Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

01 December 2018

Gandhi in Sri Lankan Parliament?

Gandhi taught us the exponential value of non-violence – including through peaceful assembly. The Hon Ranil Wickremesinghe by staying on at Temple Trees has demonstrated his commitment to Gandhian power. I realised the value of this power of Peaceful Assembly through my own Australian experiences. To access such ancestral values one needs to have a still mind. Hindus recognize Ether / Sky / Aakayam / Zero

To my mind this is best understood as zero benefits taken even in thought. One who assembles peacefully – despite having earned much on merit basis – confirms the eligibility to such power. 

Mr Ameen Izzadeen sends the following message to the President from the Media, through his article Mr. President, be a statesman even at this late hour!

[Sri Lanka’s constitutional crisis deepens, whatever ways-out political analysts may propose, only a principled solution is desirable and should be called for. This is because the health of the country’s democracy depends on a rule-based order, where the doctrine of Separation of Powers is upheld, especially with regard to the independence of the judiciary. ]

In a Democracy, the order is NOT rule based but belief based. Belief confirms completion of practice of the rule based cultural order appropriate to that environment – in this instance – an electorate. In terms of Jaffna Tamils the Thesawalamai order. Once an experience is complete – lower level benefits are merely symbolic. If he President of Sri Lanka had based his actions on belief – then whatever had  to happen must happen and will happen, unless blocked for lesser purposes.

Mr Sirisena came to power on the promise of abolishing the Executive Presidency. Even if one true Sri Lankan had a true need for such – and that Sri Lankan was active in this issue – it becomes a reality. Mr Sirisena did not like that reality. Since he lacked belief in the system of law as defined in the Constitution, he attached himself to Mr Rajapaksa – who demonstrated the power to make Mr Sirisena Prime Minister. Majority Sri Lankan leaders know this but they stay at the level of reaping ‘fruits of their work’ and hence do not block that path until their own benefits are adversely affected.

Sections of the  Tamil Diaspora also demonstrate such weaknesses from time to time. This morning for example  I received two emails – the first one carried the message about a disciple of Kadayit Swami – described as Murugesu Brown Cathiravelu :

Photo of Murugesu 'Brown' Cathiravelu from Legacy of the Pioneers - A 125 Years of Jaffna Tamils in Malaysia Volume II by T. Selvaratnam and S. Apputhurai

The other directed me to the article of Tamilwin -  headed ‘TAMIL -  Ranil and TNA are trying to fool the Tamil people once again’

The first one invoked the powers of my ancestors while the second one would have invoked the powers of Separation.

As per my family sharing Mr Murugesu Cathiravelu the great grandfather of my maternal cousins, my great grandfather Mr Ambalavanar Murugesapillai and another were blessed around the same time by Kadayit Swami - to emigrate to other Asian nations. Mr Murugesu Cathiravelu settled down in Malaysia and my great grandfather settled down in Burma. Their grand children married and set up home in Brown Road Jaffna – calling their home Penang House. After the 1958 riots our uncle Kathiravelu Visvanathan urged us to move from Colombo to Jaffna and shared his home generously with us. That place was forcibly occupied by LTTE during the war. Hence I cannot celebrate both groups at the same time.

Kadayit Swami moved to Sri Lanka from India after renouncing  his investment in the Judiciary due to the guilty verdict  by a jury in a murder case causing him internal conflict. Likewise, many of us have to renounce our investments in high level Administration due to majority Tamil Diaspora finding fault with the whole of the Government of Sri Lanka and often taking revenge – as demonstrated by the above mentioned Tamilwin article. Such renunciation of our earned opportunities escalates the value of our investment to Absolute level with zero visibility / physical form. That is of universal value. Hence those who faithfully followed the guidance of Kadayit Swami became successful in the new nations they migrated to and more importantly ‘shared’ that success with Jaffna – the place where they shared in the power of Kadayit Swami. They needed to be humble to be eligible for such sharing. In turn they became ancestors of some high performers. Mr Murugesu Cathiravelu’s great grandson Vivanathan Ramakrishnan is one of them.

The Executive Government starts with belief and develops with that as the base. Those who stay close to that base  - fail to vertically develop the nation’s capacity to intellectually connect to others on equal platform. The Judiciary has to start with the Common principles which would deliver as per the belief of the  intellectually driven – even if s/he were a minority of one. Mr Sirisena is the former and Mr Wickremesinghe is the latter. If Mr Sirisena demonstrates respect for the Judiciary – and accepts a verdict with equanimity of mind – then he confirms governance power even if he does not understand it. If he does not – then Mr Wickremesighe has the duty to keep his distance from him as per the doctrine of separation of powers that applies also to different cultures.