19th April 1998

• Changing pillows will not help
• Let's look at alternatives
• Omissions that affect the Commission
• Finding a way out
• They just don't care!
• What's happening to Ritigala?
• This smacks of hypocrisy
• Prevention of terrorism act and fundamental rights

Changing pillows will not help

For the past fifty years we Sri Lankans have been changing the colour of our pillows from green to blue and from blue to green as the results of the General Elections held periodically show. With the passage of time as these two head rests have been so contaminated they are now totally unfit and environmentally unfriendly to withstand any more laundering and to sleep on. Prevalence of this poisonous atmosphere has also contributed in no small measure to the unleashing of island-wide violence on the results of every General Election on party members of the defeated by the victorious.

In such a murky scenario it is most amusing to find that the Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe who has been most vociferously canvassing for the abolition of the Presidency, now doing a complete somersault by suggesting not only its retention but also the appointment of two Vice Presidents to boot. Appointment of two Vice Presidents to perform a balancing act will ultimately create two Presidents of 'Vice' as the track records of some past Presidents have shown according to recent reports of Commissions of Inquiry. These creations will only be an added burden both financially and socially on an already pregnant political system. Some are even tinkering with the idea of reintroducing a Second Chamber - Senate which was abolished for good and valid reasons a few years after Independence.

In view of the fact that we are still unable to

(a) see any light at the end of our tunnel of ethnic strife,

(b) find whole hearted support for the proposed devolution of power.

(c)re-establish a clean and sensitive public service and

(d) Cleanse most politicians of corrupt and criminal behaviour.

It may be most prudent for President Chandrika Kumaratunga to seriously consider the dissolution of Parliament and create a National Government comprising all heads of political parties with distinguished citizens and religious dignitaries as advisors keeping a watchful eye.

Today in most countries the democratic system of government appears to be failing with most Presidents and Prime Ministers overstaying by hook or by crook their periods of stewardship thus creating virtual dictatorships resulting in wide-scale money laundering towards Swiss bank accounts and gross violation of human rights. Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) said a mouthful (on this system which is no more a parliament made up of the butcher the baker and the candlestick maker) in the House of Commons on 17th November 1947:

"Democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

Stanley P. Wickramaratne

West Australia

Let's look at alternatives

Garbage disposal is a global problem. Our embassies abroad, by directing a few members of their staff could submit a report as to the procedure adopted in those countries for garbage disposal.

Attention must be paid to the systems adopted in all Asiatic countries - India, Japan and China included. A few engineers or technical officers could visit the countries referred to, and study the methods in detail to be adopted to ease this crisis in our country. Most of the countries may be having incinerators in close proximity or some form of pits or dumps.

A most viable suggestion is to carry on research work on ascertaining the viability of dumping garbage into the sea, five to 10 miles from our shores. We could have a fleet of ships with the correct technicalities for this purpose. Research should include whether fish could consume garbage as food or it would disintegrate in the process, into the sea.

O.P. Perera

Colombo 5

Omissions that affect the Commission

We the members of Avadhi Lanka, an organization which seeks to promote public morality, are concerned about the present status of the Permanent Commission on Bribery and Corruption. The Act No.19 of 1994, under which the above commission was set up, was passed unanimously in Parliament showing how much MPs realise the need for such a commission to clean up public life.

Avadhi Lanka is concerned that the functioning of the Commission has been adversely affected, if not brought to a halt by the following acts of commission and omission by the government.

1. The vacant post of Director General has not been filled so far.

2. The police officers who were attached to the Commission as investigators have been transferred out without replacements.

3. The post of the 3rd Member of the Commission which fell vacant on the death of retired Justice Siva Selliah has not been filled so far.

Avadhi Lanka is of the view that the government is remiss in the above actions. We cannot agree that a law which requires the investigation of allegations of bribery and corruption should be rendered in- operative by any acts of commission or omission on the part of the authorities.

We call upon the President to fill the vacant posts immediately and direct the IGP to provide investigators, and other staff required by the Commission. It's a principle of law that what cannot be done directly should not be done indirectly.

The Commissioners are in the same position as Supreme Court Judges and the law has sought to protect their independence by requiring their removal procedure to be the same as for Supreme Court Judges.

Avadhi Lanka

Finding a way out

One of the most startling experiences I have had recently, whilst meeting people at grass roots level in our villages and towns, is evidence of a rapidly growing new consciousness. Though strident and articulate and in some aspects even frightening this new phenomenon still lacks cohesion and has yet to be harnessed for any coherent purpose.

At the core of this new consciousness is an enormous weariness and cynicism bordering on despair. The primary object of these corrosive emotions is the political establishment, regardless of whether it is represented by the incumbent government or the incumbent opposition. Indeed the recrimination seems to smear almost every government that has ruled this country since Independence. Sadly, the public services and the judiciary through which the political establishment functions seems equally to be the target of the peoples' wrath.

I hasten to say that this disenchantment is not necessarily connected to the cost of living or to the lack of employment or to such economic indicators.. Actually our people have far more material goods today, though unevenly distributed, than they had say twenty five years ago. The disenchantment exists at a more fundamental level. It signifies a moral collapse. Every society is held together by a set of core values, rarely articulated in a precise form but subsisting as that society's major premise and lending to it a coherence and an underlying purpose it would not otherwise have. To me it seems as if that core has collapsed and our society is disintegrating into a free for all, a ME ONLY society and that misconduct by our politicians has been the primary cause.

There was another trend I detected. While this trend also has grown out of the same disenchantment with politicians, it is essentially wholesome and focuses on doing something constructive. This trend is best exemplified in the AVADI LANKA which is really a movement rather than an organisation. It has been conceptualised and is held together by a few dedicated individuals - retired public servants and judges, academics and professionals - but includes among its highly motivated membership hundreds of simple folk from rural areas - teachers, artists, farmers and school children. It seeks to work within the Rule of Law and within the underlying assumptions of civilised society but in a constructively critical role. While it shares in the prevailing disenchantment its primary role seems to be to focus on and expose every defection from accepted standards of public morality committed by the nation's leaders, whether in government or in the opposition. Secondly it seeks also to develop within society a critical awareness of people's duties by the community and simultaneously to teach them how they can subject the processes of governance to constant scrutiny. The overall purpose seems to be to raise the quality and level of public interest in issues of governance and to bring this awareness to bear on current problems

Several features of Avadi Lanka deserve attention. It refuses to accept any assistance from foreign donors saying that such help reduces their credibility and is bound to prove a corrupting influence. It believes that its work is the best accomplished by going among the people and by talking to them in small groups rather than by holding seminars and reading papers in Colombo. It specially targets schools and colleges because it believes that transforming the consciousness of the youth by planting seminal seeds in their minds now is the key to the transforming the wider society. It emphasises very strongly the need to talk with the people in their own languages, Sinhala and Tamil, rather than in a language of the privileged few. It is entirely non-partisan in its political vision being ready to subject all political leaders and parties to public scrutiny without fear or favour.

However I could not help forming the impression that while Avadi Lanka is driven by wholly noble ideals and is led by individuals whose integrity and reputation for probity is perhaps unmatched it still needs to come down from the clouds and get its feet planted on the ground. It needs to work out an operational plan for realising its goals.

There are several other groups mushrooming all over the country, all driven by the same disenchantment with our politicians and all looking for a way out from the inherited and still burgeoning quagmire. One hopes that these groups will find a way to work together and develop that critical mass without which they will be wasting their energy and time chasing phantoms.

Neville Jayaweera

Colombo

More Letters to the Editor * They just don't care! * What's happening to Ritigala? * This smacks of hypocrisy * Prevention of terrorism act and fundamental rights

Return to the Plus Contents