By Jehan Perera –
Jehan Perera
The government set the stage for the drafting of a new constitution when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe presented a resolution to Parliament on January 9 that would convene it as a constitutional assembly. The timing was symbolically important as this was the date that marked the commencement of President Maithripala Sirisena’s second year in office. President Sirisena was also in Parliament to make a special address to Parliament. The president’s commitment to stripping himself of the extraordinary powers of the presidency from the very beginning of his first term is without parallel in modern history. Within five months of his presidential election victory he ensured the passage of the 19th Amendment which, as a first step, reduced the powers of the presidency which he would henceforth wield. Now with the convening of parliament as a constitutional assembly he is paving the way for the total abolition of the office he holds.
It is significant that the government did not press for a vote on the resolution that sets up parliament to be a constitutional assembly. Instead it heeded the views expressed by those in the opposition who wished to make amendments to the resolution presented by the prime minister. Constitutional reforms of the past were driven by governments that excluded those who were from the opposition, either purposely or because the opposition refused to cooperate. The past constitutional reforms were partisan exercises by the ruling party, both to impose their visions of the future as well as to gain petty advantages even while claiming they were engaging in reform in the national interest. However, this time around the government is trying to make the constitutional reform process to be a consensual one. Most areas of reform are indeed ones on which there is a great deal of national consensus.
The willingness of the opposition, which is greatly outnumbered in parliament, to present its amendments to the resolution presented by the prime minister is a welcome sign of participation in the constitutional reform process. Hopefully this will continue, and so will the government’s responsiveness to it, so that the process will be inclusive and less susceptible to being denounced at a later time as being partisan. The polarization of politics in many parts of the world has been responsible for the failure of many societies, including Sri Lanka, to fail to resolve their fundamental problems. Sri Lanka has seen two episodes of insurrection based on political ideology by those who felt themselves excluded from the mainstream of society. It also saw a protracted internal war due to ethnic-based rebellion by those who saw themselves excluded from the decision making processes that affected their lives. The government’s determination to include all political parties in its constitutional reforms is commendable this context.
Consultation Process
The current initiative in constitutional reform is meant to address a multiplicity of problems that have beset the country. These include the over-powerful presidency, the abuse of power and impunity that flowed from it, the distancing that took place between the votes and MPs due to the use of the district as the constituency, the infighting within political party members themselves in the competition for preference votes and the subordination of the judiciary and other branches of government to the executive. In addition, the need for constitutional reform has arisen due to the need to find a long lasting solution to the ethnic conflict and the issues that have arisen from the resolution of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The government’s decision to co-sponsor the Geneva resolution enabled it to broaden its focus, so that it would not be simply limited to the issue of war crimes. The UNHRC resolution has many other things in it as well, such as implementing better the 13th Amendment and devolution, returning land and restoring livelihoods and economic normalcy to the lives of the war affected. It also includes compensation and institutional reform that would ensure non-recurrence of war and violence in the form it took. A key component of the Geneva resolution is to ensure that there is no recurrence of the type of human rights violations and violence that took place for three decades. However, the government has only outlined its position on these issues. At the present time it is seeking to engage with the public as its report back time to the UN Human Rights Council is less than three months away.
Accordingly the government has put into motion two important public consultation processes. One is for constitutional reform. The other is in respect of the Geneva resolution. Those who have been appointed to lead these consultation processes have been provided with considerable leeway to obtain the views of the general public. This is in contrast to the previous constitutional reform process that took place in the period between 1996 when the “devolution package” made its appearance and the presentation of the constitutional bill to parliament in 2000. The government’s devolution package was a detailed and precise document which the government of the day took responsibility for. It sought to present this package to the people and win their acceptance for it. A special unit was set up for this called the National Integration Programme Unit which was staffed by leading academics and activists who operated under the government.
Unprecedented Alliance
However, the government at that time was not able to get the support of the opposition parties. The war with the LTTE was raging, and the Tamil political parties were eclipsed by the LTTE and living in fear of it. The LTTE assassinated one of the co-architects of the devolution package, Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam, who belonged to the largest Tamil political party, the TULF. The absence of Tamil representatives in the constitutional reform process affected the credibility of the negotiation process regarding devolution and the larger constitution that it was nested within. The government’s eventual failure to obtain the support of the opposition UNP proved fatal to the proposed constitution which was burnt in parliament when it made its presence as a constitutional bill. On the other hand, the most unique feature in today’s government is the unprecedented alliance between the UNP and SLFP, which have been traditional rivals.
The manner in which President Sirisena won the presidential election as the joint opposition candidate in which the UNP was the leading force has much do with the nature of the present alliance. Although the presidency is a very powerful institution, President Sirisena has been mindful of the voters who gave him the victory. At the same time the UNP leadership is aware that if not for President Sirisena becoming the joint opposition candidate it is unlikely that the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa could have been defeated. This recognition underlies the mutual respect that President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have for each other. The President and Prime Minister have also taken care not to become political rivals.
The unity of the government is important for the unity of the country. The great challenge that Sri Lanka faces is to resolve its long standing ethnic conflict and find a lasting political solution so that the diversity in Sri Lanka can become its strength and not its fatal weakness. The issue of power sharing between the different ethnic and religious communities who, together, constitute the Sri Lankan nation is a key issue. There are wide differences on this count in the polity. Buddhist leaders belonging to the Buddha Sasana Karya Sadaka Mandalaya (SKSM) have issued a statement calling for the new constitution to ensure the foremost place of Buddhism and the unitary character of the constitution. In the north, the Tamil People’s Council headed by Northern Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran is preparing a document that calls for a federal constitutional arrangement. But the fact that the government is a national unity government, and has the two main parties within it provides an unprecedented opportunity for consensual decision making.
Saman Adikari / January 11, 2016
New Constitutional proposed by UNP led Christian fundamentalist of Ranil.W… want to dismantle Unitary state of Sri lanka by granting New Political Package to please LTTE and TNA that wish of US, Norway Anglo Saxon of England and Indian -RAW.
UNP-Ranil.W….of Rightwing ultra Neo-liberalist and CBK-Tamil decent form generations is behind politically motivated to be split our nation for; One for Tamil Rough State in North and Other for Non Tamils be minority in island other part of Sri lanka.
New constitutional changes proposed by Christian Churches and class of Colombo center handful Western oriented Christian families(UNP +SLFP+ TNA+JVP+MC), including that writer peculiar attitude is to be explained by new conditions of constitutional development and changes into vested interest of Neo-liberal capitalism in Sri lanka; and by current changes NOT a requirement of sustanabilile of capitalism at this stage of its economic development.
New changes of Republic of SL will created NEW WAR Conditions between North Tamil Eealm regime & south centered Government by New political agenda of Norway was drafted package of devolution by US and Anglo-Saxon supervision. The separated of Island is key political package of US and Norway has been proposed.
All in all the leadership Ranil.WWW…of UNP click, SLFP- CBK rightwing gang and Separatist of TNA political class , LTTE-of Tamil diasporas are stand for New power devolution and officially partition land of Sri lanka by between Tamil Muslim and Sinhalese races .
This created New Chauvinist and communalist line of Island politics by weaken power of center state of national securities had been undermined Unitary state more than 2600 years since exist of ours uninterrupted civilization Buddhist base… The whole people an opposed to new changes of constitutional by force for our land.
Their slow adaptation of new colonialism ,which would be painful for majority democracy of population. This is restoration of old forms war pattern of comprador bourgeoisie rule since 1977 of UNP-JRJ policies of politics of anti-people movement.
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AVB / January 11, 2016
A person with a name “Adikari” calls CBK as Tamil decent from generation, is it a joke or a compliment ? When would “Adikaris” understand Western Chrisrtianity and Indian Budhism are the same foreign elements in island Lanka?
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Keynes! / January 12, 2016
I swear I saw the name Saman Adikari when reading the Silappatikaram.
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The Messenger / January 11, 2016
It is due to people like Saman Adikari, we had a 30 years’ war.
Throughout the entire known history (accept once during Dutugemunu’s period), this pear shaped island had never been a unitary state. It was always a Northern kingdom (Anuradapura) and a Southern kingdom (Rohana), or Kotte/Jaffna/Kandy kingdoms (Ruhunu/ Pihiti/Maya) or the federal Provinces under the colonials. Even after the European colonialists (Portuguese, Dutch and British) arrived, until the British united the Tamil speaking North to the Sinhala speaking South in 1833 for their convenience in administration, the Tamil speaking areas remained a federal region.
Those who are talking about a unitary state should ask themselves what the country gained by introducing them in the constitution. It only created a war that destroyed the country and its people for 30 long years.
It is not the matter of winning the war, what created the war and how much destruction it caused, how much it cost in terms of lives is what we should ask.
Will the extremist Sinhalese and Tamil politicians create a similar situation again is a big question. Unlike in the past, now we have an additional factor, the Tamil Diaspora and the West to interfere and therefore it is not a domestic issue anymore. Maithree-Ranil and Sambandan-Sumandiran seems to be very moderate and accommodating but what about others.
Will there be a solution to the burning national question or will there be another call for separation and the country ending up like ‘Kosovo’, ‘South Sudan’, ‘East Timor’ and ‘Montenegro’, the nations that have come into being in recent years following the United Nations` intervention and referendums.
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Native Vedda / January 12, 2016
The Messenger
“Throughout the entire known history (accept once during Dutugemunu’s period), this pear shaped island had never been a unitary state.”
There is no evidence to suggest Dutugemunu ever ruled the entire island.
“Will there be a solution to the burning national question”
Under smart ass patriotism of Dayan and boiling Sinha Le the least we could do is to stop arson attacks on libraries, Mosques, Businesses, Homes, Churches, Temples, ……….
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Keynes! / January 12, 2016
Saman Adikari,
“2600 years since exist of ours uninterrupted civilization Buddhist base”
Why, then, did Upali Thera have to travel all the way from Siam to perform upasampada?
Apologies for interrupting!
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KA Sumanasekera / January 11, 2016
Batalanda Ranil ridiculed his beloved uncle who put the current one in place, although this constitution has served the Nation well for the last 10 years,
In fact it was the best 10 years since Independence.
The nation was saved from Tamil Terrorism which took care of half of the post Independent period.
Per Capita GDP rose to just under USD 4000 from a miserable 1000 bucks which the Whisky Madam left.
One has to be a Tiger or a Tiger sympathizer not to acknowledge it.
As UNP Wijedasa described the other day about the intellectual ability of the Rtd Field Marshall who nearly became the first Yahapalana President on the UNP Elephant, most of these 225 can be put in to the same category.
And Batalanda hired the whole lot to write the new one.And given each a copy of the old one..
Uncle Junius and Professor Peiris have done a marvellous job which these halfwits will struggle to read let alone make it better.
All Batalanda and Bodhi Sira got to do is just find room in between the clauses to fit in the
* Federal Homeland for Sambnadan .
* Downgrade Buddhism, and
* Castrate the Command Structure of the current Forces , the War Winning Army in particular.
With unlimited support and resources from the West, lead by UNP London and Suren Surendran who cover both, the Vellala and Elite bases overseas, Batalanda and Bodhi Sira may pull it off.
But how to con the South afterwards is going to be the big problem.
Considering the fact that Bodhi Sira and Batalanda Ranil both are vying for the big Executive PM post at the next Election..
Smart money will be on Batalanda Ranil, even if Abiththaya’s Mrgapolis gets 100, in addition to the current Colombo seats.
Because our Dalits in Federal South wouldn’t want to have a bar of them….
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Native Vedda / January 12, 2016
KASm,aalam KA Sumanasekera
“although this constitution has served the Nation well for the last 10 years,”
You mean country and clan are one and the same as Wimal would want us to believe ” Mahinda is not a name, Mahinda is a country!”.
I believe you remember the period between 1987 and 1991 when JVP’s Sinhala/Buddhist terrorism was expunged by applying state terrorism, the 1978 constitution and PTA served well.
“Uncle Junius and Professor Peiris have done a marvellous job which these halfwits will struggle to read let alone make it better.”
Indeed, he did well, J, R. Jayewardene likened himself to Emperor Bokassa, marched from Kelania to Kandy to force SWRD to abrogate Banda Chelva pact.
He served well when he said:
“I am not worried about the opinion of the Tamil people… now we cannot think of them, not about their lives or their opinion… the more you put pressure in the north, the happier the Sinhala people will be here… Really if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy.”
J.R.Jayawardene, Former President of Sri Lanka – Daily Telegraph, 11th July 1983
Keep celebrating, JR, SWRD, MR, Cyril Mathew, Dutta Gamini junior, …… Wimal, ….. the country will march on its stomach.
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sinhala_voice / January 12, 2016
The day we find you native veddah you will be very sorry
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Lankan / January 12, 2016
sinhala_voice,
“The day we find you native veddah you will be very sorry”
Who do you mean by ‘we’?
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Native Vedda / January 13, 2016
sinha lame noise
“The day we find you native veddah you will be very sorry”
Please stop tickling me.
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KA Sumanasekera / January 12, 2016
Dear Native,
Thanks for bringing me up to speed with Uncle Junius, because I wasn’t there then.
He seems to be a real Deshapremi unlike his Nephew who couldn’t win even a chook raffle , until the Horogolla Waluwa Madam and her servant won the Govt for him.
Junius’s genius not only saved our Dalits from Prince Kumara’s party but also from Prabakarn’s Thamil Terrorists.
Wonder what will happen to the nation, without uncle Junius’s scrolls, if Pirahaparan does a Lazarus.
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Lankan / January 12, 2016
Sumanasekara,
Let us see you accept one teensy weensy
bit of criticism against the Medamulana clan,
and then you might be taken a bit more seriously!
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Lankan / January 12, 2016
Sumanasekara,
“Batalanda Ranil ridiculed his beloved uncle who put the current one in place, although this constitution has served the Nation well for the last 10 years, “
You claim to be the champion of the welfare of ‘dalits’
But we all know that you are the champion of the corrupt and crooked
Rajapaksas and their henchman…served the gang of thieves well indeed!
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KA Sumanasekera / January 12, 2016
Lankan,
I do champion the right to a decent life for the Dalits.
Rajapaksa is the only President who has done some good for the livelihoods of Dalits, besides saving them from Terrorists.
And there is tangible evidence ..
It is a pity you blokes have a memory lapse..
Did you go to watch Englesiass ?..
What has Yahapalanaya given Dalits for the last 12 Months?.
Only Koththamalli & Thalana Battu at reduced prices.
Cabbage , Carrots and Butter Beans are all up , because that 50 Acre Vege patch of the Thamil Businessman in Nuwara Eliya didn’t yield a good crop.
Wonder how many Vege acres our Yahaplana suckers in the South have, let alone the Dalits.
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Lankan / January 12, 2016
You poor deluded soul!
No wonder Lanka is not so ‘Sri’.
There’s too many of your ilk messing things up (for the common man, not
the ruling clans of course)
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Keynes! / January 12, 2016
K.A. Sumanasekera,
“Per Capita GDP rose to just under USD 4000 from a miserable 1000 bucks which the Whisky Madam left. One has to be a Tiger or a Tiger sympathizer not to acknowledge it.”
Only a paper tiger can come to such a conclusion. See Krugman’s article titled The Myth of Asia’s Miracle on Foreign Affairs.
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Native Vedda / January 12, 2016
Keynes!
“Only a paper tiger can come to such a conclusion. See Krugman’s article titled The Myth of Asia’s Miracle on Foreign Affairs.”
After China, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka is best at “creative accounting”.
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KA Sumanasekera / January 13, 2016
Dear Native,
I think it is best for you to barrack for Yahapalanaya and leave the Economics, Development, Balance of Payments,and Per Capita GDP to people who care about the poor , unemployed, sick and other vulnerable people.
BTW are you from the Diaspora in Belgium?..
Because the other person who wanted to park his cool cash in Lankan banks was one Rajaretnam from Wall Street.
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Rohan / January 11, 2016
President should accelerate the processes now.
The Constitution should take shape. It cannot move in a snail pace.
The rogues, extortionists, criminals, fraudsters, murderers and all should be taken to Courts.
The injustices should be looked at and justified, mainly the concerns of the minorities.
Can he do them all?
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The Messenger / January 11, 2016
Both Buddhism and Hinduism should be given the foremost place in Sri Lanka. Both Islam and Christianity are new to the country, it is too early to consider them at this moment.
Buddhism and Hinduism/Brahmanism are the two main religions that existed and flourished in Sri Lanka from the very early period. The Buddhist archaeological sites in the Tamil speaking North & East, or the Hindu archaeological sites in the Sinhala speaking south are not strange phenomena in the island. Even today, if we visit any Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka, there is always a Hindu Devale/temple with Hindu Gods inside the Buddhist temple. Many Sinhalese, whether Buddhist or Christian, are still practicing Hindu religious traditions openly. If you go to the Hindu temples like Kataragama, Munneswaram, Koneswaram, you find more Sinhala devotees than Tamil. Majority of Sinhalese in Sri Lanka practice a Buddhist-Hindu culture.
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AVB / January 11, 2016
What you says here is very obvious and simple truth about Hindhu-Buddhist culture and values we all have . Why most of us can’t see these simple facts..
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Keynes! / January 12, 2016
The Messenger,
“Both Islam and Christianity are new to the country”
The three main Nikayas in Sri Lanka and their dates of establishment are:
Siam Nikaya – 1753
Amarapura Nikaya – 1800
Ramanna Nikaya – 1864
Many Muslims trace their ancestry to Arab traders who came here in the 8th century.
It seems like Islam came here before Buddhism.
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Vibhushana / January 12, 2016
Hello Keynes,
The Nikayas were established by last Monarch of Ceylon. The Theravadha tradition existed only in the hands of lay people.
The reason was primarily the incredibly brutal and far reaching destruction following Kalinga Magha circa 10ce.
The Theravadha tradition begain in 307 BC with Devampiyatissa.
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Keynes! / January 13, 2016
Kalinga Magha’s reign ended in the 13th century. How come it took another five centuries for the Upasampada to be performed?
Records also indicate that Kalinga Magha’s influence extended only to Puttalam and Gampola in the hills. The south was free of his reign. Why couldn’t the south continue with maintaining the Buddhist order?
Vijayabahu III, a patriotic Prince of Sinhala Royal blood, ruled from Dambadeniya from 1220 onward. Indeed, a long line of illustrious Sinhala kings of Royal blood ruled until 1739. If Buddhism was so important to the Sinhalese, why couldn’t successive kings resurrect it?
The establishment of the Siam Nikaya was because of caste politics among the Kandyan aristocracy and not because the Kandyans longed for it.
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Vibhushana / January 13, 2016
Buddhism took a hit during Kalinga but was resurrected during Dambadeniya period.
The Upasampada tradition was lost for 200 years during Portugese and Dutch occupation. It still continued with lay teachers.
“Siam” in Siam Nikaya indicates its Thai origins. The caste system had made a presence with South Indian kings.
The Nikaya’s had to retrofit itself into a society coloured by South Indian influences – hence caste influences of the Nikayas.
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Keynes! / January 14, 2016
The Portuguese and the Dutch occupied only the maritime provinces.
If invasion, colonialism and South Indian tradition reconstituted tradition, should we not do a careful reading of the earlier tradition (or rather, traditions) that was the object of transformation?
Your inference that an essentially stable, monolithic, traditional Theravada Buddhism existed prior to interregnums and watersheds, of your choice, is pure drama.
The Hobsbawmian concept of the invention of tradition may prove useful in explaining Vibhushana’s line of argument. He invents… and reinvents!
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Vibhushana / January 14, 2016
Sorry, I should have left a reference!
Even I wasn’t sure about the subject matter. That is why I had to look it up myself.
The info I provided is from The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia: Volume 1, From Early Times to C.1800 – (Page 562, 3 para).
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Keynes! / January 17, 2016
Vibhushan,
I am surprised that you had to refer to a document. I thought you had first hand experience given your samsaric commute through time for thousands and thousands of years!
So, tell us what it was like in the old days!
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The Messenger / January 13, 2016
Keynes!
Not only Sinhalese and Tamils but even Veddas worship the Kataragama God Murugan at the ancient Hindu temple in Kataragama. Mahavamsa says, before going to war (against Elara), King DutuGemunu went to Kataragama temple to get blessings.
On the other hand, even today if you go to the ancient Naga Vihara Buddhist temple in Jaffna town (not the Nagadveepa), you will be able to see some locals (Tamils) worship the Buddha/Dagoba, it is a practice among some Tamils.
Whenever the archeologists excavate in any part of Sri Lanka they get only Buddhist and Hindu statues and artifacts and NOT Muslim/Christian proving that both Buddhism and Hinduism exists in Sri Lanka from ancient period.
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Native Vedda / January 13, 2016
The Messenger
“Both Buddhism and Hinduism should be given the foremost place in Sri Lanka.”
No, No, No, NO, ………………..
Religious faith should remain a private affair too personal to be nationalised and left to the crooks in the Parliament and the irrational/lazy state officials to mismanage it and eventually destroy the essence of spiritualism.
Let the lay people look after their faith if they still have faith in their respective faith.
State should be remain secular if the country is to progress.
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KA Sumanasekera / January 14, 2016
Dear Native,
So you don’t even listen to Lord’s Prayer in your new Motherland…
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Native Vedda / January 14, 2016
KASmaalam KA Sumanasekera
“So you don’t even listen to Lord’s Prayer in your new Motherland…”
Why should one pray if one is honest, hard working, good citizen, ……….. basically if you have nothing to fear you need no one to pray to.
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Patriot / January 11, 2016
[Edited out] What he does not understand is that the government is in shambles. There are two many leaders pulling in two many different directions. What will happen is when the rubber hits the road the MP’s will make sure their home base support is intact. When that happens it will be another round of along talks but no action in the so called constitutional assembly. People have much more pressing problems when that hits the fan UNP will be back in the opposite benches with Sambanthan crying foul.
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Vibhushana / January 11, 2016
So the Tamil-Only party will have to deal with Moslem-Only party to solve their problems! Both will have to give up their mono-theism’s in order to advance as a whole.
There is a poetic way about the whole thing. Who’d have thought? The solution was adopting pluralism, co-habitation and living in harmony.
These lessons can be taught in school curricula in the future.
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Rajash / January 12, 2016
“There is a poetic way about the whole thing. Who’d have thought? The solution was adopting pluralism, co-habitation and living in harmony.
” These lessons can be taught in school curricula in the future.”
Vibushana : do you know what is being taught now to young child Buddhist monks and Sinhala swabasha schools?
They are being taught twisted history and anti Tamil racism.
You can set an example and stop twisting history
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Ajith / January 11, 2016
It is true that there is a great opportunity to find a lasting solution to the ethnic problem which is going for over half a century and this problem lead to breakdown of the law and justice system, destruction of economy and loss of thousands of innocent lives in a continuous basis. We can simply put the blame on others such as foreign invaders, Sinhala Nationalism, Tamil Nationalism, State Terrorism, LTTE Terrorism, Mahinda Rajapakse dictatorship, USA, China etc. But in reality we all forget that we have a highly educated people to understand what is good and bad, we have been guided by various religions that preach love, humanity, equality, and tolerance. In other words, we have no right to put the blame on others for our inability to bring this island as a peaceful land for human living.So, it is time to find a lasting solution which makes every citizen to strongly believe that he or she belongs to this island and he or she will protect the peace and harmony of this island.
It is not secret that almost all the political leadership including former President Mahinda of this Nation in the past came up with number of proposals and agreements publicly. They are:
1958 – Bandaranaiyaka- Chelvanayagam Pact – SWRD (Prime Minister )
1965- Dudley – Chelva Pact – Dudley (Prime Minister)
1980- District Development Councils – JR Jeyawardena (President)
1987 – Indo _ Lanka Accord – JR Jeyawardena (President)
1995 – Chandrika proposals _ President Chandrika Kumaranatunge
2002-2006- Norway lead LTTE – Srilanka peace accord Ranil (Prime Minister)
2009 – 13 + – Mahinda Rajapakse (President)
Now we have got proposals and agreements in front of us. We have got both UNP and SLFP together in Government and TNA in opposition together. The people have given the mandate to bring peace. It is time to work out a reasonable system where it satisfies all rational thinking people. I am sure that majority of this islanders are rational people and they will make a rational decision if our leadership is open and honest to them.
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justice / January 11, 2016
We need a “sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic” constitution – like in India, which has stood the test of time since 1947.
If the vast nation of India can live in unity under secularism, with harmony among the federated states, why cant we?
Nepal has the poorest head of state – Koirala, who is even poorer than Mujica of Uruguay.
In Sri Lanka, only a ‘millionaire’ can afford to contest and win the top post.
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D.Nimal / January 11, 2016
The new constitutional events in Parliament by UNP leadership and its policies are exposing the USA, UK, Norway and Indian that most effective and posing the alternative to the 1978 Republic Constitution.
Although the Comprador represtantive of Ranil.W….UNP proposal either a Sri Lankan Republic Constitution or the complete suppression of norms of democracy exist since 1948 by US and Indian bayonets.
There is no longer any question of an agreement with majority People.
As you know that Ranil W… of UNP have thrown majority view like a squeezed lemon. They join forces with US, Indian and Norway.
Now UNP have got over that phase. Reconciliation and Harmony all nationalities of “good governances & rule of law” pushing them to us that is how have turned out, of UNP that is how history has compelled them to act again era of 1977 JRJ -UNP set of policies.
And we must all draw lessons from UNP regime(1977 to 1994) that horrible experiences of our past modern history had been lack of political vision and mismanagement of anti-Tamil policies that leads to 30 years civil war.
Every body knows that UNP is not a New Born political party.
The UNP Neo-Liberalist cannot be defended so-called “Constituent Assembly” ,because it in fact played into hands of US and Indian-RAW . Well proposed Constituent Assembly being convened that what will happen US and Norway & TNA on the top. When it will being convened and turned out to be an organ of UNP the side of US imperialist ,whose policy is directed against Majority Democracy.
In fact UNP were prepared to go to any lengths to resort power devolution package to vilest means to throttle, that undermine Unitary character of Republic of Government of SL to sell Sri Lankan to anybody, only to destroy sovereignty and Independent power of
Sri lanka.
That is policy will build up by UNP that led to another civil war or Tamil Terrorist anarchism through out Island.
But after the so-called “rainbow revolution” of 2015 January 9th showed that revolts against US and Indian inevitable. Needless to say that UNP allies have proved beyond doubt US and Indian to be chief enemies of Sri Lankan Sovereignty, Democracy, Independent and Territorial integrity.
We have to absolutely right in rejecting all compromise that UNP issues of Constituent Assembly. We cannot made any concession to UNP illusion, to illusion about Constituent Assembly, we would have ruined the whole cause of Sri Lankan national sovereignty by betraying democratic revolution of whole Island. We would have sacrificed to US and Indian hegemonies narrow interest the interest of national Independent of ours democracy and Development.
Up till now UNP leadership rulers had cherished the illusion that US UK
Norway stood for REAL DEMOCRACY.IT APPEARS THAT US UK NORWAY ARE ACTING AS HENGMEN OF SRI LANKAN SOVEREIGNTY AND DEMOCRACY -FREEDOM AS GENDARMES ,PLAYING THE PART OF SRI LANKAN BUTCHER OF UNP LEADERSHIP.
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Native Vedda / January 12, 2016
D.Nimal
“As you know that Ranil W… of UNP have thrown majority view like a squeezed lemon.”
You know MR would have thrown majority view like a used condom.
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Plato. / January 11, 2016
Ajith.
With no offence to you but only in good humour.
From 1958 to 2009 there have been 7 attempts,as listed by you to resolve the National Question!
A possible solution is to incorporate all,divide by 7,get the average and solve the problem!
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Ajith / January 12, 2016
Great Mathematician. You can find the average using other measures of average such as median, mode, geomatric mean.
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Rajash / January 12, 2016
[Edited out]
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BBS Rep / January 12, 2016
Gehan,
We did have a good constitution before.
The problem is we never had good politicians. This is a unique Sri Lankan problem. We do not have any real politician who can rise above his or her base craven desires to deliver what is best for the country. These weak and inept politicians have always found the constitution to be a stumbling block to practice what they practice best, to plunder the country, to be nepotistic and to immerse themselves in grandeur and to play the role of the king.
So no matter how we tinker with the constitution, until we are able to produce real statesmen our lot is lost.
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Rajash / January 12, 2016
The reason that modern day Sri Lanka doesn’t have/ had good politicians is that politics is seen as a corrupt and fast way to make mega bucks.
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H.L. Seneviratne / January 12, 2016
There should be open and adequate public discussion before to constitution is enacted. Its main ingredients should be parliamentary government, with an independent judiciary and public service, in other words the separation of the legislative, the executive and the judicial powers.These are the basic ingredients of the best constitution we had, the Soulbury constitution, which is the model that should be followed while correcting its deficiencies. It should be a constitution that provides legal safeguards to equality of all citizens. It should be a secular constitution that accepts the principle of the separation of church and state.
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paul / January 12, 2016
How can that ever be when the majority do not want it?
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Native Vedda / January 13, 2016
H.L. Seneviratne
“It should be a secular constitution that accepts the principle of the separation of church and state.”
I take it that you prefer the lay people to protect and propagate their respective religion than crooked members of Parliament.
It is a good idea whose time has come.
How does one make the government and the state work in the best interest of the people?
Both politicians and state hold people in utter contempt.
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Mallaiyuran / January 12, 2016
”It is significant that the government did not press for a vote on the resolution that sets up parliament to be a constitutional assembly.”
This is not what Jehan PhD wrote in his last essay. He wrote the government should put matters to people to decide, using NGOs like NPC. Here he is saying evading a voting in the parliament is the best thing. He did not just forget it. He is just stirring the modayas’ pool maximum to make all the fishes to come up so the government can catch only the big one.
Here he again: accordingly the government has put into motion two important public consultation processes. One is for constitutional reform. The other is in respect of the Geneva resolution………….
Why did he write those two opposite thing? Here he is again. “Hey opposition dog if you are not obedient enough your privilege to be in this house will be denied. Be ready to take the bone thrown to you.” Sampanthar has voted to the common candidate without knowing the fact that from the time of Don Stephen, Tamils are outnumbered minorities in Parliament.
The willingness of the opposition, WHICH IS GREATLY OUTNUMBERED IN PARLIAMENT, to present its amendments to the resolution presented by the prime minister is a welcome sign of participation in the constitutional reform process. Hopefully this will continue, and so will the government’s responsiveness to it, ….. Is he writing “after killing 150,000 only the Tamil fools have learned to be humble and obedient?”
If Jehan suspects that there is a wound in the enemy’s body he will never forget to prick deep into that before he start his haggling. “The LTTE assassinated one of the co-architects of the devolution package, Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam, who belonged to the largest Tamil political party, the TULF.”
He completely forgot how all other occasions were destroyed by Sinhala Intellectuals. He can’t remember JR’s walk to Dahala Maliga to call to act the Buddhist terrorist and they obeyed, stalled the Solomon Ridgeway -Chelva pact and murdered Solomon Ridgeway. Federal Party accepted a minister post in Dudley Shelton’s government. But the SLFP Sinhala Intellectual won the day. The Co-Architect Thiruchchelvam Senior lived well his full life. Just like how CV has been handles now, Moolai Navaratnam was handled by the UNP that time. 13A is well and alive. If it has been implemented the war would not have materialized. Junius Richard, Premadasa, Chandrika, Percy the Old King, Ranil and New King including none of them wanted to implement that. But Premadasa gave arms and money to LTTE to sabotage that. UNP Ranil, the racist refused to sign the ICC accord and refused to let Chandrika’s initiation go ahead. The hybrid Perera showing his patriotism by saying it was Chandrika’s fault failing to get the support of Ranil. It is the same old story with the Oslo agreement too.
“In the north, the Tamil People’s Council headed by Northern Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran is preparing a document that calls for a federal constitutional arrangement.. It is not something CV’s proposal. Federal Government Idea was put forward as an alternative to unitary 50:50 by Solomon Ridgeway in the 1940s. Those, who wants to implement the past old dead Solomon Ridgeway-C pact, will they implement Solomon Ridgeway’s Federal Government idea?
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Mallaiyuran / January 12, 2016
The blunder made by the constitution of Soulbury was while Ramanathan and other were arguing for long time the people of Ceylon were not educated and matured enough to understand the “secular democracy” Soulbury depended on Donoughmore for the input and his secular democratic constitution fully depended to its energy from the people. He just dismissed the Tamils.
Then it turned out to be a constitution like of a motherless daughter, custody handed over to unreliable father and the poor girl depended on a drug addict and drunkard father for her living. The hooligan father not just simply he ruined the girl, but brought neighbors also to do the same thing he did to her. Constitution was amended to the whimsies of the Sinhala Intellectuals, mandated by Wildlife Land inhabitants, the Sinhala Buddhist. India, after amending the constitution, carried out its own genocide on Tamils. The flimsy minority protection in the Soulbury constitution was the first one aimed by these hooligans. The girl lost the only rag clad on her body for her protection. Molesting, torturing, raping… for their whimsies was the rest of the story.
The first question has to be asked the majority community during the consultation is, “Do you want to share the power equally with the minority Tamils and live with them together”. If the answer is no, any amendment to the constitution, after that, is not inclusive the Tamils. There is a majority decision not to include Tamils in their land is established in that consultation. Then there is no need to consult the Tamils. They have to be left alone with a graceful mind no further planning of more genocides and more constitutional amendments. .
Secular Democracy is for civilized peoples, not for those claim they are wildlife. Constitution has to be approved by all communities only they if wants to stay together and it has to approved by for them to live together. No constitutions should be written to have the cake and eat the cake. In a sincere constitution, fooling India in the 13A or the fooling the IC in the 2016 amendment has no place. All communities have to be educated and moved to a position of no return back to the lower class, antagonistic position. Teaching or educating the public should be taken care by sincere NGOs. Teaching or educating public is not negative programming with a sinister, secret mind. Double talk and secrecy is self is a sinister motive. Jehan PhD is never open in his talks and writing. They should be blacklisted band from meeting people.
Government playing too many tricks using Jehan PhDs like “Koolukkum Paadi Kanchchikkum paadi” reed minded Sinhala Intellectuals, with the sole aim of manipulating the IC and thus, once for bringing the Tamils’ diplomatic agitation to nil like the way used the IC to bring the armed struggle to nil. Jehan PhDs are handling the public just the way Paranagama used the commission to spy on the missing persons’ families. Paranagama smartly used his superior advantage of close contact with the innocent, desperate people and their volatile situation to spy on them and send CIDs to their homes. Now, these PhDs are with the name of consulting the public, doing a Walk of Kandy of 1957 of JR. With name of consulting them, these PhDs are penetrating the public with aim of setting them up and programming them. But the question Ramanathan raised during the period of Donoughmore that public is not educated is not answered. Jehan PhD, the Kookklum Paadi Kanchchikkum paady making the public as as PhDs like him and consulting them.
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Rizwan / January 12, 2016
A good constitution will limit the size of government to the basic functions of protecting life, liberty and property.
A government doing more than this will be counterproductive to protecting life, liberty and property.
For example take the case of government providing free or subsidized education or medical care.
A government cannot create wealth to do this, it can only tax and redistribute. Taxation is fundamentally a violation of property. If a private citizen were to tax it would be thievery, but because the government does it we accept this injustice.
And so government can even blur the lines between justice and injustice. Great harm can and has ensued from this blurring.
And so citizens will demand to vote and furthermore vote for those politicians who promise the most from government, who will in turn tax others for the necessary wealth. We need to reduce the need for citizens to feel they must vote for their well being.
A constitution that limits government function to protecting life, liberty and property is all we need. Nothing more, nothing less!
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Vanguard / January 12, 2016
” There are wide differences on this count in the polity.Buddhist leaders belonging to the Buddha Sasana Karya Sadaka Mandalaya (SKSM) have issued a statement calling for the new constitution to ensure the foremost place of Buddhism and the unitary character of the constitution. In the north, the Tamil People’s Council headed by Northern Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran is preparing a document that calls for a federal constitutional arrangement.”
Jehan, congratulations, you are well aware of problem. Therefore as I have said many times before, these are the people who should be talking to each other and coming up with a solution. We don’t need a new constitution or even a parliament.
The extremists need to talk to each other, I hope the extremists are represented in parliament. If the extremists can come to a permanent solution, all is solved. If not they will never be happy with a solution from our honorable members.
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Bensen Berner / January 12, 2016
A well reasoned paper. If the opportunity presented to the peoples for a united Sri Lanka is missed it will be missed forever. Bensen
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Citizen / January 13, 2016
Let us hope that the new constitution will not be fourth bulletin since independence.
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Dr C P Thiagarajah / January 13, 2016
It is useless fighting among ourselves. I have worked all my life among Sinhalese people. On a personal level they are superb. No one can beat them for hospitality. Even a Tamil cannot treat another Tamil like the Sinhalese treat their friends.
But one thing is sure. They think that Sri-Lanka is theirs. A Mahawamsa mentality. It is in their culture. They quite well know that their language and religion are a mixture of Tamil Pali and Sanskrit etc. They are not ashamed of it nor apologetic for that. Still for all they want Sri-Lanka for themselves, sink or swim. They can always beg from countries and live eg Mahinda rushing to China for soft loans will end up in Chinese rule sometime later.
Now the crux of the problem for the minority is to join together and be emphatic that they have to live in this island as equal partners and they are not prepared for second class citizens any longer however strong they the Sinhalese shout.
Lately Sinhalese had been implicated in a genocide because of narrow minded Defence Secretaries who are uneducated like professional civil civil servants etc. If the Sinhalese do not give in foolishly to justice and fair play the country will be divided by the rest of the world for peace and democracy in the island. They have to be warned of the consequences.
Tamils must move smartly and cautiously because this is the last opportunity to salvage peace. You cannot leave it to Sampanthan as he is old and trust this government will do everything for them Of course President Sirisena is a modern Buddha because of the Trust placed on him by the minorities. A foolish leadership for Tamils at this time will spell doom for generations to come. It is likely that the Tamils will be absorbed into the Sinhalese community in the future. Till that time let the minorities live a decent life.
As far as I know the Tamils will be taken a second round of all what happened since independence in 1948. This time extremist will be more vociferous because they are in a strong position as victors.
There is no hope without external pressure over the Sinhalese citing the horrific genocide of May 2009- There is no excuse for killing so much even after the war ended.
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Spring Koha / January 13, 2016
USA – 1 constitution – 227 years – 27 Amendments
SL – 2 constitutions – 37 years – 19 Amendments
2016 a final chance to get it right? Or will it be a recurring festival?
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Mohamed Jaufer / January 13, 2016
This Jehan perera [Edited out]
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Saman Adikari / January 13, 2016
Tamil race in and out of Republic of India as well as world has no gratitude for any body else; or the inhuman political act by assassination of Rajiva Gandi shows that very man who help for their own political cause of Tamil Eealm! They Killed.
Tamils are such race of brutality and act of terror. Needless to say the key agenda of Tamil, that is no less than Tamil Eealm by emerging Tamil fascist bourgeoisies class in Tamil diaspora.
By hook or crook Tamils are all in & out way destroy that Sinhalese race by divide and rule that the policy of Anglo-Saxon ideology-Hegemonic by act of domination .
Tamils have no Morals, not accepts Ethics of rule of governances while undermined social contract, and in last ever-never obedience any norms of civilization of ant form.
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