By Hasaka Ratnamalala
(June 24, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) With the end of Canadian position MP Bob Rae’s Sri Lanka drama we are eager to let the world know what make Bob Rae and other politicians so desperately wanted to go to Sri Lanka and why they are so unhappy when they loose that opportunity.
For few decades there were some international figures that made money from the sufferings of poor Sri Lankans. Norwegian Eric Sholhaim is one of them Canada’s Bob Rae is another one. Since Bob Rae hasn’t got much to do after his provincial politics in Ontario, Sri Lanka was one of his ways to keep his prestige in his last part of political life. Not only Bob Rae most politicians do this type of work at the end of their political carrier to keep their prestige.
Meanwhile previous Liberal government in Canada thought it is necessary to have the support of Tamils to win the 13 seats in Greater Toronto area and they decided to fund Bob Rae and his organizations to go to Sri Lanka. Around 40 Million Canadian taxpayer Dollars were donated to Bob Rae and his affiliated organizations to carry on his pet project; to teach federalism to Sri Lankans or otherwise known as how to implement communal boundaries and maintain them.
Even though Bob Rae discreetly admitted in several instances (one time in front of Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Ottawa) that it is Prabakaran the leader of LTTE or Tamil Tigers is the main culprit behind why Sri Lanka failed to come to a negotiated settlement. But Bob Rae or his Norway counterpart Eric Sholhime made sure not to mention that part in public; especially when they were wearing so called “Sri Lanka expert” hat. I have watched and listened many debates and programs on Canadian television and Radio on Sri Lanka where Mr. Rae was wearing “Sri Lanka expert” hat and never mentioned that part of the story in public. I personally wanted to see weather he would speak the truth but he never did. Instead he yarns a personalized well crafted lie on Sri Lanka’s history totally according to full fill Liberal needs in GTA.
Therefore it is worth while to see why Bob Rae and many other political acrobats wanted to go to Sri Lanka all of a sudden. Of course that has nothing to do with Sri Lanka and her conflict it is definitely due to Canadian politics. In that case there are two types of groups who were happy when Bob Rae was deported from Sri Lanka; one of them is Conservative Government and the other is New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada.
WHY? Another general election is on the way and the 13 GTA seats are going to be vital for political parties of Canada to form the next government. Presently Liberal and NDP are on a tight fight to own these seats. A large crowd of voters in these seats are Tamils. Making a pro LTTE or Tamil Tiger statement at this point has become vital for any of these political parties to make the ground in these GTA seats. Most hard core LTTE supporters were on the verge of joining NDP and there are a large numbers of Tamil Tiger supporters are waiting to see who make the bigger statement against Sri Lankan Government to make their move. Liberal Party of Canada definitely needs, that Bob Rae’s statement making from IDP camps in Sri Lanka to make that vital break through. That is why Liberal Party leader Michel Ignatiaff wrote to Sri Lankan High Commissioner Daya Perera to issue him Visa and treat him like a minister. Unfortunate to Liberal party of Canada Sri Lankan government has more ears and eyes in Canada who does not support Tamil Tigers and did not take part in those street protests. Liberals never thought of tapping into this crowd and definitely they will not support Liberals or NDP in coming elections.
Let me write about Sri Lanka’s issue now. Even though, Bob Rae doesn’t want to mention in his false history lessons on Sri Lanka, it is British invaders who created this mess in Sri Lanka. We have hard evidence that British use this tiny island of Sri Lanka as a test ground for its “divide and rule” policy before it was being implemented on its other parts of the empire. According to the facts, at a time where British Parliamentary system was based on Political parties and Electoral constituency’s British invaders purposely implemented “race” based political system in to Sri Lanka (Ceylon at the time). British invented ethnicities never existed in Sri Lanka and create a way of life and think according to assigned ethnicity. That ethnicity was carved in to the birth certificates to be carried on for generations. In order to facilitate that, according to Denham, (Census of Ceylon Page 195) British invented 42 ethnic groups and 78 Nationalities in its 1871 Census of Ceylon report. Political grandfather of Tamil tigers Mr. Chelvanagam was a direct son of this British conspiracy and his political cousin G.G. Ponnabalam was another victim. Without knowing and admitting this history Bob Rae is no expert on Sri Lanka.
Today Sri Lanka has done with all separatist politics of British imperialists and their allies’ and definitely there are no minorities in Sri Lanka anymore they all are Sri Lankans. According to the president of Sri Lanka there are only two groups in Sri Lanka “those who love the country and those who hate the country”. This shows that Sri Lanka has found its own way of reconciliation and definitely people like Bob Rae who carries old communal card of British invaders does not fit in there. I suggest Mr. Bob Rae and his Liberal Party of Canada should contain his communal politics into GTA and leave Sri Lanka alone.
(The writer, Executive committee member of Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada (SLUNA)) -Sri Lanka Guardian
Making of “Sri Lanka a Canadian matter”
