Actor-turned-politician Ranjan Ramanayake whipped up a political tsunami with his latest revelations made in Parliament last week. In a speech spanning nearly 30 minutes, Ramanayake spared no one as he fired barrage after barrage of explosive verbal missiles amidst pindrop silence in the normally noisy Parliament chamber. All Ramanayake had to do to ensure silence whenever he was disturbed was to say, “oyage recording-uth thiyenawa” (I have your voice recordings as well). The impassioned yet nonscripted speech, which he began with an unqualified, open apology for the chaos he had caused, has no doubt managed to turn the tide that was building up against him and in the process managed to win over a few friends too. However, the bombshell revelations had resulted in tonnes of political excreta well and truly engaging the oscillator, the stink of which will last for months to come. Ramanayake could no longer be simply dismissed as a maverick seeking attention, certainly not after what he revealed in Parliament last week and duly recorded in the Hansard. Most shocking, which to date has gone unchallenged, is the accusation that serious cases were purposely watered down by the disputed Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) so that they would be dismissed by the courts. He went on to name and accuse the former head of this controversial unit of soliciting millions of rupees in bribes from the accused parties in order to go easy on the cases. The Attorney General (AG), who has been issuing arrest orders for the slightest indiscretion, has so far not thought it fit to look into this allegation and question the former head. Interestingly though, he has issued orders to arrest a judge who was found to have discussed legal matters with Ramanayake. The Acting IGP had responded with caution by appointing a special committee to study the grounds on which the judge should be arrested. To add to the confusion, a powerful government minister had spoken in defence of the judge and faulted the AG for issuing the arrest order. This no doubt is a classic case of confusion confounded with the AG who should be specifying the legal grounds on which the arrest should be made, not doing so and leaving it to the Police to frame the charges. It was only a few days ago that the President took the extraordinary step of issuing a statement that all arrests should be done in full conformity with the law. This is likely what prompted the acting IGP to appoint a five-member special committee to make recommendations on executing the AG’s instructions. With two other judges already on the mat due to Ranjangate, it is of paramount importance that the judiciary, and the faith reposted in it by the people, is not undermined by any hasty police action notwithstanding the AG’s stance on the matter. In a previous editorial, we predicted that Ranjangate could boomerang on the powers that be if not handled carefully. That has now come to pass with the Government finding itself between a rock and a hard place with regard to Ranjangate after it transpired that many high-profile individuals are also incriminated in the now-infamous recordings. It is now only a matter of time before these too end up in the public domain. All that aside, the key issue that has emerged from Ranjangate is the lack of privacy laws in this country. Today, Sri Lanka has more mobile phones than people. It is estimated that currently, 24 million mobile phones are in active use while the country only has a registered population of 21 million people. It can be safely assumed that 90% of those 24 million phones in use have a built-in voice recorder and camera. A casual glance at social media will show how phones are used to record conversations and film incidents that take place on a daily basis. Using these built-in features is not illegal for private use within the boundaries of the existing law. If publicising such recordings is wrong, then millions of Sri Lankans will have to be prosecuted. Even news channels use hidden video cameras to catch various offenders in the act. However, all this is taking place in a legal lacuna with no legislation to specify when boundaries are crossed and what constitutes an offence with regard to violation of one’s privacy due to the use of modern technology. These are areas that need the attention of lawmakers who would do well to study how other more developed nations are tackling this evolving subject. Then again, going by Ramanayaka’s revelations that over one-third of parliamentarians have not passed even the Ordinary Level exam and another third have not passed the Advanced Levels, there are serious questions about the competency levels of our lawmakers to actually frame laws that benefit the people. According to Ramanayake, two-thirds of parliamentarians are holders of either liquor permits, sand transportation permits, gaming permits, or various other permits, clearly proving that lawmaking is not a priority for our lawmakers. They are clearly out of theirdepth when it comes to comprehending the needs of the times. For all his faults, Ramanayake is not the villain he is portrayed to be for the simple reason that it was not he who publicised the recordings which he had kept in the safety of his guarded MP’s quarters at Madiwela. It is in fact the State that has failed to protect his right to privacy by allowing the recordings to be leaked to the public domain. In a country where laws are made to suit a particular party in power or to benefit their benefactors in the blink of an eye, it is high time that a public discourse is opened with a view to formulating comprehensive privacy laws which is the need of the hour in the backdrop of Ranjangate, the long arm of the law acting beyond reasonable boundaries of respecting personal privacy, and also invasive social media. Ramanayake, whether he is nominated by his party or not, has already sealed his re-election at the April general election. As for the other 224, the people will do well to reflect on what Ramanayake revealed in his speech and purge Parliament of dealmakers, wheeler dealers, permit businessmen, crooks, and the like. In the meantime, Ranjangate certainly merits a proper investigation given the assurance from Ramanayake that he will fully co- operate with any commission of inquiry appointed to look into the matter. The 120,000 recordings said to be in Ramanayake’s possession could then be put to its intended use.