Gajalakshmi Paramasivam – 08 May  2015

Arali Amman

Vallukai Aru of Jaffna

River for Jaffna – Program or Project?

As per 06 May news reports Australian Government on behalf of Australia said through our Minister for  Immigration and Border Protection – the Hon Peter Dutton, ‘that there is significant decline in people smuggling in SL’. This confirms the feelings I myself have about the urge felt at grassroots level ‘to stay at home’ and earn money and live with dignity of earned income rather than take handouts. This is Australian success story.

Today’s mail included one against the British Prime Minister – the Hon David Cameron and reminding us about an old article in Daily FT that included the following:

 ‘Funding for the British ruling coalition partner the Conservative party and the slavishness of British Prime Minister David Cameron to the Tamil Diaspora has been exposed by a Tamil language website ‘Athirvu’. The website points out that Sri Lankan born Subaskaran Allirajah the founder and owner of British telephone company Lycamobile, is the 2nd largest provider of funds to the Conservative Party and hence David Cameron acts as a stooge of the Tamil Diaspora and against the Sri Lankan Government.’

Money is temporary power when it happens for superficial reasons. Both the LTTE and the Rajapaksa Government fell due to their desire for unearned money. Those who follow either side without renouncing all money related credits through these leaderships – would limit themselves to temporary wins. Truth once established never dies. Truth empowers the place, time and the person/s who caused It to be established. The first lesson we Sri Lankans need to learn from the war is that voting rights should not be sold for money. Vote we must. If there are threats to the physical – we must vote mentally and make it so deep that Truth will influence through the minds of those who are not physically threatened. This I believe is what happened in the 2015 Presidential Elections. This power must not be diluted by money which when the purpose is at the surface level,  separates. The separation is not limited to ethnicity basis.  Beyond a point, it becomes separation between the Government and the Citizen.

The above article continues to state ‘The website disclosed that Subaskaran is the one who is funding the British Conservative Party and points out that he gave 420,000 sterling pounds to the Conservative Party as one time donation. It says that he has given over 20 million to the Prince Charles Foundation as well. The website says that David Cameroon’s visit to Jaffna and his statements against the Sri Lankan Government were made on the behest of Subaskaran. It points out that Cameroon’s Jaffna visit was facilitated by Gnanam Foundation established by Subaskaran in Jaffna to steer their Anti-Sri Lankan Government activities’

When it comes to Development work in Jaffna my concerns are activated and I need to do what I can to maintain the balance between costs and benefits. Towards this we need to ensure that the money we control is either inherited or earned. This applies to both sides – receipts as well as payments.  We are currently engaged in a Legal battle because my husband and I feel that this ‘easy-money’ syndrome is threatening our family also. As per my observations the welfare recipients in Sri Lanka – have a duty to vote to the provider of welfare and therefore are NOT free  to vote as individuals – unless such welfare is processed through Transparent Government Facilities – as if free good stamps etc. Many so-called professionals cease to realize completion due to their distraction with money.  This as per my observations is common to both Universities I have invested in – the University of NSW and the University of Jaffna. Below is a communication with a Sinhalese Diaspora Group in this regard:

A Global Academic to a Sinhala Nationalist in relation to River for Jaffna :

[If you are really interested in a technical and scientific dialogue on this please contact the Jaffna academics.]

Gaja: ‘I do feel strongly that this engagement is not that easy,  given the average contribution made by Engineers to social issues. They either ‘avoid’  discussions about social conflicts – as most engineers known to me do or they join the political bandwagon to entertain their minds.  At the primary level of social interaction – one has the tendency to take credit when the outcomes are ‘right’ and when they are wrong to blame the outsider in the group. At the secondary level – one is logical.  At the tertiary level – one takes total responsibility. Hence – the Hindu message that we are the service providers as well as beneficiaries. One who has achieved this height – as I believe Lord  Buddha did – that mind is still with wisdom that any believer could draw on. The challenges to raising our work to that level are greater now than they were before the war. At the same time – the war has pushed us to live close to our natural environments and their reality. The two factors from your response of this nature that I construct as per my  lay mind are:

1.      […. it is part of the concept as a means of augmentation of this suggested confluence. Seasonal overspill is considered insufficient by the Jaffna academics because the vast surface area of this proposed confluence will result in considerable evaporation given the semi arid, dry climate of the peninsula.

2.      Furthermore they fear saline intrusion through the porous composite soil fabric of the peninsula.]

The above two are due to their corporate wisdom in this part of the nation.  They are particular to this geographic area.

Then there are the higher common factors you have mentioned:

3.      damaging effects of environmental, ecological and traditional livelihoods of the significant Karaiar population. 

Dr. Ratnajeevan Hoole who is highly critical of the Vellala domination in Jaffna University – would be a good contributor to addressing this part of the challenge.

There is however a third dimension that could be identified with but is not directly controllable by this generation engineers and active participants. That is the Heritage value  – which when surfaced could be positive or negative / Puniyam or Paavam / Virtues of Sins/Genes the participants carry. Like in marriage – we need to find the partnership that would negate a negative at the value level.  When as a group the negative genes become dormant – we are ready for positive service. Otherwise we are likely to add to the already existing political turmoil in Sri Lanka.

Many Tamil Political leaders are claiming that we are two nations one country.  Where we are not able to find enough matches to diffuse the negative genes – we would have greater harmony through this separation of powers. But then there are some of us – especially true professionals who naturally access each other’s mind – at the higher level. It is like Love at first sight. Just yesterday I had such an experience here in Jaffna High Court. Given the reality of  Jaffna due to the war,  I have been experiencing difficulty engaging a lawyer to present our case. Like the Academics of the University of Jaffna – the average lawyer in Jaffna wants to do it his way. (The ones we engaged are males).  As a person who has practiced the law through Administration – I often presented the matter at that higher level – as is my duty to the Administrative structures.  Hence I structured my experience  as per  the Civil  Procedure Code for Process and Thesawalamai for substance. At the Mallakam Courts I was disciplined by the judge for ‘street’ behavior – along the lines of XX in this group. I could not get a copy of the Order by the Judge as soon as it was delivered, due to this negative ‘genes’ of separation by lawyers from society.  But I got working from the summary as conveyed by our legal attorney. I arranged independently for the copy of the Order to be collected and emailed to me through someone who believes that I contributed strongly to his development. He is of Nalavar (Toddy Tapper) caste by birth and is a self-employed tailor in addition to working as a driver at the Local Council . He became my instrument to deliver and have the documents filed.  About 4 days before the due date I received the email copy of the order and restructured my Appeal documents to give particular reference to the Judgment and thus to the contribution of the Judge. We tried to obtain a copy of the format  in which to submit the matter in the Appeal Court but we could not get one because only lawyers are allowed into the registry.   I am a self-represented litigant in the Australian system and I have been commended many a time by opposition lawyers for completing the paper work as per the requirements of the Court Administration.  At that level – the Courts are also Part of Public Administration. The separation of powers start when it comes to interpretation of legislation specific to the issue at which lawyers are specialists as engineers are in the water issue’s technical aspect. So I used the Supreme Court of New South Wales template to structure the matter. The Registry staff had difficulty with that format but due to their ‘service’ attitude they obtained the approval of the Judge and accepted the documents.  Yesterday  when the matter came before the Court for mention – the Judge asked me a few questions to identify whether I was the author or whether I had submitted someone else’s work as mine. I felt the Judge was more than satisfied that I was the original owner.  Then the Judge included me and stated that the Registrar had noted some deficiencies and gave me time to rectify the deficiencies.  I agreed. I picked up the message also that the Judge recognized order in that presentation and yet – he had to order a modified application – to suit the local ‘mental templates’. Like you that Judge also was highly civilized in his approach and respectful of both – local as well as global needs. Unlike in Mallakam Courts – there was respect for my contribution also – after the Judge put me through his own ‘eligibility test’.  A big part of the reason is that the Judge is from Colombo.’

Global Academic to a Sinhala Nationalist:

 [If you are really interested in a technical and scientific dialogue on this please contact the Jaffna academics]

Gaja: Like Jaffna Lawyers – XX is also a local who is attached to his local Southern reality – living off the past of that part of the land – now converted to  majority power. Given that there is no standard national template – even though we have a Uniform Procedures Code – if XX presented his knowledge to Jaffna Engineers of  the standard known to me – they would reject it as unsuitable  - as Mallakam Courts set aside our Affidavit without giving any reason.  That affidavit is the instrument through which we presented our experience to support  the belief based claims we made through the common path of law. Once that was set aside the rest of the hearing became unlawful.  But attachment to the physical would take such shortcuts to hold on to power. During LTTE era we did exactly what the Sinhalese Politicians did. LTTE sought to dismiss the Political leaders driven by their intellectual following  – to become military leaders.  They said to the Sinhalese who used military/weapons instead of Puthi / Intellectual discrimination  ‘what you can do – we can do better’. They allowed themselves to be led by Indian Tamils and this contributed strongly to the death of Rajiv Gandhi.

When Northern engineers join forces with Southern engineers – at the technical level – we would have a situation similar to the above – with Southerners being the parallels of Indian Tamils.

On the legal admin side – I propose to submit my suggestions to  the Judicial Services Commission. But in the meantime – at social level – the Nallavar Community here  are already using the values learnt in regards to Dowry system and are finding greater family harmony between sons and fathers.

This could be achieved with stronger outcomes in Water Program also.  That which is ongoing needs to go on  as Program – without a known beginning or known end.  These are usually the social aspects of the issue. That which is technical needs to be on project basis – towards allocation of merit and blame through the Accountability system.’

The only river in Jaffna as known to me is Valukkai Aru – which starts in Thellippalai, runs through Vaddukoddai the area where Political Independence was declared in 1976 and ends in Arali – my paternal ancestral village.  Places of  Sanctity such as Arali Amman Temple close to the path of this Jaffna River are the true forces that support every believer.  Water being one of the natural elements – one needs to pay one’s respects to Natural formations as the foundations for any lasting development to satisfy wider investors. Likewise Voting Rights in Politics.