Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

15 July  2019

The Global Tamil & Mr Boris Johnson

This morning I received an email headed ‘BORIS  JOHNSON .....and the revenge of the Turks!’. I included Mr Johnson in one of my email lists to share my feelings based thoughts on Tamils and Sinhalese of British origin who have made strong impact with the British. Truth being Universal – I feel that even if my emails are not read – the positions held by the recipients would be strengthened by the power of true sharing. I do receive acknowledgements without fail and that to me is confirmation of orderly administration at the primary level. At the other end – is belief based sharing without any form to confirm such sharing. To the extent I am genuine – I believe that the other side receives it. This may or may not be the individual named therein but the position or beyond that the issue of ethnic diversity. It could have been Mr Navin Dissanayake who is part of the Sri Lankan government  and who did respond in his own way.

I believe that every completed interaction empowers the relationship and that every completed relationship empowers common ownership. I completed mine with Mr Navin’s father the Hon Gamini Dissanayake who was our Law lecturer at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Sri Lanka. I believe that all that also contributed to the Hon Gamini Dissanayake supporting  Tamil Politicians to take their due place in Sri Lankan politics, which is presented by Mr DBS Jeyaraj as follows in his recent article about Mr Amirthalingam:

[Former Mahaweli Development Minister Gamini Dissanayake was strongly supportive of the Indo-Lanka Accord and resultant peace efforts. He played a prominent role in encouraging self-exiled TULF leaders to return and be re-absorbed into the political mainstream during the latter stages of the J.R. Jayewardene Government. Gamini Dissanayake in 1988 took the initiative in ensuring the security of TULF leaders when he was a minister.]

With this sharing of commonness as my investment in Mr Borris Johnson my interests were drawn by the message ‘In a few days from now, Ali Kemal Bey’s great grandson, Boris Johnson, may become Prime Minister of the UK!’

The message was based on the write up by Dr Norman Finkelstein – an American of Jewish origin who is reported to have been banned in 2008 from entering Israel for 10 years for criticizing Israeli policies. The Facebook message in essence is as follows:

[At this time a century ago, the Interior Minister of Turkey was Ali Kemal Bey, who had established the Anglophile Society, advocating that Turkey become a British protectorate (like Kuwait, Qatar and Johor were at that time). He was hopelessly on the wrong side of history!

When Atatürk completed the reconquest of Turkey from British, French, Italian, Greek and Armenian control in November 1922, Atatürk’s colleague, General Nureddin, had Ali Kemal captured; he was then lynched and hanged from a tree.

In a few days from now, Ali Kemal Bey’s great grandson, Boris Johnson, will become Prime Minister of the UK! (Ali Kemal’s son, Osman Wilfred Kemal, changed his name to Wilfred Johnson, taking his maternal grandmother’s maiden name).

Ali Kemal was a journalist and politician, just as his grandson Stanley Johnson was. Stanley’s sons, Boris and Jo, are both former journalists and ministers, and their sister, Rachel Sabiha Johnson, carries Ali Kemal’s second wife’s name as her middle name!]

To my mind, the above is a clear confirmation of dual-policy mind that develops dual personalities – when duality is stronger than commonness. Truth makes us common. When we are dual – and we are taken as policy makers  or academic leaders – we develop our other side position – the same way I develop the common reader in my writing work. There are takers at various levels and at the point I read mine  Dr Finkelstein ‘s had 94 Comments and 273 Shares. The one who passed on to me was one of them and of Sri Lankan Tamil origin and this risk of duality  is of concern to me.
 

In that response to  Sri Lankan Minister Mr Navin Dissanayake, I included the following:

[As for the Kingdom of Kandy – A few years back I wrote referring to  the last king of Kandy ‘King Vickrama Rajasinha’ as per Wikipedia. Months later when I was looking for accommodation I came across Raja House about which experience I later wrote as follows last year:

 ‘I felt that I received the blessings of the above King when I was looking for accommodation in Colombo a couple of years back and my usual host was away in London. I found the place called ‘Raja House’ along Rajasinghe Road in Colombo 6 – commonly known as Tamil suburb. The morning after my arrival – I discovered the pictures of Sri Wickrama Rajasingha wearing the ‘Pottu’ – representing the third eye and usually worn by Hindus. As per my experience, Sinhalese do not wear the Pottu and hence the Pottu became a feature through which Tamil women were identified more easily by attackers in Colombo. I recall that in 1977 when I was pregnant with my daughter Gayathri – I consciously removed the Pottu when going to work – so there was less risk of me becoming the target of those attacking Tamils. Had King Rajasingha manifested in Colombo as he was when he passed away on 30 January 1832, it is likely that he would have been butchered on the roads of Colombo while commuting between work and home.’]

We do carry certain cultural marks reflecting our identities. But once we emigrate and become ‘common’ those marks are like the planetary positions in our horoscopes. If driven more by the horoscope than by the present – we go back living in the past. This is a block in realising the full value of our present.

Let us take for example the following example of a Tamil leader Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan  who is the closest Tamil parallel of Mr Johnson I can think of right now and who is reported to have been described by the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Ceylon / Sri Lanka  and the founder of Mr Navin Dissanayake’s political party  – the Hon D S Senanayake as "the greatest Ceylonese of all times".

The following confirms that the commonness was through the merger of Western culture with Hindu spiritual life.

[Ramanathan was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1889 Birthday Honours. He was made a Knight Bachelor in 1921. Ramanathan founded two schools in northern Ceylon – Parameshwara College, Jaffna and Ramanathan College. In 1907 Ramanathan rebuilt the Sri Ponnambala Vaneswara Temple at Sea Street in Kochchikade, founded by his father. He helped establish the Hindu Education Board in 1923 and served as its president and manager of schools. He was also president of the Thiruvalluvar Maha Sabai in Madras.  Ramanathan and other leading figures founded The Ceylonese, an English-language newspaper, in 1913. He was president of the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club from 1917 to 1930. Ramanathan opposed extending voting rights to the people and urged reservation of franchise only to men of the Vellalar caste.] Wikipedia

If we now criticize now – the caste based structure – we become time based dual citizens. One creates the other unless we merge through the truth from the past into our present. That truth is there as the invisible energy. If we show it in our current life – we lose the higher enjoyment through commonness.

The problem at the University of NSW got worse due to American trained academic / Vice Chancellor  of Australian origin - who knew very little about the then current needs of the University but used the language of democracy through his autocratic position. Even though of Sri Lankan origin I had become more Australian than the American of Australian origin. Hence I invoked Australian powers to which I also had contributed. This warned me against hasty actions in Northern Sri Lanka  where citizens are highly conscious of militant power. This includes University of Jaffna established by energy of  the greatest Ceylonese.

To be a uniting force – current custodians of power of the University need to feel connect to the founders. That is when militants earn the name ‘freedom fighters’ instead of terrorists.

If Mr Johnson does merge his ancestries – then he would contribute strongly to merger of Islamic and Christian cultures.