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
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Wednesday, August 30, 2017
More purposeful government in the making
By Jehan Perera-August 28, 2017, 8:31 pm
The
resignation of Minister Ravi Karunanayake due to a disclosure of
conflict of interest in the issue concerning the Central Bank bon scam
appears to have galvanized the government to take action against its
political opponents whom it accused of far worse wrongs, including
murder. Much to its chagrin the government has found that the reforms it
has instituted, in particular to empower state institutions to act
independently are being used more resolutely by those who wish to
undermine it than by the government itself. Two examples would be the
protests against the lease of the Hambantota port to China and the SAITM
private medical school, the grounds for both of which were laid by the
previous government.
When the electorate voted at the presidential and general elections for
change of government, they did so because the promises that the new
government leaders made were ones they could identify with. The pledges
to bring those accused of vast corruption and abuse of power under the
former government, and to institute good governance by reinstating the
rule of law took centre stage in the government’s election campaign.
Today the disillusionment of the electorate is primarily due to these
promises not being delivered on. Their disillusionment is increased by
the failure of the government to deliver economic benefits to the masses
who are struggling to keep afloat amidst the rising cost of living.
Despite the failures of the government its continuing strength comes in
two ways. The first is that people continue to hope that it will deliver
on its promises, as they have no alternative to go to if good
governance and the protection of human rights are to be their goals. The
second is that the government has delivered on the most important
aspect of governance, which is to give them a sense of security that
their human right will not be subjected to arbitrary violation. During
the period of the last government this latter fear was widely prevalent.
Even people in business and those at the grassroots, who were far from
the centres of power feared for their lives on this count. They felt
that there was impunity in the system and those at lower levels too
could take the law into their own hands.
FEARFUL MEMORIES
The opposition continues to pay a high political price due to its
inability to convince the masses of people that if they come back to
power the abuses of the past will not come back with them. Due to the
opposition’s failure to provide an alternative vision of good governance
it is the vision of the present government that continues to prevail.
So far the opposition is only able to show the government’s failure to
do what it promised. The opposition leadership takes satisfaction in
calling the government’s performance to be "yamapalanaya" (rule of dark
forces) as against "yahapalanaya" (good governance). The problem with
this critique is that the opposition has not yet made a serious attempt
to admit its violations in the past, and promise not to repeat them.
This is the opposition’s biggest liability.
The memory of Rathupaswela, where crack troops of the army were ordered
by the previous government to attack villagers engaging in non-violent
protest against their drinking water being poisoned by industrial waste
still remains in the mind of people. This is one of several such
incidents. Although the present government is criticized for being too
weak to put an end to the continuous protests against it, there is
recognition that it is not suppressing protests by means of terror
tactics as in the past. As a result most people are willing to look to
the government to implement its promises regarding good governance and
when it does there is satisfaction about the progress.
The progress of the Presidential Commission to investigate the Central
Bank bond scandal is a strong point in the government’s favour. It is
generally acknowledged that such a commission could not have functioned
under the previous government. The manner in which the commissioners
have conducted themselves and the willingness of the Attorney General’s
Department to cross examine senior government leaders as they would any
other person is a testament to the improved independence of state
institutions. The resignation of the former Foreign Minister due to the
existence of a situation of conflict of interest is an outcome of the
government being held accountable. The sacking of the Minister of
Justice due to his non-cooperative attitude on the prosecution of
corruption cases against members of the former government is another
indication that the government is getting serious about delivering
results to the people.
NEW DECISIVENESS
The government is pledging to speed up the corruption cases against
members of the former government who have been continuing to behave and
speak as if they had nothing in the world to be worried about. The
government’s new decisiveness is also shown in the manner in which it
passed the local government election amendment law. Previously the
complaint of independent monitors and the opposition was that the
government was dragging out the amendment process to stall local
government elections as long as it could. The local government elections
are over two years overdue. The government seemed to be in no hurry to
expedite the passage of the law. It was universally criticized for this
failure.
The passage of the local government election amendment law now suggests
that the government has decided to take the bull by the horns and hold
the elections and prove its mettle. It may be with this in mind that it
reduced taxes on a number of items, including internet usage and small
motorcycles, which would benefit a larger number of people, although in a
limited manner. In addition, the government has allocated Rs 20 million
to each parliamentarian to do development work in their electorates by
improving the rural infrastructure under the supervision of former
Minister Karunanayake. These are all indication that the government is
getting itself prepared to hold the long delayed local government
elections.
The reluctance of the government to hold those elections earlier was
generally attributed to the problem that the government would encounter
when its two main coalition partners, the UNP and SLFP, had to contest
each other. It was believed that in the heat of the electoral contest,
the working relationship between members of these two parties would get
further weakened as they would have to treat each other as rivals to the
detriment of the Government of National Unity. The sudden willingness
of the government to go in for the local government elections gives rise
to the possibility that the government may be thinking of replicating
its successful strategy adopted at the presidential election. On that
occasion it contested as a united front under the common symbol of the
swan.