Gajalakshmi Paramasivam- 11 July    2016  

Passing the Tiger Test

Today is the birth anniversary of my cousin Visvanathan Radhakrishnan who died in Kilinochchi, in Northern Sri Lanka,  in 1985. As per the postmortem report he was stabbed 32 times and as per his wife – it happened on Krishna’s birthday at Krishna Farm inherited from his father. During early morning prayers I prayed for Krishna – that he should enjoy good quality life in his current birth. How do I know that my prayers reached the Lord? I know when I feel inner Peace.

Later I read the following message in the Island article ‘The Central Bank Lesson: Public Pressure can right government wrongs’ by Mr. Rajan Philips:

[It is a sad fact of Sri Lankan public life that any Tamil and every Tamil, whatever the political or social location, must pass the Tiger test]

I do not understand why it is sad? Is it not the rule of the game developed by the Tigers themselves? If we call ourselves Tamils or Sri Lankans of Tamil origin – we do carry the Tiger genes. My cousin Krishna was reported to have been killed by the Tigers after he was arrested by the Armed forces and later released. During my Tsunami Reconstruction work – one senior Australian official asked me as to why I would help TRO (Tamil Rehabilitation Organization) which was closely associated with the Tamil Tigers,  prepare their proposal reports – if my family had been hurt by the Tigers? I said it was because I cared about all of them. If my feelings for Krishna were true – then I would care about all those in that environment that changed their orders of mind from listeners to fighters. The place common to both Krishna and I is Jaffna. The schools that shaped our minds were in Jaffna town – mine being  Holy Family Convent and Krishna’s being St. Patrick’s College.

In my mind is also the memory of my brother in law Subramaniam Ganeshan of Vaddukoddai who was shot dead by the Armed Officers of the Government.

With Krishna and Ganeshan, as part of my natural mind structure – do I not have to put myself through a self-test as to whether my mind order in relation to Common Public Service was not polluted by blames attributed to one side or the other? Is it not the duty of every citizen affected by the Sri Lankan war? When I went to meet the President in 2005 – and it was my turn to present my proposals – I said in my mind - ‘sorry to Madam Kumaratunga’ even as I approached the Lady who lost her sight in one eye due to Tiger attack.  By then I had also worked with the Tiger Administration under a UNDP project and I needed to ensure that I had no positive or negative thoughts about the Tigers when I was approaching the President. Deep seated Truth surfaces Itself when uncontrolled by the Intellect. Hence the positives and negatives shown in our horoscopes. They are the genes we carry in our mind. If Madam Kumaratunga’s were negative about the Tigers and mine were negative – we would naturally collude. If mine were positive our minds would oppose each other. The war led to many on both sides losing control of their intellectual discriminative powers  and allow emotions and politics to takeover. When that happens – our karma surfaces if at least one side is conscious of the Truth of the issue at that time at that place. One who cares about all concerned would be so conscious. The selfish would be attached to the benefits that could accrue only to themselves. Every Tamil and every Sinhalese who enters Sri Lankan Public Service needs to put her/himself through the gene’s test to ensure that the pathway is clear for Equal Opportunity values to surface. I don’t need to do it for anyone else. I need to do it to strength my Common Administrative mind – so that my heirs would inherit my strong and positive mind needed for their multicultural living.

The confirmation came when our youngest daughter who specializes in Family Law – said about jewelry that was returned by our cousin Vathanee through me to our daughter – and I said that it was not as high in money value as the wedding chain to our elder daughter – ‘Mum you know that we do not calculate and compare’.  THAT was an endorsement that my mind as a Common parent – had gone straight to our children and that they were conscious  of that Common value. Our youngest did not say  ‘Mum I do not calculate.’ Gayathri said ‘we do not calculate and compare’.   I found my Peace as a parent.

Mr. Rajan Philips states as follows about the new Governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka :

[Dr. Coomaraswamy has been appointed as Governor of the Central Bank in extraordinary circumstances, and extraordinary challenges await him. By all accounts, he not only has the competence but also the character, and most of all the goodwill of most people to succeed in his new assignment.]

If not for his predecessor Mr. Mahendran deviating from the existing rules and policies of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka – as it existed when he walked into his job – Dr. Coomaraswamy would not be holding this position today. The business genes in Mr. Mahendran were activated by the political needs of the Prime Minister who is the best Politician we have towards multicultural living in a Land that is infected by ‘Sinhala only and Tamil only’ frivolous thoughts that culminate into vexatious actions once there are willing donors looking for cheap beneficiaries. It is public knowledge that Sri Lankan Public Service laws and rules have been overridden to cater to the lower minds in Public Administration. In Politics one has to match one side by the same production at a different time. The closer we get to being Equal in Politics the more democratic we confirm ourselves to be. This has been confirmed about Australia through the 2016 Elections to which we all contributed by using our deeper minds.

Policies and Rules that do not confirm the mind of  Sri Lankans are at best useful for a living. Politicians often earn their living by using them rather than by acting as per the policies and rules – to include those genes in the Sri Lankan mind. If Dr. Coomaraswamy is to Govern Central Bank truly – he needs to develop his own policies and merge them into the Government’s. Towards this Dr. Coomaraswamy needs to first  pay his respects to the ancestors in that position, own that position and then add his own wisdom towards new policies which would prevent political infiltration – starting with gene-influence.

Talking about genes and heritage, Mr. Rajan Philips states:

[Last Thursday, The Island carried an opinion piece by Architect Ashley de Vos crying foul of mindless destruction of Geoffrey Bawa’s iconic architectural creations for questionable redevelopments. This madness has been going on for years. Colombo has had its belly turned inside out by charlatans of development. There is little regard or institutional protection for its built heritage]

Our son who is also an admirer of Geoffrey Bawa recently offered to me to provide a plan based on those lines. I firmly said ‘NO’. I said words to the effect ‘I want YOUR understanding of my/our  experience of  Sri Lanka to be the nucleus of the plan’. If majority Sri Lankans are driven by negative cultural genes – then a true painter would paint that heritage of Truth during her/his time at that place. Positive  culture helps us to merge with other high thinking minds  and enjoy Peace & Harmony. Negative culture attracts us to low minds that enjoy pleasures without earning them - which means they are taking value from others without paying the due price. Hence thieves also have their own culture. Is that not the true picture we Sri Lankans need to be drawing about ourselves?