Promises are meant to be broken

It was this facility, a luxury in many other countries, that made it possible for Sri Lankans, like many of those gathered that day, to travel far and wide and settle down in foreign lands with comfortable lifestyles.

There were other measures too that helped Sri Lanka to emerge as a healthy, educated nation and its people with multiple skills. Mr Moonesinghe, did not hesitate to pay tribute where tribute was due. So when he had good words for those on the other side of the political barricades, the UNP , it was not tongue in cheek. Those who know Mangala Moonesinghe well enough, know that he is a person of sincerity. 

But he was severe when he had to be, especially with regard to the tragedy that befell the Tamil people in July 1983 and the trauma that Sri Lanka as a nation suffered as a result of the inhuman and mindless acts of a few political leaders of the time and their hoodlum henchmen.

High Commissioner Moonesinghe, who came to London on a cross-posting from New Delhi, also spent some time explaining the steps taken to vastly improve relations with India and, since coming to London, to apprise the British government of the inimical acts performed on its soil by a terrorist group against a friendly nation.

It is difficult to convince your own country people-leave alone foreign governments and the international community- of the sincerity of political leaders when the next day or so one reads of actions of the government which betray the faith which we are urged to have in it. 

Hardly had Mangala Moonesinghe's words appealing to people of all communities and religions to work together, hand in hand, to help Sri Lanka resurrect and restore its past glory been uttered, when it became known that the government was not prepared to establish an independent police commissions. 

Apparently Presideny Kumaratunga would not mind a parlimentary select committee going into the question of establishing independent public service, elections and judicial commissions but not the police. 

It was Rauf Hakeem who initially demanded an assurance from President Kumaratunga that she would establish independent commissions including one for the police, before his party lent support to the PA to form a government.

Having been offered a post in a cabinet which seemed to stretch from here to eternity, the aforementioned Rauf Hakeem seemed to have undergone a slight change of heart. He was willing to give President Kumaratunga a 100 days to come up with the assurance that he had originally demanded in high dudgeon if he was to so much as condescend to prop up her government.

The hundred days passed and he is still there. So much for promises. Now the President is willing, so the news reaching here says, to make him chairman of the select committee, but only three commissions and certainly no police commission.

It seems that position, power and perks far outweigh principled politics in Sri Lanka. Remember that the police was a party before or after to the shenanigans that went on in the Kandy district. Remember also that it was not the opposition that first cried foul at the manner in which ministerial high jinks tried to turn the Kandy district into some decadent aristocratic rotten borough.

The first to protest and not once but twice, was D.M. Jayaratne the Secretary-General of the People's Alliance, the coalition in power. He twice informed the President of what was happening.

The only time a senior police officer tried to halt what was not only blatantly unlawful but also violated election laws, he was subjected to the same intimidation by young thugs who think they are modern day Lucky Lucianos because they have weapons tucked under their shirts.

If the forces of law and order, those mandated to keep the peace on a daily basis, can be intimidated or promoted as the case may be, through political power and influence, then how can anybody seriously appeal to the people to help the government against terrorism.

What government politicians, and indeed the government itself are trying to do is retain their privileged positions to make changes in the police service on the grounds of a police officer's usefulness to them or the government. This is nothing more than an attempt to turn officers of the state into lackeys of the government and its political agents.

That is why President Kumaratunga, or those who advise her, oppose an independent police commission which will decide on transfers and promotions and to which police officers can turn for redress in the event of harassment by government politicians. Unlike elections officials or the judiciary, or even the public service, the police can be called upon to carry out any dirty work on a daily basis. 

They are used to intimidate political opponents, voters and anybody the local government parliamentarian does not like. An independent police commission would make it much more difficult to turn the police service into an extended arm of power- hungry and corrupt politicians.

So diplomats, with all sincerity, could appeal to Sri Lankans to unite against terrorism. But their stirring words will also stir disgust in the hearts and minds of the people of that country who read about the corruption, lack of transparency and good governance. Terrorism is like a coin- it has two sides. Those who bespoil the name of the state with their actions is but the other side of that coin 

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