Rights and wrongs and pirith-nool jokes

By Malinda Seneviratne

(October 03, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Ranil Wickremesinghe seems to have a thing for hand/wrist ornaments. There was a time he was obsessed with bracelets, promising all young people bracelets if they voted for him. He never got to hear the end of it. Now he’s concerned himself with pirith nool, ‘observing’ that journalists these days have taken to wearing pirith nool, several of them in fact, supposedly to protect themselves from possible harassment.

The issue of pirith nool was mere frill to the Opposition Leader’s tirade against the Government regarding the enactment of the Press Council Act. The merits and demerits of that piece of legislation have been debated enough and so too Ranil’s moral authority or otherwise to take umbrage.

Media freedom is a relative matter. There are always restrictions, some lines are hard and some soft, certain transgressions are allowed and others are punished. Speaking strictly for myself, I have a healthy suspicion of all politicians. I believe it is safer to keep distance and never stand with one to take issue with another. Given histories, I would not stand with Ranil Wickremesinghe or for that matter, anyone in this Government, and I most certainly would not come within spitting distance of the crop of media rights advocates who’ve been strutting around for well over a decade now. I strongly recommend the editorial of The Island, October 2, 2009 for what I believe is a lucid discussion of these issues.

I don’t expect any Government operating in accordance with the current Constitution and its gross anti-citizen slant to grant any favour to me or any other journalist, and by ‘journalist’ I count-out those who have compromised themselves by servility, greed and indefensible political choice. The system is skewed against the truth and we all know it. ‘System’, by the way, is not coterminous with ‘Government’ but includes also the private media, editorial slant, the political preferences of journalists and the absence of ethics or meaningful regulatory mechanisms to ensure professionalism.

I believe, however, that although there are obstacles, there is nothing that is insurmountable when it comes to the work of journalists. There is always a way around censorship. Determination and creativity can overcome all. Sure, there are risks. That goes with the territory. Should we not fight? We should. We should, however be careful when deciding who to rub shoulders with.

Ranil picked on the pirith noola. I found this interesting. Is he saying that those who do not wear pirith nool (or a cross, in the case of journalists who subscribe to the Christian faith) are either purchased by the detractors of media freedom? Or is he saying that they are the unafraid? I am wondering if Lasantha Wickramatunga wore a cross. I am wondering if other journalists who were either attacked or killed wore some kind of religious talisman for protection. If they did and still got attacked/killed does it mean that they had misplaced their faith in the ‘divine’? Did they were these talismans to protect themselves specifically from attack that could be sourced to agitation regarding their professional conduct? Do all those who wear pirith nool suffer from some kind of anxiety regarding possible attack? There are journalists who are seen to be pro-Government; if they wear a pirith noola, who or what are they scared of? Perhaps Ranil has some answers.

I suppose we could dismiss the pirith nool reference as an attempt by the usually dour-faced Ranil Wickremesinghe to get a laugh. On the other hand, the pirith noola is a symbol of and marker of religious faith. I am not sure if it is the most appropriate thing to joke about. As a Buddhist, I find it offensive, especially since Ranil Wickremesinghe’s politics has been against the interests of Buddhists in this country; and I am not talking about removing the Buddha statue from Sirikotha.

His ‘friend-in-need’, almost bulldozed a Buddha Statue at Punchi Borella and once carried a Buddha Statue by the neck showing an utter disregard to the sensibilities of Buddhists in this country.

After all, the UNP was the party that gave us the dharmista samajaya and we all know what that process yielded. During that time, Ranil Wickremesinghe didn’t make jokes about pirith nool, he was a senior Cabinet Minister of a Government whose thugs captured, tortured and killed bikkhus. The issue then was not media freedom, but freedom, period.

Against all this, I wouldn’t blame anyone for treating with contempt the recent statement made by the UNP-led coalition of opposition parties (still to be a reality of course) that the policy document will be modeled on the dasa raja dharma.

There has to be some kind of paapochcharanaya on the part of Ranil Wickremesinghe before he talks about anything even remotely connected with Buddhism. It is no laughing matter. And this goes for the crimes of omission and commission that he is guilty of with respect to media freedom as well. And of course all other rights-issues.

We all need people to champion rights, media rights included, because we don’t live in Utopia. Let me qualify that statement; we all need people with integrity to champion rights, media rights included, because we don’t live in Utopia. Ranil Wickremesinghe stands disqualified, but with a bit of humility and self-criticism he might earn the right. My feeling is that he is far too arrogant.

-Sri Lanka Guardian