The Sixteenth Dudley Senanayake Memorial
Lecture on 7th July 2016 @BCIS
Delivered by Chito Gascon, the Chairman
of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines.
Topic – “Human Rights in a Liberal
Democracy”
In essence Mr Gascon used three examples
of his deceased Heroes from the Philippines to explain how through much
personal suffering, how their ideals finally won through, to promote Social
Justice in their societies in their time, but which from time to time had to
yield to Nationalistic and Autocratic rule, which either negated everything
they had previously achieved, which bred a new batch of recruits to carry out
the same fight, which through suffering ultimately triumphed, and he compared
and contrasted their lives with that of Dudley Senanayake, who mercifully did
not have to deal with the wrath of Civil Strife by dying within 2 years of the
first JVP uprising that challenged the elected Government.
Rightly or wrongly, Mr Gascon was
EXTREMELY non-committal on the latest AVATAR of Nationalism, the newly elected
President of the Philippines, who has already made some quite startling but
populist statements of vigilantes taking the law into their own hands! Rodrigo
Duterte has just executed 30 drug dealers in the first 4 days of his
Presidency! http://www.newsweek.com/philippines-30-drug-dealers-executed-dutertes-first-four-days-president-477550
All we can hope is that they are in fact
drug dealers, and NOT the political opponents of the President. Of course this
is a very popular move, because the people of the Country, as it is with Sri
Lanka is fed up with the Drug Dealers and do not wish to show them any mercy,
in the crime they are committing.
Mr Gascon will have to face allegations
of Human Rights Abuses on a daily basis, but with a critical public at first as
they see it as a necessary act for the greater good, which does not always bode
well with international principles of justice and fair play, no matter who is
in the wrong.
If the law is taken into one’s own
hands, in time, this power corrupts, and results in a worse scenario of abuse
of power. This will indeed be a headache for Mr Gascon, and he probably did not
wish to contemplate his fate, after the Liberal Democratic Rule of the previous
President Aquino son of the assassinated Benigno Aquino.
The fact that Gascon did not refer to
the vigilantes today, is telling, worrying!
In the opening address of the Chairman
of the DSF, Mr DM Swaminathan got his facts terribly wrong, as Dudley
Senanayake was the Prime Minister 4 times.
Succeeding his father in March 1952, then in
the elections he called and won, June 1952 to June 1953, when he resigned in
favor of Sir John Kotelawala. He was PM again in March 1960 to July 1960 giving
way to Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranayake’s first term. Finally he was the PM for the
full term between 1965 and 1970, when he lost by a landslide to Mrs Bandaranayake.
Though SWAMI said RW was on his 4th
term, he failed to mention that this was under 3 different Executive
Presidents. DB Wijetunge, Chandrika Kumaranatunge, and Maithripala Sirisena,
which is not the same as an executive PM!
For the record Ranil Wickremasinghe was
PM May 1993 to August 1994. Then after the election, December 2001 to April
2004 and thirdly, appointed in January 2015 and then again winning the election
in August 2015. The last two terms, under President Maithripala Sirisena!
In his closing address and vote of
thanks, Minister of Defence, Ruwan Wijewardene emphasized that RAW recruits
were sent into battle to fight the world’s first SUICIDE cadre terrorism of the
most ruthless kind, where even their own kind suffered under the brutal rule of
the LTTE, and finally liberated the Country from their clutches by completely
and utterly defeating them.
What he did NOT say, but clearly implied
was that the world was on the case of the Sri Lankan Defence Forces, who he has
to protect, against allegations of torture and murder of innocent civilians,
when in war the INNOCENT are the real casualties. He did not say, that the
foreign powers use double standards, in prosecuting crimes, and did not say,
that there was NO concerted national policy to kill captured terrorists, or
civilians, as is alleged, and if there were any atrocities, they were acts of
revenge of a personal nature, and NOT part of national policy.
Again he did not say, that it is ONLY
due to LTTE Diaspora pressure that we still suffer much of the UN pressure, in
light of the rest of world condoning the use of drones of pin point accuracy
that still kill innocent civilians caught in the cross fire.
He finally concluded on the need for a
full reconciliation and the coming of the communities together as one in order
to develop this Country, and that was the ONLY means by which we could have a lasting
solution to the ethnic divide and animosity among the different communities.
Listening to the lecture, with Rasing Senaratne behind, and Sujan and Mr Ranjit Wijewardene back right
1 comment:
http://www.dailymirror.lk/112363/Dudley-Senanayake-Memorial-Lecture-Freedom-Democracy-and-Human-Rights-Lessons-from-the-Philippines
The above is he link to the full speech/lecture of Mr Gascon
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