR, EMIRATES QATAR ARWAYS ROYAL JORDANIAN
KUWAT AIRWAWYS
NN༄་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་ he trade SNNRNSA
Fax 0181-740 4229
RS Ltd. ( ( n, London W3 ORO
74395
For All Type of Insurance
ARM Associates
Home Contents & Building Insurance Specialist
32 Abbots Lane, Kenley, Surrey Tel: O1817632221 Fax: 0181-7632220
Home, Motor, Business Insurance
P. SRINIVASAN
Life Insurance & Pensions Specialist For a Free comparison quote on Term Assurance, please contact:
இ O181-763. 222 BHA
egulated by Personal Investment Authority
for Investment Business only.
http://www.p-sriniyasama-arm.co.uk