Transferring Resources to Sri Lanka

| by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

( August 18, 2012, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) As per this morning’s ninemsn.com.au news ‘Most people believe they are being ripped off when they transfer money abroad’. Thanks to the enterprise of Australians of Sri Lankan Tamil origin, I feel good when I transfer money to Sri Lanka. Compared to the $30 per transfer charged on average by the banks, we pay only $10 per transfer. The difference is ‘faith’ value. This is also the case in relation to transfer of Human Resources. It’s less costly when we use ‘family’ and ‘community’ channels than when we use the mainstream Government channels – including to realize the values of Independence.

We migrants, bring our skills with us when we migrate. Most of us do not appreciate that we did not develop those skills on our own. So long as we are in the environment in which we grew up – this is fine – as the environment would naturally manage us and we would intuitively know our place in the environment in which we have naturally invested. This is not the case in a new environment, where there are many unknowns. Those who have paid their dues to the environment in which they developed the skills – would be independent owners of those environments.

When we remit money back to our countries of origin, those of us who are yet to pay our dues to the old environments are actually settling some of those dues – even though we may not be conscious of it. If we seek new status from such remittance – and we are still indebted to the old environment –we are likely to get cheated by the young ones in those old environments to whom we are rich foreigners.

It is therefore important that we determine the ‘level’ at which we expect to feel satisfaction by sending money back to Sri Lanka. Those who are yet to pay their debt to the old environment – are highly likely to be cheated if they look for quick ‘status’. It’s good for them to facilitate the care of the elders in the environment in which they grew up – starting with the closest relatives. Those who have already paid their debt to the old environment- through their families and/or through maintenance support to the community that supported them when they grew up – are the ‘free’ and independent investors.

Migrants who were pampered by their families and communities in Sri Lanka, would have difficulty when they come here without that Independence. They may compromise and submit towards faster access to financial resources. But they often become poorer in Human Resource support. Living in community ghettoes, gives the feeling that they continue to have that human resource support that they had back in their country of origin. But until we pay our dues – we continue to be dependent on Human Resource support – even when we are financially self-sufficient. When others – especially young ones are busy and they – the oldies - do not have enough of their own to support them – they feel depressed. The deeper our debt to the old environment – the greater the risk of depression.

Mainstream Australians who are insensitive to these issues in migrants, need to consciously practice the principles of Equal Opportunity. Mainstream Australians who have paid their dues to the environments in which they grew up are likely to naturally demonstrate Equal Opportunity values with migrants – especially migrants who are independent of their old environments and yet are conscious of their origins. Independence force in one invokes that force in the other and they merge blissfully.

Forgetting our origins – indicates that we did not become independent of our origins. The form needs to be current; but the consciousness needs to include the essence of our old experiences – as in rebirth. This applies also to our family positions as well as jobs.

When working in Australia, I insisted on paying my dues to my Sri Lankan ancestors in the area of Higher Education. Hence I kept showing my Sri Lankan Chartered Accountancy as my highest qualification. As a result I had the opportunity to be the key person in obtaining approval for the Jaffna branch of the Institute of Chartered Accountants to be opened. Similarly, I am able to work the Sri Lankan system in which I invested myself.

Be it in Australia or Sri Lanka, I am not able to do this in politically driven structures where officers are dependent on those above them to keep their jobs and to get promoted. In other words – at those levels – we do not have the force of ‘faith’ that we have in our natural environments. In both systems – I am yet to come across ‘individuals’ who block me as individuals. It’s when they are officers that I encounter blockades.

I encountered this at the University of New South Wales also. It happened due to Central Administrators having failed to pay their dues to the old University system. Like parents who are reluctant to let go of their adult children – these Administrators clung to power and hence did not appreciate my work that led towards autonomous management. Likewise the Sri Lankan Government which failed to pay its due to the British who structured our Administrative and Legal systems. Even recently, I witnessed lawyers in Mallakam & Jaffna Courts – in Northern Sri Lanka – speak to each other and to the Judge in English. These are ways in which we pay our dues to the British and truly become independent of them. Instead - if we chose to ‘forget’ English and enforce Tamil or Sinhalese as the case may be – then we lose the value of British Governance – including through Ceylonese/Sri Lankans,

I believe that it was my deep faith in Truth/God/my True investment in my Higher Education – that helped me take a stand against those who failed to uphold those standards and also were finding fault with me for upholding those standards. It also led the way for me to realize that that was the highest level to which Australia would officially recognize Sri Lankan qualifications and therefore Sri Lanka’s investment in Higher Education. Beyond that to my mind, the places in high positions were for ‘Australians Only’. Some migrants do accept that and to the extent they invested in Australian Higher Education – that is understandable. I did not invest directly through Australian Higher Education structures and hence that was the limit for me. I therefore knew intuitively that was the end of me working in positions structured by ‘others’. The realization was painful and I did suffer. But through that suffering I shared my Truth with wider society – especially through my legal actions. This helped me ‘free’ myself from the delusional expectations that most of us migrants suffer from. Until we are ‘free’ we would continue to expect ‘status’ returns and feel depressed when they do not happen. The pain freed me and I became an Independent Australian. Now when I invest in Sri Lanka, it is at the highest standards of Independence. To my mind, there could be no better way than saying ‘thank you’ to both countries.