THE LONG MARCH: Government is good at walking the talk on anti-corruption drives and is no doubt sincere in the main about stemming the rotten tide. However, civil society together with the genuine elements of the powers that be, have to do more than tangibly symbolise its stance against graft and crookedness in every form … it will have to march concertedly against past – and present – offenders.
Colombo’s traffic reforms are a nice metaphor for Sri Lanka’s governance praxis. There are many solutions to the persistent problems in both spheres, but the problem is that the solutions are persistently mediocre. On the one hand, the lane discipline schema introduced by the city’s traffic police officials is welcome, long overdue, and a nuisance to all and sundry – at least in its teething stages. On the other, the prosecution of corrupt officials allegedly guilty of crimes from petty bribery to what you might describe as grand larceny is equally welcome, also a long time in the coming, and frustratingly slow …
It’s patently obvious – in both arenas of endeavour – that the law enforcement machine, which had been brutally hijacked or kidnapped, tortured, forced to veer off course, and crash into a wall (while burning the evidence in the process – there is a metaphor here too), is getting back on track. The issue is – the issues are – not as manifest.
Slow
For starters, in both fields, progress is slow.
Lane discipline has been the need of the hour since we had lanes and every motorist who passed their driving test without greasing their examiner’s palm was familiar with the expected code of conduct. And enforcing it now could well descend into legalism if it doesn’t get into the DNA of all drivers and chauffeurs on our roads. So, hats – and kid gloves – off, please. It is a long haul to ensuring that we all follow the rules of the road without prowling policemen waiting to pounce like the Assyrian coming down like a wolf on the fold, his cohorts all gleaming in purple prose and gold from your purse!
Good governance has been incumbent for nearly a year now. It has shared its mind – whether as a sincere vision or cynical strategy to win voters’ hearts – on how the law can and must apply. However, the long arm of the law’s majestic reach continues to look like it is – or has been – drastically foreshortened. We read with mixed feelings about small fry such as crooked cops in charge of suburban police stations being interdicted. But alleged whales evidently swim free with ostensible sharks, while thrashing the waters all around them with invective and hot air directed at political opponents and expedient friends. Name the biggest, most senior, or longest standing crook or thief or swindler prosecuted to date … see? It’s a good start in the right direction. But nowhere near quick enough to satisfy the clarion call of justice – one which government itself made … so, what now?
Steady
This is not to say that it’s brickbats all the way. There are many bouquets to be handed out to several stalwarts in government – and deservedly, at that. These sterling espousers of good governance have stuck to it through thick and thin, and persevered with the principles they not only mouthed on the campaign trail. The number of such strong advocates and practitioners of righteous rule is so small, though, so as to make a mockery of mistaking one successful criminal prosecution for the glorious ushering in of a new political culture.
As long as the big guns (and there is metaphor and allegory here as well) continue to lurk behind the scenes – maybe not as large as life as they were in their heyday, but still for all that a blot on the landscape and an amorphous menace – there can be no rest for the wicked (and/or the good).
In similar vein, one can only hope and trust in the staying power of the police (and parliamentary mechanisms alike) to ensure that lane discipline (as much as law enforcement) continues to be the rule and not the exception – or a seasonal flutter – which will die down as soon as the silly season is over …
Strategic/Subversive/Selective
The fact that government seems to be steady in its avowed purpose to create a lawful society is good. The truth that good governance is hampered and hindered in its agenda (whether openly stated or hidden in vested interests) is bad news for a paradigm change-expecting public. That there is a third possible dimension to the way things are and the way things are happening gives one pause for thought. For the possibilities are concealed in plain sight – and are quite ugly.