SOUTH AFRICAN TAMIL LEADER CALLS FOR THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR GENOCIDE OF TAMILS IN SRI LANKA TO BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE

The Subry Govender ColumnThursday, January 2 , 2!"# By Subry Govender The new president of the South African Tamil Federation has called for those resposnible of the genocide of more than 7 Tamils in the north and east of Sri !an"a in # $ to be brought to %ustice by the &nterntional Court of 'ustice( )r *arthigesan )oothsamy+ ,-+ of Benoni+ near 'ohannesburg+ who was elected along with his new set of officials recently+ spo"e to this correspondent during a .meet the people/ tour of 0urban and its surrounding areas in the second wee" of 'anuary( )r )oothsamy+ who is a successful businessman+ said the Tamil people of Sri !an"a must be allowed to determine their own future( 1e condemned the continued suppression of the rights of the Tamils in the 2orth and 3ast of Sri !an"a( .4e highly condemn to what happened to our Tamil people in Sri !an"a+/ he said( .4e will not accept how they are being treated and we will raise our concerns( The law must ta"e its course against those people who were responsible for the genocide against the Tamil people( &n any society where there has been wrong doing+ the law processes must be put into place(/ 1e said he was meeting with organisations that were concerned about the plight of the Tamil people in Sri !an"a( .4e will then formulate a co-ordinated approach under the banner of the SATF( 4e will then ta"e this as an agenda issue to the Government and then we will say we want to be involved in a wor"able solution in Sri !an"a( .4e will formulate something at our conference on )arch 5 and # in 'ohannesburg( .)y personal view is that we need to loo" into the situation( 4e need to give our Tamil people the support( .&n so far as the T6C that has been suggested - this must be decided by the people of Sri !an"a as to whether this will wor" for them( .& agree that the T6C is not acceptable by Tamil people but we must e7tract from it what will wor"(/ 869)9T&92 9F TA)&! !A2G:AG3 A20 C:!T:63 &2 S9:T1 AF6&CA 0uring his visit to 0urban and surrounding areas+ )r )oothsamy met more than 5 people+ including officials and members of cultural and religious organisations+ individuals and politicians in an attempt .to find out from grass-roots people/ about their needs and aspirations as Tamil people( 4hat he found was that there was a deep desire and determination among all people to promote the Tamil language+ culture and tradition( )r )oothsamy said he wanted to ensure that the Tamil language+ culture and traditions were promoted and propogated among all people who had Tamil roots - irrespective of their bac"grounds( 63!&G&92 S19:!0 29T B3 A BA66&36 .The SATF caters for all people irrespective of their religion+/ )r )oothsamy told me( .9ur ;SATF< constitution spea"s of language+ culture+ and religion and then it spea"s of politics and social cohesion( 4e are not

as"ing what religion you belong to( &f you spea" the language and you are interested in propogating the language then you must be allowed to do that( 4e need to bring a thin"ing that we need to co-e7ist with those around us(/ )r )oothsamy+ who has now ta"en leave from his business to administer the SATF on a full-time basis+ said they found that the )ereban" Tamil School Society ;)TSS< was the leader in promoting the Tamil language( )363BA2* TA)&! SC199! S9C&3T= - A )903! T1AT ):ST B3 0:8!&CAT30 A!! 9>36 S9:T1 AF6&CA .9ur programme to meet the people started from the )ereban" Tamil School Society ;)TSS< in 0urban the day after we got elected early in 0ecember( .The )TSS comes to us as a model organisation( The strengths of the )TSS can be duplicated by Tamil organisations all over the country and even the world( 4e we want to ta"e their model and duplicate and replicate it( .4e will continue with our programme to meet the people throughout the country to the 3astern Cape+ 4estern Cape+ Gauteng( 4e are establishing new provinces )pumulanga+ 2elspruit+ 4itban"+ and )iddelburg will become a new province( 4e are also meeting people in the 2orthern Cape - *imberley and we are going to 6ustenburg which is in the 2orth-4est( There is Tamil people all over the country( .4e also want to say that we are producing 5 calendars which will create uniformity in this country so that everybody will celebrate all important functions on the same day( This calendar will be all-embracing and will cater for all events in the lives of the Tamil people(/ SATF T9 B3 869)9T30 ASA B6A20 )r )oothsamy said he and his e7ecutive officials were underta"ing the .meet the people/ tour because they wanted to build the SATF into a brand .that will encompass all issues that affect the Tamil people of South Africa/( .4e have established a full-time office because we believe there are so many issues affecting the Tamil people that they need to be attended to immediately( .9ur office will be manned from -am to ?m from )onday to Friday( 4e have given an assurance that within #, hours they will get a response on any issue brought to our attention( .4e want to ensure that there is uniformity between temple organisations in this country and tac"le issues such as the need for bursaries+ career guidance for children coming our of matriculation and the need for employment( .4e also want to tac"le issues such as drugs and other social evils( 4e will meet with organisations and wor" with them but we will not dictate(/ SATF 4&!! 29T B3 S:BS36>&32T T9 1&20: )A1A SAB1A )r )oothsamy also referred to the South African 1indu )aha Sabha;SA1)S<+ which is headed by lawyer+ Ashwin Tri"am%ee( 1e said the SATF was an independent organisation representing all the Tamil people of South Africa and+ therefore+ would not be subservient to any organisation( .4e have met with the SA1)S in 0urban on 'anuary 5? and we spelt how we would li"e to have a wor"ing relationship+/ he said( .There was some "ind of a relationship in the past and we have spelt it out to them that this will certainly change( 4hat do we mean by this@ 4e are the official spo"es-people for the Tamil people in this country( 4e made it clear that anything of a Tamil nature that arrives on their des"+ then they must refer it to us for us to attend to the matter(/ 43 A63 S9:T1 AF6&CA2S F&6ST The dynamic new leader of the SATF said Tamils were first and foremost full South Africans and+ therefore+ must become fully involved in all aspects of South African life while mainting and promoting their language+ culture and traditions( 1e saidA .4e must remember that we are South Africans first+ and then

we are people of &ndian origin and then we are Tamilians( .4hat that means is that we need to embrace our society around us( 4e need to live in peace and harmony( 4e need to put in place things to effect that change that we would li"e to see happen( By that we are saying we should get involved+ our Tamil people should get involved in structures - crime prevention programmes+ community issues+ and other socio-economic matters so that we can effect the change in this+ our country( .1igh on our agenda is to hold a meeting with the 8resident and the ruling party to discuss the issues of need for the Tamil people in our country(/ F69) A 89STA! C!36* T9 A >36= S:CC3SSF:! B:S&23SS)A2 A20 C:!T:6A! !3A036 )r )oothsamy+ who became a very successful businessman in a period of #? years+ has come a long way from the small town of 2igel+ near 'ohannesburg+ where he was born on February 5 5$BB( 1e was born into a family of four brothers and one sister at a time when life was tough( Both his father+ )r >iragul )oothsamy+ and his mother+ Throbayamal+ wor"ed in odd %obs in order to ensure that the children went to school and there was .food on the table/( 1e went to primary school in 2igel and completed his matriculation in Springs in 5$-,( &n 5$-? he started wor" as a postal cler" and at the young age of ##+ he was appointed the 8ostmaster of the Benoni 8ost 9ffice( But+ after five years in the 8ost 9ffice+ he entered the business world at the age of #C when he entered the business world by opening a truc" and bus spares shop( 9ver the ne7t #? years+ his business e7panded e7potentially and he had interests in - among others private schools+ filling stations+ and care dealerships( 1e first became interested in the Tamil culture while still a young boy when he used to attend the 2igel >ishnu Temple+ which was built by his father( 4hile wor"ing as a postal cler"+ he also became an official of the 2igel Child 4elfare Society at the age of 5$ and became involved in the school governing body( And in the early 5$$ s+ )r )oothsamy became a member of the unbanned A2C and wor"ed tirelessly to canvas for the A2C during the first democratic elections in 5$$,( B3292& TA)&! SC199! B9A60 4hen the family moved to Benoni # years ago+ )r )oothsamy became involved in the Benoni Tamil School Board under the leadership of )r Sunny 2ayagar( 1e first served the BTSB as a councillor and then as vice-president+ deputy president and then president( 1e also served as 8resident of the Gauteng Tamil Federation for one term and has been involved with SATF and the GTF for the past 5 years( )r )oothsamy+ who is still involved with the Benoni Tamil School Board+ was responsible for the total renovation of the Benoni Sivan Alayam and the construction of the magnanimous # metre ShivaDSha"ti )urthi on the grounds of the temple( 1e was inspired to underta"e the construction of the # metre ShivaDSha"ti )urthi after he noticed a similar structure during a visit to )auritius four years ago(