On bystanders and ‘bystanding’

I saw a ‘white van abduction’ take place around midnight on February 24, 2007. The ‘victim’ was Raja Pulendun, brother-in-law of Senior Superintendent of Police, Colombo (Crimes Division), Sarath Lugoda, it was later learnt. This happened at the point where Elvitigala Mawatha (Baseline Road) hits the High Level Road. The vehicle in which I was travelling was approaching the traffic lights when we noticed a red car ahead of us and a white van parked at an awkward angle in front of it.

It all happened within a matter of seconds. About five men got out of the van and tried to open the door of the car. It was clearly locked. The men then broke the shutter, opened the door, pulled the man out and bundled him into the van. There was some deliberation whether or not to take the car, but in the end they left it there, took a U-turn and sped off towards Nugegoda.

Legal process

Where were we? The moment we saw the men get out of the van, my friend who was driving, stopped the car and got out, in the very instant that I did. The men who came in the van told us to go away. My friend did not move, and neither did I. It was all over within 60 seconds. They left. The ‘abductee’ was ‘released’ a couple of days later.

‘These people are picked up to get information. The legal process takes so long than while it’s moving any number of bombs can be set off. Many can die. What would you say to the families of those victims?’

I didn’t have an answer and I told him so, adding that it still disturbed me.

Was I a ‘by-stander’? Was I being a decent citizen? Did I fail in my civic duties? I am not sure either way. There have been situations where I was more than a by-stander; occasions when not being just a witness helped and occasions when it didn’t make a difference.

I am thinking of bystanders and ‘bystanding’ because my friend Fazli Sameer passed on to me this story that left me (like others I am sure) horrified.

This is what he said: ‘This morning AC360 program on CNN was showing an incident in the USA where a mugger tried to attack a lady and another hobo who was sitting on the sidewalk nearby on the street came forward to protect her and was stabbed by the mugger who then ran away.

Bystander syndrome

The lady was saved but the poor hobo was lying on the ground helpless. Many people walked by, some even stepping over the hobo, and no one cared to call the cops or even the ambulance.

An hour passed and the Hobo died.’ The analysis, Fazli said, focused on what’s now being called the Bystander syndrome. Fazli made an interesting observation: ‘What struck me, while watching the program, was that this syndrome also extends to many other arenas in life such as politics, society, communal harmony etc etc.

The low voter turnout at the recent General Election could also be classified as an eventuality of this kind of syndrome. Kind of “I couldn’t care less” attitude. Or “what difference will it make?”

The law does not require us to act. We can step over a dying man if his body is obstructing us, after perhaps asking the man politely a couple of times ‘Hey, can you move please?’ I do remember a Seinfeld episode where Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine are booked for not doing anything when they saw a fellow citizen being mugged.

An obscure local law was cited when they were arrested. I am not sure if such laws exist or not, but by and large it all boils down to a matter of conscience doesn’t it?

We are not a look-the-other-way society. If that were the case we wouldn’t be living in a country that turns into a dansela (a free-market in the truest sense of the word!) twice a year.

If that were the case we would not have recovered from the tsunami; instead we would have gone the way of those terrible places in the USA devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Our ‘New Years’ are made of giving, of sharing, regardless of our ethnic identity or religious persuasion.

Mental patient

And yet, we did see a mental patient (this was not known at the time, but still...) being forced to drown by some irate individuals after he threw some stones at a passing train. We are also a nation which saw and said nothing when 20,000 young people were killed within a few weeks in April 1971 and when 60,000 were slaughtered in 88-89. As Gamini Haththotuwegama, the irreverent street theatre artist, poet, critic and teacher put it in one of his songs, amu amuwe goda gehuwa, wala nodamaa pilissuwa....esi piya nohela oba dutuwa...mama dutuwa....dena dena apa atharin nopenee giya (They were piled one on top of the other alive, they were all burnt....and we looked on with unblinking eyes and they...they disappeared from our lives...with our knowledge....with our knowledge).

We were helpless. The law didn’t require us to say a word, to do a thing. Those who did were also tortured. Murdered. There were no ‘human rights eyes’ back then. And eyes anyway are not as innocent as they can be. They see some, they refuse to see some. So too hearts. Some persuade arm to be raised, voice to be awakened; some do not. We are not stopped by the law nor are we encouraged by it.

Am I my brother’s keeper? No one said I should be. But that hobo who died, that’s my brother isn’t he? And all those who stepped over his dying body they too are my brothers, aren’t they? The woman who was about to be mugged, was she not my sister? Who died that day? Was it some unknown hobo? Was he the saviour come again, and crucified yet once again? Did he die for my sins or/and yours? How does one love one’s neighbour as oneself? What are the prerogatives of love? Can we wish all beings are happy and look the other way when they need our help, our hand, our word, our glance?

Renton de Alwis put it this way the other day: ‘My country owes me nothing and I owe her all. I yearn for the day when Judge Azadak’s words ‘What there is, shall belong to those who are good for it’ will be a reality in our Motherland. Then we can all be truly proud Sri Lankans. We owe it to her to make it so...don’t count on others, it’s about you and me...’ Country can be replaced with so many things: province, neighbourhood, community, workplace etc etc.

Fazli Sameer, as I write, is having a cataract operation. It’s his right eye. He lost his left eye at the age of 12 playing cricket at Royal College in the 1960s, he tells me. He’s seen a lot with that remaining eye over the past 40 plus years. What have we seen with ours and what has that ‘seeing’ prompted us to do? I am going to think about this as I wish my friend a safe operation, good health and many more years of seeing.

[email protected]