Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

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18 September  2017

No Jurisdiction Justice Wigneswaran !

[A major expectation of those who were enthusiastic about the TNA’s choice of Mr. Wigneswaran as candidate for Chief Minister in the first Northern Provincial Council election in 2013, was that he would be a bridge builder between the north and the south and a political ambassador for the Tamils among the Sinhalese and the Muslims. It was also expected that by being a bridge builder and ambassador, he would be able to speedily facilitate the rebuilding and restoration of postwar North not only physically and materially, but also emotionally and psychologically. The Chief Minister’s aplomb and ambassadorial abilities were in full display on national television during his meeting with the Mahanayake. And the main purpose of his meeting was not to advocate federalism but to ask the Mahanayake to intercede on behalf of the Tamils in the North and impress on the government the urgency of rebuilding and restoration work in the Peninsula and the rest of the Northern Province.]  Mr. Rajan Philips in his Island article ‘One more symbolic step: Wigneswaran’s audience with the Mahanayake Thera’

One would legitimately expect a bridge-building outcome when:

1.     There is a gap between the two sides; and

2.     One feels on belongs to one side but seeks to belong to both sides; or

3.     One does not belong to either side but has invested in both sides from a higher plane and therefore is Common to both sides.

I believe that Mr. Wigneswaran was of category 3 while he was functioning as part of Sri Lanka’s Judiciary. In his speech during the launch of the book “Rajapakse the Sinhala Selfie” , Mr. Wigneswaran is reported to have stated:

[“I have always said that I like to meet the so called hardliners among the Sinhala Buddhists. In the Members of the Karaka Sabha I found some of them. I have confidence that we could if given time, wean them from their hardline stance to transform them to  become humanes like the Malwatte Priest,

“After all their arrogance is artificial. It is based on false beliefs, wrong presumptions and distorted perceptions. Once the truth is stated or is recognized they would return to their real fundamental Buddhistic base which is understanding and love, not hatred and suspiration.”]

Many educated Sinhalese expressed their desire/interest to meet LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.  Many educated Tamils also were curious but were not open about it as the Sinhalese. The reason for that is that Sinhalese as a community have registered LTTE as a Terrorist organization. To majority Tamils LTTE were freedom fighters because to call them Terrorists would have meant listing their own as Terrorists. They are the parallels of Sinhalese who would not list JVP as Terrorists.

Mr. Wigneswaran highlighted as  follows:

[“The Malwatte Priest was humane and interested in alleviating the sufferings of the people. The Asgiriya Karaka Sabha members who would not allow me personal audience with the High Priest but made sure all of them sat at a higher pedestal while I and my group sat at cushions placed in lower positions, were interested in projecting  their Sinhala Buddhist sentiments. They appeared conceited and almost offensively self assertive” 

“They had made up their mind that federalism is separation. I did point out to them that a recent Supreme Court judgment had confirmed that federalism is not separation and it is a way to bring disparate units together. I pointed out it was the Kandyan elite who first opted for federalism before the British Commissioners in 1930-1940. The Kandyans had said that they wished to protect their individuality by opting for federalism. The Asgiriya Priest did not appear convinced. If we could get past the veil of hardline arrogance of the Asgiriya Priests I am sure we could solve the political problems of this country soon. They seem to be a very powerful section among the Sinhala Buddhists. To that extent ours was a useful fact finding visit.]

 To my mind, if Mr. Wigneswaran’s dream of ‘getting past  the veil of hardline arrogance of the Asgiriya Priests’ became true then Tamils will takeover power from Sinhalese. The indicator was manifested at the book launch reported  as follows by Colombo Telegraph:

We publish below the speech in full:

Launch of the Book “Rajapakse the Sinhala Selfie” authored by Kusal Perera along with Sinhala Collections of Essays by him “83 Daruwo” edited by Krishan Siriwardene at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute Colombo at 4 pm on 12^th September 2017

Guru Brahma……

The parallel of the ‘Guru Brahma chant’ at a majority Buddhist forum is the chant of Vaddukoddai Resolution 1976 in a Court of Law that is hearing a fundamental rights case against Article 9 of the Sri Lankan constitution that makes Buddhism Foremost part of the Mother Laws making up Sri Lanka’s Legal system that groomed Mr. Wignewaran as a professional.  

Our manifestations, including word manifestations, need to be regulated by the laws governing that group, relationship at that time at that place. If I take on the position of Administering a majority Hindu group and wear Hindu clothes and make-up for the purpose of showing myself as a Hindu leader, I should never ‘ask’ any non-Hindu religious group – especially Buddhist group in Sri Lanka to meet with their chief. In a common forum, I must declare my Equal status as the leader of any other religion and take my place accordingly. Where there are no seats so allocated – I need to mentally position myself as Equal to any other leader on the subject matter that led to the formation of that forum and physically fill the gap through my belief based declarations – such as the Vaddukoddai  Resolution 1976. That is how the power of majority rule is raised to the power of self-governance by merging through belief. I took such a position last night during the meeting of Sri Lanka Reconciliation Forum, Sydney where the keynote speaker was introduced to us as follows:

[ His current challenge is to identify constructive roles for the diaspora in Sri Lanka's post-conflict period through district development projects in war-affected Mannar District in the North. 

He has worked in senior policy and program positions in local government in Victoria and Queensland for over ten years.  His primary focus has been to influence institutional mindset for increased social and economic inclusion especially for those marginalised by societal arrangements, including  migrants and refugees, Indigenous peoples, international students, prisoners and asylum seekers in detention. 

Some of  his previous positions were in secondary and further education, community development and church-based social planning. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Semiotics), Diploma of Fine Arts, Grad Dip Education and a Master of Social Welfare Administration & Social Planning.]

Later the keynote speaker mentioned that later this year the Australian High Commission in Sri Lanka was due to visit their area in support of their work. A colleague of this keynote speaker mentioned that the High Commission was due there later this month. To my mind, church plus development work in that area of Mannar, resourced by foreign – (predominantly Christian) forces would dilute  Reconciliation efforts. To need Reconciliation – one has to be ignorant of the other and produce its own sides outcomes independent of the other – as the LTTE showed its cleverness at the higher level with much less resources than the Government. Such outcomes in Mannar which also became the medium used by both sides to the war – were due to religion and not language.

I shared my wisdom about the ‘long-term’ reasons as per my insight into the Hindu minds in that area. I said last night, that to them Buddhists were not their opposition but Christians – especially Catholics who according to their mind got the instructions from Rome. But there were no takers of this Hindu in that forum.

A Buddhist member of the forum who is Common Sri Lankan in that forum – said to me later – words to the effect ‘You are already doing most of this including in Thunaivi’. I identified with that as internal reconciliation by eliminating the religious influence. We need to forego/sacrifice the particular to become Common. If not we need to match particular by opposing particular.

The keynote speaker quoted that Jesus said ‘love your enemies’ but Gandhi and said ‘there are no enemies’. To the higher mind – when one loves there are no enemies visible to that mind. But again that is out of ‘jurisdiction’ in that forum especially when talking about Mannar. When we are working with the People as part of them – we have to see what they see and not enforce our own pictures on them. When we do, we confirm ‘takeover mentality’ that Mr. Wigneswaran indicated as a Hindu strongly influenced by India’s Tamil Nadu. The presence of Australian High Commission there – confirms Christian takeover mentality which would excite Hindu minds looking for a fight. Gandhi was inappropriate in the Reconciliation forum which needs to ‘show’ the pictures the two sides produced on their own before seeking to reconcile. Like in Thunaivi, Vaddukoddai, these folks are highly emotional and suited the purposes of militants. Had Mr. Wigneswaran gotten past ‘the veil of hardline arrogance’ that the leaders  of Thunaivi or for that matter the LTTE leadership within his political group also wear he would have qualified to share his discovery through education.

Saraswathi Pooja - the nine day festival dedicated to Goddess of Saraswathi begins in two days’ time. This celebration was included at our temple during my time of management. Mother Kali is the Goddess of Courage and leads those who lack knowledge and therefore rely on emotions to empower them to use physical powers. At that level the physically powerful person wins. That is also majority power. The next three days are in honour of Mother Lakshmi – the goddess of money wealth – which requires us to stay away from each other and use money as the common bridge. The supplier and the customer have to be Equal in status for this kind of governance lead to harmony. There are no wins or losses in this as each one is independently responsible for what they bring to the common forum. The final three days are dedicated to Education – through which guru-shishya relationship is developed.

In combat between two groups of royalty, prince Arjuna is in higher position relative to Lord Krishna who takes the position of charioteer. Likewise, the keynote speaker at last night’s gathering. But as the driving force – Lord Krishna becomes the Guru and Arjuna accepts him and humbly bows to Krishna to receive the structure of Guru-Shishya tradition. Hence he receives directly the structure needed to defeat his own teachers and family elders now on the other side. This enables the shishya / junior to merge the guru/senior in her/his mind and use the total force on behalf of both. Thuaivi is now in learning mode due to at least some of them investing in higher education. They would not want to lose their bodies for the lesser educated to win. We ourselves have to remove the veil of ignorance. Forming groups towards this is the core purpose of Politics.