2009   2008   2007   2006   2005   2004   2003

Tamil media throttling tightens

The presidential election of 2005 has amply demonstrated to the world that there do exist in this island two nationalities with distinct identity, culture, traditions and habitats qualifying as significantly different homelands for each of the nationalities.

This election has paved the way for the assumption of power of Mr.Mahinda Rajapaksa as Head of a state that is committed to work for the interests of Sinhala Budhdhist people.

Quoting from Mr.V.Prabakaran’s 2005 Martyr’s Day address in this context, i.e.,

“Recent presidential election and the change of government consequent to our people keeping away from the polls have created a deep political divide between the Tamil and Sinhala nations.”

“While Sinhala Budhdhism has gained momentum and supremacy in the south, Tamil homeland has seen the rise of Tamil nationalism, its stabilisation and upsurge”

“Large number of our people, though living under military occupation, they are united as one in their goal of freedom and are strongly behind us in the freedom struggle”

By ‘our people’, true to fact, Mr.Prabakaran refers to the Tamil people living in the NorthEast Tamil homeland. But the transforming ground reality dictates that all the Tamil people including those living outside NorthEast have begun to rally round the freedom struggle.

The recent meeting of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) leader Mr.Arumugam Thondaman with the Head of the LTTE Political Wing Mr.S.P.Tamilselvan in Kilinochchi, and the expression of solidarity is a pointer to this growing upsurge.

In reiterating the necessity for all the Tamil political parties to come under one umbrella towards achieving the aspirations of the Tamil people, Mr.Thondaman says “We are going to work together to ensure the Tamil people live with dignity and respect”.

This no doubt indicates the ascending pattern of Tamil nationalism and the resoluteness, a by-product of oppression. The unfolding new dimension is that the Tamil language and the nationalism attached are uniting under one umbrella all the territories where Tamil people live. This is a phenomenon that adds fuel to the escalating fury of Sinhala chauvinism. It is ‘intolerable’ for these forces.

Among many agencies that work for the consolidation and bonding of Tamil nationalistic thinking, the media, more importantly the print media has a role, a considerable role at that. Naturally, political observers predicted that the extremist forces would very soon focus their attention on the media.

The discrete ‘mantra’ preached to the new head of state to suppress Tamil national uprising is to throttle the neck of the Tamil media since that is the main source of inspiration. This seems to be ‘worrying’ the Tamil ‘politicians’ working with the government. Poor people, they can only make mention of this worry feebly within closed doors. Not outside anyway.

Military trespass into the Tamil media offices and press, Police treating media personnel and workers returning from work like criminals portend the difficult time Tamil media personnel are going to face in the days to come.

If the rulers think that they can suppress the rise and upsurge of Tamil nationalism and its justification by shutting the mouth of the media and throttling the fourth estate, it certainly would end up as daydream.

Tampering with media freedom tantamount to a red carpet welcome for disaster.

19 December 2005

Print this

Email this