Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

28 September 2018

Balance of Sovereignty

Most of us currently living in Western countries start family with the claim of Love. At that stage ‘Romance’ is presented as Love.

Relatively speaking, when we lived in the East, majority went along with ‘arranged marriages’. Love is the soul value of not only marriage but any family relationship.

Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera is reported to have stated at the  UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that Vellala (Farmer) Tamils discriminated against non-Vellala caste.

The caste system that existed then – was the parallel of Arranged Marriages. Marriages by Romance as the yardstick are individual measures. Likewise – self-governance at individual level. Self-governance at community level is a transitional milestone towards this individual measure. Romance based marriages would progress successfully towards Oneness only when the two concerned are independent of their biological families where the natural tendency is for seniors by age to get the leading positions and therefore the juniors get the ‘other’ position – where one is ‘told’ by the senior. That is like measuring the earth with physical measures and concluding that it is flat.  Now most educated folks accept that the earth is spherical. One who continues to ‘see’ and believe is right for her/his environment for her/his purposes. But that would be wrong when expressed in a common forum where one or more have done the greater work to discover that the earth is spherical and they live by that discovery. It is for this reason that those driven by mental abilities get to lead intellectually driven organizations. Large organizations that cover wide areas need intellectually driven persons/groups to function successfully. Likewise in multicultural families and communities. One would become multicultural by time based separation also. When the junior generation fails to carry forward their parental and ancestral values – there is time based multiculturalism – as in Arranged Marriages v Romance driven marriages.

This seniority by age in autocracy is the parallel of majority vote in democracy. Where majority rule is used in a multicultural society  - the whole loses its balance of Sovereignty. THAT is what happened in Sri Lanka.

 The speaker of Sri Lankan Parliament – the Hon Karu Jayasuriya is reported to have stated

as follows at the 21st commemoration of Al Haj Bakeer Markar:

[….Because the mind is the ultimate cause for everything. The verse in Dhammapada, “Mano pubbangama dhamma” teaches that mind precedes all dhamma. If we don’t subject ourselves to a shift in our minds, a united Sri Lanka will be a challenge.

All founders of religions tried to develop human mind. With religious teachings we have been taught the way to gain control over ourselves by developing the mind.

Within the spiritual life, it leads us to great achievements. In today’s society where physical expectations are given prominence, why is it necessary to develop people’s minds for such development?

That is because we are all human beings. Irrespective of race, religion or caste, because we are one, in terms of biological factors. As a result of one race being considered superior than another, conflicts have been created all over the world. When factors like politics and greed for power are added to this, huge destruction is caused.]

There is recognition that all races / religions need to be taken as Equals to practice the principle of Sovereignty of the whole and therefore the individual. But the above is also in direct contradiction of Article 9 of the Constitution – which states that Buddhism is the foremost religion in Sri Lanka. Coming to the above forum crowned by his Parliamentary status – requires the speaker to get the ‘right’ tick rather than speak his individual truth. The Parliament’s partnerships with Intellectual Institutions are like arranged marriages. You get the support of the family / institution even though you may not have the excitement of romance. The individual without such support is free to express her/his Truth. A structure that facilitates that is Democratic.

Vellala folks are more likely to have invested in structured ‘arranged-marriages’ than say toddy-tappers/Nalavar. Hence Romance based marriages carry low status in the Tamil community than in ‘arranged-marriages’. Through my own experience, I know that even worship at the temples is culturally different. Our family temple, where majority regular worshippers are of toddy-tapper culture – is less structural than the well known Pittiyampathy Sangarathai Pathrakali temple where majority are of Vella caste. The challenges in maintaining  our structural order are stronger at our family temple than at Sangarathai Kali temple due to this majority force. Likewise between armed governance and intellectual governance. The Divine power in both temples is Mother Kali. But the pathways of invoking the blessings of that Divine power are different. To maintain that balance – we invest more in structural improvements to Equal the majority power of devotees.

When the ‘structures’ are reliable – they confirm that the pathway would lead to Unity / Love / Truth. They would be reliable to the extent they are Sovereign. In structured environments they would take different shapes / forms on the way. In families these are known as relations – including son, daughter, grandson etc. In a Nation they are known as race, religion etc. based communities. Where the Government is against Federalism – a member does not have the authority while in uniform – to promote multicultural diversity.

Families headed by women who functioned as homemakers would need to do more than male-headed families due to this value, placed on external status where one has to ‘show’ to get credit. The parallel of that is that the Hindu Chief Minister of Northern Province would not get equal status as the Buddhist  Chief Minister of Uva Province and would therefore need to do more to get Equal status.

The Speaker leads us to the above conclusion as follows:

[When we consider the content of many programmes implemented by the Bakeer Markar Centre within the last few years, it becomes obvious that backdrop for today’s topic was formed through them. Specially, I believe that the “Weligama Declaration” published by the Bakeer Markar Centre several years ago, is a very important declaration. I am convinced that the dialogues that later took place at district level based on this declaration compiled by erudite monks like the late Ven. Aluthwewa Soratha thero, chief incumbent of Kirivehera who was also the Chancellor of Uva Wellassa University, together with media personnel, were very timely.]

Note – Weligama Declaration is presented by Groundviews as follows:

[In September 2006, several journalists and media practitioners began a process of reflection and discussion on their role in easing this tension and building lasting peace on the island. Collectively, they felt that they had a duty to contribute positively towards building national unity in Sri Lanka and subsequently devised the Weligama Declaration. It was accepted and signed in the Southern town of Weligama by ten professional media organizations including the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, The Editors Guild of Sri Lanka, the Free Media Movement, The Muslim Media Forum, The Tamil Media Forum and the South Asian Free Media Association.]

The question that came to my mind is whether it was appropriate for Mr Karu Jayasuriya – the citizen,  to praise an apparently Buddhist leader in an apparently Muslim institution? Also in terms of Weligama Declaration whose name sounds like Vaddukoddai Declaration, the name Weligama is Sinhalese and would be rejected by Tamils who have made very little investment in Sinhalese. A Declaration made in Thunaivi where majority are known as Nalavar – may be named - Thunaivi Declaration. But it would be read as Nalavar Declaration by the Vellala folks. The substance needs to be stronger than the looks to override such interpretations. Once we believe – the name is least important.

The Groundviews article explains further:

[The Weligama Declaration highlights several areas where journalists and the media can play a conscious and proactive role to foster peace and a better understanding of the different ethnic compositions of Sri Lanka. For example, by enabling the diversity of the socio-cultural and political aspirations of the people to be heard; by clarifying misconceptions that could worsen tension; by a greater awareness of the need to work towards peace building and by acknowledging that sections of the media have contributed towards the deepening of the conflict in the past.

With regard to the last point, this is by no means the first time that the media, and in particular the press, has been guilty of expressing power without responsibility. Sunanda Deshapriya of the Free Media Movement added that our reporting causes riots and if murder carried out by anyone is considered a heroic act and if distrust and fear is spread amongst the general public then I feel that there is some fault in the manner in which we report. We feel that the Weligama Declaration will enable us to make positive changes to the way we operate as journalists. 

But the question remains, does peace and harmony sell as well as defamation and hatred?]

If Mr Karu Jayasuriya seeks to be recognized as the good-boy by Parliament – he needs to say all the right things as the President did recently at the UN. If he seeks membership with the Common Citizen’s forum he needs to resign from his position whose duty is directly defined by the Constitution – and therefore Buddhism foremost theory. Then Mr Jayasuriya becomes the Equal Opposite of that apparently Muslim institution which has NOT changed its name to a common form.  

As per the principles of Democratic Government, this article 9 scientifically  divides the whole into Buddhists on one side and other religions on the other side.  Non-Buddhists then become the Equal Opposition of Buddhists. This was what the Hon G G Ponnambalam also proposed on language basis – known as the 50:50  policy.

Whether we recognize it or not – we need this equal and opposite force to maintain Sovereignty as a Nation. Nature confirms this by man and woman union being needed for reproduction of another sovereign unit. Whenever Buddhism is abused to exercise power over non-Buddhists – Sri Lanka loses its Balance of Sovereignty.

This week - ‘Man foremost’ rule was abolished in India where the Judiciary has ruled that Adultery is no longer a crime:

 [India's top court has ruled adultery is no longer a crime, striking down a 158-year-old colonial-era law which it said treated women as male property.

Previously any man who had sex with a married woman, without the permission of her husband, had committed a crime.

A petitioner had challenged the law saying it was arbitrary and discriminated against men and women.

It is not clear how many men have been prosecuted under the law - there is no data available.

This is the second colonial-era law struck down by India's Supreme Court this month - it also overturned a 157-year-old law which effectively criminalised gay sex in India.] BBC

When the form fails to confirm commonness or Equal status it is not democratic.  Equal status is essential where diversity is actively recognized. Can’t have it both ways. A government led by Armed Forces has to facilitate Equal level of Armed forces amongst citizens or give up its Democratic status. Where the Armed forces are deployed in non-Buddhist areas – such as Sri Lanka’s North & East – the citizens in those areas are entitled to double the non-Buddhist armed forces formed by their citizen without government portfolios.

The parallel of the above ruling in India is for the Judiciary to uphold these principles of Democracy in areas where citizens have maintained harmony. That would weaken the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

As per communication from a Sri Lankan Diaspora Leader:

[The Indian Supreme Court has ordered Parliament to frame laws to bar those accused of crimes from fighting elections]

Where the Sri Lankan media is reliable all those responsible for war-crimes also would be exposed to their local electorates. LTTE and therefore the Tamil Community was punished by such exposure through the vertical system. It’s equal and opposite parallel needs to happen to maintain the balance of diversity.  Truth through one system would naturally form Itself through the alternate system.