Election: Lanka facing complex challenges
By Janaka Perera
Two political developments occurring parallel to the parliamentary election campaign might complicate matters for Sri Lanka unless effective measures are taken to meet the challenge, before or immediately after the April polls.
One is the so-called Tamil referendum in Australia scheduled for April 17-18. This is yet another desperate attempt to garner international support for the establishment of ‘Tamil Eelam’ in the fictitious Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka’s North and East. Strangely all these referendums have been held in the West – Norway, Canada, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom and now Australia – rather than in Tamil Nadu (the real Tamil Homeland if they want such a country) where the largest number of Tamils is concentrated. Needless to say it is not a single Asian country but only the West that these Tamil separatists can rely on to interfere on their behalf in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs - the same way it unsuccessfully attempted to stop the anti-LTTE war. The likes of David Miliband have already shown the way.
Whether the referendum organizers in Australia and elsewhere will receive a moral boost or not will depend on how the Tamils in the Northern and Eastern Provinces will vote.
The other problem is apparently not a related development but could give sufficient leverage to the so-called international community to compel Sri Lanka (no matter who’s in power) after the election to serve the West’s agenda in the name of greater democracy and media freedom.
It is that a section of the Opposition or more specifically the ‘Sarath Fonseka Media Unit’ is calling on the public to (1) write to the Elections Commissioner (2) “strike where it hurts financially” and stop advertising in Government run television and newspapers (3) stop purchasing items from pro government sites such as Lankafood.com (4) to write/email/call the UN, SAARC, Red Cross & Red Crescent, IMF, World Bank and world leaders asking them to put pressure on the Sri Lankan Government.
“We need more international pressure,” says a message the SF media unit is circulating. Like the pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora, these anti-Rajapaksa campaigners too – though not necessarily for the same reasons – have since February held rallies in London, Rome, Paris, Melbourne, Milan, Napoli and Seoul to protest against the Sri Lankan Government
The issue here is not whether Sri Lanka is a perfect democracy or the perceived grievances of these people are real but whether they have got their priorities mixed up at a time when not only Western governments but also the UN is trying to undermine Sri Lanka’s sovereignty in the name of probing alleged war crimes and human rights violations while turning blind eye to atrocities committed with impunity by some of the very powers trying to pass judgments on others.
The question that needs to be answered is who’s going to be the actual beneficiary of all this – certainly not those whose priority is opposing Tamil separatism and foreign interference. Will all the anti-Rajapaksa campaigning at this stage bring greater stability, unity and democracy to Sri Lanka, although that may be what the country needs eventually?
Kandyan Chieftain Adigar Ehelepola was called a traitor not because he opposed the last King of Kandy, Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe, but because his conspiracy to oust the king became an open invitation to a foreign power to occupy the whole of Sri Lanka.
- Asian Tribune -
Comments
The acts of these traitors is
<<"“We need more international pressure,” says a message the SF media unit is circulating. Like the pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora, these anti-Rajapaksa campaigners too – though not necessarily for the same reasons – have since February held rallies in London, Rome, Paris, Melbourne, Milan, Napoli and Seoul to protest against the Sri Lankan Government
The issue here is not whether Sri Lanka is a perfect democracy or the perceived grievances of these people are real but whether they have got their priorities mixed up at a time when not only Western governments but also the UN is trying to undermine Sri Lanka’s sovereignty in the name of probing alleged war crimes and human rights violations while turning blind eye to atrocities committed with impunity by some of the very powers trying to pass judgments on others.">>
The acts of these traitors is pathetic and disgusting.
They want "someone else" to put "pressure" on the Government?
Gee why not try it through the voters? Oh thats right it is because a thumping majority overwhelmingly and repeatedly have rejected these losers.
They are going against the will of the people which is the very reason they have been rejected and as a consequence loose elections, yet their egos and greed for power is so potent that they willingly continue on course oblivion, as they did during the war because the only way they know how to come to power is through inflicting and maintaining misery and destitution amongst the masses.
Sri Lankans starting to
Sri Lankans starting to participate in this kind of "international pressure effort" means they would actually be selling off their soveriegnty through UTTER IGNORANCE!!
IT IS CRITICAL THAT PEOPLE ARE KEPT INFORMED OF HOW MEDIA METHODS ARE USED TO UNDERMINE A COUNTRY'S SOVEREIGNTY.
PEOPLE WHO ORGANIZE THIS KIND OF THING ARE, IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS, TRAITORS TO THE COUNTRY SINCE IN THEIR PERSONAL GREED FOR POWER THEY ARE SELLING OFF THE SOVEREIGN RIGHTS OF THE COUNTRY.
CITIZENS MUST BE FREE AND ABLE TO MAKE THEIR CHOICES WITHOUT INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE....THIS KIND OF ACTION AMOUNTS TO INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION OF A HIGHLY DANGEROUS SORT!!
THE PUBLIC MUST BE EDUCATED ON THE DANGERS OF THIS METHOD SO THEY DO NOT FALL INTO THIS TRAP IN WHICH DEMOCRACY IS TAMPERED WITH AND UNDERMINED THROUGH CLEVER MEDIA TACTICS.
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