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Poles apart: Two different cheese-and-chalk worlds of democracy

Last year July, Britain’s Tory Party leader Boris Johnson resigned as Prime Minister following allegations he had known that a senior member of his government had ‘groped two men on a drunken night at a private members’ club’ but had pretended to be unaware of it. He had also broken Covid mingling regulations by dropping for ‘drinkies’ at fellow workers birthday bashes within his official residence, No 10 Downing Street.

The piercing charges that felled him were that he had feigned ignorance of a colleague’s sexual romps; and that, by breaking Covid rules, he had not followed the laws he had made for the British people to abide by. A late apology didn’t help.

As a knight of the realm put it: ‘The rules were clear, they were there for everyone, and no one is above the law. It’s only right that those in power should lead by example’.

Two weeks ago, on the eve of a damning Parliamentary committee report on the Partygate scandal – which he described as a kangaroo court – he threw in the parliamentary towel and resigned as a member of the House of Commons.

LOHAN: Remains unmoved by jail break-in report

It marked the end of a colourful eight-year political career of Boris Johnson, the man who had taken Britain out of Europe; the man who led his Tory Party to the highest landslide victory since 1982, at the last general election held four years ago.

On June 15, the privileges committee – comprising four MPs out of Boris’ own Tory Party, two MPs from opposition’s Labour and one MP from SNP – released the report on its investigation into parties held at No 10 violating Covid lockdown rules. They found ‘he had deliberately misled Parliament,’ or in plain terms, ‘lied to the House,’ one of the most heinous of offences at Westminster, for which there is seldom forgiveness.

This was proved when an overwhelming 397 MPs transcended party loyalties and voted for the report which had damned Boris, with only seven voting against in the 350 Tory strong House of Commons. The total number of MPs is 650.

Britain showed the world this week that, though without a written constitution to guide her state affairs, she’s not adrift but that her fine traditions serve jolly well as rudder and compass. One is the principle that MPs who make laws for others to obey cannot themselves flout it and expect to go unpunished. Second, the House of Commons reserves its wrath to be spent sans mercy on the MP who willfully lies to his peers in Parliament and to the people who elected him.

Five thousand five hundred miles away from the world of Westminster, see carefully, the new millennium’s modern rites and traditions in full swing at Diyawanna’s temple to pay homage to its resident gods.

Two years ago on September 12, then Prisons Minister Lohan Ratwatte paid a midnight visit to the Anuradhapura prison. This was no inspection visit, unlike the one he’d made a few days earlier to Welikada jail to show inebriated friends the dark attraction of the gallows in macabre light.

But the Anuradhapura flying visit was not to play tour guide but to play judge, jury and possible executioner. He had arrived at the prison compound on a helicopter and, allegedly in a drunken stupor, had lined up suspected LTTE prisoners held under PTA and forced two prisoners to kneel before him. He had then taken his personal gun and held it point blank against their heads and asked them to confess their guilt, making no bones about whose fiat ran through the prison in the middle of night.

LOHAN: Remains unmoved by jail break-in report

With the Prime Minister reportedly calling for him to step down until the affair could be probed, Lohan Ratwatte duly tendered his resignation to President Gotabaya. A statement from the President’s Office on September 15, said: “Accepting the responsibility for the incidents caused by him at the Welikada and Anuradhapura prisons, the State Minister of Prisons Mr. Lohan Ratwatte resigns from his post. He notified President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of this today and the President accepted his resignation.”

Despite Lohan’s loss of his prison ministry, he, however, continued to hold government office as State Minister for Gems and Jewellery. He is presently the State Minister of Plantation Industries, having been sworn in by President Wickremesinghe on September 8 last year.

But his resignation alone as Prison Minister couldn’t muffle international uproar. The Cabinet appointed a committee headed by retired High Court judge Kusala Weerawardena to probe both prison incidents. But the findings of the report were not released to the public. It remained suppressed until the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR) made an RTI application on September 20, 2022 to the Justice Ministry requesting its release.

The request was denied by the ministry on September 30 last year on the basis that the report was ordered by the Cabinet. The ministry said it was forwarded to the Cabinet but there had been no response. Therefore, the Ministry had informed the CSR that since “the information is of a Cabinet memorandum in relation to which a decision has not been taken,’ access had to be refused under Section 5(i)(m) of the RTI Act.

The CSR appealed to the RTI. Delivering judgement on February 16 this year, the Commissioners, namely, Attorney-at-Law, and Sunday Times Columnist, Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, Attorney-at-Law Jagath Liyana Arachchi and A.M Nahiya held that since the evidence before it disclosed that it was not a ‘Cabinet memorandum’ but a Cabinet note’, which did not come within the meaning of Section 5(1)(m), the information sought could not be refused under Section 5 of the RTI Act.  The Commission directed the Justice Ministry to release the report and threatened legal action if it failed to do so.

On June 11, the CSR reacted to the damning report and issued a blistering statement urging the Attorney General to take immediate action against Lohan Ratwatte based on the Justice Ministry’s Committee report, and stated the report contained ‘credible evidence of attempted murder, illegal acts, and human rights violations committed by Ratwatte during his visits to Welikada and Anuradhapura Prisons in September 2021.’

While the Attorney General may still be rifling through the report, what action does the SLPP, of which Lohan is a member, plan to take on the official Justice Ministry sponsored report? What action in the damning dossier of evidence gathered by the former High Court Judge Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena against the former state minister?

SLPP Secretary Sagala Kariyawasam once more reached out to cling at the last remaining straw that grows on the banks of his party’ fast sinking boat. With the presumptuous air of a scrupulous legal jurist, he sought refuge in the old legal maxim and exclaimed: ‘All are innocent unless proved guilty in a court of law?’

Attorney Kariyawasam’s curious defence contained the bulk of the party’s stock argument used to fend off criminal allegations made against wayward members of the party.

The points he raised were:

• ‘The first thing is whether there is a Police complaint about this incident’.

Well, actually there is.

The Committee for Protecting the Rights of Prisoners lodged a complaint on September 16, 2021. It was made soon after the then SLPP Police Minister Sarath Weerasekera told reporters: “The gun he has used, I think, is a licensed firearm. However, if somebody makes a complaint related to these incidents, we might be able to take action against it according to the law.”

• ‘No one can initiate such action against a public representative on the basis of an investigation report alone.’

But it was the then SLPP Justice Minister Ali Sabry who, with the blessings of the SLPP Cabinet, initiated the investigative report to be done at public expense. Why send a retired High Court judge at public expense on a fishing expedition if the haul is to be thrown back to the water?

• ‘If a party takes action by any chance, the relevant member can resort to legal action against the party’.

Lo and behold! Is it the cringing fear of defamation actions being brought against the party that make its’ leadership shield certain members whose foul reputations stink a mile before their arrival?

• ‘If the allegations against him are proven through the relevant court proceedings, we can act accordingly’

Really? The nature and extent the party takes when an SLPP MP is tried and convicted by a competent court, is revealed by the presence of a convicted extortionist in the SLPP Cabinet, even though the Constitution disqualifies a convicted MP from Parliament.

The difference between the British Tories at Westminster and the Lankan Pohottuwas at the Diyawanna is that the Tories, when they find their fish gone rotten, throw it overboard while the Pohottuwas hug theirs to their bosoms, no matter how repulsive the stench.

Bank installs cash recycler at Sri Maha Bodhi upper maluwa The Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, the last remaining living symbol of Buddhism. The sapling of the now-extinct sacred Bodhi in India that gave shelter to Siddhartha to attain Buddhahood.  The noble Scion of the noble Bodhi in Buddha Gaya, under whose soothing shade the royal Prince, who had renounced his worldly wealth six years before, relinquished all primordial desires and finally shed ignorance and found Enlightenment. The most hallowed site in all of Lanka, where thousands of pilgrims visit each year, devoutly seeking spiritual bliss far from the maddening strife of mundane life. The upper maluwa, the vantage point from whence they glimpse the cynosure of every eye and mind: the sacred 2259-year-old Bodhi, and stand rooted in reverence, hushed in worship. And strive to lessen the binding chains of tanha. Two weeks ago the Government-owned People’s Bank pulled off a sensational public relations coup which it was not averse to trumpeting from the upper terrace of the sacred Bodhi. RELIGIOUS BLESSING: Seth Pirith to invoke blessings on the CRM It released a special press communique to the newspapers, along with the picture published above, extolling its service to make instant banking available to its customers anytime and anywhere, even in places you least expect to find it. The following is their message, which was faithfully published in the Government and private newspapers without altering a single word or syllable. ‘Ushering in added convenience to the devotees, a Cash Recycle Machine (CRM) was recently installed by the People’s Bank in the upper sanctum of the historic Jaya Shri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura.’ ‘Through this CRM, devotees can deposit cash, withdraw cash and make bill payments 365 days of the year 24 hours of the day. ‘Under the patronage of Atamasthanadhipathi, the Chief Samaranayake of Nuwara Kalaviya Ven. Pallegama Hemarathana Thero.’ But apparently, this was not the first time the People’s Bank had found its niche on the upper terrace. Last year in June, it installed an ATM at the same sacred site. That year too, it had issued the same identical message, except for a detail or two. It had said: ‘Ushering in added convenience to the devotees, an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) was recently installed by the People’s Bank in the upper sanctum of the historic Jaya Shri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura. Through this ATM, devotees can withdraw money 365 days of the year, seven days of the week and 24 hours of the day.’ Last year the groundbreaking event had been under the patronage of the late Atamasthanadhipathi Ven. Dr. Pallegama Siriniwasa Thero. The People’s Bank Chairman Sujeewa Rajapakse had been in attendance. But alas, the ATM could only dispense cash to devotees on the upper terrace. Hence the need for an upgrade: from an anachronistic Automated Teller Machine to a new updated, state-of-the-art Cash Recycler Machine. Fancy that. Thanks to the foresight and enterprise of the high-ups at the People’s Bank to cater to the materialistic needs of its customers in the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi upper terrace sating its spiritual needs, now the People’s Bank devotees – to the envy of devotees from other banks – can not only withdraw their money instantly, but can bring cash by the bundle to deposit for safekeeping and avidly do their financial transactions, and pay their electricity and water bills and go through their up-to-date bank statements at the one-stop Uda Maluwa. In short, to pray assured that they and their money are not apart but ever close at hand to be accessed instantly at a touch. What will the bank think of next? Install Netflix to meet devotees’ entertainment needs, plugging Peoples’ Bank commercials on how best to invest money during bana breaks?