Tamil Youth Organisation of Australia's letter of congratulations to Barack Obama

To: The Honourable President Elect of the United States of America, Mr Barack Obama,

Tamil Youth Organisation of Australia (TYO) congratulates you in your victory and wishes you the greatest of support in directing the United States of America into a better future.We express our happiness in the historical significance of your election. The world is slowly unfolding in its ability to shower human rights for all and your call to presidency is another mark of this predicament. We see your positive goals as inspiration to the many around you.

It is with this predicament that we relate to as we also pray and persist for equal human rights for the many families in the island of Sri Lanka. TYO members around the world have a strong connection to the current ongoing struggle in Sri Lanka and are shedding tears of grief as innocent people are lost to the brutalities of war and suffering.

The civil war in Sri Lanka sizes up to many in the past as an unfair and unnecessary war in which land and power supersedes the goal of peace, safety and equality for all. It has lasted 35 years and the Tamil diaspora are seeking the support and guidance of the American government in your leadership to put an end to this bloodshed.

As we reach out to all alike in the world, we aim to achieve the goals similar to those you will enforce in your time as president. Democracy, Opportunity, Liberty and Unyielding Hope are engraved into our very being and create the power which endures us to allow safety and prosperity to all residing in the island of Sri Lanka.

With the help of leaders like yourself, who understand our plight, pressure can be put on the Sri Lankan government to reassess their treatment of the many Tamils affected by its military actions.

We urge you to lead the much needed change, by placing trade sanctions on a Sri Lankan regime that discriminates against its minorities and ceasing all sales of military equipment to a Sri Lankan state that seeks a military solution rather than a negotiated solution to the civil war.

We hope a leader like yourself will recognise that those who fight for freedom wish and dream only for the liberty of their people and nation, and not for the destruction of another.

Dear Sir, we are ready to put our hands on the arc of history and bend it once more towards the hope of a better day for all civilians in the island of Sri Lanka. We hope you will empathise with the situation many Tamils from that island are trapped in and we hope to work in collaboration with you and the American people to achieve peace and equality not only in the island of Sri Lanka but in many other war torn areas of the world.

Our stories are singular but our destinies are shared. We look forward to joining you as we step forward to relieve the world of injustice.

With regards, Tamil Youth Organisation of Australia