Gajalakshmi Paramasivam – 21 Aug  2015

 

Mr Rajapaksa's loss stemmed in part from a slick and well-funded UNP campaign, aided by Lynton Crosby, the Australian political strategist who masterminded David Cameron's victory in Britain's general election this year. Getty Images

by James Crabtree

Australian Winning Sri Lankan Elections?

My attention was directed to the article ‘Lynton Crosby helps mastermind Sri Lanka election victory’ in the Financial Review. If believed to be true – then Sri Lankan voters are not attributed the credit for  manifesting this outcome through their belief including through suffering and endurance because we are owners with the ability to seek and find our own solutions. Majority Sri Lankans carry the effects of such suffering in one form or the other.   Given that I contribute continuously  at various levels through my belief as Sri Lankan, for Sri Lankans to uphold our  Sovereignty – I am not able to identify with the above judgment by Australian media.

To my mind the victory happened due to undischarged suffering at grassroots level which was identified with, by the educated leaders of Sri Lankan society.  Given that Mr. Lynton Crosby’s credit is published  on the claim that he is Australian – fellow Australians may allocate Belief based credit to him for doing a good job. But elections are about facilitating the Belief of majority. It is not about clever advertising and promotion. It should not be for the election to qualify as being fair and free. If such voting is truly based on belief – there would be harmony in that society. Every voter with leadership abilities promises to be part of the Governing Force. Every voter who seeks to be a good citizen receives shareholding in Good Governance by earning the facilities used by her/him on equal basis as a member of the Governing force. The highest way to earn that status is by being grateful for the opportunity to enjoy the facilities without having directly paid the cost  to enjoy them. Gratitude fills the shortfall and renders the opportunity to have higher leadership and realize wholesome governance at the higher level. This is facilitated by the higher contributor to good-governance, being allocated higher status by the beneficiary. When the higher contributor is respected as leader – there is structural confirmation of Good-Governance. When such respect is confirmed through true belief – the Believer and the Believed merge to become One. That is the ultimate goal of self-governance.  

 One who expresses within her/his belief renders absolute value to the expressions and actions based on such belief. Outside the boundaries of Belief,  credit must be allocated through common measures equally applicable to both sides. On that basis – an Australian is entitled to make such statement only if s/he has contributed to the Sri Lankan system of administration and/or  business – measured by global principles and values. Contribution to Sri Lankan Public Administration at policy level – is the highest measure of relativity – needed by outsiders.

James Crabtree the author of the above Financial Review  article states:

‘Mr Rajapaksa's loss stemmed in part from a slick and well-funded UNP campaign, aided by Lynton Crosby, the Australian political strategist who masterminded David Cameron's victory in Britain's general election this year.’

Not one voter known to me was aware of Mr. Crosby’s influence – leave alone believing in him. Majority  voters known to me are very much Sri Lankans or of lower ‘outsider’  status in this issue. Only a few are global. Election is about manifesting the belief of majority in a sovereign group. Hence if indeed Mr. Crosby influenced the election outcomes – he must be more Sri Lankan than Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe or it was job based cleverness in highlighting the Nation’s need of Mr. Wickremesinghe’s services.

An outsider cannot influence true and lasting outcomes through free and fair voting. The Australian media is not only taking value away from genuine voters and the forces of belief that worked through them, but they are also  confirming ignorance of the fundamentals of Politics. This kind of ‘taking’ earns one the karma of ineligible  refugee applicants using cleverness to ‘steal’ the places of those who have earned the right to global facilities. Such karma is earned by every Australian in leadership position.   Only one with Belief as Australian could offset this karma when it is not corrected during the lifetime of the matter. A wrong thus becomes a sin outside the control of human measures.

As a believing Sri Lankan I identify with the personal victory of Mr. Wicremesinghe to be partly due to Colombo residents becoming more and more global. Mr. Crosby’s work would have helped give it good global structure. Outside Colombo – not many voters are global conscious. Most continue to be local and are strongly influenced by local leadership. Such representation suits Sri Lankans because most of them are tradition driven rather than being global. This is why even in Jaffna, in Northern Sri Lanka,  which claims to be high investor in Education – ownership rights are recognized more through Land than through commitment to global policies.

In rural Sri Lanka, possession often overrides legal ownership for this reason. A Colombo Judge upheld prescriptive rights claimed by a ‘not so well educated guy’ – who occupied our land. The period of Belief Based uninterrupted occupation claimed  by that person covered not only the period when I had surveyed and bought the land through lawful process, but also the period when my predecessor Mr. A T Benedict- Chartered Accountant of high professional standing - bought the land. In addition – the adjoining land was bought by Ms. Ramachandra – the sister of former Senior DIG Police – Ramachandra Suntheralingam. None of this evidence manifested by educated folks seemed to have been taken into account by the Sinhalese Judge – Mr. Balapatabendi. But my Truth was upheld by fellow Sri Lankans (not Australians) who demoted Mr. Balapatabendi’s public status earlier this year. That is how, true belief helps us bring about ‘closure’. If I had not believed I would not have gotten to know about this downfall. At belief level – the verdict in the court of Natural Justice has already happened. Now it is for us as observers to check whether or not the Judicial system of Sri Lanka  would confirm this outcome. Belief based judgement is never wrong and always delivers the right outcomes for the believer. If the Sri Lankan Judicial system does not deliver – we the Public who truly respected and practiced the law would identify with the downfalls of the Judiciary – including at the level of Chief Justice and know why the downfall happened. We are often the marginal force – the last straw that broke the camel’s back.  

To my mind, the current Sri Lankan election outcomes are based on belief and not on cleverness. Only common belief would sustain good governance. Cleverness when used selfishly often leads to bad governance. In a country where majority are driven by belief rather than intellectual discrimination – cleverness is often used to take credit from the poor who may be ignorant but are often the media through whom Truth is manifested due to local belief – including through one’s religion. This may be difficult for one without such cultural belief to appreciate due to common knowledge being used for selfish purposes.

Sri Lankans need to know that we brought about these outcomes. That is our need of this time of active performance. Every true Sri Lankan must denounce this credit being unjustly taken by powerful outsiders.