How Professor G L Peiris made a joke of the rule of law

By Our Political Editor

(February 26, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Professor G L Peiris, the holder of the largest number of post-graduate degrees in law and a long time teacher of law, showed that he had the same understanding of law as most of the traffic sergeants in Sri Lanka.The professor had called for a press conference to discuss the refusal to give bail to retired army commander and joint candidate for the opposition in the recent presidential election, Sarath Fonseka, who is now in military detention. His explanation really shows how much the professor has benefited from the wisdom of traffic constables.

The constable stops a car and tries to smell whether the driver is under the influence of liquor. If he senses that this is not the case, then he will ask whether the driver is carrying his driving license. If he finds that that is also not the case, then he will look for whether the car has been registered properly. And if that is also the case, then he will begin to find out whether the brakes are in order and there is no end to the type of issues that he may look into. The traffic officer, in his wisdom, knows that there is one or another offence committed and it is just a little bit of patience that he needs to find one. Of course, the driver, in his wisdom, offers a little bit of a bribe, and then all the questions stop and the officer’s happy face shows the appreciation of the law that the driver has observed.

Before Sarath Fonseka was arrested, the government spokespersons from the highest levels spoke about a plot hatched by him, together with many other from the armed forces, to kill the President and his family. Even before that, the Secretary of Defense himself, and others, spoke about a military coup organized by the General to overthrow the government. It was also insinuated that the General may be behind the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunga and attacks on other journalists. Others spoke of a conspiracy that he was involved in with foreign governments against the security of the nation. However, when Professor G L Peiris spoke about the offences that the General is alleged to have committed, it was about financial fraud, harboring deserters, violating exchange control laws and the like. Indeed, the nation’s traffic sergeants have proved themselves wiser than all the propaganda units of the government, which advise the television and media.

The way the press interview started also showed the professor’s humour. He said that “we” are proud of our institutions. Of course, it is difficult to guess who this “we” are. Certainly, he himself was not very proud of Sri Lanka’s institutions when he first declared that he was leaving academic life to join politics because all the institutions have been ruined by JR Jayawardene’s constitution and politics. That was the way the professor was declaring his allegiance to Chandrika Bandaranayake.

Perhaps, at the time, the professor still remembered the way Neville Samarakoon, the Chief Justice, was treated by JR Jayawardene and how JR Jayawardane undermined the judiciary through his 1978 Constitution. In 2001, then all the political parties voted almost unanimously to declare that all the institutions of Sri Lanka have been undermined by politicization, which meant the undue influence of the executive president over all the institutions, including the judiciary.

The professor surely was aware of how each president tried to ensure his or her influence in the selection processes of judges, even to the Supreme Court. He is well aware what of what has happened to the criminal justice system and the way this system can be manipulated to let the guilty go free and to punish the innocent. He would not have forgotten the day when a litigant was punished for one year’s rigorous imprisonment for contempt of court, allegedly by talking loudly in court. The manipulation of the system even sent a journalist who wrote a few paragraphs being sentenced for 20 years of rigorous imprisonment. Even the crimes such as the murder of Lasantha Wickremetunga and many others like him have not been prosecuted because these cases have deliberately not being properly investigated. Of course, when he said that he is proud of all that he showed his tremendous capacity for humour.

After all, with so many degrees to his credit, and so many years of teaching experience, and even the experience of one time being a Vice-Chancellor, has given him sufficient experience to have a laugh at himself and about the system that he has served for so many decades, and perhaps contributed a lot to create.