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by Afreeha Jawad

DEW Gunasekera: “poor bearing the brunt”

In Buddhism Mother Teresa could be seen as an 'I' less or 'Self' less personality with an extinguished ego. For none with sense attachment could have worked in those hovels of Calcutta cleaning even lepers' maggot- stricken wounds. In Islam her services emerge through the constant reminder of Allahu Akbar - God is Great.

Complementing this writer's findings of Mother Teresa in the spiritual sphere was DEW Gunasekera's disclosure of her in the more mundane environs - his reference to her as an internationalist.

He was addressing the fifth lecture in a series of such to commemorate the work and services of Mother Teresa organised by the Christian Alliance for Social Action. A Yugoslav national, an ethnic Albanian, trained in Ireland, domiciled in India - Mother Teresa cut across geographical boundaries and cultures not withstanding even her extremely young chronological years of 19 to serve one of the world's horrifying hell holes - Calcutta - a proof of her internationalist and all inclusive spiritual characteristics.

Said Gunasekera, "This 'hell on earth' - the reality of Calcutta, I believe, shook the soul of Agnes and made her Mother Teresa who eventually shook the soul of the world."

Today, this West Bengal state, the capital of which is Calcutta, is one of the fastest developing Indian states where the gap between the rich and poor is narrowest in the Indian context. The collective efforts of its people inspired by the work and personality of Mother Teresa - certainly has helped Calcutta to gradual redemption. Perhaps one could say where politicians failed Mother Teresa succeeded.

This lady of strong conviction and sharp acumen when confronted with a Hindu hardliner who threatened to pull down one of her charity homes on charges of conversion replied very boldly,

"Yes, I do convert - I make a bad Hindu into a good Hindu and a bad Muslim into a good Muslim."

"The message therein was the transformation of man," said Gunasekera.

He also spoke of the richest 362 people in the world whose income is equivalent to the total income of 45 percent of the world's population. The globalisation process is making this gap fiercely wider. "It is again man-made economic policies which has created the wide gap," reminded Gunasekera.

"Sometimes, economists do not see or refuse to see this. Even if they do, they are made voiceless as they themselves are framers of such policies. However, warnings, are given by social scientists who see things more objectively. Unfortunately, those who enter politics are neither economists nor social scientists nor even people's representatives. They are representatives of varied interests - interests other than that of the people," remarked Gunasekera rather indignantly.

Talking of Sri Lanka's war related existence he said:

"We are entering the 50th year of the ethnic conflict and the 20th year of the ethnic war. Many governments have come and gone but the conflict remains as it was or even graver with the problem itself being passed on from one generation to another. The third is now entering the scene."

Gunasekera reminded of the dangers in conflict continuity alongside the expansion of globalisation. "It is finally the vast mass of people - particularly the poor, the sick and the underprivileged who will have to bear the brunt most."

Striking poignancy, Gunasekera said, "We cannot co-exist with terrorism nor can we co-exist with war. It is only with sanity and not vanity that we could solve this problem."

Ethnicity according to Lenin was so close to one's heart and he even described ethnicity as second nature. It is a question of ethnic relations without fear, distrust and suspicion.

Certainly, Mother Teresa all along sought to eliminate these elements in her own way and style.

This then was why she died. India paid Mother Teresa the signal honour of placing her on the same gun carriage that was used for Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

Gunasekera, an adherent of social justice unfailingly mentioned of its importance in bringing world peace and spoke of its embodiment in Mother Teresa. Attributing its absence in Sri Lanka, he contextualised such absence in the local scenario that led to discrimination and neglect culminating in a bloody war.

The 1948 Citizenship Act and the 1956 Sinhala Only Bill were two birthmarks in the ethnic conflict. The very next day of the Citizenship Act, saw the Federal Party's birth.

Though as late as 1987 Tamil was also given parity of status alongside Sinhala as the country's official language, in implementation it remained otherwise. Had this not been so, the ethnic problem that mainly revolved around language only would not have seen its expansion to other areas, territory, identity, land, water and so on.

In Badulla, where 60 per cent are Tamils, there is no single Tamil officer in the AGA's office - so much so that a Samurdhi recipient has to hire a Sinhala interpreter when going to collect his quota of rations.

He warned of impending danger in the central hills if matters remain unattended.

The border area's population also are not conversant in Tamil.

In Jaffna, the population is 100 per cent Tamil while the police continue to remain 100 per cent Sinhalese. Of the 60,000 police force islandwide only 643 knew Tamil. From January next year all police officers will be taught all three languages.

Regretting the total silence of civil society on such matters of national importance, Gunasekera regretted their lack of concern except the concern of themselves - a by product of globalisation.

A startling observation of his under his chairmanship at the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation was that 10,000 million rupees were spent to advertise foods and clothing.

New wants are created and conflicts in families are increasing. Due to such wants corruption too is quite high. So we see how an unjust economic system can lead to a high rate of corruption as well.

Against this backdrop Gunasekera recalled the simplicity of Mother Teresa who did not yield to such an unjust system.

"She was able to dwarf the rich and the powerful with her simplicity. But the story does not end there. The rich and powerful continue to carry on regardless. We have entered the 21st century with a big bang.

" Where do we stand? According to reports, the world has hitherto not witnessed such a wide gap between the rich and poor as today," he concluded.

The sessions closed with Gunasekera assuring grief stricken Pushpa - a SEDEC officer at grass roots level in the East of making available Tamil speaking nurses to the East.

"That will be my first job in office tomorrow morning," he said with a loud ovation from the audience.

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