By Laksiri Fernando –

Dr. Laksiri Fernando

Sri Lanka celebrated the International Children’s Day on 1 October with several events in Colombo with the participation of the new Prime Minister, Dr Harini Amarasuriya, and other officials related to children’s issues. Both the PM and the new President, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, issued commendable statements related to broad children’s issues, but the two issues that I am raising here now were not directly addressed.

One is the so much of Kunu Harupa (filthy language) used by the social media and online program personnel, and the other is the lack of a proper distinction made between ‘adults only’ material and other open material.

Let me take first the President’s press release for the day. It begins with the statement “The future belongs to our children.” Therefore, “Let’s dedicate ourselves to creating a better world for them.” Immediately thereafter, the statement identified eight significant challenges, focusing mainly on socio-economic issues, and commendably reports on “risks associated with substance abuse and technology misuse.” But these were not explained. What do we mean by ‘substance abuse’? I would consider some peoples’ intentional use of ‘Kunu Harupa’ as substance abuse.

The ‘technological misuse’ is similarly related to the breakdown of limitations between adult material and child material that is one I am focusing on today. It is not merely the use of technology, which is the culprit, but its misuse. This is high in urban areas than in villages. For this situation not only the teachers or the Ministry that is responsible, but also parents.      

There is of course a broader mission advocated in the President’s statement for children. One of them is to ‘free them from the ‘pressures of exam-focused education.’ Whether this is desirable, or practical would depend on the way this is implemented.

In the Prime Minister’s official statement, she opted to cover both the Children’s and Elders’ Day, a little bit confusing the two. Apparently, it was her first statement as the PM. Her speech at the ceremony held at the Nagananda International Buddhist University (NIBU) was much focused and motivational for school students as children. She argued that “Investing in our future means investing in our children.” This appears to be a common vision of the government which appeared both in the President’s and PM’s statements. In her written statement, the PM emphasized “We are committed to providing a high-quality, public education system that benefits every child in Sri Lanka.”

Most relevant to my theme was her statement that “Moreover, we strongly oppose all forms of physical and mental abuse directed at children, particularly within educational institutions.” Only qualification that I can make is that this is not limited to the educational institutions. Family, extended family, neighborhood, apparent friends can be culprits of child abuse. This I have experienced during my own childhood although I managed to resist them strongly and successfully.

I am referring to early 1950s where the situation was quite under control, in my opinion, compared to the present conditions. Under the present conditions, the children’s minds are largely abused before they are physically or sexually abused. During the Children’s Day celebrations at the NIBU, the DIG Renuka Jayasundara who oversees Child and Women Abuse, Investigation and Prevention Division of the Police mentioned that annually they have been receiving over 10,000 child abuse cases in recent times. This is apparently only a small part of the cases and most of the cases are not reported.

There was a time that Sri Lanka very clearly distinguished between adult material and open material. That time the main transmission was limited to films. The National Films Corporation used to do this job. Cinemas even used this as a propaganda measure to promote attendance. When a film was advertised as ‘adults only,’ obviously many people (men) used to flock around cinema halls! After the appearance of TV, teledramas and YouTube, this control has gone haywire. No one appears to do this job.

Let me give you one recent example. I was extremely surprised to see, otherwise socially responsible Swarnewahini, broadcasting the teledrama named ‘Reconditioned Kella’ (Girl) without categorizing it as ‘Adults Only.’ It is not merely Urani Noshika’s acting which is adults only, but almost the whole story. It begins with the father of the Kella (Dinu) dies with heart attack and a new doctor (Kusal) in the hospital comes across Dinu during the treatment process.

What transpires thereafter is how gender relations or sexuality work in the village, true or not in Sri Lanka’s village areas. It is not only Bappa (father’s younger brother) who is after the girl, but even several ‘grandfathers.’ There were indications at the beginning that Dinu was apprehensive about her own father for similar or other reasons. To me all these are adult material. Swarnewahini broadcasted the 15th episode yesterday (5^th Saturday), when Dinu is ready to go for modeling after coming to Colombo with the doctor and her mother.

It is not only ‘Reconditioned Kella’ that is adults only, to my view, among various teledramas, TV shows, movies and other YouTube programs, but so many others. The teledrama called ‘Take Care’ also could be ‘adults only’ considering some of the episodes and the story in general.  ‘National Film Corporation’ or similar institution should better take measure to categorize them ‘Adults Only’ (AO) or require ‘Parents Guidance’ (PG). In Australia, when I open the TV for programs or films, those are categorized as AO or PG. At present, the Australian government is also keen in brining legislation to prevent children (under 14 or 15) from having access to social media completely. This is to prevent their minds getting distorted from various unwarranted material and programs. Violence is also a major concern, even common to Sri Lanka.

Mix up between adult and children performance and dialogues is also controversial in Sri Lanka. For example, Peshala Manoj’s jokes particularly in Champion Star Unlimited program are extremely humorous and enjoyable. But one obvious weakness appears to be his sometimes uttering of adult jokes when children are present or taking even children into the jocular performances. Some of the utterances are also filthy.                   

During our school days at Moratuwa, we were prevented from even uttering ‘Umba Bang.’ This was the case at the University of Peradeniya (1964-68) although some of our friends used to utter that vocabulary. My roommate was so decent, if he was a bit angry with someone, he addressed the person as ‘Yushmatha’ instead of ‘Umba.’ However, it seems that the things have changed a lot today. Perhaps the politicians are the main culprits. In Parliament and in political rallies and platforms, many politicians utter hate speech using sometimes vulgar language. This is also common in some websites.

Sudanththa Thilaksiri who runs a website as ‘Sudaa Creations’ is far extreme in this regard. His behavior is also aggressive or violent when he reports on political events even in the presence of police. A similar website is Sudanthaka Vlog. A strange coincidence is not only their similar names, but their apparent support to AKD and Malimava. There are so many other similar ‘kunu harupa’ programs. Wishwaya Dakimu is another one even without a person appearing on the show. This is against AKD and the government. Gune Aiyage Kamare is also the same.

Although I am not able to write regularly to Colombo Telegraph, Sri Lanka Guardian or other printed newspapers these days, what I wish to point out to the President and the Prime Minister is the paramount importance of protecting children from adult material and Kunu Harupa (filthy) language spreading in the country.