Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
07
August 2017
Tamil
Tiger Legacy
‘During our times they were fearful and hence
followed some of the protocols. Now they are free to express themselves’
Member of Vaddukoddai community.
The
above was the observation by Vaddukoddai
senior about the youth of junior castes one of whom said to me on Saturday, 05
August, that he would smash my face
flat.(Appendix).
As
per Ceylon Today report:
[Chairman of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC)
C.V.K. Sivagnanam has said that generalization and coming to the conclusion
that a revival of the LTTE is taking place in the country especially in the
North is false.
He stressed that connecting the
entire lot of rehabilitated LTTE militants with recent criminal activities in
Jaffna is malicious and unreasonable and urged all concerned to refrain from
doing so. ]
When the LTTE chose the armed pathway to express on behalf of the Tamil
Community and did so without our approval, what choice did we – those who had
invested in the lawful pathways to realising our Sovereignty, have, of protesting against such
representation which was taken advantage of by the Government and its
supporters? If one part is damaged it affects the whole and rightly so.
The guy who spoke to me the way
he did – is the type recruited actively by the LTTE. Many of the villagers here
did not think it was unusual. They are used to hearing such language from their
own sons and younger brothers. Many said to me when they saw my distress, that
the guy did not know to talk. My
response to them was – ‘That is fine; But
don’t go asking for funds if you want to remain ‘free’ and ‘special’ as per YOUR standards’.
Had the guy attacked me physically to protect himself from any attacks
by me – that would have been less painful to me than this. This guy was DISRESPECTFUL to
a lady who has at all times conducted herself as a lady while staying here. But
all that seemed lost on this guy and others – including the mothers and sisters
in this community. As per their ‘vision’ respect is a commodity that they ought
to be able to trade-off for money.
Since that experience, through
which I stood alone, except for the support of my husband who kept calling me
from Sydney to find out whether I was ok and to listen to what I had to say, I have
been standing alone and that is how the Northern Provincial Government which
regularly receives my communications failed the test and certificate of Good Governance from me – a Sovereign
citizen. Had they sought to be good governors – they would have found the
opportunity to discipline those who were breaching Jaffna’s traditional
protocols.
On Sunday when the young son (about 12 years of age) of toddy tapper
caste who now studies at Jaffna College – took his turn to assist the priest, inside
the altar of our temple – I became tearful due to my mind still hurting from the
above experience. Allowing the lower caste into the temple altar to assist the
priest of higher caste was no mean achievement. I was emotional due to the show of ‘loss’ of
respect by that other guy on Saturday. When one is disrespectful and no one
takes a public stand against it – it feels as if the whole is disrespectful. So
what was my return for eliminating the
barriers of caste to establish merit based system of allocating status? –
DISRESPECT.
To that community LTTE leaders were respectable. If Velupillai
Prabhakaran were to come here – these guys would stand up and salute. That is
now our current culture. As I said over the weekend – if they were to mention ‘Thunaivi’ to Chief Minister Wigneswaran – he was
likely to ask ‘Thunaivi? Where is it?’ But he was the chosen one to open the cultural
hall built by a member of their
Community Diaspora in Switzerland in honour of his late father. Our coordinator
whose son was chosen by me to take his place inside the altar to assist the
Priest – personally assisted Mr. Wigneswaran during the ceremony. I became a nobody despite living here through
all these security risks and innumerable physical inconveniences that I go
through when staying here. But, the systematic approach through which I
established that I would not be told that my property was common property – ‘free
for all’ uses by this village of toddy tappers is the real value to the Tamil
community and to Sri Lanka as a whole. I may get killed in the process –
directly or indirectly by the villagers,
due to these guys being clueless as to how I would receive their communications
and how their actions and communications would be received by me through my
natural mind structure which is very different to theirs – more different than
that of their parallel within the Sinhalese community. Once my self-respect
goes down, my self-confidence goes down and my natural immunity against such
threats goes down. THAT is the problem when we are ‘free’ without being
conscious of higher status and the protocols that go with it. We infect each
other.
In post-war Northern Sri Lanka – if LTTE are celebrated as heroes – then
the likes of me who invested in the non-violent pathway of Peaceful Assembly to
express my earned rights – become foreigners – as I have here in Thunaivi which
is possessed by Toddy Tapper caste who condemned the Farmer caste on the basis
of unjust discrimination but are themselves now treating me as an outcast.
As I kept saying to the folks here in the process of getting ready to
complete this project – the guy Vasee was only the last piece through whom the
common sentiments of the whole village were expressed. If I am an ‘insider’
then I am treated like any other parent – especially mothers in this community
and as per that community – the mother is ‘told’ by sons who are physically
strong. If I am outsider – then when I
am not here – my property becomes the property of those who use it through
their physical powers to occupy and possess.
LTTE and other militant groups promoted the junior caste youth to senior
positions due to their cleverness in using arms and ‘winning’ to show. Post war
society has to now live with that with little recourse to higher caste status through which
authority would flow from senior to junior. Ex LTTE and their supporters are
not the only ones suffering due to common debits. Eliminating the caste system without
a merit based system of allocation of status disconnects us from our roots
where seniors were respected by juniors. When we respect – we naturally inherit
the structures of seniors.
This is the reality at this place for this generation. There is a
structure through which they could learn how to integrate with wider society or
continue as if I was never here. My project has become ‘Research’ project for
all concerned and the real return for me is the ‘position’ of outsider
allocated by this community which has no vision towards a better structure than
they already have today. As I explained to our coordinator, the law abiding
citizen and the law breaking citizen cannot be ‘free’ at the one place at the
same time. One has to go for the other to survive. This applies to others
involved in post-war development as a special project. The Truth we discover
through such experiences – however painful they may be, becomes our Guru from
then on.
Appendix
Kali-Vairavar
Temple
Thunaivi
6
August 2017
OIC
Vaddukoddai Police
Vaddukoddai
Junction
Dear
Officer,
Break
and Enter / Trespass and Apprehended Violence Complaint
I
am Mrs Gajalakshmi Paramasivam and when I come to Thunaivi, Vaddukoddai, I live
at our cottage in our private temple grounds. Some youth have been giving us
problems by coming into the temple to use their phones, chat and shout and show
rowdy behaviour. Due to some damage when I came in May this year, I instructed
that the gates be kept locked except for when someone wanted to pray. Part of
the damage was to the fence constructed at a cost of around Rs.200,000 and the
loss of solar light worth Rs.40,000
Yesterday, around 5.45 a.m. – Mr. Rathinam who
is in charge of locking the gates and turns on and off, the lights at our
temple in Thunaivi drew my attention to the damage to our wire fence. While I
was inspecting, Mr. Rathinam’s grand daughter Mrs. Atchutha Senthil who lives
next door to me – also came out and she pointed to the fence further away from
us and said that she saw a ‘gap’ there also. I looked but could not see the gap.
When Mr. Rathinam and I went close to that part of the fence, we noticed the
damage there also. Then I came back close to where Mrs. Atchutha Sentil was on
the other side of our fence and asked her whether she was able to see that
far. Mrs. Atchutha Senthil then said that she could.
A
little later, Mr. Jegan, our Electrician cum plumber came and I was talking to
him about more lighting for the area. The Mr. Vasee Vadivel came from the
direction of Mr. Senthil’s home and he was carrying an electric drill in his
hand. He has been warned many times even before we locked the gates – for him
not to come to the temple except for praying and/or meditating. After the gates
were locked they did not use the temple grounds as walkway. But yesterday, when
I asked Mr. Vasee what he was doing inside my compound, he said that he was
using the Common Pathway. He entered through one gap on the side of Mr.
Senthil’s home and walked towards the other gap close to his (Mr. Vasee’s
Home). I reminded him that it was private property and that he was acting
unlawfully even after I had specifically asked them not to use our property.
Then Mr. Vasee turned around and went back towards the gap in the fence through
which he had entered.
I
then said that his entry would have been recorded in the camera and that that
also would be submitted to the Police along with my complaint and that might
lead to thoughts of whether he had played a role in damaging our fence. Then
Mr. Vasee shouted at me and asked ‘Are you saying that I cut the fence?’ I said I was saying that there was evidence
that he had entered our premises unlawfully. Then Mr. Vasee said in a loud
voice ‘I will smash your face flat’. I turned around and continued with my
conversation with the Electrician – Mr. Jegan. I heard Mr. Vasee talk in a loud
voice to the people who quickly gathered outside fence.
I
have now taken footage of the above incident from our Security Camera. The
night ones when the fence was damaged do not have enough lighting. Both are
available and could be submitted to the Police if needed.
I
am very concerned for my safety and if something happens to me I want the
Police to take the above into consideration. We donated land to the People for
post-war rehabilitation and this is what we get in return. I have complained
previously also to the Police but they seem to not be concerned about it. I have not been able to sleep and I keep a
knife and a hammer to attack any intruder. The Government has failed to value
my services here and since I don’t seem to be able to make a difference to the
lives of these folks, I am seriously considering to reduce my service here to a
minimum. I seek to publish this – so
that others will be warned of the risks here. As I have said many times last week
to these folks – one day they are likely to have a case similar to the rape and
murder of Miss Vithya Sivaloganathan.
The
Women’s Association which was given the keys to the Development Secretariat –
do not seem to do anything about these threats in the area. All they seem to do
is to look for how to get funds and loans. That was not the purpose for which
we donated part of the temple land. The conduct especially of youth in this
high risk area – needs to confirm that the funds donated have been used on
needs basis - the fundamental need
being to prevent future militancy.
The
other complaint I have is the menace of pigeons that are groomed by Mr Senthil
and Mrs. Atchutha Senthil along our boundary wall. The pigeons come and dirty
our front veranda and I am tired of cleaning the place again and again. As you
are aware – prevention of Dengue is Government’s priority in Health Service –
and this pigeon problem enhances the risk of all types of health problems. I
believe that one person’s pet should not be another’s nuisance.
Yours
sincerely,
Gajalakshmi
Paramasivam
CC:
GA – Jaffna
The Hon C.V.Wigneswaran,
Chief Minister, Northern Province
The Hon Ananthi Sasitharan
Minister of Women Affairs, Rehabilitation,
Social Service
Northern
Province
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