One step forward, two steps back

Muse

The things that worry me about the war, and the eventual end, started back in New Year's day (April 14th in Sri Lanka).

That was the day they showed the celebrations in Kilinochchi. The leader of the forces there was symbolically invited into the city by an Arachchi wearing what seemed to be an extremely Sinhalese costume, talking classically "old village" Sinhala.

Now, it's not the action or the symbolic welcome that I am against. It was the implementation of it. If they had done it with a Tamil-looking arachchi, wearing a verti instead of a sarong, if they had made some concession to the fact that Kilinochchi was a historically Tamil area, then I would not have minded it so much. The event was a symbol. A symbol that the area of Kilinochchi was under LKGOV control. But even symbols must be handled with care.

And then there was the speech by The Beast.

Giving a speech that says we have won is acceptable, but using heavily popularised icons of polarization is just stupid. If you read the victory speeches of the greats like Lincoln and Churchill, you will see that all they have said was something like it's over. we won. I thank the troops and God.

Whatever they may have felt in private, they refrained from attacking the country in their speech.

In his victory speech to Parliament The Beast mentioned Dutugemunu as a great hero, and, almost in the same breath, Elara as a usurper and conqueror.

The problem here is not that Elara was a usurper/conqueror who came down from India and took over. He was, but even the Mahavamsa calls Elara a wise and just king. It wasn't that Dutugemunu was doing the same thing that Elara did - namely, attacking a land that was not his so that he could get more power. The problem is that we are taught that the Elara-Dutugemunu fight was one between the Sinhalese and Tamils that the Sinhalese won.

This could not be further from the truth. It is the nature of birds to fly, of fish to swim, and of kings to conquer. That was all that it was. But the problem is what we are taught. In school I was taught many stories of Dutugemunu as part of history. One of the stories involved how Dutugemunu's mother came to find him asleep in a big bed all curled up. Why are you sleeping all curled up? she asked.

he answered , How can I stretch my arms and legs? In the North is the evil Tamil, to the South is the deep blue sea (හැඩි දෙමළු).

A historical story. A children's fairy tale. A vehicle for racial hatred. I was lucky my parents never taught me that. But I heard it in school. How many Tamil people heard the same story with a different twist for their race? It was much, much later that we heard about Dutugemunu considering Elara a honoured enemy and building a monument to him. In fact I don't think I learned that at school.

This is why referencing the Elara-Dutugemunu war was a mistake.

I would like to think that both of what happened was an honest mistake. A simple error in judgment from a speechwriter who didn't understand the connotations of what he said. But the problem is that he did say it. A golden opportunity to help the situation was squandered in words that created more harm. Now the LKGOV has to go further, and faster to regain trust.

So it's one step forward and two steps back.

Where the LTTE went wrong

Muse

It's Monday. It's Morning. It's Monday Morning Quarterback time.

The news is all over that the LTTE has been defeated. Prabhakaran is probably dead. (Though the LKGOV's statements are best taken with a grain or ten of salt - remember the 60,000 civillians who suddenlt became 200,000?) But the LTTE are pretty much done.

It was almost funny to see them make a statement that We have decided to silence our guns.

Almost.

Now I guess its time to look back and see where the went wrong. After all, hindsight is 20/20.

• Killing Rajiv Gandhi

  Yes, there isn't any proof. But it seems obvious that the LTTE did kill Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 (it feels a lot longer). Biting the hand that feeds you is not a recommended tactic. And that alone cost the LTTE a lot.

• Not quitting while they were ahead

  1999 to 2004 was the best time for the LTTE. They had a de facto country, and they were in a very strong bargaining position. If Prabhakaran had played it right he could have got a place in parliament. Sure they can bring down weapons. Sure they can ready for war. As someone once said, There is no peace. There is only 'Open fire!' and 'I need to reload!'

  Both sides were reloading as fast as possible. LKGOV not so fast because they were running out of cash, but the LTTE were going great guns (pun only partially intended).

  But by refusing to talk and try to fix the problem instead of keeping on fighting, the LTTE lost what was a golden opportunity.

• Killing Lakshman Kadirgamar

  Lakshman Kadirgamar would probably have been the greatest ally the LTTE had. A senior player in the political field, a Tamil from Jaffna, a Christian (like Prabhakaran), and an internationally recognised figure. It is possible to see a pragmatist like him helping to bring the LTTE into the mainstream and political process if they had ever shown some willingness to do so. Despite all that, they killed him. This was guaranteed to ensure that they were not taken seriously in the political level, as well as that they would lose support of the moderate Tamils.

• Helping The Beast win

  This is possibly the biggest mistake that the LTTE made. They took money from The Beast to make sure that the Jaffna populace didn't vote and that The Beastwon.

  Maybe they felt that they could win. Maybe they figured that this would be another war like the other wars. No matter what they felt, they sold themselves for a few million rupees. One hopes that it was worth it.

Looking back you can always go what the fuck was I thinking!!!??

And most of the time we don't know. As the old saying goes it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I want YOU.. to spy for the Government

Rant

Isn't it fucking fun? The LKGOV wants us to report all foreigners who are criticising the LKGOV and the Glorious Forces (sounds like a band from the 70s). The Ministry of Immigration & Emmigration even has a phone number for people to use as a hotline. And the media (radio stations especially) are shouting it out at the top of their lungs. In fact, they are asking you to report anyone, no matter what the skin colour.

This pisses me off mightily. The LKGOV is so scared of criticism and people showing what fuckups are happening that they want to have people spying on each other. Kind of like The Spies Among Us. Very KGB and Hitlerian.

Of course, some of you may approve of it. I won't tell you not to. After all, it's a free country (as long as you don't criticise The Beast, or the LKGOV, or The Glorious Victorious Humanitarian Forces, or Mad Merv, or pretty much anyone in power). The LKGOV loves people like you.

But anyway, if this pissses you off as much as it does me, read on.

I'm not going to go on about how fucked up and screwed up all this is. You all know it is. Lets talk about how this is unimplementable.

Point the first, hearsay is not applicable in a court of law. There are exceptions of course, but that is the gist of it. Point the second, how are you going to report someone? Call them up and say Yes, I was in a bus and heard these people criticising the Glorious Peacekeeping Government. No, I don't know who they are, but they must be somewhere in Colombo. Point the third, how are they going to make sure if it happened? Or do they just deport people on your say-so? Nice way to get rid of any honkies you don't like. A white guy takes your seat at the bar? Call the hotline. Cool huh?

So there it is, a wonderful PR stunt, that is unimplementable.

Now... Wanna have some fun?

This is so open to having fun and abusing it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Let's take the procedure a step at a time shall we?

Step 1:

Do not use your phone! They may have caller ID, and that doesn't make it fun. Use a phone booth. Don't use a Communication Center, why get some innocent fucker in trouble?

Step 2:

Call the number they gave - 0115329380

Step 3:

Tell them you heard someone criticisng the Glorious Wonderful Loving Kind Government Of Free Sri Lanka, who promise to give us candy, and cheap food, and even a pony once the people are saved from the Evil Child-Raping Mother-Molesting Henious LTTE Terrorists.

Step 4:

When they ask you who, where, and what they said, try the following.

• Ranil Wickramasinghe, in Parliament, criticised the LKGOV for not carrying out the war properly and to the utmost
• Hillary Clinton, David Miliband, and Bernard Kouchner, in multiple statements, accused the LKGOV of "failure to protect civilians."
• Gordon Weiss, in a report to AFP, accused the LKGOV of shelling the CFZ and killing 100 children (which we all know can't happen because the LKGOV doesn't use any heavy weapons there).
• M. Karunanidhi, in many interviews, criticised the Glorious LKGOV

If you're feeling particularly nasty, tell them your mom, last night, just after I fucked her.

Step 5: (Optional)

Laugh horribly

Good luck, I've got some phone calls to make.

EDIT 2350LKT - Added link to news report quoting hotline number.