Sunday, 1st June 2014
Chandralingaraja Kushanthan, Kirubanandan Sellathurei
and Mahadevan Kirubakaran
By Camelia Nathaniel
The LTTE leaders and members in Malaysia, Mauritius and Tamil Nadu indoctrinated the local Tamils in those countries to form support groups. The debriefing of three LTTE leaders in Malaysia, arrested by the Malaysian Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division on May 15, 2014, revealed that LTTE front organizations located in the West were supporting the creation of these support groups. These front organizations are Nediyawan-Irumporai group working in Tamil Nadu and Mauritius and Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam and Global Tamil Forum and its associated Canadian Tamil Congress working in Malaysia and Tamil Nadu. For their role in supporting terrorism and its revival, under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373, these fronts were listed as terrorist entities in March 2014.
The current phase of investigations into the LTTE network in Malaysia began in July 2011, after Fr S.J.Emmanuel, President of Global Tamil Forum (GTF), the main umbrella organization of the LTTE, visited Malaysia. Emmanuel’s visit was organized by The Tamil Forum of Malaysia (TFM), a constituent member of GTF in Malaysia. The TFM is the successor to the World Tamil Relief Fund of Malaysia, the organization that coordinated the flow of funds from Australia, Europe and North America for the illegal procurement activities in North Korea and maintenance of the LTTE arms carriers. The directing figure of the network was LTTE auditor and later accountant, PonniahAnandarajah alias Aiyyah, the former treasurer of the World Tamil Coordinating Organization in the US.
After his deputy Rajan was arrested, Aiyyah attempted to go into hiding in Canada in 2009-2010, and their Malaysian associates Dr N.Iyngkaran, K.Arumugam and S.Pasupathy formed a new LTTE front TFM. According to records recovered by the authorities, Mr. Kanagarajah, Chairman of Fund Raising Committee of TFM, raised over a million dollars for the GTF stating it is to support ‘the humanitarian efforts’ but no funds were either received for reintegration of displaced Tamils or rehabilitation of LTTE cadres. There is no accountability and transparency of how GTF spent the money.
The LTTE leaders arrested in Malaysia were GushanthanSundaralingarajah alias KushanthanChandralinga Raja, Sundaralingam Raja Ushanthan alias Mullaichelvam, MahadevanKirubaharan and SelvathuraiKirubananthan. After they were debriefed for their links to others, they were deported to Sri Lanka on May 25, 2014.
Gushanthan (45) joined the LTTE in 1994. He married the adopted daughter of Shankar, a close associate relative of LTTE LeaderVelupillaiPrabhakaran. He was deputy head of the LTTE air wing. After relocating to Malaysia in 2004, he studied and worked as an electronic engineer in Malaysia. The LTTE branch in Malaysia funded by front organizations including World Tamil Movement and Tamil Rehabilitation Organization in Canada paid for his education and living. Internationally wanted for his role in terrorist crimes, INTERPOL issued a red notice for his arrest.
MahadevanKirubaharan42,is an LTTE sound engineer working for Nitharashanam, the LTTE media organization. After he joined the LTTE musical group in 1996, he travelled to Norway in 2001 and was engaged in terrorist propaganda for the LTTE. He relocated to Malaysia in 2006 to assist the LTTE and after 2009 was involved in LTTE activities to revive the LTTE. He married an LTTE cadre who was a teacher in Sencholai. His name was Manimoli. With Murali alias Swiss Murali, an LTTE leader in Switzerland, he worked for the Voice of Tigers (VOT) and Tamil Television Network (TTN).
SelvathuraiKirubananthan alias Anbarasan, 38, joined the LTTE during 1998/99. He worked for the LTTE intelligence wing responsible for collecting information and conducting assassinations and bombings. Serving under Pottu Amman, he left for Malaysia in 2006. He works with TGTE and established close relationship with RamasamyPalinasamy, Deputy Chief Minister of the state of Penang. He engaged in disseminating LTTE propaganda, raising funds and recruiting supporters. In addition to collecting money from Tamil shops, he sold LTTE DVD and publications to Malaysian Tamil public, engaged in indoctrination of his recruits, and supported LTTE functions including road shows organized by Tamilar progressive team created by KalaiMuhilan, a Malaysian LTTE leader. Anbarasan also worked with Siva Pasupathy, another Malaysian LTTE leader who organized LTTE heroes day in November 2013 at Soma stage in Kuala Lumpur.
With the arrests, the Malaysian Special Branch seized LTTE propaganda, computers, media equipment and currencies from 24 countries worth RM20,176.53. Addressing the media, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, inspector-general of Royal Malaysian Police, said the LTTE cadres were active in Malaysia since 2004 and were seeking to revive the LTTE.
“They used Malaysia as a base to collect funds, spread their propaganda, and were attempting to revive the defunct terrorist group at the international level,” he said in a statement. Khalid said to avoid suspicion they were registered for refugee status with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and so had been able to remain in Malaysia without visas.
“We will not allow the country to be used as a place for them to hide or conduct any terror activities in the country or on foreign soil,” he said. Stating that: “Our officers found they had engaged former members to continue with their struggle,” a counter terrorism officer added, “Initial investigations revealed that the suspects had spread LTTE ideology to former members, who had fled to other countries after the terrorist group was defeated by the Sri Lankan government in 2009.” The counter terrorism officers revealed that the suspects distributed propaganda materials through the Internet to LTTE cells in Europe, where many of their members were hiding.
Investigations reveal a significant portion of the LTTE leaders and members who fled overseas lived abroad with UNHCR identity cards. About 4,000 UNHRC cards were issued to Sri Lankans. Inspector-General of Police Abu Bakar said the LTTE was using Malaysia as their base to collect data and disseminate propaganda to revive the group’s activities. He added “They have obtained UNHCR cards to avoid suspicion. “Police will work closely with UNHCR to ensure that suspected terrorists do not exploit and use its cards to turn Malaysia into their operation base.”
The greatest concern of Malaysia was the radicalization of Malaysian Tamils. The government was particularly concerned of KalaiMuhilan who created the Tamilar Progressive Team. Called the Malaysian Prabhakaran, KalaiMuhilan created in 2013, theTamilar Progressive Team. Modelled on Nam Tamilar created by Seeman in Tamil Nadu, both KalaiMuhilan and Seeman radicalized their own communities to support the revival of the LTTE. Considered fanatics by their own local communities and mainstream Sri Lankan Tamils, KalaiMuhilan and Seeman are supported by LTTE fronts overseas.
From : http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2014/06/01/ltte-arrests-in-malaysia/
