by Jehan Perera

In March 2020, the Sri Lankan government believed that the massive mandate President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had received gave it a licence to get out of the cycle of UN Human Rights Council resolutions by unilaterally opting out of the process. It announced that it would no longer consider itself bound to implement the resolution in force at that time. It stated its position was “backed by a people’s mandate and is in the interest of Sri Lanka and its people, instead of opting to continue with a framework driven externally that has failed to deliver genuine reconciliation for over four and half years.”  However, the government also sought to keep itself within the framework of the UN system. The government stated that within a new framework of national reconciliation it was proposing it would continue to welcome the visits, advice and technical support from the UN system.

The re-emergence of the Easter Sunday bombing of 2019 into the mainstream of political debate is bound to have both domestic and international political consequences.  Presidential elections are scheduled for October the latest.  The UN Human Rights Council will meet in Geneva in September.   The role played by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith who gives leadership to the Catholic Church in the country is proving to be important in both.  He has openly accused the government of being unresponsive to their search for the truth and justice.  He complained that he and other members of the church had addressed a letter to the president “calling for a fresh and independent investigation into these attacks, but not even a letter of acknowledgement was sent to us.”

In a recent media interview, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith stated that two political parties had met him and submitted their proposals for investigations of the Easter bombing if they win the forthcoming elections. The Cardinal has called upon those in his church not to vote for parties that have failed to make a commitment to truth and justice and presented concrete plans regarding this. The implications of this will have a bearing on the Catholic vote at the forthcoming elections.  In addition, the Cardinal has announced that the Catholic Church is planning to present a proposal to the UNHRC.  This is likely to have a detrimental effect on the government’s plan to extricate itself from the UNHRC process in Geneva.

OTHER CONFLICTS

The previous government’s bid to extricate itself from the UNHRC resolution by the strategy of unilateral withdrawal was not successful.  Instead it led to a stronger resolution being passed the next time around which set up a special monitoring mechanism in Geneva to collect and safeguard evidence of human rights violations in Sri Lanka.  This is especially worrisome to those in the government, especially those who can be accused of having violated human rights, as it opens the door to prosecution by any government or individual who files a case in an international court that accepts the principle of universal jurisdiction.

President Wickremesinghe is generally believed to have a special relationship with the international community and particularly with those Western countries that give special attention to international human rights.  There has been considerable media coverage of his easy familiarity with heads of states at international conferences where the top leaders of the world fraternize with each other and with him.  His latest achievement was in welcoming the President of Iran to Sri Lanka as a state guest at a time when the world is on tenterhooks due to Iran’s open clash with Israel which is backed by the Western world. The state media reported that “As in other countries, many people in Sri Lanka thought that the Iranian President Dr. Ibrahim Raisi would cancel the visit at the last minute. The current issue with the West is the proximate cause of this. But it is President Ranil Wickremesinghe who is leading Sri Lanka on a Non-Aligned path without angering the West and without angering the neighbour.”

 There is a further reason for believing that Sri Lanka might be able to surmount the challenge of the UNHRC at the present time.  This is due to the change in the international environment in which the Israel-Palestine conflict has taken a special place with the intensity of violence in Gaza exceeding that of Ukraine.    These are both ongoing conflicts which ought to take priority in contrast to the Sri Lankan conflict which ended 15 years ago. Unlike Ukraine and Gaza, Sri Lanka is today a country without large-scale violence.  Indeed, it is remarkable that there has not been a single incident of large-scale violence after the end of the war except for the mystery of the Easter bombing to which answers are not being found.

HIDDEN SUFFERING

International tourist guide books have selected Sri Lanka as the safest country in the world for a single woman to travel through on account of warmth and civility of the people and, of course, a well-functioning security system. In addition, where the post-war situation is concerned, the government is able to show a plethora of state mechanisms, ranging from multiple commissions of inquiry, the Office on Missing Persons, the Office of Reparations and most recently a Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation which will be established soon.  On the other hand, though Sri Lanka is at peace and able to offer a standard of hospitality that is seeing a boom in tourist arrivals, there is pain and suffering inside the society that needs to be taken care of and not neglected.

The largest scale of pain and suffering is due to the economic deprivation that suddenly hit people who were making ends meet, but who have found for the past two years that prices have tripled whilst their salaries remain the same. The World Bank’s most recent study on the impact of the economic collapse states that poverty has increased over the past four years—from 11 percent in 2019 to almost 26 percent in 2024 in Sri Lanka. It further states that approximately 60 percent of Sri Lankan households have decreased incomes, with many facing increased food insecurity, malnutrition and stunted growth.

The decision of Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith and the Catholic Church to take their unaddressed grievance to the UNHRC in Geneva is a sign of the pain and suffering due to injustice that continues to burn within the hearts and minds of people, especially those who fell victim and those who are involved with them.  Whether or not Ukraine and Gaza figure in the forthcoming resolutions of the UNHRC, it can be expected that Sri Lanka which has been on the agenda will continue to remain on the agenda. Sustaining the present peace in Sri Lanka requires that change that goes beyond a change of faces in government. It requires a new governmental commitment that the two main opposition political parties are promising and the government needs to match.

Their Voices Resonate

Reviewed by Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha

A couple of years back Kamala Wijeratne launched her latest novel, Anithyagama: the end of an era, which, through an examination of personal relationships, looked at both the ethnic conflict as well as social decline in relation to a rural squirearchy. I was impressed by the fact that her range has grown, while she brings to bear a pervasive sympathy for the different characters she presents.

This feature is developed still further in her new collection of short stories, for she looks here also at the world beyond humans, at animals and also at nature. ‘The Rape’ is about ruthless land developers, ‘A Living Death’ about the suffering of cattle, even those in theory saved from slaughter.

These two stories are more statements than stories, which is not really a problem given how short they are. In a longer account, ‘Revenge’, Kamala Wijeratne explores a continuing dilemma of development, the conflict between man and elephant as forest lands are used for agriculture and new settlements. A man dies, and a woman, leaving a child, and then an elephant, with a baby who has to be torn away from his dying mother. Nothing judgmental here, but a stark account of increasingly insuperable problems

Another dilemma with no clear answer is presented in ‘The Green Snake’ where a little girl is terrified by a snake which lets her be, leading her to believe it has warned her to go away. So, she is filled with anguish when the dangerous creature is beaten to death when it strays into a vegetable patch.

Understandably enough the most moving stories though are those with elderly women as protagonists. But there are many variations on the situations presented, one woman waiting for her youngest son to come from Canada before she dies, only to find flights cancelled because of Covid just when he is due; another sacrificing herself for a callous daughter; another full of empathy, against her daughter’s better judgment, for the ‘fallen woman’ who has come to her as a domestic aide, whose penchant for jewellery has a mundane explanation; and one who, looked after by her children while in a cardiology ward, sees another killed by the neglect of the nursing staff who concentrate on television instead of giving her prompt attention.

Only once it seemed to me did Kamala Wijeratne take on more than she could handle, when she brought on the ghost of Ehelepola’s wife describing her feelings at the death of her children caused by the flight of her husband. But while this seems forced, the story has a remarkable evocation of the atmosphere of the old Ehelepola Walawwa subsumed into a prison.

There was yet another story in the book, very different from the rest, but recalling a favourite theme of the writer’s. This was about the ethnic conflict, and the importance of personal responses, with a lieutenant sparing an old woman who was obviously hiding her daughter, to which several years later the daughter responds by stopping him going along a heavily mined road. But the story does not end there, for the former lieutenant knows that the girl and her mother may have to face the consequences of their action in saving him.

The collection is a slight one, 10 stories amounting to fewer than a 100 pages altogether. But one has to be thankful that Kamala Wijeratne, now our most senior writer in English, continues to write, having so successfully made the transition from poetry to prose, from simple emotions to all inclusive empathy.

Introducing fees for medical education under military protection

By Ramya Kumar

Earlier this month the Cabinet approved a proposal presented by the President (as Minister of Defence) to admit fee-levying local students to the medical faculty of the Kotelawala Defence University (KDU). Thereafter, the KDU posted a call for applications from local students (‘day scholars’) to its MBBS programme with a May 5th, 2024, deadline—barely two weeks after the call appeared on the KDU website.

Medical education is delivered by 13 state medical faculties, 12 under the purview of the University Grants Commission (UGC), plus KDU. Students who obtain the required Z scores at the local A/Ls are eligible for admission to the UGC medical schools on a non-fee levying basis, with a limited number of seats (up to 5%) open to international students who pay USD 62,500 (USD 12,500×5) for their MBBS. KDU’s medical faculty, functioning under the Ministry of Defence, admits military cadres, along with a growing number of fee-paying international students and non-resident Sri Lankans. In other words, none of the existing state medical faculties, including KDU, have enrolled fee-paying local students to this day.

Expansion of private/fee-levying medical education has been resisted by student movements and others concerned about quality of/equity in medical education. In 2021, the government tried to stealthily introduce fee-levying medical education through the Kotelawala National Defence University Bill, which, if enacted, would have permitted the enrolment of local medical students to KDU on a fee-levying basis. Now, with apparently no regard for the law or due process, the Cabinet has approved the President’s proposal, which, if implemented, will drastically alter the landscape of medical education in the country.

Admission criteria

The KDU website lists the admission criteria for its MBBS programme for local day scholars. They should be “unmarried” Sri Lankan citizens in the age group 17-24 years who have completed the G.C.E. (A/L) examination in the year 2022 (or local/foreign equivalent in 2023) and followed the Bio-Science stream (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) and obtained a minimum of two Credit Passes (C) and one Simple Pass (S) (or equivalent at the Cambridge/Edexcel examination) in one sitting, as specified in the Minimum Standards of Medical Education.

These admission criteria expand the pool of eligible candidates by a sizeable proportion since all students with two Cs and an S in bio-sciences may apply. However, the KDU provides very little information about the process they will follow to select candidates (how many?) from this very large pool, except to say that it will involve shortlisting applicants based on their Z score /grades and a “structured selection interview” where the Board of Management will hold “exclusive rights” in selection.

Who will have access

The five-year course will levy LKR 2.5 million per year for five years, amounting to LKR 12.5 million, the equivalent of about USD 42,000. The call for applications does not refer to scholarships or grants for those who may not be able to afford the fees—aspects emphasized in the government’s proposals to expand private higher education detailed in the controversial National Education Policy Framework (NEPF). Apart from the privileged students whose parents can easily afford the fees, others will also be able to sell their assets and take on debt to pay for a MBBS degree. Yet, the application process will be biased in favour of students from elite backgrounds who are better trained to navigate interviews and speak in English.

Indeed, medicine has become an elite profession in many countries due to interview processes that rank applicants based on “soft-skills” and involvement in extra-curricular activities, community service, and other achievements—opportunities that are usually available to a certain class of people. Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, a phone call to the KDU’s Board of Management from ‘someone who knows someone’ may increase the chances of some candidates securing seats over others. It is widely known that the North Colombo Medical College (NCMC) and SAITM became lodestones for the offspring of doctors.

Questionable justification

With several private medical schools undergoing the Sri Lanka Medical Council’s (SLMC) vetting process, privatizing medical education is justified by politicians, medical professionals and other interlocutors, as a solution to the mass exodus of doctors to greener pastures. Whether the expansion of opportunities for fee-levying/private medical education will actually address the medical brain drain is questionable. For one, it is unrealistic to anticipate that fee-paying medical graduates will remain in the country when lucrative career opportunities are abundant in the West. Even if they do remain here, with hefty fees and the debt incurred to pay them, it is unlikely that they would opt to serve in the public system in remote areas like Padaviya or Puthukkudiyiruppu, where private practice will be limited.

Two strategies are currently used to retain medical professionals in rural areas: the district quotas and mandatory post-internship appointments. First, the district quota system, an affirmative action policy implemented by the UGC, tries to compensate for the deep-seated urban-rural disparities that choke the general education system, and also supports rural retention because medical graduates recruited from these areas are more likely to serve in their home districts/provinces. Second, the Ministry of Health requires all the newly registered doctors it employs to complete a post-internship appointment at an allotted institution, ensuring a widely dispersed medical workforce. Such mandatory service requirements can be implemented at this time because the public system is still the primary employer of medical professionals in the country. Privatising medical education alongside state-incentivised expansion of the commercial hospital sector can facilitate brain drain from public to private, creating a dearth of physicians for the public sector, especially in rural areas, as has happened in India, Thailand, and Malaysia.

There is also the argument that permitting local students access to fee-levying medical education will save the country foreign exchange. Although expanding opportunities at state medical faculties may do this to a certain extent, the government aspires to attract foreign investors into the higher education sector. As stated in the NEPF, “Limits to ownership by foreign investors in Higher Education and Skills Development shall be removed with an investment threshold to attract high quality institutions.” In reality, international universities are driven by profit to be incurred locally and channelled overseas.

‘Strategic planning’

The government has craftily planned its strategy to expand private medical education post-Aragalaya. While state funding for state universities has been slashed to new lows, university administrations have been directed to self-generate funds through fee-levying degree programmes. The slightest form of protest by the student movement has been quickly stifled with many medical students and others arrested or facing intimidation from the military and law enforcement authorities. The state’s propaganda machine has painted a picture of perpetually protesting students and self-interested university teachers. Middle-class sentiments regarding state universities are at an all-time low with the Colombo elite vocally denigrating state universities and their graduates, while promoting private higher education.

Although there is wide consensus that the advent of private medical schools should not affect the delivery of state MBBS programmes, there are no mechanisms in place to ensure this. The SLMC’s accreditation standards consider state medical schools and others on par with each other, and the government has failed to take effective measures to strengthen medical faculties located in peripheral districts. Even today, certain medical faculties struggle to gain SLMC accreditation owing to a dearth of staff in their professorial units. There is no doubt that the more lucrative fee-levying medical schools will prey on the scarce resources of state medical faculties, making this situation worse.

Why is our generation who has benefitted from the Free Education policy so ready to give it up for future generations? Privatisation is not a solution to the many problems of and faced by the university system. Reforms are needed, but we need to arrive at these through a process of consultation. Rather than pushing through hasty, short-sighted educational reforms that appear to be driven by economic imperatives and narrow class interests, why not work on strengthening what we presently have?

It is no coincidence that KDU—an institution that can easily deploy the military—has been selected as the first experiment. Any resistance will be easily quelled unless there is a groundswell of public protest against these developments and other attempts to subvert Free Education in this country. While these decisions are being made by a President and Cabinet who have long lost whatever mandate they had, it is crucial that those aspiring to take over unambiguously express their views on this as a matter of urgency.

(Ramya Kumar is attached to the Department of Community and Family Medicine, University of Jaffna)

Kuppi is a politics and a pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies.