These Crimes Are Not In The ” Mahinda Chinthanaya”

By Barbara Seneviratne -August 15, 2012

Barbara Seneviratne

The COPE report was handed over to President which highlighted immense irregularities in all government institutions. The COPE members and the public expected the President to take immediate actions but he is very silent.  His strange silence is nothing to be surprised about.  He had been silence on the report regarding the “Taxation Commission” which was given to the President in 2009.

Well the President may have his reasons to be silent, after all this system is poisoned by collective bad faith and polluted by individual avarice.

Not only ignoring the COPE report but the President has conveniently ignored the necessity to enforce accountability or the necessity to eliminate corruption exposed. What he is doing now is completely different from what he preached to the voters and especially in his much bragged “Mahinda Chinthanaya”.  People from all walks of life wonder if this is the last stages of Sri Lankan democracy.

The World Bank and IMF sponsored economic liberalization policies not only had a negative impact on the health and education in the country but also gave birth to a greedy and corrupt private sector that thrived on giving bribes to the State officials and politicians to get ministerial tenders. The supply of allegedly contaminated fuel which was brought by a company which was removed from the list of suppliers to the CPC is one such example.

The corporate sector too is partly responsible for the collapse of the social and cultural morals and collapse of the economy.  Especially in the last eight years the ethics of the private sector too have vanished and the masses are now cheated by both private and public sectors.

The tragedy of Sri Lanka today is waste of human resources due to warp minds of the rulers. This is clearly seen in the government’s attitude towards the current strike by university academies and students.

The President has conveniently ignored the necessity  to enforce accountability  or the necessity to  eliminate these crimes are not in the ” Mahinda Chinthanaya” hence human nature shows itself so completely depraved nearly approaching brutality as in the last stage of democracy.

The health sector too is highly neglected and many a professionals in this sector are migrating overseas where their skills are recognized and better remunerated.

Nepotism, Impunity and corruption are the norm. The blame must also be shared by the public who elect corrupt politicians to power. The President and his party members and politicians displayed insensitivity to the different kinds of crimes that women, children and public are facing.

Due to impunity laws have had no effect. Although few members of parliament demanded positive changes to the constitutions it all fell on deaf ears because of vote bank politics.

One such example is Kahawatte in the Ratnapura District where people and the public are frozen with fear for some reason or other. A fear psychosis similar to the Grease yaka has being promoted apparently by those who profit by crimes. Police are failing in their duties due to corrupt SLFP politicians who are not allowing the Police to carry out their duties independently.

More recent is the mockery of reinstatement of the former Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman W. G. Sampath Chandrapushpa by Minister Susil Premajayantha.  In a letter dated July 25, 2012 notified of his removal and in a second letter dated July 29, 2012, notifies that he has been reinstated as PS chairman and that his party membership has been restored.

No democracy can survive without law and order. Public interest requires for its promotion not its disintegration and destruction. The country has become a rudderless ship, with things worsening by the day.  The time has dawned for the public to protest against all ill regularities, corruption and collapse of the law and order and demand democracy in the country.

Let me quote form Martin Luther King Jr. “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people,”