by
Roy
Ratnavel
Mr.
Gunaratne,
No doubt, to lose a friend in this manner is a tragic event. I never met Mr. Kadirgamar. However, reading all the tributes tells me, despite my opposing views about him, that he was an intellect, splendid orator and would have been an interesting person to sit-down with, and have a stimulating conversation over couple of pints.
As I read your tribute, I vacillated between outrage and pity ("You were our hero" - Sunday Times, Colombo, August 21, 2005). The absurd generalization and offensive characterization of the Tamils' plight seemed more indicative of a visceral self-loathing than a tribute to a friend. What I find ironic about the emotional outpouring of your grief over your friend's demise was that you made it sound as if he was the first Tamil in Sri Lanka ever to die in such brutal manner. By all means commemorate this tragic event. But also commemorate the killing of tens of thousands of other Tamils during this tragic epoch.
Your
clever
attempt
to
draw
some
equivalence
between
Hitler's
Nazi
revolution
and
the
Tamil
freedom
struggle
is
disingenuous.
A
troubling
and
continuous
process
of
ethnic
disenfranchisement
and
displacement
underpins
the
latter.
To
Kadirgamar's
credit,
armed
with
his
colourful
verbal
deception
and
fake
evidences,
he
successfully
backed
up
Sri
Lanka
-
a
basket
case
of
a
country,
at
best
can
be
described
as
a
failed
state
run
by
thugs.
To
keep
up
with
your
"Nazi
theme,"
in
that
process
he
had
become
a
"little
Adolf
Eichmann"
of
Sri
Lankan
tyranny.
Given
your
extensive
knowledge
of
Nazi
history,
I
am
sure,
you
are
familiar
that
Eichmann
did
not
have
his
hands
directly
in
the
killing
of
the
Jews,
but
he
ensured
the
smooth
running
of
the
efficient
killing
infrastructure
that
enabled
the
Nazi
genocide.
Likewise,
Kadirgamar
has
indirectly
facilitated
the
genocide
of
Tamils
in
Sri
Lanka.
This
feeling
is
definitely
widely
shared
by
Tamils.
His blatant refusal to acknowledge the butchering of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka - especially children, is legendary. With this backdrop, you portraying him as a guardian of children and the defenseless is a slap on our collective Tamil faces. To kill the innocent in a vast scale is horrifying; to deny the horror is simply inhuman.
Mark Twain once noted that "The only very marked difference between the average civilized man and the average savage is that the one is gilded and the other is painted." I actually believe that Kadirgamar was a beautiful green parrot for the Sinhalese nationalist agenda. He did not squawk like a parrot or have beautiful plumage, nor was he able to fly. Yet, in his heart and mind, he was a parrot.
May god bless his soul!
-----------------------------------
Comment from another reader of Gunaratne's article:
Malinga H. Gunaratne is around Kadigama's age, and is a very long-time Sinhala Buddhist supremist. Around 1988, he wrote a book whose title was For a Sovereign State, Sarvodaya Book Publishing Service, 41 Lumbini Avenue, Ratmalana.
In this book he champions the colonization of Tamil districts by Sinhalese thugs and convicts. I remember a photo of J.R. Jayawardena's son, Ravi, and probably his own son, teaching a Sinhala convict or thug in a Sinhala Buddhist colony in a Tamil district, how to use an automatic rifle!
###
Posted August 25, 2005