Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

24 March 2019

India Redeems Sri Lanka from China’s Debt-Trap

Yesterday when we were discussing the NSW election trends with our neighbour I revealed that I voted for Labor as an expression against Mr Howard who came into the scene at the last moment. Liberal won at State level but Coogee won at electorate level. This has been presented by 9 news as follows:

[Michael Daley may not have become premier of NSW but that didn't stop the Labor Party celebrating its win in the Sydney seat of Coogee.

The coalition have been returned for a third term, but it's not yet known if it will be a majority or minority government with the NSW Labor leader conceding defeat before 10pm on Saturday at Coogee Bay Hotel

Although Mr Daley admitted the results were disappointing, he was visibly gleaming from Labor's win in Coogee which was previously held by the Liberals with margin of 2.9 per cent margin.

Labor's Marjorie O'Neill snatched the seat from the Liberal's Bruce Notley-Smith with a swing of 5.5 per cent to Labor.]

Mine was one of those votes. Last time I voted for Liberals due to Mr Mike Baird who according to me had contributed strongly to ‘commonness’. I am satisfied that my vote went towards balancing the racism karma that Liberals led by the likes of Mr Howard carry. That part of the earth that is our home is protected by the true common structures developed by us – even though they may not be shown through us .

This week, Australian of Sri Lankan Sinhalese origin raised the question ‘Will India invade us again?’ this was in response to India recent statement that it seeks the 13^th amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution fully implemented. Around the same time we learnt about India’s involvement in Sri Lanka, right next to China’s investment in Hambantota. The picture that has evolved would be read by each investor as per her/his investment in National and Regional governance. In this instance India’s politician who heads India’s side of the investment is a Tamil. This person is my opposition’s parallel in Australian governance. It opposes China at China’s level.

China was brought into Sri Lanka’s Hambantota in the vicinity of Hindu Kathirgamam, by Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa. This at regional and global levels demoted India’s status and therefore India’s investment in Sri Lanka. Whether it be Mahendran in Central Bank or Jagathrakshakan of DMK in Tamil Nadu – they are Tamils who raised their apparent status through Singapore Business. Their real status is much lower than the apparent status. The real shows through in what they consider to be ‘free’ environment. A good proportion of Sri Lankan Tamils invested in them through Tamil culture above Sri Lankan Commonness. 

Chinese involvement in Sri Lanka confirmed this freedom by Sinhalese which is being repeatedly ‘shown’ by the Sri Lankan government that fails to discipline the Rajapaksa government over its excesses in the 2009 war. To the extent the UN failed to match its support to the Sri Lankan government to win this war against its own citizens – the UN is powerless to discipline Sri Lankan Government.  At best it could become a facility through which each member nation derives its own opportunities and benefits – as in the ‘user pays’ system. India therefore protected its investment in Sri Lankan Tamils at policy level – through pressing for implementation of  the 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution. At the same time, the heir of the Indian leader MG Ramachandran who was respected as Big Brother / Anna by the LTTE – won - down South – through the Oil refinery project about which is presented  by Foreign Brief as follows, under the heading ‘Indian refinery in Sri Lanka raises questions about foreign investment dependence:

[Today, India’s Accord Group, in co-operation with others, will begin construction on an oil refinery in Hambantota, Sri Lanka.

Notably, China already has a 99-year lease on a port in Hambantota it obtained in a $1.1 billion debt-to-equity swap. Sri Lanka is an important strategic location for China’s Belt and Road infrastructure. In addition to the billions still owed to China for infrastructure projects, Beijing agreed to lend Sri Lanka a further $989 million to build a highway connecting Colombo to Kandy on Friday.

In an effort to realign Sri Lanka’s economic dependence away from China, the oil refinery is Sri Lanka’s largest foreign investment and India is managing 70% of it.]

India has invested officially in Democracy much more than China. A huge chunk of Sri Lanka’s investment in India is through religions – both Hindu as well as Buddhist religions. India’s Tamil Nadu’s Hindu community – taken at 87% of  its population of 72million works out to be three times the total population of Sri Lanka. In natural terms therefore – through common faith – Sri Lankan Tamils have immediate and natural access to three times the power of its total population .

China is connected largely through money. This lacks the energy to work the common system – the very energy that is accessible through common faith. Hence when we separate the outcomes from the Energy / Policy, the Lankan Government which used Chinese money to win the war – defeated itself at the global policy level. This was confirmed by India at the recent UNHRC session.

LTTE made itself a junior to Tamil Nadu politician – MG Ramachandran who did not have enough commonness with Democratic leaders to make democratic policies of global standards. MGR was recognized as Puratchi Thalaivar / Revolutionary Leader and this matches the support rendered to Velupillai Prabhakaran in many parts of  predominantly Tamil areas of Sri Lanka – including Hill country where MGR was born.

The greater the following of Revolutionaries in Tamil areas of Sri Lanka, the less the space available for intellectual Tamils – Puthi Jeevi’s. In an area dominated by those who are driven by immediate outcomes – usually shown by Revolutionaries – Puthi Jeevi has less space. The greater the space taken by unearned mass / outcomes, less the Energy sharing. In democracy, the two sides have to be Equally independent and therefore the mind is lowered from the real height of a Puthi Jeevi  to share with others who are less intellectual. The gap is filled by common faith.  Such a leader is a real democratic leader.

Through those Sri Lankans to whom India is family – Sri Lanka has the opportunity to draw on that democratic power – beyond visible land  borders. Without India, Sri Lankans conscious of their local borders would be caught by China’s debt trap. That was due to weak leadership by Mr Rajapaksa who also acted like a Revolutionary.