Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

27 January 2019

Tamil Prime Minister of Minorities

A couple of leaders forwarded the following call by Ms Waduge : ‘Sri Lanka’s Opposition Leader - Defend Our National Army’

Ms Waduge opens her article with the conclusion ‘We finally have an opposition that doesn’t support the government in power’

This then means that to this group the Tamil National Alliance was, the government until now. Accordingly in Ms Waduge’s mind,  Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa who is Ms Waduge’s hero has been awarded his due place as leader of the Opposition. Ms Waduge is not alone in this. Mr Karu Jayasuriya as well as other Parliamentarians including the President,  who did not oppose the transfer of title from Mr Sampanthan to Mr Rajapaksa also have demonstrated such attitude. But the actual power did not shift from Mr Sampanthan to Mr Rajapaksa. It will manifest at the right time at the right place. All we have to do is to continue to develop that into transcendental power. At that level we carry our true investment in governance as energy. This is the reason why many young Tamils who fled Sri Lanka during the war are blooming in politics in the West. Our true investment matures as Energy and rises to support us in the right environment.

Recently, a Muslim spiritual leader who speaks excellent Tamil warned former LTTE deputy leader Karuna against Karuna’s opposition to the latest appointment to the position of Governor of Eastern Province, by the President being a Muslim. The point that I identified most with in that warning is -  that it is the Lord who decides.

Truth is always there. Truth that we identify with comes with us wherever we go. What is the Truth that I identify with in Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa recruiting LTTE deputy leader Karuna over to his side? The change was through bribe. One who offers the bribe is as corrupt as the one who is bribed. Mr Rajapaksa is reported to have  already had that experience with Karuna’s boss Velupillai Prabakaran who in 2005 prevented Tamils from voting in the Presidential elections. We do not know the exact cause of such blockage of Tamils  exercising their rights to govern. But the effects would confirm that the people feared LTTE and therefore facilitated the presidency of Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa. Where people are dependent on leaders / seniors – the effects they produce/produced through them are the causal forces. Where one is driven by her/his own mind and is open about it – so her/his heirs would learn – those are the causal forces that one is entitled to take as reliable.

Ms Waduge claims that :

[Sri Lanka’s conflict is TERRORIST not ETHNIC]

In support Ms Waduge lists also the following:

[LTTE began its killing spree in 1975 when it assassinated the Mayor of Jaffna – Alfred Duraiappah (a Tamil) LTTE next targeted Tamil policemen on duty to scare them from joining the public service.]

To my mind, to the extent LTTE killed Tamils including Muslims to whom mother language was Tamil – they were Terrorists. If the Government did not punish them back then – then the government is guilty of failing in its duty to the victims. When such failure rate is higher than in the case of Sinhalese – the government is guilty of waging an ethnic war. Psychologically speaking, the defeats that the Sinhalese government suffered at political and administrative levels would lie in waiting for the next round of conflict. If not for this reality – there is no reason for Ms Waduge or the Rajapaksa government that declared victory over in the internal war – to refer to LTTE examples to show Mr Rajapaksa’s strengths. In democracy one has to ‘wait’ until the other side produces its own independent outcomes. One needs the bowler to bowl before one bats. Otherwise it is imaginary and imagination leads to disorder of the mind.

The Rajapaksa government won militarily but lost politically to Tamil National Alliance in 2015, when Mr Sampanthan whose political energy kept accumulating during war times also – became the Prime Minister of Minorities / Leader of the Opposition.  Mere number count does not render one the minority status. One needs to have the insight into issues to see and project the other side of that which is produced by the Government. One should not wait for time to tell. Mr Rajapaksa ‘tells’ and does not even wait for time to tell the other side. Before time could ‘tell’ he changes position.

Ms Waduge states about the UN Resolution A/HRC/RES/25/1 on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka passed by the 25th regular session of the UNHRC on 27 March 2014:

[In 2014 Resolution 25/1 authorized an investigation by the UNHRC (OISL) which ended in March 2015. Citizens of Sri Lanka never had a chance to counter the allegations made. It was obvious that the objective was to present a case that system crimes via chain of command was committed. They were not interested in individual crimes. The report covered 4 IHL crimes and 4 human rights charges – the GOSL without assessing its credibility or truth went & co-sponsored the controversial resolution (30/1). Was the co-sponsorship with the mandate of the President & with the knowledge of Parliament or was it simply on the acceptance by the then foreign minister. The Opposition should officially demand an investigation into the legality of co-sponsoring 301/ as a priority. ]

Between March 2014 and March 2015, Mr Rajapaksa declared Presidential elections well  ahead of schedule – without waiting for time to tell. When an elected leader confirms ahead of schedule, it confirms that s/he believes that s/he would lose if s/he waited until the whole terms was completed or s/he wants to reinforce to the wider world that the People consider her/him to be ‘right’. Given the UNHRC Resolution and the reports that this led to, the global minds in Sri Lanka and outside influencing Sri Lankan voters – it was highly likely that the UN intervention was the reason why Mr Rajapaksa declared elections before the end of his natural term. In his shoes that is what I would have done as a politician facing global criticism.

The minister of  foreign affairs that Ms Waduge refers to above was Mr Managala Samaraweera who was also minister of  foreign affairs during Mr Rajapaksa’s time as President. With such politicians who keep changing sides, their own personal beliefs and truths would drive them. They confirm weak institutional relationships. The question is why Mr Rajapaksa who was part of the Parliament at the time of Resolution 30/1 – did not question the government over the actions of the foreign minister? Was it due to individual loyalty being stronger than party loyalty? Whatever the reason – it confirms lack of Opposition Energy to question at that level. Mr Sampanthan had that Energy.

All of us work best in positions that are natural to us. As per my observations, Mr Rajapaksa becomes most active as a leader using armed forces. Sometimes these are positive and at others they are negative. The value of the net outcome in terms of positivity or negativity depends on the other environmental forces – the strongest of which are the karmic forces in the case of environments in which we are not active. Mere politics is not an environment in which Mr Rajapaksa becomes strongly active. Ms Waduge confirms this by invoking LTTE which is part of our horoscope. If they are invoked after Mr Rajapaksa declared victory over them – then politically, Mr Rajapaksa becomes weaker and weaker. This is why the Paava Kirahams / Debilitated planets – in the horoscopes that denote our uncorrected mistakes in the past – should not be activated but respected and diffused through Parihaaram / compensation and/or  repentance.

If Mr Sampanthan and therefore the Tamil community confirms outstanding improvements in promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka – then they lead Sri Lanka at the global level. THIS is what we as a community are doing – by ourselves for ourselves.