Colonel Gaddafi was killed by his own people
l by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam
(October 23, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) Even as I watched the news on Colonel Gaddafi’s death, the picture of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran came to my mind. Colonel Gaddafi was killed by his own people whilst LTTE leader was killed by his Opposition who claimed to be liberating the ‘People’ from terrorists. I saw on my TV screen – Libyans (whose leader Gaddafi claimed to be) celebrating Gaddafi’s death. In Sri Lanka, soon after the death of the LTTE leader, I witnessed with my own eyes, Sinhalese celebrating Velupillai Prabhakaran’s death on the streets of Colombo 6 – a majority Tamil area. I felt upset. The status I had given Sinhalese went down further, in my mind. A Sinhalese professional said to me words to the effect ‘During JVP uprising Sinhalese rebels were also tortured and killed.’ I said ‘But then I did not see any such celebrations by ordinary people’. I elevated the status of the Tamil Community that did not celebrate the death of Sinhalese leaders.
Velupillai Prabhakaran’s death
In her article ‘How the West deals with their “enemies” ? :killing them without trial’, published in Sri Lanka Guardian, Ms Shenali Waduge states:
‘The irony is while the people of the West have the ability to comprehend the realities of the world they continue to be fooled by listening only to the mainstream media that fools them into thinking their leaders do not have blood on their hands for ordering the deaths of millions of innocent people in Africa, Middle East & soon Asia.’
What about the People of Sri Lanka’s South? Were / Are they not fooled by their own Government? Does that Government not kill without trial? Is that not why Tamils are asking that Government leaders be tried for war-crimes? The mainstream media in the West are not directly controlled by their Governments. People who, despite the facilities to make their own independent assessments – through their own local experiences fail to do so – allow themselves to be influenced by the media. In his article on Nobel Prize, Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne says ‘Winning a Nobel Prize in whatever field does not solely depend on the quality of education one receives; rather it is the mindset of the winner that matters most. He must think globally and act locally.’
Did President Rajapakse think globally when he acted locally (without global witnesses) in May 2009? We are all Nobel Prize winners in our areas provided our work qualifies at the highest levels as per the given Criteria – as measured by ourselves. If the leaders of a country do not assess themselves to be winners as per their own genuine interpretations of the criteria, Nobel Prize is not on our National Agenda, except at word level.
Dr. Abeyratne says also ‘Some time ago, Higher Education Minister S B Dissanayake said that he would endeavour to make ground for university students to win Nobel prizes by being best Scientists, Researchers, Inventors and Literati in the world’
At the highest level our achievements are assessed in the consciousness of the leader we have chosen to be represented by. Hence Sri Lankans in Australia are assessed at the level of the Sri Lankan Government at the apparent level. Hence the Racial Discrimination Act to help us consciously start from zero base until known otherwise through our expertise. Unless therefore, President Rajapakse considers his performance in his area of expertise (Anti Terrorism) to be of Nobel Prize standards, we do not qualify to include Nobel Prize in our official National Agenda. Any Minister stating otherwise is fooling the People. Only those who Oppose such a Government at the Government’s highest level of achievement and become Independent of such a Government, would independently lead themselves beyond the government to the higher level – and through such to integrate at the global level. Hence the Equal Position to Leader of Opposition in a Democratic Parliament. It helps limit control and promote independence by starting from zero advantage. Every migrant thus has the opportunity to start from zero base – on equal footing as the mainstream. But many are hasty for benefits as per the law and thus tend to assimilate rather than integrate by opposing. When mainstream Australians demote Sri Lankan qualifications at point of entry, those who oppose it in their minds and outperform their white counterparts (as I did ) – confirm that they started on Equal footing in their minds. They progress beyond Australian leaders to become global.
Given that President Rajapakse led the celebrations of the death of his opposition, after winning ‘locally’ and by blocking global thinking – he naturally influenced/s his voters and all those who accept his leadership without opposition – to stagnate at his level of achievement. There can be no Democracy without Equal Opposition. Many Sinhalese leaders are thus limiting themselves to the local levels even though they have the opportunity to use democracy and oppose to become independent operators / seekers. Likewise Westerners. That is the way of those who are attached to physical outcomes which become heavy baggage after their use-by date.
Velupillai Prabhakaran was not hated by the Tamil Community. Tamils did not celebrate at his death – as Libyans are doing now. Yet, the Government claims to have ‘liberated’ Tamils. As per the celebrations on the roads of Colombo – President Rajapakse liberated his voters from their fears of Tamil Tigers.
Most Tamils took Velupillai Prabhakaran as the medium to express their opposition to the Government. Such Tamils also limited themselves to Prabhakaran’s level of achievement which also falls short of Nobel Prize standards for Independence and Self Governance. This would not have mattered to Tamils who could not dream of Nobel Prize through Sri Lankan national agenda. UN’s labeling of the LTTE as a terrorist group blocked the Tamils’ ‘local’ path to make the President’s local path wider. This automatically narrowed the Natural Path available to Tamils to become Independent and is considered to be an encroachment.
Where common laws are abandoned, the people claimed to being led by a leader are the Judges who deliver the verdict. The leader needs to be seen to be having more of the ‘rights’ than the ‘wrongs’ of that group s/he leads. On that basis President Gaddafi has been endorsed as the Terrorist and not Velupillai Prabhakaran whose death was NOT celebrated by his people. Yet, President Rajapakse was friends with Colonel Gaddafi and claims to be an enemy of Prabhakaran! How very LOCAL!
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