Udayan attack: an attempt to destroy values and principles that are both sacred and dear to all freedom loving societies and peoples – President
[May 4, 2006 - 10.30 GMT]

President Mahinda Rajapaksa speaking at the World Press Freedom Award yesterday recalled all the journalists who have been brutally assassinated by those whose interest it was to repress freedom and democracy.

Colombian journalist May Chidiac was the recipient of the UNESCO Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize which was hosted by Sri Lanka at the BMICH last evening.

“Our thoughts go out to the 126 journalists and 70 internet communicators who, at the beginning of this year, were reported to be suffering in jail around the world.  In 2005 alone, 63 journalists were killed while doing their job, for expressing their views in a spirit of freedom”, he said.

“As a human rights activist and lawyer, I remember fighting on their side, at risk to my own life and security.  We are happy  that these are things of the past,  and that today the media can legitimately criticize  anyone holding high office or position,  - even the Head of State, -  without fear of revenge  or retaliation. I wish to inform you that we are pursuing the killing of Mr. Shivaram” said the President.

“It is the duty and the responsibility of the free world press to expose the true nature of terrorist groups and to rally freedom loving people of the world against their real objectives and their activities” said the President.

He strongly condemned Tuesday’s brutal attack on the Udayan newspaper office in Jaffna saying it was an attempt to destroy values and principles that are both sacred and dear to all freedom loving societies and peoples.

(full text)

Speech of His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka, at the Award Ceremony of the UNESCO – Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize held in connection with the World Press Freedom Day 2006, on 3^rd May 2006 at 4.00 pm at the Main Hall of the BMICH, Colombo.

Hon. Prime Minister,  Mr. Speaker,  Your Excellencies,  Director General of UNESCO,  Hon Minister of Mass Media and Information,  Hon. Ministers, Governors, Chief Ministers,  Distinguished Delegates,  Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am happy to participate in the Prize Awarding Session which concludes the UNESCO celebration of ‘World Press Freedom Day’, which falls on the 3rd of May each year.  

It is indeed an honour for Sri Lanka to have been chosen as the venue for this year’s events.  At the same time, news of the cruel attack on the Udayan newspaper yesterday, tempers our sense of honour.  With profound regret for those who lost their lives and those who were injured, my government and I condemn this outrage  in the strongest possible terms.  We see this attack as an attempt to destroy values and principles that are both sacred and dear to all freedom loving societies and peoples.  I have instructed the law enforcement authorities to spare no effort to bring the criminals involved in this senseless act to justice.

But even as the attack on the Udayan newspaper was being planned and carried out, I am aware that many of you, including our distinguished guests from abroad, were participating productively in the successful conference on “Media Development and Poverty Alleviation”.  And by doing so, you were contributing to the advancement of media freedom, as a part of the UNESCO celebrations over the past two days.

And today, we salute a Columbian Journalist who was assassinated in 1986, by awarding an international prize in his memory.  And in doing so, we recall and honour all those who suffered, over the years, fighting for the Freedom of the Press.  We specially recall and honour the memory of the many journalists who have been brutally assassinated by those whose interest it was to repress freedom and democracy.  And our thoughts go out to the 126 journalists and 70 internet communicators who, at the beginning of this year, were reported to be suffering in jail around the world.  In 2005 alone, 63 journalists were killed while doing their job, for expressing their views in a spirit of freedom.

Let us also remember that Sri Lanka’s journalists too had to endure their share of repression, in the past.  Our mind goes back to the early nineteen nineties when the lives of journalists were under threat, and media freedom was seriously challenged in our own country.  We salute the memory of the Sri Lankan journalist Richard de Zoysa, who was abducted from his home, killed and dumped in the sea. 

As a human rights activist and lawyer, I remember fighting on their side, at risk to my own life and security.  We are happy  that these are things of the past,  and that today the media can legitimately criticize  anyone holding high office or position,  - even the Head of State, -  without fear of revenge  or retaliation. I wish to inform you that we are pursuing the killing of Mr. Shivaram.

In functioning democracies, the people are the masters and the elected governments are their servants or trustees.  An important function of the media is to ensure that the servants don’t try to become masters and transform the masters into servants.  It is the responsibility of a free press to keep the people informed about the conduct of their trustees, - the elected governments and their officers.  It has always been my conviction that if a person has chosen the career of a public officer or politician, he or she must be ready to face the glare of the spotlight at all times.

Media freedom therefore is an important instrument for the protection of democracy, and an insurance against a possible drift towards authoritarian rule.  While this is so, we must also remember that the press is also vulnerable to manipulation and temptation.  It can be turned in the direction of serving the vested interests of particular groups, instead of serving the broader interests of the people at large.  This is no doubt a problem.  But I do not believe that censorship is the answer to it, except perhaps in the circumstances of a threat to national security as required by a democracy.

To hold itself in check against these possible abuses, the media must devise its own corrective tools and instruments.  It must evolve its own ethical code, and its own mechanism for sanctioning it.  It can think of an internal Ombudsman to investigate grievances and malicious reporting.  The media should not leave it to the State to impose these mechanisms.  Instead, it must develop its own mechanisms of self control and self discipline, through processes internal to its own community of journalists.

The threat to a people’s freedom – and especially to the freedom of expression, the threat to human rights and in particular to the right to disagree, and the challenge to democracy, can come not only from the State and its functionaries.  It can also come from terrorist groups that have decided to adopt the path of violence.  Such groups will direct their violence against multi-ethnic societies as well as against long standing traditions of democracy.

It is the duty and responsibility of a free world press to expose their true nature and rally the freedom loving people of the world against their real objects and their activities.  We invite you  to use the powers at your disposal  to persuade them  to shun the path of violence  and, in good faith,  cooperate with the continuing efforts  made by governments,  to craft  a lasting peace  with dignity,  through negotiation.

There is yet another responsibility a free press needs to undertake in the current age of globalization.  Global economic enterprises such as the trans-national companies and banks are increasingly enjoying a power that enables them to decide the well-being of countries and peoples across the world.  The global economic system, of which they are a part, is seen to rapidly bring prosperity to certain segments of the population, - such as the middle classes and the professionals.   At the same time it is seen to be increasing the levels and intensity of poverty at the other end of the social scale.

Some commentators  have even gone to the extent of concluding  that an Economic Construct  thrust on the entire world,  by the engines of commerce,  is resulting  in an cruel increase  of poverty at one end of society  and an ugly increase of wealth and affluence  at the other:  That this global economic system  over which  Nation States and their peoples  have little or no control,  is resulting  in serious ecological damage,  social and political instability,  and in moral,  ethical  and spiritual decline,  across the world.

A new responsibility therefore falls on you:  Namely, to expose the impact of the globalized economic enterprise on the weaker segments of society in particular, and on the human condition in general.  Not only Nation States and groups dedicated to violence, but nameless, faceless economic systems too, operating on a global scale, can harm the rights, the freedom and the well-being of different segments of a population.  It is your duty as journalists to help them restore their rights and their freedom.

I trust you not to fail in your many responsibilities.  The journalists of the world  must find the space  to move forward fearlessly  to play their role  in protecting the people’s rights  and freedom,  from the State  as well as from other agencies,  and also from the unfolding  of faceless global systems  of commerce and exchange.

And as they do so, it is the responsibility of all of us who value freedom and cherish the democratic way of life, to join together to safeguard the Freedom of the Press, which we ask you to enjoy not only with courage, but also with responsibility.  Thank you.

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Last Updated Date: May  04, 2006 -10.30 GMT