As per our Tamil Hindu culture, elders who take responsibility include young ones as part of ourselves, correct them by combining our minds (including through Due Processes/disciplinary practices in everyday life) and once we feel they know that we are there for them – we let them go – as independents – to produce their own diverse outcomes of the One faith.
by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam
(April 12, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I respond to the article ‘Post-Conflict Sri Lanka Confronts Challenge of Peace Building’ – by Mr. H.M.G.S. Palihakara – member of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) of Sri Lanka.
Mr.Palihakkara says ‘When domestic processes fail to find solutions to internal problems, external forces find space to advocate or even impose solutions for their own political or strategic convenience. Sri Lanka is no exception. Leadership failures since independence by all governments and mainstream political parties contributed to externalizing the conflict from which Sri Lanka emerged in May 2009.’
According to this, a commoner is entitled to conclude that:
(1) All Sri Lankan Governments since independence failed.
(2) This failure was given the form of ethnic conflict
(3) Mainstream political parties, by contributing to externalizing the conflict were confirming lack of ownership in the problem and therefore the base to find a solution that would address the problem at its roots.
(4) Sri Lanka seems to have emerged from this problem in May 2009
(5) Foreigners were occupying the spaces created by the Leadership problem and ‘telling Sri Lanka what to do’
Australian parallels of the above are:
(1) All Australian Governments since Australia became a Commonwealth on 01 January 1901, have failed
(2) This failure was given the form of racial discrimination and White Australia Policy
(3) To most mainstream political parties, Aborigines / Indigenous Australians were an ‘external problem
(4) Australia seems to have emerged from this problem in 1975 when the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 was passed by the Government of Australia
(5) Foreigners / Asian Migrants were facilitated to participate in Australian life through Immigration. Many migrant Australians are ‘told what to do’ by their seniors (especially white Australians and their followers) but we are continuing to believe in our True-selves and continue being the Diverse expressions of Faith in mankind through faith in us as individuals.
Mr. Palihakkara says ‘The instruments of externalization included a large and vocal expatriate community (or Diaspora as it calls itself) in a number of Western countries, as well as principals in the so-called "peace process" whose collapse eventually led to the military activity that eliminated the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, also known as "the Tigers"). Norway was the facilitator of the peace process, with a group of Western donor countries serving as "co-chairs" in an oversight role.”
This to me means that the Sri Lankan Government abandoned this group called “Expatriate/Diaspora Tamils” which in effect - was facilitating Tamils to handover themselves to foreign Governments as if they are no longer the Children of Sri Lanka. LTTE/the Tigers were seen as the leadership of this group that abandoned themselves. As per this, to the Government - LTTE was ‘external’ / ‘foreign’ irrespective of whether they were in or outside Sri Lanka.
Mr. Palihakkara says “Closer to home, India was a major contributor to internationalizing the Sri Lanka situation and providing intrusive military inputs in the periods before and after the ethnic violence of 1983.”
To me this means India is ‘family’ to Tamils of Sri Lanka. Hence India is also seen as an external force by Mr. Palihakkara.
Mr. Palihakkara says ‘External visibility to the conflict was increased, too, by an emerging trend among local political parties to canvass domestic governance issues abroad, to influence electoral strategy at home.’
There is a saying in Tamil ‘When eggplants become a bargain (due to increased supply) they come to the markets’. Similarly conflicts. If we seek to keep them ‘confidential’ and ‘at home’ – we need to not let them become cheap – for example by listing the LTTE as International Terrorists. As we sow, so shall we reap. One who brought the LTTE to the International Markets by alienating them, has to now play the international game – however difficult that may seem. The better alternative would have been to keep them at home – in the backyard.
Mr. Palihakkara says ‘The LTTE had taken over 300,000 Tamil civilians as virtual hostages, and exploited these innocent victims as human shields, exposing them to the LTTE's own fire and to the crossfire between the two sides.’
According to Tamils those 300,000 Tamil civilians were incarcerated by the Government of Sri Lanka. To the Global Community, if indeed the Government thought that they were victims of LTTE, they ought to have been provided with Army Protection and not kept in detention. In most cases – they were dying to come out – and some even ran away – but were not allowed to go even to temples nearby. This is from those who have had the direct experience. The above statement by Mr. Palihakkara alone is enough to discredit the LLRC.
Truth manifests Itself whenever there is someone in need of Its support. To feel the Truth of the victims one needs to become the victim. Others who are not ready to share in the pain of the victim – and to me this includes Mr. Palihakkara have to use reliable structures through which they share information. No one has the right to ‘judge’ except through legal processes. That is the respect we pay the laws of the land. This basic separation of powers has not been followed by the LLRC.
If LTTE are the problem – then those who have alienated them must use the Objective path from a distance – i.e. – as if they are external forces. To those of us who have the strength to include the LTTE as part of us – the problem becomes the base of the opportunity. To the likes of Mr. Palihakkara who include themselves in the Government – the Opportunity without its problem is illusionary.
As per our Tamil Hindu culture, elders who take responsibility include young ones as part of ourselves, correct them by combining our minds (including through Due Processes/disciplinary practices in everyday life) and once we feel they know that we are there for them – we let them go – as independents – to produce their own diverse outcomes of the One faith. To the extent they feel helped, our blessings would help them feel the support of the family. To the extent they ‘forget’ and produce their own outcomes – we accept them as being independent parts of our community and not as ‘external’ foreigners.
To my mind, Sinhalese who unjustly discriminated against Tamils – especially in Public Service and in Higher Education, created their own little world and sought to live in that little world. When they had the power, this surfaced/was surfaced and those Tamils who were demoted became distant under the transparent system of democracy. LTTE was a part of that path. In the vertical system – juniors are least visible in the family hierarchy. They are the closest to the root. When we straighten that vertical stem to make it lateral and visible – they become the ones most distant from point zero / ground level. Thus we lose control and eventually they separate from us. That was how the Sri Lankan Government ‘lost’ Tamils and to a lesser degree, Sinhalese who supported JVP. To us this means that the Government lacks the strength to include those who oppose it beyond a certain point. This happens to most parents/governments who have failed to take the democratic path as per the needs of their environments. To some it happens very early in their children’s / public’s lives. If that is their reality, there is little point in keeping on digging into that pot of governance. The best service we could do for Sri Lanka is to let them live their own life while we live ours through the paths that we have invested in. Some of those paths are closely linked to Global Democracies. The Sri Lankan Government could accept those groups as their distant relatives or abandon them as orphans to foreign governments and lose Sri Lanka’s investments in them. Such a Government would be one that fears responsibility. To the extent the Government sees the Tamil community through LTTE – it is also writing off its own investments in Tamil Political elders before LTTE. That is an opportunity lost for senior Sinhalese politicians to whom Tamils were their Equal halves. To the extent they loved each other there was no need to calculate or be conscious of Due Processes. Beyond the circle of that love – one needed reliable structures and common processes through which we return each other’s investment through the common Sri Lankan pool. The side that pools most is the real leader – even if seen as minority.
This was confirmed by the 1977 elections where Tamil votes even though they were only 6-7% of the whole, won 18 seats in Parliament to become Equal Opposition to the Government of JR Jayawardene with 140 seats. The ratio of strengths of our contributions is 1 : 7.777777. In other words 1 Tamil in parliament was equal to 7.777777 Sinhalese. In a strong democracy, the two sides would be Equal and therefore one does not need to consciously do the work to fill the ‘gap’ . The ‘gap’ in this instance is 122 excess Sinhalese. A Sinhalese member of parliament needs to consciously ‘discard’ that excess to feel Equal to their natural opposition – Tamils – to become democratic. A Tamil member of parliament needs to consciously think of 122 members on their side to feel Equal Opposition and therefore practice democracy. To the extent we do not feel ‘Common’, we need to think Equal. Otherwise past habits would keep surfacing to block our path to Democratic outcomes acceptable to the Global Community.
The parallel Australian system that helped me appreciate this real system of Equality :
On 10 August 2007 in the Unlawful Racial Discrimination case against the Police (SYG 584 of 2007), I filed an affidavit which included the following:
“1. I am preparing this affidavit on the basis of Court Order and Directions dated 27 July 2007. This is handwritten because the Respondent “sealed” my computer system when they arrived here on 19 July 2007 towards collecting costs awarded against me. They sealed most of my furniture including Spiritual items – Dancing Shiva – personifying active current work by keeping Time still and Meditating Shiva in Lamp Form – depicting pure Consciousness towards a still mind – without active work. I ‘saw’ the sealing of Dancing Shiva as the “sealing” of Medical Faculty of the University of New South Wales where through my Democratic, Business Oriented but ‘not for Profit ‘ work, I helped active workers become independent of past glories. I ‘saw’ the sealing of Meditating Shiva as the Depreciation of Central Administration of the University which is actively getting involved in physical work (hence arresting me) instead of becoming a ‘Facility’ by depicting the past glories of the University through a Still Mind developed through Meditation on inner Truth rather than produce facts for external status. …………………
7. I affirm that as per my calculations the Trust rate between the Respondent and I in the Primary Criminal Court was 1:26 . I affirm that this is also the proportion of Time and Fact in Sydney Courts including this current Court. In summary - One Court Hour (Law) = 26 Pages of Facts. …..
Letter dated 27 August 2007 to the Crown Solicitor ……’Your client claimed costs in relation to Common Law claims and estimated costs in relation to Equal Opportunity /Unlawful Discrimination currently before the Court. Those costs are in the ratio of 17:4, indicating the status of Equal Opportunity in relation to Human Rights. Your offer to me is about half the estimated costs in this Equal Opportunity Court, for your client. In summary , your client is claiming double my status in an Equal Opportunity Court and 9 times my status in Human Rights Court.”
When we observe with a still mind, we are able to ‘see’ a picture of relativity that evolves. As per that picture if the two sides are not Equal – then the outcomes are false – be it the Australian Courts or the LLRC of Sri Lanka. The 1977 Elections helped highlight the reality in Sri Lanka – that Tamils are the real opposition. This reality is now depicted by the Tamil Diaspora.
If Mr. Palihakkara were to ask himself the question ‘What is our Sinhala Buddhist contribution to Democracy – with that rich facility in the Constitution – that Buddhism is the first religion of the State?’ Compare that with the contribution that this Tamil Hindu has made to Democracy – and that would help identify the heavy baggage that the Sri Lankan Government elected by Sinhalese carries.
It might help to know that the above numbers and ratios are the parallels of the “Business Unit” approach taken by Western Democracies, especially in Public Service and in academic language the system is known as ‘project basis’. It happened because this Tamil Hindu sought and found the Truth through Local Faith and then that Truth empowered her to do the translation – so genuine practitioners of true Democracy would feel they are not alone.
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