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| Sunday, 4 January 2004 |
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Features |  |
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Children used as pawns in game of politics 'Power Games in War and Peace' by Professor Harendra de Silva There is a science and a politics of child abuse. The science tells us what happens to children who are abused, the most common forms of abuse, how some of these may be minimized, what ways are good to prevent lasting harm to abused children and much more. Science though is not driven by feeling. And a subject such as child abuse cannot be dealt with unfeelingly. Nor for that matter can any other social issue. An effective and adequate response to child abuse requires mobilization of feelings. This, it appears to me, is what Professor Harendra de Silva tries to do through his recent publication, 'Power Games'. He wants to arrest our attention, to make us take notice of how children are being used as pawns in games politicians play. Politicians are those who want to determine, or control, how the populace or part of the populace behaves. They may be those who do so through arrangements that follow events called elections. Or they may be those who dispense with the trappings of this so-called democratic process. Both kinds, says Professor de Silva, are misusing children whether the games they play are called war or peace. Whether they chant pious incantations about their unfailing commitment to creating a better world for children or not. Politicians in Professor De Silva's book do not look pretty. Hardly any politician anywhere in the world looks pretty these days, so this may not be new. But today's politicians of Sri Lanka look particularly invidious and hypocritical in the account we read in 'Power Games'. He is severe because they have, perhaps not unwittingly, let down children for transient and meaningless political gains. Truly, games. 'Power games' strays into the international scene too. So we have an account, or rather an analysis, of the way power operates. The fundamental rules appear few. Nowhere does power show interest in looking after the powerless. So children have to be victims, as the most powerless group in any society - other than, of course, the children of those wielding power. The political analysis goes on to a critique of the current 'peace process' in Sri Lanka. This, Professor de Silva feels, is badly flawed. And he explains why he thinks so. In the sphere of proffered solutions he is on less convincing, suggesting remedies that may strike the unimaginative as utopian. He believes the whole process of seeking solutions should be a 'bottom up' process. Children and their interests must become a central consideration. He almost suggests that the process should be child-led not just child-centred. But power wielders, by his own account of them, are not the sort to listen to the powerless. We all have a great deal more advocacy ahead of us, if we are to win them over. A start has undoubtedly been made, through this publication. Prof. Diyanath Samarasinghe, Dept of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo ###### Sad plight of education system Some issues in Sri Lanka education by Ranjit Ruberu Publishers - S. Godage and Bros. Price Rs. 375 Reviewed by Padma Edirisinghe A translator usually indulges in a good bout of reading the original book before commencing the actual work. While reading H.W. Cave's "Ceylon Government Railway" (new edition by Visidun renamed "Ceylon along the Rail Track" by the writer) before her translation, there was a poignant fact that she came across. It was that at the time that Cave wrote his travel account, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) had been the model country for the rest of Asia by way of transport, communication and even the hotel trade. The poignancy lies in the fact that many an Asian country has now raced past our island in all these areas. The poignancy was heightened when I read "Some Issues in Sri Lanka Education" by Prof. Ranjit Ruberu where I learnt that having entered a glorious phase in our education between the years 1931 and 1947 (Kannangara period) that this most vital unit in a country's development has sadly plummeted today into an utterly dismal and confused state. Of course such statements are not rare, but coming from an authority like Prof. Ruberu with his outstanding track record in the field of our education, it carries great weightage. He has almost stripped the Maid of Education of her frills and tinsel and exposed the many wounds festering her that would finally destroy not only her, but also the nation in general. These are some of the prominent wounds exposed. The proliferation of private schools, majority the so-called International Schools which run completely vis-a-vis the recommendations of the Jayasuriya Commission of 1962. These schools are managed completely outside the state school system of schools and have their own curricula, media of teaching and prepare children for foreign examinations. Lack of consistency in teacher recruitment policy leading to backlog of untrained teachers. "Of about 190,000 teachers, over 10,000 teachers have not been given any formal teacher training. The sharing of the responsibility for education among many agencies that result in wastage of resources, duplication of activities, and divided responsibility. At present, these diverse agencies are the Ministries of Education, Provincial Councils, NIE and NIC. Fall in literacy rates from 90% or more that was achieved within the course of the last fifty years. Today, 14.5% children of the compulsory schooling age of 5 to 14 years 8% of 5 to 9 years, 30.5% of the 10 to 14 years and 15% of the 15 to 18 years do not attend school. It is this non-school going group who come from the under privileged class that go to fatten the undesirable group of child prostitutes, drug addicts, and other juvenile delinquents escalating the country's crime rate. The massive and shameless corruption festering Grade I admission. The author traces Prof. Jayasuriya's well intentioned area rule today to one of the most smelly rackets in the country involving fraudulent documents prepared by unscrupulous brokers to whom large sums are paid to get their children admitted to popular schools by rich parents. The vast difference among schools in the country regarding staff, resources and other amenities which has led to glaring inequality in the provision of school education. The equality of educational opportunity to all is today a myth. The State not recognising pre-school education as one of its responsibilities again leading to a hiatus between the rich and the poor. Unemployment of university graduates which the author claims to be indelibly a national problem. Stagnant university curricula are a causative factor for this situation. Influence of politics on education making educational policies change with every change of government that has now become a frequent occurrence. The examination centred nature of science education and non-exploration of the many benefits of science education in general. These and many other ailments that disease today's education system are detailed at length bolstered by many a fact and figure. The narration is done not out of some macabre pleasure of wallowing in the unpleasant facts but with the responsibility of a concerned educationalist. In his introduction the author states that the purpose of this publication is to highlight the problems and failings of today's education system. He goes on to add "these deserve the attention of national education planners and policy-makers who appear to be either unaware of such issues or unconcerned about them". A warning note is sounded against the declining standards of teaching English in schools and other educational institutions. It is suggested that English be taught as a compulsory complementary language on equal terms with the national languages - Sinhala and Tamil. Teaching of English as a second language as it is done now, cannot bring the benefits of having a competency in English that is demanded from students leaving the education system and seeking employment. Teaching of English as a compulsory subject to all including university students and raising the level of competency in English only, can bring some relief to the educated unemployment problem today. English has to play a significant role in national education in the country. ######### Book full of important Buddhist concepts The Buddha's Discourse and Wittgenstein Author: Prof. A.D.P. Kalansuriya Published by the Compassion Buddhist Institute, Sri Lanka Printed by Global Graphics & Printing (Pvt) Ltd Pages: 249 Reviewed by Dr. Wimal Wickramasinghe This is the second edition of Prof. A.D.P. Kalansuriya's book A Philosophical Analysis of Buddhist Notions (1987), the title of the second edition being renamed as The Buddha's Discourse and Wittgenstein (2003). The author may have got some inspirations from Chris Gudmunsen's Wittgenstein and Buddhism (New York, 1977), a book that explains similarities between some form of Buddhism and Wittgenstein but the author's book is 'strictly limited to later developments in Buddhism in India and Philosophical Investigations of the later Wittgenstein. Again, numerous articles, papers and monographs involving comparative studies on Zen Buddhism also have appeared". But the author says that his concern in Buddhism and Wittgenstein is significantly different from the above. His aim in the main is to make explicit the true philosophy of the Buddha - the Dhamma - the philosophy of Buddhism - by way of philosophical methods of the later Wittgenstein. The justification of his theme is that though there are many works on Buddhism in a historical perspective, philosophical works on Buddhism with the assistance of Western philosophical techniques are hardly available. Yet, Buddha's discourse, a new name given by Western scholars in place of the word 'dhamma' (Buddha's teaching), welcomes a philosophical analysis of his concepts. The author's complaint is that many comparative studies on Buddhism and philosophy have led to 'distortions', the result being 'travesties, category mistakes and philosophical errors' and, therefore, his analysis of conceptual developments of Buddhism is based on the pursuit of wisdom - or 'complete clarity' - to use Wittgenstein's concept. In other words, he places emphasis on the careful use of philosophical techniques or tools for a successful analysis the Dhammic concepts. In his opinion, it is a replacement of category-habits by a category-discipline enwrapped in the logic of Buddhist discourse. In my opinion, Kalansuriya, who has written a number of books on various aspects of philosophy is also well versed in the philosophy of Wittgenstein as he has to his credit a work entitled Problems of Philosophy and Wittgenstein (1986). He begins his work with an introduction of the Buddha and Wittgenstein or rather why Wittgenstein was involved. Without comparing the Buddhist concepts, he goes on to do a conceptual analysis of the key concepts in the Dhamma with the demarcation of limits, the conceptual structure on which such concepts are founded and the nature of Buddhist modernism for determination of its position when compared to the Dhamma. His second chapter is on category-habits and category-disciplines as against the philosophical expositions of Wittgenstein, preferring the latter to the former. Many points of philosophy, as revealed by Wittgenstein, are presented in the chapter, including 'language-games' (grasping of the meaning of words, notions, sentences, expressions, etc.), model ('pictures'), machine idling (a technique used by him to make explicit the various functions of a word, etc.) In the chapter on category-discipline of the Dhamma, the author raises two questions, i.e., the nature of the conceptual structure of the Dhamma and the key concepts ingrained therein, and tries to answer them. The author says that the concept of Dhamma has many connotations and is multifaceted and in English translation it has various meanings: virtuous conduct, doctrine, truth, virtue, righteousness, norm, ultimate constituent, cosmic law, ethical philosophy, discourse, etc. and elsewhere, philosophy, religion, ideology. Buddhagosa notes four meanings of Dhamma: good conduct, doctrine of Buddha as contained in the Canon, moral instructions and cosmic law (the law connected with the whole universe). On Dhamma: Nibbana, kamma and truth Thereafter, the author goes on to analyse Dhamma with the assistance of Buddha's teachings/utterances and also with his knowledge on Buddhism and philosophy. Furthermore, the concepts such as Nibbana (destruction of the defiling impulses, peacefulness, deathless, disentanglement, totally distinguished, totally blown out) and kamma (volition) are examined in a lucid manner, among other things. With the benefit of hindsight from the contemporary philosophy, the author next raises the theory of meaning in the dhamma and meaning-criterion in the dhamma and seeks to analyse its use within the context of the dhamma structure. The author derives some concepts from Buddhist doctrine for verification in the dhamma such as invitation to verify, verification by personal knowledge and verification by superperceptual knowledge, also benefiting from other Buddhist texts and modern positivism (verification by way of observation of sense-perception) and repudiating the rule of inference for application to dhamma though modernists consider it as empirical. While examining and analyzing these verifications, the author brings out some salient features of the Buddhist doctrine with the help of various Nikayas. A whole chapter is devoted to examination of the 'truth', a central one in the entire range of philosophical vocabulary. This concept has pride of place in Buddhism, the Dhammic Truth written with T capital. In fact, Buddha's enlightenment means 'arriving at the Truth', the word Tathaagata standing for 'one who has arrived at the Truth', the highest stage of the medicative experience that stills all sensations, perceptions and thoughts - a non-communicable state of affairs. The aspirant of the eightfold noble path would attain 'Truth', the non-empirical nature and the eternal validity. 'Truth' in the final analysis is the cessation of suffering or attainment of nibbana (emancipation). Other features The author's text is full of explanations of very important and central Buddhist concepts. It is not easy to embody them here for want of space. There are two chapters as methodology studies, one on causality-talk, and the other, facts to ethics. Then he goes on to examine knowledge with the help of philosophy and super-perceptual knowledge with reference to the Canonical literature. He finds some limitations of epistemology in contemporary philosophy in tackling super-perceptual knowledge. Buddhist philosophy In the penultimate chapter of the book the author again takes up nibbana, a problematic concept during the Buddha's time and even now, 'when it is understood from outside the language-game which is its original', making reference to Wittgenstein' Philosophical Investigations (op. cit.). While citing from the Buddhist Literature various analogous terms to nibbana, he makes an attempt to define it with the assistance of other authors and placing it in the domain of Buddhist philosophy. Dealing with the concept of Dhamma and its family (which includes the concepts such as Truth, causality, perception, knowledge and emancipation of craving and clinging), the author says that the Dhammic family of concepts belongs to the ethics-based and soteriology-oriented scheme, without which the concepts become context-free and therefore empty. In other words, he falls back on Wittgenstein's techniques such as form of life, language-game, models, machine idling, language goes on holiday, etc. for the exposition of the clarity of the central Dhammic concepts. Nevertheless, he says that understanding Buddhism or the Dhamma by way of its family of concepts could be named 'Buddhist philosophy'. This book is no doubt thought-provoking and useful to those who excel in philosophy, logic, ethics, Buddhism and linguistics. It is an authoritative one and those in the Western world who show an interest in contemporary philosophy and study of the Buddhist doctrine would welcome it most. ######## The Last Kingdom of Sinhalay - the story of the fall of Kandy The Last Kingdom of Sinhalay is a semi-historical novel by Captain Elmo Jayawardena. The 850-page book launched recently and published by M. D. Gunasena, is the story of the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom. In his novel, which is embedded in fact and embellished with fiction, Jayawardena manages to convey a vast wealth of historical information while simultaneously keeping the reader entertained with a colourful cast of characters, says a press release from "Perfect Relations Lanka Ltd." The advent of the Sinhala people to the island of Lanka dates back to 500 BC. From that time till 1815 AD there was a continuous line of kings who ruled the land. The Portuguese sailed to Colombo in 1505 and conquered the coastal areas, which became known as the Maritime Provinces. Their tenure lasted almost a one hundred and fifty years till 1658 when they were ousted by the Dutch who ruled the coastal areas till 1797. Then came the turn of the English. They defeated the Dutch and acquired the Maritime Provinces. In the midst of all these European invasions and power changing the Kingdom of Kandy survived. It was the last Kingdom of the Sinhala people. In 1815 Kandy too fell to the Colonial powers. Kandy was never conquered, but was given to the English by the very same Sinhala leaders who had vowed before their Gods to protect it. "The Last Kingdom of Sinhalay" is the story of the fall of Kandy. It is about the Kings and the aristocracy of Kandy, the might of the British Empire and how their military power subdued a nation. According to Jayawardena," such a story cannot be narrated by its own merits. The story encompasses much more, weaving historical fact and fictitious interludes to form a tapestry of characters and events that captures the pulse of the nation during that period." The story is told through two characters, Joh D'Oyly, an erudite Englishman from Cambridge, who came to the island as a colonial administrator and his dear friend, Thera Ihagama, a penniless Buddhist priest turned freedom fighter. John D'Oyly never went back to England, He chose to make the island his adopted home and died in Kandy and was buried in the Garrison cemetery. Thera Ihagama was banished to the island of Mauritius by the British for inciting a revolution against the colonial administration. The book was researched in meticulous detail by the author over a period of over ten years. The sources were many, from the archives of the Island of Mauritius, where the book begins, to the dust covered records of the British museum and a host of books of the times written by eminent historians. However according to the author, the best information was culled by "by travelling through hundreds of remote village trails in Sri Lanka in search of old temples and old men who remembered what they heard." ####### Celebrating fifty years at the Lionel Wendt Theatre Applause at The Wendt is a highly entertaining book which tells of the first fifty years of the Lionel Wendt Theatre as remembered by those who took part in all manner of performances there. Hundreds of actors, singers, dancers and musicians have performed on this stage and there is every chance that you too, were among them. With a rare exception, all those performances were received to the sustained applause of thousands of theatre-goers in Colombo. The productions were of light comedy, operettas, performances of ballet, both Western and those created by Chitrasena, musical recitals of Western classical music and of Indian classical music. Serious plays took hold of the Lionel Wendt stage in the sixties and seventies, plays that explored the human condition in the language of Shakespeare or in the language of today, in English and in translation, of Berthold Brecht, plays by Arthur Miller and Eugene O'Neil and many others. Among those who narrate the stories of their exploits on the Lionel Wendt stage are Vernon Abeysekera, Irangani Serasinghe, Shyamon Jayasinghe, Henry Jayasena, Ernest MacIntyre, Sriyantha Seneratna, Shelagh Goonewardene, Osmund Jayaratne, Lucien de Zoysa, Karl Goonesena, Lucky Wikramanayake, Kris Pullenayegem, Chris Greet, Lal Senaratne, Brian Rutnam, Tony Anghie, Carmel Raffel, Christine Tambimuttu, Michele Leembruggen and Ann Anthonis. Their memories are embellished by journalists writing of those times - Eric Ranawaka, Douglas Seneviratne, D. C. Ranatunga, Nihal Ratnaike and Neville Weereratne, who is also responsible for putting together this wonderful chronicle. ####### 'Footprints' third issue out 'Footprints', a quarterly tabloid newspaper contributing towards a new and just society, has come out with its third issue 'to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable'. The editorial committee says the second issue for which the print order had been increased by about 30 percent was a sellout and the feedback shows that footprints with its third issue is reaching a new landmark. Not only in terms of circulation but also more importantly in terms of awareness, education and impact, for people to play the role they should in bringing about a more selfless, sacrificial and sincere society. Footprints number three has insights and thought provoking articles on issues ranging from liberative personal spirituality, alternative community life and life witness to the danger facing millions of Sri Lanka's farmers and the need to give the rights of patients priority over the patent rights of transnational drug giants. The editorial committee says it hopes this package of integrated wholesome spirituality based on the liberative love centered values of the Holy Scriptures would guide and inspire readers towards the full vision and goals that the Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed and lived out. The editorial committee comprises Louis Benedict, Allenson de Silva, Francis Pietersz and Vivian Pulle with J.R. Brito Motha as the Manager. |
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