Oh! Brothers and sisters we Tamils and Sinhalese are!

By Catapult Thangavelu from the Kappang Highway

(February 09, Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Malays and Burghers are all fellow citizens of Sri Lanka. If there are anyone who think otherwise like for instance Major General Sarath Fonseka, the head of the armed forces who feel that the Tamils live by the grace of the Sinhalese people, they had better make plans to seek domicile elsewhere. Of course, in the case of Sarath Fonseka, being a Green Card holder, he can go back to the United States.

Unless of course his status is fouled up by the $1000 per day attorney Bruce Fein – it is spelt Fein and not Feign as we previously thought – retained by Gnanakone, the Lone Voice of Prabhakaran in the rest of the world seated in Los Angeles, and no sooner Fein and Feign was retained, he jumped ship named Justice for Tamils but since had gone on board Genocide Against Tamils.

Bruce Feign, sorry Fein, is threatening to foul up the status of the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse in the United States as well. Meanwhile our good friend Mahindapala in Melbourne, the Sinhala version of the Sri Lanka Diaspora has made the announcement that the Tamils are the brothers and sisters of the Sinhalese. We hope the chauvinist guys in the saffron robes who deserted Lord Buddha and not his attire of course and took to political oration in and outside the House of Parliament and for which they also forgot the tenets of Buddhism will not take exception to Mahindapala’s Melbourne Doctrine.

Tamils and Sinhalese have always been brothers and sisters and Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, a devout Christian who became a dedicated Buddhist forgot this reality. He had to forget it as a convenient option to achieve the premiership of the country by laying the seeds of racial havoc. On this one move Sinhalese and Tamils have fought each other for fifty long years now; in the process created some monsters too.

Now there is a new dawn inevitable for Sri Lanka where we can all resume our relationships as brothers and sisters immaterial whether we are from Anaicottai or Anamaduwa. And what’s in a name! Tamils usually end with a consonant and the Sinhalese with a vowel. Mahindapala becomes Mahindapalan in Tamil; Gunasekaran in Tamil is Gunasekere in Sinhalese! Sinhalese soldiers in Jaffna found it difficult to pronounce the names of some Tamil towns but once the final consonant was married to a vowel, they were quite at home. Chunnakam became Chunnakama and Maviddapuram became Maviddapurama. It was so simple but what about Nallur! Yalpanam of course is Yapane!

Changing names have historical and social significance. Haven’t we gone through the Portuguese, Dutch and English tribulations? Fortunately the Chinese never came and with the Japanese, it was a close shave.

Even in caste-conscious circumstances, if one is named “Black” he is considered of the elite class and upper caste. But the very same name in Tamil “Karuval” that is low caste, lowest of the low. That also goes for “White,” and “Brown” too. Now in Canada, it is understood Sampatham has become Sam Pantham, pantham also means torch-bearer or pandamkaraya, something like holding the pantham. Viswasam wanted to be Vesuvious until his grand daughter told him that is the name of a volcano. Pooranam Arunakirinathan is Puri Nathan while her husband is Aaron Nathan. Wonderful imagination of course.


What will Thendayuthapanipillai do under these circumstances? Did he think of becoming Pani Pillai? Sithamparapillai preferred to take the first part of his name as his surname – Mr Sitham - for obvious reasons.

In Ottawa a certain Mr Karthigesu in Sri Lanka became Karthar Yesu in Canada. He shed Lord Muruga’s name to that of Jesus Christ. This may just be the idea the Tamil National Alliance Members of Parliament may be seeking, now that they have lost the organ grinder for their dance numbers. Even the Vaiko chap from across Palk Straits is not interested anymore. Where will he get his funds now especially with LTTE fund raisers overseas having gone underground wondering how they will pay next month’s mortgage for their bungalows?

This is the million dollar question worrying many ex-fund raisers in Canada, UK, France and Switzerland who leapt from thatched roof huts in Sri Lanka to magnificent mansions thanks to Prabhakaran. They took a larger bite than they could manage and are now likely to choke unless they initiate some smart ideas to cheat and exploit the Tamil community.

In the meantime, there is a sudden concern about the numbers that are being held hostage by Prabhakaran and his forces. Quarter million that is being claimed as living in an area of 40 square kilometers is too far-fetched in a country where the entire population is 20 million. Another question that is troubling many observers is how come so many people went further interior towards the firing zones when they had the options not to go or go elsewhere.

Were there some people actively involved in herding the people of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts to make them human shields? Was this the last ditch trump card of Prabhakaran to seek an escape through some kind of amnesty, a method he had begun to use from October 1995 with that treacherous monsoonal march from Jaffna to the Wanni?

If there were, who are these people? There is evidence some people were involved in asking the Wanni folks in townships along the Kappang Highway like Mankulam for instance to move interior 60 to 70 miles away towards Mullaitivu. It appears the very same people who were responsible for massing up the human shield are now crying for the release of the very people they have sent for slaughter. This was their game and the Wanni civilians are innocent victims.

In October 1995 the LTTE went around telling the people to move out of Jaffna to Wanni saying that the army was going to move in and the Tigers would fight back using poisonous gas. All that the LTTE wanted was a source readily available in Wanni for their cadres and also use the march as a human shield to escape from the peninsula. When the houses became empty, Tiger people plundered and pillaged them.

This time the LTTE has tried the same trick and it may not just work and that is the horrendous tragedy we are facing now. Prabhakaran is a merciless brute and all that he wanted was to set up a Mafia state Sicily style in his dreamland Eelam. He never wanted a political solution and it was for that he killed Mathiah and his men; just massacred them.

Sri Lankans can now resume being brothers and sisters and this is on notice to those who practice racial and religious chauvinism. We have had more than enough of it; much, much more and the great thing is, we have virtually survived this horror.

-Sri Lanka Guardian