Lajja!
Editorial-December 23, 2014, 7:09 pm
‘The Executive Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka at an emergency meeting held on 19.07.2012 unanimously expressed its strong condemnation and abhorrence of the incident which took place in Mannar where the Court premises came under attack and the District Judge and Magistrate Hon. A. Judeson was threatened and subjected to questioning by Minister Rishard Bathiudeen, Minister of Rehabilitation. In the unanimous view of the Executive Committee, this conduct amounts to a serious and unwarranted interference with the Administration of Justice and the Judicial process and undoubtedly amounts to Contempt of Court.’
The foregoing excerpt of a special statement issued by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) is self-explanatory. We joined the premier association of Sri Lanka’s legal fraternity and many concerned citizens in condemning the aforesaid mob attack carried out at the behest of Minister Bathiudeen on the Manner court complex and threats he issued to a judge in 2012. In the same breath, we called upon the BASL to put its own house in order by taking action against its members who had gone berserk in the Colombo High Court, breaking furniture and abusing, in raw filth, two judges including a woman when the judgment in the so-called White Flag case was delivered in 2011.
Minister Bathiudeen, who drew heavy flak from the BASL, the Opposition, the media and all those who cherish judicial independence and democracy, has now defected and thrown in his lot with Opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena, who promises us good governance. Having shamelessly defended Bathiudeen and done everything in its power to prevent his crossover, the government is vilifying him, but the fact remains that he is now the Opposition’s liability.
Politically, no issue should be made of Bathuideen’s crossover. Defection is the name of the game in Sri Lankan politics. He is a politician and politicians are like frogs; they jump and croak. The upcoming presidential election has all the trappings of a crossover contest rather than an electoral exercise to elect a leader to rule the country. There are only two persons who, we can say with confidence, will not cross over. They are UPFA presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa and Opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena!
Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe were all smiles when they announced Minister Bathiudeen’s defection on Monday. Ironically, while advocating judicial independence, democracy, good governance, the rule of law and so on, those two leaders had no qualms about presenting as a prized catch a person who had caused a countrywide court strike in July, 2012 by organising a mob attack on a court complex, abusing and threatening a judge in a bid to have a judicial decision reversed. What a shame!
We have seen many campaigns for change and good governance during the past few decades and some organisers with sordid track records made them look like lorries that illegally transport cattle for slaughter with Budu Saranai’ and Devi Pihitai—may the Buddha and deities bless you!—prominently written above their windshields. This exactly is what the presence of Bathidueen has done to the Opposition campaign. It will be interesting to know what the campaigners for judicial independence such as lawyers who had been out for Bathiudeen’s scalp until Monday morning have to say about the Opposition’s decision to welcome him.
What moral right do parliamentarians who voted for impeaching Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake have to champion judicial independence? They may fight their political battles with the incumbent government and, in fact, they have every right to do so. And they must be able to take on the ruling party without being harassed, intimidated and attacked, in a bid to capture power and implement their policies. That is what democracy is all about. But, they should not make their power struggles out to be pro-democracy campaigns unless they think the masses are asses.
