Ceylon Today Editorial

Saving Jaffna from outlaws

06 February 2017

 

Police Special Task Force (STF) has been deployed to strengthen law and order in the Jaffna Peninsula.

A recent cinematic style attack carried out at a shop in Arasadi Road, Jaffna by a sword wielding gang has clearly indicated the sad state of the law and order in Jaffna.

The incident has been recorded in a CCTV camera installed at the shop which was attacked. The video footage of the attack shows the manner the gangsters carrying swords and axes coming in three motorbikes attacking the shop. Finally they vanished from the scene by setting fire to the shop by throwing a petrol bomb.

With the end of civil war 2009, law and order was restored with the reopening of Police Stations and Court Houses in the North to the appreciation of the law-abiding citizens in the North.

However, the reports on various nefarious activities such as the gang fights, drug trafficking, alcohol menace, robberies and heinous killings, which were happening in Northern Province in recent years, have thrown a big challenge to the law enforcement officials.

Apart from reopening the police stations and court houses which were compelled to shut down for more than twenty five years in the North, Tamil speaking police personnel were also recruited extensively to maintain the law and order in the North and the East.
Very recently two retired senior Tamil Police officers were also reinstated with the intention of making the law enforcement effective in the Tamil speaking areas.

A week ago a young pregnant woman was molested and murdered by two criminals at her house in Kayts and the area is the home town of late Chief Justice S. Sarvananda.

Two years ago the ruthless murder of school girl Vithya Sivaloganathan in Punkudutivu, Jaffna had sent shockwaves throughout the country.

The details on the surveys carried out on alcohol consumption in the North is disheartening with Jaffna Peninsula being rated as number one region in the country as far as the alcohol consumption is concerned.

Drug trafficking in the North has also increased in recent years. Seizure of narcotics such as Kerala cannabis and heroin by the Police and Security Forces take place almost daily in the Northern Province.

A notorious group called ' AAVA' has been found responsible for all types of nefarious activities in the North.

The group moves around in motorbikes carrying swords, machetes and petrol bombs.

Five suspects have been arrested over the attack on the shop in Arasadi Road, Jaffna last week. Swords, axes and motorbikes have been seized from the sword wielding gang's hideout.

It is shocking to discover that the five suspects are in the age group between eighteen years and early twenties and they are school students.

A year ago even the newly built Jaffna court house was also stoned by a mob which had staged a protest.

The innocent citizens in the North live in fear of the notorious gangsters who roam around on motorbikes and vans.

So, following the challenges emerging in maintaining law and order in the Jaffna Peninsula, the Police Special Task Force (STF), has been deployed to deal with the escalating criminal activities in the North.

As the Northern and Eastern Provinces are gradually limping back to normalcy after three decades of civil strife with enormous humanitarian problems, the obstacles in maintaining the law and order cannot be tolerated at any cost.

Deploying the STF to curb the criminal activities is an appreciative move. Instead of depending entirely on the law enforcement officials to get rid of the crime wave in the North, the civil society organizations and the senior citizens who are holding responsible positions in the North should also make their contribution towards saving the once war-torn North from the grip of the outlaws.

Daily News Editorial

Ending the SAITM impasse

06 February 2017

The recent Court verdict on the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) was crystal clear: The Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) should register those passing out from SAITM medical courses as doctors. There is room for an appeal, but the general direction of the verdict is clear enough – SAITM degrees have to be recognized by the relevant professional bodies.

The level of hostility displayed towards SAITM and its students by the medical fraternity, including Government medical students is somewhat surprising given that the very same segments did not utter a word when the previous Government started a medical faculty at the Kotelawala Defence Academy (KDU).

It is also difficult to comprehend why medical studies have to be singled out for a different policy when many public and private educational institutions in Sri Lanka offer degree-level courses in practically all other sectors including engineering, the second most aspired for course among A/L students. No one has objected to these institutions or courses, some of which have existed for a couple of decades or more.

Then there is the paradoxical situation of the SLMC recognizing medical graduates who have completed their studies abroad (e.g. in Russia or Nepal) after they pass the Act 16 Examination. The SLMC and the GMOA which have raised doubts about the efficacy of the SAITM seem to have accepted these overseas qualified graduates without questioning the quality of the facilities and teaching personnel at many lesser known overseas medical schools. On the other hand, the clinical and teaching facilities at Malabe-based SAITM can be inspected and any improvements can be suggested.

In the above paragraph we touched on an aspect that opponents of private universities rarely admit. Hundreds, if not thousands of Sri Lankan students enroll in foreign universities each year which results in a massive drain of foreign exchange. If Sri Lanka has enough high quality private universities to cater to the students who are unable to enter the state universities due to capacity constraints (only around 25,000 students can enter State universities per year), the Treasury can save millions of dollars. There is also the possibility of attracting students from other South Asian countries to private universities here, which can actually bring in foreign exchange.

Thousands of private universities exist around the world, including those offering degrees in medicine. We do not have to look far for inspiration – neighbouring India has around 250 private universities, with Rajasthan alone having 42. We indeed have a long way to go.

However, there is no question that private universities and indeed all private educational institutions including international schools have to be thoroughly regulated. This should not be a difficult process. If the GMOA and other medical bodies are truly interested in developing healthcare systems, they should cooperate with the Government to improve any alleged shortcomings in private medical education without launching trade union actions on this issue.

This Government has not been reluctant to admit that it is in favour of promoting private education which includes private universities. Judging by the comments made by the public in both the vernacular and English press, a majority of people seem to be in favour of private universities. The GMOA as a trade union should not agitate about a policy decision of the Government and a court order which seek to improve healthcare facilities. It is well known that GMOA doctors conveniently strike only during the working hours of Government hospitals – in the evenings, most of them can be found in their channeling consultation rooms in private hospitals. This gives the distinct impression that they do not care for the poor and innocent people who come to Government hospitals for treatment.

The doctors must bear in mind the fact that these very same people have paid for their free medical education through duties and taxes. Indeed, it is pathetic that most university students and professionals do not value “free” education as they do not have to pay for it. This is human nature – people tend to value things they actually pay for. But there is nothing called a free lunch – all Sri Lankans, from the farmer in the field to the domestic worker in the Middle East pay for free education.

The Government medical students’ behaviour on the roads last week cannot be condoned. They do have a democratic right to protest, but they should not inconvenience the public. Traffic was held up on rush hour, with people having to wait in cars and buses. The medical students also exhibited their darker side, hooting at the police. The public expects higher moral standards from the would-be doctors – in this country, the medical profession is held in high regard. However, incidents of this nature can erode that feeling of respect.

We are now nearing the third decade of the 21st century and it is time to discard certain archaic notions about education, which is a dynamic field that needs private sector participation. Both the Government and the private sector have a role to play, separately and together, to take education to greater heights.

The Island Editorial

Of that savage attack

06 February 2017

 

Last week’s brutal police crackdown on a group of undergraduates protesting against the Malabe private medical college has laid bare the true face of the yahapalana government. Saturday’s Independence Day parade was not complete. For, the police riot squad and stone-throwing government goons did not take part in it!

The Rajapaksa government did not care to camouflage its goon attacks on protests against it. Its thugs, armed with bicycle chains, swords and clubs, were seen operating alongside the riot police in full view of the public. Today, the yahapalana administration employs a different modus operandi; it obtains court orders and uses police like Oprichniki of Ivan the Terrible to crush protests; its thugs, immaculately dressed in white, throw projectiles, taking cover behind the riot police, as we saw recently in Hambantota.

A Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) official has recently lamented, while addressing media that ‘the most intelligent students’ were at the receiving end of police excesses last week. One cannot but agree with the good doctors that police acted in a savage manner by firing teargas canisters slap-bang into the crowds of young demonstrators, but one is intrigued by the aforesaid reference to level of intelligence of the protesters.

Police are no respecters of the IQ level of their victims. If the professional outfits like the GMOA had protested against police attacks on student demonstrators previously and brought pressure to bear on successive governments to desist from using brutal force against them police would have had to act with some restraint last week. Students, regardless of their levels of intelligence and their academic disciplines must be able to protest without being assaulted by police.

It will be a mistake for the protesting medical students and doctors who back them to let the ultra radical groups with a disruptive political agenda to hijack their protest campaign. Those sinister elements are no protectors of free education or student rights; they are hell bent on plunging universities into chaos, which is used to fuel their bankrupt political projects. Their violence which manifests itself in bloody clashes, inhuman rigging and the attendant disruptions to higher education make even some of the students who qualify for admission to national universities to opt for private education either here or overseas.

Let it be repeated that it is not only the rights of medical or engineering students that should be safeguarded. Liberal arts cannot be written off as a liability. Unfortunately, attempts by successive governments to throttle this particular stream of education have gone unopposed by professional outfits. Instead of helping make arts graduates employable in the job market through the provision of required skills, rulers have sought to let it wither on the vine.

We stressed, in this space, on June 25, 2013, the importance of liberal arts education, in the wake of a despicable attempt by the then Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake to curtail the university intake of arts students. We pointed out that a report, The Heart of the Matter, released by the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) a few days before, had highlighted the fact that humanities and social sciences provided ‘an intellectual framework and context for understanding and thriving in a changing world’. The report recommended advancing the humanities and social sciences in the US as in countries like China, Singapore and some European nations, known for promoting those disciplines as ‘a stimulus to innovation and a source of social cohesion’. It stressed the need for a well-rounded education where science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) were coupled with the humanities and social sciences and the fact that ‘all disciplines are essential for the inventiveness, competitiveness, security, and personal fulfillment of the American public’.

We argued in the aforesaid editorial comment that what was needed was not the promotion of STEM at the expense of liberal arts but an education system that facilitated the cross pollination of all disciplines for the benefit of students who needed to be equipped to face multifarious challenges in life. It is a pity that no professional organisation has resisted attempts by successive governments to do away with liberal arts. Nobody took on the government when it stopped the registration for external arts degrees!

Free education cannot be protected by selectively advocating the rights of students in the streams like medicine, engineering and law alone. In most cases, liberal arts students are those from rural backwaters, who are denied their right to pursue science education. Their rights also matter! Above all, as many as 125,000 out of about 150,000 students who qualify for university education in all streams cannot achieve their higher education goals as the state universities are not equipped to accommodate them. The onus is on professionals who have benefited from free education to take up cudgels for the rights of these hapless students.

Meanwhile, the government leaders must exercise control over their dirty tongues without provoking those who have lost a crucial legal battle against the Malabe private medical school, and try to evolve a solution. After all, they have a history of holding talks with even terrorists. What needs to be done urgently is to pour oil on troubled waters and not add insult to injury.