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

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.