Talawakele, Embilipitiya, Kolonnawa, Rathupasvala, Katunayake . . .

In addition to, perhaps, unseasonal heavy rains (thanks to global warming), the towns referred to in the title of this Sunday's editorial comment all have another thing in common in recent times - reported brutality against the public by the guardians of law and of national security.

In Talawakele last week, thankfully, no one died. But in Embilitiya a week earlier, one young father got killed tragically. Whether he fell or jumped off a building fleeing a police charge or, whether someone in uniform pushed him off is yet to be established. And, in Katunayaka and Rathupasvala too, people were killed during action by law and security personnel in crisis situations.

Hearteningly, in addition to the regular police inquiry, other public watchdog bodies such as the Human Rights Commission are also probing the incident in Embilipitiya and the general public may take some assurance that what actually happened to that citizen will be clarified.

The general citizenry may be forgiven, however, if they remain somewhat sceptical as to whether, after all the investigations, those responsible for the tragedy will be actually prosecuted and punished. After all, those responsible for far greater tragedies in this country - both human, political and socio-economic - are yet to be prosecuted despite the full weight of investigative and judicial action brought to bear and, the glare of news media focus.

The incident in Talawakele last week has added to the, by now, a very long list of places in Sri Lanka where uniformed law officers or security officers have been accused of being involved in brutal action against citizens without the provocation of violent resistance of arrest or other forms of illegal behaviour. And these brutal actions are not part of the less publicised, but far more violent, incidents related to the overlapping 'dirty wars' of insurgency and counter-insurgency during which thousands of civilians of all ethnicities have been killed or disappeared seemingly at the hands of law and national security personnel.

Those large scale incidents of political violence remain to be investigated, at least as part of the mandate given by the UN Human Rights Council. But the recent incidents of relatively small scale violence involving State personnel as the alleged perpetrators do not need the kind of additional forensic expertise and, investigative and judicial resources, required to deal with this country's gory recent past.

What is required in these cases are a new vigour and political will to ensure speedy, non-partisan and transparent action to redress these minor societal crisis points.

After all, for all those who recently came to governmental power - and privilege - on the wave of regime change, it is a challenge to prove their commitment to democracy, good governance and justice. If the prosecution of the large scale past criminality in government is slow in coming, the least that can be done to retain public confidence in the new regime and new order of freedom and reasoned governance is to act swiftly to bring redress to these immediate flashpoints.

The new regime has won too many kudos for good governance already from both within the country and internationally for it to wilfully throw away those credentials and, so soon after coming to power, too! To avoid a descent into the chaos of the past and a loss of credibility, therefore, absolute vigilance and ruthlessly efficient action is essential. Pandering to loyalties and allegiances of any sort will only open the floodgates of the old culture of impunity.

The official response to these contingencies is profoundly and refreshingly different under the new national unity government unlike under previous governments.

The very fact that the national political leadership overseeing these official responses is one that has inspired the citizenry in the process of democratic regime change, will go to reassure the nation that the outcome of the official response will not be the pathetically hypocritical posturing and duplicity that was the hallmark of Rajapaksa governance.

The problem is clear: despite the changes at the top, however inspiring or, at least, reassuring, they might be, at the middle and the bottom rungs of government and, law and order, the personnel are the same and, after a decade of nurturing by a mediocre autocracy, the culture of arbitrary and brutal rule remains. That police personnel apparently actually dared to snatch the notebooks of journalists reporting the Embilipitiya inquiry process in what appeared to be crude attempt at cover-up, betrays the extent of the problem. Clearly, one year of 'Maithri' rule can only make a dent in this ominous dispensation.

Certainly, the making of a new constitution is part of the long term, comprehensive, solution. The re-making of a civilised culture of governance and administration begins now and does so with Talawakele, Embilipitiya, Kolonnawa . . .