“To me who shunned liquor fearing hell, was given them as part of a plot, beheading the children who were adorable, I fell prey to the enemy design”
Two hundred and two years ago, on January 25, 1816, when the last monarch of Sri Lanka, Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe was deported to India a poet had penned down what would have been the sentiments of the young king. The above stanza in that anthology of verses delineates that the king repented his alcoholism, a habit inculcated in the king by the British through conspirators in the King’s court. An intoxicated Rajasinghe killed the family of Ehelepola earning the wrath of masses which ultimately led to his alienation and capture by the British. Recounted even today the collection of verses is best known by the poignant last line of the last stanza – Ithin Ayubowan Lakmawuni Garu or Goodbye Honourable Mother Lanka.
Though vilified by the British writers, Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe who built the Paththirippuwa, the Octagon of Sri Dalada Maligawa, is known for his contribution to agriculture and architecture and was popular among his subjects.The British design to make the king unpopular among the people yielded results with the macabre punishment meted out to Ehelepola’s family by an intoxicated Rajasinghe.
Making the teetotaller king an alcoholic with the assistance of intermediaries, was only a part of the greater alcoholism agenda of the British.The biggest plan was to intoxicate the entire male population of the country. The British governors were on record that defeating Kings in Ceylon was not an easy task as the entire male population in the land forms their army. Any given time these strong men, who were mostly farmers, were ready to go to war. If at all if they had any experience in alcohol it was the occasional tasting of toddy.
So unlike the Portuguese and the Dutch, the British ambitiously promoted liquor by opening taverns in almost every town and village in view of ‘emasculating’ the Sinhala population thus making them weak fighters and also to increase the tax revenue of the British Raj.
In the post-independence Sri Lanka teetotalism was once again feted, especially in the villages, with a wave of nationalism steeped in traditional Buddhist values. Peace and harmony reigned and people became healthier and peaceful. This idyllic scene however changed once again, in 1977. With the influx of foreign liquor, change of social values and the privatization of distilleries, there was a sharp upward trend in liquor consumption in the post-1977 era. While Sri Lankan men were once again‘emasculated’ the picked up alcoholic habits started causing irreparable damage to the country’s social fabric. Liquor licences were doled out to local politicians and their henchmen breeding a new creed of lawless neo-rich class who in turn went on to patronize the underworld in order keep their business intact. Hospitals were flooded with patients suffering from alcohol related diseases like cirrhosis, hypertension, haemorrhagic stroke, epilepsy and atrial fibrillation and also depression due to alcoholism. Annually a slew of suicides were attributed to the alcohol habit. There was a steady flow of alcohol related liver, mouth, throat, colon, bowels, bladder and oesophagus to the cancer hospital. Alcohol related homicide, rape and other crimes, road traffic accidents continued to spiral while domestic violence where women and children suffered mercilessly saw a new high. Alcoholic husbands dealt a lethal blow to home economies.
Studies conducted by international institutes including World Health Organization (WHO) and University of Washington ranked Sri Lanka among the highly intoxicated nations in the world with an upward curve in consumption since 1980s while we also recorded world’s second highest rate of Cirrhosis in the world, only second to Moldova.
Doctors, civil society and especially the clergy belonging to all faiths urged quick action to arrest the trend. Largely due to the pressure from these sections and political parties like the JHU, new regulations were brought in to fight alcohol. They went hand in hand with measures against the tobacco. Thus a strong message was conveyed to the masses especially to younger generation that alcohol and tobacco are lethal vices for health and should be avoided. However during the past couple of months, starting from the last budget, the present government has been turning the anti-alcohol policy upside down. Reducing beer taxes and deregulating at a rate the rules that protected the Sri Lankan from alcohol, the government today is out to promote what was once put on hold after learning all the bitter lessons.
Failure to understand the local pulse and scant regard to middle class values led to the exit of the UNP led government in 2004. It looks as if it has not yet learnt its lessons and bent on walking down the suicidal lane with its reckless policy on alcohol.
