My apologies to all for a long absence. As the Governator once said, I will be back. Just needed a little time off to rest my bloodshot eyes, straighten my keyboard-cramped fingers, and un-kink my turtling neck. Also, Mr. Cicatrix promises to make an honest woman of me soon.
Anyway, I’ve been so out of commission, I let my inbox clog like open pores on a teenager. In a mad zit-popping burst of clearing up (go extended metaphors!), I finally read blog posts that at least four Sri Lankans had forwarded to me about Sri Lanka’s new budget airline, Mihin Air.
An airline that aims to “provide affordable services to less affluent travellers, people leaving for overseas employment, particularly in the Gulf and Asian countries, and to promote regional tourism,” (link) has to be a good thing, right? Although it would be great if the goverment could provide alternatives – local jobs – for the women who work as maids in the Middle East.
But this is also a government-owned airline, supposedly the baby of Sri Lanka’s Donald Trump-like President, Mahinda Rajapakse. As the blog Broken News put it:
Reports indicate that the name ‘Mihin Air’ was selected after the alternative name – ‘All Hail Mahinda, May He Rule For A Thousand Years’ – was deemed too long for inclusion in company stationery.
One of the most unnerving aspects of this new airline was highlighted (as a positive) by the carrier’s CEO Sajin Vaas Goonewardene: “it took only three months to become a reality from a mere concept.” link to full interview. Three months? Really? Seriously?!
Maybe that’s why so many Sri Lankans themselves are casting a rather sardonic eye on the whole affair. A Sri Lankan business site had this to say:
A cursory examination of the profit-and-loss reports of the world’s airlines will show that the airline business is quite volatile, with the low-cost segment being more volatile and risky. For example, India’s biggest low-cost airline, Air Deccan reported a net loss of INR 3.40 billion for the 15 months ending June 2006, on turnover that increased 322 per cent to INR 13.52 billion. Air Deccan claimed that it will be profitable by 2008-2009. link
Ah, yes. Nothing like plunging a country exhausted by 25 plus years of a terrorist conflict into volatile business ventures. Why play safe now? I welcome commentors who might know more about the nuances of Sri Lanka’s latest aviation adventure, but until then, here’s my favorite satire of the affair, full of the best in Lakan gallow’s humor:
WELCOME TO MIHIN AIR!!!
Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. This is your captain Wijepala, welcoming both seated and standing passengers on board Mihin Air. We apologize for the four-day delay in taking off, it was due to bad weather and some overtime I had to put in at the bakery.
This is flight 717 to Mumbai. Landing there is not guaranteed, but we will end up somewhere in India. And, if luck is in your favour, we may even be landing on schedule!
Mihin Air has an excellent safety-record. In fact, our safety standards are so high, that even LTTE terrorists are afraid to fly with us! It is with pleasure I announce that, starting this year, over 30% of our passengers have reached their destination.
If our engines are too noisy for you, on passenger request, we can arrange to turn them off! To make your free fall to earth pleasant and memorable, we serve complimentary Kiribath and Parippu. For our not-so-religious passengers, we are the only airline who can help you find out if there really is a God!
We regret to inform you that today’s in-flight movie will not be shown. We forgot to record it from the television. However, for our movie buffs, we will be flying right next to Emirates Airline, where their movie will be visible from the right side of the cabin window.
There is no smoking allowed in this airplane. Any smoke you see in the cabin is only the early warning system on the engines telling us to slow down! In order to catch important landmarks, we try to fly as close as possible for the best view. If however, we go a little too close, do let us know. Our enthusiastic co-pilot sometimes flies right through the landmark!
Kindly be seated, keep your seat in an upright position for take-off and fasten your seat-belt. For those of you who can’t find a seat-belt, kindly fasten your own belt to the arm of your seat. And, for those of you who can’t find a seat, do not hesitate to get in touch with a stewardess who will explain how to fasten yourself to your suitcase.”
ENJOY MIHIN AIR!!!! (link)
Is this something that’s done in a circumcision?
Ok, I never have flown on any Sri Lanka-based airlines before. Experienced travelers: are they really all that bad compared to, say, Indian Airlines and Air India?
Sri Lankan Airlines is the privatized national carrier, and it’s one of the world’s best. Used to be called Air Lanka. The country doesn’t need budget airline, except to ferry maids to the middle east, which is problem best solved in a myriad of other ways. Attracting more Indian tourists is also a worthwhile goal, but there’s not a lot of faith in goverment projects at this time.
Just read on the web that their current fleet size is 3 aircraft, one A320 and two A321s, all three of which are operated by other airlines (BH Air from Bulgaria and Bestair from Turkey). This sort of leasing agreement may not have taken too long to bash through, and there should not (ideally) be any safety repercussions given that the aircraft are already operated by two existing airlines. I’m not saying that the new airline is inherently safe, just that the unsafety if any may not be because of the quick conception time.
Ah! The rupee drops. I had missed the hidden subtext of what “low-cost” means.
But then, why not ships to the Middle East? South Asian countries do that all the time for pilgrims on a Hajj trip; it’s established, precedented, and a lot cheaper than flying, and a lot cheaper to run for the government than a subsidized low-cost airline.
I’ve flown Sri Lankan airlines a few times. Its service is in par with airlines like Singapore and Emirates. It was probably the best part of my journey back to my parents home in SL a few years back.
As for this new airline, it has a high mark to meet, even if it does want to cater to more budget minded passengers.
From what I understand, it’s to satisfy the ego of the president. He’s already announced construction of a new international airport (Sri Lanka already has one) so the idea is that he wants a new airline to park in his new airport. At least, that’s what the cynics say.
In any event, these are rather extraodinarily foolish and grandiose ventures since, as you pointed out, ships might be cheaper (Sri Lanka has great ports) and the country needs more stable forms of economic stimulation.
I took Srilankan Airlines last time i went to India. The ride was very comfortable, the food was good, around 50 channels(as opposed to the big screen in AA on long flights) and no flight attendants with attitudes. If the new one is half as good as Srilankan, it would still be twice as good as American or Delta.
cica, I’ve got nothing to say about this topic, but just wanted to let you know it’s wonderful to hear your voice in this space after so long.
cicatrix,
my Aunt (one of the few family members regularly traveling to Lanka and back) told me in conspiratorial tones, one night, “you know, that imperious buffoon bought himself an airplane!!” Now she’s also told me that he paid the LTTE supremo $1M US to force n. Tamils to avoid the voting booth and that Karuna is kidnapping the people trying to buy her properties (which is actually close to the truth, believe it or not), but I guess she was actually teling the truth about the plane-buying spree!
And he didn’t just get one! I’m guessing the first 200 passengers will be the Rajapakse extended family, after which they’ll tell the fighter-jet pilot to stand down and bring in the local unemployed Pali-Studies Phd to take over.
Welcome back, Cicatrix!
“An honest woman,” hm? If that is an announcement, congrats!
i remember Air Lanka from way back, meaning i was so young any plane was an adventure.
it’s kind of sad that SM is the only way i find out about Lankan politics.
Welcome back, Cicatrix and congratulations!
I flew Sri Lankan on a summer trip to Madras a few years ago, heading out of NY on Swiss to connect with them in Zurich, and via London and Virgin Atlantic to get home. They put a bunch of us from Madras up at a Negombo beachfront hotel since we had a half day to kill until our 2am departure.
Even in economy, the service couldn’t have been better. This was only a year or so after the 2001 LTTE airport attack that fried most of their previous planes, so the airbus I was on was brand new, as were the ones on the short flights to Madras. And, wow, on those short flights, the service was head and shoulders above Indian Airlines on the same route. On the IA flights, everything was tattered – the carpets, the flight attendants uniforms, etc.
One brief filmi note, they were showing Mani Ratnam’s Kannathil Muthamittal on that Zurich-Colombo flight. On a girly note, I kinda like they way they incorporate the peacock feather’s “eye” into the female flight attendants’ uniforms.
As for the new carrier, I’d love to know what shape are those planes in, and how good the maintenance can be if the prices are really low.
Emirates has a controlling stake in SriLankan Airlines. That would explain the high quality service.
Cicatrx: Good to hear from you after a long time. Kind of missed ya! Welcome back, and please dazzle us with your insight on everything south of the border, i.e. India’s border.
oh you just done slip that in there like it ain’t nothin. that’s great news, congratulations. my best friend just got engaged last weekend, too.
sigh
Yeah, i’m pretty sure Emirates owns most or all of Sri Lankan Airlines. I’ve taken them twice and they were really good; at the time, far better than Air Canada. I took some domestic airline there too, from Colombo to Jaffna. Aside from the hours long waits through security (it took off from the air force base and landed in the high security zone), that was a decent flight too.
Only a Sinhala could have said, “by 25 plus years of a terrorist conflict into”. Terrorist conflict? Really? I will take a wager and bet that you will never call the resistance in Palestine and Iraq – Terrorism.
BTW, I wonder how many people here know of the depravities visited upon the minority Tamil population by the majority Sinhalese, post Sri Lankan Independence.
Emirates owns a 43.6% stake of SriLankan Air. The government owns the rest. I haven’t met or spoken yet to anyone who thinks Mihin is anything more than empire building. However, the airport project at Weerawila plays to the votebase that the Rajapakshe clan posesses in the south of the country. Some development in the region isn’t a bad idea but an airport seems rather pointless. The problem is that the highway projects have more or less stalled in recent times and there isn’t a great deal else being done to regenerate the region.
On SriLankan itself, it was run at a loss for ages in the 80s. The government decided to offload executive control, Emirates bit and that was that. They (SriLankan Air) have gradually shaped up over the past few years. Trimmed down staff to some extent, made a few improvements here and there. SriLankan inventory was (if anyone recalls) badly hit in an LTTE raid on the airport a while ago. Not sure if they’re profitable post Sept 11th either. I have also heard a theory that this MihinAir venture is a shot across the bows of the Emirates management. It will only serve to cannibalize outbound and inbound shorthaul traffic that is pretty much the bread and butter of SriLankan at present. It seems a plausible enough theory on the face of it. Mahinda Rajapakshe’s party is opposed to the privatization of state industries.
Raised my eyebrow too.
Given the market for airplane leases, this isn’t surprising. Usually, its regulatory filings that chew up time, but if you have the PRESIDENT behind the venture, that takes care of that!
My bad. They have managerial control (thanks wikipedia…). They’ve done a great job resurrecting the company though, from the logo through to the professionalism of the staff. Of course, the food still sucked.
—all that bad compared to, say, Indian Airlines and Air India?
Indian airlines and air india both have excellent safety records!!
“25 plus years of a terrorist conflict”
cicatrix, nice sly way to project your political agenda in a rant on Mahinda’s pet project.
how about a real post on the brutal violent situation that pervades the north-east of ceylon?
how about a piece on Sri Lanka having the WORST environment for aid workers, with 44 killed since Mahinda’s arrival to power. Most if not all killed by state forces.
terrorist conflict? please, call a spade a spade. you’re tarnishing the good name of the mutiny.
ms. trix, I’m glad you’re back (and not for kids).
Mithi wrote:
I have the same image..I don’t understand why they get such bad raps. The only incident was a terrorist attack.
Perhaps it’s the service, which I know can be less than stellar. However, it’s great if you want to buy a direct flight to Ahmedabad and give money back to the Mother Country in a sense. =)
The dawn of even another LCC(Low Cost Carrier) in the Indian Subcontinent was imminent considering the rash of them in India over the last 5 yrs. Even if the LCC doesnt fare well, it will still have operations running that will warrant it to be eventually bought out/merged into another larger or competing air carrier. You can see this in Jet Airways purchase of Air Sahara, and the Air India/Indian Airlines merger this year.
The new LCC in Sri Lanka will provide many people who cannot currently support themselves inside the country’s borders with new opportunities abroad. Even if some critics think its a volatile business, most LCC’s will be able to support themselves with initial funding to operate for 2-4 years. AND, if you consider that time span would be enough for a Sri Lankan to fly to Dubai or Thailand and start a working life their to earn a fair amount at some position, and then be able to fly back before the carrier folds, the customers of the airlines still benefit in cheap fares.
A comparison of a roundtrip fares CMB to DXB for depart Sept20/return Sept30, its about half the price on Mihin:
Low Price is king in new market like this one, with such open skies. But in the USA and Europe, its risky and volatile- there are already too much available seat capacity here.
Welcome back Cica. You’re my favorite Sri Lankan Cyclops.
http://www.slate.com/id/2172474/?GT1=10346
Cicatrix,
again you are flaunting your political views on this rather dull post. I say this going by your previous posts/comments on the Civil War (not ‘terrorist’ war) in Sri-Lanka. Low-cost flights in Sri-Lanka interest me not given the turmoil of knowing that my fellow people in the North are at war; slipping in your usual rose-tinted bias annoys me.
If you want to be taken seriously by some of us Sri-Lankans who read this blog, I suggest you word your points carefully. The Sri-Lankan Tamil pro-independence movement will always have sympthisers from Sri-Lankan Tamils and non Sri-Lankans alike, regardless of the LTTE, because it is a noble cause.
That’s pretty funny. The last time I flew a Sri Lankan airline was probably back in 1995 and it was called Air Lanka. This is a pretty interesting blog with some seemingly random posts.
Aruni
“The Sri-Lankan Tamil pro-independence movement will always have sympthisers from Sri-Lankan Tamils and non Sri-Lankans alike, regardless of the LTTE, because it is a noble cause.”
What a laugh Priya. I suppose according to you noble = child soldiers, pregnant suicide bombers, bombs on buses, trains and buildings, assasinations of presidents, drug trafficking, gang wars and extortion? Righteo. Sorry to burst your bubble, but the IC views the self-procliamed “sole representatives” of the Tamils as a bunch of terrorists and have banned them left right and centre.
Raj,
I don’t support child soldiers/terrorism/pregnant suicide bombers – I said Tamil Pro-Independence Movement so save your little scoff and please don’t insult my intelligence and value system. I can’t accept being told I musn’t believe in Eelam because of the situation you have mentioned….I’m not a member or advocate of the LTTE so stop your accusation right now. It’s this single-minded reasoning of yours that leads the GoSL to go round murdering/abducting any Tamil from the North since, yeah, we’re all meant to ‘terrorists’?! Grow up and start to question what you think you know. The LTTE are not the sole representatives of the Tamils of SL it’s only convenient for plenty to say so. For many, and not me, it’s out of a pure instinct for survival and lack of choice to look to them for protection. That breaks my heart.
I take issue with Cicatrix’s wording of the ’25 plus years of a terrorist conflict’; I can respect anyones view that Sri-lanka should stay united, as long as they do so with an intent for equality, but she can’t go round making statements that deftly sweep under the carpet the horrific events of the early 80s(lootings/burnings of buildings/lynchings/murders/rapes) perpetrated by the Sri-Lankan security forces on a blog that appeals to educated/well-informed South Asians. The BBC, for example, have established their good reputation for neutrality by avoiding politically charged statements like this.
Have a good think about it and then get back to me.
Priya T, I agree with your distinction about the pro independence movement.
unfortunately, it is now impossible to divorce the LTTE from the tattered remnants of the pro-independence movement. they’ve done a great job killing off those who didn’t share their thirst for blood. the conflict with the LTTE is precisely what it was called, a terrorist conflict. The LTTE chose to muddy the waters by conflating their brutality with legitimate claims for equality and (perhaps) independence. I’m sad to see that in your case, the ploy has worked.
You say it is a lack of choice and an instinct for survival that makes many support them. Does that make supporting terrorists who pay lip service to your favoured ideals ok now? In my book, it does not.
Pardon my cynicism but the BBC routinely uses “Tamil” interchangably with “terrorist” when reporting on the conflict in Sri Lanka. They’re not the only outlet making that mistake and that annoys me more than it is possible to express in this comment box.
hey people,
Perusing the comments it seems as if most people have taken issue with Cicatrix phrasing of a one-sentence line attempting to lightly contextualize the SUBJECT of the post–an apparently foolhardy business venture undertaken by a singularly myopic and foolish executive president.
Instead of talking about her word-choice, which she has not had the opportunity to respond on clarification, would one of you so painfully aggrieved syntax warriors care to comment on how the stock market (bourse) in Colombo has managed to steadily grow throughout the breakdown of the original cease-fire? Doesn’t that signify the ugliest, most shameful component of this conflict (involving terrorist tactics AND conventional warfare–but both tactics are not the sole province of either the GOSL or the LTTE)? That which allows some to profit while the entire north and east must hide their children from Karuna and LTTE recruiters, aid workers must fear provincial extensions of GOSL authority and children/fishermen/everyone must fear being caught in the crossfire (or under a bravely lobbed bomb from 10,000 feet in the sky by pilots who evidently haven’t had the humanity training that the rest of us civilians had)???
Is this good enough for you..I, like many Tamils abroad (a 2 year old refugee in 1984), virulently oppose the LTTE, but likewise blame the GoSL for breeding this kind of terror group and yet sympathise with pro-independence aspirations of Tamils. I also feel extortion, racial discrimination, government corruption, propaganda, human rights’ abuses and advocating child slavery/ prostitution are endorsed by the Sri-Lankan government. The civil war is borne out of these conditions, it’s not just the LTTE who are failing here! There is no innocent party here: this is not a ‘terrorist’ conflict, this is a country failing miserably to establish itself and unifying – a Civil War that ultimately started because of racial discrimination. Moreover, I’m aware that Tamils are indecently represented and it’s up to individuals like myself to stick to our (proverbial) guns and fight the terrorism tag whenever it is uncalled for.
priya t
you are sadly missing the point of my comment. I generally like to stay on-topic as long as it is feasible, but i’m afraid I’ll have to make a detour here:
no one is calling pro-tamil independence (or autonomy if you’re a little ‘r’ realist) supporters, ‘LTTE-supporters’ except maybe Raj, who doesn’t represent the SM community
I asked all the off-topic commenters to connect their evidently strong feelings to the subject of the post–THE ECONOMIC COMPONENT OF THE ONGOING TRAGEDY THAT IS SRI-LANKA!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think most would concede that this could not be glibly described as a “terrorist conflict” if by that phrasing the writer was implying that the LTTE popped out of a hole in the ground and started sending people out on suicide missions–but i sincerely doubt that the author is that uninformed.
On nearly every post that is SL-related ( be it music, news, etc.) the comments section falls into a predictable pattern: back-and-forth abuse spewed by people with nothing substantive to say about the TOPIC of the FREAKING POST that they’re commenting on. If you want a platform to argue about the issues you feel are most important–get your own blog!
As we seem to be pulling rank here:
Let me follow suit: I was still in the womb (a whole six months!) when my mother was forced to flee the gibbering, drunken, rapine mobs of Singhalese rabble roused by shadowy (or not so shadowy) elements to terrorize the Tamil population of Colombo.
“Instead of talking about her word-choice, which she has not had the opportunity to respond on clarification, would one of you so painfully aggrieved syntax warriors care to comment on how the stock market (bourse) in Colombo has managed to steadily grow throughout the breakdown of the original cease-fire? Doesn’t that signify the ugliest, most shameful component of this conflict (involving terrorist tactics AND conventional warfare–but both tactics are not the sole province of either the GOSL or the LTTE)? That which allows some to profit while the entire north and east must hide their children from Karuna and LTTE recruiters, aid workers must fear provincial extensions of GOSL authority and children/fishermen/everyone must fear being caught in the crossfire (or under a bravely lobbed bomb from 10,000 feet in the sky by pilots who evidently haven’t had the humanity training that the rest of us civilians had)???” by Muralimannered
..such analyses stop short in their tracks once we are all condemned as ‘terrorists’. I don’t want to get overly critical and personal with cicatrix, but I’m aware of her views on Tamil resistance to the SL government which I find naive, rather than just disagreeable…. And this is a lighthearted post, as you (Muralimannered) have stated; the issues you have brought up are likey to be written off as off-topic rants – hence my ‘syntax warrior’ stance.
muralimannered, thanks for getting it.
Priya T, you continue to miss the point. I’m half Sinhala, half Tamil. I am quite a few years older than you, and was still living in Sri Lanka during the riots on 1983. I remember peeking outside the window as Sinhala mobs patrolled outside my Tamil grandmother’s house (with my mother, relatives, and friends trembling inside) and my Sinhala father standing outside, mocking them in false bravado so no one could think to come in.
I find it ironic that some of those who grew up outside Sri Lanka are most virulent and blinded when it comes to personal attacks (so sorry you thought the post was dull, my perspective rose-tinted, etc) and an inability to contextualize. It’s easy to talk about “Tamil Resistance” and “noble causes” when you’re far away and righteously angry, but it’s a lot harder when you realize how thoroughly the LTTE stage manages everything that happens in Sri Lanka, up to and including the default election of this nincompoop pro-Sinhala president. They prevented Tamils from voting in the North and East (as has been widely documented) so with Tamil vote supressed by their own “representatives,” the less conciliatory candidate won. Whether the LTTE was paid off by Rajepakse (I’m sure he’d stoop that low, but the LTTE doesn’t need the money so I doubt it) or this was a Machiavellian ploy to keep the war going, to fuel the fire and justify their position by letting a man riding on anti-Tamil sentiment into office…either way, they succeeded.
Sri Lanka was a country that was never just Sinhala/Tamil, but instead a country with many many religions (Catholic, Muslim, Methodist, Hindu, Buddhist, etc) and ethnic groups (Malay, Dutch-descent, Portuguese-descent, various Indian groups, etc). Tamils aren’t even one monolithic block – only a fraction are South Indian Tamils in any recent (i.e. past 200 years) sense. They migrated from different places, at different times, and the LTTE, for one, was more than happy to ignore certain groups. Over 90,000 Tamil-speaking Muslims were forced to leave their homes and belongings in the North and East at gun-point in the 90s. By now, however, the situation has polarized, and those not Sinhala or Tamil have scrambled to pick a side.
Indecently represented where? In parliment? (The LTTE shot the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister – who happened to be Tamil – a few years ago, by the way. Hard to represent when your own kind picks you off, eh?) On Sepia Mutiny? Read any Sri Lanka post of mine and count the number of commenters who are Sri lankan Tamils. If all your comments boil down to a knee-jerk reflex against my use of the word “terrorist,” please put down your (proverbial) guns and save your breath for when you have more to say.
This post was about making fun of the Sri Lankan, Sinhala president. It was written under the subject line “Humor.” Rants like yours discourage others from commenting, so please desist.
Anyone with more information on South Asian airline industries, Rajapakse’s business dealings, the Sri Lankan stock exchange, etc. please comment away, we’re all curious.
Comment deleted. Move Along.
Why did you delete her comment? It addressed a characterisation in the original post that others (myself included) took issue with as well, she didn’t get personal either. Are we no longer allowed to comment on these types of things anymore, or just with cicatrix’s posts?
First of all – Priya, you’re a godsend.
Second of all, SM should be ashamed of themselves for taking off Priya’s latest reply. I used to read this site daily, until I finally couldn’t bear Cicatrix’s callous cheapshots any more. You can’t slyly insert your political views in every piece you write and then berate readers for being able to pick up on that. I know many, many other people who feel the same way and have stopped reading SM as a result. I don’t think it’s too far off to say that one of the motives behind creating SM was to give a voice to South Asian kids living in the Western world and when you arbitrarily decide what stays and what goes based on your agenda you lose that audience. There’s a sizeable majority of Tamil kids born in the early 80’s who left the country in their infancy and support neither the LTTE nor the government, and blame both equally. This is not a terrorist struggle, but one borne out of racial discrimination and until you begin to reflect a neutral stance on the issue, you will continue to alienate that segment.
Murali, I understand your position on the issue, but if this section isn’t the forum to address Cicatrix’s post, then what is? How can you simply dismiss what are clearly valid and repeated complaints by saying they don’t adhere to topic at hand? This is an important issue and one that comes up every single time Cicatrix posts. Stop dismissing it as simply the fault of overly passionate kids who don’t know what they’re talking about – you need to take a look at the issue objectively. It comes up again and again because it is ignored again and again. Just deal with it now instead of losing your goddamn audience.
This is what Priya’s latest reply was before it was taken off. Let your readers decide whether or not it deserves to be read. For my money, it accurately sums up exactly how people in my position feel about this site and way you handle it.
Priya T on August 25, 2007 04:48 PM · Direct link
I am postively pissed off now. You see this is exactly what I was railing against. Everything is taken out of context. As a Sri-Lankan Tamil I don’t like being accused of supporting terrorists or patronized for not having grown up there – half my family had to flee and so on and so on… And guess what? I stand by it that campaigning for Eelam is a noble cause, without having to throw any weight behind the LTTE or supporting any form of war. As a European Sri-Lankan, I’ve seen the former Yugoslavia fragment as a result of racial hatred with the whole of Europe celebrating….
..And there you go explaining to me/ patronizing me about the wrongdoings of the LTTE when I’ve felt the need to state that I virulently oppose that group in response to Raj’s stupid assumptions. I also said: ‘Tamils are indecently represented..’ – hello: I was actually referring to the LTTE -give me (well you don’t know me, so let’s just say Tamils) some credit and stop the assumptions. FYI Muralimannered dissected my comment which wasn’t even aimed at his but at Raj’s….
I do apologize for calling your piece ‘dull’, but I was infuriated by the aforementioned choice of words you used and I wasn’t the only one to have noticed. So you can write it (and me) off if you want, but if the BBC has had this very debate within the World Service seminar rooms where I worked, I don’t see why this has been such a problem here. I have no intention, and had no intention, of deterring the hellos and congrats on your precious blog and so take issue with yourself and those who had to pounce on me in your defence.
cicatrix,
Several people have voiced their displeasure with your characterization of the conflict in Sri Lanka as a “terrorist conflict” and provided what I find to be cogent and articulate arguments as to why.
Why not either justify your use of the term or update your post?
One word, “terrorist,” was used in an entire post ridiculing the Sinhala president. One word was seen as inflammatory, while all other words were ignored. What, to you, is a neutral stance? Virulant generalizations about the Sinhalese? Of course the war was born of discrimination, but it took on entirely different overtones when the LTTE knocked out other Tamil groups fighting for rights and equality and began forcing the very people they claim to “represent” into committing terrorist acts. If you blame both equally, please comment on alternatives to the LTTE, or ways to overcome this situation. Accusing me of bias is hardly the way to start a conversation.
We are losing commenters who want to understand the conflict, but flee when the posts degenerate into polemicized accusations. This post was under HUMOR, it was about AIRLINES. It was not meant to be yet another screech-fest on Tamil/Sinhalese relations. Priya was asked to desist, and her comment was deleted because she continued in the same vein.
Fathima said “it’s kind of sad that SM is the only way i find out about Lankan politics” and it’s quite sad that the few posts that do try to address other aspects of Sri Lankan politics (in this case the president’s latest business ventures) still devolve rapidly into Sinhala vs Tamil, revolving around single words and ignoring any sense of a larger picture.
What is the “Tamil resistance”? Is there one that does not involve the LTTE? If so, please enlighten us. If Priya’s comments accurately reflects your feeling about me, my posts, or this site, feel free to comment elsewhere.
Are you really under the impression that these comments deal strictly with this post of yours? You do this repeatedly.
If you want, you can reread what Ananthan, Priya and myself wrote – and then you can tell me where any of us were sympathetic towards the LTTE. None of us ever delved into a Sinhalese vs Tamil conversation – it’s you who routinely drops your Cicatrix vs LTTE viewpoints. If you wanted this post to be about Mahinda and his godforsaken airline, then you could have simply left out your clearly biased views at the start. However, like I said, this isn’t an isolated incident, and I’m glad it came up again – I’m sorry that it seems like we’re attacking you, but what we take offense to are your underhanded comments and then your incessant need to force us to be silent about it.
There’s no need to get defensive. I wouldn’t have posted on here if I didn’t feel like this could be resolved with diplomacy and tact. At no point did this fall into the Sinhalese vs Tamil discourse – I’m not saying that your topics don’t occasionally fall into that trap because of wayward commenters, but I don’t see how you can accuse any of us of that. If you think it’s impossible to support Tamil people without supporting the LTTE, then that’s your prerogative, but you can’t force us to believe that.
Vivek, I just did. Hoped to stay on-topic, but have given up. Not sure which points struck you as cogent and articulate, but please know that all these statements have been raised, rebutted, argued, etc., exhaustively on previous posts (here, here, here, here, here, etc.) so I frankly hoped we could move onto another aspect of Sri Lankan politics, and try to see the larger picture.
you’re simply incapable of conceding, aren’t you? you should have just noted that at the start, we could have avoided all of this.
Apparently I’m thinner-skinned that I thought. Didn’t realize “Cicatrix vs LTTE,” “underhanded comments” etc., is somehow not a characterization of my perspective. Or that my points against the LTTE draw objections from people who then claim to not support the LTTE. How confusing! Or that I’m somehow against supporting the Tamil people, despite the fact that my mother is Tamil.
If you want to say something about Tamil resistence, please do so. No one is stopping you. Have at it. You don’t have to address me when doing so, however.
Thought this post would be a bit of a laugh. It’s clearly failed miserably on that count. Will be away for the next few weeks, so please pardon me if I don’t respond to any further comments about me, my views, my word choice, etc.
Mithi and Shalu,
Air India certainly has a reasonably good safety record. They have lost only two 747s, one due to instrument failure and one due to a bombing. Indian Airlines on the other hand has had many more crashes for which they themselves were responsible, including 2 controlled flights into terrain and one where the plane hit a TRUCK on takeoff! An encouraging trend however is that they haven’t had too many crashes in the last 10 years, so it looks like that can convert a crash into an emergency landing.