I Report, You Decide: A Response to Voice in Colombo’s False Allegations

Voice in Colombo, a famous blogger cum a staunch SLFP supporter, misses no opportunity to hit me. I should have expected that. (What else can I expect from an SLFPer? A bouquet of flowers?)

I shouldn’t have taken this seriously, but when things get unpleasant and allegations are false, I need to put the record straight.

First VIC complains I did not publish his comment. This was a false allegation. Actually it surprised me because I have never felt that his comments need to be blocked. (To be fair by him, his responses were decent and to the point. There was no need to block any of them.) I have made a response in his blog saying I have never done so. The moderation, which unfortunately I cannot avoid, is meant for someone else who has become a nuisance by commenting under many different handles distracting the discussion.

Then VIC complains I have changed his identity to ‘Anonymous’. I cannot understand what he thinks I would achieve by doing that. Why do I want to change a commentator’s identity wasting my time during an election campaign?

Anyway, the only way to make the matters clear is to expose my comments page to public. (I was lucky that the two comments concerned were successive)

I would not have exposed anyone’s IP addresses, but I want to make this clear. Please note the two IPs. One is 124.43.213.74. You see VIC’s ID followed by his blog address and email. The other is 203.115.18.147. No ID is given, so WordPress takes the comment as Anonymous.

Think it is self explanatory. As we say in Sinhala it is clear who “stands on his tail’(valge paagagena).

(Please click on the image for a better view.)

Only Tamils are terrorists; not Pakistanis?

It is more than 48 hours Sri Lankan cricketers were attacked horribly by Pakistani terrorists in Lahore and the silence in Colombo surprises me. It is almost deafening.

For a moment imagine the reaction if the same happened here in Colombo. Having probably more suicide bombers than gunmen this is not the type of the attack LTTE would have dared, but for arguments sake, let us assume they did.

I can imagine the series of events that will follow.

Within no time we will see colorful posters from NMAT, JHU and Wimal Weerawansa all over the city condemning the attack with an emotional appeal. I am sure Weerawansa would have come up with a bright coloured poster of Ajantha Mendis in action with the slogan “Kuriru Koti Thrasthavaadhayen Kreedaava Surakimu!”

We would have also seen them calling press conferences one after the other. Newspapers would have been full of statements from every Tom Dick and Medhananda condemning the attack.

I am also sure to have received minimum twenty emails by now how LTTE tried to attack our sportsmen ever since its inception. (I am sure they would have dug enough evidence t prove the case.)

Not to mention the blogsphere. By this time Lanka Libertarian is sure to have taken a round of gunfire on peaceniks. (Yes, the usual lot. Everyone knows the names by heart now; no need to repeat.)

Is this what we see? Certainly not. Enough talk, but I do not see anyone seriously condemning the attack. I also do not see anyone angry. Isn’t that surprising?

Apart from the customary condolence messages from key political parties I do not see anyone bothered at all. The only exception is Udaya Gammanpila, who links the incident to LTTE – so that does not really count. He is contesting the elections, like me, so exploiting the opportunity to win some attention is acceptable. On the other hand Gammanpila will blame LTTE even if mother passes wind.

We see neither posters on walls nor press conferences.

In the blogsphere, Lanka Libertarian, who once wrote ‘i don’t refer much to patriotism in this blog. for instance my arguments for defeating terrorist pussies (with violence if needs be) are based not on patriotism but on preserving human rights, freedom, justice, and democracy’ is maintaining a deafening silence as if this incident has nothing to do with freedom, democracy and justice. Human rights of Sri Lankan cricketers have conveniently been forgotten.

Voice in Colombo has reported the incident but yet to offer his opinion and/or condemn the attack. So are so many other bloggers, Sinhala and English.

Suddenly they have become presenters of facts instead of opinions.

And our friend Ranuka, who once openly questioned me why I don’t condemn LTTE attacks has nothing to say about this incident. Why not he practices what he preaches? (As for me, I normally do not waste space condemning every attack; instead I voice my opinions only on incidents that I think worth talking about)

What does all this tell us?

Those who pretend they are forever anti-terrorist are actually not. They do not necessarily react to acts of terrorism. What they do is overreacting subconsciously to their inner feelings of racism. Tamils are the traditional enemies of Sinhalese for millennia. I will be surprised to see that racism not gone into our genes. This requires an effort from one to control overreacting to Tamil acts, terrorist or not. Most don’t care and let their feelings out. Same or worse done by other terrorist groups are ignored because that does not trigger their racist thinking. This includes racist wolves in libertarian clothes too. (Exaggerating and exploiting them for political gains, as Kurakkan uncle does now is another matter. )

So that is how only what Tamils do are branded acts of terrorism and no matter how brutal and inhuman they be, whatever done by Pakistanis may still not be called the same.

Who said there is no ethnic issue in Sri Lanka?

Beyond Frame, the most popular Sinhala Blogger receives death threats

If you think only the journalists find it dangerous living in this land led by a self proclaimed “friend of media” who listens to Buddhist sermons every poya day, you are badly mistaken. If not for their anonymity, bloggers would be a prime target in our society that does not tolerate dissent views.

Take the case of ‘Beyond Frame’, arguably the most popular local language blogger in Sri Lanka. It appears that many seriously worry about the content in his largely political blog. They worry so much that they write dedicated aggressive blog posts not only attacking ‘Beyond Frame’ but make thinly disguised death threats.

Why doesn’t somebody shoot him?

That was the question raised by an anonymous blogger ‘Apelogic’ in a hard worded cluster bomb attack on ‘Beyond Frame’.

This certainly is not a compliment for lucid but to-the-point posts ‘Beyond Frame’ makes in his blog.

One commentator, goes even further. “After the war we need an ‘operation’ to ‘clear these elements’” suggest him. “We should not let them multiply”. The fact that the commentator is a member of one of the Armed Forces doesn’t make the matter less serious.

All this is of course, in addition to tons of Sinhalese filth – generously bestowed upon ‘Beyond Frame’. If one feels some closeness between the Sinhala bloggers and their grand ancestors – apes not Dutugemunus – we cannot really blame.

I am not sure how ‘Beyond Frame’ feels. These ghastly attacks increase his popularity, and of course the hit rate but that shouldn’t come at the cost of personal security.

My Policy on moderating comments

When I started this blog my idea was to moderate comments only for spam and filth. However, after one year I am wiser.

I respect different opinions and I am open to dissent views. I understand slightly more than 50% of the Sri Lankan constituency did not vote for the political party I represent. I respect their right to express themselves as long as they do in a decent manner.

These are the basic guidelines I follow in moderating comments. Your comments are subjected to immediate deletion for one of the following reasons.

a) You use filth
b) You use my blog to attack/harass a third party (another blogger or a colleague of mine)
c) I am not certain about the authenticity of the commentator.
d) You post under multiple identities in a move to distract a discussion.

No harm making anonymous comments, but please avoid using others identities.

Every blogger treats his/her blog with respect. It is certainly not the place for others to dirt. Nothing wrong in graffiti, but this is a mirror wall, not a public toilet.

If I get killed tomorrow, will President say “Ajith too was my friend”?

I have been silent for a while. There were two reasons. The provincial council elections are around the corner and these days it takes most of my time. Still, that was not the only reason.

For the last few days I have been repeatedly asking from myself: Should I continue this blog? Is it worth the risk? What makes me certain that no black clad men in motorbikes waiting to show their appreciation for what I write here and Face Book?

I am sure I am not the only blogger who had that strange feeling.

Let me not exaggerate my humble efforts. Compared to what mainstream media Sirasa and Sunday Leader/Irudina could do and have actually done, my blog is nothing. I write largely in English and get 500-1,000 daily hits on average. That is still far less than what Defence.lk receives. I do not see anyone perceiving my blog as a barrier to army capturing Mullaithivu. I do not think it breaks SLFP block votes. According to what I hear, or rather I don’t hear, not even 1% of my electorate reads it (this gives me some independence!) So prima facie, me getting killed for what I write here does not even look remotely possible.

Still at the height of the events early January I, or rather my blog, received some limelight. It received more than 2,000 daily hits for a period of about one and half weeks, culminating at 5,700 hits on the day of Lasantha’s funeral. I created two groups in Face Book, for Sirasa and Lasantha and both have now memberships nearly 2,000.

To say the least, this prominence doesn’t necessarily make me comfortable. Certainly not at a time like this.

Me with party colleagues at Lasantha Wickramatunga’s funeral

Whoever attacked Sirasa or killed Lasantha Wickramatunga, did not really scare us. We still had enough guts to attend Lasantha’s funeral and openly critisise these horrendous acts. (This was the same adjective Cheevan Daniel used in his famous commentary to CNN) We wore black saatakas.

What really made most of us rethink was the attack on Upali Tennakone.

Upali Tennakone, the soft spoken Rivira Editor, was no Lasantha. Like almost all Sinhala newspaper editors of our times (with the exception of Victor Ivan) Upali was more comfortable in swimming downstream. He always gave few pages, and usually the headlines for war news. He reserved half-page for the girl friends, wives and relatives of armed force members to show their affection to dearly beloveds in North. He did nothing even vaguely irritating the Sinhala Taliban mind. All could have done was a minor mistake, someone somewhere took too seriously.

Upali Tennakone was attacked in the most brutal manner. He was nearly killed, if not for his brave wife who fought and shouted at attract the attention of passers-by. It could be the same gang. Who was behind it still remains a mystery.

Somebody thought Upali Tennakoon’s life could be spared. That much is clear. Will the same people give importance to the lives of other dissidents?

Much changed after this than did in the aftermath of Sirasa and Lasantha incidents. At least ten prominent journalists and media activists ran away for life. Lanka Dissent went off-line promising its readers it would appear the day the country is more civilized. (I am not sure when) Lanka eNews started publishing diluted stuff. Defence Watch, Corruption Watch and Development Watch stopped. Only one protest against the attack happened – attended by few those who covered their faces with masks. Chamil Jayaneththi, the one brave man to show his face was charged.

Mangala Samaraweera, a former Foreign Minister left the country, fearing for life.

Can an ordinary human being feel safer when an ex-Foreign Minister is scared?

Sadly we live in an era where the life of a human being has lost its value. It is not a surprise. Since it came to power barely three years back, Mahinda Rajapakse government has seen more than 15,000 deaths – one fifth of the total died since 1983 as a result of ethnic war in North and East. Did anyone see the value of these 15,000 lives?

Even at the moment of writing this note, nearly 200,000 civilians, men women, old and young, adults and children are trapped in Wanni, at the mercy of LTTE that prevents their crossing to government controlled areas. I am not talking about LTTE, but about the civilians – like you and me, like our children. How many in our society care for these lives?

Jathika Hela Urumaya, sadly led by few who claim to be ‘Buddhist’ monks see no value of these lives. According to JHU, they are no civilians, but families of LTTE cadre. They should be eliminated perhaps the same was the Yakshas were got rid of at Mahiyangana, 2,500 years ago, according to Mahawamsa.

See the numbers. Will those who do not see the value of 200,000 lives respect just one life?

Under normal circumstances none of us take additional security precautions. We have a feeling that law and order of the society is adequate protection. We know somebody could not just kill and disappear. We know the police will be pressurized by public for action.

These are not ordinary times. We heard the President saying Lasantha Wickramatunaga was his close friend. (Though we never saw the same remorse on his face – as we saw on the day of Anura Bandaranaike’ death. Perhaps he has learnt to restrain emotions since then. Or he was still feeling jubilant of the Kilinochchi victory) If Mangala Samaraweera were killed tomorrow I am sure he too would instantly become president’s friend. President will also remind us Mangala was his campaign manager in the Presidential election of 2005. We know at least the latter is true.

I am sure if I were to be killed tomorrow, President will still say “Ajith was my friend; I am shocked to hear his death” without batting an eye lid. No doubt, everyone likes to be a friend of the omnipotent ruler who rules the land, but it would not be that much fun posthumously.

Should I quit or remain blogging?

Should I try to be President’s friend or remain as plain Ajith P. Perera?

Should one blog even when the Sword of Damocles hanging above one’s head with a single horse hair?

The question is open to you – all my regular readers.

Death threat to a Sri Lankan blogger?

I knew this would happen sooner or later. In a forsaken land, where no dissenting views are tolerated, the bloggers are going to be the next target. Still I did not expect that to happen so soon. My understanding was what happens in blogsphere still has relatively less impact on society, when compared to mainstream media content. May be I was wrong.

The victim in this case is Shan of BumuturuNu fame, a Sinhala blogger who aligns himself with new left. Not that I agree with him, Trotskyites are anyway an engendered species and make little impact in society. (Once a lecturer of mine describing Dr. Wickramabahu Karunaratne said the only weakness this otherwise dynamic and intelligent leader is a vision not shared by the masses anymore) The question is not that. Does someone deserve a death threat (almost anonymous) for bluntly expressing his views in cyberspace?

The comment in Sinhala (reproduced above) expresses nothing but sheer hatred. The commenter, it seems, is not interested in the arguments. All he wants is to hang the blogger. The blogger is also given a ‘friendly’ advice that he should spend all ‘Dollars’ he earned quickly on food and drinks because ‘otherwise there will be no time for that’. (Talibans usually assumes that all NGOs pay their staff in Dollars – perhaps the only foreign currency they know) Interestingly, the comment is signed in Tamil. The misspelled Tamil word, as far as I know with my little Tamil, is a reference to female genitalia. (Please correct me if I am wrong)

Even sadder is someone abuses my name to put a similar comment. I invite all readers to have a look at comments. It gives an idea how pathetic our Taliban’s have gone down in their behavior in blogsphere.

This is not an isolated case. Apart from threats, filth has become common in Sri Lankan blogspehere. The targets invariably are those who question the politica views of Rajapaksa regime. I receive more than my fair share. Beyond Frame, a Sinhala Blogger, who often antagonizes the Talibans, says he receives the everyday. There are also bloggers who use filth in their posts. (Avoid naming them as I have no intentions provoking them.) Is filth a part and parcel of Mahinda Chinthana, that the good uncle’s supporters use them so generously?

Two weeks back, we could have ignored a comment like that without thinking twice. Can we do that anymore? A question for every blogger – more so if you challenge the political views of current regime.

රාජපස්ස ගොයියාගේ ළමා සොල්දාදුවෝ

පිරබාහරන් ගොයියාට සේම රාජපස්ස ගොයියාටත් ළමා සොල්දාදුවන් පිරිසක් සිටින බැව් මෑතක් වන තුරුම මා නොදැන සිටි කාරණයක් විය. ඒ බව දැන ගත්තේ බ්ලොග් ලිවීම පටන් ගත්තාට පසුය.

පිරබාහරන් ගොයියාගේ ළමා සොල්දාදුවෝ තුවක්කු අරගෙන යුද්ධයට යති. රාජපස්ස ගොයියාගේ ළමා සොල්දාදුවෝ කිසිම හිරිකිතයකින් තොරව ඔහු වෙනුවෙන් අන්තර්ජාලය ඔස්සේ කඩේ යති.

කොහේද මේ ළමා සොල්දාදුවන් හමු වන්නේ?

යන්න සිංහල බ්ලොග් කියවනයට!

වැටුප් නොලබා සිය කැමැත්තෙන්ම රාජපස්ස ආණ්ඩුවට ප්රශස්ති ගී ගයන්නන් මෙහි දක්නා ලැබෙන්නේ දුසිම් ගණනිනි. (ඊට එරෙහි මත දක්වන්නන්ද නැතුවා නොවේ. ඔවුන් ගැන පසුව ලියමි.)

Black July 1983 - Borella

රාජ්ය මාධ්ය ඔස්සේ අප අසන සියල්ල බ්ලොගවකාශයේ වමාරමින්රාජපස්ස ගොයියාට කොන්දේසි විරහිතව කඩේ යෑම දැන් සිංහල බ්ලොග් ලියන මල්ලිලාගේ අළුත්ම තරගය වී ඇත්තේය. මල්ලිලා කීවාට වයසින් අත දරුවන් එතන ඉන්නෙ කීප දෙනකු පමණකි. අනෙකුන් මානසික අත දරුවන්ය.

සාරාංශ කළහොත් ඔවුන්ගේ තර්ක මෙබඳුය. (ඒවායේ ඇලපිල්ලක හෝ වෙනසක් නැත!)

i. අපේ රටේ වාර්ගික ගැටළුවක් නැත. (හරියට එක කාලයක අපේ කවියන් සිරිලක ස්වාභාවික විපත් වලින් විනිර්මුක්ත පින් බිමක් කියා ලිව්වා වගේය. එකම ලොජික් එකය. )

ii. සිංහලයෝ ජාතිවාදීහු නොවෙති. වෙන එකක් තියා 1983දී කවුදෝ හඳුනා නොගත් පිරිසක් කොළඹ දෙමළුන්ට අරියාදු කළ විට ඔවුන් ඉන් බේරාගත්තේද සත් ගුණවත් කරුණාවන්ත සිංහල ජනතාවය.

iii. දෙමළු ජාතිවාදීහුය. (මින් එක බ්ලොග් ලියන්නකු කුඩා කළ යාපනයට ගිය විටක යාපනයේ හෝටලයක් ඔවුනට කෑම සැපයීම පිළිකෙව් කොට තිබේ. පර දෙමළුන් ජාතිවාදීන් කියන්නට මීට වඩා සාධක ඕනෑද?)

iv. මේ සිංහල බොදුනුවන්ගේ රටය. අන් හැම දෙනා (සිංහල කතෝලිකයන්ද ඇතුළුව ) එහි ජීවත් විය යුත්තේ සිංහල බොදුනුවන්ට ඕනෑ විදිහටය. (මීට සමාන තර්කයක් මා ආනන්දයේ උගන්නා කාලයේදී අත් විඳීමට ලැබිනි. ආනන්දයේ සියළුම සිසුන් බුදු මැදුරට ගොස් මල් පූජා කිරීම අනිවාර්ය විය. ඉස්ලාම් සිසුන් පවා එහි යායුතු විය. මීට හේතුව ලෙස දක්වන ලද්දේ ආනන්දය බොදු පාසලක් වීමය. මේ මෝඩ සිරිතෙන් කවරකුට හෝ ලාභයක් විනියි නොසිතමි.)

v. දෙමළ ජනතාවට කිසි ගැටළුවක් නැත. ඔවුන්ගේ ගැටළු සියල්ල 1948 සිට බලයට පත්වූ ආණ්ඩු විසින් සාධාරණ ලෙස විසඳා තිබේ. (පුදුමයකට මෙන් මේ බ්ලොග් කරුවන්ගෙන් වැඩි පිරිසකට අනුව 1948 සිට අප ආණ්ඩු කර ඇත්තේ රටේ පොදු යහපත තමන්ගේ තනි යහපත වෙනුවෙන් පාවදුන් හොර මුළකි. මේ හොරුන් රැළම රට වනසන අතර දෙමළුන්ට පමණක් සාධාරණය ඉටු කළේ කෙසේද යන පරස්පරයට ඔවුන්ට විසඳුමක් නැත.)

vi. අපෙ රටේ ඇති එකම පුරස්නය ළඟදී මෙහි ආ පර දෙමළු මේ තමන්ගේ බිම කියාගෙන ආයුධ අතට ගැනීමය. (මුන්ට තෝසෙ එකක් වඩෙයක් කාල ඉන්න බැරි හැටි! )

vii. ලංකාවේ වාර්ගික ගැටළුවක් නැති නිසා LTTE එක පරාජය කළ සැණින් සියලු ගැටළු මොහොතකින් විසඳේ.

viii. කොළඹ කේන්ද්ර කොට ගත් ඒකීය ආණ්ඩුවක් යටතේ රට පාලනය විය යුතුය.

ඉහත එක තර්කයක් හෝ ප්රශ්න කළහොත් ඒ ඩොලර් වලින් යැපෙන NGO කාරයෙකි. නැතිනම් කොටි හිතවාදියෙකි.(බුදු හාමුදුරුවන් කාලාම සුත්රය දේශනා කොට ඇත්තේ මෙබඳු අඳ බාලයන්ට විය නොහැකිය.)

මෙබඳු අන්තවාදී ජාතිවාදී ස්ථාවරයකට අපේ තරුණ පරම්පරාව පත්ව ඇත්තේ කවර නම් හේතුවක් නිසාද? කාගේ ඕනෑකමකට කෙරුණත් අවසානයේදී මරු දකින්නේ තමන්ගේම වයසේ සිංහල දෙමළ සහෝදර සහෝදරියන් පිරිසක් බව ඔවුන් මෙතරම් පහසුවෙන් අමතක කරන්නේ ඇයි? (පිරබාහරන් ගොය්යා සේම රාජපස්ස ගොයියාද තමන්ගේ දරුවන් යුද බිමට එවන්නේ නැත. අඩු තරමින් යුද්ධ කරන්නට අපට බණ කියන කොළඹ ආචාර්ය මහාචාර්යවරුන්වත් තමන්ගේ දරුවකු වැරදිලා වත් හමුදාවට බාර දෙන්නේ නැත. ඔවුන්ගේ ළමුන් ඕස්ට්රේලියාවේ සරසවි ජීවිත ගෙවද්දී යුද්ධයෙන් මිය යන්නේ අපෙ දුප්පත් දෙමාපියන්ගේ දරුවන්ය. )

මේ බ්ලොග් ලියන මල්ලිලාගෙන් වැඩි පිරිසක් අනුරාධපුරයෙන් හෝ පොළොන්නරුවට නුදුරු මනම්පිටිය පාළමින් හෝ එපිටට අඩියක් හෝ තබා ඇතැයි මම නොසිතමි. උතුරු නැඟෙනහිර ඔවුන්ට ආගන්තුකය. එහි වෙසෙන්නෝ ආගන්තුකයෝය. නැතිනම් සතුරෝය. (එක බ්ලොග් මල්ලියකුට අනුව සත්තුය ) මේ සතුරන් මැරිය යුතුය. මේ වෛරී චේතනාව උදේ හවස රූපවාහිනියෙන් හා ITN එකෙන් මනස විනාස කරමින් වපුරන ජාතිවාදී විසිරණයෙන් තවත් තීව්ර කරනු ලැබෙයි. වෙසක් පෝයට සිල් ගන්නා මේ මල්ලිලාම දෙමළුන්ගේ ලේ ඉල්ලන අන්තවාදීන් වන්නේ ඒ නිසාය.

Black July 1983 - Borella Bus Stand

මේ බ්ලොග්කරුවන් 1983ට පසු උපන් හෝ වැඩුණු පරම්පරාවට අයත්ය. 1983දී දකුණේ සමාජය තුළ දරුණු බෙදීමක් විය. ඉන් පෙර යම්තාක් මට්ටමකට හෝ සිංහලයන් සමඟ මිතුරුව දිවිගෙවූ කොළඹ දෙමළ ජනතාව 1983ට පසු ගුල් තුළ සැඟවෙන මීයන් පරිද්දෙන් සිය කැමැත්තෙන්ම හුදකලා වූහ. (1983ට පෙර දෙමළ දොස්තරවරුන්ගේ නම් සහිත පුවරු ඕනෑ තරම් කොළඹදී දැකිය හැකි විය. දැන් එබඳු පුවරුවක් බේතකටවත් සොයා ගන්නට බැරිය.) මෙසේ වීමේ මූලික හේතුව 1983 අප්රසන්න අත්දැකීම් මත තව දුරටත් දකුණේ ජනතාව ගැන පූර්ණ විශ්වාසයක් තැබීමට ඔවුන්ට නොහැකිවීමයි. අපේ සිංහල බ්ලොග් කරුවන් හැදී වැඩී ඇත්තේ මේ ජාතික වශයෙන් බෙදුණු සමාජය තුළ බව අප අමතක නොකළ යුතුය. (එහෙත් එය ජාතිවාදී වීමට නිදහසට කාරණයක් නොවේ.)

ඔවුන් අධ්යාපනයේදී ඒකභාෂික වීම සේම පැහැදිළි ලෙස දෙමළ සිසුන්ගෙන් වෙන්වීම තවදුරටත් ඔවුන්ගේ එක පාක්ෂික ජාතිවාදය කුළු ගන්වයි. පණ්ඩිතයන් සේ මෙසේ බ්ලොග් ලියන මේ මල්ලිලා වැඩි හරියකට ඇත්තේ සිංහල අධ්යාපනයක් පමණකි. ඔවුන්ගේ ඉංගිරිසි අධ්යාපනය විෂය කටයුතු වලට (බොහෝ විට පරිගණක අධ්යාපනයට ) සීමා වී ඇත. මේ රටේ ආණ්ඩු විසින් (UNP ආණ්ඩුද ඇතුළත්ව ) අන්තනෝමතික ලෙස අධ්යාපනය සියතට ගෙන තමන් රිසි දේ පමණක් විද්යාර්ථීන්ට පෙවීමේ උත්සාහයට වන්දි ගෙවීමට සිදුව ඇත්තේ මේ බ්ලොග් ලියන මල්ලිලාටය. ඔවුහු බ්ලොග් ලිවීම දනිති. එහෙත් එකම රටේ වෙසෙන වෙනත් ජන කොට්ඨශයක ඇසින් ලොව දැකීමට ඔවුනට අවබෝධයක් නොමැත. ඔවුන්ගේ ඇස් ඒකභාෂික අධ්යාපනයෙන් වසා ඇත. කන් වෙන කිසිවක් නොඇසෙන පරිදි ඒක පාක්ෂික ඉතිහාසයකින් අගුලු දමා තිබේ. හැම ළිං මැඬියකුට සේම ඔවුන්ටද ළිඳ වූකලී ලෝකයයි.

මේ තනි ඇසින් ලොව දැකීම උතුරේද මෙසේම හෝ මීට වඩා දරුණු ආකාරයකින් සිදුවේ. 1983ට පසුව උතුරේ උපන් දෙමළ දරුවකුට සිංහලයකු යනු බෝම්බයක් එක අතකින් ගෙන තමන් මරන්නට එන රකුසෙකි.

සිංහල හා දෙමළ තරුණයන් අතර මේ අන්යොන්ය අවබෝධය දුරු නොකොට යුද කාමයෙන් මත්වී සියල්ල තුවක්කුවෙන් විසඳීමට තැත් කරන්නෝ කිසි කලෙක සාමයක් නොදකින්නෝය.

මේ සරල කරුණු කීපය කෙටියෙන් දක්වන්නේ කමෙන්ට්ස් ලෙස කුණුහරුප අසා ගන්නා ආසාවෙන් නොවේ. (කුණුහරුප දැන් මහින්ද චින්තනයේ කොටසක් හැටියට බ්ලොගීකරණය වී ඇත.) කාගෙ කාගෙත් කිල්ලෝටවල හුණු ඇති බව පෙන්නා දෙන්නටය.

1). සිංහල – දෙමළ භේදය අපේ දේශපාලනය තුළ 1920 පමණ සිට තිබුණත් එය ලේ හැලීමක් බවට පළමු වරට වර්ධනය කරන ලද්දේ දෙමළුන් නොව සිංහලයන්ය. ඒ 1956 දී සාමකාමී රැලියකට පහරදීමෙන් සහ 1958 දී එය දෙමළුන්ට පහර දෙන හා මරා දමන ජාතිවාදී කෝලාහලයක් බවට පත් කිරීමෙනි.

2).1948 අප නිදහස ලබන විට යාපනය ලංකාවේ දෙවන ප්රධාන නගරය විය. එහෙත් නිදහසින් පසු 1970 තරම වන තුරුම යාපනය හෝ උතුරු නැඟෙනහිර පළාත් වල ආර්ථිකය නැංවීමෙහිලා රජය මඟින් කෙරුණෙ අතිශය සුළු කාර්ය භාරයකි. ආචාර්ය එන්. එම්. පෙරේරා යාපනය හැඳින්වූයේ ‘මනි ඔර්ඩර් ආර්ථිකයක්’ හැටියටය. යාපනයේ ජනතාව යැපුණේ ඔවුන්ගේ නෑයින් කොළඹ සේවය කොට මාසය අන්තිමට මනි ඔර්ඩර් මඟින් යැවූ මුදල් වලිනි. යාපනය මූලික උතුරු නැඟෙනහිර ආර්ථික වශයෙන් කොන් කිරීම ජන වාර්ගික අර්බුදයේ ආරම්භයයි.

3). 1956 දී මෝඩ ලෙස සිංහල පමණක් රාජ්ය භාෂාව කිරීම නිසා සිංහල නොදත් ඉතා විශාල පිරිසකට රජය සමඟ කටයුතු කිරීම පමණක් නොව රාජ්ය අංශයේ රැකියාවක් ලබා ගැනීම පවා අසීරු විය.

4). 1970 දශකය මැද යාපනයේ දෙමළ තරුණයන් ආයුධ අතට ගැනීමට ආසන්නම හේතුව වූයේ 1974 දී යාපනයේ දෙමළ සම්මේලනයේදී පොලිසිය වෙඩි තැබීමෙන් දෙමළ 9 දෙනෙක් මිය යාමය. දොරේඅප්පා ඝාතනය කරන ලද්දේ මීට ප්රතිචාර වශයෙනි. වෙනත් විදියකට කිව්වොත් ප්රභාකරන්ලාට වේදිකාව සපයා දුන්නේ අපේම මෝඩ ආණ්ඩුවයි. (දොරේඅප්පා ඝාතනය ගැන කථා කරන මේ මල්ලිලා ඊට පූර්වගාමී වූ මේ ඓතිහාසික මරණ 9 ගැන කතා නොකරන්නේ ඇයි? නොදන්නා කමමද?)

5). 1948 සිට අද දක්වාම උතුරු නැගෙනහිර දෙමළ ජනතාව නියෝජනය කළ ඇමතිවරු සිට ඇත්තේ පහකට අඩු සංඛ්යාවකි. දෙමළ කතා කිරීමට පවා නොදත් කදිරගාමර් දෙමළ ජනතාව නියෝජනය කළේ නැත. ආණ්ඩුව අනුන්ගේ බව උතුරු නැගෙනහිර දෙමලුන්ට සිතීම අරුමයක්ද?

මේ කරුණු දක්වන ලද්දේ අර්බූදයේ සියළු වගකීම සිංහලයන් මත පැවරීමේ අරමුණින් නොව, අර්බූදයට දෙමළ සිංහල දෙපාර්ශවයේම දායකත්වය ලැබී ඇති බව පෙන්නා දීමට පමණි. තනි අතකින් අත්පුඩි ගැසිය නොහැක.

ලොව කිසිදු ජාතියක් අනෙකුන්ට වඩා අඩු හෝ වැඩි ලෙස ජාතිවාදී නැත. ඔවුන් ජාතිවාදයට දක්කන්නේ ඔවුනට සමාජයේ විඳීමට සිදුවන අසීරුතාය.

ඒක පාක්ෂික නොවී අනෙකාගෙ ඇසිනුත් ප්රශ්නය දැකීමට සාධාරණ වන්න.

‘Dare to be Different’ flies high

Yeah, this post is about me – rather about my blog – thought it is so atypical for me to blow my own trumpet. Compared to other politicians, of course.

September recorded the largest number of hits I received (14,242). Divide that by 30 and you get 474 per day. Way to go, but hope that is not too bad for a non-news blog started barely nine months ago and updated only twice or thrice a week. I know that can be increased by publishing news and updating on more regular basis, but time is a commodity that is scarce for me. Neither I enjoy cutting and pasting news – though I do that rarely.

One more point.

Though you see it as an effort of a single individual, actually it is more a team work. My team consists of three school friends, two enthusiastic youngsters from my own alma mater – University of Sri Jayawardenapura, and few of my former students from CFPS.

However, it is a zero cost venture. It is not a large operation. All my friends, who value their anonymity, work on voluntary basis. I am in debt to them for the time they put in.

There are roughly three kinds of posts here. (a) posts I write (b) posts I dictate and (c) posts someone else writes after a discussion. Of course, I take my hands off completely from the technical and aesthetic aspects. Absurd, it sounds for a blog but that is the only way how I can operate with my tight work schedule. Politicians too have families too and they too have to earn an income.

My objective of being here on the web is not to sell myself to voters. In fact only a handful of my voters anyway read this. It is more to make a voice – for the voiceless. I am happy that I could make a voice for some poor people even when the mass media ignored them.

Finally, a word to my regular readers. (I have quite a few now) Thanks for being with me and sharing your opinions. I appreciate your input and please be with me in future too. And please don’t hesitate to put a mail or take a call. (But not between 8.30 am to 2.00 pm on week days when I am at courts)

Malaysian anti-government blogger jailed for two years

A prominent anti-government blogger in Malaysia has been detained for two years on charges of insulting Islam.

Raja Petra Kamarudin has been held without trial under controversial internal security laws which could see him detained indefinitely.

His lawyer has described the detention order as “a big blow to the idea of civil liberties” in Malaysia.

Raja Petra was arrested on 12 September as part of a crackdown on political dissent by the Malaysian government.

He was one of three critics of the government arrested in what the opposition said was a sign of panic by the embattled administration of Abdullah Badawi.

Raja Petra was accused of insulting Islam and inciting racial tensions through an article he published on the Malaysia Today website.

He has been sent to a detention centre in the state of Perak by order of Malaysia’s home minister.

Marina Lee Abdullah, his wife, told AFP: “This is the worst news I can receive, but we will keep fighting for his release”.

(news.bbc.co.uk)

Sinhala Bloggers vs. ICTA in browser wars

English bloggers in Sri Lanka few months back found their nemesis in mainstream English print media that saw stealing and using blog content with no acknowledgements (forget payments!) fully acceptable. Sinhala bloggers too have eventually found theirs.

Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) is now under spotlight for robbing the glory of the hard work of one young software engineer (cum blogger) Danishka Navin who, we are told, did the Sinhala version of Mozilla Firefox 3 browser. According to Wikipedia, Mozilla Firefox is a web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite, managed by the Mozilla Corporation. Firefox had 19% of the recorded usage share of web browsers as of June 2008, making it the second-most popular browser in current use worldwide, after Internet Explorer.

As Danishka Navin states in his blog, the Sinhala version development was largely a group effort. Nilaksha Rathnayake, Srishanu Lokupathirage, Harshana Weerasinghe, Su Hewawasam, Wasantha, Waruna Kanishka, Dhammika Mendis, Malinthe Samarakoon and Rajith Vidanaarachchi were those who have joined him in developing the Sinhala version. (I mention all names here because they should get the credit they rightly deserve and ICTA has shamelessly forgotton these young men and women.)

I was surprised to see ICTA’s one page colour newspaper advertisements announcing Sinhala version of Firefox 3. Creating Sinhala version of any software application is commendable, but a web browser is the last thing that needs a local language version. As an Internet user all I expect from a web browser is an empty box on top where I can type my URL. The only other feature I use is bookmarks. I, may be like most users, completely ignore other features.

In fact, I have used web browsers in many other languages including German, Chinese and Korean. Once there was a cyber café along Galle Road, close to Kolpetty (next to old Pramuka Bank building) that was run by few Koreans. Every PC there had Korean versions of Windows operating system. That did not prevent any Sri Lankan user (I guess none of them understand Korean) patronizing the café. They used Korean browser, with least difficulty. So why the language matter in a browser? Is the introduction of a local language browser something to celebrate at national level spending tax payers’ money lavishly on newspaper advertisements and media events at five star hotels?

But ICTA, being ICTA, just craves for publicity. Its eternal policy has been to spend 5 cents to do something and another one rupee in publicizing the effort. I am sure a sizable portion of its budget goes for image building exercises for itself and its master. Most of its projects have failed. ICTA, which boasted about ‘e-Sri Lanka miracle’ by 2007, still has little to showcase. So I guess we understand its urge to exploit every possible opportunity for more and more publicity. (including the death of its Chairman – yes, in fact, in terms of timely organization and publicity gained, Prof. V. K. Samaranayake’s funeral function should be the most successful project ICTA ever did!)

Well, selling cadavers is one thing, but robbing glory for others work is different. If I were Danishka Navin and even anybody in that larger group, I would not be happy about this daylight mugging – even if my efforts were paid. That is not what we expect from a government agency. ICTA would not have lost anything if it gave the credit deserved by the young man Danishka Navin and his team. After all, it is the young generation that drives the IT force, in Sri Lanka and everywhere not the aged bureaucrats.

It was three youngsters Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim founded You Tube. All of them were university students then. Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook while still a student at Harvard University. This 24 year old is the CEO of Facebook now. In 2008, Forbes Magazine declared him “the youngest billionaire on earth and possibly the youngest self-made billionaire ever,” with a theoretical net worth of $1.5 billion USD. All these youngsters get credit for their innovations. We all know creating a Sinhala version of Forefox is hardly in par with any of these great achievements. So why not Danishka Navin take at least that credit? Do the aged bureaucrats in ICTA with mahadenamuttas of Colombo and Moratuwa universities think he is too young to be given full credit for this innovation, and it is fair to rob part of the credit?

It is sad to see even at this stage, instead of apologising ICTA still trying to justify its mistake. This stubborn behaviour  may be good for another state agency, but definitely not for ICTA, most of whose stakeholders are already online. I do not see the Sinhala bloggers will take this lightly.

While congratulating the Sinhala bloggers for the courageous stance they have taken in the support of Danishka Navin and his team, this is what I want to tell them: Don’t think this will be the end. Publicity crazy ICTA will continue robbing your glory. Don’t worry about that. Do your good work. Perhaps ICTA might fool some people in short term but fooling everyone always is not easy for ICTA, even with the powerful backing of President’s Office. The truth will one day come out. I wish you the best.

(Two images are from Sinhala Firefox group in FaceBook)