Early Eazham-Tamil diaspora novel published in Malaysia in 1927

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2011, 09:59 GMT]
A Tamil novel, Sampasivam–Gnanamirtham, set in the background of migration from Jaffna to British Malaya and Singapore, and was published in 1927 in Kuala Lumpur, is one of the earliest pieces of Eezham Tamil diaspora literature, writes a student of History who brings out an electronic copy of the publication for the benefit of research and documentation. The author of the novel Mr. A. Nagalingam (1901-1979) himself was a migrant to British Malaya from the Island of Kaarainakar, Jaffna. He was working in the Treasury of Kuala Pilah at the time of the publication. The 360-page novel was printed by S. Lazar & Sons, 13, Scott Road, Kuala Lumpur. The author records his intention of renovating a tank in his native village from the sales of the book and the support he received in this respect from the Sultan of the Negri Sembilan State of Malaya, Sir Mohamed Shah.
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Tamil university students get Sinhala summons for military course

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2011, 18:58 GMT]
Genocidal regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa in further militarization of state in the island introduces an obligatory course conducted by the military for all students selected for the universities. The three-weeks course in selected centres of the SL Armed Forces begins on Sunday and Tamil students received summons letters in Sinhala, BBC News said Thursday. Meanwhile, Students Unions in the island have moved to the Supreme Court to stop the programme, and the court on Saturday has asked the SL Attorney General to postpone the commencement of the programme by one week.
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Tamils become key ministers in Singapore

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2011, 05:28 GMT]
In the new cabinet of Singapore, headed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong that will be sworn in on Saturday, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam of Jaffna origin becomes Deputy Prime Minister holding Finance, Manpower and Monetary Authority portfolios, Mr. K. Shanmugam takes over Foreign Affairs and Law, Mr Vivian Balakrishnan becomes Minister for Environment and Water Resources and Mr. S. Iswaran holding the rank of a full cabinet minister will function in the Prime Minister’s Office as Second Minister for Home, Trade and Industry. The new cabinet has two Deputy Prime Ministers, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Mr. Teo Chee Hean. General Elections took place in Singapore on 7 May.
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Press USA, UK and France to talk to China, Russia: Vidar Helgesen

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2011, 05:40 GMT]
“I'm not the best-placed person to suggest how China and Russia could be convinced and how one could pass a resolution at the UN Security Council. One should pose this question to the governments of USA, United Kingdom and France, those who negotiate with China and Russia in New York,” said Vidar Helgesen, the highest-ranking diplomat who headed the Norwegian facilitated peace process, in a video documentary released by the Norwegian Council of Eezham Tamils Wednesday, hinting that if the USA, UK and France are really determined China and Russia could always be negotiated to bring in a political solution to the question of Eezham Tamils. “There was a conflict before the LTTE was established; still there is a conflict even after the LTTE has been vanquished; you will not get a solution without a political solution,” Helgesen further said.
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Country of Eezham Tamils mourns silently on Mu’l’livaaykkaal Day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2011, 02:44 GMT]
Subjugated to the extent of not being to able to even observe remembrance of the death of their kith and kin killed in thousands at Mu’l’lvaaykkaay in a powers-abetted genocide enacted by the Sri Lankan State in May 2009, the nation of Eezham Tamils on Wednesday demonstrated dormant anger through silent observations and confining themselves to their houses. The occupying military has ordered against any renting of public halls on Wednesday and has threatened potential organizers with dire consequences. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has requested people to mourn silently, and people responded. Movement of public, travel and commercial activities were very negligible in Jaffna and in other parts of the country of Eezham Tamils, amidst massive presence of the occupying Army of Sri Lanka.
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Sinhalese students irk Jaffna on Mu’l’livaaykkaal Day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2011, 00:15 GMT]
A few Sinhala students recently admitted to Jaffna University chose the Mu’l’livaaykkaal Day to erect a decorated pandal at Thirunelveali Junction to ‘celebrate’ the birth of Buddha and to distribute eatables to passers by, while the Eezham Tamils subjugated to the extent of not being able to even openly observe the remembrance of their dead were silently mourning on Wednesday. While activities of Colombo in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils clearly show ‘reconciliation’ means subjugation and genocide, the US State Department that coined the paradigm ‘post-war reconciliation’ instead of post-war justice, and the supporting institutions of the West, are either once again outwitted by Sinhala diplomacy, or they wanted things to happen in this way, commented students of the Jaffna university.
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Calls for war-crimes probe escalate as Tamils commemorate massacre

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 May 2011, 02:49 GMT]
Amid increasing calls by world's premier human rights NGOs, newly elected Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for independent international investigations into alleged accusations of war-crimes committed by Sri Lanka on Tamils, Tamil expatriates in several countries in the West are preparing to commemorate the massacre of Tamil civilians during the final phase of Sri Lanka war. In the United Kingdom, youth groups are organizing a vigil in Trafalgar Square and planning protest campaigns against visiting Sri Lanka cricket team, while in the U.S. in a show of unity, multiple Tamil organizations are participating in a protest and vigil in front of the United Nations building. Organizers of both events said they are expecting a large turnout.
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Gatherings of different nature in foreign lands

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 May 2011, 22:58 GMT]
While the Eezham Tamil diaspora with a heavy heart gather this week in foreign capitals, remembering powers-abetted genocide committed on them and demanding liberation of their land, prevention of further genocide as well as penal and political justice, the occupying soldiers of the genocidal Army of Sri Lanka celebrated 2600 years of the birth of Buddha in the military colony at Palaali in the country of Eezham Tamils. Around 1400 SL soldiers, clad in white, observed the Buddhist ritual Sil at Palaali on Sunday, the occupying military’s website in Jaffna said. As nations and peoples of the island are emotionally divided in entirely different directions, Washington and New Delhi that engineered the genocide will only contribute to further crisis if realities are not met with in political terms, commented political observers in the island.
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Marking Mu'l'livaaykkaal, Canadian Tamils observe Genocide Month

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 May 2011, 17:02 GMT]
Eezham Tamils in Canada, declaring the entire month of May as Genocide Month, have been focusing their efforts at grassroots and towards the diplomatic missions in bringing the Tamil concerns to the global community, according to the organisors of the National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT), the democratically elected country council of Eezham Tamils in Canada. Meanwhile, Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO) launched an awareness campaign through social media on Tamil genocide and was conducting signature campaign urging the International Criminal Court to investigate the Sri Lankan state. Democrats of Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, have focused their efforts by engaging with the foreign missions in Canada and met with the Embassy of Mexico and the Embassy of South Africa.
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Tamil Studies academics meet in Canada

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 May 2011, 06:58 GMT]
For the sixth year, the Tamil Studies Conference that attracts academics and research students mainly from the academic institutions of the North American continent was held at the New College of the University of Toronto, between May 14 and 15. Prof. Daud Ali, Chair of the Department of South Asia Studies of the University of Pennsylvania and Feminist theorist and historian Ms. V. Geetha from Tamil Nadu delivered the keynote addresses of the two-day conference in which over 30 academics presented papers. A highlight of the conference was two panel discussions on Eezham Tamil refugees, one on structural violence against them and the other on the first arrival of Tamil boat refugees to Newfoundland, 25 years ago.
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Aftenposten-Wikileaks shows shallow understanding of US diplomats

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 May 2011, 19:18 GMT]
Classified cables of US diplomats sent between February 2009 and January 2010, made available by Wikileaks and released in the Norwegian media Aftenposten earlier this month, show how shallow and wanting the understanding of the US diplomats in dealing with the decades-old and still continuing national question and genocide in the island of Sri Lanka, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo. The primary responsibility of the diaspora, rather than being ‘guided’ by such diplomacy, is the edification of the neo-Orientalist thinking in the Western capitals, especially in Washington, London and Paris for the replacement of this kind of diplomacy, he further writes, citing what the public opinion has achieved in Tamil Nadu and pointing to where the public opinion has to be directed to in the world by the diaspora.
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Ron Ridenour writes on the dilemma of socialist leaning governments on Tamil Genocide

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 May 2011, 13:36 GMT]
The countries in the United Nations are divided in two blocs when it comes to the plight of Eezham Tamils. Those who tag themselves behind a world order promoted by the USA, and those who are in the opposing camp, many of them from the non-alignment movement (NAMs) and Cuba, Venuzela led ALBA countries of Latin America. These countries supported the Sri Lankan state in the previous UN Human Rights Council sessions. “However, ALBA partners now have a chance, whether on the UN Human Rights Council or not, to help the Tamil people in some way, also by calling for an investigation,” writes Ron Ridenour, a veteran US born but now Denmark-based leftist and anti-imperialist, who voiced against the US aggression on Cuba in 1961, jailed in the US for his views on several occasions and contributed extensively to the study of Latin America.
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Occupying Army adds insult to injury in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 May 2011, 22:32 GMT]
The commander of the occupying genocidal Army of Sri Lanka, Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe accompanied by large number of troops on Saturday visited the Changkaanai Murugamoorthi temple where the chief priest was killed and his two sons were fatally injured in a vicious firing, during a time when the occupiers were terrorising the people of Jaffna after the Heroes Day last November. “A special Pooja to invoke blessing on Commander Security Forces - Jaffna (SF-J) Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe and the troops serving in Jaffna was held,” said the website of the genocidal Army, adding that the Army prayed to stay more and more in Jaffna. Besides adding insult to injury, it was a subtle show of intimidation aimed at silencing or twisting evidence, observers said.
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Eezham Tamil media in the island highlight Jayalalitha victory

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 May 2011, 11:44 GMT]
The media of Eezham Tamils, both in Jaffna and Colombo, highlighted AIADMK victory in the headlines, with a specific note of Ms. Jayalalitha's concern to Eezham Tamils, especially her stand on genocide, war crimes and international justice against SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Eezham Tamils encouraged by Jayalalitha's stand: TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 May 2011, 11:17 GMT]
Suresh K. Premachandran, the official spokesman of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Saturday sent TNA's congratulations to Ms. J. Jayalalitha, the newly elected chief minister of Tamil Nadu state in India, saying that Eezham Tamils have become hopeful and are encouraged by the stand Ms. Jayalalitha has expressed to the media on the plight of Eezham Tamils. “Eezham Tamils seek your immense support to gain their full self-rule with self-dignity to lead a life in their own soil,” Mr. Premachandran said in the message.
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Nobody can suppress Tamil psyche: M K Sivajilingam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 May 2011, 21:00 GMT]
Eezham Tamils in NorthEast would mourn thousands of their slain kith and kin on 18 May, said M K Sivajilingam, a former TNA parliamentarian and the general secretary of Tamil National Liberation Front. “No one can suppress the memories of a people remembering the sacrifices of thousands of their loved ones,” the former Tamil parliamentarian said urging the Tamils in North and East to mark the day with courage in silence under the prevailing conditions of subjugation.
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Tamil Nadu needs to play cohesive international role

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 May 2011, 00:56 GMT]
Given her background and qualities, Ms. Jayalalitha has a chance of becoming an all India leader of international reputation, provided she fills in the vacuum created by the failure of New Delhi led by Sonia Congress and plays the card of the national question of Eezham Tamils and the geopolitical importance of Tamil Nadu, at an international trend-setting level, commented an Eezham Tamil diaspora studies academic in Europe. Meanwhile, Mr. Karunanidhi and his political family of long Tamil national heritage, now being in the opposition and free from bondage to New Delhi, have a more articulating but cohesive and historic role to play in setting the record right for their coming back, and all new front aspirants have to concentrate on genuine and progressive civil society movements, the academic further said.
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Jayalalitha’s victory speech focuses on Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2011, 19:34 GMT]
While most of the media in India don’t want to recognize the heart of the matter behind the unprecedented way in which Tamil Nadu voters turned out to teach a lesson to the regimes in New Delhi and Chennai, grasping the significance behind her historic victory, Ms. J. Jayalalitha on her victory speech in Jaya TV Friday, recognizing genocide and war crimes against Eezham Tamils said: "I will exert pressure on the central government, after I take over as the CM, to take action against Sri Lankan president before international court for genocide and war crimes. India should take the initiative for this." The general mood among Eezham Tamils in the island and in the diaspora over the TN election results was one that of vindication and jubilation. It has generated fresh hopes on the strength of public opinion in Tamil Nadu.
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Congress-DMK coalition routed out in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2011, 11:35 GMT]
Leading in 193 constituencies of the 234-seat house, the AIADMK coalition led by J. Jayalalitha sweeps through the Tamil Nadu State Assembly elections in which an unprecedented 80 percent of the voters cast their votes. The DMK-Congress alliance trails behind with a lead only in 39 electorates. Ms. Jayalalitha’s party, leading in more than 130 seats, could comfortably form a government even without the participation of any alliance parties. Jayalalitha, who is generally considered to be honest to her words taking a positive stand towards the struggle of Eezham Tamils in recent times, and Mr. Karunanidhi being in the opposition are helpful for the cause of Eezham Tamils provided the civil society in Tamil Nadu is assertive and vigilant, political observers in Tamil Nadu said.
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'EU parliament leaves justice to the indicted'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 May 2011, 19:44 GMT]
“The EP urges the Sri Lankan government to implement the recommendations suggested by the UN panel of experts and conduct a genuine investigation,” said the European Parliament press release Thursday, leaving the delivery of justice with the genocidal state of Sri Lanka indicted for war crimes by the UN panel report. Eezham Tamils also noted with a feeling of insult added to injury, the statement of the EU parliament that said that the war “ended with the surrender of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)”, where as to their knowledge the war ended with massacre and genocide abetted by many establishments including some of the member states of the EU tagged behind the USA.
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