| by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam
(October 10, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I read with an interest, the interview Editor Nilantha Ilangamuwa of Sri Lanka Guardian had with Diplomat Dayan Jayatilleke. It helped me better appreciate the contribution Sinhalese Sri Lankans have made to Sri Lanka’s current status at the Global level. The challenges faced by Sri Lanka are similar to the challenges faced by Tamils of Sri Lanka who have, as a community migrated to other countries. The structures we develop now need to be driven by our own real experiences, if they are to support our descendents.
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The path available to the Sri Lankan Government and its citizens who do not have wider citizenship and/or membership in a wider forum, is to address the issue through lessons learnt – each within their own boundaries – until we have developed an Administration that is Independent of Politics and majority vote. |
Dr. Jayatilleke states in his 13th response to the interview entitled ‘13th Amendment is the best’ – ‘My appeal to the Sinhala and Tamil émigré communities is the following: Learn from the societies in which you live. Learn the civic virtues of freedom, tolerance, dialogue, pluralism, peaceful debate, equal rights, the separation of religion and the state. Build bridges between the communities in the Diasporas. Start with the intellectuals, the artists, the musicians, the poets, the academics, the youth. Draw up a blue print for a different, better Sri Lanka. Be a bridge between your country of origin and the world. Forget the past, build the future. Reach out.’
As part of the expatriate community of Tamils as well as of Sri Lankans, I believe that I have learnt as well as have facilitated others to learn. The two did not happen at the same time, due (as per my mind) to those learning from me being slower than I in learning. To the extent they learnt from me – they would have learnt from Sri Lanka and/or Tamil Community. Given that we Australians have not invested enough as a nation in the values of Equal Opportunity, I had to ‘wait’ until I completed my learning, before showing through legal actions and regular letters to officials, what others could learn from me. To my mind, it is similar to distribution of wealth by Lankan Tamils, through Thesawalamai – first dowry to the daughters and then inheritance to the sons. Every independent migrant would play both roles. When done simultaneously, we are using the system of democracy and Equal playing field to use the current resources. When done one after the other – we are using the hierarchical system – with the one completing the cycle first being the leader. As per my reading of the above interview, expressions confirming that Dr. Jayatilleke and therefore Sri Lanka has been a learning facility – are missing in Dr. Jayatilleke’s expressions. Given that Dr. Jayatilleke represents officially Sri Lanka at the Global level, I conclude that the official representation of Sri Lanka also is not demonstrating its belief that it is a ‘sovereign’ nation and hence is rejecting calls for international inquiry into the facts of war. Until the independent expatriate community is added to the official representation (including as its official opposition), Sri Lanka would continue to fail to demonstrate its ‘sovereign’ status at the Global level. Dr. Jayatilleke’s statements of belief and opinion are not complete until matched by the expressions of a Tamil leader.
Dr. Jayatilleke recommends that we ‘forget the past’. Our past is our passport to Equal status in our new countries of residence. Without that passport, we would not have the confidence to use Global facilities, but would be limited to the endorsements of the Sri Lankan Government and its agents, including Dr. Jayatilleke, in undertaking such travel. The way we bring the past into our present determines the ‘class’ that we are entitled to travel in.
Statements such as ‘The most appropriate international example for Sri Lanka is Northern Ireland, where the Sinn Fein (which unlike the Tigers, was not militarily crushed) accepted on behalf the Catholic minority, the principle of devolution of power within a unitary state’ confirm that Dr. Jayatilleke has not practiced his own preaching. The lateral translation of past in relation to time is ‘distant’ in relation to land/space. To the extent Dr. Jayatilleke paid and / or educated to balance his learning from Northern Ireland – as if here were part of its People - he would have had the ability to translate the Irish experience into a language that Sri Lankans would understand and accept. By bringing the facts/what-happened as is – Dr. Jayatilleke is confirming his own inability to become independent of the past. Once we see and know a higher value – the body of lower events would be naturally ‘forgotten’ – the way we forget the difficulties in primary school once we go to high school. It is therefore important to learn the lesson that represents facts produced by all. Once this is done, those facts would automatically be remembered through the lesson and therefore would not have independent status. Facts are the lowest class travelers in the journey towards independence/Truth. Lessons are Business class and Conscious is first class.
If the Sri Lankan Government had learnt from the British, the Dutch and the Portuguese, Burghers would have stayed in Sri Lanka instead of migrating to Australia during White Australia policy. Similarly, Tamils who migrated to India due to the ethnic war. If those expatriates copied Indian style, they would naturally promote Tamil Eelam. The 13th Amendment represents such an outcome.
Dr. Jayatilleke says ‘If a settlement within a unitary state --well this side of federalism-- is good enough for Northern Ireland’s Catholics, it should be suitable for Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority. The 13th amendment may not be the best solution from an idealistic point of view, but we must not seek an ideal model but a feasible solution, and as the American expression goes, the best must not be the enemy of the good!’
My question is,’Is Dr. Jayatilleke/Government of Sri Lanka, becoming the enemy of the Independent Sri Lankan?’
This interview has been published under the name of 13th Amendment which to my mind, is about Devolution of Powers on the basis of ethnicity. Devolution is required when we are not able to consolidate and see a picture that represents the work of all investors – especially the investors of distant past and lateral foreigners beyond our sight and/or knowledge. Sri Lanka, with a Government driven by votes, coming into the Global Forum, is like a village bride marrying into an urban family. If the Sri Lankan Government had led its people to independence through belief and / or the logical system of administration, it would naturally be able to translate those values in the language of democracy. The war and the anxieties it highlights confirm that the status of the Sri Lankan Government is larger than its investments in the system of democracy. The Government’s anxieties today in democratic environments, confirm its failures under yesterday’s vertical system of autocracy.
The Sri Lankan Government relied on its ‘sovereign status’ to expel ‘foreigners’ from the war zone. This is acceptable where one is driven more by belief than by logic and/or hearsay. Completing the solution on the basis of belief is the way of the independent. The other alternative is to stay within the boundaries of ‘logic’ which then gives us the courage to be Transparent. By claiming the rights of Sovereignty/Belief, the Sri Lankan Government confessed to lacking in the ability to be Transparent at that level. Where facts are not transparent due to one’s own stronger powers, one is not entitled to claim victory on the basis of the ‘seen’ / killing facts. The Sri Lankan Government and its agents, including Dr. Jayatilleke ( who says ‘No country has allowed or will allow an international inquiry into its armed forces and the victorious closing stages of a war which liberated the vast majority of citizens from the scourge of decades of terrorism.), continue to claim credit as per what happened after eliminating the international component that facilitated an even/equal/level field of activity/zero prior advantage required in areas of multiculturalism. To claim victory on the basis of death of opposition bodies (i.e. majority living), there needs to be no blocks to independent participation. One who does not feel the need to ‘see’ or to ‘show’ would not fear publication of ‘facts’, because s/he would feel the suffering of the ‘other’ side and take the publication as part of the cure and comfort to restore the status of the victims’ community. If the Lankan Government had owned and endorsed – the opportunity to complete the issue would have been ‘internal’. The Government’s failure to endorse has left it open for others with wider responsibilities to judge and certify.
As beneficiary of Global Resources, Sri Lanka has the responsibility to make its own contribution to the Global pool through its own strengths. Facts as they happened cannot be brought to the Global Forum by the side that eliminated representatives of the Global Forum, by claiming ‘sovereignty at local level’. Tamils resident in Sri Lanka – including TNA which has been strongly criticized by Dr. Jayatilleke, would be exceeding the powers of their government if they bring facts to Global Forums including the LLRC. Global minded independent Sri Lankans (including citizens of other countries who are of Sri Lankan origin) are entitled to bring those facts through avenues that are not unlawful in their environments.
The path available to the Sri Lankan Government and its citizens who do not have wider citizenship and/or membership in a wider forum, is to address the issue through lessons learnt – each within their own boundaries – until we have developed an Administration that is Independent of Politics and majority vote. This would help us cure ourselves within our own boundaries, using our powers of belief / sovereignty that we are all born with. The Sri Lankan Government whose actions resulted in majority killed in the war being of Tamil ethnicity, has the responsibility to ‘show’ the world what lesson it has learnt from the experience which if genuine, would fit all the facts they produced. Then they would have promoted themselves to being Business-class travelers in this journey. Otherwise, they have the responsibility to show completion of the arms-project by showing its beginning and end – using the money and status profit or loss through the armed attacks . In other words, be transparent through costs and benefits instead through the process. Where the project is completed at breakeven point – it naturally qualifies to be part of the program. Otherwise Sri Lankan Government and its Opposition would continue to present our investments in Multiculturalism through armed wins and losses and this would continue to block our merger with Global systems of democracy.
Global Tamils are continuing to use the armed war to express their dislike of the Government’s actions. I am for example, currently receiving through various forums information regarding the conference being organized by Australian Tamil Congress and Global Tamil Forum to highlight Tamil Community’s Opposition to the Sri Lankan Government’s participation in Global Governance. One flyer that I received today says for example:
‘Sri Lanka is also competing with Australia to host the 2018 Commonwealth games. And while thousands continue to flee the island on boats towards Australia seeking asylum, many ask:
1. What is the real situation in Sri Lanka?
2. What is the role of the international community, the Commonwealth of Nations and Australia in ensuring accountability in Sri Lanka?’
Wonder whether Dr. Jayatilleke would like to participate and help us ‘show’ that we are even and that we are not losers and thereafter, surrender the excess of our facts to the higher lessons?
As Dr. Jayatilleke says ‘We must remember that there is a closer distance, linguistically and geographically, between Jaffna and the periphery of India than between Jaffna and Colombo’. That is the apparent position. In real terms, the belief we have in our ability as a community to resolve problems that interfere with our enjoyment of independence, would naturally support us from all parts of the world, each time we have a real need. No human force has the strength to keep the two apart. Where that belief is stronger than the belief of Sri Lankans that they are a Sovereign nation capable of living independently and paying due respects to those who assist them financially and through visible association/partnership, Tamils as a Community have earned the right to be Governed through Global laws and values and not through the local belief of the Sri Lankan Government. The world needs this to confirm our investments in Global structures and systems. Any Tamil Provincial Government that represents Devolved Powers needs to have the capability and real strength to form structures and develop systems that would uphold this value.
 I read with an interest, the interview Editor Nilantha Ilangam...){kind=link}
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