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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Soon, Sri Lankan FT cuming to SG!!</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>7:41 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 1) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>22895.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>S'pore seeks fresh links with Jaffna
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>New chapter opens for Tamils' cultural capital: George Yeo </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Ravi Velloor, South Asia Bureau Chief
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Army officers showing Foreign Minister George Yeo landmines planted by the Tamil Tigers during the years of civil war and defused by the Sri Lankan army in de-mining operations in the Mannar region. Also present was Singapore's non-resident Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr Chay Wai Chuen (second from left). -- ST PHOTO: RAVI VELLOOR
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Mannar, Jaffna and Trincomalee (Sri Lanka): Singapore looks forward to the revival of old links that bound it to Jaffna, now that Sri Lanka's civil war is over. That was the Deepavali Day message that Foreign Minister George Yeo took to the cultural capital of Sri Lankan Tamils yesterday.
Speaking at the iconic Jaffna Library, now rebuilt after having been razed in the separatist war, Mr Yeo said a new chapter of peace and promise had opened for the South Asian nation.
He said: 'There can be no greater gift to the next generation than education.' Mr Yeo added that he had brought with him 500 books as Singapore's gift to the library.
Jaffna was an ancient seat of learning, producing scholars, lawyers, doctors and other professionals - many of whom live around the world, including Singapore, and constitute a powerful and influential Tamil diaspora.
Among the books Mr Yeo handed over was one on the late deputy prime minister S. Rajaratnam, probably Singapore's best-known Jaffna Tamil.
Mr Yeo's day-long swing through some of the territories most affected by the conflict took him to Mannar in Sri Lanka's north-west, Jaffna in the north, and the picturesque natural harbour of Trincomalee - capital of the eastern province.
All part of the traditional Tamil homelands, they were scenes of some of the bloodiest battles - as the Sri Lankan army fought to wrest control of the areas from the separatist Tamil Tigers over the past 21/2 years. The fighting ended on May 19 with the death of Tiger chieftain Velupillai Prabhakaran and almost the entire Tiger leadership.
Senior generals told Mr Yeo that the Sri Lankan army lost more than 6,000 soldiers in the last phase of the war, with another 27,000 wounded, some of them critically.
Many of the injuries came from mines artfully planted in the way of the advancing troops. Clearing the mines is now proving a headache for the Sri Lankan authorities.
'Unlike armies that plant the mines in a systematic way and map the location, the Tigers were deliberately haphazard in their methods,' explained Major-General Kamal Gunaratne, the security forces commander of the Wanni area.
The army uses a variety of methods in mine clearing, from manual de-miners to machines and sniffer dogs. In the Mannar region alone, nearly 7,000 anti-personnel mines and 1,500 unexploded ordnance have been recovered, Maj-Gen Gunaratne said.
The Sri Lankan government cites the need to clear the mines as one reason why it is still holding more than 250,000 people displaced by the war. Another reason is to weed out former Tamil Tiger cadres and sympathisers among the inmates.
The prison-like camps, where even children are guarded by barbed wire, have come in for much international criticism, however.
At a camp in Jaffna, Mr Yeo saw up close the deep longing of the inmates to be allowed to return to their homes - when a young woman tearfully accosted Sri Lanka's Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda.
Her husband, who was close to the Tigers around 1990, had been taken away seven months ago, said Ms Santha Lakshmi, a mother of two children. Now she wants to be allowed to return to her home in Vadamarachchi.
Mr Yeo, accompanied by Indian community leaders, also travelled to Trincomalee where Singapore's Prima Group has operated a flour mill for the past 30 years.
The area is now poised for a tourism boom, said Eastern Province governor Mohan Wijewickrama. Besides, with the war ending, large
areas of land are being brought under cultivation.
'Sri Lanka will soon be a rice surplus nation,' said Mr Wijewickrama, a retired rear-admiral.
[email protected]
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>New chapter opens for Tamils' cultural capital: George Yeo </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Ravi Velloor, South Asia Bureau Chief
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Army officers showing Foreign Minister George Yeo landmines planted by the Tamil Tigers during the years of civil war and defused by the Sri Lankan army in de-mining operations in the Mannar region. Also present was Singapore's non-resident Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr Chay Wai Chuen (second from left). -- ST PHOTO: RAVI VELLOOR
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Mannar, Jaffna and Trincomalee (Sri Lanka): Singapore looks forward to the revival of old links that bound it to Jaffna, now that Sri Lanka's civil war is over. That was the Deepavali Day message that Foreign Minister George Yeo took to the cultural capital of Sri Lankan Tamils yesterday.
Speaking at the iconic Jaffna Library, now rebuilt after having been razed in the separatist war, Mr Yeo said a new chapter of peace and promise had opened for the South Asian nation.
He said: 'There can be no greater gift to the next generation than education.' Mr Yeo added that he had brought with him 500 books as Singapore's gift to the library.
Jaffna was an ancient seat of learning, producing scholars, lawyers, doctors and other professionals - many of whom live around the world, including Singapore, and constitute a powerful and influential Tamil diaspora.
Among the books Mr Yeo handed over was one on the late deputy prime minister S. Rajaratnam, probably Singapore's best-known Jaffna Tamil.
Mr Yeo's day-long swing through some of the territories most affected by the conflict took him to Mannar in Sri Lanka's north-west, Jaffna in the north, and the picturesque natural harbour of Trincomalee - capital of the eastern province.
All part of the traditional Tamil homelands, they were scenes of some of the bloodiest battles - as the Sri Lankan army fought to wrest control of the areas from the separatist Tamil Tigers over the past 21/2 years. The fighting ended on May 19 with the death of Tiger chieftain Velupillai Prabhakaran and almost the entire Tiger leadership.
Senior generals told Mr Yeo that the Sri Lankan army lost more than 6,000 soldiers in the last phase of the war, with another 27,000 wounded, some of them critically.
Many of the injuries came from mines artfully planted in the way of the advancing troops. Clearing the mines is now proving a headache for the Sri Lankan authorities.
'Unlike armies that plant the mines in a systematic way and map the location, the Tigers were deliberately haphazard in their methods,' explained Major-General Kamal Gunaratne, the security forces commander of the Wanni area.
The army uses a variety of methods in mine clearing, from manual de-miners to machines and sniffer dogs. In the Mannar region alone, nearly 7,000 anti-personnel mines and 1,500 unexploded ordnance have been recovered, Maj-Gen Gunaratne said.
The Sri Lankan government cites the need to clear the mines as one reason why it is still holding more than 250,000 people displaced by the war. Another reason is to weed out former Tamil Tiger cadres and sympathisers among the inmates.
The prison-like camps, where even children are guarded by barbed wire, have come in for much international criticism, however.
At a camp in Jaffna, Mr Yeo saw up close the deep longing of the inmates to be allowed to return to their homes - when a young woman tearfully accosted Sri Lanka's Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda.
Her husband, who was close to the Tigers around 1990, had been taken away seven months ago, said Ms Santha Lakshmi, a mother of two children. Now she wants to be allowed to return to her home in Vadamarachchi.
Mr Yeo, accompanied by Indian community leaders, also travelled to Trincomalee where Singapore's Prima Group has operated a flour mill for the past 30 years.
The area is now poised for a tourism boom, said Eastern Province governor Mohan Wijewickrama. Besides, with the war ending, large
areas of land are being brought under cultivation.
'Sri Lanka will soon be a rice surplus nation,' said Mr Wijewickrama, a retired rear-admiral.
[email protected]
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