| by Nalin de
Silva
( November 28,
2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The western medical profession and the legal
profession in Sri Lanka are arguably the oldest elite western professions in
Sri Lanka. At least some of the practitioners of the professions are supposed
to have expert knowledge in their respective fields and ordinary folk have been
instilled with fear of the professions. The western medical practitioners are
no Vedamahaththayas who are respected by villagers. However, the social status,
not to mention the income enjoyed by the western medical personal is so great
compared to that of the Vedamahaththayas, many children of Vedamahaththayas
have become consultants or specialists. There are no Azdak (of the Caucasian
Chalk Circle) in the judiciary, though we are not very far from the struggle
described by Brecht over who should manage the farms in a certain village of
the Soviet Union after the Nazis had retreated. In other words whom should the
child belong to? Before the readers come to wrong conclusions I must inform
that I have seen this drama only in Sinhala in Hunuwataye Kathawa. In Sri Lanka
since the English had "retreated" at least in theory, there has been
a long struggle over who should rule this country. I am afraid the ordinary
Tamils were kept out of this struggle by the English educated Vellalas until
Prabhakaran came on the scene. Unfortunately, he was used by the very same
westerners and of course the Indians, though the latter did not succeed much,
against the Sinhala Buddhist culture. This prolonged struggle is nothing but a
continuation of the independence struggle by the Sinhalas against the English,
and it is destined to be carried on for few more decades. It is a struggle
between two cultures though not in the sense of C. P. Snow, albeit reminding us
of Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations. It is in a way clash between
"Kultas" and "Haras" of University of Ceylon at Colombo and
Peradeniya, before the "Haras" began to climb the social ladder after
leaving the university.
When the
lawyers, apparently some of them belonging to the judicial service shouted
Jayawewa and Bhangawewa and dashed coconuts last Friday as Dr. Shirani
Bandaranayke, who hails from Anuradhapura, walked through the pubic entrance on
her way to Parliament, the fall of the western legal bastion began. Not fifty
years ago, but ten years ago Hulftsdorf would not have experienced such events.
The elite lawyers of yesteryear would have gone to Kataragama on pilgrimage
with their families but would not have shouted Jayawewa and Bhangawewa at
Hulftsdorf let alone dash coconuts. It is not that they did not believe in Gods
but they pretended to be sophisticated and cultured who did not believe so
called myths, and in public confined their views to matters concerning western
knowledge, whether in law or science or arts, occasionally quoting from
Dhammapada or Bhagavath Gita in philosophical and not in religious matters, and
belonged to the "Kultur" set. Their fathers or grandfathers would
have come from villages but they received education in elite schools and become
"Kultur". The "Haras" though they had roots in the villages
and were the educated rural youth began to imitate the "Kultur" sect
not only in manners but also primarily in knowledge. Gunadasa Amarasekera has
depicted the lives of these people who came from villages to the universities
and became university lecturers and civil servants imitating the
"Kultur" set. However, he forgot that all these people educated in
the western tradition in the central schools or elite schools did not differ
from each other in uttering western myths on so called myths of the east. As a
result the elite lawyers and doctors have been able to use their colleagues who
are still climbing the social ladder in order to defend the western systems.
However, those who have still not become elite cannot give up their ‘jayawewas’
and ‘banghawewas’ and also dashing of coconuts in public. They are yet to
become sophisticated and hide their feelings in public, while defending their
system.
The lawyers who
did not make a vociferous protest against the previous attempted impeachments
of Chief Justices are up in arms against the impeachment of the incumbent CJ.
It is not the position of CJ that matters for them but the government that
brings the motion of impeachment. Most professionals are against the SLFP led
governments though individually some may support it. The same applies to the university
lecturers as we witnessed in the unsuccessful FUTA strike. The UNP governments
and the system with the professionals are together in defending the judiciary,
good governance, democracy etc., in theory though in practice UNP does not have
a clean track record. Chandrika Kumaratunga as we have said on many occasions
is more a Kumaratunga than a Bandaranaike and she is virtually in the UNP when
it comes to national politics. However, Mahinda Rajapaksa is a different kettle
of fish, who could stand up to the pressure exerted by the western countries.
There is nothing that the west can do by passing resolutions against Sri Lanka
in Geneva or Timbuktu as long as the masses are with the government. The
President knows this now and it is no secret that the west is trying to oust
the Rajapaksa government. The lawyers whether they are elite or social climbers
are with the west in the final analysis as long as they do not have a national
intuitive political consciousness or knowledge based in our Chinthanaya.
The impeachment
is based on two articles in the Constitution and the lawyers who did not
protest against J. R. Jayewardene when he attempted to impeach Chief Justice
Neville Samarakoon are now quoting these two articles as if they had been
introduced by Mahinda Chinthana. They were introduced in 1978 but lawyers
ignored them during the eighties. They now argue that the Parliament has no
power to impeach the CJ, and go back to the people who are supposed to have the
sovereignty according to the Constitution of the republic. It is clear that
article 4(a) and 4(c) quoted below state that both legislative power and the
judiciary power of the People shall be exercised by Parliament, the difference
being that in the case of Judicial power Parliament exercises it through
courts, tribunals and institutions. It does not say the judicial power has to
be exercised only through courts and tribunals but it includes institutions
created and established, or recognized, by the Constitution, or created and
established by law.
"(4) (a)
the legislative power of the People shall be exercised by Parliament,
consisting of elected representatives of the People and by the People at a
Referendum;
(b) the
executive power of the People including the defence of Sri Lanka, shall be exercised
by the President of the Republic elected by the People;
(c) the judicial
power of the People shall be exercised by Parliament through courts, tribunals
and institutions created and established, or recognized, by the Constitution,
or created and established by law, except in regard to matters relating to the
privileges, immunities and powers of Parliament and of its Members, wherein the
judicial power of the People may be exercised directly by Parliament according
to law";
Parliamentary
Select Committee is an institution that satisfies the criteria stated in (4)
(c) when it is read with Article 107 (3) on impeachment of judges of the two
higher courts, which states "Parliament shall by law or by Standing Orders
provide for all matters relating to the presentation of such an address,
including the procedure for the passing of a such resolution, the investigation
and proof of the alleged misbehaviour or incapacity and the right of such Judge
to appear and to be heard in person or by representative.". Standing
orders per se may not be law but for the impeachment of the judges the relevant
standing orders are law under Article (107)(3). This is my personal view and I
am not a lawyer.
The west having
failed with various springs including the academic spring and Katunayaka Spring
are now trying to create a clash between the legislature (and the executive)
and the judiciary. This clash will finally strengthen Parliament.
 The western medical profession and the legal profession in ...){kind=link}