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.