Making Deals with the Devil

"The judge is condemned when the guilty is acquitted." (original quote, in Lation -- "Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur." -- Publilius Syrus)

SB, SB... what a deal, huh?

You go out to the country side, sit down with the farmers... share a drink with them, take off your shirt and make quite an entertaining, yet, very valid speech. Next thing you know, you're cuffed and dragged away to prison for two years -- contempt of court they say... Two years of rigorous imprisonment.

The verdict itself was met with mixed reactions across the populace of Sri Lanka. Some were of the view that the sentence appropriate (for a varying array of reasons), while another section viewed it as political victimization. Yet another section did not give two hoots.

Excluding the latter, the other two sections has since been splitting hairs on this matter, with some even calling for a revision of the laws while others wanted to move to the ICJ (no, nothing to do with the CJ -- I mean the International Court of Justice). In related developments, all campaigns of the United National Party at some level made this matter a theme, while there were counter accusations also thrown saying the party was not doing enough.

Irrespective of who says what, and whether there was a conspiracy to get SB behind bars or not, what happened ultimately was pretty lame --he handed himself in, on a silver platter.

Would you, after years and years of hurling accusations at the highest judicial officer, when accused of contempt, walk into his domain and plead guilt? And then expect to walk away? Especially, if 90% of your accusations were based on a nexus between the respective heads of the executive & judicial branches of the country? Add to that, the executive has been vying for an opportunity for revenge? I really don't think so...

But SB unfortunately thought otherwise, and pleaded guilty.

Number one rule when you make a deal with the devil: You Don't.

True, politics does make strange bedfellows. But, who in their right mind would let him/herself be so vulnerable?

The battle of his life was in front of him. If battles were ever based on principles, this would have been it. This was the golden opportunity to take the battle right up to their doorstep and build momentum on all the rhetoric on impeachments and all that other hullabaloo. But then, he blinked -- he walked away. Made a deal with the devil and burnt his soul. Quite the opposite of the hard-talking attitude taken on late-night political talk-shows.

How can anyone fight the verdict, or find fault with the court, for punishing someone who was by his own admission -- guilty? Of course, punishment must be in proportion to the crime -- but that is purely at the discretion of the judge. I do not hear anyone finding fault with the judgment where a police constable was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment (rigorous) for a bribe of a mere Rs.20 (less than $0.20).

Perhaps RW and a few others understand this. Yet, given the attitude of the public they go along with the show, albeit not giving it a 100%. And that's perhaps what causes all the complaints about the party not doing enough to secure his release.

Will RW free SB if he is elected president?
Will he also free the police constable?
How about anyone else who feels unjustly jailed?
Will he take action against those who massacred his grassroot supporters, or are they forgotten?

"The judge is condemned when the guilty is acquitted."