Helicopters in the sky

The next is a Poem written whilst listening to helicopters bring back casualties of war to Anuradhapura hospital.
7-2-09

Helicopters in the sky

Helicopters in the sky - why do you haunt me so?
I know what you’re carrying and I want your sound just to go
I’m not talking about the people but the concepts behind your load
For, to me, you represent violence in “code”

I feel for your passengers, casualties of war
Maimed human being with wounds is what I saw
There are so many who believe things are worth fighting for
But would you believe the same if it were “your” child at that door

At the door of the hospital, or perhaps the jungle camp
These groups are brothers in disguise, only we don’t realise
They’ve been put on opposite sides by extremists for wars that cannot truly be won
From a different generations for mistakes that can be undone

Or can they be undone, can hearts be won?
Of course they can if we have a plan
Only a plan bathed in compassion and forgiveness will work
Not in deceit and revenge, these are attitudes we must shirk

You see we have the eutopia in our midst
The first step is to believe what is hidden
The caring of the human spirit for one another
We have to fight it in or to hate someone’s brother,.. or mother

So please I beg of you to let your anger cease
Only then there will be peace, at least
In one more persons mind, and the others minds too will shine
….It will be “Divine”

This is not a dream but a scream
A scream to wake up in the land of forgiveness and prosperity
There’s plenty of room for you and for me,
Can’t you seen?

I am not mad
It is you that is “sad”, and this is understandable
But it is time to let go of this hatred my dear friend
Or this war of minds will never end

Once you let go your true sentiments will show
The bad feelings will go
And most importantly the love for one another will flow
Don’t think twice, just let go.

This doesn’t mean forget those who have suffered
Fought hard and lost life what they believed
Been humiliated or threatened, or being thieved
But this is to make an effort to move on

Only then we can sing the same song
It won’t be wrong if we all feel we belong
And this whole conflict is about belonging indeed
This is why we have to “now” plant the seed

Of a beautiful existence we can all enjoy
If only with peace we do not toy
I ask you earnestly to be my friend
On this wish I will not bend

So take your time and think deep what I have said
And remember that many more will have read
These words, ideas and concepts
So let go my friend let go.

As the helicopters pass on by, the sound will subside
There is a twinkle in my eye, and a positive vibe
Because beyond the current dismay and strife that seems not to cease
I know the work of our collective minds will bring true and lasting “Peace”

War of Minds

Saturday 7-2-09
12:06hrs

Hard to do AChE when you know what is going on up north. What discussions are currently happening on the Internet – ie hatred being dispersed from the minds of those who have been are being hurt by the conflict, and unable to process things to lead to peaceful states of mine (not an easy task by any means). 7-2-09

War of Minds

Not just for you but those around you
Because this feeling makes others react without blinking
Instead of looking deep inside our hearts and thinking
The feelings of brotherhood and sisterhood we should be linking

So to fight this war is what we all should do
And in the process we need rustle up a good “crew”
Of those who understand and care
And those with ideas they want to share.

This team needs to let our humanities enlight
And gleam in light of intelligence and what is right
Of the things that go unseen every day
The simple acts of caring that cross boundaries in every way

And what I feel is that Sri Lanka is a beautiful place
That runs at a beautiful pace that gives one space
There are smiles all around, and people who do not frown
Natural beauty clothes the country up and down

There is diversity in culture, religion, race and language
Most people just want to do their daily chores and live
The want enough money for an education to give
To their children and loved ones alike

War is not in the minds of these people
They are caring souls with caring stories to be told,
War is the minds of the extreme, who have embraced their own and other’s hatred
They are trying to even a score like some kind of game

This is a shame
If we only can see this Ludicrisity
It is not about who should cease the hatred first, who should begin
It about those who have the wisdom to just make a start and together we sing

The more down this path we go the better it will be
When one person starts with love there will be much more for us all to see
So to us all I please “Stop the anger”, stop the violence
And only then will we feel the silence

In our hearts and our minds, in even our souls
This is surely peace we want all want to hold
Once we let go of “hatred” the end of violence will follow
If we hang on to it, it can only make us hollow

An imperfect reflection of the current situation

I have beeen meaning to update this blog for so long that I realise i'm just going to have to write something and be satisfied that what i write is not the sum total of my opinions as it is such dynamic process living here in Sri Lanka when new information and new challenges come to light almost hour by hour, continuously.

It has been very difficult living in Anuradhpura and trying to do projects when i am so deeply affected by this conflict for better or for worse. My two poems the "War of Minds" and "Helicopters in the sky" hopefully give some idea of what I am going through.

I feel there is a lot of misinformation about this conflict also, that acts only to fuel hatred and ongoing conflict further. Also I have my own guilt that I'm not doing more.

As a sinhalese person I am always questioning whether I am being biased towards my own race, even though I myself identify with the Human race first and foremost. Perhaps this doesn't matter as long as we have key role models who identify more strongly with their ethnicity?

Nevertheless I would like to offer a reflection from Independance this year - I have already posted and exceprt from the Presidents speech in a previous post - which I feel was positive.

Independance Day

I was in Colombo on Independance day this year. The night before I was fortunate enought to witness a street parade, like a mini Devali - where religious Hindu devotee's were standing on floats on the way to the Kovil (Hindu temple). These devotees were parading down the street, "loud and proud", some wearing costume others just as is, talking the entire street as the entire street happily and peacefully accomodated them, with smiling on lookers who, like us, came out to observe the festivities.

The scene made me think about what messages are being portrayed overseas about Sri Lanka and who there is Genocide against the Tamils. Just one event like this doesn't stand as proof of anything per say - but it just add to my already formed perception based on personal experience that the Sinhala people nor the Sri Lankan Government are performing Genocide against the Tamil people.

I know from working in Anuradhapura hospital that often receives victims from the conflict zone and the Tamil civillians get better treatment than average patients because of the fear of being perceived at racist. This is not a trait of a genocidal nation.

If you talk to any Sri Lankan they know that the Tamil people only enrich society - it is the LTTE that is their fear beause of the threat they pose. The concept of genocide only acts to serve the LTTE's means to thier cause (ie violence, child conscription and suicide bombing).

There is no genocide of Tamils by the goverment - this is LTTE Propaganda.

The concept of genocide ("Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group" Wikepedia defnition) is so abhorrent that such a label and concept is need by the LTTE to create a sense of hatred against the sinhalese people, in both the people of the North who's mind they have degree of control over, as well as the diaspora overseas who will keep funding this war from the LTTE perspective.

There is also government propaganda which i will talk about below, which also serves to keep the war going.

I do beleive and know that Tamil people in the North and East are really suffering to this I have no doubt. They are suffering because of the war. But the real questions are why is there war? and how do we stop the killing ?

Right now the LTTE have an opportunity to let the civillians go. The Sri Lankan government are making arragement to improve the conditions of the IDPs by strengthening the hospitals in the North Central Province allow referrals.

In addition to using the Tamil Civilians as human shields the LTTE have not been letting the civilians cross over to the goverment sides. They have even been shooting at civilians which caused the latest outcry by human rights groups.

Some of these shot victims came to Anuradhapura hospital and were treated here. The treatment of these civilians resulted in Amry casualites having to be transferred to other hospitals. There are all sorts of reports of the Army trying to harm civilians - why would they do this if these civilians would then displace their army colleagues ?

This is LTTE Propaganda.

Having said that - the goverment counter propaganda is also rife - they are under reporting the action toll of casualties in civilians and the army. The hospital sees about 700-900 army casualties per month.

War is a raquet (see warisaraquet.com ) - and it is a terrible thing. There is no doubt in my mind as a doctor and more importantly as a human being, and definitely as someone who ascribes to Buddhist philosophy which respect human life.

We the civilians and supporters of any side need to work together to save this current humanitarian crisis. For this we need to end the war - and to do this there need to be a concerted effort.

I believe the fastest and safest strategy is for the LTTE to surrender to the political mainstream with the back of an international broker. However, there is no trust of the LTTE by the Sri Lankan goverment - thus they will need to show committement by having their leader show their face.

Karuna and Pilliya (former high ranking officials in the LTTE who broke away) have now joined the political mainstream and Pilliyan is the Chief minister of the east. I am sure the Sri Lankan society would even go as far as to accept Prabakaran himself into the mainstream despite the long stream of humanitarian crimes, just as long as the LTTE ceased their militiary and terrorist activitites.

There is definitely corruption withing the govermental system here - but there is in any goverment. The key is to be able to control this element and accentuate the positive. I personallly have had a very good experience working with the provincial health department and know that there are many caring and efficient individuals within the goverment system.

Oh well those are thoughts for today.

The emails that weren't sent

I usually like to stay connected with my friends around the world with at least a group email every 3-6 months. My friends who have know me for some time will know that i'm pretty good with this. In the last 6 months I've sent nothing, despite desperately wanting to write and send out a message.

The reason has been two fold - I feel there is an insurmountable amount of PhD work to do and I'm always behind - ie Guilt for spending time on a creative piece of email work (my supervisors ar on my list after all - not that they would read this sort of stuff with much enthusiasm i'm sure!).

But the other reason is I like the emails to be a brief reflection of my life and thoughts, and no group email in current times could happen without a comment about the current political and war situation.

It has been so increadibly difficult to write about this because in a few paragraphs you cannot capture what is in my mind. Also the thoughts are so dynamic I become somewhat tongue-tied - or "dont-press-send on the computer-bound", if that makes sense. There have been two drafts just sitting on my computer of the last bit of my next group email which i will post below

From February 09

The conflict

And finally it’s been a really difficult time here in Sri Lanka regarding the situation of war and conflict. It doesn’t matter who is right or who is wrong, what your perspective is, the bottom line is “conflict” is painful to all even those who are not directly involved with violence. If you look at it from a “human” perspective.

There is so much misinformation that is being brandied about regarding this conflict, which adds to the pain of all sides, which only adds to the pain. In my opinion there is no genocide going on in Sri Lanka – there is a terrible war in the north, and I for one want it to stop. The majority of the country peacefully coexists. There “is” a definite Tamil cause and we need to make the Tamils of Sri Lanka more feel valued and appreciated as equal members of society. However Terrorism will not pave the way for this. Nevertheless the end of the day all we can offer, (including what I offer) no matter how well researched we appear to be is our own perspectives, based on our own experiences and our version research.

There are too many thoughts and emotions that have gone on within me since coming back. A glimpse of this had hopefully been captured in article, prose and poetry in my Peace Blog. Please leave your feedback, either on the site or by email.

All this conflict has made doing research very challenging task – but I will continue to progress despite all this. This extra delay and challenge I cannot expect my supervisors nor Australian University to understand fully, although I’m sure they do to some degree – for they are not me, and unlike them I am a Sri Lankan ‘through and through’ whether I like it or not, and really there is nothing I’d like to see more than lasting peace in this beautiful country.

And from March 09

The conflict in Sri Lanka

There are too many things to say here and it would be wrong for me not to say anything as the conflict itself and the unfolding developments have consumed much of my mental and emotional energy since coming back this time.

The best thing is to read my blog which represents a myriad of my views at different stages.

The first thoughts must go to the Tamil civilians caught in the no fire zone of the government army and LTTE – they are currently suffering the most. My thoughts and prayers to them . Then it goes out to the rest of Sri Lanka – we are all suffering at the hands of this country no matter where we are – either directly or indirectly. Last Friday the lights were out in Colombo as the LTTE was dropping bombs in the city centre – one of my research assistants was only metres away from a building which was being bombed at the time – luckily he was okay.

One thing that is important to me is that people out there know there is a lot of false information being brandied about.

Excerpt of Mahida Rajapakse Independance day speech - 4th February 2009

"Similarly, let us extend the cooperation of the entire nation to the people of the north and the east who suffered under the grip of separatist terror for many years, to once again step towards satisfaction and freedom in life.

Let us come forward both in word and deed to bestow upon them the kindness, friendship and prosperity they deserve.

This 61st anniversary of independence has given us the opportunity to realize the pride and dignity of our freedom. The time is now ready for the battle to raise Sri Lanka to the dignity of a country that is energetic, powerful, virtuous and wise. Let us as patriotic Sri Lankans achieve success in that battle too, without delay. Let us dedicate ourselves to bequeath this true freedom to our country.

Friends,

I respect the maxim that the motherland and ones own mother are comparable to paradise. At a time when our motherland is united under a single banner, I invite all parties to come together irrespective of ethnicity, community and party differences, giving the opportunity to all to do their duty by the motherland. What greater satisfaction can Mother Lanka have than all of us being the children of a single mother? I, therefore, appeal to you to join us to bring that great satisfaction to our motherland.

Let us look at all the children of our motherland - Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher, Malay and of all other communities, spread throughout our land, and living with no divisive thoughts among them. They look upon us with great expectations. They question us and hold us to task. They seek their future from us. They are the future of this land. May you have the strength and courage to take our country in a new direction on their behalf.

May you all receive the Blessings of the Noble Triple Gem."

I think the key elements in the conclusion of Mahinda's speech shown above are that he is describing in no uncertain terms that all communities are the future of the land, and that we must make an extra special effort to help rehabilitate the north and the east.

I guess the president can put the idea about this out there, but it is up to "us", the community, to empower these words of peace and unity.

Too much going on!

It's a month since I posted my last entry and i feel the same vibrations of emotion throughout my body when I think about this conflict. This represent the fadt there has been so much going on here in Sri Lanka in the last month. Where does one begin to even describe?

I guess backwards is the way to go.

Firstly tomorrow is independance day and a public holiday.

There are 250,000 internally dispaced persons from the Wanni (LTTE controlled areas) who are being housed by the Sri Lankan Army in a safe zone. The LTTE is still preventing the excape of Tamil civilians from the areas that they still control using them as human shields.

On Saturday 3000 Tamil people took to the streets urging the LTTE to release Tamil Civilians.

I was heartened to see the following response in the comments

Its a healing time for the Jaffna tamils to come out and protest against the LTTE. I am sure every family in Jaffna would have lost a young man/woman to LTTE. There was a time before LTTE was born, Jaffna town was always filled with Singala tourists buses as Singalese from the South used to visit Jaffna. I sincerly hope that trend will restart again. Its one thing wiping out LTTE, but its very important to rebuild a positve relationship between tamils and singalese.Tamils in general are very innocent and open harted people until Prabakeran emerged and wiped out the culture of Tamils. Tamils have love and compassion. On the other hand Singalese people are also very sincere and great for party and entertainments. I HOPE THE TWO SIDES REALISE THEIR POSITIVE QUALITIES AND ENHANCE EACH OTHERS MORALS TO BE THERE FOR EACH OTHER IN FUTURE. They have to or else the doom and gloom in that beautiful Island will only remain as a violent society even if Prabakharan's is gone. Just look at Trinco and Batticalo. There is still a lot of violence there. All i can say to the readers is, forget the past and pray for true peace in future in a way we can all shake hands or hug each other without any barriers. Only every individual can achive that without depending on any leaders to guide us. We as individuals have that love within us.

Posted By: ##### Lingam

Reflections on the Capture of Kilinochchi

3rd January 2009 - Dickwella, Sri Lanka

Whist I sit here at my laptop working on my PhD thesis, I couldn’t help but read the news reports of what was in most people's minds a very significant event in the political history of Sri Lanka and the ethnic conflict.

Yesterday the Sri Lankan defence forces captured Kilinochchi from LTTE terrority. I was not so interested in the strategic consequences of this, but more so in the way the news of this victory was delivered to the masses by our head of state, and his interpretations of this event. As I had alluded to in my previous blog entries over a month ago, I felt that the military defeat of the LTTE was very likely, however, the magnitude of consequence this had in leading to a lasting resolution of conflict in this country would be in part attributable to how this military defeat would be handled. Here I present some brief thoughts and my interpretations of this.

Journey to the Southern Coast of Sri Lanka - Jan 2nd 2009

As I was driving down in the deep south of Sri Lanka yesterday, I received a text message from Ada Derana (the news agency that sends text message news updates) stating that “troops captured Kilinochchi” and that President Mahinda Rajapakse will address the nation at 4pm. Unfortunately I was in the car (just passing Weligama at this point) and would not have been able to see the speech live, so I listed to the only radio station that I could tune into from this part of the country which was a Sinhala channel called “net FM”. I heard the entire speech, but still could not understand enough to really get the meaning.

However, at the end of the speech I felt happy, because I felt that the President was taking “Option 2” of the hypothetical options that I had laid down in my previous blog entry (on Nov 9th 2008 - http://peaceandunity-bishan.blogspot.com/2008/11/very-inspiring-speech.html ).

The reason I came to this conclusion (despite not understanding fully the speech because of my lack of fluency in Sinhala) was that I detected a “reaching out to all people of this country” vibration in his speech. I also didn’t detect arrogance to the fact that the Army had take the most significant stronghold of the LTTE occupation, and I was also impressed by the fact that the President spoke some sentences in Tamil at the end of the speech, which is what I feel should be the case for all important speeches.

I have been led to believe that after the 1983 riots when President JR Jayawardene addressed the nation, the tone was very different, and the message to the Tamil people was very different. Today we are in a different time.

Now we are at the beginning of 2009 and many situations and attitudes have changed. I believe that the President’s speech and message to the Nation yesterday is a reflection of this.

Below are excerpts of the speech that I listened to in Sinhala yesterday. I will paraphrase the meaning that I took out of each of the salient messages in the speech:-

Speech By President Mahinda Rajapakse – 2/1/09

"Friends. Although the leader of the LTTE had said only a few days ago that the capture of Kilinochchi was only a dream of Mahinda Rajapaksa, in truth it was not my dream alone. It was the constant dream of all Sri

Lankans, whether Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim, who are opposed to separatism, racism, and terrorism, and have always, sought peace, freedom and democracy.”

Here I am pleased to feel there is the concern for the aspirations of all Sri Lankans and the main ethnicities in Sri Lanka.

“One must not belittle this victory as one that has been won by one community over another. It should not be interpreted as defeat of the North by the South. This is a victory for our entire nation and country.”

I am pleased that the President did not appear to try and turn this victory into a political banner against other parties in this speech. This would have been easy to do especially in the local political climate. The focus is on the victory for the “entire nation”, and not about “communities” over other “communities”

“Let us all be committed to build one Sri Lankan nation that stands with dignity and pride under a single flag. Let us pledge to be a single nation in an undivided country. Our collective commitment will undoubtedly rise above all obstacles and challenges that may lie ahead.

May you be blessed by the Noble Triple Gem

May you receive the blessings of all Deities.”

This last except speaks for itself – the message is a request from the head of state to build a multi religious multi-ethnic nation.

Of course, all this is “my interpretation” and the full English transcript speech transcript can be found on (http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20090102_08 )

Peace in the future?

I believe peace is on our way. But there is a lot of work to be done by us all…

In no way should the sentiment of this blog entry “deny” the struggles, and suffering of so many in the past, this has never been my intention.

However, for us to realise the miracle, as it may seem, of “peace in Sri Lanka” we all have to all embrace “Peace in the Present” as the primary goal and put aside “past pain and loss”. This may seem “rich” coming from someone who hasn’t suffered directly in this conflict – but I am heartened find out that those who have also feel this way.

I will end this blog with a quote from a dear friend who is a Tamil Sri Lankan recently whilst enjoying a weekend with friends from different Sri Lankan backgrounds.

Her family had suffered immensely at the hands of this conflict, especially during the 1983 riots, like so many Sri Lankan Tamils, if not all at that time. However, despite this she has written the following (I’m sure she will not mind me sharing this with you – ie the world) :

“The situation in Eelam is so difficult however, today, people unite, in a feeling of solidarity it doesn’t matter whether you are Tamil, Sinhalese, Buddhist or not even Sri Lankan. What matters most is that everyone should have basic rights. Everyone, has the right to basic freedom, basic rights, the right to express yourself. Most Sri Lankans work hard, live hard, party hard, die hard whilst at the same time living in and at the epitome that defines being Sri Lankan. The red earth that bleeds the lives of so many of our country that have not lost and yet are unknown. We, today, in silence, acknowledge and respect the lives, spirits, and the earthly bound. We are but if not spirits of the Earth, bound by many ties that bind. We are, if anything, one, if not a created, most single, important part of the universe. Let us use our force, our strength, our ties that bind. We are after all, one single, universe. Sri lanka is the tie that binds. United we stand, together are one people, one universe, one race, one star that shoots and impact earth, together, we are the stars that bind.”

Let her words be an inspiration to us all.

Please send me your comments. Speak the Truth as it is for you – just as I have done. I will not be offended by opposing views – I believe if we all discuss our viewpoints compassionately, and with respect, then we can all learn more. Learning is the path to resolution of conflict.

I would love to hear and see thoughts posted from people of all backgrounds and walks of life. (To date nobody has posted a comment on this blog – why not be the first?)

Best wishes for the New Year
Love and Peace
Bishan ☺