Gajalakshmi Paramasivam – 23 Sept  2015

Hybrid Accountants – Yes!

Hybrid Husbands – Yes! Yes!

Hybrid Courts – No! No! No!

The Island  newspaper has published a report under the heading ‘Finance Minister woos OPA’s input for budget preparation’. The photograph in that report  confirmed all Sinhalese names and I did feel disappointed with the Minister as well as the reporter – who also carries a Sinhalese name - Sanath Nanayakkare. Missing was the confirmation of Affirmative Action to changeover to Zero Base Budgeting system. I did send my own submission but thus far I have not had even an acknowledgment of that.

As per the report :

[The national budget is only 55-days away and I’d like to ask a ten-point formula from the Organization of Professional Associations (OPA) which can be included in the budget proposals that allows everyone to share in the prosperity of a growing economy, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said in Colombo on Monday]

If Minister Karunanayake were genuine about Zero Base Budgeting – then he would have Publicly thanked someone who demonstrated such expertise – measurable through appropriate merit basis. If Minister Karunanayake were serious about Reconciling with Tamils – he would have used Affirmative Action to give recognition to Tamils who voluntarily contributed to this Change.

The choice of photograph confirms a ‘family affair’ – a heritage from former President Rajapaksa. The report reveals the marginalization of Tamils in Parliament – despite the judgment delivered by True powers through the position of Leader of the Opposition position:

"Your theme of this year’s conference is, "Innovation and technology for sustainable development". The President, the Prime Minister and the government have chosen a path of innovative politics and governance. It is needless to explain this innovative political approach when you take a look at the parliament. Now you can’t distinguish who is in government and who is in Opposition.”

The above statement confirms that to the Sinhalese Minister – Tamils have become invisible so soon after the Parliamentary election and during the release of the UN report. Having written to the Institute of Chartered Accountants recently about training Public Officers into the new Democratic system of Resource Management – my mind was wondering whether the Minister was not focused due to him being a Management Accountant – which body is of  British origin? As per recent reports – the president of CIMA, Ms Myriam Madden, was in Sri Lanka to celebrate CIMA’s golden jubilee in Sri Lanka.  How does one reconcile that with the isolation of the Jaffna Branch of the Sri Lankan Institute of Chartered Accountants at this crucial point in Sri Lanka’s history?

Just this morning – through my ongoing professional education I wrote to an IT Academic in Sri Lanka - with whom we have business:

‘It’s just not professional to change the fee once you have charged and the customer has agreed.   In terms of our own audit standards – the invoice and the receipt must match. Hence please ensure that you obtain prior approval before changing the invoiced amount. This is one of the areas targeted by our auditors and rightly so. As a Chartered Accountant I need to ensure that whether they check or not – the standards are maintained. In fact I did similar when the Auditors raised their fees without consulting with me. Since then they seek my approval when there is a change.

Without such standards – we would be trading instead of sharing professionally. Please send me a receipt for the exact amount of the invoice.’

If indeed the Government is promoting self-governance – it ought to be contributing to the development of  local bodies as a priority. Asking for ‘formulas’ amounts to thinking like them in that mind order and works against Zero Base Planning.

In the meantime, according to the Island:

[PM pledges to set up domestic mechanism

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday told Parliament that the government would set up domestic mechanisms for truth seeking, justice and reconciliation to avoid recurrence of unpleasant incidents that marred the nation in the past.

Making a special statement on the government’s position on recent UNHRC report on Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said accountability was a prerequisite for trust building among communities and restoring the rule of law.]

In action – the Finance Minister – with the Portfolio through which this commitment to Domestic Mechanism could be confirmed most comfortably – as demonstrated above – through our training of the IT Academic who knows no Tamil and our coordinator in Thunaivi – Vaddukoddai - had to talk to him in broken Sinhalese-English mix – seems to be promoting plagiarism by wooing the Old Professional Associates of his Traditional culture. As per the Island report:

[Wickremesinghe said he expected the United States to move a resolution at the ongoing UN rights council sessions backing his administration. "Discussions are going on in Geneva so I don't want to talk about it, but we hope the US will bring a consensus resolution on Sri Lanka," he said.]

America  is being watched to note whether it is using Sri Lanka to promote its own status due to its proximity to the UN. America has the responsibility to be Transparent about the Performance Indicators that confirm that old habits are being set aside by the new Sri Lankan Government as per the Officially announced processes. The minds that inquire need to have a global order of thought processing. Then and then alone do we not need a Hybrid Inquiry  – but work out our own pathways as per the Objectively Measurable outcomes through local pathways.

Our words may promise but our actions may confirm the opposite – as confirmed yet again by the Prime Minister and Finance Minister taken together.

Yesterday Dr. Sri Ravindrarajah of the University of Technology, Sydney forwarded to me a copy of report headed :

‘Young Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu women in Denmark - How to find the right spouse? By

Marianne Q. Fibiger Associate Professor in Religious Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark’

The challenges faced by young Tamil migrants in Denmark are very similar to the challenges faced by Tamils in Sri Lanka. Likewise, the problems that are experienced by governments driven by majority  power.  The Politician in Colombo often forgets about the electorate through whom s/he is in Parliament. The conflict between TNA MP – the Hon Sumanthiran and the Chief Minister of Northern Province the Hon C.V. Vigneswaran over the Genocide claim is due to this ‘distance’. If we are not close to Administration/Intellectual pathway we slip into Politics/Emotions.

It’s worse when that electorate is far away culturally also, from the Administrator.

If Politics is kept within local boundaries – there is emotional healing. When brought outside – it needs Administrative Balance. One should not interfere with the other. Hence the Doctrine of Separation of Powers. Practicing Lawyers who become Law makers – are at their best as Political Opposition. One who fails to recognize this Opposition – is sliding downwards to Beneficiary  level. THIS is the main problem with Sri Lankan Government of both major ethnicities.

The points highlighted below would apply to the migrants from Jaffna to Colombo also:

1. In Denmark we have around 11,000 people of Sri Lankan origin out of which around 10,000 are Hindus…………..The new settlers had to learn the Danish language, their education from Sri Lanka was often not accepted, which meant that they had either to do unskilled work or to go through the education

system once again but on Danish terms. In many ways they felt themselves as socially excluded. This

was also the case in relation to religion. For example they did not find any political or public

understanding or support in relation to building religious institutions or in other ways keeping up their tradition. This has though changed and today we find six Sri Lankan Hindu temples in Denmark out of

which four of them have been consecrated within the last few years. This, together with the fact that

more than 8,000 of the Sri Lankan Tamils living in Denmark have become Danish citizens, show their

severe wish to settle down in Denmark for good, but still without losing their relation to Sri Lanka,

which they still understand as a kind of homeland. And compared to most of the other refugee and

immigrant groups in Denmark, the Sri Lankan Tamils are very well integrated in the Danish society;

most of them have work, their children especially the girls are doing well in the Danish schools, and

they often choose to speak Danish to each other. They have in other words been through an

adaption-process much quicker than many of the other immigrant and refugee groups, we have in

Denmark ]

One could relate to the extra work done by such migrants to develop a home for themselves in a new part of Earth.  Most Tamils learnt Sinhalese in addition to their already acquired knowledge of the English language. The above confirms that wherever there was well established governance structure – Tamils did not hesitate to learn the language of that government. Likewise the Sinhalese until independence from the British. Hence the problem usually is due to Damage caused to the existing structure of governance/Tradition  that Tamils to whom Colombo was ‘home’ already had in their deeper minds.  Tamil Christians did not have much difficulty following the British Governance structure. Tamil Hindus, in comparison – carried the deeper values of Hinduism to preserve their Dignity. Hence higher than average thought order which leads to integration.

The Danish Academic states :

2. As a Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu father of two children told me: 

[We do celebrate Christmas with presents and a Christmas tree, decorated with things our children make at school, in our living room, but we don´t sing Christmas Carols or go to church - some of our Tamil friends in Germany go to church, but we have decided not to. We think it is important that our children get a relation to our temple instead. It’s not that they are not allowed in the church - they go there with the school - but just for them to get an idea about where our tradition comes from or belong to. 

This statement touches upon a crucial point when it comes to the relation between adaption and preservation of tradition, something changes according to the new setting (adaption), but only to a certain extent and without losing what seems to be the core features within the same tradition (preservation). In that way the collective memory understood as a shared belonging within a specific group, despite of its on-going changing form, can still be understood as the caretaker of a presumed mutually shared tradition. Here the religious institution alias the temple seems of great importance as a preserver of tradition but also a visible symbol for place-making, which the relatively many temples in Denmark indicate ]

The order of thought could be individual and/or collective.  Individuals with higher thought-order would be self-governing anytime anywhere. Most of us use the collective pathway to preserve Tradition – be it in religion, social values or governance structures. I for example go to Church due to my belief  in Our Lady and Jesus Christ. To a degree it is also my maintenance of my investment in Catholic-thought-order – due to my School – Holy Family Convent where we were enrolled  largely due to my Mother’s own family culture in Burma as part of a wealthy Tamil family.  During British rule – such associations were attributed  higher status including for employment purposes.  Hence as an individual – I integrated with Catholics quite comfortably. The deeper the belief the higher the thought order and hence the degree of integration.

Our children tend to not go to Church on their own nor to the Temple except when we expect them to for special purposes – our purposes.  But they do celebrate Christmas  - Australian style as ‘family’ gathering. We participate in those in their homes.  To me – my Church going is ‘preservation’ of tradition and our sharing as Australians is confirmation of  ‘adaption’ mentioned in the above paper.  Relatively speaking ‘Hindu Only’ parents – would need the protection of ‘group-power’. Where there is racial discrimination in the new environment – this often helps new arrivals / migrants to compensate themselves through such cultural formations and the status that comes through such group formations – lest we forgot their old status and therefore the work they did and the sacrifices they made to structure our special diversity as a Community.  The individual integrator would tend to be a deeper believer of the root of her/his own religion. The group-believer would often need the ‘Separation of Cultures’ to prevent the risk of assimilation. Seniors may not themselves need it but juniors often would need their guidance in this.

In the case of my children due to our family structures being strong – my belief through my religious pathway also would be shared with them as Energy.

At the lowest ground-level  as well as the highest sky-level – we do change form. It’s like lust and love.  In Hinduism we recognize lust – the nature  of  Asurar (Driven by the physical)  and Love the nature of  Thevar (Driven by Energy) . The former is demonstrated through the Legend of Soora Pathman who takes different forms in his attempts to defeat Lord Muruga empowered by Mother Shakthi/Energy – and ultimately surrenders to Lord Muruga.  In contrast – Throupathi – the First Lady of Mahabharatham – has five husbands with the blessings of the mother of those husbands.  The philosophy is that all five are different aspects/forms  of the One Husband  of Throupathi. Hinduism has provided not only for one man many wives but also one woman many husbands. It has provided also for Homosexuals.

A person who marries for lust in various forms – including lust for  food – would keep desiring changes at the physical level. Likewise in religion.  Which side has the qualification to be with more than one partner – depends on who has the higher mind order.  Muslims who practice the system of more than one wife – would promote gender based discrimination to bring about this Equality needed for creation.  This may be needed for them to be in Management at the workplace – especially where there are more females. Equality is needed to be creative / have children who carry our higher natural  qualities.  Hence the confidentiality of Community environments. In countries like Australia – both genders are so facilitated through the De Facto marriage system. Those whose cultures do not provide such structures would still tend to have those mind orders and so long as it is based on Truth – it would be healthy and creative – when kept confidential – and Divine – out of the reach of the ordinary.

In Sri Lankan Parliament – due to our belief in  such Higher Natural Structures – the TNA– Tamil National Alliance - like Throupathi - is a Single Wife with many Sinhalese Husbands confirming the Divinity of Tamil Leadership in that part of the world over  a looooong period of time. When we believe in Tamil Sovereignty we take that  Root with us anywhere anytime.  We may marry into different looking cultures but the mind order would keep rising higher and higher.  The further our partner is culturally – the stronger the confirmation that we belong to God’s One world.  When we root ourselves in other parts of Earth – we enrich those parts also. The UN is a medium through whom such manifestations  have happened through the Natural Pathway.

Education as Offering to God

Professor Marianne Q. Fibiger  observes:

3. Also the education level, among the young Tamils, is high compared to other groups (Source: www.danmarksstatistics.dk, 2012). One reason for this can be found in the very strong working ethics that lies implicit in the Hindu-tradition, and the children are raised in an atmosphere where education matters. And it becomes clear that education is not only understood as an indicator for how to do well in society on secular terms, but also as a kind of token or offering to god. As formulated by a 55 years old first generation Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu father: 

“I have raised my children to understand the importance of education. They have possibilities in Denmark for education that I myself didn’t have in Sri Lanka – they just have to fulfill them – from my point of view, God-given possibilities.”

The festival of Navaraathri – (nine nights) dedicated to Mother Energy – celebrates  - Kali personifying  Courage on the first 3 nights; Lakshmi personifying  money wealth on the next three nights &  Saraswathi personifying Education on the last three nights.  Interestingly, the presiding Deity in Vaddukoddai is Kali whose vehicle is the Tiger. Hence the Tamil Tigers who ruled through armed power.

Tamils who believe in  Education would always be self-governing even as minority of One and like Saraswathi would make  Educational environments – their home.

In conclusion – I quote Professor Marianne Q. Fibiger – especially in relation to Hybridity:

[As stated before this particular group shares many of the same problems than other young second

and third generation of women have in Denmark or in diaspora in general (identity constructions,

double belonging, generation conflicts, gender conflict, cultural hybridization, relation to tradition,

multiple identities etc.), but this paper will also state that these processes also are shaped in a

particular way being Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu woman in Denmark. This negotiation between being

Hindu (religious identity), and Tamil (cultural and social identity) as well as being a Danish citizen

(social and cultural identity) is constantly in play, and shapes their particular understanding of

belonging, not only to a place in history or in the world, but also in the mind. What I find as interesting

is that they don’t seem to want to let any of these anchoring points to go and they appreciate this

form of cultural hybridity. They understand them all as important resources, which seem to be the

main reason for wanting a Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu man, a man that shares the same relations to the

mentioned elements of belonging, or as expressed by a second-generation Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu

woman, 26 years of age: 

I would like to get married to a Tamil Hindu, who lives and is raised here in Denmark. The reason to

this wish is, that we would understand each other – for example in relation to lifestyle (relationship

between man and woman, independence, work) and interests (concerts, go out for a dance, drink a

cold beer, travel). At the same time we would share a common idea of belonging as both being

Tamil and Hindu. I think that will help us when raising our children.

I will in the following give an example of how this schism of being a modern Danish woman on the

one hand and a Tamil Hindu woman on the other has started a discussion on how to find the right

husband that can live up to their ideals as an independent and aspirational woman and balance it with

their need for keeping up tradition, that link them to their families, to Sri Lanka and to the Tamils and

to Hinduism. ]

Taking this to be the case with majority  within the Tamil Diaspora – should we not promote hybrid political solution  in the minds of Diaspora members – so we would lead not only Sri Lankan Tamils born and living in Sri Lanka but also Sinhalese Diaspora in Multicultural living?  

Sri Lanka comes first in terms of Tamil migrant strength outside its birthplace – Tamil Nadu. even ahead of Singapore or Malaysia. It is that fighting nature of Tamils against all odds that makes us attractive as Sri Lankan Tamils of Higher Mind Order. We decide whether we are going to be Hybrid as a group or Unique as Individuals.