{"id":123751,"date":"2014-04-27T01:01:33","date_gmt":"2014-04-26T19:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=123751"},"modified":"2014-05-04T12:30:36","modified_gmt":"2014-05-04T07:00:36","slug":"bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/","title":{"rendered":"BBS: Vigilantism And The Rule Of Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS<\/span><\/a>), according to some, is a terrorist organization<\/span><\/a>. They call for proscription.\u00a0 The word \u2018terrorist\u2019 begs comparison with the greatest terrorist the world has know outside those states that have made terrorism an integral part of foreign policy, namely the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0 As of now, it remains a silly comparison.\u00a0 The BBS, for all its provocative statements and belligerence, has not included assassination, suicide attacks, bomb blasts, landmines etc., etc in its curriculum vitae.\u00a0 Should this warrant treatment with soft hands, though? The answer is an unequivocal \u2018No!\u2019\u00a0 The reason is simple: vigilantism of any kind is a threat to the Rule of Law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This brings us to the vexed question of a marked reluctance by the law enforcement authority to protect places and persons \u2018marked\u2019 by the BBS.\u00a0 Of late, though, action has been taken to investigate incidents involving the BBS, question its leaders and initiate legal proceedings.\u00a0 Noteworthy too is the recent pledge by President Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> to set up a special Police unit to move in quickly if and when religious harmony is threatened.\u00a0 None of this seems to have deflated the BBS.\u00a0 Its leaders continue to be vociferous and adamantly reiterate that if relevant authorities don\u2019t take steps to curb certain activities which the BBS believes violates constitutional provisions, then the BBS will \u2018do the needful\u2019.<\/p>\n

Now no one has given the BBS some kind of inalienable right to make determinations on legality and constitutionality.\u00a0 The BBS has a right to opinion and can at best make their pleas to the relevant authority be it the police or the courts.\u00a0 Violating one law in order to ensure that another law is protected is indefensible.\u00a0 If on the other hand, the BBS (or anyone else for that matter) believes that existing laws are inadequate or unfair, then it can petition for change.\u00a0 Democratically.\u00a0 If the BBS feels that laws are being violated and the relevant authorities are turning a blind eye, then too the objection has to be formulated and acted out within the democratic framework.\u00a0 The moment the law is taken into their own hands, the BBS cannot take refuge in the indefensible, i.e. one violation crosses out another.\u00a0 If the BBS wants to be selective, it cannot cry foul if the Police or any other entity is selective in return.<\/p>\n

\"First,<\/a>

First, there is the fact that the Secretary, Defense Ministry, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa accepting an invitation to open a regional office of the BBS.<\/p><\/div>\n

But outside the issue of moral relativism and the logic of word play, there are reasons to worry about the BBS.\u00a0 First, there is the fact that the Secretary, Defense Ministry, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> accepting an invitation to open a regional office of the BBS.\u00a0 That was read as more than tacit approval and has been tagged to all comments regarding the BBS including allegations of regime-approval. Sloth and inaction by the police on several occasions when BBS activists and\/or supporters went on rampage were naturally read as evidence of these actions having regime-blessing. \u00a0That one act of indiscretion wittingly or unwittingly committed has made for much inflation.\u00a0 To be fair the BBS has not exactly had the privilege of soft-hand treatment in recent times, but that \u2018scar\u2019 remains.<\/p>\n

More serious is the vigilante pretensions of the BBS.\u00a0 Now anyone can claim police inaction and use it as a claim to deputize.\u00a0 That\u2019s not part of the social contract though.\u00a0 On the other hand, what gives credence to BBS-type operations is not the alleged inaction of the police on what the BBS claims are illegal or unconstitutional activities of certain groups but the inaction of the police in general.\u00a0 It is not about lack of human resources or skill. There have been countless occasions when the Police Department has covered itself in glory in putting a stop to criminal activity and bringing to book criminals.\u00a0 It is the selectivity of the whole thing that offers more than a window of opportunity to the BBS.\u00a0 \u00a0Indeed it gives legitimacy, theoretically, to vigilantism of all kinds, not just BBS adventures.\u00a0 \u00a0\u2018We are doing this in the name of security, civic responsibility etc,\u2019 has now become an acceptable excuse for all kinds of errant behavior.\u00a0 A recent example would be the Hambantota Mayor Eraj Fernando<\/span><\/a> brandishing a gun \u2018to protect\u2019 UNP parliamentarians.\u00a0 There\u2019s no fine line any more between exercising civic responsibility and hooliganism, hooliganism and vandalism.<\/p>\n

If anarchy is not desired, then the institutional arrangement has to reassert itself. Until such time public confidence in the Police is restored there will be little if any public objection to vigilantism, not because the public approves it but because outfits like the BBS so resemble the Police, in selectivity, belligerence and utter disregard for the Rule of Law.<\/p>\n

What is the key flaw here?\u00a0 The key flaw is the problematic relationship between the police officer and the politician.\u00a0 In \u2018governance\u2019 terms, it is about the independence of the police or rather the lack thereof.\u00a0 Clearly, the constitutional provisions for that kind of independence are either missing or woefully inadequate to the point where a politician can on occasion act as police officer.\u00a0 \u00a0When this kind of behavior is repeated, public confidence suffers.<\/p>\n

One can and must call out the BBS for what it is: an un-Buddhist outfit that has no regard for Rule of Law and possessing great potential to develop into something that can wreck not just religious harmony but all democratic institutions.\u00a0 The bigger problem, however, is in the institutional arrangement that has, due to insufficient provisions and\/or marked disregard in the matter of operationalizing provisions, created conditions for such outfits to prosper.\u00a0 The BBS can and must be brought to heel and made to abide by the law.\u00a0 If, however, \u2018the law\u2019 is compromised not only will the BBS not be brought to heel, other versions of the phenomenon, some of them non-Buddhist and some non-religious, will emerge and prosper in much the same way.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":105560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nBBS: Vigilantism And The Rule Of Law - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BBS: Vigilantism And The Rule Of Law - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-26T19:31:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-04T07:00:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"130\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/\",\"name\":\"BBS: Vigilantism And The Rule Of Law - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-26T19:31:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-04T07:00:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\",\"width\":\"130\",\"height\":\"135\",\"caption\":\"Malinda Seneviratne\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BBS: Vigilantism And The Rule Of Law\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BBS: Vigilantism And The Rule Of Law - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BBS: Vigilantism And The Rule Of Law - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2014-04-26T19:31:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-04T07:00:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":130,"height":135,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/","name":"BBS: Vigilantism And The Rule Of Law - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg","datePublished":"2014-04-26T19:31:33+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-04T07:00:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg","width":"130","height":"135","caption":"Malinda Seneviratne"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-vigilantism-and-the-rule-of-law\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BBS: Vigilantism And The Rule Of Law"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123751"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124089,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123751\/revisions\/124089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}