Wayamba: case for independent polls commission

By Kishali Pinto Jayawardena 

Polls monitors have a daunting task ahead of them on this crucial day in Wayamba where violence has escalated with a speed and intensity that is shocking. 

The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (a non-partisan body formed by the Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Free Media Movement and the Coalition Against Political Violence) has recorded an astonishing increase of one hundred and twenty percent (120%) in the number of serious offences reported in the campaign, in comparison with the 1997 local government elections. These offences include murder, attempted murder, hurt, assault, robbery and arson. 

In these circumstances, the essential fairness of the election that is to be held appears to be already in doubt. January 1999 therefore, sees the election process in Sri Lanka in jeopardy in a more fundamental manner than ever before. 

In 1991, the Elections Commissioner in a report on elections to local authorities identified the crucial question in true succinct form: "Does the police department, at election times, require a clearance from the political leadership of the day to perform their duties within the tenets of election laws or will it perform its duties at elections, irrespective of the actions and reactions of any political parties or personalities? The first position is a contradiction while the second is a truism" 

Well may the Commissioner pose this question. Eight years later, the query has lost none of its relevance nor its poignancy. Where earlier, the law and order situation was dictated to by thugs of the ruling party lording it over their unfortunate opponents, now it appears to be ruling party thugs versus opposition party thugs, all of equal strength and brutality. A case of equality at its depressing best. 

Hence Wayamba can only be a forerunner of worse things to come. All in all, certainly a situation that only the impossibly complacent in Sri Lanka can afford to ignore. 

The intensity of the Wayamba conflict could, however, impact in a positive manner as well. Given its ferocity, the call for the establishing of an independent election commission has now become stronger, with some civil society groups even going to the extent of recommending the immediate setting up of such a Commission, instead of including it in the other constitutional reform proposals which are still in the tortuous process of negotiation. 

Caught in a political crossfire of their own historic making, the UNP has also decided to spruce up its act in the form of a Citizens Consultation On Free And Fair Elections and Depoliticisation of Key Institutions. 

The Consultation appointed a non-partisan drafting committee comprising several former senior public servants, activists and professionals to suggest proposals for reform. Its report released recently for public discussion, acknowledges that the 1978 Constitution subjects the Commissioner of Elections to undue political pressure in that his appointment is Presidential while his removal is subject to the whim and fancy of Parliament where the Government again has the over-riding vote. 

Not surprisingly, his absence of control over the police and security forces at election time is also identified as a significant reason for the increase in election violence. 

The committee has proposed a three-member election commission appointed only on the recommendation of the proposed Constitutional Council which includes members of the judiciary and representatives of professional organisations as well as politicians. 

Alternately and rather disappointingly, it has been suggested that until the formation of the council, members of the Commission be selected on a joint recommendation by the Prime Minister and the opposition leader. 

The problem with the latter proposal is, of course, the fact that a purely political selection, be it composed of representatives both of the ruling party and the opposition, is deprived of that essential element of extra political balance. 

This has been well seen in the recommendations to several important commissions and bodies in the past few years which have been made ostensibly in the absence of such a council and which have been lamentably ill suited. 

In that respect, the committee may well urge the immediate appointment of the Constitutional Council instead of agreeing to a delaying process in which the formation of such a council seems the ultimate impossible dream. 

Again, its proposal regarding the removal of an Elections Commissioner could be improved on, as it prescribes a parliamentary procedure for removal that may well prove inadequate in giving protection for a commissioner who incurs the wrath of parliamentarians on both sides of the divide in the performance of his duties.

In all other respects, the other suggestions made by the committee with regard to electoral reforms are excellent. Officers and staff deployed for the conduct of elections, including police and security forces personnel whilst on election duty are to be under the direction and control of the National Election Commission. 

Provision has also been made for the effective outlawing of corrupt election practices, for the presence of observers and for fair media access by all parties and candidates. 

The commission is also given the authority to direct the canceling and the holding of fresh elections in identified electoral areas where it is satisfied that there has been a disruption of the vote due to violence or any other reason. 

The report of the Citizens Consultation comes at a crucial time. A time moreover when other civil society groups are vigorously suggesting improvements to the present constitutional reform proposals as well as a speedy resolution of the reform process that has been dragging its feet for well over three years. 

One initiative in this respect that is being spearheaded by some of the most established activists and academics in the country is expected to culminate in the release of substantive proposals for reform in a few weeks time. 

All in all, the Wayamba polls could indeed serve as a wake up call for a society which was being steadily tranquilized into a disastrous indifference day by day. Or so we should hope. 

Lift censorship on media: Article XIX

In a news report, 'Fifty Years On: Censorship, Conflict and Media Reform in Sri Lanka', the London-based international anti-censorship organisation accused the Sri Lankan government and military of using the emergency regulations to conceal from the Sri Lankan people the true cost of the continuing war against the separatist Tamil Tigers.

According to Andrew Puddephatt, Executive Director of Article XIX : "Clearly, the re-appointment of an official censor to vet media reporting of the conflict and related affairs is having a severe 'chilling effect'. This seriously impedes the free flow of information about issues of key public interest, including the high number of casualties on both sides and the extent of civilian displacement. This has exacerbated a long standing problem of lack of information arising from the military's denial of effective access by journalists to the war zones."

The report also criticises the government's retention of criminal defamation laws and their contining use against leading editors and journalists who take issue with official policy.

According to Andrew Puddephatt: "When the People's Alliance government came to power four years ago it promised a whole series of media reforms, to break with the repression of the past and guarantee respect for freedom of expression and other basic rights. At first, there were some positive signs but four years on very little of the reform agenda has been achieved. Furthermore, the government has shown an increasing tendency to target its media critics thorough the use of lawsuits and other kinds of harassment."

Article XIX said that the government's latest step, taken last year, was to appoint a parliamentary select committee to examine the case for media reform.According to Andrew Puddephatt: "We hope that this is a genuine process even though the select committee will be covering much ground which government-appointed expert groups already examined more than two years ago and no firm date has been set for it to make its recommendations. Only time will tell. But it would be tragic for the future of Sri Lanka's democracy if it turns out to be no more than a recipe for further delay."

inside the glass house:

What ails Third World economies

By thalif deen at the united nations

Joking about the faltering Soviet Cold War economy, Reagan recounted a May Day parade in Red Square where the Russians were displaying their sophisticated missiles and their battle tanks - even as MIG-23 and MIG-25 fighter planes were streaking across the skies above.

Then along comes a lumbering flat-bed truck parading three Soviet officials in business suits. ''Who are they,'' asks an American visitor. The Soviet guide says: "They are our most powerful weapon. They are economists. They can destroy an entire nation."

The Russians will undoubtedly dismiss it as a capitalist joke aimed at ridiculing socialist-style economies. But the tall tale surfaced at the United Nations last week as delegates from 133 developing countries met to figure out what's ailing Third World economies.

Is it the wrong advise given by economists and pundits? Is it the unrestrained currency speculation by big-time Western investors? Is it high level corruption embedded in the body politic of most developing nations? Or is it the cavalier attitude of rich nations towards the poor as they keep slashing development aid even as they demand their pound of flesh in interest payments on rising Third World external debts?

Mercifully, Sri Lanka and most other South Asian nations have been spared the agony so far. But last year President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga did not rule out the possibility of a spillover.

"We cannot remain an island into "ourselves,'' she said during a visit to the United Nations last September, ''At the moment, I believe, we seem to have survived because we have a very disciplined and good financial management''.

The crisis in Asia was primarily attributed to large-scale currency speculation, heavy flows of portfolio investment, unsustainable debt burdens and massive speculation in real estate. As he pondered the ongoing global crisis, UN Secretary-General Koffi Annan told a meeting of the Group of 77 developing nations last week that the numbers he sees continue to shock and dismay: Millions of workers losing their jobs; millions of children dropping out of school; food staples doubling and tripling in prices, placing them beyond the reach of people who are already needy and suffering.

The Secretary-General told delegates that, from his perspective, the economic and social challenges of 1999 are shaping upto be every bit as numerous and complex as the ones of the past year.

"Many of the countries of the Group of 77 were hit very hard by events of 1998. They know all too well that the global crisis is far from over,'' he warned. 

Indonesia, once held out as a model by the World Bank and the IMF, is a prime example of a country struggling to survive the aftereffects of the Asian economic turmoil. Run by the ''Berkeley Mafia'' - a team of economists educated in the University of California in Berkeley - Indonesia had one of the strongest economies in Asia. But the financial crisis has ruined the country's once stable economy. The Indonesians are still groping for answers. After more than 13 years of vibrant growth, Indonesia's economy was expected to contract in 1998, to minus 1.5 percent compared with 8.2 percent in 1995, 8.0 percent in 1996 and 4.7 percent in 1997.

The outgoing Chairman of the Group of 77, Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas admitted that the Asian economic crisis dealt a crushing blow to the developing world and to the cause of development.

"Some of the most dynamic developing economies saw their banking and corporate sectors brutally shaken to the point of near-collapse,'' he added. As a result, the IMF had to provide bailout packages amounting to some $58 billion to South Korea, $43 billion to Indonesia, $17.2 billion to Thailand and $1.0 billion to the Philippines. In November last year, as the crisis hit Latin America, the IMF provided $41.5 billion in financial bailouts to Brazil.

He blamed the crisis on "unbridled liberalisation of markets'' and the drive by richer nations to create openings for their investments, and also the unrestricted money market flows and exports of manufactured products. But he warned rich nations that they cannot remain insensitive to the spreading crisis in developing countries. ''The crisis sent a strong message to the developed countries that if this economic storm were allowed to unleash its full fury, they, too, in the end will sink with the rest of us in a global recession or even depression,'' Alatas told delegates.

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