Education is a basic need for a human being. The right to education is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We get education until we die.
Since the beginning of mankind, humans tried to master the environment around them. Now thousands of years later in the 21st century it seems that the humans have finally conquered the Mother Nature
Information and communication technology helps man to connect to one another in every aspect of life today from financial transactions to meeting friends. This interlinked world may appear to be fast and convenient but have we ever wondered whether our privacy and safety is ensured in it?
When we look at today’s youngsters, we can clearly notice a
growing problem. The new generation seems not to be focused on education, they
lack extra-curricular activities and aesthetic skills, and they don’t have
respect for adults and teachers. School violence has become a major issue in
majority of our schools. Overall, we feel that our children are becoming a lost
generation.
Parents have an immense impact on child. It is the way of
parenting that makes a child good or bad, lazy or active, compassionate or
violent. As an Asian country, the bond between Sri Lankan parent and their
child is greater than western countries. Thus the way which a parent interact
with their children is extremely important. In general, Sri Lankan parents have
a reputation for being tough and strict. It is harder to find a person who is
not subjected to corporal punishment at home or school but are those parenting
methods effective? Do they create better children? Many educationists, doctors
and teachers now reject the idea of corporal punishment to make the children
disciplined. What needed is a strict
parenting concept which is effective and which don’t harm children physically
and mentally.
A concept called tiger parenting may come in handy when
dealing with the above dilemma. Tiger Parenting was introduced by Dr. Amy Chua,
a Junior Professor of Harvard Law School. Her book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger
Mother” created a worldwide debate on parenting. She describes her own
experience of bringing up her two daughters in a strict manner. Dr Chua was
brought up by traditional Chinese parents so that influence helped her to
develop a method to guide her children to excellence.
Tiger parenting doesn’t mean that parents need to use
caning, whipping or other types of corporal punishments to make the children
disciplined. It is a system to make specific targets for children in terms of
their academic and social achievements and constantly monitoring and guiding
them by whatever means to accomplish them. Tiger parents believe that their
children can achieve almost anything with strict control and discipline. They
control what their children may read, what TV programs they may watch, who
their children be friends with etc. Main point in tiger parenting is the active
involvement in child’s academic life by parents.
Dr. Amy Chua’s parenting contradicts liberal western style
parenting in which the self esteem of a child is put in front of his/her
parent’s ambitions but are they similar to traditional Sri Lankan parenting? Of
course Sri Lankan parents may have a vision of their children’s future but do
they have a practical approach or a plan to guide the children? Sri Lankan
parents may very well be involved in child’s education up until the grade 5
scholarship exam which is named notoriously as “The exam of the parents”. Then
gradually parental involvement in child’s education diminishes. When it comes
to studying for Advanced Level Examination, students are completely on their
own sometimes lost in a competitive battle without a clue about what field they
are going to choose in the future. Parents only realize the lack of their
guidance when a child got failed in the exam.
It is fair to say that today’s children are unbalanced
personalities. Children and their parents only focus on academic performance
while completely forgetting that a child should have a competence in academic
and aesthetic fields alike. A true super child should be able to make a balance
in all the above sections. Preparing the child for future career demands is
also important. He or she should be ready for jobs which have not been invented
yet. Obviously mathematics and science play a crucial role in the future
knowledge based economy so pushing children more and more to mathematics and
science related education is a good move. Perfectionism is always administered
by a tiger parent. Any grade except straight ‘A’ is not accepted. Rewarding children
for just passing an exam makes them lazy. Children should understand that
rewards and compliments are very hard to gain but when they do, it reflects the
perfection in their hard work.
The ultimate goal of tiger parenting is to shape the child
in to a balanced person. While concerning on academic excellence only may cause
unnecessary stress on children but pushing children to be involved in sports
and aesthetic activities will make a balance. We should give our children what
they lack most; discipline and self-control. Being a disciplinarian may not a
pleasant experience at first but when the child realize the true meaning of
being strict, they will start to respect you. Dr Chua’s daughter Sophia also expressed
her gratitude to her mother’s parenting style by an open letter published in
the New York Post in January 2011.
Today’s younger generation is inexperienced and easily be
misled. It is their parents’ duty to shape their child like steel in a mould
and to make a respectable person from them. Most probably it might be a bitter
experience at first but when the child immerges as a self-disciplined and
balanced person; it will be the pinnacle of strict parenting. Dr Chua’s tiger
parenting may not be entirely feasible for Sri Lankan child upbringing but
nevertheless it may provide some valuable clues. I strongly recommend all the
parents to assess the effectiveness of their parenting style and make the
necessary adjustments to it.
World’s population is now more than 7 billion and rising
rapidly. It has reached that point one year ago in October 2011. As humans, we
have an immense impact on planet earth so complications arise naturally with
the rising population. Overpopulation is now a major challenge to the long list
of obstacles faced by humankind.
Throughout the human history, overpopulation has never been
a problem before. Humans like all the other species need resources to survive.
If a species have access to plenty of resources, it thrives while that species
is starved of resources, its population declines or probably faces extinction
(like what happened to Dinosaurs). Usually balancing the population of species
is done by nature itself. Story of human population is somewhat different.
Until the first half of the last century, the human population stayed under 2
billion. Due to the rapid growth it only took another half a century to nearly
triple that population.
We generally think that adding more and more members to our
huge human family is a good thing but as any species needs certain resources
such as air, food, water and habitat to live, humans also needs those basic
necessities and much more to survive and human needs and expectations are
getting bigger and bigger every day. Throughout the last 50 years, expansion of
quantity and quality of necessities such as energy, transportation, housing
leads to perfect condition for a human population boom. Although population
rise started with the industrial revolution in the 19th century,
only after the World War 2, it started skyrocketing.
Humans to generate wealth industry, production and economic
activity are needed. Those needs more people. With additional wealth humans can
breed and feed a new generation which helps to create more and more wealth.
This cycle continues to function perfectly until couple of decades before the
last century ends.
Above mentioned economic model is obsolete nowadays due to
two reasons.
We don’t need much labor and human skills to
generate wealth. Smart technologies, industries and production don’t need much
labor. The way we create wealth is also changed. World relies more on smart
technologies, financial industry and service sector which requires less human
participation that age old industry and agriculture
Depleting resources; Humans entirely dependent
upon natural resources such as minerals, metals, oil and arable land. Now
humans don’t have the steady supply of resources to generate wealth which helps
to keep and increase population
Problems
Large population consumes lot of natural resources which
took thousands of years t naturally form. Production of those resources can’t
keep up with the rising population.
This earth is not only designed for humans but we take the
whole world for granted. The truth is humans are mere part of the world’s Eco
system. Natural resources and generally the environment are used by every other
plant and animal. Over-consumption and rising demand puts strain on the
environment as well. This leads to environmental pollution which dangers not
only humans’ future but also the whole worlds’ future.
Human standard of living was rising with the increasing
population. This means people can live longer. But most of those old people
don’t contribute anything to the creation of wealth; it becomes the duty of
young to serve their elders from their wealth. This practice is highly
appreciated in some cultures, especially in Asia but beyond this duty of
safeguarding senior citizens lays a heavy burden in younger generation’s shoulders.
With the rising global population, especially in 3rd
world countries, an emigration boom is created. People are trying to migrate to
rich countries in search of opportunities. Most of the Asian and North African
people are trying to migrate to Western European countries and to United
States. This mass migration creates disruptions between the immigrants and
local people. Nowadays when people migrate to other countries they don’t
embrace the local culture. They tend to communalize in their own religious or
racial segments. Since western countries have lower birth rates compared to
immigrants, immigrant community grows faster and creates its own sub cultures.
Most of the time immigrant and local cultures don’t jell with each other well.
Sudden demographic shifts are dangerous for a county’s future for example, in
United Kingdom, immigration and immigrant cultures have become a big problem
which has led to racial and religious conflicts more than once.
Global population is rising in a way that the nature can’t
control. Population boom may explode one day but it puts the entire humanity in
jeopardy. Experts have found out that the ideal population which should be
living in earth is 2 Billion. We have two solutions with us. Either find
another plant to put the extra 5 Billion humans or reduce the population.
Since science is not able to find any plant suitable to us
other than earth, the one and only option is population reduction. Even with
that solution, we may encounter some social problems.
1.We can’t move population to less populated
countries because of cultural problems
2.We can’t kill old people or reduce health
benefits due to social and ethical issues.
3.We can’t selectively give the chance to live for
the healthiest babies like ancient Spartans did (Which sounds like a good idea)
but not a single mother will like the idea of killing her baby even for the
benefit of entire humanity.
We need a world-wide systematic reduction of births like the
Chinese did with their one-child-policy. Like valuation and devaluation of a
country’s currency, governments should have a plan specifying how many people
are needed for the future to plan the birth policy. If the country can sustain
more people, less restricted birth policy can be enforced. If the population is
growing, strict laws regarding number of children can be brought forward. While
making policy changed, the scientific community should be able to find ways to
sustain large population from limited resources without affecting the
environment.
We too need to change and adjust their high-end,
energy-consuming lifestyles. That surely be uncomfortable since we are too
comfortable with our life but if we keep on going like this, the end is painful
than ever. Overpopulation is created by us. Before it consumes us and reduce
humanity to rubble, we should act bravely and take drastic measures to prevent
that from happening.
The Parisians
awoke in 13th of November in to a terror stricken world. Paris
terror attacks have killed more than 130 people and left many injured, some are
still in critical condition. The jihadist group ISIS has claimed responsibility.
Now it is the 3rd attack beyond ISIS controlled territory after
Russian airliner bombing and Lebanon attacks. After the Second World War, it
was the biggest attack in French Soil and most probably the deadliest terrorist
attack since 9/11 in any western country except Spain. The events unfolding in the middle-east and
mainland Europe shake us with the deadly realism that we are not safe.
Now the whole
world is in mourning, condolence messages and Facebook profile pictures
changing it to French Tricolors. They want us to pray for Paris only to Pray
for some other city later if we don’t understand the root-cause of the threat
of international terrorism and dealt with it once in for all. We can look immediately
to the Syrian civil war but it is important to look beyond that particular conflict
to understand why, the so called Islamic State Militants have dared to commit
suicide killing many unarmed civilians who were not connected to their cause at
all.
Terrorism 101
There were many
terrorist groups in the world, most of them fighting to overthrow a government
in order to establish their own state with an ideology of their own. Most of
the groups belong to the minority of a country; ethnic, religious or political.
They were either get wiped off or drawn in to agreements to stop their acts of
terror. There is no clear word to define a terrorist because, a person may
appear as a terrorist for someone or a freedom fighter to some other. But for the record, we can identify terrorist
as a person who inflict terror through violent method to achieve his goal. He
has an ideology on which his acts are governed. They can be religious, ethnic
or political such as Marxism. Now most of the international terrorist groups
have a religious ideology.
The world is
heavily globalized with increasing travel opportunities and communication
methods. Thus a terror organization is not limited to one particular country
but to the whole world if its followers are scattered globally. Before World
War 2 There were rouge nations with sinister ideologies but they have the
characteristics of a state and comes with it the responsibilities of a state even
at warfare but terror organizations have no such constraints.
As we have
previously mentioned, a terrorist organization has
Operating
region
Ideology
Specific goal
An adversary
Followers
Support network
and
Sympathizers (sympathizers
may turn into followers later)
How it Happen?
Majority of the
terrorist organizations born out of the last couple of decades were from the
middle-eastern region. Religion plays an utmost part of their ideology. The usual
adversary is the western world and governments who are supportive to west.
Their goal rages from gaining control of a specific territory to world
domination. They have followers, supporters and sympathizers throughout the
world. Since their religion is widespread and rapidly growing, they are in no
shortage. Not every religious person is a follower of supporter but most of the
people have a soft spot in their subconscious mind towards the people of their
own religion trying to dispose the enemies of their religion and to propagate
it no matter where they live either in a desert in Syria, in a slum in Pakistan
or a suburb in England.
Who to Blame?
It was happened
in many Abrahamic religions, sometimes spreading in to the people of different
sect of their own religious resulting Spanish inquisition, Catholic-Protestant
problems in Europe and Problems among ultra-orthodox Jewish sects. The world
has moved away from inquisitions, religious persecutions in Europe and Antisemitism
(at least in the western world) but the crusades have never been ended yet. Blood still spills furiously in the same
crusade battlefields where Richard III and Saladin fought. Although battlefield
is the same, tactics differ. In a standard warfare, the mightiest military
power wins but in a guerrilla war, standard armies and states were pushed in
the brink and rouge groups gain the upper hand.
Who Stormed the
Hornets’ Nest?
It is not wrong
to say that most of the international terrorist groups have born as a result of
the interventions from their enemies itself. Colonization in the 17th-19th
century, aftermath of the WW2 in the middle-east, Israel-Palatine problem, Soviet
Intervention, Gulf War, Invasion of Afghanistan, Gulf War 2 and finally the
Arab Spring aftermath gives ample evidence of who have driven the first blood. Once
incident was linked to another and to another. The list goes on and on with
attacks and retaliations only to spill more and more blood on those forsaken lands
and beyond.
It is a viable
question to ask that even though the so called colonials and socialists have done
the exact same thing in Asia, Africa and Latin America, why global terrorism
never immerged from those regions. Even if it did, it was in small scare and
usually subdued. This is the million dollar question! What is so special with the
middle-east? Religion plays a major role and tribalist sentiments dominate
people’s ideology. Heavy unequal distribution of wealth, poverty and most
important of all, the lack of education to train the mind to be logical are the
main causes. It is of utmost importance to note that one cause alone won’t create
the situation in middle-east. And blaming religion ONLY won’t solve the problem
at all.
What Shall We
Do?
There are
short-term, medium-term and long-term remedies to battle the wave of
international terrorism.
Short-term - Security has to be tightened. An intelligence services have to run on full
alert. Border security and surveillance need to be enhanced. Refugees are one
of the biggest threats to Europe and to the rest of the world; unpopular but
drastic measures have to be taken even if it is disappointing for the refugees.
Balkan states and Eastern-European states have to regulate if not close their
borders stopping the influx of refugees to the Western-Europe. ISIS has to be
dealt with somehow. Shaking hands with Russia and if possible with Assad, is to
be done no matter how unpopular it is. Any enemy is better than ISIS now.
Medium-term – The
European dream need to be shattered. Open borders, Multiculturalism and immigration
policies need to be changed. Dealing with the middle-eastern governments no
matter how unappealing they are, is the way to go. If the west had dealt with
Assad differently, ISIS would never have immerged this strong. Assad might get
defeated but at least the replacement would never be ISIS.
Long-term – Addressing
the root cause. Why the west need to be interested in the middle-east so much.
One reason is the Israel-Palestine problem. It is a tricky problem. United
States and west are always Israel’s allies. Neither Palestinians nor Israelis
ready for negotiations. Next one is oil. Oil will run out eventually. Soft diplomacy
and international umbrella combined with long term alternative energy plan shall
be enough to keep the oil problem at bay. That’s why working with the middle-eastern
governments is the key.
Conclusion
What the western
world did for decades was make the middle-eastern problem their own. Deal with
it politically rather than economically. China was doing the opposite thing and
gained profits from it. It is up to the people in the middle-east to decide
what they want, either to collapse or thrive as a civilization. West shall take
live-and-let-live stance and grab the spoils from it rather than engaging in a
regime change for like they did and failed every time.
A sad day indeed
for Sri Lankans. The passing away of Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha thero, the
Chairman of the National Movement for a Just Society had shocked us. We grieve
not as Buddhists or members of a certain political party but as Sri Lankans who
expected a change and fought for it.
Although Sri
Lankans knew Sobitha Thero as the key player in the resent regime change, his
social activism dates back many years, leading several political campaigns for
just society. Sobitha Thero, not having a rigid political afflictions had
always been in the common man’s side in the struggle for democracy, equality
and justice. Whenever a progressive political change has happened in this
country, Sobitha Thero had always been in the forefront of it. Even as the
chief incumbent of a Buddhist Temple, Kotte Sri Naga Viharaya, the Thero had leaded
a modest life dedicating his life to social progression compared to some monks
who went on to developing lavish temples and focusing on worldly goods which is
contradictory to the essence of Buddhist teachings.
Sobitha Thero’s
activism came to its pinnacle with his work in the Presidential Election in January
2015. Even before the election Sobitha Thero had raised his voice against the
nepotism, corruption and undemocratic governance of the previous government. Sobitha
Thero had always in the stance of changing the system rather than the people
who were running the system. The Thero understood the fact that if we change
the people who govern without changing the system they govern, the replacements
will be ineffective. He had proposed several changes to the system even before
the Presidential Election such as Independent Commissions, Corrupt-free governance
and accountability mechanisms.
The opposition always
criticized the previous government but never found a suitable candidate for
changing the system let alone a better system itself. There were speculations
about who shall be the common candidate as opposition had decided to put a
common candidate to the presidential race. Sobitha Thero’s name also surfaced
and some had doubted how a Buddhist monk is able to contest for the election.
Although most of
the supporters of the previous government do not know it, it was Sobitha Thero
who initially supported Mr. Rajapaksha BUT on several conditions to ensure
democracy. As this author can remember in one occasion, the Thero has stated
that Mr. Rajapaksha will be the ideal candidate if he scuttles the undemocratic
18th Amendment, introduces Independent Commission and Eradicates
corruption. But since there was no positive response from him, Sobitha thero
had to look for someone else and Mr. Sirisena was an ideal candidate. The rest
is history.
Although Sobitha Thero
was in the forefront of the regime change, he was the first person to criticize
it as well. The lack of progress in the ‘Yahapalana Government’ was appalling
and it is no doubt that the Thero was highly dissatisfied with the aftermath.
First, the three-month interim government period was extended, hundred Day program
was just a broken promise, and the most important change promised, enacting the
19th Amendment was intentionally delayed. 20th Amendment
and shifting to new electoral system was never done. It is ironical to see that
the ‘Father of the recent political change’ has to go on protesting against the
‘Yahapalana child’ in April 2015 to enact the long awaited 19th
Amendment which was the keystone of a new political change.
Sobitha Thero
openly criticized the present government and its lack of progress. It is an
open secret that the Thero was really disappointed with it and it must have
affected him very much. Surely there shall be a sense of betrayal by the
present government’s highest offices. It was not only Sobitha Thero who was
betrayed but 6.2 million Sri Lankans who had voted for a change. Resent events
suggests that the successive government is similar the previous one if not
worse.
People lobby for
political movements for many reasons. Most lobbying was done as an investment
in the future earnings and favors from the successive governments. Among them,
Sobitha Thero was a true patriot and person with high moral standards as he
never expected any return or favor from the people who was raised to power by his
activism.
It is so
heartbreaking to see some people who were posting defamatory comments and celebrating
Sobitha Thero’s passing away mostly in social media. Indeed they are the people
who never knew the political history of Sri Lanka, how the struggle for ‘Good
Governance’ was initially won in January 2015 and subsequently lost by the activism
in the civil society and how the people currently in power had betrayed the
activists who really helped them. Most of the ‘post-sharing internet radicals’ who
use the internet behave as ‘monkeys handling straight razors’ showing their
lack of character and how they were brainwashed.
There are lessons
to be learnt from the altruistic life and disappointing passing away of Sobitha
Thero. It brings us to the bitter realizations that no matter how you intend to
change the world for better, the dark forces always win. No matter how good you
are, if you are not in the winner’s side, everyone will eventually betray you.
At the end of your life, bitterness, regret and disappointment will be your only
companions. Last but not least, you will be disgraced even after you were dead
and eventually be forgotten.
Ven. Maduluwawer
Sobitha Thero, May you Attain Nibbana as it is the only retreat with the
eternal peace.
University
students, according to some, the eager young minds that are going to take the future
of our country, were always in a disadvantaged position in their quest for
winning their claims. It has been recently proven again by the police crackdown
of HNDA (Higher National Diploma in Accountancy) students at Colombo 7 last
week. Unlike the previous protests, even though the similar brutal treatment
was received by the students, the media, civil society groups and politicians condemned
the attack. Even the prime minister has ordered an investigation in to this
incident.
There
is an inherent nature of the human being to rally against oppression. When some
external force blocks their liberty, individually or collectively humans rise
against it. The tug of war between the authorities and their subjects thus begun
and it was virtually unchanged for millennia. Students, who were in the lowest
social class in terms of their bargaining and economic power had always pushed
into collective actions against the authorities. The authorities have the reins
to control the system so naturally, the students’ demands for changes which often
been bluntly rejected. Throughout the history, youth were in the vanguard of
social change. It might range from a simple change in their educational
facilities to a broader change in the whole society. American Anti-War Riots in
1960s by the new hippy generation which came to its pinnacle with the killing
of Columbia university students, demonstrations against Margret Thatcher and recent
UK student riots in 2010 against rise of university fees were several examples.
When
discussing this matter, it is natural to venture in to the youth activism in general
which Sri Lanka had plenty of examples in 1971, 1988 and 1983-2006 by both
Sinhala and Tamil youth for political and economic freedom but for the sake of
the HNDA incident, it is better to limit the discussion to student movements
centered in educational institutions. It is also important to note that institutions,
mainly universities are a breeding ground for social movements as well.
Why
students riot?
As
discussed above, for a conflict to arise there should be two or more parties
with conflicts of interest. When their powers are divergent, group with lesser
power will always be kneeling down to the other. The power is not entirely
depending on the money and institutional structure that is controlled by a
group by also depending on the social impact and bargaining ability as well. The
two parties in this conflict; student community and government, each is superior
in their own sphere making a compromise impossible.
Almost
all of the reasons of students to rise against the authorities are entirely
legitimate in terms of the free education system of Sri Lanka. Unless that
system got changed (by a policy decision which no politician would dare to
make), Sri Lankan students should be entitled to all the associating privileges
coming under free education from grade 1 to university. It is not only meant
having lecture panel and a place for the students to learn but also up-to-date
curriculum targeting future needs, quality of human resources and most importantly,
adequate infrastructure.
Sri
Lankan university system is plagued with shortages of suitable degree programs
to suit the need for the future. Lack of standard among different degree
programs and non-degree programs is also a problem. That was resulted in two of
the most intense student standoffs in recent history; last week HNDA students’
clash and Allied-Health Science students’ problem. It is also a breeding ground
for clashes within the universities and non-degree awarding government institutions
such as National Diploma in Technology (NDT). Conflict with private
universities (now it resorted to Private Medical Colleges because for better or
for worse, all the other degrees are awarded by private institutions in Sri
Lanka except Medical Degree) is another clash point.
For
some of the inter-institutional crashes such as University-PMC and Allied
Health Science, professional bodies such as Medial Professionals Trade Unions
are also engaged making the problem harder to solve. The intervening parties
might have legitimate reasons for opposing PMCs and rival non-degree
institutions since it is a matter of their professional integrity. Non-standardization
and popular political promises given by politicians without thinking of the
consequences make the problem worse. For example, as in the case of HNDA, a
policy decision was made long before to give the degree status to HNDA and to
increase the course duration to 4 years. When the government refuses to keep
that promise, it is highly unlikely that the students would not go in to a
confrontation with the authorities who shattered their legitimate expectations.
Infrastructural
problems are much easier to solve but requires money. It is not exaggeration to
tell that most of the university infrastructure is not even suitable for
minimum human habitation standards let alone for education. This is most
prominent in university lodging. Most of the hostels are in dilapidated
condition. Even the newly built ones boasted by the former Higher Education
Minister ‘Sumanaweera Banda Dissanayake’ as of highest caliber are plagued with
problems. Student clashes in Sabaragamuwa University and continued student
movements in the University of Colombo for better hostel facilities were still
unanswered. It is not that the government lacks monetary resources but
improving education is as not lucrative as building highways, mega-cities and
boasting about them by organizing musical shows costing millions of rupees. Every
government had invested in votes rather than the general welfare of the people.
It is apparent to the politicians that the university students or their family
member will never going to vote for them so why bother? Investing in votes is
the most ferocious form of misuse of public money. It is the tax money of the
general public not politicians’ private donations that are spent here after
all.
Unlike
the student movements fuelled by socialist ideology in the seventies and late
eighties contemporary university student is highly motivated by capitalism. Even
the lucrative slogan of ‘free education’ is considered as a path for upward
social mobility by gaining wealth. As we all know, education is the only path
for a lower and middle class person to gain wealth and to be part of the
capitalist dream. Even though significantly weakened by the resent world
economic and social unrests, the capitalist ideology still has some momentum
thus it is inevitable for the young mind of university student share the Sri
Lankan Dream. It is ironical that ultra-capitalist United National Party
government has shattered that dream of HNDA students. Thus not getting the
degree recognition will weaken their bargaining power in the job market.
Are
students troublemakers?
The
short answer is no. Students turn to confrontation with the authorities (not
referring to the internal clashes and rivalry within the student factions) as
the absolute last measure. Every confrontation is ended in the similar manner. Students
march in to the authorities, police are deployed, confrontation and brutal
crackdown by the police, injuries, arrests followed by their release, social
disapproval, many press conferences then gradually the situation subsides but
student claims remain unanswered if not partially resolved and in the end, everyone
will live happily ever after except the university students who bears the
trauma, disappointment and anger for the rest of their lives.
Nevertheless,
protests and confrontations coupled with violent confrontations with the
authorities were somewhat effective in recent years. In other words, rioting is
the only proven method for their pleas to be heard by the deaf ears of the authorities.
More violent the confrontation and injuries, better the outcome will be. Sadly,
injuries are the only means to direct the public uproar against the authorities.
‘We need to cry for the milk to form’ is the justification used by the students
and they have proven it over and over again. Martyrdom is now the only means of
resolving problems while student martyrs are hailed as heroes; this acts as a
precedent in future student problems also.
The
question we need to ask ourselves is do all these need to be happening? A university
student is not a thrill seeker or a daredevil stuntman who always looking for
trouble with police. If the government is always keen to ensure free education,
it is not wasteful for them to listen to students’ pleas. Now students are the
people who share the same ideology with them after all.
Several
changes should be made in the governance to resolve the students’ problems.
Adamant
nature of the government and ministers when dealing with students should be
changed. Government has a responsibility to ensure the well-being of students
and they should be treated with respect.
Government
should give priority to the reasonable demands of students (most of demands in
fact are reasonable)
There
should be a higher education policy and standardization of degrees and
certifications by non-degree awarding institutions to solve the inter-institutional
clashes once in for all. Recognition and validity of existing course should be
retained if not improved.
Rules
of engagement of the police need to be radically changed. Poor riot control
training and attitude resulted in many deaths in the past and continuous tarnishing
of public image of police. Lack of negotiation skills of police officers is the
main problem. Not one of the senior police officers has been trained on negotiation
and conflict resolution. Without that a police officer will be a thug with
license to kill as the current police media spokesperson has proved over and
over again. Proper training and education will improve the situation. It is important
to address the situation as soon as possible before another group of students
become victims of police brutality.
University
student can be compared to a flame; full of energy and eager to light up the
world with wisdom. But that energy can also be used to incarcerate everyone. They
can be hazardous material to handle but somehow the authorities should be wise
enough to direct that flame productively for the sake of our country’s future.
Desiring for something I cannot gain; My depressing experience. The story continues...
I am the lonely window shopper looking at the most beautiful thing for sale priceless jewel it is, fit for any crown desiring it to be mine everyday I imagined I'm the king with that crown and cleaned the window of the shop and swept the floor sat in a bench in front of the window and did my bidding hour and hour one day the "reserved" notice I've seen some prince overbid me while I've not been it is indeed your crown jewel your majesty i shall keep away 'cause this is my destiny me the window shopper have never learnt the lesson not to desire a jewel while being a peasant nevertheless I came to the conclusion that my heart will fall and that jewel has no heart at all!!!
The human civilization
was never free of problems and chaos in which war and destruction was common. In
human history, there is no point in time which was free from conflicts and
warfare. In the last century, the world was plagued with two world wars,
struggles for independence, cold war which was fought as a set of proxy wars
and countless other internal and external conflicts. In the turn of this
century, a new form of war; international terrorism has emerged. The newest
ongoing conflict is the conflict between the government of Syria and its
opposition groups. Although it can be categorized as a civil war its effects
are anything but confined to Syria. It is now evolved in to a regional conflict
and who knows; it can be the spark for the World War 3. Most of the public got
to know about the Syrian conflict because of the involvement of opposition
group, ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) or commonly known as ISIS (Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria) and their
actions such as kidnapping, beheading, burning and drowning but, there is far
more to the Syrian conflict than ISIL thus it is important to go into the root of this conflict to get a clear idea of
why Syrians had turned against their ruler and why factions such as ISIL are so
successful. As the ISIL had wowed to carry on their struggle to control much of
the middle-east and a substantial portion of Europe and Asia, it is for
everyone’s benefit to understand what had happened in Syria and the neighboring
Arab world.
This all started with
the Arab Spring, the popular uprisings against leaders in the Arab World.
Started in Tunisia, it swept across a good portion of the middle-east. It
starts with small protests in the name of democracy and usually escalates in to
armed conflicts between the government forces and the opposition groups and
eventually leads to the downfall of the government and leaders. The outcome of
the subsequent power vacuum is different from country to country. Having
overthrown so called oppressive dictator was no guarantee for democracy or
stable government. Only a handful of countries had transformed in to the state
that the protesters hoped for while the majority slid in to chaos and anarchy.
Libya, Yemen and Egypt are examples.
Like the other Arab Spring
affected countries, in Syria, the opposition backed by Syrian opposition
started as a wave of protests against the President Bashar Al Assad. It soon
escalated in to an armed conflict where countless rebel factions (both
pro-Assad and anti-Assad) fighting each other only to further erupt in to a regional
conflict where even the world’s superpowers involve.
Syria is now a melting
pot of different rival factions fighting each other for achieving their
respective goal broadly categorized in to pro-Assad, anti-Assad and Kurdish.
The anti-Assad can further be categorized into secular/democratic and religious
ideology.
Even though we tend to
look for the starting point for the civil war in Arab spring, the root is not
there but further back in time for more than a two millennia. This whole area
of middle-east containing Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Israel/Palestine is
unique. It was influenced by Islam (both Sunni and Shiite), Christianity and
Judaism. Moreover due to its changing hands several times starting from Romans,
Arabs, Ottomans, and Franco –British to Baathist, Secularist and Islamic
forces.
Originally occupied by
the nomadic Bedouin people, Islam had swept across the region and managed to
unite majority under a one religious ideology, but this is not without
problems. Ideological sectarian tensions between Sunni, Shiite and Alawite were
common throughout the middle-east. It had multiplied in the second half of the
20th century. There is a particular reason; almost all of the
countries in this region were claimed from the Ottomans after World War 1 by
either French or British. When those countries became Independent, the ruling
elite of those countries were the minority in most of the cases. Absolute
monarchies in some of those countries were abolished either by armed conflicts
or leftist revolutions lead by the minority communities. This was apparent in
Iraq where Saddam Husain who was a Sunni took control of the Shiite majority
Iraq and where the President Bashar Al Assad who is an Alawite Muslim controls
Sunni Majority in Syria. This had happened in Libya (tribalism took hold there,
not sectarianism). In Lebanon, after the independence from the British, the
rule went to Christians who were the minority in a Sunni and Shite majority
state resulted in a bloody civil war in 70s and 80s costing thousands of lives
and brought the country to an irrecoverable anarchy which still plagues the
country. Not to mention Israel where the Jews who were the refugees consisting
only about half a million where given the best portion of the land of Palestine
from the partition plan of 1948 leading to the biggest crisis the middle-east.
The occupying
Franco-British colonials had done an irreparable mistake of alienating the rule
from the Majority and giving privileged positions to the minority communities. It
seems that this had happened in most of the countries under French or British
colonial occupation. If that occupied country couldn’t build a nation state
after independence due to various reasons including the divergent ethno-religious
factions, soon the majority discontent on the governing minority emerge. This
has to do with economic factors also. The ruling minority groups will get
wealthy while depriving the majority with economic opportunities. Above
situation is no other than a ticking time bomb.
Since this region is
once belong to the Ottoman Empire and was a melting pot of different
ethnicities and religious groups. Those differences were highlighted when the
French and British took control and more prominently after independence.
Creation of modern nation states from the former Ottoman Empire was mostly
under the British and French discretion making the European colonials, the
architects of the middle-east. The problem was that the Europeans had hardly
any idea of the Ethnic composition and culture of the people when creating new
states. One of the best examples was creating Kuwait from the historical Iraqi
territory. They might have done that considering its massive oil wealth and it
was easier to manage and make post-independent relations with a small country
with virtually homogeneous population. Iraq always claims Kuwait as their
territory. This led to the first gulf war in 1991.
Let’s turn our
attention to Syria once more. Minority Alawite faction is controlling the state
and economy. Assad, like many other Arab nationalistic leaders tried
infrastructure development and religious tolerance. It is the only secular
state in Arab world. Christians in Syria felt relatively safe. Assad has a
strong eastern bloc inclination like Gamal Abdul Nassar in Egypt. When the Arab
Spring started, from the beginning Syria was a targeting point. People driven
by economic and social inequality was to riot against the regime. Demonstrations
were about to happen but, what wasn’t expected is this kind of full time armed insurgence
but either a peaceful transition like in Tunisia, riots and violent civil
uprising not amounting to armed conflict like in Egypt or a small scale
insurgence only by the opposition within that country like in Libya. None of
that happened in Syria but a civil war dragging sovereign countries, opposition
groups, international terrorist organization and home-grown militias. USA and
its allies want Assad to go while Russia wants Assad to prevail. Kurds in Iraq
and specially Syria want to win autonomy from Syrian regime. Meanwhile the ISIL
want everyone to lose and to establish an Islamic Caliphate spanning from Syria
and Iraq into global domination. It is natural that in Arab Spring many rival
factions clash to grab power but in Syria, the outside influence from USA and
its allies in the name of ‘humanitarian aid to restore democracy’ has led to the
escalation of this problem. Russian president Vladimir Putin accused USA
directly for creating ISIL, it might not be so but a failed US foreign policy
surely helped the ISIL to gain lot of support from neighboring countries. Even though
USA didn’t directly supply ISIL any aid, the factions who got US support
granted or sold provisions to ISIL. Since ISIL controls a considerable amount of
oil production throughout their territory, those petro-dollars can surely be a steady
income. USA had and still has an unsuccessful foreign policy in the middle-east.
They fund a faction to grab power in a region then those who gained US support double-cross
them every time. This had happened with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan.
Whenever USA directly
support a government in the middle-east regardless of how oppressive or how
blackened its human rights record or how undemocratic it is, USA stays in the
winning side. Best example is Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar. Whenever they
support the opposition, they tend to lose. It cannot be said that the USA didn’t
anticipate the consequences for backing an opposition who surely turned in
themselves in to oppressors and fanatics more fearsome than the previous regime
in terms of religious tolerance and democracy. They took a risk in supporting the Syrian
opposition because, Assad is a close ally of Russia and Russia has assets in
Syrian. Toppling Assad would surely weaken the Russian presence in the
middle-east greatly. That would have been the US plan but now it had backfired.
Russia is now determined to keep the opposition at bay from toppling Assad and
with the recent air strikes possible ‘boots-on-the-ground’, they will surely
succeed. The difference between Russian and US decision making is that the
boldness in Russian decisions. USA has much to lose in taking rash and unpopular
decisions than Russia. USA is a democracy after all!!!
However, what was done
has been done. Syria was in turmoil. Half of the Syrian population is either
internally or externally displaced. Mass immigration resulted in the worse
refugee crisis in Europe after World War II; not to mention the incoming long-term
demographic changes and cultural imbalance in the European Union. ISIL will
continue to gain support unless they are defeated once in for all. Even Assad
took control of Syria eventually, ISIL threat will not pass. They’ll operate as
a global terror force much fearful than even the Al-Qaeda. They will gain
supporters worldwide including countless followers in the western world.
Now it is too little
too late! If USA stayed out of the trouble in Syria, none of this would have
happened. The opposition might topple Assad eventually. ISIL would not have
born even if they, they will be a mere shadow of the power they are now. The resulting
government would be religious fundamentalist like the succeeded government after
Egypt’s Mubarak but it would never have escalated in to the brink of World War
III.
Now, it is not sure
where the Syrian conflict is heading. USA will now stay out of the trouble
after all they have done to ignite the kindle. ISIL should be prevented from
pouring in to Lebanon or Jordan at all cost. With the incoming US Presidential
Election, Syrian policy of major candidates both Republican and Democratic
should be closely scrutinized. One of the possible candidates in US election,
business magnet Donald Trump expressed Assad is a person with whom they can ‘do
business with’.
Middle-east was and
always will be a violent and volatile place. With its oil, its influence is crucial
in global politics. The best strategy for middle-east is dealing with the
legitimate governments regardless of how oppressive, undemocratic and religious
extremist they are. Let the people of middle-east handle their own problems. The
only thing the rest of the world can do is to contain the spread of fanaticism is
to keep a close watch and help the governments who keep the terrorists at bay
and to resist all temptations for a regime change regardless of how profitable
for western foreign policy is, given that helping the opposition will always be
counter-productive for the west in the long run.
Sri Lanka has
celebrated another children’s day amidst of celebrations, national functions
and more and more promises of making a world a better place for children. It is
the same country which experienced a tragic rape and murder of a girl-child and
a murder and a decapitation of a small boy. Although there were many incidents
of child-murders those two incidents have questioned the consciousness of the
Sri Lankan psyche towards children. In a country where religion is quintessential
entity and the bond between children and parents are very strong, it is important
to dig in to the recent wave of violence towards children.
How it happens?
Indeed, the child-friendliness
of our society is questionable. Although raping and murdering children was a rarity,
child sexual abuse is a common occurrence. Sometimes the offender is a close personal
relative or even the child’s own father of sibling. It is not uncommon to hear stories
of even male children getting abused by their fathers and older sisters! Children
are always subjected towards domestic violence physically, emotionally and economically.
What are the
consequences?
Physical and psychological
trauma of such harassment shall remain with the child for the rest of his/her
life seriously incapacitating their development and their ability to trust
others and forming healthy relationships. Even a minor incident of groping can
cause a personality disorder later in the child’s life. There is a serious
tendency for the victims of abuse to become abusers themselves creating a
vicious circle in violence as well.
Are we giving enough
care for the children?
The main reason for
child abuse is neglecting children. This can happen due to various reasons. First
is economic. In most of the rural areas, mother of a family may go abroad for a
foreign employment in the Middle-East leaving the children in the care of the
husband or the grand-parents. In most of the cases, the husband may form an
extra-marital relationship with another woman. The lack of supervision makes
the children an easy prey for sex-offenders.
Young-adults also
become victims of sexual abuse. With improper guidance and protection from the
adults, these hormone-driven youngsters may form unhealthy relationships
hindering their education and future. Not only economically deprived rural
children are falling in as victims of the latter phenomenon but also children
from middle-class urban families.
What are the solutions?
Vigilance, Protection
and Guidance are the three key parts in the solution but you should be
seriously concerned with your ability to nurture and care for the children economically
and socially before deciding to bring one to this world at the first place. Most
of the rural families do not have adequate economical means to support large
families today. This was not true in several decades back although the economic
and health conditions were far worse, but a rural-agrarian family could
maintain five or six children. It is impossible now even to maintain a
one-child-family with the rising inflation and skyrocketing commodity prices
and ever widening amenities in life so it is important to have at least a
stable income and securities for the future to plan having kids. This might
prevent the mother from going abroad for economic means.
If you have decided to
have children, then it is quintessential to keep an eye on children always
specially on very small children. The two child-murders happened recently could
have been avoided if the parents were vigilant on the whereabouts of their children
and at least make the home secure during all time.
Educating children
from an early age is essential. Children should be taught neither to trust
anybody nor to accept anything given by others. In the incident of decapitating a male-child,
the killer persuaded the child and lured him to an abandoned house on the
promise of showing some toys only to slice him into pieces. Schools have lot to do in educating children property
concerning their age category. Parents should guide their children and teach
them the responsibility to keep them safe from possible sexual offenders. It is
surprising to see children as old as 15-16 years become victims of sexual abuse
and become pregnant without the proper sexual education.
There is a heated
debate on bringing up the capital punishment in Sri Lanka again. As a matter of
fact, the capital punishment is already here. It is the President who refuses
to sign the papers to make someone go to gallows. I do not believe that there
will be a reduction of violent crimes and specially rapes if capital punishment
in reintroduced unless it was carried out live in public television! Capital punishment
is not given for rapists at the first place so the legislations need a change
as well.
Prevention is always
better than cure. It is truer than ever when it comes to sexual abuse because the
repercussions are irreparable. It should be made clear that there is no silver
bullet for battling child sexual abuse. The civil society, media, law
enforcement agencies, parents and schools have to be the vanguard in the battle.
Then only we can make a better future for our children.
The 19th amendment
to the constitution is now debated in the parliament of Sri Lanka. At time of
preparing this article it has passed the reading for the second time and at the
stage of the committee debates on the changes to it. Anyway, the final outcome
is still not visible. One thing is for sure;
never before an amendment to the constitution
has received public attention than the 19th amendment. while the pro
and against parties engaged in bitter struggle to consolidate their views and
they are willing to go to the extent of mass protests and ‘sathyagrahas’ it is
better for a citizen of Sri Lanka to go into detail of the 19th
amendment and analyze what the underlying principles of this amendment.
The amendment was
brought to fulfill an election promise on curbing the powers of executive
presidency and bringing independent councils. Although initially the president Sirisena
lobbied for complete abolition of executive presidency later his stance was
changed to removing large powers from that post. Important Sections of the
amendment are briefly listed below
Article number
What shall be delivered
2
Right to information as a
fundamental right
3
Reduction of presidential term
to 5 years
4
Limiting the number of times
for election for presidency to 2
5
Presidential duties are listed.
President is considered as a symbol of national unity
6
President’s responsibility
towards parliament. but how to enforce if president has breached his
responsibility is not listed here. It should be only through the impossible
impeachment process
7
Changes to presidential
immunity. Although he cannot be brought to court, his conduct can be
questioned on suing attorney general. This can be used to build a public
opinion against a president who is violating his duties
10
A new chapter is added on constitutional
council who gives advices on how to appoint people for important positions
and the president deemed to follow it.
41A(6) – the president is
compelled to make appointments to the constitutional council. If he failed to
do so the council members shall be deemed to be appointed. This removed the
problem in the 17th amendment.
11
Changes to the executive.
42(3) – the PM is head of the
cabinet
43(1) determination of ministerial
positions by PM
44 – non cabinet ministers,
46 – limiting the cabinet to 30
and other ministerial positions to 40
12
Public service commission
16
Appointing AG and IGP shall be
done on the recommendations of the constitutional council
17
Limiting the parliament to 5
years
20
Every bill shall be given 14
days for the public to protest. The word every bill shall include emergency bill
is questionable
21
President is prevented from
going to a referendum for bills that are rejected by parliament.
23
Minimum age for contesting for
presidency is 35 years
25
Election commission
26
Election commissioner’s power
to control media organizations both state and private
The Supreme Court has
determined that some provisions need not only the 2/3 majority but also people’s
consent by referendum. Those sections are
Section 11 – 42(3),
43(1), 43(3), 44(2), 44(3), 44(5) and
Section 26 – 104B and
104(5)c changes to articles.
On the basis of these
changes are contrary to the executive power of the president which is defined in
article 4 which is deemed to be read with article 3 which is and entrenched provision
in article 83 requiring both the super majority and referendum consent. Prime
minister Wicramasinghe wanted to somehow pass the 19th amendment so
he decided to pass it on by removing the above provisions.
When the bill is put
up for debated again the political party members divided them up for battle. Some
wanted more and more changes to this. Composition of the constitutional council
is one of such. The government agreed to grant 7 parliamentarians with 3
non-MPs to be appointed to it. It seems that they have resolved all the
disputes and came to an agreement to somehow pass this on. Only one vote
opposing to it has been casted in its second time reading. After third reading
is passed once it ratified by the speaker, the 19th amendment shall
be officially operational.
Overall the progress
on the new regime is extremely commendable given that 4 months before none of
these have a mere change of passing let alone conceiving in someone’s mind. But in the drama following the inception of
this amendment, the hypocrisy of the politicians and activists, the greed for power
and the reluctance to give away their powers is compellingly clear in Sri
Lankan politics. Everyone needs their
share in this new amendment. Some wanted this dead on it tracks. Politicians
are never going to change. Our people shall always appoint those without
remorse next time also.
On the 8th
of January, the people had not expected a mere change of a regime but a change
of this present vicious system. They've even sacrificed the political stability
(under which people have some sort of security) for a better future and a
better, more civilized political system. They can shed tears of joy.
It is pretty sure that
the joy of the 19th amendment is temporary. There are serious
questions about its affectivity on curbing the powers of the president.
President’s powers are not limited, he still the head of the government. Only silver
line is that independent commissions. Believe me, the pessimism will surely
come. There is a strong possibility that the 19th amendment being
just a carbon copy of 17th amendment and even its operation be
neglected by the successive governments.
We have a long way to
go in making a civilized political society in Sri Lanka. This amendment is just
a one small step for politicians which should become one giant leap for the
politically civilized society. We need another amendment to change the electoral
system and probably a brand new constitution as well. As I always say we can’t celebrate
this because threats are looming everywhere. Brace yourself for impact; expect disappointments
along the way. My friend, we have long long way to go…
