President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was elected President on 21 September of last year (2024) and now completes the first year in power. Previous Presidents, especially Mahinda Rajapaksa, had established the precedent of spending crores of public money to celebrate their inauguration anniversaries.
But, President Dissanayake has not announced anything about his first inauguration ceremony so far. The President's political opponents were boasting that an inexperienced President and an inexperienced Parliament will not last long. We can assume that the Government did not celebrate the anniversary as it is seen as an unnecessary expense. But, the public opinion is that the Government has done a great job, especially in eradicating corruption, the abuse of power and the activities of organised crime which were the main reasons for the country's bankruptcy. Before the country went bankrupt, politicians were giving reasons that were incomprehensible to the people. But now, it is understood that the reason for the same was that there was an unbreakable network of political support between corruption, fraud, the abuse of power, and organised crime.
Even scholars were saying that former President Ranil Wickremesinghe had done a great service in saving the country from bankruptcy. But, no one is emphasising that Wickremesinghe was one of the main causes for bringing the country to bankruptcy. The fact that Wickremesinghe spent one-and-a-half crore rupees on his two-day foreign trip at a time when people of the country, especially those living below the poverty line, were shedding tears of blood to maintain their lives, has only now come to light and shocked the people. The late Head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said that “corruption is paid by the poor”.
Corruption and constitutional oppression of democracy
The corrupt system and corrupt people will not give in easily as most of them cannot live without corruption and the misuse of power. It is in their blood. When the law against corruption is strictly enforced, we saw the Opposition parties getting panicked and coming together in an unholy collation where all the politicians having serious charges of corruption and the misuse of power came together to interpret ‘action against corruption’ as an act of engaging in the ‘constitutional oppression of democracy’. They may be thinking that the people of this country have forgotten the real ‘constitutional oppression of democracy’ that took place when Rajapaksa brought the 18th Amendment to the Constitution to extend his term of office to a third term while former President Maithripala Sirisena unconscionably dismissed his Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.
They are unable to explain how action against ‘corruption’ could become the ‘constitutional oppression of democracy’. Surely, their logic is lopsided. They are even bringing disrespect to the Buddhist clergy by visiting them and requesting them to intervene and stop the long awaited positive action against corruption which can only put the country back on track towards true development. In other words, they are inevitably forcing the prelates to support the continuation of corruption and bribery. This is a most disgraceful ‘unethical conduct’ on the part of all politicians who joined this mission of visit the Mahanayakas.
On the other hand, we did not see the Government and civil society representatives visiting the Buddhist clergy, seeking their support for the most difficult and tricky war against corruption and the misuse of power.
The effective action against corruption and the arrest of organised criminals appear to have seriously upset their ‘neurological system’ and affecting their ‘thinking power’. This is evident when some of them and even some politically motivated Buddhist priests advise the Government not to waste its time, funds and energy in apprehending corrupt politicians or working against corruption but to spend that time and energy to develop the country. Can one say that the basic theory is that “corruption is a major roadblock to development, especially for poor countries, as it weakens public services like health and education, misallocates funds, reduces investment, and fosters inequality and mistrust in governance.”
Therefore, if this country wants to develop, the primary action is to eradicate corruption. Although corruption, fraud, the misuse of power and organised crime activities have become the culture of our country, many of the Opposition party leaders have been saying that this Government cannot lay hands on Wickremesinghe or Rajapaksa, or their families who were the root causes for the bankruptcy. If the Government is bold enough to do so, the whole country will erupt against the Government. But, in reality, when the Government arrested and detained Wickremesinghe and members of the Rajapaksa family, instead of showing any significant resistance, the people praised the Government for that action. The President has also proven that the country's priority is to eradicate corruption and other related crimes, just as it gives importance to development work. The organised criminals who openly challenged the Government and the Police from abroad are now under detention and are divulging shocking revelations about organised crime and their political connections. The organised crime network is now shaken. There is hope that the organised crime structure will be dismantled sooner or later.
The idea that corruption cannot be eradicated was deeply rooted among the people, and the lack of interest in the matter led to the growth of corruption. People’s indifference is the best breeding ground for corruption to grow,” said Transparency International Chair Delia Matilde Ferreira Rubio.
The present perception among people is that if they contribute to eradicating corruption, they will be protected and action will be taken against the culprits and it is a very positive change in this country where corruption has become part and parcel of our culture. “People should be conscious that they can change a corrupt system,” said Transparency International founder Peter Eigen.
The people and politicians have always seen any good policy or action put forward by the previous Governments as ‘Government agenda’, and not as ‘a national policy or a national agenda’. This is also because of the approach and the behaviour of the past governments. Therefore, they have not considered that they should fully contribute. But, the Clean Sri Lanka concept presented by the Government emphasises the importance of eradicating corruption, and promoting ‘ethical conduct’ for which the Government and the Parliamentarians exhibit truthful compliance. Therefore, it needs to be seen as a national agenda or policy. Clean Sri Lanka is not only a programme to be implemented by the Government from top to bottom, but is a programme to be implemented by the people and communities from the bottom to the top.
Therefore, it was suggested that for a week from 21 September, people's organisations, religious organisations, and social organisations should organise events to create awareness among the people about the importance of eliminating corruption and promoting ethical behaviour, which are the main aspects of the Clean Sri Lanka concept. Since 21 September was a Sunday, the religious platforms that have been set up could have gone beyond just worship and ‘informed the people about the importance of ethical behaviour’. 21 September also happened to be the International Day of Peace. The Clean Sri Lanka concept is a national work plan. Village Development Committees, women and youth organisations should be mobilised to spread the slogan of ‘eliminating corruption and creating an ethical society’ and to conduct related activities for a week starting from 21 September.
At the same time, the women's group formed in the Agrapathana area was planning to incorporate the Clean Sri Lanka concept into its constitution and had arranged to conduct a democratic election on 21 September, following the General Election system of the country. All these are to spread the idea that corruption can be eradicated from our social culture and that an ‘ethical society’ can be created systematically from the grassroots level. It is not only the Government and government officials, but also every grassroots organisation and every individual who can, should contribute to the eradication of corruption to make the future of this country bright.
Padmé Amidala of ‘Star Wars’ said: “There are still those of us who work to overcome corruption and believe it to be possible.”
(The writer is the Executive Director of the Plantation Rural Education Development Organisation)
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication