A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Search This Blog
Back to 500BC.
==========================
Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Constitutional Reforms Unveiled – An Analysis
The
Second Republican Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of
Sri Lanka promulgated in 1978 has since had 19 Amendments made to it. As
part of the ongoing constitutional reforms process, the Steering
Committee of the Constitutional Assembly has prepared a Draft Interim
Report covering matters pertaining to the nature of the State,
sovereignty, religion, principles in relation to the devolution of power
and land, the Central Government legislating on subjects coming under
the Provincial List, capital territory, the second chamber, the
electoral system, the Executive, the Constitutional Council, and law and
order. Below is a critical analysis of and counter-narrative to the
proposals to Chapter I and II of the Constitution contained in the Draft
Interim Report of the Steering Committee of the Constitutional
Assembly.
Chapter I: The People, The State and Sovereignty
Articles 1 and 2
Article
1 of the Constitution defines the Sri Lankan State as being a Free,
Sovereign, Independent and Democratic Socialist Republic, while Article 2
deals with its nature, in this case, being one of a unitary character.
The
Committee has put forward three alternate formulations for the said
Articles. These include – 1) Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is one free, sovereign,
independent, undivided and indivisible Republic consisting of the
institutions of the Centre and of the Provinces which shall exercise
power as laid down in the Constitution, 2) Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is one
free, sovereign, independent, undivided and indivisible Republic and 3)
Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is a free, sovereign and independent Republic which
is ‘undivided and indivisible’/‘an aekiya rajyaya/orumiththa nadu’.
Submitting
papers in this regard, MP Dinesh Gunawardena and the Jathika Hela
Urumaya (JHU) have called for the retention of the present Articles as
is, while an alliance composed of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC),
the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), the All Ceylon Makkal Congress
(ACMC) and the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) have proposed the
following – “Sri Lanka shall be known as ‘United Republic of Sri Lanka’.
It shall be ‘Sri Lanka Ekshath Janarajaya’ in Sinhala language and
‘Aikkiya Illangai Kudiyarasau’ in Tamil language.” In the JHU’s view, a
unitary State was the best model to protect the interests of the
minorities.
Further
the following has been suggested for consideration to be included
within Chapter I. One is that “The Constitution is the supreme law of
Sri Lanka.” and the second is that “Any amendment or repeal and
replacement of the Constitution shall only be made by the Parliament and
the people, in the manner provided for in the Constitution.”
Gunawardena has objected to the latter.
The
authors propose an amalgam of the wordings in Articles 1 and 2 to be
expanded as follows: “Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is one Free, Sovereign,
Independent, Unitary, Undivided and Indivisible, Democratic, Socialist,
Republic consisting of the institutions of the Centre and of the
Provinces which shall exercise power as laid down in the Constitution.”
The authors also call for the inclusion of the two additions that have
been suggested.
Article 3
On
the question of the Sovereignty of the People, Article 3 currently
reads, “In the Republic of Sri Lanka sovereignty is in the People and is
inalienable. Sovereignty includes the powers of government, fundamental
rights and the franchise.”
The
Committee with the exception of Gunawardena has proposed that it should
be “In Sri Lanka sovereignty is in the People and is inalienable, and
includes the powers of government, fundamental rights and the
franchise.”
The authors concur with Gunawardena.