| by Gajalakshmi
Paramasivam
( December 18,
2012, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) At a time when Sri Lanka is suffering due
to anxiety and fear of threats to the Independence of the Judiciary,
our Australian Foreign Minister Senator Bob Carr, is reported to have patted the Sri Lankan Government’s back with
promises of closer intelligence and
maritime ties with Sri Lanka. As per the Sri Lanka Guardian article
‘Impeachment Motion: Requirements for the removal in Australia The views of two
Australian experts’ Australian experts
Laureate Professor Cheryl Saunders AO
& Professor Adrienne Stone,
Director, Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies – have expressed their
concerns over the damage to the Independence of the Judiciary in Sri Lanka.
Senator Carr’s lack of sensitivity to the feelings of fellow Australians
is being clearly demonstrated through the offer of partnership with the Sri Lankan Government
that is considered by thousands of Australians
to be a real threat to the enjoyment of independence by various groups –
the strongest fear being experienced by
the Tamil Community. If this threat was
never present – the Australian Government had no authority to accept war
refugees from Sri Lanka. If the threat
has since vanished – why are there many Australians of Sri Lankan Tamil origin
still fearful of visiting Sri Lanka? Senator Carr as an Australian leader has
the duty to start with our feelings in this issue. Separation of Powers between Independent
authorities is the issue here. How independent is Senator Carr’s decision to allocate
Australian resources to Sri Lankan
Government towards ‘stopping the boats?’ When our leaders fail to maintain
their independence from leaders of other countries – we get infected with their
weaknesses. This promise of Australian
Aid at a time when Sri Lanka needs to repair the damage to its investment in
Independence and Diversity in Governance
– confirms lack of protection
from such weaknesses. This happens when we are in a hurry for the
benefits of our work to be seen by custodians of benefits we desire – in this
instance the UN.
Manjula Fernando
reports through the Sunday Observer under the heading ‘LTTE cohorts in
Australia encourage asylum seekers - Controller General of I&E’ – ‘Sri
Lanka, following discussions with Australian State officials, is on the verge
of bringing in sweeping changes to the existing Immigration and Emigration Act
to completely overhaul the current laws and deter human smugglers. The amended
laws are expected to come into effect by April next year.’
If Senator Carr had done his homework to
know the reality in Sri Lanka, he would
appreciate that the gun is mightier than the law in Sri Lanka –
even amongst politicians. How could
anyone consider Australian politicians who are not able to effectively manage
the refugee issue, to be wise in laws suitable for those very refugees and
their communities? If the problem is too
difficult – the right authority to go to is the UN and not someone of lower
status in this issue.
The Immigration
and Emigration Controller General of Sri Lanka – Mr. Chulananda Perera is
reported to have said ‘a significant proportion of unlawful migrants from Sri
Lanka to Australia constitute the relatives of successful asylum seekers
already living there. Most of the Tamil speaking people who risk their lives in
sea to travel 3,000 kilometres, in perilous conditions want to join their
relatives who had been granted asylum earlier. Many of them have LTTE links.
Other than economic migrants, there is a significant proportion of such people
leaving our shores. They want to reunite with their kith and kin already living
there. It has nothing to do with the situation in Sri Lanka. The LTTE linked Tamil diaspora have money to spend for
lawyers and other support activities to argue and secure asylum status for
these people whereas others get repatriated overnight. The human smugglers take
full advantage of this situation’
Mr. Perera is a
Sri Lankan and it is understandable that he would be anxious about the safety
of fellow Sri Lankans. To the extent
LTTE is considered by his government to
be Terrorists it is understandable that
Mr. Perera would be concerned
about the threat to Sri Lankans from LTTE members and supporters. As a government
official he has the duty to ensure that his department’s policies include administrative measures to
discipline the LTTE members and
supporters by denying them passports. First of them ought to be Minister
Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan – who was
very much part of the LTTE leadership.
Likewise JVP members and supporters who came to power through armed
rebellion. These boat refugees are
victims of the problem that these leaders are - on both sides of the ethnic
border. Even one genuine refugee being
sent back without Due Process being followed by the Australian authorities,
while there is no criticism by the Australian Government about those LTTE / JVP
leaders who are now part of Sri Lankan Government, would be bad karma for
Australia – and to our mind this is all because Senator Carr wants to get
brownie points with the United Nations.
Once the Sri
Lankan Government gets its act into good order – it would have the opportunity
to earn credit with the International Community. It is true that we of Sri
Lankan origin do have the power to influence those back at home. Many of us
regularly educate would-be refugees – including those who can afford air
passage - to reconsider staying at home and earning
their living there. Many from high risk areas are already demonstrating that they are better off by
staying there. As part of such influence
– we provide funding for self employment
as well as Education and Training.
These efforts by small groups within
the Tamil Diaspora have not been
supported by either Government. In fact
we are distributing the Australian Government’s brochure ‘Australia by boat? NO
ADVANTAGE’, to communicate to those who desire to take that path – that we are
with the Government of Australia in this regard. The message is not intellectually driven. It
is from heart to heart. This happen due to Common Faith. We continuously assist the refugees here in
Australia too – including through sharing of our wisdom. In my case this
includes difficulties that I went through here in Australia due to Racial
Discrimination at the workplace. No, we
do not pamper them. In addition to the above, we took disciplinary action
through Australian legal system, against
relatives who failed to seek the
blessings of their sponsors. That
to me is Tamil Traditional culture along the hierarchical path that these
applicants are familiar with. We have come
to know about some who have willfully exploited and/or manipulated the
system. This would not have happened if
the Australian civil service had done its job effectively. With such negative record, what authority do
we have to advise the Sri Lankans? If these refugees have returned positive
value to Australia – then the problem was temporary in the first instance. We the leaders ensure that they pay their
dues as per their beliefs as to the reason why their lives are in danger or why
they need to come here by risking their lives.
Australians have
earned higher status than Sri Lankans in
managing global issues. Australian culture needs to facilitate Sri Lankan
culture if Australian Government identifies a need. Beyond that it is up to the
Sri Lankan Government to learn from Australia – especially a Government that
kept the International Community ‘out’ through claims of sovereignty. Where is that claim now? Australia for its
part is acting in breach of the Doctrine
of Separation of Powers by interfering with Sri Lankan laws and administration.
The way the commoners in these two
nations respectively interpret the same law would be different as per their
cultures. That is the value of Diversity.
When ordinary migrants bring their cultural ways as is into Australian multicultural society – they are told to
leave their old problems behind. We the public are now seeking for our
Governments to do likewise. Your wisdom would be shared naturally when you
achieve the common goal of sovereignty through your own respective paths. The two are not suited to meet on the way
-because the differences are greater than the commonness.
True solutions
to such humanitarian problems would come
‘bottom up’ from caring ordinary citizens who feel for both nations. They contribute through everyday sharing .
Once this is recognized and preserved – Australia’s Human Resource power would
be far stronger than before. Sri Lanka’s
loss would become Australia’s gain. Let
us not run away from ‘offshore
Development work of Human
Resources’ here in Australia. We
developed those opportunities and the
government has no right to throw it away.
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