Tigers squeezed the Tamils dry - Ambassador Buddhi Athauda

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

Channel 4 video is purely an emotional video made by the Tiger propaganda machine and the allegations in this are not credible enough to claim even in the basic check list for war crime charges, levelled at Sri Lanka, this was the contention expressed by the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the Netherlands Buddhi Athauda.Based in the Hague, where the International Court of Justice,International Criminal Court and Court of Arbitration are located the Ambassador said the Dutch government was not taking a serious view about unfound war crimes charges against Sri Lanka.

He said the Netherlands, is not a breeding ground for Tiger terrorism and will not permit Tamils to violate Dutch law and schools where LTTE ideology is propagated are under scrunity by the Dutch government.

The Ambassador was of the view that Tamils could not claim that they were suffering in Sri Lanka as they had everything they needed to lead peaceful lives and their future was secure.“Sri Lanka is doing it better and faster than some of the Western countries, when they faced crises.

Our recovery is now in full swing”, he said in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Observer .The Ambassador said except for a few hardcore Tigers who intend to revive the LTTE, Tamils abroad who handled the Tiger finances, under fictitious names were now fighting to own a chunk of this ill gotten money so that they could now lead comfortable lives and they were not interested in Eelam anymore.

Being a satellite communication expert, who was one time Head of Asia of the Iridium LLC, the first company in the world to offer satellite mobile phones, Athauda said now the time has come for all Sri Lankans to become economic warriors and join the country’s economic development in the post conflict era.

Exploring opportunities to revive the century-old trade ties between Sri Lanka and the Netherlands, Ambassador Athauda predicts of Sri Lanka becoming South Asia’s hub for trade once again.

Following are excerpts of the interview:

Q: What is your comment about support from the Tamil diaspora in the Netherlands in the country’s development?

A: The Netherlands is going through a lot of change, economically and politically as the European Union is struggling with their economy.

Therefore, there are reasons for them to look for better opportunities.

From the diplomatic point of view, they are changing their objectives and how they want to get about it. They are cutting down foreign missions to reduce capacity. For example they are reducing numbers in South America.

As a policy they want to focus on Asia. They want to focus on countries that are growing.

Therefore, obviously China, India, Sri Lanka will be in their radar. Down the road, it would be easier for Sri Lankans to work with the Netherlands because not only the business community has realised that they need to come to Asia for greater growth opportunities but also the Dutch government has realised that its better to put foreign aid and donations towards economic stimulation of their country. in other words, a few years ago they gave small donations of charity work like fixing lamp posts and bridges, but now they don’t believe in this approach, as they don’t have any returns.

Their contention is that it’s better to stimulate their economy.

They need more fish for consumption and if they come to Sri Lanka and help our fishing industry where fish will end up on their tables and that way their people are making money from local fish and then we get the opportunity to sell Sri Lankan fish.

I pointed this out with the Netherlands Foreign Minister and he said this is music to his ears.

Many years ago they had ambassadors during their three-year tenure they had no opportunity to meet the Netherlands Foreign Ministers. but now Asian ambassadors are invited for discussions with the FM and it is a different story now.

This is good news and on top of that Sri Lanka appeals to the Netherlands. I recently had a breakfast series with the business community, tour operators and journalists and it was in the newspapers. here you can see how news worthy we are?

This doesn’t happen automatically. It is almost like selling a new product. we have meticulously calculated and planned all about Sri Lanka and then executed it. We see great results and we are very proud about the achievements.

We have several methods. one is to select Tamil leaders and give them exposure.

Therefore let them tell the good news to their community. We are also going to start a Sri Lanka TV channel to Europe for Sri Lankans to watch day-to-day Sri Lankan news.

I think it is very important otherwise pro-LTTE media channels are dominating the news and Tamil children are brain washed.

They have a one-sided story and we are determined to give the other-side so they can decide for themselves.

Q: How active is the Tamil diaspora in the Netherlands?

A: I want to say that there is no such section known as pro-Tiger Tamil diaspora. The LTTE itself has broken into several sections.

What is happening now is that the LTTE’s front organisations and those who handled the Tiger finances, buildings, vehicles and ships, which were under different people are fighting to figure out the wealth and everyone wants to have a share.

But core Tiger operators want to revive the organisation but they cannot give a convincing case to the majority of the Tamil diaspora on how to move forward because President Mahinda Rajapaksa has out-smarted all these people.

They can’t say Tamils are suffering in Sri Lanka anymore.

Q: Though you say that there is no strong footing for pro-Tigers in the Netherlands, there were reports that a fear psychosis was created among Tamils in the Netherlands by pro-LTTE elements. What do you have to say?

A: I don’t think that they could create a fear psychosis as they now know the reality. The message they are trying to give is that Sri Lanka is yet not safe.

Tamils who are here are aware of the reality. There are two different things they try to pitch to the Tamil community and what the Tamil community already know.

There are hardcore Tamils who aspire for this cause. They are tired of the Tiger.

Q: Recently the Dutch Courts came hard on pro-LTTEers and punished some hardcore LTTEers including LTTE’ international accountant Ramachandran.

What was the stance of the Dutch government? What about the schools they run to propagate Tiger ideology?

A: Yes, five of them are now in prison.

The Dutch government is very clear about their decision and will not allow them to violate Dutch law and will be not a ground breeding terrorism. The Dutch government will investigate these school and have already made an official announcement. If a violates Dutch laws and teach violence to they will be severely dealt with.

Q: What action has been taken against some pro-Tiger organisations like the Tamil Youth Organisation and Dutch Tamil Art and Cultural Organisation.

A: Well, anybody can register a non-profit organisation, but they must show their objectives to be registered.

If they have not manage funds or have miss-used funds or violate regulations they will track them down and will be punished.

Q: The Netherlands was a safe haven for LTTEers at one time, what action has the embassy taken to convince the Dutch government that it should not harbour terrorism?

A: It is really the big picture. The Tigers had a huge propaganda machine in Europe and previous Lankans government didn’t have such a large propaganda arm there. For over 20 years they had only the LTTE story. It was simple for me and I told them the real story and the truth has now come out.

Q: What was the response from the Dutch for the alleged war crimes charges on Channel 4?

A: The Channel 4 video is an emotional video made by an interested party. This video was never shown in any of the State television channels.

It was during the lawsuit against Tiger fund raisers that the defending attorney tried to use the Tiger video as propaganda material for publicity.

I’m in the Hague and this is where the in International Court of Justice International Criminal Court and Court of Arbitration are situated. There is nothing to show as crimes even in the basic check list regarding the Channel 4 video.

There allegation are an emotional card played by the Tigers. The Dutch government is not interested in it.

Q: What are the possibilities for Tamils in the Netherlands to invest in Sri Lanka for the benefit of their own people.

A: They have already started doing it on a small scale. What the LTTE did really damaged the Tamil diaspora economically.

They were forced to give them money even through bank loans.

These Tamils are broke as the Tigers have squeezed them out. They are in debt. Most of the Tamil diaspora have their hearts in Sri Lanka.

They want to put in money to help Tamils in Sri Lanka to get cows, fishing boats or to invest where they can help them to be economically sound.

At the same time discussions are going on in some of the fora.

They cannot invest in mega development projects in the North as there are no rich Tamils in the Netherlands.

Q: One factor is the inefficiency of our foreign mission to implement a well-designed propaganda arm to counter and to convey Sri Lanka’s success story on defeating terrorism. How do you address this issue?

A: I use my expertise of my previous job, where I did global branding. Every person, including the President is a brand. Branding is another facet when we do things. About 400 years ago the Dutch came to Sri Lanka, now we reintroduce Sri Lankan spices once again to the Dutch in a modern way. We developed a seven course meal with Sri Lankan spices. Everybody who came to the food festival said they wanted to go to Sri Lanka.

It is time to think out of the box. Now we want to train Dutch chefs on this seven course menu, which was introduced as the Sri Lankan menu.

The amazing factor regarding Sri lanka is that we don’t have to made up a story, when foreigners come here they are convinced.

All what we need is to do is just tell them the story about Sri Lanka.

That is what I am doing now - promoting business as a tourist destination.

If one makes a report card of each country by putting the achievements in each area, Sri Lanka’s report card will be one of the best as we have good indicators in all areas to show our economy is going from strength to strength.

Pic: Susantha Wijegunasekara