by Keith Locke
Images of Tamil refugees from placards displayed at a protest outside the NZ Parliament
In 2001 the Clark Government stepped in and gave a helping hand to some people in pretty dire circumstances when we accepted a number of asylum seekers fleeing Afghanistan.
Boat people fleeing the civil war raging between the Northern Alliance and the Taliban had been rescued off the coast of Australia by a Norwegian Freighter the Tampa
The Tampa had then been denied entry to Australia by John Howard’s Government.
A similar situation is playing out across the Tasman right now but this time it involves Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers fleeing from the repression in their home country in the aftermath of a civil war. Some of them are on an Australian customs ship, the Oceanic Viking, anchored off Indonesia and desperate to come to Australia.
Hundreds of thousands of Tamil’s have been displaced in the fighting and are now living in hastily put together refugee camps. These camps have been largely shut off from the outside world although there has been some limited news media access:
I asked questions of our own Government regarding the conditions in these camps a few months ago.
It is good that the New Zealand Government had made some criticisms about the Sri Lankan clampdown on the Tamils. But now we have the chance to do something more – to give shelter to some of the boat people coming to Australia. After all the proper checks of course.
Taking in Afghans from the Tampa 2001 boosted our reputation among fair-minded Australians. And the “Tampa boys”, as they are affectionately known, have flourished here.
We can again show our Aussie cousins what a caring people we are by following the lead of our Government back in 2001.
Published in Featured | Justice & Democracy by Keith Locke on Tue, November 10th, 2009
Tags: Asylum seekers, Sri Lanka, Tamils, Tampa
More posts by Keith Locke | more about Keith Locke
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
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Mr Locke
Your heart is in the right place, but accepting people from the third world isn’t good for our country at all. We simply don’t need their problems. And it isn’t helping solve the situation back in Sri Lanka.
It frustrates me that the Greens are so willing to accept those who feel they can circumvent proper immigration procedures, by inviting themselves to a country where they have no right to be, and have an expectation to be let in.
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Kiwireader
Refugees are not attempting to beat customs controls because they were denied permission to migrate.
They are claiming to be refugees.
We would only be taking in those who were genuine refugees – which is part of a committment we make to the UN – we usually operate to such a quota – take in so many each year. So whether we take in these people or those from refugee camps around the world there is little difference as to how many we take in. In this case, the camps in Sri Lanka are not set up as a place where refugees can apply for such status from. Which is why they had to make the journey to apply for refugee status here “down under”.
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d4j, you know I will delete your personal attacks. Stop it.
Mark and greenfly, its hard enough policing d4j if you join in a the drop of a barb. Stop it.
Grow up all of you.
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Interesting isn’t it Keith? That people would argue Dental Care against Human Life?; – the most obvious humane duty we have is to stop people drowning whilst trying to escape what one can only presume is Murder?
The Ausssies are well equipped to ignore this on Racist Grounds. Our Racial grounds are somewhat different…
What You say Hone?
People live or die by the (misguided) direction of your thumb.
Reckon I can guess your Vote.
All Life is Sacred Hone – your talk of guns is careless effete and dangerous
Wake up o heahea.
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We still don’t need these people and their problems. Why didn’t they stop in Indonesia and claim refugee status there? They have attempted to invade Aussie waters, and have arrogantly refused to cooperate with the Australians. They are pushy rule breakers who took the risk to travel on a boat, and are just as much economic line-jumping migrants as anything else. Again, we just don’t need them.
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Perhaps, but they need us.
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Free speech on a greeny blog is utter bullshit eh Mr Frog Policeman.
[Frog: This blog is not provided for you to denigrate others without even the pretense of engaging in the issues. I police less than Farrar does, so don't give me your crocodile tears. In fact, when you're not around it drops to almost never.]
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A short lived and less bitter exchange of ‘pleasantries’ is funny, in my opinion. If only the players would grow up …
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Trouble is, they bout grown up as they git…..daddy, if you were drowning out there, and I knew your shallow recumbent mind – I would still elect to go & haulya in.
In some parts of Russia, the word, Love, translates directly as ‘pity’
Funny eh?
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SPC; If you are more at home at the cyber-rubbish dump, what directions can you expect???
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could you explain some of your statements ,
“Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers”
do you know that some these ppl were specifically identified as tamil tiger terrorists?
do you consider to what extent they are economic migrants? (tamil nadu in india is close by, why do you think that they seek political asylum in australia and not in india ?)
“fleeing from the repression in their home country in the aftermath of a civil war.”
could you elaborate on what you mean by “repression” ? give sources. preferably not the same sources that were justifying mass murder of innocents carried out by tamil tiger terrorists.
if you do, explain how the “repression” in sri lanka differs legally from new zealand laws ( of course if you can’t understand this last, don’t bother just confess your ignorance ) .
“now living in hastily put together refugee camps. ”
really ? again sources please
do you know that they are partly funded and run by united nations?
btw is it your understanding that most tamils in sri lanka are in these “camps” ? if not why do you refer only to them and not to millions of other tamils in sri lanak who are not in such camps ? why ? do explain
finally do you think that actions of tamil tigers were justified ? do you think they were fighting for freedom from “repression” when they killed babies ?
do you think that fund collected to support terrorist in new zealand and others to kill us justified ? may be you contributed to kill us and our children?
do answer
http:// llibertarian.blogspot.com/
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Like Palestine and Israel the aggression in Sri Lanka between the ethnicities has seen vast suffering incured by both sides and both sides have committed a great number of sins in the name of defense and of right. Some of those seeking refugee status may well be, or have been, combatants and the matter of dealing with them is complex and they should, perhaps, not be granted entry as a result of this but that is no reason to disallow entry to the others whom have not and have suffered under the conflicting regimes, bet they tamil or otherwise.
Many of the combatants would have been spurred into combat as a result of the atrocities of war committed against their people by the other side, and even by their own side, and this applies to both parties. While I would like to say that they should not be granted entry due to their participation in combat; such is little different than the draft so often used in western countries in times, for the most part, since past. They have become, in some sense, victims of their time, location, and ethnicity and thus may be due to be considered some degree of consideration. A difficult matter. Why I prefer to avoid ethnic and religious disputes.
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“Free speech on a greeny blog is utter bullshit eh Mr Frog Policeman.”
Free speech does not require other people to publish your opinions or provide a space for you to do so.
If you disagree, and believe free speech requires people to facilitate others’ free expression, I’ve got a booklet on anarchism I want to print – can I send the bill to you?
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Yeah Frog C’mon – when someone trails their muddy gumboots through your House – you tell ‘em eh?
Do you realize how many fools the Gaga’s have seen off?
Trolls, trollops, stoolie’s, Cops, Bullies; – the Green tree has an Iron Bark eh?
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When it comes to refugees we need to be able to help at short notice in times of high stress. We can’t just open our gates all the time, but saying that they are queue jumpers is a copout. People can die in a month, applications and interviews for places probably take years.
As for the Sri Lankan post it is chilling. The conflict in that country has led to cruel behaviour, as everywhere else in the world and posturing in a superior way about it is not an appropriate stance.
(I have come across a book The Art of War with guidance on how to conduct one successfully by Chinese generals from the past – they wouldn’t think much of the way that Sri Lankans conducted theirs.)
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Thankfully it looks like the Nat’s are not going to be stupid enough to let another bunch of terrorists into New Zealand.
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Or all bark and no teeth, Mark.
Speaking of undesirables, it’s low-brow bro! Blow Bro, blow!
I’m for Gaga law and the power of words.
That’s the ticket!
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Are you an Aussie Bro? They’ve got thousands of miles of the driest land on earth yet sit on their hands whilst men women and children drown within sight of their coast.
Ow these new jackboots are chafing.
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Mark
No, sadly I am not an Aussie.
Australia and New Zealand should not be the dumping ground for thousands and thousands of refugee’s, they are not our problem.
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Sadly I am not an Aussie.
Nor a patriot, it seems.
What do you call a Kiwi who wishes he was an Aussie?
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mmm I think it an old world view Bro…the Globe seems smaller, and as a sailor, and a human – something doesn’t sit well with letting thousands of people like you and me (Yes!) just drown at sea.
I think it Criminal Negligence Bro.
Give my regard to Little Big Man – his apology…hell ah cried…
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‘The Defendant’ Fly?
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could you ask keith locke why he is unable to answer basic questions about what he wrote here slandering us sri lankans. doesn’t he have a backbone to defend his own disgusting ( and frankly racist ) statements?
why does he hide like this ? no honest answers ? no valid sources ? etc etc. lol
he is free to copy your reply, but he should put his name on it.
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as for your comment
there are lots of things wrongs with that
I/
“Perhaps a small number of these people are indeed associates of the Tigers.”
1) not perhaps. positive identifications has been made .
2) to knowingly ignore the presence of terrorists who killed us, sri lankans, completely as keith locke does is indicative of bias in post ( or he is a complete ignoramus ) . that is why i asked him and why i have a right to ask him. . only he can answer why he ignored it , not you. but he hides .
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II/
“The vast majority, however, are civilians”
did i say anything to contrary ? you are answering a phantom there
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III/
“Regarding the economic migrant point, I would doubt that this would apply to many. Tamils are fleeing out of sheer desperation over the conditions that they are faced with in their own country.”
how did you miss my point and reply already in my post
here it is – “tamil nadu in india is close by, why do you think that they seek political asylum in australia and not in india ?”- why ? do answer that, don’t distort/ignore parts of what i wrote if you want a intellectually honest discussion .
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IV/
in reply to my asking keith locke to elaborate on what he means by “repression” ,
you say “As Keith Locke has spoken and blogged about earlier, the repression surrounds the detention of Tamils in camps, in which many are being denied the basics of life and are living in squalid, unhygenic conditions.”
your answer is extremely unclear and shows a high degree of ignorance (deliberate or not) . nor can i find any elaborations on his previous writing here. (do give a specific links if there are ) .
my question was what exactly is meant by ““repression” by keith locke? are you saying that he was only referring to detention and conditions of the camps ? nothing else? clarity here is very important . bc if he is referring to others things, he should clarify them with evidence. neither he or you have done that .
V/
now for “detention of Tamils in camps, in which many are being denied the basics of life and are living in squalid, unhygenic conditions”- which is your interpretation of what keith locke meant by “repression”
you say these ppl are fleeing the camps . how? if they are detained ? pl explain.
if they were never in camps, are you saying ppl are being forced in to camps even now ? where are your sources for that ?
as for squalid, unhygienic conditions,
what exactly do you mean by that? specifically . (ignorant and liars always mislead using generalizations )
are conditions in camps worse than average living conditions for all sri lankans ? mere assertion will not do, give valid sources for saying they are worse .
of course conditions are not the same as a residential area in nz. but they are basically the same as most ppl in sl
in the same vein there were some reports of some bad conditions due to flooding in september but that affected everyone in sl. and they were addressed.
and if they are so unhygienic where are epidemics of diseases? after all these months ? give evidence for any such or failing that explain this lack of epidemics.
mere mentioning of name of amnesty international and UN as sources is not enough . i want sources, as in links and quotes from them in reports where they provide the evidence that the camps are squalid, unhygienic, etc and worse than average sri lankan conditions . . why can’t you provide that?
btw anyone who sided and provided help to tamil tiger murderers, and wanted us to stop defeating the murderous gang is not a neutral party by definition. but first let us see your valid sources then we can discuss about the neutrality of each specific source.
so where are the sources ? do provide them. .
VI/
“The two legal systems are entirely different. NZ considers itself to be a nation which is strong on human rights legislation, and thus this kind of repression would not be tolerated in NZ.”
again you fail to specify differences between the legal systems . mere asserting will not do . say which laws in sri lanka have no similar counterpart in nz? or vice versa . pl do
but if you are too ignorant admit that , instead of pretending you know about laws in sl
and to repeat (IV and V). what exactly is the repression you are talking about that will not be tolerated in nz? give sources,. not just names but links to valid sources that give evidence.
if you can’t, admit your ignorance and refrain from your disgusting racist slander .
we will challenge unsubstantiated racist ignorant statements .
VII/
you ask for source that un is in fact funding the camps. unlike you i provide sources
http:// www. voanews. com/english/archive/2009-09/2009-09-11-voa14. cfm
remove the spaces .
that was in september .
btw un is still funding the camps so clearly by their own words whatever concerns they expressed then have been addressed as much as possible. for instance , resettlement has progressed since then and camps house about half of what they had then ( do you want sources for that too ? i will give that too , but first admit your total ignorance about sri lanka and about camps in particular . )
i gave my source when challenged , its your turn now to give sources for your specific statements about sri lanka ,“repression”, and camps
VIII/
“The obvious reason for referring to these Tamils rather than others who are not being detained is because it is the Tamils who ARE being detained who need our help.”
how come they are in a boat ( bc that what this post refers to ), if they are detained in a camp ? your logic makes no sense .
may be you need a course on logic too?
see IV also more in this.
IX
you say my statements beginning with “finally do you think that actions of tamil tigers were justified ?…..” – is a strawman argument warranting no response .
oh no ! they aren’t
this is deadly serious to us sri lankans (literally )
it is ppl like you, by propagating the racist lies of murderous ltte, that helped it to collect funds in order to kill us and our children .
did ltte kill innocents ? yes. deny that fact if you dare !
did it collect funds in nz and other western countries ? yes. deny that fact if you dare !
did it spread racist lies about what happens/ed in sri lanka to collect funds ? yes. deny that fact if you dare !
did ppl like you parrot those lies? yes deny that if you dare ! you are doing that now!
what your ilk say can result in death to our loved ones .
that is why we will continue to ask ppl like you to substantiate what they are saying about sri lanka .
you failed to defend or substantiate the lies and keith locke is unable/unwilling to even try to defend them
face the facts, accept your responsibility, admit your ignorance , . and refrain from repeating racist lies
or you can choose to be true believing racist bigot unable to defend your own statement but repeating them like a zombie . its your choice
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Mark
Are these people “drowning at sea”?
Or are you telling lies?
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Or ‘Rodneys’ as they’ve become known.
Telling ‘Rodneys’, Mark?
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Never heard then called ‘Rodneys’ Fly, I have heard the term ‘Bradfords’ used to describe a blatant liar.
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Nah Bro – try to keep up. Yours is old news. Sue’s gone, Rodney’s still actively thieving from us all. Roger Douglas is worse, but you Actoidal-types are keeping the lid tight on his rorting. It’s still there though. Like a bristle-snouted boar, snuffling, troughing, bleerily leering at his subjects as he grinds his chops – I don’t know how you have the gall to criticise anyone Bro, when your heroes have been revealed as hollow hypocrites. Have you ‘forgotten’ already? Shame.
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I’d never Lie to One who struggles so with the Truth Bro.
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Fly; I don’t think the term ‘Liar’ quite explains the extent of true Hypocrisy – it’s close enough for Fridays I guess….but at the time of his connubial Quango he of the thick Hide was supposedly cloistered away in protest that the ACC Levies were’nt high enough.
We Have found I think, Our Minister for Bullshit.
If Politics doesn’t work, we can work the Nat’s into a C&W Band to tour New Orleans (hey they’re used to disasters).
Blind Moggy John and the JellyFish – whatchya think?
Hone can be our roady/bouncer – soon as he sobers up eh?
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You can usually get away with 3-5 links… the heuristics used are a little unpredictable. I have had posts stopped with 3 and passed with 7 IIRC but those are extremes.
It is automated, not policy. As long as you are not spamming, Frog will let your post through the next time he checks the filters, if it should get caught.
Fair enough?
BJ
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your excuse that i made “so many points?” that you cannot “answer all of them ” is pathetic. all my point are related to direct statements in main post or in your comment. when i try to refute them i do go in to length bc it is deadly serious for us. on the other hand, you can utter filth , but you can’t be bothered to check the truth about what you write . ignorant zombie indeed !
so india is “repressing” tamils too? jointly with sri lanka ? you get more pathetic and absurd with each word you write ( and disclose your racist bias more and more ) . shame!
what is your source that ppl in boat are escaped from being camped. and why do you continue to imply that tamils in sri lanka are either in camp or escaped ? you know that millions of tamils live outside camps in sri lanka but you only use only those in camp and in boat to build your argument. why ignore the state of others ?
why don’t you acknowledge that you are ignorant of the fact the camps are funded and run by un ?(btw i remind i gave sources when asked , unlike you )
what can’t you explain what exactly you mean by “repression”? and give sources ? what can’t you explain the difference in laws ?
etc etc ( more details on these and other unanswered points in my previous comment)
if ppl like you cannot substantiate their racist false statements about sri lanka and cannot make valid arguments to defend them, they are in fact racist bigots parroting hate in a zombie like manner .
sorry that is not “ad hominem attack” that a logical conclusion of what you did. and as long as you spout unsubstantiated slander against us here you are the one who is acting disgustingly . i am merely calling a spade a spade based on factss and your own statements.
we will challenge racist false slander against us and ask that ppl speak truth based on facts . .
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An excellent article, thank you very much
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Excellent question Samiuela.
I think the answer lies in the problem we face as human beings, recognizing that we can’t save them all. Not at any price. We can destroy ourselves trying, but that would not suffice.
So we look at the impossible job and try to reduce it to a possible job. We create this artificial distinction, possibly justifying it by saying to ourselves that there is nothing preventing them from working their way out of poverty… no political obstacle to their organizing and forming companies and collectives and building jetliners to sell to China. At a level we hide from ourselves, it allows us to blame them for their lack of resources and so ignore their plight.
I don’t think this is malicious, though it is dishonest. The real answer is that there is no moral distinction to be made. Poor is poor. The human desire to find a better place to live is a deep one. The worse off the children will be the stronger the imperative.
Yet neither we, nor Australia, nor the USA, nor all of us together, can absorb the poor of the world. Nor, if we did, would there be an end to poverty. They’d be replaced in a generation. People recoil from the reality of lifeboat ethics. I personally recoil from the implications, but I don’t deny their existence. We can do just so much and then we have to stop. Putting our own children at risk is not an option for us… we are humans.
So we make this distinction and hope it cuts down the numbers of refugees enough that we don’t have to think about unthinkable options.
I don’t want to have to live at that price… but it may someday become the price of survival.
I don’t know if I could do what is necessary. The Titanic is sinking. who gets a place in the lifeboat??… and who enforces the death sentence to those who do not have a place?
respectfully
BJ
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Samiuela,
New Zealand is the best country in the world for a reason. It is due to the people who have built it, and the culture we have. The harsh reality is that if we lower our standards, our averages will drop, and our quality of life will too. The more people from third world conflict zones we have here, the more resources we have to dedicate to them. We don’t need those here who have little in common with us. Let’s learn a free lesson from Europe, where their immigration policies have them circling the drain.
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Sittingnut, pray answer me this one simple question: if the camps are so legitimate, how come journalists are denied access to them? How come any journalist who is brave enough to speak out against the government is given a life imprisonment or death threats?
For example:
J S Tissainayagam
Vettivel Jasikaran
Vadivel Valamathy
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how typical of you not to answer even one of my questions and still fail to give even one source to back your statements, but has the shamelessness to ask me questions!
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as before unlike you, i will answer, but i dare you to answer my questions and prove you are not a racist liar acting like a zombie for terrorists.
ppl you mention were charged and the charges were proved in open public court with evidence. they had legal counsel .
in case of tissainayagam those charges included that he collected money and info for the ltte murderers . and evidence in the form of bank records and phone records all proved that. i and others blogged about it in detail at that time .
so do you want us to release a vile helper of murderers in spite of evidence?
why ?
maybe we are not worthy to live in your racist eyes ? answer that!
why?
btw the anti terrorist detention rules we have are similar to ones in uk or usa .
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as for death threats, do you know how many i ( others like me ) get for speaking out against ltte terrorists daily? and exposing lies of propagandists . those threats are actions of impotent fools who cannot answer questions about their statements and provide sources to back their claims . there were/are too many ppl actually killed and maimed by tamil tiger terrorists to care about mere threats here.
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and as i said with sources, camps are funded and run by united nations.
why do you ignore that fact?
now can you answer the questions i raised in previous comments
======
spc
as for bbc reports posted by spc ( same bbc that published doctored photos of ltte propaganda earlier in the year ) point out which of my points they contradict or which of mcols’ points they support.
why don’t you give the reports of ban ki moon , or british or indian parliamentarians that are referred to by bbc .
as i said before, camps are not similar to a residential neighborhood in nz but they not very much different from average sl. as i also said flooding in august affected both camps and outside
and as i said with sources, camps are funded and run by united nations.
why do you ignore that fact?
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sittingnut, I’m sure you are able to debate the issues here without resorting to name calling in the first sentence. If you can’t, you’ll find your posts going missing. We don’t allow the level of personal attacks here that some blogs do. Please adjust your expectations.
mcol, I don’t see that you’ve responded in kind. Please ensure you don’t or the same will apply.
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sittingnut
My purpose in posting the BBC reports is clear from the comment I made as to describing the situation applying at the time refugees were leaving Sri Lanka – earlier this year. The final one refers to the situation a month ago, people then were still concerned for their well-being in the camps – and it is clear that they will be there for some time yet.
I am not required to side with you, or anyone else on this matter, when observing what an independent news organisation has reported. The refugees are not about you, not about Sri Lanka’s reputation, nor about criticism of Sri Lanka, but about the well-being of other human beings. It’s not a matter of chauvinism, whether Sinhalese or Tamil politics.
It’s a simple matter of fact, as I noted earlier – most of the economic refugees from Sri Lanka are Sinhalese. But some of the Tamil refugees will qualify for political refugee status. The declared government policy of keeping relatives of Tamil political groups in camps does indicate they could qualify for political refugee status.
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if someone writes falsehoods and cannot support the statements with even one source, then i call that person a liar .
and when those falsehoods originated with terrorists i find parroting that disgusting and zombie like.
if someone judges sri lankans differently than others for doing the same things others do, and don’t give reasons for why we are judged differantly , and calls us by insulting terms like “repressive” etc and cannot even define what is meant by that or give supporting evidence , i find that racist .
etc etc
as you can see above, i did not use those terms in my first comments . but when instead of supporting his /her attacks on sri lankans the person continues to insult us then i used them as deserved bc they are true by definition.
i don’t intend to call a proven liar by any other term than a liar.
if you want to censor, go right ahead .i can’t stop you.
given that falsehoods started in the main post and you have not as yet answered questions i raised in my first comment, i expect you to censor embarrassing and impertinent questions . that is what intolerant do when they are unable to use reason and facts to counter reason and facts
but i will call censorship, censorship, when it is threatened .
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spc :
i just wanted know if your comments had any relevance to points made in exchange between me and mcol . you say no . ok
btw
“The declared government policy of keeping relatives of Tamil political groups in camps does indicate they could qualify for political refugee status. ”
“declared government policy” ? clarify where and when this policy was declared or where it was put was in to effect ( relatives as opposed to those displaced in general being put in to camps ) ? none of your linked reports says anything of the sort.
“Tamil political groups”? which ones . again no such thing in your linked reports
substantiate your claims if you can or withdraw the falsehood .
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Political views will not be censored on this site, but anything goes is not allowed. Rarely must I enforce this, but I will if needed. There are ways of having even heated arguments without descending into the dirt. There are many good examples on this blog. Or you can arrange to meet mcol on various other blogs where that is allowed.
Lastly, I don’t have the answers to your questions, but if you want a response from Keith, write to him at Parliament.
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What role does population growth have in these conflicts? Is it our duty to take economic refugees from over populated countries?
If overpopulation is a disease do we have to infect ourselves?
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Thank You Hon. Keith Locke for speaking the truth. For 60 years, the Tamils have been suppressed by the Sri Lankan Nazi-Regime; and now the world is finally starting to find out what is REALLY going on Sri Lanka.
For over 60 years, the voices of Sri Lanka’s Tamils have been drowned out by the waves of biased reporting and Sri Lankan government propaganda.
Most are unaware that beneath the layer of a picturesque image of Sri Lanka that the government portrays, lays a country that has increasingly become a brutal society where the fundamental rights of Tamil people are denied. These human rights abuses on Tamils are committed by the Government of Sri Lanka.
Over the last few decades, the war against Tamils has torn our people and our lives apart. Each and every day, we hear about families without parents, without sons and daughters, without grandparents. Tens of thousands have died without cause. Over this time, the value of human life is considered next to nothing.
The people coming from Sri Lanka are desperate. They are running from a country that has treated them unfairly. They are from a country that gives them no freedom to live the way to be.
New Zealand has the ability and the resources to help these people and it is New Zealand’s responsibility to do so. Some of the comments on this blog are borderline racist. I think people need to realise that the people coming in boats have no other alternatives – imagine if your loved one’s life was in trouble – they were going to be killed – wouldn’t you do ANYTHING to get them away from that situation?
From reading some of these comments, I wonder if the New Zealand public object to streams of ‘white farmers’ coming from Zimbabwe.
People should be treated as people – we were created to live together in harmony without any barriers of race, beliefs, gender etc. The Tamils should be treated as humans – something they do not face in Sri Lanka – we need to save these Tamils from torture, rape and murder – we have the power to do so and we should use it.
WHY THERE IS AN INCREASE OF REFUGEES
Since January of this year, there was an escalation of violence in the war-front and on 18th May 2009, the war in Sri Lanka ended however, the suffering of the Tamils continues in the Government ‘Welfare Camps’ which are more similar to the Nazi Concentration Camps during the Holocaust, than Welfare Camps.
During the ‘war without witnesses’, the Sri Lankan Army used illegal weapons, deprived innocent Tamil civilians of food and medicine; and bombed government assigned safety zones.
[Viewer Discretion]
http://www.warwithoutwitness.com/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=categories&Itemid=54
On example is when the Sri Lankan Government squeezed 300,000 civilians in a small “safe zone” on the edge of rebel territory, an area about 9 miles by 18 miles claiming it to be “safety zones”. The Sri Lankan government dropped cluster bombs and firing multi barrel rocket launchers from all directions into this area, the civilians had no place to run or hide.
[Viewer Discretion]
http://www.warwithoutwitness.com/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=category&id=18:16th-feb-2009&Itemid=54
Confidential UN satellite images have been leaked to the public. These show the Sri Lankan forces bombing civilian safe havens. The images illustrate clearly Sri Lankan army committing crimes of war.
http://warwithoutwitness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=133:un-leaked-unosat-satellite-imagery-analysis-implicates-sri-lankan-government-of-war-crimes&catid=39:by-war-without-witness&Itemid=62
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6201379.ece
The Asia director at Human Rights watch commented on Friday, 10 April that “Sri Lanka’s so-called ‘no-fire zone’ is now one of the most dangerous places in the world,”
During the war, the Tamils caught in the war zones had no access to food, drinking water and other essential amenities. Medical facilities for the treatment of the wounded civilians are totally inadequate.
This denial of food and medicine is breach of international humanitarian law.
Furthermore, The Sri Lankan Government also repeatedly broke the Geneva Convention on a number of occasions by bombing hospitals. In an interview with Skynews the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapakse admitted to the culpability of Sri Lanka Army shelling Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital. He stated that No hospital should operate outside the Safety Zone…Everything beyond safety is a legitimate target”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weather/2009/feb/04/srilanka-terrorism
During a BBC radio interview on Feb. 2, Rajapaksa declared that outside the “safety zone” nothing should “exist.” Accordingly, a hospital has been repeatedly bombed, killing scores of patients. Rajapaksa further proclaimed that in Sri Lanka, any person not involved in fighting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is a terrorist.
In a report filmed by reporter Amos Roberts of Australia, the Sri Lankan Defence minister states that there are no civilians casualties saying “If you want to believe me, believe me, no civilian casualties” For a defence minister to deny death of civilians in a civil war is absolutely ludicrous.
An Independent investigations conducted by “War Without Witness” confirms that Sri Lankan Government is also using Chemical Weapons in Vanni war front.
http://warwithoutwitness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102:sri-lankan-government-uses-chemical-weapons-in-vanni-northern-part-of-sri-lanka-warfront-www-urges-immediate-dispatch-of-independent-observers-for-inquiry-into-war-crimes&catid=39:by-war-without-witness&Itemid=62
Human Rights Watch Asian Director, Brad Adams said “By finally admitting it has been using heavy weapons all along, the Sri Lanka government has shed light onto its official deception as well as its brutal military tactics,”
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/04/27/sri-lanka-government-admission-shows-need-un-inquiry
“A Labour member of the European Parliament has claimed the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka has the makings of a Gaza, and blamed government forces for civilian deaths.”
“ Sri Lankan Armed Forces are guilty of war crimes, including the indiscriminate shelling of areas packed with displaced Tamil civilians and of hospitals; the use of imprecise multi-barrel rocket launchers; acute or complete restrictions on humanitarian aid; the operation of militarily controlled “concentration camps” for Tamil civilians without freedom of movement or communications or adequate medical or other assistance” – Dr. Anna Neistat, Human Rights Watch
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CURRENT SITUATION
Currently, nearly 300, 000 Internally Displaced Peoples are trapped in barbed-wired internment camps without access to food, medicine and water. Reports of sexual harassment including raping of young women by the military personnel and torture and killings continue to emerge rapidly from these IDP camps. There are continued reports of extra-judicial executions and forced “disappearances,” and the fate of thousands of disappeared Tamils remains unknown. On May 7th, reports emerged of over 13,000 Tamil youth that went missing from these camps.
There are over 80,000 children in these camps, some of which have been left orphaned.
To add, there have been many reports of children being separated from their parents and the Times newspaper has reported that Paramilitary groups with links to the Sri Lankan Army are abducting Tamil children as young as 12 from state-run internment camps.
“Keeping several hundred thousand civilians who had been caught in the middle of a war penned in these camps is outrageous,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Haven’t they been through enough? They deserve their freedom, like all other Sri Lankans.”
“Vague promises about the future release of the people illegally locked up in detention camps are no justification for keeping them there,” said Adams. “Every day in the camp is another day that the government is violating their rights.”
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WHY THEY LEAVE – RECENT ATROCITIES
1) Tamil Women Being Tortured (View with discretion)
Video: http://www.tamilcircle.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4693:2008-12-24-07-58-02&catid=277:2009
Images: http://www.tamilcircle.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5836:2009-06-07-07-28-46&catid=277:2009
2) UK Channel 4 News – Grime Scenes at Sri Lanka’s Camps:
“Shocking claims have emerged of shortages of food and water, dead bodies left where they have fallen, women separated from their families, and even sexual abuse.”
Article: http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/grim+scenes+at+sri+lankan+camps+/3126257
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9vb-ORJCgg
3) Tamils Allege Rapes in Government Camps
“Tamils who have fled the fighting in Sri Lanka have given Sky News first-hand accounts of allegations rapes and kidnappings in Government refugee camps.”
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/video/Sri-Lanka-Tamil-refugees-tell-of-rape-and-kinappings-in-camps/Video/200905315285812?lpos=video_Article_Related_Content_Region_1&lid=VIDEO_15285812_Sri_Lanka:_Tamil_refugees_tell_of_rape_and_kinappings_in_camps
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The Sri Lankan Government is also well known for its war crimes. The most publicised clip is the execution of Tamils during war times.
4) Execution video: is this evidence of ‘war crimes’ in Sri Lanka? [View discretion] http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/asia_pacific/is+this+evidence+of+sri+lankan+aposwar+crimesapos/3321087
Entire execution video can be viewed at: http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=30080
Translation of Full Video
Army Man #01: Looks like this man saw it. He closed his eyes. And tried to escape.
Army Man #02: See… I tied his legs.
Army Man #03: Here you go… You can also shoot one.
Army Man #04: See If they’ve got any gold chain, take it
Army Man #05: There… a perfect one. Do you want to hit him?
Army Man #06: Yeah we’ll. It’s like hitting the birds. It’s fun.
(When one soldier brings the naked man it.)
Army Man #07: Look at him… He is wearing a Yantra (Something you tie in the Temple for good)
Army Man #08: Damn he’s perfect… I wanted that human for me… (I don’t know if they were into Homo sexuality. The way he says sounds like I wanted to do sex with him.)
Army Man #09: Hit… Hit… Even I hit one now. (Again this could me translated as… F**k F**k… Even I F**ked one)
Army Man #10: This is our Governments property and let’s hit…. enjoy.
Gun shots. Not very clear.
Army Man #11: This weapon is like a Bomber. (Laughing)
‘Forensic analysis confirms execution-video authentic’
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=30466
More photos [Viewer Discretion] http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2009/10/distressing-pictures-of-extra-judicial.html#
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Why They leave …
UN’S FAILURE TO PROTECT!
The UN has failed in their Responsibility to Protect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_to_protect).
The UN have failed to step in a time when the war was most brutal and more than 20,000 people died in the last hours of fighting (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6383449.ece)
The UN has failed in many accounts, for example Vijay Nambiar, the Sri Lankan envoy sent by Ban Ki-moon during the war, has a brother Satish Nambiar who is a paid consultant for the Sri Lankan army, and has been since 2002. (http://www.innercitypress.com/un1may3srilanka050509.html, http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2009/5/43648_space.html)
This report by Inner City Press highlights their failure on certain aspects of the Sri Lankan war: http://www.innercitypress.com/untrip9may6srilanka102409.html
Ban-Ki Moon’s Leadership has also come into attack by many around the world, which includes his peers- http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,643809,00.html
In addition, Confidential UN Satellite pictures were leaked which show the Sri Lankan Army using illegal weapons and bombing government-assigned safety zones. These photos, which were contained in a leaked internal UN report may constitute the strongest evidence yet of violations of international humanitarian law, or war crimes, according to human rights activists
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6337805.ece and
http://www.warwithoutwitness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=133:un-leaked-unosat-satellite-imagery-analysis-implicates-sri-lankan-government-of-war-crimes&catid=39:by-war-without-witness&Itemid=62
MEDIA BLOCKED
Sri Lanka prides itself as a functioning democracy. Yet media freedom, a vital pillar of democracy is non existent. Sri Lankan media is self-censored and national/international media are not allowed into the war zone. All International NGOs, UN Organisations and International Aid Agencies are banned from the war zone and now in the camps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK00WJpxo3E
Media personnel are not permitted into the areas attacked by the Sri Lankan armed forces to report on the crimes that are being committed in these areas. Humanitarian aid agencies, including the UN agencies, have no easy access to the Tamils caught in the conflagration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK00WJpxo3E
Not even Tamil Parliamentarians has the Freedom to speak their mind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpFfS8u1WrU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79gjfJA6d0o
There are no witnesses to the ongoing genocide and there is a complete blackout of information so the world is mostly oblivious. Sri Lanka is disguising its ‘Genocide of Tamils’ as the ‘War against Terrorism’.
Therefore the information the international world is getting is the Sri Lankans government’s side. I don’t blame the world for being a little bit ignorant. Most people are not worried about the problems of the third world but I think that people should make decisions based on both sides of the story rather than just hearing one side; especially when there is media suppression involved.
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WHY DID THE REFUGEES NOT GO TO INDIA?
The reason why the refugees did not go to India is because the strong Indo-Sri Lanka relationship.
There is no doubt that India provided critical military assistance to Sri Lanka during the war, including naval and intelligence assistance that helped turn the tide in favour of government forces. It started in 1987 with the deployment of the Indian military contingent Indian Peace Keeping Force intended to perform a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka.
Also note, that Palk Strait (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palk_Strait) is heavily guarded by Indian and Sri Lankan navy. Many Tamil Indian Fishermen are arrested or killed every week. This is not a safe passage for the boat to go.
India and Sri Lanka have an extremely good relationship; therefore Tamils will not ‘escape’ to India as they would only be sent back to hell, formally known as Sri Lanka.
NZ FAILING TO RESPECT INTERNATIONAL LAW
Australia and New Zealand is bound by the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Refugee Protocol. This means, New Zealand has an obligation to accept Tamil Refugees that are seeking asylum here.
Prof Francis Boyle explains violations here: http://tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=30598
WHAT THE TAMILS WANT:
Tamils in Sri Lanka have gone through 60 years of oppression by the Sri Lankan Government. All they want is to be treated equally in a country which is native to them – 60 years of history and recent times have proven that this will never happen. To fix the problems of the Nazi-nation the below points need to actioned:
1. Tamils in concentration camps need to be released. They need to be returned back to their homes where they stayed before/during the war, instead of shafted into a government building.
2. Media, Human Rights Watch, ICRC, Politicians, and NGOs need unrestricted access into Sri Lanka.
3. War crimes and Genocide investigation must be conducted by the INTERNATIONAL community
4. Racist Sri Lankan laws which discriminate against one race should be reviewed and removed so that Tamils get the same rights as Sinhalese.
With Sri Lanka at the state that it is now with the current government, this will not be achieved. Therefore it is up to the international government to help those who are seeking help.
These people are desperate for New Zealand to take them in. New Zealand is a country that values freedom highly. In New Zealand, we are able to speak what we want and be who we are without being afraid.
The people on this boat have never experienced such freedom and if they go back to Sri Lanka, they will get killed or tortured for their efforts to gain freedom.
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Side note for those interested –
Basic Translation of text on point 1) “Tamil Women Being Tortured” :
On one hand Sinhala majority is trying to hide its war crimes and on the other hand India and most of the other counties are supporting it.
However war crimes are being revealed to the outer world time to time. In this war, Sri Lanka Army was involved in a sexual war against Tamil women, and they have won the war. This war was encouraged by ‘male chauvinism’. The so called Sinhalese leaders who encouraged got involved in a war against women, are still ruling the country with a lot of arrogance. They are celebrating the victory of a battalion that stripped Tamil women naked and gained pleasure in their pain. JVP the political party (that once terrorised the island that supports racism in the name of communism says inquiry on war crimes can be conducted only after passing their own dead bodies.
The Sri Lankan army’s great victory has been proven by releasing the image of Tamil female naked dead bodies, not the images of rebels who fought the war, rebel leaders or land that was captured by SLA.
These images are proof of war crimes against Tamil women. The best proof of SLA’s cruelty is the video shows where the members of the Sri Lankan armed force enjoy watching a Dead Tamil Female Rebel’s naked body. This is worse than the sexual war in Iraq conducted by the US Military.
These images and video confirm that during the war Tamil women were sexually assaulted when they were alive and even after death.
Human Rights Watch: “The high number of complaints that the National Human Rights Commission continues to receive on an almost daily basis indicates that torture is widely practiced in Sri Lanka””
http://www.sangam.org/2008/06/Torture.php?uid=2967
http://www.torturecare.org.uk/files/Torture%20once%20again%20rampant%20in%20the%20Sri%20Lanka%20conflict_0.pdf
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frog :
if you can’t answer and defend, why lie in the first place?
if you don’t have the time to find the truth , don’t cover your ignorance about sri lanka with slanders ( taken from terrorist propaganda) about us.
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spc:
“The BBC reports do state that people are only able to leave the camps after they have been screened for connections to Tamil political groups.”
bbc report does not say that.
quote what it does say with link . then i will point out what you deliberately leave out .
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and what you did say earlier was
““The declared government policy of keeping relatives of Tamil political groups in camps does indicate they could qualify for political refugee status. ”
which is different from what you now say ( also without back up ) .
now you leave out “declared governmet policy ” part and “relatives ” part. why ?
why change the story on those ? bc you were lieing and attributing to bbc things they never said . why ?
back up what you said earlier in full . bc you are making serious charge against us .
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you write
“You say “Substantiate your claims if you can or withdraw the falsehood.”
You sound like the one who wants to suppress the story …”
asking that you substantiate what you say and or withdraw it is an attempt to suppress?.
are you saying that you should have freedom to slander us and we have no right to ask you to correct you lies ?
huh?
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on priyaksha’s comments
i see that the tamil tiger propaganda has arrived in full .
but lets refute what he/she says without taking so much words
there are no 300,000 ppl in camps.
most ppl in camps have been resettled . so to repeat what someone said in july about 300000 is not relevant .
all his links are either to direct terrorist propaganda sites or to places where the propaganda is shown but with qualifications ( he leaves out the qualifications )
for instance, the so called channel 4 execution video.
even when they aired it, channel 4 was careful to say they did not authenticate it . after it was proven to be fake, they apologized .
but priyaksha is still peddling in that already very publicly discredited lie
i have already dealt with it my blog in detail for those interested.
he has headline “UN’S FAILURE TO PROTECT” and proceed to accuse un bc un has not agreed with the lies of terrorist propagandists.
he unable to substantiate much about camps,so proceed back to end of war and with other mere allegations about bombings etc.
since this post does not deal with war i will not go there, but will only say what priyaksha says can and was shown to be groundless at the time.
and there is the silly “genocide” accusations.
oh boy! he forgets the millions of tamils who lived and continues to live in sri lanka peacefully and with lots of mps in parliament , during to the war and after it.
he says “Therefore the information the international world is getting is the Sri Lankans government’s side.”
why not ? does he expect world to side with terrorists based on such absurd propaganda as his/her? .
fact is all those fact finding missions that visited from un sec gen to indian tamil parliamentarians have had nothing much to complain about how sri lanka is handing this .
all they ask is quicker resettlements for idps and some minor improvements on camps . other than that they agree with government’s overall policy.
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he prints list of what he calls “what tamils want”
in fact first and foremost they wanted government to defeat ltte terrorists. and typically he leaves that out
he is so full of words like “oppression” but (like frog and mcol) . is unable to be specific about what that means or what “Sri Lankan laws which discriminate against one race should be reviewed and removed so that Tamils get the same rights as Sinhalese” bc there aren’t any such laws. he like others would be hard put to find any laws that are significantly different from nz laws . th
finally i will ask him as i asked others
do you think that actions of tamil tigers were justified ? do you think they were fighting for freedom from “oppression” when they killed babies ?
do you think that funds collected to support terrorist in new zealand and others to kill us justified ? maybe you contributed to kill us and our children?
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Now who was it that was whining about censorship again?
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mcol is correct. Mr Nut has a team of karma heavies.
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Now who was it that was whining about censorship again?
Please remember that the threshold for the “hide comments” feature can be set by each user. The control can be found at the start of the comments section and once set, sticks for all frogblog posts. And even if you have the threshold set very low, hidden comments can be seen by clicking the link next to the hidden comment. This is a fully user controlled option, not censorship.
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Didn’t even notice or realise that – thanks for the heads-up.
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mcol:
“sittingnut has clearly got his/her cohorts to go around and dislike any pro-Tamil comments to the point where they are hidden due to low comment rating”
so i am to blame for ppl disliking your comments ? lol
may be you should spend time answering the questions i raised, and bring even one supporting source for your disgusting racist lies, instead of concocting silly conspiracy theories and blaming me for ppl disliking your comments for your inability to answer questions and your ignorance about sri lanka.
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your remark about my “disliking ” “pro tamil” comments is yet another indication of your inherent racism.
where did i says thing against tamils ? never did. never have . here or elsewhere.
why do you assume i am against tamils ? i said a lot against tamil tiger terrorists who killed innocents (of all races ) and their propaganda ( and your blind zombie like parroting of them ).
your remark is an indication that you equate tamils with tamil tigers, you think tigers were fighting for tamils ( against, what is your word, “repression”) . all that is racist generalizations. reality is different, vast majority of tamils never supported terrorists. but to you that does not matter.
to you, opposition to terrorist propaganda is opposition to tamils. disgusting
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answer the questions raised ( in my earlier comments) and give sources to your statements ( high lighted by me above ), instead of running away as all intellectually dishonest ppl do when confronted with facts and reason ( and words like “racist” and “lair” correctly applied according to definition in dictionary as explained before ) .
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Mr Nut. The language you use reveals that you’ve a nasty streak.
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A number of thoughts come to mind on noting the turn taken on this thread.
Are nations accepting Sinhalese economic refugees to face advocacy for banning Tamil political refugees. Is this because there is a problem if Sinhalese and Tamil co-exist on the same island, or because recognition that there are political refugees in Sri Lanka is not to be “allowed”?
Noteworthy is the resort to the white noise black rain technique on that point of “issue” management.
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You claim that most people had been re-settled.
Nov 17 2.45am
“but lets refute what he/she says without taking so much words
there are no 300,000 ppl in camps.
most ppl in camps have been resettled . so to repeat what someone said in july about 300000 is not relevant .”
The BBC reported in October, that there were still 250,000 people in the main camp. I posted it earlier and as you were debating with me about a point I raised from that report – you must have read it.
That indicates as the report notes most people were still there and had been for months.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8293982.stm
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It has been likened to a huge new city in the jungle.
Since my earlier visit in April, the camp has swollen to cover some 10 zones, the number of camp-dwellers has ballooned to a quarter of a million, while over 20,000 have been resettled or more informally released, the government says.
A government intensely sensitive to outside criticism or suggestions, and wary of any outsider’s intentions in wanting to visit the camps, was now giving the BBC admittance, alongside the UK’s Development Minister, Mike Foster. That in itself seemed like notable progress.
And yet, just five minutes of conversation with the camp-dwellers was deeply distressing.
“I don’t know how to live like this,” she said, simply. “Please send us to a good place, or to our homes.” There seemed to be a widespread assumption that as outsiders we could somehow send them home. It was a cry of despair.
“There is no water to drink. There is no water to bathe. We are going to die here.” Everyone criticised the food provisions. Dal, rice, flour and sugar did not amount to proper meals, they said.
All the more reason to let people out, at least to stay with host families, he said.
But the authorities are sticking to their message that these refugees, young and old, have to be screened for possible links to the defeated Tamil Tigers. Tens of thousands have yet to be vetted.
And, despite the trenches, they fear the approaching monsoon will bring water pouring into the tents.
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I fail to find much in this that I can assign a truth value to, except the observation that a lot of people got hurt in Sri Lanka.
respectfully
BJ
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1.
Thousands of Tamil civilians forced from their homes by the conflict in Sri Lanka could be interned in refugee camps for up to two years before they are permitted to return home, authorities in Colombo said.
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2.
A senior government official, Lakshman Hulugala, said more than 230,000 civilians were being held in camps, a figure the UN believes could rise.
He said screening so many people to identify rebels and resettling the northern area would be a lengthy process. “Not all the people will be held for two years,” he said.
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EARLIER
Earlier this year when the Sri Lankan authorities revealed plans for “welfare villages” that would hold the refugees for three years, there was an outcry from aid groups. The Government backtracked and vowed 80 per cent would be resettled within 12 months. The new revelation will trigger fresh concern.
INTERNATIONAL COMMENT
“It’s absolutely controversial,” said a senior official with a Western aid organisation. “What the international community is saying is the Government needs to do proper screening to separate those who might be LTTE. What is not acceptable is for the whole population to be incarcerated.”
- INDEPENDENT
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573755
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We can of course debate the Algerian issue once again – is a politically active person a terrorist, if the government does not like their politics? The case of the former Algerian parliamentarian of an Islamist party called a terrorist by that government merely because some Islamists were terrorists.
Is any Tamil who has advocated self determination, or been part of related Tamil nationalist politics, to be associated because of their political opinion with a nationalist group which was fighting the Sri Lankan government?
Say all members of the Maori Party rounded up and interned because a Maori military group had formed to fight for self determination.
Is it the idea or the act which defines “terrorism”?
In any case, hundreds of thousands of people who were no more than civilians in the military conflict are being held in camps – while their status is investigated.
This is not a counter-terrorism move, but an attempt to excise the idea of Tamil self determination, by asserting central power over the lives of the people concerned – including the young and the old – because they might have had a relative who was politically active or was of military fighting age. So they might live in fear of continued internment because of how the government might see their family connections. Any government seeking to install that sort of fear amongst it’s own people is not building bridges.
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But the Sri Lankan government is acting against hundreds of thousands of people, not based on any evidence but merely to screen them. This is a form of collective punishment – guilt by ethnicity. And that is racist. This is why the people interned are political prisoners and have refugee status. There is no due process in being interned for months/years without evidence/cause.
It is because this is so unjust that speculation about the motives of the government and its real motive has room to grow.
I note your use of the word “us” when questioning any criticism of the Sri Lankan government.
“back up what you said earlier in full . bc you are making serious charge against us .”
Yes you can question my calling the vetting of the civilians a vetting of people with associations with Tamil “political groups”, rather than just “LTTE”. But the concept of incarcerating civilians – the young and the old speaks to no real focus on the LTTE at all, but the whole idea of Tamil self-determination in its widest political sense.
You are of course aware that UN officials have been banned from the country for expressing their concerns about conditions and 3 Sri Lankan doctors arrested for the information given to news media banned from the area. Hardly the actions of a government focused on the LTTE.
A question for you
Has the Sri Lankan government ever said that it had no intention of holding in the camps relatives of people with LTTE. It is keeping young and old people in the camps who cannot possibly be LTTE. Why would it hold such people in the camps for screening if there was no intent to keep these people/relatives in the camps?
Such relatives would be political prisoners – they are guilty of no terrorism themselves.
Has the Sri Lankan government denied that Tamils advocating self determination for Tamils and in other Tamil groups (not LTTE) would be kept in the camps rather than released? If not these people would also be political prisoners. And so would their realtives if they were kept in the camps with them.
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Firstly, your comments are off the topics – My comments were about WHY Refugees are leaving but instead of refuting that, you are talking about what I said. Next time, I suggest you try and stick to the topic. Also, I suggest you back your arguments with links.
So let me try and answer you questions with examples (It still covers why the refugees are leaving SL) –
1) “Terrorist” – As, I’ve said above the Sri Lankan government has long tried to portray the Sri Lankan ethnic civil war as a government campaign to suppress Tiger terrorism. In fact, state terrorism by the Sri Lankan government preceded the rise of the Tigers by at least three decades.
What is unknown by the western worlds are the horrific number of state-sponsored riots against Tamils. The first of these riots happened after a Sinhala-only bill was passed in 1956 after the Tamils did a Gandhi-style non-violent protest against the bill. The peaceful protest was broken up by Sinhala mobs and violence against Tamils spread to other parts of the island. Hundreds of Tamils were driven out of their homes, attacked and their houses burned.
The most deadly, bloody riots took place in 1983 , Homes and businesses were burned down, woman were raped and families murdered. A Hindu priest was dragged out of the temple and burned alive.
http://www.sangam.org/FB_PHOTOHISTORY/ONE.htm
Ex/ 35 Tamil political prisoners held in Colombo high security prisons were massacred by Sinhala prisoners – 2 days later, 18 more faced the same fate.
What is shocking that some attacks were even orchestrated by Buddhist monks, who planned and directed the mobs to attack Tamils. State police in stood by and watched as mobs attack the Tamils and in some cases, encouraged them and joined in. Westerner News papers screamed GENOCIDE, however, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister refused to declare it as a state emergency. Tamils could not count on the Government or Governmental officials to protect them.
The ‘Unspeakable Truth’ states that “Senor cabinet ministers armed with electoral lists directed mobs to Tamil homes and businesses. The Sinhala rioters did not even try to hide their faces in certain acts.
Ex/ Tamil Youth stripped naked and later burnt to death by hate filled Sinhala thugs who danced around him. The thugs were never brought to justice:
http://www.groundviews.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/1983-borella-rioters-kick-boxer.jpg
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Continued …..
During the riots, Many Tamils in Colombo were forced to run back to their homeland to avoid attacks on them: http://www.sangam.org/FB_PHOTOHISTORY/TWO.htm#Top
“A (Sri Lanka) government spokesman has denied that the destruction and killing of Tamils amounted to genocide. Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, acts of murder committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such are considered as acts of genocide. The evidence points clearly to the conclusion that the violence of the Sinhala rioters on the Tamils amounted to acts of genocide.” International Commission of Jurists Review, December 1983
“Genocide is a word that must be used with care; but how else is one to describe the impulse which guided the Sinhalese lynch-mobs this week..” Francis Wheen, London Times,30 July 1983
The discrimination and The anti-Tamil violence in Sri Lanka clearly demonstrated to Tamils that the Sri Lankan Government were committing a genocide of its natives. It is also predictable that the violent oppression and ethnic cleansing faced by the Tamils would lead to an armed-resistance. The armed resistance began with the rise of Tamil Tigers in 1983.
Note: LTTE was formed in 1972 but only started their armed-struggle after the 1983 “Black-July” riots against Tamils.
Even though LTTE were freedom fighters, they were labelled as terrorist by the Sri Lankan Government without a proper analysis.
The “War Against Terrorism” slogan has been widely used by the Sri Lankan Government. The slogan first adopted by GW Bush, former president of the United States.
The International Community turned rebel groups into terrorist after 9/11 without proper analysis.
So, LTTE were placed on the Terrorist list straight after the 911 attacks when the world was in complete, fear and confusion. During this time, Sri Lanka urged the world place LTTE on the terrorist list without any proper investigation into why. The international community forgot to take into account that the Tamil Liberation Movement of LTTE have no harmed any western interest.
One downfall for the Tamils were that ALL representations for Sri Lanka internationally were Sinhalese – So the world did not hear the Tamil side of why the Tamil Tigers emerged.
There are some Sinhalese people that support the LTTE. Ranath Premalal Kumarasinghe, ( Colombo Provincial Council Candidate and Educational Secretary of the Nava Sama Samaja Party) said I a speech in Geneva that “The LTTE has every right to hold its weapons until the Sri Lankan armed forces stop their barbaric attacks on Tamil people”
He added “The Mahinda regime wants to suppress the truth of the Tamil struggle and the cruelty of the war”
He compared the Tamil struggle to those of Jews in Germany and Muslims in the Gaza Strip.
He stated that “For a genuine ceasefire it is very clear that the oppressor (Sri Lankan Government) should stop shooting first and drop his guns. Then only the victims (LTTE) can drop their guns. There is no way out to the LTTE could disarm, when Sinhala armed forces massively encroach on Tamil Homeland. It is the armed forces who must drop their guns and retreat to their barracks. Then only LTTE can stop firing”
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Continued …..
In the book ‘Unspeakable Truth’ , they describe the LTTE by stating:
“ Apart from defending the territory under its control, the LTTE has over time developed an efficient civil administration for the de factor state – includes Judiciary, police force, central bank and research and development units in the fields of agriculture, industry and infrastructure development. Through education and discipline, the LTTE administration has been successful in wiping out bribery and corruption. In the social field, they had made in-roads to dismantling the caste system and eradicating discrimination against women.
Several western parliamentarians, academics and professional who had the opportunity to visit the Tamil nation had commended the efficient, ethos and secular nature of the administration.”
In an interview with the ‘Guardian Newspaper’, Hillary Clinton stated “The bottom line is, you can’t lump all terrorists together. And I think we’ve got to do a much better job of clarifying what are the motivations, the raisons d’être of terrorists. I mean, what the Tamil Tigers are fighting for in Sri Lanka, or the Basque separatists in Spain, or the insurgents in al-Anbar province may only be connected by tactics. They may not share all that much in terms of what is the philosophical or ideological underpinning.”
Moreover, the new US administration of Barack Obama has discreetly abandoned the expression “war on terror” adopted by former president George W. Bush, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview with ‘The Hague’
In contrast, the “Terrorist-Act” wasn’t used against JVP, a brutal Sinhalese terrorist group that terrorised the island for in 1971 and between 1987 – 1989. What is more hard to believe is that Mahinda Rajapakse, who is the current president defending the Sinhalese Terrorist. The videos below, named ‘Dining With Terrorist’ clearly points out the bias’ towards one race oppose to another. Also note that the ‘Terrorist Act was not also used when Tamils faced indescribable state-terrorism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLDeDEFtzAU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQhvQ8ypBy0 – shows Rajapkse talking about Sinhala Terrorist
The amazing thing is that the JVP, that terrorised Tamils and Sinhalese on the Island are now in parliament. They join ex-LTTE member Karuna who was power hungry and the JHU, Sinhalese extremist whom are Buddhist Monks.
The below video shows the power that the Buddhist of the countries have:
Monks of War:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyAn0vw70G8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIsxB-tGBRY
In fact for the last 30 years of war, the Sri Lankan Government are the terrorist. The Sri Lankan Government have broken the Geneva Convention on a number of occasions by bombing hospitals, orphanages and school. They have also used food and rape as weapons of war. But the world does not hear of the atrocities as the war (especially the attacks in North Sri Lanka) is hidden from the world.
Who are the real Terrorist: http://www.userdirectory.co.uk/mediawiki-1.13.2/Who_Are_The_Terrorist%3F_You_Decide%21
EXAMPLES OF SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT FORCES ON TAMILS
Ex 1/ Murugesapillai Koneswary was gang raped and murdered by policemen in Batticoloa.
According to relatives and the husband of the victim, the offenders of this crime had exploded a grenade into her genitalia in order to cover up the evidence of raping her.
Ex 2/The SL Govt blockaded the north of the Tamil homeland, driving 850,000 people into starvation and using them as human shields. Under pressure from 60 million from Tamil Nadu, the Indian air force infiltrated SL airspace and defied its sovereignty to air drop food supplies to Jaffna.
Ex3/ 9 Killed in Allaipiddy, Jaffna
http://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2006/05/allaipiddy_massacre_01.jpg
Ex 4/ 2007 – School Bus targeted by the SLA deep Penetration Unit in Mannar
Ex 5 /August 2006 Carnage at the ORPHANAGE – 61 children died and 129 wounded
[Viewer Discretion]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-fXUr-4cis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdtAfp8P92s
This is from an article regarding the Government forces bombing the Tamil orphanage: “Violence after the election of president Rajapaksa 14th August 2006, Sri Lanka jet bombed children’s home in Mullaitivu (NE Sri Lanka) and killed 67 school girls, 7 teachers and injured 129. A govt minister acknowledged it, and argued, “There is nothing wrong in killing future child soldiers”
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Ex/ 1987, the Sri Lankan Govt blockaded the north of the Tamil homeland, driving 850,000 people into starvation and using them as human shields. Under pressure from 60 million from Tamil Nadu, the Indian air force infiltrated SL airspace and defied its sovereignty to air drop food supplies to Jaffna.
ARE THESE THE ACTS OF A GOVERNMENT THAT WANTS PEACE?
BTW – Have you noticed that some western media, politicians etc have started using “Tamil Tiger REBELS”
To add, Australia and New Zealand have not banned LTTE.
2. “Terrorist Propaganda” If you look through my links. You will see that most are from unbiased media; but I guess that most Sri Lankan wouldn’t understand the meaning of unbiased as media is blocked from entering Sri Lanka unless allowed by the Sri Lankan government, media that speak against the government are suppressed no matter if they are Tamil or Sinhalese i.e Lasantha ( )and Tissanyagam (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6815885.ece)
Media Suppression: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMmjNP5P7V4
Regarding C4 News. The video sent to them were by ‘Journalist for Democracy’ who are a London based group which has exiled SL journalist, most of which are Sinhalese. Also, I don’t think C4 apologised as they released this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dga43RyWEis
Too add, The video footage was reviewed by an independent international observer in the United States who deemed them as true. Therefore, the accusations that these
In the eyes of the Sri Lankan Government, anyone who is against seems to be “Terrorist” or a “Terrorist Sympathiser” – using brainwashed propaganda. It seems that Human Rights Watch, ICRC members, Amnesty International and even UNICEF (the recent deportee http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/08/sri.lanka.unicef.expulsion/index.html).
Also, Sri Lankans calling Politicians such as Hillary Clinton, David Milliband and even our Keith Locke a terrorist is beyond ridiculous. These people have called for a ceasefire! http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=2225872&blogId=488842023
Furthermore, if the Sri Lankan government cannot tell the difference between a 5 year old orphan and an Tiger – then there is a serious problem! Transparency IS required.
3. The “resettlement” – Moving IDPs from one camp to another is not proper “resettlement”. These people want to go back to their homes or even live with family members , however – the Sri Lankan Government still refuses to let them leave.
“ Human Rights Watch said that the government’s screening of camp residents for LTTE supporters has been non-transparent and protracted and that even people who have apparently been screened and cleared have not been released. In September, the Sri Lankan foreign minister announced that 162,000 camp residents had been screened. According to the UN, however, the government had released fewer than 15,000 as of September 28.
On several occasions the government has falsely claimed that it has allowed thousands detained in Manik Farm to return home. On September 24, for example, it announced that 40,000 people had returned to their districts. In reality, many of the people that the government claims to have released have been transferred from Manik Farm to other detention camps, while others are still held at a “way station,” a temporary holding facility, in Vavuniya. According to the UN, more than 1,500 people who were transferred from Manik Farm to the way station on September 13 and were due to be released, are still held there, surviving in rapidly deteriorating conditions. “
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/10/09/sri-lanka-tensions-mount-camp-conditions-deteriorate
It should also be noted that during the war ICRC and The Tamil Tigers were giving the Sri Lankan Government civilian numbers of around 300,000 people BUT the Sri Lankan Government were giving numbers much lower – With all their “intelligence” they were unable to figure out how many civilians were in the warzone and blocked their ears to ICRC estimates.
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5. Genocide Proved. If Sri Lanka does not have a Genocide to hide – I suggest they let international monitors in to investigate – what are they scared of? What are they hiding?
The term “Genocide” I a specific term referring to violent crimes committed against groups with intent to destroy the existence of the group. The 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide establishes “Genocide” as an international crime, which signatory nations “undertake to
prevent and punish”. Articles II and III of the Convention provide the international legal definition of the
crime of genocide. Article II describes the two elements of the crime:
i)The mental element, expressed in the words “the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such”, and
(ii) The physical element, which includes five types of action:
a) Killing members of the group;
b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Tamils Against Genocide: http://www.tamilsagainstgenocide.org/ExecutiveSummary.html
http://www.sangam.org/2009/02/TAG_Indictment_Submission.php?uid=3296
Ethnic Tamils Genocide in eight stages
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kM76jdZ11s (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USD78z9AbkM (part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM70ESU4Le4 (part 3)
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Under ‘countries that have committed Genocide and War Crimes’
The only reason they are not prosecuting Sri Lanka is because UN Security Council hasn’t asked them to. As you all are aware, the UN security, much like the rest of the world is run on politics rather than policy.
http://www.innercitypress.com/iccsri1myanzim090909.html
The genocide of Tamils is parallel to what the Nazis did to the Jews.
Now, when there is a genocide going on, the community under attack has every right to protect itself. The Tamils in Sri Lanka needed protection because they were under existential treat.
If you look at Rwanda where there was no resistance and the Jews who had no organised form of resistance – So you can see there is an absolute NEED for resistance.
6. “Fact Finding Mission” – Are you serious? Taking your allies who helped you commit war crimes is bias
7. “Oppression” – Very basic examples below.
1. the act of subjugating by cruelty, force, etc. or the state of being subjugated in this way Detaining Tamils in camps, 1983 riots
2. the condition of being afflicted or tormented torture and rape of Tamils
3. the condition of having something lying heavily on one’s mind, etc. Mentally-Scared
8. History of Discrimination:
The Sinhala Government have always used its overwhelming parliamentary strength to deprive Tamils of their economic position, and destroy their separate national identity (which they continue to this day).
One example, being the 1972 Republican Constitution which made ‘Sinhala only’ the basis of administration without giving status to Tamil.
The Language issue which was to dominate communal strife made its appearance well before independence. The British governments’ reliance on English as the languages of administration had fostered the dominance of a small class of English-Speaking civil servants and professionals. In this the Tamils had preponderance disproportionate to their numbers, because the Tamil areas in the north were less developed in agriculture and industry, forcing young men to seek their careers in the public services or the professions in the south and also because the prominence of missionary activity in Jaffna had created an excellent education base in English.
In 1964, almost a decade after ‘Sinhala only’ had become official policy,
Prime Minister Mrs Bandaranaike gave this retrospective rationale “ We have tried to eliminate the wide gap which existed between the government and the governed, between the elite and the masses. By giving the due and rightful place to the Sinhala language as the official language of the country, we have made it possible for those voiceless millions who spoke only that language, to play an effective part in the affairs of the country”
How the Sinhala-only policy affected people in practice shown by The Kodiswaran Court case. The Bandaranaike government had directed that unless a Tamil public servant passed a proficiency test in Sinhala in stages over three years, his annual increment would be suspend and he would eventually be dismissed.
However, nothing arouses deeper despair among Tamils than the feeling that they are being systematically squeezed out of higher education. They complain particularly of the adoption of a system of ‘standardisation’ in which marks obtained by candidates from university admission are weighted by giving advantages to certain linguistics groups and/or certain districts. The problem is complicated for the Tamil because of their relatively high level of education in English which was traditionally given them a disproportionately high share in university education.
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Also, before Standardisation: Tamils in Medicine 250, Sinhalese 229. Tamils in Engineering 250 vs. Sinhalese 227. Physics, Tamils 204 vs. Sinhalese 183.
This law still stand in Sri Lanka.
The Tamils also feel they are being squeezed out of the admittedly privileged position they used to hold in the public service, which has long been the biggest – indeed their only major – industry. At independence, about 30% of government service admissions were Tamils, but today the percentage is down to around 6. Out of 100 people selected in the 1973 Administrative Service Examination only four were Tamils and two Muslims; the rest were Sinhalese. http://media.nowpublic.net/images//db/d/dbdbafc9ba69cc2e972c55ba270041b7.jpg
Some other examples of Tamil Discrimination:
1948 –Citizenship Act – The Disenfranchisement of Tamils From India which declared 1 million Tamils of Indian origin non-citizens (even if they were born in Sri Lanka).
1956 – Sinhala Only Act
1970 – Ethnic (ratio-representation) standardization. where marks obtained by candidates from university admission are weighted by giving advantages to Sinhalese
1972 – New amendments in constitution without Tamils participation eg, Buddhism made state religion, Name change of island, declaration of Sri Lanka as a republic.
1977 , 1956, 1958, 1961, 1974 and 1983: Not using the terrorism act or state of emergency and protection innocent citizens of the country when there were state-sponsored anti-Tamil violence.
Also, Tamils can be stopped on the streets and asked for identity and taken for “questioning” and imprissioned for being suspected Tamil Tigers; YET Sinhalese are not treated the same for being SUSPECTED JVP members.
Furthermore, Article 9 (chapter II) of the current Sri Lankan constitution promulgated in 1978 says “The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana..”
Isn’t this promoting one religion over others? Creating discrimination and racial-superiority?
Sri Lanka is “united” – should this really be in the constitution?
Sri Lanka is not united at all. I am sure you would of heard of the news of the Tamil political prisoners (one of which was a British Citizen) that were attacked and some killed by Sinhalese Prisoners. How about the Tamil mentally-disabled boy that was beaten to death by Sinhalese police in South Sri Lanka (heavily populated by Sinhalese) while everyone else watched. Sri Lanka is not united. Tamils are afraid – Look at the boats of people leaving it.
Interesting Article from a person in Sri Lanka: http://www.groundviews.org/2009/10/13/even-post-war-discrimination-runs-deep-in-sri-lanka/
9. I am Tamil and I KNOW what TAMILS want – also, ever heard of the Vaddukoddai Resolution.
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10. Your propaganda about Tamil Tigers killing babies – my examples prove that Orphanages and schools were directly attacked by the Sri Lankan Government. I am also living proof of Government atrocities. I am lucky that we were sponsored to come to New Zealand by my uncle (who came here in the 1970s when NZ accepted doctors – Tamils or Sinhalese) but I remember cowering in bunkers when the Sri Lankan Government aerial bombed residential areas. I remember being nearly hit by a shell-attack from the Sri Lankan government. I remember how they starved the Tamils in the North. Me, My Friends, My Family, The rest of the Tamil Diaspora are living proof of what the Sri Lankan Government has put the Tamils through. We have lived in the North – in the conflict zones and we are survivors – who would know more about Tamils than us – the ones that have lived through the war. Why do you think the Sri Lankan Government want boat people back? These people are witnesses to SL Govt war crimes.
It seems that all you talk is Govt Propaganda. “War against Terrorism” etc. THIS BLOG is about boat people – and i have tried to keep to the topic by explaining the history behind why Tamils are leaving Sri Lanka and WHY we need to accept them. The reason why I put links is to validate my points.
At the end of the day these Tamils are seeking freedom in a land that will provide. They are asking for asylum in NZ, and NZ is bound by law to take asylum seekers in. We have the quota to do so. We can provide them the freedom they seek and we have the POWER to do so. We should use it.
This is a great speech by Keith Locke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-GWukFQzA0
Case Closed. So Sittingnut, keep writing your Government Trash and keep “disliking” my comments. Your not worth my time. This is my last comment in this blog. I’ve said all I have to say. While you write on blogs and comments– I’ll do more useful things
BTW the ‘he’ you’re are referring to is a actually a ‘she’
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These “karma thumbs” can obviously be gamed – still, I’m proud to say I have the highest thumbs-down. Can anyone beat 13?
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Blip, I can beat that by miles! I’ve got -26.
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I got a good negative karma run going a 13 a 15, – 2 21′s (for links to BBC reports), then 15, 17, 15, 14. But I just could not get anywhere near 26 for just one post. I concede defeat.
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There is a new development and the Sri Lankan government now says it will allow people to leave the main refugee camp from 1 December.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8371820.stm
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