Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

11 May 2021

 

IS LOCKDOWN A BAD WORD?

I spoke to our cousin Arunthathi in Colombo and learnt that there was a report of Covid infection in their local area. I shared in her concerns  and encouraged her to continue with her self-imposed lockdown.

This morning I read Adaderana report headed ‘There is a community spread; country must go into lockdown - Dr. LakKumar Fernando’. My interests were heightened when I noted the name ‘Samuel D Hensman as a person who liked the report. I met Sam at Jaffna College when I was a visiting lecturer to Chartered  Accountancy students. Sam introduced himself to me and due to his surname which is not common – I said that I was a student of one Mrs Hensman. Sam confirmed that he was my teacher’s grandson. This became the basis of our relationship which is of positive value even today. Due to my other commitments I do not meet Sam when I now go to Sri Lanka, but the memory is firmly positive. I read the report in that consciousness.

As per the report:

[Speaking on lockdowns, Dr. Fernando further said, “Most of my colleagues think that we should go for a lockdown. But they do not want to say it. Thinking that this [lockdown] is a bad word. But I think this is just professionals misunderstanding political authority.”]

I believe this to be similar to Terrorism label, hastily packaged by leaders and readily swallowed by their dependents. In the article ‘The mystery of the assassination of President Premadasa: Now uncovered from a forensic view’ Mr W A Wijewardena is described as follows by Daily FT:

The writer, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, can be reached at waw1949@gmail.com.

A quick check informed me that W A Wijewardena was in my regular list. Yet I am yet to have a response back from him including about the war and LTTE which is a bad word like Lockdown mentioned above. The above label ‘Deputy Governor of the Central Bank’ has no positive value, after Arjuna Mahendra – then Governor of Central Bank was found guilty by the Sri Lankan system . It is the parallel of Mr Wigneswaran carrying the Justice label after declaring a brother-relationship with LTTE leader. The conflict is highlighted as follows:

[In March 2019 President Sirisena of Sri Lanka accused Singapore authorities of not acting on his request to frame charges against Mahendran.  A spokesperson for the Singapore government said there were no grounds to do so. This follows reports that the Singapore authorities had refused the request on the basis that it could not be determined that Mahendran’s conduct, if committed in Singapore, would constitute a criminal offence in Singapore according to the evidence presented by Sri Lanka.]

While I accept that the LTTE has been lawfully listed by the Sri Lankan government as Terrorists, I am also aware that they are seen by their section of the Tamil community as their protectors from the disorderly part of the Sri Lankan armed forces. Hence, at community level, within Sri Lanka, I do not discuss them for better or for worse. There, I am the leader. In a global forum, like the Singaporeans did – I use global values in democratic form. Hence in terms of war-crimes, I found fault with the LTTE also. That is how we earn Equal Opportunity rights beyond our local borders. Given that Mr W A Wijewardena failed to afford these community values and has effectively treated the LTTE as orphans confirms why we continue to have the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka. Likewise, in terms of the Lockdown, it is obvious that the mind of the current government is ‘confused’ due to its promotion of ‘Community-based thinking.

Mr Thusara Dissanayake highlights his confusion as follows:

[Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is passing the darkest era of the virus spread with ever-increasing cases of infections. Even in terms of vaccinating people, there seem to be all sorts of trouble due to delay in proper decision-making and overreliance on so-called indigenous treatments.]

Majority Sinhalese wanted indigenous law to treat Armed Rebels. They confirmed this by voting for this government. The Health Minister consumed the Native Medicine, in confirmation of her belief and was infected by the virus who is a foreigner and would not obey local orders. We need to go global in terms of the virus as well as rebellions against governments that try to enforce community laws indiscriminately – as if they are laws of  truth and truth alone.