Musings of Suresh “Great Baron” Jeyaverasingam

There is a write up about Sri Lankan Tamils in Malaysia. I would like to share this with all of you. Read it to the end!

Community: Making love, not war at gathering of Jaffna Tamils and Singhalese

By : BALAN MOSES

S. Kulasegaran at a school in Sri Lanka that benefited from funds raised by the Federation of Malaysian Sri Lankan Organisations after the tsunami disaster of 2004.

Where is the Sri Lankan community, overwhelmingly Jaffna Tamil with a Sinhalese minority, going? Are hard work and efficiency still the twin pillars of these Tamils, ‘the Scotsmen of the East’? Some things are changing for the community, writes BALAN MOSES

Senior officials of the Federation of Malaysian Sri Lankan Organisations paying a goodwill visit to the then Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa (second from right) in 2005.

MARRIAGE may be in the air for scores of young Sri Lankan Tamils and Singhalese in Malaysia and Singapore in the not too distant future.

Some Sri Lankan Tamil parents from both sides of the Causeway have been busy working on this since Friday, while strengthening communal bonds through games and cultural activities in Kuala Lumpur.

The Singhalese have been doing much the same.

The rare opportunity to achieve both purposes comes courtesy of the Federation of Malaysian Sri Lankan Organisations (Fomso) that has put together a three-day extravaganza to foster ties within — and between — the communities.

While the primary objective has been to bring together the Sri Lankan diaspora in the immediate region, there is a distinct matrimonial undertone in the matter.

One area where the Sri Lankan Tamils, who outnumber Singhalese nine to one in Malaysia, have been arguably finding some difficulty has been in finding suitable life partners for their largely successful progeny.

This is mostly due to the lifestyles of their young which have changed since the late 1800s when the first migrants arrived from Sri Lanka to fill clerical jobs in the expanding economy.

While parents in the past could put the word on the grapevine at the temple or church — most Sri Lankan Tamils are Hindu with a small Christian minority and a handful of Muslims — that they had a prospective bride or bridegroom awaiting marriage, it is not possible to do so these days.

Today, young Jaffna Tamils are pursuing education abroad, jet-setting around the world in the course of work, and perhaps not as diligent at attending communal activities as before.

Jaffna Tamils generally prefer to stick to their own community when it comes to marriage, with a handful marrying south Indian Tamils or others.

Fomso president S. Kulasegaran put it succintly when he said that while the carnival and dinner had the express objective of building bridges within and between the communities, "this will also be a match-making opportunity for many families".

While he will be happy if some of the 800 people who met at the dinner yesterday ended up tying the knot, he is also mindful of the fact that there is much more to the gathering than match-making.

But Kulasegaran, a lawyer of 41 years standing and active Rotarian, is not one to be put off.

"What we are doing could even be applied to Sri Lankan politics where Sri Lankan Tamil and Singhalese could work hand in hand for a common destiny," he said in a recent interview.

He feels that the time had come for Sri Lankan Tamils to take stock of their circumstances as the nation prepares to celebrate 50 years of independence.

"If we are to play a meaningful role in nation-building, we have to see how we can become more cohesive. Only if we are strong can we work better with other communities in becoming the building blocks of a united and progressive nation."

"It is true that the community has made a name for itself in Malaysia beyond their numbers. This could be due to their single-mindedness in education which lent itself to success in many fields," says Kulasegaran.

And it was love for education that took Kulasegaran and Fomso officials to Sri Lanka in 2005 to provide financial support to students affected by the 2004 tsunami, irrespective of race or religion.

They also had a meeting with then Sri Lankan prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa (now president) on how Fomso could help in taking ties between the two nations to a new level.

What does the future hold for Fomso, which has managed to bring together 19 organisations, including two of the three representing the Singhalese?

Kulasegaran says that a conference on the dynamics within the diaspora is being planned for next year with Singapore slated to host the carnival and dinner.

The way things are moving, one should not be surprised if Fomso organises a gathering of the worldwide Jaffna Tamil diaspora in days to come.

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They distinguished themselves

THE Jaffna Tamils speak Tamil with an interesting lilt that immediately sets them apart from South Indian Tamils.

They came to Malaya and Singapore 150 years ago, with little more than education to stake a place in the new homes. It was education that set them apart from other immigrants, granting them easy access to clerical jobs in the British administration because of their knowledge of English and resilience.

Over the decades, the railways and Public Works Department have been identified with members of the community.

It was an uncanny ability to excel at almost everything they put their hand to despite a life of hardship that earned the Jaffna Tamils the moniker "Scotsmen of the East".

The list of Jaffna Tamils in Malaysia reads like a Who’s Who. Local history is replete with the likes of Justice Tan Sri S.C. MacIntyre, lawyer and first minister of education Datuk Sir Clough Thuraisingham, lawyer R.R. Chelliah, tycoon Ananda Krishnan, senior civil servant Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, top cop Tan Sri P. Alagendra, politician Tan Sri Devaki Krishnan and athlete Datuk Dr Mani Jegathesan.

The achievements of Jaffna Tamils is totally disproportionate to their actual numbers as a community.