Keep faith in Sri Lanka – not in the politicians but honestly the war-bitten people in all parts need the attention and investment of the Diaspora though they may not be very kind to us at first. Take a holiday in Habarana and speak to the waiters who waited through dry zones till the tourists came to watering holes barely surviving… take a walk through the Mirissa beaches and revel in the pure beauty.. spend time with family and yes, lets have hope and try to be happy about our children’s future. Stay strong and engage- there is no other way. There is no real need to fear for our personal safety if we play it safe for a while till the political climate grows more transparent and tolerant. We gave the war time- lets give the politics time and in the meanwhile lets not waste time enjoying Sri Lanka.

Great to hear the voice of reason… agree with all you say and yes, the greatest challenge in Sri Lanka for both Sinhalese and Tamils ( and others) right now is to keep mouths shut and not antagonise a defensive government if they care for the safety of their own lives. I am scared too cos there is much to criticise and we have openly done so in teh past. Yet, taking a reality check I realise that all these long years, I as a Sinhalese lived around Colombo not guided by the politicians nor fear. My best friends family and best experiences were apolitical. Everything I choose to love in Sri Lanka is apolitical. So, is it asking too much that I despite my fear, now though I am in the Diaspora, keep going back, keep faith in Home, in the homely things we share and love across the ethnic divide th

And frankly, I think this’ll all calm down soon enough. And everyone needs to take a chill pill. The government, the international players, the foreign media, the NGOs, those rioters in Australia and London and Canada. The more pressure the GoSL is put under, the more paranoid and defensive it gets.

We’ve won a war; let them party a bit. The rest of us have been partying right through the war.

Although technically there’s no way to prove that at least a huge majority of the celebrators were Sinhalese, I have a feeling that they were? I have this nagging feeling that things were celebrated by the Sinhalese, and that it was a very ‘Sinhala’ victory for those celebrating it, although like I said, there’s no real proof. I don’t know.

If you’re living abroad then I guess your views are understandable, given that you don’t hear anything other than LTTE propaganda. I was visiting a family friend in Nice in February and all of them were in a state of panic. Why? Because the satellite channels they had (owned by the LTTE or their proxies) were going on about India invading SL with 5000 troops to assist the SLA finish off the LTTE! I found the entire episode hilarious and guided my hosts to alternative news sites for them to get a ‘broader’ sense of what’s going on.

I don’t think this means that there’s gonna be some pogrom against the Tamils, and frankly it’s lots of people in the diaspora scaring their relatives here in Colombo. To be honest, I’m not sure I’d feel safe walking through Scarborough or Sydney right now.

And hey me and some friends wanna do voluntary work at an IDP camp or smthing mo than just sending stuff….how do we go about getting involved i wonder??

I was interviewed Saturday by Capital Radio Canberra, and I told ‘em the same thing.

Situation in Melbourne was out of control.

We love Sri Lanka, we have always loved Sri Lanka but we are afraid. Afraid of not being able to voice our opinion without going ‘missing’, afraid of just being taken one day in a mysterious ‘white van, afraid of being harrassed by the Police/Army for being Tamil and afraid of being discriminated against for being Tamil. It exists (maybe less so than in the past) and it will exist for time to come. This stops many of us from visiting, let alone moving back.

For as long as there are some people like you out there who reach out to us, there will always be a little hope. Change doesnt happen overnight, I understand that, and I hope that the next few months really show positive things. So then maybe baby steps like coming to visit our mother land can occur without fear, so that we can try and make a real contribution to our country.

That being said, from the moral perspective, you’re a far better man than I. Just like my well-heeled distant cousins who are able to dedicate themselves to helping civilians in wanni.

david,

The acid attacks were criminal and the perps should be caught and prosecuted. the freedom to assemble and express yourself should be considered sacrosanct. There are no excuses for what they did. I do wonder, however, why local cops were not at this celebration for event security purposes. That is SOP over here in the states when one special interest group wants to have a public acknowledgment of how special they are–event insurance, security, permits from local officials and public notifications. This is done even for the Nazis.

I will note this down as one of my favorite quotes. I’m glad; at least now you have understand this truth. I’m glad that, you have realized for yourself, what I’ve been telling you all these years.

Good post. Hats off for this one!

The greater (and likely more successful) diaspora effort should be in supporting redevelopment and foreign investment from outside of the country. Our diaspora isn’t as large or as wealthy as the Indian diaspora, but we could play a similar role that they have in India’s resurgence by fuelling FDI. There are apparently opportunities in the country and, though now foreign, most of us aren’t entirely clueless about how the country operates.

Resettlement, especially in large numbers, would probably create more problems than it resolves. I can imagine much animosity from home-grown Sri Lankans to a suddenly wealthy, educated group of ‘outsiders’ monopolizing jobs. The culture clash would be unreal itself.

I do agree that the diaspora currently isn’t playing as productive role as we could be, though some of us are trying to shift that (very unsuccessfully). It’s also worth noting that one of the few (though currently ineffective) checks on MR & Co. is international oversight. I still believe that the diasporas agitations keep the IC’s feet to the fire and they’re useful in that regard. They’re less useful in that the over-the-top stuff is creating animosity that is unhelpful.