Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
22
September 2021
AUSTRALIAN TAMIL ORPHANS
I believe that each one of us contributes to the truth in
our environment by active discovery or passive negligence. The Biloela Tamil family is an example of the
latter by the government of Australia. I was directed to their Australian story
at Series 2021 No Place Like Home : ABC iview .
Conspicuously missing were members
of the institutionalised part of the Tamil community – except Mr Aran
Mylvaganam - the person representing Tamil Refugee Council. This confirmed the
separation between the refugees and mainstream Australian Tamils, including
those who came as refugees. Yesterday I wrote ‘I believe that
yesterday’s experience is the foundation of today’s natural law.’
This applies to any group that is bound by Common values. Hence the absence of
that community leadership – confirms that at institutional level – this particular
family did not have Community support. The Tamil Refugee Committee
representative is the parallel of the representative of the Australian Border
Force. Majority individual supporters were White Australians who supported the
stay of the Tamil family in Australia. When based on that – Biloela effectively loses
membership with the Commonwealth. Likewise this family adopted directly by
White Australians would lose membership with the structured part of the Australian
Tamil Community. We cannot build a community structure on the basis of
sympathy. Being an Australian Tamil is an institutional position.
Sri Lankan Tamils became a force
to be reckoned with due to our institutional values. In Northern Sri Lanka, our
institutional values were codified as Thesawalamai law. As per this law, gender
based separation of powers was promoted including through the dowry system. The
couple married here in traditional dress and through traditional ceremonies. It
is their duty to ensure that those institutional values are upheld. If they are
used to draw benefits – the negative outcomes would be exponential. The Eastern
LTTE leader Karuna is an outstanding example of taking direct benefits and
handing them over to the Government. This confirmed the lack of cohesive power
to unite militants as an institution.
The improvement I saw in
individuals who supported the family was through Damien Kingsbury – who to my
mind, was disrespectful of the then
President of Sri Lanka and was effectively ‘telling’ President Mahinda Rajapaksa
to step down and thus supporting the De Facto state of the LTTE. That is like
supporting the mistress and demoting the wife. A natural wife is above institutional
status. A mistress is below institutional status. I noted the change in Damien
Kingsbury when he said in the above ABC presentation that in 2012 - the LTTE
was deemed by the Australian Government to be a Terrorist organisation. This
confirmed that Damien Kingsbury is wiser now about Sri Lanka than he was in
2009.
In terms of the head of the family
– Nades, he renders an indicator in the presentation - as to how he sees
himself . Nades criticizes the environment in which he was kept during
detention – here in Australia. That is NOT based on truth of the common
experience of war victims. There are many Tamils who live in Sri Lanka where
changes in weather robs them of shelter. They rebuild with community support. Likewise,
those who took the war as a natural hazard have started rebuilding with
community support which includes considerable support from the Tamil Diaspora
sans political interests. As former immigration Minister the Hon Amanda
Vanstone stated – the decisions should be one based on principles and not
politics of proximity. The latter is the style of the current government of Sri Lanka. Giving them permanent visas is
to import Sri Lankan politics of Rajapaksas into Australia. Australians have the duty to raise the experience
to the global level in the case of war refugees. Hence the institutional values
or Universal truth.
The family ‘s current plight has
been made due to the matter being politicized. Hence the family needs to accept
mistress / de facto status for a much longer period than those who went through
torture during the war and therefore carry deep feelings of fear of return.
Anything less would be an insult to those who so suffered and continue to live
in Sri Lanka because that is their home.
The ignorance and negligence of the Australian government should not be
the basis of immigration which is a highly institutionalised pathway in global
participants. Those who apply through global laws have the responsibility to
live in Australia as per global values. In this instance – this family has not demonstrated
community institutional values of that standard. Hence they need to live as per
their truth which makes them universal. Then they are not orphans as they have now been
made out to be.
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