Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

10 August   2021

 

Ms Veerasingam & Lankan President

“She will become the first woman, first person of colour, and first person from outside of the United States to lead the AP in its 175-year history.” The Island about Ms Daisy Veerasingham

The Island article concludes as follows:

 

[Veerasingham worked in marketing jobs at LexisNexis and the Financial Times before joining AP. A trained lawyer, she has not worked as a journalist.]

This brings to mind the Tamil saying ‘Keera kadaikum ehthir kadai vendum’/ Even the vegetable stall needs an opposite stall.

In the above example – Ms Veerasingham is the Opposition of Journalists, in addition to her physical ‘looks’ being the opposite of  the common majority in USA. I identified with this need at the University of NSW (UNSW) where majority in Management were academics. An equal Opposition was needed to establish successful democratic, self-managing systems. But due to being backed by government this was possible only at Sports Medicine unit. I find similar in terms of Sri Lankan system as a whole.

 

A Tamil Diaspora leader with his own mind, expressed valuation for my closing statement in yesterday’s article:

 

‘Buddhism promotes Ultimate Freedom of the individual as per her/his conscience.’

 

The Tamil leader directed me to: https://www.airport.lk/aasl/company_overview/our_leadership

 

As per the above I could not find any Tamil or Muslim name in the list of Board of Directors and Management. The chairman is Major General (Rtd.) G. A. Chandrasiri

 

It is an undemocratic structure and would defeat itself due to batting without bowling. During my UNSW time, I asked the head of Research ‘Are the Research Quantum / RIBG (Research Infrastructure-Building Grants) calculations based on Income or Expenditure?’:

  His response was “We are the only University that does it on Expenditure basis rather than on Income.”

 

That was also the reason why the UNSW was struggling with democracy. In traditional families where the wife is a homemaker – the wife represents expenditure and the husband represents income. Where the homemaker maintains high standards – the husband who appreciates it – earns to maintain that level of structure. That is how a sovereign group maintains its standards. In the case of the University – Administrators were homemakers. Academics who failed to respect ethical Administrators failed to bring in enough income to maintain those standards.

 

Where the standard of the academic is higher than that of the administrator – and the administrator takes the junior position, the administrator would live within the earnings of the academics.

 

The Sri Lankan government, like the UNSW, is expenditure driven. In a democracy, one has to often connect to those outside the local circles to make money. In the case of Associated Press, this is confirmed as follows:

 

[Veerasingham, 51, is a first-generation Briton of Sri Lankan descent. Her appointment speaks to the changing portrait of the AP, where 40% of the company’s revenue, double what it was 15 years ago, is now generated outside of the United States. She’ll be tasked with continuing to diversify income sources. ]

In the case of Sri Lanka – the parallel of Ms Veerasingham  was Mr Kili Maharajah who is presented by Wikipedia as having ‘ served as the owner of Sirasa Shakthi MTV Media Network and chairman of Capital Maharaja organisation’

 

This is more difficult to achieve in government where the income is votes.  In 2019, the People voted for this President. Now as per some civilian groups - the standard is found to be well short of the expected norm:

 

[The civil society group presented a memorandum that set out their hopes and concerns and welcomed the opportunity to engage with members of the government on topics of post-war reconciliation, minority rights, civil society space, and governance. The group consisted of Ven. Kalupahana Piyaratana, Prof. T. Jayasingam Rev. Bishop Asiri Perera, Prof. Tudor Silva, Rev. Fr. C.G. Jeyakumar, Hilmy Ahamed, Rohana Hettiarachchi, Varnakulasingham  Kamaladhas, Dr. Joe William, Sanjeewa Wimalagunarathna, Dr. Dayani Panagoda, Visaka Dharmadasa and Dr. Jehan Perera] Island article ‘Prez in powwow with civil society: post-war national reconciliation priority’

 

Unlike the Airport & Aviation Services – this group includes members of the minority. Tamils are a natural Opposition in Sri Lanka. An Equal Opposition is essential in Democracy. It generates competition and keeps the mind active. So long as we follow Common Due Processes – we would not offend our elders to whom Sri Lank was common. Affirmative action is needed to get this going. Otherwise we have to leave it to the system of Karma to balance the books of Sri Lanka.