Split Among Tamil Nationalists

The battlefield of the forthcoming election is reverberating with words such as 'historic blunder', 'historic obligation', 'historic betrayal etc. In all 22 districts including that of the North and the East an augmented number of candidates are contesting this time. The 'Swan' that was moving on the water during the presidential election period now has turned into a 'trophy' and the Sinhalese people will decide whether this 'trophy' should win or lose.

In the meantime, keeping the names of various political groups contesting the election in mind would be tedious for even journalists let alone the general public. A political alliance could be formed with relative ease by coining a name using words such as 'democracy', 'national freedom', 'united', 'freedom' etc.

Deviating From Basic Principles
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) established jointly by Sivajilingam and Sri Kantha is an example for this. The Democratic National Alliance headed by General Sarath Fonseka, the United National Front led by the United National Party and the United People's Freedom Alliance of Mahinda Rajapaksa are few more examples for this juggling of words to create party names.

At the same time, it is seen that a 'peaceful war' is about to trigger in the North and the East as nominations have not been given to S. Gajendran and Padmini Sithambaranathan, who had received highest numbers of votes in the region at the last parliamentary election. These two have joined Ponnambalam's All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) in retaliation. This group argues that the TNA is deviating from the basic principles of 'Two Nations' and Sovereignty for Tamil ethnicity.

Here, the question arises whether they would have raised this issue of principals if they had been offered TNA nomination to contest the election. There is an apt Tamil adage in relation to this situation which means 'it is the exorcist who gains when the village is disunited.'

It is significantly seen that these 'nomination wars' are being fought mainly targeting Jaffna. Also, the withdrawal of ACTC from the contest in Amparai and Batticaloa districts harshly criticizing the TNA should be taken into account. Meanwhile, the news that a branch of the TNA is to be opened in New Delhi has attracted more attention. This has ignited accusations that the TNA is working according to the agenda of India.

Former TNA MP Suresh Premachandran responding to a similar blame during a radio interview in Canada regarding their activities in relation to the stance of the Indian Government said they are not willing to accept whatever solution thrust upon them by India or by Sinhalese rulers. He had reminded the fact at this interview that they had not willingly accepted the provincial council solution forced on them through an India-Sri Lanka Accord.

Effect on Tamil Community
In another instance, remarks made to the same Canadian radio station by R. Sampanthan, the former parliamentary group leader of the TNA created lot of controversy among the expatriate Tamils. Sampanthan had said the TNA would not work according the agenda of India, but it could not work ignoring the Indian stance either.

If Sampanthan believes it is not possible to win a unified motherland and sovereignty for the Tamils without the help of India, he should explain to the Tamil masses how India is going to pressure the Sinhalese rulers to grant these legitimate, political rights for Tamils. At a time where the Tamil people have considerably lost their faith in India, the assurances and beliefs of this nature expressed by Sampanthan would have no positive effect on the Tamil community.

Tamils would have placed minimal trust in India, if recommendations were made to the Government of Sri Lanka to relocate the construction of the thermal power plant project away from east Muttur. If that move had been made by India, over 45,000 Tamil families could have been resettled in their original lands.

Moreover, the scars of the painful memory that India did not come for their rescue at the Mullivellivaikkal killings, at the last stage of the war, is deeply embedded in the hearts of Tamils. They were hurt more when it was speculated India in fact supported this particular attack. Therefore, the skepticism of the Tamils over India's bona fides in relation to Tamil interests cannot be dismissed easily as this fear cannot be termed as baseless.

Participate in GTF
Within the new world order, transformations that are taking place in the Asian theater of politics, the role of India could be reinforced only with patronage of the Western world. The participation of prominent British figures in the recent Global Tamil Forum (GTF) conference held in London also can be taken as an indication of West's approval over recent moves of India.

Generally, ruling and opposition parties join only on issues that have national significance. Apart from this, rivalry crops up on occasions of facing problems including foreign policies. They might stand in unison in order to represent a particular stance, but would hold different notions on any such shared view to make sure that their majority vote banks is not affected.

Therefore, it can be reasonably said that the British parliamentary election coming up in the middle of this year and the power struggle taking place in Asia among superpower 'wannabes' could have been the main ingredients that brought prominent British political figures from both the ruling and opposition parties to participate in the GTF. At the same time, the Tamil Diaspora should understand that the western world would not move an inch away from the issues of regional interests of India.

It was reported that a parliamentarian of South Africa, who had congratulated and hailed the Sinhalese rulers for defeating terrorism in Sri Lanka had also participated in the London conference. Meanwhile, British Foreign Minister David Miliband had sung the old 'international sonnet' on how Tamils should join with all the communities to make a collective decision on arriving at a solution to the Tamil problem.

Stern Resolutions
'Vaddukoddai Declaration' and the eventual armed struggle were waged because the resolutions proposed by the Tamils were torn to pieces by Sinhalese rulers. Talks to resolve the problem had to be facilitated by Norway, because Tamils knew that Sinhalese rulers would never pave way for any just solution. Prior to that, talks were held in Thimpu with the backing of India.

The prescription Miliband has put forward only affirms the 'impotency' of the western world in relation to Asian affairs. The Sinhalese leaders managed to diplomatically diffuse all stern resolutions made directly and indirectly at the UN Security Council as well as at the Human Rights Council.

Therefore, the reality is that the pressures applied on Sri Lanka by the western world would be parallel to the moves of India. In-depth factors pointing to this development can be observed in the recent report issued by the International Crisis Group. In this backdrop, the moves that are being made in relation to the upcoming general election should be carefully assessed.

A formidable strategy is underway in the present political context to beleaguer the TNA. Several pro-government parties and opposition parties of the South and a number of independent groups have hurled themselves into the election battlefield against the TNA with the support of defectors.

Assessment
This has created the impression that nationalist hard-liners and conservatives among the Tamils are locking horns. But it is the communal majority who will eventually be benefited from all these rivalries among Tamil parties. Votes will be divided and the end result would be that each Tamil candidate will gain only a small number of votes.

These splits will lead to yet another dangerous political atmosphere where the Sinhalese people would be successful in creating a Tamil speaking group that is loyal to the government. The statement President Mahinda Rajapaksa recently made that he would discuss with the Tamil leadership regarding a solution to the ethnic issue, apparently points to this potential development.

Vietnam's Human Rights Plot To Incite Dissent

Lately, with the backing from ill-intentioned toward Vietnam of some foreign political circles and international organizations, Vietnamese expatriate reactionary organizations and hostile forces have extensively made use of the democracy and human rights issues to increase their sabotage activities against the Vietnamese state with the aim to create an impact for a change to pluralism, multiparty political system and gradually working towards the abolition of the leadership role of the Communist Party and the socialist regime in our country.In implementing their target to "stir up" the opposing atmosphere against the Vietnamese state both in the country and overseas, the expatriate reactionary elements are colluding with a number of local political dissidents to expedite propaganda activities by falsely accusing that Vietnam "violates democracy, human rights and represses religious freedom". Leading reactionary organizations such as "Viet Tan", "Committee for the protection of journalists", "Reporters Without Frontiers" and so on have launched a campaign to propagate a program named "The enemies of the internet" on the occasion of the "World Day Against Cyber Censorship" in order to draw public attention to the distorted tones that the Vietnamese government continuously conducts monitoring and repressive actions on the cyber space and forbids "political dissidents" to write blogs on the internet. They also called upon the three world biggest internet services providers, i.e. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft "not to lend a hand to the Vietnamese Government to control the internet".

Freedom of Religion and Infringes

Nguyen Thi Tram Oanh (Germany) regularly keeps contact with and incites those dragging and extremist protesters whom they called "grieved people" in Danang city to provide information, documents on the so-called local government repression of mass protests so she can introduce to the international public opinion. Bao Khanh, a reporter of the "Vietnam Sydney Radio" in Australia, regularly get in touch through "interviews" with domestic dissident elements such as Nguyen Khac Toan, Tran Anh Kim, Le Thanh Tung, Vi Duc Hoi, Tran Khai Thanh Thuy and others to urge them to collect and provide information or documents that they call "evidences" asserting that the Vietnamese government represses freedom of religion and infringes on human rights. Their sole purpose is to diffuse propaganda activities against Vietnam.These subjects also lobby foreign political circles and international organizations to step up interventions and pressures on Vietnam with regard to democracy and human rights issues with a view to interfere with the juridical reform and global integration process through which they hope to gradually transform the Vietnamese political regime in a way suitable for their interests. With the familiar themes of accusations of infringement upon democracy and human rights, they recommend the American politicians to reinstate Vietnam in the list of countries of particular concern for religious freedom (CPC) and to pass the "Vietnam Human Rights Act 2009-S1159". Some individuals and reactionary organizations have gone as far as to recommend increased pressure and promulgation of new "act", "draft law" and "resolution" to force the Vietnamese government to "implement freedom of speech, to loosen control of internet, to give fair treatment to ethnic minorities and to recognize and protect a number of reactionary organizations and individuals in the country.In order to bypass the Vietnamese relevant agencies inspection that will unmask their real motivation and scheme, these reactionary individuals and organization resort to the old trick of transferring money under the cover of international awards for human rights or payment of "royal ties" to give financial support or encouragement to their local partners. At the beginning of 2009, they lobbied the "International Human Right Watchdog" to present the "2008 Human Rights Award" to a number of domestic activists with awards totaling $ 12,000. A numb er of repor ters from reactionary newspapers and radio networks regularly send "royalties" to more than 20 dissidents in the country for answering their interviews or supplying articles with reactionary content which will be used as propaganda materials against Vietnam. The leaders of "Viet Tan" in Houston, USA are promoting the sending of "Tet gifts" to "democratics" in the country to encourage them "to be more enthusiastic" in their protest activities.

Hostile and Reactionary Forces

Whatever cunning or slandering tones that these hostile and reactionary forces may use, they cannot refute the truth that the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam always regards human beings as the target and motivation of all socio-economic development policies; it always guarantees and promotes all human rights. The 1992 Constitution of Vietnam guarantees that all citizens have equal rights in political, economic, civic and before the law; they have the right to participate in the administration of the State and management of the society; the right to religious freedom; the right to free movement and residence within the country; the right to lodge complaints and denunciations; the right to work, to study, to health care, etc... regardless of their gender, race or religion. On the foundation of the Constitution, Vietnamese law continues to concretize all these rights in accordance with international legal standards on human rights.The implementation of the "Comprehensive strategy for growth and hunger eradication and poverty alleviation" promulgated by the Vietnamese government in May 2002 within the context of the Socio-Economic Development Strategy for the period 2001-2010 has contributed to bring down the rate of poor households (by national poverty criteria) from 58.1 percent in 1993 to 14.82 percent in 2007 and has made Vietnam as one of the few first countries to attain the millennium goal. All development policies of Vietnam always take human people as the center; economic development is for human people with economic growth linked to progress and social equality assurance and must go together with cultural, educational and intellectual development and environment protection and improvement.

Major International Conventions

Vietnam has joined most of the major international conventions on human rights and always supports the activities of the Human Rights Council and fully cooperates with the United Nations human rights institutions. International friends have all acknowledged that Vietnam has in fact attained many achievements on the promotion of human rights, especially the civil and political rights and the rights of the easily hurt groups. We have and are combining with harmony the general value of human rights with the particular conditions of the country while strengthening international cooperation and open dialogue in the field of human rights. The awareness and capacity of the people are being raised so they can fully enjoy these rights.Our Party and State always assert that human rights cannot be separated from national independence and sovereignty. Through indomitable and resilient struggle spanning over many centuries, the Vietnamese people have asserted the most sacred and basic human right is to live in an independent and free country and be able to decide one's own destiny.Along with the implementation of the State's consistent policies to guarantee and promote human rights, the Vietnamese relevant agencies have taken the initiative to unmask individuals and organizations that exploit democracy, human rights issues to work against the Vietnamese state, thus contributing to the safeguarding of national security, political and social stability. However, the stratagem of the reactionary forces to take advantage of the democracy and human rights issues to tarnish the image of the state and to abolish the socialist regime in Vietnam never ceases to diminish, not to say it will increases in the time to come.

Human Rights Situation

Together with heightened vigilance to timely unmask and neutralize all new schemes and cunnings of reactionary expatriate elements , we need to extensively exploit and make use of the services of the internet and other mass media means to step up propaganda work so that the public, the foreign political circles, the members of international organizations and our overseas compatriots can understand the real nature and achievements with regard to human rights in our country and gradually shrug off their mistaken view and suspicion of the democracy and human rights situation in Vietnam before the slandering and distorted tones.
All relevant agencies, departments and branches should take the initiative to provide counsel and formulating of propaganda strategy on democracy and human rights issues and to carry out regular exchanges of information with foreign embassies to fence off the distorted information on these issues that the reactionary expatriate organizations are trying to provide to foreign political circles, national assemblies. Our policy is to promote diplomatic campaigns by unmasking the sabotaging nature of these reactionary forces against the Vietnamese state and by requesting foreign politicians, governments and international organizations not to shelter, tolerate and support these expatriate reactionary individuals and organizations plotting against the Vietnamese state.