{"id":135154,"date":"2014-12-19T11:09:43","date_gmt":"2014-12-19T05:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=135154"},"modified":"2014-12-24T12:50:33","modified_gmt":"2014-12-24T07:20:33","slug":"sb-should-make-a-public-apology-and-resign-ag-should-take-legal-action-against-sb-friday-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sb-should-make-a-public-apology-and-resign-ag-should-take-legal-action-against-sb-friday-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"SB Should Make A Public Apology And Resign; AG Should Take Legal Action Against SB: Friday Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Friday Forum<\/span><\/a> has today urged the\u00a0Attorney General to take\u00a0legal action against Minister of Higher Education, S.B. Dissanayake<\/span><\/a>. Condemning\u00a0the recent statement made by the Minister of Higher Education, S.B. Dissanayake which was directed at the Former Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga<\/span><\/a>, the\u00a0Friday Forum said; “Minister Dissanayake should resign forthwith, making a public apology to Chandrika Kumaratunga and to the country.”<\/p>\n

We publish below the statement in full;<\/p>\n

\"Professor<\/a>

Professor Arjuna Aluwihare<\/p><\/div>\n

On 12\u00a0December 2014 Minister of Higher Education, S.B. Dissanayake said on Sirisa TV, that the former President of Sri Lanka,\u00a0Chandrika Kumaratunga should be \u201cput down on the ground, trampled, stripped naked and made to run along the streets\u201d.\u00a0This is a terrible statement to come from any individual, but that a Minister of Higher Education, a supposed role model for young people, felt it was even remotely appropriate for him to make such a statement,\u00a0is truly appalling.\u00a0In many other countries, he would have been forced to resign or have\u00a0been dismissed the very next day. At the very least he would have been asked to\u00a0apologise.\u00a0None of this was forthcoming, pointing to the culture of violence and hate speech having\u00a0been so normalized in Sri Lanka that both government\u00a0and public seem to tolerate it with little or no\u00a0dissent.<\/p>\n

As election fever for the presidential election mounts,\u00a0there is a lot of talk about institutional change, better economics and a fight against corruption. What is also needed\u00a0is a drastic change in our political\u00a0culture. Viciousness\u00a0and vitriol\u00a0existed previously\u00a0but\u00a0were confined to the periphery of political space.\u00a0Editors did their job and printed news that \u201cwas fit to print\u201d. Today this government,\u00a0more than any other,\u00a0has given vitriol and hate speech centre place,\u00a0whether in its newspapers, radio or TV. Horrendous things are written and said about individuals\u00a0in the Daily News, SLBC or ITN.\u00a0We have become\u00a0accustomed to the crudeness\u00a0of the so called \u201cattack dogs\u201d of the government, whether they be\u00a0Ministers, members of Parliament, editors of newspapers, journalists or supportive intellectuals,\u00a0so much so that\u00a0we read them with amusement or turn the page. Some people,\u00a0however, sadly take\u00a0them seriously.\u00a0The purpose of this privileged place being\u00a0given to vitriol is to make individuals the target of hate and thereby to intimidate them, either to keep silent, stop their work or go abroad. To a great extent the government has succeeded in \u201cchilling\u201d speech and action because of the viciousness\u00a0and vitriol.<\/p>\n

The words of the Minister of Higher Education are part of this strategy. He\u00a0feels no shame in\u00a0saying such things\u00a0in a country that once extolled \u201clajja\u201d as one of the highest virtues,\u00a0and\u00a0he thinks\u00a0that they\u00a0are acceptable words to be\u00a0broadcast to the people of our country\u00a0on public TV. That such crude\u00a0words of\u00a0violence against women,\u00a0advocating\u00a0forced\u00a0nudity –\u00a0which in situations of armed conflict is an international war crime – should come publicly from\u00a0any human being, let alone a\u00a0Minister of Higher Education, truly beggars\u00a0belief.<\/p>\n

Minister Dissanayake should\u00a0\u00a0resign forthwith, making a public apology to Chandrika Kumaratunga\u00a0and to the country. The\u00a0Attorney General should look\u00a0into the possibility of taking legal action against him.<\/p>\n

Jayantha Dhanapala\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Professor Arjuna Aluwihare<\/p>\n

On behalf of Friday Forum, the Group of Concerned Citizens<\/p>\n

Mr. Jayantha Dhanapala, Professor Arjuna Aluwihare, Professor Savitri Goonesekere, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy,<\/p>\n

Ms. Suriya Wickremasinghe, Mr. Priyantha Gamage, Rev. Dr. Jayasiri Peiris, Mr. Tissa Jayatilaka, Dr. Deepika Udagama, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Ms. Damaris Wickremesekera, Professor Gameela Samarasinghe, Dr. Selvy Thiruchandran, Dr A.C.Visvalingam, Mr. Pulasthi Hewamanna, Professor Camena Guneratne, Ms. Manouri Muttetuwegama, Dr. G. Usvatte-Arrachchi, Dr.Upatissa Pethiyagoda, Mr. Ahilan Kadirgamar, Ms. Shanthi Dias, Mr. J.C. Weliamuna, Mr. Danesh Casie Chetty, Mr. Javid Yusuf, Rt. Reverend Duleep de Chickera, Professor Ranjini Obeyesekere, Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, Mr. Ranjit Fernando, Mr. Saliya Peiris, Mr. Chandra Jayaratne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":135159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,6969,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nSB Should Make A Public Apology And Resign; AG Should Take Legal Action Against SB: Friday Forum - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sb-should-make-a-public-apology-and-resign-ag-should-take-legal-action-against-sb-friday-forum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SB Should Make A Public Apology And Resign; 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