EDITORIAL

Bribery, Corruption And The UNF

According to Lee Kuan Yew, the greatest challenge in the transformation of Singapore from third world to first was not assimilation of technology or even education: it was changing public behaviour. Lee unblushingly told Singaporean citizens that if they wanted to make the transition from third world to first, they must smile more and be polite to one another; learn social discipline (e.g. not jumping the queue); adapt to "western" toilet habits; and adopt English as their lingua franca. Slavishly, Singapore followed, with its GNP quickly overtaking Sri Lanka's (by 1967), Spain's (by 1991) and finally, the USA's (by 2000). Lee led, and Singapore followed. Lee set the example, and Singaporeans deftly mimicked him. Today, Singapore is a nation of Lees, and much the better for it.

It is commonplace for Sri Lankan politicians to quote Lee, with many making it known that the Singaporean example is more than worthy of emulation. When Ranil Wickremesinghe won power a year ago, much the same was expected of him: here was Ranil the Reformer.Given the slim majority the government holds however, reform is far from easy. Curbing his ministers' excesses is not the Prime Minister's strong point; he made it clear at the outset that he was no class monitor. The result is that many ministers are already running amok, helping themselves to vehicles and privileges to which they have no right. And even as they attract public rebuke like a dung heap attracts bluebottles, Wickremesinghe looks the other way and perseveres in leading by example.

The Premier's understated style and 'ordinariness,' to say nothing of his wife's, no doubt come from deep inside. Wickremesinghe is able to laugh at himself, and often does. Recounting the history of Temple Trees to a foreign dignitary last week, Wickremesinghe explained that two centuries ago, the house was a storehouse for liquor and a place of great drunkenness. "But nowadays," he went on smilingly, "the inhabitants are drunk only with power."

The question is, however, whether fine examples from the top will percolate rapidly enough to the citizenry when goodness knows it has not percolated into much of the cabinet. The nation desperately needs moral guidance, and few are better placed than the Premier to provide it. Wickremesinghe says he wishes to position Sri Lanka as the South Asian economic hub, but this is easier said than done unless we can change our social behaviour to that of a credible regional hub, just as Singapore did. This involves improving the way we behave towards one another, and also cleaning up our act: no spitting, littering, horning, smoking, loudspeakers, posters, siri-siri, garbage... the list goes on. It is time for an active government campaign to get Sri Lankans behaving like citizens of a developing rather than an underdeveloped country.

Greatest among the ills that afflict our society is corruption. A recent poll showed that the broad mass of our society believes that the police force is almost entirely corrupt. Whether or not that is indeed the case, neither we nor anyone else can prove, but that the public perception is so is beyond dispute. The police, at any rate, set a poor example. One need only keep an eye on the 'drunk driving' checkpoint set up outside the Hilton on Friday and Saturday nights. As each flashy car is flagged down, the power shutter comes down, a Rs. 500 note emerges, a smile and a nod, and the car zooms off. And oh, Pajeros are not stopped because there might be politicians in them. The bribe has become a way of life in the Sri Lanka police.

And it is not only the bribe: the police are among the worst examples of good behaviour. Policemen are rarely polite. They are invariably bad drivers. One need only drive past the police garage on the spanking new six-lane Elvitigala Mawatha to see a steady stream of police vehicles illegally turning right into a no-right-turn intersection, obstructing traffic and endangering road users. The public has lost all respect for the police force, once held in awe. Even schoolchildren now ridicule policemen, so endemic has the problem become.

The result has been that the police is seriously compromised. Nowhere has this become more evident than in the Bribery Commission, which depends on the police for almost all its investigative functions. The Commission is in gridlock, and amounts to little more than yet another drain on the taxpayer. Here the public perception is not that the commissioners are corrupt, but that they are a bunch of retired nonentities who should long ago have been put out to pasture; and that they are, to boot, political cronies.

The manner in which the Commission's former Director General, Rienzi Arsecularatne was turfed out by the PA government was shameful. So was the disgraceful episode in which Commissioner Kingsley Wickremesuriya (whose wife happens to work in the Presidential Secretariat), took not just the files earlier but later the investigating police officer to discuss a case against a politician with the President: so much for the Commission's impartiality.

There is hope for reforms in the police, given the appointment of President's Counsel Ranjith Abeysuriya to head the Police Commission. Not so the moribund Bribery Commission, which is in need of total transformation. The Bribery Act was the first piece of legislation the PA passed in 1994, even before the presidential election took place. Ironically, it was passed unanimously, with the UNP completely in support of it. Sadly, it proved an utter flop.

Bribery can be stamped out in Sri Lanka only by those at the top setting a good example. To this end, Chandrika Kumaratunga was more a part of the problem than a part of the solution. She stated openly, and by name, that her ministers were totally corrupt. Yet, she did nothing. What is more, she meddled with the Bribery Commission time and time again. The Commission has now completely lost its credibility with the people and should be dissolved without further delay. Its replacement should have the teeth and the muscle to investigate and prosecute offenders with speed and decisiveness. What is more, the new commission needs innovation: it should be task orientated, and if it does not perform, commissioners should be sent packing without so much as an inquiry. The best way to do this is to have the commission overseen by a committee of eminent people drawn from civil society: no politicians, no government officials or judicial officers (retired or serving), and no catchers.

Ranil Wickremesinghe may soft pedal corruption only at his peril. Nothing so much tarnishes the image of Sri Lanka as the hints passed to foreign investors that "the minister has to be looked after" or "a contribution to campaign expenses is expected." As we all know, this malaise is as much as part of today's UNF as it was of yesterday's PA. The difference is that no one bar Chandrika Kumaratunga has had reason to call Wickremesinghe corrupt. Bizarrely, she claimed that he solicited a Rs. 25,000 bribe from her. But then again, everyone knows Kumaratunga is non-compos, so there isn't a lot of percentage in what she jabbers on about.  It is time then, for a new look at social reform, and that greatest of all social evils, corruption. If, that is, Wickremesinghe is at all serious in his claims that he wants to put Sri Lanka on the fast track to development.