Country before Self ..............

Another Landmark decision by Ven Gangodawila Soma Thero

Fundrasing for Construction of the new"Shakyamuni Vihara" in Melbourne to be cancelled - Donate all money in aid of war victims of Sri Lanka - Ven Gangodawila Soma Thero (Chief Incumbent of Victoria Buddihst Vihara Victoria (Noble Park) in Melbourne)

Click here for details - Sri Lankan Food Fair in aid of war victims organised by the Victoria Buddhist Vihare in Noble Park, Melbourne

Nation cannot wait till war ends to provide relief to those who need it now

- President Chandrika Bandaranayake Kumaratunga

Daily News : 28 October 1998

We have received a number of requests from patriots in various countries to continue this as an on-going welfare project to help the Nation.   These proposals include to initiate projects to:

• send monthly contributions to recognized welfare projects in Sri Lanka;
• send clothes and other items such as sewing machines for the use of innocent victims of the war;
• facilitate a Foster Parent scheme for the children affected.

More artificial legs needed for disabled soldiers (Island : 29 Nov 1998)

Please write all non Sri Lankan cheques in favour of following respective organisations of your country and forward to:

         Where to send your contributions ?

 

If anyone willing to contribute in Sri Lankan cheques, they should be forwarded to :

     In the near future, we will notify the addresses and contact numbers of the other welfare organisations such as Dharma Vijaya Foundation, Weera Widahana,  Jayagrahanaya , Shahanodaya Foundation etc.

Please give generously, Thank You

Soldier Heroes Memoral Day and

"De Sarana (Help the Nation) Project

MEDIA RELEASE of SPUR

Dear Compatriot,

"DE SARANA (Help the Nation) PROJECT"

This is an appeal to you to join with us in a project to assist the casualties of  LTTE aggression. The project is called the "Desarana (Help the Nation) Project". We hope to collect as much as A$100,000  within a period of a few weeks.  This money will be sent to the General Denzil Kobbekaduwa Foundation with specific instructions to use it for the welfare and the rehablitation of the injured and the dependants of those brave soldiers who laid down their lives or were disabled in the latest battles in Kilinochchi, Paranthan and Mankulam.  They sacrificed everything for our country and we cannot look away.  Please help them. The campaign will be launched on the 1st of November with religious ceremonies at places of worship followed by an organized door-knocking campaign to collect voluntary donations.

We who are living far away from the trauma of this war have a debt to repay. This is the country that nurtured us, made it possible for us to work in a foreign land and bring up our children in safety. Our people living in Sri Lanka can sleep safely at night, because our brave soldiers hold the terrorists at bay in the jungles under extreme conditions. THEY NEED OUR SUPPORT. Let us now abandon our apathy and come forward to do what we can to help.

It is time for us to repay the service rendered by these brave heroes. They went into battle to safe guard us and ours. They have left behind them wives and children, parents and siblings who depended on them. These unhappy casualties of a war not of their making may now face a life of destitution. It is our obligation, nay, and our duty to help them.

Let each Sri Lankan association in every country take heed. You too can begin a “Deya Sarana” campaign to help our brave soldiers and their dependents. The funds can be sent to the Kobbekaduwa Foundation, which will give you a feedback on how the monies were spent. You can select how the money is used and follow up. Please, let us make it a worldwide
effort and show support for our brave soldiers by helping their families. Do not disregard this earnest appeal, please give generously and plead with your friends to do the same.

ABOUT SPUR

You might want to know about SPUR and its activities to date. SPUR was formed nearly five years ago to fulfil the urgent necessity of countering the activities of the LTTE, its agents, hirelings and supporters.

It was a time when most of our leaders were being bumped off with impunity by the LTTE.   The country was battle fatigued and the LTTE seemed invincible. Overseas the situation was even worse. The world media, be it the press, radio or television, echoing LTTE propaganda, portrayed the Sri Lankan government as a war mongering autocracy and the Sinhala people as fanatical racists.

On 06 November 1994, a cold, blustery day in Melbourne, a public meeting was called to discuss what we expatriates could do to help our motherland in this dark hour.  The brain storming session was centred on what action could be taken by expatriates to help Sri Lanka in the crisis and what form this should take.  Several opinions were aired.  Among them were proposals that were poles apart: One was to request the Sri Lankan govenment to stop the military operations immediately and start negotiations unconditionally in yet another attempt to come to a peaceful settlement.   Another proposal was to send state-of -the-art technology and equipment to assist the security forces in the operations against the terrorists.  A third proposal caught the attention of the gathering.  It was that the expatriates should take advantage of their unique placement and should concentrate on activities that cannot be effectively done by the Sri Lankan government or the people living in Sri Lanka.  It was also pointed out that this is exactly what the LTTE agents abroad did, but to the benefit of the terrorists.  What was required at this time was some method by which the vicious anti-Sri Lankan, anti-Sinhala invective spewed out by the LTTE propaganda machine could be countered. It was felt that Sri Lankan embassies overseas, in as much as they were government agencies, could not tackle this problem satisfactorily as the world media had a tendency to brush off or gloss over statements issued by state agencies.  

Vast majority of the crowd agreed to the proposal. Naturally, those who disagreed, fell off.  Others, spearheaded by a handful of committed souls, met often and discussed the possibilites, the pros and cons and the available options at length.  Finally, weeks later, they decided that a new organization should be formed with the main objective of countering separatist propaganda overseas.  They also recognised, as a secondary objective, the necessity of providing monetary and material assistance to those affected by terrorist activities. As a result the Society for Peace Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka Inc- SPUR was formed.  SPUR held it inaugural AGM on 04 February (Independence day) 1995 at the Monash University in Victoria.   Soon patriots in other Australian states followed, incorporating their own associations under the names of SPUR-NSW, WA-SPUR and SPUR-Qld. Other patriotic organizations already in existence such as the Singhala Society of the Northern Territory, Singhala Cultural  and Community Services Foundation (SCCSF) - Victoria and the Sri Lanka Association of  South Australia enthusiastically promised full cooperation.   In the Australian Capital Territory where the Tamil Tiger terrorists are employing a few treacherous "Singhalese" to tacitly campaign against Sri Lanka the absence of a patriotic organization was most felt.  With the advent of the Singhalese Cultural Association a few months ago this vaccum has now been filled.  All these organizations taken together are now effectively neutralizing the propaganda doled out by the LTTE lobbyists in Australia.

SPUR soon became a rallying call and this was clearly evident form the massive support shown by the Sri Lankan community in Melbourne who gathered in their thousands at a march and rally organised by SPUR and amply supported by SCCSF on 03 June 1995.  It was the largest ever gathering of Sri Lankans in Australia, most mainstream Australian media reporting the crowd at 3,000.  This event, in fact, was a turning point. Australian decision makers, media and the general public started paying attention to the fact there was another side to the Sri Lankan story.  Gradually they began to see things in   true perspective. Since then, SPUR has been carrying out numerous overt and tacit activities, which have had far reaching effects. Furthermore, by establishing a web page on the Internet, SPUR has been able to coordinate with expatriate patriotic organisations in other countries. In this manner, it has been possible to cooperate with each other and synchronize activities, avoiding to a great extent, duplications and ommissions.  It also gives a greaterer impact than if such activities were carried out in isolation.   For example, recently in London a massive rally and a 100-day vigil was carried out ending with the handing over of a petition to the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair. The campaign itself was organised by the expatriates in Britain, but SPUR in Australia sent 5000 signatures from Melbourne alone, and signatories from as far away as Russia petitioned the British Prime Minister to ban the LTTE as a terrorist organisation.

Through hundreds of thousands of letters written to politicians in Australia and other countries, media persons, church dignitaries, NGO organisations and many others, SPUR has been quick to always correct misconceptions, misinformation and downright lies about Sri Lanka in general and the situation prevailing in the country in particular. These are just too many to enumerate in this letter. Suffice it to say that they were successful enough to give rise to many a phone call with threats of dire disaster to each and every person who was "rash" enough to continue such activities.

As more and more LTTE terrorist bombs were blasted in the south of the country killing many thousands of civilians the Tamil Tiger propaganda machine went into high gear. In the one breath justifying the blasts and declaring that Sri Lanka was not a safe place for tourists to visit, it was patent that these acts were aimed at hurting the economy of the country as much as disrupting normal civilian lives.

It was then that SPUR had the idea of countering the success of the suicide bombers. After investigating the various possibilities, it was decided that sniffer dogs would be the most effective and least expensive way of countering the suicide bombers. More research followed to find out the best breed of dogs to be used for this purpose. Following this, a selection of Labrador and German Shepherd (Alsatian) puppies were sent to the Sri Lankan army to be trained as bomb sniffers. With the help of some of the many other Sri Lankan organisations and associations, to date 9 animals have been sent. The
dogs are being trained by the army to sniff bombs and at this time may have already been sent into battle.

SPUR initiated the project to donate a mobile blood bank unit to the security forces. Members of the Sri Lankan community in Melbourne and interstate generously contributed towards the purchase of this unit, either individually or through the associations of which they were members.

SPUR also launched a project to provide artificial limbs to soldiers who had lost their limbs in the war. The response format he community to this project was so overwhelming that it is being continued even though the target of providing 25 limbs was met soon after the project was launched. To date 40 limbs each worth more than A$500 have been donated.

In 1996, soon after the Mulativu debacle, a door knock campaign was launched through the length and breadth of Melbourne to collect money to be donated to the Defence Fund. Dubbed the "Sapumal Project" it was a massive exercise. Coordinators from each suburb organised groups of people to walk down each and every street knocking on the doors of Sri Lankans who willingly donated at least A$5, some even donated A$500 to this campaign. In this manner, A$41,000 was raised and donated to the Defence Fund. This money was used to build a garment factory in which disabled soldiers could work after rehabilitation. A few objections were raised by detractors who ostensibly were unwilling to contribute to the defence fund, but were in reality tools used by the LTTE to sling mud at SPUR and its activities. Undeterred by these objections, SPUR continues to work tirelessly for the welfare of our country.

The latest project  "Desarana (Help the Nation) Project" will be modelled on the extremely successful "Sapumal Project".  At least in Australia its success is assured.  Please see below for more details on how the project was initiated.


Thank you.


Ranjith Soysa
Secretary of SPUR

22 October 1998

History will never let us forget their feats of valour
The nation is proud of their bravery

Award winners

Dear Compatriots,

Soldier Heroes Memorial Day - 1 Nov 1998

The past few weeks were full of action in the war front. The news was both good and bad. And, one could not separate truth from half truths or downright lies and propaganda.

Whatever happened one thing is sure: Approximately a thousand heroic soldiers laid down their young lives to save our motherland.  Another thousand or more are still suffering injuries received in battle. Many a family is without the bread winner, a son, a brother or a father.

It is in this scenario Sinhaya (UK) proposed that we observe a day of mourning. Excellent; but shouldn’t we do better? A day of mourning while respecting the dead and the injured will not help them or their families. We are indebted to these valiant soldiers. We must do our best to help. Such action will also boost up the morals of them; the injured and the uninjured still fighting in the front.

What SPUR proposes to patriots worldwide is to observe Sunday 01 November 1998 (Approximately one month after Kilinochchi and Mankulam battles & coincidentally All Souls Day for Christians) as SOLDIER HEROES DAY (instead of only mourning the dead, we should respect also the living). On this day we hold religious ceremonies such as poojas, special masses etc at our respective religious centres to invoke blessings on our dead, injured and fighting soldiers. That day we also start a world wide door-knocking campaign to ask for whatever one can give towards the welfare of the families of the dead and the injured. The campaign will be continued for a limited period, say, 2 weeks attempting to target all anti-terrorist Sri Lankan households around the world. Every cent thus collected will be sent to recognized charities in Sri Lanka such as the General Kobbekaduwa Trust, Weera Widahana, Dharma Vijaya, Jayagrahanaya etc.

We speak through experience. When Mulativu fell along with 1,200 of our valorous heroes we started the "Sapumal Campaign" within a few weeks. The memory of the debacle and the suffering was still strong in the minds of Sri Lankans who usually tend to forget such tragedies after some time. The campaign was meticulously planned and executed: A suitable planning committee and a project manager were appointed. Teams of volunteers for door knocking were enlisted, lists of Sri Lankan houses were made for each area and teams for each zone were allocated. At the end of the exercise, in 3 weeks, $41,000 was collected and sent to the Defence Fund. Almost everyone contributed at least $5 from each household, some donating $100. A handful said that they did not want to prolong the war by donating money to the DF. This was only a lame excuse as we had explained to them that the DF is only for the welfare and not for supplying arms. However, we should try to milk these evasionists this time by not mentioning "Defence". We can explain that the money goes to the injured and the affected through the named charitable organisations.

Whether others worldwide join or not, SPUR (Vic) Executive Committee has decided to do it. On the 18 Oct we are holding a public consultation meeting to attract anyone – members or non members – and any organisation willing to join in the exercise. A planning team and a manager will be appointed at the public consultation meeting and the campaign will take off as an independent project. SPUR will do its part facilitating, coordinating and funding the administrative costs. That is how we did it last time. A suitable name for the campaign will be agreed upon at the public consultation meeting on the 18 October 1998. SPUR will make sure that there will be sufficient number of patriots to see that the campaign will not be hijacked or diverted at the meeting. We have already started publicising the Oct 18 public meeting over community radios and other channels.

We invite you to join in the exercise in the name of your motherland. Constructive suggestions are most welcome. For example it is better to have one common Campaign name worldwide.

E-mail: asokas@spur.asn.au

Public Officer SPUR (Vic)

Australia

10 October 1998