By Ranil Wickremesinghe –
Ranil Wickremesinghe
The Republic of Sri Lanka established by the 1970 Constituent Assembly is based on two legal instruments. Firstly, the Constitution of the Republic of Sri Lanka enacted by this Constituent Assembly; Article 12 (1) of this 1972 Constitution reiterated the validity of Ceylon Independence Act 1947 passed by the UK Parliament. Secondly, the Republic of Sri Lanka Act 1972 enacted by the UK Parliament with the consent of the Government of Sri Lanka. This Act amended the Ceylon Independence Act 1947 by substituting “Sri Lanka” for “Ceylon”. Under the provisions of this Act:
Sec. 1 (1) No Act of Parliament of UK passed on or after the appointed day shall extend or deemed to extend to Sri Lanka as a part of the law of Sri Lanka, unless it is expressly declared that Sri Lanka has requested and consented to the enactment thereof.
(2) From the appointed day, His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom shall have no responsibility for the Government of Sri Lanka.
First Schedule
No law and no provision of any law made after the appointed day by the Parliament of Sri Lanka shall be void on the grounds that it is repugnant to the law of England.
Thus the establishment of the Republic was given legal validity by our former colonial masters, the UK Parliament, by enacting the Republic of Sri Lanka Act 1972.
Though the preamble to the 1972 Constitution invokes, “we the people” as its source, the pedigree of the Constitution, (the legal connection) does not emanate from the people. The grundnorm of our Constitutional Order is not the consent of the people but legislation enacted by the UK Parliament, our colonial masters. The UK Parliament powers to legislate for Ceylon/Sri Lanka are based on the three legal documents which transferred to the King of the United Kingdom, the sovereign authority over Ceylon. These are:
a) The Treaty of Amiens 1802 was made during the Napoleonic wars. Under Article 5 of the Treaty the Batavian Republic (as Netherlands was then known) ceded in full property and sovereignty to the King of England all the possessions in the island of Ceylon which previous to the war belonged to the Republic or to the Dutch East India Company.
b) The Kandyan Convention 1815 vested the dominion of the Kandyan provinces in the sovereign of the British Empire.
c) The Declaration of British Sovereignty 1818 — The position was further clarified under Article 7 (21 November 1818) when His Excellency the Governor restated that the Sovereign Majesty of the King of Great Britain and Ireland is alone the source from which all power emanates and to which obedience is due.
India followed a different route. Article 395 of the Constitution of India repealed the Indian Independence Act 1947 passed by the UK Parliament.Indians opted for Constitutional autochthony. The Constitution became the supreme law. They made a clean break. The Indian Constitution invalidated all legislations made by the imperial powers that were inconsistent with the Constitution. Sri Lanka’s 1972 Republican Constitution is not even the supreme law because all laws passed prior to the Republic continued to be legal even if inconsistent with the Constitution. Sri Lanka subordinated the Constitution to the laws passed by our colonial masters. Therefore, we have two systems – the Republican Constitution and the UK Parliament as the foundations of our Constitutional Order. This is a unique case. Even Canada which is a dominion repatriated its Constitution in 1982. Section 52 of the Constitution of Canada Act 1982 states the Constitution is the supreme law and any law that is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution is of no force. Since our Constitutional Order has a legal connection with the UK Parliament, the Declaration of the Peoples Sovereignty sits side by side with the Declaration of British Sovereignty.
The UNP will correct this position and completely break the legal link with the UK Parliament. In the 1978 Constitution, the UNP made provision for the exercise of people’s sovereignty by entrenching the right of franchise and requiring the consent of the people at a referendum for Constitutional reform. This will be taken to its logical conclusion by ensuring that the people exercise their sovereignty to the exclusion of other sources. This is possible through a new Constitutional Order. A new Constitution as the supreme law declaring that the New Republic continues to be an independent and a sovereign state in which sovereignty belongs to the people to the exclusion of any other authority. Any law inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution to be of no force. Such a Constitution once passed by Parliament will be put before the people to be endorsed at a Referendum. Once the Constitution is ratified the people then become the only source of sovereignty. Hence any Constitutional amendment in the future will also require a referendum.
The New Republic will be based on
a. a People’s sovereignty
b. Upholding the Rule of Law and Human Rights
c. Strengthening national unity (includes national reconciliation)
d. Abolishing the executive Presidency
e. Establishing a Cabinet responsible to Parliament
f. Re-enacting the 17th Amendment
g. Consolidating the multi-party democracy
h. Creating a pluralistic society and
i. Ensuring stability in the larger interest of the State.
Within this framework we will evolve a system of government that meets with the needs of the country for the next few decades. Even the Westminster and the American systems of Government were based on the needs of these countries in the 18th Century. We must not shy away from examining our experiences as well as sources relevant to us in evolving a new political system. Already a number of political parties including the UNP and other civil society groups have put forward proposals for constitutional change.
Sri Lanka has an innovative constitutional history. We must not forget our past experiences in shaping a new system of government. The 1924 Revised Constitution established a powerful Financial Committee of the Legislative Council. The 1931 Donomough Constitution introduced the Executive Committee System. The 1947 Soulbury Constitution was based on the Westminster System. The 1972 Republican Constitution provided for the Executive dominance of Parliament. The 1978 Republican Constitution is based on the Executive Presidency. Devolution within a unitary state was added by the 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution. The UNP will not disturb this status.
Buddha’s sermons on the principle of government are also a useful source in evolving a government based on consensus. At that time the Ganges plains and the Terai region of Nepal were dominated by the Lichchavi Republics. This was an early form of republican government by discussion. Some of these principles of republican government were incorporated into the Vinaya Rules for the Sangha. The best known is the Buddha’s observations that the Vajjian confederacy’s prosperity is dependant in a government by consensus. This is valid for even today. Speaking to Ananda the enlightened one outlined the requirement of Vajjian prosperity “So long, Ananda as the Vajjians hold these full and frequent public assemblies;
So long, Ananda, as the Vajjians meet together in concord, and rise in concord, and carry out their undertakings in concord…so long as they enact nothing not already established, abrogate nothing that has been already enacted, and act in accordance with the ancient institutions of the Vajjians as established in former days…so long as they honour and esteem and revere and support the Vajjian elders, and hold it a point of duty to hearken to their words…so long as no women or girls belonging to their clans are detained among them by force or abduction…so long as they honour and esteem and revere and support the Vajjian shrines in town or country, and allow not the proper offerings and rites, as formerly given and performed, to fall into desuetude…so long as the rightful protection, defence, and support shall be fully provided for the Arahats among them, so that Arahats from a distance may enter the realm, and the Arahats therein may live at ease — so long may the Vajjians be expected not to decline, but to prosper.
When I was once staying, O Brahman, at Vesali at the Sarandada Temple, I taught the Vajjians these conditions of welfare; and so long as those conditions shall continue to exist among the Vajjians, so long as the Vajjians shall be well instructed in those conditions, so long may we expect them not to decline, but to prosper.”
The system of governance by two Indian emperors based on moral precepts and tolerance are also useful as sources for a new political system. The Edicts of Emperor Asoka are well known. The core of the edicts is social and moral precepts. Emperor Akbar also ruled over a culturally and religiously diverse empire. He adopted a new concept of Islam transcending the limits of orthodox Islam. A policy based on religious tolerance: Din-i-Ilahi. He stopped the persecution of other Muslim sects. He allowed Hindus forced to convert to Islam to re-convert to Hinduism. The Emperor and his court followed some of the main Hindu customs. The Jain practices of non violence and vegetarianism were promoted by Akbar. All these are useful precedents for a state committed to reconciliation.
In preparing a new constitution we must follow the examples of the modern constitutions drafted in the last decade of the 20th century. The early constitutions beginning from the US were confined mainly to the powers of the three branches of the government. This became the basis of the centralised government structure. The only concession to the people was a Bill of Right. These above mentioned modern constitutions are based on effective inclusive government. These include the basis of national identity to a definition of people’s sovereignty and the mechanism for exercising it, basic principles on which the political consensus rests, the fundamental rights of the citizen, the recognition of the role of the civil society. Constitutions of South Africa and Sweden are good examples. Sweden in fact makes provision for a referendum to amend the constitution.
At the coming elections, the UNP will request the people to grant a mandate not only to abolish the Executive Presidency but also to enact a new constitution for a new republic. We are already holding talks with all political parties and civil society groups interested in constitutional reform.
Our objective is the establishment of a Republic that is constitutionally autochthonous: A Republic with the people’s sovereignty as its only source. Unlike the 1972 Republican Constitution it will have no legal connection with the UK Parliament. A constitution drafted to suit our need.
The Kandyan Chieftains deposed Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe the King of Kandy in 1815 on the ground of habitual violation of the chief and most sacred duties of a sovereign. The sovereignty was transferred to King George III of the United Kingdom who at that time was mentally deranged, totally deaf and half blind. In 1947 Sri Lanka became a Dominion and in 1972 a Republic but the sovereignty was never fully transferred to us. This link must be broken next year. 2015 marks the bi-centennial of this event. Therefore 200 years after the Kandyan Convention the people of Sri Lanka will symbolically vest in themselves the total sovereignty of the country. This will bring into being a New Republic based truly on a jana sammathaya – the consent of the people.
Harry Hatton / November 10, 2014
A lot of hypocrisy here. RW tries to impress his moda ( foolish) following in colombo by quoting from various sources. Is RW a respector o f democracy and people’s opinion ? What does his record as a public man and especially as leader of UNP show ?
Then what about Buddhism ? No thanha ( greed and desire ) for power and its various trappings ? Dont think everybody is as foolish and unprincipled as the UNP working committee
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Amarasiri / November 10, 2014
Harry Hatton
Anybody Else other than Mahinda Rajapaksa will do at this point.
The Average I Q of Sri Lankan is 79.
What we can learn from Terrorist Rajapaksa.
What we can learn from terrorists (p1). Tariq Ali
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hdd4SvRkho
Published on May 2, 2013
Part 1 | Part 2Whatever else we might think about those labelled as terrorists, it is clear that their tactics have changed the world in ways that serve their religious, political.
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Kalupahana / November 10, 2014
Ranil Wickramasinghe is morally and intellectually bankrupt. And, he thinks that we are Modayas (fools) and can’t see beyond the legal talk here.
Ranil has wreaked democracy in Sri Lanka during his career as a politician. He has destroyed the spirit and practice of democracy within the UNP – the oldest political party in the country , with his dictatorship in the party and failure to resign after losing so many elections.
Ranil has also failed in the last 5 years to build a strong united opposition against the Rajapaksa military dictatorship because of his dictatorship in the UNP and moral cowardice. So, Sobitha Thero now is opposition leader in Miracle of Modayas!
In this article Ranil wants to impress us with his legal expertise. He is a failure as a politician and human being.
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Amarasiri / November 10, 2014
Kalupahana
“Ranil Wickramasinghe is morally and intellectually bankrupt. And, he thinks that we are Modayas (fools) and can’t see beyond the legal talk here”
….This group is of the view that because of a single individual the aspirations of the country cannot be compromised , and that if Ranil is an impediment to the talks aimed at a common opposition alliance, another alternative must be sought ….
Read This.
Ranil agrees to common candidate other than himself, and common symbol
http://lankaenews.com/news/114
(Lanka-e-News- 05.Nov.2014, 5.30PM) UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe by yesterday evening relented and changed his stance amidst the stand taken by a group mainly of the intelligentsia and a group that is close to Ranil within the party who are against the earlier recalcitrant attitude of Wickremesinghe . This group is of the view that because of a single individual the aspirations of the country cannot be compromised , and that if Ranil is an impediment to the talks aimed at a common opposition alliance, another alternative must be sought .
Earlier on Ranil declared that the UNP candidate for the Presidency should be himself , and the other parties should extend support to him . And if he is not the Presidential candidate , Sajith shall be .
During the discussions yesterday(04) evening with the participation of MPs and lawyers aimed at arriving at a final decision ,Ranil had concurred in the proposal to field a common candidate who will be somebody other than himself. He had also agreed to a common symbol and a common front.
Meanwhile Mangala Samaraweera gave notification that he would have to take a decision politically if the formation of a common alliance that is imperative to defeat the Rajapakse regime is further delayed , which is the result of falling victim to the manipulations of the mini group comprising Sajith –Tissa –Marikkar who are dancing to the tune of the conspiratorial Trico . This notification had exerted intense pressure on Ranil to think sensibly and change his previous stance.
The whole of yesterday , UNP leaders and MPs have brought pressure to bear on Ranil , and pointed out to him , if Mangala Samaraweera is lost who did yeoman service in the best interests of the party and toiled towards forming a common alliance an indispensable prerequisite for UNP victory at elections ,by falling prey to the Sajith –Tissa conspiracies , it could mean a most costly blunder and an irredeemable loss.
Ranil had then met with Samaraweera , and questioned him what post he would prefer to have to solve the present issue . Samaraweera had replied , he had never sought positions and posts in the pursuit of his political career , and his need is to steer the opposition to victory via a common alliance. He had also advised Ranil , therefore to clear whatever impediments that are obstructing this journey to victory
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Amarasiri / November 10, 2014
Kalupahana
Ranil’s sacrifice lauded and applauded by 38 0f 42 MPs: common candidate from UNP , SLFP rescue or Sobitha will be known on Monday
http://lankaenews.com/news/117
Who will write, Print and distribute the Common sense pamphlet?
Ms. Tisaranne Gunasekertra or Kusal Perera, where are You?
(Lanka-e-News-07.Nov.2014, 11.00PM) The salutary gesture of the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe by gracefully bowing to the requests of the party MPs and its organizers without taking an obstinate stand of selfishly holding on to power was most welcome and lauded by the party and the public in general, his unpopularity notwithstanding .Ranil condescending to the wishes of the party majority agreed to stand down at the upcoming Presidential elections , and withdraw from the contest .
Of the 42 UNP MPs, as many as 38 have warmly welcomed Ranil’s gesture aimed at winning the Presidential elections by fielding a common candidate . Only 4 MPs have opposed the common candidature.
These 4 MPs are the conspirators within the UNP : Sajith Premadasa , Sujeewa Senasinghe , Buddhika Pathirane and Tissa Attanayake the latest to join this conspiratorial group who are the ventriloquist dummies and pawns of the evil troika , Rajapakse ,Kili and Tiran ……
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Amarasiri / November 11, 2014
Harry Hatton
“President invites Ranil to Medamulana to teach him the art of winning”
http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2014/04/13/pol03.asp
Most politicians make it a habit of embarking on an overseas holiday during the Sinhala and Hindu New Year season. The most notable and exemplary exception is President Mahinda Rajapaksa who always prefer to remain at ancestral Carlton residence in Tangalle, following the rituals and New Year customs with his family, relations and fellow villagers.
Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is notorious of ignoring the New Year customs and making long holidays during the season. The only exception this time is that he is in the United States on a special study tour.
Ranil left for the US last Monday for a stint at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He claimed that he is going on a study cum lecture session for a month, adding that he would study the art of toppling governments.
His last party event before leaving Sri Lanka was the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected UNP members of the Western and Southern Provincial Council elections at the party headquarters Sirikotha.
Speaking at the event, Ranil said the UNP would now press the government to hold a presidential or a general election next year. He claimed that the government was originally planning to hold a presidential election by February 2015 but had given up the idea.
The UNP leader added that the time had come for politicians to think of people rather than their preferential votes in future elections. Stating that the people in this country were frustrated with the political parties, politicians and politics.
Meanwhile, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that the Opposition’s expectation of regime change through an Arab Spring kind of uprising will never succeed in Sri Lanka and that there is need to go to Harvard or Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to learn how to topple governments.
“If they come to Medamulana I will teach them how to topple a government,” the President said amid laughter from the audience during his keynote address at the Central Bank auditorium at a ceremony to release the Central Bank Annual Report 2013.
The President said the opposition was awaiting the collapse of the government like the jackal going after the goat but could never catch it.
President Rajapaksa said the opposition had predicted a change of government every March since 2005 but all such predictions have eventually become day dreams. Commenting on the Government’s achievements in the economic front during the past few years, the President said the economic policies and programs had to be changed to adapt to the new economic trends in the world.
“For instance, after the victory in 2009, officials set the tourist arrival target at one million by 2016 but I said I am not satisfied. My target was a minimum of 1.5 million tourist arrivals by 2016. We are to achieve the 1.5 million tourist arrival target even before 2016 and by 2025 we will host 2.5 million tourists,” he said.
Uva elections later this year
Elections to the Uva Provincial Council will be held in the latter part of the year, Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne said adding that most probably the Council will be dissolved in July.
Minister Seneviratne said the UPFA has discussed the necessity for good, competent and acceptable candidates for the Uva Province while leaders in the Province have been instructed how to set about their task.
The minister noted that the just concluded elections in the Western and Southern Province was peacefully and there were no incidents of rigging.
This is mainly because the Elections Commissioner took steps to enforce the election law, he said. Minister Seneviratne stressed that in 2009, the UNP obtained 29 percent of the votes amidst setbacks but this time the percentage had dropped to 26 percent.
The percentage of votes obtained by the UNP clearly shows that its Colombo vote base is declining gradually, he said.
Meanwhile, Southern Province Chief Minister Shan Wijayalal de Silva who sworn in as Chief Minister for the third consecutive term recently, assumed duties at his ministry at Dhakshina Paaya, Labuduwa, Galle at a simple ceremony.
Southern Province Sports, Rural Development and Youth Affairs Minister Weerasumana Weerasinghe and Chief Minister’s wife Desi Pathma de Silva were also present.
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Amarasiri / November 10, 2014
Harry Hatton
Anybody Else other than Mahinda Rajapaksa will do at this point.
The Average I Q of Sri Lankan is 79.
What we can learn from Terrorist Rajapaksa.
What we can learn from terrorists (p1). Tariq Ali
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hdd4SvRkho
Published on May 2, 2013
Part 1 | Part 2Whatever else we might think about those labelled as terrorists, it is clear that their tactics have changed the world in ways that serve their religious, political.
/
Thiru / November 10, 2014
“I am not worried about the
opinion of the Jaffna 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.”
– Sri Lanka’s First Executive President and the father of the Sri Lankan constitution, Daily
Telegraph, 11 July 1983
That is the state of the Sri Lankan state today.
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Paul / November 10, 2014
Crap. JR was referring to the anger and attitude of the Sinhala people, not his own views. This quote has been used ad nauseum by the Eelamists to bolster their campaign.
Another thing mentioned by them is that it took JR five days before he appealed publicly for peace. Why do you think that was? If he had appealed for peace immediately and was ignored there would have been nobody senior to him to speak. He let others appeal for peace first so that if their words were ignored, his would eventually be listened to. And that is what happened.
Lying Eelamists will use anything and everything.
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Spring Koha / November 10, 2014
JR was a capable and shrewd politician, and a leader who was usually five steps ahead of the others in his thinking and planning. He even confessed to his ability as President to do anything (except turn man into woman and vice versa). But in July 1983 he was caught napping .
Seemingly invincible, JR was upended by the unfolding events of Black July. He was bewildered, confused and without his usual self-confidence. For some three to four days he was perplexed, and doubting, as he struggled to understand the mayhem going on around him. He struggled to make sense of the conflicting reports that he was bombarded with, in his Ward Place office. He was unprepared for the rapidly worsening events and his chain of command collapsed. If ever there was a moment for taking charge, that was it; JR failed. Even the simple task of appearing before the nation on television and appealing for peace was wracked with self-doubt. JR was oblivious to the personal danger he was in, and consequently our country was left rudderless, in hock, temporarily, to the forces of evil that had taken the upper hand.
The only silver lining in those dark days was that several of JR’s Ward Place Tamil neighbours sought, and was given, refuge at No.66.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / November 10, 2014
Spring Koha,
My uncle, who was at that time an economic advisor to President JR, was also accomodated in JR’s Ward Place house. During this period he was witness to Gamini Dissanayake barging in demanding that the Tamils be finished off. JR had sternly refused to accomodate him! This is one of the guys who many consider to have been a brilliant potential leader. Prof.Rajan Hoole’s book being serialized in CT, reveals the demonish behavior/chracter of this individual. Lalith Athulathmudali was anoter such character.
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran
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Dev / November 10, 2014
Thank you, it is important to remember the evil duo Gamini and Lalith.
They are talked about in glowing terms these days but their contribution in no small measure to the attacks on the Tamils is brushed under the carpet.
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Mallaiyuran / November 10, 2014
All political parties agreed much further than 13A under CBK, MR, JR… Then why Tamils need this dog in the rud (as indicated by Pro Kumar by somewhere else). TNA had indicated that they can not support this him. Like his uncle, his arrival is the start of another Tamils’s armed freedom fight. He clearly indicated everywhere to Tamils they have to take his uncle yoke or take his ball and chain.
This Satan is reading the Mahavamsa Kuran. That is how is his new plan of make acceptable of his Sinhala-Christian Intellectual ID to the Sinhala Buddhist.
He is convulsing a lot to interpret that the Lanka is still ruled by Britain. This is how he wants to make the Sinhala Buddhist rise to fight for freedom. In European countries, it is documented how the Kandy and Kotte Kingdoms voluntarily surrendered to British empire by Sinhala Intellectual Traitors while in Jaffna Kingdom, up to a chieftain Vannians were fighting for the freedom. Tricky Sinhala Intellectual, Ranil the old Grandpa telling news stories to his Sinhala Buddhist grand children, by is twist the story of Pilimatalawwe and Ehelapola rivalry. Ehelapola Wijesundara Wickremasinghe Chandrasekara Amarakoon Wasala Ranamuka Mudiyanse family was brutally murdered by his uncle Pilimatalawwe. Ehelapola wanted his Hampanttota separated so that he can pawn it to Chinese(Whites) and get his private commission. His uncle was jealous about the nephew trying to be more influential in the king’s court than him, who was the senior there. So this uncle obtained an order from the king to subdue nephew created rebel and brutally murdered his entire family. (about 40 people. Tamils went to UN after killing of their 400,000 people.)Nephew escaped, because he was already with the Whites and helping them to find a way to enter into Kandy Kingdom and Capture the brave Tamil Dynasty that could not be reached by European for 300 years. As we saw in the previous sentence, this Ehelapola Rajapakshe had friendship with Ranil’s UNHRC even those days. The UNHRC lurking to capture last Kingdom of Lanka that days. When his uncle murdered his family for association the the whites and attempting occupy King’s ruling parts where the Sinhalese had started rebel against this Ehelapola Rajapakse, the traitor guided the whites’s army to Kandy Kingdom. Even Portuguese captured Jaffna using Sinhala Mercenaries. Kandy, Kotte and Jaffna Kingdoms were handed over to European by Sinhala Intellectual Traitors working the the Foreigners. Now to get some votes and capture the power, in the same way Uncle Pilimatalawwe did, The Ranil Ehelopola is twisting the stories.
In the first line, this Ehelapola condemning the American and British constitutions as 18th century ones and, then preaching the 2500 years mythical stories as perfect constitutions. He is parsing the Lanka nature of Having a new constitution breakfast, lunch and supper. He is blaming Queens Srimao’s 1971 constitution and claiming that is why he wants to change the uncle Pilimatalawwe’s constitution(He does not want say it is his uncle). Every thing has to be changed, but one thing has b left undisturbed, the one has spread in this country blood bath for 30 years, the 13A.
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Rizwan / November 10, 2014
Democracy means majority will. If you respect democracy then you must also respect that the incumbent President is democratically elected. You must must also respect that the denials of minority rights – Tamils and now Muslims is also democracy. Careful when you talk of democracy. On its own democracy is harmful. This is why America was created as a Constitutional Republic and specifically NOT a democracy. With that came the freedoms to become prosperous. Let’s thank God that the working committee had the foresight to resist democracy or we may have a real traitor like Dayasiri as opposition leader.
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Ram / November 10, 2014
Rizwan,
Democracy also means that the elected leader acts for the benefit of ALL, and those who did NOT vote for him must fall behind and do the same. There are inevitably small and large groups of people who would love to pervert this course of events, but the elected leader should not bend to their will. A great leader would command the respect of all, irrespective of their own political views.
The reasons for apparent US prosperity are manifold, and the reason you ascribe to it is probably the least important. There are at least 40 million ‘Americans’ who can’t even afford basic healthcare, even though the ALLOWS a minority of individuals to accumulate an inordinate amount of wealth.
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Rizwan / November 11, 2014
@ Ram,
The US was born as a Constitutional Republic under a capitalistic system. It maintained this for most of the 19th century and grew immensely wealthy.
However over the last 100 years it has gradually changed into a Socialist Democratic Republic, just like Sri Lanka in fact.
This is why the US economy will ultimately fail, because its economic and social model is unproven and unsustainable.
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Dr Jay Samarawickrama / November 10, 2014
This is the caliber of a great president. The whole UNP is with you, sir. Go for presidency. Don’t let those who jacked up the UPFA in 2007 when it almost collapsed contest from UNP. We need a honest leader from the UNP not an opportunist or a crossover.
Excellent write up detailing out a fabulous future direction for the country, Your Excellency the next president Ranil Wickremesinghe. Really proud of you.
All the minorities are with you and the intelligent and tolerant sections of the majority are also with you.
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Don Stanley / November 10, 2014
Ranil Wickramasinghe please stop hiding behind legal jargon and resign from the UNP. GET OUT! You have destroyed the UNP and democracy within.
Today there is noone in that party who is acceptable as a Presidential candidate.
1. Ranil You have lost 26 elections and counting and have destroyed the UNP with your DICTATORSHIP of the party, rather than hand over to someone else.
2. Karu Jayasuriya was forced to leave the UNP because of you and now has no legitimacy.
3.Sajith Premadasa is a moron and liar who does NOT have degree from the London School of Economics.
Ranil Wickramasinghe you are a DESTROYER of DEMOCRACY and the SPOILER of the joint opposition in Sri Lanka. Because of your failure to EDUCATE the people on Rajapaksa’s corruption because of your own moral corruption you have failed as opposition leader too.
You Ranil, I am sorry to say, are shameless, morally corrupt and intellectually bankrupt. You violate the spirit and practice of Democracy and you are as bad as the Dead leftists who are in bed with Mahinda Jarapassa and his corrupt and criminal regime.
GET OUT RANIL and stop pratting!
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Fathima Fukushima / November 10, 2014
Stop talking nonsense. Ranil is the best leader. He almost won the election in 2005 if not for the LTTE.
Others are hardcore Sinhala nationalists endorsed by the Sangha. Ranil is the only secular leader.
We need Ranil.
Ranil or nothing.
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chandra / November 10, 2014
oui lorenzo
your pants are on fire!
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Vibhushana / November 10, 2014
You will have many supporters as long as you have JHU onboard.
You need to ditch CBK because she is the last person you need next to you if you are talking about abolishing the executive Prez position.
You need a right-wing coalition who think along similar lines. Gen SF and Prof Rajiva Wijesinshe who are right-wing Liberal are essential partners.
From the Tamils consider ACTC. I don’t think that guy Ponnablam is doing anything important these days.
You should not involve any from the following left-parties because they sit ideologically opposite to you.
SLFP – Conservative, CWC – Conservative, SLMP – Conservative, JVP – Liberal, TNA – Conservative, LSSP/NSSP – Liberal, MEP – Conservative
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riyas / November 10, 2014
You all ar still in the American democracy. It won’t work here. Follow MR if you want to know what politics is. So at least try to interprit your following points tangible to ordinary people
The New Republic will be based on
a. a People’s sovereignty
b. Upholding the Rule of Law and Human Rights
c. Strengthening national unity (includes national reconciliation)
d. Abolishing the executive Presidency
e. Establishing a Cabinet responsible to Parliament
f. Re-enacting the 17th Amendment
g. Consolidating the multi-party democracy
h. Creating a pluralistic society and
i. Ensuring stability in the larger interest of the State.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / November 10, 2014
The best constitution we had was the first, which was designed by the Soulbury Commission. The other two were designed by our polticians to suit their personal needs primarily and their vote-catching needs secondarily. The needs of the people and the country were not their prime concern.
Ranil Wickremasinghe, should instead of what he is promising with regard to the outlines of a new constitution, promise to appoint a ‘Presidential Commision of qualified eminent persons’ to propose a new republican constitution for Sri Lanka, which should do so after deep thought and study, wide consultations and profound wisdom. It ould call for submissions from politicians and the general public. The proposed constitution should be adopted by the newly elected parliament and should be open to any amendments, only under very stringent conditions, including a referendum requiring a two third majority among the voters.
In the mean time the 18th amendment and the amendment sanctioning of cros overs in parliament should be abolished. Further, all other constitutional provisions including the 13th amendment should be implemented in full. No government should have the leeway to pick and choose what is stipulated in the constitution.
The proposal that the, “The UNP will correct this position and completely break the legal link with the UK Parliament “, is garbage at it its best. Is this an issue or a hindrance in Sri Lanka today ? Is this another vote-getting ploy?
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran
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Pot Shot / November 10, 2014
Dr Rajasignham, You are spot on with your observations.
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Spring Koha / November 10, 2014
I would just cut to the chase and ask RW to stop throwing us red herrings.
As my cook said, the house is on fire and the man is going to feed the chickens.
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K.A Sumanasekera / November 10, 2014
Will Sambandan back Rajapaksa next month?…
Sambandan is scared to front up to the PSC even, which has a majority of UNP and Diaspora sympathizers now,.
Will Sambandan be happy for Ranil to force him fo front up tp the South to ask for a new Constitution with all the bells and whistles, for the Vellalas to run the North?.
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Dr Laksiri Fernando / November 10, 2014
I think RW needs a speech writer or an article writer! I have no objection for his 9 point program for a new republic but those are quite general. His argument for an autochthonous constitution is quite outdated. Our constitutions (1972 and 1978) are autochthonous enough.
When he says “At the coming elections, the UNP will request the people to grant a mandate not only to abolish the Executive Presidency but also to enact a new constitution for a new republic” he should make a distinction between the presidential election and parliamentary elections.
Primary aim of the presidential election should be to defeat MR. Misrule, broken promises, third term, family rule, corruption etc. should be the main issues. Of course, non-abolition or non-reform of the presidential system can be one. The UNP or the opposition should ask for a mandate to abolish the EP system and to enact a new constitution more specifically at the parliamentary elections, more prominence given to socio-economic and a political program. I cannot understand why the UNP has so far failed to come up with a counter Mahinda Chinthana.
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Rajash / November 10, 2014
“I think RW needs a speech writer or an article writer…”
The poor guy cant afford US PR companies
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K.A Sumanasekera / November 10, 2014
At least one hardcore UNP.TNA, Diaspora supporter has realized Ranil’s folly…..
Or is it guile ?…..
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Pot Shot / November 10, 2014
Its commendable that RW thinks this way and is able to put together an article. He may not be able to win and election but he thinks sensibly at an intellectual level which MR is not capable of. MR’s policies have always been to threaten the minorities and use the BBS or the Army and White vans, Grease Yakas (Through Gota) to rule the people by instilling fear. Nothing more or nothing less than the North Korean dictator’s tactics. This is a contest between between BRAIN and BRAWN. MR is only capable of the latter and its shocking how Sri Lankan society appreciates the violence and keeps voting for this corrupt rascal. We are warped and need serious overhauling of attitudes and mentality if Sri Lanka is to go forward.
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Sylvia Haik / November 10, 2014
All will be forgiven and Ranil will win if he can incorporate his 9 point plan for a New Republic in a manifesto and pledge to see it through in the first parliament. I will urge him to include:
1) The unfettered recruitment of all races into the Army, Navy, Air Force and Police and deploy them in all areas. This will eliminate the Them and Us situation that now exists.
2) Repeal the 18th Amendment.
3) Return all the requisitioned properties.
4) Reinstate the Dual Citizenship facility for former Sri Lankans.
This will attract back the skilled professionals that left our country and others who have accumulated professional skills abroad. Also, there are some who have reached pensionable age, drawing lucrative pensions (in scarce foreign currency) and with accumulated vast capitals.
5) Make discrimination on sex, gender, religion or race a punishable offence.
6) Make incitement to religious or race hatred a punishable offence.
The much hackneyed reason for suspending Dual Citizenship is that LTTE cadres and supporters will take advantage. It is time to believe that the LTTE is truly decimated and they were detested by the Tamils more than the rest of the populace. The Tamil people you see carrying posters are not there by choice but by intimidation
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Sellam / November 10, 2014
And demilitarise North and East immediately. and Hold a referendum for the North and East for the Tamil people to decide their fate.
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Upul / November 10, 2014
Mr. Rip Van Winkle Wickremesinghe,
Great research and writing by your legal team for the benefit of your Western benefactors.
Please explain to Perera, Silva, Siva and Fathima how they can put food on the Table TOMORROW, and if the children’s teachers turn up to work.
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ramona therese fernando / November 10, 2014
Rather Utopian, don’t you think Ranil?
I can promise you that we are no longer in the age of tribes. Now India can have the tribal autochthony. They are a huge giant with many races, tribes and castes living in seclusion from each other, and will do so for many another millennia. In Sri Lanka, tribes went away long ago with the British when they started their tea and rubber estates on their lands. Tribes were chased to the cities and became beggars, and lost their tribe-hood. Everybody is Sri Lanka is now almost one race, save for those who hold on to ancestral surnames (never mind – everybody is changing their surnames back to ancestral surnames these days in spite of the mixtures). Therefore, the British system of central–government autonomy is most apt for Sri Lanka. England, being an island also had the same sort of thing as Sri Lanka (see what happened to the Scottish referendum- for Sri Lanka to have this referendum will be groosly unfair, of course, because of the Tamil Nadu sitting like a huge gross-ity above us).
Now we can’t take examples from other places, e.g. US. US is the one-in-a-historical-time success story. It can never happen again in the age and current civilization of the world. Their success was built mostly on slavery, and selling weapons to places like Japan in the industrial age. Their government was centralized with plenty of avenue for Amendments because of the money from such mis-adventures of the US. Everybody also then became good and holy and religious and innovative, which took then into the next stage of the US-success story. Nowadays it is all about killing any global-opposition who try to copy and disrupt the US global-order (naturally).
The Donomough Constitution! Is that the one that calls for Federalism? Oh no! There will be nothing as catastrophic to the Sinhala masses as this one. Tamils, while occupying the South, will also incorporate the North with the Ultra-Unified Tamil Nadu.
The UNP 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution is not like the last and final Prophet(PBUH). Lankan constitution will continue to evolve with the needs of 80% of Sri Lanka in mind.
Your best chance is to set yourself up as would-be King! There- that will get the masses. The way to do this is to scorn the Lankan-China pact. Now, this does not mean a total blocking of everything China, but for you to show the masses that the push towards Western interests is most necessary in light of the West having more warfare-power than China ever will. Every-time China and her allies build up war-power, guess what the West is up to. But be aware that Rajapakse is also aware of such things. The trick is that you have to have a greater than Rajapkse hold on this West-East game playing.
As for the Buddha-Asoka type of government, Yes. Now that will work very well for our Island. But after someone becomes King like Asoka.
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Sellam / November 10, 2014
Change the constitution and change the Sri Lankan Flag.
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douglas / November 11, 2014
Ranil must take the FULL RESPONSIBILITY for not allowing and facilitating to establish a “Meaningful Opposition” in the Parliament and in the country. His actions and lack of foresight led to the “cross overs” from his party to the Government. We cannot blame the UPFA led by MR to have captured the opportunity to establish his all powerful Government even at the expense of the tax payers. All politicians are crafty and vultures to grab power and MR did it in style. For the last many years in opposition and failing in twenty nine elections, Ranil did not care to make a “self assessment” but was more concerned in consolidating his “LEADERSHIP” stake in the UNP, rather than consolidating the peoples’ strength against undue pressures brought upon to bear on the people and erosion of democratic way of governance. If he had the courage and the foresight to see through things that took place in the country over the last few years,at least, since winning the war on terror, Rnil would have been able to be the obvious choice for the next Head of the government. He purposely ignored the situation and rather than serving the country, he opted to serve himself as the “USELESS” Leader of the Opposition and concentrated heavily on consolidating his LEADERSHIP in the party. Of his OWN CHOICE and the lack of leadership shown, he is today a BURDEN on any opposition to the Government. That is why a majority of the people are asking: WHO ELSE IS THE PERSON TO VOTE, OTHER THAN MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE? Mind you, this “majority” includes UNP voters too.
Anyway, we hear of a COMMON PROGRAMME. Where is it? If it is made known and acceptable, it is very vital that its implementation must not be left in the hands of a leader of Ranil,s caliber. A firm bond must be made that such common programme will be administered and implemented by a genuine, unbiased, neutral, patriotic panel of members whose integrity is beyond question.
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Tamil from the north / November 12, 2014
Hey RW, please do us all a huge favor and quit. GO AWAY, YOU GREEDY SOB. BECAUSE OF YOU, THIS SCOUNDREL KEEPS STEALING THE PRESIDENCY. JUST DISSAPEAR AND LET SOMEONE WHO IS JUST CAPABLE TO TAKE OVER. MAYBE YOU SHOULD TRY FARMING OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. DISSAPEAR PLEASEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!
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