Rama, Ravana and Ranjan

Apart from his onerous duties as a legislator of the country, Ranjan Ramanayake appears to have fancied himself a corruption fighter, a malaise that undoubtedly holds Sri Lanka in a vice-like grip

“Out, out brief candle, life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” – Macbeth, Shakespeare

Saturday, 1 February 2020

It could be said that Sri Lanka is a country where fact and myth must necessarily mix. Facing the unflattering realities of the here and now, consolation for us, is in the legend. The fable, not only legitimises the present, it exalts the past. So fervent is our pursuit of the mythology, unbeknown to us, man has become the myth, and the myth has become the man. 

The Ramayana tells us of a time when ‘men’ were big, events dramatic and air travel frequent. In this era lived Ravana, the super powerful king of Lanka, with an evil reputation. There is much toing and froing between the massive land of ‘Bharat’ and the little kingdom of Lanka. Flying to Bharat, Ravana sees the beautiful Sita, the wife of the good Rama. Like, all people notable in the Indian legend, they are high-bred, of Royal lineage. Ravana, besotted, ‘abducts’ Sita, flies back to his island redoubt where he proceeds to hide her.

Devastated, Rama searches the length and breadth of the Sub-Continent for Sita, his true love. Learning eventually that Sita is in the clutches of Ravana the evil king, he sends his trusty Hanuman to distant Lanka to locate her. Hanuman finds Sita, and conveys the love of Rama to her. Enraged by the intrusion of Hanuman, Ravana the mighty king of the island, orders a cruel punishment. He tells his men to set fire to Hanuman’s tail, relishing the long lingering pain to be caused to the impudent monkey.

In many ways the Ravana story embodies the Sri Lankan paradox; global in yearnings, insular in outlook. He covets the foreign princess, yet, knows not the price he will pay. For a man of his formidable reputation, Ravana lacked the foresight to anticipate the consequences of his hasty punishment of Hanuman. Panic stricken, Hanuman runs hither and thither, leaping from building to building, his blazing tail setting fire to them all. Ravana’s cruel punishment to the primate, destroys his own kingdom!

His unwholesome passion for the lovely princess, brings upon Ravana’s end too, falling after a dramatic battle with the righteous Rama. Not only did Ravana overestimate his strength, he also appears to have assessed his intelligence too highly. He did not win the fair lady, her place of imprisonment was discovered, Lanka was set on fire and eventually Ravana perished in battle. The story ends in lover’s meeting, Sita, having walked through a wall of fire to prove her virtue, is reunited with her lord and lover. 

Many centuries later, the waging ‘tales’ of the Ranjan Ramanayake tapes seem to have set the country on fire again, at least figuratively. Tawdry, common, that such rise to high positions is not only a symptom of a fallen society, but also symbolic of a people lacking in the capacity to assess. What standards do we live by, who do we look up to? Not only can Ramanayake boast of being an elected member of parliament, but also claim the winning of the highest number of preference votes in two Districts (from his political party list). That is the country. 

In a parliamentary system, the primary role of a parliamentarian is to legislate. The political party commanding a majority will form the government and provide political leadership, but the implementation of policy is in the hands of an independent public service, executing policy in an objective manner. It is the role of the judiciary to ensure that the system works according to accepted rules and norms.

"For all his efforts to unearth corruption, Ramanayake has little documentary evidence. A telephone conversation could sometimes provide corroboration, but these disjointed, incoherent conversations can go both ways. Rather than proving corruption, they only seem to provide an insight to the jejune minds that rule us. A rank amateur has wandered through the corridors of power leaving in his wake ruined careers, tainted reputations, weakened marriages and hurt souls. We cannot say it better than Shakespeare"

There is no denying that all these concepts, as well as institutions of governance, did not arise out of cultures and ideas prevailing in our country. They developed in distant lands, and, where we are concerned, primarily in Great Britain. From the office of the Speaker (note his very foreign ceremonial cloak and even the mace) to the right of an elected representative to attend parliament unhindered (even if in remand custody) come from conventions and practices evolved in climes vastly different.

Nearly all the freedoms and rights we enjoy today, are borrowed ideas, without the organic development which gave rise to them, ever occurring here. They were adopted as a finished product, with no history of the culture and thought process which created them. The borrowed ideas come here singly, without the other competing ideas and institutions which qualify them and hold them in check. Inevitably, in the adopting country, when these ideas address one problem, having no real cultural basis for the idea in the first place, they give rise to other problems. What works in an orderly society, becomes a problem in a capricious culture.

Somebody built the motorcar, another developed sealed roads. We drive on them as if our car is the only vehicle on the road and our journey is the only one that matters. Someone else invented the mobile phone, and subsequently, came the app for recording conversations. We have not addressed the rights, wrongs and the ethics of recording what is a personal and unguarded conversation with a person who has trustingly offered his friendship. 

Apart from his onerous duties as a legislator of the country, Ranjan Ramanayake appears to have fancied himself a corruption fighter, a malaise that undoubtedly holds Sri Lanka in a vice-like grip. We are aware of many institutions, starting from the Bribery Commission to several later creations that are tasked with fighting corruption. These organisations are staffed by professional persons who go about their work within a legal framework. From what we can observe, Ramanayake has chosen to fight corruption by making bald public allegations, followed by the recording of personal telephone conversations. 

Systemic corruption cannot be contained by staging carnivals. This clumsy, superficial approach only shows an inadequate comprehension of what is after all, a nation threatening problem. You can beat the war drums, but there is no salvo, a great cry and little wool.

Under-development is not only an economic concept, it manifests in many other ways, in attitudes, assumptions, and even aspirations. In a troubled country, it is not only those who are at the bottom of the social ladder who have a long way to go, those who are on top of the pile are also manifestly ‘under-developed’. 

Leave alone nation building, even small institutions are diminished by their ‘leadership’. Misinterpreting their role to be a mere opportunity for self-advancement, almost all office holders use the position to make money and/or gain ‘status’. They thus blunder along, leaving a trail of sullied institutions in a debt ridden, under-performing nation. It matters not what happens to these things, the sole aspiration of our public figures is to remain at the top, come what may! One sure way for them to remain relevant is by periodically making a spectacle of themselves!

At least in the public sector, there is a retirement age to control the damage!

Corruption is essentially a white collar crime. Inducements accepted, lucrative contracts given, commissions earned, tenders fixed in advance; there are any number of ways how corruption works. However, they all eventually end up in a document of some form or the other; a bank transfer, a title deed, minutes of a meeting, a memorandum, a share portfolio, a committee report, a last will; it is these documents that ultimately reveal the path of corruption.

It is not necessary to pass on brown envelopes in a quiet carpark any longer. Today, the corrupt adopt methods which are extremely sophisticated and hard to detect. Money can be given overseas, ‘experts’ can be made to recommend a particular course of action, tenders are tailor made to fit one bidder, inside information shared; the criminal imagination is infinite. 

There are cases like the issuance of bonds, where a small variation in the interest rate, a matter that may go unnoticed in the rarefied jargon of central bankers, can benefit the primary dealer unconscionably. On the face of it, there are no direct losers; the Central Bank makes their money selling bonds to primary dealers, the dealer makes his money selling the bonds to the end purchaser, who will earn the interest and eventually redeem on maturity. Unbeknown to the general public, the change in the interest rate has ensured a windfall for the dealers. The interest rate manipulation could subsequently impact the broad economy, with the entire country paying the price.

We then have the vital energy sector, extremely vulnerable to the corrupters. It is a known fact that our electricity cost is one of the highest in Asia, perhaps a crucial factor in our economic under-performance. Long term sustainable power generations are discouraged, instead opting for continued dependency on power sources that ensure permanent draining of the national wealth to foreign suppliers. It seems the entire sector, from the political masters to the ‘experts’ are in the thrall of filthy lucre. Very little is known of the shadowy operators who corrupt a whole sector to the ruin of the country. 

All these matters can only be proved with hard documentary evidence. How did the bribe taker get his inducement: bank account, land transfer, foreign bank, passed to a family member? How did the bribe giver pass the money: from his account, company account, foreign party transfer, property transfer? In this country, people who have no known sources of regular income have assets in the billions. Surely, they did not all win that money on a lucky chance in Las Vegas!

For all his efforts to unearth corruption, Ramanayake has little documentary evidence. A telephone conversation could sometimes provide corroboration, but these disjointed, incoherent conversations can go both ways. Rather than proving corruption, they only seem to provide an insight to the jejune minds that rule us.

A rank amateur has wandered through the corridors of power leaving in his wake ruined careers, tainted reputations, weakened marriages and hurt souls. 

We cannot say it better than Shakespeare.