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Ven. Sobitha loses cool as corruption crackdown advances at the speed of continental drift

With the much promised crackdown on corruption moving at the speed of continental drift, the nation senses an unnerving rumble in its belly and smells a foul fishy stink pervading the air giving rise to nagging doubts whether some shady horse deals are being struck behind closed doors to secure political futures at the expense of political promises to bring the guilty to justice.

Compounding the issue further is the move to postpone the elections and form a national government for which the SLFP’s Central High Command gave the nod on Thursday. The JVP charged that a ‘national government’ would become an ideal device to protect the fraudsters, fuelling fears that the guilty would be able to escape the nation’s wrath and enjoy the spoils of a nation’s plunder untouched.

It is in this backdrop that the contents of the letter the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa sent to the SLFP Secretary Yapa on February 16th on the eve of the ‘Bring back Mahinda’ rally, takes an ominous turn. In it Rajapaksa, stating that he will never leave the SLFP, proudly boasted how he had always protected his party men from several accusations. In words that would have been a red bull tonic to those guilty of corruption, those dreading the CID knock on the door, he exhorted the Secretary to do the same.

He declared: “It is the prime responsibility of the SLFP to protect the other affiliated political parties, which were behind the SLFP all the time. The SLFP as a party should always be there to protect the party and its members whenever they are under threat. I firmly believe that the newly elected President of the SLFP, Maithripala Sirisena and other office bearers will take the responsibility of protecting the party as well as its members.”

Ven. Sobhitha Thera

The meaning was clear. He was giving a public tutorial to the party secretary copied to party president, on the Rajapaksa way of protecting one’s own party members regardless of their conduct and demanding, after having said he will never leave the party, that the party must protect its members, himself, as a loyal party member, included.

Thus the danger is whether the SLFP support is conditional on any assurance by the Maithripala Sirisena Government that it will not pursue corruption charges against some of its top members; whether the SLFP’s ready willingness to barter its 138 seat power bloc in Parliament is motivated by its desire to ensure that those guilty of mega corruption will be allowed to escape scot free. There may be a few show trials, of course, staged to give the appearance that corruption is being pursued hammer and tongs but, behind the facade of vigorous activity, will the aim and intent be to provide a safe haven for those Maithripala had vowed in his campaign cry to bring to trial and justice?

The absence of any dynamism in fulfilling promises made in the Maithri manifesto also led the Ven Sobitha Thera to rail at President Sirisena last Sunday at the Social Justice Convention. “Mr. President, we did the most difficult thing with greatest hardship for many years. To heat the griddle we blew the grate for years. We blew and blew and heated and heated the griddle. We heated it to burn the rotiya. Not to bask in the warmth. Now we came here to say we did not heat the griddle to bask in its warmth. We made it to burn the rotiya. So burn the rotiya,” he declared, critical of the slow pace and lethargic attitude in fulfilling the election promises made in the Maithripala manifesto.

“Vote for a real change” was the cornerstone of Maithripala’s campaign, the quintessence of his vision. And if it was for real change the great Lankan public voted Maithripala Sirisena as president, it was not for change in the nation’s economic policy nor for change in its non-aligned stand in international relations.

Above all else, the nation voted for a change in the way Mahinda Rajapaksa ran the country as his personal fiefdom, as if victory over a Tamil terrorist grouping won at the cost of thousands of lives, had haloed him with the god given right to exercise near absolute power as he wished; to rule untrammeled as the lord of all he surveyed with none to dispute his right; and thus ‘sole reigning hold the tyranny’ of Lanka.
It took a 19th century English Baron, Lord Acton to observe and identify this malady when he stated the now famous maxim, ‘Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

That was the fate that befell Mahinda Rajapaksa. It was further compounded by the fact that, unlike a Turk who never keeps his brother near the throne, Mahinda Rajapaksa kept three. Nay, even cousins twice removed, nephews and nieces were kept close at hand and became the barons and squires of the land, the knights of the provinces in his feudal estate and kingly court. The rest of the populace were the peasants, out of whom were chosen the most skillful flatterers and spineless sycophants, lavishly treated and remunerated at the nation’s expense for the dubious tasks they performed. The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka was neither democratic nor socialist and had ceased to be a republic. Instead it had become a pseudo monarchy, a redundant relic of the past set in a modern democratic world. An anachronism

Unimaginable extravagances, unrestrained squander of the public wealth and unprecedented corruption are but the inevitable consequences of such a flawed set up. Selective law enforcement becomes indispensable to silence the slightest dissent and selective immunities become vital to be granted to selected servers to gain their cooperation and keep the 24/7 party going.

Last year at an election rally the then sports minister of the UPFA government, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, declared referring to the opposition, ‘they cannot come to challenge us. The government is ours, the army is ours, the police are ours, therefore it is according to what we want that this election is conducted. We know how to dance; we also know how to stop the dancing of those who try to dance against us.”

It was to change this boorishness, the thuggery, the intimidation, the rampant corruption, the criminal wastage of public money on tamashas to boost one man’s ego and to bring to justice the perpetrators that the mass of this nation cast their vote in favour of Maithripala. If they had voted to change the constitution and abolish the presidency, it was because the people realised that it was the draconian power inherent in the executive presidency that made such levels of corruption and abuse of state power possible. With the abolition of the two term presidential limit, it became clear to all that the Rajapaksas had decided to settle down in power for life. It also became clear that they had to go.

Nearly 60 days have passed since the advent of the new Maithri government. But even though it has passed the half way mark of its 100 day plan of change, there appears to be some soft pedalling on the crackdown on corruption. The thunder that roared from election platforms and made the guilty quake in their shoes on how the new government would immediately bring to justice those who have plundered the national coffers has now settled down to a cat’s purr; and a people longing to see justice done remains unfulfilled much to their chagrin.

The only saving grace has been the appointment of the formidable Additional Solicitor General. Dilrukshi Dias Wickremesinghe as the new Bribery Commissioner which has fuelled hope that the promised crackdown may be round the corner. As she told the media on February 18 her first task has been to do a spot of spring cleaning to ensure that the Bribery Commission, which she regards as her second home, is all spruced and ready to hold Elara’s historic complaint bell which, once rung, guaranteed justice to the ringer. She captured the essence of what the people expect of the new government when she declared, “It is our ardent duty to create a situation of zero tolerance on bribery or corruption in the country.”

Cabinet spokesman Minister Rajitha Senaratne also admitted last week that investigations against the ‘big fish’ accused of committing crimes including bribery and corruption were very slow. He also added that before the general elections he will reveal ‘big names’.

Revealing ‘big names’ may sate a certain public curiosity but what the masses want is not to hear mere allegations however titillating or shocking but to see actual legal action being taken to manacle and put on trial the rogues of the people’s wealth — wealth running into billions of rupees that would have enhanced the public weal and welfare, enriched the people lives and eased their long drawn out penury.

Let there be no let up. No cover up. No attempt to delay, waffle and ultimately to leave it in limbo. In the process of forming a national government let there be no betrayal of the masses’ trust. Neither the magnitude of the crimes nor the quantum of the mind blowing booty suavely stolen can justify any shady shameful political deal. Let it be not forgotten why the Government has sought the assistance of the World Bank, the IMF, the US, the European Union, Britain and India. It is certainly not to track down a Lamborghini or two in some underground garage in Lanka or air freighted surreptitiously to Dubai or elsewhere but to hunt for the 5.6 billion US dollars, amounting to 700 billion rupees siphoned off the public coffers.