My Dear Sinhalese Friend

By Sivas Premjeyanth –

Dear my friend,

I am not joining your protest (Aragalaya)

Doesn’t mean I don’t wish you success…

 

We don’t protest anymore…..

Because…

Our voices are never heard….

Our protests are never cared…

They don’t matter to anyone anymore…

 

Like you very much,

I also want our country

To be corrupt free,

Ruled not by thugs and racists,

But by true leaders and visionaries,

Helped and guided by

Great thinkers and theirs ideas

Where Buddhism teaches true dharma,

Where law enforcement agencies

Judicial systems and forces

Protect the country and civilians,

Not the corrupts and politicians.

 

But, still I am not joining your protest (Aragalaya)

Because my association will weaken you,

Will not strengthen you…

Because I am a Tamil.

 

While you can shout loud at Galle  Face,

Stay all day and all night at 3G

We can’t even whisper here…

Thinking of supporting you itself

May become a punishable crime here…

Let alone participating…

Because our civil and laws are

Maintained and monitored by the military…

 

We don’t live here..

We simply exist here…

 

Be they for mothers’ searches for their

Disappeared sons and daughters…

Be they for the lands forcefully taken away from us…

Be they for the release of political prisoners…

Be they against the sand mafia and their cronies…

Still, we don’t protest anymore….

 

Be they school and children programs,

Be they social and humanitarian programs…

Be they cultural and community programs,

With questionable intentions,

Or sign of oppression,

Or sign of aggression,

Military and intel officers

Are to be invited to all the functions,

We don’t feel normal…

Still, we don’t protest anymore….

 

Every morning,

We always Wake up

With an eerie feeling,

Where in vicinity

Rifle holding, combat ready

Rough looking army soldiers

Staring at us as criminals from distances..

That we always try to avoid the look…

Still, we don’t protest anymore….

 

We know

He may be nice and innocent

But, we never smile,

we never speak.

We never understand.

We never know the reasons…

Still, we don’t protest anymore….

 

We receive our

Documents

Even birth, and other vitals..

All in Sinhala….

And we don’t understand,

We can’t even check its veracity

Still, we don’t protest anymore….

 

President and Prime Minister..

Party leaders and ministers

Speak, but we never understand them.

They never bothered us too,

Because they speak

only in Sinhala,

Not even subtitle on TV

Let alone speak in Tamil.

Still, we don’t protest anymore….

 

We were helpless

As fathers and brothers

when our women

Stripped naked,

Beaten and paraded…

Started with Premawathi

Will not end with Isaipriya.

Still, we don’t protest anymore….

 

We always welcome

Sinhala friends and neighbors…

But, all we come to know

Guarded by armies

Guided by Buddhist monks

State aided settlements

Even though they are innocent,

Taught to treat us as enemies….

Still, we don’t protest anymore….

 

Great Tamil leaders

Defended and fought with

British to save

Many Sinhala leaders

From execution to elimination

But eventually ended up

Getting expelled

From the system and governance

Still, we don’t protest anymore…

 

Be it

National Anthem,

National flag,

National flower,

Our opinions

Never asked…

Never bothered…

Never cared…

Never mattered..

In all decisions..

We are excluded…

Still, we don’t protest anymore….

 

Once hard working Tamils

Along with you all

Helped build

Sri Lankan economy,

Sri Lankan education,

Sri Lankan corrupt free civil services,

All were kicked out

Ended up as…

Immigrants and refugees…

In other parts of the globe…

Still, we don’t protest anymore….

 

Economy destroyed

By riots and pogroms…

Education broke by

Sinhala only and Standardization…

Culture and heritage annihilated

From burning library to

Destroying our lands…

On a daily basis threatened by

Militarization and colonization.

Still, we don’t protest anymore….

 

Even before Emperor

Ashoka’s son and daughter came to Sri Lanka,

Many Tamils had already known Buddhism.

Buddhism is not an alien to Tamils.

Only religion in the world

That never used army and violence to spread

Alienated Tamils for no reasons.

Still, we don’t protest anymore….

 

Still, we don’t protest anymore….

But My friend,

I wish you all the best and

May the protest

Become successful

May the system

get changed,

May we live in

Peace and prosperity.

Once and for all.

As we lived before our Independence.

 

The list is endless,

It can keep going..

 

Dear my friend,

As Budda said,

A lots of problems would disappear

If we talk to each other,

Instead we talk about each other…

So, I thought of writing to you…

I am not joining you …

Doesn’t mean I don’t wish you success.

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