{"id":61777,"date":"2012-11-24T21:07:05","date_gmt":"2012-11-24T21:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=61777"},"modified":"2012-11-27T17:01:43","modified_gmt":"2012-11-27T17:01:43","slug":"floundering-without-integrity-and-ethics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/floundering-without-integrity-and-ethics\/","title":{"rendered":"Floundering Without Integrity And Ethics"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>

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

There are two processes before us.\u00a0 In one, a set of judges whose career advancement is tied to decisions taken by a body presided over by a particular individual, deliberates on the constitutionality of a second and simultaneous process that seeks to oust that very same individual.\u00a0 In the second case, a set of people also sit in judgment over the conduct of that individual.\u00a0 The majority of this group share membership in a political party with another set of people who have petitioned for the individual\u2019s ouster.<\/p>\n

It is all legal, subject of course to interpretation of relevant constitutional articles, an exercise, as pointed above is as marked by \u2018interest conflict\u2019 as the one being determined on.\u00a0 The political battle will be fought with both rule-sword and interpretive-sword.\u00a0 Other arms and ammunition cannot be discounted here, for history is replete with many examples of out-of-court settlement, so to speak, where the settlers don\u2019t necessarily cover themselves with glory.<\/p>\n

As things stand, though, personality, error, ego and expedience have taken center stage, where the players strut around as public-interest litigators and are egged on by cheering squads who have their own agenda.<\/p>\n

The one thing that is clear in all this is that somewhere down the light a few characters left the stage or rather they were robbed of scripted line and pause.\u00a0 It is an indictment of our society that we haven\u2019t noticed their exits, absences or silence.\u00a0 Ethics has left the building.\u00a0 Integrity has quit.\u00a0 Their clothes have been robbed by the other players who prance around as though they\u2019ve got the garments, undergarments, skin, bone, flesh and organs as well, heart included!<\/p>\n

It cannot be by accident that Justice C.G. Weeramantry<\/a><\/span> in this year\u2019s Lalith Athulathmudali<\/a><\/span> Memorial Lecture chose to speak on Judicial Ethics (experts of his speech can be found elsewhere in this edition of \u2018The Nation\u2019).\u00a0 One of just 5 individuals to be honored with the title Sri Lankabhimanaya (Pride of Sri Lanka), he is in fact someone who deserves a global title on the same lines, few would disagree.\u00a0 A patriot in the finest sense of the word, Justice Weeramantry\u2019s choice here needs to be read as a serious and tender exposition with malice to none that is acutely aware of the aforementioned processes.<\/p>\n

It is not just about the judiciary.\u00a0 He speaks of all the key institutions of the state, the way they relate to one another and how and why they need to be independent of one another, subject to the irreducible non-negotiable: integrity.\u00a0 That\u2019s not something you can legislate for; it is not something you can script in.\u00a0 It is a choice made by the particular individual.<\/p>\n

(read as laws) are important and necessary but not sufficient, he reminds us: \u2018strong \u00a0words in a constitution regarding judicial independence can very easily be undermined in practice, unless all members of the executive and the public act in the spirit of this constitutional provision\u2019.<\/p>\n

This \u2018independence\u2019, he cautions, must be tempered with a conscious effort by judges \u2018to rise to the highest levels of rectitude necessary to discharge the hallowed duty that rests on them of delivering justice, pure and unadulterated, to those who come before them\u2019.\u00a0 That \u2018rectitude\u2019 has been observed, sadly, in the breach.<\/p>\n

\u2018Observed in the breach\u2019 is, equally sadly, not the preserve of the judiciary.\u00a0 The current machinations by movers and shakers in these critical spheres of the state scream for constitutional amendment.\u00a0 And yet, such tweaking can only take us so far.<\/p>\n

The doors must not only be opened for the re-entry of integrity and ethics, but it should be ensured that these entities preside over everything that happens.<\/p>\n

We are a long way from that and that is because all of us, as individuals and collectives, booted them out of the building.\u00a0 Easy to throw out, hard to recall.<\/p>\n

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

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":44732,"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-61777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nFloundering Without Integrity And Ethics - 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\/floundering-without-integrity-and-ethics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Floundering Without Integrity And Ethics - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/floundering-without-integrity-and-ethics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-24T21:07:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-27T17:01:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"413\" \/>\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=\"3 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\/floundering-without-integrity-and-ethics\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/floundering-without-integrity-and-ethics\/\",\"name\":\"Floundering Without Integrity And Ethics - 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