{"id":144046,"date":"2015-05-04T14:57:27","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T09:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=144046"},"modified":"2015-05-09T23:33:08","modified_gmt":"2015-05-09T18:03:08","slug":"sirisena-should-not-miss-this-historical-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sirisena-should-not-miss-this-historical-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"Sirisena Should Not\u00a0Miss This Historical Opportunity\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Veluppillai Thangavelu<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Veluppillai<\/a>

Veluppillai Thangavelu<\/p><\/div>\n

The passage of 19th Amendment marks a course correction in the political direction of the country’s history. The executive\u00a0presidential\u00a0system of government\u00a0in place\u00a0since 1978 has been changed though not fully. According to many analysts the powers of the executive president has been reduced by half, if not more.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court rightly determined<\/span><\/a>\u00a0certain provisions of the draft 19th Amendment<\/span><\/a> required\u00a0a\u00a0referendum among the people to make them legally valid. The Supreme Court\u00a0 determined that the Bill complies with the provisions of article 82 (1) of the Constitution and requires to be passed by special majority specified in Article 82(5) of the Constitution and that the paragraphs 42 (3), 43 (1), 43 (3), 44 (2), 44 (3) and 44 (5) in Clause 11 and some sections in Clause 26 require the approval of the people at a referendum in terms of the provisions of Article 83 of the Constitution. Among those provisions that were\u00a0struck down by the Supreme Court the one making the Prime Minister the head of the Cabinet of Ministers, that he shall determine the number of ministers. In a parliamentary democracy the prime minister is only the first among the equals. He is not the\u00a0boss.<\/p>\n

Notably, a referendum will be required for the sections that provide for making the Prime Minister the head of the Cabinet of ministers and enabling him to determine the number of ministers and subjects and functions to be assigned to the ministers, change those assignments and the one which says \u2018at the request of the Prime Minister, any Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers may, by notification published in the gazette, delegate to any minister who is not a member of the cabinet of ministers, any power or duty pertaining to any subject or function assigned to such Cabinet minister, or any power or duty conferred or imposed on him or her by any written law, and shall be lawful for such other minister to exercise and perform any power or duty delegated notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the written law by which that power or duty is conferred or imposed on such minister of the cabinet of ministers.<\/p>\n

\"Maithripala\"<\/a>The section in Clause 26 of the Bill seeking to amend the sections pertaining to appointment of a competent authority to look over the state and private electronic media institutions during the times of elections, too, needs to be approved by people at a referendum.<\/p>\n

Why Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/span><\/a> wanted to create an executive prime\u00a0minister\u00a0in lieu of an executive president is not understood, unless he thought he\u00a0is the next prime minister in waiting. What if Rajapaksa managed to get elected as the prime minister after the scheduled elections?\u00a0 In 1978 JR Jayewardene made the same mistake when he fashioned the 1978 constitution which conferred unbridled executive powers on the president. More than Jayewardene, it was the likes of Premadasa and Rajapaksa who made full use\u00a0or abuse of those powers.<\/p>\n

The determination by the Supreme Court came as a relief to many sections of the\u00a0society, especially the national minority Thamils. The executive\u00a0presidential system gives the Thamil people\u00a0the chance to decide the\u00a0president\u00a0when the votes of the majority get divided down the middle. This happened at the last presidential elections held last January 8, 2015.<\/p>\n

Although Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> garnered\u00a0more votes\u00a0than the winner Maithripala Sirisena<\/span><\/a> in the south (except Nuwara Eliya electoral\u00a0district)\u00a0yet he lost\u00a0because of\u00a0Thamil and Muslim votes in the North, East and Nuwara Eliya going to Sirisena. Barring the 5\u00a0electoral districts in the North, East and Central\u00a0 provinces Mahinda Rajapaksa\u00a0 polled\u00a0 5,299,151 (50.64%) voters compared to 4,996,448 (48.38%) for Sirisena. It was no surprise, therefore,\u00a0when Rajapaksa claimed he won the election if not for\u00a0the Thamil vote bank in the North, East and Upcountry.<\/p>\n

The late Soumiyamoorthy\u00a0Thondaman always supported\u00a0the presidential system of governance because the Thamils then will\u00a0have a say in electing the president. However, the results of the 2005 presidential election proved Thondaman\u2019s theory wrong. Mahinda Rajapaksa won the election without\u00a0the minority Thamil votes. He polled\u00a04,887,152 (50.29%)\u00a0as against\u00a04,706,366 (48.23%) in favour of Ranil Wickremesinghe. It was a razor\u00a0thin majority\u00a0of 180,786 (1.86%) votes. But, Rajapaksa won\u00a0the elections\u00a0solely due to an unofficial boycott of the presidential elections by the LTTE.\u00a0 In the Kilinochchi polling\u00a0district only one person voted for\u00a0Wickremesinghe out\u00a0of\u00a0total registered voters numbering 89,979!\u00a0 In the whole of Jaffna electoral district Rajapaksa polled\u00a0only 988 votes and Wickremesinghe 2,975 votes out of a total of 701,938 registered voters!<\/p>\n

In the elections\u00a0held in 2010\u00a0Rajapaksa won by a massive majority of\u00a0\u00a0 1,842,749 (17.73%) polling\u00a06,015,934\u00a0(57.88%)\u00a0\u00a0 over Sarath\u00a0Fonseka who polled 4,173,185 (40.15%).\u00a0 Based on the results of the election, Rajapaksa\u00a0got emboldened as never before. It reinforced his belief that minority Thamil votes are dispensable. He can win the 2015 elections even if his majority get reduced to\u00a01,700,000\u00a0votes compared to 2010. He drew wrong conclusions\u00a0to the extent of mocking his opponents “Here, I am come and take me.” At the end it was a double whammy\u00a0which cost\u00a0him 2 years of\u00a0his\u00a0second\u00a0term as well.<\/p>\n

The 19A marks the beginning of a new chapter in the contemporary political history of Sri Lanka. We\u00a0still\u00a0have\u00a0a semi-presidential system of government with the president being the Head of State, Head of Government and Commander in Chief\u00a0of the armed forces. He will also hold the post of defence by virtue of\u00a0his office. The 19th Amendment removed the power of the president to dissolve parliament. Earlier he\u00a0had the power to sack the parliament after one year. The setting up of 11\u00a0independent commissions has depolarized\u00a0important institutions like the Public Service Commission. The limit on the president’s terms of office has been\u00a0reduced to two terms thus effective shutting out the former president from staking his claim for a third term in future. The life of\u00a0parliament\u00a0and the term of presidency have reduced to 5 years from 6 years. Above all the Right to Information has been made a constitutional right of the people and institutions like the media.<\/p>\n

The highlight of\u00a019A is\u00a0no one person will\u00a0wield\u00a0unbridled power like in the days of Rajapaksa. Like Jayewardene he had all the powers except the power to change a man into a woman or vice versa. Now neither president nor the prime minister has absolute power to make appointments, transfers, dismissals etc. There are checks and balances between all\u00a0three branches of the government. Till the last no one thought the 19A would\u00a0sail through\u00a0the parliament. Though president Sirisena is the president of SLFP,\u00a0 his party \u00a0 secretary was leading the campaign to install Rajapaksa as prime minister.\u00a0 In the end it was the quiet diplomacy of\u00a0\u00a0 an\u00a0unassuming Sirisena\u00a0\u00a0 who was instrumental in persuading his party MPs to vote\u00a0in favour of\u00a0the 19A. Of course he has to make concessions to the rival faction in regard to the composition of Constitutional Council. Instead of 3 politicians and 7 citizens, it will be composed of \u00a07\u00a0members of parliament and 3 citizens.<\/p>\n

G.L. Peiris former foreign minister played a despicable role in\u00a0picking holes in 19A, forgetting he supported the 18th Amendment that dealt a death blow to democracy and made the president a virtual dictator! A person like G.L. Peiris should have gone\u00a0hiding rather than appearing in public and criticising 19A.<\/p>\n

The partial restoration of\u00a0the Westminster system of government is not going to solve the festering national question unless there is political will to do so. It might be recalled; the Thamils lost most of their rights not under the presidential form of government but under the Westminster style of government. The Ceylon Citizenship Act No 28 of 1948 which made a million Thamils of Indian origin\u00a0stateless, the Indian-Pakistani Citizenship Act of 1949 and\u00a0the Parliamentary Elections Amendment Act of 1949 which stripped their\u00a0voting rights, the Official Language Act (Sinhala Only Act) of 1956 were all enacted under a Westminster style of parliament and not under presidential system of governance.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the Westminster system of government is not a panacea to solve the problems faced by the Thamils and Muslims. What is required is another brand new constitution that\u00a0will address squarely and fairly the national question.<\/p>\n

Democracy as we have witnessed\u00a0since the dawn of\u00a0independence was turned into tyranny of the majority. The Sri Lankan polity was neither democratic nor socialist\u00a0as the preamble\u00a0to the constitution claims. Though democracy is all about equality and rule by consent by the entire populace, the ethnic minorities were told that they cannot have the same rights as the majority Sinhalese.<\/p>\n

J.R. Jayewardene the first executive president who came to power promising to look into the grievances of the Thamil people in regard to land and language witnessed\u00a0the worst racial pogroms under his dispensation, the 1983 riots<\/span><\/a>, fuelled in part by fabricated rumours, were easily the worst. He openly without any sense of shame started talking about majority Sinhalese and minority Thamils. In 1983 in an interview to Daily Telegraph\u00a0he claimed \u201cI am not worried about the opinion of the Tamil people\u2026 now we cannot think of them, not about their lives or their opinion\u2026 the more you put pressure in the north, the happier the Sinhala people will be here\u2026\u00a0Really if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy.\u201d (Sri Lanka\u00a0– Daily Telegraph, 11th July 1983)<\/p>\n

As for Mahinda Rajapaksa there was no racial problem in Sri Lanka, the real issue is the LTTE even after it was\u00a0soundly defeated in 2009.\u00a0 \u00a0He would often say “What we face in Sri Lanka is an internal issue therefore we don\u2019t want any interference from the outside world.” This statement was made after claiming “We wouldn\u2019t have won the war without the help from India. It was India’s war we fought and won.” He never seized the\u00a0opportunity to create a just and peaceful country where all the communities\u00a0could live in peace, security and with dignity.<\/p>\n

This government has\u00a0promised to form a\u00a0national government after\u00a0the dissolution of the current parliament and subsequent elections to be held in June\/July.<\/p>\n

The out come of the election is anybody’s guess.\u00a0 Whether the faction ridden\u00a0SLFP\/UPFA\u00a0will\u00a0contest as one party or\u00a0separately is a question for which there is\u00a0no answer yet. After the enactment of 19A president Maithripala Sirisena’s profile has soared internationally. He was portrayed as a\u00a0soft spoken and vacillating leader, but he has now emerged as an astute statesman looking beyond the next generation. He rallied support for 19A among recalcitrant MPs not resorting to bullying but\u00a0by cool persuasion. During the last 3 months he has restored the\u00a0Rule of Law at least partially which is the corner stone\u00a0for freedom and democracy. There were no phone calls\u00a0from Temple Trees to secretaries and heads of departments to go soft on law breakers, drug traffickers and corrupt individuals. He and his troupe flying on commercial flights, instead of private jets are in sharp contrast to his predecessor.\u00a0 The thoughtful act of paying for the helicopter that took his brother to Colombo out of his own pocket shows president Sirisena lives by example. Again, this is in sharp contrast to the Rajapaksa family using\u00a0helicopters like ordinary taxis during the\u00a0election campaign.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u00a0appears that president Sirisena is the first politician to practice what he preached.<\/p>\n

The absence of Wimal Weerawansa, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, and Udaya Gammanpila in the parliament during voting time shows their attempt to bring Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Ministerial candidate is going to fail. If Mahinda Rajapaksa lost the elections despite using or misusing\u00a0state resources including state controlled media, he is not going to fare any better without those resources. He must have realised lately the adage victory has\u00a0thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan. We saw that when SLFP\u00a0MPs\u00a0jumped ship to accept portfolios\u00a0dangled by the president.<\/p>\n

The acid test for\u00a0Sirisena is yet to come. Fashioning a brand new constitution by converting the\u00a0Parliament into a Constituent assembly is a daunting task. This will undoubtedly pose a big challenge to him as Head of State. Whether he will have the political will to\u00a0repair the damage done in the past\u00a0to the unity\u00a0of\u00a0the country and usher in\u00a0real peace, justice and equality remains to be seen.\u00a0 The likes of Dayan Jayatilleka is waving the red flag claiming “President Sirisena\u2019s role in history will be judged positively if he stops the 19A process from going further as the Ranil’s UNP explicitly envisages; whether he resists intrusive Western calls for war crimes accountability and protects national sovereignty; whether he resists the CBK surge towards a federal Constitution which, given the proximity of Tamil Nadu and resultant ideological osmosis.”\u00a0 No where in\u00a0history federal constitution has ended in division of the country? On the contrary federal constitution has\u00a0acted as the glue that binds the separate nations\u00a0like in Canada. In Canada diversity of people and cultures are considered as strength and not weakness. Twice within\u00a0two decades (1980, 1995)\u00a0French speaking people of Quebec have rejected call for separation.<\/p>\n

The Swiss model is a shining example of a small country with 4 languages speaking people living in peace and prosperity. In a survey conducted by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), an initiative under the United Nations, Switzerland\u00a0has been ranked first among 156 nations. On the contrary\u00a0Sri Lanka was ranked 132 out of 156 countries.<\/p>\n

Switzerland has four national languages. Speakers of Schwyzerd\u00fctsch (the German dialects spoken in Switzerland), account for about two-thirds of all Swiss. Another 18 percent speak French, about 10 percent\u2014mostly in the Ticino region\u2014speak Italian, and roughly 1 percent speaks Romansh, a dialect spoken mostly in the Grison region. The remainder of the population consists of foreign workers who speak the languages of their homelands. Most native Swiss are\u00a0multi-lingual, and many speak English.<\/p>\n

Switzerland is divided into 26 sovereign states, known as cantons, with 2,600 municipalities. The cantons have their own unicameral parliaments, administrative agencies, and court systems. Modern Switzerland as a \u201cshining example\u201d of decentralization \u2014 an example that some centralized countries, like New Zealand, are looking to as a guide for the future. The Swiss model\u00a0offers an alternative to the \u201cmonoculture” of centralist bureaucracies one\u00a0finds in Srilanka.<\/p>\n

President Sirisena has been offered a historical opportunity to move away from race\/religion\/language oriented politics and move towards a democratic and just polity for sustainable peace, economic prosperity and a pleasant living for ALL the people in the country.<\/p>\n

In his own words president Sirisena has\u00a0openly declared “We cannot allow the law of the jungle to supersede a good legal system. I do not hesitate to take required decisions. I will take every step possible, especially to protect and strengthen the people\u2019s freedom and democracy and through these means eliminate corruption and fraud, and thereby protect the genuine rights of the people. It was with the possible sacrifice of my life that I contested the election. That was like a leap into the ocean with the lives of my children myself at stake. I am so even today. I will conclude with the call to all my people to join in brotherhood and friendship to achieve the goals for which the people gave their mandate on January 8 and, therefore go forward to establish the society we seek for today and tomorrow.” We all hope and trust that he lives up to his solemn\u00a0commitment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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