BY NEVILLE DE SILVA
That was great, simply great. That pretentious oracle in this miracle of Asia has spoken. Of course it might have been far better for the reputation of this nation had the Justice Minister taken a vow of silence.
But then since Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe seems to make a rather heady mix of his two-prong portfolio I suppose it would be presumptuous to expect him to fulfill our earnest wishes. So Rajapakshe while seemingly upright in praising the righteous turn the judiciary he claims has taken he is not averse to bending in two before some saffron-clad monks who publicly outrage the Buddha sasana and vinaya as social media have often brought to public attention in recent years.
If an aside is permitted one might well ponder about the use of language today. It seems that both politicians and priests are prone to resort to language most foul and intemperate.
My immediate concern is not the abuse of the saffron robe (or various shades of it) but Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe’s somewhat hurried intervention on the report of the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTF) released the other day.
Justice Minister Rajapakshe announced with magisterial portentousness that he had “no confidence” in the Task Force. I don’t think many people really care whether this Rajapakshe has any confidence in the Task Force which has more eminent persons on it than the Justice Minister is ever likely to emulate despite a double doctorate that somebody told me he had been awarded by somebody or other.
If I remember correctly Mervyn Silva was also awarded a doctorate of sorts by some acupuncturist group. That at least had some relevance since Dr. Mervyn Silva as he would expect people to call him, had a habit of needling people though he did not use acupuncture needles to accomplish some of his odious tasks.
I am not quite sure how Rajapakshe became a double-doctor or who conferred the academic accolades on him. But he would be better served if he was more concerned with his public image as the justice minister and how much confidence the public have in him, never mind his lack of confidence in the Task Force.
I remember the stories on the grapevine a few years back that Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was not granted a second term as president of the Bar Association as the association was concerned about his stand on the impeachment of the then chief justice Shirani Bandaranayake.
Whether this is true or not I do not know but I distinctly remember that there were criticisms about what was considered Rajapakshe’s equivocal stand on the impeachment and rumblings that he seemed to be also supporting the other Rajapaksas. It might be remembered that the then chief justice was shabbily and disgustingly treated by some of those who were prominent loud-mouths in the previous government like Wimal Weerawansa.
If Rajapakshe’s equivocation, as claimed by some at the Bar, was the reason why he was not granted a second term then he must be perhaps the only president of the Bar Association to be denied this whereas others enjoy a second term without a contest.
Surely this rejection of Rajapakshe who was replaced by Upul Jayasuriya should raise eyebrows among those who were not aware of how the legal fraternity of which Rajapakshe is a part, had unprecedentedly sidelined him from serving a second term in the Bar Association’s top post.
In the course of his comments Rajpakshe said that some of the members of the Task Force were representatives of non-government organisations (NGOs). What a non sequitur. For Rajapakshe’s benefit it might be necessary to explain what the Latin words mean. Suffice it to say that there is no logical connection between his two remarks unless he is struggling to say that he has no confidence in the report
There are many doubts in the public mind about what appears to be foot-dragging with regard to these investigations. The question is who is responsible for the inordinate delays in concluding these investigations and identifying the suspects