This is a long overdue Movement – not just for Peace in Sri Lanka, but for Peace with Justice. There can be no Peace without Justice, and no Justice without Resistance. What has to be resisted is injustice, an attempt to settle a political problem by military might, the decimation of a people, the Tamil people in the North and East, abysmally poor governance which is resulting in grinding poverty in the Sinhalese South, and the  wrecking of the economy, sending the country to a ‘Failed State’.

I have no political interests though I come from a highly political family. My father is from the Bandaranaike family, one that has done more to wreck Sri Lanka than any other. My mother is the brother of Edmund Samarakkody who showed what political integrity was all about.

It is of no concern to me who runs Sri Lanka as long as it is run in a competent, just and equitable way, without violating the basic human rights of its people, and a devastation of the economy, sending a country with a bright future to one with no future, from the Pearl of the Indian Ocean to the Killing Field of Asia. My concerns are entirely humanitarian driven by a passion for justice and fair play. I was forced to leave a country I love, by politicians dressed in academic garb, telling me that with the views I held, there was no place for me in Sri Lanka.

I am a Sinhalese who supports the right of the Tamil people to exist with dignity, equality and safety in the country of their birth. I stand with my Tamil people. and have done so for five decades     This is not an issue where one can have an unbiased stance. Either one is with the oppressor or the oppressed.   If this makes me a Sinhalese traitor, so be it. I will charge that those who are sending Sri Lanka towards destruction are the real traitors.

I am a Christian whose mother was a devout Buddhist. As a half-Buddhist, I am outraged at followers of one of the greatest teachers of Peace and non-violence the world has ever known, demanding murder, bloodshed and war, defaming one of the world’s great religions. A revival of Buddhism is overdue.

Despite being born to a capitalist family, I have always supported the working class and the downtrodden. I am aghast to see political opportunists, self-styled ‘Marxists, whose activities have brought so much suffering to the rural poor and the downtrodden. They are a disgrace to the Left and should be seen for what they are, not what they claim to be. A revival of the Left is overdue.

Political leadership has been abysmal, and deteriorating rapidly. There is a widespread belief that what exists in Sri Lanka is an ethnic crisis, a humanitarian crisis, an economic crisis etc. While all this is true, the fundamental problem, and one that has existed since Independence some 58 years ago, is a crisis in leadership. What the Sinhalese have lacked are statesmen and people of vision who could build a united country. What they have had are politicians, with neither vision nor integrity.  I hope that new Movement will provide this leadership, and hope even more, that the Sinhala people, some of the most misled people in the world, give their wholehearted support. This could be their last chance to save their country.

The bottom line is a British colonial construct which centralised power, especially the critical power to develop, in the Centre in Sinhala hands. It has resulted in the developmental neglect of the periphery, which includes the entire Tamil area. Unless this is reversed and the power to develop is handed to the people of the area, the problem will not be resolved. Similar colonial constructs eg in Malaya, have been dismantled with spectacular benefit to all (Singapore and Malaysia). Such a change is overdue in Sri Lanka.

If multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural Sri Lanka is to be a Sinhala-Buddhist nation (now even enshrined in the Constitution), then there is no alternative to the establishment of a separate Tamil nation, Eelam.  Eelam is not the creation of the Tamil people (or the LTTE), but the result of Sinhala-Buddhist ethno-religious chauvinism and the Sinhalese policy of excluding Tamils from the decision-making process, almost since the dawn of Independence in 1948 (and even before).

The Sinhalese people have every right to have a Sinhalese-Buddhist nation. They are an ancient people, with a distinct culture, language, religion and a defined territory. By the same token, the Tamil people, who are also an ancient people with a distinct culture, language, and religion and a defined territory, have an equal right to have a Tamil nation. It is as simple as that.

A succession of Sinhalese leaders have had more than half a century to decide whether they want a single united country where all ethnic and religious groups are treated equally. They decided, for no other reason than political opportunism, to go down the road of Sinhala-Buddhist ethno-religious chauvinism.

The price paid has been a failure to build a nation, a Sri Lankan nation, as envisaged by the departing British. It is now too late to keep the British construct together. No amount of glue, including the glue of international pressure, can prevent this construct falling apart. The greater the force applied to keep this failed construct together, the greater will be the destruction of the country and its people.

I totally reject the canard of the Sri Lankan government that what exists in Sri Lanka is nothing but ‘terrorism’. This will generate the support of war mongers abroad who have their own geo-political agenda which has nothing to do with peace and justice in Sri Lanka. Any government’s condemnation of terror is credible only if it shows itself to be responsive to reasonable, closely argued, persistent, non-violent dissent. No Sinhala government since Independence in 1948 has been responsive to the reasonable demands of the Tamil minority.

A political problem cannot be settled by armed force, attempts to do so is political bankruptcy and a pathetic lack of understanding of addressing dissent. Today the Tamils face one of the most murderous regimes ever to run Sri Lanka and the Sinhalese have brought on themselves a regime which is out of its depths in addressing the critical problems faced by the country. It is time for change.

The situation in the South is serious with the virtual collapse of governance and its replacement by rampant corruption, spiralling inflation, grinding poverty, nepotism, incompetence, the breakdown of law and order, and bankruptcy. It is not only economic bankruptcy but political bankruptcy of a Government which has run out of political options and has only ‘war‘ to offer.The need to prosecute a ‘war’ supposedly a ‘War against Terrorism’ is being used as an excuse for the economic and human misery in the South.

I believe that a better Sri Lanka, Federated or even divided, if necessary, is possible.

There is nothing that will give me greater pleasure than to be physically there in Nugegoda on 9 January 2006 to address your public rally.. For reasons that are obvious, I cannot do so. I can do better by staying alive abroad and supporting your admirable attempt to bring sense to a country that has taken leave of its senses.

Dr.Brian Senewiratne, Brisbane , Australia