What is our gutless “Dutch Burgher” ranting about? My theme was the proliferation of political parties in this country, and why not, I asked in lighter vein, a “Lansi Eelam Party”? What I want to now know is whether our nameless “Dutch Burgher” is of Dutch ancestry. When I was asked to address a seminar on the anniversary of the coming of the Dutch to Ceylon, I had to listen to the Dutch ambassador tell of the many of Dutch ancestry from other parts of the world who had settled in Holland. __________________________
by Carl Muller
(March 02, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Ineeds must respond to “Dutch Burgher of Kotahena” who hasn’t the guts or the Dutch courage to give me his name. Of course, any idiot who calls himself a Dutch Burgher is free to remain nameless. Perhaps he’s Vander Front side who only wishes to show readers his backside in the way that God did when he told Moses that was the only part of him Moses could see.
What is our gutless “Dutch Burgher” ranting about? My theme was the proliferation of political parties in this country, and why not, I asked in lighter vein, a “Lansi Eelam Party”? What I want to now know is whether our nameless “Dutch Burgher” is of Dutch ancestry. When I was asked to address a seminar on the anniversary of the coming of the Dutch to Ceylon, I had to listen to the Dutch ambassador tell of the many of Dutch ancestry from other parts of the world who had settled in Holland. But she (the ambassador) had to also admit that the Burghers of Ceylon were not welcomed. Why?
I did ask her why and she thought it diplomatic to raise a laugh. She blandly said that the Burghers of Ceylon could not settle in Holland because there were no banana trees there! Perhaps she thought my temerity in asking such a question deserved an answer as flippant as that. When I asked her to explain, she said that with no banana trees in Holland, our Burghers would not be able to eat their lompries!
Lompries, NOT a Dutch dish?
Now, my proud “Dutch descendent” so proud of the land of your ancestors, will you also admit that lompries is NOT a Dutch dish? So much for that, but you will note in the record of that seminar that was published, that I said I was sorely tempted to tell the ambassador that her explanation wouldn’t wash, for wherever the Dutch colonised, they carried their bananas with them - which, my dear gutless, is why YOU are here!
Now, for the rest of your miserable rant. I am NOT a Burgher or even a Premadasa “Barrger”. I have no Dutch ancestry and my forebears are German. What the hell have I to do with your Lansi lot? As for the sapathukarayas and karapothas, these were names given to the Lansis by the Sinhalese. Even Lansi is a diminutive of Landesi or Holandesi - a sad acceptance that every Lansiya is Dutch! However, it is most enlightening to know that you have made a study of cockroaches. It must have thrilled you no end to sniff their glands and watch them washing their feet, legs and antennae. May I add that during World War II, it is recorded how Australian POWs, starved by the Japanese, panned the cesspits of the camp for the cockroaches that they ate.
When the Dutch brought in the people of Holland, Germany, Austria, France, Hungary - even the Flemish and the Huguenots and other Europeans - their first choice was for the boot and shoemakers, leather workers, saddle makers, etc. This was very necessary, so the Sinhala “sapathukaraya” was quite in order and this was carried down, even derogatively.
You tell me now, Burgher who hides his name, what gives you the idea that I want to be the head of Lansi Eelam? I wouldn’t be seen dead with such a bunch! I’d also like you to get your facts straight. The Dutch refused to bring in the women from Holland to Ceylon. Instead, they ordered their men, especially their soldiers, to marry Portuguese women. This is also on historic record. Do you doubt this? Hundreds of men brought in by the Dutch had Portuguese wives! So your petty remarks about Portuguese Burghers of Batticaloa hold no water whatsoever.
I am Sri Lankan
You say that I have been rejected by a member of my own community, but my community, that is Sri Lankan, has nothing to do with your community that cannot even speak Dutch, has no claim to an ancestral land, has no race to cling to since “Burgher” is not the race of any yako that the Dutch brought in.
You say the Burghers did this country proud. Of course they did - because they were British-educated! And then, rather than remain and be a part of this island, they burghered off! Why? Oh, they were so proud of their “Englishness” - not their “Dutchness”. They did not wish to learn Sinhala. They wanted to show the world that they were a proud pack of weasels that would leave the land of their birth because they couldn’t bear to see themselves losing ground to the majority races.
Tell me, can you read and write Sinhala? Well, I can and I am very much at home here with all my Sinhalese friends. When my son died, six Sinhalese men insisted that they carry him in his coffin to the grave.
I can only think of one member of your community (and who I suspect is behind your letter) who you say “rejected me ignominiously”. I refer to one J.B.Muller who has suddenly risen to be the “voice” of the Burghers. I now issue this JB a challenge. Will he kindly tell us who his father is? He says he’s a Muller because his mother was my own cousin, the daughter of my father’s brother. But to call himself Muller he would need to have a father who is also Muller! Aha! Papa Muller marries Mama Muller and out pops baby Muller! But that was not the case, was it? Who, then, is this so-called J.B.Muller? Is he a Muller at all? Who was his father?
And yet, JB, falling on the name Muller, has traced his ancestry to Germany. Good for him. He’s pretty safe in doing so - but does that make him a Burgher? He has found it to his advantage to set himself up as a member of my family and I must insist that this so-called rejection you tell of came from me and not from him!
So, my dear “Dutch Burgher from Kotahena” look at yourself first before you try to belittle me. If you haven’t the guts to use your name, you remain one miserable unknown member of a community I have no truck with. And, as for the Mullers, I’ll have you know that a former Dutch ambassador (a man) once invited me to his home in Colombo 7 and asked me to skim through a huge leather-bound tome that listed all the families of the Dutch in Holland. “Find a Muller if you can,” he said.
No. Not a single Muller family lives in Holland! So you can take your Dutch ancestry and stuff it. What the hell do I care about such as you?
(March 02, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Ineeds must respond to “Dutch Burgher of Kotahena” who hasn’t the guts or the Dutch courage to give me his name. Of course, any idiot who calls himself a Dutch Burgher is free to remain nameless. Perhaps he’s Vander Front side who only wishes to show readers his backside in the way that God did when he told Moses that was the only part of him Moses could see.
What is our gutless “Dutch Burgher” ranting about? My theme was the proliferation of political parties in this country, and why not, I asked in lighter vein, a “Lansi Eelam Party”? What I want to now know is whether our nameless “Dutch Burgher” is of Dutch ancestry. When I was asked to address a seminar on the anniversary of the coming of the Dutch to Ceylon, I had to listen to the Dutch ambassador tell of the many of Dutch ancestry from other parts of the world who had settled in Holland. But she (the ambassador) had to also admit that the Burghers of Ceylon were not welcomed. Why?
I did ask her why and she thought it diplomatic to raise a laugh. She blandly said that the Burghers of Ceylon could not settle in Holland because there were no banana trees there! Perhaps she thought my temerity in asking such a question deserved an answer as flippant as that. When I asked her to explain, she said that with no banana trees in Holland, our Burghers would not be able to eat their lompries!
Lompries, NOT a Dutch dish?
Now, my proud “Dutch descendent” so proud of the land of your ancestors, will you also admit that lompries is NOT a Dutch dish? So much for that, but you will note in the record of that seminar that was published, that I said I was sorely tempted to tell the ambassador that her explanation wouldn’t wash, for wherever the Dutch colonised, they carried their bananas with them - which, my dear gutless, is why YOU are here!
Now, for the rest of your miserable rant. I am NOT a Burgher or even a Premadasa “Barrger”. I have no Dutch ancestry and my forebears are German. What the hell have I to do with your Lansi lot? As for the sapathukarayas and karapothas, these were names given to the Lansis by the Sinhalese. Even Lansi is a diminutive of Landesi or Holandesi - a sad acceptance that every Lansiya is Dutch! However, it is most enlightening to know that you have made a study of cockroaches. It must have thrilled you no end to sniff their glands and watch them washing their feet, legs and antennae. May I add that during World War II, it is recorded how Australian POWs, starved by the Japanese, panned the cesspits of the camp for the cockroaches that they ate.
When the Dutch brought in the people of Holland, Germany, Austria, France, Hungary - even the Flemish and the Huguenots and other Europeans - their first choice was for the boot and shoemakers, leather workers, saddle makers, etc. This was very necessary, so the Sinhala “sapathukaraya” was quite in order and this was carried down, even derogatively.
You tell me now, Burgher who hides his name, what gives you the idea that I want to be the head of Lansi Eelam? I wouldn’t be seen dead with such a bunch! I’d also like you to get your facts straight. The Dutch refused to bring in the women from Holland to Ceylon. Instead, they ordered their men, especially their soldiers, to marry Portuguese women. This is also on historic record. Do you doubt this? Hundreds of men brought in by the Dutch had Portuguese wives! So your petty remarks about Portuguese Burghers of Batticaloa hold no water whatsoever.
I am Sri Lankan
You say that I have been rejected by a member of my own community, but my community, that is Sri Lankan, has nothing to do with your community that cannot even speak Dutch, has no claim to an ancestral land, has no race to cling to since “Burgher” is not the race of any yako that the Dutch brought in.
You say the Burghers did this country proud. Of course they did - because they were British-educated! And then, rather than remain and be a part of this island, they burghered off! Why? Oh, they were so proud of their “Englishness” - not their “Dutchness”. They did not wish to learn Sinhala. They wanted to show the world that they were a proud pack of weasels that would leave the land of their birth because they couldn’t bear to see themselves losing ground to the majority races.
Tell me, can you read and write Sinhala? Well, I can and I am very much at home here with all my Sinhalese friends. When my son died, six Sinhalese men insisted that they carry him in his coffin to the grave.
I can only think of one member of your community (and who I suspect is behind your letter) who you say “rejected me ignominiously”. I refer to one J.B.Muller who has suddenly risen to be the “voice” of the Burghers. I now issue this JB a challenge. Will he kindly tell us who his father is? He says he’s a Muller because his mother was my own cousin, the daughter of my father’s brother. But to call himself Muller he would need to have a father who is also Muller! Aha! Papa Muller marries Mama Muller and out pops baby Muller! But that was not the case, was it? Who, then, is this so-called J.B.Muller? Is he a Muller at all? Who was his father?
And yet, JB, falling on the name Muller, has traced his ancestry to Germany. Good for him. He’s pretty safe in doing so - but does that make him a Burgher? He has found it to his advantage to set himself up as a member of my family and I must insist that this so-called rejection you tell of came from me and not from him!
So, my dear “Dutch Burgher from Kotahena” look at yourself first before you try to belittle me. If you haven’t the guts to use your name, you remain one miserable unknown member of a community I have no truck with. And, as for the Mullers, I’ll have you know that a former Dutch ambassador (a man) once invited me to his home in Colombo 7 and asked me to skim through a huge leather-bound tome that listed all the families of the Dutch in Holland. “Find a Muller if you can,” he said.
No. Not a single Muller family lives in Holland! So you can take your Dutch ancestry and stuff it. What the hell do I care about such as you?
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