A Matter Of Culture And A New Philosophy

by Gamini Weerakoon

(August 11, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian)Hermann Goering, whom Hitler designated as his successor, is attributed with the quote: “Whenever I hear the word culture, I reach for my gun”. We too, whenever we hear the word ‘culture’ in this country these days, particularly of ‘media culture’, get inclinations similar to Goering.

New Culture

At almost every public ceremony be it a prize giving, tree planting, foundation stone laying, renaming of roads or kiribath and kavum gobbling — held to celebrate the ‘Great Victory’ — we are told about a new media culture that is now being expounded through this so-called Mahinda Chintanaya.

What on earth has happened to Sinhala Buddhist culture which we were hectored on in the six post-independence decades? What of the doughty deeds of our monarchs and people for 2500 years as recorded in the Mahavamsa? Can we have any other culture replacing or bypassing this 2500 year old culture by our new ‘philosopher kings’? We will come to the ideological contradictions further down the line but first, the emerging contradictions that hit us in between our eyes, quite recently.

Cattle and people

Last week, we saw the disgusting spectacle on TV of a Deputy Minister called Mervyn Silva, ordering a government appointed social service worker — Samudra Niyamaka — to be tried to a tree because he had failed to turn up at a meeting called by Silva. Silva had summoned TV crews of some channels to record this disgraceful event which came on TV screens. The revulsion and nausea that would have been created in every law abiding citizen by this degrading conduct need not be stressed. In these times, when the Rajapaksa government is being accused by many nations of violation of human rights, tying up a government employee to a tree like we do to stray cattle is not the way to varnish the much tarnished (pardon the pun) government’s image.
Clearly this is a matter of culture. Silva apparently sees no degradation of humanity in tying up a public servant to a tree in public like what is done to stray cattle and televising the spectacle to the nation! Is this an instance of the throw back on the glorious 2500 year old Sinhala Buddhist culture? We are not attempting to denigrate our own culture which we hold in high esteem, but comparisons have to be made, however odious, to bring us to reality.

Who is to blame?

But is Silva to be blamed? Silva is not known for his education despite the recent prefix of a ‘Dr।’ appearing before his name, or his culture. Thus, is it the person who permits or ignores or looks away from his blatant and outrageous acts and had promoted him to the rank of a deputy minister to be blamed? Going by Silva’s past performances which would make a self- respecting Sri Lankan citizen writhe in agony, would Silva be immune from any kind of punishment for his latest performance? The ultimate source that can be held responsible for this degrading act is none other than the all-powerful Executive President who made Silva a Deputy Minister on being elected for a second term.

Last week we commented on attempts to create a Media Development Authority (MDA) to promote this new media culture. The MDA is apparently not to be confined to slave galleys now being worked at Lake House, Rupavahini and the like, but a much wider spectrum. It is said to involve the independent media, film industry, professions, academia, artistes, writers and the whole swathe that would cover supposedly ‘creative’ individuals and organisations. Why bring all these organisations under one umbrella where as the essence of a true democracy is diversity?

Singapore

Our column last week indicated that the outlines of the objectives of the Media Development Authority (MDA) stated in an official government blog, are almost verbatim of the objectives of the Singapore MDA.
Lee Kwan Yew’s sterilised city state over which many Sri Lankans, particularly businessmen are enamoured with, is admirable in certain respects, but is certainly barren grounds for flowering of democracy and intellectual thought, as our column last week indicated.

The broad outline of thoughts of most dictatorships in recent times ranging from Nazi Germany, Stalin’s Soviet Union to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, reveal three dominant traces: one country, one people, one leader. We wonder whether the thinkers/ philosophers/ idiots mooting this Sri Lankan MDA are tracing similar lines.

Chintanaya visions

The thinking appears to be: we won the war; we are the patriots. Those opposed to us including the General who led us in the battlefield, are traitors. The glorious future of the nation is envisaged in the thoughts of our leader — the Mahinda Chintanaya. Therefore, all right thinking people should come under the umbrella of the MDA and promote the Mahinda Chintanaya. If this is the line of thinking, it runs a close parallel to texts that have had devastating impacts on humanity. What is regrettable is that the fear of criticism is instilled even among journalists as evident from the wide berth given to this new thinking by non sycophants and the devout veneration of it by a new generation of adherents.

Earlier in this column, we hinted that the culture that is being promoted is different from the Sinhala Buddhist culture of yore. We were thinking of glaring deviations taken by this new line of thinking. For example, the panchaseela calls upon people to refrain from uttering untruths. Therein lies the bedrock on which all media ethics should rest. Thus, is there a necessity to overshadow the teaching of the Buddha with a new media ethic? Next, we are now told that following the propagation of the Mahinda Chintanaya, consumption of alcohol had dropped drastically. What would prevent Buddhists from drinking: the pledge undertaken in the panchaseela or the Mahinda Chintanaya? And finally, the stupidity on sale of meats on poya days. Sale of all meats is permissible except beef! Does Buddhism hold that eating of fish and other meats not offensive, but eating beef is?