| by Michael Roberts
(
December 16, 2012, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) Beset by an upsurge of
asylum-seekers arriving by boat from Sri Lanka, Australian government and media
personnel continue to rely on the tired shibboleths of the past.
Three shortcomings hinder their evaluations. Let me stress three points
briefly.
1. The
increase in migration is largely due to the snowballing effect of chain
migration with Sri Lankan kinsfolk and friends who have migrated to the Western
countries over the last forty years assisting aspirant relatives and friends to
find the monies for the journeys (legal or illegal); while intra-familial
dynamics encourage poorer relatives in Lanka to try and emulate their cousins
in the West by getting across to the new Eldorado.[1]
2. Contrary
to Australian perceptions the journeys by boats are not inevitable death traps.
If one excludes the instances of boats from Indonesia that have come a cropper,
I know of only two or three from Sri Lanka that have run into real difficulties
(as distinct from manufactured sinking within sight of big ships). I challenge
people to provide contrary evidence in circumstances where the “boat people”
have satellite phone connections.
3. With
reference to Tamil Sri Lankans the Australian evaluations are directed by the
concept of “persecution” – with the alternative being “economic migration.”
This is simpleton. As such, it is misleading. “Persecution” is a gross tool and
does not allow for feelings that are short of terror. There is, for one, such a
thing as “harassment.” There is also the possibility of “alienation” among the
Tamils arising from a sense of marginalization (genuine, exaggerated or
imagined).
These
shortcomings, believe it or not, are an improvement on the overall scenery of
Australian reportage on Sri Lankan migration. Way back in 2008/09 most
Australian media personnel and the Australian public considered any Tamil
asylum-seeker to be a persecuted being and, thus, ipso facto worthy of
open-arms acceptance.[2]The notion that there could be economic imperatives
was rarely entertained. Again, there was near-total ignorance about a
significant fact: namely, that there had been something like 250-350,000
thousand SL Tamils who had fled to southern India over the years 1983-2002;[3] and that in late 2009 there were “115 camps
housing 73,241 refugees from 19,340 families spread across Tamilnadu,”[4]while another 40,000 or so were surmised to live
outside the official camps. As a result they were unaware that Alex
Kuhendarajah and many of those on the Jaya Lestari were in the second or
third stage of their migratory flow and had left from India.[5]
Furthermore,
the notion that Sri Lankan Tamils could be also motivated, partially or wholly,
by desires to advance their futures economically through better jobs or
educational avenues was rarely considered in media stories. It was assumed that
boat journeys in “leaky wooden boats” were inevitably dangerous and that this
was testimony to conditions of “political persecution” in Sri Lanka.
This
image of Tamils in Sri Lanka was assiduously and effectively perpetuated by the
sophisticated LTTE and/or Tamil networks in Australia and elsewhere in the West. Several
Tamils with LTTE leanings were embedded in the Green Party, while also
sustaining strong friendship with some reporters and intellectuals in the
universities. Refugee and human rights advocacy spokespersons interlaced with
these overlapping networks (especially in Sydney and Melbourne). The advocacy personnel have an
interest in maximizing the tale of woe from Sri Lanka and thereby maximizing
their clientele. This meant that, so to speak, every goose has been a swan; and
that no boat person has ever relayed a lie. Even the few Sinhalese who arrived
on boats and landed in Australia have been deemed “persons at risk.”[6]
In recent
years, fortunately, this ignorance has been partially removed by documentaries
composed by Channel Seven and SBS; while such journalists as Mark Davis, Tim
Noonan, Ben Doherty and Amanda Hodge have brought new information into
the orbit of those Australians (a minority surely) who bother with such topics.[7] Thus, the force of “economic migration” has now
entered centre-stage in the public mind – in part because rednecks and the
Liberal Party are thumping this contention.
In the
process, the contribution of political factors towards the economic ventures of
Tamil Sri Lankans is sometimes neglected. This brings me to Point C: it is
conceivable that some Tamil asylum-seekers who are seeking greener economic
pastures have also been directed by a sense of alienation from the SL state and
the Rajapaksa government. It is also possible that some former LTTE personnel released from the detention centres as “rehabilitees” may have
resented the occasional checks on their whereabouts by security agents and
deemed it harassment. Indeed, 34, or 1.4 per cent, of the 2409 odd
Tamils on boats impounded by the SL Navy in 2012 up to 19th October were former
Tigers (the 2409 making up 79.7 percent of the total of 3020 caught).[8] One of my friends in the Vanni has recently referred to such
harassment and deemed it counter-productive.
To this
day, moreover, Australian perceptions have been coloured by a form of
Orientalism that sees Asia as a source of contamination. This is germane to my
Point B. Such an outlook is embodied in the term “leaky wooden boats” and the
seemingly unshakeable conviction that trawlers sailing to Australia are
inevitably placing their (overcrowded) passengers at risk. Australians remain
unaware that multi-day Sri Lankan trawlers armed with GPS regularly visit the Seychelles area and the north western coastal
sweep of Australia to fish and then return to the island. A few sensational
instances of fishing boats from Indonesia which have sunk off Christmas Island
or off Java have allowed Aussies to latch unto questionable generalizations.
In the
first instance one has to separate the Indonesian figures from those boats
sailing from Sri Lanka and India. We need firm figures of the number of boats that
have reached Australian offshore or onshore locations from (1) Indonesia, (2) India
and (3) Sri Lanka over the last four years; with a guesstimate of those
believed to have sunk or got into serious difficulties. It appears that
official sources maintain a silence on such critical questions and that
reporters have not been able to breach the fortress.
What
happens to the boats that make it? Are they considered vermin-ridden? Is that fierce Australian customs policy of
rejecting wooden artifacts from Africa and Asia applied to the boats? Have
Ashmore and Christmas Islands become crematoriums for “leaky wooden boats”?
That is a conundrum for enterprising Aussie reporters. It serves to underline
my point about Orientalist readings and the recrudescence of the “Yellow Peril”
of the nineteenth century in this new form.
No Win Situation for Sri Lanka: The Government of Sri Lanka (GSL)
may be gaining some kudos from the Australian government and receiving high-level delegations on the subject of
asylum-seekers. However, in the face of the Australian media world, GSL and Sri
Lanka encounter a coin which reads “heads they win, tails we lose.”
During
the year 2012 the Sri Lankan Navy and other agencies have worked as an
outsource arm of the Australian government and apprehended over 3500 budding
asylum-seekers on the high seas or on land. This costly work comes at a heavy
recriminatory price. A fierce Tamil nationalist such as Bishop Rayappu of
Mannar has been quoted in headline articles contending that “intimidation and harassment”
inspire Tamils to venture on dangerous journeys.[9]Ben Doherty referred in September 2012 to three
alleged instances of “torture” (two Sinhalese and one Tamil); while a more
recent article presents a photograph of deportees from Australia being marched to
a court hearing, spoke of their “incarceration” and detailed the terribly
overcrowded conditions they faced in jails, while highlighting claims that they
feared for their life.[10]These late 2012 articles have also criticised the
manner in which the Australian authorities have processed and rejected claims,
while deploying the allegations of refugee advocates in strong voice as one
facet of this reportage.
No
Australian reporter has asked the question how a place like Robe or Whyalla
would cope if some 50 or 120 Aussies (or, if we merge centuries, Kanaks or
Chinese miners!!) were arrested one day in one swell swoop and had to be placed
in a local jail that night prior to a court visit. This is what occurs
regularly when the SL Navy apprehends asylum-seeker boats.
The
process of asylum-seeker apprehension results in the Sri Lankan policing and
court system being totally swamped by numbers. The GSL is so mechanical in its
operations that it is unlikely that they have computed the man-hours spent in
pursuing this policy – counting the hours spent by Navy personnel, policemen,
CID personnel and court officials on processing these “intakes.” Such man-hours
can be audited as costs; and then added to the costs of feeding those jailed
and the SL Navy’s patrolling expenses. In sum, GSL would have a tidy sum to
place before the Australian ‘king” (Bob Carr it is in December).
But who
pays? GSL pays. GSL – and thus Sri Lankan society — then gets slammed in the
Australian press for its terrible jail-conditions and for the continued persecution/harassment
of Tamils. It is a no-win circumstance.
No-Win for Australia too: The Australian government also confronts a
situation it cannot overcome. The snowball process of chain migration in search
of economic betterment is irreversible. It directs Sinhalese, Muslim Moors,
Muslim Malays and others from Sri Lanka as well as Tamils. Those few who can
earn points and take the legal or humanitarian route to Australia (or the West)
will pursue these avenues. But a good segment of others less well-placed will
be prepared to take the boat journeys to Australian offshore islands.
Australians
are now aware that their media campaign in Sri Lanka via the International
Office of Migration is not penetrating the constituency they are reaching out
to; and that several individuals who have been apprehended are set on venturing forth once again.[11] Such patterns of action undermine the prevailing
Australian conviction that these boat journeys are invariably dangerous. It is
significant that, in contrast to Tamil refugees in India, hardly any of the
Tamil Sri Lankans tapped by Tim Noonan, Amanda Hodge and Mark Davis spoke of
boats that had not reached their destination. A researcher friend presently
working at a major port area in the Eastern Province of Lanka informs me that
there is one boat which left in August 2012 about which no one has news; and
that a couple of boats have had engine failure and been picked up by passing
ships.[12] Such exceptions do not serve as deterrence.
As startling
is the viewpoint that prevails among the youth in another coastal locality in
Sri Lanka: they consider going to Australia by boat is “a fun game.” At one level such a shorthand image suggests a
fantasy world of wishful thinking. But, arguably, such attitudes would not be
etched so deeply if stories of missing boatloads had been circulating in the
rumour circuits among Tamils in Sri Lanka.
In any
event the carefree attitude embodied in the idea of a fun-journey to Australia
and its Eldorado highlights the strength of the economic aspirations guiding so
many Tamils; and, indeed, so many Sri Lankans from all the ethnic communities.
Australians interested in this aspect should also investigate (1) the process
of male youth workers departing for Korea and the frantic efforts made to
secure application forms for this path; and (2) the long-standing process of
short-term worker migration to the Gulf States and Middle East as well as
Singapore and Indonesia. The interview with Sathis Spencer conducted by one
Australian reporter at http://myapologetics.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/httpvideo-theaustralian-com-au2261808685captured-tamil-federal-government-kidding-on-asylum-acti/ should be mandatory
viewing for Aussies interested in the topic. This reading should be
complemented by the hot anecdotal information from two Sri Lankans in the field
in the northern and eastern coasts presented as “A Fun Game” early this
December.[13] The problem here would be the Australian refugee
advocates: they are likely to reject such presentations. They are enclosed in a
bunker of their own making, a form of delusion that is not wholly dissimilar to
the fantasy world of young Tamils who view boat-trips to Australia as fun.
The
Australian government therefore faces an unenviable impasse. Perhaps they
should focus on assisting Sri Lanka’s development programmes in selected
localities so that gainful employment is boosted. But, then, raising income
levels in selected localities through developmental investments will only
provide local residents with greater capital for illegal boat voyages.
Concluding Remarks: This line of critical commentary does not lead me
to the conclusion that Australia should pursue a tough policy and summarily
deport most asylum-seekers from Sri Lanka if the legal/political labyrinth ever
permits such a course. Projections of Australian demographic trends[14]indicate that
youthful migrants would be a welcome addition to the aging population.
What
stands in the way of a pragmatic loosening of programmes devoted to the
deterrence of illegal migrants is the ideology that sustains it. Australian
egalitarianism is at the root of Australia’s failure to cope with the issue of
illegal asylum-seekers. Egalitarianism is embedded within the attachment to the
rational bureaucratic mode of differentiating migrant applications. Australians
also find cheating obnoxious. Using those awful people, people smugglers, to
penetrate Australia’s sacred shores is considered a form of cheating. It is
also seen as disorderly. The dominant Australian mind-set values order, cleanliness, and an impersonal bureaucratic
process that treats everyone as equals. No refuse should mar one’s lawn or
garden. Asylum-seekers are ‘refuse’. Leaky wooden boats are contagious vermin.[15]
Given the
impossibility of stopping the illegal flows, however, is it not expedient to
bend with the tide and to accept a fair number of illegal asylum-seekers — even
if it reduces the entry of some refugees more deserving?
Ah, but
there is a catch down this track too is there not? Loosening the controls will
inspire even more smuggling and more illegals.
It is
Catch 22 every which way.
Bunker
down Aussie Volk: Asia looms.
References
Abeywickrema, Mandana Ismail 2011 “Rehabilitation and
Re-Integration of Former LTTE Cadres,” Sunday Leader, 9 January 2011.
Croos, Fr. J., Deanne Uyangoda & Ruki Fernando 2011
“Threats, Harassments and Restrictions on Former Detainees and Their Families
in Vanni,” 11 May 2011, http://www.globalpeacesupport.com/
globalpeacesupport. com/post/2011/05/14/
Daily News 2010 “Ex-LTTE cadres well looked after — IOM
Chief,” Daily News, 18 December 2010.
Ferdinando, Shamindra 2011 “Military visitors see facility
rehabilitating LTTE cadres,” Sunday Island, 12 June 2011.
Davis, Mark 2012a “Sri Lanka’s new Wave,” SBS Documentary,
August 2012, C:\Users\michael\Documents\Boats–DAYAN ANTHONY\SBS Dateline aug 28
2012(1).mht
Doherty, Ben 2012ba “Return ticket from ‘heaven’ ends dream of
better life for Sri Lankan voyagers,” 29 September 2012, http://www.smh.com.au/world/return-ticket-from-heaven-ends-dream-of-better-life-for-sri-lankan-voyagers-20120928-26qs7.html
Doherty, Ben 2012b “Deportation no deterrent to Sri Lankans,” 2
December 2012, http://www.lankastandard.com/2012/12/deportation-no-deterrent-to-sri-lankans/
Doherty, Ben & Bianca Hall 2012 “Asylum officials ‘ignore”
claims,” 6 December 2012,http://www.wellingtontimes.com.au/story/1168004/asylum-officials-ignore-claims/?cs=7
Ferdinando, Shamindra 2011 “IOM clarifies role in integrating Tigers
into society,” 1 Dec. 2011, http://thuappahi.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/IOM-clarifies-rolein–integrating
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Haviland, Charles 2011 “Tamil Tiger releases hit by rehabilitation
problems,” BBC News, Colombo 3 Jan. 2011 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12108479).
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Australian, 30 July 2012,http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/dramatic-mid-sea-transfer-ends-freedom-run/story-fn9hm1gu-1226438080707
Hodge, Amanda 2012b “Island of tears and fears,” 15 August 2012, http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/island-of-tears-and-fears-says-hodge/
Hodge, Amanda 2012c “Sri Lankan bishop warns of harassment for
repatriated Tamils,” 7 December 2012, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/sri-lankan-bishop-warns-of-harassment-for-repatriated-tamils/story-fn9hm1gu-1226531633454.
Hugo, Graeme 2009 “Refugee and Humanitarian Settlement in Australia:
Recent Trends,” Presentation to Symposium on Child Refugee Health and
Wellbeing, National Wine Centre of Australia, Adelaide, 29 October 2009
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asylum-Seekers,” Weekend Australian, 15/16 December 2012 and http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/tamil-tigers-likely-to-dominate-sri-lankan-asylum-seekers/#more-7898.
Jayasekera, Shanaka 2012 “Sri
Lankan boat refugees move to Australia,” Sunday Observer, 29 July 2012, http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2012/07/29/fea06.asp and http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/how-aussies-miss-the-boat-the-many-dimensions-of-migration-and-asylum-seeking-from-sri-lanka/#more-7571.
Nadesan, Noel 2011 “Australia’s positive role in Sri Lanka,” http://noelnadesan.wordpress.com/
2011/10/11/australia%E2%80%99s-positive-role-in-sri-lanka/
Radhakrishnan, R.K. 2011 “Former LTTE combatants rehabilitated,” The
Hindu, 4 Feb. 2011 http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/
article1155465.ece.
Roberts, Michael 2009a “Tamil Migration within and beyond Sri
Lanka,” 5 October 2009, http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/tamil-migration-within-and-beyond-sri-lanka/
—-2009b “Taken
in by Tamil Tall Tales,”4 Nov 2009, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/taken-in-by-tamil-tall-tales/story-e6frg6zo-1225794053578
—-2009c “Adjutant
Australia: Controlling Boat People,” 7 Nov 2009, http://groundviews.org/2009/11/07/adjutant-australia-controlling-boat-people/
—-2009d “Crude
reasoning,” 17 November 2009, http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2736651.htm
—-2009e “Speaking
from Ignorance: Australians on Sri Lanka & Its Boat People,”4 December
2009, http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/speaking-from-ignorance-australians-on-sri-lanka-its-boat-people/
—-2009f “Alex’ Kuhendrarajah and the Australian media,” 20 January
2010, http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/blogs/southasiamasala/2010/01/20/%E2%80%98alex%E2%80%99-kuhendrarajah-and-the-australian-media/
—-2010a “Boat
People as Blanket Categories,” 19 April 2010, http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/blogs/southasiamasala/2010/04/19/boat-people-as-blanket-categories/8
—-2010b “Aussies
swallow Lies and Rajapaksas miss a Trick,” 31 Oct. 2010, http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/aussies-swallow-lies-rajapakses-miss-a-trick/
—-2010c “From
“Leaky Wooden Boats” to the Imbecile Asian,” 27 December 2010 = http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2010/12/27/from-%E2%80%9Cleaky-wooden-boats%E2%80%9D-to-the-imbecile-asian-2/
—-2010d “Missing
the Boat: Australians at Sea on Asylum-Seekers,” 19 October 2011, http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/missing-the-boat-australians-at-sea-on-asylum-seekers/
—-2010e
“Mahesh Pushpakumara: the saga of the marooned fisherman,” 20 November 2010, http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/mahesh-pushpakumara-the-saga-of-the-marooned-fisherman/
— 2012a
“Boat People to Australia: A Comment on The Social Architects’ Survey and Twist
on the Tale,” 24 July 2012, http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/boat-people-to-australia-a-comment-on-the-social-architects-survey-and-twist-on-the-tale/.
—- 2012b
“Australian Gullibility: forgeries, lies and manipulation in the netherworld of
in-migration,” 26 July 2012,http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/australian-gullibility-forgeries-lies-and-manipulation-in-the-netherworld-of-in-migration/
—- 2012c
“Amanda Hodge adds twist to Dayan Anthony’s tale,” 28 July 2012, http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/6405/
— 2012d
“Deported from Britain: back to ‘duress’ or ordinariness in Sri Lanka?” 11
August 2011, http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/deported-from-britain-back-to-duress-or-ordinariness-in-sri-lanka/
— 2012e “Channel
Seven’s Documentary on Asylum-Seekers from Lanka exposes New Angles but
blunders with Kamahl,” 25 August 2012,http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/channel-sevens-documentary-on-asylum-seekers-from-lanka-exposes-new-angles-but-blunders-with-kamahl/
— 2012f
“A “Fun Game.” Illuminating Tales of Tamil Asylum-Seekers from Sri Lanka,
Today… late 2012,” 11 December 2012,
http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/a-fun-game-illuminating-tales-of-tamil-asylum-seekers-from-sri-lanka-today-late-2012/.
Sackur, Stephen 2010a “A Sri Lankan re-education for Tamil
child soldiers,” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8721974.stm.
Wamanan, Arthur 2011 “Rehabilitation: Beginning a new life,” Nation,
24 April 2011.
FOOTNOTES
[1] See especially Shanaka Jayasekera 2012 and Roberts
2009a, b, e and f.
[2] For instances, see ABC 2010 and Hodge 2009
“Tamil refugees fleeing Sri Lankan police state,” The Australian, 21
October 2009, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/tamil-refugees-fleeing-sri-lankan-police-state/story-e6frg6no-1225789068446.
[3] There were many factors behind this outmigration.
The July 1983 pogrom directed at Tamils in the south, state reprisals against
Tamil people in the north and east in response to acts of guerrilla warfare
made up one cluster of reasons. However, internecine killings and warring
between the different Tamil militant groups and a desire to get away from the
LTTE conscription in the period 1990-2008 were among the other pressures
promoting the refugee flows to neighbouring Indian shores. See Roberts, 2009a,
b, and 2010 b, d.
[4] Quotation from Sathiyamoorthy of the Observer
Research Foundation in Chennai – see Roberts, “Tamil migration within and
beyond Sri Lanka,” 5 December 2009, http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/tamil-migration-within-and-beyond-sri-lanka/
[5] See Roberts, “Alex’ Kuhendrarajah and the Australian media,” 2 January
2010, http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/blogs/southasiamasala/2010/01/20/%E2%80%98alex%E2%80%99-kuhendrarajah-and-the-australian-media/ and
Roberts, “Australian Gullibility: forgeries, lies and manipulation in the
netherworld of in-migration,” 26 July 2012, http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/australian-gullibility-forgeries-lies-and-manipulation-in-the-netherworld-of-in-migration/
[6] One outstanding example is Pamela Curr, who held
to this opinion about seven Sinhala fishermen from the Negombo area who ditched
their boat and came ashore at Shark Bay in WA in late 2008. All were eventually
deported after several months of investigation (presumably at some cost to
Australia n coffers).
[7] See Davis 2012; Hodge 2012a, b and 2012e “Channel
Seven’s Documentary on Asylum-Seekers from Lanka exposes New Angles but
blunders with Kamahl,” 25 August 2012,http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/channel-sevens-documentary-on-asylum-seekers-from-lanka-exposes-new-angles-but-blunders-with-kamahl/
[8] Figures provided by a source from the Ministry of
Defence. The total of 3020 does not include 85 deemed crew (of whom 72 were
Sinhala and 13 Muslim).
[9] Hodge 2012c.
[10] Doherty 2012b and Doherty & Hall 2012.
[11] See Doherty 2012b and Doherty & Hall 2012 as
well as Hodge 2012c. ‘People want to go to Australia because there is nothing
for them here, no life,” fisherman Pradeep Lusena told Fairfax Media in coastal
Negombo. “Even if they are caught and sent home, they will try again.” (in
Doherty 2012b). Doherty does not seem to have deciphered the fact that most
boat people are released on bail and that it is the crew who are kept longer
9and one presumes that this distinction operates with deportees as well). In
short, the “people smugglers” are separated from the rest.
[12] Email note dated 12 December 2012. Also see photo
and account in Hodge“Dramatic mid-sea transfer ends freedom run,” Australian,
30 July 2012, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/dramatic-mid-sea-transfer-ends-freedom-run/story-fn9hm1gu-1226438080707
[13] See Roberts 2012 f.
[14] Note Hugo 2009.
[15] These contentions have been spelt out in Roberts
2009c and 2010a.
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