Is the media society's bane or gain?

By Manjula FERNANDO

Ven. Prof.Bellanwila Wimalaratana Anunayake Thera, Chancellor of Sri Jayawardenapura University disputed that religion has failed in humanizing society, arguing that a whole host of factors were responsible for the erosion of moral ethics witnessed today among the people.

Apparent display of lawlessness by state officials and the reckless behaviour of the media was cited as principal reasons for the present state of affairs, where the country has seen a sudden surge in criminal activities and child abuse cases.

The Anunayake Thera said "You cannot point a finger at one particular institution for the erosion of moral ethics that we witness in our society today."

"Our society has changed, we are in a consumer-driven society. People has become buyers and sellers. Everything has a market value now. We put a price even to our moral behaviour according to this concept. As a consequence a dangerous trend has set in. A lot of unwholly things flow into society unfiltered."

"At the same time, the Sangha society has also been affected by the winds of change. Their way of behaviour has been manipulated by the market economy. How did these monks become popular stars? Through the media! You are responsible for this."

The following are the excerpts of the interview:

I cannot totally agree with the notion that religion has failed in this country. Religion is not the only force or responsible institution that can stop child abuse or other kinds of immoral behaviour among the people. There are many other institutions in society that contribute to uplift moral ethics.

Religion does play a role by their preaching and other activities to make people understand the consequences of 'inhuman behaviour' and the benefits of moral behaviour. We guide them in Dhamma schools and through Poya day and other sermons. But you cannot make people 100 percent crime-free through religious teaching.

Human nature is such that it is easier to do unwholesome actions than wholesome actions. The Buddha said, 'Sukarani Asaduni' meaning it is easy to indulge in bad behaviour. That is the nature of society anywhere, not just in Sri Lanka. But 90 percent of the people behave in an orderly manner. There are always about 10 percent of people in any society who behave in an undesirable manner. This is true for the past, present and the future. But the bad gets highlighted often.

Crime makes popular 'news'. Such news circulated everyday gives the notion that everyone is bad. But the vast majority are not so. A family living a peaceful life is not news. If a husband and wife always quarrel and if their children commit crimes, that is news, that is the how people look at it.

Our society remains a better one, with the efforts and great service done by religion. Religion never encourage people to commit crime. Religion always encourages young and old, to become people of high moral standards.

Q:There is a strong conviction that people who visit temples, churches or the kovils are a fixed group and we need a program to attract those who stay away. How can we reach this group?

A: We cannot say every citizen of the country is religious. There are people who do not believe in any religion. We cannot make people religious by force. I don't agree with that idea. There are some people who are free thinkers.

There were groups earlier who converted people to their religion by force. The 'convertees' were given benefits and sometimes political power was used. But these forcefully converted people will never become genuine followers.

When we are born, we don't belong to any religion. Some religions perform rituals for the young to symbolize their entry. But in Buddhism we have no such rituals that binds them to the religion. We become Buddhists because our parents were Buddhists.

Most of the people in our country belong to a religion because their parents were followers of that particular religion - Buddhism, Islamism, Christianity and Hinduism and then learn to practice their teachings as we grow up.

People become better persons in society through understanding. There are people who don't like religious practices. We can get people to be genuine followers through understanding.

Q: Why do you think the education has failed in disciplining the society?

A: Education is an important mode in making disciplined citizens. We have free education in school. At the moment, we pay less attention to the aspect of making good citizens in school, we force children to focus on curriculum and super grades.

There is a Sinhala saying -'Guna Nena' - Guna is moral behaviour. Nena is knowledge. If we have both together that is deemed a complete education but we have completely neglected inculcating 'Guna' in our children.

Today children have no time to go to the temple and engage in religious activities. They are like horses running a race.

Q: Are you satisfied with the role of the Media?

A: Media has assumed a very powerful role in society now. From their toddler-days, children imitate what they see on media - especially electronic media. In earlier times, children learned a lot from parents and their grandparents. Buddhist children learned Jathaka stories, and other moral stories.

But now children from as early as 2 and half years, get addicted to cartoon programs on TV. They don't know who is Bodhisathva, or Sirisangabo - they talk about spiderman, batman and superman. These cartoons which do not uphold the values of moral behaviour take them to a violent fantasy world. They easily pick up the traits of arrogance.

When we were children, we were afraid of even touching a gun. But now children get guns as toys. As adults, would they be afraid to hold guns?

You cannot point a finger at one particular institution for the level of erosion of moral ethics that we witness in our society today.

Our society has changed, we are in a society that is consumer driven. People has become buyers and sellers. Everything has a market value now. We put a price even to our moral behaviour according to this concept.

As a consequence, a dangerous trend has set in. A lot of unwholly things flow into the society unfiltered.

Take for instance, blue films. You can find blue films everywhere. The police conduct raids occasionally, but yet they are freely available. Even young students can get hold of them with little effort.

The new technology seems to be encouraging this abnormal behaviour like child abuse.

We must get to the bottom of the issue, find as to what led to this situation in society. We can raid a blue film centre, a brothel house, but that is not the real remedy. It has to be studied why the people go after these things, are there any economic reasons, any psychological reasons, and find a remedy for the root causes.

Q: In your opinion who should take the leadership in this regard?

A: First and foremost, the Government must take the leadership. Because the government's duty is to maintain law and order in the country. Its job is not providing economic benefits, employment and other infrastructure facilities for society alone.

If there is no one to value this development, what is the use? If the country is full of people without moral behaviour they will destroy it.

Therefore the government must come out with some strategies for the creation of a better society. For example, strict enforcement of rules and regulations is a must to discipline an unruly society.

On the other hand, rules and regulations alone cannot solve the problem. The people who introduce the rules and regulations should be set on example to ordinary people. In our country rules don't apply to Ministers, Deputy Ministers, provincial ministers and Members of Parliament, but the ordinary citizens must abide by them. That is not acceptable.

Famous learned scholar, Dr. Adikaram, was the principal of Ananda Shastralaya, Kotte at one time. He imposed a rule compelling everyone - students as well as teachers - to be present in school before 7.30 am. If they got late, they were made to kneel for half an hour in the sun.

One day Dr. Adikaram got late for some reason. He too knelt down for half an hour, before he went into his office. If there is a rule, everyone should obey the rule. I think in our country, a very unfortunate thing is that the disregard for law by influential people. Given the leadership from the rulers, then the citizens will gradually follow. This is where we should start the cleansing process.

Then civil society leaders should come in. Irrespective of the religion and other differences, professionals like engineers, doctors, university dons and lawyers who are not fully involved in politics, should take leadership within their respective disciplines to control bad behaviour in society.

Education must play a leading role as well. But the changes effected by education will take sometime to be reflected in society. There the focus is on children. But the moral guidance received at school needs to be supplemented at home. It is not to say that religious leaders have little or no responsibility, their part of the duty is second to none but everything cannot be apportioned to religion.

Crime including child-abuse cases are closely connected to liquor and illicit drugs circulating in society. There is an increase in accidents, child abuse and other crimes due to drugs and various other illegal narcotics. Not only should drugs be controlled but the rulers must ensure strict enforcement of the law as a deterrent.

Q: There is an upcoming election. A call has been made to the voters to refrain from voting-in criminals and underworld characters. What is your opinion on this?

A: The political party is responsible for nominating members for elections. The people don't have a say when the nomination list is prepared. It is a polls tradition among Sri Lankan voters to choose the party instead of a particular member. When they select their party, criminals automatically gain entry, voters have no choice in relation to that.

The only way to prevent criminals and thugs grabbing power is to cross them out at the point of nominations. That responsibility lies with the party. If we had the earlier first-past-the-post voting system, the candidate had an electorate, the voters had the choice to select a better person. But that freedom is not found in the present electoral system.

Q: Of late we see many conflicts sprouting up within the 'Sasana'. Although they are not unique to Buddhism, the issue has become very grave. A lot of incidents such as that of Migettuwatte Sumitta, an alleged leader of a criminal gang, has been reported. Does this contribute to distancing people from temples and help fuel up anti Buddhist movements?

A: There can be monks who behave against Buddha's teachings or show questionable behaviour, engage in illegal activities from time to time. Even during the Buddha's time there were badly behaving disciples.

This is the reason for the Buddha to set out a disciplinary code. Buddhist monks were even accused of murders. That is a very negligible percentage.

We should take action against the accused monks, if and until they clear their names. His monkhood or respective position given by the particular 'Nikaya' should be suspended. The Asgiriya Chapter took action against this particular monk. He was holding a provincial Nayake post and it was suspended. This sort of action can be instituted.

At the same time the Sangha has also been affected by the winds of change. Their way of behaviour has been manipulated by the market economy. There are certain monks who ask for a rate to step in for a sermon.

I think in a way, the media is responsible for this. How did these monks become popular stars? Through the media of course. You are responsible for this. Some names get highlighted all the time, they are given priority.

The media creates an image that they are sermon-conducting 'genies'. The monks themselves think that they are marketable, like a commodity.

Even before Sobhitha Thera, there were highly respected monks who were very popular. But they never asked for a rate. Giving sermons has become highly commercialized now. But our heads of Nikayas cannot do anything to discipline wayward individuals.

We could have an all island Sangayana, with all the members of the Maha Sangha, to discuss where it has gone wrong and propose remedies, with the consent of Sangha.

Apart from that, we cannot make rules to control individuals who are going against the Buddha's teachings.

I blame media in part for creating a situation like this. The present day media is marketing Buddhism.