Social ethics
Discipline and law of the army during and after the war
RELATIONSHIP OF COMMON SOLDIER AND SUPERIOR OFFICERS
The war launched against the LTTE terrorists in the north
Although there are social scientists in Sri Lanka, how many conduct research to find solutions to people’s problems? Are research reports published to inform the public?
Instead, they throw away their education and lobby for higher positions and go behind ignorant politicians.
It is the role of these university scholars to find out whether the young people joining the army when there is a war and leaving the army when there is no war is really a special situation that needs to be examined from a socio-psychological point of view.
If they have learned from the people’s tax money, they must do something for the well-being of the people.
The proposition we build in this regard from our sociological knowledge is that according to the famous concept of Anomie (normlessness) of the French sociologist Emile Durkheim, this situation occurs because the individual deviates from the society.
Durkheim says that he not only deviates from social life but also says goodbye to his own life due to norms that he has but is not seen in society. (La Suicide by Emile Durkheim).
The discipline in the army during the war is different from the discipline in the time of peace because it is known from the highest officer to the lowest officer that there can be no victory in the war without this discipline.
A soldier gets a strong sense of self-esteem when he wears his formal uniform and carries his weapons. In that pride, he is not looking for an enemy, but for that heroic soldier who lives within him. The defeat of the enemy is naturally marked in that heroism.
This situation became more prominent during the war launched against the LTTE terrorists in the north. He saw every soldier who fought shoulder to shoulder with him as a hero. Commanders were also seen as heroes.
At the end of the war, what could be the feeling of the common soldiers who saw the war heroes who led them betraying their souls for the positions of the civil society in front of the politicians of the two tuttu?
They will ask themselves if this is what we fought for at the risk of our lives.
The common soldier or above officers also see the tight nexus between military top brass and corrupt politicians. Due to the economic decline of the country, the families of the people who rose from the common soldier to the position of authority are frustrated with the country, the army they served and the rulers of the country due to the collapse of the economy. Maybe disgust.
A person who has never worn a uniform does not feel this kind of self-pity.
According to Emile Durkheim, even if it does not go as far as committing suicide, under this condition, they have deviated from society for a long time.
Some may leave the country. A part may even join the underworld. The poor but self-respecting soldier will not beg, but will choose to spend his life growing something in the garden, selling the surplus and feeding the children.
Before ending this post, I am reminded of the last line of a poem written by a Sinhala poet during the British rule.
“Levke Mathindu is alone in the market today”
(Professor Edward Edward M. Perera)
18.03.2023