EELAM OR WAR
The LTTE unlike the Sri Lankan government does not have to say two different things at the same time. The terrorists are not responsible to the Tamils though they claim that they are the sole representatives of this community as no ordinary Tamil even within the LTTE would oppose Prabhakaran. The LTTE is responsible only to the west that supports and maintains them and they know that at least for some time the west would not oppose any of their demands as the west needs the LTTE to bifurcate the country. The Sri Lankan "government" on the other hand has to please the west as well as the majority of the people. As the Sinhalas happen to be the majority of the people this implies that invariably the Sri Lankan "government" has to please the majority of the Sinhala people. The NGO pundits when they shout from roof tops that only a minority extremist faction of the Sinhalas are against the so called peace they want to deceive themselves and the others that the majority of the Sinhalas are in favour of their kind of peace.
If only a minority of extremists happen to be against the ISGA, then it should not be a problem for Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga to recommence so called peace talks, as she, by her policies is in favour of Tamil racism. However, she finds it difficult to recommence talks though she herself favours the idea. Clearly it cannot be only a small percentage of the Sinhala people that is against the ISGA, as Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga herself spoke against it just before the last parliamentary elections held in April 2004. It was clearly to please the Sinhala people that Ms. Kumaratunga proclaimed that the Norwegians were creating problems by being biass towards the terrorists, and she and the Sandhanya wanted the Norwegians sent back home. However, not only that the Norwegians were not sent home, they have got used to the idea of thinking of Kilinochchi and Vanni as their second home. Apparently for them Kilinochchi is more important than Colombo, and they have their press conferences in the former place from where they release press statements as well.
To make things worse for the Sinhalas a former "international civil servant" heads the so-called peace secretariat, and as an "international civil servant" he would have been trained to serve the "international community". The majority of the Sinhalas, especially those who do their "business and home work" in Sinhala, know who this "international community" is, and would not have expected the "international civil servant", former or otherwise, to serve anybody other than the "international community". Thus his statements, on the equal partner status of the LTTE, and on the decision of the "government" to go ahead with the so-called peace talks with the LTTE in spite of the opposition of the JVP, would not have come as a surprise to the majority of the Sinhalas, especially to the Sinhala Buddhists. His statements also confirms that there is no "government" in Sri Lanka, except for the JVP and the others who have a knowledge of the history of the country and more importantly a feeling for the country, and that he is more powerful than even the Prime Minister, whose position Mr. Premadasa once described as having less power than a peon in an office. If the "international civil servant" states that the "government" would go ahead with the "peace talks" based on the ISGA demands, they are not proposals any more according to an interview given by Thamilselvan, the mouthpiece of Prabhakaran, then it implies that the "international community" has decided to do so. The statements and the attitudes of the "international civil servant" make one to speculate whether his appointment to head the so called peace secretariat by the "government" is at the insistence of the much more powerful "international community". All these imply for the Sinhalas, that "coming colour is no good".
Thamilselvan, meaning Prabhakaran, has made it clear that the ISGA is non -negotiable and that any solution to the so called problem in the northern and the eastern provinces should be discussed after the ISGA is accepted. If one still maintains that the "government" should sit with the terrorists to discuss the ISGA, then one must be without one's logical ability to reason out. The negotiating table is manipulated by the "international community" and the "international civil servants" of various shades, and as the "government" would become a non entity at the table thanks to its leaders, if the negotiations resume then one does not have to be a seer to conclude that the ISGA demands would be accepted by the "government". In fact it is closer to the truth to say that the "government" would be forced or bullied to accept the ISGA demands. It has to be stated that Ms. Kumaratunga does not have to be bullied as she favours the ISGA demands notwithstanding her proclamations against the same before the general elections held in April 2004.
The Sinhalas do not want the "government" to resume so-called peace negotiations based on ISGA demands not because they are cowards as some "political scientists" who pretend to be anti LTTE, would like to imply but due to the fact they know who this "international community" is, and how ineffective the Sri Lankan "government" at the negotiating table is. Of course, somebody could say that the people get the government they deserve and if the "government" is ineffective then it reflects on the people who elected them. These are "truisms" or whatever that the west would like to propagate forgetting deliberately that it is not easy under the so called western democracy for people to elect the government that they want. It is further complicated by the fact that the leaders are also very often provided by the west, Ms. Kumaratunga being a good example, and thus making the choice of the people very limited. The Sinhala people should be brave enough to tell the "international community" and their civil servants to go and fly a kite and force the "government" not to resume "peace talks" on the basis of the ISGA demands.
Prabhakaran who is not so sophisticated as the "international civil servants", through Thamilselvan has nipped in the bud an attempt by the "international community" to allow the "government" come up with its own proposals in response to the ISGA demands. It is clear that the "international community" was looking for a way to resume the "peace talks" fooling the Sinhala people by getting the "government" to propose an alternative to the ISGA demands. It is quite possible that the "international civil servants" were working on these proposals that the "government" would have eventually come up with. However, Prabhakaran who does not have faith in anybody other than himself and who is suspicious even of the "international community" would not take a risk. I wonder whether the "international community" did a mistake on their part by announcing the "government" proposals before they were formulated. Had they formulated them, shown to Prabhakaran and got his approval first, they could have possibly succeeded. It appears that even the "international civil servants" have not understood the mind of Prabhakaran. It is not elusive as some people want to think, and any ordinary Sinhalaya and not the sophisticated western educated and trained, whose minds are covered with three piece suits, understands how the unsophisticated rustic arrogant cruel suspicious mind of Prabhakaran, with the all or nothing attitude, works.
The LTTE very often accuses the "government" of forcing "war" on the people. This is only to scare the Sinhala people with Prabhakaran's bombs. What Prabhakaran says effectively is that if the "government" does not agree with him then he would get his suicide bombers to recommence work in the city and the suburbs of Colombo. His motto seems to be "eelam or war". If eelam is given in the form of an ISGA then Prabhakaran could be happy. Otherwise, he would explode bombs. However, with the support of the "international community" he has been able to show that not agreeing with him amounts to going back to "war". This has been possible not due to any sophistication on the part of Prabhakaran but because of the support he gets from the "international community". It is well known that Prabhakaran wants the "government" to agree with him. He very often achieves this through the "international community". When it fails due to the pressure of the Sinhala people he plays his trump card and shouts that the "government" is forcing "war" and tries to scare the Sinhala people with his threat to explode bombs in Colombo and the suburbs. The Sinhala people are tired of this and no more they are scared of the bombs of Prabhakaran. Let him shout any amount but the attitude of the Sinhala people is that we would not give into the ISGA demands.
Why does not the "international community" drop Prabhakaran even at this stage when it should be clear even to them that Prabhakaran is the intransigent person that he is and not anybody else. The "international community" has a record of dropping their pets world over when things get started moving against them. However, in Sri Lanka they continue to support Prabhakaran when he is demanding all or nothing. It could be due to one of the following reasons. Firstly the "international community" still thinks that everything is under control and that they are in charge of the events in spite of the unsophisticated mind of Prabhakaran. When Karuna accuses the "government" and the "international community" for allowing LTTE cadres to move to the eastern province, when he rose against Prabhakaran, it should be clear as to what has happened at that crucial moment. Secondly it may be that the "international community" is unable to find a successor to Prabhakaran to destroy Sinhalathva. It may be that the all or nothing attitude of Prabhakaran is appreciated by the "international community" and their civil servants in this fight against Sinhalathva.
Note: The seemingly innocent Mr. Sivakumaran in his column last week among many other "seemingly" mistakes tells us that "demalu" the plural of demala in Sinhala is connected with "elu". He has introduced a new kind of linguistics where words in Sinhala are explained in terms of English suffixes. It is true that when "elu" is written in English it has the letters "lu" at the end. It is also true that demalu also has the letters "lu" at the end when written using the English alphabet. However he does not explain how "elu" became "alu" in the process. There are many other Sinhala words that end with the letters "lu" when written in English. The words such as Balu, Valu, Kalu, Salu, Palu, Thalu, Nalu, Dalu, Malu, Ralu, that end with the letters "alu" come to one's mind. Then there are other words such as kolu, polu, golu that end with the letters "lu" and words such as selu or helu that end with all the three letters "elu" when written using the English alphabet. Further Mr. Sivakumaran has to be reminded that the ancient Sinhala word for Demala is Damida that has no "lu" suffix. This example of Mr. Sivakumaran only reveals his "seluva".
Professor Nalin de Silva
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