Skip to main content

Vigil held for suicide victim of Villawood camp


About 40 people gathered on the outskirts of Villawood detention centre for a nighttime vigil on October 26 to commemorate the death of a Tamil refugee detainee who had taken his own life that morning.

The gathering included refugee activists, members of the Tamil community and friends of Daya Jayasakara, or “Shooty,” as he was known. Shooty had been in detention for two years after arriving in Australia by boat seeking asylum. He had been granted refugee status several months earlier and was waiting for ASIO security clearance.

During the vigil we received reports that Serco was preventing detainees inside the centre from accessing areas where they could view the gathering, a tactic the corporation has used during past protests at the site.

Participants consistently spoke about Shooty as being a very jovial person, some expressing shock and confusion at the fact that such a happy man would commit suicide. A Tamil man recounted how Shooty took it upon himself to keep up morale when the boat that he and other asylum seekers were travelling on became disabled and they were left without food and water for 10 days.

Others raised the policy of mandatory detention, saying that such tragedies would not occur if asylum seekers were treated with dignity. Nick Riemer, of Refugee Action Coalition, spoke of the callous attitude of government minister Chris Bowen, “whose response to the death was to say he [Shooty] was probably a security risk”.

Riemer also spoke against opposition leader Tony Abbott’s remark that we should not “draw too many policy outcomes from what is an individual tragedy,” asking “how many individual tragedies must occur before the government changes its policy?”

The crowd also heard from Ramees, a Tamil detainee in Villawood, who described the depressed atmosphere in the centre and his own trauma, saying that he takes three sleeping pills every night and suffers from bad dreams.

Lingaruban, a Tamil refugee who had been released from detention the same day, explained how the centre lacked adequate mental health care and that detainees were simply given pills if they were suffering mental problems.

Lingaruban also mentioned Shooty’s wish that, even in death, he would not want to return to Sri Lanka. Fellow detainess in Villawood are asking permission for Shooty’s body to be taken to the centre for a short Hindu ceremony, which is currently being denied. Supporters are also seeking the possibility of Shooty’s next of kin being allowed to Australia for the funeral. (GreenLeft Weekly)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GL SLAMS ‘COLONIAL’ RIGHTS GROUPS

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris rejected “colonial” criticism Tuesday of a government-appointed civil war probe, after foreign rights groups snubbed an invitation to attend. New York-based Human Rights Watch, London-based Amnesty International and Brussels-based International Crisis Group last week accused the panel of a cover-up and refused an offer from Colombo to appear before it. Peiris said in a speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a leading think-tank based in London, that the rights groups had displayed a “most unattractive attitude.” “It smacks of an attitude that is almost colonial, patronising and condescending, the assumption being that other people must step in because Sri Lankans are unable to chart a course for their own future,” he said. Peiris, who is in London for talks with the British government, said the LLRC was based on similar reconciliation commissions in countries such as South Africa. He urged rights groups and
Post a Comment
Read more

IRRESPONSIBLE TALK BY MEMBERS COST UNP ITS VOTERS, SAYS SAJITH

The voters have distanced themselves from the United National Party (UNP) because several members had demeaned the military victories during the recently concluded war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said Hambantota District parliamentarian Sajith Premadasa. Former President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s son, Sajith was addressing a meeting at Gurutalawa at the Yatinuwara electorate in Kandy last evening to raise awareness on his Jathika Jeewaya Programme. Mr. Premadasa launched this programme within three electorates in the Gampaha District last week as well. Adding further, Sajith Pramadasa said the UNP suffered erosion in its support as some had uttered irresponsible comments when the Sri Lankan armed forces were gaining victory after victory in the fight against the LTTE. When the Army captured Thoppigala, some in the UNP had said that Thoppigala was only a jungle, while some had accused the then government and the military of claiming to be advancing towards Kilinochc
Post a Comment
Read more

TNA vows civil disobedience

Sri Lanka’s main Tamil party on Saturday vowed to launch a Gandhi-style civil disobedience campaign to press a long-standing demand for regional autonomy for their ethnic minority. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in its manifesto for April parliamentary elections renewed its demand for extensive regional autonomy – after Tamil Tiger rebels who fought in their name were crushed last year. “If the Sri Lankan state continues its present style of governance without due regard to the rights of the Tamil-speaking peoples, the TNA will launch a peaceful, non-violent campaign of civil disobedience on the Gandhian model,” the party said. The TNA was a puppet of the Tamil Tiger rebels who were crushed by security forces in May last year after 37 years of fighting. The United Nations has said up to 100,000 people were killed in the conflict. On Saturday the alliance said it would lobby neighbouring India and the international community to ensure the island’s Tamil community -- 12.5 percent
Post a Comment
Read more