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| Sunday, 11 July 2004 |
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Reflections on privilege, punishment and victimisation by Malinda Seneviratne Much has been made of the issue surrounding JVP Matara District MP, Premasiri Manage, using or abusing his parliamentary clout or privileges to get his sons admitted to Rahula College, Matara. While sections of the Opposition are gloating over the holier-than-thou JVP slipping up, Government spokespersons have rushed to defend Manage, either saying he was only making use of his due privileges as an MP or that the UNP had also been guilty when in power and so 'what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander' as well. Something has to be wrong. I believe the problem is with the interpretation of the word "privilege". There is only one privilege that the politician, by definition, is allowed to enjoy: the privilege to serve the people. All other things erroneously categorised as privileges are in fact abuses; they are the "benefits" that our politicians weigh against the "costs" of running campaigns, and flow from the perception that politics is a business and costs incurred are investments which, hopefully, are recovered by way of "returns" during a term in office. Manage can take refuge in the fact that he was following what has become regular and accepted procedure. He can be defended by his friends by citing a ruling issued by the Attorney General regarding a Fundamental Rights case filed by a government servant concerning a school admission in 2003, as Mangala Samaraweera has done. The buck can be passed to the principal and Education Ministry officials. A politician or a political party that disavows any advantage not enjoyed by the rest of the people, on the other hand, cannot engage in buck-passing. The source of the problem, as has been editorially and otherwise pointed out by several newspapers, is the vast disparity between the "good" schools and the "poor" ones. The solution is not democratising misery, but concrete measures to bridge the gap. The tragedy is that apart from the (admittedly flawed) switch-over to the vernacular over 40 years ago and the standardisation scheme introduced in the early seventies for university admission (again, flawed), this issue has been totally neglected by those responsible. This is why every child whose parents are unable to admit children to any of the "good" schools is a victim, regardless of whether this inability stems from lack of political clout, bribing capacity or otherwise. Privilege abuse The generality of victimhood, however, should not blind anyone to the specific case. Therefore, let us talk of the nitty-gritty of the flip-side of "privilege abuse" namely, "victimhood". The media has by and large passed judgement. They have figured out what's right and wrong, who is right and wrong, who is guilty and who is not, and finally who the victim(s) is/are. Manage ought to have known better. His lack of discretion in the matter has cost him. If we follow the dictum that punishment should fit the crime, then Manage has certainly paid. Which is not a bad thing, because the entire episode has served to open the can of worms that school admission is. Now that things are out in the open, bad smells and all, we can actually begin to deal with them. The JVP need not be upset. It is only because the MP in question belonged to the JVP that this has become an issue. In a roundabout way, it has at least delivered some hope that things are put in order in the education system. And yet, we reiterate, that Manage ought to have known better. His lack of discretion in the matter has cost him, the Government and the Ministry. The negative publicity alone would equate the "punishment" to the "crime". There's still something wrong here. Things have not really "balanced off", for there is a victim who suffers and will continue to suffer for a long time, and not only due to misidentification and indeed non-identification. I am talking about the boy, the young Manage, Premasiri's son. What of him? Let me answer the question without even referring to him, because there has been enough referring done already. Crime and punishment More than 20 years ago, a boy, around 14 years of age, committed suicide. This boy, whose mother was teaching in the same school he studied in had been caught copying at a term test. His mother, infuriated, possibly also for the shame and what she might have to listen to in the staff room, had scolded him mercilessly. He evacuated all the shame, guilt, humiliation and fear from his system in the way he thought most appropriate. He consumed poison. In his case, he punished himself. He was but a child. How could be assess accurately the relative merits of crime and punishment? He is no longer around and it is too late to correct. It was too late twenty years ago. Story No.2 A couple of years before the bheeshanaya broke out in full, a senior academic was asked by a student who was getting sick of the absurdity that is student politics in the universities, why the authorities do not take prompt and strict action. The answer was this: "Son, you have to understand that they are students. Yes, they are adults, but still, they are here to learn. "It is imperative that whatever punishment is meted out does not humiliate them in any way. We cannot let them leave this place scarred. They have to have an out, a way of saving face." Wisdom. There is no other word for it. It is exactly what the sensation-hunting media lacks. Maybe in this case, the time has passed. It may be too late. Time will tell us more about how deep the wounds we carved on that boy's mind and sensibilities really are. Let us resolve to be more circumspect in future. Let us get the bad guy, by all means. It is not only politicians that have privileges that lend to abuse. Journalists too have privileges. Let us not forget that there's a lot of innocence out there and that the frivolous waving of the sword of righteousness can butcher much more than the guilty. |
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