Equal Opportunity to Lose

by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam

(December 06, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) Equal Opportunity Principles are very much part of the Democratic systems largely of the West. We usually think about Equal Opportunity to use Common facilities and to derive benefits from Common Resources. According to the Laws of Nature – there is an Equal Problem to every identified Opportunity. When we are conscious of both – we feel part of the whole. When we are equal minded about the problem and the opportunity – we are the Whole.

Common Problem for the Government & Equal Opportunity for the People

When we award ourselves more benefits than the problems we feel and/or are conscious of, we become unstable due to imaginary benefits at mind level. If we identify a weakness / problem, within ourselves as individuals and/or the family/community/society that we feel part of, that identification is the foundation of the solution. When benefits are taken without such a foundation and beyond the direct costs we have paid, we become unstable in our minds.

Equal Opportunity to access common resources help prevent such imaginary credits which prevent us from belonging to that group/society. Hence when the government of a group of people identifies a problem, the first step needs to be to allocate resources to a common area representing the problem, to the extent of the government’s estimate of the problem. Without this allocation, there is little value in talking about Equal Opportunity. It’s when the problem is common that there is room for Equal Opportunity to access benefits and facilities through the resources that represent the problem.

A good Government would feel the common problem. A great Government would ‘see’ value in Equal Opportunity.

When the UN – the commonly accepted International Government - listed the LTTE as a terrorist organization, it was showing the world a ‘problem’ on behalf of global society. To that extent the resources have been made ‘common’. Was last week’s status sharing with Tamils, by British politicians, part of the distribution of the Opportunities waiting to happen, from that Common Problem?

Path of Karma

As per my observations, LTTE started losing power when it relied on support from outside its natural environments – especially through Diaspora Tamils. The more we focus on money and status, the less we feel inner powers. From the point of Tamils as well as Sinhalese who migrated to other countries due to their losses and pain in Sri Lanka, to the extent they feel that their new countries are better than Sri Lanka – they have been compensated for their pain and loss. Any accusations of Sri Lankans on either side of the war – above the uncompensated level, is actually a ‘benefit’ – usually in the form of status - by lowering their (former) opposition in Sri Lanka. These need to be through official structures on merit basis, using the standards of their current governments. Otherwise the unjust discrimination would continue by both sides. These benefits should not be indiscriminately added (including by the media) to either side seeking to win locally without practicing global principles. Both LTTE as well as the Government are guilty of seeking benefits from the global community, without contributing to Common Global Values and Principles.

Like the LTTE seeking the support of Tamil Diaspora out of Diaspora’s earnings from countries committed to Global Governance, the Sri Lankan Government, through its President also stepped outside its earned territory towards gaining global status after consciously removing the representatives of that Global Community – so it could win ‘locally’. Both eliminated ‘outsiders’ and/or the values of global community to win locally. Now they both want to have it both ways.

They both have Equal Opportunity/ Freedom to lose status with global communities. The side that recognizes this fundamental value of Natural Justice has already identified the need for a solution. That side is the world cup winner in Equal Opportunity.