Converting candidate Wigneswaran to become a reasonable Tamil Moses – part II
Posted on July 31st, 2013

C. Wijeyawickrema, B.A. (Hons.), LL.B., M.A., Ph.D.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Solutions to worldƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s problems could be found via BuddhismƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

Dr. Abdul Kalam & Ms. Prathibha Patil (Ex-Indian Presidents)

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  “All human progress has depended on ‘new questions’ rather than ‘new answers’ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  to the old questions”

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Alfred North Whitehead-Science and the modern world, 1925

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-There is no state without a Tamil, but there is no state for the TamilsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  (www.Tamilnation.org)

Reasonableness DoctrineƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

A reasonable Moses can succeed as in the PharaohsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ Egypt. But the first Ceylon Moses (SJVC, identified so by Ranil WƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s uncle Bishop of Colombo) failed because he was unreasonable, and as SWRD said was delusional. What I tried to show in the first part of this essay (Retired S.C. judge Wigneswaran: a new Tamil Moses ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” part I) was that Wigneswaran (W) is an unreasonable Moses. I heard both of his sons are married to Sinhala women and he had a Royal College education. Millions of Sinhala people and Tamil people did not get that opportunity. But W, the first judicial platform he got talked about sparrows and summers when he got the SC judgeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s job. He is very clear now with his plan, because as a lawyer he wants to record for a future international court or an international king-makersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ court that the mandate he got is for Tamil self-determination. He and his sons got the best out of Sinhala men and women living with Sinhala people, and again the first political platform he got, he talked about a Tamil nation recognized in 1921 by a James Peiris and a Samarawickrema, and wanting to get the TNA Eelam with or without foreign intervention. He says Prabhakaran was right but P used the wrong method, killing, and killing more of his own people.

Sarath Fonseka when he was a soldier explained in plain words what is reasonable in the context of Sri Lankan geography and history. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He said, before he got trapped in an international king-makersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ coup to try to derail MahindaR, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-that Sri Lanka is the country of the Sinhala Buddhists and the poor Christian Sinhala people. Minorities such as Tamils and Muslims can live with equal rights and equal opportunities, but they should not make unreasonable demands.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The demand for a separate country via 13-A plan (for this there is no need to have land or police powers and JHU and Wimal W are holding the wrong end of the gun) is an unreasonable demand.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  What Rajiv Gandhi did to humiliate JRJ in 1987 for insulting his mother and brother as the cow and the calf (of the Congress partyflag) while partying with the urine-drinking Moraji Desai, was unreasonable treatment of the Sinhala people. There is no Tamil Homeland in Sri Lanka other than the Thesawalamei mentality of the Dutch colonial origin.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Similarly, a Muslim Taliban-forced woman wanting to cover her face in public in Sri Lanka is an unreasonable demand. The rich Christian Rosi SenanayakaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s desire which is also the Christian establishment-desire to end Buddhist social foundation in Sri Lanka is also an unreasonable hope. Such unreasonable demands and wishes do not agree with the Buddhist Middle Path of a country which has a 2500 year-old heritage based on the spirit of the Buddhist Jataka Stories.

Nexus of geography-law-Buddhism

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-You cannot legislate against geographyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-One law for the ox and lion is oppressionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The concept of reasonableness governs and guides the operation of the modern world. It is like oxygen. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Laws and public policies of the countries in the world are based on the reasonableness doctrine.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Evidence as facts is used to decide if an act or an omission of an entity is reasonable, and hence legal. Specially, in the social sphere, or in democracy, what is reasonable becomes a compromise, give and take (moderates). This is the Middle Path in Buddhism. The Middle way is in other philosophical thought systems also but in Buddhism it is the central pillar. What is reasonable in one location may not be reasonable in another location or a country. The geography of a place thus decides what is reasonable. In Bangladesh marijuavana is not a social problem but liquor is. In India cow is sacred, In Pakistan cow is eaten and pig is haram. Hindus eat pork. Thus a Buddhist can find the Middle Path, law and geography as a triangle enveloping his or her action and omissions. Two Indian ex-presidents who were not born as Buddhists found the practical utility of this nexus in the world of politics and public affairs. One cannot simply ignore geography, and since persons are unequal due to nature and nurture, treating unequal persons equally can be unintended discrimination or oppression. Between lion and oxen, oxen will always be starving if there is a law that says whoever who runs fast to food has the right to all of it.

This is what Devanesan Nesaih found doing his doctoral work at Harvard with Stanley TambiahƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s help on the topic of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-discrimination with reasonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (1997). Using India, USA and Malaysia as case studies he concludes that discrimination with reason is acceptable. Otherwise how can one understand that in India 50% of the population in lower castes and tribes get some sort of favor guaranteed by law? Same is there for former slaves, blacks, called reverse discrimination. Sri Lanka did not have such preference laws for the Sinhalese or Buddhists like the Bhumiputra laws in Malaysia for Malays. But even programs aimed at reducing poverty, rich-poor gap, food self-sufficiency are called Sinhalisation attempts by Tamil Separatists who are predominantly English-speaking Christian Tamils living in Colombo. Thus, GG PonnambalamƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s children live in Colombo, go to church in Colombo, and talk about the aspirations of Jaffna lower castes who are allowed only to sit on the floor of the church or lower benches, not in chairs!! In the case of Sinhala Buddhists, the constitution says Buddhism ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ is given foremost place and the state shall protect it, but in action it has become a big joke like what was promised in 1815. But anti-Buddhists use this joke to propagate that Buddhists are a favored lot in Sri Lanka. This is double jeopardy!

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Land of the cowards and home of the opportunistsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢

Sri Lankan partisan politics is a classic case of a tragedy of the commons. Red, blue and green politicians cheated people, poor Sinhala, poor Catholics, poor Tamil, poor Muslims and especially Buddhists. Politicians were (are) interested only about their personal gain or family gain at the expense of the country. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As Tisaranee Gunasekera said in the Colombo Telegraph (7/28),it is a land of the cowards: even she was one when she used the code name Anuruddha Tilakasiri with Dayan Jayatilleka writing on behalf of R Premadasa against JRJ. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Since 1931, except for a handful of Sinhala politicians (such as CWW Kannagara, KDD Perera (of Bandaragama), Merill Fernando (Moratuwa), Robert Gunawardena, R.G. Senanayake, Edmond Samarakkody and Gamini Jayasuriya), until the flood gates were open for crooks and thugs and criminals after 1978 JRJ-RPremadasa democracy reforms, political power was in the hands of regional families. If one looks at the list of state council members elected in 1931 and 1936 they were almost all from families who benefitted from the Portuguese, Dutch and the British colonial masters for either spying, supplying goods and services or fighting in wars against the native people. They got their lands and jobs and then built their local mansions.

These families got an opportunity to send their children to Colombo and to London for an English education which Macaulay planned to do with that type of children in India in 1835 by his Education Minute: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-to form a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellectƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (Macaulay: the shaping of the historian by John Clive 1973, p.376). Nehru called it education for clerks for the British Raj. In Ceylon such people begged and later agitated for a share of government jobs and Tamils were more successful in this regard than the less educated Sinhala children. Muttu Coomarswamy was so well dressed that even Queen Victoria was dazzled! ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This class is later called the Brahmin caste by the late Martin Wickremasinghe and Black-whites by the villagers. These people in politics and in all the other professions including clerical, continues the Euro-centric thought pattern (Europeans are superior). Thus, one does not become a black white simply because he or she speaks English or wears a three-piece suit but a black-white can look like a kiri koka in a white national dress with a mind open to European colonial superiority.

Dharmapala vs. Dharmapala

As part of colonial strategy these people were subject to psychological humiliation inculcating in their subconscious a feeling of inferiority that we find today in plenty whether one is a SC judge or a thug parliament MP or a Sinhala or Tamil medium-educated university teacher, school teacher or a bus driver. This is the trait that comes down for generations from Don Juan Dharmapala in 1541-97), the only Catholic king in Sri Lanka. It was this inferiority complex that Anagarika Dharmapala recognized during colonial times itself, and to cure it (mental therapy), he asked people to make a puppet, apply it white paint and keep it in the front yard or entrance to the house and kick it on a daily basis. A return of this humiliation back to the white man from a former colony took place in April 2009, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ when Gotabaya Rajapakse rejected the British and French foreign ministersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ demand to visit Prabhakaran (of course Ho Chi Min did in Vietnam to another country).

The perpetuation of remote-controlled new colonialism was possible because of this black-white class or Eurocentric thinkers or the Dayan jayatilleke, Pakiyasoothy Saravanamuttu type. D.S. Senanayake, Oliver G, Esmond Wikramasinghe, JRJ, RPremadasa, Mrs. Chandrika, RanilW, all types of Marxists, and many in the present cabinet fall within this category. This class is all over the world in the former colonies. These Sinhala politicians with the Christian church manipulating them behind the scene were afraid in 1949 or 1976 or 1986 or now in 2013 to take the Tamil separatist bull by the horns and identify it as unreasonable and do what was needed to empower people. In 1971 they did not learn this lesson, in 1988 it was madness, and now it is an attempt to shape things. Even Sarath Fonseka is now for ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-shaping up of thingsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ on the Tamil separatist issue or joining in with Mrs. Chandrika.

A case of mismanagement by an Euro-centric class

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ At the time of 1948 or in 1931 the needs of the country were:

  1. diversification of economy

modern plantation sector but neglected peasant sectors

grow food crops and non-traditional export crops

develop an industrial sector (agriculture and industry are two legs of a country)

develop import substitution

new economic sectors-limited tourism sector, export of gems, flowers

  1. reduce the gap between Colombo and rural areas
  2. reduce the gap between the rich (Colombo) and the poor (rural/urban, just 10 miles out-side Colombo)
  3. reduce the existence of two countries (English language (5%)ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  vs Sinhala/Tamil language country (95%), two nations)
  4. reasonable and fair readjustment of the effects of the divide and rule colonial policy (minorities vs majority)
  1. wisdom in dealing with the separatist movement in the Tamilnad (Valvetithurai smugglers of goods and people) and
  2. reasonable and fair readjustment of victimization of Buddhists by a Christian government

Instead of handling these issues in a systematic reasonable fashion, these green, blue and red politicians hammered the basic laws in the country on a selfish partisan basis. Not a single thing escaped from their dirty minds and hands. State corporations introduced to overcome red tape in the government establishment code. Soon the concept was ruined with political appointments and corruption. After nationalizing tea estates, bus conductors got the jobs of estate conductors. This mess is continued. On the democracy front:

  1. from 1960-77, they destroyed the Structural Democracy in the island ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ gradually (rule of law, separation of powers, independent judiciary and public service), ending up with JRJƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s bahubootha vyavasthava (lunatic constitution) in 1978
  2. they destroyed the territorial Democracy after JRJ-RPremadasa new election laws after 1978 (removal of electorate or wards, introduction of manape dog fight, candidate selection by a job interview in Colombo party headquarters)
  3. they destroyed local civil administration by increasing the 4,000 GSN units to 14,000 appointing party catchers as GSN officers during RPremadasa time
  4. they destroyed the physical environment and natural environment by a mad rush to embrace ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ economic liberalization with increased incidence of landslides, floods, droughts, forest fires, soil erosion, forest denudation, water pollution. It is not sustainable development at all.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Factories pollute groundwater and villagers began fighting back.

On top of these come external (foreign) challenges due to:

  1. Vatican and World Church Evangelical NGO plans to Christianize Asia
  2. Western imperialism coming back as global free market domination under US capitalist corporatism and WTO
  3. Balkanization of India plan
  4. New cold war to restrict China as a world
  5. Wahabism and Taliban Zaria law expansion
  6. Tamil country with a UN flag project
  7. Selective use of R2P as the new western humiliation weapon to break-up countries
  8. Target Sri Lanka for regime change using corruption and mismanagement as an excuse. After Gotabhaya R humiliated, David Miliband and Bernard Kouchner, USA, UK, and EU are determined to punish MahindaR, because this return-humiliation was a bad example to the other poor countries in the world.
  9. Global warming.

Reasonable solution for people

The sections above are an attempt to show that Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s problems are not limited to Tamils or Muslims. Basil Rajapakse pumped truck load of money for infrastructure development in the North and East. But Wigneswaran is talking about a cow or a goat or a well for a Tamil household kind of language. W does not talk about de-mining. Basil R should have expanded the Gami Diriya Program (people based development without the politician in the picture) worked so well in the Sinhala areas into the Tamil villages in the North and East. Instead, he started ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a Divi Neguma Law, an officer-based repetition of a failed previous concept. For example, RPremadasa had a Gam Udawa, which ended up as dead clock tower and forest-destroyed barren land. Yet, one cannot deny that a good percentage of ordinary Tamils have seen the progress made by the Colombo government for their areas, which Tamil separatist politicians denied to them for half a century. Therefore, while the TNA, Christian NGOs and Eelam diehards will object, the reasonable solution proposed here and submitted to LLRC earlier, has a good chance of receiving favorable consideration by lots of poor Tamils.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The problem will be from the current politicians in power who will see that this proposal is going to erode their power to control people and funds and the future of their kith and king as politician businessmen and women. I hope that a movement like Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) needs to take this idea directly to people and if necessary force the president to submit it for a referendum. If Wigneswaran is not for an Eelam he should support this proposal since it is acceptable to all Sri Lankan communities.

A love affair with the province

The province as we know it today began in 1832. After the 1818 Rebellion, there was a need to erase any influence that the frustrated and cheated out feudal chieftains could have exerted on people and therefore, the old Kandyan Kingdom was divided into five provinces. The central province looked like a starving beggar. Another reason was the need to overcome remoteness, distance, in an age of horse carts and bullock carts. So each province had a regional king-like government agent.

After the 1848 Rebellion the number of provinces increased to nine and ever since this was like a demarcation given by God Vishnu, scared and unchangeable. The districts and headman divisions came within these provinces, including parliamentary electorates. During the Kandyan kingsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ times even the felling of a tree was a serious crime as forests were a part of the natural defense system. It had an ecological effect too. It is amazing how the so-called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-primitiveƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ cultures had better regard for environment that the western world did not have. Native Americans lived as part of nature as if they were Buddhists who consider trees and animals as part of human world.

The British their concern was security and profits under the name of peace and good government. The direct road from Colombo to Trinco was a top security priority. Anybody who sees the province map of Sri Lanka could see that this security and profit based vision is against the geography and ecology of the island. The most qualified and duty-bound person to point this out and think of proposing re-alignment was the professor of geography of the independent Ceylon. But only thing I have found in his record is that he wrote a research paper on ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-the Tamil origin of town and village names in the Sinhala areas.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ It is a fact that all university subject areas have had Tamil or Burgher professors for a long time after 1948 or 1956. The only subject area that a Tamil was not the head was the Sinhala department where Sinhala was taught in English. When FR Jayasuriya asked Nicolas Attygalle, the Medical Faculty Dean, to start teaching medicine in Sinhala, he told FR ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-first you teach your Sinhala in Sinhala and come to me after that.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

I cannot say that there were no native officers who suggested a change in this administrative demarcation system at least after the Sinhala and Tamil medium graduates joined government services. I could not locate any, unfortunately. How many CCS government agents or DROs could have seen the absurdity of a spatial division in a tiny island with 103 rivers running radially from a central mountain mass and with at least 40 ecological regions, which ignored physical geography?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Or maybe all of them were Euro-centric thinkers. When the Gin Ganga or Nilwala or the Kalu Ganga or the Mahaveli was flooding, what did they think other than the rudimentary social service department?

I heard that this administrative boundary demarcation anomaly was discussed by one Mr. Lanarole who was G.M of the Industrial Development Board in the 1960/70s. At least after SJVCƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s attempt to use the Eastern Province as part of his mythical Tamil homeland, Sinhala politicians should have studied this issue and decide on a more acceptable solution based on Ecological boundaries. But instead even in the 1990s Mrs. Chandrika with the GL-Neelan packages was trying to create a Southeastern Muslim region ignoring geography and hydrology (Oluvil declaration). At the TNL debate between Ven. Gangodavila Soma and Mrs. ChandrikaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Ports minister Ashraf denied that he is not a Muslim extremist but it was Mrs. CƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s package which proposed a Muslim region.

When the Gal Oya river development project was proposed, Dr. S. A. Wickremasinghe suggested building several smaller reservoirs in the water shed than a giant one reservoir. This was what the Tennessee Valley Authority in USA did with the Tennessee River. Gal Oya project was a copy of TVA without following the most important feature of upstream multiple reservoirs. The giant one tank had the problem of water not filling up to the required level. Later, with the Mahaveli project not only the Sinhala kingsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ watershed management system violated and damaged, but in a limestone base having a huge water reservoirs can cause geologic problems. Landslides more frequent now in the area may be due to this heavy weight on the earthƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s crust.

The collection of land use data as suggested under this proposal was undertaken by the Agricultural Development Authority during minister Ranjan WijeratneƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s time. I think with changes in governments such data and such ideas are thrown out and a new set of officers or yes men come to the scene. Sri Lanka has so many agencies with so much data, and in the final analysis no one knows what the heck is going on. Can one believe that with a government computer buying glut, there is no database in the health ministry on the number of medical doctors it has!

We know that grama sevaka niladhari units (GSN) within a district had followed old village boundaries and these villages evolved as organic spatial units. There were 4,000 of them. But RPremadasa increased them to 14,000. The only rationale for this that I can think of is that he wanted to give jobs to his party catchers. There is no other country in the world that such irrational increase of a countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s basic civil administration units took place. These new units have no economic, ecologic or geographic basis.

King KosolsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ seventeen dreams

I heard that at a public meeting in which both Mrs. B and JRJ were present the late Ven. Walpola Rahula told them that the UNP and SLFP destroyed Sri Lanla. An interesting thing happened to people of Sri Lanka as a cumulative result of political blundering. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Because of the 30 year Prabakaran war people in Sri Lanka lived with a fear of death wondering what will happen to their loved ones when they were outside their homes in school or work. Then most people erected a wall around the house and created a prison as these are mostly postage stamp-size plots. This made people so selfish and suspicious of others. Parents do cheating and children are expected to live with lying. The fear of death is like a stab mark on the subconscious. It takes a generationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s time to heal this wound. The Arab slavery by Sri Lankan women also created dysfunctional families with disturbed children and disloyal wives or husbands. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Garment factories ruined village girls and haphazard tourism industry created prostitution and kudu business rampant. A village girl works in a garment prison reminiscent of the 1840s Manchester textile factories and the gold chain she bought from her labour is snatched from her neck by a thug coming in a bicycle and use it to buy drugs. Policemen say they need bribe money to pay for their childrenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s tuition fees. Then they had the election system which removed the link between MP and his or her voters or ward and the councilmen. On top of that came 14,000 GSNs, not qualified, who came as a political party agent, a spy of people. Free economy made uncontrolled ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-developmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and the desire or need to make money by hook or by crook. A road is not safe even in the remote areas of the country with ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-developmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ related trucks. Bus drivers run races to overtake rival busses to make money. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Corruption in everything is the norm today. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Is there any wonder that the country is in a big mess today. What we see today is what king Kosol saw in his dream in Buddhist India. The solution proposed in this essay is a solution to most of these problems also.

Proposed solution- steps and comments

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-History of water is (hi)story of humansƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

  1. The boundaries of GSN units must be re-demarcated using hydrological (river, groundwater basin) boundaries. The new GSN number will be based on ecology and not politics.
  2. Thus the whole island will be divided into GSN units which will end up as seven river basins. There are 103 river basins (see maps in attached documents).
  3. For each new GSN unit a peoples committee of ten will be elected on non-political party basis. This is the consensus decision-making that Sarvodaya leader described in his books in the 1980s. This is the Panchayathi approach. Panchayathi means ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-if five people agree there is god.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
  4. This committee decides all local matters, including basic health, education, garbage disposal, Dengu control, agriculture, roads, pollution, conservation etc. including some dispute settlements via a conciliation board. Officers will be implementing these decisions and answerable to the elected GSN committee. As it is there are at least 3 full-time government officers in a GSN unit. This is what Montesquieu really meant by separation of powers. He never meant a strict separation of legislative and executive powers or some basic judicial actions. What he meant was the distribution of sum total of power to as many units as possible. Chief priests of Buddhist temples enjoy this kind of sovereign status unlike Christian churches.
  5. Electorates which are a collection of newly demarcated GSN units will have a peopleƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s committee composing of a representative of each GSN unit in the electorate.
  6. Districts which are a collection of electorates will have a peopleƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s committee with a representative from each electorate.
  7. There will be seven provinces which are the seven major river basins (see maps) and each province will have a peopleƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s committee consisting of all district level committee members.
  8. Thus there will be linkages between local to province as there will be a need for coordinating some management affairs for efficiency and due to economies of scale of operation issues.
  9. The provincial peoples committee will have MPs of that province. The MPs will have to be selected by discarding the present method and going to the pre 1978 electorate system, newly demarcated by ecology-based criteria as a collection of GSNs.
  10. At each GSN level there will be a land use map prepared using information now available in various government departments and authorities (Geological Survey, Survey Dept., Census, Soil Conservation, Forest etc.). These maps will be refined and updated by each GSN unit with the voluntary help of geography teachers and students within the unit with support from university geography departments. The maps so developed will be displayed in the GSN unit office, temples, churches, mosques and public and high school libraries within the unit for people to peruse and comment.
  11. Land use maps so developed will be converted to tables of rows and columns and stored in computers as a digital database so that maps can be printed for the GSN unit such as soil maps, pollution maps, conservation maps, paddy cultivation maps etc. An atlas can be developed of the land use patterns in the unit.
  12. By collecting land use data on a standard basis it is possible to develop a land use and utilization map of the island taking each GSN unit as a dot. For example, if the president of the country wants to know where in the country there were deaths by road accidents in a given year or where was flooding, he can get a map within a few minutes on to his lap top computer by asking it from the central data processing center.

Already some GSN units have prepared such data tables, but it must be done in a coordinated, systematic fashion so that it is integrated to get local as well as electorate, district, provincial (seven river basins) or national level maps. By the way, Prabhakaran had this kind of land use maps developed after his 2002 CFA bonus.

  1. The map on the reference essay attached,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Federal-marriages and water warsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ shows how so many rivers are cut into two halves (upstream-downstream) by the arbitrary province boundary. If an Eelam comes or even if a hostile CM in NPC or EPC demands more water during a drought, water disputes now a common occurrence between Tamil Nad and Kerala/Karnataka will be a new headache in Sri Lanka. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It will be an R2P case. This kind of spatial issue will not happen when all communities are in one river basin.
  2. Manel Aru/Weli Oya is a good example of how a river basin, however small it is, can become a major dispute in the hands of separatist Tamils. The Tamilnet website does this now on a daily basis. Prabakaran started his death march by blocking water from Marvil Aru to Muslim farmers downstream.
  3. The importance of this paradigm change in civil administration from arbitrary politics to ecology-based units in the island is that this system allows for the aspiration demands of Kumar Ponnambalam led separatist Tamil groups within reasonable limits. That means all kinds of aspiration work can go on, but no incentive to expand it as a demand for separation. What they say is that they need room for their Tamil aspirations such as they do not want to follow the public holidays granted by the Colombo government. Poor Tamils in Jaffna do not care which is a holiday or not, but a handful of separatist Tamil politicians make these life and death issues for Jaffna! A Jaffna poor Tamil does not care whether the lion on the national flag is aiming its sword at the minority color strips or its back at them. These are mentally deranged thoughts of Muslim and Tamil racists.

For example, in a 100% Tamil new GSN, if its peopleƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s committee decides to erect Shiva or Kali kovils along its roads as part of fulfilling aspirations, no Sinhala person will care too hoots about it. The cost of the project will be tax money from that GSN area. Sinhala Buddhists may visit those kovils.

  1. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Apart from GSN units there will be one major Yalpanam river basin with a predominantly Tamil majority where an aspiration tree can grow, but which cannot over grow to develop as an Eelam project. Under the new paradigm there are no incentives to promote that step.

Thousands of Tamil and Muslim GSN units with powers for local decision-making will deflate the few TNA separatists hungry for personal gain. As one government side candidate for the NPC elections said, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-these TNA people have all their children and even their wives living in foreign countries and they want our vote.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

Mr. Wigneswaran, who did not lose his Tamilness except a summer sparrow or two by living in Colombo, could help poor Tamil masses in Jaffna by supporting this proposal. He will be a real Tamil Moses. He should read the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-River for JaffnaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ essay written by S. Arumugam in 1954 or the recently published monograph titled ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Water for Jaffna.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ What a wonderful thing can happen to Jaffna people if the Jaffna lagoon becomes a fresh water lake!

Please see the following essays for maps relating to this proposal

  1. Language-blind regional development

http://www.island.lk/2006/10/25/midweek1.html

  1. APRC and the Bio-regional Vision

http://www.island.lk/2009/02/25/midweek1.html

  1. Federal marriages and water wars

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2009/08/05/federal-marriages-and-water-wars/

  1. The central hill country: geographical heartland of Sri Lanka

http://www.asiantribune.com/node/2871/

 

C. Wijeyawickrema, B.A. (Hons.), LL.B., M.A., Ph.D.

Cwije7@gmail.com

2 Responses to “Converting candidate Wigneswaran to become a reasonable Tamil Moses – part II”

  1. Lorenzo Says:

    Endia plans to DIVIDE Tamil Madu into 3 parts – Tamil Nadu, Kongu Nadu and Tondai Nadu!!

    EXCELLENT!!

    Divide them and rule them.

    LTTE Seeman and Ramadoss have already praised the idea.

    A divided Toilet Nadu will be weak and we can manage it better.

    Endia has realized the DANGER power devolution to LARGE units. Yesterday Endia created Telagana out of Andra Pradesh breaking the big state into 2 smaller states.

    Endia plans to create 22 NEW small states to DIVIVE AND RULE.

    So Endia IS BREAKING UP and they are doing something about it.

    SL should divide northern province into 3 parts – Jaffna, Vanni -west and Vanni – east.

  2. Lorenzo Says:

    “On Thursday, anti-Telangana protesters vandalised a statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Kurnool district.

    The protests have been called by the United Andhra Joint Action Committee which opposes the division of the state.

    Hundreds of paramilitary troops have been deployed after Tuesday’s announcement.

    The final decision on a new state lies with the Indian parliament. The state assembly must also pass a resolution approving the creation of what will be India’s 29th state.

    Correspondents say the timing of the announcement is linked to general elections due early next year. Recent opinion polls have shown that the Congress party is struggling in the state, which has 42 parliamentary seats.

    The move to create Telangana has sparked off similar demands in the states of West Bengal and Assam too.

    The main Gorkha ethnic group in West Bengal state has called an indefinite strike in the tea-producing Darjeeling region from Saturday.”

    – bbc

    FANTASTIC!

    It is spreading. Hope Tamil Nadu will disintegrate!!!

    This is what SHOULD be one in Jaffna and Vanni districts – divide into small parts.

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