The Hon. G.G. Ponnambalam

¶ 01 Madam Presiding Member, we are gathered today to share our condolences with regard to seven former Members of Parliament. It is customary that regardless of our political differences we share the condolence events with all Members whom we are remembering today. In that sense, I would like to associate myself with the very pleasant comments that have been made with regard to all the Members so far.

¶ 02 I wish in particular to say a few words about the late Hon. Manicavasagar Kanagasabapathy Eelaventhan. I knew the Hon. Eelaventhan from 2004. I first became a Member of Parliament in 2001 as a TNA Member for Jaffna District; the late Hon. Eelaventhan entered in 2004 via the TNA National List and remained very active until he lost his seat in 2007.

¶ 03 Mr. Eelaventhan studied at St. John’s College, Jaffna and Wesley College, Colombo, and later served in the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Though he retired in 1980, he steadfastly identified as a Tamil nationalist, and even while in service his political views were forthright. He began with the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), but he was unlike many politicians — he was unwaveringly loyal to principle rather than to power. In the 1960s, amid intense internal debates in the ITAK on the political path to reach Tamil aspirations, he left the party to remain true to his convictions, aligning with V. Navaratnam, once regarded as the brain of the ITAK. In 1977, when the ITAK and the All Ceylon Tamil Congress formed the Tamil United Liberation Front, he joined that movement.

¶ 04 His political life shows a straight line of principle. Alliances and adversaries formed around him because he stayed his course; he did not change course because of them. An illustration: though he was a strong ITAK activist, the lady he chose to marry was from the All Ceylon Tamil Congress — the daughter of the Mandaitivu, Allaipiddy and Mankumban local council chairman. Despite the intense rivalry then between ITAK and ACTC, he embraced someone from across that divide. This showed that while he was firm in principle, his principles did not prevent him from engaging warmly with those who thought differently; he was progressive enough to fully accept a person from a very different political tradition.

¶ 05 From 2004 I had the opportunity to work closely with him when Tamil parties, after years, again displayed unity through the TNA; his contribution to that unity was healthy and significant. He never hesitated to voice his conscience to leadership. He was personally amiable and avoided personal conflicts, yet he was forthright politically — a trait I greatly admired.

¶ 06 I entered politics at 25, having lost my father, and was debating within myself what political culture I should practice. In that period, Mr. Eelaventhan’s conduct, especially his fidelity to conscience, deeply impressed me.

¶ 07 Later he went to Canada seeking asylum and spent his last years there, but he never forgot his homeland or its people. Even in hardship and advanced age, he continued to articulate views about the Tamil people in Sri Lanka and remained an activist in the diaspora. In Canada, Tamil diaspora cultural and political events invariably invited him; he was respected and loved both by migrants and those born and raised there.

¶ 08 Among current Tamil MPs, I alone had the chance to sit with him in Parliament. His political journey could not have happened without his family’s support. We must value him as a great asset. I bow my head to his family who enabled his full engagement in Tamil national politics, and pay my respects here.

¶ 09 If I may in one English sentence depict the late Hon. Eelaventhan: “You can take the late Hon. Eelaventhan out of politics, but you cannot take politics out of the late Hon. Eelaventhan.”

¶ 10 Thank you.