26May 2023

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

 

 

 

HIROSHIMA & MULLIVAIKAL

 

 

Sri Lanka is the oldest Democracy in Asia, with a Parliament tracing its origins to 1835 and universal franchise sustained from 1931. Yet, our multiparty political system is not the norm in other parts of Asia…..It took the West over a century and two World Wars before Democratic Values and Human Rights became the norm. Similarly, in Asia, I doubt that there will be an immediate consensus on the fundamental values of the political system or a definition of Human Rights that is acceptable all Asian countries. Moreover, the strengthening of democratic values in a complex background of big power rivalry is also an onerous problem.’ - President Ranil Wickremesinghe highlights Asia’s significance at the Nikkei Forum on the Future of Asia in Japan

 

 

If the above is true, to that mind - the tragedy in Mullivaikal, Sri Lanka, in 2009 is not fact, but myth. A fact has truth or belief as its soul. If the 2009 battle that resulted in deep pain and suffering for Tamils, is ignored by Sri Lankan government,  it is a myth to them.  Hiroshima’s pain also would have become a myth if the Japanese had accepted the atomic bombings in 1945, as senior’s disciplinary action towards including the junior.  I present this as follows in my book ‘Different Logics, which is with the Sri Lankan president also.

 

 

‘In Australia, I did not recall the professional status I enjoyed in Sri Lanka. But to the extent I earned that status on merit basis and/or by paying my respects to seniors, that status renounced became my intuitive / natural intelligence in the global system of Democracy.’ – chapter 19 – Sweet & Sweetness

 

The pain I endured, to make a home in Australia, for my family, became a heritage, due to its sacrificial nature.  Likewise, Japan in global context.  The Sri Lankan government is the parallel of the West about which the Sri Lankan President states

‘If the West wants a rule based order, the West must adhere to these rules all the time.’

 

As per Wikipedia,

‘The rules-based order (RBO), describes a set of global, rule-based, structured relationships based on political, economic liberalism  and liberal internationalism  since the late 1940s… More specifically, it entails international cooperation through  multilateral institutions (like the United Nations, World Trade Organisation  and International monetary Fund)

 

Sri Lanka’s separation with RBO was confirmed through Mullivaikal bombings 64 years after Hiroshima and the above speech happened  78 years after Hiroshima.

The President emphasises the power of China as follows

‘Asia’s strength is derived from its openness.

The territory comprises some of the world’s wealthiest economies and some of the poorest; large sub-continental powers as well as small states.

This diversity has only served to strengthen the region’s role in the global arena. All of our countries benefited from the cooperation between the US and China in the post-Cold War era. Yet the subsequent rapid rise of China and the inability of the two countries to agree on China’s role on the international stage have led to rivalry and needless tensions in our part of the world.

The recent plan by the Sri Lankan government  to export 100,000 toque macaque monkeys to China indicated to us that the debt to China by Sri Lanka, was becoming a sin. Now this express support for China further confirms this.  Given that the IMF came to the rescue of Sri Lanka, one would expect the president to express appreciation for RBO and the West.  Lack of gratitude accumulates negative karma.