Economic reforms alone will not create a stable government

Former Director General of Government Information:

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Sri Lanka will only achieve stability through democratic political reforms, and economic reforms alone will not create a stable government, former Director General of Government Information, Dr. Ranga Kalansooriya, said on Tuesday, at an event, organised by the Media Law Forum.

Commenting on the new Bureau of Rehabilitation Bill, he said that the vagueness of the Bill is a serious concern.

“Among those who need to be rehabilitated is an ‘other’ category. Who are these ‘others’? It’s obvious that this allows the government to send anyone, that it deems a problem, for rehabilitation. At this rate, Sunil Ariyaratne and Nanda Malini, too, could be sent to rehabilitation camps for their songs,” he said.

Kalansooriya said that in the past few months a large number of Sri Lankans came forth and said they are tired of the existing political culture and that they want something better.

“Now, the government can decide to send them to a camp. There is a phrase on the Bill which alludes to nomaga giya satankamin (misguided activists). However, there is no definition of them. The vagueness of this Bill should make anyone uneasy. The government must remember that without political stability, economic reforms will mean nothing,” he said.

Meanwhile, Saliya Peiris, PC, President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), said that there is no need to strike a balance between freedom of speech and law.

“Freedom of speech is guaranteed by law. This is a sovereign right because all rights are based on freedom of speech. By restricting freedom of speech, our other rights will be affected, even the right to peaceful assembly. We must be careful about any attempts to stifle freedom of speech under any pretext,” he said.