Quite recently the pro government media of the state and some private establishments commenced calling a politician who for years had been described as a plain ‘Mr’ as ‘Dr’. He was not attempting to pose off as a medical doctor but probably as a PhD. How this common or garden politician became a ‘Doctor of Philosophy’ the public is not aware and it is the duty of the media institutions that conferred him the doctorate to inform the public.
by Gamini Weerakoon
(June 15, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri Lanka is packed with ‘doctors’ – not the medical variety whom you have to kick yours heels for hours for attention at government hospitals and even at private institutions – but with other kinds: political ‘doctors’, academics with genuine and false ‘doctorates’, ayurvedic doctors, ‘doctors’ who have graduated from non existent universities and a burgeoning number of quacks of all varieties.
Cricket Quack
Quite recently the pro government media sprang upon the public a ‘doctor’ whose basic educational qualification—it is now revealed – is said to be repairing electronic gadgets while communicating with spirits. But he has very powerful patrons in the most powerful place -Temple Trees. The ‘doctor’ has been recommended to Sri Lanka’s opening bowler, ‘Goldilocks’ Lasith Malinga for an incurable knee and provided him with temporary relief.
Thereafter his curative powers had spread across the Palk Straits and Indian cricketers too have sought his aid. The effects of Sri Lankan Rasputin’s cures on the Indians are not known but his medicine is said to have got Sri Lanka’s star opening batsman Upul Tharanga into grave difficulties. Tharanga has been tested positive for a banned drug prednisolone and cannot participate in international games until he is cleared. Whether the quack is quacking away merrily on innocent patients is not known but surely medical authorities should move into action to prevent further disasters.
Amborum Special
In the 1970s there was a wonder cure advertised in the newspapers called Amborum Special. The advertising became intense revealing the popularity of the medicine which was said to be a wonder cure for all sorts of ailments. The medical fraternity was concerned at that time about this wonder cure and it was the Ceylon Medical Council (if we remember correctly) that had the drug analyzed and found it contained prednisolone – a drug that provided relief for many ailments but also had dangerous side effects. The drug disappeared from the market and so did the miracle doctor. Much later in the 1990s Sri Lankans in Los Angeles informed us that the Amborum Special doctor had a flourishing practice there as a ‘herbal doctor’!
Who creates doctors?
Sometime ago, it was said that the University Grants Commission would notify the public on the institutes of higher education that are entitled to confer doctorates but that did not see the light of day probably because of the number of quack ‘doctors’ wielding power – not so much in the field of medicine or in scientific endeavors but in the liberal arts, humanities and other fields.
Quite recently the pro government media of the state and some private establishments commenced calling a politician who for years had been described as a plain ‘Mr’ as ‘Dr’. He was not attempting to pose off as a medical doctor but probably as a PhD. How this common or garden politician became a ‘Doctor of Philosophy’ the public is not aware and it is the duty of the media institutions that conferred him the doctorate to inform the public.
There should be no objection to those who have earned their doctorates the hard way such as G.L.Peiris or Sarath Amunugama being called Drs but it is an insult to the intelligence of the common man to be told that an ignoramus who is uttering banalities at every given opportunity, is a Doctor of Philosophy. Among the knowledgeable, they become an instant joke but among the lesser informed they are considered extremely educated persons. The translation of Dr. in Sinhala is ‘Aacharya’ which is the title given to very learned people and certainly constitutes a fraud perpetrated on the people.
Comedy of doctors
There are uncouth and disgraceful thugs who are considered VIPs flaunting the title of Dr. bur even the man on the street will know that these thugs would not have passed through the portals of higher learning—not even as labourers. Their names need not be mentioned for they are well known. President Rajapakse should realise that these specimens of ‘doctors’ would not make Sri Lanka the Miracle of Asia but the Comedy of Asia.
These self-proclaimed political doctors, the people are aware, can certainly not be compared with the political doctors of the past like Dr. N. M. Perera, Dr. Colvin R de Silva and even those without doctorates like Pieter Keuneman and Bernard Soysa. Our modern aspirants to intellectual titles are a disgrace to the giants before them. For example, N. M. Perera studied under the legendary Harold Laski in the London School of Economics and was awarded his PhD for his thesis on the Constitution of the German Weimar Republic. His study of the constitutions of UK, USA, France and Germany won him a DSc from the University of London. N. M. Perera was the first to hold a DSc in Ceylon at that time.
For Sri Lanka to become the Miracle of Asia we need intellectual politicians of that caliber not street thugs dictating and humiliating innocent people and proclaiming themselves to be ‘doctors’. It need not be stressed that for universities to produce graduates and undergraduates of intellectual standing, the best and most dedicated teachers are called for. Not underpaid teachers who are compelled to resort to trade union action.
Then there are the honorary degrees (honoris causa) conferred as a mark of honour without going through an examination. In most countries heads of state, prime ministers and distinguished politicians are awarded such honorary degrees but they do not use such honours. The country is no doubt being threatened with an epidemic of doctors but it is highly unlikely that steps will be taken to curb it. A wag suggests that a Post Graduate Institute For Third Degree Treatment (punishment with torture) be established. We have done sufficiently well in this field for recognition.
Post Script;
Recently we came across a list giving titles for the acronym PhD
Patiently Hoping for a Degree
Physiologically Deficient
Potential Heavy Drinker
Pizza Hut Driver
All this cannot match the one given by a former columnist and a colleague the later Amita Abeysekere: Pigang Hodena Degree
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