Kenja Communication, or simply Kenja, is an Australian organisation. It was founded by the late Kenneth Emmanuel Dyers and his partner Jan Hamilton in 1982.[1] It has gained media attention due to legal action regarding Dyers' alleged sexual assaults on young girls,[2] events leading to Cornelia Rau's incarceration and the suicide of Dyers.
Contents |
The word Kenja was derived from the first letters of the names of the two founders, Ken Dyers and Jan Hamilton. They later discovered it means "wise man" (although "wise person" is probably closer) in Japanese. Kenja has offices in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. They are the; Personal Evolvement Centre; Melbourne Centre for Effective Communication; Human Communication Centre. The Parramatta Centre for Effective Communication has closed.
Kenja describes its purpose as "to increase understanding of the spiritual nature of man and our relation to the human spirit, coupled with practical training in the basics of effective communication – time, space and energy." The site also states that Kenja Communication is "neither political nor religious".[3]
A former Liberal Party parliamentarian Stephen Mutch described Kenja under Parliamentary Privilege as "a sinister organisation designed to fill the pockets and stroke the egos"[4][5] in the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1993 and the media attention Kenja attracted (Sydney Morning Herald; The Daily Telegraph; The Monthly; The Age; The Australian) gives negative and to a lesser degree positive descriptions of them.[6] Mr Mutch also referred to several documents, including an 'anonymous letter' (author known to Mr Mutch, not read into Hansard) which detailed significant similarities between Kenja and Scientology including vocabulary and teaching material.[5] Mr Mutch lost preselection and retired from politics in 1998, going on to complete a doctorate (thesis entitled "Cults, Religion and Public Policy"). Dr Mutch is the Patron of Cult Information and Family Support Inc (CIFS) [2]. Dr Mutch made a public comment after Ken Dyers death, which was; "Ken Dyers had taken the coward's way out by taking his own life last Wednesday" [3].
The Kenja training focuses on a form of meditation called 'Energy Conversion', which is described as a way to "permanently eliminate the suppressed emotion, thought or energy that can divert us from what we want to achieve",[3] though neither Dyers nor Hamilton are qualified and this practice is not recognised by professionals. Energy Conversion Sessions consist of two people sitting opposite each other and looking into each others' eyes for a period of time, and costs about $130.[4]
An "eminent academic in [the] area" who wished to be anonymous said in a letter to Stephen Mutch that the techniques Kenja uses such as Energy Conversion "appear to be designed to allow senior members to exert influence over other members of the organisation ... The use of the techniques appears to lead to a reduction in the reality testing by individuals, and a relatively uncritical acceptance of the instructions of the senior member. Moreover, the individuals appear to experience a sense of dissociation that involves an alteration in normal waking consciousness and a feeling of incapacity to respond negatively to undesired actions."[5]
Kenja Communications has been widely reported as a cult or a sect in the High Court of Australia[7], the NSW Parliament[8], The Fairfax and News Limited Media, and by Robert Manne, an eminent Professor of Politics at La Trobe University.[4] Both Ken Dyers and Jan Hamilton use the defence that the word cult is pejorative, and is used in the context of a witch hunt when arguing against allegations of sexual misconduct and in relation to the Cornelia Rau incident. [5][6].
Dyers was born on 14 July 1922. His father was 54 when he was born. His father, Charlie Dyers, had been a toddler on Daly Waters station in the Northern Territory where he had become lost at the age of three. He was picked up by a drover three years later at the age of six and returned to Daly Waters station. He had lived with an Aboriginal tribe in the intervening years.[9]
Dyers was born 14 July 1922.[10] During World War II he served in the Australian Army as a Military Policeman with 9th Div Provost Coy from his arrival in the Middle East on 25 September 1941 until he embarked for Sydney on 27 January 1943; and again from 30 July 1943 until his return to Sydney 23 March 1944. His record details a chequered career and a large amount of time in field hospitals and Casualty Clearing Stations. Dyers served in the 32 Works Coy in Australia until he was discharged. He was court-martialled three times. In late 1943 he was in jail for five days awaiting trial on three charges, and eventually convicted of "conduct prejudice to the good order and military discipline".[11] In June 1944 he went absent without leave for 16 days.[12] In April 1945 he was fined for leaving his sentry post and in July fined again for misconduct. It also refers to an assessment of his "mental instability" which is rated at 10 per cent on the day he was demobbed in August 1946.[13]
Sydney Morning Herald journalist Robert Wainright referred to Dyers' War Time biography as exposing a 'Walter Mitty Complex' in his article examining the inconsistencies between Dyers' claims and verifiable records.[14]
Dyers was a former Scientology member. In a list published from the 1950s onwards by Scientology, he is listed as an "SP" (a suppressive person).[15]
In 1993 Dyers was charged with 11 counts of sexual offences against four girls, three of whom were sisters, who were between the ages of 8 and 15. After several trials and appeals, which lasted almost a decade, Dyers was found not guilty of 10 of the charges. He was found guilty of one charge (tried separately) and jailed at Long Bay Correctional Centre for six days before being released on bail. An appeal in 2000 failed, and in 2002 the charge was overturned in the High Court of Australia on the grounds that the trial judge had potentially misdirected the trial, the order was as follows:
The DPP did not seek a retrial as they determined he had served his sentence.[7]
On 28 October 2005, Dyers was charged in Sutherland Local Court with the sexual assault of two 12-year old girls, alleged to have taken place at the Kenja's Surry Hills headquarters in 2001-2002. Dyers was released on bail under the conditions that he attends Sutherland Police Station weekly and does not attend Kenja premises or events.[16] Dyers applied for a "permanent stay" in his 2005 court case on the grounds of ill health. He also applied for and received a variance to his bail conditions to travel to a Kenja function in Melbourne. His application for a "permanent stay" was rejected, as was a further application to attend a Kenja function in Sydney. He was given a temporary stay for one year on the grounds of mental health.
Dyers denied he was guilty of the charges against him, saying that they were the result of former members trying to destroy him as part of a witch-hunt.[17] His lawyer made the defence that 13 year old girls "know how to say no, they get educated in school"[18] and that "there will be contrary medical evidence indicating that Mr Dyers has had erectile dysfunction for almost 15 years".[19]
Dyers was phoned by his solicitor on 25 July and informed the NSW Police would interview him again regarding fresh allegations from another young girl.[8]
Dyers committed suicide by gunshot to the head on 25 July 2007.[20]
Twenty Two charges of sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault had been committed to trial by Magistrate Jaqueline Trad at the time of his suicide,[16] and he had received a one year reprieve from attending court on the grounds of mental health. His solicitor had informed him of further charges from a third girl the day before his suicide.
The home page of Cornelia Rau where a detailed description of her humiliation and sexual assault are described by Cornelia.[9]
In 2005, a mentally ill former member, Cornelia Rau, gained widespread media attention in Australia due to being unlawfully detained for a period of 10 months by the Australian government. Before this, she had disappeared, and later turned up in North Queensland where Aborigines alerted the police after being concerned about her behaviour. She told them she was Anna Brotmeyer (and later Anna Schmidt) from Germany. Immigration officials assumed she was an illegal immigrant, and failed to diagnose her schizophrenia, leading to her detention.
Her family accused Kenja of contributing to her declining mental health,[21]. She had developed schizophrenia while a member of the group.[22][23]
Hamilton denied any wrongdoing, saying: "We are not responsible for Cornelia's condition ... we are not a cult. It's a witch-hunt." The sister and family of Cornelia Rau, as well as several members of Kenja present at the time formed a different opinion while observing Rau's involvement in the group.[21][24] Hamilton also claimed, retrospectively, Rau was "scattered, disassociated" as a member of the group, and that she was asked to leave because she needed help and the group "couldn't help her".[25] However, witnesses quoted in the media say she was humiliated and expelled.[23][26] The claim has been made that Cornelia Rau was driven to the airport on the night of the Melbourne Eistedfod and put on an airplane to Sydney and she was told never to return to the group. Three days later she was picked up by NSW Police driving on the wrong side of the road.
Cornelia was incarcerated in the German psychiatric system following a trip on 'medication vacation' in October 2008. In February 2009 Cornelia was arrested in imprisoned in Jordan after behaving erratically and refusing to pay bills.
In a similar case to Cornelia Rau's, a man named Richard Leape who was being treated for schizophrenia disappeared while a member of Kenja and has not been seen since around 1993. His sister, Annette, says she found him in the street "totally paranoid and irrational, saying Nazis were going to get him". She was concerned that many other people had "developed very serious mental illnesses" from time in Kenja, and said she was "appalled" to know Kenja still exists.[21]
A young man who was a Kenja member of 2 years, Michael Beaver, was also diagnosed with and hospitalised for chronic schizophrenia. He blamed Kenja, and said he had heard of four other people who had severe problems since leaving Kenja. Beaver later killed himself, writing that Kenja was "partly to blame" in his suicide note.[5]
Long term member Peter Faragher committed suicide sometime after being expelled by the group.
Channell Ten News has reported a Defence Department spokesperson making the following statement in relation to the yearly advertisments placed in the Fairfax Press newspapers. "The Army will contact Kenja Communications shortly to issue a notice to cease and desist using the Army's Rising Sun Badge".
David McLaughlin, President of the RSL, has described the use of the Rising Sun badge in the yearly advertisment as an 'insult' to the logo, or symbol.
Beyond Our Ken – directed by Luke Walker and Melissa Maclean.
A film exploring the Kenja group nominated for Best Documentary 2008 by the Australian Film Institute and Film Critics Circle Australia.
"Beyond Our Ken" was voted 3rd most popular documentary at Melbourne International Film Festival.
The international premiere of "Beyond Our Ken" at Toronto's Hot Docs Film Festival generated controversy when Kenja flew from Australia to protest at the screenings.
Media Watch:
Compass:
The Spirit of Things:
Two Apprehended Violence Order related court cases involving senior Kenja members have come before the courts.
Senior members of Kenja Communication were cross-examined in a court case involving a father and his daughter who made serious charges of sexual molestation against Dyers.[27] Wendy Tinkler's claim to have been assaulted by the father was rejected by the court and the charges against the man were dropped.
Jan Hamilton, (or Jan Dyers) was cross-examined in a court case involving an alleged attempt to threaten a young girl who had made serious sexual allegations against her husband, Kenneth Dyers, prior to him shooting himself.[28]
On 26 August 2008 the young lady, formerly a member of the Kenja group successfully secured an AVO against the co-founder of the group. Jan Hamilton was ordered not to stalk, harass or intimidate the woman as part of a two-year apprehended violence order.[29] The magistrate has forwarded details of the trial to the Attorney General requesting an investigation on criminal grounds for perverting the course of justice. Transcript of finding by Magistrate R Clisdel [35]
Ms Hamilton (or Dyers) indicated she would appeal the decision however no appeal was made to the AVO and Ms Hamilton was ordered to pay legal costs totaling $37,500 to the victim.