Ceylon Today Editorial

Will promises also end up being axioms?

25 January 2017

That, girls are raped, that two boys knife a third,

Were axioms to him, who'd never heard
Of any world where promises were kept,
Or one could weep because another wept.

These words of Auden from the immortal 'Shield of Achilles' aptly define the rampant crime the world over, and so profuse in Sri Lanka, so very, very commonplace in fact, that they have become mere axioms to a society inured and desensitized by. This desensitizing has run deep to the extent that, the all-pervasive bribery and corruption in the country, in which the body politic is embroiled, have become the main menu on offer for a sensation hungry public and a vindictive kind of collective oppositional political persona.

One is not confronted by the voice of conscience which alone must and does have the right to be condemnatory and judgmental.

Instead, corruption has become the tool with which a politically immoral Opposition itself thrives on. The narrative is not to do with morality as in the issue concerning allegations of wrongdoing in the alleged Central Bank Bond scandal. No! It's all about you-throw-dirt-at-me-so-I-throw-dirt-at-you. It's tit-for-tat spurred by fears of imminent exposure of greater corruption indulged in by themselves and their political masters.

It's against this backdrop that we see President Sirisena saying he will appoint a Special Presidential Commission (SPC) to not only supposedly probe the entire issue – but that he will also appoint – or ask the Commission to appoint – special auditors to study the COPE Report on the alleged scam AND TAKE LEGAL ACTION BASED ON THE COPE FINDINGS.

Question arises: Did not COPE retain competent auditors to probe the two CB Bond issues which are in the eye of this storm? The Opposition claims the case filed in Court challenging the COPE Report as well as the move by the President to appoint a SPC to probe the allegations are twin diversionary tactics meant to derail the imminent debating of the alleged scam in Parliament, on the premise that the issue is now before Court. To make matters worse the Speaker, Karu Jayasuriya, goes on record as having said that the debate can go ahead as planned because Parliament has not been officially informed about the case filed in Court.

All this is happening while the country's crime rate is rising, featuring the most ghastly of crimes including a dangerous trend in gang rape, a groundswell in the most gruesome murders, corporate crimes, divorces, broken homes, an alleged role by the Police in ensuring criminals are protected from arrest and legal action, and crime in every strata of society.

That all this is happening while Sri Lanka verily bleeds profusely from multiple social ills. It's heinous that the nation has to continue being subject to this collective trauma.

The infighting in COPE itself has made one wonder whether COPE has not outlived its use-by date. The very fact that COPE has members from every political party represented in Parliament in its very composition ensures that it's politics that will determine its findings and action and not the desire to weed out corruption from society. Members of one political party pull in an opposite direction while those from another party stand opposed to transparency and meaningful legal action. No wonder then that the President has got sick and tired of COPE and has decided to take control of the issue by appointing a Special Commission to ostensibly ensure that an impartial probe backed by hard facts emerges and remains within his control to put an end to this circus.

If the findings are negative, it could mean that the President will be faced with a decision that could have negative ramifications on the unity government and lend itself to tangible socio-political instability, the nature and scope of which is difficult to predict.

The meeting between the President and Premier the other day bore fruit by way of the President's announcement that he will be appointing his Special Commission. That could mean that the Premier was at least to some measure okay with the plan which could come up with either a negative or positive result.

It goes without saying that a negative result will backfire on the UNP and the Pro-Sirisena SLFP faction at the Local Government Polls.

If the SPC's findings are not negative it will mean that the government can fight its way through this quagmire.

This week we can expect Parliament to be officially notified of the case filed against the COPE Report. Will promises also end up being axioms?