|
by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
( November 7, 2012, Melbourne, Sri Lanka
Guardian) I write in response to Sri Lanka Guardian’s ‘UPR Sri Lanka: India
does a summersault – is there deal?’
In
my mind I asked similar questions when Medical Faculty of the University of New
South Wales distanced itself when I challenged the Central Administration of
the University and the Federal Government of Australia headed by Mr. John
Howard – then the Prime Minister. Given my realistic assessment of my position
here in Australia, I kept these questions to myself and worked to register my
Truth through the Legal system. Later when their punishments came – I was able
to identify with them – some as an Equal outsider and others as part of their
group. Through the latter, I shared in their loss. Through the
former they are still attractive to me as my ‘other half’. This
is possible only when I feel part of the whole. I learnt
that Natural Powers work for those who live close to Truth. Minorities need
this more than majority. Towards this minorities also need to draw
the lines of limits of ‘shown results’ and channel their
energies inwards to connect to natural powers – as in meditation instead of continuing
with dynamic dancing that the West is fond of.
 |
Every person who voted in favor of this Bill without belief in the Constitution and/or without Discriminative thinking – was doing so for their own surface benefits. They have also acted in breach of the Constitution of Sri Lanka and therefore have earned the punishment that they are meting out to Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.
Published
in Sri Lanka Guardian is also the letter by Buddhist Clergy to
President Mahinda Rajapakase, regarding the Impeachment motion
against the Chief Justice. They state in that letter:
‘Lord
Buddha when he advised the Lichchavi rulers on "Saptha Aparihani
Dhamma" showed as the third "Aparihani Dhamma" "Refraining
from introducing laws which were not introduced in the past and following laws
already existing without violating them; accepting old ethics of the Vajjins
and following them, it will bring them good and they will not be harmed". In
accordance with the above sermon of Lord Buddha, we consider it very important
that decisions should be taken with the utmost patience, highlighting justice,
drawing the attention of the country, society and nation.’
Included in the signatories is Rev. Davuldena Sri
Gnanissarabhidhana. As per the Ministry of Economic Development on the
controversial Divineguma Bill (Poverty Elimination Bill - as per my understanding)
which led to the Impeachment application against the Chief Justice : ‘Minister
of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa presented vessels containing
vegetable seeds along with mango plant to the Most Venerable Davuldena
Gnanissara Maha Nayaka Thera of the Amarapura Maha Nikaya to mark the
commencement of the fourth stage of the Divineguma.
The inauguration ceremony of the island-wide national
seed planting campaign (2012-2013 Maha Season) began throughout the country on
October 25th.The Most Venerable Davuldena Gnanissara Mahanayake Thera’s
welcomed the success of the Divineguma programme and expressed confidence that
its success would prove a major boost to the national economy.
The
Mahanayake Thera’s welcomed the infrastructure development in the country and
expressed the hope that the Divineguma programme would bring more relief to the
people in future.’
As
per our recent lesson on Human Values shared with fellow Sri Lankans
‘There
are three ways in which we make decisions:
(1) Through
our direct physical observation using our physical senses
(2) Through
Discriminative thinking
(3) Through
Belief
Observations
through senses would give us the right answer for that place at that time –
provided we take a 360 degree view i.e. - from all sides. The net
value of all observers is the right answer for that time and place.
This answer however would not work at a different time and/or at a
different place.’
As per the events that we observed – directly and
through those in whom we have faith – the impeachment application was preceded
by a decision unfavorable to the Government in relation to the Divineguma Bill
which was challenged by Tamil political party – TNA. R.K Radhakrishnan of ‘The
Hindu’ reports in this regard ‘Last
month, Ms. Bandaranayeke locked horns with the Legislature and the Executive
over a Bill that sought to take away some of the powers vested in the
Provinces. The Bill places powers to spend about LKR 80 billion on development
on a single Ministry controlled by Basil Rajapaksa, a brother of President
Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The Tamil National
Alliance challenged the Bill, and the Chief Justice held that the Bill
had to be approved by all nine Provincial Councils. This created problems for
the government as the Northern Province does not have an elected council. The
Northern Province Governor gave his consent to the Bill, which was challenged
in court. Supreme Court ruled that certain provisions of the proposed Bill
required a two-thirds majority to be passed in Parliament.
Political opponents believe that
the stand-off over the draft legislation is the reason behind the impeachment
move. Democratic People’s Front leader Mano Ganesan tweeted: “Rajapaksa’s cat
is out. Regime is impeaching CJ, for ruling against Divineguma bill which is
eating up the power share concept…World is calling Rajapaksa to share power.
Instead of sharing, he is taking back what is already shared by law.”
My
question is ‘How come the Buddhist Clergy who blessed the Bill are now
speaking from the ‘other side’?’ As per laws of Nature - we can’t have it
both ways at the physical level. If we are using Discriminative thinking as in
(2) above – we need to use the path of the Judiciary and therefore comment on
the rights and wrongs of the Judiciary led by Chief
Justice Shirani Bandaranayake in relation to the decision. If on the other
hand, we are using our personal belief as per (3) above – then we need to stand
by the side we blessed in this issue. Without meaning to be disrespectful – the
Buddhist clergy in this instance have confirmed to have used (1)
above – and have taken their observation of the ‘seeds of the Divineguma Bill’
by a Buddhist Government to be representative of the whole of Sri
Lanka.
Article
9 of the Sri Lankan Constitution states ‘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 above – the Buddhist Clergy, by blessing the Bill as presented by One
side only has acted in breach of Articles 9, 10 & 14(1)(e) of
the Sri Lankan Constitution. Articles 10 and 14 (1) (e) state respectively:
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) (e) Every citizen is entitled to - 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 or teaching;
By
seeking the blessings of the Clergy of Buddhism only and not of Hinduism,
Christianity or Islam, in Public Administration, the Government of
Sri Lanka has acted in breach of Article 9 of the Sri Lankan Constitution. When
I – a member of racial minority here in Australia believed that Mr. John Howard
who was then the Prime Minister of Australia – had acted in breach of the
principles of Equal Opportunity – to add to the damage to my genuine investment
in Racial Equality, I complained against the Prime Minister through the avenue
available to me – the Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission followed
by the Federal Court of Australia. In legal terms I was defeated. But when Mr.
Howard was with the President of USA during 9/11 attack – and later lost his
seat in the elections, I identified with my own contribution towards these –
through the system of Natural Justice driven by Truth. No Human law
is higher than the law of Natural Justice in any issue. Truth always supports
and upholds the work of genuine investors in Truth and therefore
Natural Justice.
When
I sued the Prime Minister of Australia – I did not have direct and visible
proof of breach by the Prime Minister. But due to my own practice of Racial
Equality and my belief that I was Australian – I had in my mind – the
appropriate Administrative structure under those circumstances. Those Due
Processes using affirmative action – would have led to the right answers to uphold
racial equality and therefore global harmony. This is why Lord
Krishna said ‘Do your Duty and do not worry about the results’. This meant do
your duty as per your belief. One who does her/his duty with belief including
as per the Constitution – is assured of results through Natural Justice for
her/his own needs and for the needs of her/his People.
Every
person who voted in favor of this Bill without belief in the
Constitution and/or without Discriminative thinking – was doing so for their
own surface benefits. They have also acted in breach of the Constitution of Sri
Lanka and therefore have earned the punishment that they are meting out to
Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.
Like
the Buddhist Clergy in Sri Lanka, India has confirmed using method (1) at UN’s UPR –
despite India’s duty to support Tamils with whom it shares more
cultural and religious beliefs than it does with the Sri Lankan
Government and its votes – the Sinhalese. Those who ‘show’ words and actions
for benefits from the outside – would change according to the environment.
Hence their ‘blessings’ would not work outside their natural environments.
I
learnt through my own experience that leaders within the Australian workplaces
who endorsed me privately in our natural environments – did not come forward to
uphold that publicly – even though they held higher official positions than I.
Hence they did not naturally influence the Prime Minister and his work place
relatives to do the right thing as per Equal Opportunity laws and protect
Australia from outside victims. If I had not believed that my actions were
needed at the highest National level – my results would have been as
per conscious calculations and or majority influence of my then environment –
according to which I would have defeated myself. Even one true believer in
an environment is enough to influence Natural Justice at the highest level of
that environment.
In
terms of a Nation’s multicultural activities - Clergy need to invest
through Belief rather than Discriminative thinking. This would promote
diversity. When we use our conscious thoughts and outer observations in areas
where others have invested more deeply in a particular structure / path – we
are being disrespectful of those who have developed that path. It
was for this reason that I did not choose the General Administrative path
through which to take action against Senior Administrators of the University of
NSW and the Australian Government. Built within that is Belief –
especially at lower levels using Due Processes rather than discriminative
thinking. Even if I had ‘won’ at the lower levels this would not have benefited
Australia as much as my acceptance of Defeat through global laws followed by
Lesson Learnt – about the True limitations of the official systems. All those
Judges crossed their lines of separation between the Executive and the
Judiciary and connected to the Administrators as individuals. As
per my discovery based belief - so long as I include myself as an
Australian, I would continue to protect Australians who believe in
Australia as a whole – rather than only their section – however major that part
might seem. Those who cross the above mentioned line of separation, go into the
influence of majority power and abandon discriminative thinking on the basis of
common principles. Majority power works only for that time and place. Deeper
investors would ‘wait’ and enjoy returns with interest – at a later time in
their own natural environment.
Separation
of Powers between the Judiciary and the Executive ensures that one does not
damage the belief based work of the other. Hence, the separation –
with which comes Equality of status and v.v. Likewise with religions – between
each other and between themselves and other paths – such as Politics
and Public Administration. Buddhist Clergy have the duty
to ensure that all religious leaders are present when the work of other
disciplines is being blessed at National level or bless or discipline their own
– privately and confidentially as if they are one family. My kitchen for
example is a facility to all those who believe in cooking their own food in
preference to buying from outside. But, when they ‘tell’ me to cook this
and that – using their higher status outside my kitchen – then I
take action to ‘put them in their earned position’ if they are juniors and we
both know it. Where the other is apparently a senior or equal I devolve
myself’ to my part of the kitchen – thus denying them my services.
This to me is Gandhi’s non-violent non-cooperation. This is how I have now
devolved myself to ‘racial minority’ section of Australia in terms of belief
based actions at senior level.
To
my mind, by acting as it did in relation to the
Divineguma Bill which effectively reduces the power of the Provincial Councils
– the Sri Lankan Government has facilitated the Tamils
who believe in their Province s – to enjoy Natural Devolution. If this is to
work through Natural Justice – Tamils in North & East have to believe that
they belong. Others who believe in such Tamils would be empowered to structure
an appropriate secular system. Without that belief – their suggestions are mere
ideas and would not be workable by locals.
Belief
is easier for those at grassroots level – living close to earth. They naturally
empower that area and are empowered by that area. Those of us who emigrate from
our places of birth have to strive harder to take our positions in new
environments as per our true earnings in our old environments. Often migrants
tend to attach themselves to leaders in new environments and thus carry forward
their old positions at apparent levels than at truly earned levels as per their
conscience. Likewise when one marries into a family of apparently higher
status. Like in rebirth – we need to carry forward only the value of
our investment in our old environment – as per our conscience and not as was
apparent. The bridging happens through group living until we feel independent
as individuals. Once we are independent – we would carry that value to enrich
all the environments that we feel part of.
India
through its ‘flip flop’ at the UPR has confirmed that like the
Buddhist Clergy in the case of Divineguma Bill – it was in someone else’s
kitchen in the Sri Lankan ethnic issue. We Sri Lankan Tamils need to
work on the basis of our own belief and not on who would bring us the high
status of independence quickly. Once we believe – we would devolve naturally
and work the system of Natural Justice which is Universal and is higher than
global systems.
The
Lesson Learnt from all this – ‘Don’t show the results of your work by
disrespecting the owners who developed the facility/foundation that
you use for your work’.
Article
4 (b) of the Sri Lankan Constitution states ‘the executive power
of the People including the defence of Sri Lanka, shall be exercised by the
President of the Republic elected by the People’
As
per the Constitution, the President is responsible for any breaches
through these executive powers.
 I write in response to Sri Lanka Guardian ’s ‘ UP...){kind=link}