Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

03 August  2020

Ancestral Powers & Properties

The most endangered group during this covid19 crisis in Australia, has proven to be those in aged care facilities. Would we as a society have the new norm of either being independent until we die or ensure that we are taken care of by those whom we took care of.  There were comments from the top that some of these facilities did not confirm acceptable standards. I realised this in the case of a relative more than a decade ago and used my power with the family to have her taken home. When the children obliged, I felt good.

Today when I read the Daily Mirror article ‘Lonely death of Miss Ceylon 1962 - What really happened to Jennifer Ingleton?’ I felt the urge to share my own belief in this.

The article introduces us to the corpus as follows:

[A lively and spirited lady, Jennifer Ingleton (nee Labrooy) was crowned Miss Ceylon in 1962. A dear friend of many, her family and friends remember her as a strong, capable and independent businesswoman. Jennifer passed away on July 17 after battling a prolonged illness. 
However, it has now become a question for many as to how a stranger that none of this close-knit community of friends and family recognises, is claiming ownership of Jennifer’s property on Cotta Terrace.  ]

In the above matter - the ‘stranger’  produced a marriage certificate.

In Sri Lankan politics the parallel is:

[The separations happened due to the same reason as to why the government that actively professed Buddhism foremost and/or Sinhala only. They wanted separation and they got separation. TNA included militants in its grouping and to that extent it diluted its own investment in political pathway. That was not a team of common belief. It was a joint venture based on outcomes and is not different to Rajapaksa led SLFP including Karuna. In both instances they chose to ‘ignore’ the ‘separation’ factor that the militants had invested in through their actions which qualified as ‘dictatorship’. This separatism karma followed them like black-dog. Black-dogs cause depression of the mind.] - The Black-Dog in Sri Lankan Politics at http://austms.blogspot.com.au/

When we merge through beliefs we become One. When we mix through outcomes we are strangers – in long terms marriages and/or birth related connections.

The Daily mirror details are as follows:

[The Daily Mirror spoke to Jennifer’s half-brother Tony Hawke who claims that Jennifer was held captive in her own home and denied medical treatment over the past year. 
Jennifer was the widow of Mr D.A.F Ingleton, a successful businessman behind the food brand Daffy’s.  The couple had no children of their own and no close relatives living in Sri Lanka. Both, however, had extended family and friends abroad.  

“Jennifer has always lived at No. 5 Cotta Terrace, Colombo 8. This property was directly passed on to Jennifer by our mutual great aunt Sybil Meier as Jennifer was the main caregiver of our great aunt and our grandmother Helen Vivienne Kelaart nee Meier. This home, in effect, is our ancestral home,” Hawke said.  ]

When aunt Sybil Meier passed on the said property, without objections from other members of the family - the lady also passed on the custom of last carer of the owner owns the property. Thesawalamai law, applicable to Northern Tamils,  has prevented this by providing that the daughters inherit mother’s properties and sons father’s properties. Its extension is that sisters inherit from sisters and brothers from brothers. I learnt through preparations in a Vaddukoddai family matter - that the wording included words to the effect that this was to prevent those who took care at the last the last stages having the wealth written in their name. Effective this prevents the deterioration of belief based sharing.

The problems in the above case is due to lack of maintenance of belief based relationships which automatically confirm the structure of a belief. Belief looks after its structure.

In the above matter – the family did not feel belief in the family structure to take responsibility the moment  they knew that their relative was alone and unwell. Had the property been passed through a common ownership system – the caring for the custodian would have begun when she was not able to think and act independently.

My advice is, if we are donated such properties – we need to ensure they are first made common through law that is applicable to all concerned. Northern Judiciary failed to do this and this whereas Colombo Judiciary upheld its parallel in the case of our land in Colombo determined through Prescriptive rights. Even though I bought the property I respected the value of Prescriptive rights of a believer. I believe that Colombo judiciary delivered for me because I believed in Colombo also as did the judges. The believing minds merge naturally.