We are back to this saga, which will not go away, as long as this issue is met with completely opposing views within the island. We can always pin point to US hypocrisy and ulterior motives and begin a Western conspiracy bashing harangue as seems to be the natural inclination of the government with a new added twist to ask the people of the country to rise up in support of the government’s stance. I just do not believe the size of the constituency behind the government will make an iota of difference to this unless the Tamil people living in this country are ALSO united in condemnation.
For those who say this is only a Sinhala country, then I cannot have a rational discussion on this subject. For those who believe this is a country of all the races and creeds that live in it, then it is time we act in a UNITED voice and opinion. It is important therefore to address the grievances of the Tamil people, as represented by the TNA, In order to achieve this goal, so that we can have a hopeful and prosperous future for all who live in Sri Lanka. If the TNA is phony then who truly represents the Tamils?
It is so clear that the TNA completely accept the report and the Govt. reject it, polarizing the people yet again. The Govt. dare not label the TNA as unpatriotic as it may provoke a backlash against them, creating a crisis and instability and therefore have pretended that they have not even heard their support, and are perhaps saying to themselves they are still LTTE apologists, and that the true opinion of the Tamil people is not with them.
How can this be resolved? If the Tamil people believe the contents, while both parties to the conflict are equally implicated, only the victor remains to be held accountable. I do not know if the LLRC had evidence of people accusing the security forces of violations, but I would be risking my life if I had actually been a victim, witness or a partaker in any of these allegations. Personally I cannot accept zero collateral damage when human shields are used, so lets just tell the truth and clear the air.
I believe if we are to justify to the world that we can put behind this moment in history and move on, the victims of this conflict need closure, and this has not been addressed satisfactorily and I do not believe the Government is in any rush. I must add that Sri Lanka has the largest number of documented missing persons per capita in the world from all conflicts. This is not a case of any race, it is a case of the tragedy of the country that we have not been able to confront this and obtain closure for the families of the missing.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
the games people play in order to gain favor
In my experience in working with staff in the villages, there is a lot of things said, which are sometimes true and sometimes not. It is hard to determine which is which especially when much of what is said is to make one look good with one's principal whilst stabbing a rival in the back.
One has to be very careful in these circumstances, as many tales are of people deceiving you and stealing from you, and unless one can corroborate such tales, one has to tread carefully before attaching blame and believing the story.
In the most recent instance it is one who is in my sister's employment who is making allegations against people in my employment, and if I repeat that allgation to the alleged culprit, they would know from whom that came and make life difficult for him. If it is totally unfounded, then it is even more of an issue that can blow out of control, where we are not on site to be able to see the wood from the trees and settle the dispute in a fair manner and prevent it getting nasty.
The art of the deal is to accept the statement from the person making the allegation and then just pretend nothing has happened and see if one can prove beyond reasonable doubt that the allegation has any merit. Otherwise it is a pure trouble in the jungle scenario with no way out.
The divide and rule concept worked well for the British as they had enough people within the island who would tell tales on the other, and it is difficult to get total silence from all as there are enough people who will sneak to gain favor. This way one can know everything that goes on and pretend one does not know and be able to come out with the truth when it can be proven or when one gets caught red handed or with his pants down as the expression goes.
While there is no smoke without fire, jealousies are such that bald face lies are now the norm in this game, so that ascertaining the truth prior to reacting become paramount.
One has to be very careful in these circumstances, as many tales are of people deceiving you and stealing from you, and unless one can corroborate such tales, one has to tread carefully before attaching blame and believing the story.
In the most recent instance it is one who is in my sister's employment who is making allegations against people in my employment, and if I repeat that allgation to the alleged culprit, they would know from whom that came and make life difficult for him. If it is totally unfounded, then it is even more of an issue that can blow out of control, where we are not on site to be able to see the wood from the trees and settle the dispute in a fair manner and prevent it getting nasty.
The art of the deal is to accept the statement from the person making the allegation and then just pretend nothing has happened and see if one can prove beyond reasonable doubt that the allegation has any merit. Otherwise it is a pure trouble in the jungle scenario with no way out.
The divide and rule concept worked well for the British as they had enough people within the island who would tell tales on the other, and it is difficult to get total silence from all as there are enough people who will sneak to gain favor. This way one can know everything that goes on and pretend one does not know and be able to come out with the truth when it can be proven or when one gets caught red handed or with his pants down as the expression goes.
While there is no smoke without fire, jealousies are such that bald face lies are now the norm in this game, so that ascertaining the truth prior to reacting become paramount.
Monday, April 4, 2011
we can't stop speculating as to what really happened
It is interesting today to note that everyone I speak to has his or her own theory as to what happened and why it was that Sri Lanka lost!!
These post mortems will go on for years and speculation will never cease, there are as many theories as there are people giving their own version. No one can accept that we lost fair and square to a better side!! While it was the better side on the day, even that is open to opinion! it is other behind the scenes goings on that constituted the final composition that keeps propping up time and time again.
Sanga was not his normal self!, was he sick or sick of the whole farce? Him praising the President in his speech means something very different to non Sri Lankan ears than it does to Sri Lankan. The mass audience listening was non Sri Lankan, so to them it meant if you don't praise the dictator you don't have a future so be sure to get in some words that were completely inappropriate under the circumstances. To the Sri Lankan it meant praise the leader who both won the war and assisted the Sri Lankan team with all the means at his disposal to get there.
You the reader take your pick of the choices, just know that there are differing opinions even on this inclusion.
To me it was simple, I thought we had the game in the bag when the second Indian wicket fell, but from that point I did not see the normal excitement and intensity to finish it off, but a complete change in attitude, and the zeal that Sanga shows in directing the team from the behind the stumps was not there. Of course I was shattered that we did not make it, as I really felt the score in the end was a defendable one.
I wonder why? was he not totally happy with the 4 changes to the team? these are all questions we have for which we may never get the true answer.
Then I see the papers replete with Murali taking the blame for the loss saying he was not up to his usual level. Is he really to blame or those who insisted on including him? I don't know the answer to that either, so I wonder.
After all is said and done, I really feel the team should be congratulated for their performance, win or lose as they did the country credit and as it sometimes happens it was not our day on Saturday, and I really hope we can make it to the finals in Australia in 4 years and win it. Thanks guys for the superb entertainment and the credit to the country, you did us proud. No one will now underestimate the strength and depth of Sri Lanka cricket.
These post mortems will go on for years and speculation will never cease, there are as many theories as there are people giving their own version. No one can accept that we lost fair and square to a better side!! While it was the better side on the day, even that is open to opinion! it is other behind the scenes goings on that constituted the final composition that keeps propping up time and time again.
Sanga was not his normal self!, was he sick or sick of the whole farce? Him praising the President in his speech means something very different to non Sri Lankan ears than it does to Sri Lankan. The mass audience listening was non Sri Lankan, so to them it meant if you don't praise the dictator you don't have a future so be sure to get in some words that were completely inappropriate under the circumstances. To the Sri Lankan it meant praise the leader who both won the war and assisted the Sri Lankan team with all the means at his disposal to get there.
You the reader take your pick of the choices, just know that there are differing opinions even on this inclusion.
To me it was simple, I thought we had the game in the bag when the second Indian wicket fell, but from that point I did not see the normal excitement and intensity to finish it off, but a complete change in attitude, and the zeal that Sanga shows in directing the team from the behind the stumps was not there. Of course I was shattered that we did not make it, as I really felt the score in the end was a defendable one.
I wonder why? was he not totally happy with the 4 changes to the team? these are all questions we have for which we may never get the true answer.
Then I see the papers replete with Murali taking the blame for the loss saying he was not up to his usual level. Is he really to blame or those who insisted on including him? I don't know the answer to that either, so I wonder.
After all is said and done, I really feel the team should be congratulated for their performance, win or lose as they did the country credit and as it sometimes happens it was not our day on Saturday, and I really hope we can make it to the finals in Australia in 4 years and win it. Thanks guys for the superb entertainment and the credit to the country, you did us proud. No one will now underestimate the strength and depth of Sri Lanka cricket.
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