Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

17 November  2019

THE CONSTITUTION WE HAVE ALREADY DEVELOPED

Our Trainee at Vaddukoddai rang me to say she was feeling better but was still unfit to go to our office. I had been concerned – not knowing whether she wanted to come to office or not. Losing motivation is not uncommon in Vaddukoddai these days. Prior to the war – i.e. – when I was active in Northern Sri Lanka – most folks seemed to go about their work and there seemed to be no major ‘problems’ apart from financial ones. Our Trainee Kowsi surprised me by stating that she would deposit the loan instalment due for this month into our bank account. Then I knew that she was part of our structure. Gone was my anxiety. I said to do that when she felt fitter and also to get back to work once she felt she was over the Dengue. I felt good because I felt that Kowsi was an insider.

To my mind, the foundation of our investment in Vaddukoddai is our own family by birth, by law and by service. Mine with Vaddukoddai is largely through my current service there – where I groom those who are seeking to be my parallel in their own diverse environments. Kowsi is one of them. Through them their children are also trained in a culture that is more firmly structured than the one they were born into. Kowsi’s family is of toddy tapper origin but they no longer tap toddy. Kowsi’s mum was a cook in Jaffna town and often caught the bus back with me after work. This was during early 2000’s when I was trying to discover the truth of  Vaddukoddai towards ‘structuring’ our own ‘Constitution’ which would maintain Vaddukoddai as per its total investment in itself, by itself. Truth sustains Itself. Hence I set out to discover through the truth known to me through my Vaddukoddai family, the truth of the folks currently making a home in Vaddukoddai. I am recognized as a senior – usually by junior castes. Members of senior castes treat me as equals – however less educated they may be, relative to me. I use merit basis in their case for my own purposes.

In his Financial Times article ‘Securing a People’s Constitution’ Mr Victor Ivan states:

[Making a People’s Constitution does not mean that all the people of the country gather at one place and collectively draft a constitution. It means giving the people of the country every possible opportunity to get involved in the process of making the constitution so that the important ideas they have are taken into consideration, particularly those of marginalised social groups that are essentially voiceless. It is a democratic practice that allows the public to be actively involved in the process. It can also be seen as an instance in which the direct democracy is in operation in making a constitution.]

Around the time I was reading that article – came the WhatsApp messages from cousin Vathanee in Toronto. Most of them were about Hinduism in Indonesia with particular emphasis on Bali. One had Hindu deity Ganesh on Indonesian currency note. These confirm the Hindu ancestry of Indonesia that protects the nation from extremism through the belief of the People. I feel that if Bali had invested in secularism – especially in relation to tourist industry – it would have prevented the Bali bombing.

Indonesia by its Pancasila  (Pancha Sila / Five Principles) confirms as a fundamental requirement – ‘Belief in the Almighty God’. I would interpret this to include ‘Truth’ and ‘Love’. But those who are led by particular religion would not include ‘Truth’ and ‘Love’ as forms of Almighty God. Hence those who follow the path of secularism would be ‘foreigners’ to such Indonesians. Once we are foreigners – the temptation to ‘ rule’ over us  becomes strong after we stop ‘giving’ that which is desired by those who think they ‘own’ the place by ‘possession’. In Australia, migrants who stop ‘giving’ their skills – are punished by those who think they are owners by possession / occupation. This often happens when they do not actually participate in the Government’s immigration programs. Such thinking  is then extended by the government, in extreme form to refugee applicants – including those who are certified by the UN. To the extent migrants feel ownership – often by foregoing the status they think they ought to have as per current merit basis – they automatically get a share of the ownership earned by the senior Australians. Towards this they should not separate in their minds.

Sri Lanka has greater tendency to claim ownership through majority which is the lateral version of occupation. This has happened largely through  Buddhism as a particular leading religion of the State. This automatically makes foreigners of non-Buddhists. By stating the ‘obvious’,  the politicians stop short of discovering the deeper less visible values of commonness including amongst the Buddhists. They then do not synergize to become common and hold as  reserves the values that are less visible and less known . The deeper owner discovers these treasures.

The Sri Lankan Constitution that recognizes and includes the diversity of its various parts will sustain us and prevent loss to invaders. The way it stands now – the written Constitution is not confirmed in practice by majority political leaders. If there was need to state that Buddhism  is the leading religion in Sri Lanka – then the fact that we have had two lady leaders as heads of State confirms that Buddha who is not depicted with a female half – was not followed by sight nor by knowledge. But no one wants to remove that emphasis. This automatically develops a gap between true value and apparent value. To the extent – non-Buddhists  operate within their areas of belief – they become Equal owners due to the Constitution. Beyond that when they practice the Buddhist values that are commonly included in their pathways – they become greater owners than Buddhists who limited themselves to Buddhism only.

Given that  many Politicians go regularly to Hindu places of worship – Article 9 amounts to politicians lying to the constitution and therefore themselves as a common group.

The Constitution needs to be closer to our truth and towards this each electorate must submit its own truth in the language of democracy. That would lead us to natural globalization.