The tremors the attacks caused still reverberate throughout the country with not a day passing where the incident takes centre stage on political, economic, social, or religious platforms. The Catholic Church that has been in the vanguard in calling for the masterminds to be brought to justice is, understandably, becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress in the investigation which seems to have stagnated at the point when the reins of power changed hands. This stalemate is presumably what prompted the Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith to publicly threaten to call for international intervention on the eve of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva last month. Even though the much-anticipated Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) report was expected to delve into details such as the brains and the financiers behind the attackers, it has become yet another damp squib with the most vital questions remaining unanswered. Today, as Christians head to their respective churches amidst unprecedented security measures, they will be greeted by banners hung across the church gates reminding the authorities about their obligation to fulfil the promises made to expose those responsible for the attacks. This Government has a greater responsibility than the one before to delve into this single most important matter, as it was elected expressly for that purpose. So far, the only positive outcome has been the submission of the Maithripala Sirisena-appointed Commission of Inquiry report which inferred that the former President could be held responsible for dereliction of duty. The Presidential Commission of Inquiry that was subsequently appointed to study the report and make recommendations on its implementation is yet to submit its views two months into the assignment. The stalemate has placed the Church in general and the Cardinal in particular in an awkward position in having to make good on the promise to the Christian community to look beyond the shores for answers that should ideally have been provided by now. Given the dead end on the promised road to justice, the Cardinal cannot be faulted for being compelled to resort to such a course of action, for justice delayed is justice denied. It is our fervent prayer however that saner counsel will prevail and every available option is exhausted locally before looking elsewhere for justice. At the same time, it is incumbent upon the authorities to utilise all available resources in the pursuit of the real perpetrators of this dastardly crime, who for all intents and purposes are still roaming free, posing unprecedented danger to the nation and its people. As Cardinal Ranjith has repeatedly said, closure could come only when the masterminds are put behind bars; until such time, this wound will only continue to fester. It is the widely held belief among the people of this country that the time has come for a “system change”. In fact, it was one of the main election slogans of the current Government and people voted en masse in anticipation of such change. But day after day, it is becoming clear that the more things seem to change, the more they stay the same. As far as the public service is concerned, it has now come to a point that even a system change may not do any good. In the alternative, a “system reset” seems to be the only hope. For 73 years now, all that successive governments have succeeded in doing is to further corrupt the system than the one before it. In the process, the fine line that separates government from the state has become cloudier with each government, to the extent that public officials often take it for granted that the state is in fact the government. This was exemplified by the conduct of the Head of the Police Environment Unit that was responsible for dismantling a large canvas painting done by a group of children and erected at Viharamahadevi Park recently to draw attention to environmental destruction. The Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in charge of the police unit, while on site and without batting an eyelid, claimed on national television that it was “ape aanduwa” or “our Government” that has done more than any other to protect the environment, making a direct reference to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Government. The ASP, by publicly identifying himself with the political party in power, is in breach of a sacred rule in the establishment code that states officials should not get involved in party politics. It is this principle that forms the bedrock of the public service, and brazen violation of it will only fast track the further destruction of the state service that was once the pride of the Commonwealth. If senior policemen openly align themselves to political parties, how on Earth could a free and fair election be held in this country? There was a time not so long ago when the Member of Parliament of the ruling party sat on the chair of the Police Officer in Charge (OIC) of the area and directed how the law should be applied. The independent commissions were brought in to put a stop to this uncouth practice. It now seems diluting the commissions has turned back the clock on the efforts made to democratise this most important arm of the state. However, all is not lost yet. There are still officials who are aware of where to draw the line when it comes to political intrusion. Two such incidents surfaced last week. One was when the ASP in charge of the Wennappuwa area steadfastly stood his ground and refused to follow directions from the MP for the area who wanted the cop to go easy on small-scale kasippu or moonshine brewers in the area. The officer refused point blank and the result was a politically motivated transfer for him out of the area. The other incident was reported from the Gampaha District Committee meeting where no less than four high-profile ministers ganged up against the female wildlife officer in charge of the Gampaha District. This lady, who is no stranger to controversy, stood her ground and told the ministerial quartet that they should be ashamed of themselves for asking her to do the wrong thing. It is rather sad that after 73 years of independence, the quality and calibre of politicians has deteriorated to the level that they openly order conscientious officials to break the law. The only way out, it appears, is an urgent system reboot going all the way back to 1948, when politicians would not dream of breaking the law and the state service was a shining example of a meritocracy which was the envy of today’s Asian Tigers. There is probably one last opportunity to stem the rot and the only way to get about it is to set the example by dealing with those who step out of line. We should not forget the fact that it was the people, on both sides of the political divide, that demanded the last reset, which in effect was the setting up of independent commissions.