Laughing or Fighting -  as per Neelan Thiruchelvam of Vaddukoddai?

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam – 06 January   2016

Is India more Democratic than  Sri Lanka?

A member of the Sri Lankan Diaspora responded to my yesterday’s article ‘How Democratic is the American in Sri Lanka?’ with his assessment that America was never democratic. The parallel seems true of India too. India’s strength is Truth through its investments in Spiritual values and the pathways that lead to such values – however superstitious such practices may seem to the educated part of world. Gandhi dressed like a Coolie / Laborer  led India to Independence due to him being committed to his Truth. Towards this Gandhi had to identify not with the Truth of the educated person but that of the majority. The educated person tends to use Relativity and therefore would try to manifest outcomes in her/his favor by using Knowledge. In poorer countries with lesser external knowledge – this could be overridden by Belief – the base of which is our inner Truth. Such belief invokes the power of the Absolute that Truth is. Such Truth manifests Itself to support Its Believer. Truth whether it is positive or negative according to a particular measure would join forces with other Truth. When manifested – that combination would, when manifested, divide itself as Equal halves along the same plane/measure. The higher that plane/measure – the longer the wait to escalate the investment.

Where the two Truths are not combined and one would have more power than the other when both are manifested there needs to be separation of powers if the two are under One / Unitary system. Where the two are by groups independent of each other – the groups need to be separate – as in countries of the UN and also between the Judiciary and the Executive. Then the manifestations of one group is no business of the other – except for the finished outcome to be used as a lesson in future.

To the extent the Sri Lankan Politicians failed to respect such groups – such as Tamils, Muslims or Christians – they developed the habit of abuse of power by trying to make out that all groups were One/Unitary. The core purpose was to rule at the surface level – through majority power. Such rule becomes more and more temporary confirming instability due to lack of common faith. Minorities such as Tamils could be lacking in faith in majority rule – especially after Sinhala Only and quota system for University education. But if to the Sinhalese leader – Tamils were a part of her/him – s/he had the authority of that Truth – to use the Unitary system of governance. In Democratic Politics this needs to be ‘seen’ at the voter level. Such Power is much stronger due to the higher mind needed to override physical influences of relativity. It is also least visible and is often the reason why the victims  term them  as ‘acts of god’. The cause could be known through the effects – by the true seeker. Hence Research in University education.  

To identify with the Truth of majority Indians – Gandhi had to forego his own comforts and desires as a member of the educated class. Gandhi is the confirmation that Truth is of absolute value. This means that It spreads Itself naturally. Until recently – I did not realize that there is a component of this Truth in all our actions. The more physically driven we are, the less conscious we are of the power of the Absolute. Majority power when we express ourselves with a still mind tells us our Truth in that structure. In a Sovereign person – It would manifest Itself to confirm the person as a person of Equal value to the two sides. Hence the Common  candidate. Where the sides are Subjects – the person would be Equally accessible by both sides – for example – by Tamils as well as Sinhalese in ethnicity  conscious Sri Lanka. Where the sides are of the Objective value of the manifestation  – Truth would show the person as being Equally comfortable with Costs as s/he is with Benefits. The former is the path of Autocracy and the latter is the path of Democracy. India’s pathway is largely Autocratic and America’s is largely Democratic as per the above definition. Sri Lanka at the top level does not have such a leader common to all ethnicities. The current President is Common to all Sinhalese. As a Tamil I believe that my contribution also was included in the force that manifested to facilitate the elimination of the more autocratic person at the top. The main force was that of Tamils who did not have access to Common Measures or Personalities and yet were killed as if they were Terrorists. I believe I had access to this Truth only by becoming such a Tamil. I would not have if I had accepted the LTTE as heroes or joined the Government and labeled them Terrorists – through measures unknown to majority Tamils. I could not have if I had been more conscious of being Sri Lankan or worse Australian – so I would enjoy higher status with the educated elite – expressing  the right opinions. As I said to one such Tamil here in Thunaivi parent this morning – that would be suppressing one wrong by saying another right. This trick is often used by academics lacking in research experience.

America’s investment in Independence is its strength. It ‘shows’ this investment by producing objective outcomes at various levels.  Sri Lanka is culturally more close to India than to America. To maintain its Sovereignty, Sri Lanka, needs to therefore not copy America nor be ‘told’ by America. It may share the Truth through various avenues which may not include Politics.

Reporter Mr. K.Venkataramanan of  The Hindu writes in his article ‘In the throes of political reform’:

[In the year that went by, Sri Lanka took a remarkable turn away from authoritarianism towards democratic governance. It stands poised in a rare moment where there is a semblance of hope, yet another grand opportunity to rediscover itself. The exercise has to be gone through in the crepuscular space between a discredited political system and the dawn of new hope for good governance and progressive democratisation, strengthening of institutional arrangements to protect minority rights, meet varied aspirations, foster ethnic reconciliation and oversee transitional justice.]

As per my discovery through those with whom I completed my relationships through various positions – some biological and others as part of workplace, cultural  and social institutions – the structure that we identify with through a still mind and/or is identified with by the person who has included us as part of her/himself, at the dusk of life/relationship – is the structure of our Truth in that environment. That is the seed of tomorrow’s dawn.

In Sri Lankan politics – the old leadership did not identify with and express its Truth to the Nation. Out of the two leaders – the current occupant of the position of President – did not demonstrate strong investment in Democracy as part of the previous government. Nor has there been such demonstration since forming the new government. To the extent Mr. Sirisena is sharing his Truth – it would show an autocratic pathway and would suit those to whom he is a natural leader. There would be hardly any Tamil who would be so led in today’s Sri Lanka.

The other leader is Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe in the position of Prime Minister. Mr. Wickremesinghe would tend to be more democratic through knowledge rather than through experience. The only persons who would ‘demonstrate’ natural structure of democracy are those who actually practiced it in nations that have made strong investments in democracy. I believe I am one of them. I would not have been had I not completed my workplace relationships in Australia by confirming my discovery that I was discriminated against at the workplace – the last one being the University of New South Wales - on the basis of Race. It is that completion that opened the doors for me in Vaddukoddai carrying the heritage of Vaddukoddai Resolution – the Tamil Constitution.   The real Vaddukoddai Resolution is the essence of Neelan’s structure. It is no coincidence that Neelan represented Vaddukoddai as Mr. Wigneswaran is now representing Jaffna in Northern Province. Both areas are strongly supported by educated Tamils outside Sri Lanka – the former in Malaysia and Singapore and the latter  in Western Countries. But neither demonstrated wisdom in Democratic Administration.

In terms of Tamil Political structure – Mr. Sampanthan is the parallel of Mr. Sirisena and Mr. Wigneswaran, like Mr. Neelan Thiruchelvam is the parallel of Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe. They are likely to show a structure similar to that of Mr. Thiruchelvam. Mr. Venkataramanan confirms this as follows:

[In his last public speech two days before his tragic assassination in 1999, Sri Lanka’s eminent lawyer and politician Neelan Tiruchelvam, then an important member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Reform, said, “At no other moment in recent history have the questions of constitution-making and constitutional reform been of such importance as the central focus in political discourse.

As its lawmakers prepare to sit down later this week and begin to draft a new founding law that may be its fourth Constitution since independence in 1948, they would do well to remember a paradox that Mr. Tiruchelvam pointed out that day: faith in constitutionalism is often accompanied by an “intense scepticism about the efficacy of constitutional arrangements to deal with the horrors of ethnic fratricide, political violence, religious bigotry and the crude and cynical manipulation of electoral and political processes”]

Given that Tamil  Tigers killed Mr. Thiruchelvam – one could conclude that this above picture was Mr. Thiruchelvam’s discovery. The other day the aged gardener who prepares the open fire-place for me to cook the Prasatham (Holy Food) here in Thunaivi - on Sunday mornings – said about a person whom he admired – that when that person / hero was stabbed and was bleeding – he insisted on being taken to the Police to record through his Affidavit / confession the name of the person who had stabbed him. He died after making that report. That was how important Truth was to that person. He died a noble death – as did Neelan Thiruchelvam as revealed by his expression of  premonition. My parallel was my legal actions when exiting the official workplace in Australia. I believe my Truth combined forces beyond my sight and knowledge - to demote Mr. John Howard who was getting credit for upholding democracy while I – the true practitioner was being stabbed to death in terms of  Democracy within me as an Australian. All we have to do is take our investment to the level of Truth and then step back and observe. My attachment to the outcomes at individual level gave me the pain. But the more I realized that the Divine powers were blessing me – the deeper the sense of inner Peace.

We often forget that the smallest minority in Sri Lanka is the Sri Lankan group. Until this group actively produces objectively measurable outcomes confirming its completed work outcomes – Sri Lanka would continue to be naturally prone to ethnic violence through separation on ethnic basis. THAT is our Truth manifested in the period 2009  to 2015. Unless Sri Lankans identify within themselves those non-violent contributors whose Truth contributed to this release from violence – new constitutions would be - good money after bad.

As for myself – I keep manifesting the system of Democracy in Sri Lanka wherever I believe that my Truth would give a much higher structure than that of the official on the other side. Recently our Attorney at Law stated that there was no legal bar to our barrister representing our opposition on the other side, in another matter.  As I explained to other investors in that issue – there was no law that prevented me from dismissing the barrister either. In a highly subjective system that the Sri Lankan legal system is – there needs to be in place a law that prevents such practices of indiscriminate representation. Where there is no such law – the Democratic Litigant needs to get Even and manifest that the Judiciary is not greater than the Executive / Litigant who makes the judgment at non-legal level. Similarly, just yesterday – I disciplined a young officer of the local Pradeshya Sabai (Local Government) under the jurisdiction of  the Chief Minister Mr. Wigneswaran who is busy with Constitutional affairs. The officer came unannounced when I was preparing for the next lesson for our students. He took his seat and asked me questions as if I was his junior! After allowing him enough rope – I asked him to show me his identity card – to confirm his authority. He said he was new and did not have one yet. I asked him to come back after he got his identity card.  I later pulled up my staff for smiling at and obliging the young officer. That was my ruling to the nannies who minded  my kids when I was at work in Colombo – that they should not open the gates to anyone – known or unknown in our absence. I believe that each unit of such investment strengthens the ‘security’ in our home-areas.

The real Constitution is written by the believing citizen. Politicians need to seek and find those values and such a Constitution will naturally empower every Sri Lankan. The autocrat would identify with the other side after lapse of time and/or through her/his juniors. The democrat will identify with the other side through the Equal other side or the other side of the costs paid or benefits received – as the case may be. There is room for both in real Sri Lanka. It’s the politician’s job to seek and find those values and customize the  Constitution on the basis of our Truth.  We the People should not have to ‘study’ the constitution and have knowledge of rules that are way above our understanding.