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Monday, 24 October 2011

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Welcome precautions against sleaze

It is most encouraging to note that nearly all the candidates who contested the recent Local Government elections have declared their material assets and liabilities to the authorities. We are told that this rule applied to all who were in the fray, whether successful or otherwise, and that the relevant disclosures have been duly made by the polls candidates. This is a welcome development and it is most commendable for the Election Commissioner’s Department to get these candidates to adhere to the relevant official procedures which are vital from the public interest viewpoint.

Along with this news comes the disclosure that the authorities are also calling on the public to make submissions to them in instances where it is suspected that public officials have earned notable wealth or come in for ‘windfalls’ in inexplicable ways. This service by the relevant anti-bribery and corruption authorities, it is reported, is operative round-the-clock and the public are encouraged to make representations in this regard readily, provided their complaints are credible and supported by facts.

Declaration of assets and liabilities by polls candidates, as far as we are aware, is a legal requirement and we hope this law will in future be rigorously applied at all our elections and to all those who run for public office, regardless of their standing and official positions. This law has not been implemented with the required consistency thus far, but we hope there would be a marked improvement in this regard from now on. We wish more and more strength to the Election Commissioner’s arm and to those of his officials who are charged with carrying out the crackdown.

It is a common complaint that only the ‘small fry’ are usually netted in these anti-sleaze operations by the authorities. This should not be the case in the future if the current moves against sleaze are to have at least a semblance of credibility. It is to the extent to which even the ‘sharks’ are caught that the anti-corruption machinery would be seen as effective and we hope this will really be so.

We would not be saying anything particularly scandalous by stating that corruption is a way of life in some sections of the local public. In these sections, sleaze is said to be so widespread that nothing could be expected to ‘move’ without juicy kickbacks and commissions figuring in the relevant transactions.

Year One admissions in some public schools are said to be reeking with sleaze and corruption. On and off, one hears of a public school Principal or two being hauled up before the authorities on credible bribery complaints but the blight is, apparently, very pervasive in some areas of public life and we hope the law will be applied extensively and comprehensively so that the Rule of Law in this regard could be said to be reigning steadily. Some public schools and their irregularities could only be the tip of the iceberg of public sector corruption.

The authorities need to skim below the surface in this matter if the law could be described as being applied equitably.

Another vital aspect of a successful anti-sleaze operation is that it cuts across the public-private sector divide. Admittedly, current laws on these matters may not be sufficiently ambitious to cover the private sector, but, ideally, our laws in this regard should cover the private sector too. For instance, there need to be laws to guard against insider trading in the securities market and legal curbs to cover other financial irregularities in the corporate sector.

It is encouraging to note that Sri Lanka is scoring high now in the area of business facilitation. This proves that the authorities have been reflecting some sensitivity to the obstacles that have been trammeling the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment.

Sri Lanka’s ranking as a business-friendly destination is likely to improve even further if the cancer of corruption is stopped in its tracks in every area of public life. For, it is no secret that public sector corruption has been chief among factors militating against business growth. Sri Lanka’s attractiveness as a business destination is dulled when investors are compelled to ‘grease palms’ in some quarters to get businesses on track. This malaise must be wiped out completely.

Therefore, we urge that the Rule of Law be made to prevail in all areas of public life. Coming down heavily on corruption is a paramount necessity if the wheels of prosperity are to whirr more vibrantly.

“From dethroning English to planning for a Trilingual Society”

Language and Social Process in Sri Lanka 1956 - 2011:

English has been present in Sri Lanka for over 200 years. But by 1956, it was estimated that only about eight percent of the people were able to read or speak English. Though the British had controlled the coastal areas for 152 years and the whole country for 133 years, it is to their shame that they had failed to deliver English language skills to 92 percent of the population, and that too in a small country like ours.

Full Story

Kabul street children struggle to survive

In crowded downtown Kabul, nine-year-old Ahmed looks like any other energetic salesman hawking plastic bags for 10 cents a piece, darting in and out of snarled traffic to chase after pedestrians. Except the child peering out under a woollen hat, striding around in a blue jacket and jeans is actually Khatera - a girl sent onto the streets by her father to earn desperately needed money.

Full Story

Discriminating about dictators, strengthening democracy

A recent article in the British media asserted ‘their crimes against humanity live forever - but death always catches up with dictators, one way or another’. That startlingly meaningless statement was given teeth with the claim that ‘the way dictators meet their end often lingers as the defining image of their cruel lives’, a notion illustrated with pictures of the gruesome deaths of Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Mussolini and Nicolae Ceausescu. There was also a picture of the Japanese war leader Tojo after he tried to commit suicide, along with pictures of the dead Stalin and Pol Pot and Mao Ze Dong.

Full Story

Dr. Hector Fernando worked for the marginalised

The death anniversary of Dr. Hector Fernando, a champion of the underprivileged and a former MP for Negombo fell on October 21. The well-known physician, he was a veteran in the Leftist movement in Sri Lanka.

Full Story

 

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