Sins that become sweet

Wasantha Priya Ramanayake Translated by A A M Nizam

Gnanasunderam Kuhanathan is a 59-years-old media personnel. He is a father of five. Four of them are males. This family meets their day-to-day needs with the help of the salary being received by Kuhanathan.

When the value of some media personnel in Colombo is estimated for over half a lakh of rupees, persons such as Kuhanathan who have served in the newspaper industry for over 30 years gets only a meagre salary. Nevertheless he came to the Uthayan newspaper office a few days ago, just to carry out his normal work and then to return home. But Kuhanathan had to go unconscious to the ICU of the Jaffna Hospital.

The reason for this was that he was subjected to a fatal assault. It was due to a miracle that the life of this innocent person, like a father, was saved. It seems that persons like terrorists are still in Jaffna who could get self-satisfaction by assaulting a feeble elderly person like Kuhanathan with iron rods. But no one knows who they are. Yet those responsible for this assault have not been taken into custody. This assault has also fallen into the category of pending cases remaining in investigation status with the security apparatus.

Media personnel

As per the information available, the investigations of the security forces have not been ceased on this matter. In the South, there are instances when assaults such as this were reported the victim was requested to find his own assailants.

Our Police which earned the accolades of international security services for their feat in finding the terrorists of the North, have failed yet to apprehend the suspects of this assault. But the current Inspector General of Police, under the instructions of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is making every effort to apprehend the suspects. Similarly investigations relating to assaults of media personnel such as Upali Tennekoon and Keith Noyahr have not closed yet.

The assault on Gnanasunderam Kuhanathan was marketed by the media in the usual manner. Photographs relating to the demonstrations may have been highly marketed in the human rights sector. There is nothing wrong about demonstrations. But Kuhanathan who received injuries and received treatment at the ICU in the Jaffna hospital went back to his house by public transport. We do not even know that those who highly marketed the incident forgot at least to arrange a vehicle for his transport. Work of every sector in this country is being done in a similar manner. The physically feeble Kuhanathan will return to his normal work after his wounds are healed. The incident relating to him will become just another incident to the country.

Opposition opinions

Normally media freedom in a country is decided on the will of the people who provide capital for media institutions. This capital investment is common to both state and private sectors. The policy of state institutions is that a change has to take place on any day in accordance with the people’s mandate. But the private media has no such limitation. In any country for the progress of the media industry it needs readers and contributors. For that it requires marketing of news, opposition opinions, sensation etc. It is after this the media caters to the responsibility of highlighting the opinions of people’s leaders, becoming a bridge between the people and the government.

It seems that the Uthayan newspaper also does not highlight the massive development work that is being carried out in Jaffna. It is indeed the responsibility of the media operating in the North to enlighten the people about the infrastructure development being carried out in the North especially after a lapse of 30 years. Also it is the responsibility of Tamil media as well, similar to the Sinhala media, to allay the suspicions and open up the road for national reconciliation. Maintaining of chauvinism cannot be justified. We can see how the Uthayan will steer its media culture when the Tamil National Alliance will take over the administration of the Pradeshiya Sabhas in the Northern Province shortly.

Corruption and malpractices

Media personnel like Gnanasunderam Kuhanathan is innocent on these matters. The People’s Daily newspaper of China is a government publication. The editor of this newspaper is a politbureau member of the Chinese Communist Party and also a member of the Central Committee of the party. Nevertheless the People’s Daily criticizes the Chinese government whenever it becomes necessary. It reveals corruption and malpractices in the public institutions. It is like a secret service for the Chinese government. It seems that in our country there is no attempt yet to think positively in this way.

In an era where citizen’s media art is being widely developed through the private websites, no media can hide anything. Similarly there is no possibility of taking legal action against some websites which carry out a barrage of fallacious propaganda and character assassinations. The reason for this is that these websites operate from overseas countries. The media personnel should not get hunted for these things. There should be no room for such things. The media sector is in such a confused situation today. Therefore, there is a need for a positive development.

The people generally do not doubt that the government has any link with the assault of Gnanasunderam Kuhanathan as in some other cases. But there may be a reason for hiding something for someone. We had an era in which the Head of State advised the people to find their own security. It is not like that today. It was completely fulfilling the overall responsibility of the government for the security of the people that the security forces made the victory of the 30 years of war by sacrificing their life and limb. Crimes in a country takes place whether there is terrorism or not. It becomes the government’s responsibility to apprehend these criminals and establishing law and order.

LTTE terrorism

It is not prudent for a government to allow crimes to increase without any hindrance. It is because this government knows this responsibility very well it vanquished the LTTE terrorism. The government implements its responsibility through the Police and the Civil Defence Units. Several millions of public funds are spent annually for the maintenance of these Units. If they do not perform their responsibilities properly then their lapse of the responsibility gets credited to the government.

It is the Opposition parties that credit this lapse to the government. That is how the Opposition parties work. There are no countries in the democratic world in which the Opposition Leader attempts to live with the assistance of the government. Although the main Opposition party in this country is somewhat dormant at present it will not remain so every day.

To the lot of killings, crimes, contaminated petrol, hedging, proscribed medicines for which it has become difficult to find the culprits responsible, substandard cement has also got added to the list. But none of these things has become the ground for raising a people’s voice against the government. The Kaduwela electorate was won by the United People’s Freedom Alliance in the last general election by a majority of over 52,000 votes. But in the recent Local Government elections it has won the electorate with a majority of several thousand more than that number. There is no doubt that such a victory was able to be obtained in a place like Kaduwela which is blend of urban and rural composition mainly due to the personal popularity of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Therefore the government’s popularity has not diminished because of the popularity of the President. This is the common argument being presented by some against criticisms by the Opposition.

In the meantime there is an opinion among the people and the media sector that some people are indulging in faults taking cover under the popular image of the President. It is not prudent for the government to allow this opinion to get aggravated.

The sins become sweet when being in the government. The 17 years of UNP administration also thought in this way. It started falling with the shocks that started in 1993. During those days too people remained silent as they were unmindful of fear and corruption. Then it was unknowingly that the pot got filled by getting drop by drop added to it. It would be sensible for the government to think about these matters now itself.