Ex-President’s arrest in Sri Lanka: Some should not be more equal than others

There cannot be any doubt except in the minds of those who considered themselves as members of the “some are more equal than others” collective, that a cultural change is needed to ensure every citizen adheres to the law of the land irrespective of their status

“Some are more equal than others” is a paradoxical phrase from George Orwell’s allegorical novel Animal Farm that highlights societal hypocrisy, where the concept of equality is proclaimed but a privileged few receive preferential treatment

Theatrics in Sri Lankan politics has reached a crescendo with the arrest, remanding and bail out of Ranil Wickremesinghe, former President, Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition and Member of Parliament since 1977.

Opposition strong men and women who shunned Wickremesinghe and strongly objected to him being the President of the country, from within Opposition ranks and from outside, and called him various derogatory names in Parliament and outside, rallied around him after his arrest. Some quipped that birds of a feather always flock together although when he was President, many of them questioned his legitimacy as President claiming he did not have a mandate to be President having entered Parliament as a nominated member while the party he led suffered the most humiliating defeat in its history at the general election in 2020. His party, the United National Party polled only 249,435 votes. The 2024 general election was much worse for his party, as it managed to obtain only 66,234 votes nationally.

He was praised by some for steadying the economy of a bankrupt country once he took over the reins of the Presidency. Many though shared the view that if not for the compulsory fiscal discipline that was mandatory for support from the IMF and their bailout package, Wickremesinghe would not have been able to do any steadying judging by his record as Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development from 2015 to 2019. They contended that drop in GDP growth from around 6% in 2015 to 2.3% in 2019, increase in the overall debt to close to 90% of GDP in 2019 from around 70% in 2015, arising mainly from a record $ 12 billion International Sovereign Bond borrowing, contributed to the country’s bankruptcy in 2022, and that his economic credentials were far from satisfactory. 

Despite this, it has to be said though that as the political leader at the helm as the President of the country, he has to be given some credit for the commencement of the economic recovery along with IMF support. 

Theatrics by disparate Opposition politicians

In this backdrop, many seem to be amused at what some have termed the theatrics displayed by a collection of disparate Opposition politicians. What really brings these people together and what motives they have, as well as the objectives of the Government is the topic of conversation and opinions circulating, especially in social media platforms.

As a case has been filed against Wickremesinghe for alleged abuse of State resources, this article does not wish to discuss any aspect of the case, its merits or demerits or any politics associated with it, or not. Suffice to say that it is now left to the Judiciary to make a legal determination based on the evidence that will be presented by the prosecutors and the arguments presented by his legal team in his defence. 

Irrespective of the politics associated with the case filed against Wickremesinghe, what matters and should matter to the general public, again irrespective of party affiliations, is the principle that some should not be more equal than others and enjoy any rights or privileges that are not available to the rest of citizenry, and that no one should be above the law of the land. In the past, many political leaders became overloaded with their ego, and they surrounded themselves with people who played to their ego and received rewards for doing so. Such leaders were protected by other politicians, some members of law enforcement agencies, and the armed forces, and even some members of the judiciary. 

Some were elevated to the status of unofficial kings through orchestrated campaigns. Families of some leaders basked in the glow of this superiority of leaders, and they too were regarded as more equal than other families of ordinary citizens of the country. It cannot be denied by any nonpolitical citizen of the country that the ruling class of the country was collectively more equal than others and they enjoyed a special status that shielded them from the law, where an ordinary citizen would have had to face legal punishment for exactly a similar kind of offence.  

Neither should one deny that such leaders and their families, if they are among the living today, should be brought down from their elevated pedestals, a status created by themselves in their minds and only for themselves, to the same status as an ordinary citizen who is subject to the law of the land. 

These more equal than others category of leaders and their families have shields beyond from some in the law enforcement agencies as well as within the judiciary. Their shields have been and still are to varying degrees wider and deeper with sections of the bureaucracy supporting them and shielding them from their illegal practices, often for monetary reward. Such shields contribute to the maintenance and further elevation of the more equal than others status of these leaders and their families.

Cultural exclusivity for leaders and their families

Basically, this translates to a situation of cultural exclusivity for such leaders and their families, where sections of the citizenry too are complicit, willingly or unwittingly, and elect and re-elect such leaders as they see them as different and above their own status and deserving special attention and even respect. 

However, it needs to be said here that for the first time in the post-independence history of the country, people viewed this self-made exclusivity as unjust and unfair, and voted overwhelmingly to reject them and, in their place, elect a different type of leadership at the last Presidential and Parliamentary elections. This transformation hopefully will lead to the evolution of a Sri Lankan society where no one will be regarded as more equal than others in the eyes of the law of the land.

Irrespective of the politics associated with the case filed against Wickremesinghe, what matters and should matter to the general public, again irrespective of party affiliations, is the principle that some should not be more equal than others and enjoy any rights or privileges that are not available to the rest of citizenry, and that no one should be above the law of the land. In the past, many political leaders became overloaded with their ego, and they surrounded themselves with people who played to their ego and received rewards for doing so. Such leaders were protected by other politicians, some members of law enforcement agencies, and the armed forces, and even some members of the judiciary

A word of caution however is relevant here. As the fictional story Animal Farm by George Orwell illustrates, one set of leaders who works hard to replace another set of tainted, corrupt leaders, promising huge changes to the culture of some being more equal than others, should not end up similar or even worse than the leaders they have ousted, and introducing a culture with an exclusivity that could appear to be different to what has been changed, but which in effect could be even worse and maintained by means that are undemocratic, dictatorial and even violent. An end by itself cannot justify the means to that end, and it is vital that the means employed are lawful, democratic and nonviolent.

There cannot be any doubt except in the minds of those who considered themselves as members of the “some are more equal than others” collective, that a cultural change is needed to ensure every citizen adheres to the law of the land irrespective of their status, which is only a construct in their minds. It is true that over the centuries, history has shown how some people, including the country’s kings and queens and other nobles and high-ranking officials, lived in a status driven feudalistic society, and perhaps it is in the genes of some in contemporary times! 

In some respects, it can be said that the historical status quo began changing when all of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was ceded to the United Kingdom in 1815. The evolution that began did not necessarily result in a more equal and equitable society. Beginning in the late 1920s, in Sri Lanka, a ruling elite began taking shape culminating in a society where a few of them dictated the destiny of the majority. 

Many have argued that the so-called independence struggle was not a peoples struggle as such but more a discussion forum involving the small coterie of the elite and the British colonial authorities, resulting eventually the granting of a negotiated sovereign status to the country that ensured the continuance of some British interests and a governance system based on the British system with the Monarch of the UK being the Head of State of the country and represented in Sri Lanka by a Governor General. In respect of the theme of this article, what is relevant here is that with such independence, there was no marked cultural change in the mindset of a majority of the people of the country, and they witnessed the coming to be of a new set of elites to replace the departing ones who were more equal than others.

In the context of ensuring an equal and equitable society where everyone is equal before the law of the country and no special privileges are given to a few based on their so called “status”, Sri Lanka needs a cultural shift in their mindsets and a system change that assigns such a status to anyone based on their values and ethics and not their political power, connections or money. 

A value-based society

Values based on an individual’s religious beliefs, the teachings of their religious leaders, lessons from living examples of people who have done selfless service to others without any monetary or other rewards expectations, could pave the way for a values-based society to replace a society where these noble characteristics are not recognised, emulated and appreciated.

An article titled “System change and ushering a value-based society” (https://www.ft.lk/columns/System-change-and-ushering-value-based-society/4-771369) explores what a system change should mean in a society and how a system change could restore some values that have been eroded over time and how the political, religious and civil society leadership could act and be examples to others about governing within a value system. In a value-based society, a truth and a lie cannot conveniently fall within the ambit of a democratic right. In fact, democracy itself should fall within the ambit of a broader value system. After all, what is a democracy if there are no moral values, if there no ethics, if there is no fairness, if there is no equality and equity, if there is no honesty, and if there is no integrity? In a society that has such values, there will not be any room for some to be more equal than others.