Are we law abiding or law breakers, civilized or uncivilized?

Law is a system of rules usually enforced through a set of institutions, in the case of Sri Lanka, by the Legislature consisting of people’s representatives. The law of a country ensures order and the smooth functioning of human affairs of that country and its citizens are obliged to obey these laws. The law of a country is sacred.

The most important institutions for law are the judiciary, the legislature, the executive, its bureaucracy, the military and police, the legal profession and civil society. While laws may exist, their validity and effectiveness largely depends upon the obedience of the citizens to these laws and their enforcement by the law enforcement authorities such as the Police. This is contrary to the “law of the jungle’ where there is no order or respect for rights and obligations. “Might is right” is the law of the jungle and the “survival of the fittest” is best exemplified in the jungle. But law is a product of civilization and becomes a tool to ensure that human beings march forward, not backwards, in this continuing process of civilization.

Having said this, I wonder where we Sri Lankans are at this point of time. We have a Legislature, Law, the Judiciary and law enforcement authorities and are supposed to be a civilized country. But in fact, are we? Given the escalating incidents of crime, violence, disappearances, and subversion of laws by the powerful and politically connected etc. one wonders whether the laws of our country are as sacred to us as it should be. It seems that human lives are of little value these days. When we are confronted by an opponent, our first reaction seems to be to eliminate him. When we are faced with a law that obstructs us from doing what we think is best for our own personal gain, we try to circumvent the law by bribing the authorities even though such violations are bound to weaken society.

Are the laws of our country moving us forward, or is there a regression of civilization? The government spends large sums of public funds to maintain the system of law and its institutions. These costs add to the cost of living too. I wonder if someone can enlighten us on how much of public funds are utilized by the government to maintain the state. But it serves no purpose if these institutions are dysfunctional.

Therefore, there seems to be an urgent need for us to stop and think before it is too late. We need to respect law in the first place, while law enforcement authorities need to enforce the law without fear or favour and desist from casting a Nelsonian eye on law breakers, even when they are politically well connected. It seems frequent these days that “law-makers are the law-breakers” and their unruly sons are no better. Unfortunately this seems to be true in the case of Sri Lanka. Law enforcement authorities are often obstructed by political interference in their line of duty or are compelled to toe the line of the ruling powers. Here lies the seed of anarchy and the road to a “Failed State”. If all Sri Lankans are law abiding and if all law enforcement authorities do their job, if politicians stop interfering with the law enforcement authorities, and crime rates come down drastically, then Sri Lanka can continue on our journey towards a more civilized society.

On the other hand, we could also ask, if the prevailing laws of our country are sufficient or are they outdated? The law of Sri Lanka is the old Dutch law which has been introduced to us by the colonialists of old. Other countries too have their own laws. But they periodically revise and update these laws to cater to the forward moving civilization. Perhaps we need to revise the laws of our country too to suit modern times. Our law is full of loopholes and these loopholes need to be plugged in order to stop us from regressing. But the million dollar question is “Who will bell the cat?”.

- A concerned citizen