Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

30 September  2020

 

 

Is  Velanwita Village an Orphanage?

There is personal belief and there is Universal power of Belief. The value of meditation is to access our truth within. Truth is perfectly balanced and hence the identification with our truth would balance our own minds. Then to the extent of our needs, we would access the Universal power and direct ourselves accordingly. This is also Soul Power.

Towards this, every nation is taken to be Sovereign, until known otherwise. The voting system is to facilitate the voter to access that Sovereign power through her/his personal belief. It is the duty of the elected person to become that central pool and confirm that in action in the form initiated by the believing voter. Hence if the voter writes, the leader must write back. If the voter expresses verbally the leader needs to verbally confirm the other side. If the voter does neither but believes  - the voter has direct access to the power of belief of the whole relationship. That is the way of Universal powers. When we for example write articles without expecting any returns they are declarations of our belief. Hindu Vedas are of this category. They are complete in themselves and hence confirm Independence.

In his Colombo Telegraph article ‘Need For Systems To Maximise President’s Commitment To Development’, Dr Jehan Perera, the Executive Director of National Peace Council of Sri Lanka seems to endorse verbal orders as valid:

 

[President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s statement that his verbal orders should be considered as circulars to be implemented has generated considerable interest as it goes against the norms of state administration. There has been much commentary on it, not all of it positive. The president issued this directive at a meeting organised for him in one of the country’s most underdeveloped areas. His desire to cut through layers of bureaucracy on the spot could be based on his previous experience as a serving military officer and later as Defense Secretary. The large number of requests made by the residents of the village of Vilanwita in the Badulla District could have been the reason the president made this announcement to ensure that the decisions he was making would be implemented.

Velanwita which was the focus of the president’s attention will be a fortunate beneficiary of his visit. It was clear that the president was not satisfied with the findings he made regarding the living conditions of the people who had voted for him in very large numbers. He visited the homes of people and also their agricultural lands to get a firsthand experience of the problems that needed the government’s attention. While in Velanwita he issued another directive that if a written inquiry from one institution did not receive a reply within fourteen days from another institution, it would be deemed to be approved. This may solve the problem for those who seek the approval. However, the potential to adversely affect the rights of others needs to be considered.]

According to the above – there is no need for a local leader through whom one’s belief is channelled towards the Nation’s central pool of Governance power. The elected leader is like the mother of the local electorate. The Administrator is like the father. This president has acted as if this village is an orphanage under the direct care of the President. Adaderana reports ‘20A will not make Prime Minister a nominal post – Mahinda’. But this action by the President makes even the Ministers responsible become dummies.

 

The British established a reliable Administrative system in Sri Lanka. This included written Administrative communications. Such is needed when there is lack of belief. The British as foreigners needed visible evidence. Verbal only communications confirm subjective powers. Silent communications confirm governance powers. As a governing president, Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa would have just listened and then shared his feelings informally without any visible Administrative power. That sharing would cure the needy – Energy to Energy. In turn, the president would have felt deeper ownership in rural Sri Lanka through rural issues other than Defence which is his expertise. Unless the problems as expressed by the people were within his ministerial portfolio, the president had no Administrative authority to make direct orders.

 

I am therefore disappointed with Dr Jehan Perera’s views which include the following:

[Among the decisions taken by the president to improve the life of the people was to upgrade the road, provide drinking water and to provide electricity to the village within three months. In addition, he ordered that the village school be provided with a new building and to increase the number of teachers. As there were also people from neighbouring villages who attended the meeting they too presented their problems which received solutions. All of these people can consider themselves to be fortunate as they will be getting first priority among all other villages when it comes to obtaining funding from the government budget which is presently in deficit due to the shortage of financial resources. The national economy needs to expand and wastage needs to be reduced if this largesse is to reach a wider population.]

The president has confirmed highly subjective approach which is the enemy of democracy. One would expect that from this president who is empowered by family. The parallel of this at family level is the attempt to bring president’s brother - Mr Basil Rajapaksa into government through the 20^th Amendment, by removing the ban on Dual Citizens in Parliament. Family dynasty extends as religious dynasty and beyond as racial dynasty followed by Communist dynasty.

This is not democracy. The vision of National Peace Council of Sri Lanka is presented as follows:

[A just and peaceful Sri Lanka in which freedom, human and democratic rights of all people are assured.]

If Dr Jehan Perera had been true to himself he would have distanced himself from the above claim through National Peace Council or from the President’s subjective pathway. The problem with dual citizenship has been manifested through Dr Jehan Perera who seeks to be promoting Democracy as well as Autocracy at the same time. That is like being on the side of American Government and the Chinese Government at the same time. Hence the timing of this manifestation.