Are We Exercising Our New-Found Freedom Responsibly?
Gamini Jayaweera
Dream of a new era was realized in Sri Lanka on the 8 January 2015. We have placed our trust and pinned our hopes that the newly elected President and the Prime Minister would work tirelessly towards re-building a Democratic, Peaceful, Law abiding and Sovereign nation in the coming years in accordance with the rules of good governance. In this article I will briefly discuss some issues about the new-found freedom which is one of the main benefits we have reestablished under the new regime.
The State We Were In
It is important that we cast our minds back to the state we were in prior to 8 January 2015 to highlight the ways in which the previous regime abused the power and violated the mandate given by the people of Sri Lanka for winning the war. The independent media personnel such as Lasantha Wickrematunge, Ekneligoda, and many others were either murdered or disappeared, White vans were in operation inflicting fear in people who voiced their opposition to the previous regime, Bribery and corruption were at an unprecedented level, Family rule was visible almost at every level destroying the independence of public institutions to non-existence, Allegations about assault on some Trade Union leaders, Killing and wounding protestors in public demonstrations, Freedom of speech was suppressed, Democracy was in peril, and the signs of a dictatorship were visible. The so called economic “Boom” was built on huge amount of borrowed money with a very weak industrial base. The rulers of the previous regime and their relatives & friends were having a “jolly good time” with the borrowed money. They have created huge debts which cannot be paid back in the foreseeable future. The country was virtually bankrupt. That was the state we were in.
New-Found Freedom
Although after twenty months in power the new government has not performed to the expectations of the nation, we have to admit that the new regime has allowed us to enjoy the freedom of speech without intimidation, exercise the workers’ right to take industrial actions for their rightful demands, stage peaceful and legitimate protests without fear, and publicly expose the fraudsters irrespective of their status or the political affiliation.
It appears that some of the Free Press, Trade Unions, Independent Citizen Groups, and “Rabble Rousers” from the North and the South are exhibiting their destructive behaviors to destabilize the democratically elected government for personal and political gains. Similarly, we have to admit that some of the activities that have been carried out by the “Yahapalanaya” government during this period are also not in line with the promises given by the President and the Prime Minister during their election campaigns. It is time for us to ask these various forces whether they are exercising their new-found freedom in a rational and responsible manner to rebuild our nation?
