RESPECT THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO THE TRUTH

Nagananda Kodituwakku

Attorney at law & the former head of the Revenue fraud investigation unit [RTF] of the Customs Administration of Sri Lanka

"The Sinhala nationalist JVP entered mainstream politics a decade ago, but the group led anti-government rebellions in 1971 and the period from 1987 to 1989 in which more than 80,000 people died." [Cabinet spokesman GL Pieris [reported in Infolanka 25-02-2004]

It is interesting to note that, although numbers are highlighted, nobody talks about as to how those youths were killed and by whom they were killed or whose action were directly responsible for the youth unrest. But the fact remains that the government of Sri Lanka paid hundreds of millions rupees in compensation to the families who lost their loved ones, which itself is an admissions of the government's responsibility to the massacre of the youth, who agitated against the misadministration of the country by the fraudster politicians.

In one such inquiry into the offences committed against humanity, the Chairman of the Batalanda Commission, Appeal Court Judge, Dharmasiri Jayawickreme stated that the government had omitted some important sections in chapter nine of the 'Batalanda Commission Report', [his findings] whilst publishing the report.

THE Batalanda Commission in its report submitted to the Sri Lankan President on 27 March confirms that an illegal torture centre was maintained by police officers at the Batalanda Housing Scheme during the height of the People's Liberation Front (JVP) insurrection between 1988 and 1990. A number of JVP suspects suffered torture in the centre, including prominent human rights lawyer Wijedasa Liyanarachchi who died as a result in September 1988. The police Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) headed by Douglas Peiris was directly responsible for the torture, the report says, and former Prime Minister and opposition United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremasinghe, in whose electorate the torture chamber was located, knew of its existence. UNP supporters have accused the government of appointing the Commission for the purpose of implicating Mr Wickremasinghe and gaining political advantage. The Commission has observed that the police had failed to comply with the law and shown servile obedience to politicians for personal gain. It has urged the government to compensate victims and institute legal action against those identified as responsible for torture at the Batalanda Housing Scheme.

At least at this late stage the people should be able to identify the root cause for the economic failure i.e. the high-level government corruption, particularly since 1977 that has been the major hindrance to the development of the nation, which was the root cause to the youth unrest both in the South and the North.

Public should know that corrupt politicians have invested their ill-gotten assets in the developed world by various means such as deposits in the financial institutions and investments in the fixed assets like housing. People should know that the fraudster politicians have plundered national wealth in billions, denying the country badly needed resources for its economic and social development.
Therefore, need of day is to identify the law makers who is genuinely interested in contributing to the well-being of the people and not those invest millions in the election campaign in order to come to power and to plunder more and more national wealth.

Those who want public support should openly reject bribery, illicit enrichment, embezzlement, misappropriation and money laundering. They should give an undertaking to the public that they would protect whistle-blowers, and take appropriate action to freeze ill gotten assets of the fraudster politicians.

Let's hope that people of Sri Lanka understand the true value of their vote. Let's hope they use their intelligence wisely in identifying the true "peoples" representatives and act accordingly.