Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

23 September  2020

 

 

Would Dr Ragavan Argue and Vote Against Executive Immunity?

In Sri Lanka, the hot political topic of the moment is the 20^th Amendment to the Constitution, so we would go back to the state of mind as of 2014. While it is natural for winners to want to enjoy the fruits of their work, one is competing against continuous changes that happen through nature/truth. The current President invoked the spirit of King Dutugemunu when he took oaths in 2019. This meant that he invoked also Emperor Ellalan – highly respected by Tamils as ‘Manu Neethi Kaathaa Cholan. / Cholan who upheld Manu Justice’. Each one of us would derive value from this as per our own belief – which in form, would not look like the original. We would carry and share our belief with our heirs. They in turn will carry the heritage in their form. The Energy is one but the forms are different.

Yesterday, a Tamil Diaspora leader responded as follows to my article ‘No Place in Common Sri Lanka for Separatists’:

[Gaja, pertaining to Lankan history,  DuteGamini was not really a Sinhala king as during 170 BCE that was the time Buddhism was slowly seeping into Lanka. At that time and during the arrival of mythical Vijaya there were no Sinhala race or Buddhism. The natives were Nagas, Yakkas, the Dravidian people with Veddas may be related to Balangoda man dated to 60 thousand years. They were Hindus, Vishnu worshipers and nature worshipers. The battle of Dutte and Ellala was not a racial fight; It was a tribal war. Even the original Mahawamsa does not call it anti Dhemalu war. Both sides had Dravidian soldiers. Dutte visited Kathirgamam and prayed (even our Murugan gave him a sword to defeat Ellalan) before setting out to war. The battle itself was foul. According to battle rule, when a mounted fighter falls down or loses the weapon the fighting should stop until he is ready again. According to history, Dutte fell off his  elephant Kandula twice and Ellalan stopped the fight. On the third occasion it was Ellalan who fell off his elephant yet Dutte did not stop the fight as expected but went onto attack fallen Ellala. History says Dutte was very upset later and grieved and ordered due respect to Ellalan's tomb. So these dishonesties are as old as man kind. ]

I responded to the above as follows:

[History helps us have a Common beginning – to start at - as it was in the beginning – with zero advantage to either side as per the record for current purposes. Your account of what happened is as per the character of Ellalan when he was Indian. I learnt first about Ellalan through the Manu Neethi Kaatha Cholan legend. Hence I would as an individual identify with your version of what happened in the war. It was as per this Ethics that Rama also said to Ravana – ‘Indru Poi Naalai Vaa’/ Go today and come back tomorrow. This would mean very little to fighters who are driven by their brawn power. This includes the LTTE and majority in the Government armed forces.

 If history is important – then your version ought to have been written in a Hindu rule book when Mr Wigneswaran was CM. He ought to have propagated it through his speeches beginning with Guru Brammah. His began and ended with Guru Brammah which is the parallel of Article 9.]

The essence of the above is that wins and losses that are not declared through Common measures are political. To the extent those who declare believe in the measures they use – it will work for them and only them. Once they come out of their local areas – they need common measures which needs intellectual input also. Otherwise their heirs would get isolated.

In the ‘Face the Nation’ program on 21 September, Dr Suren Ragavan for example claimed that he was not a Constitutional expert. As per my knowledge gained when Dr Ragavan was appointed as Governor of Jaffna, Dr Ragavan is a specialist in Buddhism. To my mind, due to Buddhism foremost clause in the Sri Lankan constitution, in his role as Parliamentarian,  he has the responsibility to check whether any changes to the constitution during his tenure in Parliament – clashes with Buddhist tenets as recorded by Lankans – including himself.

Take for example Executive powers of the President. Are these powers today’s version of the powers of Buddha who is the absolute power in Buddhism? If the President takes on Ministerial positions and Administers, would be lose his heritage as a Buddhist Governor?

Absolute power is belief based. Relative power combines outcomes with belief. A Buddhist believer for example would not need intellectual knowledge from outside. But a teacher of Buddhism would – in order to allocate grades to students. Former is governance power and latter is Executive power. If Dr Ragavan believes he is Buddha – he is governor. If he intellectually relates to others and issues, through Buddhist knowledge – then he is an Executive power without immunity from prosecution.

Whether Dr Ragavan appreciates this or not – what must be will happen. We will all have the experience in our own ways as per our belief and the true discoveries we made through previous experiences. Those who believe in Ellalan will lead Sri Lanka’s Justice system as a separate system if – King Duttugemunu is invoked for his victory. If not – beliefs would merge naturally towards strengthening the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. Tamils who registered the above version escalated the war-crimes issue to the UN due to Ellalan power.