John Murphy and Sri Lanka bashing

By Ranjith Soysa

(June 14, Victoria, Sri Lanka Guardian) John Murphy , the Australian Labour Party Parliamentarian now a Dy Minister had been in the forefront of the supporters of Tamil separatist /LTTE campaign in Australia. During the last 11 years, in fact John Murphy represented the LTTE agenda in the Australian Parliament whenever Sri Lanka came up for discussion.

While JM made the LTTE supporters proud and elated in his contributions to the
Parliament debates and discussions on Sri Lanka by his constant Sri Lanka bashing,
his performances were crude to say the least as his eulogies were for an organization
responsible for assassinating several members of the Parliament in Sri Lanka, a
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, President and a Prime Minister of India. It was indeed
a pathetic show almost ignoring the values associated with Parliamentary democracies
and ideals of the Australian Labour Party.

In very recent discussion on Sri Lanka in the Australian Parliament JM was at his crudest when he exhibited his one-eyed vision by taking upon himself to ridicule the
UN system. It proved again that this Deputy Minister was too big for his boots. Some
observers concluded that his IQ prevented him comprehending how the UN system works.

One important and conspicuous word which was missing in his speech on this day as always was “LTTE” a.k.a “ Tamil Tigers”. However much JM attempts to show that he is highly concerned about Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan Tamils when he purposely ignore the LTTE factor or LTTE’s record of terrorism against the Tamils, Tamil democratic leaders, Muslims and the Sinhala civilians it gives his hide and seek game with the terrorist group away.

Among his childish comments in the Parliamentary discussion were following ‘gems’.

1 Sri Lanka Government was taking false and dishonest comfort in their recent UNHRC resolution which supported Sri Lanka crisis as “domestic matter that does
not want outside interference”

2. Sri Lanka Government is taking false and dishonest comfort in the resolution that
supports Government insistence that access to the camps only “ as may be appropriate”

3 What pressure was placed by Sri Lanka Government on the members of UNHRC to
achieve this flawed outcome?

4 The vote of support by the Council makes a total mockery of the recent vote by the
Council that went against Isreal.

5 What double standards has the UNHRC exhibited in the case of Sri Lanka….

6 How dare the Sri Lankan ambassador to Geneve claim last week’s that the European
nations had failed with their “punitive and mean spirited agenda”?

7. European nations who have spoken up for Tamils are not fools, The international
community are not fools, We are not fools….

These were not uttered by a rustic villager in a third world country, but a Dy Minister in the Australian Government who according to the followers of Australian
Parliamentary affairs has been playing the same tune for last 11 years refusing to
forget or learn unfolding events and preferring to languish in the same old rut. JP has
no regard to the resolve of 29 nations of the UNHRC representing more
than 4 billion people including India, China , Indonesia and Russia! Either he should admit that he does not trust the system and move that ALP should canvass for a new UN or should have used suitable parliamentary language and phrases to indicate that he understands international diplomacy. His was an ignominious verbiage insulting the intelligence of the members of the UNHRC , the educated, experienced Sri Lankan Ambassador in Geneve and primarily the Australian voters. JM has indeed reached nadir of his limited intelligence when he almost challenged the freedom of speech of the Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the UN by using a cheap jibe.

JM should definitely spend eleven more years under the tutelage of the Prime Minister Rudd to comprehend the changing World, the international community and the UN rather than making a fool of himself by attempting his hand at issues which are beyond his IQ level.

For the purpose of edification of JM let me quote India’s Ambassador to UN Office, Geneve on this issue when he responded to the High Commissioner for Human Rights. He said “ The High Commissioner has welcomed the special session and consequently, we consider it safe to assume that she also accepts concomitant outcome. ..It is important to recall that the special session reflects an inter-governmental decision, adopted according to the rules of procedure of the council. What is more it endorses the joint communiqué issued at the end of the recent visit to Sri Lanka by the UN Secretary General, which among other things, reconfirm the willingness of the Government of Sri Lanka to address the issue of accountability in response to the concerns expressed by the Secretary General in this regard.”

It is neither possible nor ethical to give vent to one’s emotions in these affairs as irresponsible individuals while Australia remains a valued member of the UN
system. It is ridiculous for a senior member of the Australian Government to
rave and rant whenever Sri Lanka is discussed in the Australian Parliament
simply because the member had put his back into a lost cause.

-Sri Lanka Guardian