Sri Lanka And The World Today
By Rajiva Wijesinha -September 6, 2013 |
Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha MP
These are the final questions, with the full answers I supplied, asked by Ceylon Today in relation to the visit of Navenethem Pillay.
There are several cases which reflect a steady degeneration in Law and Order , for instance the murder of British tourist Kuram Shaikah where a PS chairman is allegedly complicit. Should not cases such as these be avoided at all costs when looking at preserving our international image?
Again, while the Khurram Shaikh case was particularly bad, and we should have acted long ago, cases of impunity should be avoided primarily for the sake of our own citizens.
Do you agree that there appears to be a trend of releasing those with political patronage and accused of criminal activity on bail while not sparing others?
Far too many people accused of serious crimes are released on bail or get unwarranted privileges in prison, whereas far too many people are remanded for petty crimes. Patronage is a factor, but not the only factor for this situation. Unfortunately we have not embarked on the radical reforms necessary in this regard, even though the President announced these in his 2011 Budget Speech – another example of his good ideas coming to naught because of incompetence and neglect.
Are we playing into the hands of countries seeking to exert pressure on Sri Lanka by allowing this trend of impunity to continue?
Yes, but it is more important to root out the initial reasons for such pressures being applied, reasons that have not been addressed. Sadly, we are one of the few countries with this level of education, which does not have serious think tanks. Read More
Due Diligence On All Fronts
Malinda Seneviratne
There are rules forced on countries through covenants signed or arm-twisted into signing. There are rules forced on rulers through constitutions. There are rules forced on people by laws enacted by representative bodies. Then there are customs or sirith, those handed from generation to generation by way of cultural ethos that speak of propriety not necessarily right and wrong in the eyes of the law.
Laws, if they are to work, need to be comprehensive and clear with attendant mechanisms that obtain compliance. Sirith are less robust but given that they are the product of many centuries and are embedded in life practices, customs, belief systems, language and metaphor, must be counted as necessary and useful support systems for legal frameworks that are not out of tune with culture, heritage and relevant philosophical predilections of a given society.
In the first instance, then, we are hampered by a disjuncture between law and sirith. Be that as it may, one thing is clear, sirith tend to look after themselves and the relevant society, but greater diligence is required in the case of laws. Read More
