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| Sunday, 19 December 2004 |
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Editorial |  |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 11 2429239 / 2331181 Fax : 94 11 2429230 Stop this lunacy A grenade attack at the Shah Rukh Khan show last week at Race Course grounds, Colombo caused the death of two innocent young lives. They had caused no harm to anybody to receive such a fate. Their only 'crime' was they disobeyed the virulent fatwas issued by some mad men, including some in saffron robes and patronised the show given by one of India's foremost artistes. We do not for a moment claim that the dastardly crime was committed by them or any of their followers. It is up to the investigation officers to unravel who was behind it. But one thing is clear as crystal. It is that an atmosphere conducive to such an attack was created by the irrational and foolish actions of groups sympathising and leading the JHU and the Sihala Urumaya. The presence of notable leaders of both factions of the once united Sihala Urumaya among the demonstrators earlier in the evening in the vicinity of Race Course grounds testify to their culpability. Neither the JHU nor the SU or for that matter any group, whether political or otherwise could arrogate to itself the right to decree that people should behave only in the way they desire or should follow the cannons of discipline of one's own faith. Every person's privacy and human rights should be respected. People are not a herd of buffaloes to be pushed about according to the whims and fancies of megalomaniacs. These mad men were protesting against the holding of a musical program on the day preceding the death anniversary of Ven. Gangodawila Soma Thera. Reverence cannot be obtained by force. It is left to the individual to commemorate any occasion according to his or her conscience. Even on the day of the Venerable Thera's cremation a year ago groups of persons high handedly ordered commercial establishments to close down as a mark of respect to the Thera. Little did they know it was an insult to the deceased Thera to threaten people on his behalf or on behalf of his remains. Where has the Buddha preached that people should refrain from worldly pleasures and engaging in mundane matters on days that monks are commemorated? One could, of course, renounce worldly pleasures and seek consolation in the dhamma according to one's own volition. That is a different matter. That is why Buddhism has different principles of conduct for laymen and for the clergy. We have no objection to people renouncing worldly pleasures en masse even for a day to honour someone. What we object to is the use of force or the threat of using force to get people renounce worldly pleasures at someone else's will. The Buddha has equivocally asked people to follow the dhamma on their own conviction. What these groups are doing is bringing the noble religion into disrepute. It is not the protection and preservation of Buddhism these people are after. If so, they would not resort to such un-Buddhist practices. They have a different agenda. Their interests are different. It is necessary for the people to understand their real motives and objectives. As Lenin said nearly a century ago, " People always have been foolish victims of deception and self-deception in politics and they always will be until they have learnt to seek out the interests of some class or other behind all moral, religious, political and social phrases, declarations and premises." These people represent a religious fundamentalism that would tear asunder our entire social fabric and destroy our century old civilization based on tolerance and peaceful co-existence of diverse cultures. The earlier this lunacy is stopped the better for the country. Managing migration In the globalised world today unprecedented migration has become the order of the day. There is two-way traffic between the developed and the developing countries. The bulk of the traffic is, however, from the developing to the developed world. The influx of migrants has even caused social and political problems in the host countries with certain marginalised sections in the host countries turning hostile towards the migrants. Migration is useful both to the host country and the country of origin of the migrants. While remittances of migrants help ease foreign exchange constraints and help development in the home countries, migrants often bring skilled and semi-skilled labour that is in short supply in the host country. Migration is not a temporary phenomenon. It is going to stay for some time. Therefore, it is essential to manage migration and provide essential facilities to migrants so that both home and host countries could have optimum benefits. This was one of the concerns of the International Migrants Day, which was celebrated yesterday. As Brunson McKinley, Director General of International Organization for Migration said, "the goal for the international community is to explore ways in which the value of migration can be maximised." |
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