Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

19 December   2016

Restoring the National Heritage

Much value is rendered to Heritage preservation including here in Australia. As per my understanding, Heritage is a place where the heirs of a developer would connect to the mind of the developer well beyond the body of the developer passes away. I therefore have strong feelings in places where I have invested in Common and/or in issues that are given shape to  with others, to form Common values. We share heritages with our heirs and we ourselves become our heirs when we take consolidated values beyond time and place borders. Thus, today I become such an heir of the heritage I developed yesterday. In terms of work values at Senior  Management level, Air Lanka (Sri Lankan Airlines) of such heritage value to me. The status I enjoyed there and the valuation that I registered from my seniors right up to the top level – sustained me when my qualifications were not recognized in Australia. I brought those minds with me beyond Sri Lanka’s borders.

I feel happy to note the following report by Ceylon Today under the heading ‘Peace Air in US$ 5.5 B bid for SriLankan, Mihin’ in relation to the restructure of the National Carrier:

[The highlight of the acquisition is that the SriLankan brand name and the livery will remain and there will be no retrenchment of staff, but it will be expanded.
Under the proposed route expansion programme, there will be five destinations each in Africa, China, Europe and Australia, ten in India and 6 in East Asia, they said, adding that all the destinations which were cancelled earlier, such as Rome, Zurich and Frankfurt, would be reinstated.]

I felt that my prayers were being answered. In any case knowing that there is such a commitment, confirms that there are  other heirs of  Air Lanka/Sri Lankan Airlines who would add strength to our heritage from Singapore International Airlines – our Aviation Gurus. Those of us who genuinely respect them are the heirs of Singapore values merged with Sri Lankan values. When invoked – it is healthy for the Nation and the relationship with Singapore with strong commitment to work-order.

I now appreciate that by taking my allocated lower place in Australian institutions but working at the professional standards I was used to, I became an ‘internal’ at that level. Hence I was able to work the system more effectively than those in higher positions who did not have the benefit of being free at the lower level. Democracy by majority rule in a way is based on this internal sharing with majority in an institution/nation. Where it is belief based – it would lead to strong sense of independence and self-governance. When it is popularity based – it would lead to separations.

By accepting my position, without compromising on my work standards – I accumulated strong ‘internal value’ which helped me become independent of my seniors without damaging their own status. The risk factor is that the mind of the weak could be ‘taken-over’ and used by the stronger players at the lower level who could be looking for ‘revenge’ against management/seniors in a system. Sacrifice of ‘status earned through cleverness’ naturally generates the Common structure and this is shared through political system.

Let’s take the example of the Sri Lankan President writing to Ms Sasikala who carries negative heritage in terms of Administration. It was recently reported through article ‘Sasikalaa makes political mark, Lankan president heeds her plea on Katchatheevu church festival’ published by Times of India that :

[The Sri Lankan President conceding to a request from "Mrs Sasikala" to permit 100 Tamil Nadu fishermen to attend the Katchatheevu church festival could be her first political "achievement".]

Mrs. Sasikala may have corporate wisdom in managing the position of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu – through her service to Madam Jayalalitha. But there is no apparent heritage value of having lived in that position structured through external interactions also. The corporate wisdom without the position form – is of spiritual value. This is recognized as ‘facility’ in Public Management system.

The alternate example that comes to mind is that of Range and Domain in Maths about which my husband was recently questioning our granddaughter. The student repeated the definition. As is my way – I blurted out – that range was the general area – for example from Coogee to Dulwich Hill where her Aunty Uma lived – and the Domain was the pathway through which we could get there. I knew it was not accurate but combined with her memorized definition – my lay understanding would help her connect to the mind-structure needed for the lesson more effectively – especially because my bonding is belief based and  my husband’s in that role is merit based. Like the Voter with the Politician, the student did not need to prove herself to me yet – had the motivating Energy from me – that I am interested and hence participated.  Our granddaughter being an outstanding example of earning goodwill seemed to accept my explanation especially after my husband repeated the essence of it. Later when I checked the definition through Google it went as follows:

[The domain of a function is the complete set of possible values of the independent variable. In plain English, this definition means: The domain is the set of all possible x-values which will make the function "work", and will output real y-values.]

In terms of the above Political picture, to my mind, all of us who qualify as citizens in an Administrative relationship carry the  ‘y value’ genes. In the issue of ownership of Katchatheevu, that range would cover all those who satisfy the Administrative requirements and/or have already accumulated such wisdom by living in those positions.

The President’s  approval of Mrs. Sasikala’s request,  is in breach of the domain/limitations of Administrative Authority – given that Mrs. Sasikala does not hold the appropriate position of Authority in Tamil Nadu Government. That is lowering of Administrative standards and would weaken the Administrative heritage that is available to the Sri Lankan Government – through Tamil Administrative leaders in both Nations. Tamil Nadu politics is strongly influenced by Tamil Cinema which has strong reputation of ‘Black Money’ which infected the LTTE also. Madam Jayalalitha brought her Cinema Association with former Chief Minister Mr. M.G. Ramachandran into her official position. To the extent Tamil Nadu masses rely heavily on cinema – they would tend to express themselves through cinema heroes. Fooling them amounts to brainwashing which led to violence in Northern Sri Lanka.

True struggle for Independence is fought on the basis of our sacrifices of earned benefits. I developed and share such heritage with fellow Australians. The welfare funding from the Mr. M.G. Ramachandran was inherited by his Cinema heir – Ms Jayalalitha. Now personal aide inherits that status – which would reduce the dignity of the Administrative structure of  the State of Tamil Nadu.

If the above report is genuine, the Sri Lankan President, by ignoring the Administrative borders is confirming that he is risking another ethnic war in Sri Lanka. Administrative requirements need to be followed before one is entitled to the freedom of Diplomacy. Katchatheevu Issue is yet to reach that stage of ‘wisdom sharing’ – unless Mr. Sirisena is confirming to be the parallel of Mrs. Sashikala. Return karma for leaving the Rajapaksa regime?