Culture of impunity -Politicians and clergy stand shamed

In our country, politicians their hangers-on and even members of the clergy seemingly enjoy impunity for the commission of crime and/or instigation of the same. Their actions committed in broad daylight and under the full glare of media coverage, paint our country in a bleak light. 

We who boast of a culture dating centuries are now being compared to Juntas in Myanmar and the like. Unfortunately, these crimes are not something that has occurred in the more recent past.  

In its report of November 2012, the UNHCR warned of a crisis of impunity in our country. Twelve years on this sad situation has not changed for the better. What makes this situation worse is that many of those who break the law with impunity have been our lawmakers. Even members of the cloth too have begun to take the law into their own hands with impunity.

A video circulating on social media showed an individual dressed in yellow robes, threatening a female Tamil-speaking lady whose saree had on it the image of the Gautama Buddha. In the presence of the police and a volatile crowd, this individual threatened the woman with physical violence. 

Rather than arresting the belligerent abuser, the woman was taken to the police station and released after changing her attire! 

In like manner the country watched in amazement and horror as the new head of the Ceylon Workers Congress forcibly entered a tea plantation and threatened the management for disciplinary action it had taken against a group of workers. 

Again, the police watched while the cheap politician cum Cabinet minister played out his histrionics. He even accused the police -who were trying to calm the situation -of taking the side of the management. We all know the minister was merely playing to the gallery to raise his standing among the workers. 

Had it been an ordinary citizen he/she would possibly have been roughed up by the uniformed gentry for ‘attempting to create’ a conflict situation and locked up for a considerable period of time before being produced by a Magistrate and remanded. 

We also have the case of another lawmaker - MP Ali Sabri Raheem- who attempted to smuggle 34 kg of gold valued at Rs. 74 million and 91 smartphones, which were in his luggage. The phones were valued at more than Rs. 4.2 million. 

The ‘lawmaker’ was released with a tap on the wrist after paying a fine -not handed over to the police for ‘further investigation’- which is the case of ordinary citizens like you and me. In Parliament -his workplace- his fellow parliamentarians decided to let him go with a suspension, following recommendations of the Committee on Ethics and Privileges as reported in the media.

 The list of misdeeds of our lawmakers and the impunity to the law of the land goes on and on. A classic example is the case of MP Duminda Silva, who killed a fellow parliamentarian in broad daylight in the presence of large numbers of witnesses during an election campaign. 

He was first shipped abroad and returned to freely roam the streets of this land until he was convicted by a court of law for the murder. No police incarceration for members of the ruling clan or particular members of the cloth prior to conviction.

This impunity even extends to the wives of parliamentarians. Mary Juliet Monica Fernando, the wife of a former Minister was sentenced to death for a double murder in 2005. She was freed via a presidential pardon in 2009.  
Just a couple of months ago we witnessed a spectacle of the hierarchy of a particular faith writing to the president asking that a member of their fraternity who was sentenced to four years rigorous imprisonment for incitement to cause harm to national and religious harmony to be freed.  

On what basis did they make this appeal? Religious of any faith must set an example to the generation of tomorrow. Else young people may be inclined to take the law into their hands as they begin to lose faith in the prevailing system of justice in the country.