Wooing a spent force
Posted on December 17th, 2016
Editorial Courtesy The Island
December 16, 2016, 9:50 pm
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan have, with the blessings of President Maithripala Sirisena, sought former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s support for the government’s constitutional efforts, according to a recent Hindu report.
Why is the government so keen to involve Rajapaksa in its constitution making process? PM Wickremesinghe has provided the answer in an interview with The Hindu: The government is confident of mustering the required numbers in Parliament to ensure the passage of the Constitution to be made, but Rajapaksa’s supporters will be crucial to a favourable vote in a countrywide referendum.
The existing Constitution is seriously flawed and the need for a robust supreme law cannot be overemphasised. But, devolution, or any other single issue, must not be the be-all and end-all of a constitution if it is to have a wider application and be acceptable to all stakeholders. Regrettably, those who have undertaken to write a new constitution are manically focused only on devolution.
Following the conclusion of the war, international pressure was ratcheted up on the Rajapaksa government to set up the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) in keeping with the 13th Amendment to solve the problems of the northern people. Has the NPC been of any help to the people struggling to rebuild their lives? The raison d’être of that provincial administration is to clash with the centre, pass resolutions against the state and demand more and more powers. Shouldn’t the NPC prove that the powers it is already vested with can be used to help improve the people’s lot before asking for more? Regrettably, the conduct of the ruling NPC members, some of whom are also involved in commemorating dead Tigers, bolsters their critics’ view that they are trying to achieve the LTTE’s goal politically by using the 13th Amendment as a launching pad for federalism with a view to achieving autonomy later on.
Let the SLFP, the UNP, the TNA, and the SLMC reveal their constitutional proposals before urging others to do so. If the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe coalition together with its partners in progress such as the TNA, present a set of constitutional proposals acceptable to all stakeholders, then the need for seeking the Rajapaksa’s help to implement the new Constitution won’t simply arise. The Joint Opposition will have to fall in line in such an eventuality. How the 19th Amendment was implemented is a case in point.
The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration vilifies the Rajapaksas at every turn as a bunch of thieves who have ruined this country, and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has, in his interview with The Hindu, written off former President Rajapaksa as a spent force. So, why should the government go behind him seeking his backing for its constitution making project? Doesn’t it think its dependence on Rajapaksa will not be to the liking of its western masters and the Tamil Diaspora?
It boggles one’s mind why the government should go behind the Rajapaksas. It has within its ranks former war winning Army Commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, who the UNP says, would have defeated the LTTE with or without the Rajapaksas’ political leadership for the war effort and Minister Champika Ranawaka, an ardent champion of the Sinhala Buddhist cause; it also has the backing of the civil society outfit founded by the late Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera, whose patriotism was never in question. So, the government headed by President Maithripala Sirisena, who takes pride in having served as the acting Defence Minister at the height of the war, should be able to secure the support of the majority community for the constitution to be made. After all, PM Wickremesinghe has declared in his interview with The Hindu: “We’re all patriots, we’re all nationalists … What we will decide on the nature of the state and other issues will be acceptable to everyone.”
One of the present government’s main election promises was to bring the Rajapaksas to justice for what it called the plunder of public property, abuse of power and various corrupt deals. Therefore, shouldn’t the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration do everything in its power to fulfil that pledge instead of trying to enlist the Rajapaksas’ support for its constitution making project?
December 17th, 2016 at 3:19 am
I appeal to President Mahinda Rajapaksa to OPPOSE this new Constitution with all your might using the love and respect you command among the Patriots of Sri Lanka to PREVENT the DISINTEGRATION of our Motherland as a unitary and sovereign nation.
SPECIFICALLY, I URGE YOU to PROMISE TO REPEAL the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in its ENTIRETY, DISSOLVE the current Provincial Council System, and REPLACE it with a system based on Administrative Districts directly controlled and administeted by the Central Government under District Governors APPOINTED by the National Government, and NOT ELECTED by the residents of the Districts.
It is TIME to get rid of the whole NOTION of Provincial Governments and DEVOLUTION of Power to UNREPENTANT separatists, and keeping an unnecessary additional Provincial Bureaucracy that is just a parasitic burden on the people that consumes national resources without any significant benefit to the nation. We need to make governance resistant to centrifugal forces and streamline it through elimination of redundant bureaucracies!
The election of MP’S to the National Parliament on the basis of one vote per citizen is SUFFICIENT FRANCHISE for even the most jaded democrat.
If you PROMISE to do these LIMITED THINGS, and implement a national development program similar to that of your previous government, and PROMISE TO DISEMPOWER THE SEPARATISTS conniving create communal separatist FIEFDOMS, I have NO DOUBT that the vast majority of the people will RE-ELECT you and the Patriotic Forces you lead to power by an OVERWHELMING MAJORITY!
We patriots are SICK of these THREATS to the INTEGRITY & ECONOMIC PROGRESS of our nation, and appeal to you to ACT NOW!
Please do these FEW things that are a RADICAL BUT NECESSARY DEPARTURE FROM THE PAST, especially REPEALING the 13th Amendment and DISSOLVING the Provincial Council System, and save our motherland ….. ONCE MORE ….. from the current TREACHEROUS path of the Yamapalanaya government that will destroy Sri Lanka as a sovereign unitary nation, and the only homeland of the Sinhala Buddhist people in this world.
May the Noble Triple Gem bless and protect you and your family, ALWAYS!
December 17th, 2016 at 1:40 pm
Andare-USA,
How can he oppose this con-institution when it originated from him ?
December 17th, 2016 at 1:42 pm
If he repeals the 13A we will witness a Katussa with one hand and Kalawedda with one ball !
December 17th, 2016 at 3:08 pm
අන්දරේගෙ කාලෙ හිටපු රජතුමාත් අන්දරේ වගේම තමයි. එතුමා විහිළු තහළු වලට බොහොම මනාපයි.
ඉතිං දවසක්දා අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය රැස් වුන වෙලාවක රජතුමා කියනවා “හෙට හැමදෙනාම එක බොරුව බැගින් කියන්ට වුවමනායි, ලොකුම බොරුව කිව් තැනත්තාට වටිනා ත්යාගයක් දෙනවා” කියලා. මේ වෙලාවෙ අන්දරේ රාජ සභාවෙ හිටියෙ නෑ.
ඉතිං අමාත්යවරුටික ගෙදර ගෙහුං මොකද කරන්නෙ තෑග්ග ගන්ට හිතාන රෑ නිදිවරාණ රටේ ලෝකෙ නැති බොරු බේගල් කල්පනා කොරා. ඒ අතින් ඉස්සර හිටපු ඇත්තො අනේ වාසනාවන්. බොරුවක් කියාගන්ට බොහෝම දුක් විදලා තියනවා. ඒකටත් එක්ක දැං ඉන්න අය. ඕං ඉතිං කතාවෙන් පිට පැන්නා.
ඉතිං කොහොම හරි පහුවදා රාජ සභාව රැස්වුනා කියමුකො. අන්දරෙත් ආවා. පස්සෙ ඉතිං මේ ඇමතිවරු ටික රාජ නියෝගය පරිදි නමෝවිත්තියෙන් බොරු කීම ආරම්භකලා. අන්දරෙත් මොකද කරන්නෙ මේ ගල් පැලෙන බොරු අහගෙන හිනහ වෙවී හිටියා. කට්ටියම බොරු කියලා අහවර වුනාට පස්සේ අන්දරේ රජතුමා ලගට ගෙහුං වැද “දේවයන්වහන්ස මටත් යමක් කීමට අවසරදැයි” අසා සිටියා.
“ඔව් තොපටත් යමක් ඇත්නම් කියවැයි” රජතුමා පිළිතුරු දුන්නා.
පස්සෙ අන්දරේ එවෙලේම ගොතාගත් කවියකින් මෙහෙම දෙයක් කිව්වා.
රජකම් කලත් ඉදගෙන සිහසුනක මත
ඔබ ගොන් රජෙකි මේ මහ ගොන් රැලට හිත
ඔබ මෙන් කුහක නින්දිත අධමයකු කැත
මුළු ලංකාවෙ වෙන කිසියම් තැනක නැත
අන්දරේ මෙය කියා අවසන් වනවත් එක්කම මුළු රාජ සභාවම කලබල තත්වයකට පත්වුනා. රජතුමා ඇතුළු තමනුත් ගොන් රැලක් යැයි පැවසූ අන්දරේ රාජ උදහසට ලක් වියයුතු බව රජු හැර අනෙක් සියළුදෙනා ඒකමතිකව තීරණය කලා. ඒත් රජතුමා මහ හඩින් හිනාවෙලා
“අන්න හරි අන්දරේටයි තෑග්ග. මේ තරම් විශාල බොරුවක් කව්රුත් කිව්වෙ නැහැ. මගේ රාජ සභාවෙහි සිටින්නේ ගොන් රැලක් වගද මමද නින්දිත කැත අධමයෙක් යයි කීම අදහාගත නොහැකි බොරුවක්” යැයි කීයා අන්දරේට තෑග්ග බාර දුන්නා.
December 17th, 2016 at 4:43 pm
Aiyoooo Sirusrna FOOLED ME Katussa (Lorenzo) commands his slavish pet poodle Kalawedda (Gon-Gonsal),
Kalaweddo, Kalaweddo,
Umbath natapan,
Mamath natannang,
Rawumen rawumata api
Mey deshadrohi kolama natamu!
Umbath narapan,
Mama th natannang,
Kalaweddo, Kalaweddo ……
December 17th, 2016 at 4:46 pm
Oi Andare-Kalawedda (Gon-Gonsal),
Thawama LankaWeb adaviye thapinawada?
Kalaweddo, Kalaweddo …. run and get your orders from the Katussa (Lorenzo).
Earn your keep ….. dammit!