By Amrit Muttukumaru –

Mehdi Hasan the host of Al Jazeera ‘Head to Head’ no holds barred interview of five time Prime Minister and one time Executive President Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW) gave an object lesson to our media owners and journalists of how an interview should be conducted.  RW has rarely been exposed to pointed /incisive interviews. Even in a Deutsche Welle (German TV) interview in 2023 the interviewer being too ‘soft’ allowed RW to prevaricate by his signature rude and bullying tactics. The same tactic did not work with Mehdi Hasan.

 

Mehdi Hasan.apart from his Al Jazeera duties is/was a MSNBC presenter, columnist for the British daily ‘The Guardian’ and political editor of the UK edition of ‘The Huffington Post’. He is a graduate of Oxford University.

Although it takes nothing away from RW’s horrific demeanor and response to questions, it must be said that Mehdi Hasan erred by ignoring killings and violence attributed to the LTTE. In this context it must be flagged that a government must be held to a much higher standard and that the LTTE was fighting to address Tamil grievances which still continue despite some sugar coating.

Is it not a lame excuse for RW to tell the Sri Lanka media that he was short changed by a two hour interview being edited to one hour? Is this not standard practice? Wasn’t there ample material in the edited broadcast to reflect what really took place?

Is it not an embarrassment to the country for a worldwide audience to hear a five time Prime Minister and one time Executive President  tell an interviewer “you are going off your head” and “don’t lose your temper” and at least twice threaten to leave the interview in less than 8 minutes?

RW’s link with ‘Daily Mirror’

Soon after RW’s shameful performance at the interview, he was IMMEDIATELY given free rein in the ‘Daily Mirror’ to distort reality. He was ALLOWED to say anything he pleased without being fact checked.  His distorted narrative was published with lightning speed  in the ‘Daily Mirror’ as its front page lead story on 7 March a day after the 6 March interview which commenced at 5.30PM. The ‘Daily Mirror’ also did not alert its readers of the impending Al Jazeera interview which was in the air for at least a month.

In this context it must be pointed out that the owner of the ‘Daily Mirror’ Ranjit Wijewardene is RW’s maternal uncle (mother’s brother) and that RW gave out of turn appointment to his uncle’s  laid-back son Ruwan (first cousin) as his Deputy in the UNP.

SL Media Aids Corruption

It’s not for nothing that the Media is referred to as the ‘Fourth Estate’ along with the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. Mehdi Hasan has not only exposed RW but more importantly has embarrassed our journalists and media owners most of whom either due to vested interests or cowardice refuse to NAME AND SHAME corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, professionals and business personalities and hold them accountable. It is mainly due to this that corruption and abuse thrives in Sri Lanka.

The full might of the media and other vested interests will be brought to bear on anyone who dares to step out of line. It includes being blacklisted by the mainstream media and mercilessly hounded without a ‘Right of Reply’.  In some instances the harassment extends to trumped-up ‘defamation’ cases which inevitably end by those filing such cases shamelessly INITIATING a settlement. This can be amply substantiated.

The inaugural Chairman of the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) and its Press Complaints Commission (PCCSL) with its farcical ‘self regulation’ was Ranjit Wijewardene. He is also the owner/chairman of Wijeya Newspapers Limited (WNL) which is by far the largest/most influential t print media company in the country which publishes a host of English and Sinhala language newspapers /magazines including  ‘Daily Mirror’ and ‘The Sunday Times’. The Editor of ‘The Sunday Times’ Sinha Ratnatunga is also PCCSL Deputy Chairman. In simple words anyone having a complaint  against ‘The Sunday Times’ has to complain to Ratnatunga about Ratnatunga!

I state with responsibility that Ratnatunga blatantly PLAGIARIZED an article sent by me.  After not publishing it, he wrote an EDITORIAL captioned ‘Tsunami Effect’ which was not only based on my article but also included some identical sentences from it. I challenge him to DENY this.

This is only the tip of the iceberg of the corruption/abuse in WNL.

Some aspects of the Al Jazeera Interview

1) RW in some instances childishly refused to answer questions and in some others such as  Batalanda resorted to blanket denials.

2) RW alleged that two of the panelists had “pro-LTTE stances”. He did not state this at the interview.

3) RW alleged “I was informed that Human Rights Lawyer and Former Commissioner of Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Ambika Sathkunanathan will participate in the interview. I was happy as I have known her, though our ideologies were different. However I found out that there were two other panelists instead of Ms. Sathkunanathan.” In the public interest should not Ms. Sathkunanathan clarify this and if RW is correct state why she was not present? She has so far been silent.

4) RW alleged “I was asked about the happenings during the reign of the Rajapaksas. I said I was not in power then.”

Did not Mehdi Hasan’s question relate to why he did not take appropriate action when he had the opportunity as President? Should not ‘Daily Mirror’ have fact checked him?

5) ‘Daily Mirror’ did not fact check RW’s assertion “In my country, it’s the attorney general, who is not a political figure, who decides on prosecution”.  He gave the impression that the AG  is INDEPENDENT of the government.

Should not the ‘Daily Mirror’ have clarified that the Attorney General’s Department headed by the AG is a government department and that the AG who is the Public Prosecutor is the government’s chief legal adviser?

6) Should not the ‘Daily Mirror’ have fact checked the assertion of panelist Madura Rasaratnam that RW ”had a golden opportunity on the back of the momentum  of those protests to really go for system change and instead what he did was to put the show back on the road”?

7) On issues relating to the Easter Sunday bombings which occurred when RW was Prime Minister he alleged that the view of the catholic church was “all nonsense” and an example of “the politics of the Catholic Church.”  Should not ‘Daily Mirror’ have fact checked him?  Should not the Cardinal clarify this?

8) RW alleged that “Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith is just another religious leader”

Should not the ‘Daily Mirror’ have fact checked RW and clarified that Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith who potentially could be a candidate for the PAPACY represents the over 1.3 Billion worldwide Roman Catholics? Should not the Cardinal clarify this?

9) Why did the ‘Daily Mirror’ not fact check RW’s DENIAL of the allegation of panelist Madura Rasaratnam that he was elected President by parliament mainly due to the support of the Rajapaksa controlled SLPP parliamentarians? Was not Rasaratnam spot on?

10) Why has the ‘Daily Mirror’ ignored RW telling Mehdi Hasan “You are going off your head”? Is this not shameful for a five time Prime Minister and one time Executive President?

Conclusion

It is largely the refusal of the media to NAME AND SHAME corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, professionals and business personalities and hold them accountable that contributes to corruption and abuse thriving in Sri Lanka.

For example the contentious ‘Foreign Exchange Act, No. 12 of 2017’ which further liberalized foreign exchange transactions which in effect is conducive for money laundering if people are so inclined was enacted under the RW led yahapalana government under the watch of a former Governor of the CBSL who in the view of many (particularly elites) is a ‘gentleman’ and the epitome of propriety.

This Governor had the audacity to cite this new Act to justify inaction on the Sri Lankan names in the Panama Papers. At this time the yahapalana government had the support of the JVP which is in the forefront of the current NPP government. I state this with full responsibility.

I also ask – can anyone engage in corruption without the complicity of professionals – particularly auditors/chartered accountants and lawyers?

In any large organization be it in the public or private sector is not the first line of defense against corruption a chartered accountant who can blow the whistle? Is not the last line of defense an auditor who can also blow the whistle? Lawyers giving advise and preparing legal documents also have a role in combating corruption.

I state with responsibility that CA Sri Lanka which regulates the audit/chartered accountancy profession and BASL which regulates the legal profession are corrupt. I challenge them to refute this contention.

I am aware that the standard operating procedure of vested interests is to allege vendetta, personal agenda or other base motives. Do they not appreciate that for practical reasons one has to be SELECTIVE and cannot be expected to be aware or cite every instance of impropriety?