Sunday Times 2
Observations from Dr. Colvin R de Silva
View(s):I have been reading a most interesting book entitled ‘Memories of 33 Years in Parliament’.
The memoirs of former Secretary General of Parliament Nihal Seneviratne, the book is entertaining as well as informative – and provides a glimpse of what our legislature and our legislators were like during the last century, when Mr Seneviratne served as the administrative head of our parliament.
Although members of parliament are traditionally addressed as ‘Honourable Member’ or Garu Manthrithumani, it is a sad fact that many of these members go through their parliamentary careers with their honour rooted in dishonour, remaining falsely true to their constituents and professing a faith unfaithful and a loyalty disloyal to the party through which they got elected.Mr Seneviratne’s predecessor as Secretary General, Mr Sam Wijesinha, who served from 1964 to 1981, used to recount how he was warmly welcomed to parliament by veteran MP Dr. Colvin R. de Silva during his first week in his new post. Dr de Silva was one of the founders of the LSSP and was first elected to parliament in 1947. In addition to being a member of parliament and later a minister, he was a brilliant criminal lawyer who appeared as leading counsel in many famous cases. Having known Mr Wijesinha (who was himself a senior lawyer in the Attorney General’s Department before he came to parliament), Dr de Silva loudly greeted him with “Welcome, Sam, welcome! All these years you have been spending your time prosecuting criminals. Now that you are in parliament, you will find that you have to learn to work with criminals!”
While MPs like Dr N.M. Perera, Philip Gunewardena and Dr de Silva himself were arrested and jailed by the British during colonial times for opposing the British war effort, and other members of parliament such as Ministers C.A.S Marikkar and M.P.de Zoysa as well as MPs D.B. Monnekulame, Eric Jayatillake, Henry Abeywickrema and Gate Mudaliyar M.S. Kariapper were found guilty of corruption by the Thalgodapitiya Commission and lost their seats and their civic rights, it was only during the rule of the Rajapaksa family that we have seen convicted criminals actually sitting in parliament. In July 2020, Premalal Jayasekera (“Chokka Malli”) was convicted of murder by the Ratnapura High Court and sentenced to death – but at the parliamentary election of November 2020 the voters of the Ratnapura district voted him into parliament. Despite the Attorney General informing parliament after the election that as a convicted criminal Mr. Jayasekera was ineligible to hold office as a member of parliament, he was sworn in and allowed to attend parliamentary sittings from prison! As recently as this month — on June 6 — the MP elected from the Gampaha district, Prasanna Ranatunga, was found guilty by the Colombo High Court of threatening and demanding a Rs 64 million bribe from a businessman, one Gehard Mendis.
Mr. Ranatunga was sentenced to two years’ rigorous imprisonment plus a large fine. The High Court Judge suspended the sentence for five years. Just because a sentence is ‘suspended’ it does not mean that the man has not been convicted! A ‘suspended sentence’ means that the convicted persons do not need to go to prison straightaway – but if during the period of suspension, they breach certain conditions (such as re-offending) they will be taken to prison to serve their sentence.
So what Minister Dr Colvin R. de Silva told the incoming Secretary General of Parliament Sam Wijesinha in lighter vein in 1964 holds so true for our current parliament. We have a convicted criminal serving not just as a member of parliament but in no less a position than as a powerful Cabinet Minister. We have the record of a convicted murderer (even though he was later acquitted on appeal) actually being brought to parliament from prison to attend sittings! In 1960, when Ministers C.A.S. Marikkar and M.P.de Zoysa were found guilty of corruption not by a High Court but by the Parliament Bribery Commission, they both had the grace to resign – but today Prasanna Ranatunga, a man found guilty of corruption by no less than the Colombo High Court, unashamedly continues in office. Even if he has appealed his sentence, until such time (if he is lucky) as the sentence may be overturned by a Court of Appeal, he remains a convicted criminal — in effect a Felon — and should debar himself from public office. But he remains in cabinet, retaining plenty of authority and opportunity as Minister of Tourism and Public Security!
What does this say about our political culture? Is it only the politicians who are to blame — or do we voters (as former Finance Minister Basil Rajapakse bluntly stated this month) have to accept the blame?
Remember, it was the Ratnapura voters who elected a man convicted of murder to parliament in 2020. Although voters cannot be held responsible for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe being in parliament (because he was not really elected to office!) it must be admitted that it was voters like us who sent elected members — “criminals” as Dr Colvin R. de Silva put it — to parliament.
The responsibility of sending educated, decent members to parliament rests on voters like us. The responsibility of bringing to justice those who have done wrong — and ensuring that those found guilty under the law, even if they are given suspended sentences, should not be allowed to continue in office — rests on party leaders.
The people today are not asking for revenge. The people are asking for Justice.