The defeat of the Right to Information Bill in Parliament only goes to show how badly democracy is being let down by those who are honour-bound to safeguard it. However, the tragedy was not a stand-alone incident, nor did it raise a huge public outcry, as it ought to have done – thanks to the fairy-tales and epics fed to people by state-owned media organizations. Those who go by these fairy-tales only believe that Sri Lanka is a country devoid of bribery and corruption, which is fast moving towards development. The government can do no wrong in their eyes and the ministers’ words of assurances are the gospel truth.
The bill, if passed, would have let every citizen know how their tax money was put to use by the government. This would have given them an authority to monitor whether the government misuses or invests public money wisely. Especially while a massive post war development is taking place in the country, people should be aware of how these development projects are progressing. In fact, it is their right to access this information since it’s their money the government is allocating for such projects – not a cent out of the private pockets of the so-called representatives. All in all, the bill would have given the people a clear view of the actions of those who were sent to the House by their vote and thereby leave the choice of re-election solely in their hands.
Unfortunately, the defeat only screams out loud the degree of concern and care the so-called people’s representatives have towards the people who sent them to those higher echelons. The last thing on the minds of the majority who voted against the bill is people’s welfare, which is essentially assured in the principles of any democracy. But sadly, in a nominal democracy like ours, when it comes to politicians, they cease to look beyond personal welfare the moment their pockets are filled with public money.
The inside story being thus, the bill would have been Sri Lanka’s life-saver at a time when the country is forcibly placed on a pedestal with the international community shooting questions on accountability, transparency and suppression of free media. By defeating the Bill the government not only showed the world that transparency is not in their dictionary but also verified the portrait the so-called West has sketched on Sri Lanka. If the home situation is a muddle of this kind, diplomats can do very little to put together the shattered pieces of Sri Lankas image.
The government spokesperson at a press conference had said discussions were underway to bring a fresh Right to Information Bill in the near future. One is at a loss as to what was radically wrong with the bill that was brought in for it to get beaten by a majority.
In this island nation not only people have a very short-term memory but also optimism in annoying abundance. Two long years after the conclusion of war, still the censorship is a curtain that keeps all impunities hidden from the public eye – in fact political power and thuggery have become more convenient ways of covering injustice. Now that the government has taken up the ever-so important task of bringing in its own Right to Information Bill, one would only hope that it would not be another Private Sector Pension Scheme bill!
Had the bill been passed in 2004, when it was initially brought up, Sri Lanka cricket would have missed the headline stories, it kept getting for the past couple of weeks. The irony is that when the Right to Information Bill was defeated in Parliament by 63 votes, the freedom of the people was defeated by the power, and democracy was defeated by the majority party in the House. When the bill became a stillbirth, democracy died yet another tragic death.
by Dewpadee Kawshalya
DailyMirror.lk:Opinion: http://print.dailymirror.lk/opinion1/48344.html