Group fosters Tamil culture

South Asian Community Association dedicated only to promotion of culture

By: Bill Greenwood
   The South Asian Community Association is hoping to foster Tamil culture.
   The group held a program at a South Brunswick middle school earlier this month that featured a speaker with alleged ties to a federally designated terrorist group. However, the organization says its purpose is to teach Tamil children about their native culture and language, lobby the government for recognition of the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka, and hold public events like Heroes Day, designed to recognize the people fighting for Tamil independence from Sri Lanka.
   Heroes Day is an annual, nationwide family gathering (other celebrations occur in California, Florida and Ohio) that focuses on children, said Thirugnamum Mohan, a member of the association who lives in South Brunswick.
   "We raise the American flag, we pay our respects and then we praise the people who died and pray for them," he said.
   The event is meant to celebrate Tamil culture, according to Ram Ranjan, an organizer of the association.
   "Mainly, we want to give the kids a chance to get onto the stage and perform," he said. "We basically provide them a chance to, by having this function, to get the parents and kids together."
   Heroes Day for Tamils is equivalent to Memorial Day for Americans, Mr. Ranjan said.
   "We praise the people who have sacrificed their lives for the civil war in Sri Lanka," he said. More than 70,000 Tamils have been killed in the conflict, compared to about 1,000 members of the country’s Sinhalese majority, he said.
   "On this day, we remember the war dead," he said.
   The civil war has been raging on-and-off in Sri Lanka since 1983. A ceasefire agreement was signed by the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2002, but fighting has steadily escalated since late 2005. Both sides say they are still committed to the ceasefire.
   This year’s Heroes Day celebration, held Dec. 2 at Crossroads North Middle School, featured dancing, singing, cultural activities and speeches — including one by Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, a legal adviser to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a group designated by the U.S. Department of State as a terrorist organization.
   Mr. Rudrakumaran was invited to speak because of his knowledge of the U.S.A. Patriot Act, Mr. Ranjan said. Many Tamils in the United States are worried by the Patriot Act and, at the event, Mr. Rudrakumaran explained the law and the legal rights of Tamil-Americans, Mr. Ranjan said. He said he was not aware of any links between Mr. Rudrakumaran and the Liberation Tigers.
   South Asian Community Association members say the group primarily focuses on cultural education, especially for Tamil-American children.
   Siva Thangavelan, a member of the community association who lives in South Brunswick, said the group teaches children the Tamil language, which is more than 5,000 years old, and also holds music and cultural programs for kids.
   Mr. Ranjan said the group is proud of these efforts.
   "We really love our language," he said. "We sing songs praising the language and our land."
   In addition, Mr. Ranjan said the organization is looking to set up a number of sports camps for Tamil youngsters. The group hopes to have basketball, tennis and additional programs set up by the spring.
   "A lot of Tamil children don’t play sports," he said. "They are inactive, so we want to encourage activity."
   The organization also lobbies Congress to recognize "the Sri Lankan problem" by explaining the situation to them from the Tamil point of view, according to Mr. Thangavelan.
   Mr. Ranjan said the Sri Lankan government is guilty of "indiscriminate bombing," which has killed a large number of Tamil civilians, during the war. He said the government obscures this fact by claiming they are fighting terrorists.
   "They put that forward masking the real problem," Mr. Ranjan said. "What is the real problem? The majority is oppressing the Tamil minority."
   He said that neither the community association nor the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, a charitable group Mr. Ranjan is affiliated with that aids refugees in Sri Lanka, provides any material support to the Liberation Tigers.
   Mr. Ranjan said his affiliation with the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization has also led to many claims of links to terrorist groups. He said many people mistakenly link the Liberation Tigers to the organization because the charity operates in lands controlled by the Liberation Tigers.
   "The main thing is the (Liberation Tigers) controls two-thirds of north and east Sri Lanka," Mr. Ranjan said. "The (Tamil Rehabilitation Organization) works within their control because there are people there (who need help)."
   Mr. Ranjan said the organization provided both immediate relief — in the form of food, temporary shelter and more — and long-term rehabilitation by building houses, schools and other facilities.
   Mr. Thangavelan said the accusations of terrorist ties are nothing new, adding that similar allegations have been made four or five times over the 10 to 12 years the Heroes Day celebration has been held.
   "Every year this happens, somebody puts out this anonymous e-mail," he said. "We did everything within the laws of the United States."