Rebuilding justice

“Confusion now has made his masterpiece
Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
The Lord’s anointed temple
And stole thence.
The life of the building”

-Macbeth, William Shakespeare-

Those who said and believed that justice was even-handed would not have heard of the country called Sri Lanka. The government, for the last few years, let its people get a glimpse of its multi-faceted course of justice in which the fundamentals are conveniently excluded and swiftness is a luxury granted solely for the selected few.
And Rizana Nafeek was not one of them.

Rizana marched to death after having been in prison for almost eight years; during which the government did not make substantial attempts to present her case to the Saudi Authorities in order to push for her much anticipated release. The nearest the government had been to justice for Rizana was the trademark lip service by its ministers which went wagging even after she was executed.

Speed did not find Rizana in time. Yet, it did find Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, perhaps for wrong reasons. The government that took ages to seek justice for Rizana, showed their highest level of efficiency when it comes to showing the door to Dr. Bandaranayake. The same government watched the historic Kelaniya turn into a Westside Story, pardoning, protecting and patting those who purport terror in the town. 

When the dust settles in Hulftsdorp, the question that pricks everyone would be whether the country’s born-again judiciary will be able to retain the public faith.  There cannot be much of democracy left when the rulers, in the guise of making obstinate people fall in line, dismantle the checks and balances on which the state is cemented.

Contrary to what the regime forces its people to believe, a voice that is not tuned in to sing praises for the government is not necessarily that of a traitor. It is no crime to hold an opinion that is different from that of the majority. Irrespective of the authority, a government cannot make a wrong right with the state label.
 

Hence, it is up to the public to realize that it is not only their money that is being misappropriated; but also their mandate, tolerance and silence. An overwhelming public vote does not grant a regime the authority to exploit the sovereignty of the people.

The balance and co-existence between the three institutions; the executive, the legislature and judiciary, is vital for the survival any democracy, a collapse of which can severely mutilate the shape of any modern governance.

After all, the Executive alone is not the State.

Louis XIV would have proclaimed as much. But history proved otherwise.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/172-opinion/25056-rebuilding-justice-editorial.html