Gajalakshmi
Paramasivam
28 June 2021
UNJUST
DISCRIMINATION & SEPARATISM
On 26 June, under the heading Uberrima Fidei, I wrote as
follows:
[My attention was
drawn this morning to the following report by Adaderana:
[Nearly
150 death-row inmates held at Mahara and Welikada prisons are currently engaged
in a hunger strike.
They are demanding the authorities to commute their death
sentences to life imprisonment, reports revealed.
A group of 70 inmates at Mahara Prison had launched an
indefinite fast-unto-death on Thursday (June 24) and following suit, a group of
inmates at Welikada Prison had also commenced a hunger strike later in the day.
Prisons Spokesman Commissioner Chandana Ekanayake stated that
discussions with relevant parties are now underway to resolve the situation.
According to reports, the security at Welikada Prison has been
beefed up.]
The current President is reported to be committed to improving
villages. In democracy, this requires the President to think like the villager
– even though s/he may be a criminal.
On the same day the above strike started, Mr Duminda Silva was
released:
[Former MP Duminda Silva was sentenced to death along with four others in 2016 for shooting dead a rival politician
and three of his supporters in 2011.
Mr Silva, who was a political ally of Mr
Rajapaksa, is among 94 prisoners to be given a presidential pardon.] BBC
If
the President were truly a political friend of Mr Duminda Silva and was genuinely committed to the
common villager, he would have released all death sentence prisoners or
continued to keep Mr Duminda Silva in prison, confirming Uberrima Fidei/Utmost
good faith in their friendship even though the friend is in prison. ]
Today,
I read the following report by Adaderana:
[State Minister
of Prison Reforms today (June 26) stated that attention is being paid to
commute the sentences of 253 prisoners who have been condemned to death.
State Minister Lohan Ratwatte said that the relevant report has been
submitted to the Minister of Justice.
He said, “We have forwarded that request to the Minister of Justice. We
have called for life imprisonment for death row inmates.
When a prisoner is reintegrated into society, our hope is to make him a
good citizen who can work for society.” ]
I felt satisfied
that my contribution was heard by the Common system. One who believes identifies
at Energy level. One driven by the visible outcome is limited to her/his
production only. Hence Separatism.
Most importantly,
this identity confirms to me that ethnic gap is narrowing and Sri Lankan
commonness is strengthening. That is the power of truth. The amazing discovery
I made was that Uberrima Fidei which means ‘utmost faith’, when used by a
believer invokes truth in others. Towards
this we need to feel that we belong in a sovereign group. Someone in a Tamil
only group wrote:
[Gaja, high time we forget each other. We must give up this
relationship. Many are very angry with me for carrying on with you. You saw how
I was abused, insulted and tortured for keeping contact with you. I am
receiving threats, anonymous death threats and I am scared to continue with
you. I dont know how to handle this situation.]
I responded as follows:
[No
problem Xxxx. I will take you off the list]
The swift
reply was:
[Just hold on Gaja. Let us wait
and see. If I run then they may call me a coward who got frightened and ran
away. Even though there is a new party, yet they observe from behind the scene
as to what is happening in their former club. I see this like our Tamil movies.
A new man comes into the family and then runs away with the guy's wife.
Similarly our friends have been enticed and taken away from us and we are left
in the lurch. One former friend asked me as to why he receives very polite
posts from people that are totally unknown to him. I told him that it is a
recruitment strategy. Anyway at least you are still there. So let us wait for a
while and .👹👹👹. A known devil is better than an
unknown angel. ]
These social exchanges confirm that Tamils
no longer feel an ethnic problem. Hence this kind of ‘internal discrimination’
when they think they are ‘free’ of community judgments.
By living in Vaddukoddai, I have
learnt that unjust caste based discrimination resulted in self-isolation by
minority – very much along the lines of the sect that sought Tamil Eelam. In both
instances, it was so they use their own local rules for fighting. Those from
the junior caste that did not separate are merging with each other through
Common experiences – especially in formal education. The descendants of those
who discriminated unjustly on caste basis are now playing ethnicity based
politics – especially in nations where there is greater freedom of expression
than in their previous environments in Sri Lanka.
Most in the Tamil Diaspora use the
work of armed rebels and the resultant deaths and disappearances to claim ‘genocide’.
Others looking for a political fight take advantage and use that to their
advantage. But in Vaddukoddai itself there are many women whose husbands and
brothers were taken away by rival gangs. When we stretch our experiences to the
wider level – and blame the government totally for wrongs we experienced – we stretch
also our own inability to self-govern. If on the other hand, we first take
responsibility for our share of wrongs using the same measure that we apply on
the opposition – we would find the solution that is manageable by us.
This real and lasting solution is not
that we live side by side/coexist, but be aware that there are common areas in
which we have to consciously apply common theory / law or take the affirmative
approach as considering the other person to be right until proven otherwise.
Whether it is Sinhalese in Tamil are
or v.v. there is need to pay our respects to those who developed that area and
not those who currently occupy that area. This applies to any social life of
Sinhalese officers even in their barracks. The culture of those who developed
that area needs to be respected by those who come later. Where the folks in an
area do not have strong knowledge of Common Law – one who pays respect to the developers
of existing cultural laws would mind-merge with all practitioners of those cultural laws. That is like Planning and
Budgeting.
It is important that every Tamil
takes this approach in terms of her/his home area, before finding fault those
in government. If the government seeks to do otherwise, our Truth will find its
way to uphold the balance of sovereignty of Sri Lanka. Eelam Tamils have no
jurisdiction to find fault with Sri Lankans.
No comments:
Post a Comment