An ex-parliamentarian claims that the PM would not do so because human rights means little to the Putrajaya administration.
GEORGE TOWN: A former parliamentarian claims that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak would not boycott the coming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka because the Tamil sentiments and human rights issues mean little to the Putrajaya administration.
Indeed, former Teluk Intan MP M Manogaran said Malaysia would do all it could to please the Sri Lankan government despite the civil war past between Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lanka government and Tamil minority population living in the northern peninsular of the island republic.
He recalled that Najib had previously remained silent on the strong protest from Malaysian Tamils and other Malaysians in 2012 to object the participation of Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapakse in an economic forum in Johor Baru. Eventually Rajapakse himself decided not to attend the forum.
He also noted that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was the first government leader to announce that he would not attend the 23rd CHOGM to be held in Colombo between Nov 15 and 17.
Harper – who was in an official visit to Malaysia just last week – has stated that Rajapakse and his government must first answer for the human rights violations in Sri Lanka.
Manoharan insisted that Rajapakse must answer for the war crimes he was accused of although no formal charges had been brought against him.
“Will the Malaysian Prime Minister follow the Canadian Prime Minister’s footsteps?
“It is highly unlikely because Tamil sentiments and human rights issues are of little importance to Malaysia,” Manogaran said in a statement here today.
He also called on the CHOGM to be either moved to another country or cancelled altogether to avoid the whole Commonwealth from being “tainted with the blood of innocent victims” if the summit went ahead as scheduled in Colombo.
He said the attendance of leaders of Commonwealth countries in the Sri Lanka summit would be a slap in the face of people who loved peace, democracy, good governance and justice.
Until May 2009, Manogaran said over 60,000 Tamil civilians had been killed by the Sri Lanka forces.
Inflicting maximum damage
He claimed that until today, the Sri Lanka government had been carrying both open and covert operations to inflict maximum damage on the Tamil community in northern Sri Lanka.
He cited the UN expert panel’s report, the Channel 4 news on the killing fields of Sri Lanka, UN High Commissioner for Human RightsNavi Pillay’s report as well as the recent documentary “No Fire Zone” as irrefutable testimonies of Rajapakse’s and the Sri Lanka security forces’ atrocities.
“Any leader attending the summit on Sri Lankan soil will be a party to the atrocities of Sri Lanka,” Manogaran said.
He also expressed disappointment that India would not boycott the summit in a bid to stop Sri Lanka from moving closer to China.
But he said India had failed to realise that Colombo was closer to Beijing than New Delhi.
He also claimed that the New Delhi administration had little concern and care for Tamils in Sri Lanka and even those in Tamil Nadu.
He insisted that as South Asia region power, India alone could stop the human rights violations in Sri Lanka.
“But India will fumble again, just as how it deals with Pakistan, Kashmir and China,” Manogaran said
GEORGE TOWN: A former parliamentarian claims that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak would not boycott the coming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka because the Tamil sentiments and human rights issues mean little to the Putrajaya administration.Indeed, former Teluk Intan MP M Manogaran said Malaysia would do all it could to please the Sri Lankan government despite the civil war past between Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lanka government and Tamil minority population living in the northern peninsular of the island republic.
He recalled that Najib had previously remained silent on the strong protest from Malaysian Tamils and other Malaysians in 2012 to object the participation of Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapakse in an economic forum in Johor Baru. Eventually Rajapakse himself decided not to attend the forum.
He also noted that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was the first government leader to announce that he would not attend the 23rd CHOGM to be held in Colombo between Nov 15 and 17.
Harper – who was in an official visit to Malaysia just last week – has stated that Rajapakse and his government must first answer for the human rights violations in Sri Lanka.
Manoharan insisted that Rajapakse must answer for the war crimes he was accused of although no formal charges had been brought against him.
“Will the Malaysian Prime Minister follow the Canadian Prime Minister’s footsteps?
“It is highly unlikely because Tamil sentiments and human rights issues are of little importance to Malaysia,” Manogaran said in a statement here today.
He also called on the CHOGM to be either moved to another country or cancelled altogether to avoid the whole Commonwealth from being “tainted with the blood of innocent victims” if the summit went ahead as scheduled in Colombo.
He said the attendance of leaders of Commonwealth countries in the Sri Lanka summit would be a slap in the face of people who loved peace, democracy, good governance and justice.
Until May 2009, Manogaran said over 60,000 Tamil civilians had been killed by the Sri Lanka forces.
Inflicting maximum damage
He claimed that until today, the Sri Lanka government had been carrying both open and covert operations to inflict maximum damage on the Tamil community in northern Sri Lanka.
He cited the UN expert panel’s report, the Channel 4 news on the killing fields of Sri Lanka, UN High Commissioner for Human RightsNavi Pillay’s report as well as the recent documentary “No Fire Zone” as irrefutable testimonies of Rajapakse’s and the Sri Lanka security forces’ atrocities.
“Any leader attending the summit on Sri Lankan soil will be a party to the atrocities of Sri Lanka,” Manogaran said.
He also expressed disappointment that India would not boycott the summit in a bid to stop Sri Lanka from moving closer to China.
But he said India had failed to realise that Colombo was closer to Beijing than New Delhi.
He also claimed that the New Delhi administration had little concern and care for Tamils in Sri Lanka and even those in Tamil Nadu.
He insisted that as South Asia region power, India alone could stop the human rights violations in Sri Lanka.
“But India will fumble again, just as how it deals with Pakistan, Kashmir and China,” Manogaran said
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