By Harendra De Silva –

Vidyajyothi Prof. Harendra de Silva

Talk of the day at every level is about the bleak future of our blessed country! “Our economy is way beyond repair!” Health standards once a proud asset is worse than in some other poorer countries. Standards of Education again another strong point is in question! The most worrying is the breakdown of humanity and issues in relation to social behaviour.

The behaviour of a few doctors and ethics is the most appalling, while the conduct of trade union leaders flouting all norms and their audacity when questioned is rather frightening. It is true that we all would like our immediate family members vaccinated! I am sure all doctors get calls from friends and relatives “How can we get the vaccine?” It is difficult to explain our inability and ethics to them. However, if it is done at the expense of other health worker’s families, under fraudulent names is hypocrisy that shames the ethics of Hippocrates! The accuracy of the Unawatuna scandal yesterday cannot be determined! At least one person I know had checked the expiry date and it was the 4^th June 3 days after expiry! I agree that practically it may not make a difference, but was it the reason why there was a huge rush to Unawatuna? It is not to blame anyone but demonstrate erosion of ethics whether justified or not! In a state of insecurity, where everything from food, jobs, money, vaccines and life itself is at stake, those who have the best chance of survival are those with money, power and connections. A situation of “survival of the fittest” surfaces. Instead of ‘fight or flight’, impunity of corruption raises its head. When vaccines are to be given it should be on a predetermined protocol often with WHO guidance. It appears that the SEAR ITAG (South-East Asia Regional Technical Advisory Group on Immunization) has been totally cold shouldered by the unprofessional conduct of local ‘experts’ together with the non-medical army. The protocol continuously changes direction with the winds of power and politics and is not even close to WHO guidelines. There are insinuations of favoritism to the rich and powerful including bribery as was the Unawatuna case! The responsibility is mainly in the hands of the Ministry of Health who should have been ethical in sticking to protocols and therefore accountable. The standard protocols laid down in immunization of children is laudable in the same ministry with proper monitoring and accountability! But this process is now in shambles with predicted epidemics of childhood diseases looming in darkness!  However, with the appearance of insecurity in an unstable country, monitoring and accountability has become dubious! WHY? Is it Insecurity, Survival, money and prospects of promotions!! The Tsunami killed 30,000 + in a few minutes. The predicted death rates due to Covid are similar but in 20 months!

Transparency and Accountability: if the norms of tenders, that have several independent assessors are bypassed on the pretext of an emergency there would be an absence of monitoring based on quality of performance, international prices, competing prices etc. Now, accountability becomes a question in the absence of monitoring thereby opening doors of corruption. Even if corruption does not occur, lack of transparency makes people perceive it as ‘shrouded in a shadow of doubt’.

Society can be considered an intricately woven precious social fabric especially when multiple and different threads hold it together, which can be in tatters in seconds, akin to a stalker bird destroying a tailor bird’s nest that has been painstakingly woven for days! Think about these ‘stalkers’! It could be a majestic eagle or a common crow! But It starts with the Majestics, the crows follow suit just for the sake of following the leader or by instability of hunger and greed. Social collapse is due to lack of a long-term vision of leaders both in government and opposition. It is catalyzed by them through a vehicle called the media manipulated for short-sighted vision of either maintaining power or grabbing power with tagged agendas such as wealth!

This ‘vision’ can be made positive and long term using the same medium the media, such as; in N. Zealand, where the thinking and behavior of leaders made the country united to defeat the threat of Corona! In the Meantime, short term agenda of maintaining Power by the populist leader Trump, through particular media networks broke the social network with absolute impunity by the people with defiance that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. We cannot blame society which acts as a ‘herd’ that functions on emotions evoked from childhood inputs of indoctrination ranging from Racism and fear of survival, magic to trauma embedded in the hypothalamus as opposed to the forebrain. If we are brought up with the belief in supernatural powers rather than cause and effect logic and evidence-based science akin to Hethu Pala Dharma (හේතුඵල ධර්ම), we would follow the use of Dhammika Peniya rather than trust masks, sanitizers or vaccines. Again, the leadership with the help of the media often ‘herds’ the hypothalamic driven people to spend time and money for an illusion of a magical solution, thereby momentarily stabilizing society by distracting them from the real issues!

It would be the coordinated use of forebrains of the leadership including professionals who could either manipulate negatively or positively for a negative or positive social response! What do you expect from so called professionals who are tagged with political agendas or insane affiliations to supernatural deities like Natha, Ravana or Kali? Some of them have true convictions through delusions and hallucinations of pathological insanity, while others craftily manipulate an uneducated herd that has similar traits to maintain power! Trump nearly succeeded!

Why can’t we forget and put aside differences and ego, put all our resources together to combat the epidemic? You may call me crazy, to disregard corruption, impunity and violence to help ‘them’ out! Remember, we are ‘helping’ not a perceived corrupt government but the people (who may also be corrupt)! At the beginning of the epidemic we saw the JVP spending their resources to stitch masks? Has it stopped? I have not seen any opposition members doing anything positive to help the people! At present we keep on calling the main herds as baiyyas and Toyyas and pulling each other’s legs. Especially the government prevents anyone whom they perceive as toyyas from advising government? Is it because they are insecure and worry about help/advise offered by anyone considered a toyya!? What a pathetic situation!!

The opposition is beating war drums, spending vast amounts of money and time on composing the tune, ‘we are coming to power soon! the end is near!’ Has anyone including leaders of the opposition parties thought of the loss of life and grievances of the common man? Of course, you keep the common man occupied on their smart phones by playing rhythms of power; again, the same process of manipulating the common man’s hypothalamus, getting the herd ready to topple the government??? Ironically you are using the same herd with changing affiliations! Many of the 69 lakhs are in denial, or pretend while some are demented!

Why can’t the opposition demand transparency, educate the people what it is! What is accountability? The role of the judiciary to reduce corruption and impunity, instead of the mud-slinging posts in a negative way! The same media can be used positively. What is important is to sensitize the public instead of ‘sensationalization’! at least a small percentage? Of-course the media may have conflicts of interests and money in mind?

We are not transparent to the public on Covid data professionally. Insist that the independent professionals give transparent data to give a picture of the magnitude of the problem? This is in comparison to India where the government website gives all the data to the public. Why is there a parliament? Is the opposition interested only in bashing ministers? By all means; but concentrate on transparency of Covid medical data, details of vaccines, including prices paid for the public to see. Take an example from India. How transparent the data is? https://www.mygov.in/covid-19

This is condensed data from the worldometer on Covid not Government data! (8/6/21) https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

The public should be aware of more data like in the Indian website including age specific morbidity and mortality rates. It is important to realize that India has done far more tests per 1 million population than us! The less tests we do the less we diagnose, and therefore more threat of spread. Any idiot would understand it! Why are we behaving like an Ostrich?

Think how individually or as a group you may chip in by promoting prevention of spread or preventing deaths in hospitals!

After all the opposition has to use the same people to herd for success and don’t forget different degrees of corruption during your terms in office! Corruption did not come overnight! It was the removal of monitoring, transparency, ignoring impunity and accountability that has led us to be in this extreme state! Uniting does not mean that we condone corruption and impunity! Uniting to defeat a common enemy is first in the agenda. After that you may kill each other!?