Gajalakshmi Paramasivam 

No Handouts to Tamils Please!

It was with great disappointment that I read the report about the main Tamil Political Party TNA (Tamil National Alliance) making a deal with the Common Opposition Candidate in the upcoming Sri Lankan Presidential Elections (http://austms.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/wikipedia-politics-old-age-diversity.html).  Yesterday’s mail brought further confirmation in this regard.  I felt even more disappointed when I read the report published by TNA at http://tnapolitics.org/?p=2260&lang=en. 

The Press Release by the TNA concludes as follows:

‘The experience of our people has been that the struggle for democracy over dictatorship is inextricably linked to the pursuit of our most cherished values: equality, justice, dignity and freedom. We therefore call on all citizens to turn out in great numbers and defeat the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime by casting their vote in favour of the Common Opposition Candidate Maithripala Sirisena and the Swan symbol.’

The TNA has failed to educate us Tamils on how  according to their experience as insiders in Parliament, the Common Opposition Candidate Mr. Maithripala Sirisena has demonstrated support for the development of the above ‘cherished values’. Given that Mr. Sirisena was part of the ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa regime’ – (a phrase used by TNA to describe the government) – one would expect Mr. Sirisena to be guilty of all the negative qualities that the Rajapaksa Regime is guilty of – as listed by the TNA in their election manifesto. The lesson that TNA has to share with the Tamil Community here is how not to cooperate with Mr. Sirisena who has become traitor in addition to being a ‘member of the Rajapaksa Regime’ held responsible for breaches of law at National level. The Common Candidate is also the Common Subject through whom we learn how governments with disloyalty would dilute their  powers and get scattered.  TNA which is committed to Independent Tamil Community  under the Common Sri Lankan structure – needs to accept responsibility for the confusion in the minds of all investors in Independent Tamil Community. The younger generation all over the world needs it.

Politics is half Administration. If our politics is wrong then we have already failed at the primary  level of Administration in addition to foundation level of Governance. Tamil strength in Sri Lanka where we are in the minority is Administration and not Politics. Victory through Administration is political victory raised to the power of  2.

If, independent of  what happens on the Sinhalese side, Tamils under TNA leadership had developed strong Administrative structures within the structures we already have – TNA  would have been an observer in the internal politics of Sinhalese and used the observations to maintain the issue at the global level. Doing local deals weakens the global value of our structure. The stronger we are in Local Administration, the greater the political influence from those with whom we share in wider world – as if we are family. 

As indicated above – Tamil Politicians with Parliamentary positions ought to have had ‘insider’ intelligence about Mr. Sirisena through the Parliamentary structure.  I had this intelligence about the Australian political leaders through my positions in Australian Public Service. Subjective intelligence is networked naturally and once we become part of the common world we connect to the minds of the leaders of that world.  

Assimilators amongst us become locals if we fail to settle our dues to the Administrative structure that rendered the opportunity to connect to those minds. The vote of assimilators who owe the ‘system’ has lateral value  as opposed to the exponential value of a governor’s vote.  The higher the mind structure the greater the exponential value translated at surface level.

Those who connect to the minds of those subjective/political leaders  and settle their dues to the structures that facilitate that network connection – are integrating governors.  We become regional and global when we settle our dues before expressing our assessment of the local leaders.

  LTTE was local due to not settling its dues to the political government of its times in its local area. TNA likewise has made itself local to Tamil areas through this ‘deal’.

Vaddukoddai Resolution led to winning Equal position  in National Parliament  due to the contribution by Tamils at a higher level than Sinhalese who formed government through majority vote. Back then – Malaysian Pensioners were the parallel of today’s Tamil Diaspora.  Vaddukoddai was their Capital.  The Hon S J V Chelvanayakam  - who dedicated himself to independence of Sri Lankan Tamil Community was also born in Malaysia and his education in Ceylon/Sri Lanka was funded by his father who continued to live in Malaysia. The funding came with the Energy of having followed the laws of Malaysia strongly influenced by British Administration.

 To my mind,  the Vaddukoddai Resolution happened due to the power of such Tamils who invested in Administrative structures above the level practiced in Sri Lanka and therefore accumulated governance power to influence manifestations of political outcomes. Diaspora Tamils who invest in Administrations of global standards above the level of Sinhalese with the majority power to form government – would continue to influence these outcomes in Sri Lanka in various forms at various levels. That is the way Natural Justice balances the losses caused by human systems.

LTTE wins through use of arms and without the cumulative administrative investment in common administration – do not have this higher exponential value. Like local politics they have one to one surface influence at that place at that time. Hence the majority Tamil vote went to General Fonseka in the 2010 Presidential Elections. It would not have if LTTE had been rooted to the Tamil independence heritage which has the power to influence manifestations of traditional values.

TNA is confirming through its political deal - that their political power is another form of LTTE local power which is not sufficient to raise the rights-value of  Tamils to balance against the surface value of  majority vote of Sinhalese at National level.  Those who depend more and more on Tamil Nadu political leaders – would be paving the way for assimilation with whoever is in power at that time. This would continue to cause anxiety to Sinhalese as it renders greater political power to Tamils at regional level. This must not however be confused with governance power. Political powers, like the body,  do not have the force to influence beyond their local place and the local period/time.

The more committed we are to Common Administration – the stronger our contribution to natural governance of the Whole.  Sinhalese to whom (1) the Constitution is largely of Book Value (‘Ehttu Churakai in Tamil’) and to whom (2) Administrative outcomes are at the standards of local political level  using subjective influence at physical majority level – carry lesser governance power than their counterparts of minority communities who invest strongly in Administration.  Doing deals takes us down to ‘business  / project level’ Administration – with a visible start and a visible finish at the physical level. This invariably has the effect of ‘writing off’ investments in programs needed to carry forward old investments as well as investments from faraway places. Often such deals do not facilitate maintenance of high structures that have the capability to preserve cumulative heritage values.

Governance power accumulated over long periods and from afar, would translate to produce exponential outcomes at the political level to the extent those manifesting the outcome feel connected to the origin. Some of these sources would not have been born in Sri Lanka but would carry forward values from many previous generations  and/or  are practitioners of Global values.

One who has the experience as if one has caused the outcome her/himself would know and thank her/his own governance power. Towards this one would have needed to have fulfilled her/his  duties as per her/his official position. Had I for example accepted the benefits and opportunities through subjective influence of various  Managers in the Medical Faculty of the University of New South Wales I would have stopped short of my professional position as a Management Accountant -   under One University structure. I accepted the position as part of the Central Administration supporting the whole University. That is also the TNA mandate through which they have been elected to their Parliamentary positions under One Common Structure. No individual who has accepted that position under the promised mandate, has the authority to compromise and come to lower level agreement. They need to resign from the substantive position and take an independent stand under a new structure expressed independently. This was done by many of our seniors – including Mr. Chellappah Suntheralingam.

Lord Muruga is our Spiritual Guru in this philosophy. Declaration of Independence needs to be preceded by Renunciation of benefits in the custody leaders the old system.  

Like many grandparents we may symbolically carry the old positions and remain as governors for those continuing to practice the old system – as we do often in the caste system more for the benefit of those in lower castes who are not exposed to any other mind order.  If on the other hand we seek to be active – as Mr. Sumathiran is in Sri Lankan Parliament and as I continued to be in Central Administration of the University of New South Wales – as an active opposition – we need to position ourselves as per the mandate through which we were elected (in administration - as per the selection criteria through which we were recruited). The Provincial Council is the parallel of new order of governance for Tamils through which project based outcomes need to be shown. Direct deals with a Central Administration using the old structure – is a lower level backward movement.

So, how does the TNA move to promote Mr. Sirisena – the Common Opposition Candidate -  indicate Administrative weakness?

Administration requires Structures with firm Positions. Strong  leaders don’t need high positions to operate that system and produce common outcomes.  Under Administration – if one does something to hurt another – and that damage could be measured through a Common rule/principle/law flowing from  the Constitution and interpreted as per the Administrative structure of the organization / unit – the wrong is taken to have been done to the whole – i.e. to anyone in the system. Not so in politics. In politics it has to be dealt with confidentially and diffused through the balancing forces within – as in family.

By doing deals at the Political level – as TNA as done – we would naturally compromise and accept lower level structures – as would have been the case if I had accepted offers from within the Medical Faculty of the University of New South Wales and thereby lost the opportunity to challenge Central Administrators for their deviations from Common Principles of Global standards required by a renowned University.

The Tamil independence struggle  has now been escalated to global level and local deals would naturally diminish the opportunities available to all global-minded Tamils and other investors in the Tamil independence struggle.

Once we accept benefits through subjective influence of  part of the organization /nation, we naturally forego the opportunities earned by the higher structure of the whole. This happened to Pakistan which continues to lag behind India at the Regional and International levels. Tamils as well as Sinhalese risk such lowering of status through their Tamil Only or Sinhala Only claims.

While the TNA deal may seem to be towards common Sri Lanka – in reality it is towards a scattered faceless Sri Lanka at the global level. It is more generalization than commonness. It is more about physical freedom than about independence of the mind.

Sri Lankan Tamils are now a global force. It is our duty to give that ‘global’ force form at its highest. Wherever Tamils invest in Administration of Global standards - beyond the level of Sri Lankan Government – and continue to feel connected to their roots in Sri Lanka – they influence governance in Sri Lanka – naturally and without having to DO anything active. When Sri Lanka is in political mode – they would influence political manifestations of that governance power. Such is exponential and is greater than the sum of the individuals voting at the physical level. That is also the higher path of minorities seeking Equal rights. Weak Administrations accepting political deals – weaken the real entitlement of minorities to common resources. The benefits received  then become handouts – by majority – as the prize mango would have been if Lord Muruga had accepted half share of the mango awarded to his elder brother Ganesh.

A fellow member of the Diaspora asked me as to who would win in the upcoming elections?  I said without any hesitation -  Mr. Rajapaksa.  Mr. Rajapaksa is already winning the global position as the opposition of  Tamils. A Sinhalese-Sinhalese Government-Opposition structure is not as healthy and tall and true and fair  as  Sinhalese-Tamil structure which naturally integrates with global governance.  That structure is needed if  Diaspora Tamils are to remain active in Sri Lankan governance issues. It is needed by the Sinhalese Diaspora also. My above statement applies to the candidate who would uphold that structure more than the other. All those voting for Mr. Sirisena would compromise and localize the problem which then runs the risk of Tamils becoming welfare recipients – not only in Sri Lanka – but all over the world where they are a minority community investing in Sri Lankan politics.