SOME SINHALAS TAKING THEMSELVES FOR A RIDE
It appears that some Sinhala people, especially their so-called leaders and those who consider themselves to be educated are very good at deceiving themselves. Not only that they can be taken for a ride by others but they take themselves for a ride. Though to my knowledge, there is no expression for this phenomenon in English, probably because the English do not take themselves for a ride, in Sinhala this phenomenon is described by "andagannava". The two words "andanava" and "andagannava", used with or without the word "gonata", refer to "andilla" by somebody else and by himself/herself respectively. There are many Sinhala people who know that the LTTE is taking the government for a ride but even these people prefer to deceive themselves by referring to a post September 11th world that is determined to fight terrorism.
Most of us are very slow to realise that we "think" the way the west want us to think. As I said last week these people do not know that they do not think. They only think that they think. Incidentally contrary to what Mr. EAV Naganathan has said in his letter to the editor on 18th February 2002 I did not claim that I had disproved Descartes' so-called first hypotheses that "I think therefore I am" (cogito ergo sum). There is nothing to disprove in this type of logic that assumes the conclusion in the premise. The moment one says "I think" one has assumed that "I exist or I am" and therefore in this so-called hypotheses "therefore" is misleading. If Mr. Naganathan or anybody else does not believe that, all that he or she has to do is to ask the question who thinks from Descartes or anybody else the moment he or she says I think. The answer to that simple question is "I" implying that "I" exist before the "therefore" comes into the picture. It is the same with syllogism attributed to Aristotle. Consider the syllogism "All men are mortal, Naganathan is a man, Therefore Naganathan is mortal". Here again the conclusion is in the premise. How does one know that all men are mortal without knowing that Naganathan is mortal? When one says all men are mortal one assumes or "knows" that all men including Naganathan are mortal and there is nothing to "conclude" that Naganathan is mortal. Here again the word "therefore" is misleading. In western Mathematics all the conclusions are in the axioms and the western Mathematicians are only "illustrating" these conclusions with the aid of logical systems like syllogism, when they "prove" theorems. In my column I simply wanted to draw the attention of the readers to the so-called educated people who think that they think, when they do not think. They are only imitators and have been conditioned by the western education they have received to think that they think.
To illustrate my point consider the September 11 phenomenon. As the whole world, meaning those who read newspapers and magazines published in English or other western languages and/or in languages like Sinhala, know that 11th September 2001 was the day on which the terrorists attacked the world trade centre and the pentagon. The Sinhala newspapers get their "foreign" news from Reuters, CNN, BBC and other western news agencies and they merely translate what is passed on to them as news. The western news agencies, especially those in the lands of George doubleu Bush and Tony Blair have seen to it that we all know 11 September by heart though the incident would not have been very close to our hearts. Now how many Sinhala people know the date on which Dalada Maligawa was attacked by the LTTE terrorists? While the Anglo Saxon (Anglo American) white (male) Christian culture that dominates the world has taken steps to see that the so-called educated in the world remember 11 September (the poor peasants in the "third world" who do not read newspapers are "lucky" in a way, that they do not have to remember all these dates important to other cultures) we have no mechanism either through schools or media to remind ourselves some of the dates on which the Sinhala Buddhist culture came openly under the attack of Tamil terrorism based on a Christian ideology.
Some of the Sinhala people have been made to believe that the LTTE has been forced to negotiate with the government as the world has changed after 11 September. It is said that the so-called international community (this is no better than the international committee of the fourth international of the working class movement, that belongs to the same civilisation as the international community, in terms of number of members) is now determined to fight terrorism and that the LTTE is under pressure. This is nothing but rubbish. The world did not change after 11 September 2001. (I am not taking into consideration the "impermanence" of the "sanskaras") The hacked English phrase "it won't be the same again" is good for politicians and so-called "international" political commentators who put on a very serious look while delivering their sermons. The western white Judaic Christian civilisation has only found another excuse to destroy terrorism against it, and "it has been the same" since the last decade of the fifteenth century, as far as its attempt to become the dominating civilisation of the world. The proscription of the LTTE in the Anglo Saxon world has nothing to do with the terrorism against the Sinhala Buddhists in this country. The Anglo Saxon world is suspicious that the LTTE has connections with some of the Islamic terrorist groups that are fighting the western Christian civilisation. As far as the west is concerned terrorism means terrorism against the present western white Judaic Christian civilisation. Having done what they had wanted to do in Afghanistan, they are now thinking of ousting Sadam Hussein and if possible Arafat. (Where are the Norwegians who with their so-called peace achievements in Palestine, are responsible for the present state of affairs?) The "universals" they use are only particulars relative to their civilisation or in other words they have turned these particulars into universals based on the axiom (their civilisation is very good, and I suppose the best that has ever existed after the Greeks, in axiomatic thinking) that their civilisation is THE civilisation of the world. Mr. Blair's country is supposed to have banned the LTTE, but the Queen of Britain (sorry to drag her name in this week of mourning over her sister Ms. Margaret Windsor's death) gives protection to the former translator in her high commission in Colombo and moreover has allowed him to meet the Norwegian delegation in some place in London, that cannot be far away from the Buckingham Palace and No.10 (&11), Downing Street.
Prabhakaran did not make up his mind for talks with the UNF government because of September 11 terrorist attacks. What would have happened if there was no September 11 or if the UNF government came to power before September 11? Even then Solheim would have come back with his peace team and the Norwegians would have been going up and down between London and Colombo. With or without September 11 Prabhakaran would have made an attempt to get his Eelam through negotiations from a UNF government and the west would have supported him wholeheartedly in his endeavours. The PA government was toppled by the non national forces, using people like Messrs. Rauf Hakeem and SB Dissanayake, Mahinda Wijesekera, Bandula Gunawardhane who had personal "grievances" that were made use of by the Pied Piper, as they realised that they could not deliver the goods to Tamil racism through that government. The west and Prabhakaran had already decided on negotiations with an impending UNP(F) government and they had been working towards it for some time. If we think that Prabhakaran has been forced by the west to come to the negotiating table after September 11, then we are sadly mistaken. It amounts to an "andaganilla" with the word "gonata" proceeding the "andaganilla".
The Tamil racists and the Christian west want a Tamil Christian Eelam and a multi cultural, multi ethnic, multi religious state in the rest of the country, thus depriving Sinhalathva its rightful place in the country. The problem in this country is not any Tamil grievances, which do not exist, but the attempt to deprive Sinhalathva its rightful place in the country. This has been going on for the last five hundred years, and especially after 1832 when one member each was appointed to represent the Sinhalas and the Tamils in the legislative assembly. When the Tamils ask for equal status they are not demanding equal status for individuals. The individuals are treated equally in this country irrespective of their nationality, race, cast or religion. In this country people are equal before the law (subject to the disadvantages associated with poverty) as in the west. Then what is the equality that the Tamil racists insist on. They want equality of cultures, languages, histories and that is why they insist that this is a multi cultural, multi ethnic, multi religious country. Britain is also a multi cultural country but in Sri Lanka the term multi is used in the stronger sense. Britain and the other western countries are referred to as multi cultural countries in a weak sense. There it implies that there are other cultures but the white Anglo Saxon Christian culture is the dominant culture. (It is the dominant culture not only in Britain but the whole world). When people refer to Sri Lanka (with or without Tamil Christian Eelam) as a multi cultural country they want all cultures to be equal thus denying Sinhalathva its rightful place. The west and the NGOs financed by them have been using this term multi cultural without making any distinction between the stronger sense and the weaker sense.
Norway with its national flag and other symbols that demonstrate that it is a Christian country is only doing what USA and UK want it to do. USA and UK are the foremost Christian countries in the world where the other cultures are not treated equally with the Christian culture. Has any one of these countries declared Vesak day a holiday in spite of Dalai Lama whom they use when they want to do so and a substantial community of Mahayana Buddhists. Will the national anthem in USA will ever be sung in Spanish. In Sri Lanka in the name of equality the Tamil racists want the national anthem to be sung in Tamil also. It was Mr. SJV Chelvanayakam long before 1956 who advocated three national flags for Sri Lanka! The Tamil racists want only to deprive Sinhalathva its rightful place in the country. People like Mr. Chelvanayakam and Dr. EMV Naganathan, the father of Mr. EAV Naganathan painted tar on Shri number plates. If somebody thought that they wanted number plates in Tamil he or she is mistaken. They were mainly protesting against the symbols of Sinhalathva. Now the number plates display GAs and GLs in English and nobody has taken to the streets with brushes and tar. It is clear that the Tamil racists prefer GLs that represent English Kristhuthva to symbols that represent Sinhalathva. The Tamil racists are not only fighting against the Sri Lankan state they are fighting against the Sinhalathva as well. In fact they fight against the state as they think the state is an obstacle in their fight against the Sinhalathva. In order to deprive Sinhalathva its rightful place they cooked up a mythical Tamil history without an iota of archaeological or historical evidence, a non existing Tamil nation, a Tamil homeland in the last century and then made use of concepts such as self determination. Some Tamils have now realised their "mistake" and claim that a Tamil nation and a Tamil homeland should not have been created.
If some Sinhalas think that after September 11 the LTTE has been under pressure and that the west is well meaning in this exercise they are mistaken. The British are only carrying forward their agenda of 1832 and Prabhakaran knows that Balasingham is looked after well by the British government. It is in this background the Sinhala nationalists oppose the so-called peace talks. When the LTTE wants them to be treated as an equal partner and when Norway approves it (Norway was never a facilitator but a promoter of Tamil racism) the Sinhala nationalists know where the Tamil racists and the west are heading. It is the intention of the LTTE to be recognised as a national liberating movement that already controls certain parts of the country. The Tamil racists have never being consistent in their arguments and while they claim control over certain areas they want the government to send them food, manage the schools in those areas, maintain the universities, kachcheris, hospitals etc. The JVP, to their credit has come strongly against the so-called peace and they speak for the majority of Sinhala Buddhists who voted at the last general elections for the JVP and the PA against the UNF. Mr. Naganathan in his above mentioned letter to the editor has said the following." Dr. Nalin de Silva ....has sought to contend with simple reasoning by claiming that the total number of votes cast at the general elections of December 5, 2001 for the PA and JVP exceeded those of the UNF and its allies, and therefore that the present Government has no mandate for its peace programme. I am surprised that a man who recently claimed to have disproved the first hypothesis of Descartes ..... , is unable to logically distinguish the simple fact that all those who voted for the PA and the JVP, assuming they were in the majority that he claims, would into necessarily be "Sinhala Buddhists" (as defined by him) and therefore, pari passu, opposed to a peace settlement."
Mr. Naganathan not only does not know logic but also does not know to read and understand. In western logic the conclusion can be found in the premise or in the axioms or in a similar set. In Mr. Naganathan's case the conclusion is doctored and it is not found anywhere in the body of the argument. Of course, he could claim that it is his reading and it is with respect to his corpus of knowledge, a claim that I am not going to contest. As I have said earlier I never said anything about disproving "I think therefore I am". With respect to the number of votes what I have maintained is that a majority of Sinhala Buddhists have voted for the PA and the JVP. I have never said that the PA and the JVP got more votes than the UNP(F) and its allies, which is factually not correct. If Mr. Naganathan has the ability to read and understand my analysis on the election results given in the article on 12th December 2001 he would see that he is wrong in his premise, the body of the argument and his conclusion. He is a good example for a three in one though I am not referring to any electronic gadgets. I am concerned about the claim by the government and the Tamil racists that this government has a mandate for peace talks. As far as the Sinhala people were concerned the last general elections were fought on one specific issue, namely the Ali-Koti givisuma. There were some well meaning and anti peace talk Sinhala people who did not believe that there was some understanding between the UNP and the west, TNA (LTTE) and they voted for the UNP(F). In spite of that the PA and the JVP got more votes than the UNP(F), that includes the votes of Messrs. Thondaman, Chandraswekaran, Rauf Hakeem and the company who contested as UNF candidates. It is not a difficult exercise to subtract the votes the UNF got because of Messrs. Thondaman, Chandrasekeran, Rauf Hakeem and the company. Mr. Naganathan could say some Sinhala Buddhists voted for these gentlemen but it is reasonable to assume that their vote is mainly from the non Sinhala Buddhists. Moreover in electorates with a substantial majority of Sinhala Buddhists as a general rule the PA won. All these lead to the conclusion that the majority of Sinhala Buddhists have voted for the PA and the JVP. I for a moment do not say that all those who voted for the PA and the JVP are against "peace" talks. There were few LSSP and CP supporters and may be Mahajana party symathisers and the like who voted for the PA. But similarly there were many anti "peace" talk Sinhala people who voted for the UNP(F) who did not believe in the "Ali- Koti" givisuma. When all these factors are taken into consideration it is not difficult to conclude that a majority of Sinhala Buddhists have voted for the PA and the JVP and that (no pari passu here) the government has no mandate from the Sinhala Buddhists for "peace" talks. Within the last seventy days or so it has become clear that there had been some understanding between some of the parties mentioned above and if the anti "peace" talk Sinhala people who did not believe of the "givisuma" had thought otherwise, Mr. Naganathan could rest assured that the results would have been different.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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