| by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
( March 20, 2013, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) The editor of Sri Lanka’s National Newspaper Daily News states in his editorial ‘Oh so Predictable’ : ‘This is Rajan the Oracle Phillips who said much worse about the Rajapaksa effort to rid the country of his favourite Tamil Tigers. Now we can brace for the customary denial on his never being an apologist for the Tamil Tigers and on the contrary being a person who decried the Tiger methods, but then, it is difficult now to find ex post facto, a single Tamil diaspora sage who did not lambaste Prabhakaran during the war.’
Well I am a member of the Tamil Diaspora and I did not lambaste Prabhakaran during the war. As members of Tamil Diaspora we have particular roles to play – as do resident Tamils and Sri Lankans of other ethnic origins. There is also another side to us – as individuals.
In terms of the Tamil Tigers with whom I did work through a UNDP project – Tamils have community responsibilities as well as responsibilities to themselves as individuals – the same way the Editor of Daily News has to the Government of Sri Lanka as well as to himself as an individual. To the extent the two become one – we take those values with us wherever we go.
The editor states ‘Though Sri Lankans who are no longer residents or citizens are not forbidden from writing about the place they left behind, an article without divulging the fact that he is as foreign to this country as any Canadian tourist is – for all practical purposes – an attempt to write as if the man is a hands-on expert on the Sri Lankan economy, which is not just galling but is also an insult to the intelligence of this country’s people.’
One’s ownership in Sri Lanka could be assessed at three levels:
1. Physical residence (by outsiders)
2. Legal status (through common principles)
3. Natural identity by the individual (By the self for the self)
The above remarks by the editor seem to be based on category 1 assessment. Most of us do leave behind our parents’ homes when we get married. Does that make us visitors in our parents’ homes? To assess ownership as per place of physical residence – is an insult to Sri Lanka’s investment in Higher Education.
Every person who feels Sri Lankan is a Sri Lankan in real terms. We do not need the endorsement of others including the President of Sri Lanka, leave alone the editor of Daily News – to identify with fellow Sri Lankans – wherever they may be. To imply that only those resident in Sri Lanka are Sri Lankans and the highest amongst them is the strongest owner of Sri Lanka – is like saying that one could find God only in temples and that the Priest is closest to God. The real power of the Priest comes from the faith of believers with whom the Priest identifies naturally.
I have sought deeply and realized that I am Australian as well as Sri Lankan the same way I am Paramasivam family and also Navaratnam family. The positions are the milestones in our pathways/relationships to realizing ownership. Some realize this ownership in their parents’ families after they get married. Likewise some members of the Sri Lankan Diaspora would have realized their Sri Lankan ownership after migrating to other countries.
I realized that I was Australia after my painful experiences due to expecting our Australian Equal Opportunity principles to be functional. They were not beyond a certain level. But by discovering this Truth through painful experience after painful experience, and accepting that reality at its highest limit – I became fully fledged Australian. This required me to pool my excess investment into the Commonwealth / wisdom from which others would draw as per their needs. Now I do not expect to be treated as an equal. If it happens – I take it as a bonus. It was my painful experience in Australia that helped me realize my Sri Lankan ownership also. Despite the difficulties, I upheld my Sri Lankan qualifications to be my highest and therefore my high achievement was attributed to my Sri Lankan training. Relatively speaking – there are many resident Sri Lankans who take up high status due to their foreign qualifications. To my mind, in real terms their Sri Lankan status is lower than mine. Their global status may be higher but not their Sri Lankan status. The reason for this is that the end of these pathways is to realize oneness through ownership – not ownership status but true and natural ownership. In real terms, Resident Sri Lankans who use foreign qualifications to elevate their apparent status are below than Non-Resident Sri Lankans who use Sri Lankan qualifications even at the cost of earning less money and status. I am such a Sri Lankan even though I may seem lower in status than the editor of Daily News.
 The editor of Sri Lanka’s National Newspaper Daily New...){kind=link}