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"Tamils have long been seafarers
and traders. It is believed that they reached
northern Australia by the 14th century, and there
is a suggestion that they may have got as far as
New Zealand. In 1836 the missionary explorer
William Colenso found this
bell, which had been used by Māori as a
cooking vessel for generations. Inscribed on
it in Tamil are the words 'Mohoyideen Buk's
ship's bell'. The bell is now held at the
national museum, Te Papa. Theories abound, but
the precise origins of the bell and how it got to
New Zealand remain a mystery." The Tamil
Bell
" Around 1836, the
missionary William Colenso met
Māori near Whangarei using the bell as a
kohua (iron pot) to cook potatoes. It is
bronze, thirteen centimetres long and nine
centimetres deep, and has an inscription.
Colenso was told that the bell had been found
after a heavy gale had blown down a large tree;
it was uncovered from the tree roots. Its
owners believed that the bell had been in the
possession of the iwi (tribe) for several
generations. Colenso swapped an iron pot for
the bell. After his death he bequeathed the
bell to the Colonial Museum, forbear to Te Papa
Tongarewa.
The bell produced a lot of interest when it was
exhibited, and discussions and theories
abounded about its origins. The bell was
photographed and copies sent to England and
various people in India. Tamils in Southern
India immediately recognised the writing on the
bell. The bell has been identified as a type of
ship's bell. Some of the characters in the
inscription are of an archaic form no longer
seen in modern Tamil script; thus suggesting
that the bell could be about 500 years
old." Museum of
New Zealand
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Significance of Land, Language and
Culture
in a Multicultural Society - Symposium
Mt. Albert War Memorial Hall, Auckland, New
Zealand
17 February 2002
A symposium on 'The Significance of Land,
Language and Culture in a Multicultural
Society' was held on Sunday, February 17th
from 3.00 p.m. at Mt. Albert War Memorial Hall in
Auckland. The symposium was organized to discuss
the above topic with special reference to the
Tamil people's struggle in Sri Lanka and also to
focus on the anti-terrorism bill in front of the
Select Committee in New Zealand. Members of
parliament, Matt Robson (Alliance), Keith Locke
(Green), Marie Hasler (National), and Chris
Carter (Labour) as well as Adhitya Kashiyap of
United Future presented the views of their
respective parties.
Prof. Margaret
Trawick, anthropologist, with expertise on
the Tamil people's struggle for
self-determination also spoke. Robert Newson of
the Human rights Commission, who is a Maori, also
spoke on the Maori perspective to land, language
and culture.
The first speaker was Robert Newson. He spoke of
two aspects in relation to the topic. Tangata
whenua. Tangata is people, the tribe. Whenua is
land. He spoke of his home being the place where
he comes from and not where he currently lives.
The land owns him, and he does not own the land.
He said his struggle today may not be the same as
that of the Tamil people but it has been in the
past. Many understand mana to mean power. He
interprets mana as deriving from manaki - to care
and share. You give me mana because 'I care for
you'. If there is no land then where can one care
for others. In the absence of land therefore
there is no mana. He said it is his duty as
tangata whenua to welcome all to Aotearoa. But he
has not been given that chance. He asked how he
could share the land with all if he does not have
Tino Rangatiratanga, self-determination.
Prof. Trawick spoke next about the Tamil people's
struggle and the current peace process. She
started by saying that like Maori and many other
indigenous people land, language and culture are
inseparable for the Tamil people. In the case of
Eelam Tamils she said they suffered persecution
at the hands of another indigenous people, the
Sinhala people. She added that this persecution
was not due to self-motivated acts of individuals
but rather by a corrupt ruling class that
controlled the government. On the question of how
New Zealand can help she listed the following.
New Zealand should remain neutral. New Zealand
could offer itself as a neutral venue for peace
talks. There could be fact-finding missions to
the newly opened war zones in Sri Lanka, either
as individuals or as government sponsored
delegation. This is very important she added.
Also of value will be concrete assistance in
rehabilitation. Although New Zealand cannot do
much, by starting a small rehabilitation project
in the war zone it could set an example for other
countries to follow she said.
Minister Matt Robson spoke next. Minister's
explanation of the anti-terrorism bill was most
helpful. He started by saying that the New
Zealand government recognises the gross human
rights violations against Tamil people in Sri
Lanka and that New Zealand recognises the
conflict within the context of struggle as
recognised by the United Nations, that the people
have an inalienable right to their language and
the right to live freely without persecution in
the land that they live. This he said sadly has
not been the case in Sri Lanka. He then spoke of
the peace process and New Zealand's support for
Norway's effort. New Zealand has played a role in
the pacific in conflict reduction but he said it
is difficult to do the same around the world. New
Zealand however, remains open to other roles in
the Sri Lankan peace process, he added. On the
topic of the anti-terrorism bill he explained the
difficulties of defining who is a 'terrorist'. He
acknowledged that it was wrong to rush amendments
to the anti-terrorism bill because of the events
on September 11th. He said the contentious area
is deciding who is to be proscribed as terrorist.
There is a lot of discussion going on in
narrowing down the definition.
Keith Locke, member for Green party, in his
speech criticised the anti-terrorism bill and
said that it paves the way for a future
government to act in bad judgement. He said that
the bill places sole responsibility for deciding
who is a 'terrorist' on the Prime Minister,
assisted by one other minister. In his view this
can lead to a dictatorship, he said. He said in
national struggles atrocities are committed by
both sides. But when it comes to proscribing, the
USA has always proscribed the liberation
movements and not the States involved. This he
said is a biased act that is not peace making but
rather war making. He added that New Zealand
should use the model it used for Bougainville
where it treated both parties as equals and
invited them to New Zealand to hold talks. He
also added even if this government does not
proscribe LTTE, the bill instills fear in the
minds of Tamils here. It will also lead to
prejudices as seen in the recent coverage of the
New Zealand Tamil's support for LTTE in the
Herald newspaper.
Chris Carter, a Labour party member of parliament
thanked the Tamil community for their energy and
hard work in New Zealand. He noted how 50 years
ago Sri Lanka was held up as a model country
ready for independence and how tragically it has
failed to live up to that promise. He expressed
hopes that the peace process will end the
tragedy. He added that New Zealand rejects
terrorism but those who supported the struggle in
a peaceful way will not be criminalised he
said.
Marie Hasler, member for National party spoke
next. She noted her interest as a young girl in
Srimavo Bandaranayake becoming the first woman
prime minister in the world. She also thanked the
Tamil society for inviting her and said that it
kindled in her an interest in Sri Lanka. She said
she was born in Ireland and can fully understand
the persecution of minorities. She said most New
Zealanders are sympathetic to the plight of Tamil
people. However, the event on September 11th has
created greater awareness for security in New
Zealand. She said National party will support the
general thrust of the anti-terrorism bill. She
said the bill makes it clear who a 'terrorist'
is. She added that there will always be some
subjective aspect to that.
Adhitya Kashiyap, of United future, asked if
anyone has seriously attempted to understand why
someone commits a 'terrorist' act. He said New
Zealand should not follow the Band-Aid policy of
the USA without understanding the causes. Those
who are branded 'terrorist' by the western world
are 'heroes' to two thirds of the world
population, whose issues are not covered by the
mass media, he said. He said Tamil people have
struggled for 50 years without a forum to
highlight their plight. India went in to resolve
it without understanding and burnt its
fingers.
During the panel discussion, Matt Robson
commented that there is no proposal to proscribe
LTTE in New Zealand given that a peace process is
underway. Marie Hasler also said that there is no
reason why LTTE will be regarded as a 'terrorist'
in New Zealand, particularly with the peace
process going on. Keith Locke commented that even
if LTTE is not proscribed immediately there will
be continuing pressure on the New Zealand
government to proscribe LTTE because the
government is expected to take advice from the
security council. USA and UK who are permanent
members of the Security Council have proscribed
LTTE. On the financing of liberation struggles
Matt Robson added that he will not be afraid to
support organisations in New Zealand that are
supporting liberations struggling for peoples
rights even if some other organisations that they
are supporting are branded as 'terrorist
organisations', because New Zealand will always
support the right of people here to support such
struggles.
The chairperson Malathy
Naguleswaran asked the New Zealand people to
take serious note of the outcome of the December
2001 election where the Tamil people of Sri Lanka
voted unambiguously for a mandate that stated
that LTTE is their sole representatives in
negotiations with the government. She also asked
New Zealand to stand apart from the rest of the
western world as they have done with respect to
their anti-nuclear position and the South African
anti-apartheid position. Then, like the gratitude
shown by the South African people, all of Sri
Lanka's people, both Tamils and Sinhalese, will
show gratitude to New Zealand for promoting peace
she added.
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