Politicised Underworld and Future of Sri Lanka

Political theories such as democracy and sovereignty of the people are only made use of to license the irregularities and continue to be a façade

by Afreeha Jawad

( August 8, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Until and unless political parties stop patronizing both the underworld and powerful economic elite in sponsoring elections, law enforcement is only wishful thinking. This whole process consequently makes Legislative power ineffective in the country’s governance.

The legislative membership becomes subservient to these two corrupt institutional agencies for propping them up in high office and in turn politicians remain eternally obliged to them to the extent to which, should those in these two corrupt mechanisms violate the law, legislative power becomes non-operational not only to end up a lame duck but also a dead one as well where people’s sovereignty is undermined. This is nothing new to this country alone but has become an international malaise.

That the massive American cartels propel US governments into hot seats is not only public knowledge but infants as well. One look at what’s happening in the US tells it all. The moral leadership in the US as elsewhere is no more. History repeats they say, but the repetition of moral governance in the like of Woodrow Wilson, Eisenhower, Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln is unlikely – none of whom Sri Lanka has ever produced nor ever will. If ever there was such a single Sinhala Buddhist only Dr. E.W. Adikaram could lay claim to such but unfortunately he ‘hiccupped’ at the thought of making headway in Sri Lanka’s political scene. It was not his favourite past-time to keep embracing the ‘jatiya aagama’ cry for in such reference Dr. Adikaram saw the wrenching of his soul as he detested tunnel vision having connected himself with a nobler objective. The parallel of him we see in Speaker Karu Jayasuriya but the Malaysian populace still endorse Mahathir Mohammed at 92 and do not distance age and integrity. It was not to be that Speaker Jayasuriya be amidst an enlightened citizenry as the Malaysians where integrity over age is much sought after. Perhaps we lack the third eye that is Malaysia’s irresistible fortune.

Today’s urgency, therefore, warrants the need to identify moral leadership over chronological years and the total alienation of corrupt politicians. That it took a biracial Black African girl carrying slavery in her genes like Meghan Markle to ostracize this set of international political hooligans at her nuptials needs to be reiterated and the symbolic message it carries internationally but this writer sees no endeavour by even world-renowned journalists to highlight this much overlooked but unceasingly significant point.

England’s constitutional monarchy

Even the much respected British journalist Piers Morgan looks the other way when he could even deliver reason this subject. Maintaining political goodwill apparently has come to stay and what’s intolerable is when the media resorts to such.

What better way to isolate corruption and moral meandering than this, the moral shot that came off the latest addition to the Windsor membership? Meghan not only set many corrupt international power elite thinking, but she also led the British monarch into remaking the moral wrong of that infamous nod that the queen would give acknowledging their presence at the many celebrations in Buckingham Palace let alone inviting them there. Meghan’s decision to even throw overboard the wishes and aspirations of England’s constitutional monarchy is a display of her moral spunk against worldwide political debauchery.

Democratic theories of government remain so and practice in limbo state as the underworld progressively gains control of the world – Sri Lanka no exception. This is no recent development. For decades, the citizenry has gone through moral decadence but never so intense as in recent times. Political theories such as democracy and sovereignty of the people are only made use of to license the irregularities and continue to be a façade.

Likewise, immorality reigns under the cover of law. For instance, COPE that was appointed to investigate corruption comprised some members who were themselves corrupt. Former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was presented before a committee of Rajapaksa henchmen. Resonant is the Sinhala expression: “naduth hamuduruwange baduth hamuduruwange”. If at all honest men like STF commandant Latiff are appointed, it will be with the curtailment of power. He has to hand over the miscreant to the police and thereafter the political thug bribes the relevant police officer. Latiff’s ‘integrity’ ends there! This is moral licensing of the underworld.

The legislative power is viewed as a money-spinning reservoir. The “rata jatiya” cry has become the canard to achieving a political clout. Even the judiciary is not spared of political influence to cover up political expedience. Sarath Silva, the former judicial head, is on record for proclaiming publicly his judgmental delivery in favour of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Thavarapperuma ‘conducts lessons’ to STF officers on the need to come in uniform when on a raid and that the confiscation of phones was an intrusion of privacy choosing to ignore STF’s rights to do so. The underworld attempts to even make new laws in addition to using existing ones to suit them! Debunking the independence of the three arms of government and the politicization that followed in 1972 by the constitutional architect, Dr. Colvin R de Silva undermined the people’s sovereignty, an essential component of democratic government.

Key factors contributed to making Democracy and people’s sovereignty redundant elements worldwide and particularly so in Sri Lanka. The progressive rise of the underworld and powerful economic elite backing political power and the politicized 1972 Constitution did not favour a moral government. The noble ideals embedded in a democratic government has lost colour. Elections only change governments and have become a swap into corruption as one bunch of deceitful self-serving individuals are replaced by another. A mismatch between the people’s wants and what a corrupt legislature has to offer exists. Yet the danger element is in the steady increase in the social acceptance of fraud.

Army and judiciary in Pakistan

Contrastingly, in Pakistan, the army and judiciary intervene to take care of democracy. Elected leaders, when corrupt, have been removed by the judiciary and the army gains control, establishes democracy, upholds the people’s sovereignty and reverts to its earlier position. The press, they say, are the nation’s watchdogs. This ought to be the reverse in Pakistan where both army and judiciary have taken on that role. Running to perfection in Pakistan is the theory of checks and balances. Its Chief Justice Nizar is believed to be like a king rendering such stately judgements. His inspection tours of hospitals are noteworthy and a fillip to this theory when judicial concern is more weighted in the people’s interests with a hawk’s eye on the executive’s functioning.

The only way out to fight corrupt politicians is a strong judiciary, a vibrant press and an effective civil society. It could be argued that the army overthrow of governments is illegitimate -the frequent occurrence of which we see in Pakistan. However, as defamation is permitted in public interest Pakistan’s military leadership intervenes by way of moral coups to fight corrupt political leadership in the absence of a third force, upholds democracy and people’s sovereignty and retreats no sooner elections are held.

Constitutional enactments that violate people’s sovereignty are often pronounced. Isn’t corruption a stab in the back of the very people that elect governments into power whereby the people’s sovereignty is undermined? Diametrically opposed to corruption are the attempts made by some who fervently walk the moral path to reconciliation. Yet very little is heard of such. For example, Sri Lanka Army’s star-studded Colonel Priyath Bandu’s reach out to the Tamil people in the north is a shining example. The reservoir of goodwill he invited from the Tamil people would suffice to teach the politicians what it means to be sincere when all what they know is to use the underworld and the potbellied rich business fraternity to work towards consolidating the future of even unborn generations! Regretfully, no scribe’s fist was sufficiently focused into colonel Bandu’s unique endeavour.