Response to “Do the right thing and have Samarasinghe recalledâ€ÂÂÂ
Posted on October 24th, 2011
Vajiragnana Warnakulasuriya
The Editor,
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ CanberraTimes,
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
This in response to Bruce Haigh’s article ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Do the right thing and have Samarasinghe recalledƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ that appeared inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ CanberraTimes on the 21st October 2011
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I only quote from the former Premier Mr Carr, during his time in office, eloquently described Justice Dowd as “utterly irresponsible”, “extraordinarily insensitive” and “divisive”.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ “For goodness sake, can’t John Dowd get into his thick head that Bali occurred, that we have a problem here, that these threats are real, and, when triggered, police ought to have the powers to arrest people, to question people, to search people?” Mr Carr said at the time.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I must must thank Mr.Carr for using these words in advance giving me the satisfaction to recycle effortlessly! I believe Mr. Carr would make no exception depending on ethnicity, gender or a country, a terrorist is a terrorist here, there and everywhere!ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Mr Howard also accused Justice Dowd of ignoring the separation of powers between government and judiciary by attacking the legislation “in a very partisan way”.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ “Well, you know, you can’t have it both ways,” Mr Howard said then.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This is how the eminent politicians assessed present ICJ PresidentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s irresponsible quips in the past.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A person who occupies such a responsible position should understand terrorists in any shape or form they come they are ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-TerroristsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. Just because all Islamists are unjustly painted with the same brush as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-InternationalƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ terrorists, one cannot embrace another set of renowned terrorists just because they pose no threat to the West in this instance to Australia. It is on this argument a Victorian Supreme Court judge, Paul Coghlan released three Tamil LTTE arms procures on a good behavior bond! He strongly criticised the AFP during his summary at the conclusion of a trial for force entry to houses of these prosecuted.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ John Dowd has named the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe in a submission containing allegations of war crimes merely on the strength of an EYEwitness who has surfaced like a mushroom now in New South Wales! This woman is a hardcore LTTE activist who served in LTTEƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s International Propaganda, Procurement and Fundraising Unit Head, CastroƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s office and that she had undergone military training for six months in an LTTE base in Muthaiyankaddu.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I am no lawyer, but I thought one has two listen to both sides of the story for the former Attorney General and the current President of the Australian chapter of the ICJ to deliver a judgment! Apparently Kangaroo Court rules differ to Roman Dutch Law. IsnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t it prudent for the good former AG to inquire the background of the witness before jumping to conclusions to condemnƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia in Canberra!ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Rear Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, is a genuine, honest and impartial Officer of the highest calibre.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Apparently DowdƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s submission presents the AFP with something of a dilemma. He says, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-It currently has a presence in Sri Lanka working with the Sri Lankan navy, army and police in preventing persecuted Tamils from leaving the country by boat for AustraliaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The solution is very simple, let Dowd prepare a list of the names of those Tamils whom he recommends to be brought to Australia and present it to the Government so that these people will not engage in a perilous boat ride to Australia wasting a colossal amount of money of the agents in Australia who organize these trips nor should the Federal Government unnecessarily waste the taxpayers money in attempting to process the asylum seekers eligibility in off shore countries which has become a festering issue for the past the current and indeed for future governments too. So, it will be a Win Win situation for John Dowd when Tamil Diaspora eventually shows gratitude.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Sri Lankan Government is severely condemned in the minds of the Australian populous on almost daily basis in all types of media, the Parliamentarians know only the distorted version of that countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s history and alleged disparities, yet Dowd says the Australian Federal Police harasses Sri Lankan Tamils on Sri Lankan High Commission request, what a load of rubbish is this, this man is insulting his countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s law enforcing agencyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s by insinuating them to be puppets of the Sri Lankan HC.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ John Dowd’sƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ documentary had been produced aiming at the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Western Australia, from October 28, which President Rajapaksa will attend. I won’t be surprised if SBS too would join the bandwagon again to hound Sri Lanka to drive in the imaginary dangers encountered by the Tamils to the gullible in Australia.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I believe these messages coming from audio, visual, Internet web pages & print media to the Australian Parliamentarians would not pollute their balance thinking ability.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I reiterate, Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s relations among all communities and their living conditions can best be sought from the Aussie High Commissioner Ms. Kathy Klugman.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ While I respectfully appeal to the recipients of this message to take note of the contents here, hope the Editor Canberra Times would give equal exposure in your journal.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Thank you!
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Yours Sincerely,
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Vajeera Warnakulasuriya,
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Burwood East,
Vic 3151,
October 24th, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Was this published by the Canberra Times? The Australian media is notorious for refusing to publish the Sri Lankan side of the story or any non-Tamil separatist opinion on Sri Lanka. Many people have tried and failed. Some have been abused by pro-Tamil separatist journalists. They have even got at least one non-Tamil Sri Lankan origin reporter fabricating nonsense for their false propoganda blitzes. This systemic bias should be taken up at the highest level and thoroughly investigated and whether any of them are getting paid off by the LTTE or their front organisations. The GOSL, Sinhala, united Sri Lanka and other non-Tamil organisations should seriously consider a plethora of lawsuits against the Australian media. I understand that Singapore has done this successfully in the 70s when it was being vilified by the western media and disgruntled expatriates. Oftentimes the mere threat of legal action forced them to adopt a more balanced view. This is media war and the security, good name and reputation of all Sri Lankans everywhere is at risk by this biased and false reporting. In a post war scenario, it deserves at least a significant fraction of money that was being spent on weapons. These unjust pests need to be put out of business for good.
October 25th, 2011 at 5:41 am
One must wonder how someone like John Dowd, a former judge of the NSW Court and Attorney General in the NSW government could accept as valid the untested testimony of someone who on her own account admits to having worked for the LTTE, which is what the ICJ submission seems to be mostly based upon.
Perhaps John Dowd’s Liberal party colleagues knew what they were doing when they chose to dump him as leader and choose Nick Greiner in his stead.