| by Hana Ibrahim
( January 2, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Guardian) As the sun rises over a new dawn, bringing with it a promise of
change, reality keeps chipping in, reminding us of the surfeit of reasons why
it is difficult to look forward to 2013 with any degree of hope. Needless to
say, most of these despairing reasons stem from the fact that the New Year
could well look a lot like the old year.
2012, as we all know, has been a pretty much
forgettable one on various fronts. Internationally, it had us hanging our head
in shame as the ghosts of the famed war victory continue to haunt us, primarily
because of the government's dismal failure at accountability and the refusal to
move forward beyond triumphalism. Economically, we've seen puerile policies
drag the country from one morass to another, sending the cost of living
shooting beyond the stratosphere, making mere existence a costly affair and
every single one of us a debtor. Politically, we've been routinely deceived by
promises and betrayed by our representatives in Parliament, who in the guise of
looking after our interests have been helping promulgate authoritarianism, drop
kicking democratic principles, our rights and our freedoms. Capping it all,
we've also seen attempts to subjugate the Judiciary in the pretext of
safeguarding the sovereignty of the people and the Chief Justice hauled before
a Parliamentary Select Committee.
All this has helped paint an unhappy 2012
where the rule of law was in abeyance , democracy remained only a veneer,
budgets were designed to help a few, religious intolerance was encouraged and a
sense of triumphalism permeated through every action, making every year the
year the war was won, and every Tamil, the vanquished over and over again.
A new year brings with it fresh hopes... for
change, for things to be different... for a better tomorrow. And we do buy into
the sense of optimism that things will indeed change and search for that
panacea that will put this country back on track. But how do we do that when
the fundamentals are flawed?
We certainly do not wish for the coming year
be like the year we've just bade adieu to. We don't want to feel the deep
insecurity, the powerlessness; the sense of betrayal; the suppression of
freedoms, the rights. What we wish for in 2013 is security, stability and a
certainty that our democratic rights are intact.
But can we wish for such things for as long
as we have rule of one man instead of the rule of law; a Judiciary in conflict
with the Legislature and might soon end up under the control of the Executive
President; a dysfunctional police system due to heavy politicization and public
institutions controlled by the Executive.
Can we hope for a better 2013, when nothing
has been done to: undo the factors that contribute to the present state of
widespread murder, kidnapping, forced disappearances, rape and brutal crimes;
to stop the speared of the trade of illicit drugs which takes place with the
sponsorship of powerful politicians and some State agencies; to restore the
capacity of the police to investigate crimes competently by removing the
political obstructions of the their work; to remove special powers to such
agencies as Special Task Force (STF) and bring such institutions under the
control of the higher command of the police; to bring all provinces under
civilian police control and remove the military from performing civilian police
functions; to create the possibility of equality of all before law,
irrespective of gender, race or ethnicity, and thereby make democracy a
possibility again in Sri Lanka; to end intimidation and harassment of
journalists, removing all obstacles to freedom of expression and publication,
and thus ensuring people's right to information; to ensure protection to women,
particularly by preventing sexual harassment when using public transport
services, by ensuring the proper handling of complaints relating to domestic
violence and rape, and ensuring equality before the law in all aspects of life;
and to ensure the rights of minorities by de-militarizing the North and East.
These are the reasons why we find it
difficult to look forward to 2013 with any degree of hope.
(The writer is the editor of the Ceylon
Today, a daily based in Colombo, where this piece originally was appeared)
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