A half century of Sri Lankan prominence… fast fading? – By Aubrey Joachim
Last evening the Sri Lanka Association of New South Wales (SLA) held its Annual Winter Ball at the plush Sofitel Wentworth in Sydney. It was also the formal celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Association. The premier black-tie Sri Lankan event in Sydney saw some 300 attendees including a number of past presidents and their ladies grace the occasion.
The SLA was formed in 1973 when a small group of Sri Lankan professionals came up with the idea of forming a community of interest to foster and promote togetherness among Lankan diaspora in Australia. While Ceylonese had been migrating to Australia in reasonable numbers from the 1950’s – even greater numbers chose to do so in the 1960’s following the socio-political changes and language / ethnic upheavals that ostracized some groups that made up the rich diversity and tapestry of the Ceylonese population. Also, while the Colombo Plan scheme saw a number of Ceylonese come to Australia for higher studies, the 1970’s and later saw a surge of qualified Sri Lankan professionals come down under rather than join the UK band wagon. It was these professionals who were the ‘seed-capital’ and forebears of what is today the SLA.
While burghers who were the Ceylonese pioneers into Australia had formed a formal group – the Bell Birds in 1967, their reason for doing so was to bring together Ceylonese migrants for regular social gatherings. They also supported worthy causes back home and in the early days the Paynter Home in Nuwara Eliya was the beneficiary. Later on they supported the poor and needy through the Dutch Burgher Union. While not all members were from a professional background this cohesive group typified the fun-loving burgher spirit that prevailed in the country of their birth.
The SLA on the other hand were mainly the upper-class English speaking Sinhalese professionals – doctors and lawyers to a large extent. In fact, many of the presidents over the half century have been from these professions. While the SLA has supposedly been an association for all Sri Lankans irrespective of ethnicity or religious background, its members have been predominantly from the major ethnic and religious faction of the Sri Lankan populace. This has been typically represented in the leadership of the SLA over the years. The association quickly developed a reasonable profile and became the de facto Sri Lankan representative body that engaged with various Australian government bodies, the Sri Lankan Embassy and Consulate as well as with other associations.
The first thirty plus years of its existence was fairly smooth with regular events during the year, the most important being the Winter Ball which was one of the most looked forward to events of the social calendar of the Sri Lankan diaspora in NSW. There were times when between 400 to 500 guests patronised the event. It was always black-tie and had distinguished Australian politicians as chief guests. English was always the lingua franca of the Association and its members essentially to project a high profile image within the Australian community. This period was characterised by high profile, decent leadership and members.
The latter part of the 50 years has been less than smooth. Fractious relationships began to develop even resulting in legal cases. The ethnic conflict back home fuelled the animosity that began to fester. Hot tempered and raucous AGM’s gave the SLA a bad name. Membership dwindled and the biggest challenge was to attract high calibre and visionary men and women to lead the association. It appears that even the ideals that were the foundation of the SLA are being eroded.
It would appear that if the SLA is a typical microcosm of the present Sri Lanka its directional shift is not surprising. Nationalist and insular views are gradually taking over and thus alienating those migrants who shifted domicile to get away from such developments. However, caution is called for as the 50 years of building the Sri Lankan brand in Australia is likely to be tarnished.
The most important consideration though is whether organisations such as the SLA, the Bell Birds and even an interesting group such as the Ceylon Society are losing their significance and relevance. Membership in both of these organisations are aging and dwindling. Interest is waning. This trend is seen even in other countries where migrant diaspora has converged. A seemingly compelling reason may be that the second generation of migrants are getting distanced from the land of their forebears due to marital relationships with partners from other countries. It may perhaps even be that the next generation does not agree with what they see happening back in Sri Lanka.
If the SLA is to see its next milestone – 60 years, 75 years or even its centenary then it must re-group and re-invent itself under strong and sincere leadership who take on the voluntary roles with no hidden agendas and with a desire to maintain the Sri Lankan brand in high esteem. It must bring out all that is good about the country and demonstrate – even to the homeland – what Sri Lanka should have been. The SLA must influence the rest of Australia to hold Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans in high esteem – as its forefathers had intended to. If not a half century of Sri Lankan prominence will just fade away.
The author has been in Australia for 30 years and was a former President of the SLA – the only burgher to have held that office.
