| by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
I write in response to the statement by Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, published by Sri Lanka Guardian under the heading ‘'I have been vindicated in the bastions of the law –Dr. Shirani”
( January 16, 2013, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake states ‘As the Chief Justice, I have an obligation and an unwavering duty towards the judges, lawyers and the citizens at large of my country.’
Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake has also chosen to share her experience with wider public – and that in itself is a very valuable contribution. Initially when the Chief Justice delivered a decision unfavorable to the Executive, she may not have known what to expect. One just feels the inner urge to put one’s foot down to brake the speed with which political power driven by majority vote, operates. When one is ‘punished’ publicly for doing this, as per one’s belief in the position held, the matter generates public interest especially when one’s status is high. To the extent one is genuine, the public scrutiny takes us into the field of Natural Justice and if one is independent of benefits from the local environment, one’s earned benefits would convert themselves into opportunities and values. Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake has confirmed that she is able to see such value through her home group – the Judiciary. I was able to do likewise with migrants of Sri Lankan origin followed by residents of Sri Lanka. This helped me work the system even during the height of war – to facilitate my service to the needy. Had I not accepted my demoted position in Australia, it would have been more difficult for me to feel part of the needy amongst Sri Lankans.
We derive benefits, identify opportunities and recognize common values by participating in the debate. To the extent we share in the experience through one side or the other, we are able to contribute to the development of common values. We have to experience to go into the field of natural energies.
Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake states ‘The 32 years of continuous service at the University of Colombo and the Supreme Court, during my 54 year lifespan, I have rendered in varying capacities towards my motherland, is rewarded unfortunately, in this unjust manner.’
I am able to relate to that pain through my own experience here in Australia – except that to the Australian Judicial family I was largely a nobody. It has been recorded in our Public ledgers that I stated that to my mind, the Judiciary, the Police and the Administration were colluding. I was confirming here that to my mind, the Doctrine of Separation of Powers did not work here in Australia. Is it therefore realistic to preach it to Sri Lankans who are seeking to migrate to Australia more than the other way around? Yet we keep preaching to satisfy our minds. The separation needs to be in the mind of the Judge who takes higher position than the member of legal minority group before her/him. If the Sri Lankan judiciary also does not follow this conscious separation – then it contributes to the karma coming back to it – when there are no takers on the other side – the side being apparently demoted.
When Buddhism for example is attributed foremost place as per Article 9 of the Sri Lankan Constitution, unless there are takers for second place and below, any act of discrimination would return to the group that introduced the provision and / or upheld that priority position. That is the way of Natural Justice. Without actual practice of Equal status between ethnicities – the Doctrine of Separation of Powers applied through the secular system would be merely for material purposes of money and status allocations. In this instance, the Parliament is the parallel of Buddhism and the Judiciary is the parallel of Hinduism. The Executive failed in both instances to uphold Doctrine of Separation of Powers and hence like the Tamils, the Judiciary also has now become a minority power.
Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake states ‘Though I was accused and arbitrarily convicted by the Parliamentary Select Committee, I have been vindicated in the bastions of the law. I take solace in the fact that, the due process and the rules of natural justice of which I was and continue to be an advocate and a firm believer, have been upheld by the superior courts of this country.’
On that basis I have to conclude that the Judiciary in Sri Lanka is more reliable than the Judiciary in Australia – in my eyes anyway. Realizing that the Australian system was unreliable beyond a certain point, helped me become independent of that system. Here is an excerpt from my book, in this regard: ‘Within one culture, status on the basis of looks is attributed relative to common norms of the past and trends of the present and therefore status based on outer looks would tend to be ‘graded’ through those common cultural measures. These cultural norms include work done by others to attribute merit to a certain way in which we maintain our outer looks. Usually those with high status and attractive looks earn the highest grading. Lady Diana became more attractive than Miss Diana Spencer due to having earned the ‘royal position’. I on the other hand, became less and less attractive with more or less the same looks, due to shedding of my official status. Those with low status often become the targets of blame when those with high status are looking to punish and/or to throw away the pain and/or loss that comes their way. Hence anti discrimination laws in multicultural societies, so that each individual has the opportunity to protect her/himself from abuse of subjective powers. If we believe that we were ‘born free’ we would fight to protect that freedom. That belief could come from our parents and elders and/or from our previous lives. Low status without merit and/or belief reflects dislike of the person being lowered in status. Likewise, high status without merit and/or belief reflects liking of the person being elevated in status. In both instances whatever we do on the outside is registered in our minds also. When we are alone therefore, one side of us dislikes or likes the other. Likewise in a sovereign group. If we keep elevating someone and there is no one else relative to whom such elevation happens, we become the latter. Likewise when we are arbitrarily reducing the status of someone and when the elevation is not passed on to someone else, we elevate ourselves. False elevation leads to excitement and hallucination . False demotion leads to depression. Whatever we do naturally, comes back to us. Reliable systems facilitate this return. When we believe that a system we invested in is failing to return the value of our work to us – we need to keep our distance from that system to that extent. This may be family, workplace or social structures. Often our attachments to the benefits from that system keeps us close to the system and despite our previous disappointments we remain and expect. But those of us who are able to renounce the benefits that have not come our way will recognize that Natural Justice does bring us the benefits and opportunities needed by us. That’s when we move into the world of Natural Energies. We need to live in our Truth for us to be supported by this Natural system. That is the system of Love/Truth.’
Many Australians who undergo the parallel experience to that of the Sri Lankan Chief Justice in Sri Lanka and myself here in Australia, feel depressed due to lack of belief in the system of Natural Justice. I fully believe that without my belief in God I would have become a victim of my investment in the Australian system, beyond the point where migrants are recognized on merit basis. But my belief in God helped me become independent of the Australian Administrative system and use my realization of Truth to help the whole of Australia through my natural values as a simple human being. I was also able to relate better to the experience of Aborigines – for if this could happen to me, what would have been the position of Aborigines – especially before affirmative action to protect their culture. As part of the process of globalizing my experiences, I wrote as follows in a recent feedback to our government highlighting the weakness that continues in their system – but without the expectation that I would be given credit for it: ‘The National Police Certificate shows that on each charge I had incurred a fine of $500. If you work backwards from this punishment to the charge – it would lead you to no law. In particular, it would not take us to the source whose name was used – Section 4 (1) (a) of the Inclosed Lands Protection Act 1901. Hence to my mind, it was a political decision made through Administrative Powers, in breach of the Doctrine of Separation of Powers.
Mr. Gallacher, as you may be aware, this Doctrine of Separation of Powers is being seriously debated by Sri Lankans due to Impeachment charges initiated by the Parliament of Sri Lanka, against the Chief Justice. This has drawn the attention of many international experts, to the issue. As per my discoveries – in a reliable system of Governance, Political powers are driven more by belief while Judicial and Administrative powers are driven more by conscious calculations as per common principles and laws. This helped me take my place as per the belief demonstrated by Australian authorities. My own belief was thus not given form through them, beyond that level. It is now given form through the needy in Sri Lanka – my country of origin. The Police certification was towards this purpose.’
In the case of the Chief Justice, the Politicians demoted her because they did not like her actions. The Chief Justice no longer ‘looks’ good to them. But in terms of her own Truth, the Chief Justice now has greater opportunities to work the Sri Lankan system of Justice through her own experience. True Sri Lankans – including within Parliament will respond to her and they are the only ones that matter. The rest is Maya/Delusion. If we desire to be included in their team – we would pick up their negative energies. Hence this needs to be taken as Divine Intervention towards becoming active members of the Spirit of Sri Lanka and beyond - of the Universal system of Justice - as we Tamils are doing.
