By Sonali Samarasinghe

It is often the habit with those who make an example out of somebody for the general good of the public that they do so with some conviction and what appears to be some genuine change in mind. Ask Marie Antoinette how it felt at the base of the Bastille. Pretty damn genuine she would probably say. Now, there was a woman the Martyred Proletariat wanted to make an example of.

Mervyn Silva did not arrive at the gates of the Colombo Magistrate's Court last Thursday morning in a tumbrel. Instead he arrived with a posse of armed guards in a luxury Montero. He did not approach Hulftsdorp hill with trepidation in his heart but with a smile on his lips. That was of course all show in keeping with his macho image. 

Last Thursday morning Mervyn Silva gathered up his entourage and took leave of his wife Lucida, promising cheerily perhaps that he will be back shortly. Marie Antoinette on the other hand was more likely to have told the palace servants as she clambered on to the cart that she would be back shorter (by a head).

Cheery faced

There was reason for Mervyn to be cheery faced about the whole thing. He knew that he was dealing with President Mahinda Percy Rajapakse who had offered a presidential pardon to a minister convicted of a criminal charge, a man who recently went to China to meet his Chinese counterpart taking with him a toothbrush, a comb and Treasury Secretary P.B.Jayasundera - a chap who not two weeks before was impugned by the Supreme Court for having colluded with a private person to mislead the government and act against the public interest.

And more than that Mervyn Silva felt safe in the arms of Rajapakse. In fact not 24 hours before he surrendered he was to give President Rajapakse a telephone call. The previous evening on Wednesday he called President's House to remind Rajapakse of the move and keep him generally abreast of matters.

It is unlikely that, as Mervyn Silva surrendered himself to the Colombo Magistrate Court last Thursday morning, he did so with any feeling of remorse. Taken into the squad room and grilled under the lights Silva would have no doubt persisted in a stout denial and insisted he was innocent. 

So innocent in fact that explanations were given that Mervyn was merely turning the lens inspecting the camera. It appears Mervyn was thinking of buying himself a camera and taking up amateur photography and merely wanted some lessons from one of the Sirasa crew.

Caught with pants down

This is merely surmise on our part as those proffering this explanation did not give reasons as to why Mervyn was caught with his pants down and with a camera in his hand turning its lens but there seems to be no other logical reason. Meanwhile SLFP's General Secretary, Senior Minister, Maithripala Sirisena, however publicly condemned Silva's actions stating he will be answerable to the gods.

But what to do in the meanwhile? That is the question.

Evidently the police preferred to sit it out. Earlier the police told this newspaper it would have to interview all suspects involved in the assault of the Sirasa TV news crew, after identifying what crimes have been committed and conducting a comprehensive investigation, before arresting any persons.

This is despite a very resolute judge instructing the police to arrest all suspects. On Friday (August 8) Colombo Additional Magistrate Manjula Thilakaratne instructed the police to arrest all suspects involved in assaulting the photo journalists and destroying their camera equipment.

Meanwhile several eye-witnesses had also given statements to the police, some alleging that Minister Mervyn Silva forcibly attempted to pull a video camera out of the hand of Sirasa TV cameraman Waruna Sampath.

Friend of the President

Why the police if not the judiciary choose to turn a blind eye is that there is a perception Mervyn Silva is a close personal friend of President Percy's and that he does what he does with  President Percy's blessings.

The Magistrate's Court with regard to Mervyn Silva has largely been stern and independent. One recalls that his son Malaka was dealt with as far as possible by two independent female judges at the Mount Lavinia courts. This time too Mervyn was unfortunate in his judge. The Additional Magistrate is tough and independent, and later called for Mervyn Silva's arrest by name.

However the police, even though directed by the courts to arrest Mervyn by name acted like coy debutantes at a village ball. The police preferred perhaps to help Mervyn Silva preserve his macho image. His cloak of invincibility. The perception that he could do anything, anywhere, any time and get away with it.

Indeed it is a popular perception that a power higher than the judiciary holds Mervyn under the safety of his wing. A power not to be found in ecclesiastical regions but in levels down - mostly basking at Temple Trees.

And here lies the rub for President Percy. 

Mervyn Silva, a man acting like a common hooligan, should have been made an example of. Indeed it would have been perfect timing for a President who had made the provincial council election campaign more about his own popularity than about the performance of his two chief ministerial candidates, Berty Premalal Dissanayake and Mahipala Herath.

Gone down well

One recalls that having made a fool of himself on the Kelaniya bridge with the Sirasa crew Mervyn  had committed all kinds of other acts of thuggery in Anuradhapura before arriving in Colombo.

Certainly it would be hard to find someone who thought more highly of Mervyn Silva than Mervyn Silva himself. Perchance if President Rajapakse had sacked him as Mervyn's unpopularity increased it would have gone down extremely well with the people of Anuradhapura.

It would have shown President Rajapakse as a statesman of sorts though he must be warned that one swallow does not make a summer and more acts of a statesman like nature need to be demonstrated to really deserve that title. But certainly it would have been a start.

Rather than countenance the actions of Mervyn Silva with avuncular indulgence President Rajapakse should have sacked him. Instead it is only the determination of the judiciary under difficult and trying circumstances that now holds this man and his unruly family at bay.

  Mervyn Silva remains evidently a man of invaluable service to Rajapakse in his curious brand of politics even though Rajapakse is often heard publicly  referring to Silva not without a smirk on his lips as the court jester.