( January 21, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is not a difficult proposition. The Sri Lankan Sinhalese polity with the Mahavamsa mindset that form the majority often exploited by the ruling elite can now rest be assured that the western concepts of the rule of law and the justice system has now been finally laid to rest by a true successor to Dutu Gemunu who 2300 years ago destroyed Tamil domination in Sri Lanka. Tamil domination was destroyed by the defeat of the Tamil king Elara also known for his impeccable sense of justice who ruled according to his conscience and not in terms of a structured justice system, something that Mahinda Rajapaksa, perhaps alluded to when he recently referred to his conscience.
The Mahavamsa written by a Buddhist monk, Mahanama, who lived 800 years after Dutu Gemunu refers to the Sinhala Buddhist king being haunted by his conscience at the thought of having killed thousands of innocent Tamils in the war against Elara. According to the chronicle: "The arahats (saints) said ‘from these deeds arises no hindrance in thy way to heaven......Unbelievers and men of evil life were they not more to be esteemed than beasts. But as for thee, thou wilt bring glory to the doctrine of the Buddha in manifold ways; therefore cast away care from thy heart, O ruler of men". This concept, justifying the killings of the Tamils is peculiar to the Sri Lankan kind of Buddhism. However president Mahinda Rajapaksa having destroyed Tamil militancy in the war against "international terrorism" and in the process being responsible for the wanton killing of tens of thousands of innocent Tamil people now regarded the true successor to Dutu Gemunu by the Sinhala polity will find solace in what the arahats had to say and put his conscience to rest. His being considered a war criminal is another matter.
It appears that in the future the guiding principle in administering the rule of law and the justice system would be just conscience notwithstanding what the structured trappings of the western type of a justice system, leaving such things as the interpretations of common sense things such as the "separation of powers", checks and balances to a member of the dynasty such as Basil Rajapaksa who could unravel the profundity of these in a few sentences and in a matter of a few minutes.
After all, King Dutu Gemunu having pre-deceased the liberal thinkers and the intellectual contributions of the likes of the Locke, Jeremy Bentham, Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, Montesquieu, Voltaire would have had to depend on his conscience too in the absence of a structured justice system. Like the concept of sovereignty these are also western systems.
According to another sibling of the ruling Rajapaksa family, Chamal, the Speaker of the House, the most educated of the brothers and rated the most intelligent, the provisions of the 1978 constitution in the matter of the removal of the chief justice were all, not surprisingly, confusing and complicated having caused him stress and sleepless nights, and would therefore for that reason welcome amending the provisions of the constitution where the removal of the chief justice by the president is more straight forward and simple, perhaps on their express direction.
There is little or no evidence of Dutu Gemunu, during his time, having interacted with foreign powers while foreign historians and traders both from Europe, Arabia and South East Asia have had knowledge of contemporary Sri Lanka. Having known only the Sinhala language would have been an impediment.
The Sinhala polity having been nurtured in the true Mahavamsa tradition lost no time after the end of the western rule in introducing the Sinhalese as the only predominant official language in the year 1956 under prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike much to the detriment of the Tamil speaking people reducing them to be second class citizens for being a numerical minority. From 1956 onwards when parliamentary representatives protested not only the protestors but the Tamil people and their properties were destroyed by mobs instigated by the Sri Lankan state causing the losses of thousands of lives and property thus leading to the birth of Tamil militancy as the only way to resist the terrorism of the State, finally to be defeated in May 2009. Briefly, between 1956 and 1983 through legislation and the constitutions of 1972 and 1978, Sri Lanka progressively became a repressive State, failing to protect a substantial section of its population, namely the Tamil speaking peoples whom they call their own when convenient.
It would be recalled that during the impeachment process, in the face of the opposition and the chief justice Ms. Bandaranayake's justifiable defiance, President Rajapaksa in his characteristic fashion in trying to wriggle out of it, stated that he himself had not read the contents of the impeachment and that a review should be held to clear his own conscience in the true Dutu Gemunu fashion. The review never took place. Unfortunately for him, unlike in the Mahavamsa era there are no arahats now to console him. He has to depend on the new chief justice as the Keeper of his Conscience. For this purpose he has appointed the one in his view is the most corrupt. In Sri Lanka, it is not difficult to find such a specimen.
As an aside, we are heartened to hear that the supreme court of Pakistan has ordered the arrest of its prime minister for corruption. We hope such an order for its President too would not be long.
(The writer, is the editor of the Eelam Nation, an online journal)
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