Both the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka – claimed to have ‘Rights’ as per their Belief. They were both cheating – others and themselves. They both lost credibility with the real believers who have the natural powers to influence.
l by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam
(November 24, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) The two articles in Sri Lanka Guardian of 24 & 23 November respectively, that particularly caught my interest today, gave me some idea of the gap between the haves and the have-nots in this Sri Lankan issue. The two articles are ‘The civilian death toll in early 2009: A flawed estimate from Gunaratna’ and ‘Songs and Stories of Sri Lanka’s War’.
The former is about the haves and the latter about the have-nots. To be complete humans we need both. Each one of us involved in this issue, needs a strong doze of both –intellectual discriminative thinking as well as the wisdom of experience – the law and the experience. The surprise is that the former is coming largely from Sri Lankans and the latter from Westerners.
As per my impressions of Professor Gunaratna, he focuses on the war aspect of this conflict. To the extent he exceeds the need to defend accusations – he would effectively be sowing the seeds for the next war. It seems like an addiction to war and making business of war.
This afternoon I watched the start of the proceedings of the ‘The Inaugural National Reconciliation Conference’ held at ‘Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies’. I was unhappy to observe the focus on ‘Terrorism’ and stopped watching. Tamil Tigers may or may not have been Terrorists. That is for the Government Officers concerned to deal with. But we civilians do not need to hear about it. Once there is talk about Terrorism or war-crimes all expectations of Reconciliation fly out the window.
Karuna is confirmation that the Government did not truly believe that the Tigers were Terrorists. Hence to me, the Tigers were NOT Terrorists as per the Government. They have confirmed this in action. If they continue to claim that they defeated Terrorism – then one needs to conclude that they also submitted to Karuna. Our Truth influences the system of Natural Justice which works continuously without break. Discovering this system and being bound by this system brings us all Peace. When at least half follow in this system – there is harmony in that environment.
People who have not fully worked for their status, tend to get carried away by their positions and where the Human Justice system of all forms is weak – they tend to behave as if they are the law. This obviously is happening in the case of Sri Lanka. Those currently in Government are showing excessive credits which to my mind happens when they are attached to their positions and are anxious that they may lose status. Truth that is blocked would continue to work to support the needy – whether we recognize it or not.
The needy are not limited to the physically disadvantaged or the economically poor citizen. It could very well be those in Government who are unable to access their own inner Truth due to distractions . In terms of material support – if every expatriate Tamil supported 10 local Tamils from their village and/or families, that would be more than enough for us to find our Peace as a Community. Any other group that lags behind is in substance a minority power.
The form of support need not necessarily be money. It needs to be more towards a sense of inclusiveness and help to maintain the particular family’s / group’s standards to be in par with those on the other side relative to their other side environment. Unless this is achieved during our times, Tamils in Sri Lanka would be a minority force in Sri Lanka and Sinhalese outside Sri Lanka would be a minority force in the West. The war happened during our generation and we have the responsibility to make amends and leave a strong heritage (including lessons learnt) for future generations. Towards this we need to do more to look at ourselves as a community and reconcile what happened with what would have happened if we had stayed within the boundaries of our beliefs.
Yesterday I wrote to an Australian Academic ‘Rights come from Beliefs or the law. I believe that I have the right to send you emails/speak to you. You have the right to not respond/speak. Mine is based on Belief and unless yours is as per the law - you need to do some more work to use that 'block sender' facility in your email system and/or cut down on some of that ego pleasure to 'tell' others who seem less than you. Those who believe - share. They would not tell or be told as per their wishes. When you use the law, it is the law that tells and not the individual’
The Academic responded ‘Your logic does not follow. I have no intention of stopping you speaking freely; I only wish that you do not speak to me about matters that are not of interest to me.
I respect your right to comment on something I might write or say publicly. I do not, however, wish to be bombarded with material that is unrelated to me.
To clarify, rights do NOT come from beliefs, but from agreement around where one's freedoms start and end. Freedom is generally held to end where it negatively impacts upon another person. More to the point, if someone sends an e-mail asking to be removed from an e-mail list, it is a common courtesy to respect that wish’
Reading the statement ‘I only wish that you do not speak to me about matters that are not of interest to me’ – I am reminded of an amusing incident at one of my workplaces here in Australia. The Director of our Business Unit came over to me and asked me for something about which I had no knowledge - meaning no knowledge that it was required by the Director. The Director said something to the effect that I had let her down and walked away. I was upset and it showed. One of the staff being supervised by me came over to me and asked me what was wrong. I explained. Then to my surprise this young lady placed her palm on my forehead and said ‘Just a minute Director’ (the young lady used the director’s first name) . ‘I’m trying to read your mind’. I burst out laughing and the tension was gone.
There was someone to identify with my pain and that helped me connect to my Truth that the Director valued me and regularly shared that valuation with the rest of the staff. It was understandable to me that I could not know what the above Academic’s interests were without reading his mind!
But of particular interest to me was the Academic’s statement about his understanding of Rights which is also likely to be the understanding of most ‘haves’. The have-nots are likely to have understanding similar to mine. To the haves – ‘ rights do NOT come from beliefs, but from agreement around where one's freedoms start and end. Freedom is generally held to end where it negatively impacts upon another person.’
To the have-nots ‘Rights come from Beliefs’
Both the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka – claimed to have ‘Rights’ as per their Belief. They were both cheating – others and themselves. They both lost credibility with the real believers who have the natural powers to influence.
Belief to me is agreement with oneself – as if there were no rights and wrongs external to oneself. For every right there has to be a wrong. That is the law of nature. When both are within – they confirm our Truth to ourselves. When there is neither but work is done – that work is Humanitarian Service.
Laws are needed when we separate ourselves on time basis and hence incur the cost at one time and enjoy the benefit at another. Similarly, when others are involved and we use each other to have a complete relationship/community/nation. If one is right then the other has to be wrong. That is a sovereign society.
All those who are unable to complete this cycle of right and wrong – are yet to realize self-sufficiency. The Sri Lankan issue has been exposed to the wider world by both sides. It would be wrong of the haves to hijack the issue and expect the have-nots to wait until they make a solution. Every expatriate Sri Lankan who has thus far failed to develop in local Sri Lankan, the value of her/himself as a Sri Lankan – has a good opportunity to settle now or add it to the global forces by raising the level to global standards. Otherwise the debt gets carried forward into our next life with compounded interest.
In terms of the Government of Sri Lanka, to the extent it used outside resources to elevate its status with the voters – it is indebted to the Global Community. The best way to settle this debt is by practicing Global systems of financial management and leave Human Resource Management to the respective communities. Attempts to separate locals from the Diaspora Tamils would keep demoting Sri Lanka’s status at the global level. This is because Justice happened as per our Truth and has combined the investments of Tamils with Western systems. Majority got their votes and minority have greater shares in the global systems, including through everyday living.
Eventually wherever we are – the winner is the one that comes ‘home’. We can all be winners if we take on defeats to balance our wins – from others or from ourselves. When we add our own wins to our community’s defeats – we become that community. That to me happens due to belief.
When the winner and the loser are able to live in harmony – by accepting through common laws / measures or through express agreement – the right is external as per the law and may yet not be natural to oneself.
At the moment – the two sides to the Sri Lankan war seem to be even. Any more debits and credits on the basis of war – would lead to another war unless one side or the other is unable to find the cash to do war business. There are plenty of war philanthropists at their local levels. We the have-nots will continue to live in our own freedom – independent of from both.
As confirmation of my contribution to the system of Natural Justice – I received from the Editor of Sri Lanka Guardian – Nilantha Ilangamuwa an email with an attachment of thesis ‘The Concept of Law and Justice in Ancient Egypt with specific reference to the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant – by Nicolaas Johannes Van Blerk’
The above was about Ma’at – the Egyptian Goddess of Justice and Truth. To me that is the parallel of Manu Neethi that we Tamils culturally and intuitively follow. Given that it came from a Sri Lankan of Sinhalese origin, as per the Goddess of Justice – I took it as confirmation that we did not need any reconciliation. We are the peasants who keep singing our stories day in and day out through emails and e-news. I wrote to the Pundits – that the Email Angel came to comfort me – that I was not alone but that the Egyptians were also supporting me. Nilantha was Messenger of Lord Muruga (Ma’at) on Peacock saying ‘Why fear when I am here’
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