Holding citizens hostage

A citizen’s right to protest is a sacred part of any democratic society, especially with regard to engaging and directing policy. However, where does the Government’s obligation to protect democracy interfere with its duty to ensure that its citizenry are not held to ransom through the breakdown of essential services?

The public has been constantly inconvenienced by frequent protests over the past few months, many of which have been over the SAITM issue that has been building up for years. These protests, although they haven’t yielded quite the desired results, have accomplished several things. They have opened the eyes of the citizens to the issue, although few may sympathise with those inconveniencing them, while it has also put severe pressure on the Government to end this debacle – some of the primary objectives of any good protest campaigns.

This important facet of democracy is a manifestation of the right to freedom of assembly, the right to freedom of association and the right to freedom of speech. In Sri Lanka, it is recognised as a fundamental right. However, protesting on the streets and causing a traffic jam is hardly the same as all-out strikes in the essential service sector, especially in the medical sector that can have more serious implications on the lives of innocent citizens.

Thousands of patients were left helpless by the token strike launched by the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) this week. The token strike was launched against the police attack on the university student protestors last week as well as failure by the authorities to arrest anyone in connection with the grenade attack on the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).

GMOA Secretary Navin De Soyza stated that the children’s and maternity hospitals were kept operational with a skeleton staff while the Colombo National Hospital had postponed all routine surgeries while OPD, cardiology unit and other units had ceased operations with patient admission being suspended.

While the Government needs to recognise the people’s right to protest, it is now balancing the calls from the public to not wilt under the pressure of politically-motivated demonstrations as well as to ensure that essential services run uninterrupted.

Last month, the Government played with the idea of appointing former Army Commander and current Minister of Regional Development Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka to head all the security divisions including the armed forces in order to “discipline the country”. This was a somewhat reactionary response to strikes organised by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) workers as well as the ongoing SAITM saga. Intimidating trade unions and the public is certainly no way to tackle the issue but it does highlight how much pressure the Government is under to balance both sides of people’s expectations.

The interruption of essential services is a serious matter nonetheless, while trade unionists have on many occasions used it to bully governments into meeting their demands. In Canada, for example, all strikes in the essential service sector are illegal while some other governments have signed agreements with unionists to provide minimum service to its people even during strike actions. The Government must tackle this situation with similar tact through well thought-out policies in order to ensure that those in the essential service sector cannot put the public’s wellbeing at risk to have their demands met.