Value of Defeat

by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam

(December 03, Melbourne. Sri Lanka Guardian) The reactive action by Oxford University in cancelling its engagement with Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse under the pretext of ‘security’ reveals to the independent observer, the fall in status of this once prestigious University. Had the initial decision been made on merit basis, Oxford University would have honored its engagement– come what may. It had the responsibility to uphold that merit based engagement. Now, the University Administration has seriously damaged the investment made by all its members.

If Mr. Rajapakse was found through merit basis, to be guilty of war crimes, it was the responsibility of global agencies, especially the UN which listed the LTTE as a Terrorist organization, to bring this out to benefit global society. All those who listed LTTE as a Terrorist organization, without taking due care to work out how it would affect ordinary Tamils - each fighting for independence in their own ways – are responsible for the suffering of civilians through the actions of the Government of Sri Lanka. Through Mr. Rajapakse – they were all rejected by majority investors in the issue of Tamil Independence.

Yesterday, Mrs.Malini Rasanayagam, a well known Tamil activist expressed much appreciation for the discovery that ‘Freedom once realized is never lost’. Mrs. Malini Rasanayagam is known to value independence in various parts of her life. Hence the appreciation. Realization takes the issue to soul level. The rest is temporary. Hence, like the soul realized value is eternal.

Often, with minorities, realization happens through acceptance of hardship and loss. Mine was completed by losing my earned status in Australian Public & University Administration. By accepting the defeat and punishment by the Australian Administrative and Judicial systems, after doing my best to prevent the losses, I completed my experience through the path of Equal Opportunity, at the highest possible Australian level. Hence, after I settled down and felt inner calm, I was able to identify with my earned opportunities which ‘happened’ with least effort on my part. That is how I am now a Channel Partner of the Australian University system and am identified as an Independent Community Leader by the Australian Government. They are parallels of Chancellor in University system and Governor in Public Service.

Freedom is realized by becoming independent of benefits or costs. What remains is ownership. We do the work because we want to and are not dependent on others external to ourselves to endorse us.

When we accept the losses that happen despite our best efforts to win and/or prevent the losses, it is ‘closure’ of the matter at that level. It is like fasting. Once there is closure, we are able to carry forward the real value of experience into the next stage of our life / fight for independence/freedom. When we are able to do this – we have preserved the real value of our own work and sacrifices in the previous stage.

To the extent the Sri Lankan Government publicly ‘celebrated’ the defeat of the LTTE – it was/is confessing to having that urge to suppress Tamils and any minority groups. As I pointed out to a Sinhalese colleague who said that the victory was a victory over terrorism, the Sri Lankan government did not publicly ‘celebrate’ its victory over JVP, the way they did last year after defeating the LTTE. Through the defeat of LTTE, all those who expressly fought against the Government of Sri Lanka, for Tamil Independence, also lost status and money investments. But their real work is never lost.

This week’s London protests, to the extent they were peaceful protests, confirm that real value. The moment we become violent, the real value of independence is buried and would be much harder to resurrect. The more wins we desire the deeper we bury our realized independence.

When our desires to win are greater than our urge to be Free – we bury our own Freedom. Real work never dies. We just need to clear local level desires to enjoy our real work for Freedom. Had Mr. Rajapakse not extended his ‘celebrations’ beyond his local environment to areas where Tamils have contributed more strongly than his people – he would have not let his own people down. It’s now their turn to suffer as we Tamils did when the LTTE was labeled a terrorist organization.

Unlike the Tamils of my parents’ generation who were driven by traditional values and status earned through the subjective path, today’s Tamils tend to use majority power to win quickly. That is an inherent quality of democracy in growing nations. Unless therefore, we consolidate and bring about closure by accepting defeat in Sri Lanka, with the dignity of our wins outside Sri Lanka, we are likely to bury the real value of our work and sacrifices under our desire to ‘win’ at least as much as the Sri Lankan government is seen to have won locally. To the global citizen – it was obvious back then when it first happened, that by winning through majority power and bilateral collusion with foreigners against locals – the Sri Lankan Government immediately ‘lost’ status at the global level. It was a defeat they had to have to win locally. Time has ‘told’ what was known to the realized soul back then.

Karma sure happens!