We thought the recent deluge and all the misery it brought on to so many of the less privileged would keep the university students from publicly baying against the private medical college, again. No! We thought wrong and it’s mere hopeful thinking they will stop teasing this dead rat of an issue. TV news on Wednesday 21 showed a huge number of supposedly university students, girls and Buddhist monks included, marching straight into the Ministry of Health premises and invading the office. They had been attacked by Ministry officials, a newspaper reported. Fifty students and 10 police officers were injured.
Menika watched this piece of news with shocked horror. It was a nightmare to her, to see these young ones protesting about something that is useless to protest against. And they were far from students; they were snarling doglike roughs and toughs, tearing all over the place and pitting themselves against the police, STF and even advancing while being tear gassed, water cannoned and baton charged.
Sorry, Menika has not one iota of sympathy for them. Once battles are lost; once an issue is settled by law and authority; how dare these students disrupt a public place, a government office and invite police counter-attack to seek public sympathy and support. They know, we suppose, that their protests invariably turn violent and they can get seriously injured. Is it for this that their parents and the country, both pay with great difficulty to give them a university education?
What the students should do
The university students, along with their Inter-University Students’ Association, should accept that SAITM will not be closed. So, why pit against a stone wall of bureaucracy buttressed by public opinion, hurting themselves physically and mentally – the more sensitive ones – with no reverse of set policy. Why allow girls to get embroiled in these free-for-alls? And for goodness sake, why do yellow robes get into the fray? Those who don them and get into the thick of protests are definitely not monks and should be disrobed and debarred from university education.
Now, here’s the crunch. Menika met some time ago a couple of medical students from the University of Jayawardenapura. You could not get a more balanced, nicer lot of young ones with brains and good ideas. They gave reasons for not wanting medical education privatized and they were against SAITM – the private medical college. Now, I am sure they have accepted the fact that SAITM will not be closed. They can negotiate about private medical education since they stated there was a lowering of standards. However, not a whimper against the Kotalawela Defense Academy’s medical college. How come?
So, the conclusions are that this latest protest was most definitely instigated and led by outsiders, political persons wanting to disrupt the country. University students were a mere pawn. One news channel on Wednesday circled some faces that looked definitely too old and too criminal to be faces of students of higher education. So students are led by thugs and paid agents, we are sure.
What the authorities should do
The government must on no account close SAITM or bow down in the least to these students who should be spending their time studying, not causing so much mayhem over a lost cause.
The University authorities should get video clips of the rioting students, especially noting those marked with red circles by one news channel. In each university or campus those who were in the latest protest should be identified and their faces matched with those caught on camera. Tedious, time consuming but an end must be made to these protests against SAITM. The suspect faces may not be those of students. Even the others should be debarred from lectures for a time and stricter disciplinary action taken against those caught on camera, actually pushing aside barriers placed by the police, and given due punishment. One cannot forever hold back the hand of discipline and official reprimand for such acts of vandalism, hooliganism and unlawful assembly. Menika admits it’s easy for a computer chair critic to say this should be done and that... But, there have been more than democratically tolerable protests against SAITM. Enough is enough. Uni students should learn or be made to depart, the apt motto of a large college.
Menika was really hot and bothered, troubled and sad, so sad. Here the government is fighting a battle against dengue and attempting rehabilitation of flood and landslide victims, and these uni students are wasting everybody’s time resurrecting a long decided issue.
So, the elusive Gnanasara has appeared and been given bail. Sorry, I don’t prefix his name with Venerable and all that. To Menika’s perception he is not of the Buddhist Sangha founded by the Buddha and having illustrious monks following Ven Ananda – the Buddha’s attending monk, Ven Mahinda Thera who brought Buddhism to Lanka and of recent times Ven Narada, Ven Madihe Pannaseeha Mahanayake, and Ven Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera. We have excellent monks who strictly keep the Vinaya rules in temples all over the land, more in Colombo.
The Asgiriya Chapter of venerable monks should reprimand and take action against monks who participate in protest marches and others who attack religions and races; and not those politicians who miss out on the term venerable. Justified this omission, when applied to certain of our so called monks.
British crisis
The next program Menika gave ear to on Wednesday 21 night was Cross Talk where the facilitator and three panelists agreed Britain was in crisis. They also agreed May was no leader and actually too shy a person. One was all for Corbyn who he said always stood by his principles. Cold comfort and un-muditha but consoling it was to know other countries too suffered pangs of problems. Only difference is that over there in that island it’s calm and the crisis works itself out with dignity. Here, it’s damaged buildings, broken glass, injured persons and yellow robes flying around for no justifiable reason.
- Menika