A burgeoning fight at the Royal Thomian.
Recently a foreigner was killed in Tangalle, with a local government leader being a suspect. This is highly unusual (for a foreigner to be killed), but thuggery does persist. In Unawatuna, a friend of mine was accosted by someone flashing a government ID, essentially asking for his girlfriend. Some other friends were leaving a party and ended up getting thrashed into the Mount Lavinia gutter. Not to mention semi-regular fights at nightclubs like Karma.
The Mirror (UK) has the best report on the specific murder so far:
A Briton has died after being attacked on Christmas Day while on holiday in Sri Lanka. Kuram Shaikah Zaman, from Manchester, was killed in the tourist resort of Tangalle. A friend who asked not to be named said Mr Zaman was on leave from his job in the Gaza Strip, where he worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross as a physical rehabilitation programme manager.
Mr Zaman and a Russian woman were attacked following an argument with a man at a hotel, according to reports. Four men have been arrested in connection with the incident, including Sampath Chandra Pushpa Vidanapathirana, 24, the chairman of Tangalle village council, Sri Lankan police told the BBC. A post-mortem examination showed Mr Zaman had been attacked with a sharp weapon and shot, according to reports.
The Russian woman, named as 23-year-old Victoria Alexandrovna, was being treated for serious injuries in a hospital intensive care unit, according to reports. (The Mirror)
Fights will happen, but the danger in Sri Lanka is that so many people think they can get away with it. The head of the Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha seemed to think he had some particular prerogative (which he doesn’t, he was arrested) and some beach boys or locals in the south seem to think that any whit(ish) woman belongs to them. In Colombo, there are numerous sons of wealth or power who think that bottle service also includes a complimentary beating of their choice.
Again, violence is part of any society, though the circumstances here seem especially brutal. There was a military assault rifle used and, though the reports are dancing around it, it seems that the man’s Russian girlfriend was assaulted and possible raped.
I daresay you’re at a risk of a thrashing anyplace in the world, but when certain people have institutional support for violence (ie, current MP and murder suspect Duminda Silva, MP Mervyn Silva, his son Malaka, etc) it becomes a much more nasty problem. The fact that the victim has been foreign tourists is especially bad since these are guests in the country, a privilege that most decent people in this country respect.
Personally, I think it starts in the schools and when people are young. There’s a certain concept of ‘boys will be boys’ and in Sri Lanka one is a boy until they’re married off, be that 18 or 35. I went to school in America and they were very sensitive to violence, if you assaulted someone you’d be suspended and then expelled, no questions asked. Here it depends on who your parents are, who their parents are, and is more often than not brushed off without serious consequence. In schools a generation ago, prefects had the right to search, harass and even assault younger students, though I don’t know if that’s the same. In Universities, ragging continues, another example of dubious authority being used to support violence. At the highest level, successful politicians practice thuggery quite openly.
It’s gone to another level, however, with a foreigner being killed. Especially as more tourists head south, the quasi mafias that have sprung up around the limited trade there will have to dissipate. These areas have always dealt in drugs and prostitution (a lot of it male) and that leads to local monopolies of violence, but as things get bigger, that can’t go on. I personally know friends who were harassed in Una and I know of another group that having to essentially bribe local toughs to hold an event in Hikka. Like a lot of other issues in Sri Lanka, this latent problem was ignored during the war years, but it needs to be understood that more than illegal structures have encroached on the beach. There’s a lot of illegal and thugish behavior as well.
“I went to school in America and they were very sensitive to violence, if you assaulted someone you’d be suspended and then expelled, no questions asked. ”
That’s not what they show on American TV shows. According to those shows there is a lot of bullying in American educational institutes. Also every now and then we hear of a shooting in a US school. Never heard of a shooting at a Sri Lankan school. Definitely have never heard of the sort of child abuse that took place at Penn State.
That’s only because the students don’t have easy access to firearms.
Sri Lankan schools are excessively violent, and anyone who’s been to one will agree with this.
The murderer, IIRC, is the same guy who killed a woman shooting a bus carrying a bunch of UNP supporters in Previous presidential election. I heard that he suffers some kind of a mental problem so the law couldn’t do anything against him. Fast forward few months(?) and the crazy dude became the local gov president. Fast forward another few and here he is with his second (known) murder. But hey, he still is crazy so the oh-so-holy law wouldn’t be able to do a thing.
Maybe we need to start by disarming the politicians?
They seem to be the most dangerous things to the public at the moment. Once defanged, perhaps their hangers on/associates (ie thugs) will also lose some of their power, which is derived from the patronage/protection of the politicians?
the fact that you don’t hear about it isn’t a good sign. And they do have a serious gun problem
Also there’s a lot more sexual abuse in SL boys schools than in the US. It’s pretty much routine here.
Agree. This incident could have been avoided if they’d done that at least after the Bharata Luxman killing.
There’s been some pretty significant fallout from this event, people have caneclled a lot of rooms in Tangalle and hoteliers are pissed. MR has really taken political impunity to new levels.
First we should condemn this situation. But it is not a big incident and will not affect our tourism industry as you thought. People will do some
Mistakes and even in there are places USA it’s not safe to be at night. Westerners think superior and always try to resolve our problems. According to news this guy also came to solve small disagreement between two parties. He made same mistake Norway and other westerners did during the war, We srilankens can solve our issues in our manner without western help.
Messed up. :(
Lol, what a stupid comment…actually this is quite a serious incident because this is not a random murder but a politician with a T-56 that has killed a tourist. The news reports and other reports I’ve heard indicated that the politician and his buddies were harassing this guys partner. If you think shooting someone over something like this is the ‘Sri Lankan’ way of solving issues..then we really are fucked.
in the presidential election case this was one was involved but wasn’t the one who did the actual shooting. as i ca remember the shooter was a ex-army person.
some news papers say that this guy shot his own vehicle to obtain personal security b’se usually pradeshiya sabha ppl don’t have official bodyguards.
The British Tourist who was killed in the tourist resort of Tangalle on Christmas Day worked for Red Cross ((ICRC). The Russian women works for the Red Cross too and is the dead man’s colleague. Because of the killer’s political connection, this whole affair, will be cover up.
Strange fact- in the 30-year war- not a single tourist was harmed in Tangalle, but in peace time one tourist is killed and another tourist (possibly) raped and in the intensive care, in hospital ?? We could be destroying peace dividends here http://www.ft.lk/2011/12/27/tourism-decries-tangalle-tragedy-as-biggest-setback/
As tourism increases, it is only natural that the odd tourist will be (1) killed (2) be robbed and (3) raped (4) beaten up etc. It happens in Thailand (where tourists get into regular fights with the locals, get sent to jail or robbed). It happens in Singapore where tourists are executed for smuggling drugs. It happens in Vietnam. It happens in Hong Kong. It happens in France. It happens EVERYWHERE in the world.
For example:
Austrian tourist stabbed, robbed by Phuket youth gang
http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/articles/2011/article11632.html
Thai Tour Guide Shot Dead Japanese Tourist
http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2011/04/27/thai-tour-guide-shot-dead-japanese-tourist/
Swedish expat stabbed to death at luxury villa in Phuket
http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/articles/2011/article10758.html
Just a few snippets…
nice links…don’t tell me you fail to see the major difference with what happened here?
What’s the “major difference”? That the suspect is a ‘local government leader’?
“A gang of Thai teenagers – including the son of a local politician – are the chief suspects in the brutal murder of an Israeli tourist over the weekend who had come to enjoy the “full moon” on Phangan Island, police said Monday.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/israeli-tourist-stabbed-to-death-in-thailand-island-bar-1.217293
Not any more “serious” than the murders of tourists in every other country in the world.
It’s certainly not more serious than ANY of the 80 000+ deaths than have taken place as a result of the last two decades of the war, or any of the thousands of deaths that took place during the JVP uprising, or any of the other (brutal) murders that take place in the island on a weekly basis – a whole family was hacked to death the other day. Not a “serious incident” for you?
Congrats on finding one other case which is somewhat similar to this incident, unless of course you have similar examples from…where was it…Singapore, Hong Kong and France?. Of course yours is the classic argument of the ‘patriot’, others are shit so no issues with us being shit. Rape also happens everywhere, child abuse happens everywhere. That doesn’t however excuse it.
I think (as usual) you missed the wood for the trees…the point is the culture of impunity here has risen to astronomical levels. That is a serious problem.
ah Omr, Omr…you always entertain.
Yawn. Culture of impunity started with full vigour at independence (and existed before as well). I mean, there was absolutely NO culture of impunity in July 1983 or when more than 60 000 youth were killed in the 1980s huh? You’re just hung-up over the death of a white skinned non-Sri Lankan, while there are many,many more brown skinned Sri Lankans who have been butchered in much more horrific fashion (and it continues to happen). That’s why you’re wailing about this “serious incident” of the death of some random tourist – never mind the family hacked to death in Eppawela, or the Muslim woman stabbed to death in Batticaloa. Get over yourself.
The culture of impunity was created when checks on power were removed. The rot started in the 1960’s. The steps on the road were:
1. Disbanding of the civil service
2. Removal of right of appeal to the privy council
3. The 1978 constitution – the single worst step in consolidating power in the executive.
Anti JVP hit squads sanctoned by the Government and supposedly under the control of Ranil took things to a new level in 1988-1990.
After that the hit squads disappeared from view but remained underground and connected to parliamentarians.
They then emerged from time to time and merged with Karuna’s gang to stage kidnappings and hijacks in the 2000’s and are now everywhere.
A foreigner was killed a few years ago in Mirissa (I think). A gang broke into this family’s house and were robbing it. They shot the man (I think he was German) dead when he tried to stop them, and gang-raped his adopted SL-born daughter. Soon after that a white tourist was raped in Bentota or Beruwela. None of it will stop tourists as long as it remains isolated. I’ve also heard of some rapes of tourists in Arugam Bay this year.
This is what happens when a country is ruled by a bunch bullies and criminals and their cronies.
I mean …”bunch of…” (sorry)
Omr…the post isn’t about the killing in Eppawella or Batticaloa. Like I said you’re always amusing to read.
Again…you nitwit…this post is not about the deaths during the JVP period or the family hacked to death. Serious in the context of tourism and PR. How stupid can you really get?
The issue here is the political connection which has a number of people a bit freaked out cos its combined with the bad PR we have been suffering about our politics in the western media. There was another killing a few years ago also in Tangalle, guy who owned a villa was killed by his caretaker and gardener. The context of the situation is where it gets problematic.
And your point is? Fact is, you’ve got your knickers in a knot because some white tourist got randomly killed. Well guess what more than 100 000 Sri Lankans have died brutally over the last 20 years or so. And tourists get killed/raped/robbed in every single country where there is a tourism industry.
Yes, that’s right, pretend as if everything else is irrelevant when they stand in the way of your blinkered vision.
how long have you been studying this?
I’ve seen only a handful of such instances in my whole life (32 years!). And im also sure i know much more than you about SL. Which means you are commenting without knowing facts..
No you fool…I was commenting on the specific post and the latest example of political impunity. The post was not about the people who died during the war. Is that seriously so hard to understand? If the post was about the people who died during the war I would have commented about that. Lol..you are amusing.
Again, what’s your point? OK, so let’s forget the war or the fact that thousands of Sri Lankans died in a brutal manner. The fact is that tourists have been murdered and will be murdered in every place where there is a tourism industry. The murder of a British tourist in Sri Lanka is not any more ‘serious’ than any of the other murders than take place in Sri Lanka on a daily/weekly basis, or the murders of tourists than happen everywhere else in the world. What’s funny is your tenesmus over the death of a white skinned non Sri Lankan.
Omr – the fact that there have been other killings and attacks, in SL, in other countries, of Sri Lankans, of non-Sri Lankans, in and out of war, does not make this one ok.
Well Joya it is also “not ok” IMO to make a bloody big song and dance as if the fricken sky has fallen down just because some tourist with white skin was shot dead when there have been THOUSANDS of Sri Lankans who have died brutally and when not a week goes by without a slaying somewhere in the island. Is it ok by you not to give a shit about them?
What concerns me about this one is that it’s another example of thugs with political backing being allowed to carry guns in public places and not hesitating to use them at the slightest provocation. Add to that the conviction of our politicians that they are somehow above the law, and the police department’s eagerness to agree with them.
This sort of thing worries ordinary folk like me with respect for the law bred in to our middle class souls, who are still capable of being shocked when witnessing or hearing of any miscarriage of justice, and have no powerful politicians to run to when in trouble with the law, and who’d be ashamed to do so even if there happened to be someone like that.
The colour of the victim’s hide just adds other dimensions to this particular incident.
Hey Mr. President, what u doin for my residents..
Hey Mr. Minister, why u being sinister..
Lol….when did I say everything else is irrelevant? My vision’s fairly wide angle thank you. You brain appears to be fairly blinkered. Til the next time Omr, keep your wits (what little you have) about you.
Basically you started changing tracks when you started getting owned – typical of someone with blinkered vision who can’t see the other side. The murder of tourists happens everywhere – nothing special about it happening in Sri Lanka.