Ironies in international opinion

In today's column I am prompted to take up a news items that appeared in the NewsWeek, the international news magazine, in it's October 24th issue in the Daily Beast column captioned 'Raj Rajaratnam breaks his silence'. In this the high profile convict makes reference to the Sri Lankan justice system.

Well, the detractors of Sri Lanka would find this news item very palatable, not for its essence in reporting of an international criminal being convicted for the crimes of playing out the American hedge fund trading system but for the inference he make to the Sri Lankan judicial system.

International opinion

They would for a moment forget the fact that this comment emanates from a person who has been convicted by one of the most liberal systems of justice in the world and instead would pick on this incidental by-word to say that "Now see, this is what we have been saying that there is nothing fair about this country Sri Lanka".

NewsWeek is an magazine that is read all over the world and what the magazine considers to be worthy of publication goes a long way in shaping the international opinion.

Thus Rajaratnam, even in his bleakest hour, has been able to score a point in favour of his subterranean goal of condemning the country of his origin, Sri Lanka. The fact however about such high profile publicity is that the publishers and the readers often tend to overlook that such words of condemnation gushes out from a man who is a convict. In the 'law of evidence' practice by countries with liberal legal systems, including Sri Lanka, a statement made by the accused is not considered admissible as evidence because it comes from an accused whose conduct in itself is what is on trial. In this case Rajaratnam is not an accused now but the convict in a well-trailed case and hence what he says should be viewed for the credibility he has earned through his actions.

This is a clear case in point that showcase the irony about the adverse international publicity Sri Lanka has received over the years. As a matter of fact most, if not all, of such adverse publicity against the country has generated from people who have no worth in their words.

They have been either directly or indirectly supporting, either financially or by way of propaganda, the most brutal terror organization in the world to achieve justice and equitability, they claim that they are after.

Terrorist movement

Rajaratnam is among those who contributed in a big way towards the finances of the LTTE and the US officials have now unearthed how Rajaratnam's money (after the LTTE was banned) went to the TRO and how such funds were used in the purchases of arms by TRO.

The question is, how could you fight for justice by contributing to a worse case scenario of a terrorist movement which does not believe in any justice at all? Any person who takes the trouble to study how the LTTE functioned and how it used the contributions remitted should know that in the LTTE justice was nothing but the word of Prabhakaran.

Thus, is the world going to believe that those who supported Prabhakaran is for justice and for peaceful co existence? And hence whatever publicity that international press gives to the utterances of those who have supported the LTTE should be viewed in that light and treated with the disdain it warrants.

Anti-government elements

As for adverse publicity quotient inherent in this issue, we know that in the name of 'democracy' the opposition and the anti-government elements would be delighted, tragically as usual, to hear adverse comments about the country and to interpret such comments as being due to the actions of the present government.

Such myopic activity has always been the downfall of this country and hence we would be particularly interested to know the opinion of UNP lawyers' association on this matter.

How would the lawyer from Sri Lanka be viewed in the light of such comments and do we act in any way to affirm such utterances? Are we still playing politics leaving the reputation of the country and its people, their professions, at the mercy of criminals like Rajaratnam?

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