With the topmost priority being the elimination of the terrorist campaign in the North and East, the Government turned a Nelsonian-eye to the suppression of news and newspersons. Now with the 'war' over, there is a need to ensure that if the defeat of fascism means anything, democracy must win the day. The Government must seek ways and means of furthering the ideals of democracy, not suppress them. Through democracy it must upgrade the quality of life of the citizens of this country.

On the opposite page, we run a commentary on the Right to Information Law that our big neighbour, India, has enacted to improve the quality of life of some 1.2 billion citizens. This law enables any citizen of India to make an application to a Government ministry or department and obtain basic information about how their money is being spent, the reasons for the decisions that are taken in their name and on their behalf.

They can ask why their child was not admitted to a particular school; why a promotion has been denied; how much is being spent for the construction of a road in their village and who the contractor is and when it will be completed; so on and so forth. Translated into the Sri Lanka situation, it would mean affording the citizen a right to find out the same things - and on what basis sand-mining permits were issued in Puttalam; liquor licenses in Embilipitiya and gem mining around Kalu Ganga, who is responsible for the collapse of bridges on the Southern Highway and the cost etc., etc.

The very thought of releasing this kind of information would be anathema to corrupt politicians and public officials. But, Aruna Roy, who pioneered the Indian law and is interviewed on the opposite page told a Colombo seminar this week that it was the bureaucracy that shuddered most when the law was introduced, not the ruling party politicians.

Sri Lanka was on the verge of bringing this law into force as far back as in 2004 when the then President prematurely dissolved that Parliament, and since then an updated draft by the Law Commission has been gathering dust at the Ministries of Justice and Media. The draft Sri Lankan Freedom of Information Act was to provide any citizen the right to access official information which is in the possession, custody or control of a public authority - with some exceptions relating to national security, the private medical records of persons and the like. The overriding principle being to give access to information, not hide it from the public. There was a clause for the protection of 'whistle-blowers' who could expose corruption from within, as well.

These were progressive laws aimed at empowering the poor, the voiceless and the un-influential to access official information. Quite a lot of this information is available today by greasing the palm of a clerk, but not officially.

Colonial powers treated the people as subjects and had laws like the insidious Official Secrets Act to withhold official information from them. Today these countries are independent for more than 60 years, and since 1990, more than 40 countries - India and Pakistan in South Asia - have joined the trend towards greater openness towards their own people.
Though the 2004 draft Law was spearheaded by a media-based campaign, these are matters that civil society organisations in Sri Lanka with rural bases must campaign for, as was the case in India. The Government itself, if it is to be the genuine champion of the poor, must wipe off the dust from this draft law and accelerate its passage through Parliament.

Keep out the Jungle Raj

Aruna Roy who campaigned for the Right to Information Act in India said in Colombo this week, that in the same way that Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka from India, let the country also adopt a R2I Law on the lines of the Indian Act here. She was impressing upon the listeners the benefits that accrue to the ordinary people from such a law.

However, not everything from India may be as good for the people. Take for instance, the the Constitution's 13th Amendment which was forced upon the people of this country in the immediate aftermath of a violation of the country's sovereignty by Indian Air Force jets, a forced drop of lentils and a controversial Peace Accord signed in July 1987.

Twenty two years later, with a system of devolution that has failed miserably in the rest of the country, India is still insisting on Sri Lanka implementing the provisions of this 13th Amendment.

While not discarding all its provisions as bad, there is a need to review the 13th Amendment, and this need seems to have been recognised by the powers-that-be.

At the crux of it all is the Centre-Province relations. It will behove the Government to take a look at what is happening in India itself right now, and the political chaos in the populous state of Uttar Pradesh where the Chief Minister Mayawati has got her state police to land in jail a political opponent and ruling Congress Party politician, Rita Bahugana Joshi, for making an allegedly derogatory remark about Ms. Mayawati. Congress President Sonia Gandhi has apologised for the slur, but the Chief Minister has not relented. Instead, she has been slapped Ms. Joshi with non-bailable charges under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Atrocities Act. To add injury to insult, Ms. Joshi's house also has been set on fire allegedly by the Chief Minister's supporters. In New Delhi, they are calling it "the Jungle Raj' in Uttar Pradesh.

The political fallout from this is food for thought for our legislators. Do we need any 'Jungle Raj' again here with devolved power like in India?