Defends TNA endorsement of Maithri

Tuesday, 6 January 2015 02:32 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Wigneswaran issues election day message to Tamil voters Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran yesterday defended the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) decision to back common Opposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena at the presidential election. He said that even those who say it was a wrong decision have not come out openly and asked others to vote for President Mahinda Rajapaksa. “At the outset I must say that the TNA as a coalition party has made a decision to support the common candidate Maithripala Sirisena. It is not important whether their decision is right or wrong. Even those who say it was a wrong decision have not come out openly and asked others to vote for Mahinda. Of course I do not refer to the nondescripts who fawn upon Mahinda. Why I refer to this fact is because we Tamils, have been fractured and disunited, which has helped successive groups of politicians to take advantage of and decimate us. In these trying times, we must remain united,” he said in a special election message to the Tamil people. Wigneswaran said that not voting as the TNA has urged would portray the Tamil people as a divided group with no political power. “We have to show that we are a power to be reckoned with; that parties that come to power in the south need us to build coalitions. Voting in numbers will give us that respect and political bargaining power,” he said. Wigneswaran noted that very cogent arguments have been made by several informed groups and even two of his own councillors asking Tamils to vote according to their conscience and in opposition to the TNA call to vote for the common candidate. “Noteworthy is that no one is asking you to vote for the incumbent President contesting for an anti-democratic third term. In fact, my friends at the Tamil Civil Society Forum have in their recent public announcement stated that the current regime is ferociously implementing a program aimed at destroying the collective existence of the Tamil people,” he added. “People have also voiced the concern that voting for the common candidate is a vote for the JHU, which is opposed to sharing of power with the Tamil speaking peoples. From a legal and moral perspective voting for a candidate who stands for multiple issues does not mean that you are supportive of all the issues of that candidate,” the Chief Minister said. He said the argument applied with stronger force when a person is supported by a diverse group with diverse interests. “No one can claim that a vote for Maithripala Sirisena is a vote for the JHU. I see this as an opportunity to engage with members of the JHU who are committed to democracy and make them understand our problems,” he added. (Colombo Gazette)

Tamils of struggle polity need not worry who becomes SL president

TamilNet: While Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is almost open in saying that electing the next president is choosing between China and the US, senior Tamil grassroots leaders and activists in the island are of the opinion that Eezham Tamils put in a situation of a struggle polity need not worry who succeeds as president. “Tamils should not participate in this election. Whether the future of Tamils is linked to the Sinhalese or not has to be decided by the Sinhalese. [...] The TNA leaders in their decision [of supporting Mr. Sirisena] failed in guiding the Tamils in the right way,” said senior ITAK Central Committee member and former UN consultant Ma’ravan-pulavu K. Sachithananthan, speaking to media in Jaffna on Saturday. The former Jaffna University academic was speaking alongside Ananthy Sasitharan of the NPC and ITAK Youth Wing Leader V.S. Sivakaran.

Talking to media on the sidelines of the press conference, Sivakaran said that the group representing the TNA leadership was going after the US and India and has failed to take its own stand on the presidential election. Sivakaran was addressing journalists in Jaffna on the lack of internal democracy in making the crucial decisions of the ITAK Central Committee. After several attempts to correct the problem at internal meetings, the youth wing leader was forced to bring the facts to the media, he said. Ananthy was an eyewitness to the internal discussions, he said, giving a detailed account of the issue. He also gave a written statement to the media in Tamil. Sasitharan, who also issued a written statement by email to TamilNet, was explaining her stance with regards to the suppression of her opinion by the TNA hierarchy. Meanwhile, adding to the opinion of an election boycott, Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island said that choosing between China and the US had to be left to the Sinhala nation. Tamils should not be blamed and penalised by the Sinhala nation for the choice. The very predicament of China coming into the picture of ‘choice’ is a manifestation of the policies of the US and India that allowed a genocidal war in the island, the activists said. In the entire history of Indian foreign policy, after Indira Gandhi’s time, the one and only ‘firm’ foreign policy decision taken by New Delhi was on facilitating the genocide of Eezham Tamils. Now, without any answer to the genocide and national question of Eezham Tamils, both the US and India are keen only on a ‘regime’ of their choice in Colombo. Therefore, what remains to Eezham Tamils is their struggle polity and this polity need not worry about the presidential ‘choice’. Whoever comes, the struggle would continue unless the fundamentals are resolved and that should be the message the struggle polity should convey with confidence, the activists further stated.