Heroes and Pariahs in Democracy
What is the value of my vote in the Sri
Lankan elections or for that matter in any elections? As an individual do I
celebrate the win or mourn the defeat of
the person I voted for ? If that is the
only outcome I identify with – then I am a primary level voter who is dependent
on the person I voted for – to fulfill my expectations from wider world. A governor on the other hand would
comfortably restructure her/his work to tailor the new leadership to become
her/his medium to produce outcomes. To
such a person – the elected leader is a ‘facility’. When majority use leadership as facility the
nation is Sovereign. On the other hand, a nation could claim to be Sovereign
through its Leadership’s commitment to upholding principles and values that
would lead to enjoyment of Sovereignty
by any practitioner in the group, of such principles and values. This need not
be majority. It could be minority community/group or individuals. Excessive
physical level claim of right to such Sovereignty often strongly indicates
attachment to physical freedom that juniors often seek. To my mind, JVP and LTTE claims were more of
this kind and hence the separatism that Sri Lanka has been experiencing.
Realizing Self-Governance could also be through various paths but the Experience
of Nationalism is One. A leader who is a common facility to those various paths would demonstrate Equal
respect for the belief of those who use different
paths. Sometimes the majority may be following in one path – for example Hindus
in India and Buddhists in Sri Lanka – but some minority group in that area may have greater value due to following in
the traditional path. Once we realize Sovereignty through a particular issue or
path – we have the moral authority to express our Sovereignty within those
borders. A Sovereign person would not
consciously or otherwise damage others’ investment in Sovereignty through that
path and/or in that area. It is towards this that Separation of Powers is
required – be it between the Judiciary and the Executive or between different
Religions or between different cultures.
Where by law Equal status is allocated to a
particular cultural group - which is
minority in terms of numbers – then
Separation of Powers is an entitlement flowing from such Equal status. All
religions in Sri Lanka and all minority cultures in Sri Lanka were entitled to
this separation through Article 14 (1) (e )
and (f) provided for this separation as follows:
Every
citizen is entitled to -
(e)
the freedom, either by himself or in association with others, and either in
public or in private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship,
observance, practice or teaching;
(f)
the freedom by himself or in association with others to enjoy and promote his
own culture and to use his own language;
The above is the parallel of Article 5 of
the UN Convention of the Elimination of
all forms of Racial Discrimination.
The 13th Amendment to the Sri
Lankan Constitution went further to specifically state render Equal status to
Tamil. Those who read the Constitution genuinely would appreciate that the
separation is already there. It was
there at least from 1978 and it has been specifically stated as a rule through
the 13th Amendment. India is often associated with this 13th
Amendment. If that is the case – India must be credited for helping the then
President JR Jayawardene diffuse his negative karma:
(1)
The 1977 Elections confirmed
that it was possible for Tamils to become Equal Opposition under the
Westminster system of Government Structure.
(2)
In 1978, The Constitution was
changed to restructure to create Executive Presidency.
(3)
The Executive Presidency had
the effect of drastically reducing the
opportunity for a Tamil to share leadership as opposition – as happened in 1977
under the Westminster system. This was in effect an evolution of the Sinhala
Only language policy in terms of Tamils and its parallel for the rural
Sinhalese including the Sinhalese rebel group JVP
(4)
In 1987, through the 13th
Amendment to the Constitution Tamil language was rendered Equal status to
Sinhala language. It happened due to the effects of the separation by physical
forces on both sides which started manifesting strongly from 1983.
Many sections of the Sinhalese community
recommend the abolition of Amendment 13.
They need to be cautious not to unleash the Natural Forces that have been
balanced through this Amendment. To my mind, the above Amendment offsets at the
Constitutional level – the negative karma accumulated by the Government of Sri
Lanka since independence from Britain – worsened through the 1978
Constitution. To the extent elected
individuals used subjective powers to legislate suppression of Equal rights to
practice Sovereignty – they acquire negative karma as individuals. The 13th Amendment mitigated such
sin in accumulated by the then President JR Jayawardene.
In his Sri
Lanka Guardian article ‘Is There Anything Called Luck’ , Victor
Cherubim asks:
‘Luck, in my opinion, happens to everyone,
every living being. A leader like Nelson Mandela, a social reformer like
Mahatma Gandhi, an eminent theologian like Thomas Aquinas or to come closer
home, even to a pop group like, “One Direction,” the difference between them
and an ordinary citizen, is that they did not depend on luck to “turn them on”.
Was it a leap of faith into the unknown that made them change their life plans,
that challenged the time, the place and the circumstance, into which they were
born, lived and even endured pain and/or pleasure?’
Last night,
prior to reading the above article,
during discussions with a group of expatriate Sri Lankans on the
declaration by Mr James Watson, the
world-famous biologist who was shunned by the scientific community after
linking intelligence to race said he is selling his Nobel Prize because he is
short of money after being made a pariah,
I
wrote :
‘Whether
it be Black Africans or Pariah caste – they ARE NOT less than us nor the
Brahmin / Academic or White Americans superior to us. Like in a family –
the levels of intelligence and other talents are different. No one has the
right to think higher or lower of another – except through a common structure
and/or through common belief. Belief makes us One. Until we
have the experience – it is difficult to appreciate how we could be Equal when
the seen and the known say otherwise. The gap is the divinity that
is common to both. One with higher divinity – includes the one with lower
divinity – as Jesus did.’
Mention of Jesus above applies equally to
all leaders who ‘include’ the junior through deeper faith in the whole. ‘The leap into faith’ as described by
Victor Cherubim – happens when we go beyond the structure applicable to the
position taken by us into the world of Truth. Such souls are all Governors of that structure. Sir Anthony Mason and Dr. John Yu –
Chancellors of my time at the University of New South Wales – recognized such
qualities in my work – because they were themselves governors. But in Australia
– Chancellors are not valued as highly as Vice Chancellors and Governors as
highly as Prime Minister. Under the Monarchical structure – this was an active
position – including under Hindu kings who honored Rishis in their Courts. We Australians carry the negative karma of
Sir John Kerr who interfered with the Executive path to dismiss the Prime
Minister. The Governor needs to be
driven by Truth and not knowledge. If there is not enough Truth to make a
decision – the Governor needs to be an observer and communicate through her/his
belief in the whole. Like with God –
the Governor should not move directly to participate in the administrative
activities of that structure. Truth
does the work for us. Some of us call it
luck.
The Constitution is like the Bible. Once it is made law – all those who are yet
to go past the final human boundary into the area of Truth – have the
responsibility to not act in breach of the law. When we do – whether we get
punished or not – we accumulate negative karma which slows down our progress to
that boundary between conscious intelligence and Truth. This happens through
our own conscience as the witness. The discovery by Mr. James Watson should
have been kept within the boundaries of the scientific world and not recognized
for social purposes. By awarding the
Nobel Prize to him – the group that did so lost its own creditworthiness to award Nobel Peace Prize. Not only did the Nobel Prize make a Pariah of
Mr. Watson – but of itself – by failing to
adhere to the separation needed between science and arts.
Like in the Caste system – if we do not
have functional hierarchy – but continue to take higher position above another
subjectively – including due to majority power through race or religion – we
accumulate negative karma. This is so because we are all children of God. The
Governor needs to be such a power who would give refuge to all those who have
come past the human boundaries in their environments. Like with caste when it was actively connected
to work performed – separation is needed so we do not slow down our own
progress towards this ultimate goal. As
we become more and more global – the commitment to Equal status until known
otherwise, needs to be more and more
consciously practiced if we are to not become Pariahs of Democracy. By including Buddhism in the
Constitution – Sri Lankan Government
reduced the status of God as the
real Governor. The Executive Presidency
confirmed the removal of Governor who represented that Silent Power.
Gajalakshmi Paramasivam – 30 November 2014
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