Monday 28 June 2021

 

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam


28 June 2021

 

UNJUST DISCRIMINATION & SEPARATISM

 

On 26 June, under the heading Uberrima Fidei, I wrote as follows:

[My attention was drawn this morning to the following report by Adaderana:

[Nearly 150 death-row inmates held at Mahara and Welikada prisons are currently engaged in a hunger strike.

They are demanding the authorities to commute their death sentences to life imprisonment, reports revealed.

A group of 70 inmates at Mahara Prison had launched an indefinite fast-unto-death on Thursday (June 24) and following suit, a group of inmates at Welikada Prison had also commenced a hunger strike later in the day.

Prisons Spokesman Commissioner Chandana Ekanayake stated that discussions with relevant parties are now underway to resolve the situation.

According to reports, the security at Welikada Prison has been beefed up.]

 

The current President is reported to be committed to improving villages. In democracy, this requires the President to think like the villager – even though s/he may be a criminal.

 

On the same day the above strike started, Mr Duminda Silva was released:

 

[Former MP Duminda Silva was sentenced to death along with four others in 2016 for shooting dead a rival politician and three of his supporters in 2011.

Mr Silva, who was a political ally of Mr Rajapaksa, is among 94 prisoners to be given a presidential pardon.] BBC

If the President were truly a political friend of Mr Duminda Silva and was genuinely committed to the common villager, he would have released all death sentence prisoners or continued to keep Mr Duminda Silva in prison, confirming Uberrima Fidei/Utmost good faith in their friendship even though the friend is in prison. ]

Today, I read the following report by Adaderana:

[State Minister of Prison Reforms today (June 26) stated that attention is being paid to commute the sentences of 253 prisoners who have been condemned to death.

State Minister Lohan Ratwatte said that the relevant report has been submitted to the Minister of Justice.

He said, “We have forwarded that request to the Minister of Justice. We have called for life imprisonment for death row inmates.

When a prisoner is reintegrated into society, our hope is to make him a good citizen who can work for society.” ]

I felt satisfied that my contribution was heard by the Common system. One who believes identifies at Energy level. One driven by the visible outcome is limited to her/his production only. Hence Separatism.

Most importantly, this identity confirms to me that ethnic gap is narrowing and Sri Lankan commonness is strengthening. That is the power of truth. The amazing discovery I made was that Uberrima Fidei which means ‘utmost faith’, when used by a believer invokes truth in others.  Towards this we need to feel that we belong in a sovereign group. Someone in a Tamil only group wrote:

[Gaja, high time we forget each other. We must give up this relationship. Many are very angry with me for carrying on with you. You saw how I was abused, insulted and tortured for keeping contact with you. I am receiving threats, anonymous death threats and I am scared to continue with you. I dont know how to handle this situation.]

I responded as follows:

[No problem Xxxx. I will take you off the list]

The swift reply was:

[Just hold on Gaja. Let us wait and see. If I run then they may call me a coward who got frightened and ran away. Even though there is a new party, yet they observe from behind the scene as to what is happening in their former club. I see this like our Tamil movies. A new man comes into the family and then runs away with the guy's wife. Similarly our friends have been enticed and taken away from us and we are left in the lurch. One former friend asked me as to why he receives very polite posts from people that are totally unknown to him. I told him that it is a recruitment strategy. Anyway at least you are still there. So let us wait for a while and .👹👹👹. A known devil is better than an unknown angel. ]

These social exchanges confirm that Tamils no longer feel an ethnic problem. Hence this kind of ‘internal discrimination’ when they think they are ‘free’ of community judgments.

By living in Vaddukoddai, I have learnt that unjust caste based discrimination resulted in self-isolation by minority – very much along the lines of the sect that sought Tamil Eelam. In both instances, it was so they use their own local rules for fighting. Those from the junior caste that did not separate are merging with each other through Common experiences – especially in formal education. The descendants of those who discriminated unjustly on caste basis are now playing ethnicity based politics – especially in nations where there is greater freedom of expression than in their previous environments in Sri Lanka.

Most in the Tamil Diaspora use the work of armed rebels and the resultant deaths and disappearances to claim ‘genocide’. Others looking for a political fight take advantage and use that to their advantage. But in Vaddukoddai itself there are many women whose husbands and brothers were taken away by rival gangs. When we stretch our experiences to the wider level – and blame the government totally for wrongs we experienced – we stretch also our own inability to self-govern. If on the other hand, we first take responsibility for our share of wrongs using the same measure that we apply on the opposition – we would find the solution that is manageable by us.

This real and lasting solution is not that we live side by side/coexist, but be aware that there are common areas in which we have to consciously apply common theory / law or take the affirmative approach as considering the other person to be right until proven otherwise.

Whether it is Sinhalese in Tamil are or v.v. there is need to pay our respects to those who developed that area and not those who currently occupy that area. This applies to any social life of Sinhalese officers even in their barracks. The culture of those who developed that area needs to be respected by those who come later. Where the folks in an area do not have strong knowledge of Common Law – one who pays respect to the developers of existing cultural laws would mind-merge with all practitioners of those  cultural laws. That is like Planning and Budgeting.

It is important that every Tamil takes this approach in terms of her/his home area, before finding fault those in government. If the government seeks to do otherwise, our Truth will find its way to uphold the balance of sovereignty of Sri Lanka. Eelam Tamils have no jurisdiction to find fault with Sri Lankans.

 When we act as per our belief – the other side is taken by Universal power of Truth. Hence, as Lord Krishna said – I am the citizen and I am the governor. I am the writer and I am the reader. Some have the opportunity to give face to the other side of a believer’s work. Many are not interested. They use the space to show off their own work. This amounts to plagiarism which eventually warps the mental structure of the plagiariser. The risk is high in academics who neither researched nor paid their respects to those who did. The relief comes from renouncing all credits from previous structures. Then only the intelligence is preserved. To me that in essence is the Buddhist pathway also.

 

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