On the one hand, a former professor of law now turned strident government propagandist, Minister GL Peiris tells us that the due process of law is being followed in governmental actions against its critics. On the other hand, we have the unreservedly peculiar spectacle of magistrates routinely releasing opposition politicians, journalists and activists arrested and detained by the police and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on the basis that there had been no evidence to arrest and detain them in the first place.
The stark absurdity of this contradiction is well manifested in the Editor of the Lanka newspaper, Chandana Sirimalwatte's confessing this week that he is equally puzzled as to why he was suddenly released as much as he remained puzzled regarding the reasons for his initial arrest.
Disregarding of the principle of legality
So notwithstanding what the erstwhile learned professor attempts to tells us in pursuance of vigorously defending his political masters, the total disregarding of the principle of legality by the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration post elections is a good indication as to where this country is headed governance-wise.
First, the waters were tested by the gradually unscrupulous abandonment of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. When protests in regard to this were niggardly, (even initially by opposition political parties themselves) and the issue quite predictably failed to strike a chord with the ruder masses, then the government proceeded to bigger and brighter endeavours. These included not only the masterly conducting of a Presidential election that flouted every aspect of election laws but also the arresting and detaining of the former common opposition candidate under the Army Act for military trial on grounds that remain vaguely centered on bedtime stories of conspiracies and coups.
The reason as to why such action was resorted to rather than putting into motion, the ordinary law, is very clear. Even if, in the long run, we take the high road and dare to believe that the legal validity of such an approach in the circumstances of this case will be ultimately reviewed by the appellate courts against the government, the regime's objectives are achieved for the immediate present. This is to put the common opposition candidate effectively out of political circulation during the pre-parliamentary elections period once the initial furor over his arrest and detention dies down.
Total subversion of rule of law
If, on the other hand, the former army commander had been brought before ordinary courts of law, then (as much as his supporters were released this week by the Colombo Chief magistrate upon the CID failing to produce any evidence to justify the basis for arrest), the burden of justifying arrest and detention would have been that much greater and that much more pressing. This, in the proverbial nutshell, is what we are faced with currently; a façade of a democracy and the total subversion of the rule of law.
This breakdown in governance was what the monks of the four primary Buddhist chapters in this country had wished to discuss in the now postponed Sangha gathering. The postponement was implicitly due to unprecedented pressure and intimidation being directly brought to bear on the head monks by forces linked to the government. This is as much an indication as to the precise point at which we are placed on the democratic index as Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake's retraction from his earlier near tearful vows to step down from his post following the January's Presidential elections where he was reduced to saying that he may not be able to ensure the security of ballot boxes under his supervision.
Notably too, the uneasy truce achieved by the opposition backing General Sarath Fonseka's candidature during the Presidential elections has now splintered and the unfortunate former common candidate has now only the JVP as his backers together with resoundingly problematic personalities such as Sri Lanka's former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva. The main United National Party, together with its political allies will, (true to form), subside to bitter mutterings regarding the loss of democracy and unless a veritable miracle occurs, will be unable to rejuvenate itself effectively.
What we may see in the months ahead
So, in the months ahead to April 2010, we may perhaps usefully dispense with both international and local polls monitors who accomplish little except the tired cataloguing of old complaints. To complete this process, we may also dispense with not only the constitutional commissions but also the Constitution, the Parliamentary Elections Act and the Criminal Procedure Code.
We may again watch Mr Dissanayake issue useless guidelines to the state media, suffer the blatant abuse of state machinery, watch his returning officers being chased out and abused and then (tearfully or not as the case may be) 'declare' election results after his usual fashion. We may consign the fundamental principle of an independent media to the dustbin and see other critics suffer the same date as Pragneeth Ekneligoda who remains 'disappeared' to date.
Further, we may resign ourselves to seeing monks, (however venerable they may be), priests of other religious orders and whoever else who may dare to even mildly critique the administration, being banished to the rapidly growing legion of those categorized as traitors. We may also see university academics, including sitting Vice Chancellors, again professing their allegiance to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and look forward to more politicians being bestowed doctorates from academic institutions at which some of us are now ashamed to admit that we once learnt the fundamentals of the law and legal jurisprudence.
What more indeed, when a former Vice Chancellor and professor of the law advises us that there is due process in the moving of the law against the opposition and (not so long ago) threatened to sue the European Commission for its now final decision to withdraw the GSP Plus trade privilege?
We may look forward to these happenings with breathless anticipation if not amazement indeed in the months to come. |
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