Comments on: Remarks by Mano Ganesan MP Bogowantalawa May Day Rally

By: S.Ganga

S.Ganga — Sat, 24 May 2008 19:28:32 +0000

In response #8, Mr. Devenda Fernando,

Sir, the problem with you seems to be coming to conclusions in haste without giving proper considerations to all possible aspects and under information. Pls read below.
Mr. Mano Ganesan’s point in his speech is not based on plantation worker salary scales. He rarely or not at all talks of the worker salaries in his speech as I read. His point is that Thondaman & co hitherto occupied many parliamentary and ministerial portfolios for the last many decades; yet the plantation community is under developed. Therefore there is no point crying fault with successive government Sinhala politicians but it is due to the lack of vision within the plantation Tamil leadership.

You are while praising Mr. Ganesan (Why ?) and centering on something that Mr. Ganesan did not refer to. Please understand although the ’salaries’ of plantation workers are an important element but the general development lies elsewhere wider and broader. You are trying to compress the ‘total development’ of plantation community to the radius of issue of ‘prices’ fetched by Tea and Rubber in the world market. The workers are citizens of this country. High or low prices for Tea in world or domestic markets they should be offered a decent livelihood. The Other citizens of the country are offered Samurdi and various social development assistances and incentives when and if they go without income and are classified as poor. It is correct in a developing country. The poor and voiceless cannot be left on their own to die without food and care. It is the protection duty of the state. The successive governments since 1978 appear to have given these plantation politicians the ‘authority’ and ‘funds’ to fulfill this duty. But they have miserably failed. This is the point. That is why they need to be unseated. We do not know if Mr. Ganesan is savior or no savior. He may perform another Mr. Arumugan Thondaman or Senior Thondaman or create his own history or go waste. No body knows for sure. But he is the best bet at the moment while there is the urge for change.

-Ms.Ganga

By: Devinda Fernando

Devinda Fernando — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:38:27 +0000

In Response to #6

Ms. Ganga can’t see the Forest from the Trees. As usual wearing your Blinders.

To quote a friend of mine… :”Everything is Rosey when viewed through Rose-colored Glasses”

You accuse me of being with a Sinhala mindset? You would not know the difference as you Have a Communalist Mindset and thus anything that opposes your point of view, regardless of Logic or common sense is a Racist and unacceptable position to yours. I am not of a Sinhala Mindset, I am of a Sri lankan mindset.

I don’t believe in Voting for Politicians based on Race, but yet you defend Mano Ganesan for doing that… That’s Communalism. Rauff Hakeem… Communalist. Hisbulla,……Communalist…. As I said before, if a person says from a Practical point of view that Sinhala should be the Official Language because the Numerical Majority speak it…you brand them as a Sinhala Chauvinist or Racist. You don’t see the Irony of your statements.

I commended Mano Ganesan’s speech as it was not his usual “Blame-Sinhalese’ Rhetoric that most of these Communalist politicians have gotten so used to.

But when someone like Mr. Ganesan is looking to unseat Thondoman by promising the World to the Plantation workers I simply said that it is easy to make these promises but hard to keep. I don’t think Thondaman is holding back the money from the CWC workers. These workers get paid what the Market can afford, the Sinhalese have no control of that, Thondoman has no control of that, and if Ganesan gets their vote,…. He Too WILL HAVE NO CONTROL OF THAT! That is the COLD HARD ECONOMIC TRUTH of the matter….nothing to do with Sinhalese or Tamils… Sri Lanka Does not Set Tea Prices…. the Foreign markets do, FACT. We compete with CHINA and INDIA for Tea production (FACT) if our fixed base labor costs are too high,,… the Buyers go elsewhere and our Plantation workers go Jobless FACT!. So try to think about that with your Communalist Driven Mind for a second,.. ok Ganga?

Also, I responded to your other post, please take a look:

http://federalidea.com/focus/archives/425#comments

By: Ganga

Ganga — Tue, 20 May 2008 08:47:21 +0000

Ilaya seran senguttuvan Sir,
Your immagination of Thondaman, Chandrasekeram, Mano Ganeshan, Sadasivam, Sellasamy, Puthrasigamani, Velayutham, Suresh Vadivel coming together. If any unity it should be on principles. Is it possible here? Consider each and every named here.
Ganga

By: Ganga

Ganga — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:36:16 +0000

I fail to understand what Mr.Devenda Fernando mean to say in his comments of # 1 and again in #4 and #5. He always looks at all matters in his Sinhala mindset. The problem is that his mindset does not leave room for any other altrenative thinking and compromise fair to all the stake holders. His ultimate aim is unltimate Tamil surrender, North East or Indian origins. This is a desease. The Sinhala Prabahakaran mindset. At least Prabakaran’s is from of the minor community.

By: Devinda Fernando

Devinda Fernando — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:04:10 +0000

*** Imagine a political leadership
with Thondaman, Chandrasekeram, Mano Ganeshan, Sadasivam,
Sellasamy, Puthrasigamani, Velayutham, Suresh Vadivel and others. If the lot of the Plantation workers improves the potential for Sri Lanka�s income from Tea correspondingly increases. ***

LOL.

Lets hope Mano Ganesan and Co. don’t mobilize the Plantation workers out of a Job! The unfortunate reality is that we do still compete with China & India and other Tea producing countries in Western Markets where the Commodity prices are set by them, not us… if Tea industries in Sri Lanka collapse due to inflated labor costs then all this talk about bettering the workers’ quality of life will be moot…

Its all well and good to blow smoke up the workers’ asses and promise them a Rosy future if they vote for you but at the end of the day you can only deliver what the market can absorb in terms of Fixed Cost basis increases…

By: Devinda Fernando

Devinda Fernando — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:01:29 +0000

LOL.

By: ilaya seran senguttuvan

ilaya seran senguttuvan — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:59:18 +0000

If the Plantation PIO Tamil leadership get together – even under
young Thondaman’s leadership – they can get 15 elected MP’s
and a few more on bonus and the women’s quota This will be a very strong bloc to push thru development in the Malayaga area.
Corruption there will be but there can also be gradual increase in the Physical Quality of Life ot the PIO. Imagine a political leadership
with Thondaman, Chandrasekeram, Mano Ganeshan, Sadasivam,
Sellasamy, Puthrasigamani, Velayutham, Suresh Vadivel and others. If the lot of the Plantation workers improves the potential for Sri Lanka’s income from Tea correspondingly increases. As to the reality of PIO children
shunning jobs in the plantation areas once they are better educated this, I think, is a different matter and should be handled separately. There are ways in which the PIO young
can be enticed to stay within their environs with sound
economic prospects for them. But for this the Plantation leadership must take into confidence the academic talent available around them above political bias.

By: Malayaga Thamilan...

Malayaga Thamilan... — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:18:23 +0000

Well said Ganeshan.
You are absolutely right.09 ministers no use.
I agree with you.You cannot point blankly blame Mahinda Rajapaksa or anyother Sinhala leader..Let me tell you,whatever said about the Sinhalese by the Pro.L.T.T.E. Jaffna Thamils,in general the Sinhalese are a large hearted and friendly people.No doubt there are Pro.Sinhala elements too.This is common in any community.
Of so late the Sinhala intellegencia has come to accept that the problem of the Plantation Thamils have to be addressed.They have become matured to accept the fact that Plantation Thamils too belong to Srilanka.
But what is Thonda upto?Today the C.W.C.is like the Junta government in Burma.There is a total authoratian rule within the C.W.C.No body can question the leader.
Even Mr.Muthusivalingam is relegated to an yes man status
From what we understand all the assests belonging to the C.W.C. have been mortgaged with the Banks.For whose benifit we do not know.
Surely Mr.Thondaman can do much more to uplift the status of the Plantaion Workers.There is a possibility even under difficult political climates!
Take for example the Dickoya district Hospital now elevated to a BaseHospital.It is a Base hospital only in Name.Recently I read over the Newspaper a news item in which the Highcommissioner of India signing an agreement with the Secretary of finance connected with the aid to develop the Dickoya Hospital.
WE have heard enough of this in the Past.No results.
I am questioning why should we depend on India when the Plantation Thamils are considered Srilankans?Why cant the government undertake the development?
What has Mr.Thondaman done in this regard?
To get to know the pathetic state of the Plantation Thamil Patients,one must visit the Nawalapitiya or NuwaraEliya Base Hospitals.
The other issue is the Technical Training Centre know as the C.L.F. in Kottagalle.The Building and Machineries and the Teaching equipments were an outright gift from the government of India.
But now gathering Rust.A pathetic site.
If put to use this Training Centre can transformed into a fullfledged Technical Institure training many Planttation Thamil youths and even rural Sinhala Youths,after completion of Training they can gain meaningfull employment here and overseas.
May be Mr.Thondaman is reluctant because he fears by ‘Technically educating’ the PlantationYouths his power and authority may get diluted.
On the other hand every successfull government is patronising and promoting Thondaman because he rules over the Plantaion and is able to tie down the happless Plantation Youths from uprising and getting into to the L.T.T.E. Readers of this comment please note The Thamils of Indian origin Thamil community are not
Plantation Labourers alone.There are Engineers,Doctors,Layers,Accountants,etc.May be not in large numbers.But the lesser number is enough to guide the Plantation Thamil Youth to the future.
But the trouble is Mr.Thondaman does not tolerate them.So they keep away from him and the C.W.C.
The other political parties too are no better.
As the saying in Thamil “Ellaam ore Kuttayil ooria Mattaigal”.’Ekama valle Pol’ the sinhala version of this.

By: Devinda Fernando

Devinda Fernando — Sun, 04 May 2008 05:32:25 +0000

Let me be the first to say: Congratulations I’m extremely pleased at his speech. Sounded like a real positive message. Good for him.