{"id":91398,"date":"2019-07-14T15:22:12","date_gmt":"2019-07-14T22:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=91398"},"modified":"2019-07-14T15:23:33","modified_gmt":"2019-07-14T22:23:33","slug":"to-hang-or-not-to-hang-another-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/07\/14\/to-hang-or-not-to-hang-another-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"TO HANG OR NOT TO HANG: ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sugath Samarasinghe <\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Being an ignoramus, I was neither for nor\nagainst this idea of Judicial Executions. Yet I have been reading most of the\nstuff that is being written mostly against the idea. I am stuck by the mostly\npseudo intellectual arguments that is being written, I am wondering whether\nthere is no other approach to this issue; and after reading the article the\narticle of Dr. Nihal Jayawickrame in \u2018The Island\u2019 last Sunday, it was virtually\nlike the last straw that broke the back of the camel! I thought I must respond\nto this pseudo intellectualism. For instance he asks whether it is proper for\nBuddhists to approve judicial killings. Now let us stop kidding. I think Dr. J\nis trying to pull wool over our eyes. It is true that it is more than 2000\nyears ago the first disciple of the Buddha took upon himself I shall not take\nlife\u201d. Does it mean that no Buddhist has ever killed anybody since then?\nSeveral Kings came to listen to and discuss Dhamma with the Buddha. Did he ever\nask the kings not to execute criminals in their kingdoms, as it was the\ncriminal justice system of the day, because that was contrary to what he\npreached? He left state craft to the kings, because it was not his business. He\nwas one who left his kingdom in search of a truth which was beyond statecraft.\nIn fact, among the Jataka Tales there is a story where he as a Bodhisthva king\ntried to mix criminal justice with Dhamma, messed up the whole system and was\nforced leave kingship to the jungles for meditation. So it is not necessary to\nre-discover wheel all over again. The two does not go together like cheese and\ncake. Thus, it is not necessary to misdirect ourselves with such false\narguments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there is another situation for us to\nlearn from. We had an unending Terrorist \u2018war\u2019 running for thirty years. All\nthese intellectuals both local and foreign, and of course the usual do gooders\nlike the US , Canada, UK and Europeans, mostly one time colonialists, told us\nthat it was an \u2018unwinnable war\u2019 and that the only way out was through\nnegotiation. But when they had such problems like in Iraq, Libya of Syria they\nhad no hesitation to using unethical and uncivilized means to achieve their\ntargets. At last, a villager from the paddy fields of down South came up, he\nprobably knew little English and may even have been originally a village thug (!).\nHe said that is enough\u201d and took on the Terrorists head on, and finished the\nmatter! And now what? The hypocrites of the West are splitting their hairs, to\nsend him to gallows for \u2018war crimes\u2019! And our intellectuals are with them. When\nthe Terrorists were creating havoc here they were all in hiding, pontificating;\nthey sent their children abroad for protection and education. Now that peace is\nrestored, they preach that to rejoice the hard earned freedom is nothing but \u2018triumphalism\u2019,\nwhen the WWII victory is still being celebrated in the West. Isn\u2019t this funny\nlogic? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now another villager who also knows little\nEnglish and therefore his mind not cluttered with pseudo intellectualism, has\ncome from the backwoods of Polonnaruwa (difficult to pronounce for Anglophiles\nof Colombo!), wants to hang some convicted drug dealers to see whether he could\nreduce the drug problem that is stalking this country, like Duterte of\nPhilippines. Duterte told his detractors and Western critics Go to hell. I owe\nan explanation only to people of my country.\u201d Such commonsense is abhorrent to\nthese people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This man, Maithripala, for whom 62 \u00bd lakhs\nof people had voted (though now we cannot find them!) has, let us admit, dealt\nthe biggest damage on the Drug world here so far, and wants to see whether he\ncould deal it a knockout blow if possible, may be as a political gambit. But is\nwilling to go with it unlike any of his predecessors dared to, whether it is\nunethical or not according to conventional intellectual thinking of which he\ndoes not know. He, in his naivety, seems to think unprecedented problems need\nunprecedented solutions\u201d. Why not let him have a go ahead and watch the outcome,\nespecially since we too do not have a solution?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His detractors may say how could you play\nwith other people\u2019s life like that? But let us not forget that he is the\nPresident for whom 6 and a half million people voting directly, whether we like\nit or not now. Does he reflect the majority view of the people with whom\nsovereignty is said to lie? These intellectuals seem to equate their acquired\nviews to be the view of the people. Isn\u2019t this simple humbuggery? I am told\nthat when the Daily Mirror carried out a public poll on this, 63% had voted for\nhanging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, look at the enormous extent of\nsocial devastation that the Drug menace is doing to this country. Why are these\npseudo intellectuals not addressing this major aspect of the problem? How can\none argue only looking at a single facet of this matter? Besides this, this\nmenace is corrupting the entire Prison system. The day it will corrupt and\nintimidate the other limbs of the criminal justice system is not too far away.\nIt is common knowledge that our political system has already become a victim of\nthe Drug mafia. Is the Opposition Leader and the Prime Minister expecting\nfinancial support from the Drug lords at the coming elections?  Otherwise why cannot they not keep their gaps\nshut in this critical moment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am told that countries like Malaysia and\nSingapore have the death penalty for Drug dealers. And their drug problem seem\nto be contained. I also recall that when some Australian drug smugglers were to\nbe hung in Malaysia some time ago, the Western detractors and Human Rights people\nappealed to that government, Malaysia\u2019s reply was: Just respect our laws\u201d. Why\ncannot we an independent country think like that? What is this backboneless servile\nthinking?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These intellectuals are horrified at the\nsuggestion of bringing back capital punishment as inhuman and uncivilized. But\nthousands of people die on the roads due to driving like maniacs. So many\nhundreds are murdered daily in society, so many commit suicide. We have not\nseen concern expressed on all these tragedies and remedies suggested by these\ngrandees. Then, who is concerned with the victims of these crimes. They and\ntheir families suffer in silence. There is no one to care for or bring solace\nto them. Also convictions in these cases is rare to come by. The slightest\nbenefit of the doubt is given to the suspect. Trials are woefully delayed.\nWitnesses are intimidated and some die. While all this is happening around us,\nthese pseudo intellectuals raise such a hue and cry when someone tries to do\nsomething decisive. I wonder whether they are genuinely concerned about human\nwelfare. As far as I see, in this imperfect world there are no perfect answers\nto all these problems. Yet something has to be done, no doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of them argue on the level of proof\nand judicial procedures. It is quite well known of the existing due process in\noperation. It is detailed as practically as possible to avoid a mistake by this\nfine comb procedure. The Sathasivam case is in fact an example where benefit of\ndoubt was eventually given in favour of the accused. There are many other\nexamples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Dr. J has questioned the manner in\nwhich the President has selected the four persons to be hanged from among the\ndrug offenders. As long as they are all drug offenders who are duly condemned\nto death, does it so much matter which one is taken first or second? I am told\nthere is a convict who was held responsible for having Judge Ambepitiya who\nfound him guilty, killed? For whose sake did that Judge do that? So what is the\nlimit for \u2018retributive justice\u2019? Isn\u2019t there some conclusion in these matters?\nCan good governance be maintained like that? We know of the grave situation\nprevailing in some Latin American countries like Columbia, Bolivia and Mexico\nwhere governance has become virtually impossible, that at a point no one was\nwilling to become the IGP in Mexico. Things are bad here. But need we wait\ndoing nothing till we come to that pass arguing whether death penalty is good\nor bad? Let some common sense prevail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are told by the Police Anti-Narcotics\nBureau that this country is considered a soft target for drug trafficking\nbecause of the soft laws and corrupt politicians. This shows that unless\nsomeone takes a drastic step as this even as an experiment, we are doomed to eventually\nbecome a drug heaven. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. J had ended his article in persuading\nthe President to change his mind with the following quotation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026execution of the death penalty as\ndescribed by Professor Chris Barnard:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The man\u2019s spinal cord will rupture at the point where it enters the skull, electro-chemical discharges will send his limbs flailing in a grotesque dance, eyes and tongue will start from the facial apertures under the assault of the rope and his bowels and bladder may simultaneously void themselves to soil the legs and drip on the floor”. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recall that a beautiful eighteen year\nschool girl in Kayts Island was gang raped and killed in brought daylight that\nscandalized the entire nation. One accused had even videoed it to make money\nout of it by showing it in Switzerland. I would like to ask Dr. J whether this\nunfortunate girl would have felt much different when raped by five people and killed.\nJust imagine that such things happen in our midst in our country where we too live.\nHow should we deal with it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am still not promoting judicial killing.\nBut want to highlight the fact that this is not an open and shut matter where\nwe could pontificate on right and wrong. Let some common sense also prevail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sugath Samarasinghe <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sugath Samarasinghe Being an ignoramus, I was neither for nor against this idea of Judicial Executions. Yet I have been reading most of the stuff that is being written mostly against the idea. I am stuck by the mostly pseudo intellectual arguments that is being written, I am wondering whether there is no other approach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sugath-samarasinghe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91398","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=91398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}