"In the opinion of many monks, a decentralized political structure – for example, along federal lines – would contradict two basic tenets of Buddhist teaching: Sri Lanka as a sacred land and the Sinhala people as the protectors of Buddhism. This Sinhala Buddhist ideology is powerfully promoted by Buddhist pressure groups, which represent a numerically small yet influential part of the Sinhala electorate. The present study shows that previous peace processes in Sri Lanka have been spoiled by various Buddhist pressure groups that have opposed all attempts to devolve power and to make concessions to the ethnic minorities. Such groups are of considerable importance owing to their easy access to the privately controlled Sinhala media, and furthermore because they are organized across internal divisions within the Buddhist monastic order, the Sangha. In addition, several of the pressure groups draw their members from both monks and laypeople, and they are often associated with particular political parties..." more

1.Dr. Sangarapillai Sampanthar, United Kingdom about Benny Hinn - " I had not heard of Pastor Hinn, as he is called, until I came to Bangalore. There was a lot of coverage and advertisements about his forthcoming Festival of Blessings... One thing about prayer has always bothered me. Heaven must surely be a better place than this world and Hell a worse place, though no one to my knowledge has come back to tell us that. If that is so, why should one pray to be cured of illnesses to prolong one’s stay in this world? Should not the prayer be “Oh Lord, take me unto you as quickly as possible”? Could it be that those who pray for good health and longevity are not truly convinced that there is a better place for them to go to? Hence their desire not to want to leave the place they know for an unknown and unknowable Heaven but to want their situation here and now to be improved..." more

2. Sanmugam Sabesan from Australia on the Third Anniversary of the Ceasefire in the Island of Sri Lanka - புரிந்துணர்வு ஒப்பந்தம் தந்த “புரிந்துணர்வு” என்ன?

"..தமிழ் ஈழமக்களின் சுயநிர்ணயப் போராட்டத்தின் புறநிலைக்காரணிகளால் வடிவெடுத்த ஆயுதப்போராட்டத்தின் போரியல் பதிவுகளாக  2ம் லெப்.மாலதி படையணியின் விழுதாகி வேருமாகி என்னும் போர்க் காவியம், போரியல் பதிவுகள், தமிழ் மொழிக்கு புதியவை. போரின் நாயகர்களான போராளிகளினால் எழுதப்பட்டது என்ற புதுமை ஒருபுறம், அதுவும் பெண்கள் படை அணியின் போரியலை, போர் நிகழ்வுகளை பெண் போராளிகளே எழுதியுள்ள அற்புதம், விழுதாகி வேருமாகி என்னும் நூலாகும்...கேணல் விதுஷாவின் மொழியில் கூறுவதாயின் "வரலாற்றை ஆக்கியோரின் வரலாறு "  ஆகவும் இந்நூல் அமைகின்றது..." more

1. M.Thanapalasingham from Australia on  கௌசல்யனின் படுகொலையும், தமிழ் தேசியத்தின் முதிர்ச்சியும்

"அன்று புலேந்திரன், குமரப்பா, பின்பு கிட்டு என்னும் சகாப்தம். இன்று கௌசல்யன்... அவன் மரணம் தமிழர் தேசம், தேசியம், சுயநிர்ணயம் என்னும் தாரகமந்திரங்களின் மூச்சாகி விட்டன. இதுவரை வன்னி வந்த சர்வதேசம் இன்று கொக்கடிச்சோலைவரை வந்துவிட்டது. தமிழ் முஸ்லீம் சகோதரங்கள் விடுதலைப்புலிகளின் தியாகங்களை உள்வாங்கி நேசக்கரம் நீட்டியுள்ளனர். புலம் பெயர்ந்த அவன் உறவுகள் மேலும் உறுதிகொண்டு நிற்கின்றனர். சேக்ஸ்பியர் கூறியதுபோல்..... "....He lives, he wakes, 'tis death is dead, not he.." கௌசல்யன் வாழ்கிறான். அவன் விழிப்பான். மரணித்தது மரணமே. கௌசல்யன் அல்ல..." more

2. Arugan from Italy  - விழிகளை மூடி, விழித்துக் கொண்டிருக்கின்றது வாழ்க்கை... - audio

“Tamils and Muslims, principally by virtue of their mother tongue and historical habitation of the East with togetherness, have a commonality when it comes to sharing power and enjoying freedom with equality in this island and therefore we must make use of this opportunity of restored ancestral Tamil-Muslim affinity and solidarity that has been achieved now to strengthen the ties between the two communities” said Mr.Abdul Jawath, Vice President, Federation of Mosques and Muslim Institutions, Kattankudy in a meeting on 14 Feb 2005 with the Head of the LTTE Political Division and other senior commanders at Kokkaticholai in Batticaloa..." more

"...2004 was to me a year that was full of anxieties. I was 74 and had fallen victim to Myeloma as well; cancer of the bone marrow, the doctors said. Cancer is a word that has an unpleasant connotation to many ears, so I took comfort in the fact that it was a musical sounding affliction anyway. Besides, I seemed to have developed, among other ailments, what is known as Writer's Cramp. Having to live with constant deadlines could be agonising, but living without them, rust could settle on the mind. Life was getting torn between conflicts. There was the need to see this book in print but there were also immigration laws and visa problems to worry about. Above all, there was a compelling yearning to escape from the synthetic life of the West and its unfriendly winters. Get back to the land of your birth, said my inner self, however sordid the state of the land is. A man's life, after all, should end where it began..." more

"....I look up at the pictures on my desk, next to the computer - pictures of my grandchildren. I see the future looking back at me from those photographs and I say, "Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do." And then I am stopped short by the thought: "That's not right. We do know what we are doing..." Bill Moyers in No Tomorrow  more

Elite Formation in 19th Century South India - An Interpretative Analysis - Robert Eric Frykenberg "Colloquial English 'for polite discourse and social mixing' became a mark of social standing among emerging elite groups..  Madras Presidency, oldest of the Company presidencies in India, gained a reputation for corruptness and for being 'different'. This was a stigma which was never quite erased. ...As she expanded from a coastal enclave into a vast territory of 132,000 square miles, twenty huge districts stretching across the peninsula...she evolved her own Anglo-Indian social order. The extent of indigenous participation in the conquest and dominion of the (East India) Company is often forgotten..."more

Tribute at 7th Tamil Internet Conference, Singapore, December 2004  - நா.கோவிந்தசாமி என்ற முன்னோடி" உலகில் ஆங்கிலத்துக்கு அடுத்தபடியாக தமிழ்மொழியில் தான் அதிக அளவில் இணையத் தளங்கள். மனம் குதூகலிக்கிறது. இணையத்தில் முதலில் தமிழை வலம் வரச் செய்த பெருமை யாருக்குரியது தெரியுமா? தமிழை இணையத்தில் உதிக்க வைத்த பெருமை, சிங்கப்பூருக்குரியது. தமிழர்கள் வாழும் பல நாடுகளுக்குக் கிடைக்காத பெருமை சிங்கப்பூருக்குக் கிடைக்கக் காரணமாயிருந்தவரை இணைய உலகில் வலம் வரும் எவரும் மறந்துவிட முடியாது.  அவர் - அமரர். நா.கோவிந்தசாமி!..more

 ".. Beginning in the mid-1950s Sri Lanka's politicians from the majority Sinhalese community resorted to ethnic outbidding as a means to attain power and in doing so systematically marginalised the country's minority Tamils... parties in power seek to promote dubious conflict resolution only to be checkmated by the respective opposition which typically claims that the proposed solutions are bound to eventually dismember the island. This has especially been evident in the past decade as the Bandaranaikes' daughter, President Chandrika Kumaratunga. has tried to accommodate some Tamil demands when the coalition she leads has had a majority in parliament but then sings a different tune when her opponents control parliament. .." more