We Need The World’s Support For The Next Innings

By Mangala Samaraweera –April 5, 2016

Mangala Samaraweera – Minister of Foreign Affairs

On January 8th last year, in a historic election, the people of Sri Lanka cast their votes for democracy, reconciliation and development. They chose free and fair elections, good governance and the rule of law over authoritarianism and impunity; they chose stability, reconciliation and peace over the politics of fear and hate. And they eschewed isolationist crony capitalism for openness to the world and a competitive, transparent rules-based economy. Basically, the people of Sri Lanka were weary of politics and governance that just wasn’t cricket. They wanted the new Sri Lanka with an undoctored pitch, an untampered ball and genuine umpires.

The new government was left to clean the Augean stables – a debt-ridden economy, a divided country and gross corruption. While a great more needs to be done, in the last year there is no one who doubts that there has been a sea change in Sri Lanka. In fact, Samantha Power, the US Ambassador to the UN said, “I cannot think of a country in the world today where there has been this much change in such a short a period of time”. So, Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to begin my talk today by briefing you on Sri Lanka’s progress and plans and then moving on to touch on the Sri Lanka-Australia Partnership.

As many of you here today know, during the previous authoritarian government Sri Lanka, the oldest democracy in Asia, stood at the precipice of dictatorship. But we succeeded in pulling back for that chasm in the last minute. In the last year we have reversed Sri Lanka’s trajectory and our democracy is rapidly consolidating. In fact, within months of securing office, the government swiftly passed a constitutional amendment separating powers, strengthening checks and balances and ensuring the integrity of the electoral process. That amendment reduced the powers of the presidency and re-instated term limits, ensured the independence of the judiciary, law enforcement and state officials, and made the Right to Information a fundamental right.

But this government, is going beyond reversing the undemocratic laws of the previous government. We are now ensuring that Sri Lanka reaches the next stage in its democracy moving from a ballotocracy to a fully-fledged modern democracy. Sri Lanka has made historic strides to entrench our democratic culture, promote accountability and consolidate the deliberative and participatory aspects of democracy. We have restored the freedom of the press, ended censorship and invited exiled journalists to return to Sri Lanka. A Right to Information Act has been tabled in Parliament and we will be voting on it shortly. Hundreds of criminal investigations for abuses of power and corruption are currently underway under the due process of the law. We just put in place a 25 percent reservation for women in local government elections. Once these reforms are over Sri Lanka’s democracy will be truly accountable, participatory and inclusive.

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