The message of "veiled racism" in Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s remarks Friday in his telecast address announcing the capture of Ki’linochchi town, betrayed the true intentions of him and his ilk, camouflaged in saintly wordings against separatism, terrorism, racism, North-South war etc, to hoodwink the outside world, writes a regular academic commentator to TamilNet from Colombo. "Unfortunately, those who claim to be at the helm of the international community, even though very well aware of the impossibility of the Sri Lankan state to satisfy Tamil aspirations, refuse to acknowledge the logic and legitimacy behind the ethnonational demand of Tamils to have political sovereignty to save themselves from genocide," he further writes.
Edited version of the comments follow:
The capture of Ki’linochchi was celebrated with the bursting of crackers here in the Sri Lankan capital. There were also reports that the Sinhala diaspora celebrated it with the bursting of Champagne bottles. No wonder such things happen in a culture nurtured by cricket and football matches.
The Sri Lanka president in his address to the nation on Friday declared, “I am now ready to reveal to you the proud news of the most honourable victory in the annals of military heroism that runs through many centuries of our history”.
What Mahinda Rajapaksa refers to is obviously the military victory of the Sinhalese against Tamils, because in the annals of the many centuries of the history of the island there were no wars of significance fought by the Sinhalese other than what they fought with Tamils.
The colonial wars fought by them couldn’t prevent the advent of colonialism. The only outside military expedition made by them against Myanmar in the 12th century ended a failure in mid sea.
The message of veiled racism in Sri Lanka president’s remark betrayed the true intentions of him and his ilk, camouflaged in saintly wordings against separatism, terrorism, racism, North-South war etc, to hoodwink the outside world.
It is said that Rajapaksa’s next step is to seek electoral mandate from the Sinhalese to cook a political formula in order to give the semblance of a political solution.
Increasingly one hears talk on the ‘legitimate’ rights of the Tamils. Who decides what is legitimate and what is not? The universal principle of democracy is that legitimate rights are always decided by a concerned people. Others deciding for them is only legitimizing enslavement.
Perceiving everything of the state on ethnic lines and after deepening the ethnic divide of the island through a brutal war, it is folly to expect the outcome of a feasible solution within the Sri Lankan state system.
Unfortunately those who claim to be at the helm of the international community, even though very well aware of the impossibility of the Sri Lankan state to satisfy Tamil aspirations, refuse to acknowledge the logic and legitimacy behind the ethnonational demand of Tamils to have political sovereignty to save themselves from genocide.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow TNN on Facebook and Twitter )