R. Bandarage, Cottesloe ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” Western Australia.

As an Australian of Sri Lanka origin I can confidently state that the man and the young girl on the boat detained in Indonesia shown on TV on Thursday are not direct arrivals from Sri Lanka. They do not have a Tamil accent nor do their English and the manner of speech resemble the northerners of Sri Lanka.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ They are well fed, possibly Western-educated Tamil Tiger operatives. They certainly have well-rehearsed their act and cleverly stage managed the event to elicit sympathy from Australians.

If the Tamil asylum seekers in the boat are genuine refugees from Sri Lanka, why should they bypass Tamil Nadu, which is only 30 km across the Palk Strait? After all, Tamil Nadu of India is the homeland for 60 million Tamils. They come all the way to Australia because they have the network here to support them, raise funds and funnel trouble again in Sri Lanka, while enjoying the good life of Australia.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Australia should heed the warning given by the Sri Lankan authorities that thousands of Tamil Tiger terrorists who escaped the military offensive of the Sri Lankan forces are now heading to Australia. With twenty five years of experience in people smuggling and drug peddling, Tamil Tigers are masters of deceit. To Canada, England and Europe they have smuggled tens of thousands of bogus refugees over the years.

Published in ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”The West AustralianƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Saturday 17^th October 2009.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚