KUALA LUMPUR – Timbalan Ketua Menteri Kedua Pulau Pinang, P. Ramasamy mendakwa wujud cubaan pihak tertentu untuk mengaitkan beliau dengan pergerakan Pembebasan Harimau Tamil Eelam (LTTE) bagi menghentikan kritikan terhadap penceramah, Zakir Naik.
Kata beliau, peranannya di Sri Lanka lebih melibatkan tugas sebagai seorang pendamai namun disalahertikan sebagai memberi sokongan kepada LTTE.
“Saya percaya tindakan ini berniat untuk menghentikan saya dari terus mengkritik Zakir Naik. Namun saya secara peribadi tidak ada apa-apa masalah atau tentangan ke atas pendakwah bebas itu.
“Zakir Naik datang ke Malaysia ceramah tentang Islam tidak ada masalah tapi cuma jangan burukkan orang bukan Islam, jangan api-apikan kita, jangan pertikai kesetiaan kita.
The Penang International Tamil Conference held at George Town in Malaysia’s Penang state from November 7 to 9 has demanded a United Nations-monitored referendum on the formation of an independent Tamil Eelam.
The “Penang Declaration” adopted at the end of the conference said that the participants in the referendum should be Sri Lankan Tamils living in Sri Lanka as well those living abroad as expatriates, immigrants or refugees.The conferences heard 25 speakers from Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Mauritius, the US, the UK, Europe, South Africa and the Réunion Islands. While speakers from Sri Lanka spoke of the political, economic and other issues the Tamils of the Northern and Eastern Provinces facing, speakers from other countries stuck to the theme of the conference which was “Quest for Identity” – the problems of maintaining Tamil identity in plural societies.
Speakers from Sri Lanka included Ananthi Sasitharan and Suresh Permachandran (both TNA); Selvarajah Kajendran from the Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF); Manicka Vasagar, “International Affairs Minister” of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE); Lalinthika Vijayanathan and Raj Vakesan of the British Tamil Forum (BTF); Mohan Ramakrishnan of the National Council of Canadian Tamils; T. Thiruchchothi from Europe; and Grace Pushparani Williams of the US Tamil Political Action Council. Ananthi Sasitharan spoke on “Eelam Tamil Women: Quest for Dignity and Self-Determination.” Lalanthika Vijayanathan and Raj Vakesan spoke on “land grabbing” in the Northern Province. Selvarajah Kajendran spoke on: “International Attempts to Address Human Rights Issues the Tamils in Sri Lanka facing and the Future Prospects of Tamil Eelam.”
Vaiko the ‘Hero’
Vaiko, General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) from Tamil Nadu gave the keynote address on the opening day. At the very outset, he pressed for a referendum on Tamil Eelam. He said that Tamils were encouraged by the recent referendum in Scotland. Scotland had been given the right to self determination even though it had not seen the “level of persecution or oppression” which the Tamils of Sri Lanka had seen, he said.
“The Penang Declaration has given a clarion call. We are hopeful that this will lead to the twilight – twilight of the sufferings of the Tamils,” he said.
The firebrand Indian politician spoke for 55 minutes during which he was frequently applauded by the largely Tamil audience.
Vaiko stressed the need for Tamil unity on a global scale. Stating that the only solution for the Sri Lankan Tamils question is the establishment of an independent Tamil Eelam, he said that the world Tamils should together struggle for it.
Prof Ramasamy
Prof P.Ramasamy, the patron of the Penang International Tamil Conference, who is also Deputy Chief Minister (II) of Penang State, said that nobody in India has so consistently supported the cause of the “Eelam Tamils” as Vaiko and that for over 30 years, “Vaiko is the hero of this conference,” Ramasamy declared.
Like Vaiko, Prof Ramasamy, a Tamil of Indian origin Malaysian, has also been a long time supporter of the LTTE and an independent Tamil Eelam. Having been close to the LTTE, and as Professor of Political Science at the National University of Malaysia, he was one of the experts who helped the LTTE draft the Interim Constitutional Proposals in 2003. He had also campaigned against Malaysia attending the Commonwealth Summit in Colombo.
A Malaysian View
The Leader of the Opposition in the Malaysian parliament, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who gave the valedictory address, referred to the ban on the screening of the documentary No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka in Kuala Lumpur last year and asked, “ Why can’t you allow some members of a community- it can be Tamils, it can be others – who are trying to voice their concerns about the atrocities in Sri Lanka?”
“It is disconcerting that there are growing signs of intolerance in Malaysia,” he added.
“If we want Indians or Tamils to be concerned about Gaza (where Palestinians are oppressed), we must also show some concern about the Tamils’ plight,” Anwar suggested to his non-Tamil Muslim countrymen.
Further, on the documentary No Fire Zone, Anwar said that if the Sri Lankan government had a different take on the incidents narrated, they could come here to give their view. “But how can you (the Sri Lankan government) deny an issue which is known and accepted by the international community?” he asked.
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