Why Penang DCM 2 asked Malaysia to condem Sri Langka goverment?

Malaysia sees the Sri Lanka''s crisis as an internal problem in line with the country''s foreign policy, Deputy Foreign Minister Senator A.Kohilan Pillay told the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said Sri Lanka had assured United Nations (UN) secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon, who visited Sri Lanka''s refugee camps after the conflict ended in May last year, that it would work closely with human rights groups to address the welfare and safety of refugees.

Special UN representatives have given a positive evaluation on the progress made by Sri Lanka in addressing the issues, said Kohilan when replying to a question from P.Ramasamy (DAP-Batu Kawan).

Ramasamy wanted to know why the Malaysian government refused to condemn the Sri Lankan government over civilian deaths in the conflict and the plight of about 300,000 ethnic-minority Tamil refugees.

Why Ramasamy asked that question?

Penang Deputy Chief Minister 2, Professor P Ramasamy participated as a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) constitutional affairs committee prior to Geneva Talks in June 2006 and a well-known LTTE think tank member, before this openly threatened the Malaysian government that the Tamils would replace the apostle of peace, Mahatma Gandhi with Prabhakaran as their principal cult figure.

Ramasamy also claim that Tamils in Malaysia consider Prabhakaran as their hero. In his article to tamilcanadian.com.

Ramasamy claim that LTTE has been a fantastic morale booster to Tamils in Malaysia.

In his articles, Ramasamy claim that:

...Tamils in Malaysia are fully behind the struggle for Eelam. The devious propaganda unleashed by the Sri Lankan Mission has not affected their support; on the contrary, the support is growing day by day. There are basically three principal reasons why Tamils are behind the Eelam cause. First, as an exploited group in Malaysia, the Tamils more than any other group, fully understand the plight of their brethren in Sri Lanka. And being a class that has nothing much to loose in a material sense, they are much bolder in their support for the cause unlike the middle-class Tamils.....

The pro-Malay policies of the government have discriminated against Tamils being meaningfully employed in the different sectors of the economy. Beyond this, Tamils are finding it difficult to erect places of worship and have curbs placed on their cultural activities. Their own leaders have not really championed their cause. Many of them by closely accommodating to the Malay elite have fundamentally neglected the welfare and well-being of the community.

Thus, given this scenario, it is no wonder that Tamils longing for meaningful change have become quite radicalised. Their admiration of the LTTE have grown by leaps and bounds over the recent years. In fact, many of them secretly wish that they had a militant organisation to take up their cause.

Third and not the least, the selfless struggle waged by the LTTE, the utter dedication of its leaders, the disciplined nature of their performance and others have not been lost on the Tamil population in Malaysia. The role of LTTE has given Tamils here much pride and dignity as Tamils. In short, LTTE has been a fantastic morale booster to Tamils in Malaysia.

More at http://www.tamilcanadian.com/
and here

REMINDER:

Any constructive criticism and comment that would contribute to fair, frank and informed discussion on this posting to help achieve our national objective will be most appreciated. We need to have more open exchange of ideas on this sensitive but important subject in the context of the national vision and security.