| by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
Professor Laksiri Fernando states/quotes ‘Jose Mujica, the President elect in 2010 in Uruguay, parallel to the ascendancy of President Rajapaksa for the second term in the same year, is still living a frugal life. He donates 90 per cent of his official salary, equivalent to $ 12,000 to charity according to a BBC report quoted by Colombo Telegraph. Born in 1935, he is 10 years senior to President Rajapaksa and different in many respects primarily in terms of ideology and life style. He is simply a committed socialist and a people’s President unlike President Rajapaksa today. If there had been a semblance of ‘people’s affinity’ of the latter before, it has completely vanished. Perhaps even before, it was a fake.’
( November 21, 2012, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I write in response to Sri Lanka Guardian article ‘Poorest President of the World!’ byProfessor Laksiri Fernando.
Sri Lanka and Uruguay are different in their make up as well as history. A country needs to complete its karmic (work) cycle by being able to connect its causes with its effects. In my book ‘who am I?’ I state in this regard ‘I see this connection through many parts of our family. Institutional boundaries help us give particular form and see the connection between cause and effect. Hindus use horoscopes also towards this. If they are not able to see a current connection – they attribute the reason to our past lives – which is summarized through the planetary positions at the time of our birth. In secular language – I use ‘work’ and its structures as the basic reason why something happened. I often say that the investment Param’s father made in his son’s education was visible to society – through Param’s social status in Sri Lanka which was enhanced when he migrated to Australia on the basis of his educational qualifications. Later when he sponsored his nephews, niece and sister - that added to the status of the work by Param’s father and through him it enriched the investment made by Vattukkottai area in education and global living. Vattukkottai is the district where the first declaration of Separate State (known as Vaddukoddai Resolution ) was made by Tamil Politicians in 1976. Tamils won the position of Equal Opposition in 1977 parliamentary elections.’
Our physical presentation, like the various uniforms as per ranks, needs to show our ‘class’ in society. Class is the ‘internal’ parallel of ‘country’ based ranking. In terms of the two countries – Sri Lanka has the responsibility to demonstrate more ‘tradition’ than Uruguay and therefore one would expect more hierarchical ranking in Sri Lankan leadership than in the leadership of Uruguay. Hence the lesser direct sharing with the commoners in Sri Lanka but more position based distribution. It is because of this class difference that we add the title Professor to Laksiri Fernando but only Mrs. to Gajalakshmi Paramasivam – a reason why I was arrested by the Police at the University of New South Wales – full of title-rich academics. Using merit basis – I was arrested for practicing democratic systems of resource management to which rich academics are allergic and using common basis for looking Indian to whom rich Aussies are allergic.
Professor Laksiri Fernando states ‘I have seen in Australia, for example, Nick Greiner (Liberal) before 1995 and Bob Carr (Labour) after 1995, walking to the NSW Parliament alighting from the bus in Sydney when they were elected Premiers. They had modest lifestyles. Even the present Premier, Barry O’Farrell, is reported to travel by train very often.’
The Hon Bob Carr was Premier during the time I was arrested. His government was represented in the University Governing Council. I wrote to Mr. Carr even from Mulawa prison. A simple check with the legislation used to arrest me applied to my conduct and the reason given by the Police – would have informed Premier Carr that the arrest was unlawful. If Premier Carr was not responsible for the unlawful actions of the NSW Police - then one needs to hold that President Rajapaksa is also not responsible for the unlawful actions of the Sri Lankan armed forces. Showing democracy is different to actually being democratic. In terms of Premier Greiner who did strongly influence democratic changes within NSW Public Service – the observations made by the management in our part of that Public Service was ‘Do as I say and not as I do’. Mr. Greiner was found guilty of having breached Due Processes in relation to employment of his buddy and former Minister for Education – and this led to his resignation.
The question is whether the ‘modesty’ demonstrated by these two Australian leaders is genuine and more importantly whether it fits their position. Gandhi was humble and lived physically as part of the lowest classes of Indian society. Gandhi did not hold official positions when he so lived. But if he had held the highest ranking position in Indian politics – he would have not motivated growth of business. I also live as part of the people of Thunaivi in Northern Sri Lanka – who are at the lowest level on caste basis. But I ‘show’ a reasonable level of wealth and higher education - so as to inspire the People of Thunaivi – into working towards higher living standards that would develop the confidence to merge with wider community in Vattukottai district.
Professor Laksiri Fernando states ‘Drawing from that experience, the main concerns for Sri Lankans however are (1) whether the politicians and bureaucrats are misusing public funds and (2) whether they abuse their official powers for pecuniary gains i.e. financial favours, commissions etc.’
That is the responsibility of Administration in an educated society. Academics need to seek and find through their own experiences – the solutions that would cover the whole of Sri Lanka. If Sri Lankan Administration is not strong – the alternate path which is the political path needs to be used. This is the parallel of thumb-mark in place of signature. Politically speaking, one half produces one side of the picture and the other the other side. The two together provide the wholesome picture that represents the whole country. The level at which this whole picture is completed is the political height of Sri Lanka. This should not be directly compared with other country pictures. Where this is high –the leaders’ lifestyles need to ‘show’ this level – so the richer nations would not embarrass themselves by calling Sri Lankans paupers – the way Sir Winston Churchill called Mahatma Gandhi a ‘half naked fakir’
Our presentations need to show our lifestyles – even if they are pompous and decorative. We would then at least be honest with the electorate. The local citizen would know intuitively whether or not her/his politician earned her/his wealth honestly and dutifully. Others need to consciously measure and calculate – each one for their own special purposes. To me, Sri Lankan leadership needs to show its ability to motivate and energize its people at the local level – through politics – towards economic growth. The practice of showing respect to seniors is also part of Sri Lankan lifestyle. If Sri Lankan President dressed up like his voter – the voter might greet him with words ‘Hi Machchaan!’ instead of saying ‘Your Excellency’. Sri Lanka, compared to Uruguay, has proportionately more numbers in man-power compared to money-power at the lower levels of society. It’s the higher status that balances the majority power. That is called Equality when our money resource is close to our Human Resource. When this hierarchical power gets weakened there is rebellion for better or for worse. The work and sacrifices of Sri Lankan ancestral leaders need to be recognized through our current values and structures.
 I write in response to Sri Lanka Guardian articl...){kind=link}