Gajalakshmi Paramasivam – 01 July 2015

Opposition Tells Now

"The greatest friend of truth is Time, her greatest enemy is Prejudice, and her constant companion is Humility." Charles Caleb Colton

The above quotation was at the bottom of  the response I received yesterday to my article ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa the Lesson Maker’. The responder said:

‘Gaja:  You state: " So long as Sri Lankans vote for a National Leader rather than their local leader – the state continues to be a Monarchy and not a Democracy."
Do you then consider the US, France, and other democratic countries with executive Presidents to be Monarchies?’

To this my response was ‘No. Please note that I said ‘Sri Lanka’. The difference is in the level of involvement – whether it is Global, National or Local’

As if to confirm my substance – I was referred by another Sri Lankan, to the article ‘Tie-Up With UNP Is Sirisena’s Achilles Heel - The New Indian’.

In essence – the author of the above article – Mr. P.K. Balachandran of  New Indian Express – has raised this very issue. Mr. Balachandran introduces his article as follows:

‘If Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena is to marginalize the Mahinda Rajapaksa faction in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and gain full control over it, so that the party wins the August 17 parliamentary elections under his leadership, he has to distance himself from the United National Party (UNP), which is now his ally and partner in the government.’

Sri Lankans – be they Sinhalese or Tamils continue to be attached to the kings of their past. Hence we had Mr. SWRD Bandaranayake and the ‘Sinhala Only’  policy that gave the impression of  Sinhalese Monarchs. On the Tamil side we had Mr. Vellupillai Prabhakaran who hijacked  the  Self-Governance issue at his level and ruled for 3 decades. Then we had Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa to eliminate the Tamil King Prabhakaran.

The moment we Sri Lankans  ‘see’ a leader – we abandon leadership to that person and expect to be ‘given’ benefits in return for votes. That is the parallel of working under a sole proprietor for money. If we ‘vote’ to earn our benefits – we are voting for work that the Government would do – which would accumulate work opportunities for the citizens. When we vote for the policies and common values that make us common with the government – it is a self-governance vote – equal to voting for the whole nation and hence is confirmation of our ownership. To all those self-governing Sri Lankans – the voting process is mere confirmation of their ownership.

At the primary level – we are driven by the benefits we can derive – including local status for taking the side of the Politician who wins. At the secondary level – we are driven by our active participation and expect outcomes according to that. The above article is based largely on this group. But where the tertiary level voters/governors’ investment is strong and they invoke this power – the True leadership will evolve. Gandhi had that kind of ownership power of One. That is also the Power of Truth. This could be the Opposition as an Equal Force.

One may therefore question the relevance of  the saying that ‘The greatest friend of Truth is Time’?

Truth when manifested to the physical level along the same plane has two Equal and Opposite sides – as in pain and pleasure; costs and benefits; heads and tails. In democracy both get to bat as well as bowl. Where one side never gets to bat it is not a competitive game but a one-sided past-time. Likewise, Elections.

Under time based subjective system – one sees both sides through oneself. Hence ‘time will tell’ and also the above expression – of time being the greatest  friend of Truth. Hence also ‘Confidentiality’ instead of ‘Transparency’. In other words, we need time to facilitate the other person to ‘see’ the other side internally through confidential advocacy and adversarial systems. Where this is absent and the matter comes to the Public’s attention – one cannot afford to wait for time but act immediately – as the Equal Opposition. To suppress it leads to dilution of one’s own investment in democracy.

Under Democracy, one has the right to manifest independently – outcomes at one’s own position level. Without practicing this right – Democratic systems cannot progress beyond voting. Often Governments and Administrations fail due to leaders becoming ‘kings’ once they win the elections. If their actions damage even one democratic citizen – and that citizen continues to follow Due Process - the damage returns to the ‘apparent-king’ from the real one. Towards this that real one does not need to do anything beyond taking the experience to the maximum structural level possible. A smart government would make it/include it in  policy at least from then on. One needs Humility towards this.

Under Democracy  - there is requirement for us to be transparent in this escalation process so other victims would comfort themselves – knowing they are not alone. Facilitating that sharing is the role of the media. I followed this process step by step and finally sued Mr. John Howard in 1999 through my real rights as a self-governing Australian. Back then, I was not conscious of being such an Australian but when Ms Pauline Hanson abused her right to ‘free-speech’ I responded; resigned from my substantive position at the University of New South Wales and was ready to return to Sri Lanka. But my ‘ownership’ forces worked through staff of University of New South Wales  who asked me to ‘stay’. Both Chancellors of my time endorsed my value in their own ways.  In some instances I felt the need for my presence by some – even though they did not expressly ask me to ‘stay’. To stay was the right decision because this ended up with the matter being escalated to the Governing Council and becoming Public through wider pathways. I realized gradually that I was feeling stronger and stronger ‘ownership’ in the University. The more genuine we are in providing our Services as per the ethics of our profession/trade/institutional principles – the greater the ownership  investment we make through that work. Providing such service resulted in me becoming the other side of the Vice Chancellor. Likewise the other side of the Prime Minister. That is the Common Worker and Common Citizen respectively – both of Equal Status. In other words – I put in the cost that they ought to have through their positions and the escalation process helped me record this through the Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission followed by  the Court System – through Equal Opportunity Laws. I thus invested in Equal Opportunity Laws which would support a true seeker – seeking through those laws. It confirms the investment we – millions of Australians make in Equal Opportunity principles and laws.

If I had failed to record my experiences – there would have been little institutional value to my work and to the very Equal Opportunity Laws that Australian Government claims to be committed to.  I summarize this as follows:

[I now feel that I moved out when those above me in position were not as focused as they ought to have been in their work. I needed to either be able to make up for their lack of focus or be blind to it to remain within. It was more difficult to be blind to the weaknesses of those whom I liked and agreed with than with those with those whom I disagreed with. To me focus meant merging with the Human Resources in that institution and beyond – through the core purpose my work – as I perceived it at that time. Whatever it was it eventually merged my mind with the core purpose of the institution. Hence the Hindu message of wisdom - ‘Thou Art That’]. Beyond Consciousness

In terms of Sri Lanka – the current Government became the real Opposition of the highly subjective Rajapaksa regime. Few leaders from the old joined the new. When I joined Air Lanka – the National carrier of Sri Lankan - there were few Air Ceylon (Air Lanka’s predecessor) staff. The success of Air Lanka was due to the Commercial Leadership of Singapore Airlines Team. Air Lanka went into ‘Business Unit’ mode which many Public Enterprises are now adopting. The Parallel of Singapore Airlines is Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe – the current Prime Minister – who is far more acceptable to minorities than any other Sinhalese leader of our times.

Mr. Balachandran states in this regard:

 ‘A  Social Scientists Association survey says that while minority Tamils and Muslims are satisfied with the government, anti-government elements are in a slight majority among the majority Sinhalese, a community which SLFP concentrates on.’

Tamils and Muslims who manifested their Truth and escalated it through Due Processes to the Government level – would naturally identify with this - ‘Opposition Tells Now’ – law of Nature/Truth. So long as this continues – Sri Lanka is a healthy Democracy. Whichever side uses arms first is taking value away from this Democratic strength – towards Dictatorship. Monarchical structures when used openly under Democracy – are Dictatorships. They could remain confidentially as attitudes but not given public form by any government.

The election is an opportunity to determine whether we want Monarchs or Self-Governing  leaders as Facilitators. Voting is only a small aspect of true governance. Real Governance is developed through everyday investment – starting with the self and family. Ultimately everyone  gets the real returns as per our investments – as payback period depending on the depth of investment.  Those who depend excessively on external factors would forget about real governance until the next time. To many it is an interesting topic of  idle discussion. The real investor would know almost instantaneously that it is strengthening the unit that s/he belongs to. Truth would continue to manifest Itself so long as there is Equal and Opposite force – anytime anywhere.