{"id":200376,"date":"2019-04-05T12:23:56","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T06:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=200376"},"modified":"2019-04-09T17:19:33","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T11:49:33","slug":"presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidential Candidate Should Be A Parent To Be Eligible – A Response"},"content":{"rendered":"

By P. Soma Palan<\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

P. Soma Palan<\/p><\/div>\n

Member of Parliament, Ananda Aluthgamage (AA) has proposed an Amendment to the Presidential Election Law, in Parliament, as reported in the Daily Mirror of 28th<\/sup> March. I wish to respond as follows:<\/p>\n

Ananda Aluthgamage states that \u201cWe all believe that only a Buddhist (that is Sinhala) could become the Head of State, but it is more important to include a clause in the Presidential Election Law, saying one has to become a parent to be eligible to contest the Presidency\u201d. <\/strong>What a profound piece of thought. It would even baffle a half sane person. He says it is because that, \u201conly a parent with children could understand the needs of the people\u201d. <\/strong>Why only the President? Even those who get elected to Parliament and come to serve the people should also be eligible to contest elections only if, he or she is a parent, who will understand the needs of the people. Those bachelors and married people without the status of parenthood should be debarred from contesting elections, both General and Provincial. The President is only an individual. Whereas, Members of Parliament are 225, who should \u201cunderstand the needs of the people\u201d more and better, particularly their electorates, than the President.<\/p>\n

Further, Mr. Ananda Aluthgamage states that \u201cparenthood is the only condition to understand the needs of the<\/strong> \u201d <\/strong>If this is so, then the Monks of the Buddhist Sangha and the Priests of the Christian Church, who are \u201cCelibates\u201d should be disqualified from giving pontifical advice to the State, as they are incapable of understanding the needs of the people.<\/p>\n

To understand the needs of the people, it does not necessarily require the status of parenthood. What it requires is, education, knowledge and awareness, which is woefully lacking in our politicians.<\/p>\n

The other limb of his statement states that \u201conly a Buddhist (means Sinhala) could become the Head of State\u201d. <\/strong>This violates the Constitution, which says all citizens are equal. Sri Lanka is a Democratic country and not a Theocratic State, at least \u201cde jure\u201d. But \u201cde facto\u201d it is a theocratic State. However, Mr. Ananda Aluthgamage is honest enough to overtly say that only Sinhala Buddhist should be the President of the country. But covertly, the Government ensures that ,all important Leadership positions are held by the Sinhala Buddhists, such as the Chief Justice, Attorney General, the Speaker of the Parliament, Auditor General, Prime Minister and even Heads of Ministries and Corporations. Example the removal of the Director General of Customs, Mrs Charles. Even the Captain of the Sri Lankan Cricket Team- example the obstacles faced by Angelo Mathews as Captain. It is widely believed that a potential Prime Minster, Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar was pre-emptively eliminated by assassination.<\/p>\n

In the Daily Mirror of same date, the writer, Ravi Nagawatte reiterated this rule in his article \u201cBuddhist Sri Lanka at Crossroads\u201d that \u201conly a Sinhala Buddhist can become the Head of State in this country\u201d. <\/strong>He even says that \u201cthis condition is a blessing in a way because it forces the Head of State of this nation to be a cultured and religious minded individual who has compassion towards everyone\u201d. <\/strong>According to Mr. Ravi Nagawatte only a Sinhala Buddhist can be a cultured and religious minded individual, who would have compassion towards everyone, and no one else. This is the doctrine of religious absolutism. These noble qualities are the preserve and prerogative of the Sinhala Buddhists only. Implied in this statement is the notion that individuals of other religions have no such virtues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":181568,"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-200376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nPresidential Candidate Should Be A Parent To Be Eligible - A Response - 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\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Presidential Candidate Should Be A Parent To Be Eligible - A Response - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-05T06:53:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-04-09T11:49:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/P.-Soma-Palan.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"287\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"287\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"P. Soma Palan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"P. Soma Palan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 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\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/\",\"name\":\"Presidential Candidate Should Be A Parent To Be Eligible - A Response - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/P.-Soma-Palan.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-05T06:53:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-09T11:49:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6079cadd76256346609df5d667700d07\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/P.-Soma-Palan.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/P.-Soma-Palan.jpg\",\"width\":287,\"height\":287,\"caption\":\"P. Soma Palan\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Presidential Candidate Should Be A Parent To Be Eligible – A Response\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6079cadd76256346609df5d667700d07\",\"name\":\"P. Soma Palan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/51dd005693e105b7c2ac1fc3031b02ee89b843f3d1ae57fefba06a510fd717f4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/51dd005693e105b7c2ac1fc3031b02ee89b843f3d1ae57fefba06a510fd717f4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"P. Soma Palan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/somapalan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Presidential Candidate Should Be A Parent To Be Eligible - A Response - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Presidential Candidate Should Be A Parent To Be Eligible - A Response - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2019-04-05T06:53:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-04-09T11:49:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":287,"height":287,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/P.-Soma-Palan.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"P. Soma Palan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"P. Soma Palan","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/","name":"Presidential Candidate Should Be A Parent To Be Eligible - A Response - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/P.-Soma-Palan.jpg","datePublished":"2019-04-05T06:53:56+00:00","dateModified":"2019-04-09T11:49:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6079cadd76256346609df5d667700d07"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/P.-Soma-Palan.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/P.-Soma-Palan.jpg","width":287,"height":287,"caption":"P. Soma Palan"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/presidential-candidate-should-be-a-parent-to-be-eligible-a-response\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Presidential Candidate Should Be A Parent To Be Eligible – A Response"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6079cadd76256346609df5d667700d07","name":"P. Soma Palan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/51dd005693e105b7c2ac1fc3031b02ee89b843f3d1ae57fefba06a510fd717f4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/51dd005693e105b7c2ac1fc3031b02ee89b843f3d1ae57fefba06a510fd717f4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"P. Soma Palan"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/somapalan\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/P.-Soma-Palan.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200376"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200378,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200376\/revisions\/200378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}