Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

03 January 2017

Tamils have no voice?

‘President Maithripala Sirisena told the chief prelates, of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters, on Saturday, that the new Constitution Draft Bill does not include any clause that is harmful to the country and that it is not in any way a document that will divide the country….The Chief Prelate of the Malwatte Chapter also informed the President that he should focus his attention on this issue and to prepare a proper mechanism to raise awareness among the people.
Minister of Health and Nutrition Rajitha Senaratne, Governor of the Central Province Niluka Ekanayake, Chief Minister of the Central Province Sarath Ekanayake and Member of the Central Provincial Council Thilina Tennakoon participated on this occasion’

No division of country in new Constitution – Ceylon Today

The above words of assurance are not in harmony with the message communicated by the makeup of the group – which excludes Tamils.

Yesterday when playing Board-game – Sequence -  with our grandchildren – they informed my husband and I who were in different teams that under the rule that ‘there should be no table-talk’ – we could not talk to each other in Tamil. I said ‘tough – you learn the language to confirm practice of Multiculturalism’. We finally came to an agreement that there would be no-talk at all! To my mind, the parallel of that is the decision that there would be no mention of religion at all in the new Rules of Sri Lanka!  The discovery was that we were able to connect more strongly to each other’s mind.

The above group confirmed through its very makeup that not only was the Buddhist Chief the CEO of  the People represented by the group, but that the decision would be made solely by Sinhalese and handed down to minority races/religions.

That is not dividing the country   but suppressing one part to accommodate the insecurities of the other. Those of us who are independent Sri Lankans – not because others say so but because of the sacrifices we made/make to govern ourselves as Sri Lankans, with the little support we have, will continue to add strength to the side that we identify with more than the other. In terms of numbers, this group is in the minority but in terms of power – this group is empowered by heritage value tending towards the Absolute. They are the true governors whom Lord Buddha also would bless.  

These days when I am not able to identify with the arrangements for common activities by our children – I inform them that I am not able to see myself in them and then I distance myself to that extent. Given that I am more and more in Sri Lanka and doing Sri Lankan work even when in Australia – there is a natural separation which protects me from being ‘taken over’ by majority Australian culture. I insist therefore on being treated as Equal by the younger generation or as the head of the family as per my true contribution towards Commonness. It would be wrong to expect young ones to practice two systems simultaneously.  Hence where they fail to demonstrate equal opportunity values – I insist on Truth – to take the leadership role. I did likewise with my husband’s University group of Engineers. We first started as a group – that could by its ‘looks’ be described as ‘Tamil Engineering Group’. Now, more recently – it has been expanded and there are Sinhalese and English!!! also in the group. A Sinhalese wrote in reaction to my article ‘LTTE Infiltrating the Government?’

‘Please delete my address from your email list. 

I am not interested in mails from outsiders other than from my batchmates (not even from their partners).’

‘Thank you Mr. Hhhhhhh. I got to know your batch mates through my husband and to me they are family. Likewise to other spouses I am friends with. That to me is part of our Common culture. If you seek to be different – then you become our opposition – and I challenge you to do what you can to get rid of me – who is very much a part of this group. Every morning my husband pays his respect to Peradeniya University – through the group photo we have. The group is thus part of our home Energy. If you reject it – that’s fine – but don’t expect ME to do the work that you can do yourself. We are self-governing.

Happy New Year

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam wife and mother of 4 engineers.’

Another Engineer working for World Bank and whose ethnicity is difficult to work out from the name wrote as follows:

‘As a liberal I read widely, including rubbish.

But, this goes further.

We've been "infiltrated" by a bean counter (yeah. I also qualified as one after EFac, but  for a different purpose - to keep them in check!). 

Let's keep this forum only for EFac batchmates. But anything goes! That was, and should be, the spirit.

Happy New Year to all!’

To this, I responded as follows:

[It’s a free world. Press the right buttons to list me as junk mail – lazy bone. You sound very like LTTE – sole representatives group!

Happy New Year

Gaja – the bean counter]

Sinhala Only, Tamil Only – claims can promote maintenance of tradition in a democratic system only when they are made by one who has realized the Truth through that pathway. The Truth realized is the basis of true ownership. Such a person would not take up a particular identity except for the purpose of preserving that Truth that s/he has discovered. One who tries to ‘enforce’ her/his ways after demoting the other – is very much a junior member of the group – even if he carries  to the surname of the group – in this instance Engineer and in the case of National religion – Buddhist.

One of our fellow bean-counters Mr. Chandra Jayaratne for example, is reported to have written to Deputy Minister of Public Enterprise Development, the Hon  Eran Wickramaratne :

“It is recommended that the stakeholders of society, including chambers of commerce and industry, policy development and good governance focused institutions, academia, professionals and independent civil society activists, be consulted and engaged in the above process. It is the sincere hope of the civil society that the above suggestions will receive your early attention and will lead to transparent engagement and reform action facilitated by you”  - Colombo Telegraph report ‘Chandra Jayaratne Wants Eran To Practice What He Preaches’

Mr. Jayaratne knows that I am an independent civil society activist in addition to a stakeholder in Sri Lanka Reconciliation Forum, Sydney through which interest I shared my internal wisdom with Friday Forum. To date – there has been no Consultation and/or Engagement proposal from Mr. Jayaratne and in one instance he requested – like the above mentioned Engineers to not write to his group of professionals. The professionals who are truly Sri Lankan are very few. All those ‘only’ groups systematically divide the country while the Government is preoccupied with skinning the cat because there is nothing else to do  (Tamil saying), because they have resigned themselves to Buddhist fate.

As per the above report,  in terms of  Conflict Resolution:

‘Jayaratne also called on Wickramaratne to establish a parallel Court System dedicated to hear corruption related cases.’

I wonder what lessons the Sri Lankan fishermen can learn through the above system to protect their livelihood – seriously damaged due to dispute with India? How to lose confidence in fishing – as seems to be the case with Sri Lankan Airlines staff after the Weliamuna report which I feel intuitively was strongly influenced by Mr. Jayaratne also. A mother knows intuitively and that is the core purpose of Commonness.

The new Constitution would confirm the pathway for minorities genuinely seeking to be Democratic. Those who do relate to reports like the one by Mr. Jayaratne – would use them for self-promotion including outside Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans would continue to export their knowledge. ‘Education without Character may improve income but not lives’ – says the Minister. We continue to observe and vote through the real system, as per our Truth – to know as to what happens when a Tamil shows high Character but is left out by the high and mighty? We have the right to conclude that all of them are there to improve their incomes and not their Life in Common.  Genuine Tamils with ownership power in Democratic systems are likely to export themselves – including to Rameswaram to Naturally empower Indian Fishermen, while the Sinhalese pundits count their loose change.