Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

30 October 2021

 

 

ICAC & Sri Lankan Government

There is a Tamil saying that ‘the jobless barber shaves the cat.’ The ICAC questioning the immediate past Premier of NSW on personal relationships brings to mind, the above saying. Likewise, the Sri Lankan President’s declaration of one law for Sri Lanka. Ms Shreen Abdul Saroor  commented ( Sri Lanka 'One Country - One Law' | Inside Story - YouTube ) that women in Sri Lanka did not have Equal Rights. I thought to myself – ‘welcome to NSW, Australia, where women leaders are persecuted by men through the ICAC.

Recently when a neighbour of ours brought to my notice, a media report about another neighbour, and stated that he would question the latter on that – I said words to the effect ‘make sure you do not give him an escape route; just stick to one where you have evidence.’ The ICAC, to my mind is giving the member of Parliament concerned, an escape route. As per published report:

[The ICAC is investigating allegations that, from 2012 to August 2018, the then NSW Member of Parliament for Wagga Wagga, Mr Daryl Maguire, engaged in conduct that involved a breach of public trust by using his public office, involving his duties as a member of the NSW Parliament, and the use of parliamentary resources, to improperly gain a benefit for himself and/or entities close to him. These entities included G8wayinternational/G8wayinternational Pty Ltd and associated persons.]

But the inquiry at its current stage seems to be cornering the Lady Premier who naturally would think differently to a typical White Australian of Anglo origin. This is highlighted by Newswire as follows:

[Mr Robertson suggested funding projects in Wagga Wagga prior to the 2019 election would have made the Coalition government more popular in the area, thus making it more likely Mr Maguire would be able to retire without risking the seat being lost to another party.

“Was it at least a factor as to why … you considered Mr Maguire’s money projects … to increase the standing of the Coalition in the seat of Wagga Wagga with a view to making it easier for Mr Maguire to be in a position to retire at the next election?” Scott Robertson asked.

Ms Berejiklian pushed back strongly.

“That is absolutely not the case. I reject it outright. And I find it offensive,” she said.

Mr Robertson persisted, asking Ms Berejiklian again whether the prospect of Mr Maguire retiring played a part in the decision.]

 

As per my observations, Ms Berejiklian, is not the accused. It is Mr Maguire. But the grilling is more into the mind of the lady than the man. ABC for example reports as follows:

 

[At one point, Ms Berejiklian was presented with a text message that she sent Daryl Maguire, telling him: "You are my family." But under questioning, she maintained that he wasn't a family member in any sense that would require disclosure. Round and round the inquiry went, into what exactly Ms Berejiklian considered the relationship was and wasn't. ]

 

As explained recently – a secret relationship and a confidential one would seem similar. But one is merely physical and the other is divine.  Likewise ‘family’ As per the above,  one is entitled to conclude that in Ms Berejiklian’s mind the relationship was taken to be ‘natural’ and therefore beyond the law.

Recently veteran Tamil actor Sivakumar referred to the three women in him – his mother, his wife and his daughter. The way I interpreted it was as his other side as a son, husband and a father. This does not always it the person who holds that position but the real one travels with us at all times. Thus a good son makes a good husband and a good husband makes a good father. Hence when the occupant does not fit that other half – there is natural separation.

In the case of Sri Lanka, minorities who seek external parents such as India for Tamils and Middle Eastern countries for Muslims do not fit the role of equal other side any more. The President who is comfortable with armed fighting, would therefore tend to ‘create’ a fight – which would be an escape route from civil administration.

 NSW voters seem to be electing leaders who give up whilst Sri Lankan Buddhists seem to be electing those who can win in an armed fight. Both get the behavior we reward.

 

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

29 October 2021

 

One Hindu Law?

[State Minister of Estate Housing and Community Infrastructure Jeevan Thondaman says he is disappointed with the One Country One Law Presidential Task Force as there is a lack of Tamil representation.

“Disappointed with the Presidential Task Force on ‘One country, One law’ concept as there is not one individual chosen for the Committee who would represent the interests of the vast Tamil population in Sri Lanka,” he expressed via a tweet.] The Morning article headed ‘Thondaman points out lack of Tamil representation in One Country One Law Task Force’

Given that the taskforce is headed by anti-Muslim activist one is entitled to conclude that the recommendations would tend to be Buddhist law. Mr Thondaman represents Hill country Tamils who by visible culture are more connected to India’s Tamil Nadu than any other sections of the Sri Lankan Tamil community. Would this therefore lead to formation of Equal Opposition on religious basis – led by Hindus who are officially Tamils?

As per the Fundamental Rights section of the current Constitution:

[10. Every person is entitled to Freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.

14. (1) Every citizen is entitled to – (e) the freedom, either by himself or in association with others, and either in public or in private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching;]

 

Article 9 places the Responsibility to the State, of assuring the practice of their own  religions as guaranteed by the above articles:

[9. The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana, while assuring to all religions the rights granted by Articles 10 and 14(1)(e)]

As per the laws of Sovereignty, the above article divides the nation into two equal parts. Romans depicted this through the two faces of Janus – one facing the past and the other the future – both bound together at the back; ‘Janus presided over the beginning and ending of conflict, and hence war and peace.’ Wikipedia

If a Muslim practice closely linked to the religion is abolished, this would be in breach of the fundamental rights of Muslims. Likewise, if Hindu or Christian practices are abolished by the changes. Easter Bombings happened due to failure of the Government to protect the rights of Non-Buddhists. The new government, by failing to find the truth and sharing  it – has already contributed to negligence of its duty in assuring us of the ‘freedom’ to practice our religious beliefs.

In an ethnically divided society, visible separations are essential – so we would not become each other’s opposition at the lower levels. These are the levels that interpret as per their likes and dislikes if there is no rule to state otherwise. That is how the JVP uprising in South followed by the LTTE uprising in North happened. As per  feedback regarding the recent problems in North on the basis of caste was the  influence of Marxism that the LTTE promoted, which resulted in dilution of religion based beliefs inherited from our ancestors. I have highlighted in my response below, this problem as follows

‘But the problem there was lack of belief in local ancestors who were largely local.’ The full text is as follows:

[Thank you Chandran for this wonderful sharing.  As highlighted by you, the varna system, as the system of caste was known then – had its separations. To my mind, this facilitated learning from humans within a sovereign structure. The basic component of that system is belief. When we have belief, we inherit the structure as Energy. Hence the Hindu philosophy that we take only the Punniyam and Paavam / Virtue and Sin into our future. Belief helps us to inherit this from our ancestors. With such Energy – we would comfortably function and demonstrate exemplary conduct and outcomes that confirm expansion on time basis – as if our ancestors are supervising and supporting us. Any weakness is ‘confidentially’ rectified. This is the Subjective system.

 

We switched to democracy due to gradual loss of faith in our elders and the need for multiculturalism. This required us to be Transparent and ‘what happened’ became everybody’s business / responsibility. Hence Swami who validated the Varna system as it then existed, said there is only One Caste – the Caste of Humanity. As per Democracy we are common to all and that which we produce is also owned in common in every sovereign unit. Hence we are ‘free’ to separate when we are independent.

 

As per my intelligence, junior castes in Vaddukoddai area separated and in many such villages they occupied lands owned by temples. In Thunaivi, a large part was Adaikalam Thottam Kanthaswami Temple property. Eventually due to our example – the tenants were facilitated to own their plots through due processes.

 

The problem happens when they go into each others’ areas. In senior castes it is the women who continue to expressly ‘show’ caste based separation. The reason is that most of them receive dowry through which they elevated their status after marriage. This is based on Thesawalamai Customary structure – to ensure that the woman did not think she was less than her husband . The men who went out and worked gradually lost consciousness of caste. Marxism also facilitated this. But the problem there was lack of belief in local ancestors who were largely local. You may have heard of Mr Karthigesan who was known as Communist Karthigesan who taught English at Jaffna Hindu College and who contested at Nallur. He is of Vaddukoddai origin and is related to my husband. He genuinely contributed strongly to elimination of caste.  He is highly respected in Vaddukoddai – including by my husband’s family.

 

The parallel in the Junior caste are the youth who due to separation enjoy more ‘freedom’ than their fathers. Hence the recent surge of caste based conflict. This, like the Covid has exponential powers due to it being resurrected from the grave by the current generation. Like the Covid, we need to learn to live with the remains of the caste system.]

 

If we switch to Buddhist law only – then no member of the government has the moral authority to pray visibly at Hindu shrines – including at Kathirgamam, Nallur and all Sai Baba centres. I leant in Vavuniya in 2009 that Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa paid his respects to Swami Sai Baba before proceeding to the camps.

 

When majority try to ‘possess’ separation happens naturally. This is likely to invoke another war – as indicated by the Jaffna problems. With time the natural law of Sri Lanka could be Hindu law which facilitates all – as demonstrated by Swami Sai Baba. That is the way of Dharma

 

 

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

28 October 2021

 

 

Thesawalamai Law is for the Poorly educated in Jaffna

Sri Lanka’s News Radio has published an article headed ‘One Country, One Law Task Force appointed Chaired by Gnanasara Thera’, with the following introduction:

[A Presidential Task Force for One Country, One Law, has been appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The Task Force will be Chaired by Ven. Galagodaththe Gnanasara thera. The Gazette Notification in this regard was issued yesterday.]

Tamil politicians, Mr Sumanthiran and Mr Shanakiyan have publicly opposed this. If a Buddhist monk heads it  - one is entitled to conclude that it would be based on Buddhism foremost law which has its own powers to divide.

With this in mind, as per my own priorities I went on to read  article published by  the mighty Daily Mirror under the heading ‘We Resolve to Fight against All Forms of Caste Oppression’. The following indicates the subject matter:

[The Jaffna People’s Forum for Coexistence strongly condemns the casteist violence unleashed on the oppressed community in Arasady, Vaddukoddai in Jaffna on September 19, 2021 by a group of dominant-caste youth and men.]

I am of Jaffna town origin but since my marriage to Param, I have become part of Vaddukoddai also. ‘My book, Jaffna is my heritage and not dowry is based on this common experience. While it is based on Thesawalamai law, its interpretations were different between our Vaddukoddai relatives and me. Param delegated his powers also to me and it became Jaffna v Vaddukoddai battle and the human judges awarded victory to Vaddukoddai. The victory for me was the higher intelligence which naturally works the current generation driven by the effects of war. The parallel of Buddhists in South are the Vellala caste in North.. It is therefore not surprising that both issues have preceded Provincial Council elections.

As per the Daily Mirror article:

[Caste-based violence has a long history in Vaddukoddai and its neighbouring villages such as Ponnalai, Thunaivi, Koddaikaadu and Muthali Koviladi. The incident that happened in Arasady cannot be viewed merely as an incidental use of physical force by one group on another or a conflict between two groups, as sections of the media try to portray it; it is a violent manifestation of deep-seated caste prejudices existing within caste-based hierarchies and socio-economic dimensions of caste oppression that characterize Jaffna society. ]

Ponnalai is the place where Mr Alfred Duriappah – an SLFP politician was assassinated at the entrance to the temple. The LTTE claimed credit for this. Thunaivi is the self-isolated Toddy Tapper village where our family temple is and where I was threatened by youth when I complained to Vaddukoddai Police about damage to our fence. Muthali Koviladi is Thunaivi’s parallel on the other side of Vaddukoddai town. In both these villagers – members of senior castes would seriously hesitate to come.

Before I learnt about the above incident on 19 September, I intuitively felt the need to write to the Divisional Secretary, asking to lease the building built on our temple land, donated for the purpose of war related rehabilitation. The reason could have been the information that the locks to the building were being broken open. The Divisional Secretary facilitated this through Due Processes. Interestingly, when asked by this officer ‘whether the Grama Sevakar would locate the office to this building – on the basis of which condition we donated the land  the Grama Sevakar who is also responsible for the senior caste village of Sangarathai – the Grama Sevakar declined, giving ‘security’ reasons. For years whenever I went to Northern Sri Lanka, I lived there on my own in the cottage built by our family. But the Jaffna People’s Forum for Coexistence lacked the intuition to pick that up. Hence, as per my standards they lack the moral authority to downgrade others for caste based discrimination.

If they do undertake a Research Project on this  - they would learn that by isolating themselves from senior castes – junior castes ‘possess’ , separate and rule. In the above incident, a councillor from Thunaivi is reported to have mobilised others of his caste and got ready as he did previously before the war – to take on the senior caste in an open confrontation. He came to power on EPDP ticket. Due to self-isolation, he continues to be driven by brawn power. His sister on the other hand, educated her three children at the same school that my husband and his family members were educated at. Eventually, she built a home on the same street as my husband’s family and lives there now. Two of her children live in Europe.

Through these experiences I have worked out that the caste based injustice happened due to both sides wanting it easy. The result is that junior castes that self-isolated are not connected to the senior caste and therefore the heritage from that part of our community. Those employed by us in Vaddukoddai are all from Junior caste. Within Thunaivi – they have their own sub-caste system as the seniors amongst them need positions of higher authority.

Likewise at National level – Buddhists have self-isolated themselves including through ‘Buddhism Foremost’ article in the Constitution. A constitution has to be based on Absolute/Sovereign power. The more it is based on the seen and the heard – the more it lends itself to be ‘possessed’. The more it is ‘possessed’ the more it would stagnate. The more it stagnates the more it decays.

Buddhism as inherited from Lord Buddha is pathway to losing the physical towards lasting bliss / Nirvana. When it is demoted to relative place – it demotes its natural opposition also to that level. Recently  - there was mention of the Rajapaksa family being of farmer group as denoted by their Kurakan / Ragi shawl. The current President – Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa wore the common / secular dress acceptable to Common Sri Lankan. One hopes that this would prevail in the case of the Constitution also. Buddhists in Sri Lanka need this – just as much as isolated castes in Jaffna need the secular system.

 If Buddhism foremost continues in South, its parallel in North would resurface. As per my discovery, LTTE leadership was driven more by caste based discrimination pain and hence they eliminated the senior caste politicians. Unless one acts as per one’s own conscience, one would not know the reason why s/he acted as s/he did. Now the heirs of LTTE do not have common law even for the North and East. Likewise, Buddhists leaders for South and West.

Thesawalamai law discriminated on the basis of work. This facilitated heritage of special skills. Hence where the folks do not understand the common law of an area – they would switch to that which they know. This is caste based in North and religion based in South.

In North manual workers no longer consider themselves as juniors. Likewise in South Non-Buddhists. When we oppose unjust laws we eventually win in real terms  - provided we do not unjustly discriminate when we are in power. Even mental Opposition by one liberates that person. 

The solution is affirmative action through mandatory quotas for junior castes in North and Non-Buddhists in Multicultural areas in South. 

 

 

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

27 October 2021

 

 

IS ICAC Being Frivolous?

We Australians pride ourselves over our laws relating to de facto relationships. All that was demoted to ‘mythology’ by the ICAC. Some are protesting against the extradition of Julian Assange who leaked the mind of the US officials to wider public. If Julian who is also Australian, was wrong is ICAC also not wrong for making confidential information public?

Where there is written law – there is a recognizable structure. Where there is truth there is a natural structure. The former is processed through the judicial structure and the latter through the system of Dharma / Natural Justice. Reliable Administration happens through the former. Political Administration happens through the latter.

I learnt through my direct experience at the University of NSW, that custodians of political power come naturally under the system of Dharma, if the victim of their action is Dharmic / Righteous. It is this experience that has given me the intuitive intelligence to distance myself from claims of Genocide by some Tamil politicians, in relation to the Sri Lankan war where the Tamil side was a de facto army by choice, and hence did not come under the same measure as the official Sri Lankan army.

With that as my base, I feel upset that the ICAC is exceeding its powers. The core purpose for which ICAC exists as per its law – the  Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988 is specified as follows:

[2A   Principal objects of Act

The principal objects of this Act are—

(a)  to promote the integrity and accountability of public administration by constituting an Independent Commission Against Corruption as an independent and accountable body—

(i)  to investigate, expose and prevent corruption involving or affecting public authorities and public officials, and

(ii)  to educate public authorities, public officials and members of the public about corruption and its detrimental effects on public administration and on the community, and

(b)  to confer on the Commission special powers to inquire into allegations of corruption.]

The current inquiry under scrutiny is presented as follows by the Sydney Morning Herald(SMH):

[The corruption watchdog is examining two multimillion-dollar grants or funding promises made by the state government between 2016 and 2018 when Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire were in a secret relationship. At the time, Ms Berejiklian was the NSW treasurer and later the premier.]

One is answerable to the Institution as per the law. The institution is answerable to the Public through Parliament. One is answerable to the Environment as per one’s own conscience.

As per the SMH report:

[That relationship first came to light in public in October last year when Ms Berejiklian gave evidence at the ICAC for a first time. She has yet to give evidence in this stage of the inquiry and has denied all wrongdoing.]

The denial as per the above is taken as being according to the lady’s conscience.

The report states:

[two former senior staffers to Ms Berejiklian gave evidence this morning. They are not accused of wrongdoing. Their evidence was as follows:

·       Neil Harley, a former chief of staff to Ms Berejiklian when she was premier, told the ICAC he first became aware of the Berejiklian-Maguire relationship last year when Ms Berejiklian was summonsed to give evidence at a public hearing at the corruption watchdog’s Sydney headquarters. Mr Harley said “it was a very difficult conversation for both of us” and Ms Berejiklian was “inherently a very private person”.

·       “We didn’t go into detail about when [the relationship] ... commenced and when it finished,” he said. “We talked in broad terms about the nature of the relationship.” He said he found out later that the relationship had “continued on for a lot longer than I had anticipated” and “it was more recent” than he had thought.]

 

This strongly indicates that the Chief of staff did not consider it his duty to have knowledge of such personal details as per the lawful structure of the Parliament of which his position was a part. Given that it has been reported that he is not accused of any wrong doing – the ICAC also did not expect such knowledge. If indeed he had such knowledge, that was his private property.

 

A reliable institutional structure facilitates others in the institution to invest in other positions and v.v. through due processes. In old institutions such as the NSW Parliament, this includes traditional processes that cannot be measured through merit in the current environment. In a family for example, all seniors have the duty to support all juniors. The juniors have the responsibility to demonstrate respect for such providers and thus both become even. One who goes beyond becomes a permanent Energy of that position and therefore a ‘traditional owner’ of the position and the institution that the position is a part of. This Energy automatically produces its Equal opposite as in bipolar problem. This happened at the University of NSW where I underwent pain for doing my duty as per the terms of my recruitment. When I left I that Energy came with me and the other side got left behind. The strongest was in the reporting of NHMRC grant. The other side manifested at the Liverpool Clinical school – as Bruce Hall scandal.

I have learnt also that once we generate this Energy, it connects us to Universal Energies as per our current needs. They protect us and those who are loyal to us to uphold our true positions – as per our own minds.

The latest ICAC inquiries are seriously damaging our sharing of natural energies through our soul power – which is our Ultimate Reality. The reason to my mind is the lack of Heritage Power which limits the ICAC’s intuitive powers.

The integrity of our Parliament which is much older than the ICAC, cannot be measured by ICAC’s merit based measures only. We need our heritage and therefore subjective powers through which we confidentially share our powers through natural commonness.

As a nation that has legalised de facto marriages – we have the moral duty to respect true relationships and not dig to make it look dirty. The highest form of that relationship is love which like truth is invisible. Witnesses have the duty to protect all love based relationships. Ms Gladys Berejiklian is entitled to keep her love life confidential – so long as she did not demonstrate sex enjoyment openly in parliament or to the public. Only love has that power of confidentiality. In Hindu culture this is known as Gandharva / Divine relationship.

 

 

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

26 October 2021

 

 

De facto Politics

[In politics, a de facto leader of a country or region is one who has assumed authority, regardless of whether by lawful, constitutional, or legitimate means; very frequently, the term is reserved for those whose power is thought by some faction to be held by unlawful, unconstitutional, or otherwise illegitimate means, often because it had deposed a previous leader or undermined the rule of a current one. De facto leaders sometimes do not hold a constitutional office and may exercise power informally.] Wikipedia

Concern has been expressed through the article by Indian citizen at - Why did India not invite the Dalai Lama to the Kushinagar airport inauguration? | South Asia Monitor :

[While the media mentioned the Buddhist monks and delegates from twelve Buddhist countries attending the program, there has been no mention of the Buddhist monks in good number from Tibet being part of the attendees.

Tibet is a Buddhist region with great tradition and philosophy reflecting the virtues of Lord Buddha’s teachings. There are several historical Buddhist shrines in Tibet.]

As per the above article, it was a political function using the name of Buddhism and not a spiritual ceremony. The true purpose is confirmed to a genuine seeker – by the effects. The author states also:

[What is conspicuous is that the respected Dalai Lama, one of the tallest and most respected Buddhist monks in the world today,  was not present in the program. It is suspected that the Dalai Lama was not invited to the program. If he has been invited, the Dalai Lama certainly would have attended the program, since it would facilitate the visit of Buddhist pilgrims to various Buddhist pilgrim centers.]

The answer in the author’s ‘intelligence’ is highlighted as follows:

[Unfortunately, China aggressively entered Tibet decades back, massacred thousands of Tibetan protestors, and is now occupying and ruling the region with an iron hand.

 

India's historic blunder

 

India has done the historical and grave mistake of recognizing Tibet as part of China. Millions of Indians are very unhappy about the Indian government's ethically and morally wrong decision to approve China’s occupation of Tibet.]

 

This is the parallel of what happened to Tamil homelands in Sri Lanka’s North and East. In his article headed

‘Terrorism’ or ‘Liberation’? Towards a distinction: A Case study of the Armed Struggle of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE)’, Dr Muttukrishna Sarvananthan highlights as follows:

 [On the issue of propaganda, the following observations by Guevara are very relevant and opportune to the case of the LTTE. “One of the characteristics of revolutionary propaganda must be truth. Little by little, in this way, the masses will be won over. …observing always the fundamental principle that truth in the long run is the best policy. The radio is a factor of extraordinary importance………However, the radio should be ruled by the fundamental principle of popular propaganda, which is truth; it is preferable to tell the truth, small in its dimensions, than a large lie artfully embellished.”]

This applies equally to Tibet also. The function was to open the airport – which is the parallel of Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Hambantota area. If the Dalai Lama was true to himself he would not participate in the opening of an airport. The presence of Buddhist monks to my mind, is the artful embellishment of a political ploy.