Why Fear When I am Here

Belief is Mine – Form is Yours

by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam

(July 29, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I write in response to the article the ‘Pricking the Conscience on Reminiscences of Black July ’ by Austin Fernando, published in Sri Lanka Guardian.

It is one of the few articles by someone else - that I identified with through my heart. Thank you Austin for looking at your side before ours. I believe that real solutions to our problem would come from Truth and Truth alone because we have failed to contain the issue to stay within intellectual circles. Instead, we have allowed it to go down to the masses. This was why India needed Gandhi who was committed to Truth.

We usually make decisions based on a combination of (1) hearsay/direct observations, (2) Knowledge & (3) Belief.

Knowledge is a combination of Direct Observation/Hearsay and Belief. The stronger the belief the steadier the mind.

Austin asks ‘Are politicians the only ones responsible for this erosion of our soul? Or is it the failing system? Are we a nation who has lost touch with our own conscience?’

I asked myself the questions. The answer is - I am responsible for my community’s actions to the extent I accept credits through my Community’s cultural system. In addition to the social system, we have Thesawalamai and Mukuwa laws which are the cultural law of Tamils. Every Tamil who had grievances against Government of Sri Lanka, ought to have sought judgment through these laws first and then translated it to the national and global levels. That would naturally give us the connection with people who live close to their lands of birth.

Today, I received an email from a TGTE (Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam) in which is included the following ‘The plight of the Tamils in Ceylon started 62 years ago, from day one, similar to our social contract, and no point at this juncture of genocide, to go back on history to assess and analysis the rights and wrongs on who did what, and what did who, who won or who lost. Some of you seem to have got a jerk from only May 2009, and the alarm from of Channel 4. More Ch 4 episodes are coming, see all about it.

Like most mathematical problems, there is only one solution, and it is at the end on the book. Smart mathematicians, when in doubt, looked at the answer and worked backwards. The answer here is a separate state, which means to separate the Tamil Eelam Nation from the Sinhala Nation, so that our people can live in peace, with dignity, so that both the nations can prosper together as good neighbours, and for regional security. All other options have failed.’

I identify with the part that says that the problem started 62 years ago – when the British left – separated. The rest I take at face value because I am not part of TGTE.

The problem as it seemed in 1983 – as was seen by Austin - has evolved and looks different in 2011. TGTE says there is no point in going back to history. When reading this, I was reminded of my recent experience with a member of the Tamil community whom I was counseling in relation to her family issues. The problem with the person was that she kept going back to the past. This usually is the case with Eelam Tamil claimants and Sinhala Only claimants. It is useful to remember the past happenings but not think in that environment. Thinking in that past environment, takes us back to the knowledge as per status we enjoyed back then. This often is 62 years ago for Diaspora Tamils and 196 years ago for pro Ape (Our) Lankawa Sinhalese and pro Eelam Tamils.

To me, a solution that would satisfy me is one based on ‘my’ Truth expressed through the Common Principles of my ‘current environment’. History influences us to express as per past environments to maintain which, we did not have enough strength and therefore lost that environment. The above client of mine, was going back to the past due to lack of investment in Common Policies and Laws. Strongly structured families usually invest in positions rather than individuals through bilateral agreements and understanding. Where outcomes based on bilateral agreements / understanding is greater than through Common Policies and Positions – we tend to carry forward the events as cost or benefit rather than as common value. One needs to have the ability and forbearance to pool in common, to legitimately claim that s/he is a Governor.

The question I ask is – which is the book that has the answer as referred to by TGTE above? Is it India? Is it Pakistan? Or is it the Tamil Community that existed 196 years ago? Which is this book?

To me – that book is myself. Yet, TGTE did not even send me the voting papers. If TGTE could point to someone amongst themselves who is ‘free’ / ‘independent’ then I would accept that TGTE is that book for that part of my Community. So far I know of none. In fact, I came across a pro LTTE/TGTE White Australian academic who asked me to take him off my email list and when I refused to do so – he blocked my emails. To the extent a non-Tamil was given higher status than I by someone of my community – it had to be on merit basis and not because he was a ‘yes’ man to the LTTE. If he was given higher place – then we are in effect going back to Colonial times.

Majority Tamils who claim to be fighting for self governance tend to accept racial discrimination in Western countries. They tend to do so because they remember they were better off during Colonial times than under Sinhalese rulers in Sri Lanka. Economic benefits to ‘show’ we are better than the current opposition/enemy help us ‘accept’ subjective discrimination. Likewise Sinhalese in Western countries who act as if they are Independent and therefore are Sinhala Nationalists. They did not become independent of the British but separated themselves from the British. This was reflected in the last stages of the Battle of Vanni – when they separated Westerners for which they are still paying the price.

To become independent at cost-benefit /what-happened level – we need to observe the outcomes produced by the other side and produce enough to diffuse it. That’s when we do not take up higher position than they. Once we produce more – we start thinking for them and if we produce less we tend to accept the net results shown by the picture. In both cases we remain part of One system but without common belief. To the extent we produce just enough to diffuse – make their outcomes of ‘zero value’ we have a fresh start. Hence the ‘zero base’ in Democracy.

To my mind, LTTE and the Sinhalese armed forces alternately produced outcomes that exceeded the output by the other side. Neither got ‘even’ but kept producing more than the other. Now other countries have joined one side or the other – as if they were ‘insiders’ and therefore do not need to use merit basis. Thus we become pawns of status-rich foreigners.

We are entitled to use the status of our Governments to the extent we have invested in them not through individuals in governments but through Common Policies, Laws, Positions and Due Processes. We do not need to ask the approval of any individual to use this status. It’s the belief component of our decisions and expressions of those decisions. We must use this work to express our solution at the global level. If we kept using past language – we need to use Sri Lankan, Tamil or Sinhalese laws and policies to express ourselves.

The more details we carry – as is – without connecting to Common Principles or Values that we have already invested in – the more scattered we become..

TGTE statement ‘The answer here is a separate state, which means to separate the Tamil Eelam Nation from the Sinhala Nation, so that our people can live in peace, with dignity, so that both the nations can prosper together as good neighbours, and for regional security’.

A nation does not recognize physical borders and therefore does not focus on land – separation or togetherness. As per the above statement which includes TGTE’s conclusion on behalf of Sinhalese – TGTE has thought in breach of the core principle of Democracy – based on Equal and Opposite forces. TGTE had every right to express on behalf of its side at the national level but not on behalf of its opposition. To me TGTE did because it is living alternatively in the dead past and imaginary future.

History is like our ancestors. We are taught not to speak ill of the dead, because they are not here to defend themselves physically. Likewise History. We release the spirit at death by recognizing how they made us ‘feel’. That sharing releases their soul. We may use ‘ what happened ‘ to bring out the feeling again and again. Towards this our head / thinking needs to be still. ‘Summa Iru’ (Keep still) said Yoga Swami. Swami said also ‘Eppavoh Mudintha Kariam’ (It is an already completed matter).

Those who are already ‘free’ / independent would identify with the above wisdom for which they must have believed in someone who wrote the book before themselves. I know I did. Answers taken without this belief – is plagiarism. Answers taken with belief in the author are the visible body of the solution. Given that Tamils have suffered more deeply than Sinhalese – we need to start with the belief of a Tamil and give it the highest form of a Sinhalese. To those who are officially not in Government, it mattes not whether we live physically together or not. To all of us it matters that we mentally live independent of each other and not fear living close to the other. Separation is for those who fear living close to the other. ‘Why Fear When I Am Here’ said Lord Muruga – the Uniting Lord of Tamils and Sinhalese.