Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

23 November  2020

 

 

 

HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT

 There is hot debate in Sri Lankan Parliament about Development Resource Allocations. A Diaspora coordinator referred me to a discussion about it in the Eastern Province and later to the speech by Northern Province’s ‘ Mr Gajenthirakumar.Ponnambalam MP claiming that Gajenthirakumar ‘exposes in the parliament the plight of the Tamil people after the war’.

I listened to both until I saw the solution that the presenters were failing to see.  It reminded me of a training session by an HR expert arranged for us – the General staff - of the Medical Faculty of the University of NSW. During the exercise – there were many complaints about issues that were quite basic and normal to me. I kept stating the solutions I had found. One was about the Air the temperature of which was centrally controlled being too cold in the office. I said that in a previous office, I had asked my husband and pasted a paper on the vent above my head. I think many of them were disappointed that the solutions were so simple. The lady who conducted the session sought me out and wanted my review. I reluctantly gave it to her. In the current ‘Virtual Human Resource Training Session’ I have not been specifically asked but the person who forwarded it to me was indirectly asking on behalf of the whole.

After Vaddukoddai Resolution 1976, Tamils became Equal Opposition in National Parliament. This confirmed that so long as we are silent forces in our home environment the manifestation of our true status will happen when we need it most. During the years of armed war – the Energy that manifested as Vaddukoddai Resolution 1976 became dormant. It can be invoked by anyone who truly believes that s/he is part of the solution. Every self-governing person IS the solution.

Aristotle said that the value of the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. This is possible only when some of the individual parts are sacrificed to become the ‘binding Energy’. We call it the Root Cause. I believe that it was because of this invisible Energy through which I bound my workplace that later when I needed someone to uphold the value of my work at the University of NSW, that red holy powder manifested on the picture of Sri Sathya Sai Baba whose birthday is celebrated today by devotees all over the world. Back then I was not a devotee of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Now I am – of my own free will. That is my parallel of Vaddukoddai Resolution which consolidated the Energies of all politicians who sought to be part of common Sri Lanka and be Sri Lanka. The stronger  the binding Energy, the greater the value of the whole above the collective total.

The reverse - ‘the value of the whole is less than the sum of the individual parts’ - is also true when the force of Separation becomes part of the whole through ‘foreign’ elements. In his Daily FT article headed ‘Preparation of a shadow constitution’, Mr Harsha Gunasena highlights as follows:

[In order to have a strong democracy there should be a strong leader. A strong leader should have a strong vision and a strong convincing power to convince the people and his/her followers. If the leader wants concentrated constitutional power for that, he or she would not be a strong democratic leader. Dictators want such powers. They want only to order and there should be a bunch of people to implement those orders. The strength of a strong leader should come from within and not from outside.]

An autocratic leader who cares about her/his People more than they care about her/him has this ‘inner’ power and confirms ‘insight’ – as parents have with their children. But when someone exercises power over People without actually caring more deeply about them than they care about her/him, s/he becomes a separating force/Dictatorship. In terms of Sri Lanka, armed militants became such a force to those who invested in Democracy.  The ‘outside’ influence came through Tamils who supported the armed militants out of monies earned through non-armed pathways. Where the monies were earned in other nations – they ought to have first settled their dues to those nations by becoming Equal citizens of those nations first. Then they naturally become global citizens with the right and responsibility to partner those in Sri Lanka.

Tamil youth copied Southern Sri Lankans whose youth followed Rohana Wijeweera of the Karawa caste – the Sinhala parallel of Karaiyaar caste of the Tamil community that produced LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Like minorities – all junior castes accumulated that latent power   as ownership power that makes their own home groups strongly cohesive – so far as they do not take revenge. Those who absorb the pain of discrimination thus become owners of the whole more quickly than those who caused the discrimination for selfish reasons. Taking revenge is a dilution of our ownership of the whole.

This is the reason why armed forces become separating forces when they act to attack instead of defending. Last week, we learnt about such elements within the Australian armed forces also. Neither side to the Sri Lankan Armed war has done that thus far. So, they carry their respective karmas that would keep diluting the positive values of their current efforts .

As per my Jaffna experience – its current citizens prefer to be self-employed rather than work for someone else. They are the heirs of Separatists – armed including by weapons, cash, self allocated status and most of all ‘frivolous knowledge’. An example was sent under the following heading:

[Jaffna High Court Dismissed Banning of Maaveerar Naal ]

That which was Dismissed was the Writ Application about which I wrote three days ago and highlighted as follows :

[When I read the Ceylon Today report ‘Maveerar Commemorations: Writ filed seeking prevention of ban’ – that heritage invoked itself. The report states:

[A Writ Petition was filed in the Jaffna High Court seeking an Order preventing the Northern Province Senior DIG and the Provincial Director of Health Services (PDHS) from attempting to ban the Maveerar Commemorations from 25 to 27 November, by citing provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act or the Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Attorney-at-Law Vishwalingam Manivannan, representing parents who lost their children in the war, said he would be waiting till tomorrow (20) for a response regarding his petition. ]

There is a big difference between ‘Dismissal of the Ban’ and ‘Dismissal of the Application to Prevent the Ban’. What happened was the latter. Tamil medium reported and circulated the report as if it were the former.

The solution to the ethnic problem relies on the deepest of roots being recognized and addressed. Once recognized that will raise the issue to global level. Those who depend on such reports would seriously dilute the ownership forces in those who form the roots . This would influence them to go more and more towards separatism.

A holistic approach confirming positive value added  to the triple bottom line (Money, Human Resource  & Ownership ) is needed. Members of Parliament  representing Northern Province have the duty to present such Proposals independent of the government. Towards this they need the partnership of Diaspora members. Often they want the cash in return for sharing of their status as if that status is theirs only. That makes the whole a trading substance – like Hambantota became. If we continue to oppose in order to take revenge we start copying them. That is what plagiarism does, even in opposition without belief.