Thankfully, “Joint action taken by the Trincomalee UC along with the police has restored the “be-headed” SJV Chelvanayagam statue’s head in Trinco town” (DBS Jeyaraj). This type of issue is especially sensitive because a Buddha statue in Trinco previously ignited killings and shop burnings. This time, mashallah, they put the head back on the statue before any people lost theirs.
DBS’s tweet bundle is of course, priceless. In the past, racist elements erected a Buddha statue not as a particular venerable act but as a territorial one. Then the LTTE riled up tensions even more, then there was an explosion that killed 16, then mobs burnt shops. I visited later an a shop owner nearby showed photos of his burnt building and his sons smashed up car. The police were not helpful and, he said, complicit. He’d rebuilt and gave us the usual what to do shrug but, you know, WTF.
This time, the statue of a respected Tamil leader was decapitated. Instead of tensions becoming inflamed, however, this time the local government and police got together and fixed the problem, putting the head back on, garlanding it, and nobody died. Phew.
The statue was restored in 36 hours & unveiled in a ceremony with religious leaders,Urban councilors, Police & military personnel participating
Speaking emotionally UC chairman Selvarajah stated that racist elements would not be allowed to disrupt racial amity in multi-ethnic Trinco
To say that Sri Lanka is a country without racism or douchebaggery is not true, but the difference between Sri Lanka 2006 and 2011 is night and day. And it’s all better than 1983. I think at least the local government is slowly responding to challenges better, mashallah.
Unfortunate about the statue, but Chelvanayakam was the grandfather of Tamil separatism in Sri Lanka. He wasn’t even born in Sri Lanka but decided to hop on over from Malaysia and lead a separatist campaign based on Tamil nationalism/racism. The SL government should have deported the bugger.
// Tamil nationalism/racism//
both created by Sinhala Nationalism and Racism! Remember the history. Tamils didn’t ask for seperate state when Lanka got independence. Sinhala politicians screwed big time alienating Tamils which is well utilised by Tamil parties of the NORTH.
Lets learn from history than blaming the leaders of the past.
Tamil nationalism & racism was created when those people who chose to be racist or nationalist. They are/were fully aware of what they were doing.
Chelvanayakam was advocating Tamil separatism long before independence in 1936 by supporting a petition to the British for a separate state for Tamils. This was LONG BEFORE any supposed acts of discrimination. Do go and learn some history instead of exposing your ignorance to the world.
Tamils have a long history of racism/casteism and religious bigotry – that’s why they invaded Sri Lanka in the first place; they couldn’t be happy with their own kingdoms and land in Tamil Nadu. The Sinhalese or anyone else din’t cause Tamil nationalism or racism to magically come into existence.
//Chelvanayakam was advocating Tamil separatism long before independence in 1936//
But how many Tamils supported him dat time? But after stupid sinhala only act, how many Tamils supported him?? u do tha maths and calculate the outcome of what Sinhala Nationalism and Racism did to this country.
// that’s why they invaded Sri Lanka in the first place//
Why do you blame Tamils of Sri Lanka for invaded South Indian kings?? Btw u can’t rule out and say, Sinhalese were the idigenious population of Sri Lanka.
//The Sinhalese or anyone else din’t cause Tamil nationalism or racism to magically come into existence.//
My grandfather didn’t support seperatism, but my father did. Because of the Sinhala Nationalism. I’m not going kade for Tamil politicians. As I said earlier they well utilised the issue and became MPs on top of it.
//Tamils have a long history of racism/casteism and religious bigotry//
Dude seriously?? ha ha lols. almost all the races have this issue. Don’t tell me Sinhala buddist never had casteism and religious bigotry. I was spent most of my university days @ university of Kelaniya. I knw how racism, casteism and religous bigotry rules in each race!
People like u will never understand the issue. Because deep inside u r a racist too, who thinks Tamils don’t belong here. They dont have a damn right in this country. Its pointless to waste my time with u. U go on and think the way u want.
Wishing Sri Lanka a good future with people like u.
Look buddy, Chelvanayakam was THE political leader of the Ceylon Tamils and he was advocating separatism way back in 1936. Please have the integrity to accept that you did not know this out of your own ignorance and it is patently false to say “Tamils didn’t ask for seperate state when Lanka got independence.” Chelvanayakam WAS asking for a separate state for Tamils LONG BEFORE independence. And it’s funny how you have nothing to say about Tamil racism? Why is that?
The truth is, Tamils DID invade Sri Lanka – just like how Muslims invaded India, or the Burmese invaded Thailand. Many of the Jaffna Tamils pride themselves on being remnants of the Cholas. The invaders pillaged, looted and attacked the Sinhalese for thousands of years, never letting the Sinhalese live in peace in their own land. The Tamils simply were not happy with their own land back in the Indian mainland, they had to try and steal what belonged to others. And the Sinhalese are indeed indigenous to Sri Lanka – the whole idea of a Sinhalese people arose in the island of Sri Lanka and not anywhere else. Their whole culture and civilization and language grew and flourished in Sri Lanka. For the Tamils, all this happened in what is now Tamil Nadu which is their ethnic homeland. Nothing of note of the Tamil people took place in Sri Lanka while everything of note of the Sinhalese people took place in Sri Lanka. It’s the Sinhalese who give Sri Lanka its uniqueness, if it were the Tamils SL would just be another part of Tamil Nadu (with its same backwardness).
No one caused Tamil nationalism or racism to magically appear. It has always been there in Tamil society, not only now but in the past. The Tamil community, in general, is a very insular, casteist and, inward looking society. There is a huge obsession with being “Tamil”. Everything is Tamil this or Tamil that. This is there in India as well where Tamils are known for their Dravidian politics and language chauvinism. The Sinhalese, in general, have always been a more liberal society than the Tamils. There is a reason why the south of the country is multi ethnic and multi religious while the north has been ethnically cleansed of non-Tamils and they are only returning now after the “sole representatives” of the Tamils were defeated. It is time that people like you faced up to all the flaws in your own society instead of blaming everyone else.
And your right, every society has a problem with racism. But you ought to fix yours instead of screaming at the Sinhalese, no? As for religious bigotry the Tamils have a far worse record – from the historic massacres of Buddhists and Jains in Tamil Nadu, the slaughter and murder of Buddhists in Sri Lanka, the ethnic cleansing and slaughter of Muslims in Sri Lanka and the massacre of 600 Christian men, women and chilren in Mannar by the Tamil Hindu king of Jaffna. And we all know the caste system is a hundred times worse among Tamils than it is among the Sinhalese.
I, like many other people am sick and tired of people like you trying to put all the blame on the Sinhalese for the misfortune of your people. Please learn to look in the mirror and fix the problems that you see.