Father Jeyanesan: Veerakesari’s triple-barreled gaffe


- Bogus doctorates are freely available in Toronto and some Tamils are known to have obtained them from highly questionable sources including a Karate school in Tokyo, Japan. It is known that a retired Tamil school principal in Canada had advised Father Jeyanesan to seek a doctorate through a correspondence school.
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by Ananthi Singam in Jaffna

(June 13, Jaffna, Sri Lanka Guardian) Colombo’s Tamil media organization Veerakesari is a highly respected newspaper company. However, it has largely focused only on the country’s capitalist interests and especially of Colombo’s commercial and the hill country plantation sectors. Veerakesari has a reputation as politically somewhat impartial and has avoided to its great credit indulging in any way that would hurt the racial and religious sentiments of the Sri Lankans.

Yesterday – Thursday June 11, 2008 – the daily Veerakesari carried the news of some sewing machines being distributed by a ‘church’ organization at Periya Neelavanai in Batticaloa. It was reported by the local correspondent there that this was done by the Rev Dr Jeyanesan, the Aayar of the Church of the American Ceylon Mission.

Aayar in Tamil means “bishop” by virtue of its meaning “shepherd” and Rev.Jeyanesan is not a bishop. He and his followers use the title president. Secondly, Jeyanesan holds no “doctoral” qualification. Some months ago a website announcement from Holland said he has been conferred a doctorate but its pedigree and bloodline was never stated.

There has been a great deal of conjecture about this claim but a press report in one of Toronto’s Tamil tabloid which demands payment for publishing news items, did say that Jeyanesan’s doctorate announced on a Dutch website was conferred in Canada but by whom, it was never announced or stated.

A similar report was said to have appeared in Colombo probably in the Veerakesari itself.

Bogus doctorates are freely available in Toronto and some Tamils are known to have obtained them from highly questionable sources including a Karate school in Tokyo, Japan. It is known that a retired Tamil school principal in Canada had advised Father Jeyanesan to seek a doctorate through a correspondence school.

Thirdly, and finally, there is a court injunction against the use of the name American Ceylon Mission by Father Jeyanesan and his people. The Veerakesari correspondent should have checked the legal status of the Church of the American Ceylon Mission. He should have also ensured that the public is not given a false impression that he is a bishop and his bogus doctorate, another matter that has no basis or substance.
- Sri Lanka Guardian