Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
14
August 2020
Light at the End of Election Tunnel
Recently, there was a discussion
about why I resigned from the University of NSW and went into writing about my
experiences. It was in fact recommended by a senior academic- administrator who
could not facilitate the structuring of my work as per the mandate of the recruitment
which was to democratise the Financial Management system. To the extent I
qualified as per the selection criteria, I was self-recruited. As a
self-recruited person, I structured the work I had to do and I was successful
within the Medical Faculty of the University. But the challenge came when I
wanted that for the whole which was under the jurisdiction of Central
Administration. My moves began in 1998 August during Nallur Festival. It is now
– 22 years later that I am able to appreciate what happened back then – and particularly
the role of Democratic powers that I
naturally connected to through the stand I took by opposing Autocracy. . As
mentioned previously – I was true to my professional ethics which merged with
ethics of wider society. It was this natural merger that surfaced my true
structure as ‘courage’ to write in opposition – including against the
Administration that was led by the then PM - Mr John Howard. I believe that my commitment
to democracy within the workplace was carried through the voting system known
as Universal Franchise. This confirmed to me that Truth is Universal.
Gradually, when manifestations happened without my physical or mental
intervention I realised that the power of truth was supporting me. When my book
‘Naan Australian’ about the above experiences was taken without my knowledge or
expectation on my part - to the National Library of Australia – I realised its
heritage value even more strongly than previously. In essence it contributed to
Australia’s independence in global structures including in the current issue
with China.
Many members of the Tamil
Diaspora are attaching themselves to the status of Ms Kamala Harris. None of
them showed any appreciation for my above contribution. But a few have
demonstrated its value to them and one of them is Journalist Swadesh Roy who
did have enough interest in my book to commission it. In his article ‘Sri Lankan
parliament election and two brothers government’ Swadesh highlights as
follows:
[How did Gotabaya win the election? On the
Election Day, people who were going to
cast their vote seemed very happy that their government (Gotabaya’s Government)
successfully controlled the coronavirus. In Sri Lanka, only 11 people died from
covid-19 and total corona infected cases are below 3,000.
… people of Sri Lanka have taken the issue of Covid-19 control
as a success of Gotabaya. Their opinion is, as a military person Gotabaya
imposed and maintained the first 14 days lockdown very seriously.]
The above confirms a mind
structure to which ‘seeing is believing’. When they exercise their votes – the manifestation
is ‘Boru Show’ as we say in Sinhala. Boru=lie. It would not merge with the Universal power of
truth. Hence those who use their vote on the basis of the ‘seen’ did not vote
for Democracy but for it opposition Autocracy on which they are dependent for
outcomes. Truth being truth – will give you what you are really voting for –
which is autocracy in this instance. Hence majority race which distanced itself
from minorities who were disobedient – lost the power of those who died believing
they were dying for independence.
Suicide bombers – both Tamils as
well as Muslims died in the name of independence for their community. Like in
the case of soldiers who die in combat – we take it that they died for the
nation and/or stated purpose – even though as individuals – their purpose may
have been at lesser personal levels. Death makes them heroes of common purpose.
In his Virakesari article headed ‘To
whom has the authority been awarded’ at https://www.virakesari.lk/article/87871
, Kaarvannan highlights beautifully in relation to those who were influenced by
LTTE outcomes to be in politics. More importantly, Kaarvannan highlights that
the LTTE never sought glory through politics. Their mandate was separate to
Politics. A good example of pollution of their purpose was highlighted through
Mr Wigneswaran’s running mate Ms Ananthi Sasitharan whose husband was a leading
member of the LTTE. Now that the Rajapaksa running mate in Jaffna - Mr Angajan
Ramanathan has earned first place through the preferential voting system – one is
entitled to conclude that Sinhala Buddhist Nationalists have defeated Tamil
Hindu Nationalists. This picture is confirmed by the following picture of
Udupiddy division’s results:
SLFP
Sri Lanka Freedom Party (representing Sinhala Buddhists) 6214 votes = 27.09%
TMTK Thamil Makkal
Thesiya Kuttani ( representing LTTE – through a Hindu Tamil leader – Mr CV
Wigneswaran assisted by Ms Ananthi Sasitharan – 4457 votes = 19.43%
It is misleading to take these percentages as relations of the total
votes cast in Uddupiddy division as the choice of the people of Jaffna. The
Preferential distribution would work only when the destination / goal is common
to the electorate. When the goal is largely to enter parliament for its
benefits, it is an abuse of the Universal Franchise of Democracy which requires
each person and / or group to believe in the stated common goal which at
National level is Equal Opportunity and not Separate state. By competing
through National Elections those who claimed separation were separating
themselves from those who were seeking Equal Opportunity. Their mandate ought
to have come through Provincial Council elections until they believed they had
greater numbers than those fighting on the basis of Equal Opportunity. The
interesting manifestation in the above results is that it is TMTK that is SLFP’s
Opposition and not ITAK which politically represents majority Tamils battling
to remove blocks to self-governance.
This picture does not reflect the
reasoning by those like Kaarvannan above.
First of all we need to identify
with the real opposition within the electorate/division. In Udupiddy 35% did not vote. Expressed as a
percentage of those voted this is more than double the portion that the SLFP
candidate polled. As an Australian Tamil highlighted – so much for our Maths
status !
Someone said that we called them Modayas (ignorant) and they called us
Pariahs and now we seem both!
But I see light at the end of the Election tunnel. That light is the
light of truth highlighted through the figures representing the whole of Jaffna
electorate:
1.
1.Not interested in Politics =
25%
2. 2. ITAK = 20%
3. Minor
Parties = 16%
4. 4. AITC =
10%
5. 5. SLFP = 9%
6. 6. EPDP = 8%
7. 7. TMTK = 6%
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