Chief
Executive Officer,
SBS,
Locked
Bag 028, CROWS NEST, NSW 1585
Dear
Sir/Madam,
Re:
SBS Dateline program on Oct 4, 2000 – Behind the Tamil Tigers
A
sizeable sector of the Tamil community have discussed and unequivocally
agreed upon the need to impress upon you the despicable and unprofessional
nature of the above-mentioned program.
Quite
simply, the nature of questioning and the time allocated for various people
on the program, would have indicated biased reporting even to people most
ignorant of the situation in Sri Lanka. What was even more unethical and
provocative was the unjustified and illogical insinuations about involvement
of Tamil citizens, organizations and Federal MPs in various countries to
support terrorism in Sri Lanka.
The
first fact we would beg you to be clear about is your statement that “On
one hand is the Sri Lankan Government, which has sacrificed some 60,000
lives thus far to keep the country together”. We do not believe there is
any source of information anywhere whereby even the Sri Lankan government
itself claims to have sacrificed 60,000 lives to keep the country together.
Instead, I believe that many Tamil parties claim that 60,000 is the approximate
number of Tamils who have died as a result of the many atrocities perpetrated
by the Government forces, its Tamil allies (in recent times) and the IPKF.
Is this another good example of how media can twist facts around to report
in favour of whatever it is trying to sensationalise??
SBS
reporters seem to have gone to a great extent (travelled worldwide) to
request certain spokespeople (some claimed to be experts or authorities)
to substantiate various claims in the Dateline report. In case your reporters
are unaware, the Internet is a useful tool to use to research matters worldwide
without even having to step out of the office. I am afraid we have to seriously
question the credibility, integrity & rationality of your reporters
and some of the interviewees.
Dayan
Jayatilleke was one interviewee who made some outrageous remarks. In an
article written in the Times of India on 23rd May 2000 (http://timesofindia.com/230500/23worl8.htm),
Dayan Jayatilleke suggests "There is no valid reason to take the Sri Lankan
problem to the UN. There is no mass scale refugee crisis in the North and
civilians in the peninsula are being provided with essentials regularly"(1).
If we are to accept Dayan Jayatilleke to be a reliable source of information
on the issues raised in the Dateline program, we have to believe what he’s
suggested in the Times of India article about the non-existence of mass
refugees in the North of Sri Lanka. Then I beg you to tell us what numerous
aid organizations like the Red-Cross, MSF, UNHCR etc are doing in the North-East
of Sri Lanka. Why did 14 US congressmen write to the Sri Lankan President
expressing their concern for at least 150,000 (as indicated by International
aid workers) people who have been displaced from their homes recently (http://www.sangam.org/NEWSEXTRA/Capuano600.htm)
(2). On the other hand if you think there is some truth in claims by groups
worldwide about the large-scale refugee situation in Sri Lanka, then Dayan
Jayatilleke is either ignorant of the situation or is just a blatant liar.
So how much value can we attach to Dayan’s comments in the Dateline report??
Further,
in an article in the Sunday Times of 1st June 1997, there is
mention of Dayan Jayatilleke having been known by a different name (Anuruddha
Tilakasiri) in the Premadasa era (3). This could well prompt one to further
question the credibility of Dayan Jayatilleke.
Dr
Rohan Gunaratna is a wellknown advocate
of a total military solution to the Tamil problem. He has also made claims
in the past about the LTTE which are unsubstantiated, as deduced by Professor
Margaret Trawick (http://www.frontlineonline.com/fl1704/17041180.htm)
from New Zealand(4). We also wonder how he came up with this idea that
every working Sri Lankan Tamil is taxed 300 British sterling pounds per
year to support the LTTE. Why did your reporter not try and verify his
allegation by surveying a sample of people in the UK about this matter?
Could it be because the reporter did not have the sense to do it? Maybe
he did it and found the statement by Rohan Gunaratna to be untrue, and
decided not to show it? Maybe your reporter wasn’t interested in the truth
of the matter?
There
was a point in the program where the SBS reporter went on to say “So here
is this Australian doctor who’s received honours from the leader of the
Tamil Tigers also accumulating an Order of Australia”. Dr Rohan Gunaratna
responds “Absolutely. So I believe that the Australian government was naïve
in presenting this Order to Dr Elizier”. Both the reporter and Dr Rohan
Gunaratna go further to make an issue of the Australian Honours Committee
and the vetting process. Whether it was proper or not for Dr.Elizier to
accept the Maamanithar Award from the LTTE is a matter which can be debated
at length. One of the reasons that many of us have accepted this country
is because of the FREEDOM to maintain our political beliefs while being
acknowledged for our talent or commitment to the community. But simply
for the purpose of analysing this issue further lets assume the worse case
scenario that it was improper for him to accept the award from the LTTE.
It simply belies logic to think that neither the reporter nor Dr Rohan
Gunaratna had the sense to first inquire as to which event happened first,
the awarding of the Order of Australia or receiving the honours from the
leader of the Tamil Tigers. For your information the Order of Australia
was awarded to Dr.Eliezer in 1996 and the "Maamanithar" Award was bestowed
in 1997 (info found easily on the Internet). Is the Australian Honours
Committee supposed to be able to see into the future before honouring its
respectable citizens with awards, or was there intention to misrepresent
the facts and hence malign the Australian Honours Committee? Can you see
from this that Dr Rohan Gunaratna is certainly not a sensible person to
call upon to give testimony or rationalised opinions on various claims
in the Dateline program, especially about the vetting process of the Australian
Honours Committee? Again, we beg of you to look into the capabilities and
integrity of your reporter. Either your reporter did not even think of
checking the sequence in which Dr.Eliezer received his awards, or he/she
intentionally attempted to misinform the viewers about this issue. This
misreporting has caused an awful lot of damage to the credibility of the
Australian Honours Committee. It further leads one to question what other
facts in this program may have been misreported by a simplistic-minded
reporter, or one who simply lacks integrity.
Stewart
Bell, a Canadian journalist interviewed, suggested in the interview that
the Liberal party in Canada is afraid of taking on any issue which might
be perceived as anti-ethnic. But does Stewart Bell have the broad-mindedness
to think that maybe the Liberal Party is sympathetic and really believes,
as do many other people and governments around the world (primarily those
who’ve undergone some form of liberation struggle) that there is some justice
behind the aspirations of the Tamils in seeking an independent homeland;
that there is some justice behind Tamil people feeling discriminated in
their own land; and that the Canadian government is justified in giving
refuge to Tamils who flee the land from fear of losing their lives at the
hands of the Sri Lankan government forces and its allies in the North-East.
John
Thompson, Director of the Mackenzie Institute, was another person interviewed
by SBS for his appraisal of the LTTE. However, please note that John Thompson
created some furor in Canada recently by his comments about ethnic Tamils
and their supposed activities to support the terrorist movement. Attached
below is some Internet resources we’ve managed to collate about the controversial
comments by John Thompson(5), including one that Tamil women in Canada
are forced into prostitution to support the LTTE. The events that followed
as a result of his comments and his withdrawal of some of his allegations
certainly make us question his credibility. Could he not be another John
Laws making comments for cash???
During
the interviews conducted for the program there was constant reference by
the reporter that the CSIS (Canadian Secret Intelligence Service) has identified
the TRO (Tamils Rehabilitation Organization) to be a front organization
for the Tamil Tigers. However, as far as we are aware there is no document
produced by the CSIS (http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/) which categorically
states that the TRO is used by the Tamil Tigers to draw funds for its terrorist
activities. Can you tell us how your reporter came up with this allegation?
In
the Dateline program, there is constant reference to the LTTE as terrorists.
In this country now there is talk about reconciliation and apology for
the stolen generation. I guess the establishment is feeling sorry about
the atrocities that it had brought about upon the Aborigines in the past.
Recently, in East Timor many civilians had been tortured and murdered by
the Indonesians while the UN could only stand by and watch, not being able
to do anything for sometime. There has been substantial evidence unearthed
in Sri Lanka about the discrimination & harm brought upon the Tamil
people by government forces, including the findings of mass graves. Why
has there not been any action by the Australian government to condemn such
atrocities? Are the Tamils not supposed to fight back to defend themselves,
and just accept whatever harm befalls them? In view of the harm brought
upon the hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians, who are the terrorists
of the higher order, the LTTE or the government forces??? Are you keen
to look at the entire situation in Sri Lanka, or just look at one side
of the coin?
We
hope that in future SBS will be more professional in its approach to reporting
on such matters rather than over-sensationalising just one aspect of any
issue. We also hope that you will improve on the quality of your reporting
by :-
1)improving
on the calibre of your personnel who carry out such investigative reports,
2)researching
the credibility and integrity of various people (so-called experts and
authorities) you choose to interview on your program,
3)allocating
time appropriately and in an unbiased manner to unearth as many views as
possible on any issue,
4)being
sensitive to ethnic, cultural and religious practices, values and feelings
of people in this country,
5)being
wary of labelling groups and organizations as being something or other
which is very offensive to people.
Yours
truly,
Devendran
Dharmaratnam
************************************************************************
1.http://timesofindia.com/230500/23worl8.htm
Tuesday
23 May 2000
Majority
of Lankans say no to foreign intervention
By
Charu Lata Joshi
The
Times of India News Service
COLOMBO:
Is security a cooperative and collective issue
or
should it be the sole prerogative of a sovereign state?
The
old question of national sovereignty versus the role of
international
bodies has cropped up once again in the
context
of Sri Lanka. If the Sri Lankan government has
been
unable to negotiate a political settlement with the
Tamils,
does an outside power have the right to intervene?
……………..
The
bid to protect Sri Lanka from "outside control" enjoys
support
across political lines. "There is no valid reason to
take
the Sri Lankan problem to the UN. There is no mass
scale
refugee crisis in the North and civilians in the peninsula
are
being provided with essentials regularly," says former
North
East Provincial Council Minister Dayan Jayatilleke.
……………..
"Finally,
these problems are our own, between the
Sinhalese
and Tamils, which belong to one country. They
are
not the concern of foreign powers," asserts S
Thavarajah,
a member of Parliament from Eelam People's
Democratic
Party (EPDP). But clearly, as both the ongoing
blood-bath
in Jaffna and the moves by the Tigers to
internationalize
the issue show, the LTTE, does not quite
agree.
************************************************************************
2.
http://www.sangam.org/NEWSEXTRA/Capuano600.htm
Congress
of the United States
Washington
DC 20515
June
29, 2000
Her
Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
President
of The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Temple
Trees
Colombo
3,Sri Lanka
Dear
Madam President:
We
are writing to express our concern for the refugees who are trapped within
the Jaffna Peninsula amid fighting between government forces and the Tamil
guerrillas. We ask that the government of Sri Lanka wake every effort to
secure the safety of these refugees.
Since
the escalation of the conflict between the Sri Lankan authorities and the
Tamil guerrillas in 1995, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced
within Sri Lanka. Nearly 75% of persons internally displaced in Sri Lanka
are women and children.
Due
to the most recent outbreak of violence, we have heard reports that the
number of refugees in northern Sri Lanka has doubled to more than 16,000
in the past few weeks. Moreover, International aid workers estimate that
the war has driven 150,000 people from their homes. Many residents of the
Jaffna peninsula have sought shelter in temples, mosques and churches,
but basic necessities like food and medicine are in short supply. Telephone
lines to the peninsula have been cut, and journalists are prohibited from
travelling to the battle zone, making it difficult to assess how devastating
the impact has been on the civilian population. Furthermore, there are
reports that civilians have been killed by artillery fire and bombings.
We
are particularly impressed with the role the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
has played in advocating for the protection of basic rights and the delivery
of humanitarian assistance in Sri Lanka, and we hope that these two impartial
organizations can play a greater role in securing the safety of the Jaffna
refugees.
While
we respect your government’s sovereignty to handle internal conflicts and
preserve national security, we request that the Sri Lankan government do
everything within its power to permit international aid agencies (specifically
UNHCR and ICRC) to help innocent civilians in the Jaffna Peninsula trapped
between government troops and rebels move to safer areas to be determined
by UNHCR and the ICRC.
We
thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
***********************************************************************
3.http://www.lacnet.org/suntimes/970601/rajpal.html
1st
June 1997
What
has Laurent Kabila got to do with the Lanka Guardian?
By
Rajpal Abeynayake
If
Lauren Kabila’s takeover in Congo was a “capitalist revolution” there must
be something for Dayan Jayatilleke to be happy about. Dayan is currently
the Editor of the Lanka Guardian, founded by his father, senior-journalist
Mervyn De Silva.
For
those with short memories, Jayatilleke was better known as Anuruddha Tilakasiri
during the Premadasa era, when he wrote a regular column for the Observer
taking on most of Premadasa’s many pugnacious detractors.
Now, Jayatilleke has metamorphosed into Editor, turning the Lanka Guardian
into a magazine that is largely a reflection of the Editor’s convictions.
………………………
*****************************************************************************
4.http://www.frontlineonline.com/fl1704/17041180.htm
Volume
17 - Issue 04, Feb. 19 - Mar. 03, 2000
India's
National Magazine on indiaserver.com
from
the publishers of THE HINDU
Strategic
equations
This
has reference to the Cover Story ("Strategic games", February 18). Without
making sufficient diplomatic efforts, India requested the United States
to declare Pakistan a terrorist state. It was not a correct approach. In
his final year in office, Pre sident Bill Clinton is not going to leave
a dissatisfied Pakistan for his successor to handle. And the U.S. will
not squander the immense advantage it gained in South Asia in the past
50 years by cultivating Pakistan.
…………………
To
address the problems presented by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), one must first offer a realistic assessment of the organisation,
its capabilities, and its causes. Secondly, one must offer a realistic
proposal, or set of proposals, to solve what Sri Lankans euphemistically
call "the problems".
In
his article in Frontline, "The LTTE and suicide terrorism" (February 18),
Rohan Gunaratna achieves neither task. Gunaratna alleges that "suicide
terrorism" a.k.a "the suicide bomb syndrome" poses a significant threat
to national and international security. He further states that "in South
Asia, the LTTE is the only suicide-capable group". He calls suicide bombing
a "lethally accurate tactic". He says that the "mindset of the LTTE suicide
bomber" is different from that of suicide bombers in other parts of the
world. And he creates an image of the "suicide body suit" as a technologically
sophisticated device.
Each
of these claims is either unsubstantiated or untrue.
To
create a suicide-bomber, one needs only two things: (a) a determinedly
suicidal person, and (b) a home-made bomb. Entities belonging to category
(a) are sadly abundant throughout South Asia, especially in Sri Lanka.
Entities belonging to category (b) can be constructed by anyone who knows
basic electronics and has access to explosives. Like any bomb, a "suicide
bomb" is lethal, but it is not outstandingly accurate. Most attempted suicide
bombings fail to achieve their mission. This is because the bomber cannot
take aim and must make a last-minute decision to detonate the bomb, often
in chaotic conditions. Moreover, being inexpertly made, such bombs tend
to go off by accident. All too commonly, young LTTE cadres blow themselves
up in the process of constructing bombs, or while engaged in tasks as relatively
trivial as trying to disable transformers. This pattern is a tragic waste
of life, as is warfare generally, but it is not much more of a threat to
the world than children playing with matches. Expertly manufactured weapons,
developed and sold by rich companies, are infinitely more dangerous.
Gunaratna
acknowledges that the "bulk" of suicide bombers come from impoverished
places such as northeastern Sri Lanka. Persecuted ethnic minorities seeking
freedom from persecution are hotbeds of suicide-bomber formation, he almost
says. But he stops short of drawing the obvious conclusions.
To
reduce the incidence of suicide bombing, one must reduce the incidence
of suicidal people. This does not mean killing those people or locking
them up. It means leaving them with reasons to live. Reducing the quantity
of explosive devices at large would probably also help.
Margaret
Trawick
New
Zealand
5.
Jan
30, 2000
How
Canada funds terrorism
Mackenzie
Institute boss Thompson gives
lowdown
on ...
By
DAVID QUIGLEY -- Sun Media
Profits
from drug trafficking, welfare scams, credit card fraud and other organized
crime plaguing Canada are sustaining political insurgencies around the
globe.
And
Canada is ill-equipped to fight the scourge that annually costs the country's
taxpayers millions of dollars, says John Thompson, director of the Toronto-based
Mackenzie Institute, an independent think-tank specializing in researching
organized violence and political instability.
He
said guerrilla and terrorist groups turned to organized crime for funding
when they lost a major sponsor with the demise of the Soviet Union.
"That's
the only source for money now. That's been the big change," he said.
While
agencies such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Immigration
Canada and police forces are staffed by competent people, "all of them
are under-funded, all of them are overworked and resources are tight almost
all across the board," he said.
The
group most studied by the Mackenzie Institute is the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam of Sri Lanka, which has been fighting for a separate homeland
for minority Tamils in the country's north and east since 1983.
Thompson,
who estimates 30,000 of the 180,000 Tamils in Canada are here illegally,
said endemic welfare fraud and forcing Sri Lankan women into prostitution
are schemes used to raise money for the fight back home.
……………………
*****************************************************************************
From:
<anonymous>
X-Sender:
04188886@log3.in.utoronto.ca
To:
cantyd@lists.tao.ca
Subject:Mackenzie
Institute.
Date: Tue,
1 Feb 2000 02:05:48 -0500
Sender:
worker-cantyd@lists.tao.ca
Reply-To:
cantyd@lists.tao.ca
The
so called Mackenzie Institute is a just a mail-box on King street in down
town. There is no Think-tank. Words such as "institute" and "think-tank"
capture people's mind very easily and they make people think as they were
kind of firms run by academics. Mackenzie Institute is a part of a public
relation firm based in U.K. You pay money, then, they publish stories around
the globe. That has nothing to do with facts. Sri-lankan government has
been paying five hundred thousand US every 6 months to this PR firm to
spread it's version of truth to the world.
A well known Tamil reporter, based in Toronto, is behind the spinning when
it comes to Tamils in Canada. Now, Mr.Suresh Manikavasagam's story is making
news again in Canadain press. Therefore, the Sri-Lankan government wants
to gain mile-age by creating hoax stories about Tamils. We should expect
more tales in the comming days!
<Anonymous.>
******************************************************************************
From:
<anonymous>
X-Sender:
04188886@log3.in.utoronto.ca
To:
cantyd@tao.ca
cc:
cutsu@topica.com
Subject:Tamils
denounce Sun
Date: Sun,
13 Feb 2000 05:43:08 -0500
Sender:
worker-cantyd@lists.tao.ca
Reply-To:
cantyd@lists.tao.ca
Feb
13, 2000
Tamils
denounce Sun
650
angered by story alleging civil war financed by
crime
By
DICK CHAPMAN -- Toronto Sun
Members
of Ontario's Tamil communities held a loud but peaceful rally outside The
Toronto Sun yesterday to protest a Sun Media report alleging Canadian Tamils'
crime is funding international insurgencies.
About
650 protesters, some carrying banners reading "Think Before You Ink" and
accusing Sun Media of racism, chanted slogans and heard speeches denouncing
the newspaper chain.
Rally
organizers were allowed into the building's lobby to present a petition
bearing more than 3,000 signatures.
It
condemns Sun Media's reporting of Tamil issues and demands a "sincere apology
... featured prominently."
"Frankly,
I don't blame them for being upset," Mike Strobel, The Toronto Sun's editor-in-chief,
said yesterday. "The (Jan. 30) article quoted some provocative comments
by the Mackenzie Institute.
"The
vast majority of Canadian Tamils are law-abiding, and we're sorry if that
wasn't made clear.
"They've
made their point in a peaceful way and we'll be meeting this week to air
things further."
'BLATANTLY
RACIST'
Gary
Anandasangaree of the Canadian Tamil Youth Development Centre said 55 organizations
joined in the rally.
"We
will not tolerate the type of discriminatory, blatantly racist --in our
opinion -- articles that you have written against our community in the
past and also against other visible and ethnic minority communities in
Canada," Anandasangaree told Toronto Sun assistant city editor Tony Poland,
who received the petition on behalf of Strobel.
"We
are here in anger but we're not here to do any wrong acts or any violent
acts," said Kethees Balasintham, president of the University of Waterloo
Tamil Students Association.
Balasintham
and Anandasabgaree said they want assurances that discriminatory articles
will not be published in the future.
Other
Tamil student associations from the University of Toronto, York University,
universities in Windsor and Ottawa, Seneca College, Centennial College
and some high schools were represented at the rally, organizers said.
The
flashpoint for the protest rally was a Jan. 30 Sunday Sun report by Edmonton-based
Sun Media writer David Quigley.
In
the article, John Thompson, director of the Toronto-based Mackenzie Institute,
estimated 30,000 of the 180,000 Tamils in Canada are here illegally and
that drug trafficking, welfare scams and credit card fraud by Tamils in
Canada are funding political insurgencies around the world.
PROSTITUTION
ALLEGED
Thompson
was quoted as saying Canadian Tamils have forced Sri Lankan women into
prostitution to fund insurgency.
The
article sparked outrage among Canada's Tamils. Thompson later issued a
denial of the prostitution allegation. But he also reiterated: "Tamil Tigers
and their supporters do engage in illegal fundraising activities in Canada."
Father
J. Francis Xavier of the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils
later wrote to The Toronto Sun, stating Tamil Tigers have only been able
to resist the "genocidal war" waged by the Sri Lankan government for 17
years due to the support of Tamils "both inside and outside Tamil Eelam."