| by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
( November 12, 2012, Melbourne, Sri
Lanka Guardian) I write in response to the Sri Lanka Guardian article ‘The
Bridge between the Diaspora Youth and their Country of Origin ’ by Mr. Thisara Devasurendra
For whatever reason, I registered that
the author was of Sinhalese origin. Like our physical looks – these are first
impressions and they do play their role in our assessments. I wrote as follows
in regards to this in my book ‘Who Am I ?’:
‘Friday 23 November 2007 – judgment
day in matter Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam (GLP) v University of
New South Wales (UNSW), at the Full Australian
Federal Court of Appeal
I walked into room 21A – a
majestic-looking room. At the computer below the Judge’s chair was a young man.
There was no one else in the room. I bowed to the Judge’s chair and seated
myself. I thought of Lawyer Todd Golding (from the Office of the NSW Crown
Solicitor) who asked me earlier in the year as to why I was bowing
when there was no judge in the chair. I said ‘I am bowing to the god of
Justice’. Justice is part of me. Justice comes with
me everywhere I go. Hence in a way I was bowing to the god of Justice inside
me. Each time I judged as per my conscience I brought into me the god of
Justice. The Judge’s chair was the mirror image of the god of
Justice within me. I have been trying to reconcile that god of Justice with the
ones I ‘saw’ and ‘heard’ on the outside – telling me who I am. This is an
account of that reconciliation process. Justice gives me inner
balance / peace. When I find it on the inside, others from the outside need me
to give form to their own sense of justice. Some did identify but none had the
courage to say so publicly on the basis of his/her own conscience. Most
needed external verification and therefore confirmed lack of faith in me. To
me, lack of faith in me is lack of faith in justice itself in that environment.
Physical Looks
Such expressions of worship and prayers
help me focus within me. Hindu legends speak of god ‘appearing’ to
the devotee. I said prior to my UNSW experiences, that
we must have sinned more than our ancestors for god to not appear now in this
Kali yuga (era). It was my way of saying that I did not really
believe that god appeared but that it was said to help others ‘see’ someone’s
merit. Now, after my UNSW experiences, I feel that god does
come but only sometimes in direct human form, to reward us in the
material world. He does come when there is no one else available and when we
are in genuine pain. He continuously sends signals sometimes directly and often
through people – people with whom we have reconciled with whom we are connected
through faith/trust. I felt that most of the time I was praying to
myself - to the Truth in me. This helped me raise my work to
ownership level. At ownership level I did something because it was natural to
me – that something is a part of me – so that I did not need to ‘see’ the final
outcome to feel satisfaction. The action originated from my heart
rather than from my body or head. That something is me. I discovered that Body,
Mind & Soul in the language of ‘work’ is ‘Money, Goodwill/People
& Ownership’. The Seen, the Thought and the Felt. ‘Small
body, big heart and great mind’ is the introduction I like best
identifying with’. It came from an Australian academic. Some Sinhalese in
public forums (for example Lankanewspapers.com) have declared that
they find me physically unattractive. Around the same time Tamils in public
forms (for example Unarvukal.com) declared that I was good looking and that I
was a renowned Tamil. Sinhalese went mostly by the picture published on
the net by Patrick Harrigan – an American Religious Scholar living in Sri Lanka
and helping the needy’
To the extent we are active in a world
of young ones and/or those who are driven first by looks – we need to include
‘looks’ / ‘names’ in our assessment. This was one of the reasons why I took
action against Mr. John Howard when he was Prime Minister of Australia. If the
White Australian Accountants at the University of New South Wales had treated
me as an Equal and therefore stayed away from Democratic Resource Management
system that they were not familiar with – the problem would not have risen to
the level of Prime Minister and we would have been saved a big part of the Bali
Bombing pain. Death in itself is a reality. It is how we die that
makes all the difference. Our inner mind, when we are alone with ourselves
would indicate to us – what our next stage / life is going to be. The young
need to think in terms of next stage of life and the old – in terms of next
life – life after death itself. The way the two groups relate to the war would
be different externally.
Mr. Thisara
Devasurendra states ‘As far as I remember, like the majority of my Sri
Lankan friends born during the eighties, I have always known my parents’
country as a country in war. And even if the conflict is over since a few years
now, I frequently get reminded that there was a war. Especially when I meet
someone new, and they ask me where I come from I naturally respond to them -
Sri Lanka.’
I as a parent born in 1950 – just before
the conflict surfaced – would state the parallel of this as follows: ‘As far
as I can remember, like the majority of my Ceylonese/ Sri Lankan relatives
and friends born during the fifties, I have related to Australia as
a country of migrants preferring British-Looking migrants. Even though
Australia now recruits Asians like myself more willingly than it did
before the war in Sri Lanka – I get frequently reminded that until 1975
Australia officially carried the ‘White Australia’ policy. When I meet someone
new and they ask me where I come from – I respond ‘Sri Lanka’ and follow this
by my own question ‘Where do YOU come from?’
I conclude that Mr. Thisara Devasurendra
is yet to realize the values of Equal Opportunity – except when it is mandatory
to do so. The war was only a show that Equal Opportunity was lacking
in governance. The conflict will continue until one or more of the following
happen/s:
(1).Tamils either lose consciousness of
Sinhalese being their government – (as I have here in Australia in relation to
White Australians) – through true self governance independent of any
structured system – inherited or otherwise – or
(2). Clear Devolution of Power in areas
where the minorities are in majority. - or
(3). Majority Sri Lankans (Legal) use
merit basis in multicultural areas to judge each other
Majority Tamils are using options (1)
& (2) above – option (1) being led by Diaspora Tamils and option (2) being
led by Resident Tamil leaders. Only a few are using option (3) above.
Option (3) practitioners become global faster than either of the
other two. Hence it is important that Dual-Citizens (the real ones and not
necessarily those carrying legal stamps) use option (3) as a preference. That
way we enrich also our current countries of residence to whom we owe at global
level, just as much as they owe us at global level. In relation to Sri Lanka, I myself
use a combination of all three – option (3) most of the times now when I work
for myself as per my conscience. At other times I use (1) with ordinary members
of either community and (2) with management members of either community.
Mr. Thisara
Devasurendra states ‘Truth be told, I have lived in Sri Lanka, and I go
there as much as few times a year since birth, yet I have only been to the
Northern part of Sri Lanka during the summer of 2011, and before that the most
Northern point I had been was Trincomalee in 2005. It is when I went to Jaffna
in 2011 that the feeling that something wasn’t right started growing in my
mind. Witnessing all the chaos that ravaged Jaffna and seeing this for the first
time gave me chills in my spine. I was then on a family holiday with my
parents, aunts, uncles and my grandmother who also lived until the mid-60’s in
Jaffna and left like many others during the 70’s. Then I thought to myself, war
is certainly over politically speaking, but what if my family background had
its roots in Jaffna, and it was the first time I was able to visit my
grandmother in Jaffna?’
The conflict is not resolved. That part
of the war that is based on true pain and loss will continue to manifest from
time to time until one or more of the above solutions are practiced by majority
Sri Lankans and their subjective supporters from either side.
As per the above, Mr. Thisara Devasurendra’s family lived in Jaffna largely for
economic / material purposes. They were the parallels of Diaspora Sri Lankans
using exclusively option (1) and/or (2) above, in the Sri Lankan
issue. Until they come and work in their places of origin – directly
and/or through those who carry their values ‘current in current format and past
as consolidated belief that would be the principles for the next generation of
that area’, these Diaspora Sri Lankans on either side are like Mr. Thisara Devasurendra’s grandmother.
Truth being
Universal, is ‘told’ only when 360 degree view observations of facts are
presented or when one is able to connect through oneself to the cause and as
well as the effect – with a still mind – i.e. when one is ‘cause’ at one time
and ‘effect’ at another. At each stage one needs to facilitate the natural path
– without influencing actively the intake or the outcomes. At
least to the extent the Sri Lankan government suppresses the juniors/ordinary
citizens in its own ethnic group – they carried the trait /guna to
suppress any minority. The current problems with the Chief Justice
and the Judiciary confirm this. When an internal problem/disease surfaces
and is given only an external treatment – i.e. treatment of the symptoms only
it would lead to the disease changing form and/or damaging inwardly where there
is no avenue for it to manifest in alternate form. The deeper the
disease/problem, the deeper the cure needs to be. This is the way for most poor
countries that tend to use ‘belief’ to cure themselves internally.
Those driven more by ‘what happened’
than by ‘why it happened’ – are outsiders and hence would not have the ability
to cure themselves. It’s those who own the problem that have the cure. When
they take leadership – their groups will be healthy in terms of Equal
Opportunity issues in this instance.
Mr. Thisara
Devasurendra states ‘to show change, it will need certain commitments
and life choices from a group of individuals who are determined to carry on
this will to make things better. This will require them to live in Sri Lanka
and reach influential positions in society, but they will have to accept that
they probably will not see the fruit of their work and choices.’
Yes – they would need the power to
influence but no that they have to live physically in Sri Lanka and a stronger
no to having the achievement of influential positions in society as a
target/goal. Sri Lankan positions must be preserved for Sri Lankans – resident
in Sri Lanka. Diaspora members are the parallels of UN – and their own High
Commissions in Sri Lanka – and they have to uphold their positions in those
countries. Otherwise – the colonization mentality would grow and we are likely
to join 9/11 activists on both sides. Until there are Equal and Opposites on
both sides – no act of Terrorism could manifest itself at that place and time.
That is the law of nature. Human laws that seek to prevent wars – need to
ensure that the two forces – for example the Sinhalese rebels (even if they are
in uniform but act outside their official boundaries) and the Tamil rebels –
are kept away from each other if the government’s Administrative system is not
equally applicable to both sides.
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