After ten years of slumbering in ignorance of Travancore's bribery scandal, our fellow newspaper, Malayala Manorama from Kottayam, has woken up with spells to exorcise the bribery demon of the land. It is a memorable sermon indeed! It is well known that many of the local officials are taking bribes.

‘Manorama’ in their issue of 9th of Kumbhom 1084 M.E. (20/03/1909)* started with the foreword that especially the low paid employees never give up the habit if they have any chance of taking bribes and stated the need for an anti-bribery committee. We think that it will be highly commendable if such a group can be established in this land.. It is interesting that our fellow newspaper, which has so long been silent on the efforts to eradicate bribery from this state, asks for information about the working experience of anti-corruption groups called Anti-Corruption League in other countries to strengthen the awareness that bribery is harmful in the country.

As everyone knows with certainty, there are some officials here who take bribes. It may be hard to believe that Manorama is not shedding crocodile tears, as we see that they are worried about nothing being done about the issue other than filing false complaints or columns written about the issue in some newspapers. Wasn't 'Manorama' in this land at the time when the High Court decided on the Vatasserikovil case, which clearly stated that Anantharamayyar and Sankaran Thambi, the royal servants of the great palace, had diverted the course of justice by accepting bribes? Why did ‘Manorama’ not lift an eyelid even when the newspaper ‘Subhashini’ stated some time ago that the king’s orderlies took bribes from Dr. Subrahmanya Iyer to the tune of thousands of rupees for appointment to the post of Peshkar and said that they were ready to give evidence? The fact that, in order to take a stand in favour of the Poonjar Parish in the litigations between the Poonjar Parish and the Government of Travancore, Sankaran Thampi had asked for two hundred kandi* of wood to rebuild his house in Chavara. Is it possible that Manorama did not read the articles that were continuously published in ‘Svadesabhimani’ along with some other documents connecting the acts of Sankaran Thampi? Did ‘Manorama’ make any criticism about the need to stop the rise of bribery in this land while 'Keralataraka,' which was issued from the close vicinity of ‘Manorama,’ added some articles regarding this parish and Mavelikkara Tehsildar Mr. Harihara Iyer?

The period of rule by the Dewan Mr. V. P. Madhava Rao was relatively free of scandals. It was during the last ten years, while Dewans like Mr Krishnaswany Iyer and others ruled that the corruption scandal was on the rise in Travancore. Those were the times when many special favours were granted to ‘Manorama’ by the government, especially from some government officials. It was also a time when you could have talked more about bribery and accused the officials of such dubious acts. However, the newspapers here normally do not talk about the corruption of the officials. Perhaps, even if someone criticises the actions of any official, it will not be with the right intention.

A report by a B.A*. degree holder in ‘Manorama’ of the 4th of Meenom (M.E.) stated that it is not customary to point out such faults for the sake of common good. Although ‘Manorama’ may have dismissed other press statements as insignificant all that time, the judgments in the court of justice should not be thought of in such a manner. However, no matter what intention a newspaper has, which reports the corruption of an official, and if that corruption is genuine, then another newspaper with good intentions is also entitled to claim that genuine purpose, notwithstanding the intention of the former.

Although we are very happy to see bribery eradicated, we are very disdainful of Manorama's slumbering attitude.

In an effort to exorcise this demon, the first thing to be done is to curtail the misdeeds of the servants who trespassed to the palace of His Highness the Maharajah. They stole wealth from the palace down to the huts and gobbled the whole loot.

We are waiting to know if ‘Manorama,’ which is now eager to take care of its journalistic ethics, will come out with a word of advice.

-------------------------------------------

Translator’s note:

*Corresponding date in Gregorian Calendar is provided by the translator

*1 kandi is equal to 127 cu.ft.

*B. A refers to Bachelor of Arts