Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
06
July 2020
Tamil
Community & Black July
The message from Facebook said ‘Shangeetha
Sritharan is a new friend suggestion for you’. I would have ignored it if not for another message headed ‘SORRY
MAAM!’ from a member of the St Joseph’s College alumni. That came first along with
the lawyer’s ‘suggestions’ as to the next step with the Tamil family whom we
facilitated to migrate to Australia but who have consistently treated us as ‘outsiders’.
The above seemed to me to be ‘Sorry Mami’ (Sorry Aunty). Since I use indicators
once I discover truth – I felt I had to act in the family matter. One who does
not regulate the family has no moral authority to regulate community and
beyond. We may ‘show’ rights in our favour and wrongs in others. But unless
they are underpinned by truth, they do not get the support of exponential
powers that work on their own. When I get indicators – I feel the urge to act
on behalf of the whole that I am part of. So I sent off the following legal communications
to members of the family – affording them the opportunity to participate.
Only one member of the family
responded to acknowledge. The others remained silent. Then again I received the
next indicator to act. It came through Facebook due to Mrs Shangeetha Sritharan
who came to Australia and sponsored her parents and sister – all out of our
root.
In parallel – the Tamil community is
resurfacing the Black July facts to accuse the Sri Lankan government of wrong
doing. My question is how many of those who are questioning felt that pain as
if they were directly affected? Was there a strong bonding between Colombo
Tamils and Jaffna Tamils to authorise one to act on behalf of the other? The above family from Vaddukoddai for example
– have chosen to ‘separate’ prematurely rather than regulate themselves through common structure.
They cheated Thesawalamai culture and they cheated common law – through separate
thinking. When they got dowry – it was Thesawalamai. When they desired Equal
share – Thesawalamai was discarded and common law claim was made. The sad part
is that the Jaffna Judiciary upheld their conduct and Jaffna leaders –
including Mr CV Wigneswaran chose to remain ignorant of this truth in our
community.
But someone from my current
community wrote to me as follows:
[I have read over the attachment
and I'm sorry this happened to you.
It's very disturbing that the
sheriff actually broke into your home and sold your belongings for less than
their value and the stress this put you, your family and param through. ]
This
current community is like the Colombo community that I was part of after 1968.
It was multicultural largely due to work opportunities and requirements. Given that the Vaddukoddai
family sponsored by us failed to demonstrate share in our pain once their
desires were satisfied – I find it more and more difficult to blame the
Government alone for the July ’83 tragedy. We have to first clean our breaches
of duty at government level, before we can blame the government. We demand
accountability from the Lankan government but not one member of the Australian
Tamil community has questioned us or the other side in this community conflict.
Once the matter was raised to Judicial
level through Thesawalamai law – it was the duty of the community to resolve it
within the community. Otherwise it dilutes the self-governance claim made at
Community level. On that basis – to the extent the LTTE was not disciplined by
community leaders – for the LTTE’s part in the 1983 riots – the Tamil community
of North lost the real power of truth to judge at Regional and Global levels.
A look into Shangeetha Sritharan’s Face book sharing
confirms that many in that family share with each other and are silent with us –
their root in Australia. This means single sided judgment when we reveal our
expectations that they follow the structured law. What they do not know is that
the ledger of karma is continuously written and debts unsettled become sins.
Their sins become the sins of the community that they claim to be part of. This
is the Tamil Diaspora in whose name the ethnic discussion is falsely elevated
to global level. Only those who have settled their dues to family get promoted
to community level. Those who settle their dues to community get promoted to
national level. Those who settle their dues to the nation get naturally
promoted to regional and/or global level. Others are frivolous participants who
demote the dignity of the issue.
We as a community have failed the test
of Accountability.
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