{"id":189981,"date":"2018-04-22T03:04:14","date_gmt":"2018-04-21T21:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=189981"},"modified":"2018-04-27T00:21:01","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T18:51:01","slug":"retrieving-the-reform-agenda-picking-up-the-pieces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/retrieving-the-reform-agenda-picking-up-the-pieces\/","title":{"rendered":"Retrieving The Reform Agenda &#8211; Picking Up The Pieces"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Sarath+De+Alwis\">Sarath De Alwis<\/a> &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_185123\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Sarath-De-Alwis-1-e1512361246986.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-185123\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-185123\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Sarath-De-Alwis-1-e1512361246986-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Sarath-De-Alwis-1-e1512361246986-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Sarath-De-Alwis-1-e1512361246986-45x45.jpg 45w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-185123\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarath De Alwis<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cEnd and Goal: Not every end is a goal.\u00a0 The end of a melody is not its goal; but nonetheless, if the melody had not reached its end it would not have reached its goal either.\u00a0A parable.\u201d ~\u00a0<em>Friedrich Nietzsche<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.\u201d ~\u00a0Vladimir Lenin<\/p>\n<p>So long as we remember the fear psychosis that gripped our minds alert to human dignity under the shadowy surveillance state before 8<sup>th<\/sup> January 2015, we will not doubt the credentials of the change that it brought about. That it got mired in murky power politics is nether here nor there.<\/p>\n<p>There is a saying. Everybody is great until you get to know them. Now, we know most of them. More specifically, we know President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7LtIDKgWssY\" width=\"900\" height=\"500\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the next 18 months, we will know how to define these times. We must finish what we started. The danger we must avert is to make sure that it does not turn out to be something different from what we intended.<\/p>\n<p>On January 8, 2015 a change occurred. It was sudden and surprising. It was sudden, because we did not dare think of a time when we would not feel the weight of the Mahinda Rajapaksa monolith. It was a monolith that nearly perpetuated itself. A monolith is a large, powerful organization that is not willing to change, and that does not seem interested in individual people.<\/p>\n<p>The January 2015 reversal was surprising because entrenched autocrats do not step down that easy. How he stepped down, is another story for another day.<\/p>\n<p>We shouRescuing ld stop blaming Mahinda Rajapaksa. In his \u2018Theory of Justice\u2019 John Rawls advises us not to expect politicians to be correct, proper and act with integrity. That is not how it works.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHistorically one of the main defects of constitutional government has been the failure to insure the fair value of political liberty. The necessary corrective steps have not been taken, indeed, they never seem to have been seriously entertained. &#8230;\u00a0 the fault lies in the fact that the democratic political process is at best regulated rivalry.<\/p>\n<p>It is unlikely that Mahinda has read John Rawls\u2019s Theory of Justice. But it seems, he had a pretty good idea about regulating political rivalry.<\/p>\n<p>January 8, 2015 was not a seismic shift. A thin slice of the urban middle-class literate and learned, deeply resenting the surveillance state and assaults on human rights by a venal brutal security apparatus naively hoped that it would be.<\/p>\n<p>Although the new order, seduced by its own rhetoric, took no notice, within 40 days of his ouster, Mahinda Rajapaksa demonstrated the true state of play at Nugegoda. His Goebbelsian ideologue called it <em>\u2018The Rising\u2019<\/em>. He was uncharacteristically modest. He should have called it \u2018The Return\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Let us be pragmatic. To this day, Mahinda Rajapaksa, retains a hegemonic leadership of a vast swathe of political territory. He has a firm grip on a sizeable segment of urban and rural poor. The lower middle classes adore him. A sizeable section of organized trade unions is under his spell. A hideously vulgar class of oligarchs who were nursed in to positions and wealth by brothers Basil and Gotabaya are patiently waiting to resume interrupted business.<\/p>\n<p>The clumsy, contrived coalition that brought about the sudden and surprising change now stands dispersed, unraveled, scattered.<\/p>\n<p>In this backdrop, the tense political climate is understandable. The government has no coherent platform. Instead of presenting a clear political agenda for the next 18 months before the Presidential elections, both sides trade blame and make abstract promises. Promises that neither can keep without the cooperation and consent of the other.<\/p>\n<p>The people who elected President Maithripala Sirisena to office in January 8, 2015 had a single overarching expectation: He was being elected to abolish the executive presidency, an office that had been exploited for 40 years to strip away civil liberties and perpetuated excess, abuse and brutal crackdowns on political opponents. In the hands of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the presidency was weaponised with exceptional skill; the movement was anchored to the idea that a single individual must never be permitted to wield such power over the citizenry again.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em>When he agreed to become the common opposition candidate, taking his life in his hands to quit the Rajapaksa Government in 2014, President Sirisena told the country about the dangers of the presidency and promised to abolish the office upon his election.<\/p>\n<p>The recent brouhaha over the no confidence motion against the Prime minister made us alive to the other side of politics. It told us a stray fact about the world of insects. \u2018Insects are not drawn to candle flames. They are drawn to the light on the far side of the flame. They go into the flame and sizzle to nothingness because they&#8217;re so eager to get to the light on the other side.<\/p>\n<p>To function effectively and deliver, political leaders must possess political capital. Political capital is their capacity to influence political decisions. In simple terms what it means is the capacity of the leader to walk the talk. I mean walk the talk. Walking, not hopping. Talking, not preaching.<\/p>\n<p>The ability, inclination and desire to keep promises and to live up to expectations are what makes a credible leader<em>. <\/em>Otherwise, disappointment and the inevitable electoral rejection would be fatal. .<\/p>\n<p>The strength of a political leader is credibility. To be credible, the leader should be competent, trustworthy and must be perceived as caring for the people who elected him.<\/p>\n<p>This political primer is a contemporary imperative. It has to be said here and now. The abolition of the executive presidency is the single issue that will determine Maithripala Sirisena\u2019s place in history.<\/p>\n<p>He started with great \u00e9lan and promise. With a vibrancy that was inspiring. Then along the journey something happened. Fantasy and reality got mixed up.<\/p>\n<p>On the day he was sworn in, he promised the nation that he would not seek a second term as executive president.<\/p>\n<p>On November 12, 2015, President Sirisena reiterated that promise before the funeral pyre of Venerable Sobhitha thero, <em>the architect and spiritual leader of the January 8 movement for change.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSobitha Thero\u00a0 was determined to abolish the executive presidency. My presidency rests on that determination of the venerable thero and echoed by millions of Sri Lankans. With all my strength I pledge before the remains of Sobitha Thero that I will do everything possible to abolish the executive presidency,\u201d President Sirisena promised before hundreds of mourners and dignitaries gathered at the grounds to pay their last respects to the monk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am President and Ranil Wickremesinghe is Prime Minister today because of the foundation laid by Sobitha Thero. He is the architect of this presidency and this national Government based on the values of yahapalanaya,\u201d President Sirisena said to a nation mourning the loss of the dynamic priest that day.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly three years later, the barbarians are at the gate once more. The Government\u2019s last best hope for redemption rests on whether it can muster the will \u2013 and the numbers in parliament and a subsequent referendum \u2013 to renew its original pledge to abolish the presidency.<\/p>\n<p>If it achieves nothing else, but completes this one task, the Yahapalanaya Government would have served its purpose. \u00a0The reformist constituency needs to go back to the drawing board too, downsize its expectations and force the Government to return to the single issue that defined the opposition candidacy in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>In the age of big data retrieving political promises is much easier than being drawn in to polemical gymnastics on the pros and cons of the executive presidential system. The past three years holds a lesson. We have been <strong>bamboozled for so long with such consistency, that we are part of the bamboozle. The bamboozle has captured us.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Can we set ourselves free, this fractured coalition of dreamers, to pick up the pieces of the change movement before it\u2019s too late?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":185123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Retrieving The Reform Agenda - Picking Up The Pieces - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/retrieving-the-reform-agenda-picking-up-the-pieces\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Retrieving The Reform Agenda - Picking Up The Pieces - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/retrieving-the-reform-agenda-picking-up-the-pieces\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-21T21:34:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-04-26T18:51:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Sarath-De-Alwis-1-e1512361246986.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"248\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarath de Alwis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarath de Alwis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/retrieving-the-reform-agenda-picking-up-the-pieces\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/retrieving-the-reform-agenda-picking-up-the-pieces\/\",\"name\":\"Retrieving The Reform Agenda - Picking Up The Pieces - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/retrieving-the-reform-agenda-picking-up-the-pieces\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/retrieving-the-reform-agenda-picking-up-the-pieces\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Sarath-De-Alwis-1-e1512361246986.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-21T21:34:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-26T18:51:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9314baba9871514de4e0a9c997223784\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/retrieving-the-reform-agenda-picking-up-the-pieces\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/retrieving-the-reform-agenda-picking-up-the-pieces\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/retrieving-the-reform-agenda-picking-up-the-pieces\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Sarath-De-Alwis-1-e1512361246986.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Sarath-De-Alwis-1-e1512361246986.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":248,\"caption\":\"Sarath De Alwis\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/retrieving-the-reform-agenda-picking-up-the-pieces\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Retrieving The Reform Agenda &#8211; 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