Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

09 April  2020

LEGAL THEORY WILL NOT DEFEAT THE VIRUS

Sumanthiran’s twitter message directed me to the Financial Times article ‘Balancing efficiency with law and liberty: Dealing with the pandemic without democratic backsliding’ by Asanga Welikala and Suren Fernando who are presented as follows:

 

“Asanga Welikala is a Lecturer in Public Law of the University of Edinburgh. Suren Fernando is an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court”

 

They are both included in my University of NSW email group.

 

If they are able to present the law and its pathway so clearly – then ‘they’ are not in ‘Emergency mode’.

On 17 November 2019, - the day on which the immediate past President’s term ended, Ms Sulochana Ramiah Mohan’s article ‘Presidential pardon does not wipe off the record of the criminal: What is wrong is wrong - Kalinga Indatissa PC’ was published by Ceylon Today. The matter was presented by Sulochana as follows:

[Amidst all the excitement of the Presidential Poll 2019, President Maithripala Sirisena offered a Presidential pardon to a murder convict, Jude Shramantha Jayamaha. 

He had tortured and killed 19 -year-old Yvonne Jonsson at Royal Park in 2005, his Presidential pardon has irked the Sri Lankan society including the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) who are chanting that he should be arrested and pay for the sin, and now a law suit is filed against the same.

The President abusing the prerogative of mercy brings up questions as to the sort of message this pardon gives to the society at large, many lawyers argue.

A general amnesty does not cover prisoners in death row is what has been forgotten by the leader of Sri Lanka

Several lawyers say that they have reiterated that they are not concerned about the individual but about the policy, despite holding the view that a person should be given a second chance but in proper way. 

They say they don't know about the legal process as claimed by the President's office, but the statement issued from the Presidential Media Unit confirms that the procedure Article 34 (1) proviso had not been followed.]

The Common Sri Lankan believes in karma. Karma accumulates not only at the individual level but also through the position. The current President took oaths at Ruwenwelisaya which is a Buddhist shrine. France 24 reported as follows about the new President:

[His landslide win split the island nation of 21.6 million on religious and ethnic lines as never before, seven months after deadly Islamist attacks.

Unusually, his inauguration was held at a revered Buddhist shrine with an imposing stupa—reputedly built by a Sinhalese king who vanquished invading Tamils over 2,000 years ago.

ADVERTISING

At the ceremony, Rajapaksa put his success down to the “extraordinary blessings of the Buddhist monks”.]

That confirmed that ‘credit’ was to Buddhist leaders. It was not to the formless and Absolute Buddhist philosophy. The question then arises as to whether the oath was taken on the basis of a Buddhist Sasana or on the written Constitution of Sri Lanka? One who attributed to Buddhist clergy is limiting her/himself to the truth as interpreted by that group. In Sri Lanka that is not yet true Buddhism – as Lord Buddha practiced it after renouncing his royal status and benefits.

If indeed the above is true,  then did President Rajapaksa seek and obtain their blessings before declaring Curfew?

Today when I listened to the British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak about the improvement made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, I felt really good. Mr Rishi Sunak took is oaths on the Hindu Bible of Bhagavath Geetha - to be part of the House of Commons. That makes him a stronger relative of mine with Lord Krishna as our Common Head. Beliefs develop natural relationships.

On that basis, the Buddhist wherever s/he may be and whatever her/his nationality may be would be a closer relation of the Sri Lankan Buddhist leader than the non-Buddhist Sri Lankan. In democracy – living together in that part of the Earth known as the electorate qualifies one for Belief based representation of a group. Without such feeling of oneness directly and/or indirectly – no leader has the moral authority to exercise power over a citizen.

Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa confirmed such lack of authority as follows:

[“I knew that I could win with only the votes of the Sinhala majority. But I asked Tamils and Muslims to be a part of my success. Their response was not what I expected. However, I urge them to join me to build one Sri Lanka,” he said.] France 24

Belief needs to be stronger than calculated knowledge to confirm self-governance powers. One who has transcended such calculated knowledge confirms the authority of Absolute power. The above was interpreted as follows by wider world:

[Unusually, his inauguration was held at a revered Buddhist shrine with an imposing stupa—reputedly built by a Sinhalese king who vanquished invading Tamils over 2,000 years ago.]

With all this karma, President Rajapaksa who did not expressly oppose his predecessor – inherited the Pardoning ‘sin’ committed by Mr Sirisena. Wrongs become sins beyond their current period. The main purpose of an opposition is to block such passage of wrong becoming sin.

On 04 October 2019, Daily Mirror reported under the heading Petitioners' counsel apologises for naming fmr president as mister’:

[At the onset of the today's argument, Counsel Suren Fernando appearing for the petitioners addressed the court on the fact of citing former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in the petition as mister while in the same petition Minister Vajira Abeywardena is addressed as honourable.

He said it was an oversight and he takes the responsibility as the counsel and not a fault of the petitioners. He said that he had already apologised to the respondent's counsel about the oversight which happened due to quick drafting of the petition.]

The above matter was in relation to the validity of Dual Citizenship status allocated to Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa by the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

If as a citizen, Mr Suren Fernando was much more respectful of the law than Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa – then it is highly likely that his ‘judgment’ slipped through to confirm the true position of Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa. As per my discovery, Due Processes, like religious mantras, are pathways through which the Belief of the discoverer flows through to their followers. If therefore Mr Suren Fernando did believe more in the Legal Due processes than Mr Rajapaksa did in Administrative Due Processes – then the natural positioning as per the Temple of law – the Court - would be Mr Suren Fernando as the senior and Mr Rajapaksa as the junior. The fact that Mr Suren Fernando confirms this true positioning is revealed as follows: ‘apologised to the respondent's counsel’

 The recommendations by Mr Asanga Welikala  and Mr  Suren Fernando would help the lawyers win in Sri Lankan Court – when citizens seeking ‘alternate’ approaches seek their services to escalate a matter to Court. A believer fighting to uphold her/his belief in the whole, would escalate such truth by her/himself. I did here in Australia as well as in Jaffna to uphold my belief in Thesawalamai law – which is still applicable to current majority in Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The former found its way to National Library of Australia – through Naan Australian  - without any direct or conscious intervention by me. It is a heritage to any migrant looking to practice non-violent pathway of law, followed by Truth.

Right now, the President is looking to preventing the spread of Coronavirus and is using the language of armed forces to do this. That is the  pathway of this President’s belief.

If he chose the lawful pathway as per the constitution – he would produce results that would give him a ‘bad failure’. If he indiscriminately mixed both – he is likely to get bipolar virus that already plagues Sri Lanka.

The two pundits have the moral authority to educate their own home-group – the legal fraternity. To advise the Political leadership without the mandate of the People amounts to breaching social distancing principles. This in turn would weaken the mind and therefore the natural immunity that fights against the natural attack of the virus which has proven to grow exponentially.