Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
15 October 2017
Business of Dumbing Down
["Buddhist worship places have Hindu
Gods inside the temples and Tamil kovils too have Buddha statues but look at
the way they fight," he exclaimed.
"Sri Lanka is a unique
country where both the majority and the minority suffer from a minority
complex, suspicious and no faith on each other. In most other countries it is
the minorities who suffer from complexities but in Sri Lanka the majority also
suffers from a minority complex," the Governor quipped.
He added that he stands for
reconciliation always as he also suffered at the hands of people who burnt his
house down and injured him a long time ago. "I was threatened, hit, and my
house burnt down, that is why I know how important reconciliation is."] Ceylon Today article – ‘Both Sinhalese and Tamils came 2,500 years
ago – Gov Cooray
During
the height of war, when I was physically put through checks by armed officers I
would bring Lord Buddha to my conscious mind – in the belief that my mind would
be more easy for a Buddha worshipper to connect to. Often when I passed the
Buddha statue on Galle Road in Colombo 6, I would stand and pay my respects to
Lord Buddha. I am not aware of any other Tamil doing this. Now that the
searches have ceased, I am back in my Hindu pathway which includes Buddha but
is not predominantly Buddha when I am open to the Public, in a country divided
by religion.
Majority
Hindus known to me do not worship Lord Buddha. I have however, observed
Buddhists worshipping Hindu forms of Divinity in Sri Lanka. Hence the above
statement by the Governor of Northern Province
who is a representative of the President of Sri Lanka, does not make
sense to me. It could be a way to dumb down majority power but the question is
whether it is reality outside his mind?
I
believe that the answer is embedded in manifestations that happened at around
the same time in the Northern Province Capital of Jaffna:
[A
court order was issued by the Jaffna Magistrate ,banning protests in
Jaffna during President Maithreepala Sirisena’s official visit to Jaffna today
(14).
The court order was issued by Jaffna Magistrate S.Sadeeshkaran
upon a request made by Jaffna Police.
Accordingly the order banned all protests in
areas adjoining Jaffna Hindu College, Jaffna Court, Jaffna Governor’s office
and areas visited by President.
Court has also issued orders to Northern Provincial Council member M.K Sivajilingam, Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) party leader Suresh Premachandran, All Ceylon Tamil Congress(ACTC) leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam not to attend the protest.] adaderana.lk report - Court bans protests in Jaffna during President’s visit
Court has also issued orders to Northern Provincial Council member M.K Sivajilingam, Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) party leader Suresh Premachandran, All Ceylon Tamil Congress(ACTC) leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam not to attend the protest.] adaderana.lk report - Court bans protests in Jaffna during President’s visit
As per Ceylon Today article
‘Hartal
brings Jaffna to a halt Call to release prisoners held under PTA’:
[Northern
Provincial Councillor M.K. Sivjailingam was later allowed to meet Governor
Cooray.
"We have held our protest today (13) and
if we don't hear a good message we will hold another protest tomorrow
(14)", he said. ]
If the protests were Belief based
and their power is stronger than the intellectual order of the Court –
representing National Judicial Power that empowers ALL who invest in the Common path of law – then Belief must win
above order of Law. Under those circumstances, Northern Provincial
Councillor the Hon M.K. Sivajilingam needs to be arrested for overruling the
Court. Then he would become the example of Political prisoner, provided that
there are prisoners from his electorate in the group that the protestors are
representing. If Mr. Sivajilingam did not hold an office – he would, like
Gandhi – represent the whole group he believes he is a part of.
When I sought to meet
with the Vice Chancellor of the University of NSW, I was, in my mind,
representing all victims of abuse of power through the then system of
Administration. In Truth I was representing all those who contributed to the
University’s core mandate. Since I did not resist arrest – I became a political
prisoner. The only protest that took place was when I was sentenced to prison
for one year by Magistrate Pat O’Shane who ordered me to undergo checks and treatment
for mental disorder. It was at the hospital that I realised that I was going past the safe
borders of dumbing-down towards permanent incarceration of the mind. Magistrate
Pat O’Shane is the parallel of Mr. Sivajilingam,
driven by his local area power which includes the power of LTTE Leader
Velupillai Prabhakaran who is a relative. They carry two system in their mind
through which they operate. When they are defeated by one system they take
refuge in the other – this other usually being the easier one through which
they can satisfy themselves. As per my family culture – the child disciplined
by one parent should not be given refuge by the other parent, except when the
former is abusive.
The folks of Jaffna
recognize TNA as the higher level representative of the consolidated belief of
Sri Lankan Tamils. Anyone protesting as a TNA representative has the mandate of
Tamils. If others think that the
protestors represent the Common Jaffna citizen – then like Magistrate Pat O’Shane
who confessed to suffering from bipolar disorder, and to my mind was seeing
herself through that version of me, the Jaffna citizen has dumbed down to the level
of Valvettithurai citizen – and disconnects her/himself from the rich heritage
of intellectual discrimination based Administration that we and our ancestors
have invested in. Belief does not discriminate. External knowledge does and
hence needs to be available to and applied on Equal footing along lateral base.
Once we accept official
position, we show that we believe in the
system of law. Then, we must go through that system and accept the punishment
even to share our belief that the law is unjust. One who has no official position
is the only free person to effectively declare belief before going through the
official system. Those who vote and those who accept the vote do not have that
freedom. Natural forces would not support them.
Once, a senior
Academic Administrator at the University of NSW said that migrant students
brought the standards of the University down. I was offended then because I
myself had dumbed myself down to earn a living at a place that was
overregulated due to overload of unpractised laws – especially in
Administration of Resources. Now I realise that the dumbing down by the
University was for practical reasons of Business – especially from those who
used knowledge to earn a living or sold it for a profit. The latter were not
blamed by that Academic who is a beneficiary of that profit. One of minority
status in that environment gets the blame. But when they continue to perform as
per the high standards they have invested in – they become the ultimate
winners.
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