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Consequences of brutal ragging

The general trend in this country is to use violence on our fellow countrymen for any reason. Our police force has earned international infamy for its third-degree methods. The so-called high-society folks of Colombo use armed bodyguards to mete out punishment even to others of their own strata if they dare argue with them.

And of course our universities are also infamous for the brutal ragging they inflict on the new entrants.

In this context, twenty-three year old Ovitigala Vithanage Samantha, the third year Commerce student from the Sri Jayawardhanapura University is a hero. He was among a responsible group of seniors who opposed brutal ragging on campus, bucking what appears to be a national trend towards violence.

But what Samantha received for his bravery was shocking. He and other anti-ragging seniors were the victims of a vicious attack by a gang of fellow seniors in full view of witnesses including a University staff member. Samantha died a day later and Police are now investigating the death as a murder, as it should be.

The "rag" is supposed to be a way for the seniors and freshmen of a university to get to know one another. Initiation ceremonies as it were to "break the ice." Unfortunately that tradition is dead on our campuses. The rag has become a chance for sadistic seniors to torture newcomers and humiliate them. Seniors who have some hang-ups about society in general and certain schools or social levels in particular have used the rag to vent their frustrations. The result has been the brutalisation of some new entrants. Some have been maimed for life, others permanently psychologically scarred and a few driven to suicide.

In the past few years there has been a contra movement in the universities, which has opposed such brutal ragging. The leaders of this movement have been a section of the students who want decency and humanity brought back to university life. They have banded together to protect newcomers and this has made campus life more enjoyable for many students.

However a group of seniors continue to follow this sadistic practise on some campuses and the few who stand up to this have become their enemies.

Our university students enter campuses through a highly competitive, academic battle, which is intended to choose the best and the brightest. If this process does discover students who actually have brains they must be able to understand that the education, which they get "free" costs the nation a lot of money. The nation has to pay a high cost for every moment he or she spends in the university, whether he studies or play truant. Certainly the country cannot afford to cough up money for students to do else other than follow the university curricula.

That they want to brutalize newcomers and then beat those who stand up against it to death has to be condemned in the strongest terms.

There is also another dimension to the Jayawardhanapura tragedy that needs comment. Members of the Independent Students body have accused the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna of being responsible for the violent conduct of the students on Friday. This is a very serious accusation as the JVP is a recognised political party with representation in parliament.

The nation's memory cannot be so short that it has forgotten the terrorist policy followed by the JVP for many decades. Across the country there are people whose loved ones were killed by JVP decree when they launched their two revolutions against the state. But now they have joined the democratic mainstream and claim to be the voice of the oppressed.

However their university students union seems to be still locked into a fascistic mental state where they are intolerant of any other voice. It has also lost its credentials to be the voice of the oppressed if it beats to death a young man who wanted to protect the weak. Is this the policy of the JVP on campus where ostensibly it is breeding a new leadership for the party and the country?

The JVP has officially denied that it is involved in the death of Samantha. However if it's union members have anything to do with it, then it must conduct an internal inquiry and expel them. Otherwise it will be concluded that the JVP is still a party that continues to follow terrorist practices although it is in the garb of a democratic party.

Ovitigala Samantha's parents and loved ones are grieving today over the death of their son. We grieve too, over the death of yet another young life in this land of ours. But we are sadder that it had to be of a young man who stood up for the right thing, to rid this country of it's culture of violence.

Let's not forget Samantha and his ideals, and let's also ensure his killers do not go unpunished.

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