Many western countries have gone down to the lower level and produced more benefits than is needed for their life as a self-sufficient units. Many eastern countries – including Sri Lanka, become co-consumers of those benefits and therefore dilute their independent status .One who is able to manage with the benefits s/he has – filling the gap with higher satisfaction that comes with sharing – is always an Independent person. The mere presence of such a person in Public Service would contribute to Public Administration transforming towards Public Service.
l by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam
(31 July, 2012, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I write in response to the Sri Lanka Guardian article ‘The Myth of a Independent Public Service’ by Mr.Tissa Devendra
Mr. Devendra says‘My firm conviction is that there never was, and never can there ever be, an independent public service in Sri Lanka.’
If there was one independent member in a family – there certainly is a firm foundation for that family to become a self-sufficient family. Even if there was one Independent family in Sri Lanka, then there certainly is a firm foundation for an Independent Public Service in Sri Lanka. I believe my family is such a family and hence any nation that my family is part of would strengthen its foundation of Independence through my family.
Mr. Devandrasays ‘it is quite clear that my colleagues and I served the government and not the public – who, at best, could be described as collateral beneficiaries of our actions.’
I must add that the Public are beneficiaries as well as victims of the actions of Public Officers.
To my mind, Public Service is made up of (1) Common Principles (2) Due Processes that flow from such principles and (3) Common Values that confirm the practices of those Common Principles and Due Processes. At the level of the Individual they are respectively, the Body, Mind and Soul. At family level –they are the (1) Oldest member we consciously follow (2) Relationships (3) Youngest member who fills our hearts with joy.
Sri Lankan Public Service, like the Australian Public Service has many ‘unpracticed’ theories / principles. Hence it would seem that it could never be ‘independent’. If we stay within our True contribution, we would identify with that independence. Like with families, there are parts of Public Service that are autonomous. Each part that is self-sufficient has earned its ‘sovereign’ status. It is important to identify them separately – as devolved units. If the Government is not able or willing to do this, then the Public must do so bottom-up. In democracy, the Public have Equal Responsibility as the Government to work towards this independence and self-governance to register the true value of their work if such is beyond the limits of actual Public Administration. The Government has the Responsibility to not interfere with such independent units – the same way the UN does not have the right to interfere with sovereign parts of a country.
I myself had to make the decision to take such bottom-up action in relation to our donation to the People of Thunaivi in Vaddukoddai in Northern Sri Lanka, where the first declaration of Independent Tamil Eelam was made. I am now making similar claim by revoking the donation on the basis of ingratitude by the recipients ( Government Officers who physically control the property). No the conflict is not between Sinhalese and Tamil civilians but between Tamil Government Officers and Tamil civilians.I realized through direct experience, that these officers do not have the wisdom to ‘develop’ new paths of Governance acceptable to all – from locals driven largely by religious faith to global citizens looking for confirmations/outcomes that could be rationally understood.
This was also the case during Colonial period as confirmed by Mr. Devendra. During Colonial times, we were seen through the Colonizers. Now we are being seen directly and / or through our more powerful allies – such as India and China. To claim sovereign status we need to show ourselves through self-sufficient parts of Public Service and not through parts that are dependent on others – such as the armed forces that needed help from governments of other countries..
My solution to the above mentioned donation-related problem is to do the work myself to facilitate the people to become economically independent – my own achievement due to migration to Australia. This is an outcome that the wider world would identify with more easily than through reconciliation between ethnic groups. That reconciliation needs to be part of our Due Processes- the outcomes of which should not be ‘shown’ to wider world. The more benefits we sacrifice the higher we grow as a community. Benefits need to be first earned and/or inherited before they could be sacrificed for the higher purpose. At the moment Sri Lankans at the top end of Public Administration (NOT SERVICE) are busy collecting more and more benefits – including popularity votes – and hence are not contributing to self-governing opportunities.
Families as well as Countries, are Equal so long as they are self-sufficient and therefore are independent of others. The moment we think of benefits and opportunities from another structure, we start losing our own independence. All relationships are paths necessary for intellectual relativity. They are temporary due to being paths. The success of any relationship is Oneness. Under the vertical hierarchical system, the person in the higher position often ‘includes’ the person in the lower position. They together manifest only ONE outcome. Public Administration in Sri Lanka’s North continues to follow this system. I was informed repeatedly that the approval of the Divisional Secretary (who was very expensive in time, to access) was needed for me to remove my property from an enclosed public area. Those parts of Government, receiving monies from the international community need to actively practice democratic systems if they not to become welfare recipients.
In family as well as Public Administration, the higher positions were traditionally held by men. Those men who invested in that system, often seem to have difficulty adjusting to Equal partnerships. Similarly, women who seek Equal status tend to ‘show’ that equality through educational certificates etc. rather than BEING that Equal other half. Likewis, migrants. In the system of Equal Opportunity partnerships- agreement leads to Peace and disagreement leads to attraction and production of wealth and status through active life. This is needed by Sri Lanka.
At benefit level, if we suppress one desire – for example the desire for political status, it would manifest in another form – for example as administrative status. We may for example, stop eating meat but may start eating more sweets if we gave up meat for ‘external’ reasons – such as popularity. Man has the ability to discriminate and attribute rights and wrongs by delaying and /or sharing benefits. One who gives up benefits for the higher purpose – for example to take up the higher position and responsibility for others through that position, would not keep changing the ‘form’ of benefit. Today’s Benefits shared with others become the foundation of tomorrow’s Opportunities. When we share genuinely and without duress/external influence, the returns happen for certain and we would identify with them, if we were genuine when sharing.
When one shares from the higher level, the other person needs to be at the same height to receive the energy or needs to surrender her/his investment in that issue to the higher investor – so that the lower investor does not produce her/his own outcomes. The latter is the vertical system of autocracy and the former is the lateral system of democracy. If one comes down to the level of the lower investor and still gives ‘form’ to the outcome as per the higher investor – the downward step is temporary. If one gives form to the lower investor’s work (as happened to the Sri Lankan Community due to JVP followed by LTTE ) – then the whole relationship slides down to the benefits level and therefore is slower in realizing self-sufficiency. Many western countries have gone down to the lower level and produced more benefits than is needed for their life as a self-sufficient units. Many eastern countries – including Sri Lanka, become co-consumers of those benefits and therefore dilute their independent status .One who is able to manage with the benefits s/he has – filling the gap with higher satisfaction that comes with sharing – is always an Independent person. The mere presence of such a person in Public Service would contribute to Public Administration transforming towards Public Service.
Public Administration as well as Public Service are there for us to help us manage our own local units – where we are the bosses. The rest is not our business.
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