28 March, 2024

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Children Under Threat; The President Cannot Be Proud’

By Malinda Seneviratne –

Malinda Seneviratne

Not too long after the historic defeat of the LTTE, President Mahinda Rajapaksa made a claim. He said ‘parapuraka aadambara thaaththa mamai’ (I am the proud father of an entire generation).
The claim was not based on an opinion poll.  And yet, both resonated well with the general public, considering the context.  He had, after all, presided over and given political direction to secure what was thought to be impossible to obtain.  And again, as is usually the case, as time went by, the claims and especially the second, were lampooned.  Political fortunes are never constant; there are ups and downs, missteps and slips.

But, if the President was metaphorically at least ‘father’, then citizen is child, and not citizen is as much ‘child’ as children themselves.  The defeat of terrorism reinstated the right of child to be child.  It also effectively removed doubt, fear and foreboding from the minds of parents.  They were assured that their children would be safe from exploding devices planted by terrorists.  They could rest easy knowing that their children would not be abducted and forced into combat operations by terrorists.  That was then, i.e. in the heady days following victory.

This is no.  And today’s is a story of different vulnerabilities producing yet again doubt, fear and foreboding.  Child rape.  The Ministry of Child Development has received a whopping 21,507 complaints regarding child abuse, of which 2,323 were found to be true.  Typically, though, most abuse incidents go unreported because the perpetrators happen to be close relatives or figures of authority.  Children, out of fear and also due to threat of retribution, tend to remain silent and submit to the horror again and again.

The President cannot look after all children.  Parents need to be vigilant.  Teachers need to educate.  The media has a role to play.  It is our collective future we are talking about here.  If we do nothing, we will produce a generation where a significant number would carry psychological scars which could have unimaginable consequences not just for the victims, but society in general.

Where are the laws?  Where is the enforcement?  Why is it that we use rape incidents as top stories on the front page of newspapers, push arrests into Page 3 and shove convictions into the made-for-forgetting small print of Page 12?  In other words, it’s our baby, our collective child who is under threat here.
Parents and children should know what can happen, how to identify potential risks and take preventive measures.  The perpetrators must be punished.  An online poll carried out by www.nation.lk threw up some numbers that indicate the extent of public anger.  Eighty percent demanded death penalty for those found guilty of rape which 20% suggested ‘Life imprisonment with the possibility of parole and psychological treatment’.  The ethics of capital punishment is another debate, but what this shows is that rape stands with the most violent of crimes.

Disturbing too is the fact that several rape cases, including child-rape, have implicated elected representatives.  How did these people secure nominations to run for office?’  Clearly the screening system is either faulty or the screeners incompetent or else similarly guilty or else the system turns saints into rapists.  Not all, of course, but ‘some’ and even ‘one’ is one too many.  Tragically, these very scoundrels graduate from being members of local government authorities to provincial councilors and parliamentarians.

Power gives license to do wrong in situations where independent law enforcing processes are absent.  This is why the Government and in particular the President needs to work towards correcting the institutional flaws that make for such abuse.  It is not enough, in other words, to educate the public.
It is a sad indictment on our political culture when we look at a politician’s face and are forced to see a rapist’s signature on it simply because prevention is better than cure.

The President cannot be proud.  None of us can be proud.  The President has openly expressed displeasure about the operations of politicians, especially in Tangalle.  He can begin by weeding out the monsters from nomination lists.  He must, sooner rather than later, admit that the law is full of holes and work with the Parliament to plug those holes.  Our children, their childhood and their future are all falling through these.  It is hurting like hell.

The nation Editor’s blog

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Latest comments

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    Adambara Thaththey, is your Putha the Hambanthota Pradesheeiya Sabah Chairman who killed the Brit on Christmas eve still serving in his post? Then your other Putha Duminda who killed his own brother now roaming the Hospital in Singapore visiting other patients, why is he not coming home? As for your daughter Hirunika there is no problem now for your son Duminda to return, as she is not interested in him further.

    Yet this writer Malinda Seneviratne says, ‘Where are the laws? Where is the enforcement? Why is it that we use rape incidents as top stories on the front page of newspapers, push arrests into Page 3 and shove convictions into the made-for-forgetting small print of Page 12? In other words, it’s our baby, our collective child who is under threat here’.

    Yours,
    Disobedient Bastard of a Son.

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    Most of our politicians show a lack of respect, lack proper education and accountability. They recevie their power from the people to work for the people, but it is not a licence to abuse it.Good Luck!

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    Most of our politicians show a lack of respect, lack proper education and accountability. They receive their power from the people to work for the people, but it is not a licence to abuse it.Good Luck!

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    I will renew my plea for this website to desist from printing blatant propaganda from this sycophantic twerp who is an EMPLOYEE, LITERALLY, of the Rajapaksa family as Editor-in-Chief of The Nation

    His level of fraudulent exposition and attempted journalistic sleight of hand is beyond description.

    The only real justice that can be meted out to his type is that they become victims of the total breakdown of the rule of law that they have, in so many ways, actively encouraged. However, that kind of justice only exists in heaven, unfortunately.

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    Thank you, Malinda, for this article.

    The problem of rape and sexual abuse of children (and women, and even men) is a global problem. It is a serious problem in Australia, where I live, where paedophile rings are protected by corrupt elements in the police, judiciary and medical profession (notably the psychiatry profession which claims to be able to ‘treat’ these people with drugs or ‘psychotherapy’, thus subverting justice).

    According to the law, people who sexually assault children should be imprisoned for life, with no chance of parole. In Sri Lanka, and other countries where the death penalty is applicable, I agree with the 80 percent of the population who believe that these monsters should be executed for their crimes.

    As for the abhorrent comments by “anti-boru” and “gamini”, those who protect and defend paedophiles and abusers of children are guilty of being accomplices to this terrible scourge of the modern world.

    I know, having been schooled in Trinity College and the Anglican Boys Grammar school in Brisbane, that the sexual abuse of boys (including ‘grooming them’ for homosexual activities) has been institutionalized in the Church Schools for decades (if not longer). The perpetrators of these crimes have enjoyed impunity for too long. Much too long.

    It is true that the victims of these crimes rarely come forward with their stories. There are many reasons for this. Sometimes they believe they are “in love” with their abusers. Sometimes they are afraid of being disbelieved, or fearful of the abusers (especially if they are older members of their own family). Sometimes they are too ashamed to talk about it, or even think about it. Sometimes, they think that it is “normal” to have “anal intercourse” (they used to call it “cupping” when I was in Trinity College, Kandy, in the 1960s and 1970s.

    In the Anglican Boys Grammar School in Brisbane, where I attended year 11 and 12, there was a monstrous paedophile ring active, particularly in the sporting areas (Rugby Football especially). Though one teacher was arrested, after media reports, the rest of the paedophile ring has not been apprehended, to this day.

    My own research into these crimes implicates a number of Masonic organizations in this physical and sexual abuse of children. Specifically, Rotary Club, Lions Club and various “Churches” are implicated in the ritual abuse of children. These Churches include, especially, the Anglican, Methodist, Baptist and Catholic Churches and the “Church” of Scientology.

    Please see my recent postings on Facebook, regarding sexual abuse of children by the (American) Church of Scientology…some of the truth about this criminal organization is emerging on You Tube. But the mainstream media has remained silent on the issue. Thanks to Colombo Telegraph for bringing this ghastly problem to greater public awareness. It’s certainly not the fault of President Rajapaksa, though. These abusers of children are devious, secretive, evil and Machiavellian, and, as I said, it is a problem around the world, especially in Australia, Germany, Holland and Scandinavia, but also in the UK, USA, Japan, Singapore, Canada, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Philippines and Thailand.

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    Romesh can you share some of your medication with Malinda?

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    Severe punishment for rapists is a good thing but must be accompanied with equally severe punishment must be meted out those who abuse the law. But capital punishment is going too far, if only, because that type of punishment cannot be reversed when the conviction is found to be based on false evidence. Let us not even go into the ethics of a government murdering a murderer if it is unacceptable for a government to rape a rapist.

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