Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

http://austms.blogspot.com.au/

11  July 2017                                          

The Jaffna Woman & the Queenmaker

[In  hindsight, the question now arises if the entire Northern Provincial ministers-sack drama was enacted only to bring in the controversial and even more rebellious Ananthi Sasitharan into the Government, that too over the head of the ruling TNA-ITAK’s moderate leadership? If that was not the case, still the fact remains, Ananthi is now the Minister for Women and Social Welfare, in charge of Rehabilitation and Food, other areas of common concern for all women in the North, though to varying degrees.] – Sunday Leader

To my mind which includes the Jaffna woman, Mrs. Ananthi Sasitharan is the Northern parallel of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike. They both became the puppets riding on the status earned by  their respective husbands. I was at Jaffna Central College (year 11) for a short spell due to Holy Family Convent not having the facilities to pursue Engineering. Back then I said I did not want to study Medicine because I did not like rote-learning. My father said I would make a good nurse and I said I did not want to work under doctors. Since I was usually at the top of my class – I guess I got used to not being second or lower. I earned my grades on merit basis, to the top position, in a Catholic School. At Central College (a common secular school) I was invited to participate in the English speech competition. The Lady Judge in the panel said that I was the best except that I spoke like Mrs. Bandaranaike!  I got second place. As per my memory the guy who was awarded first place was a fair-skinned male.

The Provincial Government structure is the result of Tamil militancy in Sri Lanka. Mrs. Sasitharan is part of that result.  We learn the strongest lessons in the environment of Truth. The family structure is closer to Truth than the workplace or public life. If we learn in the environment of Truth – that Truth will become our Philosopher and Guide. When majority homes temples of Truth – a Nation develops naturally and maintains itself through its own power.

Taken at family level, a woman would either empower her man or be empowered by her man. Where the affairs of the family are separated – they do not actively partner each other. They share the Truth that they have discovered through diverse activities.  The LTTE leadership of which Mr. Sasitharan was a part – had that kind of structure – where Ms Tamilini was the head of Women’s Affairs and even though there was significant percentage of women they did not have a woman leader in activities that usually had male leadership. The Northern Provincial Council is structured along those lines. But unlike Thamilini – who formed strong Support Service, Mrs. Sasitharan seeks to be ‘seen’ as the leader.  Hence her loud ways.

If the Administrative position was due to ‘subjective influence’ then it would be best for Mr. Wigneswaran to ‘retire’. Mr. Sathiya Moorthy in his Sunday Leader article  ‘Wigneswaran Fronting For Ananthi?’ states:

[Wife of the ‘missing’ LTTE commander, Sinnathurai Sasitharan, better known as ‘major’ Ezhilan, Ananthi was a Government servant who took bold to go on record that she saw her husband surrender to the armed forces at the end of the war in May 2009. But she acquired greater prominence for all the more controversial statements she made nearer home and more so, on the sidelines of UNHRC sessions in Geneva, not only against the Government and the armed forces but also against the TNA leadership of veteran R. Sampanthan.

Lying low for some time now after she was suspended from the party, for targeting senior leaders in public, Ananthi has now sprang back onto the news columns with her current elevation as minister – clearly a decision taken unilaterally by Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran.  Obviously, as on earlier occasions, she had been told by whoever were her Diaspora handlers, to lie low until the time was ripe.]

The Tamil Diaspora is male dominated. Women are also their Achilles Heel.  Many men talk about  Jaffna Kingdom of the remote past but rarely about Jaffna Queens in their own rights. When my husband’s engineering group gathers together, they continue to separate themselves on gender basis. So we the ladies – including the lady engineers – sit and talk about ‘home affairs’.  I do not expect Mr. Wigneswaran to be any different to these Diaspora groups. The Political groups – present themselves through Australian groomed younger generation females from time to time but not from within their own generation. That is the mindset. Some of us continue unhindered to become the real working Energy of the institutions / groups are a part of.

Unlike her mother, Madam Chandrika Kumaratunga groomed herself into that leadership position. Hence eventually Madam Chandrika Kumarathuna became the queen in her own rights and thereafter the kingmaker. We would find this kind of ladies in Tamil families also. The fact that there are no lady  professionals in TNA leadership confirms that they are lacking in the mind structure needed for active power-sharing. Hence they are not able to structure a self-balancing Administration through which the Provincial Council would report to them.

In Hinduism the traditional wife / mother is recognized  as Shakthi / Energy. Under Thesawalamai Customary Law – applicable to Northern Sri Lankan Tamils – Daughter inherits from the Mother and Son from the Father. Most families in Northern Sri Lanka continue to practice the dowry system and hence this Separation of Powers is needed at that level. Shakthi – intuition is more naturally shared than tangible goods and status. A true mother would be comfortable in either position. A member supported by such power becomes a uniting force. That has been confirmed again by Tamils becoming leading Opposition in National Parliament – confirming that our Total Power is stronger than the sum of the individual at a time when the majority race divided itself to become less powerful than the sum of its physical strength.  So long as minorities remain true to themselves, they cannot be minorities any more. The global force would come to them including through majority side which seeks to be active in wider world.

As I often share in my counselling sessions – wife is a combination of mother and daughter. Likewise husband is a combination of father and son. The senior position out of the two needs to be respected by the other – irrespective of how others grade those positions. That inner structure is essential for Peace and Harmony in the Home. If indeed Mr. Wigneswaran had treated Mrs. Sasitharan  as a daughter – he needs to ensure that he represents her – along the lines of Thesawalamai practice where women are less educated than men in the affairs of wider world.  If Mr. Wigneswaran sees Mrs Sasitharan as an equal individual – then he needs to first renounce his status earned through Higher Education.

Our own family was challenged when my husband’s brother passed away in Vaddukoddai where the first Political declaration of Independence was made in 1976, and  the elder sister, who was sponsored by us to migrate to Australia, like Mrs. Sasistharan, took matters into her hands and even wrote to Barclay’s Bank, London without informing either of  brothers. Given that one brother is elder and my husband is younger – her actions do not satisfy even the age criterion.

As per the fundamentals of Thesawalamai – a daughter does not inherit status from her brother except when there are no brothers. But the desire for money – led to breaching the laws of Thesawalamai and therefore  naturally contributed to deviating from the path of Sovereignty of the woman. Through our legal objection to those actions, we have contributed to preserving our investment in Thesawalamai order which would make practitioners in Northern Sri Lanka independent more quickly than otherwise. This would in turn  contribute through that Energy to National level given that Thesawalamai Law is part of the National system unless they consciously block such flow. This is the Accountability needed by those who continue to practice Thesawalamai – so they would feel at home in any part of Sri Lanka.

As per my observations Mr. Wigneswaran has good knowledge of Thesawalamai. Administration based on those principles require Mr. Wigneswaran to not promote Mrs. Sasitharan , an elected member, but allow the lady  to present herself as per her own Energies – be they positive or negative to current Northern Province – especially to the mothers who have lost children in the war – fully or partially.

The current parallel of women leaders in North are the Buddhist clergy in South – who keep wanting to be ‘seen’ instead of meditating and becoming the Energy supporting, the apparent leadership.  The more the Buddhist clergy ‘show’ leadership outside Buddhist boundaries the deeper the need for Equal partnership – through a combination of gender, race, religion. Women religious leaders are not likely to be seen as safe messengers/heirs by males used to leadership because they are males.

Ultimately what has to happen will happen as per our own contributions. Northern and Eastern Provinces can learn from the mistakes of  Colombo and ensure that minorities are not pampered but facilitated to become the King-making  Energy. The respect taken confidentially at home – confirms this. Active show confirms that the backdoor is being used towards Political leadership exercised through dependant puppets.

Unless Mr. Wigneswaran groomed a female to become a judge – he is making guineapig of Jaffna which is home to us.

Big money earned needs to be expended to structure for the future, based on the past to demonstrate goodness.  Likewise Majority power. A mother invests. A daughter spends on current enjoyment. In a reliable structure the daughter would not be respected above the mother. If the Buddhist clergy are mothers – they would quietly develop their intuitive powers. Once they show active political  leadership – they are daughters. Politicians who ‘show’ respect for such clergy are confirming that they are puppets.

Political leaders who bow to such clergy need ‘external/foreign’ support to maintain their positions. It’s no coincidence that LTTE heir by name (Mrs. Sasitharan) and Buddhist heir by name (the Buddhist clergy of Lanka) are surfacing at the same time indicating the start of another war unless the respective sides keep their past mistakes in the past without activating them for selfish reasons. This is post-war period and not active LTTE period nor active Sinhala-only period. If Tamils act independently and confine their activities to their home-areas – the Buddhist clergy would have no real opposition to show the average Sinhalese looking for a fight.