Mervyn Silva, some call him Dr. Mervyn or ‘Modern Dutugemunu’, (hereinafter Mervyn) is a character reflecting in today’s political culture. Politicians, sociologists, anthropologists and many others will try to understand how he operated with impunity for so long. What is attempted here is to identify some governance issues revolving around Mervyn’s political episode leading to a calamity at Rupavahini.
1. Being unhappy with insufficient prominence given in the previous day’s State television news, Mervyn has walked into the Rupavahini premises and assaulted the news editor! This is how today’s politicians understand State media. Mervyn is only one of them. All State media institutions, print or electronic, are engaged in “campaigns” for their political masters. State electronic media has, no doubt, produced good programmes but, they have continuously used news and contemporary programmes for propaganda activities, without any sense of public broadcasting. Boards of Directors are all appointed on political grounds (not on merit) and naturally, the appointing authorities do expect support in return in the form of “full prominence” at State expense.
2. An active media could not only expose these errant politicians but also control them by creating pressure on those who matter. Unfortunately, our polarised media, particularly, State media, did not sufficiently express solidarity previously, when Mervyn physically attacked journalists and private media institutions. The final (Rupavahini) episode has shown that even a polarised media can be united against a common threat, even belatedly. Hats off to the media for giving live pictures of the incident, while showing unconditional solidarity. Now, people expect the media not to give up halfway or allow compromises, short of successful prosecution of Mervyn and his gang, and expulsion from parliament once and for all. It is also important to be prepared to face persecution of Rupavahini staff at the instigation of political arm of the government.
3. Who appointed him to Parliament and then to cabinet? Mervyn has received less than 3000 preferential votes at the last general election. His wife, a National list MP, stepped down to make room for Mervyn to become an MP, after he failed to get elected. Ultimately, a person rejected by the voters was appointed a National list MP by the previous President. This raises a serious issue of the electoral system and how the system is abused by politicians. If the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) stands for democratic values, it is absolutely necessary for them to investigate the appointment of Mervyn as an MP, and take disciplinarily action for his misdemeanor. He could continue with his notorious activities with impunity, because he was appointed a minister and later, party organiser, by the present President. It is the President who is ultimately responsible for keeping him in the cabinet. Mere removal of Mervyn from cabinet at this stage, may only be a political strategy to keep him in politics, but what is required is to take this as a case study with a view to establishing rule of law even against ministers.
4. Who gave him a “Doctorate”? Obviously, those who have conferred him a bogus doctorate must be investigated to find out their expectations in awarding him such an “honour”. Awarding him an honour is certainly another contributory factor for him to continue with his thuggery.
5. No doubt, police had to protect even the suspected political thugs against attacks by unruly crowds. Police protection is at present needed more for the people than for the politicians. The policemen escorting politicians are also entitled to prevent the protected politician from engaging in unlawful activities and if necessary, to arrest them! Silence of the law enforcement officers is a matter of concern. This is probably the result of politicisation of police.
6. While being jubilant over a victory, it is pretty dangerous for the civilian population to think that the public will have more and more opportunities to physically confront politicians.
What is most likely is that opportunist politicians will use this trend to attack political opponents and critics using the unarmed civilians as a strategy. Thus the public should be careful not fall into traps of political parties, while engaging in collective action.
7. What types of bodyguards are used by today’s politicians? There is no screening of bodyguards and it is no secret that army deserters and criminals seek refuge under politicians, without any accountability. They are allegedly used by politicians when they need extra legal support to attack institutions, individuals and opponents. Who pays these thugs and under what accounts? Thus, there is a grave need to identify the aspect of financial irregularity and security threats created as a result of such recruitments.
8. Rupavahini footage shows that Mervyn was using “CC numbered” unregistered vehicles, which is an offence under section 2 of the Motor Traffic Act read with its regulations. He is always accompanied in these vehicles by thugs and protected by policemen; but why no prosecutions? Should not police take actions on this not following the normal law of the country?
9. Gun packing politician had to surrender to unarmed staff of the Rupavahini Corporation! The staff has shown that only spontaneous struggles can be successful in the face of armed political thugs. This also proves that no political ideology or political party leadership is needed to face threats of this nature, whatever the struggle may be. However, the staff needs more protection now than before, because there can be retaliations in the form of interesting investigations, at the instigations of the political masters. In that context, the staff has to be prepared to challenge the politically motivated groups of policemen and other investigations, which will be conducted probably by a set of stooges, handpicked by someone interested in the whole thing.
10. The President and the SLFP have now made statements to the effect that they will take tough action against Mervyn.
The final lesson to learn is not to take politicians’ public announcements seriously, until action is taken. It was also reported that the President had found fault with Rupavahini for giving undue publicity to Mervyn Silva’s issue! Among the possibilities are Mervyn being excluded (or being dropped half way), in a possible prosecution, unless there is a vigilant monitoring of the entire judicial process. Whether ‘B’ reports filed by police will contain true statement of facts is another issue because, it is alleged that he managed to substitute ‘B’ reports in his son’s case. This is a question of rule of law!
The above issues emphasise the need to have a fuller and comprehensive analysis of the situation rather than taking Mervyn’s Rupavahini episode in isolation.
Source
By J.C. Weliamuna
the Nation on Sunday..
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