{"id":116602,"date":"2021-07-29T16:54:55","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T23:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=116602"},"modified":"2021-07-29T16:54:55","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T23:54:55","slug":"candour-without-caution-dangerous-naivety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/07\/29\/candour-without-caution-dangerous-naivety\/","title":{"rendered":"Candour without caution dangerous naivety"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

It\nwas recently reported in the media that Public Security Minister Rear Admiral\n(Retd) Sarath Weerasekera had said that all young persons above the age of 18\nyears should be given military training in order to inculcate disciplinary\nvalues in them. He was speaking at the opening of a new police station at\nHirana in Panadura last week. According to The Island\/July 19, 2021, the\nMinister referred to the prevalent opinion about the young generation (i.e.,\nchildren and young adults in education generally, I presume) that they have no\nrespect for discipline, obedience to rules, or good behavioural values; he\nobserved that the problem could be tackled with proper training. But he\nimmediately qualified what he said with: This does not mean we must turn them\ninto military personnel, but if we are to train the youth above 18 properly,\nthe most suitable places for that training are military camps. We must design a\ncourse aimed at personality development.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rear\nAdmiral (Retd) Sarath Weerasekera is very honest and trustworthy. I haven\u2019t an\niota of doubt about his sincerity and his commitment to the job he has been\nassigned with. But, anent this idea of his, I\u2019d say in all humility: Not so\narbitrarily! Not so hastily!\u201d However, as education is not his responsibility,\nthe Public Security Minister may be making an implicit suggestion to his\ncabinet colleague who is in charge of that subject. Isn\u2019t it more urgent for\nthe well meaning minister to look after the discipline of  the minority of\npolice officers who sometimes act in ways unbecoming of their profession, by\ngetting the police hierarchy to enforce discipline on those few of their\nsubordinates? He should not forget that there could still be blacklegs in the\nforce linked with the yahapalanaya. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\nthe way, the minister, quite sincerely and justly, showered the police with\npraise for rendering yeoman service during the past few months in overcoming\nthe threats posed by the underworld, and fighting the pandemic\u201d, when, as The\nIsland\/July 26 reported, he called upon the Venerable Maha NayakeTheras\nof  Asgiriya and Malwatta Chapters, and the Getambe Hamuduruwo, who,\nunlike the Maha Nayake monks, is known and respected for his blunt speech. The\nnews item is illustrated with four telling pictures of the minister meeting with\nthe prelates and paying obeisance to them. To me it looks like The Island\nphotographer has caught the minister\u2019s meetings with the monks in a satirical\nlight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nBuddhist Sangha has a key role to play (though it is always unobtrusive, based\non the dhamma) in fostering discipline among the people, including the rulers\nand the civil functionaries of government. Isn\u2019t the motto of the Sri Lankan\npolice Dhammo have rakkhati dhammacari\u201d (The Dhamma protects the follower of\nthe Dhamma)? But what is the heartbreaking reality the people encounter in this\narea today? Writer S.M. Sumanadasa\u2019s opinion piece  Whither the Sangha\nand the Buddha Sasana?\u201d (The Island\/July 26) has well elaborated this deficit\non the part of the Sangha. My own opinion is, as I have repeatedly pointed out,\nthat only a united Maha Sangha can save the Buddha Sasana and the Buddhists,\nacting exclusively as moral guides, without dabbling in politics, except when\nthe survival of the Sasana and the people is in danger (but even in such a situation,\nthey must get the lay rulers to do the needful, or if that is not adequate,\ntemporarily disrobe and indulge in a ruler\u2019s duties as lay persons, as they did\nin history, but the last is something not possible today). The Mahanayake\/s\nshould be able to recall all the agitating young monks from the streets,\nostracise those who don\u2019t listen, put a stop to individualistic interpretations\nof Buddhism offered by  maverick monks that, though well intended, mislead\nthe common laity (whose capacity to understand the dhamma is varied), and\ncounter the conspiracies of anti-Buddhist proselytisers, etc, and put\npoliticians in their place, who so unashamedly exploit the yellow robe to cheat\nin their immoral political games. This is a tall order, no doubt, but the Maha\nSangha must do the task or let the Buddha Sasana perish. There\u2019s nothing to worry about the\nBuddha Dhamma\/Buddhist teaching. It is better understood, practiced, and\nprotected among the enlightened civilized people of the world everywhere.\nTheravada Buddhism has been absorbed (without a label, characteristically) into\nthe basically humane religious philosophies and forms of democratic rule in the\nwhole world. But the continuing absence of such an\nundivided Sangha leadership in Sri Lanka is spelling disaster for the Buddha\nSasana. It will have similar consequences for the Sinhala Buddhists, \nbecause the preservation of a community\u2019s cultural identity is as vital for its\nsurvival as for its flourishing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nis true that the country\u2019s successful tackling of the Covid-19 pandemic through\nvaccination amidst untold difficulties and artificial snags owes much to the\nhard work and the discipline of the health and security personnel including the\npolice. My opinion about the success of the Covid-19 containment operation is\nbased on the following: by now (July 29), about eight million Sri Lankans have\ngot at least one dose of an anti-Covid vaccine, and  two million of them\nhave got both; in terms of a percentage of the population, it is well over 35%;\nand in some districts, nearly all vulnerable citizens have been vaccinated.\nThis is in view of the fact that vaccination is the only remedy available\nagainst the deadly disease. While that is so, all  225 MPs and hundreds of\nlocal representatives must make themselves equally responsible for saving the\npeople, who elected them to office, from the Corona virus. Their personal\ndiscipline must be exemplary, because they are also accountable if young people\nbehave without discipline as alleged. However, I personally do not believe that\nthe vast majority of our young people lack discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nif it is perceived that there is such a problem, responsible politicians and\neducational authorities ought to do something about it in an apolitical,\nnon-controversial, scientific manner (i.e.,through  ideological debate and\ndiscussion among experts, not leaving out willing and constructive youth\ninteraction and involvement). They must take collective steps to democratically\nprotect the young from falling into the hands of the negligibly few ignorant\nand immature political power seekers among them, who have ruined the lives of\ngenerations of youth over the past roughly fifty-five years. The people have\nconvincingly rejected them, and the same people will wholeheartedly support any\npositive measures that responsible people\u2019s representatives and civil\nauthorities introduce in good faith by way of a remedy against their misleading\nquixotic adventures to ensnare the young into their schemes. But if they admit\ntheir past errors, and conceptualize a new approach to national politics, as a\nbulwark against minority communalism as well as the big parties that succumb to\nthe trickeries of the few racists among minority politicians, Sri Lanka will be\ntheirs to rule. My frank view is that, Uvindu Wijeweera, the well educated\nyoung son of the late Rohana Wijeweera, the founder ideologue and leader of the\nJVP, destroyed by the reactionary forces that his successors later befriended,\nhas great potential in leading such a movement. Monks, please don\u2019t wreck his\nchances. (Please bear with me! This is an anticipatory digression, but not\nentirely out of context, though.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back\nto my present subject. My gut feeling as a senior retired educator and\neducationist is that the alleged problem and the solution suggested by the\nPublic Security Minister (alleged youth indiscipline and suggested military\ntraining remedy, respectively), must be better conceptualized, more carefully\nthought out with the assistance of relevant non-self-seeking specialists whose\nexpertise is not in question, and whose love of the young and of the country is\neven more assured. (I don\u2019t personally think that a problem of general youth\nindiscipline exists; if it does, adults must be held responsible, and  their<\/em>\n(adults\u2019) problems, if any, solved first. I have worked with adolescents and\nyoung adults of both sexes in secondary and tertiary education in Sri Lanka and\nabroad for over thirty-five years (the better part of that time in an alien\nculture abroad). The wisdom that I have gained in connection with the subject\nat hand is that normally young people everywhere are unspoilt and are moral\nidealists (within the cultures they have been born into and brought up). They\nare ready to act with self discipline and responsibility or are ready to subject\nthemselves to formal discipline, when they are convinced that discipline,\ncontrary to what the word basically implies – restraint, control -, makes them\nstrangely free and strong enough to channel the physical and mental energies\nthat they naturally possess to create happiness for themselves and for those\naround them. I experienced this more clearly when I taught abroad than when I\nwas working in my own country Sri Lanka (where I worked for a shorter period in\nmy less mature years). But, how disciplined our educated young people are in a\nconducive environment was demonstrated when they enthusiastically joined in a\nmass voluntary wall painting movement for town beautification across the\ncountry with the election of a new president in November 2019 that electrified\nthem with new expectations and prospects of better times to come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incidentally,\nthe minister\u2019s proposal reminds us of the leadership development programme that\nwas introduced during the post-2009 government and implemented with army help\nfor the benefit of fresh university entrants before the commencement of their\nacademic studies. The army was co-opted to  the programme because it had\nall the human and physical resources required for such an undertaking. It was\nprobably partly intended as a dampener on the chronic problem of initiation\nragging which was historically inevitably associated with the rejected and\ndepleted political minority mentioned above. The programme was no doubt a\nwholesome confidence building and personality development measure, being a more\nrational and more acceptable form of initiation (than the sadistic ragging\nadministered by psychopathic criminals) into independent university life from\nsecondary school. The program was well received both by the students and their\nparents, and by the general public. However, the well designed and well\nconducted initiative met with an adverse response, mostly for the wrong\nreasons, from foreign agenda promoting NGOs and blindly politicized\noppositional groups. The proponents of the useful course of leadership training\nand personality development probably felt that, in the then prevailing context,\nthis kind of reception was likely to later create public misunderstandings that\ncould translate into electoral losses for the governing party. So it had to be\nabandoned almost as soon as it was started. A farcical personality development\nprogramme of the fake \u2018Reconciliation\u2019 brand was enacted under the yahapalanaya\nwhen it was on its last legs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnegative experience (i.e., being forced to abandon the first leadership\nprogramme for university entrants introduced during 2009-15) should have\nalerted the minister to the possible, nay probable, repetition of criticism\nfrom the same quarters. Those attacks on the previous leadership development\nprogramme were for the most part unfounded, but not totally so. Their\npoliticized nature betrayed a severe deficit of sincerity on the part of the\ncritics. Employees of foreign NGOs including even the (probably forcibly roped\nin) venerables of Friday Forum<\/em> who disapproved of that military-like\ntraining cannot free themselves from suspected susceptibility to the attraction\nof the filthy lucre. Their opposition can be safely disregarded if the\nrecipient students, their parents and the general public have no problem with\nthe rudimentary military training that the public security minister proposes\nfor all the young people of the country. But, in my opinion, the immediately\nexisting political and social environment in Sri Lanka is not conducive for the\nsuccess of such a personality development programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Public\nSecurity Minister\u2019s bona fides or genuineness of intention is beyond doubt. He\npledged to stand by the police officers who carried out their duties in good\nfaith. But he should know better than most if he has succeeded in emerging out\nof the lingering shadow of the yahapalana incubus. Candour without caution is\nlikely to prove mere self-defeating naivety at the present critical\njuncture. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala It was recently reported in the media that Public Security Minister Rear Admiral (Retd) Sarath Weerasekera had said that all young persons above the age of 18 years should be given military training in order to inculcate disciplinary values in them. He was speaking at the opening of a new police […]<\/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-116602","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\/116602","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=116602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}