Truth in Diplomacy

| by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

( April 17, 2012, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Sri Lanka Guardian reports that Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka – Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to France, has been summoned to Colombo to meet with the President as well as the Minister for External Affairs. Each one of us would work out the reason to be one or the other – as per our desires and needs. This may or may not be identical to that of the reason shown by the Sri Lankan Administration. But those who are true Administrators would intuitively identify with the true reason why.

I identify with Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka’s situation through my own, when I went to meet the Vice Chancellor of the University of New South Wales. If I had not gone, I would have become a nobody to myself and to all those who value themselves through me and my work – knowingly or otherwise. I did actually resign after listening to Ms Pauline Hanson on ABC’s Four Corners program on 10 August 1998, thinking of returning to Sri Lanka. I reacted to Ms Hanson’s statements asking us to ‘go back’ to our countries of origin. Now I know that I have to make the decision to value both my countries. No one else should be given the authority to tell me what to do. That to me was the sovereign power I was born with and needed to preserve right through my life.

The same Four Corners program presented the Channel 4 (British) report against Sri Lankan soldiers. Some Australian Parliamentarians reacted to this particular program and now the Sri Lankan High Commissioner does not seem to be happy with the Australian Government. With surface reactions we add and deduct as per the apparent authority (ABC combined with Australian politicians) instead of basing it on common principles and values – the deepest one being the Truth we know about ourselves. According to that Truth I had every right to stay here in Australia as an Australian. By upsetting me and other true Australians, Ms Hanson was diluting her sense of belonging at the level of real management that current Australia is driven by.

ABC presented also in April 2002, the story of Professor Bruce Hall, of the University of New South Wales, on the basis of scientific misconduct and fraud. According to this presentation, Professor Hall would seem ‘guilty’ as charged. The charges against Professor Bruce Hall included the following:

• Misrepresented data in a grant application to the National Health and Medical Research Council.
• Subsidised his wife's laboratory from his NHMRC grant.
• Transferred $46,000 from another researcher's NHMRC grant to cover his own research assistant.

On 08 July 2008 (years before the above presentation by ABC) I felt very upset by the conduct of the University’s Head of Research Administration in relation to NHMRC grants. Following is an excerpt from my report to my supervisor:

Gaja: At the moment we transfer any amounts over and above the NH&MRC approved scales to Materials when we report to NH&MRC. Can we not report exactly as it is recorded in the Ledger. (This is how it all started – with me wanting to reflect a true and fair view and them wanting to continue with their habits – for better or for worse). As for Leave Loading and Contributory Superannuation can we not do this only for the purpose of the Invoice / Claim – based on Approved Salaries, as long as the amount claimed is not more than the amount paid? (This was my way of progressing towards Accrual Accounting so that the University did not lose due to its attachment to Cash Accounting. Under Cash Accounting, leave payments would be recouped from NH&MRC only if the staff took leave during the period of the project. This in essence meant that the University was picking up the liability even though the NH&MRC was getting the credit for employing the staff.)

Mr. Cook: We cannot do anything different on our own. Don’t think that you have all the answers. (In other words he thought I had more answers than himself and he was irritated by that). We have known about these problems for sometime now and Shirley has been working on these problems for a while. Don’t think that Shirley started after you discussed it with her. (In other words, he was trying to suppress my higher status above Shirley earned through performance. Shirley was already part of his group. I was not. Hence if I am above Shirley, I am above him for these matters. He could not have that could he?)

In February 20 10, the NSW Court of Appeal delivered in favor of Professor Hall and against the ABC on the basis of defamation.

Right through these outcomes, I was able to complete my own experiences as per my Truth. If the University Administration had taken me as their opposition instead of treating me as their enemy – a trespassing criminal – they would have been saved the pain and loss from the above trial through Professor Hall. When we are genuine, we are the beneficiaries of our work. The lower our level of thinking the more we need an apparent / transparent opposition in democracy to complete the true picture. The University Administrators received their opposition through their system and I completed my experience by adding value to the Academic system of Research & Education in Human Values as per the guidance of my Spiritual Guru – Sri Sathya Sai Baba who led me to complete the experience from within – through my own Truth. That was how I became independent of external forces.

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka is going to ‘see’ the Administrators after sharing his wisdom with us, in global affairs. One such advice was to ‘look within’. To my mind, the Friday Forum of similar status as Dr. Jayatilleka have also recommended this through their article ‘THE WISE GIVE UP THE IDEA OF VICTORY AND DEFEAT’

Professor Hall kept working until he found the group of his level of thinking. The Vice Chancellor of UNSW was effectively dismissed by the Governing Council and this confirmed to me that I felt more with the Common owner of the University than the higher level Administrators did. The Vice Chancellor lacked the ‘insight’ I had, to ‘feel’ and know the University from within. When the value of our work is greater than the benefits we receive in that environment, relative to others parallel to us – we become owners with feelings for the institution. This applies to any family/institution/country. I was pleasantly surprised to note that the flag of the University of NSW carries the Lion as does the flag of Sri Lanka – and both institutions stand accused of unjust racial discrimination.

My contribution to the outer structure worked through migrant PhD students working under Professor Hall. ABC supported them but kept silent when I complained – confirming they were as guilty as Professor Hall whom they were exposing as a fraud. When there is deep pain it connects automatically through people of similar faith and culture. To me therefore it is no coincidence that I received the following news from UN to balance my memory about the Tragedy in Norway last year through the Trial against the perpetrator:

‘DENMARK FAILED TO PROTECT RIGHTS OF VICTIMS OF 2004 RACIST ATTACK, UN PANEL FINDS. The incident involves a violent assault by 35 Danish youngsters against an Iraqi family in their house in the town of Soro on 21 June 2004, according to a news release issued by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.’

The above is being released at the same time the Norwegian mass killer goes on trial. For massive tragedies such as this and the encampment of Tamils of Vanni, in Sri Lanka, in May 2009, the Administrative systems usually is the root cause – not so much due to conscious action but more due to lack of commitment to the institution through which individuals think they have the power to kill. Trying to kill the mind of dissent is worse than killing the bodies of unknown persons, to eliminate dissent. When we are strongly connected through common faith and cultures, which include discrimination on the basis of particular aspect of subjects – such as race – conscious thought on the basis of current measures common to both sides – is needed to override natural collusion due to such faith and cultures.

The Courts dismissed my complaints of racial discrimination against the University as well as Government Administrators as ‘frivolous’. But given that my actions were as per my belief, their verdict went back to their side – the University and the Government – through the people I was connected to as Australians. That is the way of Natural Justice.

Truth by nature will manifest the ‘other’ side of our work at the level of our faith and not the level of our apparent position. Hence it is better to leave it to Natural Justice once we know we have reached the limits of the official system. This is my sincere sharing with the likes of Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka who as Diplomats need to be driven more by their Truth than by the outcomes produced by current Administration, to truly add value to their nation. Truth is the inner strength that keeps us independent but respectful of those who are seen to be above us in position. Truth will sustain us in all environments. Money and Status do not travel beyond their physical environments. So long as Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka and the Administrators in Sri Lanka are conscious of this – this interaction would add value to Sri Lanka and through Sri Lanka to the world. Ultimately, we do whatever we do for our inner-selves through which we feel connected to others of similar depth. Hence once we judge ourselves, all those others who matter have judged us. The rest do not matter to us as they are not part of our real world. If we lack depth, we would not be able to know the connection between cause and effect and hence become victims of other people’s actions, unless we submit ourselves to the deeper mind of one living close to Truth.

I conclude with a message I received from Malaysia ‘Man has power to choose between the alternatives which fate brings before him. In choosing between them he may either follow his tendencies produced by his past actions or struggle against them.-Swami Sivananda’