Last week President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed a Presidential Task Force headed by Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera for the implementation of the One Country, One Law concept to ensure that no citizen is discriminated against in the eye of the law or meted out for special treatment on the grounds of nationality, religion, caste or any other grounds.
This Task Force was appointed by the President through an Extraordinary Gazette notification focusing on the fact that administration of justice, its implementation and protection under the law should be fair by all as set out in the Constitution. The Task Force has also been tasked to study the draft Acts and amendments that have already been prepared by the Ministry of Justice in relation to this subject and their appropriateness and if there are suitable amendments to submit proposals for the purpose and include them in such a relevant draft as deemed appropriate.
This can be named as ‘fulfilling the need of the hour’ because not having one country, one law and one nation is the burning issue that has existed here in Sri Lanka since gaining independence. Not having it has led to many other issues such as various types of conflicts among ethnicities and the most crucial issue is political parties taking advantage by not having one country, one law and one nation. All start to talk about ‘Sri Lankans’ when they need to win a political battle or when they need to favour all the other ethnicities except Sinhalese and no one talk about ‘Sri Lankans’ thereafter especially when some Sri Lankans light crackers to celebrate the defeat of the Sri Lankan cricket team and the victory of another South Asian country.
One law for all Sri Lankans
There should be one law for all Sri Lankans no matter which caste, race and religion they belong to. Only then we can talk about ‘Sri Lankans’ and one country. Until then there will be Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, etc. Only after introducing one law for one country, people living in Sri Lanka will think about their Motherland and until then they will live in another Asian ‘country’ located inside an island. No one or nothing will be able to change this mindset of people until we have one law just like all the other countries in the world. All Sri Lankans should have one Sri Lankan law and not any other law.
On the other hand we have to introduce one law for all males and females, rich and poor, powerful and powerless, abled and disabled, clergy of all religions. Nothing or no one should be able to discriminate against another due to his/her social status when implementing the law. The most important factor is that there should be an independent body, mechanism in order to monitor the behaviour of law enforcement officers and the judiciary. The private lives, especially the bank accounts of their loved ones, friends etc. of the members of this independent body, institution should be regularly monitored by the UN or an International body.
What we, ordinary Sri Lankans witnessed during past several decades since independence in connection with law and order, implementation of the country’s laws, social justice etc. is not satisfactory at all and the entire country started to demand one country and one law due to various discriminations they witnessed during the past several decades in all levels of the society no matter who belonged to which race, religion, social class or ethnicity. People started to demand one country one law because of their bitter experiences received during the past several decades since 1948 and not since recently. That is for generations and not during the time of one generation or two.
Therefore the most important factor is that no one should focus their attention only towards introducing one law for all ethnicities. They should introduce one law for rich and poor, educated and uneducated, males and females, abled and disabled, etc. Equality should be maintained in all levels in the society and for all social classes. No one should be restricted to the frame of the existing law when doing justice for all and ensuring equality. No one should be given priority. The burning issue that needs to be addressed is running the entire system on various types of ‘connections’. This is the main common burning issue in the Sri Lankan public service.
When it comes to the Sri Lankan public service, no matter which ethnicity, social class, economic status or anything, you need some kind of ‘connection’ in order to get your task done smoothly through the Sri Lankan public service. It starts with visiting a state hospital to obtain a simple medical treatment from getting appointed to a high post in the public service. No matter which political party is in power and when, you need some type of ‘connection’ in order to get things done. This is the plague of the Sri Lankan public service we Sri Lankans witnessed all the time since independence.
It is the same when it comes to the implementation of the law. Since independence we ordinary Sri Lankans have witnessed this. The reason behind this situation is that almost all Sri Lankans, no matter which ethnicity, religion, social class, economic status and political party they belong to are highly corrupt. They hate waiting in queues.
All they need to do is avoid the right passage and get things done before the other person quickly and easily. Corruption is in the blood of every Sri Lankan but they blame politicians and public servants. The people living in other countries in the world such as Sweden, Norway, Finland etc. are not like that. If there are two persons waiting to obtain a service, they wait in a line (queue) keeping a distance of more than two metres for several decades and not after the arrival of COVID-19.
There should be the same treatment for the person who robbed the Central Bank and the person who picked a coconut from a lonely garden without obtaining the permission of the caretaker of the garden. There should be equal treatment for the ordinary person who violates road rules and the law enforcement officers who do the same. Female Police officers should be deployed to serve women who seek the service of the Police.
When going through various media reports telecast, aired, published during the recent past we, Sri Lankans can very clearly see that there were a lot of problems everywhere. Before we have one law for the entire country, we need to remove all existing loopholes in the current laws and especially in the system of implementing the law. In the past we saw over the television how some suspects were tortured and killed while in Police custody. There were many news reports on incidents connected to torturing, harassing and abusing suspects while in Police custody. There were media reports on how some Police officers violated the law, rules and regulations in broad daylight in public. Offering and taking bribes is one such issue. Some time ago there was a television programme about this issue. The other burning issue is discriminating against women. Women face various hardships all the time whenever they seek the assistance of the Police due to the lack of female Police officers in Police stations. The percentage of female Police officers should be increased to match the female population of the country which is higher than the male population.
Sri Lankan legal system
There are another few key issues which need to be addressed with the introduction of one law for the entire Sri Lanka. The other issue is related to the ‘Contempt of Court’. Section 120 of the Penal Code defines the offence of Contempt of Court as one where “whoever by words, either spoken or intended to be read, excites or attempts to excite hatred or contempt of the administration of justice”. Contempt of Court happens when an offence impedes the administration of justice. The people of Sri Lanka need to be protected against charges for Contempt of Court in order to ensure the transparency of the entire existing legal system of Sri Lanka. This is one of the urgent and essential amendments that need to be brought before introducing one law for the entire country.
Making abortion legal for fetuses with birth defects and when female children (bellow the age of 18) get pregnant due to rape etc. and when women become pregnant due to rape is another requirement.
The entire current system of handling rape cases inside Courts need to be changed in order to stop the female victims getting harassed again and again by the lawyers from the culprit’s side. Evidence should be taken privately without exposing it to the public similar to the way evidence is recorded from children using video technology.
One law for the entire country is the need of the hour. But the burning issue is not having one law for one country.
The burning issue is not having equal treatment for all when implementing the existing law.
– Daily News Sri Lanka
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