(May 20, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has felicitated President Mahinda Rajapaksa for his leadership in unifying the entire country and liberating the areas which were under the control of the LTTE for the past 26 years. He conveyed these good wishes to President Rajapaksa when the latter telephoned the Japanese Prime Minister yesterday (19 May 2009) to brief him on the successful completion of the humanitarian mission of the security forces to wipe out terrorism from the country.
President Rajapaksa expressed his sincere appreciation for Japan’s continued support extended to Sri Lanka over the years in international fora as well as for the socio-economic development of the country.
The important role played by Japan as a member of the Co-Chairs was also appreciated by President Rajapaksa. The President also briefed the Japanese Prime Minister on the plans for the expeditious resettlement of the displaced persons in their original places of habitation. In this regard, President Rajapaksa sought continue Japanese assistance in de-mining of the former conflict areas in the North.
The President also drew the attention of the Japanese Prime Minster to the priority given by the Government for the implementation of long term development programmes for the North as well as welfare programmes for the IDPs. This would include infrastructure development such as building of roads, highways, bridges, schools, hospitals etc., livelihood support for the resettled persons and psycho-social programmes for the rehabilitation of ex-combatants, in particular child soldiers.
President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Aso recognized the importance of achieving peace through economic prosperity for all Sri Lankans. The President assured the Japanese Prime Minister that a sustainable political solution will be worked out in the near future, seeking the widest possible consultations among all stakeholders. Both leaders agreed to continue their close dialogue.
Home Unlabelled Japan felicitates President Rajapaksa on unifying the country
Japan felicitates President Rajapaksa on unifying the country
By Sri Lanka Guardian • May 20, 2009 • • Comments : 1
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The author is correct about several aspects of the jaffna tamils. My grand parents were basically jaffna tamils and regarded government service as the thing to go for. Tamils, especially of the lower castes, have been trained to be meek and obedient. The upper classes were very happy to obey the British. But they were not ready to take anything other than a ruling position in Independent Sri Lanka. That is why they opposed democratic reforms like Universal suffrage, Free education. Socialism never had a place in tamil society. But rapid population growth, especially in catholic tamil communities, lead to early youth unrest. Here a key influence was the militarism and hero idolization which are a part of the Hindu ethic, especially portrayed by the Tamil and Hindi movies. The cry for "driving the sinhalese and the muslims out of the Tamil Kingdom" launched by Chyelvanayagam in 1949, was at first seen as pure racism and had no success. But it caught fire after 1956 and led to civil mdisobedience programs and successive civil conflict with the Sinhalese. It was not only the sinhalese, but also the tamils, who got ready for violence. The TULF always said that it was ready for state terror and regarded that as a necessary step for separation. I think any type of separation would lead to violence. Thus I believe that the so called "meek Jaffna Tamils" were lead into violence by proud upper class Colombo Tamils who were not prepared to accept the consequence of Universal franchise. Jane Russell, the British Historian, has analyzed this in detail.
Today I live in Mt Lavinia, where there are many Tamils, and hopefully we can create a different approach to ethnic integration - something totally beyond the Jaffna Tamil, or the proud upper class click that was represented by Ponnambalam, Chelvanyagam and others. However, for this to work, the Sinhalese too must give up their racist agendas. I think the JVP and the JHU do not really have a big following in the country.
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