Poll Shows that Tamils, Feeling Alone in the World, Embrace the Tigers
A poll conducted by Tamils for Obama and answered by 12,300 Tamils world-wide shows that as Sri Lankan government forces close in on Tamils in the Vanni, a region in northern Sri Lanka, Tamils expect no help from the outside world and cling to the Tamil Tigers as their only protectors. A poll conducted by Tamils for Obama shows Tamils all over the world see no help coming from outsiders to rescue the hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians encircled in the war zone in the Vanni in northern Sri Lanka. The poll was conducted from March 18 to March 31, 2009 and was answered by over 12,300 Tamils in over 100 countries.
The poll also suggested that with Tamils expecting no help from the outside world, they are holding more tightly than ever to the Tamil Tigers. The Tamils don’t trust the “welfare camps” run by the Sri Lankan government, and would prefer to be ruled by a post-war government run by the Tamil Tigers. The poll’s first question reads “If the outside world (UN or other countries) chooses to save the Tamils and sends a military force to do this, what would you favor doing for the hundreds of thousands of Tamils encircled by Sri Lankan troops in Vanni?”
Overwhelmingly (85%) the Tamils stated that they wanted the outside force to protect the Tamils in a Vanni safe zone and compel the Sri Lankan government to allow humanitarian organizations access to the Vanni until a cease-fire is achieved. Smaller numbers chose removing civilians to camps run by the outsiders (12%), removing them to camps run by the Sri Lankan government (1%), or doing nothing (less than 1%). When asked if the world hopes for a constitutional rather than a military conclusion to the Sri Lankan civil war .
Question 2), the Tamil respondents were more divided. The largest number (44%) thought the world favored a military solution in which the Sri Lankan government crushed the Tigers and let the world stay out of Sri Lanka. About a quarter (23%) thought the world wanted a constitutional resolution to Sri Lanka’s civil war, but would be unwilling to take any actions to bring it about. About a tenth (10%) thought that the rest of the world would only be willing to send humanitarian help, and roughly a fifth (23%) thought that the world wanted Tamils to have their own country and were willing to contribute real help.
Question 3 stated the world community will take any strong action to end the war immediately? More than half (62%) of respondents said no. When asked in the next question how they would describe the Tamil Tigers, most of the respondents (85%) choose to describe them as “a legitimate resistance organization protecting Tamils from state terrorism and genocide.” Fewer (13%) described the Tigers as “a legitimate resistance organization that sometimes uses regrettable tactics to advance their cause.” Less than one percent (0.8%) said “They discredit Tamils everywhere with their actions” or “They are radical trouble makers who would be outlaws in any country” (0.38%).
Question 5 stated “The U.S. and other countries keep lists of countries and organizations that practice and support terrorism. Should the Tamil Tigers be included in these lists?” Most of the respondents (88%) said they should not, that “The Tigers are a legitimate defensive force that is using reasonable military means to protect their people.” About ten percent (10%) said the Tigers should not be on other countries’ terrorist lists because “Their tactics have been aimed mostly at government and military targets within Sri Lanka.” Fewer respondents (1%) said the Tigers were aggressive and violent and unpopular abroad but were responding to state terrorism. The smallest number (0.33%) agreed that they were terrorists.
The Tamils have a low opinion of Sri Lanka’s “welfare camps.” Most (78%) called them “death camps meant to hold and destroy the Tamils who are in them.” Another 20% said “They are prison camps where Tamil inmates are abused and mistreated.” Much smaller numbers said “They are probably unhealthy but otherwise safe” (1 %) or “They are a safe place to shelter and heal Tamil civilians” (0.45%).
The last question asks what Tamils thought should be the Tamil Tigers’ role in Tamil Eelam, if and when Tamil Eelam is formed. The majority 67% felt that the Tigers should rule because “They promised to have a democratic, pluralistic society and to put the war behind them.” Other respondents felt the Tigers should rule because they led the revolution (11%), that “They should disband their military organization and become a regular political party that competes for office in a democratic system” (15%), or “They should become the non-political armed forces of the new country” (6%).
Requests for participation in the poll were sent out through all available means of contacting the Tamil diaspora and Tamils on the island, including email lists, newspapers, websites, blogs and paid advertisements. Tamils for Obama believes the response to be representative, taking into account the distribution of internet connectivity, the complexity of the polling methods, the global dispersion of the Tamil population, and concerns many Tamils have for their safety in expressing any political opinion in public. Tamils for Obama acknowledges that their polling method creates sampling errors. For instance, polling over the internet automatically excludes as respondents people who don’t own computers. They say they have tried to avoid any bias resulting from the wording of questions or the order in which the questions were presented.
Each poll respondent is sent a unique validation code by email which he/she submits along with his/her answers to this poll. This prevents any respondent answering the poll more than once. The pollster, Tamils for Obama, stated that the raw data of the poll is available for verification by any legitimate interested party. More details of the poll results can be seen at http://www.tamilsforobama.com/poll/result.asp Tamils are an ethnic group living mainly in the northeast of Sri Lanka and southern India. They are a minority population in Sri Lanka, and are currently engaged in a civil war they regard as genocide. Tamils for Obama is comprised of Tamils who have settled in the U.S., or who were born in the U.S.
How can you do a poll with internation Tamils saying they feel they couldn’t go to the welfare areas set up by the government? it has been said that many Tamil civilians are trying to flee from the LTTE terrorist group and as they flee from being either forced as recruits or as a human shield, they are shot at. the UN have stated that the LTTE are not allowing the Tamil civilians to escape to the government safe zones to receive the aid that srilankan government are allowing through. the safe areas reach internation standards.surely we should be trying to support the sri lankan government to abolish the LTTE who are racist towards Indian Tamils and Muslims and help the government protect the Sinhalese AND Tamils. the LTTE have been linked to training Al Qaeda, they recruit child soldiers, they’ve recruited women as soldiers, they perfected the suicide belt/jacket, they commit extortion and gain money through fraud, arms dealing, smuggling, drugs…we are meant to be battling terrorism to protect the citizens of the world. if srilanka was against Tamils, they wouldn’t be represented on the flag of Sri Lanka!
Those who contributed to this poll doesn’t know how LTTE treated its own people in a bruttal manner. They killed people who were trying to escape LTTE held area and put them into fire and exibit to the people. Some of them were burned alive. Who ever interested to know these menace of LTTE, must visit the temporary shelters of the refugees and talk to them.
Only sri lankans can guide the destiny of Sri Lanka. Diaspora have no influence on the Sri Lankan nation owing to their blind support for a blood thirsty terrorist group…
First, please get your facts right Mr/Mrs Anonymous. True, UN have stated LTTE is not allowing civilians to flee but upto which point did Mr. Holmes go? Only up to Vavuniya which is controlled by SLA. Perhaps he should have visited “no fire” zone declared by both parties to see the truth & hear the other side of the story. Same U.N has pressured the Govnm’t to stop the war due to humanitarian crisis but did the SL Govmn’t accept? NO. If the Govm’t is all about freeing Tamils, then it should act in the best interest of the Tamils. Firing cluster bombs/shells & aerial bombardment in “no fire” zone by Govm’t forces is what SL call freeing Tamils from LTTE, nop it is called planned Genocide. Same U.N senior analyst Anna have stated that they have never seen such a barb wired IDP camps which is way below international standard. Those who want to flee the LTTE held territory are still making to the Govm’t held areas so human sheild allegations are fully HOCK & BULL STORY made up by SL Govm’t. LTTE was never against any nationalities, as Tamils as a whole have made it clear that LTTE is their saviour and only LTTE can represent Tamils. LTTE does have links with AL QAEDA, it’s the Sri Lankan Government that has close ties with a nation (IRAN) that promotes & encourages AL QAEDA. Infact, Iran’s president had a red carpet welcome in Sri Lanka and let’s not forget that he said ISREAL should not be on the world map. This clearly shows who has close relationship with AL QAEDA. Tamils feel that we have no one other than LTTE and this is the truth. LTTE IS TAMILS SAVIOUR and Sri Lanka is staging a ststematic GENOCIDE against TAMILS in the name of elimating terrorism.
CAMPS SET UP BY SLA IS EQUIVALENT TO NAZI CAMPS…..JUST LIKE HITLER AND HIS NAZI PEOPLE RAJA PAKSE & SINHALESE WILL FALL 4 SURE…….
I wonder what a poll of this sort from the Tamil diaspora would achieve as this should have been conducted with the Tamils sufferingin Sri Lanka or Elam to have be of any value.
saying that people fleeing and making it to government safe zone so human shields are rubbish may be lies. ltte cant control ALL Tamil civilians and when they manage to escape the terrorists, they’re RUNNING FOR THE SAFE ZONE…NOT TO BE PROTECTED BY LTTE! if they felt that LTTE are their saviours, why would they run for the safe zone? check youtube, there is a video of the Tamil civilians cheering at the arrival of the Sri Lankan Government. you clearly need to read more of what Tamils really think of this issue. i would suggest you widen your reading away from just pro-ltte literature e.g. tamilnet and focus on ALL sides of stories and then make a judgement. to say that a TERRORIST group recognised by many countries across the globe e.f. the UK, the EU, USA, Canada…to actually say that terrorism represents your people is unfortunate. i feel bad for the Tamils who do not believe in your views and are classed in the same category as you for stating not just for yourself, but for ALL Tamils that they all believe what you do. anyone who needs terrorism to make a point is pathetic.
i think the main focus is being able to live in peace not looking to seperate different people. be less…LTTE IS THE SAVIOUR…and try to think about the whole situation. dont be easily led. ask the people involved, what if LTTE are holding Tamil civilians as human shields?? what will you do then? think outside your little box and focus on what is important, not terrorism, but people. no one wants Tamils to disappear off the planet…but we want to eliminate people who terrorise people by making them feel unsafe to live in that country. if its not just sinhalese, but Tamil civilians and Muslims that feel terrorised by one group, do you not see this as racism? if you want something, that is what politics is for. if Tamils are cheering for the arrival of the Government, they obviously feel safer with them than with LTTE. so LTTE aren’t representing all Tamils and i hope that people who read this will not think Tamil = Terrorism. it must also be noted that its not only Tamils that have suffered in the history of sri lanka, it is also Sinhalese civilians. the government are clearly trying to protect us all.
annonymous, you are full of sh_t, so does sh_t lanka, lets go back to thinking how the LTTE began and how so many youth were drawn towrds it. If people cheered on welcoming the SLA why are there so many youth being abducted from those so called rehab camps. Sinhalese monsters are putting on a good act to draw people to their side. Trust me, if the diaspora hasn’t brought out the facts about genocide to the international community the sinhalese monsters would have wiped out the whole tamil populatiuon living in vanni. If the sh_t lankan gov’t is so righteous in its actions why cant they allow independant journalists to the warzone? Why are journalists being abducted, killed and press offices attacked? Why does the gov’t rep. need to escort human rights advocate preventing them from knowing the unbiased opinion of the civilians?
Tamils = Tigers. There’s no seperating the two. The diaspora has proved it..
annonymous. Let the diaspora and the rest of them demand, shout, fast and immolate themselves. They can demand till the cows come home but will never get their eelam. You know why they have not been successful? This is because if the west help them to achieve eelam, the next eelam seekers will be tamil nadu. Do you think the central govt of India is going to let this happen? No sir,bet ur ass they won’t.I think the diaspora knows this by now but are hoping against hope that it will still get eelam. Well, you can’t stop people from dreaming and hoping, can you?