Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

10 July  2019

Multicultural Tamil Politics

While reading the contents of the communication  headed ‘Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam's Statement - Response by Justice C.V.Wigneswaran - 09.07.2019’ I received the email headed ‘TripAdvisor - Certificate of Excellence 2019’ from Jetwing Management. I quickly looked through the list  at http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/1152271/9396f52098/ARCHIVE#like and was happy to note that both – Jetwing Jaffna as well as North Gate by Jetwing at Martin Road – Jaffna, where I lived during my school days – were included. It felt as if I had been recognized by the Customer Agency. To me the timing meant that Jaffna has the capacity to become world-class in Customer Service.

On that basis – let us evaluate the dissatisfaction expressed by Mr Wigneswaran about the Political Management in Jaffna. The various components of our Services need to be broken down – as we breakdown programs into projects in Democratic Resource Management. Tamil Congress in this instance represents one aspect while Mr Wigneswaran’s group represents another – just like Lord Muruga and Lord Ganesh do in Hindu structure. When there is no commonness in form in Hinduism -  the religion of majority Tamils of  Sri Lanka – it is unwise and unreliable to expect One political form to represent them. Buddhists who follow only Buddha, in contrast are entitled to expect one form. Not Hindus. To us – it is multicultural to formless philosophy. Multi political group to formless governance.

The three main criteria  through which the review is structured are – Communication, Accuracy and Value:

Communication – Mr Wigneswaran has complained that Mr Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam – the leader of All Ceylon Tamil Congress failed to respond to his written communication regarding unity within various Political Parties in Northern  Province. To what extent does Mr Wigneswaran himself respond to communications that are written to him and/or are published about the Common Tamil Politician? Between Jetwing and the Common Tamil Politician – there is a huge ‘gap’ in this area  - most of which is irreconcilable. That is also the gap between the self-managing  Common Tamil citizen and the Common elected representative. To the extent Mr Wigneswaran remained silent – when he had the opportunity to respond as the Common Politician, he also contributed to the gap. Communication between the Supplier and the Customer is an essential contribution to development of Common ownership.

Accuracy – Mr Wigneswaran has complained that his political group has been accused of including Indians. If it is Indian Intelligence – the Indian component is part of including LTTE and other militant groups that were resourced by India. Mr Wigneswaran contradicts himself by stating that he has not expressly included Indians in his work / contributions but states that he hopes that India would provide support. Is India part of the structure or not? If not – expressions of expectations of support from India become invalid. Indian support needs to be escalated to invisible regional level based on Common cultural belief. How India preserves this commonness is up to India. If current India fails – Lord Vishnu would play that role through a person/group common to India and Sri Lanka – for example Swami Sai Baba or Lord Buddha.

Orderliness: Mr Wigneswaran has referred to LTTE leader Prabakaran as ‘Thambi’ in addition to referring to Mr Ponnambalam as Thambi (younger brother). The pathway shown  by LTTE founder was outcome based. Not so the founder of All Ceylon Tamil Congress – the Hon GG Ponnambalam from whom Mr Gajendrakumar has inherited the Party Leadership. The difference between the two founders is the same as the difference between a Hindu driven by showing rituals and the Hindu philosopher. The contribution indiscriminately mixes the two groups and is of negative value.

Value – The apparent value to Mr Wigneswaran would be the status as service provider. The value to the reader / customer would be determined by each person whose resources are allocated to reading and comprehending the message. This certainly is NOT the average citizen currently living in Northern Province. That  average citizen would tend to like or dislike the fact that there are differences between Mr Wigneswaran and Mr Ponnambalam. If it is age related – then those who experience the parallels with their children have nothing to learn from studying the communication. It would have been more productive if Mr Wigneswaran had written some advice to Court Administrators to whom he would still be their judicial senior/parent.

As a Tamil of Jaffna origin – I received super-host status just yesterday, for my Airbnb hosting services. I earned 5 star rating in all aspects but 4 star for ‘value’ from 5% of my customers – due to the noise pollution from the traffic in this area – which is beyond my control. The  5 star rating by 95% is enough to strengthen my confidence as a Trainer in similar services including through regular reviews. It’s time Mr Wigneswaran put himself through such a process with the Public he claims to serve. Likewise Dr Raghavan who has become a slower communicator  than he was when he assumed responsibility as Governor.  At this rate – the Working People are likely to sideline government and operate as private citizens – leaving the welfare groups to be managed by Politicians or v.v.