Lawbreakers, masses and asses

Monday 3rd August, 2020

The run-up to the forthcoming general election has been without major incidents. One can only hope that the situation will not change within the next two days and in the post-election period. Good news came from Ratnapura, on Friday, while election fever was running high.

Former Power and Energy Deputy Minister and SLPP candidate in the current parliamentary election fray, Premalal Jayasekera, and two of his lieutenants were sentenced to death by the Ratnapura High Court (HC) for killing a UNP supporter and injuring two others in the lead-up to the 2015 presidential election. The other convicts are former Sabaragamua Provincial Council member N. Jayakody and former Kahawatte Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman V. Darshana.

The Ratnapura HC judgment could not have come at a better time. It is sure to have a deterrent effect on the ruling party politicians, their goons and others of their ilk in the Opposition.

The SJB has asked the Election Commission to declare Jayasekera’s candidacy invalid due to his conviction. But legal experts argue that Jayasekera can appeal against the judgement, and it will be interesting to see how many votes he will poll, on Wednesday, while in prison. Many people vote blindly without giving two hoots about even the criminal records of the candidates of their choice. This has helped numerous lawbreakers such as murderers, rapists, fraudsters and robbers get elected as people’s representatives.

Jayasekara polled the highest number of preferential votes (about 155,000), in the Ratnapura District, at the 2015 general election held a few months after the aforesaid murder. He was in remand prison at that time and came to Parliament in prison vehicles thereafter. If the rule of law had prevailed, many others would have found themselves in the exalted company of Jayasekera and his partners in crime.

Political leaders draw a lot of flak for nominating anti-social elements to contest elections. They must not field such characters, but the fact remains that people vote for lawbreakers unflinchingly. One may recall that a drug baron, known as Kudu Lal, was once elected to the Colombo Municipal Council. Everybody knew he was a drug dealer responsible for destroying young lives, but he polled enough votes to be returned. Thankfully, he had to flee the country while the STF was closing in on him. A minister in the Rajapaksa government escorted him all the way to the BIA to ensure the latter’s safety; the former minister who shielded the criminal is contesting the upcoming election on the UNP ticket! Kudu Lal was not nominated by any political party. He contested from an independent group, and therefore it is the people who should take the blame for his election.

One may also recall that in the run-up to the 2015 presidential election, the yahapalana politicians and the late Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera called for legal action against a Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman (UPFA) who boasted of having raped hundreds of women, in the South. After the election, the rapist sided with President Maithripala Sirisena and was appointed one of the organisers of the SLFP May Day rally (2016) in Galle. So much for criminals and self-righteous politicians!

It is a pity that some people have not realised that neither politicians nor political parties are worth dying for. The man who suffered a violent death at the hands of Jayasekera and others, in Kahawatte, was campaigning for the Opposition common presidential candidate Sirisena at the time of his tragic end. Many others risked their lives to ensure Sirisena’s election. They must be really disappointed that Sirisena is now with the Rajapaksas and contesting the upcoming election, on the SLPP ticket, from Polonnaruwa. Worse, in October 2018, he sided with the Rajapaksas, whom he had vowed to throw behind bars, and made an abortive bid to dislodge the UNP-led government. People must not be so stupid as to harm others or be harmed for the sake of politicians, especially turncoats.

In dealing with politicians, the public had better follow the physical distancing rule which has been introduced to prevent the spread of Covid-19. They must keep politicians at arm’s length if they are to avoid regrets and, thereby, prove that the masses are no asses.