Prejudice and Intolerance burns Bigot.
We Live only Once.
We can leave a more peaceful world for our children.
only when we open our minds to appreciate ideals, culture, religion and opinions of our neighbours.
When we close our minds we open way to War for our children.
Do You Want that ? Are You a Bigot ?!
High Phone Bill --> Have a laugh
The domestic phone-bill was exceptionally high. This prompted the man of the house to call for a family-meeting after dinner.
Dad > People, listen carefully, this high usage of our telephone is
unacceptable. You have to limit the use of it. I do not use the home
telephone at all, because I use the one at my work-place.
Mum > Same here. I hardly use our home telephone as I also use my office's telephone.
Son > Me too. I never use the home phone. I always use the mobile provided by my company.
Then they all looked at the foreign maid.
Maid > So, what is the problem, huh? Don't we all use our work-place telephones? !!!
Here we see the Ups and Downs of Sri Lankans
A shameful side of our Society
What We Should DO
Our Shame Here
eating the false $100 bills.
Basil Fernando
Executive Director
Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong
Dear Sir,
Your ‘Open Letter’ to all Sri Lankans
Your open letter is being published in blog site http://bonbenza.blogspot.com
We value your sentiments,
We wish the ''silent right thinking'' people in Sri Lanka would wake up.
We need a united Sri Lanka to build a new nation of friendship and prosperity.
We have to build from the ashes of a thirty year war forcibly imposed by a psychopath.
The psychopath was inspired by communal minded, selfish, cut-throat-liars who were our politicians.
And therefore we will avoid and ignore the whole bunch of cowards under the leadership of Sampanthan of Trincomalee.
Thank you,
The ''Open Letter'' of Basil Fernando of Asian Human Rights Commission
Following the killings of the entire LTTE leadership there is a strongly expressed feeling among Sri Lankans, within the country or outside, that their deaths particularly that of the leader, Prabakaran, should not be a matter for mourning. I beg to differ!
That there were the most extreme forms of violence practiced by both the rebels and the state forces is the issue of real concern.
That the political and legal systems of Sri Lanka have not developed to an extent that it is possible to deal with any conflict, particularly a conflict between the communities living within the country, is a matter that cannot be separated from the way in which all actors in the present conflict have behaved.
The test of civilisation in modern times is the nature of the political and legal institutions within which people live and not their so called traditional cultures. If the situation of Sri Lanka is such that no such civilised political and legal systems exists, the actors for the state and those citizens who have taken to violence must be judged within the framework of this total situation.
Moral and legal responsibilities
This does not remove the moral responsibilities of those who have acted with barbarism either on behalf of the rebel groups or on behalf of the state.
Each must answer morally for their actions despite the colossal
defects of the political and legal systems within which they have acted.
For this each must answer separately. It is not exculpatory for anyone to claim innocence on the basis that such actions were done on behalf of the rebel group or the state if the acts themselves, are immoral or illegal even in the situation of a 'war'.
However, those who have made moral decisions which are wrong and which may have brought them to the ultimate loss of life due to these very wrongs, do not forfeit their human status and therefore they still deserve to be mourned.
Prabakaran was a citizen of Sri Lanka and a human being and there is no way of saying in an ultimate sense that he was not 'one of us.'
I am a Sinhalese by birth and as I reached my adulthood I told myself that this should in no way affect my judgement on anything. In the latter part of my life in particular, I have lived with many races and nationalities belonging to all continents.
At no stage the fact of whatever race or nationality these people belonged to has been a matter affecting any judgement, though the ethnic and cultural differences of people have played an important role in the enjoyment and enrichment of each other.
And I have asked myself, if this be the case, why should my judgement regarding the communities of my own country be any different to this?
Angulimala
In terms of the strongest cultural tradition of Sri Lanka which is
Buddhism, perhaps the story of Angulimala is to the point.
Angulimala, a bright student, was treated badly by his guru because of a misunderstanding created by jealous and rival students in the mind of the guru about him.
The guru instructed Angulimala to bring him a chain of fingers. The finger hunt resulted in Angulimala having the reputation of being the worst murderer in the region because he killed everyone he met to take their fingers.
One day however, the Buddha confronted him, facing the risk ofassassination himself.
In the process Angulimala was brought to his knees, made to understand his predicament and changed his ways.
The moral of the story is two-fold. That Angulimala's behaviour was conditioned and that despite of his atrocious criminal acts he was still a human being to be dealt with.
In the Christian tradition there is the story of the stoning of an immoral woman where the Christ told the crowd, those who are without sin, throw the first stone.
This does not imply that the moral and legal wrongs done by the LTTE under their leader should be forgotten or forgiven.
All the moral and legal issues of atrocious crimes need to remain the top priority of the national discourse until such time as the whole nation understands the implications of all these issues, so that measures will be developed in order to avoid their repetition in the future.
In the case of the rebellions of the JVP in 1971 and 1986 to 1991 no such discussion took place and, in fact, attempts at all such discussions was deliberately suppressed.
Therefore the repetition of similar and even worse behaviour happened again through the LTTE.
The problem of dealing with moral and legal issues is that no one can take a holier than thou attitude. It is not possible to discuss and resolve and the moral and legal issues of rebels without discussing the legal and political responsibilities of the state.
If the state itself avoids criticism of its own behaviour and has no will at all to change that behaviour with the improvement of political and legal institutions, then the criticism of the rebels become a farce.
Such a refusal to discuss state responsibility can only be a ploy to continue with the defective political and legal systems for the benefit of some persons.
The threat of more repression on everyone
Thus, out of the fight against rebels there is the real possibility of the emergence of a state with greater powers of repression which would be used against the entire population.
It was the campaign against the communists in Germany which was utilised by Hitler to build one of the world's worst authoritarian systems.
It was the fight against the bourgeoisie and the internal party groups of the left opposition lead by Trotsky that was utilised by Joseph Stalin to create an authoritarian system which was even worse than that of Hitler.
In the aftermath of Prabakaran's death the exhibition of his body and the jubilation that was shown reflect badly on the sort of 'headhunter mentality' of some tribes who kept the heads of their enemies, captured in battle as trophies of their strength and glory.
When the political and legal institutions fails to live up to required standards a sub-stream of consciousness that remains from the past can surface, as Hannah Arendt in her extensive studies of various authoritarian regimes in the recent past has demonstrated. It was the surfacing of such tendencies which made even the concentration camps possible.
Thus, it is not only in countries with less developed political and legal systems that this can happen but even stronger systems can degenerate under certain circumstances.
The sub stream of consciousness from the past in south Asian societies, including Sri Lanka is conditioned by the unwritten laws of the repression of the caste system in which disproportionate and collective punishment is an integral part, as amply demonstrated by the recent popular novel, the White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga.
That there was such violent conflict in our own country is a matter for regret and sadness.
That there are no attempts to improve the political and legal systems so as to be capable of dealing with the differences and the conflicts is a matter for even greater sadness.
That the defeat of the LTTE is being manipulated so badly as to further destroy whatever remains of the political and legal system evokes even worse premonitions for society.
How the workers, farmers, the middle class, those who represent dissent and opposition and those who are engaged in providing public information and creating public opinion through the media will be dealt with in the future
in Sri Lanka is even more frightening to think about.
Celebrations of a failure
There is no real victory to celebrate, but instead tremendous failures to worry about. And if the artificial celebrations that are organised are meant to fool the people again then these celebrations will, in fact, be glorifications of failure.
The last thing that human beings can rely on is their common humanity and the last thing that the citizens of a nation can rely on is citizenship.
The fallen rebels as well as fallen soldiers are, in fact, bound by the bond of humanity and citizenship.
They all need to be mourned.
That is the least bit of decency that anyone can demonstrate.
I mourn for all of them, including Prabakaran.
[[[ The end of Open Letter ]]]
Fax: +(852) - 2698-6367
Ethnic Selective Punishment by Inaction and Blind Eyes of Lethargic Officials of the President Rajapakse of Sri Lanka ---
Sinhalese thugs force themselves into Lankan Tamil homes and demand money to celebrate their victory of the LTTE.
Does the Lankan Government accept Tamil Tigers as the ''SOLE'' representatives of Lankan Tamils as proclaimed by the LTTE ?
The ''silent'' majority of the Lankan Tamils did not accept the myopic views and policies of the Tamil Tigers.
It is evident from a comment of V Pirabakaran, the pseudo leader of Lankan Tamils, in November 1995 to his political advisor, late Anton Balasingham: ''Educated people are against us''.
Except for the riff raff of the community Lankan Tamils, in general, are educated.
It appears the unofficial policy of the Lankan Government today is to physically assault and destroy household goods of Tamils in general.
The J R Jayewardene's Government adopted the ''Assault Tamils and Destroy Their Goods'' policy in July 1983.
From the 4th day JVP, the Sinhala terror organization, stepped in with ''Bussed-Thugs'' armed with ''Voters List'' to identify the homes of Tamils.
Before JR's government woke up most Tamil business establishments, namely Cyntex, were destroyed.
Leading business men were brazenly stabbed to death. A glaring example is that of KG Gunaratnam of KG Industries.
And ''Shoot-to-Kill-Looters'' order was imposed only after the economy structure of Tamils was effectively damaged, but not irreparably though.
Today in the Rajapakse Government the Sri Lankan Police is refusing to record statements of victims of ''ethnic'' assaults.
''No Records and Therefore Nothing Happened''. Copied from Josip Stalin's policy of old Russia.
The media is in the safe pockets of Rajapakse Government and shamelessly fawns upto the powers-that-be.
Media People with moral character and courage were eliminated by ruthless governments till Lasantha Wicrematunge was done in during this Rajapakse government.
Remember the Journalists who stood up against Sri Lankan Governments and their cruel fate !!
Lasantha Wickrematunge, Richard de Zoysa, and the list goes on and on into Tamil writers too.
Just before the 1956 racial riots the then Prime Minister, ''Old Sevala Banda'', SWRD Bandaranayke, said
''They asked for it,and they are getting it''.
Just before the racial riots of July 1983, the President J R Jayawardane said, ''We are going to break some heads''.
This time around a secret and effective campaign is underway in the cities of Sri Lanka
The Media and the Police both have closed their eyes and do not report or record the atrocities.
Let us know the Institution that could bring these atrocities out in the open --- and compile details of ''ethnic assault'' with a vision of charging the government of failure to protect citizens from bodily harm.
Let's avoid multi and varied actions to promote personal and selfish reasons, as in the past.
We are sure there are millions of right thinking people in the Sinhalese Community. They are ''silent'' as is usual in any society.
Basil Fernando, Executive Director of Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong, in his open letter to all Sri Lankans reminds us the story of Angulimala and concludes he mourns for all, including Pirabakaran, that sacrificed their lives for a ''cause''.
The 'Open Letter' could be had here
Let's join together under a single umbrella for Lankan Tamils.
We must avoid the path of ''hatemongers'' of our political spectrum .
We must take the path of ''friendship towards our neighbours''.
We must build a nation of peace and properity for our grandchildren.
Our children followed our selfish politicians and Tamil Tigers and failed.
We have to initiate action or join someone who has already organized a platform for action.
Please leave out the LTTE supporters.
LTTE has lost credibility. And therefore any action by its supporters will be for the detriment of the Lankan Tamils.
The President may be a victim of ''Cover Up'' by his minions, ''Yes Sir'' officers and Communal minded scum of the earth.
UN is initiating a fact finding mission on the Human Rights violations in Sri Lanka.
But here in Sri Lanka it is worse than what it is in Zimbabwe, the Southern African nation where assault on people is rampant.
Please be involved and active. Its our moral duty.
The humane sense in you should compel you ...
Rope in all those whom you know ---
President Rajapakse, announcing the defeat of Tamil Tigers, spoke a few words in Tamil to assure the ''Silent Tamils'' of better treatment and promised a political settlement soon.
As the situation is worsening day by day there will not be a Tamil Community to enjoy the promised fruits of autonomy.
There would be a Tamil Community reduced to Beggary.
And President Rajapakse will surely NOT win the hearts of all Tamil speaking communities.
Only the Bija would remain !
