Russia urged to immediate release detained peaceful protesters

( March 29, 2017, Geneva, Sri Lanka Guardian) UN human rights experts* are calling on the authorities in the Russian Federation to release immediately everyone arrested in peaceful demonstrations across the country on Sunday.

Reports say up to one thousand peaceful demonstrators, including many young people, who took to the streets following allegations of corruption against the Prime Minister, were arrested by police who had deemed the protests unlawful. A number of these protesters were subsequently sentenced to imprisonment and fines. A group of human rights activists were also arrested and sentenced to jail after live-streaming the protests. In addition, a couple of journalists covering the demonstrations were arrested and later released.

“We call on the authorities to release immediately all protesters still being detained, and to quash the sentences imposed on them,” stressed the experts.

“While we welcome the release of arrested journalists, their arrest should not have taken place in the first place as this represents an attack not only on the safety of the individual journalist, but also on the public’s right to information about the protests. This right is equally hindered through the sentencing of the citizen journalists who live-streamed the events,” said the experts.

“Freedom of peaceful assembly is a right, not a privilege, and as such its exercise should not be subject to prior authorization by officials. This right, jointly with the rights to freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of association, plays a decisive role in the emergence and existence of effective democratic systems, as they allow for dialogue, pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness where minority or dissenting views or beliefs are respected,” added the experts.

They echoed Human Rights Council resolution 25/38 in which the UN human rights body stated that ‘peaceful protests should not be viewed as a threat’, and encouraged all States to ‘engage in an open, inclusive and meaningful dialogue when dealing with such protests and their causes’.

“We urge the Government of the Russian Federation to fulfil its positive obligation under international human rights law to protect and facilitate the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of association, and not to interfere with the exercise of these rights,” stressed the experts.

Finally, ahead of the presidential elections next year, the human rights experts gave a warning that genuine elections cannot be achieved if the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of association are curtailed.

“The coming elections will be irreparably tainted if individuals are not allowed to exercise these basic rights without fear of harassment or retaliation,” the experts concluded.

(*) The UN rights experts: Mr. Maina Kiai, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Mr. David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Mr. Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; and Mr. Sètondji Roland Adjovi, Chair of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

Exclusive: South Africa's Zuma considers stepping down early in deal to oust Gordhan

President Jacob Zuma during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) to a joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces in Cape Town, South Africa February 9, 2017. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham/Files

By Joe Brock | JOHANNESBURG- Thu Mar 30, 2017

Jacob Zuma is considering offering to step down next year, at least 12 months before his term as South African president ends, under a deal with opponents in his ruling party that would see Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan leave office now, two senior party sources said.

Zuma is due to be replaced as leader of the African National Congress (ANC) at a party conference in December after serving his allocated two terms, but was expected to remain the country's president until elections in 2019. His spokesman did not respond to several calls for comment.

Zuma's offer would allow him a dignified exit as there remains a possibility he could be removed by the ANC before next year. Who becomes the next leader of the ANC is key for Zuma given he could yet face corruption charges, analysts say.

His offer appears intended as a way out of an impasse over the country's leadership within the divided ANC, but may not be enough to satisfy opponents of Zuma, who want the president out early anyway and urgently want Gordhan to stay.

The South African Communist Party, an ally of the ANC, also said it objected to Zuma's plan to sack Gordhan.

The main opposition leader, Mmusi Maimane of the Democratic Alliance, announced plans to bring a motion of no confidence against Zuma in parliament after his intention to fire Gordhan was confirmed.

There is precedent for an ANC leader to leave the presidency early. Thabo Mbeki was removed by the ANC as South African president in 2008 after his time as party leader ended at the close of the previous year.

Splits in the ANC deepened this week after Zuma ordered Gordhan to return from an investor roadshow in Britain, raising expectations of a cabinet reshuffle that markets fear will include the finance minister's removal. Gordhan is viewed favourably by investors and the rand fell sharply when he was ordered home.

After Zuma's offer to go was reported, the rand extended gains and was 1.32 percent stronger at 12.88 to the U.S. dollar by late Thursday morning.

"Zuma's early departure after December conference is on the table. It's being discussed," one of the sources said. "He could be forcibly removed so it makes sense for him to go on his own terms."

Zuma's opponents have become increasingly vocal, and agreeing to stand aside early could help prevent a permanent split in the former liberation movement of Nelson Mandela, which last year suffered its worst result in local elections since it swept to power with the end of apartheid in 1994.

Some senior members of the ANC are pushing for Zuma's departure now, applying pressure on him to find a compromise.

"He must just go. We don't need his 'offers'. He must just go before destroying our country," one senior ANC member, who had not heard of Zuma discussing stepping down, told Reuters.

Zuma has the authority to hire and fire ministers such as Gordhan, but if senior party figures openly criticise him or resign it would weaken his position in the party.

Zuma and his allies want Gordhan replaced by someone more aligned with their plans, which include more radical redistribution of wealth to address the legacies of apartheid and looser fiscal spending, the two sources told Reuters.

Gordhan's removal is a key requirement in negotiations for Zuma's faction. They also want to choose Zuma's successor at the national conference in December, the sources say.

Zuma's supporters are believed to be backing his ex-wife Nkosozana Dlamini-Zuma, a former African Union chair, as his replacement. Another section of the ANC supports Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, viewed as more market-friendly.

RESHUFFLE

Gordhan's supporters are uncertain about agreeing to promises on which Zuma could later renege, the two sources close to the matter said.

There are also concerns that Gordhan's replacement could facilitate government corruption that some senior members of the ANC say has become rife, the sources said.

Gordhan's allies view him as a figure of stability and integrity who is managing a flatlining economy burdened by high government spending and at risk of being downgraded to "junk" status by credit ratings agencies.

Some of Zuma's allies say Gordhan's importance is over-exaggerated and his close relationship with investors and ratings agencies shows that he is allied to vested interests.

South Africa remains starkly unequal 23 years after the end of apartheid with much of the wealth still in the hands of white people who make up 9 percent of the population.

The ANC has been experiencing one of its most difficult periods since the end of white-minority rule, and some analysts say Zuma agreeing to leave early could heal some wounds.

“If confirmed, this could be the long-awaited compromise where Zuma agrees to go in return for some protection," said political analyst Nic Borain. "It would be a very clever move."

Nomura analyst Peter Attard Montalto said in a research note on Wednesday that Zuma leaving presidential office early next year after the ANC conference was his "baseline" scenario.

Zuma, who was an underground anti-apartheid operative and was jailed with Mandela on Robben Island, is a determined leader but he has shown a willingness to compromise.

In December 2015 he bowed to pressure from within the ANC and appointed Gordhan as finance minister after markets tumbled when he replaced respected economist Nhlanhla Nene with little-known lawmaker David van Rooyen.

In a sign of how divided the party is, at the funeral of anti-apartheid stalwart Ahmed Kathrada on Wednesday the congregation clapped and cheered as a letter written by Kathrada calling for Zuma to resign was read out.

Gordhan received a standing ovation when he was praised by another speaker during the service, including from some cabinet members, and was seen wiping tears from his eyes. Zuma did not attend at the request of Kathrada's family.

The most senior ANC figures, known as the 'Top Six', are evenly split on whether to remove Gordhan, sources said on Wednesday.

(Additional reporting by Ed Cropley; Editing by Peter Graff and Giles Elgood)

Brazilian politician who orchestrated ousting of Rousseff sentenced to prison

Former lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha convicted over role in Car Wash corruption scandal and given 15 years in prison, which could be appealed

Eduardo Cunha, who was behind Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment, was forced from his political post in July and arrested in October on accusations of corruption. Photograph: Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images

Reuters in São Paulo-Thursday 30 March 2017

Eduardo Cunha, the former head of Brazil’s lower house of congress, has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for his role in the vast Car Wash corruption scandal.

Cunha’s conviction led to one of the stiffest penalties handed down to such a senior politician since the end of the dictatorship era in 1985, but public satisfaction with the judgment will be mixed with concern that he could yet win an appeal and that many other powerful figures accused of similar crimes remain unpunished.

Sergio Moro, a Curitiba lower court judge, found Cunha – a rightwing evangelical Christian – guilty of corruption, money laundering and currency law evasion in connection with a $1.6m bribe he received from a deal by the state-run oil firm Petrobras to buy exploration rights in Benin. The judgment also noted a pending case in Switzerland related to $2.3m stashed in a secret bank account in the European country.

“The responsibility of a federal parliamentarian is enormous, and so, therefore, is his guilt when he commits crimes. There can be no more serious offence than the betrayal for personal gain of a parliamentary mandate and the sacred trust of the people,” the judged noted in his ruling.

Public opinion is firmly behind the conviction. As recent mass protests have indicated, many Brazilians are angry at endemic corruption and the impunity long enjoyed by senior office holders.

Cunha – often compared to Frank Underwood in House of Cards due to his reputation as an arch-manipulator – has long been one of the most unpopular figures in the country.

He orchestrated the impeachment of the Workers party president Dilma Rousseffin an attempt to evade justice. But – amid a public outcry – he was forced to stand down soon after and was then expelled from congress, stripping him of the immunity of office.

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In his resignation speech, Cunha warned that other lawmakers would follow him to jail: “It’s the price I’m paying for the country to be free of the Workers party. They are charging me the price for leading the impeachment process,” he told lawmakers. “Tomorrow, it will be you.”

But although dozens of senators, deputies, governors and the former presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Rousseff and Fernando Collor de Mello have either been charged or are under investigation, it is far from clear that they will be brought to trial and convicted. The current president, Michel Temer, has been named in several plea bargains as a senior figure in the scandal, but he has not been charged by prosecutors.

In recent months, there have also been several signs that the Car Wash inquiry is being weakened both by the mysterious death of a senior judge, political appointments to the supreme court and growing efforts in congress to pass an amnesty bill and outlaw plea bargain deals.

Should these trends continue, Cunha’s conviction could also prove to be the only one of its kind.

Venezuela’s Supreme Court Shuts Down Country’s Congress

BY EMILY TAMKIN-MARCH 30, 2017

Late Wednesday evening, Venezuela’s Supreme Court effectively took over its Congress.

The court contends that legislators are operating extrajudicially and says it will assume all of Congress’s functions. But the court is widely seen as being controlled by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, while Congress is viewed by many as the last stronghold of the opposition.

Some opposition members are vowing to continue carrying out their legislative duties. And members of opposition Voluntad Popular party are decrying the move as “a clear coup against our constitution and the National Assembly, which was elected by more than 15 million Venezuelans.”

The international community is registering its disapproval. Peru cut ties with Venezuela on Thursday.

That comes after the United States signalled recently it would be taking a harder line on Venezuela. In February of this year, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Venezuela’s vice president for drug trafficking while President Donald Trump called for the immediate release of political prisoner Leopoldo Lopez.

On Tuesday, Michael Fitzpatrick, deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, at a special meeting of a council of the Organization of American States permanent council, referenced a decision the supreme court made to limit the immunity of National Assembly members.

That ruling was made while Venezuela’s foreign minister was at the OAS meeting, and so, Fitzpatrick said, “the timing and content are a clear signal” that attempts by OAS to discuss Venezuela “may carry local repercussions for opposition lawmakers.”

Wednesday’s late ruling only makes that clearer.

Photo credit: John Moore/Getty Images

Indonesia labelled ‘paedophile paradise’ as gang rape, child sex abuse cases soar


Gang rape and child sex abuse cases are on the rise in Indonesia. Source: Shutterstock

30th March 2017

INDONESIA is struggling to curb its increasing culture of sexual abuse as gang rape cases almost double in a year and child abuse is on the rise, a report says.

According to the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK), 44 gang rape cases were reported in 2015. This number almost doubled to 82 reported cases last year.

The Jakarta Globe reports that in just the first three months of 2017, 26 gang rapes occurred, three of which resulted in the deaths of the victims.

The issue of sexual violence against women was brought to the fore in May last year after the brutal rape of a 14-year-old school girl by 14 men and boys.

Yuyun was walking home from school when she was dragged into nearby forests and raped repeatedly by the gang who were said to have been drinking prior to the incident.

SEE ALSO: Outrage mounts in Indonesia after latest gang rape leaves 1 girl dead

Her bruised and beaten body was found three days later in undergrowth, hands and feet bound.

The attack was largely ignored by national media until activists spoke out and Yuyun’s case became a cause behind which Indonesian women united, staging protests against sexual violence outside parliament.

According to the National Commission on Child Protection (Komnas PA), Yuyun’s case is far from unique.

“The rape of Yy (Yuyun) in Bengkulu involved 14 rapists, the one in Samarinda involved 13, the one in Semarang – 14,” Komnas PA chairman Arist Merdeka Sirait said at a seminar on Wednesday.

The perpetrators of the attacks, as was the case with Yuyun’s attackers, are often minors themselves. Sixteen percent of attackers were children aged 14 or less, Arist said.

The report also highlights the spread of paedophilia in the country, with Indonesia being seen as one of the “paedophile paradises” in Asia, especially the capital Jakarta and the islands of Bali and Lombok.

Arist criticised the laws of Indonesia calling it “permissive” of child abuse as “sexual violence is only regarded as such when penetration occurs.”

SEE ALSO: Indonesia: Jokowi insists on chemical castration for convicted paedophiles

The violent nature of Yuyun’s case, and the resulting media attention, pushed President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to introduce tough new punishments for child sex offenders including a maximum penalty of death and chemical castration.

“Our Constitution respects human rights, but when it comes to sexual crimes, there is no compromise,” Jokowi said at the time.

“In my opinion… chemical castration, if we enforce it consistently, will reduce sex crimes and wipe them out over time.”

By introducing chemical castration, Indonesia joined a small group who use the punishment worldwide, including Poland and some states in the US. In 2011, South Korea became the first Asian country to legalise the punishment.

Offenders may also be forced to wear electronic monitoring devices following their release from jail.

The ring leader of Yuyun’s attack, 23-year-old Zainal, was sentenced to death in September. All other assailants in the case were minors and therefore not eligible for the death penalty. The majority of them received the maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

Lung probe 'to help cut the unnecessary use of antibiotics'

UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGHI-Researchers hope Proteus could help prevent bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics

 

From the sectionEdinburgh, Fife & East Scotland-

30 March 2017

 

From the sectionEdinburgh, Fife & East Scotland-

A lung probe that diagnoses bacterial infections could prevent unnecessary use of antibiotics in intensive care units, researchers believe.

The fibre-optic tube can show within 60 seconds whether a patient needs to be treated with the drugs.

It is hoped the Proteus technology could tackle the emergence of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.

The project has been developed by scientists at the universities of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt and Bath.

Proteus has received £2m of funding from the Wellcome Trust.

It will also be boosted by nearly £1m from the CARB-X antibiotic resistance project co-funded by the US government and Wellcome.

Proteus uses chemicals that light up when they attach to specific types of bacterial infection.

This fluorescence is detected using fibre-optic tubes that are small enough to be threaded deep inside patients' lungs.

'Potential side effects'

The research team hope it could "revolutionise the way critically-ill patients and others with long-term lung conditions are assessed and treated".

Doctors currently rely on X-rays and blood tests for diagnosis, but these can be slow and imprecise.

Patients are often treated with antibiotics as a precaution, which exposes them to potential side effects.

Dr Kev Dhaliwal, who is leading the project at the University of Edinburgh, said: "We need to understand disease in patients better so that we can make better decisions at the bedside.

"The Proteus project and clinical partners brings together scientists and clinicians from many disciplines from all corners of the United Kingdom to develop technology that can help us spot disease in real time at the bedside and help us to give the right treatments at the right time.

"The rise of antimicrobial resistance is the biggest challenge in modern medicine and the support from CARB-X will accelerate development of Proteus technology to be ready for clinical use faster and more widely than previously possible."

Tim Jinks, of the Wellcome Trust, said: "Drug-resistant infection is already a huge global health challenge - and it is going to get worse.

"We need global powers to work together on a number of fronts - from the beginning to the end of the drug and diagnostic development pipeline."

Whither human rights in Sri Lanka?

The singular focus on international rights intervention is killing a once-vibrant local rights movement

Ahilan Kadirgamar

-MARCH 29, 2017

From the time Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in 2009, international actors have infused narratives of the war with stories of human rights abuses. Eight years since, it has only become clear how irrelevant current human rights campaigns are to the war-torn people and their struggles.

Whither human rights in Sri Lanka.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

The Right To Information Act No.12 Of 2016: A Rare Bright Spot In Our Flawed Democracy

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole –March 29, 2017

Prof. S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

Failures and Successes

Elected to restore democracy, the interminable postponement of elections on petty excuses is a big blot. Non-progress on reconciliation is best captured by its partner, the TNA, saying Tamils have reached the end of their tether. The independent Commissions have no funds to include all members in the work (Election Commission) or funds but no work or TOR (Delimitation Commission). Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka says the Commissions are toothless white elephants, and that the Audit Commission and National Procurement Commission cannot function for lack of enabling legislation. The Police Commission chairman resigned giving an unbelievable excuse because he could not deliver on account of obstacles.

Even the co-sponsorship of UNHRC Resolution 34/L.1 which promises “to fully implement the measures identified in the resolution [30/1] of 2015,” is not convincing of our intentions on reconciliation. For, even as 30/1 calls for the prosecution of war criminals with the use of foreign judges and is unfulfilled, the President and PM say there will never be foreign judges. Moreover, the President adds in hot speeches before the Army and Monks that he will never allow “national heroes” who massacred Tamil civilians in defeating the LTTE to be charged.

With that horrible record, there are some notable achievements, however, that fail to get the credit they deserve. One important achievement is the absence of fear. Another is that water-starved Jaffna now has many huge water tanks coming up. As the infrastructure is nearing readiness, it is bickering among us Tamils on whether Water from Kilinochchi can be diverted that introduces uncertainty over water for Jaffna. Water tanks without water would be like our democracy without elections. If that water is refused, the tanks will use seawater desalinated by reverse osmosis, which however will be expensive.

RTI – Towards Open Meetings

The most recent, significant achievement in governance is our Right to Information Act (RTIA). Many countries claim to be democracies but all are flawed. What is important is that we move towards being a democracy. Over 100 countries around the world have RTI Laws, Sweden’s 1766 Freedom of the Press Act having been first. Such acts are usually borne of a thirst for freedom following an era of autocracy as ours was after our shackles were removed in 2015. RTIA empowers us to find out what our rulers are doing by giving us access to government documents.  Our global RTI rating is at third place. Scoring 131 out of 150, we are just behind Mexico (136) and Serbia (135), barely ahead of India at 128 (whose laws were borne of the suppression of information, press censorship and abuse of authority during the Emergency of 1975-77). Surprisingly many Western European countries and the US (83), Canada (90), Australia (83) and China (70) score poorly, well behind Russia (98).

One of Many Water Tanks; this at Naayanmaarkattu will be ready by June

The US has a low score because its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was enacted in 1966 before the world’s legacy of human rights blossomed, and after years of debate over the opposition of President Lyndon Johnson. FOIA emphasizes the devolved nature of power and leaves it to state governments to make their own FOI laws. FOIA has many exemptions. Officials need not comply with requests to do research, answer written questions or create records like lists of statistics. RTIA is far ahead.

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SRI LANKA: INDEPENDENT COUNCIL FOR NEWS MEDIA STANDARDS ACT – FULL TEXT (1ST DISCUSSION DRAFT)

29/03/2017

The Information Department of Sri Lanka has obtained a draft  act in order to establish an independent Media Council as explained in its call for public views for establishing such a mechanism.  The draft act has been named as “Independent Council for News Media Standards Act” .

Wijayananda Jayaweera

The draft  has been prepared by Wijayananda Jayaweera, who is presently working as the World Bank Consultant to the Government of Sri Lanka to prepare a strategic plan to implement the right to information Act. He worked as the Director of UNESCO’s Communication Development Division and UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication from 2003 to 2011 March 31.

According to the draft the Council shall consist of thirteen members including the Council’s Chairperson, appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Constitutional Council.

The proposed Council will function as the oversight mechanism of a system of self-regulation and will the power to apply sanction for wilful violations of its codes of practice.

 Sri Lanka: Independent Council for News Media Standards Act (First Draft)

SRI LANKA INDEPENDENT COUNCIL FOR NEWS MEDIA STANDARDS ACT – FULL TEXT (1ST DISCUSSION DRAFT).docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

White Van used in Keith Noyahr abduction discovered !

(Lanka-e-News - 29.March.2017, 11.30PM) The white Van that was used to abduct Nation newspaper deputy editor Keith Noyahr was discovered by the special investigators of the CID on the 28 th  night at Kurunegala where it was kept hidden.

6 members of the army murder squad  including Major Bulathwatte ,staff  sergeant , two other sergeants and a corporal were arrested in connection with the abduction of Noyahr and are in remand custody now.

The identification parade of the suspects had to be postponed because Noyahr’s visit to Sri Lanka from Australia was delayed.

It is a well and widely known fact that on 2008-05-22 , after Noyahr was abducted , and when he was  being subjected to torture at Dompe with a view to kill him , because  a group of journalists got wind of this ,Noyahr was freed without killing .

9 years after this incident , following evidence surfacing based on the mobile phone call exchanges and other information  , major Bulathwatte was first arrested at dawn  on 2017-02- 18 .

The mobile phones and SIM  cards that were used in this murder were taken into custody earlier on, and the white Van was taken into custody on the 28th of March 2017.
 

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by     (2017-03-29 20:07:46)

Van used for Lasantha murder found?

Mar 29, 2017

A van believed to have been used in the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge and the abduction of Keith Noyarh has been seized from Piliyandala,

police announce. The vehicle was found from the home of a female friend of an Army major, presently in custody in connection with the Nohyarh’s kidnapping.

Police also

Open Letter To President & Prime Minister

By Vishwamithra1984 –March 29, 2017

“Susie, what shall I do – there isn’t room enough; not half enough, to hold what I was going to say. Won’t you tell the man who makes sheets of paper, that I haven’t the slightest respect for him!” ~Emily Dickinson

Dear Mr President and Mr Prime Minister,

It’s time we took stock of our current situation. Waiting for another year or two would be far too late. I’m not writing this letter to enlighten you, though there might be a slight chance that you do that once you finish reading this humble missive. It is to remind you of the various promises both of you extended towards the people of my country at the hustings prior to January 8, 2015. Please lend me the time and your ears, which I am sure you would, without much ado.

To a man and woman, nearly every one of the leaders of the Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), those few who crossed over with you, Mr President, those who belong to the ‘ordinary’ ranks of society, men and women who trekked miles and miles to organize election rallies and pocket-meetings who went from house to house, trying to canvass the Rajapaksa-voters and persuade them to vote for Maithripala Sirisena, made the same promise to voters: elect Maithripala Sirisena as our President and we will eradicate corruption and nepotism; we will take the country’s economy forward, we will replace crony-capitalism with economic principles based on equality and social justice.

We needed a paradigm-shift. It seems that instead of that shift, we have got a shift that has put the country totally enmeshed in a stagnant economy. Nevertheless, we are grateful to both of you for having tried to introduce a new and fair social and governance system by establishing the following:

• Financial Crime Investigation Division (FCID)
• Special Presidential Commission
• Public Service  Commission
• Judicial service  Commission
• Election Commission
• National Police Commission
• Audit Commission (Yet to be passed by Parliament)
• Human Rights Commission
• Bribery or Corruption Commission
• Finance Commission
• Delimitation Commission
• National Procurement Commission

Whether these commissions will eventually deliver the ‘goods’ that they promised to deliver or not, the very appearance of delivering accountability, transparency and fairness to a population that was taken for a massive ride by the last regime of the Rajapaksa family and its cohorts in itself is somewhat a great relief to them who were unwilling victims of a social dynamic known as the ‘Rajapaksa Doctrine’. Basking in the glory of the war-victory in 2009 against the dreaded Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE), the former first family was a personification of power-holding gone bad. Their avarice did not show any measurable bounds. Their self-righteous patriotism was phony and its vociferous articulation sounded hollow in the light of the massive corrupt practices they have been alleged to have committed.

The circus of those alleged mal-practitioners of government power and people’s trust have ended up in gross violation of all civilized practices of fair and balanced political leaders. Our government coffers did not belong to the Rajapaksa family and on the same note, they do not belong to you either Sirs. If the same accusations and allegations are in any way, shape or form hurled at your government, then Mr President and Mr Prime Minister, something has gone badly wrong somewhere. People are getting increasingly anxious and that anxiety is driving them to the edge of patience.

Their patience on the delivery of justice that results in punishment to the mal-practitioners of government power is waning. Their understanding of how unmerciful and rapacious the Rajapaksas were when in power has reached its zenith. It is not only the English-speaking cocktail cockroaches in Colombo who have understood the dimensions of that corruption and dishonesty; the ordinary three-wheel drivers, bus conductors and drivers, those who expend their physical labor to earn a miserable day’s pay, the average man who runs a small boutique to make ends meet for his family, the university graduate who managed to secure some kind of employment in a government department, the farmer who ploughs his farm day in and day out but fails to market his paddy because there is a glut in the marketplace, the unemployed lad who leaves his home with the first break of rays of the sun on an arid zone in search of employment, they all have been patiently waiting for justice to arrive at the doors of the Rajapaksas. And their patience is indeed weakening.

So, Mr President and Mr Prime Minister, what is your answer to these folks? Has the paradigm shifted? If yes, in which direction has it been shifted? These are legitimate questions, these are valid probes that both of you have to answer collectively or individually. The expectant voter at the 2015 Presidential Elections is still expecting results.

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