Gajalakshmi Paramasivam – 12 October  2015

Eureka TNA!

‘Separate state in Sri Lanka no longer in TNA agenda’ says Sumanthiran’ is the hot topic of British Tamil Diaspora. Lord Krishna said ‘Do your duty without being  conscious of the benefits’.  Where there is an institutional structure - there is a position. When there is a position – there is a Duty and v.v. What is TNA’s position in the Institution of  Sri Lankan Parliament? It is the Leader of the Opposition – Equal to the Government. What is their DUTY to the People of Sri Lanka through Parliament? That duty is defined by the Position.  In Autocracy there is only One person at the top. In Democracy there are two Equal heads at the top – each being independent of the other. They are like two Equal religions. To be equal they need to not ‘see’ each other at the physical level. Hence the Separation of Powers. In the above picture taken when the Government’s armed officers who represented Policy came into our home by breaking open the front door – to remove our family assets – to pay the Legal Costs of the University of New South Wales which used its position to write about Sri Lankan politics when its own backyard was disorderly – it confirms the disconnection between Policy and reality through a law that became irrelevant to the current average Australian without connection to the roots of Australia – the Inclosed Lands Protection Act 1901.  But because I was true to the Core purpose of the University – Research and Teaching – I was able to invoke the architects of Inclosed Lands Protection Act 1901 –who had the need for Racial Divide between Aborigines and White Australians – using different cultural systems with very little in common. Likewise various Customary Laws in Sri Lanka for those who were Indigenous to various parts of Sri Lanka. Mr. Sumathiran highlighted this as follows at a Panel Discussion on “Religion, Reconciliation and Future” in May 2013: http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/21386 :

[four great religions of the world being present in this country and whenever that fact is mentioned I always remember, something that Judge Weeramantry wrote about the laws of this country, you know that the laws in this country, we have many laws, we have the Roman – Dutch law, we have the English law, we have Thesavalamai, we have the Kandyan Law, we have the Muslim law, we have the Mukuwa law – and he said the “Sri Lankan law is embarrassed by the richness of its source, rather than the lack of it.”]

He concluded his speech by stating:

[At least the Tamils, you can say they took up arms and fought the state. What have the Muslims done? Why are they being hunted like this? And if we are responsible people from other communities, I am suggesting – I’ve done this once before, second time I am going to do this in public, I am suggesting, if it ever becomes dangerous – its already – but if there is a decree, that the Muslim people, the Muslim men shall not wear the face-cap or the Muslim women should not wear the hijab, I am calling on all right thinking people in this country – Buddhists, Christians, Hindus – to come forward and ourselves wear those.]

Now after two years and higher Parliamentary status Mr. Sumanthiran states in London:

‘the TNA is holding discussions with the Sri Lankan government for the meaningful devolution of power within a unitary state. There is no demand for a separate state anymore.’

So which one of the above is True?

Truth when manifested along the One  plane  has two sides – Equal & Opposite. If done at Policy level – each side leadership  must cover all on its side. The measure would produce the ‘right’ outcomes only when Truth is the foundation of our Policy. The form of the sides would vary as per Time and Place.

Mr. Sumanthiran is now holding a senior position within the Internal structure of TNA and his statements must confirm the TNA Policy. If therefore TNA Policy is taken as Unitary State – Mr. Sumanthiran is claiming that they are no longer part of Indigenous Tamils who fought for, killed  for  and died for Separate State. Was he therefore lying in 2013 when he condemned the Sinhalese Political leadership? Without any of these components – fighting, killing and dying due to local / indigenous force the UN, leave alone the UK -  did not have a ticket to get into Sri Lankan Politics. These London talks are therefore not linked to the Foundation of Tamil struggle. The London speech is therefore without substance.

I was recently sharing with a professional Australian Architect of Lankan origin who is mentoring a new migrant Architect of Chinese origin -  that we are Technicians, Businesswomen and Professionals. Even the best of Technicians would need investment in the user – to sell her/his products to outsiders. Hence to progress from Technician to Businesswoman – one has to invest in the other side – the ‘user’ side. Then to progress from Business to Professional level – one needs to have invested in Policy through the Truth one discovers at the previous two levels. At Technical level we need to discover our own Truth and that goes automatically into Policy from our side as Government. At Business level one needs to have discovered through her/his own Truth – the Truth of the ‘other’ side – but not produce it. That discovery then goes into Policy – as the ‘other side’ Opposition. The two together are One Whole. Since people tend to stop at the primary and secondary levels – due to being distracted by the benefits at those levels – the responsibility to form Policy is shared – with the Government for its side representing its people and the Opposition representing the ‘other’ side. If the Opposition talks to the Government – before war issues are settled – TNA loses its mandate and therefore its real position.

If we believe, then that belief confirms our Truth. As per our Truth – we may be right but when another theory in which we have not invested is used as the measure – we may be ruled wrong.

By taking up the Leader of the Opposition position, TNA has completed the True structure of One Parliament in Sri Lanka. The  Separate State that the Tamil Politicians of  our Parents’ generation fought for – to protect our Diversity has come about through the Provincial Government structure – thanks to India’s investment in Independence and Diversity, led by Gandhi. It was due to the LTTE’s strong actions that this was introduced. It was due to the Diaspora’s strong actions that the Provincial Council became a reality. It is due to Global Investors’ ongoing partnership with Victims of War -  that TNA became the leading Opposition in Parliament. Its job is to ‘show’ the other side and not to say ‘yes-sir’ to Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe – a descendent of Common Sri Lankan – still a minority force in Parliament. Mr. Sumanthiran  who emigrated from North to Capital is weakening his roots due to the ‘maya’ of Unitary State under Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe with  strong influence of English Law. Mr. Sumanthiran is the Tamil parallel  of Mr. Wickremesinghe. This is fine – provided he is practicing law at Business level. He should then resign from his Jaffna seat or declare that Vanni is the Indigenous part of North and that Jaffna is the Capital and that it failed as much as Colombo failed to educate its Indigenous population from South. That is when we take full responsibility for what happened in Northern Sri Lanka and would stop getting confused between Devolution which is within a hierarchical structure and Separation of Powers which is between Equals – including in marriage partnership. Where in Truth one takes leadership role – that side must carry the leadership status – for our contributions to be of heritage value. Our struggle for Self-Governance is of Heritage value – as Southerners’ struggle is to them. Colombo – be it of Sinhala origin or Tamil origin has no place in either side leadership.