Newly appointed Media Minister Dullas Alahapperuma has said a mouthful. Ridiculing those who have resorted to superstition tocontrol the Covid-19 pandemic, he has said that science, and nothing else, is the solution to the health crisis we are faced with. He has scoffed at the occult rituals we have witnessed since the outbreak of the pandemic, such as dropping clay pots containing some charmed water into rivers, and ingesting untested herbal syrup prepared by an occult practitioner claiming to be a native physician,and promoted as a cure for Covid-19. Even if pots were to be put under every culvert in the country, the pandemic could still not be controlled, Minister Alahapperuma has said.
Minister Alahapperuma has struck a responsive chord with all rational Sri Lankans, but his swipe at superstitious practices, and those who take refuge in them may not have been to the liking of the government politicians who believe in them, especially those whotook part in the pot-dropping ritual.
Voltaire has famously said, “Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy—the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.” Minister Alahapperuma should be commended for having the courage to deride the government politicians who are embracing ‘the mad daughters’, and it heartening that there is at least one minister who iscapable of rational thinking and understands the value of science. But it is doubtful whether Alhapperuma will be able to knock any sense into his hidebound ministerial colleagues most of whom are superstitious, and go by their horoscopes instead of the Constitutionand the corpus of other laws.
Superstition is said to be the religion of the feeble mind. This may explain why the vast majority of Sri Lankan politicians seek solace in the occult. If one of them happened to fall into a river, he would have absolutely no chance of swimming to safety because he would drown under sheer weight of talismans around his neck and waist besides gold chains, bracelets and gem-studded rings.Astrologers control every aspect of most politicians’ lives and determine their agendas so much so that they have even tried to control the pandemic in astrologically prescribed ways without any success.
Sri Lankan leaders not alone
One, however, should not think that only the Sri Lankan politicians are given to superstitious practices. Rulers’ devotion to the occult is as old as the hills. There is historical evidence of ancient Babylonians’ omen-watching, and throughout history, leaders have sought the help of supernatural powers and evenresorted to devilry to instill fear into their rivals and consolidate their power.
Even some powerful leaders in the modern world have been no exception. In a YouTube interview, before his retirement, US President Barack Obama revealed he was carrying some good-luck totems in his pocket. Among them was a silver poker chip. Obama insisted that he was not superstitious.
US President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, were firm believers in astrology so much so that following an assassination attempt on Reagan’s life in 1981, Nancy had a person named Joan Quigley appointed as the White House astrologer. Researchers inform us that the use of astrology even affected the US national policy because Quigley controlled the President’s schedule; Reagan once remarked that there was no choice but to humor the First Lady in that matter.
Another prominent foreign leader who believed in the occult was Gen. Ne Win of Myanmar. His maniacal devotion to number ‘9’and its combinations was such that he had the country’s currency denominated in ‘nines’. But his obsession with numerologyobviously did not work for the Burmese economy.
Africans generally consider the spirit world as the source of political power, and this has made some African leaders claim that they wield spiritual power. African politics and witchcraft are inseparable. The Economist, once, pointed out that a President of Benin had appointed his spiritual advisor a member of his Cabinet and put him in charge of his secret service because the latter was believed to have a special relationship with the devil. The spiritual advisor also controlled the country’s torture chambers! Many people in Ghana believe that a human was sacrificed to ensure the success of the construction of the dam across the river Volta.
François Duvalier, also known as Papa Doc, who was the President of Haiti from 1957 to 1971, practiced witchcraft, and became known as the Voodoo President. When the US refrained from supporting his brutal regime, he publicly cast an evil spell on President J. F. Kennedy, who was assassinated a few days later. The incident made the people of Haiti fear Papa Doc even more although his curse had nothing to with the JFK assassination.
Sri Lankan politics and the occult
Sri Lankan politics and occultism are conjoined twins. Sorcery, spirit possession, hoodoo, etc. are not uncommon here. It looks as if astrologers took politicians for a ride, in this country, by telling them what they love to hear—that according to their horoscopes they could reach the highest position in politics one day. Many are the ambitious Sri Lankan politicians who cherish the dream of leading the country because their horoscopes say so. Frauds claiming to able to divine the future fuel their ambitions with predictions. Astrologer claim that some politicians have raja yoga, or a planetary combination which is said to indicate such an ascent to the highest position in the country. It was Chandrika Bandaranaike’s raja yogawhich helped her muster enough support in the SLFP to return to fold of that party in the early 1990s. What really facilitated her rise to power was that a 17-year-long UNP regime was on its last legs, and SLFLP leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike was not physically fit to campaign hard due to her age.
Almost all influential Sri Lankan politicians, especially Heads of State, have been believers in astrology and other occult practices, and some of them even had palace seers. The late President Ranasinghe Premadasa was one of them, but none of his astrologers could warn him of his tragic end in 1993. Following an abortive bid to impeach him in August 1991, astrologers supporting both the government and the Opposition had a field day. It was rumoured that the cornered President had got some charmed oil applied on the MPs’ chairs in the parliament to make them support him en bloc. This prompted the Opposition MPs to smuggle small quantities of lard into the Chamber and apply it on their seats to neutralize the effects of the charmed oil.
In 2002, it was claimed that a prominent minister of the UNP-led UNF government had, on the advice of an astrologer, got into a sack of gingelly in the buff to ward off the malefic effect of a certain planetary combination in his horoscope. The media milked the story dry, without naming the minister, who had a scientific background.
Mahinda Rajapaksa also surrounded himself with astrologerswhile he was the President. He consulted them before making vital decisions such as holding snap elections. He was on a winning streak for about nine years, and he may have thought the credit for his success should go to his astrologers. His decision to go for an early presidential election (2015) to secure a third term was also based on astrological advice. He lost that election, and blamed his loss on his astrologers, especially the one who was very close to him.
If Mahinda had listened to the senior politicians in the UPFA coalition instead of astrologers, he would have been able to avert that electoral disaster. Several veteran politicians advised him against advancing the presidential election, because the popularity of his government was on the wane, and asked him to make a course correction and provide some relief to the public before facing an election. But he was cocky and did as his palace seer said. He made a comeback, about four years later, without the help of astrologers, and it was mainly due to the failure of the yahapalana governmentmore than anything else.
Challenges before new Media Minister
Among those who promoted the Dhammika peniya (a herbal concoction prepared promoted by a shaman as a cure for Covid-19)were some members of the medical fraternity. A national university gave it ethical clearance, and the Department of Ayurveda issued a temporary licence for the untested brew which a carpenter turned self-proclaimed healer, named Dhammika Bandara, who claimedthat the ‘cure’ had been revealed by a goddess. It took months for the Ayurveda Department to revoke the temporary licence. The syrup was also taken to the parliament, where it was presented to the Speaker. The then Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi ingestedit, triggering mass hysteria; tens of thousands of people thronged a village where the brew was made and sold, and exposed themselvesto coronavirus.
Government politicians’ proclivity for superstition being such, the new Media Minister will have a hard time, trying to make science take precedence over occult practices in the country’s fight against Covid-19. But he deserves encouragement and assistance.
Perhaps, if the astrologers who counsel the government leadersand wield immense influence over the latter consider him a threat to their interests and get together to oust him, he may even lose his ministerial portfolio. They know how to get around their mastersand turn them against others. So, Alahapperuma had better tread cautiously lest the flat-earthers in the government should gang up against him. They are a force to be reckoned with, given their numbers. Where ignorance is bliss, Tis is folly to be wise.
