There is a column I read often when I need a simple explanation of a complex legal issue. It is written by Kishali Pinto Jayawardena. That column was published in the Sunday Times. There is no such article in Sinhala newspapers. This week’s Kishali’s article begins with a very interesting sentence. It means: “It is ironic that the Abeyratne Commission, which was appointed to look into whether certain individuals illegally interfered in certain investigations into allegations of corruption and fraud during 2015-19, is now illegally interfering in the Sri Lankan judiciary.”
Those who stole our country
The irony she recognizes is true. This has already been pointed out by several. The Gota government, which is rapidly declining in popularity, is not as stable as it appeared a year ago. Therefore, in a few years, the Chairman of the Commission Abeyratne will also be seen boarding prison buses wearing white shirts and handcuffs. It is not a lie to say that the two main parties ruling this country are caught in a vicious circle. The day a real public awakening takes place, all those thieves can be caught. Stolen wealth can be recovered.
The so-called world powers are not helping us catch our thieves. It usually takes twenty to thirty years for those who stole our country to be exposed internationally as is currently happening in the world. Finoche, how long did it take for Marcos to be revealed? All the thieves here know this. Therefore, it is difficult to do politics only in the sense of catching thieves. People need to be organized.
A scar on civility as well
Let’s go to Kishali’s column. Kishali says: The order of action of the Abeyratne Commission, the manner in which they make their findings and the manner in which they are to execute the orders of that Commission are like a head-scratching in the judicial system of our country which has a history of more than one hundred years. That is also true. There are even idiots who know this. The Commission proposes that the Attorney General withdraw cases of corruption in power and human rights violations committed by certain military personnel. This is a scar not only on the rule of law but also on civility. People like Oya Abeyratne who work in these commissions are children of free education. All the children of free education who give institutional support to the corrupt in every government. PB Jayasundara and Abeyratne came from the same village and came from the same background. Children of the teachers, doctors and farming families of the five great forces. The tragedy of those children becoming a group that helps every government in corrupt activities after independence is a crisis in our education itself. That’s why I do not like to think that those who join the 43rd Division are inherently progressive. There is no end to the number of children in free education who have contributed to this country. Abeyratne is just one gentleman.
Kishali says Sri Lanka’s image in the eyes of the international community will be further tarnished by Abeyratne’s acquittal of those accused of corruption and murder.
In addition, the Abeyratne Commission proposes to examine even lawyers in cases of corruption of current and former politicians. That could mean sending white vans to call the lawyers’ homes. Prosperous lawyers may also like this kind of work. Can such people still be called lawyers? So Kishali asks:
“Does the whole nation have to pay the price to protect the few who have committed unspeakable crimes and their henchmen?”
Only a few of our people understand what she is saying. Democracy exists because of the values of the rule of law, equality before the law, and a system of institutions that uphold those values. They must be protected as an indestructible value. That is the cornerstone of the social order in which we live. Only a society that knows that the cornerstone is right can have some faith in democracy. According to Kishalima, those principles were not just written in a constitution. They are the foundation of our civilization. Every government that comes to power harms this foundation one by one. Kishali is talking about two such damages that are relevant these days. One is the Abeyratne Commission. And the Port City Act.
Many of us today do not understand the great warning that Kishali makes. Commenting on the violation of the rule of law, she said: “This is how Vukali is destroying our country and destabilizing the very foundations of our nation state.”
The poachers think that the biggest threat to the foundation of our nation state is from the “dollar crows”. But where does the real threat come from? Kishali asks in beautiful English. Instead of “dollar crows” she uses the term “foreign conspirators”.
Our people do not have time to think about the foundations of a nation state or democracy. They have to think about the Rs. It is an organized task to reduce people to a group that only cares about such things. Not only global capitalism but also the local nationalist needs such a people. We have such people. The crisis is even worse. A large number of the middle class who claim to have received free education also belong to those people.