Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

23 August   2016

Tamil Eelam in Australia – True or False?

During the height of my challenges against the Central Administrators of the University of New South Wales, a Governing Council election was underway. Majority members of my immediate family were part of the student alumni and hence had official voting rights. I did not despite my strong contribution to the University Management system through my Truth. Just yesterday, I received from a holy person the following message of appreciation which melted my heart:

‘Greetings to you from Sri Lanka. It is the  first time  I am writing to you, though you have  sent me  your soul searching articles and  letters  and  replies to letters, etc  so  often. I am truly  grateful to you for your  sharing of your noble  thoughts. I  have not replied to your  letters and  I may not reply often in  future too, yet I want you to know  that there is  someone in Sri Lanka who reads  your soul  provoking  articles regularly and meditatively. You are   searcher  of Truth and The  Eternal Truth will bless you abundantly till you are One  with It’

Each time I recall the feelings I experienced when I read that Independent and unprovoked Communication I melt. There were shades of it from senior leaders at the University of New South Wales. Dr. John Yu – the second Chancellor of my time wrote in response to my analyses about the termination of the Dean of Science:

[Dear Gaja, Thank you for your note about the Dean of Science.  You would appreciate that it would not be proper for me to discuss any details of this with you but I hope you might have some reassurance in the fact that the Vice Chancellor discussed the matter with me at every stage….You and I are always concerned about people and I know that these factors were also given every consideration.]

Both communications are confirmations of completed relationships – even though I did not interact physically with either of these leaders. To me both are Natural owner-leaders of their respective institutions. They take the value of such completed experience to every institution / relationship they make themselves part of.

As confirmation that someone who identified with me as a fellow owner – who also had access to the official forms at the University of NSW – I received voting papers – which like the above message from the Holy person – melted me and continues to melt me each time I go into that ownership experience. These sweet connections confirm that the Lord’s system works to protect and support those who are part of the system of Truth – and value Truth above any other return.

I am therefore not surprised about the listing of Tamil Eelam as place of origin, in the Australian census forms:

“Australia lists ‘Tamil Eelam’ in census’ – Sunday Times report”

In my own Australian passport the place of birth is stated as ‘Jaffna’.  In my husband’s as Vaddukoddai. They would both mean Tamil Eelam to someone who grew up in a Tamil area during the war. The feelings one has is important to give life to the census statistics.

As per the above report by Namini Wijedasa:

[In Canberra, Sri Lanka’s High Commission received a barrage of telephone calls and emails on August 6-7 drawing attention to the inclusion of “Tamil Eelam” on the ABS website for the ongoing 2016 national census. It was given the same code as Sri Lanka and Ceylon. This meant that Australians of Sri Lankan origin participating in the census were offered the option of selecting “Tamil Eelam” as the country of birth.

The High Commission swung into action on August 9, which was the first working day after the matter was drawn to its attention. An official protest was lodged with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and also with the Head of ABS. It is learnt that High Commissioner S. Skandakumar spoke directly with the ABS and followed up with a letter.

In the letter, Mr. Skandakumar asked the Head of ABS to inquire into how “Tamil Eelam” made an entry into its website when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was listed in Australia as a terrorist entity, under Australian regulations promulgated to give effect to UN Security Council Resolution 1373. It was underscored that the name appearing on an official website was unacceptable.]

The question is whether the Sri Lankan High Commissioner had the right to intervene in the way we Australians define our place of birth to our Government? If the question said ‘place’ and we say Jaffna – it is the way we interpret the question. Literally taken - Tamil Eelam is Tamil Lanka. I also received an email advice that if we said Sri Lanka as place of birth – the Australian officials were likely to read it as Sinhalese. I am able to identify with that through my own experiences with the Australian Police Officers. They listed me as ‘Indian’ by looks – and later when they had knowledge of my country of  birth – they listed my nationality as Sri Lankan – despite my strong protests that I was Australian by law. The pro bono lawyer to whom I was sent by the Courts said he saw nothing wrong with that description. The courts upheld it until the last time – when it was changed in court records even though the Police records listed me as Sri Lankan. I had a real need and I was in custody when the above happened. Not so the protestors to the Census details. Which should be or priority – looking good to many or being good at least to one?

Taking that picture as right as per my allocated position by the average Australian Officer  – I asked that the Sri Lankan Consul General be brought to my assistance. The Police rang the Consul-General but he declined stating that he did not have jurisdiction. Now the Sri Lankan High Commissioner is getting the return of that karma also. Those who take up official Sri Lankan positions – inherit the sin-reserves accumulated in those positions.

When the Sri Lankan President stated last week that ‘Theravada Buddhism is only religion that heals restless minds - http://www.pmdnews.lk’ , where were the leaders of other nations and hybrid judges and most of all the UN?  Did our Australian High Commissioner intervene like Mr. Skandakumar did? The way Australians manage their internal system is not the business of Sri Lankan officials. As per later reports in this regard:

[Australian High Commissioner (HC) Bruce Hutchesson has responded to the Sunday Times following last week’s page 1 lead story “Australia lists Tamil Eelam in census”, stating that, what happened was that internal guidelines of the census enumerators accidentally got into the official website. Not that the country’s national census recognised ‘Tamil Eelam’ as a separate country.]

Is the Australian government going to change the ‘Place of Birth’ – in the passport also? As stated in our internal Tamil emails –  which listing did not include Mr. Skandakumar – Sri Lanka would be interpreted by the average Australian official  as Sinhala  Buddhist. Is that not what the Sri Lankan Government  - including the current President - also keep promoting? Why are they now complaining about the reality that we have had to put up with over years? More importantly – does the Australian Government seek to facilitate the Truth or does it seek to please the Sinhala-Buddhist Government?  I am also Sri Lankan / Eelamist / Ceylonese. They are all different names to the same place. To my mind Jaffna is also the Capital of Tamil Eelam/Lanka. To others it may be Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Hill Country  or Kilinochchi. Unless there is a law that prohibits us from  interpreting  a place as per our own experiences – the Government has no jurisdiction to prevent such expressions. The Government may change the questions but the way we answer as per our true contribution to our Australia. Truth is always healthy. We may be marked failures by the officers but those become our investments in global values.

In fact – if a person realized independence through Jaffna or Vaddukoddai – that becomes ‘home’ to that person. When that feeling of ownership is carried with the person to other nations including Australia – it enriches those new Nations which become our homes. Facilitating such expression is healthy for that place.

To the Australian Government - pleasing the Sri Lankan Government should not be more important than recognizing the rights of an Australian to express her/his Truth. There was no indoctrination from the Tamil Diaspora in Australia. They merely confirmed what I already knew through my own experiences – that to the Australian official of non-Lankan origin - the Sri Lankan problem is just another irritation or interest  in a day’s work.

Ultimately – as we noted in the case of the President’s experience at the Hindu Holy Mount of Thirupathi – the Lord sends us the messages of pass and fail – as per Truth. A President who promotes Buddhism for political purposes – but goes to Hindu Shrine for personal belief – creates the returns to those who use that position as part of their mind-structure. Sinhalese and indeed the Tamil High Commissioner Mr. Skandakumar – to whom Tamil Eelam is LTTE only  – reveal their own fears due to lower level reception of the True Sri Lankan of Tamil culture. Until this is righted they would continue to get their fear-returns for the desires they enjoyed by sidelining minorities with deeper feelings of ownership – be they Hindus, Muslims or Christians; Tamils or Burghers. The Common faith never fails its true investor.

Australia promotes Diversity. Tamil Community in Australia is different in culture to Sinhalese Community – due also to the Politics of Sri Lanka of  which we are the messengers. Between an official and person without portfolio who has invested more in an issue than the officer – the Lord recognizes the person without portfolio before the official.

To have stronger commonness as Sri Lankans than with other Tamils – for example of Indian origin – we need to have the experience of commonness as Sri Lankans. This seems less and less possible under the current President who is naturally Sinhala-Buddhist and is honest about it. He just does not abuse it consciously. Neither does he override it intellectually to prevent Buddhist-only expressions.

The Cause happened in Sri Lanka and the Effect happened in India and in Australia. That is the power of the Common citizen of all three Nations.