Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

27 February 2018                                    

British Minority in Sri Lanka

&

Mistress in Lankan Parliament

 

We read a person at  various levels, including through attitudes which are naturally communicated through body language also.  Dr Dayan Jayatilleke wrote in his Colombo Telegraph article ‘Don’t Play It Again, Sam’ about, the Hon Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, the official  Leader of the Opposition in Sri Lanka:

 

“I have always regarded him as the last of the old-school parliamentarians whom I used to watch as a boy, from the press gallery in the old Parliament building near Galle Face, with the blue light atop the flagstaff switched on when the House was in session. His command of the English language, stentorian delivery, his persona of an irascible gentleman all combined to make him a figure of respect and admiration irrespective of one’s opinion of his politics.”

That fits the Sampanthan I know and identify with through my independent work. But the way Dr Jayatilleke sees Mr Sampanthan now is different to the Sampanthan I identify with through  our commonness. The side through which Dr Jayatilleke recognises and presents seems more like that of the person who forwarded Mr Sampanthan’s recent speech in Parliament under the subject heading ‘Sampanthan lambasting MR in Parliament’ and with the question ‘WHY IS SAMPANTHAN NOT TALKING IN TAMIL ???’

My response was ‘Mr Sampanthan is Sri Lankan and carries British heritage. Hence he speaks in English’

The Hon G G Ponnambalam an Intellectual Tamil Political elder proposed 50:50 representation in Parliament so as to protect minority rights in a nation that was strongly attached to diverse local cultures. A person who thinks of another as an Equal, until known otherwise on merit basis, would identify with this as protecting the Sovereignty of a diverse group. As per my understanding of ‘Soul-connections’ through  Love / Truth – when we value our own independence we would value the independence of others. Towards this we need to keep our distance from the other or become their ‘other side’ when the side that is not immediately visible to us – as small minorities are to big majority.

The Hon G G Ponnambalam’s proposal was rejected by the then policy makers. But an Intellectual would know intuitively and/or consciously that one needs Equal footing to carry knowledge and therefore knowledge-based governance. One cannot conduct business successfully in free market environment without this knowledge of Equality.

The reason for the difficulties we face – as seen by an intellectual of  Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore;  Sri Lankan Finance Ministry Senior Advisor;  and the state-run Institute of Policy Studies Chairman - Professor Razeen Sally is presented through  Daily Mirror report headed ‘Top economist sheds light on political realities in Sri Lanka’:

‘The Sinhala Buddhist community has a cultural need to depend on a larger than life figure to continuously save them and cleanse the country, which is why the people voted for the Mahinda Rajapaksa faction instead of the coalition partners of the current government’

When we observe the above connection at family level, we would naturally extend it to National level when we feel National.  When we  observe,  we are leaving the past behind – taking only the value of independence with us in various forms – vertically to a higher position and/or laterally to become regional and global. When we are able to ‘observe’ – ourselves with a still mind, we confirm our independence. As an Australian-American academic said in a university environment ‘we need to come out of the circle’ to observe. Those who are attached to benefits have difficulty coming out of the circle. Benefits / pleasures are downward pulling forces which prevent independence.

Pampered children are dependent children.

Minorities have to do more work than majority to get into equal position as the latter, in an environment where law and order is weak. But minorities who accept it by bringing back home – the monetary earnings from outside (as did Jaffna Tamils) – would enjoy greater independence than majority who infiltrate other cultural areas to dominate by numbers. Often intellectual weakness is covered up by physical majority or worse weapon power.

Professor Razeen Sally is of British-Sri Lankan parentage. Hence Professor Razeen Sally could be taken as being supported by minority power which in Sri Lanka has made strong investment in Higher Education. After the British left Ceylon their investments remained to support their side in a ‘rule by majority’ environment. Emotions at the bottom and Feelings at the top, when exercised independently show reliable outcomes on their own. All else needs intellectual discrimination on Equal base – with zero advantage at the start – i.e. emotional level and/or majority vote level. Hence the Equal position to opposition in parliament.

Mr Sampanthan confirmed the inclusion of British on minority side – when he disciplined former President by numbers – Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa. When Sri Lankans invest more and more in their British ancestors – they would  naturally overpower Sinhala Nationalists and Tamil Nationalists in Sri Lankan Parliament where both side Nationalists are foreigners – as foreign as Lord Naseby about whose report on civilian deaths is summarized as follows by Dr Jayatilleke’s wife Mrs Sanja De Silva Jayatilleke who carries her maiden name as her middle name – the way many of us carry our British heritage:

[This is especially so since Lord Naseby has appealed to the UK Government that it “must now get the UN and the UNHCR in Geneva to accept a civilian casualty level of 7,000 to 8,000, not 40,000.”

While the national process is the more important, it is the Foreign Ministry’s responsibility to present Sri Lanka’s case credibly to the international community. It may lead to more than just a few individuals feeling good about it.] Colombo Telegraph Article ‘Lord Naseby, The Mythical 40,000 & The Feel-Good Factor

Dr Jayatilleke revealed his inner attitudes to Soul-connection through Daily News interview as follows:

[Now I am married for the third and last time to somebody I had known on and off many years ago, Sanja de Silva, who is a UK-based Accountant. I really believe what a gypsy fortune-teller in Washington DC told us when we just walked into a market in Eleventh Street on Capitol Hill.

She said we are soul mates; we come from the same part of God. And the lady in Borella, Sri Lanka, who predicted the tsunami, said that Sanja and I had been married in a previous birth.]

When Dr Jayatilleke also steps outside Sinhala Nationalism he would make the Soul connection with the Tamil Leader’s feelings.

Mr Sampanthan’s figures may or may not add up. But Mr Sampanthan had the first authority to discipline Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa who acted in breach of the fundamental rules of Parliament to form his own Joint Opposition. In effect he demoted himself to the position of mistress in Sri Lankan Parliament where Mr Samapanthan holds the structured wife’s position as Leader of the Opposition.  The value of Mr Sampanthan’s feelings is confirmed by his independence from militants and yet inclusiveness of all Tamils. Feelings are Soul-Powers that travel beyond local time and place – independent of the feeler also. That to me is Nirvana / Liberation.