My New Year’s Wish – A Final Rest To “Ghosts” Of Years Past!

By Chrishmal Warnasuriya –JANUARY 4, 2019

Chrishmal Warnasuriya

G’day from down-under

Our customary few lines that usually accompany my New Year’s wish-list this time comes from the land of Skippy the Kangaroo and boxing day MCG cricket (sans the sand-paper of course); hence the slight delay in reaching you, my apologies! Our extensive travels and the chance to look at things from a more abstract perspective, away from the local body-politik, did once again contribute much to the thought process that preceded these words; reflecting upon the unprecedented roller-coaster ride we went through last year in our socio-political life and the resultant eerie silence that we’re experiencing at present, with almost a fear of not knowing what new surprise awaits us at the next turn.

Looking back at the whirlwind Judicial-Legislative-Executive activity particularly over the last couple of months of last year makes us pose the question “why”? Beyond the obvious political self-interests of all concerned parties in this equation which are self-evident to even a novice in the science of politics, a more cogent question to me is why did the system break down? What happened to the so called “yaha paalana” regime that many of us risked life & limb to install and put in place? When I visit this question critically, I am simultaneously alerted to the fact that this year we commemorate for the 10th consecutive time, the brutal slaying of our one time learned friend and better known journalist par excellence Lasantha Wickramatunge (the twain not mutually exclusive nor far divorced from one another in fact, as what happened to yaha paalana has very much to do with what was not delivered as assured); thus with your permission I’d like to dedicate a few paragraphs in his honour, hoping at least this year we’ll set out to rest some of our “ghosts of the past” to final rest!

What is happening with “Lasantha”?

My mind runs back to that fateful day in January 2009. We too had recently returned from England with a young family to a country with heightened military operations against the LTTE amidst internal political turmoil, having been away for several years and despite many invitations (and opportunities) to remain there; as we felt that our professional presence “at home” was needed more than the selfish demands of greener pastures elsewhere. Almost immediately on returning to Hulftsdorp I was active again in initiatives driven primarily by “legal quarters” aimed at upholding democratic values and the Rule of Law. That day having just returned from Court, I received a telephone call with the dreadful news and being close to the Kalubowila hospital I remember rushing there with another colleague at the Bar (Prasad). The sorry sight of our slain colleague being rolled on the stretcher in front of our eyes and the news that followed almost immediately that “the freedom of the pen” had been killed was too much to take.

I still remember that sombre walk home, climbing up the staircase and my kids Kiara & Chrishen vividly recall how I took them down to the yard where I had recently taught them how to put up a flag-pole, toggle a knot and raise the national flag; we took the flag down to half-mast and I uttered these words to them – “puthe (daughter/son), today is the day we killed freedom to speak in our country“!

What happened thereafter, our protests and struggles are very much recorded history which is freely available online so I don’t need to repeat it but what is important is that we gave leadership to a movement of the People, a resurgence to demand for what we felt was rightfully our sovereign entitlement; a government subject to the Rule of Law and principles of democracy, which we finally thought we attained in January 2015, coincidentally also on the 8th day of the month! What have we done thereafter? Have those persons that we installed in office delivered our desired results or are they so overcome with self- indulgence, having tasted state power after many years, that other than their own pursuits of fast accumulating personal wealth and basically enjoying a jolly gay-life with their merry men, there is nothing much that we the People have secured after all that struggle?

For instance do any of them who shouted with us for “justice for Lasantha” on the streets prior to the election (or even Thajudeen & Ekneligoda for that matter) even know what is happening to those cases or prosecutions; or have we once again been taken for a ride and these poor souls not being allowed to rest peacefully even now, after all that struggle? Isn’t that (coupled with many other broken promises) the reason for the yaha paalana regime to face their Waterloo, as they did in November/December last year?

Read More