Following the letter sent by Ms. Kim Soo A on behalf of the AHRC to the Director General of UNESCO objecting to the appointment an editorial and a letter to the editor have appeared in the Island Newspaper and the AHRC sent its reply today. We reproduce below the text of our letter. Please refer to this link to see our earlier letter AHRC-OL-059-2006
November 2, 2006
A letter to the Editor
The Island Newspaper
Upali Newspapers Limited
223 Bloemendhal Road
Colombo 13
Sri Lanka
Email: prabath@unl.upali.lk
Dear Sir
I refer both to your editorial of October 28 (“Probe allegations against CBK”), and opinion by Henry Weerakoon published on November 2 (“AHRC and CBK”).
Weerakoon objects to the Asian Human Rights Commission’s comparison with two dictators, Marcos of the Philippines and Suharto of Indonesia.
The comparison is justified, for the following reasons.
What distinguishes a dictatorship?–neither the absence nor presence of elections, certainly. As has been demonstrated throughout the world over last century, dictatorship is just as likely to be accompanied by a ballot as it is to be found without one. True democrats guard against both elected and unelected despotism.
Rather, dictatorship is characterised by the accumulation of powers, however they have been obtained, in the same hands. It is this that Suharto, Marcos and Bandaranaike had in common.
The 1978 Constitution is a dictatorial constitution. J R Jayawardene promulgated it in order to concentrate powers in the executive presidency, at the expense of the judiciary and legislature, and ruled accordingly.
Bandaranaike promised to abolish the executive presidency. She did not do this. She instead retained the dictatorial constitution and used its provisions and institutions for her own purposes. As the longest serving executive president of Sri Lanka she also has been its longest serving dictator.
One of the most serious consequences of her rule was the degrading of Sri Lanka’s judiciary. Courts are the final bulwark against the excesses of the executive power. In Sri Lanka, they have lost this role. Their independence has been undermined. A heavy pessimism has pervaded the judiciary and with it, a sense among the public that there is no point in fighting for rights through legal avenues. This, above all else, is the evidence of dictatorship.
So why was Bandaranaike not dragged out of office like Suharto and Marcos? It is not that she was any less terrible than they. Rather, the Sri Lankan people were not capable of obtaining a consensus and reacting like people in other countries that have suffered heavy periods of political repression.
The Asian Human Rights Commission is not alone in questioning the record of the former president. Many articles and books have been written with extensive allegations, none of which have been rebutted by Bandaranaike. Perhaps she did not feel any obligation to respond while those making the accusations were her countrypersons. Now that she is in line for a UN post, she may feel differently. Let her now explain herself, for the sake of the international community if not for her own people.
Thank you
Yours sincerely,
Basil Fernando
Executive Director
Asian Human Rights Commission
