{"id":127700,"date":"2014-07-11T03:16:44","date_gmt":"2014-07-10T21:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=127700"},"modified":"2014-07-19T14:31:19","modified_gmt":"2014-07-19T09:01:19","slug":"the-costs-of-pleading-the-fifth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-costs-of-pleading-the-fifth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Costs Of Pleading The Fifth"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Malinda Seneviratne<\/span><\/a>\u00a0–<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

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

<\/b>Americans of the United States are familiar with the term \u2018Pleading the fifth\u2019.\u00a0 It refers to the 5th<\/sup> Amendment to the Constitution which, in popular understanding, gives witnesses the right to desist responding to questions if it was felt that the answer would contribute to self-incrimination.\u00a0 It has been used so often, in and out of court, that \u2018pleading the fifth\u2019 in common understanding in fact yields what it was designed to hide: incrimination.<\/p>\n

Now in US courts it is standard practice for witnesses\u00a0 to place hand on Bible or whatever religious text that goes with the individual\u2019s faith and pledge to speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (\u201cSo help me God!\u201d).\u00a0 That said, the \u2018fifth\u2019 really doesn\u2019t make any sense for its reference clearly wrecks the \u2018whole truth\u2019 part of the pledge.\u00a0 For whatever reason, US courts (and of course constitution and amendment architects) don\u2019t seem to mind.<\/p>\n

Practice, however, has made that plea meaningless for juries do take note of that which is said and do reflect on reluctance to respond.\u00a0 People take note too.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s a cultural thing.\u00a0 Perhaps it is habit, having used \u2018the fifth\u2019 to get away with anything (should we say \u2018to get away with murder\u2019?) that prompts its ready use by citizens of that country who are stationed as diplomats in other parts of the world when tough questions are thrown at them. Perhaps it is nothing more than taking a leaf out of the President\u2019s handbook for dealing with the uncomfortable (Barack Obama once said, \u2018Please don\u2019t ask us about that\u2019).\u00a0 Whatever it is \u2018No comment\u2019 seems to be the top response scripted for whoever has to answer the phone at the US Embassy in Colombo (and elsewhere too).<\/p>\n

It is strange indeed that the loudest mouth, so to speak, in the international community, that not only spits out threats and indulges in nauseating justification for countless crimes against humanity, cannot respond to a simple question for which the answer could be an equally simple \u2018yes\u2019 or \u2018no\u2019.<\/p>\n

Last week it was alleged that an USAID official had promised to fund an opposition election campaign.\u00a0 This was after the organization took an ad calling \u2018civil society organizations\u2019 to submit proposals for a voter education project.\u00a0 The United States has support various election-related projects over the years.\u00a0 Voter education is a patently joke-subject in a country that has enjoyed universal adult franchise for over 80 years, much longer than the USA which, even today, selects and does not elect its president and which on one occasion experienced a hilarious situation where the president was selected by a vote by a panel of judges!\u00a0 What these voter education projects seek to obtain is therefore matter for suspicion, not least of all given the credentials of the outfits that have benefited from US largesse \u00a0(see ‘Is an election a “village tank” to monitors and donors’\u00a0and ‘On making valid points and fudging critical issues’\u00a0for details of how the US was either swindled by prominent NGOs or else knowingly propped up dodgy outfits engaged in equally dodgy projects).\u00a0.<\/p>\n

That project has since been canceled and that is telling!\u00a0 But never mind all that.\u00a0 When the question is put, \u2018was such an offer made?\u2019 or if clarification is sought on the allegation, the US Embassy says \u2018no comment\u2019.\u00a0 Pleading the fifth, essentially.<\/p>\n

As of now, to be fair to the opposition, no one has come up with any solid proof to substantiate the contention that such a meeting did take place and such an offer was indeed made.\u00a0 The US does not help the opposition by pleading the fifth because conclusions can and will be drawn.\u00a0 Given the long history of political interference outside stated mandate by USAID (the outfit was hoofed out of Russia), the Government has every right to summon officials for explanation.\u00a0 Saying \u2018I will come only if my momma accompanies me\u2019 (momma being US Ambassador Michele Sison of course) doesn\u2019t help un-cloud the picture.\u00a0 It only gives credence to allegation.<\/p>\n

The Loudest Mouth in the World can do better than plead the fifth.\u00a0 And if it fears conversation then it is laughable that it wants to educate voters because democracy is about debate and discussion, not silence and shy-making.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/em><\/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-127700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Costs Of Pleading The Fifth - 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\/the-costs-of-pleading-the-fifth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Costs Of Pleading The Fifth - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-costs-of-pleading-the-fifth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-10T21:46:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-19T09:01:19+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=\"4 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\/the-costs-of-pleading-the-fifth\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-costs-of-pleading-the-fifth\/\",\"name\":\"The Costs Of Pleading The Fifth - 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