BY NEVILLE DE SILVA
Glory be! Who would have thought this would happen. But then not too long ago someone did label Sri Lanka the Miracle of Asia. After all this is the time of year when Santa Claus is said to come round bearing gifts for the festive season which could hardly be festive if you have not collected a few cool millions out of a duty-free vehicle permit.
But there it was, as proud as an MP with an extra hundred thousand bucks monthly allowance that is meant to be gift- wrapped and handed over to the bride’s father or as a contribution to your close supporters so that they may enliven a 31st- night bajjau party with a dozen or so inebriating Dankotuwa home brew.
The news report I read that the powersthat-be and a few co-opted from the powers- that- were before they did the long jump straight into ministerial seats, would hold a national conference on how to deal with corruption in the country.
Since there are sundry accusations by the high and weighty against the media about distortion, misreporting and other such heinous crimes, the necessary precautions were to double check its veracity by searching for corroborative evidence from other sources, as we in this business say.
There it was in black and white. And in the state-owned media too! Having said that the National Anti- Corruption Conference will be held on December 9 under the patronage of President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, the report clarified its purpose thus: “the objective of the summit is to educate politicians, senior officers in the public and private sectors, other relevant parties and the general public to create a corruption-free society and to generate a discourse on eradicating bribes and corruption in the society.”
Because of time constraints this column had to be written before the conference started. But no doubt the news media would have carried the outcome of this “discourse” later that same day and over the weekend. So by now the public would be well aware of all the grandiose words and deeds that would magically as it were, soon transform this society into a land of milk and money.
There used to be an old saying, still very much in vogue one suspects, about setting a thief to catch a thief. One report cited the new director- general of CIABOC (the previous one having committed hara kiri of sorts by shedding her title and falling off her seat) saying that “all 225 members of parliament, members of Provincial Councils as well as senior government officials had been invited for Friday’s confab scheduled to be addressed by both President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe”.
Seeing that the invitees are the 225 MPs, members of the provincial councils and senior public officials it shows what careful thought had gone into the selection of participants. One can off hand think of a few more categories which could surely have made a worthwhile-in not profitable-contribution to the national discussion given the kind of personal experience they would have had on the subject of bribery and corruption.
After all corruption takes so many forms including attempts to corrupt a system that offers, theoretically at least, equality before the law and often pretentious appeals for non-interference in the working of a system that forms the foundation of good governance.
But with modern technology in wide use today not even the privacy of a mobile phone conversation is safe from the ravenous snooping of the media as the head honcho of the police discovered the other day when he unexpectedly appeared on TV and has now acquired star billing.
Whether this was a highly devious attempt by advertisers to get some free