The President’s stooges

Dayan, Douglas and Tamara

| by Pearl Thevanayagam

(October 01, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) What do Tamara Kunanayakam, Douglas Devananda and Dayan Jayetilleka have in common? None of these know their identity. Tamara is certainly not a Tamil from the North and East and Douglas and Dayan have yet to identify their fathers.

That Tamara speaks a few western lingos is nothing to write home about. As a Tamil refugee in the West she had to learn a few European languages. Refugee children nowadays speak fluent English, Swiss, Dutch, Deutsche and French not unlike our Colombo kids who are tri-lingual in English, Sinhala and Tamil.

This is not to cast aspersions on their identity but to comprehend why they would sing for their supper. Tamara would serve well for the Rajapakse clan in that she is a weak excuse for Tamil representation ergo propelled into the international community as an apologist for the government and a pseudo representative for Tamils in general.

That Tamara speaks a few western lingos is nothing to write home about. As a Tamil refugee in the West she had to learn a few European languages. Refugee children nowadays speak fluent English, Swiss, Dutch, Deutsche and French not unlike our Colombo kids who are tri-lingual in English, Sinhala and Tamil.

It is only expected that a non-career diplomat such as Tamara would berate a UN high official such as Navi Pillai that she is inefficient. As my former Maths tutor would say, you know so little that you do not know that you know so little. Tamara was catapulted to a very high office in such a short time that she truly believes she is sine qua non for the government. Little does she realise that she would be discarded like a dish rag once she served the purpose of the government not unlike Varatharajaperumal. As the saying goes, `Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.’

Varatharajaperumal, son of a gram seller, was feted by Premadasa as NE governor for a very brief period in the late 90’s and with the backing of the IPKF (Indian peace-keeping Force) he was evicted from his position with indecent haste and had to seek succour in India.

That the IPKF actually managed to capture the LTTE leader and chose to set him free possibly due to pressure from the Indian Government which was playing double-edged politics was lost on Varatharajaperumal who for one brief period was elevated to a position of prominence as chief minister of NE provinces which he never dreamed of in his entire life-time.

Then of course there is Pillayan, Karuna and KP who now enjoy fame beyond their belief but who would be fed to the lions as LTTE criminals once they serve the purpose of the Rajapakses. The trio should be making contingency plans before they are hauled up before the international war crimes tribunal to thwart the government’s own direct complicity in war crimes against the indigenous minority Tamils in the last two years when the war against the LTTE ended. That their honeymoon is nearing an end is not lost among Tamils who know only too well how successive governments use lame ducks such as these suckers to achieve their ends.

Dayan’s dilly-dallying with Tamil militants and his guerrilla training in South America in the ‘80’s left him disenchanted and disillusioned in that he did not receive the prominence he hoped to achieve. Dayan’s shameless glorification of Tamara as a versatile and diplomatic representative of the Tamils has nothing to do with elevating her into prominence. It is all to do with courting her for his own self-aggrandisement.

Tamara is a step-ladder for his own promotions and he is being heaped diplomatic posts willy-nilly thanks to his unswerving sucking up to the regime to the point that he would wash the rear ends of the Rajapakses as long as he has the diplomatic perks and prestige. In essence he is a weak excuse for a diplomat if one could call him that.

His next move was to co-operate with any government in power and Mahinda’s government was ready for his sort of sycophancy; it was desperate to clutch at any straw to save its back from the allegations of war crimes which are being taken up for scrutiny by the international community.

Now, the clock is ticking and even Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Lankan envoy to the UN on human rights issues who is well-known for bed-hopping from one power to the next, is weakening at his knees and sending worrying messages that the government should do more to exonerate itself from war crimes.

Why should the government worry when it eradicated terrorism on this soil? Pray why does it need the likes of Tamaras, Dayans or Douglases who have only one thing as their objective which is to gain some prominence and financial security for their future. They neither care for the people of this country nor do they wish for a united Sri Lanka.

The only explanation is that Mahinda government too subscribes to the methodology of these trio. They want to secure their own family’s fortune for the future and to hell with the populace. At least SWRD with all his Sinhala racism sold his own assets to protect the Sinhala race. Mahinda Inc. on the other hand is selling the nation to enthrone his own his family as the inheritors and rulers of the modern Sinhala nation. And we are the suckers who voted them in.