Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

03 August 2018

Sri Lankan – the Rose between thorns

[Northern politicians are only concerned with getting a federal administrative system. They are not concerned about the suffering poor. There was a lot of truth in Vijayakala’s statement and the delivery of a sufficient quantity of Moragahakanda water to northern farmers is the only solution to address northerners’ poverty. Otherwise, frustrated northerners would continue to create another revolt in the North.] – Mr Tudor Wijenayake in his article - Vijayakala’s statement: Can Government prevent another revolt in the North?

Every true Sri Lankan will naturally prevent another revolt in South as well as North. Sinhala only Separatists and Tamil only Separatists will naturally contribute to revolts against Common Administration. To the extent, Northern politicians are arguing for Federal Administrative system – their contributions to Northern revolt is diminished.

The flaw in Mr Wijenayake’s  presentation is that he speaks as if he identifies with Mrs Maheswaran’s Truth in the form expressed. If therefore Mrs Vijayakala Maheswaran’s bosses find fault with her as per their Truth then it is valid to say that they are finding fault with Mr Wijenayake also. Indiscriminate mixing of identities leads to interference in other’s ‘private’ areas. Questions are raised by young Tamils as to where Mrs Maheswaran was when other girls were raped in Jaffna by the army – in particular  Chundikuli Girls High School student Krishanti Kumaraswamy. One who identifies with the victims knows intuitively. Tamil Nationalists were rejecting Mrs Maheswaran as per their own Truth. LTTE that led the revolt also would have.  Otherwise they would not have the natural mandate to act on behalf of Tamils of Jaffna, leave alone Tamils of Sri Lanka.

We express ourselves at three levels:

1.     Hearsay

2.     Intellectual Discrimination

3.     Intuition.

The most powerful connection is made through Intuition. Intuition could be legitimately expressed through emotions and/or through intellectual discrimination using common measures such as the  law or science.

Majority of my bosses / supervisors at the workplace and within family and community circles, did  not identify first with their own intuition.  Where I felt a need in a particular position, I took that as a need by my senior also. In terms of my juniors – except immediate family – I used Truth to identify with them and rarely talked law with them. With my immediate family,  I gave structure to my Truth – through principles common to us – so they had room to ‘develop and grow’. Now I enjoy myself through them and others of similar culture.

In terms of Natural Resources such as water – the question about sharing Mahaweli waters was raised by Tamil Nationalists. Mr states :

[Shortage of water in the North
The NP receives around 1250mm of rain a year whereas NCP, East and NWP receive over 1800mm. Thus, NP is the most in need of water in the country. Traditionally, northerners are hard-working farmers, and used to draw water manually with an ‘Andiya’, which was later replaced with mechanical pumps. Excessive extraction has depleted groundwater, effecting salt-water moving in and resulting in large extents of lands becoming unsuitable for cultivation.
The Vavuniya and Kilinochchi districts with poor rainfall have few minor rivers which carry water only during the rainy season. Two districts have plenty of flatlands which, if water was made available, would become agriculturally productive and produce grains, fruits and vegetables. Currently, after rains in November and December, northern vegetables enter southern markets, bringing prices down. 

Development of tanks in the North
The Government’s decision to reconstruct abandoned tanks in the Vavuniya District, with Army assistance was opposed by the NP’s Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran and other Tamil MPs. When the subject was discussed at the Vavuniya District Development Committee meeting, MPs wished to use the Rural Development Committees instead. But, Sinhala members objected to using RDCs, which could result in delays and commissions. They claimed the Army would complete work early at a lower cost. ]

Army doing civilian work except in emergencies, confirms indiscriminate crossing of boundaries.  It is an insult to the war victims to whom the Government was the reason for their suffering – to even suggest that the armed forces would do the work. As for costs – ‘cheap things no good.’

Article 18 of the  Sri Lankan Constitution provides as follows:

{(1) The Official Language of Sri Lanka shall be Sinhala.

(2) Tamil shall also be an official language.

(3) English shall be the link language.

(4) Parliament shall by law provide for the implementation of the provisions of this Chapter. 19. The National Languages of Sri Lanka shall be Sinhala and Tamil.

20. A Member of Parliament or  [a member of a Provincial Council or a Local Authority shall be entitled to perform his duties and discharge his functions in Parliament  [or in such Provincial Council or Local Authority] in either of the National Languages}

Those to whom English or other language is Naturally the first language are not Nationalist Tamils or Nationalist Sinhalese. As per article 19, one has to be Tamil or Sinhalese to be Sri Lankan. Those who use any other language naturally – as their first language are non-Sri Lankans as per the above. They link the two extremes.

As per my assessment – Mrs Maheswaran is a Tamil Nationalist and Mr Wijenayake is a Sinhalese Nationalist. One would not directly identify with the other’s Truth. Therefore in Politics the two would not merge naturally.

In Sri Lankan Judiciary – the higher levels use English as the official language and often pay their respects to their Colonial ancestors by using their laws. That is the structure we need in Sri Lankan Administration also. It needs to begin with Ministers who are not Politicians only but are also Administrators.

The Judiciary is more global than the Parliament due to their use of Link language at higher levels.