The Hon Rajavarothayam Sampanthan,MP

Leader of the Opposition

Parliament House

Sri Lanka

28 December 2018

Dear Mr Sampanthan,

The Folly of Self-Representation Genes

I refer to the letter dated 27 December 2018, written to you by Australian Tamil Congress (ATC). I write to correct the misleading information that is provided by the ATC and also to share with you the Truth as registered by me. I believe that Truth would add Itself in manifestations that would affect the investors in Truth. Hence I share my truth with you and with others who regularly read and/or respect my work.

The ATC communication  begins as follows :

[We the undersigned write to you as the voice representing the Tamil Diaspora in Australia.]

I am not a member of ATC and I am an Australian Tamil. I operate also under the name Australian Tamil Management Service which has offices in Thunaivi, Vaddukoddai Junction and Colombo – in Sri Lanka, in addition to our office here in Coogee; NSW; Australia. I have no knowledge of ATC being currently represented in Sri Lanka – directly or through a partner organisation.  

I believe that in terms of feelings – we would be naturally bonded. But as you would appreciate as an elected representative, one needs to be elected to represent another for institutional / official purposes. Morally speaking, one has to have invested directly in the other to take the common position of representative. In this regard, I believe that I have invested more in ATC than ATC has in me. Hence between the two of us,  I am the one with the moral authority to take the common position and not the ATC.

In official terms one needs to be elected through due processes to become a representative. Such due processes are our pathways to respecting those who made their contributions of heritage value. In Australia, such representation needs to go through appropriate election processes. One who self-represents without such process is effectively confirming that s/he stole our rights by force – as LTTE did. It seems as if ATC has inherited those genes.  Invoking them as is, is unhealthy for the democracy of Australia.

ATC was not elected by me nor is Australian Tamil Management Service part of ATC. Such claim that they represent me has the effect of suppressing my basic human right to represent myself directly or elect someone on the basis of my faith. ATC members are well aware of my existence – including through the meetings conducted by the Australian Government. Hence I inform you that I consider this to be wilful misrepresentation by the ATC.

The next claim that ATC makes is:

[During Sri Lanka’s recent constitutional crisis, the TNA had demonstrated its importance in maintaining the existing order by extending its support to the government headed by the United National Party (UNP). ]

Mr Sampanthan, I believe that our thoughts and actions are caused by forces at three levels:

Truth, Discriminative thinking through common measures & hearsay. Truth may or may not go through our brains and therefore discriminative thinking. Usually habits that have become natural – bypass the brain. Heritage / genes therefore bypass the brain. It is important that we do not invoke genes that would be of negative value in our current environments.

A leading member of the Tamil Diaspora – recently directed me to the following program, about marrying outside  Tamil community: https://www.tvibctamil.com/posts/101220

This program confirms the current need in our community to form partnerships outside our immediate circles. One young lady stated that while Tamil community tended to oppose marriage partnership with one of different culture, they continued to practice caste when it came to marriage. I was one who consciously told myself that caste did not matter – that it should not matter. But when I started living in Thunaivi – which is a toddy-tapper village – and one which was listed as a high-security zone during the war – I realised that it was not that easy. I realised that even though I did not practice caste system – I needed to take the higher place as per the common secular system which they were able to take only through the caste system.  As Great Chanakyan stated ‘Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous’ if it is not to get killed. I did not pretend – but took my place as per my system – the common secular system which to the folks of Thunaivi was largely hearsay. They have their own hierarchy through a sub-caste system.

I have since learnt to be there for them but not directly and actively participate in their activities. Heritages add themselves to our manifestations and in fact lead the manifestations if we are not actively conscious of the common order of thought in our current environments. To members of the Tamil Diaspora therefore, it is important to be conscious of the laws of their current multicultural environments if they are not to become disenfranchised in their new home-nations.

The ATC confirms dependence on what happened in the past to take authority to ‘tell’ TNA and therefore yourself. I did not learn about ATC’s stand on the recent constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka. I did not find any articles on their website in this regard. In contrast – my articles were widely circulated – including to Australian Government, in addition to being published at http://austms.blogspot.com/ . The latter is belief based and the other side is taken by a common global citizen. ATC has not facilitated direct email access – which is different to the Australian system of elected Members of Parliament publishing email addresses.

Without demonstrating such contribution  in resolving the recent constitutional crisis – ATC goes on to demand as follows:

[We are mindful that the US-led West and New Delhi are committed to preserving this order which came into existence in January 2015. Your support to the UNP clearly demonstrates that the TNA is crucial to maintaining the current order. 
We firmly believe this provides the TNA with considerable leverage to win the rights of Tamils from the government which they have helped stay in power. We call upon the TNA to utilise the leverage and use this window of opportunity to secure the following: 

1.     Immediately provide information on the over 100,000 Tamils who have been made to disappear over the course of the ethnic conflict, and address the concerns and legitimate demands of the families of the disappeared who have been protesting for over 600 days;

2. Immediate release of all Tamil political prisoners and detainees; 
3. End changes to the demography of the Tamil regions through settlement schemes; 
4. Remove all conditions that discourage investments by diaspora in projects aimed at uplifting the living standards of the people of the North and East and bring about a self-reliant economy;
5. Reinstate occupied land in the North and East and assist resettlement of rightful owners and ensure provision of basic facilities as a minimum; and
6. Commence immediate de-militarisation of the North and East.]

These are demands that have been ongoing since the war and predate the constitutional crisis. Had the ATC contributed to the manifestation though its belief in the political system – it would have identified with the following rights of Tamils:

The Leader of the Opposition position held by the elected representative of Tamils was  handed over to Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa who belongs to the same party as the President who is also by law required to  act as member of  Parliament (article 32 (3) of the constitution) and be the Head member of the Cabinet article 42 (3) of the constitution).

The above breach confirms to the Tamil community that the Government has habitually  ignored the provisions of the constitution and acted as per their own personal likes and dislikes. This further reinforces the minority status of Tamils which led to excessive punishment beyond the provisions of the law – to a much stronger degree than the force used on fellow parliamentarians of the same race. The above fact confirms that ‘Minorities are treated as insignificant  juniors by the successive Governments of Sri Lanka – starting with the President.

The solution suggested is to empower provincial governments with parallel powers to that national government. In the case of Tamil dominated provinces - to actively hear complaints of excesses in relation to the families of citizens in their care and for such complaints to be directed directly to the President – through the President’s representative – the Governor.

An acknowledgement that wrongs were committed to citizens, during the war and that this has been confirmed by the fact that the President himself did not act as per the law, when it came to keeping his existing position.

Mr Sampanthan, as you would appreciate, the Tamil community of Sri Lanka is culturally diverse and one solution does not fit all. In terms of priority – the damage to intellectual rights have to rank before all else for Northern Tamils. The pathway through which we became self-governing is our natural pathway and care needs to be taken to not damage this to oblige those seeking through other pathways. Truth protects us from committing such wrongs.

Yours sincerely

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam