A cautionary tale

Everything was hunky dory when others ruled them. Kingdoms after kingdoms came and went. Everybody lived within their space and thought they had everything taken care of.

Then, they even shared a sacred region, Katargama or Kathirgama. Each community claimed the local deity, Murugan, as their own. The Buddhists are told that Lord Buddha himself sanctioned Lord Murugan to protect Sri Lankans from the elements. The Tamils, with their ancestral affiliations, brought in their own diety and gave him his divine status.

Even the local aboriginal people there, the Veddas, the island's earliest inhabitants, claim the sacred area as theirs. Their DNA studies revealed their commonality with the tribals in Malaysia, India, and Myanmar, which is more apparent than their Singhalese and Tamil Indian brothers. The Muslims did not want to be left out. They built a mosque nearby to avoid missing out on the blessings.

So, they had a giant compound with a collection of temples of worship in a single area. It was heart-wrenching to see Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Veddas all congregating in one area to pay respects to the Almighty to gain blessings.

It went on fine when they were ruled by others - the Indian dynasties and the European imperialists. Trouble started brewing when the colonial masters left the roost for the colonies to determine their destiny. Every ethnicity had the fear that the other would dominate them. Everyone, through the democratically elected leaders, pushed for their respective agendas. When peaceful means failed, they had to resort to armed struggle.

The gods can only protect us so much. Above all, human intellect should prevail. Sri Lanka's experience over the last few years is a cautionary tale for other nations trying to establish a strong footing and elevate themselves to a higher level.

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All talk, no results!

The disappearance of  Madeline McCann (Documentary, 2019)
Netflix

The work of policing and prosecuting evolved in modern societies to protect its citizen. It was thought that solid police and robust legal systems would ensure peace and harmony. No wrongdoer would go unpunished, and the system is supposed to deter crime.

But looking at how the whole system has turned out to be, instead of protecting the very people it is supposed to shield, it is inconveniencing them.

Aggrieved parties who report a crime are instead having the table turned against them. The whole machinery of defending one's innocence has begun to be so cumbersome, costly and convoluted that upholding one's good name remains in the domain of the rich.

Having investigations and litigations go on and on like forever gives no peace of mind to any party but a reason of existence for civil servants to push pencils. These are further fueled by media that cries wolf and create a mountain out of a mole of every questionable information that pops up in the public domain every now and then. Many of these are just half-truths at best. Sometimes informants just want that one minute of the limelight before their evidence crumples, but not before causing many inconveniences to all parties, except the media. The media just increases their sales. 

The media does not call this misinformation but merely informs the public about how things of public interest develop. 

This 2003 case of a missing 4-year-old British girl, Madeline McCann, while on a family holiday in Portugal is probably the most reported case of a missing person in the world. It was reported as an abduction of a young child and made many dizzying turns in its prolonged investigation.

The McCanns were on vacation in Praia de Luz with their three kids and five other friends with five children. Madeline went missing from her bed in her room when the adults were having their dinner nearby. The police were called in. The investigations started but proceeded nowhere. With little evidence to go on, the police looked at the parents as possible criminals.

Then it started. The circus of trial by media, accusations of the parents being involved in their child's disappearance, accidental killing by parents, conspiracial cover-up by fellow holiday-maker friends, paedophilic tendencies of a Good Samaritan and the list went on. At one stage, the parents were even interrogated as the accused. 

The parents, of their accord, created a national alert (and possibly international) for their missing child. Years after seeing that their daughter was nowhere to be found, they hired a reputable private investigator with the help of a philanthropist. It led to nowhere too. Then came the American investigators. At the end of the day, they realised that everyone promised more than they can deliver. More than 16 years after Madeline's disappearance, despite all the advancements in tracking and investigative tools, neither she nor her abductor had been found.

This case only exposed the cavalier attitude of the Portuguese police and the predatorial nature of the British tabloid. It further opened a big can of worms into the darkest nook of the Dark Web -child pornography

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Where everyone is happy?

Picturesque or what?

40years ago, during my Boys' Brigade (2nd Penang Company) days, a recurring lure for the privates to aim higher in their performance was a trip to the scenic island of Tioman where colourful fishes swimming in crystal clear sea water apparently fed from your hands. I always thought these type of scenes were only confined to Jasque Costeau's documentaries or the National Geographic magazines!
Well, 40 years later, I found out that such a sanctuary actually exists right in our backyard. Of course with all things in the world, with us leaving our carbon foot prints, people say that with building of resorts and modernization, this tropical beauty with its flora and fauna had been brutally marred.

Ikan Kekek Mak Iloi Iloi!

Life is a beach?

At the ground level, it is a simple island with simple people leading simple lives and smiling a lot with their simple amenities and abodes. It reminded me of a scene from the 1970s TV series, Fantasy Island - the small airstrip with lush greenery surrounding it, the buggy vehicles and the floral batik attire donned by the workers.
I suppose everyone would be happy when they can see money. The locals are happy when kwailohs dish out moolah for the services, for the fresh seafood at the food stalls and tours, which with their earning power is everything is worth peanuts; the entrepreneurs are happy as they stash their good money to good use and they justify their rape and degradation of nature with pathetic attempts at conservation as they continue to pour their effluents into the sea; the politicians are happy as long the local populations do not fight for their bigger piece of the cake.

Da plane! Da plane!

And the visitors go back happy that they can still be king somewhere in the world, if not in the own confines. When holidays end, they realize that they were never in Fantasy Island after all. Unlike Mr Roarke and Tatoo's 'Fantasy Island' where their guests go back rejuvenated with a clear path to follow in front of them after their visits there, for these visitors it is back to life, back to reality, come Monday!