22 July 2022

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

 

Speaker – Mr  Mahinda Yapa Abewardena the Common PM

Most of us accept that time and place are agents of change. Not many consciously use this to find Truth. When we ‘freeze’ time and place we experience the truth. Hence Anniversaries and Heritages respectively. Both talk to believers.

As per ABC report ‘Ranil Wickremesinghe distances himself from his predecessors as he becomes President of Sri Lanka’ at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-21/new-president-of-sri-lanka-ranil-wickremesinghe/101259260 :

[Veteran politician Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as Sri Lanka's new president, a day after winning the vote in parliament, and urged the island nation to come together to find a way out of its worst economic crisis in decades. 

The six-time prime minister succeeded Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled Sri Lanka and resigned from his post last week following mass protests over his handling of the economy.

Hours after winning the parliamentary vote, Mr Wickremesinghe appeared to distance himself from the powerful Rajapaksa family that has dominated politics in Sri Lanka for decades.]

According to Sri Lankan news, Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa also distanced himself  from Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe.  But the believer in Sri Lanka would have identified with Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa’s feelings of having protected the Parliamentary heritage. Indicating this was his smile of happiness after the successor to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected not by voters but by Parliamentarians whose existence was being threatened. The Protestors revealed this at the early stages by demanding that all 225 MPs had to go.

This mutated into protestors asking Ranil also to leave. Mr Rajapaksa of SLFP and Mr Wickremesinghe of UNP, represented the two leading political opposition dynasties  in Sri Lanka. They are like the parents of the Parliament.

Interestingly, while reading the above ABC news report, my attention was drawn to another report headed ‘Birth trauma's debilitating impacts on physical and mental health revealed in Australian survey’ at https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2022-07-22/birth-trauma-survey-major-impacts-women-mothers-health/101252586

That to me was the indicator that I was on the right track.  The essence of it is captured by the following:

[When Amy Mageropoulos was pregnant with her first son Bobby, she dreamt about the time they'd spend together when he was born.

"I had these visions of taking the baby for a walk in the pram and getting some fresh air," she said.

But the reality of new motherhood was far from what she had imagined.]

This is true of most Politicians who are driven by the honeymoon pleasures of parliamentary  life. When pregnant with my first child, I did not so ‘imagine’ because like most in my circles, I was part of the team of mothers (my mother, father  and two sisters) who took care of my brother – born 13 years after me.

That is how ancestry / heritage prevents imaginations followed by depression.

The junior in a vertical structure becomes Opposition in lateral structure.

When Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped down from the position of PM, officially one expected Mr Sajith Premadasa, the leader of the Opposition to demand that he became the PM. He did not do so. It was the family feeling that influenced the Rajapaksas to protect the Parliament. Hence Mr Wickremesinghe was chosen – through that very family feeling for the Parliament.

The Protestors were reacting to the economic crisis and this has been confirmed by their timing. The crowd that invaded the leaders’ homes confirmed to  us that the protestors represented not those who were too weak to travel, but those who were desiring political answers as handouts.

Mr Wickremesinghe, as per my belief in structured governance, was led by his UNP ancestor Mr J R Jayawardene who also came to power due to economic hardships placed on the People, by his predecessor. History has repeated itself but due to the ethnic karma, which resulted in unethical war, Mr J R Jayawardene’s heir had to ‘wait’ until the Sinhalese settled the score – by judging the war-time leader, they elected through desire. In their case, war win was desire based. Had they paid their respects to the known soldier, they would have respected the government, especially the President for decades to come. Associations and friendships have little or no ancestral value. Hence the disorder surfaced when the Oder they rewarded (Mr Rajapaksa) left.

The other two MPs in the Presidential contest – demonstrated calm and confirmed cooperation with the President elected by the Parliament. The speaker – Mr Mahinda Yapa Abewardena, who had the blessings of the Administrators of the Parliament is, to my mind, the best person to be the Common Prime Minister.