There
is nothing wrong in regime-change. Nothing wrong in talking about democracy or
mourning its absence. Self-righteous words however do have a limit. They run
out of steam the moment those who speak them come to power. Democracy-deficits
are objected to by the same people who embrace them when they are elected.
Sadly.
The
"enemy of my enemy is my friend" argument holds sway, however. No one
is a saint. There are lesser evils that need to be taken in to eliminate
greater ones.
What
we're seeing in Sri Lanka today is good governance. "Yahapalanaya".
Maithripala Sirisena has promised it all. Commendably. He has promised to look
into past abuses and misuses of authority, to punish those deserving and
exonerate those wrongly accused or in other ways punished. That's commendable
too. But hardly enough.
Not
every appointment made by a government is political.
Qualification-requirements, age-limits and term-limits, and
appointment-transparency must be kept. And yet, even with all these, there is
still something "political" about appointments made by any regime. Why? Because it is the
government and in particular the Executive that has to sanction appointment.
That's where the "political" part to it crops up, after all.
There
is nothing wrong in this, though, provided the necessarily
qualification-caveats are met. Giving a post to someone on the basis of
friendship and ignoring the more deserving are signs of nepotism. With a
capital N. Which is where, sadly enough, the new regime isn't going on track.
Upul
Jayasuriya is the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. That’s BASL.
He's a lawyer. An eminent one. He and his organisation spoke against the
previous government, their abuses and tactics, all the way. Whether they were
tied to party preference (Jayasuriya is a UNP activist) more than
democracy-love is another story. For now, however, there are problems. Big
ones.
Jayasuriya
has been appointed as the chairman of the Board of Investment. Forget that he's
a lawyer. Forget that his predecessors at the BOI include Thilan Wijesinghe.
Forget that the BOI website itself states that he served as a Legal Adviser to
the Greater Colombo Economic Commission (the forerunner to the BOI), and that
his experience with economics and finance is limited to this. Forget all these.
What's important is timing.
There
are other appointments of course. The Chairman of Lake House, for
instance, is the brother of a Member of Parliament. That's a far cry from his
predecessor Bandula Padmakumara, who wasn't even remotely related to a ruling party
stalwart.
Padmakumara,
moreover, was removed not only from his post, but from a private channel. And as Colombo Telegraph
itself notes, that had to do with his political
preference (which, if I may add here, is his right and his right alone) than
the need for an unbiased media. Because let's face it, why would anyone appoint the brother of a former MP
as Chairman of state media? To prevent bias? No. Then what? Timing!
"Justice,"
someone said, "must not only be done; it must also be seen to be
done." Appearance of bias is bad. Kavan Ratnayaka is Lake House Chairman.
His brother (Sagala Ratnayaka) is a former UNP parliamentarian. The UNP holds
sway over national policy (i.e. the Cabinet). That's hardly consoling.
Which
is why I worry about Upul Jayasuriya's appointment. Jayasuriya, for all BASL's
posturing about neutrality, was/is a UNP activist. His predecessor, Wijedasa
Rajapakshe, is a Minister under that same party. Anyone who looks at Jayasuriya's
track records and thinks he's politically non-aligned clearly needs an
eye-test. Whether or not he is biased towards one party isn't the question
here: the fact is that he's a UNP activist, and his appointment, particularly
given his “credentials” in finance and economics, smacks of
"politics" all the way.
Jayasuriya,
to make things worse, has shunned the media ever since his appointment. Why?
Appointees are required, not as a matter of law but as a matter of
transparency, to speak about their appointments and credentials. He hasn't done
that. And there is a reason for this. As Colombo Telegraph reported, Rajitha
Senaratne announced that "all public sector officials" are to
"strictly follow an Establishment Code and that no comments/information
should be released to the media without obtaining prior written approval of the
relevant Ministry Secretary."
First
of all, Senaratne is not the Media Minister. Gayantha Karunathilaka is. Whether
or not Karunathilaka has endorsed this decision is another story. But without
questioning state officials, without questioning credential and track record,
we can't really hope for "yahapalanaya". Yes, it's that simple.
Senaratne, sadly enough, hasn't realised this.
Jayasuriya's
appointment is done and dusted. So is Kavan Ratnayaka's. Both are
"political", by definition and appearance. I don't much know about
Kavan to comment on his track record. But Jayasuriya is another matter. When
compared to perhaps one of the most capable and efficient chairmen our Board of
Investment ever had (Thilan Wijesinghe), this appointment seems to be
“political” no matter how you look at it. That is not what we voted Maithripala
Sirisena for.
Uditha Devapriya is a freelance writer who can be reached at udakdev1@gmail.com
Uditha Devapriya is a freelance writer who can be reached at udakdev1@gmail.com
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