Terror advocacy and music do not meet

Maya Arulpragasam slumdogs music culture with her sympathy for the Tigers

By Mohan Gunaratnam

(February 11, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian)While Maya Aruplpragasam is making a great name for herself in the world of music and has won prestigious nominations at the peak of the film world, she has soiled and smudged her name rather sadly with her public relations effort to stand up for the most brutal terrorist organization in the world. This amounts to “slumdogging” humanity’s relaxing means of melody and rhythms and replacing them in her mind to promote terror and violence.

This is intolerable. Humanity is ill-served when the entertainment industry and its enriching aspects are dragged into blood and horror. Maya Arulpragasam should have known better not to flirt with the LTTE.

Whoever persuaded her to appear in a TV interview recently at which she was obviously uncomfortable to support the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), have devalued and demonized her stature as an up and coming musician who would have done us all proud. Indeed, she has already achieved that until she let us all down when she appeared in the interview.

Her grandfather, affectionately revered as Arulappu Master of Naranthanai in Kayts was the one who helped many families from the plantation districts who were ravaged, beaten and chased away by Sinhala hoodlums during the 1977 racial riots. He settled many of them in the Vavuniya District which was quite a yeoman task especially for such an elderly man.

Maya’s father, Arulpragasam, an engineer was a socialist at heart, one of the few who were energetic in their support for the left parties particularly the LSSP. When Tamils became victims of rampant Sinhala chauvinism, he identified himself with EROS, the Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students. This group was a pro-LTTE one but was not given to its kind of violence. Among his colleague members at that time were Sri Ratnasabapathy, Padmanabha and Douglas Devananda.

Once Arulpragasam realized there was violence intentioned, he left EROS and moved away from all revolutionary or liberation groups. Devananda who received terrorist training from the PLO in Palestine and Lebanon, Padmanabha and Ratnasabapathy formed the EPRLF and from there, Devananda moved away and formed his EPDP, the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party.

This being the background and Maya who only had her childhood in Jaffna and then moved westwards to the UK and finally now a resident of New York, should have thought deeply about getting involved with promoting terror culture, worse that of the LTTE. Mixing up the world of music with the promotion of brutal violence is most unfortunate.

If she had not done this of her own volition, then whoever persuaded her, especially at a time, hundreds are being held mercilessly by the LTTE in Wanni as hostages have used a talented young artiste for an evil purpose of their own intentions.

Sri Lanka is fast approaching a stage when it will tell the whole world, and quite rightly too, that the country has brought about an end to terrorism. Unfortunately, the cost has been very high in lives, devastation of properties and infrastructures and displacement of people. However, should such a claim be made, the Government of Sri Lanka should root out all forms of terrorism, even state terrorism and of course racial and religious chauvinism too.

This would even include the cabinet where some racists and terrorists have found refuge. Tamils who have been against the Tigers and have suffered silently their horrendous atrocities are beginning to express their concerns and apprehensions that where the vacuum created by Prabhakaran is more likely to be filled by Douglas Devananda.

Not all the atrocities committed in the northern region were those of the LTTE even though the Tigers were blamed. Many feel the White Van terror especially is the hallmark of Douglas Devananda’s EPDP.

Those who have been promoting the LTTE overseas which is now a gone force, must realize that the Tamils in Sri Lanka are facing the potential threat of jumping out of the frying pan and falling into the fire. President Mahinda Rajapakse has a hell of a lot of housekeeping to do to bring back sense and normalcy to the country.

This would certainly demand that he begins with the cabinet and depends on some fine members there who unfortunately are in the minority. He has to strengthen their hands and prove to the whole world that the assurances he has given to ensure Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Malays and Burghers are reckoned as citizens with rights fundamental to all. In order to ensure this, he will have to, in the first place, kick out the racists and terrorists from his cabinet.

In the meantime, it is better for Maya Arulpragasam, young as she is and talented so immensely to keep to her music and not cavort with terrorists, alien smugglers and drug peddlers.

-Sri Lanka Guardian