Its the
CHOGM 2013 time and the Sri Lanka authorities are cracking down on
the Australian boat people. It looks like they have arrested some
operatives and, sure as hell I happen to know a few of them. Quite
closely that is. Well, this is not the first time we are on about
this here. But I guess people who hop in a trawler on a perilous
voyage to Australia merit another post and here it is.
In my
understanding, many people who talk about this have never actually
seen one of these boats or spoken to an operative or a passenger –
and they blindly grope around trying to understand how & why
these things happen. On part of Sri Lanka authorities, they are
desperate to stop these operations for the time being as no one wants
to hear about a boat full of refugees landing on beaches of Australia
just when their prime minister lands here (by air) for the CHOGM. As
usual, we have borrowed billions for cosmetic work, taken down all
the bill-boards, arrested all the beggars on streets, and painted
everything new - so heads of governments from countries like India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh - just to name a few – would not encounter
anything they would not see in their own countries! Right where I was
yesterday, a “beggar woman” was forced in to a police vehicle in
front of my own eyes. The poor woman was harbouring some cats and was
no bother to anyone. But surely a prosperous country like Sri Lanka
find this unwelcome and cats can go to hell. It is quite important
that we present the right picture to those visiting dignitaries, you
see.
Once I saw
a BBC programme on homeless people in UK. On this, a young man
sleeping on the streets stated that he has the chance to get lodging
from the council, but that means he has to give up his companion –
a dog. So, instead letting his dog companion go homeless and hungry,
this young Englishman chose to sleep rough on streets – a mark of
his humanity, and that of British authorities. Fortunately, none of
those things like humanity or compassion matter in the land of
Sinhala Buddhism, The Wonder of Asia, oh no they don't. We need to
present the right picture of our prosperity and affluence to the
visiting heads of Commonwealth governments. So the poor old woman on
a street corner fostering a cat or two does not fit in with Sinhalese
Buddhist philosophy or the message of Buddha or basic decencies of
humanity at large, and so she got to go.
In other
words, all this misery has befallen on the populace of Wonder of Asia
because some ego driven people want to have a party to convince
themselves how grand they are. The money for health services and
education can be taken off and spent on this grand party without any
compunction, and the sub-humans who do not fit in with Wonder of Asia
picture can surrender whatever dignity & hope they are in
possession of, so the party can go on. Oh, and by the way, a new
express-way is to be opened soon, from airport to Colombo. There is
another party for that too, and all the proper Sinhalese Buddhists
living in the vicinity are invited to partake in that show – an
invitation they have taken to their hearts.
A man from
a civilised nation reading this would no doubt wonder in what sort of
a backward semi evolved nation would people celebrate erection of a
30km express-way, or he may wonder in what sort of a country an old
woman on a street corner (who does not want to leave so her pets will
die on the streets) be forced into a police van so as to make the
street look wealthy, or for that matter, in which type of a barbaric
land would semi-fed people deprived of basic human dignities and
rights such as free expression come out and celebrate opening of a
30km express-way – built with public funds but them not ever being
told how money was spent on it!
Now let us
look into the boat people leaving for Australia. Not so long ago,
there was a country called East Germany – this was before the
Berlin Wall came down. When the wall came tumbling down, majority of
the inhabitants of the East Germany, the beggarless state, the state
with the best social standards of the whole Eastern bloc, where
everything from education to health standards to even silly things
like Olympic medals was top notch, yes that state – about 60% of
the entire population ran off to West Germany. Do you know why?
Because basic human dignities and rights, including access to a fair
legal system matters to humans. That is why.
To get to
know how boats to Australia are operated one only needs to speak to a
three-wheeler taxi man at random in Kotahena area. No need of Mafia
connections is ever found to be required. Despite of illegality of
these boat operations, Shylock type fees of the operatives, inhuman
conditions on the vessels themselves, and despite of unbelievable
personal risk they are taking on themselves by boarding any of these
nefarious fishing boats, in spite of all these odds, people just want
to get the hell out of fuck Wonder of Asia. Because there are still
some “humans” living here who have not bought the (or rather not
sold their souls to the) delusion of grandeur or justice painted out
for them. For these people, going anywhere where there is rule of law
and respect for basic human dignities & rights is more worth than
the price they pay for it or the personal risk they take on by
boarding a half sunken dilapidated fishing trawler.
As I have
said several times before, I do not condone the actions of boat
operatives, nor do I believe anyone boarding an illegal boat to
Australia to be doing something admirable. Also my advice to anyone
boarding a boat may be “just don't do it”, and you are most
certainly unlikely to get asylum in Australia – that is if you
survived the boat trip. But people still just hop on to these boats
in droves. Ah, I may not be the only one puzzled by their actions, as
far as some enquiries go...
So, my
dear friends in Australian government and the United Nations (and UK
think tank), please don't keep asking me why people board these boats
to Australia against great odds. It is because these people have come
out of delusions and in a five word explanation: Because they are
human beings.
