Focusing on social values and Oruwala shooting

Monday’s shooting of a nightclub owner at Oruwala, Athurugiriya one begs the question whether Sri Lankans are safe on this island? The prominent nightclub owner and another person received fatal injuries when two gunmen stormed in, opened fire and disrupted the opening ceremony of a tattoo shop. Several others were injured. All this happened when the country boasts of a ‘Yukthiya’ operation being in full force; where the police are cleansing the society of criminal activities.   

We need to learn to live in society and conduct ourselves in a manner, so that we don’t inconvenience the other. Luckily, that day, no outsiders were caught in the crossfire. If the shooting happened out on the road the number of casualties would have been more. Dear Minister of Public Security, what have you got to say to all this?   

We come to hear of old stories, from our grandparents, where certain villages and even towns in the suburbs were at times not very safe to travel to in the night. This was because of unlawful activities taking place there. But over the years such places have developed into being highly residential areas. And the generation taking over the baton from the not-so-good parents-involved in nefarious activities-have now embraced a civilized way of life. But this is not the case with the underworld. The underworld still thrives; thanks to the connection its members have with lawmakers.   

Much of these criminal activities can be eliminated if people are taught from a young age to think about the ‘other’. The importance of national and religious unity must be taught to children while they are inside classrooms. After the Easter Sunday carnage, children in some schools were afraid to sit next to another child belonging to a different religion and occupy a seat inside the same classroom. This is why the National Movement for Social Justice presented a set of recommendations to Parliament in 2019 which were aimed at ensuring communal and religious harmony in Sri Lanka. These proposals were named in a document titled ‘Diyawanna Declaration’. The National Movement for Social Justice is led by former Speaker of the Parliament Karu Jayasuriya.   

May be all religions have collectively failed to discipline ‘man’. The Diyawanna Declaration states that instead of the subject called divinity, which focuses only on religion, its syllabus should be expanded to include both religion and good values. Students must be educated on all religions existing; just to get a feel about how others think.   

Schools also must include a quota to accommodate students who are not represented by the majority religion and ethnic community. Even in schools there must be that sense of being included; even if you’re notorious. This is because teachers will always entertain the thought that a ‘troublesome’ student would one day turn around and become somebody worthy of stepping into society and being employed.   

In this concept of instilling discipline in society, we must raise the question whether ‘Sunday Schools’ which are operating serve a purpose? If these schools are instilling values into members of the public from a tender age how can there be so much violence in society?   

On Thursday (July 11), following the shooting in Oruwala, a representative of the Opposition members in Parliament questioned as to why Sri Lanka has become a very unsafe country. These are times when a fair section of the voting public opine that only the educated must get an opportunity to be the people’s representatives in Parliament. There are of course others who believe that those in Parliament must reflect a cross-section of the society.   

We have read enough newspaper reports over the years where lawmakers have made the news due to their connections with the underworld and criminals. This writer is of the opinion that the minister for national security cannot go bumping off criminals and must consider putting them through a course of rehabilitation. Like with patients who are engaged in a battle with life and death wish for a second chance at life, so do ‘criminals’.