Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

03 March 2018                                       

Unity Government & Buddhism

 

As per adaderana.lk, report, the Sri Lankan PM has claimed in Singapore that Unity governments with two major parties were always a challenge.

To my mind, the unity government had to happen due to weakening of the mental balance of voters, in an environment where there was strong positive investment for Sri Lanka to be democratic.

Nature / Truth has its own way of balancing the nation in a form that would highlight the investment made by genuine believer in a system. I had the direct experience of this in 2009 when I consciously prayed to Lord Buddha to help me get the approval of health ministry to go to the camps to be with those who were in need. I did not have enough subjective influence as some others known to me seemed to have, to get this approval. I took my place in the queue and in a way became Buddhist to influence the mind of the officer who was naturally driven by Buddhism foremost preaching. I believe that Lord Buddha responded to the person who believed more deeply in the common power.  Lord Buddha is Lord Buddha  - one who realised Nirvana – Soul Power

The end of any relationship is ownership which to me confirms One Soul. We are a part of each other. This is also Governance.   Where we are with those who are biologically connected to us and/or with those who are culturally like us – it is easier to function together. The higher possibilities are challenged only when we form partnerships with those who are physically and culturally different to us. This is also the secret of creation.  Without such partnership with opposite looking entities/persons, one needs self- sacrifice to feel the power of the mind and beyond that the absolute value of the Soul.

When the British left  Ceylon/Sri Lanka, they vacated their Administrative positions. To the extent they developed ownership feelings in Ceylon/Sri Lanka, they are forever part of Ceylon/Sri Lanka. When Independence is celebrated to damage this governance value, we damage our own governance value.

In family and community, we have natural authority to administer another to the extent of our higher contribution to commonness. Those who do not feel this commonness do not feel the soul-connection and therefore  are outsiders even if they seem to be physically and culturally of the one group. They do not have the moral authority to govern the other culture.

Such persons need ‘external’ intellectual knowledge in Administration, including in marriage and with children. Leaders who enjoy more benefits than they have earned confirm this loss of Governance Power and therefore  Natural Administrative power. The Rajapaksa family exercised this exponentially due to bringing biological connections to top positions through shortcuts. In democracy, the merit based earnings of a biological relative  needs to be more strongly demonstrated  than by an applicant who is not.  Effectively the Rajapaksa era was Sri Lankan form of British autocracy.

The Sinhala only legislation confirmed the attachment to the ‘physical’. After opposition from Tamils – this evolved as Buddhism foremost provision in the constitution. But real Buddhism stands on its own rights and Buddha himself set the example of self-sacrifice to realize Natural Governance power.

Had Tamil militants been successful in Tamil only claim, we also would have needed self-sacrifice like Buddha than partnership of Equal Opposition like Shiva-Shakthi philosophy in Hinduism.   

To the extent we do not  feel the soul-connection with the other culture sharing the same space/home – we need external knowledge of Administration using common measures / language. Ceylon already had this base from Colonial times including from the British. But by forgetting this we threw the baby with the bathwater.

The  two leaders – Madam Kumaratunga and the Hon Ranil Wicremesinghe led the formation of the unity government – to meet the democratic needs of today’s Sri Lanka. Sinhalese needed the two sides within their own race to challenge their higher capabilities and become creative as in marriage. Had the Rajapaksa group been self-sacrificing,  we would not have needed this subdivision within the SLFP.

Whoever guided them protected Sri Lanka from isolation. The Tamil community became a strong medium towards this through their own investments in external Administration especially through higher education. Hence Tamils became Equal partners to maintain the higher standards that Sri Lanka is capable of.  Separation beyond the need to maintain independence from majority influence would result in lower standards within the Tamil community also.

The Opposition is the first step to external Administration through which one ‘sees’ on equal footing how the side physically distant from it had an experience that produced common outcomes.  Hence one could say that Sinhalese needed this ‘internal’ marriage to know the other side, due to Tamils being treated as outsiders / foreigners.  The current government especially under the leadership of Mr Wickremesinghe is curing this problem by including more and more non-Sinhalese – especially Tamils in Senior Administrative positions. THAT would naturally attract more Tamils to become Sri Lankans and override the desire to separate for lower level freedom – only to be Administered by the gun or become the backyard of Tamil-Nadu.