(Continued from Saturday)
STATEMENT BY NIGEL MILAN: SBS management takes very seriously claims of a potential conflict of interest relating to an SBS employee made by the Dateline program. The matter is being fully investigated.

October 04, 2000 - Interview: Victor Rajakulendran, Tamil community broadcaster Victor Rajakulendran runs a Tamil community radio program here in Australia. He`s also an active campaigner for the Tamil cause and believes in a separate state for people of the north and east.

MIKE CAREY: Dr Victor Rajakulendran, does the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation in Australia, the TRO, send money to the Tamil Tigers?

VICTOR RAJAKULENDRAN, TAMIL PROGRAM BROADCASTER: I don`t think so. I don`t think so. They don`t have to. They spend their money that they collect here for the rehabilitation of the people there.

It`s said by many commentators that 80% of the money raised worldwide by the TRO is sent to the Tamil Tigers and used to buy weapons. Do you agree with that figure?

VICTOR RAJAKULENDRAN: No, I don`t agree with it. I totally reject that, because TRO was established in Tamil Eelam - that is in Sri Lanka, the Tamil homeland. That`s where the TRO was established - now, they have branches all over the world. So the TRO will be sending the money, if they are sending the money back home, if they have to, because they don`t have to send always the money. They can send equipment - medical equipment are highly needed there. So they can send equipment, but if they want to send the money, they have to send it to the TRO in Sri Lanka. So that doesn`t mean it`s going into the LTTE`s hands.

The TRO, according to the Canadian Secret Intelligence Service, is nothing more than a front organisation for the Tamil Tigers.

VICTOR RAJAKULENDRAN: According to Canadian intelligence, every Tamil organisation overseas. I ran Tamil schools in Sydney - even that is called a front organisation. We have a Tamil information centre which is full of books - even that is a front organisation. That is the way it is being viewed by the people who want to call the organisation front organisation.

The Canadian Secret Intelligence Service is not going to say this without reason, though, is it?

VICTOR RAJAKULENDRAN: Yeah, they may be saying that, but what is the proof? If they have the proof, they can put the proof in black and white.

I think the proof is that in Canada for example, the TRO has never been registered as a charity. It is not a registered charity in Canada. Because the government doesn`t allow it to be registered as a charity, it`s only ever been registered as a non-profit organisation. Isn`t that sufficient proof?

VICTOR RAJAKULENDRAN: I can`t talk for Canada from Australia - I don`t know the set-up in Canada. You are telling me, but you want me to believe that.

I`m just wondering, does the same thing apply? Is the TRO in Australia a front for the Tamil Tigers?

VICTOR RAJAKULENDRAN: No, I will say no to that, because it is a registered organisation here. They can see the books - always they see the books. Any organisation in Australia is registered. When I was in Eelam Tamil organisation, every year, our books are checked.

But that doesn`t answer the question. The books could be very fine here in Australia, but the money could still be sent back to the LTTE, the Tamil Tigers, could it not?

VICTOR RAJAKULENDRAN: I could send money to the LTTE if I want personally, right? That is my wish, if I want. If I can send money to my relatives, if I am sending $100, I can send $150 and ask them to give that $50 to that unknown person there. So everybody can send that money, so you don`t need an organisation to collect money and send it. So people may be sending that way - I don`t know.

Are ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils in Australia coerced into giving money to the TRO or to other Tamil organisations?

VICTOR RAJAKULENDRAN: Never, never. It is voluntary. I go for al the TRO functions. No-one forces anyone. They of course tell the need, what is needed there. The orphans - we recently had a 15th year celebration in Sydney. You should have been there to film that. That was a perfect exhibition of the need there, with pictures and videos. So that is where you people should be in all the time, to get a glimpse of what is happening there.

You`re a broadcaster for a Sri Lankan Tamil program. In Canada, for example, there have been many cases where Tamil broadcasters have been threatened to toe the LTTE line, the Tamil Tiger line. Does that same coercion or threats happen in Australia?

VICTOR RAJAKULENDRAN: Never, never, never have been. In our case, it is run by a committee. It`s independent of any threat or anything - we do it according to the committee`s decisions.

Just back to the Canadian experience, then - do you think the Canadian Secret Intelligence Service, in describing the TRO as a front for the LTTE, is completely without foundation?

VICTOR RAJAKULENDRAN: Yeah, that`s my opinion. That`s my opinion, my assessment, knowing TRO, what they are doing. Orphans, so many orphans in Sri Lanka, in Tamil Eelam, they have to be cared for. Who is going to care for them? World Vision? No. Sri Lankan Government? No. We have to do it. We who are outside have to do it, for our brothers and sisters and our children - they are our children. Who can prevent me from sending money for those children?

But if the money goes to guns?

VICTOR RAJAKULENDRAN: I wouldn`t give that.

How do you know?

VICTOR RAJAKULENDRAN: I know that it`s not going to the guns, it`s going to the TRO. I know my people well.

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