Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

19 May  2020

Sri Lankan Opposition trying to influence Australia?

My grandchildren and their grandchildren would appreciate knowing how I experienced the Coronavirus pandemic. My experience would be different to those like our Prime Minister but my heirs in family and community would inherit my truth to the extent they value my life. It is therefore important to base our expressions on belief.

At one time we accepted that the  Earth was flat. Now we believe it is global. Both are right as per our own level of thought. But our application of the knowledge ought to not change. Hence the Tamil saying that we must not forget the pathway through which we travelled.

The coronavirus pandemic action needs to be belief based for our contribution to be valuable even if we were proven otherwise at the higher level. At the moment – our Australian Government is claiming the parallel of ‘Earth being flat’. This is being backed by a senior politician in Sri Lanka:

[Former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera tweeted saying Sri Lanka must back a 62-nation coalition’s push for an investigation into the origin of the virus.

He said that even India and Russia have backed the coalition led by the European Union and Australia to seek an independent investigation into the coronavirus outbreak.] Colombo Gazette article ‘Sri Lanka urged to back coalition seeking probe on origin of virus’

Is Mr Samaraweera promoting Democracy or Autocracy at Global level? As an Australian this push against China is undemocratic – given that China has suffered seriously due to the virus. As per the Australian article ‘Coronavirus: Xi Jinping keeping Scott Morrison out in the cold’ :

[Any leader’s phone call would have required either nimble diplomacy or brazen disingenuity, even before the Australian Prime Minister’s blunt interview on 2GB last week.

“This virus started in China and went around the world. That’s how it started. We all know that,” Mr Morrison said, with a frankness of which Mr Pompeo would have ­approved.]

Now the language has changed to more scientific form – ‘The draft resolution – supported by 62 countries including Bangladesh, Canada, Russia, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Japan – was an effort to bring about transparency and accountability for the spread of the disease that has been widely-acknowledged to be the worst crisis since the second world war.]

The Australian Government is elected by the People and is therefore required to be Transparent and be Accountable to the People. The question then arises as to why the Government has to be transparent? Under autocracy – the junior by structure was Accountable to the senior – as child is required to be to the parent. But when we elect Government – we the People appoint our government. Thereafter – the law and only the law renders the authority to be senior. Where there is no such law – there is an unwritten law for the elected person who is a governor to be transparent. But this does not permit the citizen to question the government outside lawful structures. Hence the vexatious provision to dismiss complaints. As per democracy  the word of the elected person is the ultimate authority where there is no Administrative relationship. Transparency facilitates us to make the connection between cause and effect and learn our own lessons.

Currently in our local Strata environment – some are making interpretations that are the parallel of ‘Earth is flat’. They claim that the floor of our Strata unit on level 9 is Common Property. I am arguing that as per the definition of the law – it was unit property for the purposes of maintenance. This issue is important to all owners who are covered by Strata structure. I wrote:

[As highlighted – as per the plan in our possession, only the wall shared with unit 901 is marked as being common. Yesterday Xxxx indicated his interpretation that the floor was common property. To be fair to Xxxx – that would seem the most obvious definition. But in law – the definition has to be precise – for the law to become a rule. In essence the core purpose of  the Special Resolution or the by-law is to define within the Broader  law – the Body Corporate’s particular definition of rule and where necessary define precisely each important terminology  - in this instance the definition of ‘Common Property’ within a lot. Such definition should not be in breach of any existing definition. More importantly, this should not be done by a member including through lawyer’s advice. The Management Committee is entitled to get advice but ultimately they are answerable. This rule making has nothing to do with the individual unit holder whose authority is limited to the vote at the General Meeting that passes the Resolution / By law.  ]

Fellow Australians including of Sri Lankan origin would not be as interested in Mr Samaraweera’s observations in relation to Australian PM’s role in the virus epidemic – as they would be to know why we got the virus at exponential level. Whatever the outcome – unless the Australian government officially bans us from travelling to China – we are free to travel to China risking the infection.

The above response from me to a committee that has the backing of lawyers confirms the bullying tendencies of Australians in official power. This is not new to me. At the University of NSW when the Vice indicated that he did not like my presence – seeking Accountability – the Police charged me with Trespass. Since I did not know the law – I did not protest in the first instance. But once I had knowledge of the law – I knew that they were flat and I was global. They went by hearsay and I by genuine application of the written law to my conduct. So why would Mr Morrison want to take a leading position in this? The clue is in the following in relation to my ‘local’ experience:

[Your expectations seem to be based on the lawyers’ interpretation. To my mind, the lawyers’ interpretation seems to be stuck at the level of how much fee they would get for interpreting to suit your stated wishes. It lacks the spirit of the law which must cover all NSW Strata Schemes. When they become the person in need at equal level to their own need to respect their inheritance plus their current input they become the spirit of the law. I studied the law and concluded as per the law before I wrote to you on 28 April 2020.

…. If you as the Government of Coogee View need the by law – that is your business. But now that I have Independent knowledge of the law – I inform you that I consider any payment in this regard out of Common Funds as being unlawful. A by-law cannot be born out of enforcement or as quid-pro-quo.]

The parallel of the lawyers in the pandemic inquiry are the USA, UK and the EU for their political protection rather than genuine need to prevent future infections in their respective nations. In terms of Australia’s  role -  our Government led by our PM is the parallel of the Management Committee which lacks independence to interpret global principles as per its needs instead of as others’ mouthpiece to ‘show’ globalism. As my dear friend Dr David Garlick said ‘We are ignorant that we are ignorant’.

Mr Samaraweera’s government failed to educate the Common Sri Lankan about Democracy in relation to origin of the ethnic war in Sri Lanka. He must think that Australia is more democratic than Sri Lanka. Grass is greener on the other side?