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27th September 1998

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'We are not extremists'

The Sinhala Commission in a statement has strongly condemned UNP MP Tyronne Fernando for referring to the Sinhala Commission as extremists like the LTTE

Dr.Piyasena Dissanayake, Secretary, National Joint Committee in his statement has stated that Mr.Fernando at a seminar led by Prof. Thomas G.Fraser of the University of Ulster has condemned the members of the Sinhala Commission by stating that they are 'extremists' and lumping them with the bloodthirsty LTTE.

Dr.Dissanayake stated that there is no doubt Mr.Fernando is aware the Sinhala Commission comprises persons who have all reached positions of eminence in various walks of life. At the request of the National Joint Committee they took up a task that was of great importance to the Sinhala people- to examine the injustices caused to them from colonial times to the present day and suggest remedial measures.

Dr.Dissanayake said Mr.Fernando's statement that the members of the Sinhala Commission are 'extremists' is resented by the Sinhala people as a traitorous one. He charged this remark seems to follow a fashion among certain people - to brand any persons or organisations seeking to safeguard the rights of the Sinhala people as 'extremists' .


World judges voice concern over arrest of High Court judge here

Following an emergency meeting of the Judges Forum of the International Bar Association held on September 17 in Vancouver, the Chairman of the IBA Judges Forum, Lord Abernethy, has written to President Chandrika Kumaratunga expressing concern about the recent happenings in the judiciary in Sri Lanka.

In his letter Lord Abernethy has said that "disturbing information has been placed before IBA's Judges Forum of the International Bar Association (IBA) suggesting that the criminal process is being improperly used with a view to preventing Mr. Mahanama Tilekeratne,High Court Judge, Colombo from hearing cases, by securing his suspension from office.

"Any such action is likely to affect other judges who may be fearful of taking decisions which are unpalatable to the government", the letter states.


Stop slipping down this slope of disaster

From the Blue Corner
By Paakshikaya

My unseen friend, Viruddha Paakshikaya is a remarkable man (or woman). He reminds me of the biblical saying, "He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone at her". It was so funny if it was not so tragic for our country - to see the way Viruddha Paakshikaya shed crocodile tears on behalf of the independence of the judiciary of this country, in the pages of The Sunday Times last week.

Ironically, Viruddha Paakshikaya has the audacity to quote the fundamental law of the country, the Constitution. "Devo Vassathu Kalena, Raja Bhavathu Dhammiko" or "May the rains come on time and may the rulers rule justly" he says borrowing a quote from the ancient sages that is written into the Constitution, in a feeble attempt at sarcasm.

Well, with regard to Constitutions, Viruddha Paakshikaya's UNP knows best. So much so that an often repeated joke of the J. R. Jayewardene era was how a foreigner wanted to locate a Sri Lankan Constitution in a library. "Look in the periodicals section" he was told - the constitution had been amended so many times!

But, if the UNP's track record at amending the law to suit themselves was one thing, its record of handling the judiciary was also indeed a Commonwealth and world record.

Here is as Viruddha Paakshikaya says, a party that did not arrest a High Court Judge (for alleged attempted murder charges). But this same party thugs stoned the houses of Supreme Court judges for giving an order against a policeman (who is now one of their advisors) who violated the fundamental rights of some peaceful demonstrators.

When the Supreme Court fined this top cop, the Cabinet decided the government would pay the fine - a slap in the collective face of the Supreme Court.

And all that fuss was after the th en President had hand-picked his Supreme Court by dropping "suspect" judges when the new 1978 Constitution was introduced. And now, no government could change these laws without a two-thirds majority either.

That was how the UNP insulted the highest court in the land. How does that compare, Viruddha Paakshikaya, with your claim that our government is sending signals to judges not to give orders against the state?

When the notorious Thir teenth Amendment was introduced and four judges of the Supreme Court held against the constitutional validity of the bill, you deprived the second most senior judge of the Court, the most honourable Raja Wanasundera of the Chief Justiceship.

Instead, you appointed another Judge as the Chief Justice, someone who was a junior to the President's brother once upon a time, the brother who was largely known in Hulftsdorp as the de-facto Justice Minister, whoever was the de-jure Justice Minister. In this system of 'give and take" all types of 'Snakes and ladders" games were played depending on the judgments that were delivered.

Ironically, Viruddha Paakshikaya, it was only R. Premadasa of all people, who did not monkey with the judiciary. But then he had a different trick up the sleeve of his spotless white national dress, for he was not one to not frame cases. Don't we all recall, Viruddha Paakshikaya how there was an attempt those days to frame Gamini Dissanayake in an abduction case?

And today, Viruddha Paakshikaya weeps when he talks of the independence of the Attorney General. Let me remind him it was the UNP as far back as in the 1960-1965 government that broke tradition and appointed an Attorney General from outside the Department and politicised even that institution.

It was also the same UNP that appointed sham Presidential Commissions and deprived our leader, Ms. Sirima Bandaranaike of her civic rights for abuse of power. When her lawyer asked for the interpretation of abuse of power they were told to look it up in the dictionary.

Those actions crippled our party, Viruddha Paakshikaya. Moreover it deprived the country of a democratic opposition. This thereby permitted the unbridled growth of the JVP. What ensued is history but I feel I must refresh Viruddha Paakshikaya's fast fading memory. The JVP had their own agenda but the UNP was also not slow in retaliation. Extra-judicial killings, goon squads and unidentified hit men were the rule rather than the exception. Justice, for which Viruddha Paakshikaya weeps now, was on holiday then.

During UNP rule, Black Cats killed our youth like dogs. PRAAs did the 'jarra' work. And a lawyer, Wijedasa Liyanarachchi was killed after being tortured. And this is the same party which now has the temerity to pontificate on the Rule of law.

Then, Viruddha Paakshikaya, you talk of the CID. The CID has always been the dirty tricks department of the ruling party. I concede that. But the UNP raised that to a fine art.

I once read an editorial in The Sunday Times which said how Premadasa used the CID so much on the media and his perceived political enemies that they forgot to check who was in the Presidential kitchen, which finally led to his undoing.

But as far as the CID's activities are concerned today, Viruddha Paakshikaya refers to a Police log entry from the Padukka Police about the on-going crisis regarding Colombo High Court Judge Mahanama Tillekeratne.

On the face of it - no doubt there seems to be some hanky panky but I will leave that alone because I do not know the facts and I don't know if Viruddha Paakshikaya is telling the whole truth.

While, to a point, I concede that the AG's handling of the Mahanama Tillekeratne case 'looks' bad, let us look at things in another way.

Viruddha Paakshikaya says he wants to thank our government for the purge of policeman so that he was able to get some information from the Police about the case. Well, good for you. But I too have friends in the Police.

Let us examine, critically, un-biasedly the statement made by the High Court Judge Mahamana Tillekeratne after his arrest by the CID. I'm not going into the details relating to the charges that have been framed against him (attempted murder and unlawful assembly) but I will go into the matters that relate to the conduct of a judge, posing some legitimate questions.

Now, Viruddha Paakshikaya, in his statement dated September 10 (the day of his arrest), Mahanama Tillekeratne states inter alia that:

1. He purchased some property and in 1995 or thereabouts he gave this property to a particular individual to run a hotel.

2. He told this person not to tarnish his (the Judge's) name.

3. The Judge did not want arrack sold at this hotel.

4. The Judge scolded that individual for obtaining a liquor license.

5. An Army deserter became the manager of the hotel.

6. The Judge told the first individual not to obtain the assistance of outsiders.

7. There was a rumour doing the rounds that the Minister of Plantations, Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, the police chief of the area and himself were running this hotel, which was named 'Green Shadow"

8. Weddings were held at the hotel, couples were also seen there.

9. The villagers removed the board "Green Shadow".

10. The Judge didn't obtain any monies from the profits of this venture.

11. The Judge only asked the hotel to pay an electricity bill once.

12. The Judge later purchased a property at Homagama near the CTB depot.

13. The hotel was run as a guest House for five to six years. Several people ran the Guest House.

14. He (the Judge) had an employee named Piyasena recently and he paid him a monthly salary.

15. He never got any income from the Guest House until recently when he began getting about Rs. 1500 daily from its profits.

16. This person 'Piyasena' is running the Guest House honorably unlike its earlier managers.

Then, elsewhere in his statements, the Judge refers to how he came to possess a 9 mm pistol and how he learned to use the pistol by obtaining nine rounds of ammunition and having firing practice with some "Police friends" whose names he cannot remember now".

The questions I wish to ask Viruddha Paakshikaya are as follows;

1. Here is a person who is a Judge who allows or has been unable to prevent a guest house to be run according to his own statement, "dishonorably", why?

2. Here is a person who has allowed this to happen, but he never got a cent from its profits for five years. Why?

3. Here is a Judge who now even hears PTA cases, who knew the existence of an Army deserter. Did he not report this man to the authorities, which the Penal Code requires you to do? Why?

4. Here is a Judge by his own volition gets, nine rounds of ammunition from the Police and has firing practices. Is it legal?

Now I must hasten to add that I might not be in agreement with what the CID has done, especially the manner in which a judge was arrested and humiliated. I dare say, the arrest (based on what my lawyer friends tell me) was infact an illegal arrest because a citizen cannot be arrested when he has been given bail. All that, however the courts must decide.

My question is based on the Judge's own voluntary statement (of course, unless the Judge now says he was giving that statement after torture and duress). Is one not entitled to ask is this how a Judge of the Republic conducts his private affairs?

We all know standards in public life are dropping in Sri Lanka. MPs run their liquor stores through their relatives and "Catchers". The Kasippu Mudalali has the HQI and the local MP in his pocket (or under his sarong) and as The Sunday Times Editorial said last week, even Judges are being enticed with promotions during their tenure as Senior judges and become Governors and High Commissioners on retirement.

It was not something the PA began. All parties and governments have presided over this gradual deterioration of society. That is why I said at the beginning, Viruddha Paakshikaya, that the UNP and the independence of the judiciary were not particularly the best of friends.

You will turn around and say, what about the 1970-77 period? You will refer to FDB, Quo Vadis and Quo Justice, but while we go on bickering and scoring debating points, this country has been going down the slippery slope of disaster.

Viruddha Paakshikaya talks of the Clinton probe. What a mouthful, the analysis of the Monica Lewinsky probe has been with Americans now calling it the zippergate scandal. What a circus that is - washing their dirty underwear for the world to see.

All I can say about that, Viruddha Paakshikaya, is that it is blown out of proportion, though I can live with the fact that any incumbent President should be subjected to some scrutiny by an independent judiciary not like in the United States by a politically motivated House Judiciary Committee.

So, Viruddha Paakshikaya, we get back to the question of an independent Judiciary. And in Sri Lanka I think it is about time that we all got together and sorted this vexed issue of people from the CID, the AG's Department and even the Judiciary intoxicated by their own importance. They should be brought to their senses for the greater good of civilised society, for the greater good of Sri Lanka - despite the problems it would create for the SLFP, despite the problems it would create for the UNP.

Do you agree, Viruddha Paakshikaya?


Contrite Clinton Atones

In the context of the coming Jewish New Year, White House correspondent Trude B. Feldman interviewed President Bill Clinton. What he says in this first interview since the release of the Starr report reveals his determination to both atone for his action and continue to lead the US

The first 10 days of the Jewish New Year are given over to the 10 days of Repentance. The culmination, from the 10th day, is Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. It is a time to take stock of one's life and to evaluate one's role in society.

Yom Kippur is also the Day of Judgement when one petitions God to help humanity solve its spiritual crises. It is a 24-hour period of fasting and individual soul-searching, and the seeking of atonement.

As the ''10 Days of Repentance'' approached, America's 42nd President, Bill Clinton, sat back in his chair and pensively reflected on the power of repentance.

The occasion was an exclusive interview in the Oval Office of the White House, on Tuesday September 15, during which the President was forthcoming and straightforward in answering questions.

He spoke like a man determined to keep his position as the leader of the Free World until January 2001.

He is convinced that the United States, and the rest of the world will be better served if he is able to continue at the helm. He is also convinced that his present predicament will ''definitely make me a better president, a better husband and father and a better human being''.

His resilience was something to behold. His demeanour was serious and sombre and he is yearning to make amends that will redeem him. Religion, spirituality and prayers were uppermost in his mind.

The following are excerpts from the 45-minute interview during which the president showed determination to make amends and convey his regrets. He told me that he is "going through a searing personal experience and I am coming to terms with truths I genuinely atone." He emphasizes his effort to re-earn the trust and esteem of his family and the American people.

Feldman: A central part of the liturgy of Yom Kippur is "The Confessional" - an appeal to God to forgive, pardon and grant atonement to all who pray. Simple, yet comprehensive, this majestic prayer lists 44 sins that we enumerate for ourselves and our society, committed during the past year.

What is your reaction to such a prayer?

The President: Given the unusual public situation which I am in now, all the prayers of the Yom Kippr liturgy sent me by clergymen are helpful. These prayers confirm the fundamental truth that the human condition is one of frailty and of a propensity to sin. It is something that I share with others. But the most important thing is not that I can say, "Thank God that I am the only sinner in this world." Rather, it is that I can believe in the reality of atonement and in the ultimate gift of forgiveness.

These considerations have really helped me. Some people tell me how sorry they feel for me now that my private life has been publicized to the whole world. Butt making it public does not really bother me as much as the sin itself because the experience has forced on me the opportunity to seek spiritual advice and counsel so that I might better think through what I have done and focussed on how I can properly atone and achieve forgiveness in order to go forward and rebuild my life, both with my family and our country.

Q. What has been the price to pay? What do you feel you are doing now to redeem yourself?

A. I am paying the price - that is self-evident. The airing of this publicly has had an overwhelming effect. There are consequences. There will be some price to be paid every day. If a person had a conscience - and I have one - suffering is the price you pay. And the price you exact from yourself is the biggest price of all.

Q. How do you expect to change and make amends?

A. I'm working on this every day. It is a daily healing process. It's more than not making the mistakes I made. It is building a positive marriage, and building a whole edifice of relationships based on fundamental truths. That's the real issue here... That''s the only way I can restore the trust of the American people, the trust of my family and those close to me.

Q. How will you strive to be a better president and leader of the Free World?

A. I am now going through a searing personal experience and I am coming to terms with truths. I expect it will make me stronger and straighter. If people can see that in me, I think my ability to be a productive president and do good things for the American people and people the world over will be strengthened.

Q. What do you envision will come out of your personal predicament?

A. First, i think it is good for my marriage and my relationships with others.

I can do better and hope to convince people that I want to make it right. I expect that the American people will now be more likely to support me because every person with self-awareness and honesty has been broken by something in life. So I think there'll be a real sense that I can make a new departure from this with a new burst of energy. We have numerous serious challenges in the days ahead. I now feel free than I have in a long time.

Q. How can you explain the impact your personal wrong-doing has had on people abroad?

A. I don't want people around the world to believe that America is engaged in some type of orgy of self-destruction. I'm afraid they will think we're being irresponsible by deflecting our attention from common challenges we share with other peoples and other countries. They need to trust the American people and trust us all to do what is right and to go on to meet our responsibilities in the world. I want them to understand that our government is functioning well and that I'm doing my job.

What is important is that foreign leaders understand that I'm doing my job and we'll be good, reliable allies. For instance, I look forward to the opening session of the United Nations next week. America will do what America should do, and I'm doing what I should do and foreign leaders should not worry.

Q. How will you regain the trust of foreign leaders who look to you for leadership?

A. Remember, most of them come out of different cultures. Those who have telephoned me with encouragement believe I have done nothing, in my public life, to forfeit their trust, and that my private life, whether it is good or bad or troubled or happy, is not their business. So I think foreign leaders tend to see this episode in a completely different way. There is no reason, based on my public record and my discharge of the public trust, that they or any Americans should doubt that.

I am working hard in the healing process with my family while trying to do the people's business.

Q. On Yom Kippur, the Jewish people fast 24 hours. That is one way to put themselves in the frame of mind to atone. As you may know, the word "atone" has a simple origin, to be at one again with God. How would you return to be at one with God?.

A. It is important to be in the right frame of mind. For me, atonement is not only atoning for a specific thing I did that was very wrong, but to also deal with all the attitudes surrounding it, the desire to lash out, the desire to be angry, every other destructive feeling. You have to atone for them all and then try, insofar as humanly possible, to keep the state of mind that the Jewish people try to achieve on the Day of Atonement.

Q. How would you characterize your own frame of mind today?

A. I think it is healthy and wholesome. I'm basically a very positive and optimistic person. I believe I can do what I need to do in my healing process, and the American people will do what they need to do. I believe that we can accomplish even greater things together under my leadership.

Q. How are you taking stock of yourself personally, and as president of the United States?

A. While going through something like this harrowing experience, I feel a heightened sense of responsibility and accountability to make the most of the rest of my life. I never again want to disappoint myself or disappoint my wife and others I love. Each day is a gift for doing the work I have to do and I'm determined to wisely use every moment of every day to try to be fully in command and seize the gift so that I can give whatever I can to others.

Q. What would you now say to the children around the world who admire you and look up to you as a role model?

A. I would tell them that all people can make mistakes, even presidents. That's the bad news.

The good news is that if you acknowledge your errors, and you change, you can go forward free again, and that basically I am not an example that one can break the rules in life and get away with it if one is powerful enough.

I am an example that you should not break the rules, no matter who you are. But if you do, you must atone before going ahead.

Q. What about your conduct in the future? What have you learned from this experience that you will apply?

A. The positive way is to try and take daily inventory, to organize the beginning and end of the day, and not let the sun go down in anger, as Scripture says. So I'd say to begin each day aware of what your reponsibilities are.

The Jewish New Year is a symbol of what we ought to do every day. There needs to be a new beginning every day. Many personal and professional things happen daily to everyone that can throw us off stride. The idea is to organize your life so you get back on course.

Q. How are you coping today? How do you avoid wallowing in regret?

A. Instead of wallowing in regret I am working at repairing my life and my marriage and my family life and relationships with friends. My wife is a remarkable woman, and her strength and support are an inspiration to me during this painful time.

I am not wallowing in regret. I think that's a cop-out. Why waste another day? Why be in prison another hour? That's the opposite of what we are instructed to do. We're instructed to acknowledge, atone, repent and then go on. The awareness will come back from time to time, but I think what is required is responsible action and change. I simply need the discipline to fight negative feelings and I think I am doing just that.

Q. What do you expect to accomplish in your remaining time at the White House?

A. Well, two years ago when you interviewed me for my 50th birthday, I told you that even if I live to be 100, I will have more yesterdays than tomorrows. Today I think it makes each one of my tomorrows more precious and now I am even more acutely aware of that. You know I never did understand how, for example, a president in a second term could feel that it is time to relax because most of the work has been done.

I don't believe that. I think perhaps the greatest achievements for America and for the world are still in the future. In my remaining two years and four months as president, I expect to do even better. This is how I look at the situation. I am not marking time. I feel immensely energized by where we are today and where we are heading.


The House is determined to impeach the President

Barring a miraculous turn of events — such as a Democratic sweep of the November elections, which nobody expects, or even a draw, which also isn't expected — President Clinton will be impeached by the House. It will happen because House Republicans, led by Speaker Newt Gingrich, are determined that he be impeached, and also because the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have already passed the point of no return. It will happen because the ever-stronger Republican base, the Christian Right, demands that it happen, and few Republicans will risk crossing them. This is more important to most Republicans than the president's job approval ratings.

Some Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee jumped out early for making perjury — whatever the subject — an impeachable offense, without appearing to give the matter much thought. In 1974, what constituted impeachment was considered a solemn subject, and the then-Judiciary Committee members spent nearly a year before deciding. The bar is being lowered dramatically — and dangerously.

As of now the House leadership's plan is that before Congress adjourns for the elections, the House committee will vote on — inevitably in favor of — a resolution to begin a formal impeachment inquiry; the inquiry would perhaps begin before the elections. After the elections, the committee would vote articles of impeachment, and the House would approve the articles before the end of the year, maybe even before Thanksgiving. Gone, apparently, is the insistence of Henry Hyde, the committee's chairman, that impeachment must be bipartisan. And Gingrich's statement a month ago that "only a pattern of felonies" and not "a single human mistake" should constitute grounds for an impeachment inquiry. (When Gingrich made this statement, he assumed — as did a lot of people — that independent counsel Kenneth Starr would come up with a report charging a broad pattern of obstruction of justice on the part of the Clintons.)

Gingrich, the moving spirit behind the current strategy — shared by the other House leaders — is driven, according to colleagues, in some substantial part by vengeance. Not against Clinton. Not against what he might see as serious offenses. A major motivation for Gingrich, these people say, is his lasting resentment of his treatment by the House ethics committee. (After a long investigation, the committee in January 1997 voted to reprimand Gingrich for use of tax-exempt foundations for political purposes and recommended a financial penalty for providing "inaccurate information" to the committee, causing a lengthened investigation. The House voted its agreement on Jan. 21.) Gingrich feels that the process against him was unfair, that even the Republicans on the ethics committee didn't protect him from the Democrats, who were on a tear, so why should he protect the president? This is an unusual rationale for proceeding to impeach a president.

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