The LTTE would have crumbled after Prabhakaran’s demise, regardless, so it was only a matter of time, 10 years or so max, given Prabhakaran’s age and declining health. His successor, Charles Anthony, could not have kept the organization going for very long. Keep in mind that negotiation is a two-way process. While Prabhakaran was difficult to negotiate people like Balasingham saw the viability of peace talks; in fact, it was Balasingham who was responsible for many of the negotiations. On the Sinhalese side, there was never any unanimous Southern consensus as far as Tamil political rights went. Regardless of CBK’s offer of an ISGA or Ranil’s CFA, a final solution would have required legislation (read: parliamentary approval) – good luck convincing the JVP and JHU. Not to mention the public outrage, if the reaction to the CFA was any indication.

The ideal thing to do would have been to economically/politically isolate the LTTE, via some kind of protracted CFA, and even get the Tamil diaspora involved in the process. Create a genuine political space for Tamils from all parts of the island to voice their grievances. By genuine I don’t mean TNA or making Karuna an MP. More like an intermediary between the government and LTTE, with a fair amount of political clout.

As I have said, MR’s approach was wrong from beginning to end. Recently in the Island, the interviewer complained to Harsha De Silva that the West is not investing in Sri Lanka, and that this justifies the high level of Chinese investment. Well, why is the West not investing in S. Lanka? At least some of it has to do with MR’s management of the war and consequent post-war image fallout. Think of it this way – if you’re a company, you generally prefer to do business with reputable clientele. MR has taken SL’s reputation back about 20 years. The Chinese may not care – but then, the Chinese have a bad reputation themselves.

It’s all well to go into hypotheticals. But the reality is that there was a full scale war and the LTTE was defeated. The north of Sri Lanka is now opening up and people aren’t dying from bomb blasts on a daily basis.

It is opening up to Rajapakase Ltd. no doubt about that. One family’s empire = another family’s doom & gloom. Doesn’t SL have any anti-trust laws to break up these colossal business interests, all of which can be traced back to at least the patronage of His Highness. On the one hand, you’re stifling free enterprise, while at the same time you’re concentrating the wealth of the nation in the hands of a select few. It’s no surprise that the Rajapakse’s already own 70-80% of the nation’s wealth.

The north is pretty much open to everyone now, including many southerners who were locked out of a large of Sri Lanka for many years. Thousands of people travel north and south along the A9 everyday now. People to people interaction is increasing every day. It’s pretty disingenuous to pretend as if it is only benefiting the president.

The North is one big open prison, as is the East, with thousands of soldiers and hundreds of checkpoints everywhere. So many soldiers, in fact, that the latter have taken to starting their own businesses, in addition to the usual repertoire of “busy work”: (http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=34173). There is still martial law imposed on the North and East. It’s not normal for the military to interact with civilians in this kind of way, on a daily basis during peacetime . It looks as if Rajapakse’s plan is to deeply entrench the military into every aspect of civil life, from university level to holiday retreat.

*every aspect of civilian life

The presence of the military is necessary to prevent any remnants of the Tamil Tigers from starting up again. There are also permanent military bases in the south of the country, and it should be the same in the north. The presence of the military in the north is also a consequence of having had the LTTE around. The State needs to assert its authority and the military is one way to do it. I would agree that the presence ought to be scaled down, but this needs to be done over time and in a staged manner – certainly not by waving a magic wand and doing it one flash. As for the military moving into business, I welcome this. The Sri Lankan military now has a surplus of soldiers – without a war for them to fight in – and they must be given the means to make a living (just like the LTTE cadres being rehabilitated).

And sorry, I don’t find “Tamilnet” to be a credible news source.

The LTTE was completely defeated – the “remnants” you speak of were placed into rehabilitation camps, 8000-10,000 altogether, by the government’s own admission. The main thing is that without Prabhakaran, the organizational/command structure of the LTTE cannot be reconstituted. Therefore, it’s highly unlikely, if not impossible, that the remnants will regroup, independently . A heavy military presence is not needed to ensure the latter trend holds.

There is also a huge economic cost that comes with maintaining a massive military. As I wrote on GV:

“…The basic point is the same: a poor country like SL cannot afford a massive military. Where economics is concerned, the important point is that most of the revenue generated by the military does not go back to the local community but gets channeled elsewhere. One implication is that local businesses experience diminished growth prospects, since the primary driver of growth – competition – is not allowed free reign. Furthermore, if the Government is subsidizing these military-run businesses, as the article states, that is even worse. It means that these businesses are not subject to the primary market drivers – supply and demand. An oligopoly or monopoly will be the end result, and if it is an essential item, the consumer will be bearing the cost.”

http://groundviews.org/2011/02/27/lanka-63-the-%E2%80%98military-business-model%E2%80%99-of-post-war-economic-development/

To put it concisely, if the Government is subsidizing military-run businesses, it is not rational to expect that local businesses can compete in an even playing field. Subsidies are also bad because they prevent prices from adjusting to the equilibrium level.

I agree with you that a large military presence may have been necessary during war-time. But the military presence (in the North and East) – particularly in the North – has actually increased tremendously since the end of the war. Something on the order of 7 – 8 new HSZ’s have been/are being constructed. How do you justify such an increase?

While there is a military presence in the South, it’s limited to military affairs. You don’t find military governers in the South. Neither do people need permission from the military to hold a meeting, to go fishing, to travel to Colombo etc. The military is not a major presence at every school function. I think you get the picture. While some of this may have been justified during the LTTE time, you can’t really argue for its validity two years into the post-war period.

Yes, the Sri Lankan military has a surplus of relatively young, uneducated soldiers – which is not a good thing, when unemployment is high. Trying to disarm them in that kind of environment could lead to a volatile situation. But its a risk that’s worth taking, because the alternative is to let them remain armed and engage in all sorts of violent crimes and petty crimes. You need to have the economic stimulus in place at the same time, so that they can transition from military to civilian life.

Tamilnet is not to your liking? What about Wikileaks?

Extra-Judicial Killings with the Military’s Support

——————————————— ——

15. (S) Working in concert with SLA soldiers stationed in the Jaffna peninsula, the EPDP is able to conduct extortion, abductions, extra-judicial killings and other criminal acts without fear of consequences, according to numerous sources. XXXXXXXXXXXX told us about EPDP’s involvement in extra-judicial killings in Jaffna. Independently,XXXXXXXXXXXX confirmed much of XXXXXXXXXXXX’s account. He explained that when the EPDP intends to kill a target, they first provide notice to the military. The number of soldiers patrolling the streets of Jaffna (40,000 total on the peninsula) is such that there are literally soldiers stationed at every street corner. At an agreed time, all of the soldiers in the designated area take a five to ten minute “break” at once (although the normal practice is to take breaks in shifts). At that point, armed and masked gunmen, often riding on motorcycles, race down the street and assassinate the intended victim. Shortly after the killing, the soldiers’ break over, they return to their posts to deal with the aftermath. While police investigations are common, they almost never lead to arrests. XXXXXXXXXXXX also told us of a XXXXXXXXXXXX doctor XXXXXXXXXXXX who performs forced abortions, often under the guise of a regular check-up, on Tamil women suspected of being aligned with the LTTE.

http://genocidesrilanka.blogspot.com/2010/12/wikileaks-cable-srilanka-war-crimes.html

Well, now you know what a good portion of your heroic army is up to.

A mere assertion such as ” ..the main thing is that without Prabhakaran, the organizational/command structure of the LTTE cannot be reconstituted” is hardly something worth risking the security of the country and its people after a devastating 20+ year war, especially when the one who makes such an assertion is safely ensconced in another part of the world far away from Sri Lanka. It would be stupid, naive and incredibly risky for the government to do so.

It is also natural for military presence to expand when most of the Vanni was previously not under the control of the government. Like I said before there are permanent military establishments in the south of the country and I don’t see why it should be any different in the north of the country. If there are any civil restrictions they need to be seen not in isolation, but in tandem with very recent history – war, terrorism, the existence of an armed group fighting against the state.

And the wikileaks article you link to is merely repeating what some random XXXXXX is asserting; it does not provide any actual facts or evidence. It’s like me saying the TNA parliamentarians raped 15 women, burnt their bodies and threw the ashes into the sea; and it’s fact and really happened simply because I say so.

There is no security risk from disarmed LTTE cadres. In fact, the security risk from fully armed EPDP and Karuna faction cadres is much greater. There is a major post-war crime problem in Jaffna, which even the government acknowledged, and it obviously doesn’t stem from ex-LTTE. The obvious culprits are the SLA and pro-government Tamil militias.

No, it’s not natural for a poor country like Sri Lanka to expand the size of it’s military post-war. Every single soldier needs to be paid; this money could better be used to resolve the salary anomalies of the university lecturers or import vital drugs to hospitals. Last week in Kandy, some patients in the surgical ward actually died because the hospital did not have enough money to import the necessary drugs.

You may doubt the validity of Wikileaks, but the rest of the world takes it seriously – it’s top-secret information at the diplomatic level, never meant to have been digested by the publoc. The XXXXXX is there to protect the confidentiality of the sources from repercussions.

Once again I’m afraid that when it comes to the security of the country (post 20+ years of debilitating and devastating war) mere assertions such as “there is no security risk from disarmed LTTE cadres” are no grounds to base actual policy on. National security should be of paramount importance. Crime in Jaffna is no different to crime in the rest of the country except that interested parties enjoy trying to portray it as something out of the ordinary. In any case, having been seeped in the culture of violence for decades the north is hardly conducive towards creating and sustaining a crime-free area.

Yes soldiers need to be paid. And I support the ‘expansion’ of Sri Lanka’s military because I think that the government should take all means necessary to prevent another violent separatist movement, and I believe the state should have the muscle to decapitate any potential separatist movement. Demobilisation should occur in a staged manner over a decade or two – and certainly not in the space of a few years.

If you wish to take wikileaks seriously, then by all means please take it seriously. But that doesn’t change the fact that all you linked to was a bunch of reported statements of random statements from some anonymous character.

If you remove the guns, there is no security risk. If you have several hundred economically deprived uneducated 20-somethings (SLA) walking around with guns, there are going to be problems – that’s just common sense. The answer is not to let them open small-scale businesses, as the government seems keen on doing. The answer is to educate them, and let them transition back into civilian life, if they so choose. As for Tamil groups like the EPDP/Karuna faction, they need to be disarmed completely, since their presence serves no purpose whatsoever, not even from a security standpoint.

While national security is important, there are other issues just as important. The nations that have staked their existence on national security – over and above all other needs – have not done very well; e.g. Nazi Germany, North Korea, Soviet Union. The problem here is that the military doesn’t do anything useful during peacetime. It doesn’t generate revenue for the government; in fact, it’s subsidized by the government, so it takes away essential revenues. It’s just another bill for the taxpayer.

There is no possibility of an armed insurrection re-occurring in the North. I don’t think even the Tamil diaspora want it to happen again. They supported Prabhakaran because he was there from the beginning; there was no way to kick him out – even if he was kicked out, there would be no one to replace him. I would say, Prabhakaran was a phenomenal 70′s/80′s/90′s star but he completely failed to understand the post-911 geopolitical reality. Any new armed insurrection would need at it’s head, someone of VP’s caliber, in addition to the fact that such a person was able to understand the new reality. Someone who could successfully engage the SL forces, despite the latter having the full military backing of not just India but China. If it was a Muslim extremist group, this could probably be accomplished. Otherwise, no.

Diplomatic cables are pretty serious stuff. The reason those cables weren’t meant for public consumption, was to avoid offending certain parties.

*If you have several hundred thousand

It’s quite simplistic to say “take away the guns and educate the soldiers” — how does that guarantee them a source of income? Sri Lanka already has a surplus of unemployed graduates who are desperately looking for jobs. Sri Lanka currently has a very large pool of army soldiers and there is no war for them to fight in. Let’s say the government demobilises 50 000 of them overnight – that means 50 000 people without a job. Now THAT is something where “there are going to be problems.”

To me national security is paramount. I do not wish to see another rag-tag terrorist group start setting off random bombs in the north and the south and start another round of violent conflict. Any new separatist/insurgent movement should be decapitated right at the onset with overwhelming force. This is my personal opinion mind you. And in order for that to be a possibility Sri Lanka needs a strong military presence in the north and the east where the separatist movement was based over the last 20 years.

“There is no possibility of an armed insurrection re-occurring in the North.” — Again, Sri Lanka should not base policy on mere assertions by arm chair critics. That would be suicidal.

Yes, Sri Lanka has a surplus of unemployed graduates, which is one more reason why it doesn’t need a surplus military. The focus should be on creating jobs in the private sector so that the unemployed graduates can put their productive resources to work, e.g. generate revenue that gets channeled through the economy. There’s no problem in demobilising 50K soldiers, so long as their weapons are taken away.

National security is paramount? Sri Lanka is a dot on the map, compared to her nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan. So in this sense, it’s national security priorities amount to zilch. It can’t fend off it’s neighbors in case of an aggressive attack – that means that its national security is necessarily limited to containing any internal threats. What are these internal threats? Last time I checked, the census data for SL goes something like this:

?73.9% Sinhalese,[3]
?12.6% Tamil,[3]
?7.4% Moors,[3]
?5.2% Indian Tamil,[3]
?0.5% Others.[3]

Tamils don’t have the numbers to wage an all out war for control of the whole island. That’s just common sense. So the only possible threat to national security would involve a Tamil uprising in the North, since the East never posed a threat after Karuna’s defection. On the other hand, it doesn’t make sense to keep 100,000 Sinhalese soldiers stationed in the North, just to prevent less than 3% of the population from misbehaving. There are 40K soldiers in Jaffna alone. That’s a total waste of resources. Something along the lines of 5000 soldiers is enough to deal with this possible “threat.”

Having tens of thousands of soldiers in the North will not necessarily prevent bombs from going off in the South. Anyone can make a bomb. You make a timing device and attach it to an explosive substance via a simple circuit. Of course one can make more sophisticated bombs, but the point is that anyone can make bombs at home; the ingredients can be obtained at the local corner shop. Trying to identify who is most likely to set off bombs is the job of the intelligence agency, not the military.

Again, Sri Lanka should not base policy on mere assertions by arm chair critics. That would be suicidal.

Sri Lankans should not give in to an imaginary fear psychosis. When there is no threat, there is no threat, plain and simple. Punishing the Tamils for the sins of the LTTE by turning the North into a giant military prison will benefit no one at the end of the day, not even the Sinhalese. I’ve already outlined the economic implications.

You argument for having small army could have well been trotted out before the rise of the LTTE as well. But I think that if Sri Lanka had a large, well equipped army that was allowed to do its job at that time the LTTE would have been wiped out in a tick, long before it had the chance to cause so much bloodshed and violence. This would have been in the interests of all Sri Lankans and the nation as a whole. I feel that the Sri Lankan security forces should *always* have that capability from now on – the capability to decapitate any separatist/insurgent movement in an efficient and effective manner and safeguard the territorial integrity of the country. Having a well trained, well equipped and well manned army is an asset even if Sri Lanka as an island has no real enemies. Take Singapore for example; there is no real reason for Singapore to have an army but it does have a very well trained and equipped army and all citizens are required to do a stint in the military.

I’m repeating myself here again, but I think demobilization should happen in a staged manner over a decade or two – and not in a jiffy. It is to early at present.

If Sri Lanka had had an island-wide draft (military conscription), the war could have been over in a few years, probably 1 or 2 at max. A surge in nanpower and the LTTE losing the East were the key elements involved in defeating the LTTE. On the other hand, conscription would have dried up the LTTE recruitment pool in no time.

SL is not China or the Soviet Union. Given its tiny landmass, there are simpler alternatives to maintaining adequate national security than having a massive army. I think you might understand this better if you let go of your fear psychosis of Tamil separatism. Re-read what I wrote about conscription, for example. It’s not hypothetical – it’s proven and tested. The American civil war lasted only 4 years, and it was fought over a landmass at least twenty times the size of SL. The difference here is that the Americans had a draft.

Comparing Singapore to SL is total rubbish. Singapore has one of the best health-care systems, education systems, on and on. It has never taken a loan from the IMF. The standard of living is far far far higher than SL’s has ever been. In simple terms, Singapore is a first-world nation that can afford to have an expensive military . Why does a millionaire prefer a Bentley over a Toyota Corolla? The Corolla is excellent, as far as quality goes – it gets the job done. The fact of the matter is, it wouldn’t matter what car the millionaire chose, since the impact on his bank balance would be marginal in either case. On the other hand, let’s say a poor person manages to acquire a Bentley on credit. He’s obviously going to be bankrupt in no time. The opportunity cost of choosing the Bentley is astronomical. If he has a wife and three kids, they’re gonna feel the impact too.

I’m repeating myself here again, but I think demobilization should happen in a staged manner over a decade or two

If you’re willing to live with 7.5% inflation for the next 20 years, a sub-par educational system (for yourself or kids), lack of quality healthcare for those who aren’t rich, etc. etc. then by all means, go for the expensive toy.

Tamil separatism was a reality for the last 20+ years so wanting to prevent that from happening again is quite reasonable. A massive army, out of your own line of reasoning, seems appropriate then.

And the comparison to Singapore is quite apt – you were saying that Sri Lanka is an island and asking what need was there for a large army. Well Singapore is an even tinier island with no external enemies either. Infact, it has a leading role in ASEAN and maintains pretty good relations with all its neighbours. So why does Singapore have a well trained, well armed and large (for its size) army? As well as mandatory stint in the military for its citizens? Sri Lanka has a far more justifiable case of maintaining a large, well equipped and well trained army given a 20+ year old war that ripped the country apart.

It’s rubbish to link “7.5% inflation for the next 20 years, a sub-par educational system (for yourself or kids), lack of quality healthcare for those who aren’t rich” with having a large well trained, ready-for-combat army.

You seem to be completely oblivious about the economic, social, and political repercussions that emanate from jumbo-sized military; with a population of 20 million, an army with 200K soldiers implies that approximately 1.05% of the whole population is part of the armed forces! That’s pretty ridiculous for a nation that can’t even keep its garbage under control in the metro areas. This is what Darini Rajasingham has to say about the jumbo military:

“One of the most striking developments in post-war Lanka is its paradoxical militarisation of the government, economy and society. Even though it has been two years since the end of the war, Emergency Rule remains in place and the defence sector, including the budget, has not been down-sized, right-sized or restructured for peacetime operations; but rather, has been on a constant rise. The army constitutes over 210,000 personnel in a country with less than 20 million people; nonetheless, the army, in addition to the significant navy, air force and National Defence Forces, continue recruiting. The current budget allocates 20 percent of GDP for defence expenditures – far more than other South Asian neighbours. Colombo insists that Lanka is a safe tourist destination, and asks foreign governments to lift travel warnings; but it still maintains Emergency Regulations (ER), keeps up counterterrorism rhetoric with the assistance of dubious ‘terrorism’ experts, and buys expensive surveillance equipment such as CCTV cameras to monitor traffic jams, rather than investing in a people-friendly public transport system, in a city that The Economist’s intelligence unit deemed one of the ten worst cities to live.

One can now see the post-conflict economy following the former Indonesian model of military business. Under Suharto, the Indonesian military was given corporate representation in the government. Each military branch had its own foundation, which operated businesses in finance management, the travel industry, agri-business, manufacturing and resource extraction. Similar patterns are evident now in Lanka, where the air force is operating flights to Jaffna, and military elites are being placed on the board of an elite (and controversial) golf club, called Water’s Edge.

Post-war militarisation is also indexed in seemingly harmless images of army personnel selling vegetables to bring down escalating food prices. In the navy, personnel are taking tourists on dolphin-sighting tours off the southern coast, and other armed-services personnel are engaged in additional commercial operations. Recently, the minister of higher education, S B Dissanayake, announced that the army would give undergraduates ‘soft-skills training’ in response to student protests against deteriorating conditions in the under-funded public universities. Rather than further politicising and militarizing higher education what is needed in a White Paper on Higher Educational Reform and investment in independent research and development.

n the current context, Sri Lankans might not tend to discuss militarisation, because they are indeed grateful for the sacrifices that the military made to defeat the LTTE. However, militarisation, poses the real danger of military mission and mandate creep. Almost two years after the end of war, in the context of the failure to repeal Emergency Regulations (ER) it is clear that it is ironically the political leadership of the country that is steering the post-conflict militarization and transformation of civil-military relations, in a manner detrimental to democratic institutions and traditions. This might be politically expedient and lucrative for the regime in the short term, but the primary purpose of a well-trained military is to fight external threats to a country. The blurring of civil-military roles will dilute this focus. Especially when coupled with emergency rule, it will concentrate and centralise power in the presidency; it will also confer a level of impunity to the police and armed forces, encouraging them to disregard civilians’ basic rights.

Already, the detrimental effects of militarisation can be seen in Lanka. In the name of ‘city development’ and gentrification, the military has been used to displace poor people in urban areas. Examples include building a New Port City in Colombo for a Formula One race track, building super malls and five-star hotels. Along the A-9 road to Jaffna, the military runs tea shops, competing with recently returned impoverished internally displaced peoples (IDP). In the war-ravaged north and east, it has acquired extensive public and private lands under the banner of providing ‘security’ and is setting up large farms to grow vegetables and fruits in the Mannar District. The ramifications of this however, have left Tamil and Muslim farmers landless, as some of their lands, now occupied by the military, have been ear-marked for business ventures, including a coal-fired power plant, tourism projects and agro industries.”

http://groundviews.org/2011/02/27/lanka-63-the-%E2%80%98military-business-model%E2%80%99-of-post-war-economic-development/

From the above, you can clearly see why a jumbo-size military is a direct threat to democracy and economic development in Sri Lanka.

What about security? Does the military really serve a valuable purpose, where security is concerned? Again, I quote from Darini:

Security trap

Despite a heavy concentration of military personnel (40,000 army, 10,000 police), the security situation in Jaffna, the cultural heartland of the Sri Lankan Tamil community, has been deteriorating. Recent weeks saw a series of killings, forcing the former Jaffna district MP of the Tamil National Alliance, M K Shivajilingam, to suspect the armed forces’ complicity. ‘How can killings take place without their knowledge?’ he asked. ‘We feel someone is organising and overseeing these incidents to keep the people of Jaffna in a climate of fear.’

The large military presence in Jaffna contributed to the besieged population’s sense of insecurity. It is well known that in Jaffna former LTTE leaders are working with military intelligence. Minister Douglas Devananda, a leading ally of the government and one whose paramilitary cadre were also implicated in the killings, has declared that the killings are not simply the result of random criminal activity. The largest bank robbery in Colombo was traced to army deserters, of which there are 50,000 in number and security personnel have been implicated in timber theft on public and private lands and moterways.

Violence in Jaffna despite the heavy military presence shows the limits of the military paradigm for security, economic development and sustainable peace. Already there is evidence of that we may be reaching the tipping point of militarization. A military juggernaut once set in motion might not be easily reigned in, while often those who set it in motion also suffer the consequences. Sustainable security can only be achieved by deepening democracy and embracing inclusive development. Otherwise, the regime’s dream of turning Lanka into the ‘wonder of Asia’ could morph into an Asian nightmare. Lanka is not Egypt or Tunisia, but sooner or later militarisation will be challenged as people come to notice that the traditions of democracy are gradually being eroded to create a national-security state and a ruling dynasty

Increasingly Sri Lanka’s welfare state democracy that once placed the island at the top of the social development index in the developing world despite low per capita income is being replaced by a militarized neo-liberal developmental state, cloaked in nationalist rhetoric that has little to do with the spirit or practice of the teachings of the Buddha or ahimsa. Sri Lanka still has the best social indicators – health, literacy, education – in the region. This is due to its immediate post-colonial investment in social infrastructure and the welfare state, not in the defence sector. Now that the war is over, Lanka needs to once again lead the way in Southasia. It has to demilitarise and reinvest in human security and social development, particularly in education, and enable power-share among the island’s diverse ethno-religious communities.

http://groundviews.org/2011/02/27/lanka-63-the-%E2%80%98military-business-model%E2%80%99-of-post-war-economic-development/

To summarize: having a gigantic military is a drain on the budget, leads to diminished economic growth, does absolutely nothing to improve the livelihoods of civilians in occupied territories, results in even greater levels of political corruption, and leads to an increase in crime in certain areas. 20 more years of this and Sri Lanka will parallel Pakistan, in terms of militarization, as DRS has pointed out. The dividing line between civil and military will become smaller and smaller, until finally it will be the military that decides the outcome of elections, what gets printed in newspapers, who gets classified as a “traitor”, etc. If you’re already seeing some of that now, it’s because SL has begun taking that dangerous road.

The difference between Singapore’s forces and SL’s forces is that Singapore is not a militarized society. The military is its own institution, with zero political interference. So again, your analogy fails miserably.

There are serious issues that probably should be resented and some, I think, resisted.

Jeyaraj more than anyone I know has been covering these

The approach and attitude of the Govt in many matters concerning the North and East are contributing to the fears and insecurity of the Tamil speaking people. A war ravaged people lie battered and shattered while many acts of dubious nature are being enacted in their areas of historic abitation

Issues and problems facing people of Northern and Eastern provinces – by M.A. Sumanthiran MP (his intro)

Jeyaraj is a pseudo-journalist. He can’t take the heat from pro-LTTE people, which is why he consistently “responds” in the comments section (journalists are supposed to keep a distance from readers). Try telling him the LTTE should’ve broken his other leg, and watch his reaction.

Jeyaraj is the best living Sri Lankan journalist, IMHO. Kudos on him for keeping up with comments and Twitter and stuff. That’s the sign of a true journalist, a storyteller

The best living journalist? Well, you are entitled to your opinion, but sometimes the truth is indisputable:

————–

HS De Silva says:
July 5, 2011 at 9:13 pm

The LTTE did a lot of nasty things, but they did not steal from the Tamils (in SL). That honor goes to the SLA.

DBSJ RESPONDS:

Stop these lies about LTTE.The tigers bled Sri Lankan Tamils dry through criminal extortion in the guise of taxes&donations. They criminally misappropriated property both movable and immovable from Tamils under the guise of “commandeering” for war effort. When Tamils were displaced the tigers sent their “agents” to rob from vacated places. We can go on and on…..

How dare you post such blatant lies whitewashing tigers here? Also have the courage to post under your own name instead of a bogus Sinhala name

http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/2465

————–

That is not journalism ; whatever it is, it’s pretty childish. Number one, he missed the all-important qualifier (“nasty things” ); secondly, he speculated on the ethnicity (ad hominem argument). Thirdly, he censored (blocked) my post about how taxes do not equate to robbery, and how governments are allowed to legally, commandeer property, even de-facto governments.

A real journalist is not a storyteller, they actually have a system of ethics by which to abide. It’s the tabloid journalists that spin yarns.

Anyway, there are not very many good journalists in SL (the last one I can think of is Iqbal Athas & his defense column), so I can see why you’re fond of DBSJ. His website is like an internet recycle bin that tries to promote some kind of *filtered* dialogue via reader feedback. That is probably a novel concept in the SL context, but it’s pretty standard for Western talk shows. If you can imagine JHU types debating TNA types, that kind of thing is pretty common here.

Heshan just hates DBSJ ‘cos he banned him. Lol

The truth is that Sri Lankan Tamils community would not find themselves in their current plight if not for the LTTE. A calm revision of all the facts leading up to the defeat of the LTTE will show very clearly that the LTTE was responsible both for its own demise and the suffering of a large segment of the Tamil people. The war is now over and many in the Tamil diaspora are angry and upset not over the loss of civilian life, but rather, the defeat of the LTTE. This is very regrettable.