Case against Tamil diaspora: facts and fiction

by Pearl Thevanayagam

(August 24, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) There is a general perception particularly among the Sinhalese that every Tamil living in the West wakes up daily with thoughts of supporting the LTTE, forming a trans-national government and sending money to the LTTE via PayPal or Western Union.

The Tamil diaspora, much to the chagrin of this majority psyche, have much more important things to do such as going to work to earn a living wage and educating their children. Yes, they are very ordinary people with unlimited ambitions for the future.

The majority of the Tamil diaspora do not work in administration, medical, engineering or accounting professions which they did back home; they work as taxi drivers, sandwich makers and packers in factories, spend ungodly hours in bakeries and supermarkets and cleaning toilets at hospitals, hotels and airports.

They yearn to go home. Home where they could earn a decent wage and still come home in time for a good dinner with the family. But they cannot do so; not yet. They need to pay off the mortgage, pay for the children’s education (a sizeable number of them attending private schools surprisingly) and these days tightening the family budget and foregoing their small pleasures by only subscribing to one Tamil channel instead of three which telecast movies almost 24 hours a day. Yes, they are movie buffs and this pastime and not holidays abroad is their only vicarious pleasure after slogging at work and often having to put up with competition and tale-carrying co-workers who want to put their relative in your place in these days of rising unemployment.

There is no denying the fact that many Tamils either willingly or by force donated money to the LTTE and charities working in conflict zones in the 90’s and until the war ended. But given the fact that the government imposed heavy economic sanctions in the LLTE controlled areas and the civilians were on the brink of starvation it was the responsibility of the diaspora to alleviate their suffering by sending donations. How these donations were distributed is a moot point and your guess is as good as mine.

The war is over for all intents and purposes. The diaspora are returning to their homes for holidays. Quite a number of them are abducted for ransom by the paramilitary-turned political groups supporting the government. And Tamils are still paying £15,000 per head to a human trafficking agent to get the hell out of Sri Lanka. Fifteen months since the government declared victory and liberated the Tamils from the clutches of terrorism they are still fleeing risking their lives in precarious and often dilapidated vessels in dangerous seas. They jolly well know the ground realities in the West. Why?



My landlord, a builder, leaves home at five in the morning and does not get home until eight. His wife sometimes goes along to help in the site and she also has to look after two teenage daughters and keep the house in order. This is the pattern of an average Tamil household and not the exception.

I would not venture to say that those Sri Lankans who came to the West circa ‘70’s, who migrated for studies, are having lives of luxury. But at least they have steady jobs and nearing retirement age they have a nest-egg they can depend on in the form of a house or savings or both. They also have middle-class jobs and their offspring well-assimilated into the West.

When ‘terrorism experts’ and state media still cry fowl that innocent civilians fleeing the country in shiploads whether for economic reasons or genuinely claiming asylum are Tigers they do not have a shred of evidence to prove this. The human traffickers are a huge mercenary network spanning the globe preying on the vulnerable. The last thing on their mind is a traditional homeland or the rights of a minority.

There could be forced conscripts of the LTTE among these asylum-seekers but majority want to get the hell out of the country which no longer welcomes them or holding them hostage by taking over their lands through turning a blind eye to the heavy-handed tactics of former paramilitary groups turned political parties in the government.

With the demise of most of the LTTE hierarchy and the capturing of the others the LTTE is now a spent force. There can be no doubt about it. Human traffickers are not the only greedy bunch. There are those who support TGTE (Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam), who in the face of not being able to collect funds from struggling Tamils for the Eelam War, now have turned fund-raising into a cottage industry. Then again I must point out these are but a few unscrupulous elements of the Tamil diaspora.

There is also strong evidence those whom the LLTTE authorized to collect funds from the Tamil diaspora are living a life of absolute luxury. Goods, medicine and essential items collected for Tsunami are rotting in garages.

There is a saying about Africa that only Africa can save itself. Despite billions of pounds raised to uplift Africa from poverty the funds have not reached those who deserve it. Rather those at the helm in Africa, namely leaders and their cohorts are living like princes and kings while AIDS, drought and starvation still prevail among the masses.

Are we going the way of Africa?