Personal security issues at The Sunday Times Biz Club

Staying below the horizon

By Ajit De Soyza

Most often, ‘we’ as a society and individuals place the responsibility of our security in the hands of others. However little do we realize that only “we” alone as individuals and as society can be responsible for protecting ourselves. This was the key message delivered by Damith Kurunduhewa, a top security specialist when he spoke about “Personal Protection” at the monthly meeting of The Sunday Times Business Club held this week at the Cinnamon Grand, the sponsor and host hotel of the club.

He said, “This is about your protection and the protection of your family”. This is especially important given the situation in the country today. “We are in a situation of urban terrorism today compared to the terrorism restricted to the jungles in the North end East.

This is in addition to the criminal activities that are happening around us on a daily basis and the occurrence of other unimaginable events. In this environment, personal protection becomes a challenge and it is no longer a task that can be handed over to anyone else and wait until the “magic” is done for us. On the other hand, we can draw examples of VIPs with the best levels of security being provided to them who have fallen victim to terrorism and other activities as their protection was placed in the hands of others,” he said.

The security situation in the country is not expected to improve. It hasn’t improved for the past 20 years and there are no signs to indicate that it will do so in the near future, he said. “We need to protect ourselves by ourselves,” pointed out Kurunduhewa adding that one can only draw support from other elements such as the armed forces, police and other law enforcement authorities, etc but “the responsibility of our own protection remains with us and this cannot be ignored.”

Staying below the horizon is the best solution in such times for protecting ourselves. Furthermore personal protection is about ‘us’ as business executives, business managers and citizens of this country on how one should protect himself and his family, he added.

“We must consider the reality around us. For our convenience we tend to forget reality because it creates in human beings a sense of great despair, but reality does not go away from us even though we try as much as possible to get away from it. When we seriously consider the Sri Lankan reality, we would no doubt realize that the reality is politicized, visionless, corrupt, less sense of protection and with random law application. Given all this, a new threat has emerged given the ‘kidnappings’ which are happening around us frequently. Thus personal protection has become ever so important for us as individuals,” he added.

While terrorism remains a key security concern, there is a need to be aware and concerned about other security threats such as professional criminals, tempted criminals and also insurgents. “Kidnappings” are associated with professional criminals with the objective of making money. “It’s all about profit,” said Kurunduhewa – also a columnist for The Sunday Times FT, re-emphasising the importance of re-adjusting lifestyles in times such as this.

Some of the attractions for kidnappings are professional status, social standing, business success, financial stability, political affiliations and critical philosophy. These are factors that can threaten the security of ourselves and that of families. “We cannot live the life we desire, when the security situation in the country is down,” he told the members of the club.

One also needs to realize that in most cases, it all begins with elements such as power dressing, designer houses, flashy cars, high figure revenues and upscale living. Professional criminals who normally carry out kidnappings do their “homework” prior to this and normally are equipped with all information pertaining to targets and their families.