Migrants who complain about Australia (including through Australians like myself who insist on them following Administrative protocols) keep promoting others to come to Australia, including by boats. The Australian legal system that dismissed my complaints of unlawful racial discrimination, kept feeding these young migrants who have very little investment in racial equality and generally in Public Administration.
l by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam
(11 July, 2012, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I write in response to the Sri Lanka Guardian article ‘Tamil media’ by fellow Australian Dr. Noel Nadesan. My interests in Dr. Noel Nadesan started when Dr. Nadesan and his friend Mr. Mal Spencer attended our seminar on ‘RACIAL DISCRIMINATION – A ZERO BASE APPROACH’ through - Discussion Paper Presented to the United Nations towards inclusion in the UN ANTI RACISM SUMMIT – April 2009’. Mr. Spencer at that time was a hostile attendee on the basis that he knew my first husband in school and considered me to be a woman of weak character. My children were present and wanted to set the record straight for Mr. Spencer. As per my recollection – they did – by saying to Mr. Spencer who had said something about me being married twice – that that was not the place for such ‘talk’. Our daughter Gayathri specializes in Family Law. Having heard good feedback about Dr. Nadesan direct from the Melbourne Tamil Community – I was appreciative of his participation in that seminar. I returned the favor in 2010 January by attending the conference organized by Dr. Nadesan at the University of Jaffna.
In Jaffna, I stayed with the mother in law of a nephew of my husband. This nephew was sponsored by us but now, like Mr. Spencer this nephew from Vattukottai has jumped on the bandwagon to declare through his parents that I was after ‘other people’s monies’ through my second marriage. This nephew, when confronted by my husband for disrespectful conduct by his mother-in-law towards me – stated that I had joined Dr. Noel Nadesan’s group which was taken by my husband and I as me being on the side of President Rajapakse. Like my second marriage – my support for Government activities would be taken as being anti-Tiger by these nephews who closely follow Diaspora news – item 4 in Dr. Nadesan’s Tamil Media categories. This nephew together with his cousins, parents, aunties and uncles – applied to the Supreme Court of New South Wales to have me struck out as a Vexatious Litigant. That tells me how weak our Community Justice system is. The Media, including Dr. Nadesan’s section of Tamil media has failed in this very important aspect of Migrant Community of Sri Lankan origin.
I have stated in my Affidavit in support of my response to the above claim that I was a Vexatious Litigant : ‘I affirm my belief that Australians of Vaddukoddai origin as part of the electorate that gave birth to the declaration of Separate State for Tamils, which I believe in turn gave birth to the Tamil Tigers (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam / LTTE) have a greater responsibility to live as per the values of their sponsors, until they are able to claim with belief that they are Australians with the natural powers to influence the Australian social justice system, through everyday life.’
Diaspora media has the core responsibility to support Diaspora’s Social Justice system. Towards this it is important for the Diaspora media to live close to Global standards of Justice and not simple Vattukottai actual standards. Vattukottai in – Vattukottai out is the logic. World in through Vattukottai – World out anywhere anytime.
Dr. Nadesan writes ‘Though "unverified" reports of the social media are used to lend credence to the mainstream news broadcast from BBC, CNN, Aljazeera etc., the final control of the flow of information still remains in the hands of the Western owners of mass media. The inquiry into the media empire of Rupert Murdoch revealed how the Western Presidents and Prime Ministers hob-nob with the Murdoch's to get a favourable media for their political agenda. It not only exposed the corruption within the media but also some of the myths of free media of the West. At the heart of the media crisis is the issue of media control not only to propagate an ideology but also to manage the media to determine the outcome of a political agenda wherever possible.’
To my mind, the above failure in Mr. Murdoch’s workplace happened due to absence of Democratic channels through which ‘bottom-up’ news reporting reached the Publishers. The channels that received the news in the above example is the parallel of the Tamil Tiger channels in Governance. In both cases this is reverse Administration which usually happens when there has been abuse of top-down Administrative powers which usually happens due to laws being far too high for politicians to practice. True Democracy would ‘facilitate’ bottom-up news / governance.
Dr. Nadesan states in regard to the 4 location-based categories in Tamil Media - ‘The only palpable difference in this scenario was the geography. Other than that the Tamil media, with a very few exceptions, toed the line of the Tamil Tigers. Those who disagreed were labelled and ostracized as "traitors". Their ideological blindness forced them to go down the path that led all the way to Nandikadal. If the Tamil media played its dutiful role the Tamils of Sri Lanka would have saved many lives, property most of all a generation of Tamil youth who could have been an asset to the Tamil people.’
As stated above, I was labeled a ‘traitor supporter’ by our Australian Tamil nephew who with his wife, works for Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation. I have stated in my Affidavit to the Supreme Court of New South Wales ‘I affirm that as responsible officials directly participating in the activities of Australian Tamil Community – through Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation, (Annexure 1) the Fourth Defendant and his wife have the responsibility to not only respect the law but also show such respect through their regular conduct.’
The parallel of Tamil Tiger ‘Traitor’ label in Australian Legal system is ‘Vexatious Litigant’. I tried very hard to help these young Tiger supporters use our Immigration system as a facility – by ‘paying as they went’. But due to excessive use of Family Administrative powers by their parents – especially women who received dowry but continued to draw from the brothers – in breach of Tesawalamai (Customary Laws of Jaffna Tamils) principles, these young Tamils carrying the Australian status – are now practicing Reverse Administration, instead of Democratic Facility. They, to my mind, have come here to cleverly exploit the Australian Administrative system which lacks investment in Democratic Facilities as per Australian environment. Hence our current Boat Refugee (from Sri Lanka) problem.
If Tamil Lawyers had played their dutiful role – and acted as per the ethnics of their profession, they would have helped me punish these young migrants through our social justice system. Likewise the Diaspora media. On 28 June 2012, I sat in Court (my husband was in the Public area of the Courtroom) – a lone woman – after the Judge asked me ‘Have you received legal advice?’ My response was ‘no your Honor’. The parallel of that in news reporting is – ‘Have you written to the mainstream media?’ The response to that is ‘No Dr. Nadesan/ATBC’. Sri Lanka Guardian is a news facility. Likewise the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Likewise the Family system. The most powerful medium for me is the Natural person – even if it is just myself sharing with myself. When media system is accessed before the legal system – investment in rational decision-making is stunted. This often happens when the media is overly business oriented – which results in quick immediate benefits with less being available for investment in vertical growth and/or lateral spread. Likewise with our Universities.
All cultural systems have high level of politics included in them. Yesterday, a young Australian of Sri Lankan origin asked me whether I was into Sri Lankan politics and I said ‘No – I am an Administrator and Facilitator.’ I was waiting in the doctor’s surgery and the above young guy on the opposite side – the only other guy waiting along with me started talking to me. He revealed that he was of Sri Lankan origin. He said he could speak Sinhalese and asked me whether I could. I said yes. He said that meant that I knew one more language than he. The young guy asked me whether I had any children and when I said yes, he said they must be older than himself! I thought to myself ‘Gone are the days when I was mistaken to be the sister of my children!! I must look old now’. Factually taken the young guy was ‘right’. My children were older than this young guy who revealed that he had dropped out of UNSW (University of New South Wales) Medical Course. He said he was there from 2006. The guy stated also – that it was a wonderful University and that he wanted his younger sister to become a doctor through UNSW. I stated that I had worked with the UNSW Medical Faculty in 1998. I did not reveal my battles with the UNSW – because to him this was a wonderful university – even though he dropped out of the course that he now wants his younger sister to follow. Didn’t make sense to me. But then I am different – a natural individual thinker. I did reveal that I worked regularly with war-victims in Sri Lanka and that I was working to contribute to the prevention of future unjust wars. The young guy said that President Rajapakse was a strong nationalist and that he was the best Sri Lankan leader known to him. Like with the Medical Course from which he separated – Sri Lankan politics that failed to keep him in Sri Lanka was good for social talk – without status grades.
Migrants who complain about Australia (including through Australians like myself who insist on them following Administrative protocols) keep promoting others to come to Australia, including by boats. The Australian legal system that dismissed my complaints of unlawful racial discrimination, kept feeding these young migrants who have very little investment in racial equality and generally in Public Administration. Like the Vice Chancellor of the University of New South Wales and the Prime Minister of Australia who had my complaints dismissed on the basis that they were ‘Frivolous and Vexatious’ these young refugees have taken up higher position to their Australian sponsor to have her dismissed as a Mentally ill vexatious litigant. Towards this they hired White Australian lawyers and pretend to be of equal status to the above administrators – all originating from welfare status from us.
To me such family, community and social disorder happens due to lack of actual practice of common principles of a system while enjoying the common benefits of that system – in this instance immigration to Australia through sponsorship of Australians who worked hard and sacrificed deep to become Australians. To the extent we invest in a system we are truly entitled to the returns on those investments. Those who draw immediate benefits incur the opportunity cost of investing in the system. True investment naturally becomes a hierarchical structure. The higher we go the lesser the visible benefits – as in higher education. Just because we ‘get the grades’ and occupy high positions does not mean that we have authority over those at lower levels of the system. These sponsored relatives hired lawyers to occupy positions in the legal system – higher than myself. That is the parallel of Tamil politicians using Tamil Tigers to elevate themselves to the level of International politicians. They could not have afforded those lawyers if not for my work and sacrifice for the family system and at the workplace where I accepted authority from those above me in the Sri Lankan structure in whom I had faith and those above me in the Australian structure in whom I did not have faith. I consciously stayed within the former and consciously stayed independent of the latter. Towards this independence as an individual – I had to bring only the essence of my Sri Lankan experience and not the details. This to me is the best lesson from death and rebirth. Eventually, I was able to appreciate the values of the Australian system directly through realization of the values and through them the founders of those systems. The older the person we are able to follow – the closer we are to the roots of the system.
Australian legal system is still struggling to appreciate the principles of UN system and to me this is due to their attachment to status benefits by being recognized as part of the West. Hence Australian Government is not able to maintain its independence from other pillars of our society. Likewise the Media. Dr. Nadesan should now be in a strong position to write about Australian Tamil social issues on the same footing as he writes about Sri Lankan Tamil issues. Likewise, other Diaspora leaders. As a Community, Tamils of Sri Lankan origin, accept refugee benefits as per UN system but fail to pay due respects to those who practice global standards in everyday life. This is a conflict between majority influence and individual rational thinking. The former is Politics and the latter is Administration.
Those who are sponsored by Administrators and Facilitators – be it as part of the family sponsorship system or as per UN’s global system of Administration - have the duty to stay within those structures, until they have invested more than their sponsors in that system. For example, our relatives who were sponsored by us, have the responsibility to show respect for our word and action until they invest more than us in the common family system and/or in the Australian immigration system. Likewise, refugees who are directly administered by Australian Government have the responsibility to accept the word and action of the Australian Government Administrator until they invest more than that Administrator in the common system of Public Administration. A community that follows these protocols is a civilized society of global standards.
Through both my marriages I discovered that those who become independent of their cultural systems would have the strength to walk as individuals to realize freedom. In contrast – those who cling to family and community status – keep wanting those ‘aids’ and hence get stuck to their past. A cousin of mine shared with me the message from Hugging Mother of Kerala in this regard: ‘We travel to the temple through various vehicles but inside the temple we have to do the walk by our individual selves.’
These systems – including the our Family, Community Cultures, Media and the Courts – help us travel up to the entrance of the Temple of Freedom. But beyond the realities of those systems – we have to walk alone – towards our Truth. I became independent of my family and community and later of society – by using the common structures up to the point where they were no longer true and valid. I followed Family protocols until I was ready to marry and start my own family unit. At that point, if I had clung to the idle principles of arranged marriages so I would be known as a ‘good and obedient daughter’ – I am likely to have not married at all – given that my parents did not have enough dowry to find a professional husband to match my educational achievements and I was not physically attractive enough to ‘look good’ next to a rich and high status husband. Hence I allowed my would be father-in-law who did not have any daughters, to ‘recruit’ me. When he was not around, that marriage came apart and my current husband who was away from his family ‘recruited me’ – as per my discovery – by praying to his Mother on Chithra Pournami day (First Full moon day in Hindu Calendar dedicated to Mothers) . To my mind, I was recruited by the highest practitioners of the marriage system. This helped me naturally merge with high systems at the workplace and later in public life. If there had been one Tamil Tiger who was actually independent of the political and administrative systems of Sri Lanka – Tamils would feel ‘free’ – even if we had lost lives. Like the young relatives practicing reverse Family Administration with my husband and I – the Tamil Tigers practiced reverse politics – by declaring that they were sole representatives of Tamils and also stagnated Tamil Administration – including Media Administration to fit their levels of actual practice. Unless therefore, senior Tamils who have invested in higher level of Administration renounce the returns of their past investments to accept equal status to Tamil Tiger Administrators, Tamil Administration under Tamil Tiger leadership or similar would have collapsed. If they did sacrifice, then they would be facilitators – as I am in Tamil areas where I am seen as a leader. I am able to walk alone – because I became independent of my cultural systems. My path based on my discoveries is the heritage I share with all those who have faith in me and/or show respect for me. This includes my children but is not limited to my children.
I did not separate from any institution/system prematurely. Even today, I am available as a facilitator to parts of my community and family – that seek to complete the other side of their community and family relationships. I believe this is a deep contribution to the health of our community which is plagued by disappointments and depression due to separation which happens often due to premature declarations of independence. Tamil media when it becomes a facilitator of news rather than a reverse administrator – would serve and support these victims of premature separation. One who is independent would not desire or need separation but accept it as being progressive when it happens naturally as in Devolution. Such separation is as natural as death itself.
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