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Editorial6th September 1998 |
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47, W. A. D. Ramanayake Mawatha Colombo 2. P.O. Box: 1136, Colombo 2.
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Cricket colours'Hora' PoliceCricket coloursIn the year of our Golden Jubilee of Independence though we lost the Nidahas trophy, it was indeed fitting that we beat our one-time colonial rulers England in the land of cricket's origin. We saw history being re-written when tens of thousands of people of Kandy turned out on Friday to greet their conquering hero Muttiah Muralitharan some 183 years after the invading Englishmen had captured Kandy. We have been told the enlightened Englishmen cheered the visitors at every turn during the recent triangular and Test matches there and it is something we don't do often to visiting teams here. But that positive aspect was overshadowed by racial smugness that kept surfacing from time-to-time and the churlish remarks of a vanquished coach. The cricketers did well. Sri Lankan cricketers winning is no longer surprising. But that it happened in England in the home of cricket, makes the victory extra special and sweet. But we are now independent enough to see victories or defeats and the game itself from a higher perspective. Sometimes we scold the British as if we have a pathological hatred towards them for forcing cricket down our throats. Some say it now serves the rascals right and we thrashed them. That should not be our attitude. We need to remember it was the white Australia that proposed Sri Lanka for Test status in 1981 when Minister and cricket chief Gamini Dissanayake went to the International Cricket Conference with our case for Test status. Strangely it was the third world Caribbean states of the West Indies which opposed our entry. It had nothing to do with colour. Let us not get too distracted today by the conduct of Shane Warnes, Darrel Hares and David Lloyds, to understand the historical aspects of the game — cricket luverly cricket. Our team has done more public relations work for Sri Lanka than a thousands public relations officers, media consultants and media counsellors in our missions abroad could ever do. We can rightfully enjoy the fruits of victory and thank them for giving our people some temporary relief from the otherwise horrific times we are going through.
'Hora' PoliceIf new brooms sweep well, they nec-essarily do not speak well. While acknowledging the need to give people a chance and wishing them well, we must say that the new Police Chief Lucky Kodituwakku has started on an evasive if not unrealistic note. In an interview, the new IGP insists the police are to a large extent independent and the level of political interference was not serious. On that basis he feels there is no substantial case for the setting up of an independent police commission. He has the right to express his views but we would like to ask him whether the police are allowed to be independent even if they want to be so. We believe there is a need for an independent commission to curb both political interference and corruption in the police. Reports of presidential commissions and the recent purge of some 100 officers show if further proof were needed that most policemen are more often servants of politicians rather than the people. For that and other reasons, we also see that the police is no longer a service but a force. Most people are today scared to go to a police station. So much needs to be done in terms of rebuilding public confidence and re-stabilising the police as a friend of the people. IGP Kodituwakku says friendship is mutual and the people also need to cooperate more. But we believe that the initiative must come from the police through courtesy, care and concern for ordinary people rather than through the jackboot or 'ado' language.
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