by Fr. Augustine Fernando
Even in the midst of dire poverty, some physically and politically weak women show a strength of character and self-respect that put many economically, politically and physically strong men to shame.
Rizana’s mother is such a woman. Indigent though she is, she has requested anyone connected to the Saudi Arabian authorities not to come to the door steps of her poor house with gifts of millions. They who could not offer basic natural justice to her but took her daughter’s life with disdaining arrogance, spitefulness and a spirit of revenge in the face of so many requests for understanding and forgiveness towards a young girl who had made an unintentional blunder, from many parts of the world, now wished to make a show of magnanimity. It seemed a cover up for the grievous miscarriage of justice on the part of a very powerful Islamic authority.
And, now they find that very highly qualified Islamic legal authorities themselves distance themselves from the Saudi Arabian interpretations of Islamic law and plainly state that the taking away of the life of Rizana is diametrically opposed to the letter and the spirit of Islamic justice itself. Thus, the Saudi Arabian authorities are shown to be not only ignorant but crafty in prolonging Rizana’s imprisonment to await an age ‘suitable’ for them to end her life. Now that Rizana cannot be brought back to life, the world must see that countries like Saudi Arabia are brought to realize that they, as a government and as individuals, must honour international standards in law enforcement and do not resort to inhuman and arbitrary ways of punishment.
The other woman who too is physically weak to resist violence and presently ‘politically incorrect’ but shows a strength of character that defies the self-righteous but weak charactered, biased, macho supremacists is Shiranie Bandaranayake. She with all those who backed her showed that the legislators are no upholders or respecters of the law. It became evident to everyone that in the absence of very clear statutes on very important issues the legislators themselves took it upon themselves to be not only legislators, but also pretended to be expert formulators of the law, expert interpreters of the law and its procedures, and showed themselves to be badly skilled schemers lacking in foresight and accusers and judges of their own case. It is a national disgrace, to say the least.
In this context, the religious leaders who wished to see fairness prevail at the highest level were told that the international community could not point fingers at us. That may be the way that those with self-interest see and evaluate these matters. But the fact is that the international community with whom we have several links in various spheres are clearly accusing us and are pointing out to us that not only that the justice meted out to Shranie Bandaranayake is very flawed and are asking that she be reinstated as the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, but that the present government of Sri Lanka is not respectful of basic human rights and does not respect the human dignity of its citizens.
As a matter of fact, it was said months ago, that the powers that be are intent on getting rid of Shirani Bandaranayake and getting control of the judiciary in the same manner that the Department of the Attorney general was taken control of. With impeachment hanging over her head like the sword of Damocles, it was thought that she would resign. And as a bait, Shirani Bandaranayake was also offered pension rights and all other perks if she tendered her resignation and let the government have its undemocratic way. Unfortunately for the powers that be, she preferred to keep herself respect and oppose the powers that be who are used to having their way whether it is right or not. And in spite of the learned and the unlearned in the government shouting hoarse against its point of view about patriots and conspiracies, it is showing itself like a man walking on ‘boru kakul’ or false legs.
The government in the good company of Saudi Arabia having flawed law, is interpreting and executing its law in a highly arbitrary way. Today the Government’s spokesman announces that it is formulating ethics for journalists in the print and electronic media. I would say that before all that the government should put its house in order and adopt a code of ethics of a high standard for itself, its cabinet and its chief before anything else. ‘Hypocrisy’ is derived from a Greek word meaning acting, or feigning. Acting and feigning is what the powers that be most often try to do. It would be better if they discovered the self-respect and basic human decency, honour and the quality of life that Rizana’s marginalized, poor, downtrodden mother and the highly qualified, versatile and fearless lady Shiranie Bandaranayake clearly show in their life, to all fair observers. Unwittingly they are both challenging the whole national community if not the rest of the world.