| by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
( April 17, 2013, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I write in response to the Sri Lanka Guardian article ‘The TNA president’s Avurudu gift to the Sinhala hawks’ by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka.
Just before reading this article I read a positive response to the Sri Lanka Guardian article ‘De facto Government by the LTTE’, which said ‘How true, thank you for this. If you don’t mind I have passed it on to my contacts in Singapore.’ To me, this kind of natural sharing strengthens the natural forces through which we govern ourselves. If the ordinary self-governing citizen is not able to give form to her/his wisdom in her/his home area through existing laws – then to my mind, it is quite natural and just for such a person to give her/his own form to the way s/he governs her/himself. I responded to the above member of the Tamil Diaspora for example as follows: ‘I appreciate very much that you are sharing this with your contacts in Singapore. I do believe that such sharing is necessary at least at later stages of our life - so that we give form to the Truth known to us’
If the TNA is doing just that – then it is a positive move. There is no law above Truth. If in doing so, the TNA acts unlawfully, then it is up to the Government to take administrative or legal action against the TNA. When Government officers in North use their position powers prematurely, TNA’s actions against them completes the political picture needed by the People. Beyond that there is no valid Administration and hence no rights and wrongs as per national yardsticks/laws. To give credence to them beyond that point where administrators act as per their individual thinking – would lead to political dependence and therefore take value away from our independence to vote. This is a real and present danger in North and hence has the effect of dividing Tamils prematurely to suit the officers and limiting Tamils to local politics rather than national level administration.
Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka quotes ‘In response, civil society members are said to have prescribed a “transitional administration” model, outside the current Sri Lankan Constitution, as an alternative, where in Tamil representatives have actual powers in realms of education, health and livelihood issues. “In this model, the Sri Lankan government will also have a role and so will representatives of various communities. If the government is willing to engage with this option, we could work out the modalities,” he said.” (‘Shed Obsession with 13th amendment: SL Tamil Parties to Indian MPs’, The Hindu, April 12, 2013).’
Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka states in response ‘Now it was wildly generous of the Tamil civil society representatives to assure the Sri Lankan people that in their proposed model which is an alternative to the 13th amendment, “the Sri Lankan government will also have a role”. Tempting as the offer is, I rather think the Sri Lankan government will – and certainly should-- decline to “engage with this option”, as will the overwhelming bulk of the country’s citizenry.’
The Central Administrators of the University of New South Wales sent me to prison for seeking to share such a resource management model developed by me. The Chancellor who is the head of the Governing Council was in support but did not have the administrative authority. To me the current proposal would be along the model that had the Council’s approval. It is the parallel of Thesawalamai – the Customary Laws of Northern Tamils. It is therefore understandable that Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, who effectively is part of the Administration until recently, would likewise devalue such contribution. Where citizens develop self governance through their own Truth rather than the structures of the Government it is their work values that are shared with the government and not the other way around. Unless the bottom-up developer acts in breach of existing laws, the government has no right to take action against such person/group. If the Sri Lankan Government is genuinely seeking peace and justice, it would certainly engage and share as the Dutch did when they recognized our Customary laws as being necessary for us. Due to war and displacement we have to rely more on customary laws than on national laws. When Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka shares his own wisdom in some local issues – he is also contributing to the development of customary laws which would be difficult for national administrators to appreciate and v.v.
Our laws need to be such as to prevent premature action - i.e. – actions that promote a judgment / outcome before the matter had been raised to the level of the existing law. Tamil leaders need to ensure that such is not the case. The easiest way would be to go democratic from the very beginning. Every part of their structure needs to confirm Democracy and this would be a tough challenge to the Sri Lankan Government in its current form. That would also be a way to offload the LTTE autocracy. If that is not acceptable to the ‘overwhelming bulk of the country’s citizenry’ as Dr. Jayatilleka puts it – then we must expect more wars in Sri Lanka. That is the natural outcome for which the likes of Dr. Jayatilleka also would have contributed due to their attachment to benefits from the subjective system that is favorable to them.
This morning, for some reason I thought about the importance of recording for the benefit of the next generation my experiences where I felt that Yoga Swami was guiding me and blessing me. Later in the morning I opened an email from Mr. Samy Pasupati with the following message: ‘The Sivathondan Society intends to publish a book in English funded by The Thiruvadi Trust of Yoga Swami.
Dr (Mrs) Vimala Krishnapillai has been requested by the editor to compile the articles written by devotees in English for publication.
We are sure you will agree with the wish of many that the personal experiences of the disciples of Siva Yoga Swami should be recorded.
Many of you will have a lot to narrate.
Dr Krishnapillai will hence welcome contributions by you. Please do find the time to record your experiences etc. and forward them to à vimalakrishnapillai@yahoo.com.
Otherwise future generations will sadly not benefit from your experiences
Could you also kindly pass this on to others who may be able to contribute.’
To me the essence of the message from Mr. Pasupati – to develop structures to carry forward the essence of our experiences is not different to the message from TNA. Others may take it differently. The deeper we go into the issue the deeper our memories of true experiences. If we keep writing the Truth as per our own experiences - we would naturally connect to the Truth in others. Such persons do not need external laws. Their conduct would fit any just law.
The above structure through Hindu religion is also a structure towards self governance. If Sinhalese could be guided by Indian Buddha including through provisions in the Constitution, Tamils have greater right to be guided by Sri Lankan Yoga Swami. Yoga Swami is local leader. Lord Buddha is the parallel of the UN - a body that includes Sri Lanka but is not particular to Sri Lanka. UN is not necessarily greater than Sri Lanka in terms of real power based on Truth. Once we realize our core purposes – we are all common – without grades.
Dr. Jayatilleke asks ‘Merely out of curiosity, what is the “final political settlement” that the TNA’s Mr Premachandran envisages and advocates for the Tamils? For such a political settlement to have to be preceded by “an interim administration overseen by India and the United Nations” and for it to be positioned beyond such an interim administration, it would have to be pretty far out indeed. What is the ‘interim administration’ interim to? There is only one ‘settlement’ that would match that description and that is Tamil Eelam or a Greater Tamil Nadu.’
Personally, I do not find it attractive for Jaffna to be part of Greater Tamil Nadu. We Sri Lankan Tamils are capable of developing our own governance and we have our own identity that is distinctly different to Indian Tamil identity. But if the Sri Lankan government keeps blocking the path of Tamils in peacefully structuring their own governance – it may very well lead to a vacancy in Administration of Tamils at global standards. If the parent fails to parent the child – there are other relatives who have the right to step into their shoes – something many of us have done by sponsoring young relatives for higher education and therefore greater opportunity to participate in global activities. If the Sri Lankan Government fully occupies its position – we would not need other older relatives to protect and facilitate our growth and maturity. The alternative is to facilitate a structure confirming that we Tamils are a mature adult community – capable of governing ourselves directly applying the national laws starting with the Constitution. Towards this we need to take a zero base start and hence lose consciousness of the 13th Amendment and therefore LTTE’s breaches of the law. Currently there is more focus on such breaches than on the work and sacrifices of those of us who lawfully contributed to harmony in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Jayatilleka states also ‘Thus the Government can proceed, albeit with alertness, to implement the 13th amendment by electorally activating the Northern Provincial Council as promised and in the time frame promised to our oldest (and wealthiest) Asian friend, Japan.’
That in itself is confirmation that Dr. Jayatilleka is weak in his investments at grassroots level. As per my intuitive wisdom India is a closer relative of Sri Lanka than Japan is – however money wealthy Japan may be. During the time I worked in Vanni through a UNDP project – I observed the way Japanese Health Administrators acted outside Administrative protocols to get documents in the custody of Tamil staff. I conducted a long training session to educate the Tamil Administrators in how to conduct themselves with dignity under such circumstances.
Dr. Jayatilleka states further in this regard ‘In no country can there be an administrative arrangement outside that country’s Constitution’
Each time the official path is used to act unofficially – administration happens outside the country’s Constitution. A Government that has not been able to contain such development has only itself to blame for weakening the country’s administrative systems. This has resulted in the likes of Dr. Jayatilleka – who has held senior positions – not showing awareness of Democratic Facilities. Those arrangements are facilities and are beyond administration towards recognizing the high contribution by citizens to govern themselves.
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