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| Sunday, 11 July 2004 |
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Highway Code of the Dharma Rajya Light Refractions by Lucien Rajakarunanayake What would you feel if you happen to meet a vehicle having the same number plate as the one you are travelling in? Is it shock, surprise or even suspicion? Well, if you are a Member of Parliament, of the Jathika Hela Urumaya, determined to lead us all to a Dharma Rajya, it will be none of the above reactions. Apparently in the future Dharma Rajya, two or even more vehicles with the same registration number will be a very common thing. It is part of the influence the Athuraliye School of Thought on the Sulaiman Terrace goal of a Dharma Rajya. Who buys a vehicle without examining the registration papers and insurance certificate? Don't rush into the conclusion that it is some idiot who knows nothing of motor traffic regulations in the country. If you did so you are unfair by the local idiot. Buying a vehicle without examining the relevant official documents is apparently a part of the new privileges of Members of Parliament of the JHU type. Whoever said there is need for any such documentation on the route to the Dharma Rajya of the Sulaiman Terrace type? Would you buy a vehicle from a person who says that the registration and insurance documents relating to it are lost? Or would you believe a person who sells a vehicle, with such a simple explanation for the absence of these necessary official papers? Well ordinary folk such as you and I will not. Obviously we are ignorant or those who bother about laws, rules and regulations. But if you are a member of Parliament of the JHU, determined to drive us at speed to a Dharma Rajya, you certainly will have no hesitation in believing such a story, especially if you happen to be the leader of the parliamentary group of the Jathika Hela Urumaya. One begins to wonder whether such dumb belief is a further addition to the many privileges of Members of Parliament. Would you have any worries about putting on the road a vehicle that has no proof of insurance coverage, even of the Third Party only? Any sensible owner of a motor vehicle would, for the simple reason that in the event of an accident and injury to a third party, the victim would have no insurance relief, and because it is an offence under the law to have such a vehicle moving on the roads. But hold on, all this is true of any law-abiding citizen. But from recent revelations following the meeting of two vehicles with the same registration number at Matara, it is obvious that a Member of Parliament of the JHU, well clad in the yellow robes of the Dhamma and discipline, does not care even two hoots for such requirements of law. It is obviously yet another special privilege arrogated to oneself when you happen to be a Member of Parliament of the JHU, and even leads its group in the House. It seems obvious that the future Dharma Rajya will not have regulations regarding the registration or insurance of vehicles that ply on the roads. That is all nonsense introduced by colonial rulers who wanted to collect revenue for their sustenance and profit, and also encouraged by missionaries, always willing to ask their followers to observe such rules as a part of unethical compliance with the laws of the colonial ruler. There will be no such nonsense, leading the way to unnecessary bureaucracy, as well as, a great deal of corruption too, in the proposed ideal state of the Dharma Rajya. If it is not so for the increasing number of the affluent masses who own vehicles in a Third World country struggling to meet the cost of rising fuel prices, thanks to George W. Bush and his so-called War on Terror, the indications are it will be definitely so for the yellow robed Members of Parliament of the Jathika Hela Urumaya, even before they reach the Dharma Rajya of Sulaiman Terrace. What vehicle owner would not like to know and be certain of the registration number of one's vehicle, so recently bought? Yet if you do not get the registration papers of the vehicle when you buy it, because the seller, who is obviously a very trustworthy person, says it is lost, together with the insurance papers to boot, how can you ever know the number of your vehicle? This is the experience and explanation to the Police by the Hon. Athureliye Ratana MP and leader of the JHU group in Parliament, about his travelling in a vehicle with a false number plate. What's more he admits there are leasing instalments to pay for the vehicle, but has forgotten how many. Mind you that comes from a Member ofPparliament, a legislator, who expects to lead us to the delights of a Dharma Rajya. Of course the police very dutifully records this entire story in their inquiry into the presence of two vehicles having the same number at Matara, in one of which the Hon. Athureliye Ratana MP travelled. The statement is recorded and that is all. We have not heard of any further action by the police with regard to all these violations of Motor Traffic Registration and Insurance regulations, possibly because no policemen wants to stand in the way and halt a vehicle that is proceeding towards the Dharma Rajya, especially with a person of such importance as the leader of the JHU group in Parliament in it. What if the monk MP claims all of this to be Parliamentary privilege, and any police action would be a threat to democracy and the democratic way of life, backed by the signatures of 114 MPs of the Opposition Alliance? Don't bother yourself asking why the IGP or even the National Police Commission does not ask why the police officers where the two vehicles with the same number were found are not following the normal procedure about such offences. It is most likely that neither the IGP nor the members of the National Police Commission wish to stand in the way of the establishment of a Dharma Rajya, even of the Sulaiman Terrace kind. What is all this when we are all living in the exciting days of anticipatory bail for those who are accused of fraudulent transactions involving public property? Funny isn't it that anticipatory bail is heard of only when big names, who can retain big name lawyers, feel the police are getting too close to them. There are hundreds of less important ordinary citizens arrested, locked up and ordered to remand custody everyday, with never a plea for anticipatory bail. Most people don't even know what the hell it is all about. They suffer in remand in the misfortune of ignorance coupled with the tragedy of poverty. There is something similar I see in this purported travel to a Dharma Rajya in a vehicle that is carrying a wrong registration number. It reminds me of the lines of Shakespeare in King Lear: "Through tattered clothes small vices do appear; Robes and furred gowns hide all" (King Lear IV.vii 36)It also makes me think of the teachings of the "Nava Ratana Sooththaraya" that must be in the making. |
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