No Place For The Hapless


Written by Basil Nabi Malik • Features • January 2010

Another issue relating to the Tamil population of Sri Lanka is raising its head.We are civilians, not Tamill Tigers. Every day there are Tamils being killed and raped in the refugee camps. Men are blindfolded and shot in the back of the head. In Sri Lanka if you are Tamil there is no opportunity-the government can detain you without cause, and take you to trial without evidence."

"If you had no place, if you had no country of your own, what would you do? And how long would you stay in a boat before you were able to enter a country that will give you asylum? We are not animals. We are not stray dogs. We are people without a country to live in." This was stated by Alex, a former Jaffna English teacher, in a desperate appeal for asylum.

Thus begins the journey of many Tamil refugees to the promised lands of Australia and Canada, amongst others. After the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, rather than a decrease in asylum seekers to the shores of Australia, there has been a manifest increase. Some attribute to this to the fear in the Tamil diaspora of retribution or persecution by the victorious Sinhalese community, whilst others maintain that the defeat of the LTTE has done nothing but confirm that the Tamils have no place in Sri Lanka.
Whether such a perception is justified is besides the question. What matters is that such perceptions have inevitably resulted in an exodus of Tamils to countries such as Australia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Australian officials have been frequenting Colombo to find out how a Tamil exodus can be stemmed and avoided. As a part of this initiative, the Australian government is reported to be keenly investing in the reconstruction of the former LTTE areas of Sri Lanka devastated by the army onslaught, to diminish any possibility of refugees seeking greener pastures abroad. In addition to this, although the Rudd's Labour Government in Australia came to power promising to enunciate the "Pacific Solution" entailing paying countries in the Pacific to absorb the refugees heading to Australia, it did no better than replace it with the "Indonesia Solution" as it is now called. As can be deduced from the play of words, the solution entails nothing more than deflecting all its responsibility to Indonesia under the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which in turn is paid handsomely to welcome the same with open arms.

With that said, it seems that in recent times, the Australian government had to rethink its handling of the issue, as even Indonesia has said in anguish that Binton Island, the destination of a large number of refugees, is no dumping ground for the hapless Tamils. This may be a reason as to why the Australian government has relented to an extent and given the nod to accept some Tamil refugees who had refused to disembark in Indonesia.
However, the question of how to deal with the Tamil refugees remains a burning issue. In a world where even endangered species seem to find a safe and secure home, free from the cruelties and perverseness of the human mind, it is perhaps a point to ponder as to why fellow human beings remain running from pillar to post to find similar safe havens.