A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, August 24, 2017
No Justification for Wijeydasa Rajapakshe to Remain in Cabinet
There is no question that the way the discussions were held at the UNP meeting against WR cannot be condoned. In addition to the aggressive manner that he was cornered and questioned, he was not probably given a fair chance to express his views.
( August 23, 2017, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) It
is becoming extremely difficult to trust politicians whether it is Ravi
Karunanayake, Tilak Marapana, Wijeydasa Rajapakshe (WR) or Rajitha
Senaratne. The latter is stuck to SAITM, while others have exposed
various other abusive business links. Many other dubious characters from
the SLFP side are at present lying low as they don’t hold much of the
reins of the present government. Among all the issues, the present key
one is undoubtedly about WR.
There is no question that the way the discussions were held at the UNP
meeting against WR cannot be condoned. In addition to the aggressive
manner that he was cornered and questioned, he was not probably given a
fair chance to express his views. The Deputy Minister Ajith Perera
should take the main blame for this hostile behaviour as reported in
many newspapers. If he is incapable of controlling his temper he himself
should leave politics. He has demonstrated this character many times in
open TV forums before. What is at issue here is internal democracy of
political parties without coercion.
No Confidence
However, in view of the no-confidence resolution unanimously passed at
the UNP Working Committee and its parliamentary group, there is no
justification for the Minister WR to remain in the Cabinet any longer.
He is in the Cabinet only as a member of the UNP in the national unity
government. If the party does not have confidence in him, more so is the
country or the people. Only some members in the Joint Opposition would
like to keep him there to create trouble to the government. On many of
the current issues in the country, his views have become very close to
or supportive of the ousted Mahinda Rajapaksa regime.
WJ has been a controversial minister for some time now. His major
business implication was related to the Avant Garde affair, along with
Tilak Marapana, who was the law and order minister of that time.
Marapana resigned but WJ didn’t, although Marapana is now appointed as
the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Although WJ denied any connection to
Avant Garde chairman, Nissanka Senadhipathi, there were many reports
confirming his close relationship with the person and possibly the
company.
WJ earned some popularity and liking being the Chairman of the
parliamentary watchdog COPE. However, even that time there were some
criticisms that he was rather soft peddling on some issues while pursing
others. Nevertheless, his resignation from the Mahinda Rajapaksa
government in 2006 and his support for Shirani Bandaranayake against the
impeachment in 2012 earned him a reputation as a rebel politician.
During that time, he was also serving as the President of the Sri Lanka
Bar Association. In that capacity, he was instrumental in mobilizing the
public opinion, among other civil society organizations, which
culminated finally in the dramatic political change in 2015 that is
popularly named as ‘yahapalanaya’ both truly and sarcastically.
As a Minister
After he was appointed as the Minister of Justice and Buddhist Affairs,
he became controversial as he advocated the reimplementation of capital
punishment as a deterrent against increasing crime in the country. While
occasionally the President himself had expressed similar views, WR’s
views were more vociferous and consistent in insisting the
implementation. On this and many other matters, his views were quite
conservative and detrimental to the internationally accepted norms on
human rights and justice issues.
He was vociferously clamouring against crime, but not against
corruption. Similarly, he was soft peddling on torture. It is true that
the issues of torture, administered particularly by the police, came
directly under the Minister for Law and Order. However, as the Minister
of Justice, the cases against torture could have been expedited under
his supervision or advice, and not interference. This is a matter that
he has expressed a strange ‘hands-off’ attitude which effectively makes
him redundant as the Minister of Justice.
WJ has recently revealed that he is still a practicing lawyer apart from
his duties as a minister. This is a matter which is not acceptable for
good governance. Apart from conflicting priorities and time constraints,
there can be serious conflict of interest. A minister should be full
time, and not part time or pastime.
It is possible that he has done a good service as the Minister for
Buddha Sasana. That could be one reason why many monks are behind him
even on the present controversy. This is apart from the most political
Asgiriya prelates. WR has had a habit of making most of his
controversial pronouncements before the Mahanayakes. It is because of
these close links that one could suspect that even the recent Sangha
reaction against a New Constitution is something that he has instigated.
Corruption Investigations
It is a well-known fact that corruption investigations against the
persons in the last government are unnecessarily delayed. A similar
situation exists in respect of major crime investigations such as
Lasantha Wickrematunge assassination or Thajudeen killing. It is
difficult to say who was intentionally delaying these investigations and
there can be many reasons for the delays. Obviously, the Attorney
General’s Department is overwhelmed by many complicated cases and
prosecutions in addition to the High Courts. The Department also can be
under resourced.
There have been accusations that the present government is also not very
keen in pursuing these cases for various reasons. There are ministers
who were members of the last government who could be directly or
indirectly complicit in some of these corruption cases or abuses. There
are accusations even against the Prime Minister, according to reports,
who do not like to completely discredit the Rajapaksas both for personal
and political reasons. He would, it is alleged, like to keep the rift
between the SLFP alive for his own political benefit by the next
elections.
But from a citizen’s point of view, WR’s utterances and role as the
Minister of Justice on corruption matters have been quite dubious. There
was no reason otherwise for him to repeatedly say that ‘the
President, the Prime Minister or him as the Minister of Justice cannot
‘interfere’ with the independence of the Judiciary or the Attorney
General’s Department.’ No one has been asking him or the government to interfere with the judiciary. That is completely out of the question.
However, he is the Minister who is supposed to oversee the AG’s
Department. If there were new laws required, he should have been the
person who should have initiated them. In Australia, the title Attorney
General itself for the Minister. In both Australia and Sri Lanka, AG is
the chief legal officer to the government. As the website of the
Department (in Sri Lanka) explains, “The
Attorney General is the Chief Legal Advisor to the Government.…He
conducts prosecutions in criminal cases and appears on behalf of the
Government.”
Of course, under Section 111C (1) and (2) of the Constitution,
interference with the judiciary is an offense. Independence of the
judiciary is also guaranteed by Section 107. However, AG’s Department is
not the judiciary. Even there is no special place given in the
Constitution for the Attorney General, like for the Auditor General.
This is said without any prejudice to the present AG or his Department.
What the country wanted was a reasonably speedy procedure for the
corruption cases and it was up to the Minister of Justice to look into
the matter.
There were constructive ways that this could have been done, or still
could be done. The Attorney General’s Department is structured with
several divisions and units. Some of the divisions are on civil,
criminal, supreme court, state attorney’s etc. Similarly, there are
units on public petitions and child protection. What the Minister could
have ‘persuaded’ the Department (if he was so concerned about
interference!) was to open a division or at least a unit for corruption
cases and expedited the matters. He has not done so. Instead he has been
politicking on the subject quite detrimental to the public
expectations.
Hambantota Issue and WR’s Future
It is possible that the stand that WR took on the Hambantota port issue,
after an agreement was signed between the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and
the Chinese company, approved by the Cabinet, was completely a
‘goodbye’ to the government. On this matter, he came very close to the
Joint Opposition and the other Rajapaksas.
There is no question that the Hambantota port has been a controversial
issue not only under the present government but during the past
government as well. It was obvious that when the port was constructed,
its main rationale was placed within the ‘one belt one road’ project of
China. There is nothing principally wrong in Sri Lanka linking up its
development efforts with both China and India. The concern however
should be not to undermine the country’s interests to the interests of
foreign countries or companies. Mutual benefit or a ‘win-win’ situation
should be the objective. Foreign investments or projects should be in a
moderate fashion and to the benefit of the country and the people. If
someone is arguing that Sri Lanka should develop itself without any
outside assistance, investments, aid or trade, that is quite primitive
to say the least.
I have not seen WR expressing his views when the deal was being
discussed in the country quite openly. The mistake on the part of the
promoters was both conceptual and factual. When it was said that it is a
‘debt-equity swap,’ it was conceptually wrong. Based on that mistaken
premise, when over 50 percent shares were given to the Chinese company
for 99 years, it was practically disadvantageous. However, these are
matters that there should be some bipartisan policies as much as
possible.
As the agreement is now signed, what the country should try to achieve
is the best possible outcomes through the present deal pragmatically. It
could be hoped that the newly appointed National Economic Council could
look into this and similar other matters. Therefore, in that context
even WR’s opposition to the Hambantota deal cannot be considered genuine
or beneficial to the country. To oppose or sabotage the Hambantota
project would be against the interests of the country and the people.
WR has openly stated that he knows many of the ministers in the present
government indulging in corruption. Therefore, he is duty bound to
expose them for the benefit of the country and good governance. If he
has left or rebelled against the government on that basis, he could have
come out of the government as a people’s hero or as a progressive.
However, his record has been to undermine the corruption investigations
and not to promote them. Therefore, he remains extremely an unreliable
political character.
As his party, the UNP, has resolved no confidence in him, as an
appointee of the UNP in the national unity Cabinet, he should gracefully
resign. He has no other (birth) right to remain in his ministerial
position. Otherwise, he would be making a mockery of democracy. Only if
he is stubbornly refusing to do so, the President would be compelled to
remove him.