by Keith Locke
“Unlock the Camps” has been the call of Sri Lankan Tamils on demonstrations I attended in Auckland and Wellington recently.
It is horrendous that 300,000 Tamils are still detained in camps in northern Sri Lanka. The response of the world community has been pathetic, given the scale of suffering.
Our Government hasn’t done much on the issue since May, when the war ended, if answers to my parliamentary questions are anything to go buy.
In one answer the Foreign Minister, Murray McCully, buys into Sri Lankan government propaganda that ere is an ‘agreed timetable for the safe return of displaced people to their home areas.’
Question: Is the government intending to make submissions to the Sri Lankan government over its refusal to let most of the Tamil people confined to camps in the north of the country return to their home areas; if so, what will be the nature of those submissions?
Answer Text: The Government has consistently raised concerns about conditions in the camps for internally displaced people in northern Sri Lanka. Concerns about the plight of civilians caught in the civil war were noted in my press statements of 4 February, 22 April, 1 May, and 26 May. New Zealand expects that the Sri Lankan government will keep to its agreed timetable for the safe return of displaced people to their home areas. We have concerns about the humanitarian situation bilaterally with the Sri Lankan government at appropriate junctures and will continue to do so in meetings of Ministers and at officials level. New Zealand will also continue make statements on this issue in the UN at appropriate occasions.
Portfolio: Foreign Affairs; Minister: Hon Murray McCully;
There is no such agreement with the Tamils; and there is nothing ‘safe’ about the camps. People are dying in their hundreds, partly because authorities are restricting the work of welfare agencies. Those detained simply want the freedom – granted under international law – to go home when they want to.
Published in Justice & Democracy by Keith Locke on Thu, September 17th, 2009
Tags: detained Tamils, Murray McCully, NZ protests, Sri Lanka
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on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
I had a really hard time deciding where to start with this, but here goes.
First there is the phrase “Sri Lankan Tamils” who according to you were “on demonstrations . . . in Auckland and Wellington recently”. I truly doubt this, as very few of them would take the time or trouble to travel to New Zealand to demonstrate. The people you met are New Zealand Tamils (if there is such a thing,) resident here and most probably naturalized.
I personally know one Tamil couple who came here after 12 years working in the Middle East and claimed refugee status. The entered our country having convinced someone that their lives were in danger if they returned to Sri Lanka. Their lives were never in danger, they had nothing to fear, they just didn’t like the life-style over there after living in the Middle East and had been turned down as immigrants by the UK, Canada, the USA and Australia; their response was to get into our land with a false claim. They live on benefits, in a state house, have naturalized and received numerous grants, from charities as well as the State, for their children to follow ethnic art based hobbies and careers. They had, until recently, a significant tract of land and two houses: I say until recently as they have now sold them for several hundred thousand US dollars, enough to buy a five bedroom house in a good suburb for cash (they offered to buy mine which isn’t for sale). This couple is ready to demonstrate against the Sri Lankan state any time anywhere to maintain the myth of their persecution, as are many more.
I suggest you look at why these people, good Kiwi compatriots of yours and mine, demonstrate and what they really seek to secure from their efforts.
Now let’s look at the reality of the camps. I will remind you that just two months ago I was in three of them, seeing for myself what was going on with NO supervision from the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and a relative to translate when my own language skills failed. (Yes, my wife is Sri Lankan as are most of our family on her side; there are Sinhalese, Tamils and Burghers in the family, and they are a mixture of Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Gaian and Scientologists.)
The land these people left was ravaged by years of civil war, booby-trapped by the retreating LTTE and over-run by GOSL forces as they pursued victory over “the world’s most vicious terrorist organisation” (UN Security Council, 2001). The infrastructure has been destroyed. Water doesn’t run to taps. Electricity doesn’t flow through wires, Food doesn’t grow. Roads don’t exist. Bridges have collapsed. The place is a bigger mess than Liverpool Docks after the Luftwaffe finished with them in 1944. This is what you want them to go and live in?
They have water, food, education, medical services and all the infrastructure norms of civilisation in Sri Lanka. THEY DON’T WANT TO GO HOME to their village until it is a place to live that will again sustain human life. Yes, there are 300,000 of them, which means at least 75,000 homes have to be built, how quickly would New Zealand be able to achieve such a challenge?
Please don’t hop on a bandwagon that is about as valid as the Lost Boy’s demand for self rule. It makes you seem like a fairy story character, instead of a thoughtful and informed New Zealand politician.
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Dave S. I don’t doubt what you say, but what was the Tamils original gripe? I mean they seem to be angry about something don’t they.
Your first point about a Tamil couple however is only an isolated incedent. Are all Tamils like that?
And is the Sri Lankan government all that pure as the driven snow? I too had a partner whose mother was from Sri Lanka and I got the impression that I was always hearing one side of the story.
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Drakula, points in order follow
The original gripe was that government jobs were opened up to all citizens when the UK granted SL independence in 1968, they also changed the educations system to Sinhalese from English, with an option to use Tamil but in an alternative school, Sinhalese was taught in the alternative schools as a mandatory subject. Why were these bad? Well, the Brits (I admit to being POHM) had used the Tamils as their ‘enforcers’ of red-tape, and they had first dibs on all ‘government’ jobs; they had the best English teachers, and so were able to obfuscate to their hearts content. When the GOSL made Sinhalese a mandatory language, there were some Tamil politicians who saw an opportunity to separate from the Sinhalese majority and establish a separate sovereign state by whipping up support by suggesting the GOSL (which has full Tamil representation,) was trying to ‘kill-off’ Tamil culture (a bit difficult given the number of Tamils in the Tamil Nadu state of India).
Prabhakaran caught on to this, after there had been some scuffling, and decided that he could be ‘boss’ of the new state. The organisation he set up (LTTE) was characterised by two things; absolute commitment to a separate state (Eelam) and the use of any means to raise money, much of which stayed in the hands of those who collected it.
As far as the Tamil family here, there are many other cases, just ask one of the many professional Tamils who immigrated here before things got out of hand over there; they can relate dozens of stories.
Finally, there have been 6 Governments during the civil war, none of them were lilly-white, but many, and certainly the current one, just wanted to get their country back to improving its overall standard of living. Something difficult to do when you need to spend hundreds of millions on a civil war. While I empathise with he ‘one-side’ story, I’ve learned a lot from talking to both Tamils and Sinhalese, and can assure you, there is no desire in either community for a war, they want a chance to live and improve their standard of living; the fanaticism of a few stopped that from being possible, and now it’s an opportunity again.
Sri Lanka is not New Zealand, it has different standards, the people have different expectations, and there is good-will over there from both sides. The camps are an unfortunate necessity, but better than being pushed along at gunpoint; having your children taught in a proper school is better than having them dragged away and taught to be suicide bombers; having a future is better than having nothing to look forward to: let’s let them get on with it their way.
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Thanks for that Dave S.
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I notice in your description of the original ‘gripe’ that you make no mention of the ethnic riots which targeted Sri Lankan Tamils, including the 1958 riots and later the ‘Black July’ riots in Colombo, resulting in a massive loss of Tamil life and the burning of Tamil-owned houses and businesses to the ground.
Or is this what you meant by the ‘scuffling’?
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If you are interested, Drakula, and have some spare time, this is a well-balanced account of the recent history of Sri Lanka which gave rise to the conflict: http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/sri-lanka/historical-context.php.
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THere were lots of such occasions, the ‘last’ of which was the bus-bomb that killed 15 civilians in the North and led to the ethnic cleansing – by which I mean Prabakharan killing off any Tamils that didn’t agree with him being the top of the pyramid. Prior to the ’58 riots were the ’49 riots and many more.
Don’t get me wrong, while I despise what Prabakharan stood for, I admire his absolute commitment to the cause. Unlike many of the diaspora who focused on making their own fortunes from the LTTE cause, he stayed and led the fight on the ground.
However, the purpose of this thread, as I saw it, was not to discuss the rights and wrongs of the tigers’ struggle, but to look at what is happening in the camps and why. What are your view on that MCOL?
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While this is an interesting source, the number one issue, as far as I can tell not having been there at the time, was the insistence on self-discrimination by a number of politicians of Tamil origin. Instead of thinking as Sri Lankans, they insisted on thinking of themselves as Ceylon Tamils, which caused a series of challenges and rooted the country in civil war for years, the last 28 with the LTTE simply being the most defined. Prior to the LTTE there were many other organisations looking for the same solution – separation.
I can only hope that we have more wisdom in our Maori community, though there are clearly those there who would like to maintain a separation. If we could abandon the Maori and Pakeha labels, our country would be all the better for it.
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The purpose of this thread is to discuss the camps, sure, but Drakula asked about the original ‘gripe’ of the Tamils and I felt as if your description swept over some crucial points. At any rate, I think historical context is vital for understanding the current situation fully.
In terms of the camps, my impression is that horrific human rights abuses are being carried out in these camps. I have read reports of starvation, water shortages, dead bodies lying around, rape, assault, and even torture. My most serious concern would be that journalists are not permitted access to the camps: what is being hidden from the rest of the world?
However, unlike you I have not personally visited the camps. Perhaps you could elaborate on your experience.
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Abandoning Maori and Pakeha labels is a good thing, in your view? Does this also entail abandoning those aspects of one’s culture which are specifically Maori (or Pakeha, as the case may be)?
Remember that there was a long, non-violent struggle by Tamils to secure the same rights as Singalese. This peaceful struggle was ignored. Parallels can be drawn with Maori in NZ. If institutional racism and systematic discrimination is the only alternative to seperatism, I can empathise with the seperatist cause.
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I guess I could have written a PhD thesis on the original gripes, but that’s already been done a few dozen times. Suffice it to say that there were very real issues created to make a platform for self aggrandisement and financial gain; Prabakharan being one of the few to have truly altruistic motives. The current situation is that there are people being looked after and whose homelands are being made capable of once again supporting human life with dignity and safety. (i.e. the basic infrastructure of civilisation, potable water, sewerage, energy, roads, etc., are being rebuilt and land-mines removed.)
As for your impressions, I too have read these reports, looked behind them for bias, found it and in general discounted them as propaganda issued by people who still wish to collect monies from the diaspora to sustain their life-style.
One thing I did up-front was remove a veil of anonymity and disclose my involvement in Sri Lanka; could you do the same so that we all know what your perspective is?
As for a more detailed expose of my experience in the camps, I think not at this time. I might one day write a piece on it, but it isn’t something that really belongs on this blog, for the purposes of this thread I believe I have said enough.
Final comment. On Saturday night I spent a wonderful night with a few hundred Sri Lankans watching some excellent cultural performances and eating traditional food. I’, sure no one did a count of the proportions, but I know there were people of Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim, Anglo-Saxon, Burgher and other ethnic origins there, all identifying as Sri Lankan, as they have for over 26 years. This is the future we must all strive for , I hope you agree.
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Yes, it’s a good thing
No it doesn’t mean abandoning those aspects of your culture which are specific to your ethnicity.
I still don’t know what rights the Sinhalese had and Tamils didn’t, that led to the the long struggle by Tamils to acquire them. Having closely read the constitution’s evolution I cannot find them; what I do know is the Tigers, in the name of Tamils, threw citizens of other ethnic origins out of the land they took illegal control of and forbade them to ever enter those lands again: this at a time when Tamils and all others were happily living alongside each other in the rest of the country.
My worry is that we already have institutional racism and systematic discrimination in New Zealand, and more is being demanded in the name of a Treaty that was not written for modern times. It is time to abandon our differences and cleave to our commonality, otherwise the separatism you are supporting will be Pakeha demanding separation from Maori, and that would be a terrible civil war to behold!
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Your disingenuous comment about a PhD thesis was clearly not what I was calling for, just some balance in your historical account. Anyway, the history is available to anyone who cares to look into it so I don’t think any more energy needs to be wasted on this point.
I can’t agree with your point that the reports are propaganda or a money-making exercise. Many of these reports come from NGOs such as Amnesty International or from independent journalists. I just can’t see how they stand to profit from lying about the situation in the camps. Moreover, I have heard reports from eye-witnesses about the situation in the camps, albeit recounted to me via a second person.
I’m sorry, I’m not exactly sure what you mean when you say you’ve shedded your veil of anonymity and disclosed your involvement in Sri Lanka. Do you mean that because you’ve stated that your wife is Sri Lankan we are all somehow supposed to take your arguments more seriously? Or were you talking about the fact that you’ve visited the place, despite the fact that you’re unwilling to share what you saw?
My perspective? It’s embodied in my arguments, but in case it was not made clear my perspective is that the treatment of Tamils in these camps represents a clear human rights violation and should cease immediately.
I think everyone agrees that it would be ideal for Tamils and Singalese to get along like they do in your lovely little story. However, isolated anecdotes about racial unity do not add anything to the argument that the refugee camps are cruel and inhumane and should be unlocked, and they certainly don’t disprove the reality that Tamils are being systematically discriminated against in Sri Lanka right now.
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The Singalese had the right to have their language recognised as the sole official language of Sri Lanka, Tamils didn’t. The Singalese had the right to a university entrance scheme which preferred them over Tamils. I am in no way defending the Tigers, however I would shed much doubt on your claim that ‘Tamils and all others were happily living alongside each other in the rest of the country’.
I also fail to see a logical thread to your claim that ‘the separatism [I am] supporting will be Pakeha demanding separation from Maori’, but I think that’s a debate for another day.
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