AUSTRALIAN TAMIL MANAGEMENT SERVICE

The Hon Malcolm Turnbull, MP

Prime Minister

Parliament House

Canberra

12 October 2016

Dear Mr. Turnbull,

Bali Bombing Tragedy and the Sri Lankan Constitution

Today, we remember and honor the victims of Bali Bombing in 2002.  I believe that I also became the medium through which the causal forces of this tragedy were channeled. I became such a channel due to my identity with the Indigenous Australians to whom Coogee was home.  I shared my painful feelings with our political representatives and also did my best to raise my grievances against the Central Administrators of the University of New South Wales, to the highest levels of Administration within the Federal Government then headed by the Hon John Howard. My experiences are codified in my book ‘Naan Australian’ (meaning I am Australian) which is now in the National Library of Australia. I do not know how it got there but knowing that it did – confirms to me yet again the Power of True Belief.

In simple summary – I believe that the deeper we believe the more capable we are of invoking the powers to defeat injustice in our current environments. Anyone identifying with my pain as a migrant – by going into that experience as if it were  virtual reality – would continue to protect Australians from becoming worse victims of bombings such as Bali Bombing. Every non-White Australian to whom Australia is ‘Home’ protects Australia from our negative karma in the past during the time we were ruled by White-Australia policy.   Logic measured through Current merit alone is not sufficient to protect us from our past.

When we embraced the Equal Opportunity pathway through Racial Discrimination Act 1975, it did not mean that majority Australians believed that all races were Equal. It meant that those who treated all races to be Equal to theirs – had a tool through which they could prevent themselves from underestimating or overestimating someone else’s deservedness to benefits – especially benefits that they thought ought to go to their children and community –  as per past history. The more actively we used Equal Opportunity Laws and Principles – the easier it was to prevent the past from raising its ghost from the grave. The above mentioned Equal Opportunity law rendered minorities who did not forget their past  but were grateful to their past – their dignity.  The certification by our son of his mother which was a strong force that helped me restructure my position in Australian society without losing my dignity as a parent is in the Appendix. As a leader committed to curing Domestic Violence in our society – I expect you to read that as if you were me and your son was my son. Your experience in this regard  is reported in Wikipedia  as follows:

[In partnership with Bruce McWilliam he established his own law firm, Turnbull McWilliam. During 1986 Turnbull defended Peter Wright, a former MI5 official who authored the book Spycatcher, and successfully stopped the British government's attempts to suppress the book's publication in Australia. Turnbull later wrote a book on the trial.

"The fact of the matter is that nothing is achieved in this world, particularly politically, other than with persistence, and persistence involves repetition and it involves argument and re-argument... The public interest in free speech is not just in truthful speech, in correct speech, in fair speech... The interest is in the debate. You see, every person who has ultimately changed the course of history has started off being unpopular." Turnbull's closing submissions, 18 December 1986]

Your submissions were with frills as a White Australian Male Lawyer. My son’s were without most of the frills but the dignity of Truth as per his family experience. I had to therefore honor the position of parent more than the position of Australian citizen and the system that facilitated this was the system of Tamil Hindu culture – in which sons took/take  greater responsibility for social and professional status than daughters. Our daughters – one of whom is a lawyer – are likely to have identified with my sincerity but to my mind, they lacked the courage that our son demonstrated and this I feel was due to their knowledge of both cultural systems. I for my part did not include that as a family measure to allocate credit in Australia.

 It’s not different to the ‘Same Sex Marriage’ issue that has been recently active in Australian Politics. I take this opportunity to share my appreciation of the Opposition Leadership by highlighting the words of wisdom shared by the Hon Bill Shorten:

"Children do not need to go to school in the climate of a plebiscite and have the integrity of their parents' relationship challenged," This country does not have the right in a plebiscite to pass judgment on the marriages and relationships of some of our fellow Australians."

Mr. Turnbull, as an Australian of minority race, I identify with the above – especially that part that ‘this country does not have the right’.  But I do believe that the law would help parents through same sex marriages uphold their dignity as parents. When the mind is low – the incidence of domestic violence is high. If the law fails to embrace this group – they are likely to include themselves with those to whom such structures are not very important. Hence emotional environments in which domestic violence tends to be high.

I highlight that the Hindu religion has included the dignity of children of same sex marriage through Deity Hari-Hara Puthran – (Hari=Vishnu; Haran=Shiva & Puthran = Son).

A religion that includes such a manifestation as Sacred – is indeed a highly civilized religion and should not be part of a system that allocates relative positions. Every Australian Hindu has the Duty to respect as Equals those Australians of same sex marriages.

The parallel of this in Sri Lanka – my Motherland – is whether Buddhism should continue to be upheld as the foremost religion through Sri Lanka’s Constitution. After reading my article ‘Not in my name says Buddha’, a copy of which was sent to you also – a fellow Tamil in Sri Lanka directed me to the statement by the Hon M.A.Sumanthiran, MP – published under the heading ‘Sumanthiran Contradicts Ranil’s Claim That All Parties Agreed To Give Buddhism Foremost Place In New Constitution’

As you may recall – Mr. Sumanthiran met with our Minister for Foreign Affairs, about a year ago. You yourself met with the President of Sri Lanka in September this year. Did either of you feel that you were sharing your wisdom in Democracy with these persons at the depth required to transform them – so that their interest in the Debate of the ethnic issue would be strengthened?

Neither of the above Sri Lankan leaders  seems to feel the passion to hold a debate. A member of the British Tamil Diaspora wrote as follows in this regard:

[Does it matter if Buddhism  is given that status ? We are not mature enough yet to be entirely a pluralistic society , so better not fight over this when there are more important issues to settle.

Christianity is officially the state religion here in The UK with the Queen being the defender of the faith and head of the church of England .We have public or bank holidays only for Christian holy days like Easter and  Christmas .The popular belief was that if LTTE had gained Eelaham it would have been a Christian (Catholic) country!!

Equal rights as humans is more important than the trivial matter of religious supremacy. Hinduism has survived over thousands of years despite repeated Mogul invasions, Christian missionary onslaughts .A true religion will stand the test of time ]

To my mind, seeped in Equal Opportunity values, the above Tamil is confirming that he has assimilated with the White British  and has accepted his status as a member of the extended British family. While it is his right to do so in Britain – he has no right to espouse that to Tamils in Northern & Eastern Sri Lanka who have suffered deeply due to being a minority claiming Equal Entitlements as per their earnings. It is the parallel of the Republican Debate here in Australia. The difference is the lack of  Interest to Debate on Equal footing. Many Australian Tamils demonstrated similar ‘attitude’ to the above British Tamil when I  filed my claims through Equal Opportunity laws. They are all assimilators.

As a citizen of a Nation that provides Aid to Sri Lanka at Government level – I ask you to consider ‘Debating’ this point in Parliament through Common terminology – whether ‘Australia ought to provide Aid to countries that are committed to a particular religion by Law?’

ABC reports ‘Half of all Australians want Muslim immigration ban? New ANU poll suggests it's not that simple’

Like votes, Polls are true indicators where those providing the responses express their belief. But the Belief of One who has gone deeper than her/his  generation’s influence – would reflect the deeper Energies that influence the manifestations at a  place. To access the wisdom of our elders at that level – we need to clean our minds of impurities – including benefits earned through our current system. This helps us connect to their minds. Most of us know deep within that there is such a power. Otherwise we would not preserve heritages nor hold memorials. To an Independent Australian, the problem with the Islamic State would be the same as the Buddhist State. Hence if we, through our laws ban assistance to such claimants – it needs to be on Equal footing – irrespective of whether they are non-government or government groups. The current Heads of  Sri Lankan Government have made their Political Declaration – that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country. As a Christian you may feel for the Christians in Sri Lanka and thus invoke global power of Christians in support. Since you do not have direct influence with the UN to express it with apparent global authority -  through Secular language, would you not use the Australian Government structure to commonly stop Aid to a Buddhist or a Muslim country? The LTTE never attacked Australians. But Aiding them was listed as a crime and some Tamils continue to be bound by the judicial ruling against such Aid. That order was to uphold the dignity of the Government of Sri Lanka in Common. Relative to Australia, Sri Lanka is a junior in global governance. If they would not take your advice is it not your duty to Stop providing Aid and demeaning them? To my mind, any giving and taking without Common belief is a sin. At our Australian Tamil Management Service -  Opportunity shop - in Vaddukoddai – where the first Political Declaration of Independence was made in 1976 – by Tamil Politicians – we do not give anything away for free because we are not beggars and hence our community members are not beggars.

Fear of fellow Human Beings merely because they belong to a particular religion or language  is cruel. A Secular system needs to find Common reasons for such bans. When you dig deep you will find those reasons. When upheld they would naturally cure us of our mental illnesses that are caused due to emotional imbalance. Those who mark themselves ‘right’ against someone who is more right and yet is marked ‘wrong’ – acquire that imbalance problem which surfaces once the brain lacks the driving force to work even for a living.

Thought of sharing that discovery during this period dedicated to ‘mental health’.  Truth is the best medicine for mental illness. Hence confessions in your religion and yoga in mine.

Yours sincerely,

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

Appendix

Pradeep wrote on 27 June 2005, to the Criminal Court which sent me to Mulawa prison for one year:

‘RE: THE INCARCERATION OF GAJA LAKSHMI PARAMASIVAM

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter to express my concern about the potential incarceration of Mrs. Paramasivam and the great disservice to the community that our judicial system and medical services are doing in handling this matter.

Mrs. Paramasivam is my mother. No son wishes to see their mother in prison and worse still have to hear about the trauma she had to undergo with the threat of forced sedation that was exercised by a doctor at St. Vincent’s Hospital, whilst in custody. It is a shame that the medical system, in partnership with the judicial system, has to resort to fear in dealing with a victim of unfair dismissal.

My  mother was both forced to resign and later be unfairly dismissed by the University of New South Wales in 1999. From my understanding of the matter, her refusal to accept the fraudulent reporting practices of the University Administration in relation to Grants led to her being blacklisted at the University and her otherwise impeccable career achievements tarnished. Her fight to remove this black mark has been all the way to the Supreme Court where she agreed to withdraw her case given the University would talk.

Following this agreement, the University made no attempt to facilitate a meeting with her, and she had to suffer the indignation of being arrested for trespass in trying to organize a meeting with the Vice Chancellor. The charges were dismissed given she had a lawful excuse to be on the University premises.

After this the university did organize what appears to be token meeting between her and the Vice Chancellor, so as to be seen to be adhering to the Supreme Court order. It is inconceivable that anything could be resolved by such a brief forum and highly reasonable for Mrs. Paramasivam to seek a further audience with the Vice Chancellor. Her attempt to do so has resulted in the current arrest for trespass and the sickening guilty verdict.

It is truly shameful that a person who has stood by their principles is being humiliated in this manner. My mother, Mrs. Paramasivam, has been uncompromising in maintaining her honesty, and it is disheartening to see her being punished for this. Whilst, being family, I would blindly support my mother, in this instance I do not need to be blind, because being aware of the matter, it is clear that she has been treated unjustly. She has my full support  and admiration, simply because she has her integrity.’