Making a difference to good governance in Sri Lanka

| by Shanie

"If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito." - African Proverb

( June 30, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The first elected Islamist President in the Arab world will soon be taking office in Egypt. Mohamed Mursi was elected in a democratic election following the people’s revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak from power. But that revolution did not come about as a result of a military coup or a powerful opposition group ‘capturing’ power. The revolution began as a protest movement led by young activists. The other groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood of Mohamed Mursi, joined in only at a later stage. It just goes to show that no one or no group is too small to make a difference. Only a little spark is needed to ignite a people’s revolution.

We are now witnessing in Sri Lanka many such small groups who have shown courage in opposing injustice. The latest is in the fiasco of the application of the z-score formula for university admissions this year. Many educationists and university academics pointed out the formula followed in calculating the z-score formula by pooling the results of two different populations – those who had sat under two different syllabuses - was flawed. But as in the case of every other academic issue, the Minister of Higher Education simply refused to even acknowledge that there could be some merit in the criticism, reinforcing his ‘I can do no wrong’ attitude. In the end, it was left to two students to petition the Supreme Court which has now ruled that the z-score formula applied to 2011 GCE A level examination results should be annulled. The injustice to the students has been our right because those two young student petitioners had the self-confidence they were not too small to make a difference.

The Ministry of Higher Education has senior bureaucrats who should be advising their Minister on the right course of action. Earlier, we had senior academics occupying such positions and they had the competence and the stature to proffer sound advice. But times have changed. The bureaucrats in the Ministry seem clueless, But the University Grants Commission consists of former senior academics, most of whom commanded respect in the Universities in which they served. But now as members of the UGC it is a pity that they have opted to go along with the Minister in his obstinate refusal to heed the views of concerned academics. It was shocking to find the Chairman of the UGC echoing the Minister’s insulting comments about Professor Thattil, the author of the original z-score formula and who had pointed out the flaws in its application to the 2011 results.

The two young student petitioners have risen tall in ensuring that no injustice is done to their fellow-students who sat for the 2011 examination. Sadly, the same cannot be said of the eminent academics who man the University Grants Commission now. One only hopes it was not sycophancy that led them to merely go along with the Minister’s decision. Another academic has recently made the shocking revelation of how the majority of the members of the Council of the University 0f Jaffna, before each official monthly meeting of the Council, meet at the political office of the local politico war lord who advises them of the decisions to be made on the matters on the agenda at the next Council meeting. Higher education in our country needs men and women in decision making positions who can make a difference, not ‘Yes, Minister’ types. Then we will not need more student activists having to get political decisions reversed by the Supreme Court.

Lawlessness and Police responsibility

The killing of two JVP supporters at a meeting held in the Hambantota district is the latest in a series of politically related violence and crime for which the Police must take responsibility. The country knows that the Police have a good track record in solving non-politically related crime. The country also understands the political pressure that is exerted on the Police that results in political violence going unchecked But this is no excuse for the Police to wash their hands of their responsibility to maintain law and order. Recently, the citizens’ group Friday Forum issued a statement wherein it was stated that they had requested the IGP for an appointment to discuss the increasing violence and lawlessness in the country. Instead of welcoming the opportunity to discuss with a group of responsible citizens matters which will be helpful both to the Police and to the people of the country, the Friday Forum statement, signed by Jayantha Dhanapala and Prof Savitri Goonesekere among others, says that they have received only a bureaucratic response from the IGP. That indeed is a pity.

In terms of the Seventeenth Amendment to our Constitution a National Police Commission ‘independent’ of political control was established in 2002 The Chairman and members of the NPC were appointed on the recommendation of a Constitutional Council whose members were also free of political control. The Commission had the powers of appointments, transfers, promotions, disciplinary control over all police personnel other than the IGP. It was generally acknowledged that the Commission under the Chairmanship of Ranjit Abeysuriya PC functioned very well. The infamous Eighteenth Amendment put paid to all that and the NPC became defunct.. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission recommended the restoration of the NPC. In lip service to this recommendation, the President appointed a new seven-member National Police Commission in February this year but sans all the powers enjoyed by the previous Commission. It appears to be a body now without any powers except only to receive and investigate complaints. It was reported that up to May this year (during the first three months) 224 complaints were received by the Commission but the official web site of the NPC gives no indication as to the progress and/or outcome of any ‘investigation’ into these complaints.

In response to the Friday Forum statement, an anonymous but concerned Police officer writing to The Island states that the powers vested in the previous NPC under the 17th Amendment have been delegated to the Secretary, Defence. The IGP cannot take cover under any delegation of powers, however wrong such delegation may be. As head of the Police, he is not only responsible for the administration of the Police Department but is also responsible for ensuring that personnel under him perform their duties with the impartiality and efficiency expected of them. He cannot wash his hands off this responsibility, even though the public are aware that the Police Service has been politicized at all levels. But he must know that even a single officer, including the IGP or anybody else in the service, can make a difference. That is what is required if the Police Service is to regain public confidence that any citizen can go the Police and receive at least a fair hearing, even if they do not receive justice that is the right of every citizen.

Intimidation of an academic activist

Pride and arrogance are said to go before a fall. Arrogance was in full display in the telephone conversation that the Secretary, Defence Gotabhaya Rajapakse reportedly had with Dr Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri, President of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations. Dewasiri had complained of suspicious looking men who had been hovering around his house for two days inquiring from the neighbours details of Dewasiri, his family and his movements. The men had claimed to be from the Ministry of Defence. Dewasiri quite rightly made a complaint to the Police which now comes under the Ministry of Defence. It was the duty of the Police to investigate, apprehend the men and find out if their claim to be from the MoD was true. In response, Dewasiri receives a telephone call from the Secretary, Defence reportedly faulting Dewasiri for making false charges against the MoD. The Secretary, Defence had gone on to make the shocking statement that Dewasiri should catch the culprits and hand them over to the Police.

We have commented before that as Secretary of a line Ministry, Rajapaksa is just another public servant, even though he is the brother of the President. Statements such as the one made by the Secretary, Defence would not be tolerated from any other public servant. Perhaps Rajapaksa would do well to take a leaf out of the book of Lalith Weeratunge, another politically hand-picked public servant, who conducts himself with dignity in his official dealings, even when he has to publicly defend the indefensible

No one is too small or too big

In the same statement referred to earlier, the Friday Forum stated: ‘It is the responsibility of the Government and the people of this country, in the context of the concept of sovereignty of the people, to rebuild the institutions and values that sustain peace, democracy and pluralism. Three years after the end of the war, we are deeply concerned about the continuing violent political culture, the deterioration of our national institutions and the undermining of our religious, cultural and social values.’ The task of rebuilding our national institutions and restoring values that sustain peace, democracy and pluralism, however, cannot be left only to our religious and political leaders and to the good men and women of our civil society like the Friday Forum. No one is too big or too small to make a contribution to this national task. As the African proverb goes, "If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito!"

A Postscript

The British media, despite their obsession with Wimbledon Tournament and the Olympic Games being held in London, gave prominent coverage to a historic visit by their Queen to Northern Ireland this week, which has meaning for us and for all countries striving for peace and reconciliation after years of internecine conflict. There is a power-sharing agreement in place in Northern Ireland with Martin McGuinness, the former IRA Commander, as Deputy First Minister. It was an IRA bomb that killed the Queen’s cousin Lord Mountbatten over thirty years ago. McGuinness welcomed the Queen; they warmly shook hands and, speaking in Irish, McGuinness referred to her conciliatory remarks made in the neighbouring Republic of Ireland last year regarding all the victims of the Troubles. Yes, he said, there was a need to acknowledge the pain of the families of all victims in the conflict. He told the Queen that their meeting was a powerful signal that peace-building required leadership. Is there not a message in that for us in Sri Lanka?