Are the Tamils fit to rule the Tamils?

H. L. D. Mahindapala

Those who forget their history
Are condemned to live in misery.
Those who deny their past
Will advance to their graves very fast.
Remember the misdeeds of your forefathers
If you want to redeem your brothers and sisters.
So let's begin at the beginning
To understand where we are heading.

First the Tamils asked for a separate state
Disguised as a federal slate.
They whipped up the storms of northern hate
Against the others and even their Tamil mates.
But today that hate has turned to bitter grief
Promising no hope or relief
To those whose bleed
Because of one man's obsessive need

To be the sole unrepresentative ruler

Like the hated Nazi Fuhrer.
This then is the fate of the Tamil people
Misled by a concocted fable
Of a Sun God whose perennial sin
Is to slaughter his own kith and kin.
Who slaughtered the entire Tamil leadership?
Who is forcing the Tamils to worship
The Surya Devan, the latest Pol Pot of Asia?
Why are the Tamils afflicted with amnesia?
Who plucks Tamil children from Tamil parents?
Who are the ruthless fascist agents
Who denies the Tamil people their freedom?
Will the cozy expats live in the Vanni fiefdom
Haunted by fear, death and destruction?
Is this the ultimate destination
Of the Tamils yearning for peace and happiness?
Is political blindness the common sickness
Of Tamils who are prone to blame the others
For the original sins of their forefathers?

The northern Tamils asked for equal opportunity
And then denied equality, fraternity or liberty
To the eastern Tamils, or the dissidents.
The eastern Tamils are no longer hesitant
To take up arms against the northern regime
Decrying oppression, persecution and other extremes
That crush the free will

Of peace-loving, war-weary Tamils.

Yes, the state had committed many sins
But did it ever go this far
As the Tigers who have opened ajar
The gates of hell for their own people?*
If the Tigers are so admirable, or noble
 

Why was a leading Tamil scholar
Denied the post of a vice-chancellor?
Was it because he rejected the myths
Perpetuated by hatred and untruths?
And yet
Without any qualms or regret
Money-making Tamils in Western capitals
Contribute funds to smuggle lethal
Weapons to torture or kill
Their own people.

It is the contributors' inhuman, crude logic

That makes the lives of Tamil so tragic.

To the good Tamils we must say
Open your eyes and pray
That you must stop blaming others
Forever and ever while Tamil mothers
Weep for their abducted children.
Why must you throw your people into the cauldron
Of hate and fire and perpetually blame others?
Did the Sinhalese ask you to torture your fathers?

Everything is blamed on the Sinhalese -

Even a headache, cough or a sneeze.

You say the Sinhalese created Prabhakaran.

If so why is he killing Lebbe and Iswaran?

What have they done to him?

What mercy is there in his grim whim?
Pundits who complain about the Sinhalese
Find that the Tamils are quite at ease
In sharing their lives with their perceived "enemies".
If, as you say, the majority is that bad
Shouldn't the Tamils be glad
To live under their regime of Evil-laam
Saying bye-bye to the south and *ellam*?
So look close into your own lives and community
And examine where you went wrong with honesty.
.Begin by looking at the evil regime you created
And see how your people are treated.

The irony is that the Tamil minority
Fear most their leaders in the Vanni.
Isn't this why the majority of the minority
Live with the bad, vilified majority?

What freedoms have the Tamil MPs

To protest against the immutable decrees

Of their master's one-man rule?

For how long can they fool

Themselves and follow their leader

Like the suicidal rats of Pied Piper?

Your myths are your nemesis.
You are in denial refusing to accept the premise
That you had a better time, despite flaws, with the majority.
You must now sit back and ask in all sincerity:
Are the Tamils fit to rule the Tamils?
Or are you afraid to face the evils
Staring in your face?
The Tamils have fallen flat in disgrace.
To be a Tamil is to be condemned in every way
For brutalities and that smell of moral decay.

So before you condemn or blame the others

Listen to your own brothers and sisters
Who curse the villains of your tribe.
Plainly, the Tigers have failed to imbibe
The essence of being human.
Instead they worship the demon
Torturing, killing, and persecuting
The Tamils who are suffering
In silence, dreading the next war
To prop up a tin-pot, fascist Tsar.