Editorial

The trial and tribulations revolving around the eighth Executive President of Sri Lanka and leader of the United National Party (UNP) turned out to be a cause célèbre which mercifully petered out from what could have been an ugly showdown between the Opposition ranks and the Government.

Government leaders were straining every sinew to show they had no hand in the prosecution of the former president, clearly their bete noire for some reason. Their narrative was: corrupt elite versus oppressed masses. The slip was showing. Their theme that ‘all are equal before the law’ appeared to nevertheless weaponise the law—it was political law-fare!

The Government claimed the ethical upper hand and pristine intentions—that it does not interfere with police prosecutions—but it wore thin when read side-by-side simultaneously with angry comments by the governing hierarchy that the former president had committed illegal acts over the past 40 years—a dangerous argument for the ruling party to bring up.

An unexpected outcome of the arrest and immediate dragging of the former president before a court is that it injected life into a hitherto moribund opposition. It united an opposition which was in disarray, licking its wounds and feeling its way almost aimlessly after the drubbing at last year’s presidential and parliamentary elections. Most of all, it reunited the divided, demoralised United National Party and its breakaway, Samagi Jana Balawegaya. The ranks of Tuscany could scarce forbear to cheer, though for how long is to be seen given the long-drawn intransigence over its leadership role—who is the ‘Nayake’ and who is the ‘Maha Nayake’!

With the shrill messianic and very public fervour with which over 60 former government politicians and government officials have been hauled up before courts and many sent to remand and either kept there or released after a while for lack of evidence, the opposition sees ‘red lights’ flashing—not just amber lights: that the drift towards one-party rule is clear—a ‘constitutional dictatorship’ and revenge politics in full swing.

On the other hand, the face-off may have played into the Government’s hands. The triumphant claim by the Government is that those arrayed against it are not the forces of democracy but the corruption and guilt of past politics uniting against the sword of impartial justice. The Government has set in motion a dangerous precedent for itself in the process. Distinguishing what is an official visit and a private visit for a president is fraught with inevitable tripwires. Already, questions are being raised about the incumbent’s travels to his hometown and abroad.

Leave it to an over-enthusiastic future police investigator to be let loose to cook up a case. That is the political orthodoxy to act in a partisan political context that prevails—and will prevail. Public servants and military officers using official vehicles to drop spouses at work and pick up children from school under these cloudy rules and their interpretations is going to be a sticky situation for many.

However unwittingly, the timing of these cases involving political opponents could impact Sri Lanka in the external area. On the eve of the UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva, it will be observed that just 10 months in office, the ruling party that rejoiced in being elected, ending the fissures of the past—North, South, East and West—is witnessing instability and unpredictability. While arguing for national unity and reconciliation in Geneva, is the Government’s current narrative to stridently reinforce polarising new fault lines and political turmoil?

Trade unions are already flexing their muscle and threatening agitation. Mass mobilisation against the fledgling Government is not the need of the hour for a still fragile economy finding its feet after the nation went bust in 2022. The IMF has repeatedly stressed that political stability and social consensus are essential to the effectiveness of the EFF (Extended Fund Facility) programme the country continues to rely on. Governance risks of political instability could jeopardise reforms. If political unrest inhibits reforms, these IMF tranches could get delayed or even suspended, and foreign investors rethink—the last thing the country needs.

Fortunately, there is bipartisan ownership of the IMF programme for lack of any other alternative. Political polarisation is not what the doctor (IMF) ordered. There are still miles to go for full economic recovery and growth. It is far too early, therefore, for the political parties to spoil for a fight at the expense of the nation.

The Government has spoken of the people’s desire for social transformation and a new political culture parallel to their expectations of economic prosperity. “Everything we have inherited is tainted. Our duty is to transform it,” the President says.

There is divided opinion, though, throughout the country, the people being the final arbiter as to whether they are witnessing such a transformation or whether the Government is on a witch-hunt weaponising the rule of law to neutralise the opposition in a predictable cycle of revenge politics.

Mea Culpa by Police—in Japan

The BBC this week reported an interesting story from Japan. The Japanese Police bowed and offered flowers at the grave of a businessman to apologise for wrongfully charging him in court. The accused had died five months before the charges against him were dropped after the court ruled that the indictment was illegal and ordered the state authorities to pay compensation of USD 1.12 million to his family.

The businessman’s family accepted the apology by the police but said they cannot forgive those who were behind the charges, the BBC reported. The Japanese judicial system is said to have a 99 per cent prosecution success rate, but it is argued that it is because only 37 per cent of the complaints to the police go to court eventually due to thorough investigation.

Japanese lawyers call it “hostage justice” because chances in a trial are minimal. They compare it to the ‘White Queen’ in Alice in Wonderland. The White Queen’s world moves backward in time, and punishment comes first before the trial. The accused in that case had filed eight bail requests, all of which were denied.

“We sincerely apologise for the serious human rights violation caused by illegally requesting his detention and filing a prosecution, and for depriving Aishima (the accused) of opportunities for medical treatment by inappropriately rejecting his bail request,” said the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, adding that they will investigate the cause for the wrong indictment, the BBC added.

That, of course, was in Japan.