{"id":110936,"date":"2021-01-23T17:43:21","date_gmt":"2021-01-24T00:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=110936"},"modified":"2021-01-23T17:43:21","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T00:43:21","slug":"sticking-to-science-is-the-best-way-to-beat-superstition-politricks-corona-and-communal-viruses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/01\/23\/sticking-to-science-is-the-best-way-to-beat-superstition-politricks-corona-and-communal-viruses\/","title":{"rendered":"STICKING TO SCIENCE IS THE BEST WAY TO BEAT SUPERSTITION, POLITRICKS, CORONA AND COMMUNAL VIRUSES"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

We\nhave all read or heard Aesop\u2019s fable \u2018The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey\u2019: A man\nand his young son set out taking their donkey to market to sell it there.\nListening to different censorious comments of a number of people they\nencountered on the road, they first rode the animal, then they carried it.\nFirst the man rode the horse, then the boy, then both of them together, and\nfinally, they started carrying the donkey tied to a pole by its legs; while\npassing a bridge over a river, the donkey struggled to kick himself free, which\nresulted in the animal falling into the water and getting drowned. You can\u2019t\nmiss the lesson taught by the story. If you try to please all, you will please\nnone; and what\u2019s more, trying to please everyone could have disastrous\nconsequences. Your conduct should be determined by a realistic assessment of\nyour own circumstances to suit your own best interest and that of those who\ndepend on you. Don\u2019t be distracted by a desire to win praise from all the\npeople that come into temporary contact with you. By the way, Greek fabulist\nAesop (620-564 BCE) in Greece was a contemporary of Gautama Buddha (623-543\nBCE) in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmoral of the well known fable is worth the attention of our present rulers, who\nseem to believe that they have to please the minority of diehard\nfederalists\/separatists and the handful of Muslim religious  extremists\nparasitising on the local body politic at the expense of the wellbeing of the\npeaceloving fairminded majority of the Sri Lankan people. Both these groups are\ntrying to strategically position themselves, to their undue advantage, between\nthe government and the especially aggressive faction of the geopolitical \ngamemaster fraternity in the region. It would be a grave error if the ruling\npoliticians took for granted the loyalty of the silently suffering peaceful\nordinary Sri Lankans (95% of the population), including the nationalists who elected\nthem to power, fighting on the \u2018One Country, One Law\u2019 platform. There seems to\nbe a growing general perception as though the government is too narrowly\nfocusing on the few local extremists and the brazen international bullies of\ndifferent types from outside weaponizing them for their own advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ncow slaughter ban introduced in September 2020 was intended to please and\nperhaps also silence the Buddhist monks who had been sincerely agitating for it\nfor a long time.  But will these monks stop, when the much more crucial\nissues that they have been raising for decades such as the destruction of\nBuddhist archaeological heritage sites in the north and east provinces,\nforcible proselytization of Buddhists and Hindus by foreign funded Christian\nand Islamist extremists, allegations of sterilization of Sinhalese mothers\nwithout consent by a  Muslim doctor with suspected Islamist connections,\npersecution of traditional Muslim men and women by Jihadists, and many other\ninfinitely more significant problems are apparently being relegated to the\nbackburner? What\u2019s the status of the cow slaughter ban now? Is it being\nimplemented? How can the same government reconcile the imposition of the\nparticular ban with the opening of the largest meat processing factory in South\nAsia in the Katunayake Investment Promotion Zone hardly three months later?\nWon\u2019t the economically more important industrial project have been marketed to\nthe people with less embarrassment had there been no cow slaughter ban? Or\nperhaps the ban was a strategic measure to create a local market for the\ngeneral meat products of that factory, however tiny the beef consumer base in\nSri Lanka may be? What could then be said about the moral basis of the\nparticular ban?    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nthirty year old young Buddhist monk, by the name of Bowatte Indaratana, set\nhimself on fire at a place adjacent to the Dalada Maligawa on May 24, 2013\ndemanding that killing of cattle be stopped, and later died in hospital. His\ncommitment to his cause was not in question. The Ven. Mahanayakes didn\u2019t say\nanything in public in praise of the monk as far as I can remember, nor did the\ngovernment of the day under Mahinda Rajapaksa say or do anything of permanent\nsignificance in response to the monk\u2019s self-immolation. Years later, a maverick\nmonk claiming to be an Arhant had a birthday bash where a variety of dishes\nwere served including beef and pork! The activist monks mentioned above have\nbeen raising much more crucial issues that are threatening the very survival of\nthe Sinhalese and the Buddha Sasana. It is these problems that politicians must\nhelp resolve if they genuinely want to please the monks and the general public\nincluding the majority community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nis a fact that public opinion about banning cow slaughter is not unanimous\n(primarily because it is divisive, economically unaffordable, and impractical).\nWe have to tolerate ideas and practices that some of us disapprove of, but some\ndon\u2019t, provided that  these ideas and practices don\u2019t interfere with\ndemocratic governance and our age-old people friendly way of life. Personally,\nI have no objection to the ban on cattle slaughter, I\u2019d rather rather support\nit without remaining neutral. I am a vegetarian, and have been that for most of\nmy life. Common sense would suggest that a strictly regulated meat industry may\nbe allowed. But community-alienating separatism and murderously violent\nreligious extremism which are bound to destroy our country in every way should\nbe not be tolerated, though both are attractive to the geopolitical players,\nwho are only concerned about their own respective national interests. (The\npresent government, under the presidency of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has started\ndealing with them amidst the many unnecessary obstacles placed on its path,\nsuch as the corruptibility, indifference, and inaction of a few rotten eggs\namong the vast of majority of responsible, patriotic civil authorities, and the\npressure exerted on them by conscienceless communal politicians; the situation\nhas been worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\ntwofold cause that the handful of young vocal monks out of the 36,000 strong\nMaha Sangha have been championing, for the most part non-politically except\nwhere they can\u2019t help it, amidst many physical and mental hardships, is the\ncontainment of unethical proselytizing efforts of numerous foreign-funded\nfundamentalist Christian and Islamic sects making inroads into the traditional\nBuddhist and Hindu religious spaces, and the protection of the ancient Sinhala\nBuddhist heritage sites – most of them gone to ruin many centuries ago, but the\ninvaluable common archaeological inheritance of all Sri Lankans, particularly\nin the north and the east provinces – from treasure hunters (who usually happen\nto be some criminals among the Sinhalese Buddhists including even politicians),\nand non-Buddhist vandals and landgrabbers, the last motivated by aggressive\npolitico-religious ends. Monk activists have gathered much valuable information\nto back up their various complaints against both violent and non-violent\nextremists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nleaders of successive governments, with a single brave exception (GR), \nhave largely ignored them, and refused to get involved out of the unfounded\nfear of alienating minorities. These leaders do not seem to understand that,\nthrough their feigned political correctness policy, they encourage\nopportunistic minority politicians to willingly embrace extremists for\npolitical advantage, instead of engaging their genuine, up and coming,\nbroadminded young rivals to tackle the extremist menace. (In the same breath,\nit must be said in fairness to MR that though he has also resorted to the\npolicy of political correctness in dealing with minority politicians, he never\ndid so to cheat them or to deceive the people. Often, on such occasions, his\ngoodwill was not adequately reciprocated, especially, by conservative Muslim\npoliticians who are still flourishing; but they will have to call it a day when\nthe fresh awakening Muslim youth overtake them in a few years, maybe. Once when\nconfronted by the fact (it was by a journalist I think) that the majority of\nMuslim voters did not vote for him even though he behaved in that friendly way\ntowards them, MR admitted that he knew that to be the reality, but that he was\nstill hopeful of winning them over. Opportunistic minority politicians (they\nhave so far managed to sidetrack the modern thinking progressive young\ncontenders) and the extremists invariably politicize both the problems we have\ntouched on here – namely, cremation and syrup issues – and other problems that\nthey create. Thus, the misapplied political correctness policy of successive\ngovernments has led to increased politicization of issues which should be\nresolved without recourse to politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ncremation vs burial problem and the issue of various traditional remedies of\ndubious or untested efficacy\/safety proposed to fight the spread of Covid-19\nhave been politicized, not by the government or its supporters for it should be\nobvious to anyone that such a thing will not help them or the general public in\nany way. These things have been given a political colour by the opposition, the\nextremists, and their supporters in the mainstream as well as the social media;\nit is they who have politicized it and who are trying to make the most out of\nthose non-issues by falsely imputing their politicization to the government, in\npursuance of their different objectives, at the expense of the truth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately,\nsome overenthusiastic government politicians have mishandled the ad hoc\nadoption of  \u2018syrups\u2019 and other herbal remedies and magical cures such as\ncharmed pots of water thrown or emptied into streams, as a default coronavirus\ncontainment measure, by inadvertently inviting a media frenzy over the process,\ndepicting it as a display of traditional local superstitions that are allegedly\nbeing offered as a substitute for a more modern scientific approach to fighting\nthe Covid-19 pandemic. The politicizing of the \u2018syrup\u2019 issue was done by the\nmedia and political critics of the government. Of course, few or none of these\ntraditional methods may be explainable or in terms of modern science. Some of\nthem may show positive results or may just enhance immunity against diseases,\nand do nothing more; some may have only placebo effects. One carping scribe\ncalled Sri Lanka a syruplic instead of a republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nreasonably large section of our highly literate population (15+ adult literacy\nrate: 93.2\/2017) do not like to see their rulers indulging in what looks like\nrisible superstitious rituals even in a desperate situation like the one we are\nundergoing at the moment. It was at the instance of the WHO that available\nindigenous medical practices specific to each society across the world were\nalso proposed in the continuing absence of a strictly scientifically tested\ndrug or vaccine for the novel coronavirus disease (Desperate times call for\ndesperate measures). While following the WHO\u2019s suggestion in this regard, the\ngovernment initiated a scientific attitude to it. The Rajarata University at\nMihintale was entrusted with carrying out a study of the local remedies with\nparticular attention to medical ethics based on Western medicine that generally\nobtains in the world and the country\u2019s laws governing medical and\nhealthcare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internationally\nrecognized young medical researcher, physician, and pharmacology\nprofessor  Channa Jayasumana (40), MBBS, PhD, FRCP Edin., is State\nMinister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals. As a\nscientist, he knows how best to deal with the WHO-proposed use of traditional\ncures, remedies and preventive measures as an easily available additional\nmethod to combat the unknown virus. What is known as \u2018Dhammika paeniya\u2019 (one of\nmany such syrups or alleged indigenous medicinal infusions or decoctions) has\nbeen recommended only as a placebo in the form of a supplementary food drink,\nbut not prescribed as medicine, while it is still being laboratory-tested at\nRajarata University. However, in their inexcusable naivety and voracious\nappetite for publicity, some of his clueless, credulous colleagues in the\ngovernment made a mess of things by guzzling down the stuff in public, in an\napparent unnecessary promotional effort, with obvious relish as the vehicle or\nmedium of the alleged drug is \u2018pure\u2019 bees\u2019 honey (almost impossible to find in\nthe market nowadays). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually,\nthough, for some reason, the authorities could do precious little to control\nthe \u2018rate vedas\u2019 (crooks) who went berserk exploiting the opportunity to brew\nand market hundreds of impromptu medicinal concoctions in order to hoodwink the\nmasses and fleece them of what little they have by way of money. Meanwhile, the\ndetractors who customarily deal in a different kind of concoctions, went to\ntown on their familiar disinformation campaign against Sri Lanka, trying to let\nit appear to the world that the country is today being run by people who\nbelieve more in supernatural cures than in scientific medicine. Such falsehoods\nare grist to the established anti-government propaganda mill, in advance of the\nanticipated diplomatic showdown in Geneva in March. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cremation\nof Muslim dead due to Covid-19  is a much more controversial issue, though\nequally bereft of a supporting base in facts, with possible, nay, probable,\nunjustified, international consequences. The over 90% non-Muslims of the\ncountry and perhaps some Muslims as well who accept cremation (of Corona-dead)\nas a necessity in the present national and global emergency, during which,\nscience, not religion, must be given preference, make no hue and cry about it.\nRight from the beginning, the healthcare authorities let science determine what\nshould be done. The decision of the Director General of Health Services (DGHS)\nto order mandatory burning of Covid-19 dead bodies was to ensure the total\ndestruction of the deadly virus with still unknown pathological implications\nleaving no room for it to contaminate the soil or the naturally shallow\naquifers of the country. Local experts have found that cremation is the best\nCovid-19 infected corpse disposal method for Sri Lanka. There is no need to\nlisten to politically motivated contrary suggestions offered by international\nspecialists who have little scientific awareness of the ground realities in Sri\nLanka. Cremation was decreed by the DGHS, the competent authority, acting on\nproper scientific advice. The government has nothing to do with it. It is wrong\nto charge that the decision was influenced by politics to hurt a particular\nreligious group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certain\nMuslim commentators who claim to be scientists and even koranic scholars,who\nadvocate burial of Corona-dead Muslims and the so-called \u2018moderate Muslim\u2019\npoliticians like Ali Sabry who passionately urge it  in spite of the\nmandatory cremation directive issued by the DGHS, I am afraid, are not revealing\nthe truth that they know and that I know, at first hand: the truth that \nthere is nothing in the Quran (which I have read) to say that burial is an\ninviolable religious obligation for Muslims. I worked for nearly eighteen years\nbefore the turn of the century under the Ministry of Education and Youth\nAffairs of a Gulf country (1982-1999), adjacent to where the religion of Islam\nwas born. I came across oral and material evidence to suggest that other forms\nof disposal of dead bodies than burying were used in that country in the then\nrecent past. One method had been to place the duly wrapped corpse in a rock\ncrevice and seal it with pieces of rock beaten into place to protect it from\nwild animals. I didn\u2019t see this being done during my time there; but I saw scattered\nbones of a dead person thus deposited in a rocky grave some years before (My\nArab friends told me that probably hyenas had somehow disturbed that grave).\nThis was conceivable considering the fact that few places are available in the\nusually rockhard stony terrain of that region where deep enough graves can be\nmanually dug for burying bodies. Today the situation may be different with the\navailability of machines to do the job. Arab Muslims were a trading seafaring\nnation. Dead sailors must have been consigned to watery graves. They were a\nwarring people as well, and probably proper burials for the wardead could not\nbe afforded all the time. So, there apparently is no reason why an exception to\nthe burial mode that is traditionally practiced by Sri Lankan Muslims cannot be\nmade in this deadly emergency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala We have all read or heard Aesop\u2019s fable \u2018The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey\u2019: A man and his young son set out taking their donkey to market to sell it there. Listening to different censorious comments of a number of people they encountered on the road, they first rode the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rohana-r-wasala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}