Crack the whip on plunderers

Amid the unsettling disclosures made in the COPE report with regard to the financial misdoings at some 229 state institutions, comes the eye-opening news that pillaging of this country's archaeological and cultural sites is continuing unabated. In fact, it could be said that the country is now confronted with an ugly rash of such 'treasure hunts' for ill-gotten gains.

Our page one lead story of yesterday laid bare the harsh facts in this connection. Over the past four months alone, more than 90 acts of vandalism and thievery have been reported from some of our cultural sites of inestimable worth. We have this on the authority of the Director General of the Department of Archaeology Dr Senarath Dissanayake and our hope is that the crisis would be addressed with a great sense of urgency by the state.

The frequency with which these so-called treasure hunts are occurring seems to suggest a creeping, intense and overwhelming avarice on the part of some sections for this country's treasured artefacts and other precious objects that symbolize the local people's cultural and spiritual ethos. In other words, the Sri Lankan soul is being savaged and vandalized in an unprecedented fury.

The theft of some precious artefacts at the Colombo Museum recently, pointed to the deplorable and unconscionable lengths to which this process of pillaging and plundering of our veritable national treasure trove has been unleashed. This ought to be a moment of burning shame for many and we register our deep anguish and sorrow at this uncurbed scramble for all that Sri Lanka considers precious and inseparable from her essential identity as a country with a centuries-long civilization.

Considered closely, the two forms of avaricious plunder, one highlighted by the COPE report and the other by the proliferating 'treasure hunts', could be found to be intimately intertwined. For, they spring from the same root of self-aggrandizing greed.

Overwhelming human avarice is nothing new but what seems to be relatively noteworthy currently is the seeming ease with which the plundering is occurring. Apparently, loop-holes for wrong-doing seem to be aplenty and there does not seem to be a substantial effort to install and implement a stringent accountability process. Besides, the possibility is great of influential sections being involved in these misdeeds. If so, this aspect must be probed and remedial action taken.

Whether it be wrong-doing in the state sector or the wanton pillage being unleashed at our archaeological sites, offenders seem to be gleefully exploiting an atmosphere of pervasive lassitude or a climate of relative disinterest on the part of whoever is responsible, to put things right. It is this sense that wrong-doers are going about their misdeeds without being checked, mostly, that is troubling to the more law-abiding sections of the public.

So, as we urge in our heading to this commentary, the whip must be cracked without any hesitation on wrong-doers and their shady doings. It is not our contention that this is not happening to some extent already, but more needs to be done to stem the alarming rot. Whereas, stringent accountability processes need to be enforced on the state sector, new laws need to be introduced, if necessary, and implemented firmly to contain the plundering of our artefacts. Apparently, there seems to be a rising demand for our artefacts and it would in order to conduct further investigations into this aspect of the problem.

It may be necessary to seek international assistance to research into and ascertain further information on possible overseas dimensions to this problem. It is no secret that our architectural and other treasured objects are clamoured for in some sections of the West. This is an area that needs close monitoring.

However, the bottom line is that there are many in this country who are prepared to even sell their veritable birthright for a mess of pottage. While, laws need to be enforced strongly and offenders in whatever sphere brought to justice, it is important to realize that avarice is growing to alarming lengths among some sections of our public. So ravenous is the yearning for a 'quick buck' that ethical constraints no longer seem to be effective. This touches on the spiritual side of the Lankan consciousness. Accordingly, the malaise of frenetic plunder is multidimensional and needs to be tackled on a multiplicity of levels.