Arrests and reactions:Blood gets thicker in Colombo, cracked coconut waters flow in Seenigama

February 6, 2016, 7:34 pm 

"Blood, as all men know, than water’s thicker But water’s wider, thank the Lord, than blood" – Aldous Huxley

by Rajan Philips

The organizing principles, social structures and superstitions, as well as the modern institutions of Sri Lankan politics have been in raw display over the last few weeks. The roles of religion, kinship, the courts and the media have been clashing and criss-crossing as political manifestations. A former president was publicly distraught over the arrest and arraignment of one of his sons. Another former president’s daughter waded into the fray defending her family’s record in matters of political probity. And the current president became touchy and defensive in explaining the public roles of his children in a BBC interview. The relationship between the Sri Lankan state and its official religion, never properly articulated for a modern context despite ancient traditions and a contrived constitutional provision, has become more and more politically opportunistic where it ought to be ennobling and enlightening. Capping off the week was the ritual breaking of coconuts, a 100,000 of them some allegedly stolen from a state plantation nearby, by Joint Opposition MPs at an islet temple in the South to ward off the evil schemes of the Financial Crime Investigation Division (FCID) allegedly targeting a former president and first family in Colombo.

Law and Order

The courts are caught in the middle of all this, and for all the contamination of the judicial system over the last 37 years (1978-2015), there are more than a handful of brave new magistrates who seem to have risen to the occasion reminding us of not only what the system for the most part used to be before 1978, but also what most members of the Sri Lankan society are and want their politicians to be – decent, generous and law abiding neighbours and citizens. Although using an adversarial process our judicial system is based on the maxim: innocent until proven guilty. There is another side to the presumption of innocence, and that is the presumption of proper police and prosecutorial conduct. The latter ought to be systemic – involving personal integrity and professional competence. And the two presumptions must go hand in hand.Read more...