Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

08 November  2019

TAMIL NATIONAL ALLIANCE AND AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Yesterday a Tamil Diaspora leader drew my attention to the Tamilwin report which included the statement of support to Mr Sajith Premadasa in the forthcoming Presidential Election. This report is dated 06 November 2019. However, this was AFTER the  article headed ‘Winning Elections In An Ethnically & Religiously Polarised Polity’ – published a day earlier,  by Mr  Jehan Perera of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka in which he stated as follows:

[In arriving at their decision regarding which candidate to support the TNA would have had two criteria to utilise. The first would be to assess the past actions of the candidates who are most likely to win the elections. The actions and thought frames of the past are likely to be determinative of what happens in the future. The second would be to look at the election campaigns of those leading candidates and their promises especially in what matters to inter-ethnic relations.]

The TNA’s statement includes the following:

This identity by Mr Jehan Perera confirms the strengthened  share of Sri Lankan minds. Likewise, when Tamils and Muslims identify with common positive values. One who has it in  her/himself will identify naturally with another. Many of us Tamils who feel Sri Lankan identified with Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe during the 2018 coup. THAT was a vote for UNP. TNA was part of the support but the true and  voluntary support of an individual without any vested interests is absolute – the power that Gandhi had.

Hence when my attention was drawn to the Colombo Telegraph article headed ‘Former Sri Lankan President’s Son Was Given Aegrotat Degree – LSE Admits Today’  I overrode it because of the conduct of Mr Premadasa during the above crisis. But when I read the following this morning, I felt concerned:

["As soon as I'm appointed President, a new Prime Minister who commands the confidence of Parliament will also be appointed. Sri Lanka will have a new first-time Prime Minister who will be endorsed by the majority," ]

This indicates a mind structure similar to that of Mr Sirisena. One does not ‘appoint’ a person elected by the People. One recognizes – along the lines I have stated about Mr Perera. My mind kept recalling the 2007 Australian Parliamentary elections in which Mr John Howard lost his seat. When it happened - I put it down to my own vote through the Equal Opportunity issues in which I challenged Mr Howard through court process. I believe that this helped raise the value of my vote to a much higher level and that through the system of truth it influenced migrants. Wikipedia reports the reasoning of media analysts  as follows:

[Media analysis of The Australian Election Study, a postal survey of 1,873 voters during the 2007 poll, found that although respondents respected Howard and thought he had won the 6-week election campaign, Howard was considered "at odds with public opinion on cut-through issues", his opponent had achieved the highest "likeability" rating in the survey's 20-year history, and a majority had decided their voting intention before the election campaign]

Mr Howard’s opponent Ms Maxine McKew was a Journalist who spoke the language of  Common Australians. One of the cut-through issues was refugee issue in which Mr Howard lied and upset a good proportion of the Public who genuinely value investment in globalization – as was recently confirmed by Australians living in Canada who supported ex-Manus Island detainees.  The votes of those Australians were cast mentally during that issue – highlighted through the Children Overboard declaration by Mr Howard. I have strong  investment in the suburb of Epping through extended family and more importantly my belief in Sathya Sai Baba – actively expressed through the Carlingford Sai Centre – also in the electorate of  Bennelong – named after  Aboriginal elder - Woollarawarre Bennelong.

 True belief through any form unites the minds. The system of Truth delivers as per our own needs. We need to identify with the Truth through our own environmental challenges and the system of Dharma does the rest.

Thus the services through Sri Lankans of Sinhalese origins to help Tamils come out of their depression will carry the Tamil message through to Sinhalese voters who believe in those values in their own forms.

Article 42(4) of the Sri Lankan Constitution provides as follows:

[The President shall appoint as Prime Minister the Member of Parliament, who, in the President’s opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of Parliament.]

The test is also for the strength of the President’s connection with the Parliament. If the President appoints a person he likes – and the Parliament passes a no-confidence motion against such a person as Prime Minister – the President loses credibility.  To my mind, Mr Premadasa weakened the confidence Tamils have in him through the above declaration.

TNA for their part missed the opportunity to field their own candidate to collect  second preferences. The value of Greens in Australian Political leadership  is confirmed as follows :

[The final tally indicated that McKew defeated Howard on the 14th count due to a large flow of Green preferences to her; 3,793 (78.84 percent) of Green voters listed McKew as their second preference.  Howard is the second Australian prime minister, after Stanley Bruce, to lose his seat in an election.] Wikipedia

In the above Statement - TNA has specifically highlighted that it has the third highest seats in National Parliament. To ignore TNA’s feelings and ‘appoint’ a PM of personal choice – is to risk  Public demotion by the President of himself, by himself.