Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

08 June 2019

TERRORISM &TOURISM

[The end of the internal terror problem, mainly concentrated in the

North of the island, raged for over thirty years with successive

Sri Lankan governments struggling to control the renegade

LTTE group. 2005 saw the end of the Bandaranaike dynasty and the

election by a slim margin of Mahinda Rajapaksa who fought the

election on a platform of bringing the terror problem to an end.

Almost remarkably his government were indeed able to bring an end

and 2009 ushered in a new opportunity to Sri Lanka. The principal

beneficiary was the island’s tourism assets.]SRI LANKA TOURISM IN

PERIL article by News First

Consciously or otherwise, the author Faraz Shauketaly has made the

connection between alleged Terrorism and Tourism. Tourism is objectively

provable. Terrorism is largely subjective. If the common international citizen

had believed that Sri Lanka suffered due to Terrorism there would have been

no tourism in Sri Lanka for at least 30 years. As per the tourism litmus test -

Sri Lanka did not suffer from Terrorism of International proportions.

The free traveller confirms this truth. China is reported to have

confirmed that there would be tour groups from China. This

is despite the checks on the way. Hence one is entitled to conclude that

at least in the eyes of the Chinese the Easter attacks were not of global

proportions. Idle governments can invoke terrorism activities. But the Sri Lankan

 government’s capacity is very local.

The government is the national parallel of parents. To the extent the

government is common to all diverse groups in its care - the government would

 have the intuitive power to pick up early warning signs. That is the value of

common parenting / governance. To the extent it does not have that capability

to be common, the government / parent  needs laws that promote Equal

Opportunity for every group/child to pursue its/her/his own special pathways.

 From that point onwards - the government / parent becomes a facility sans

any Administration. Each time the government Administers such a group/

person  and the group/person remains forbearing - the karma returns to sender. Showing more money fools the foreigner - even though by law s/he may be Sri Lankan.

Recently I said to a Colombo couple that they were wasting money by sending

their children to expensive private schools because their children are not able

to picture themselves as professionals. When asked, the elder child said that

she wanted to be a clerk in the bank - like her cousin.  Even though I was an

example she could have followed, there was no such connection because the

 parents borrowed money to pay school fees but failed to repay and failed to

 demonstrate respect for us as their seniors. Hence that mentoring network

was not there. Why should such family invest in higher education at a level

they cannot afford? The Easter bombers may not have owed money but they

owed opportunities in higher thinking roles that help each participant work out her/his own returns. If the parents are incapable of thinking beyond immediate money returns - then investments that the young ones make in studying and passing exams become lateral as per the company they keep - like the daughter copying her cousin in the above example.

In Sri Lanka, the Bandaranaikes and the Rajapaksas have facilitated the

vertical path of jobs for their own. Tamils and Muslims who give preference to

their own would not seem wrong to them as per their own truth. Using global

resources that ought to support Equal Opportunity values in diversity - earned

 them negative karma - whenever they formed government by claiming to be

democratic. Now the whole world knows that two minority groups are foreigners

 in areas where Sinhala-Buddhists are in majority. This then means that the

strengths of these members of minority will not naturally be shared by Sinhala-

Buddhists.

I said to a member of our staff in Vaddukoddai that even though she professed

 to be faithful to me and thanked me for the opportunity to work -

she failed to ensure that the temple gate was locked except for prayer time.

 I said if she were truly faithful - she would have replaced the lock out of her

own funds and reimbursed herself from our funds. I said she did not because

she did not want to get a bad name from the folks who socialize at the temple

which results in hooliganism by idle youth. I said that my sense of

independence and the resulting thought structure would be hers only when

she became independent of the lower biological pulls. I said that when that

happens - she would know intuitively that her job is safe. Her sense of

insecurity is due to her own divided loyalty.

Likewise - Tourism service providers who are dependent on local pulls would

be anxious. Not so those who have invested in global standards. The

common pathway develops common thinking and therefore intuition that

promotes prevention of tragedies.