28 March, 2024

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For All Those Who Are Getting High On Democracy

By Malinda Seneviratne

Malinda Seneviratne

One of the better definitions of democracy is that it refers to ‘a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.’ And yet, this definition does not speak to the political economy in which the democratic process unfolds. For example, we know that people have to vote only for those who actually contest, and candidacy is not a squeaky clean matter. Only a certain kind of person can contest or rather only a certain kind of person has a good chance of winning. There are exceptions, but this is the rule.

Different countries have different systems where representation is obtained. The United States of America, for example, selects rather than elects her Presidents. There are other realities which rebel against the fundamental tenets of a sound democratic process best exemplified by the outright robbery that took place in the 2000 US Presidential Election. Malcolm X saw this early. Well, it was not a secret as far as African Americans and other non-white peoples in that country were concerned. Malcolm X didn’t mince his words: ‘This is American democracy and those of you who are familiar with it know that in American democracy is hypocrisy.’

More caustic was the following observation which factored in the reality of an uneven, unequal and unjust polity: ‘democracy is an exercise in which the majority of people choose the sauce with which they are to be eaten.’

Nevertheless, ’democracy’ is the word in the streets. To put it more accurately, ‘democracy is the word in the Opposition Street.’

‘I’M NOT HERE FOR RANIL, I’M HERE FOR DEMOCRACY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE.’ This was a poster or rather sentiments that appeared to be popular at the demonstration in Kollupitiya last week following President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to sack Ranil Wickremesinghe and appoint Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister.

Now democracy does not begin when parliament is dissolved and does not end when results are announced. However, since it’s representation through elections that’s being talked of it is good to think about how democracy has been played (and ignored) over the years.

When the first post-Independence elections were held, the Father of the Nation, so-called, stood at the ballot box with a club in hand ‘to protect democracy’. Intimidation, tampering with ballot-boxes and such became part of the story thereafter. And yet on that occasion and thereafter whenever democracy came under threat or was subverted, the beneficiaries and their loyalists were quiet for the most part. Many have to say ‘sorry’. Indeed it would be possible to come up with a list of the ‘sorrowful’ IF remorse was part of their civic make-up.

Here’s a list, incomplete of course, but let’s call it a collective apology without thinking too much about whether or not the apologetic are still around. [Note: for reasons of space, we will not detail abuse that’s common such as intimidation of voters, violence against opponents, misuse of state resources etc., and we shall leave out the ‘squeaky clean’ gurus of Democracy and Decency in the International Community who are no different from the kinds of people mentioned below. We will not talk of those for whom extrajudicial killing of thousands upon thousands in the eighties was ok. We will not talk of those for whom similar excesses in the North and East during the war against terrorism was ok. We won’t talk of those who uttered not a word when the LTTE blew up buses, trains and carried out suicide attacks on civilians].

‘Those of us who knew of DS Senanayake’s strange notions of democracy and were silent…

‘Those of us who were silent when Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike abused parliamentary numbers and constitutional provisions in 1975 to extend the life of Parliament by two years, are sorry. Democracy, please forgive us.

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, when J.R. Jayewardene and the United National Party promulgated the Second Republican Constitution in 1978 which is widely recognized as being responsible for much of the democratic deficits on account of which there’s been much suffering, are sorry. Democracy, please forgive us. Forgive us also for silence over the skullduggery and horrendous violation of basic democratic principles in the Referendum and Presidential Election of 1982.

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, when the Constitution was amended no less than 16 times during the J.R. Jayewardena years, mostly for partisan reasons, including the 13th Amendment that gave credence to Eelamist myth-modeling among other tragedies…

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, when the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) warned that the first person who dared vote at each polling station in the various elections held in 1988 and 1989 would be shot dead and did in fact shoot hundreds…

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, when the Chandrika Kumaratunga regime orchestrated a move to get Chief Justice Sarath N Silva to facilitate crossovers in Parliament…

‘Those of us who were silent when a group of Parliamentarians crossed over to the UNP in 2001, thereby tilting numbers against the elected government…

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, regarding the flaws of the well-intentioned 17th Amendment in 2001…

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, when the United National Front (UNF) Government of Ranil Wickremesinghe, with the support of President Kumaratunga, bypassed Parliament and the people to sign an agreement with the LTTE in February 2001…

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, President Kumaratunga took over three key ministries and thereby scuttled the UNF Government in 2003…

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, when Mahinda Rajapaksa introduced and got Parliament to pass the patently anti-democracy 18th Amendment in September 2010…

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, in all party elections under constitutions that favored the particular leader, especially that of the United National Party…

‘Those of us who were silent Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, when President Sirisena appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister in January 2015 when, at that time, he commanded a parliamentary strength of only a little over 40…

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, when parliamentarians of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) expressed support to the Yahapalana Government, again in January 2015…

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, when the Yahapalana Government Sirisena and Wickremesinghe in April 2015 promulgated the horrendously flawed 19th Amendment and especially the deliberately vaguely-worded term ‘National Government’ which is at the heart of the current political and constitutional imbroglio…

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, when the Yahapalana Government dissolved Parliament in June 2015 to stop the damning COPE report on the Central Bank bond scam was to be presented to Parliament…

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, when President Sirisena arbitrarily sacked the Secretaries of the SLFP and the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), appointed loyalists in their place and effectively crucified the relevant Central Committees through a court order days before the General Election in 2015…

‘Those of us who were silent, on account of political loyalty, when President Sirisena arbitrarily sacked Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister on October 26, 2018…

‘Those of us who were silent when Ranil Wickremesinghe (on behalf of the UNP) and Maithripala Sirisena (on behalf of the SLFP) postponed local government elections and provincial council elections…

‘All of us, without exception, individually and collectively, are sorry. Sorry, democracy, we have abused your name, we have ranted and raved about you being violated only when we found ourselves at the receiving end of villainy and were silent and indeed not averse to cheering when such violence benefited the camps we belonged to or supported.’

Perhaps every single citizen who has voiced objections in the name of democracy and good governance selectively, can converge on Galle Face Green one of these days, each carrying a placard with the following legend: ‘I ONLY SAY “I’M HERE FOR DEMOCRACY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE, BUT I AM REALLY HERE FOR ’.

Bottom line, if you are serious about democracy, you just cannot be a hypocrite. You can’t be selective. It just sounds stupid.

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Latest comments

  • 12
    2

    Are you suppting this coup then..?.

  • 14
    1

    Malinda Seneviratne

    “One of the better definitions of democracy is that it refers to ‘a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly …………………..”

    There have been and are greta minds pondering about the same question for many millennia yet the debate has not ended. The only honest politician of recent decades in the UK the former MP the late
    Tony Benn thought about it and came up with five fine tests, the Five Essential Questions of Democracy.

    Those in positions of economic, social and political power should always be asked five questions:

    “What power have you got?”

    “Where did you get it from?”

    “In whose interests do you use it?”

    “To whom are you accountable?”

    “How do we get rid of you?”

    The finest question of all is “How do we get rid of you?”

    In this island and in your case these questions do not arise. Alternatively, what is in it for me, when do I get my next allocation of Laptop, …….

    By the way it sucks when you do an alternative Martin Niemöller.

    “Bottom line, if you are serious about democracy, you just cannot be a hypocrite. You can’t be selective. It just sounds stupid.”

    True, this is what we have been trying to tell you in the past many years.

    • 7
      1

      Brilliant response NV.

    • 5
      0

      Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. – George Orwell, 1984 :)))

    • 6
      0

      Malinda dear,
      “we have ranted and raved about you being violated only when we found ourselves at the receiving end of villainy and were silent and indeed not averse to cheering when such violence benefited the camps we belonged to or supported.’”
      You do speak the truth when it suits you. But still, you have failed to point out that even a corrupted democracy is better than a system run by military dictators or bigoted clerics. Or even populist saviours who are experts in window-dressing .
      Anyhow, I would give you 5 out of 10 compared to minus 2 for Dr. DJ..

      • 0
        1

        “Anyhow, I would give you 5 out of 10”

        Thank you old codger

        • 3
          0

          Shankar

          Why have you changed your pseudonym?

    • 2
      0

      Malinda,
      As somebody said:” Democracy is the worst form of governance, except for all the rest”

      • 0
        0

        old codger

        The true test of democracy is whether the government is afraid of the people.If it is not then it is not democracy in its purest form.So care should be taken that the baby is not thrown out with the bathwater, and instead improvements made to the system.

    • 0
      0

      Dear NV, If I may add one more point to your list please

      How you get there in the first place meaning to the hold power/be elected to represent the constituent?………..this process is the most fundamental to the democracy too? where one makes the case for why the electorates should elect them based what is presented in the manifest and what can be delivered as a tangible entity? Bringing precision-clarity-focus to the election process itself our responsibility??

      This issue is clearly captured by Malinda is it not?………most of the elected will be kicked out of the parliament in the first place……to make matters worse we have no job descriptions/no minimum qualifications fir of the profession (political scientist/economist/social worker/project managers/engineers) but allowed a bunch of Lawyers to contest?? Please tell me what are our chances of survival pls. When we are sick would we go to a car mechanic for a solution??

      I personally think this is where all our problems lies and we need to focus on this area – grooming a pool of people suitable for governance without any race/religious/language named political parties as democracy is suppose to empower this kind of mindset/energy/future for human cohabitation peacefully??

      Continued

    • 0
      0

      We are missing the point by light years having elected/appointed someone by flawed/fraud info from the days of inception as the public does not even know they have employed and keep on employing a non related professionals to do a job for them? and to make matters worse we employed not just any tom,dick and harry from the street (yes we did that too in 1977) too but a bunch of lawyers?????? then we wonder why we are buggered.

      Then the same elected another lawyer/Judge to be the NPC Chief minister??……..5 years on and having delivered nothing to the people of Jaffna……..our Honourable Judge started his new carrier with the National question too (amongst some other which need to be addressed urgently indeed) when we have solid waste piling in an open space….no sanitised land fill not even a land fill but an open air version invented in Mountain Kylash?? However the first unthinkable action by NPC delivered was to change the name of the College carried my Fathers name in Karainagar back to ‘Hindu College’…………sure it was an action critical to the TNA composition parties as this name indeed bring terror to them for all the right reasons..history need to be rewritten under democracy too. So I ask too where did we all go during all this events too.

  • 2
    4

    Double standards do exist not only in politics but also in media coverage.
    However, this is the second time the President acted dictatorially in firing an elected Prime Minister who held the majority in the Parliament at the time of his removal.
    Going by the public reaction, I think the general public is more politically mature now than they were in early 2015.
    It is hilarious how those who vehemently criticized the President when he fired UPFA’s D M Jayarante in 2015, using the same path to grab power in 2018.
    I don’t see any difference between UNP and SLFP/JO/SLPP now.
    This is a bad precedent which should not be allowed to repeat.

    • 1
      0

      This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our Comment policy.For more detail see our Comment policy https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/comments-policy-2

    • 3
      1

      Champa ……………………. profession

      “I don’t see any difference between UNP and SLFP/JO/SLPP now.”

      How about National Freedom Front (NFF)?
      NFF is the pet project of Dr Mahinda Rajapaksa.

    • 0
      0

      It is true that DMJ’s sacking was unconstitutional. But imagine DMJ protesting his sacking and not vacating Visumpaya at that time immediately following MR’s defeat.
      .
      DMJ, despite being a veteran politician is not a politician with RW’s caliber and international appeal.
      .
      MS was not the MS we have today with tarnished image.
      .
      RW at that time had a nickname, “Mr. Clean” among many
      .
      Above all, people were desperate for the change, and chase MR and his close-knits away, do you think people would have accepted a PM from MR gang at the time?
      .
      Also, the shock of MR defeat at the time might have overshadowed the unconstitutional sacking of DMJ who did not play any important role other than running to Singapore for cold and fever.
      .
      And DMJ was not cunning enough to turn his sacking into a constitutional crisis even if he had some gut to try ignoring all above conditions. Probably half the people who protest under the pretext of democracy, might want Ranil as PM – Who knows?

    • 2
      0

      Why not test whether the Prime Minister still holds the confidence of the public? The majority in the parliament can be bought, corrupted and are evidently careerists. Why not give the power back to the people?

    • 0
      0

      Dear Chmapa I share my thoughts on your observation and seek clarity too as follows and kindly correct me accordingly thank you and apologies in advance if I misread your intent pls

      I guess you are saying other parties you have not mentioned in your listing above are by principle non violent movements (ahimsa) with a National question manifestoes got elected by popular voting since 1977 with democracy as their motto and they are not the cause of the problems we have today?

      When their opponents are removed violently/killed systamatically, voters/electorates got threatened, intimidated, bullied on their way to a parliamentary seat unchecked by the system for the past 40 years you note the following – they did not condone the killing/did not write articles expressing concern of the murders of their opposition/did not notify the election campaign irregularities to the system, did not attend the funerals, in fact attending and building statues for the killers, encouraging no natural death for those who worked with the governments in their official party news papers, did not insist on investigations and justice for the victims, their families, constituents, joined hands with the armed movements from both sides collectively try to overthrow GOSL ever since………collectively responsible for the killing of many politicians/public/head of states/armed forces now you want us to believe they are the custodians of the democracy we have?? All this was made possible through foreign countries involvement too?? Seriously expect me to accept you analogy…..I do have certain sympathy for the Tamil and Sinhala youths fell pray to this conspiracy by many parties (however I wish they did something more useful for our nation instead made us all bleed forever) as I feel sorry for their deaths/suffering too.

      continued….

    • 0
      0

      We are today questioning those who held onto any resemblance of a democracy in this environment would normally be respected for their resilience by the world?? When that is not the case you know the geo political love for our Nation?? I wonder what our Nation would look like if those national question parties and the JVP had their way?? Does anyone think we be ok??

      My case is not to say we had no problems nor is to justify any crimes by anyone in a developing Nation contrary is true the solutions offered by this grouping has contributed to our downfall is the point is being made please. The repercussions/ripples effects will take a long time to settle out? only if we do not keep disturbing the pot? hence we all forgive each other is a must??

      The current situation does not require Democracy nor the riotousness of the said acts are constitutional or not rather this requires all the parties to sit together and come up with a ‘Master Plan’ for the Nation Building Activity.

      Lock the parliament doors and demand answers while we all sit vigil outside the parliament until we get what we want from those whom we employed to deliver the Nation Building blue print/strategies……….

      continued

    • 0
      0

      No selective war crime investigations (unless we want all to be investigated then we can call the entire Nation the largest prison camp in the world) but a Truth and Reconciliation can tell the world what we need to hear/kmow……..most of the countries who helped all parties to kill each other also can stand in the same dock in Sri Lanka and explain the same to the UN and compensate us accordingly by writing off all Mother Lankan debt too. Finally the UN can explain the matters to herself too would bring justice not only to Sri Lanka but also to the entire planet of ours too.

      Finally I wonder why TNA and JVP were put together as an opposition or rather they found themselves in this predicament by accident or by fate?? does not this tell you something regards to justice too?

      All the parties and the foreign governments all slept together at some point in the past 70 years (without the consent of the nation is the blatant abuse of the constitution too) playing high level stakes/bridge/chess at the expense of the Mother Lankan Children can get their justice at the Truth and Reconciliation as this truth and reconciliation is not about Tamil vs Sinhala but will be about right vs wrong….applies to the entire world……….in this process I will also get the justice I seek for my Father too and is the same for each and every family across Mother Lanka too.

      We have been just fire fighting all the causes and effect for a long time and this need to stop to save the Nationhood. May be a one party (all join together) rule for another 20 years with a Master Plan agreed by all in advance….and no other elections in the country until then??
      Thank you

  • 19
    6

    Malinda, you are a gutless, boneless, spineless, heartless piece of crap. You pop up like a slimy, eely, eerie weasel mouthing and spouting wishy washy putrid jargon. We dont see you in the forefront of protest anywhere. You are spunkless. You can only hide behind your keyboard jabbing and prodding at those jaded buttons to release the constipation in your wrinkled balls. What the heck are you here for anyway? What have you ever been vocal about? What or who do you up stand for?

    • 0
      3

      Craig you sound so passionate like a jilted lover.
      very hurt

    • 6
      1

      Well said Craig. let me add a few more words to it. Malinda, Pi** off you D**k Head.

      • 0
        0

        same to you MR.Coward anonymous

  • 16
    3

    Malinda,

    You say in Sri Lanka political “candidacy is not a squeaky clean matter. ….”

    How about your Sri Lankan journalism? ….. .
    I call it “gutter” or “cesspit” journalism.
    Are you squeaky clean? Didn’t you forget the Laptops and other bribes you accepted from MaRa in return for the garbage you have written supporting the rouge clan from Medamulana.

    Don’t prostitute the name of Malcolm X to justify your illegitimate claims. Malcom X’s statement may be valid in the context of his struggle as a black American that time. If you extoll such statements in the context of your corrupted political culture, I don’t see anything wrong with Prabakaran and his statements.

    You are such a blabbed mouth and a garrulous tongue wager. Shame on you man.

  • 2
    0

    This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our Comment policy.For more detail see our Comment policy https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/comments-policy-2

  • 0
    0

    This is a crap Article Malinda. You have a responsibility inform the people. Instead, you use the western style of Journalism. Just use it to fatten your accountr. So, if you become a politician which you really like, that will be a disaster to the country. SEe MODI, He is not educated. Yet his country, after his programs is developing. He is supposed to be elected to a second term. See the stupid Moron Ranil how many times he failed. His only escape is a minority and the western embassies and their spy agencies. Maithripala
    Sirisena is late. Yet we can understand the considering the enemies he had. I hope at least now, Mahinda Rajapakse thinks sart and only his family and his henchmen and women.

  • 0
    0

    Sri lanka does not have democracy. It is exploiting the public and bending to the west abdlet them exploit the country’s resources. When a handful of 225 decides everything for the country, how come it becomes a democracy. You people are writing for your own sake.

  • 2
    1

    you can add one more line
    those of us who remained silent when the 6th amendment(?) put a curb on articulation of tamil political aspirations for an independent country
    what happened to freedom of speech, democracy warriors or even to their critics like malinda?
    in sri lanka, it is ethnocracy – not a democracy for tamil inhabitants in the north and east

  • 3
    0

    Are younger or older brother of DJ? Man you people turn and twist the words to con all and sundry. You said the US is not electing but select the president. This itself shows your stupidity. and the shallow understanding of the US system. Reason for this is to give equal weight and representation for the smaller states when electing the president.

  • 0
    0

    So Malinda our Harvard man I have to ask you this, did you by chance read the 19th amendment when gazzeted, I did not and I now see how stupidly drafted it is.

  • 4
    1

    Malinda, your brain is in your bum. It has been there for a long time

    • 3
      0

      Ayyo Sirisena
      -.
      “Malinda, your brain is in your bum. It has been there for a long time”

      Are you sure it is in Malinda’s bum?
      However we were led to believe it was in HLD M’s ….

  • 2
    0

    Malinda
    Thank you for reminding the problems faced by the Srilankan politics in the past.
    You remind me of proverb “Blood is thicker than water”. It feels alright for you to sing hosannas for your leader. But, please don’t insult those great leaders of democracy by undermining the current context of Srilankan politics.

    • 3
      0

      Ken Robert

      “But, please don’t insult those great leaders of democracy by undermining the current context of Srilankan politics.”

      If he doesn’t where would he go for a new laptop?

  • 0
    3

    Reading comments on CT on this article and many others, it looks like we have got political leaders we deserve. Is the CT a trash can for personal vitriol? Don’t we have the ability to post comments that are at least remotely constructive? The current political impasse has brought to the open the gradual degradation of our democracy. Malinda’s thrust seems to be that. Power and money seems to be what is a priority for many politicians and not the welfare of the present and future generations. For all those who are firing all their shots at MS, who incidentally deserves some of them, shouldn’t we ask why RW has not sought an opinion from the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of what the President did?

  • 0
    4

    So many butthurt kalu suddo.

    • 3
      0

      Indi

      Of course Malinda looks like a South Indian Villain actor, dark and looking stupid, however it does not warrant your insult.

  • 6
    0

    I ONLY SAY “I’M A JOURNALIST, WRITER & POET,” BUT I AM REALLY A BUM-SUCKER OF PHONEY SINHALA-BUDDHIST NATIONALISTS AND FAKE PATRIOTS.

  • 2
    1

    Dear Malinda

    A very good listing indeed for our reference/Lessons learned. Each and everyone of us can modify/add/revise as required for our analysis too. Listing speaks for itself. Thank you.

    NV ‘s comment on Mr Benn I agree as this man stood for human decency in the British Parliament and did that mindfully and consistently all his life. Fact based discussions/walking dictionary/records all events in his diary and never about winning an argument for point scoring purposes/never shy away from cameras, opportunity to go on the air, explain all questions to his constituents and others like, more than anything always accessible to people. Always stood for his principles with empathy. We should give all our polticians a short course on Tony Benn not for the politics/beliefs nor as a patronising statement but for quality assurance/quality control purposes/what serving people means and effectively this can done too.

  • 4
    0

    Malinda, just one laptop (hopefully) and you can see the repercussions. So if you are serious about Journalism, you just cannot be a hypocrite.

  • 6
    0

    Malinda Sahodaraya,
    It is with deep sorrow and heart ache that I pen these words. Being a Sinhalese myself, I must admit that “සිංහල මෝඩයො ගොන් හරක්! ලංකාවේ මිනිසුන්ට දේශපාලන වහල් බවෙන් මිදෙන්න තව කල් යයි. එතකන් ලංකාවට අබ සරණයි”. Translated in English, the unwise Sinhalese are like cattle. Resulting from our backwardness, the Sri Lankan people will take a long time to emancipate from this political slavery. Until that times dawns upon us, Sri Lanka will be a nation in decline or in self-destruction.

  • 2
    1

    The worst curse of dictatorship is when the laptop donated to suppress free media (It is the axe donated for Modaya Journos to cut their hands) is being used, your past life Karma or sin settle on you to read it. Malinda says that he can’t split the essay in two or three parts and write in explanatory. So anything he listed as undemocratic, he wants to you to accept them as tenets without a protest. Is that the way Hiru, Derena works in Lankawe?
    Extending elected term by techniques does not end the democracy; but it hurts democracy. Sirimavo JR and extended their terms. Chandrika and Old King conducted the election in an unwanted manner and lost their terms length. Those too hurt the democracy, though they didn’t directly violate the constitution. In January 2015, the SLFP Chairman New King made an unwritten National Unity Government with UNP Chairman Ranil. As Malinda has difficulty to read the 1978 constitution, he holds it as constitutional violation and death to democracy. Later by September 2015, New King and Ranil came up with the constitutionally recognized National Unity government. As soon as he was released, the man, who signed the custom papers to Narcotic import, left the politics. Nimal Siripala de Silva accepted the leadership for SLFP in the parliament. Like now Sampanthar always votes for Ranil, Nimal voted that time to Ranil. So far, never Nimal has claimed it was undemocratic that he was not given the PM position, in those days. Unlike the Constitutional Lawyer Malinda, Nimal did know how the constitution worked that time.
    The simple definition of democracy is “People ruling themselves”. They implement it with two elements. 1). Prewritten constitution to delicate the Sovereignty. 2) Properly conducted election to elect reps to receive and govern. Violation of either one on those two will give rise to undemocratic action.

  • 1
    1

    Under all circumstances we jump to compare all deeds of elected representatives to Westminster, Washington or French constitutions or to their customs. But, unfortunately, though they are very good and long established yard sticks, Lankawe democracy is not defined in their constitutions. Beyond the internal constitution and election, for last the 75 years, a country’s democracy is guided, nurtured and upheld by UN actions. These include its supporting organizations like in Human Right, Education , Children & Women, economy, health…….and is conventions, accords, ICC, R2P, Peacekeepers. This makes our simple definition “People ruling themselves” and any other more broad definitions based on that principle drastically inadequate. So the modern, practical democracy is about people ruling themselves, accepting certain established principles which guiding their governance. Unlike Lankaweyan understand, under those maxims, Majoritarianism is not democracy.
    Unlike Malinda’s limit, 1500, as our limit is 300 words, we have to be more concise than him. So we will not individually examining each element list by Malinda, but will dismiss them in whole as only rubbish, as they are. In the past few days, Colombo Media repeatedly called Oct,26th as the first constitutional coup, sacking a legitimate PM Ranil and appointing an illiterate PM, Old King. Our usage of illegitimate does not denote, Lasantha’s, Thajudeen’s Eknaligoda’s, Jeyamanne’s etc’s deaths or OISL report listing the names of 42 as war criminals or another one of the many crimes now pending in the court system against Old Royals, but just the constitutional violation of appointing a PM over and above the sitting one. The fact of two PMs existed at one time in Lankawe history is nothing but hijack of democracy- comparable to nothing else in the past in Lankawe or elsewhere in the world. There was an option to Speaker, Karu to act like Boris Yeltsin; in order to save those who were criminally acted, Karu pretended like he needed permission through the constitution to break that coup.

  • 2
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    This reversal from democracy, unlike the Colombo Media portrays, did not just happened on October 26th. It was brewing minimum, as early as 1541, when Bhuvanekabãhu VII sent Dom Juan’s stature to Portugal to be crowned there. With that in arrangement, Dharmapala married a Portuguese servant girl in order the Portuguese legally ascent to the kingdom, Kotte. Dharmapala adopted his wife’s religion. In 1619, Kotte sent 6000 Sinhala mercenary troops to capture Jaffna and hand over to Portuguese. In 1813 Ehelepola Captured Kandy from Tamils and handed over to British Whites. Then they signed Kandyan Accord and handed over the Kingdom. Noticing the Sinhala community’s inability to understand its sovereignty, 1931 Educated Tamils opposed the Universal Franchise for Ceylon. But Britain decided to go ahead with its decision, hoping to get Trinco harbor in exchange for that. 1948 Britain allowed the Sovereignty of Tamils assimilated by Sinhalese. Then step by step Wild life Sanctuary SinhaLE descended to dictatorship:
    1). immediately after freedom, the dictator Don Stephen removed Tamils’ voting rights.
    2).Then he brought MMDA to enslave Muslim Women.
    3). SWRD took away the Tamils, rights to work in Ceylon.
    4).Sirimavo brought Sinhala Buddhist Constitution.
    5). She took away Tamils rights to study.
    6).JR brought the dictator Constitution and impeached Opposition leader.
    7).Then he brought 6th Amendment to take away Tamils freedom of expression.
    8).Old King brought the 18A to make him emperor of Lankawe.
    9). Ranil brought the 19A to share the Monarchy powers to him too.
    10).The only next logical step is to remove the PM illegally and suspend Parliament.
    The Laptop Journalism has kept the Sinhala Buddhist in that dark. Like the Journalists cut their own hands with the axe (laptop) given to them, The Modaya voters cut their hands with the axe (Biriyani & Arrack) given to them. Though they conceived the egg in 1541, last few decades, the Laptop journalists arrived to them as the catalyst for Modayas to incubate and hatch them the dictatorship.

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    Sleezy Fake News Journalist , we know you get high daily by other means and democrazy is last on the list. What about booze, weed, money, sex , power, lap top and others.

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    There is another article by Lakmal in CT about prostitutes and clowns. Go and read . Just not read, try to understand, if cant ask for help , knowing you if no one has patience or willing contact me. After registering and understanding give time to think on it and then come back to CT any give your opinion. If not SHUT THE _ _ _ _ UP.

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    Beautifully said Malinda, beautifully said

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    Malinda Seniviratne has written a political speech. If delivered in the vernacular, it will be well received by a certain section of the community.

    The version of ‘democracy’, which successive governments subscribed to, is based on “The majority has it all. The minorities are second-class”. The governments of the time stressed this through pogroms against the minorities. We have to our dismay found that this interpretation is wrong. Malinda throws in a few garnishes with mention of LTTE etc.
    These are past use-by dates. Selective mention of ‘brutality’ committed by one side is flawed journalism.
    .
    We have entered a dangerous era which many feel is a crisis which has the hall marks of a coup d’état. Should our journalists selfie this?

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    Malinda, your own words are eerily self-descriptive – “Bottom line, if you are serious about democracy, you just cannot be a hypocrite. You can’t be selective. It just sounds stupid.”

    Like looking in the mirror, right?!!

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    Malinda the FAKE, didnt I call you out. You already new about the parliament being dissolved. You were told by your pay masters to write these kind of crap. So you obliged. You must be having splitting headache from yesterdays hang over yet laughing on your way to cash your dole. The other perks and the laptop which was promised should get to you by next week.Job well done.(not bad for one days work)

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    Dear Malinda kindly consider
    Have a graph plotted and updated regularly with all critical junctures in our journey with some emphasis on the following – (1) Post Independent (2) 1948 to 1970 (3) 1970 – 1977 (4) 1977 elections to 2009 (5) 2009 to 2018 vs number of SL died helplessley vs Time. Add notes to the graph the national/international political events and all our evil deeds to ourselves and the evil deeds to us by other Nations too training and arming our children. Separate plot for the injured and traumatised, a separate one for the displaced, a separate one for the refugees who emigrated be it for safety or economical too please.
    Encourage/Include factual investigation of the absurd crimes Tamil vs Tamil, Sinhala vs Sinhala, Sinhala vs Tamil, Foreign vs SL will lead us to a set of conclusions to show beyond any doubt that we are a very sick people from North to South.
    The Majority who wanted to be left alone to go through the process of the hardship to get there as a Nation and the Minority who have squandered all that belongs to the Majority through thuggery. This has no language/religious/race/cast lines but the same minority has used this very effectively with the connivance with the help of the International criminals to create what we have today a weakened Nation where every family lost someone in the process???
    Please present this graph to the UN members please. Create a website and let all 7 billion people around the world access this absurdity in SL.
    I do not have access to exact data and may be some one with access to this kind info can start a priliminary plot with foot notes then we can all chip in to review/update/comment/learn etc.

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