We are hugging a decadent past

Was it premonition or next month's presidential election that kept President Chandrika Kumaratunga from attending the Commonwealth summit that concluded in Durban, South Africa last week?

Whatever the reason- prescience or anxiety-she has been spared the embarrassment of having to see in circulation a report that has expressed concern over Sri Lanka's treatment of the media.

The concern was expressed by the London-based think-tank, the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC).

The FPC's report, by researchers Kate Ford and Sunder Katwala, made available at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting set out a rationale for tough new membership criteria based on democracy and human rights.

The report also called for the expulsion of Zimbabwe, Kenya and Zambia for refusing to maintain an independent judiciary, tackle corruption and promote civil society in which an essential ingredient is freedom of the press.

Sri Lanka had been mentioned for its failure to maintain freedom of the press. In a column I wrote last month I warned that the Sri Lanka, government would have to answer for its repressive treatment of the local media and journalists who the administration perceived to be critical of it.

Writing in the aftermath of the recent colloquium in Colombo on media freedom and defamation, I said that governmental actions, particularly the use of archaic laws such as criminal defamation and other measures to browbeat the media had caused widespread criticism in media and non-media circles.

"This is being viewed with much concern in political, diplomatic and media circles not only here in Britain but also in many Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth countries."

I concluded by saying "One thing is sure. Attacks on journalists in various ways have set in motion a train of events that is certainly not going to bring credit to Sri Lanka. On the contrary, Sri Lanka has been put under the microscope and our leaders will find that the issue will crop up at the most unexpected places and at official level too. That is the state of play now. Notice has been given."

It has cropped up at the most unexpected place, the Commonwealth summit, normally a happy gathering of government leaders. The British media even thought it would be raised officially, with the report being tabled at the gathering of heads of government.

What the media here failed to do was to live up to one of the first theorems of journalism. Had it checked, it would have discovered that there is no provision for such reports to be tabled at the summit.

In the event, the retiring Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku of Ghana saved some of the leaders from obvious embarrassment by dismissing the essence of the report as did his successor New Zealand's Don McKinnon later.

Even if it did not reach the heads of government through the official route as sections of the media had reported and its authors had obviously hoped, it still carried a grave warning. Notice had been served that the Commonwealth itself was facing change and it was not going to remain that happy club that it used to be.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph the week of the conference, co-authors Ford and Katwala said democracies at risk of falling under military or other dictatorships must be asked to draw up concrete action plans to tackle their problems.

"It is not just about Pakistan holding elections. Zimbabwe must show how it respects the right to oppose; Kenya the rights of minorities; Sri Lanka the freedom of the press. The Commonwealth must start to build democracy as well as dealing firmly with abusers."

I'm sure that if one so wished it would not have been difficult to find other Commonwealth countries where freedom of the press is virtually non-existent. Take Singapore. It not only lacks press freedom, as the authors of the report would perceive that freedom, but the city state is also guilty of cleverly circumscribing political opposition and dissent.

Why then has Sri Lanka been honoured with the tag of being the mother of all violators as far as media freedom is concerned?

Surely it is because of the government's use of legal and extra legal means to overawe the media.

To try and cling to dying concepts when countries the world over have already succumbed to globalisation and surrendered their ability to dictate economic policies and control the movement of capital and knowledge, is to hug a glorious but decadent past.

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