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
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Government of national unity must accomplish its main task
By Jehan Perera-July 3, 2017, 8:46 pm
Unless the government shows that it is capable of delivering results
soon, the slow progress of problem solving at the ground level will
continue to erode public support for the government. The weak
performance of the economy is on the minds of most people. The expected
job creation through industrial growth has not materialized nor has
there been technological improvement that could raise the level of
incomes of agricultural and fishing families. Instead of rising
standards of living they experience the rising cost of living. In the
case of the North and East where the bulk of the war affected people
live, the discontent is even greater. They bear a double burden. In
addition to not partaking of the fruits of nationwide development along
with their compatriots in the rest of the country, they also suffer from
the slow return of lands taken over by the military.
The root of the problem is that the new government which was elected in
2015 has inherited a polity that is deeply divided. Making matters more
difficult is the fact that the new government is a combination of two
political parties that have been traditional rivals. Therefore in
ascertaining what the government is capable of doing it is important not
to overload it with hopeful assumptions of its problem solving
abilities. The government inherited a divided polity, divided in terms
of political affiliation and ethno-religious identity. The government is
itself a powersharing one in which there is not one centre of power,
but two in the form of the President and Prime Minister and the two
traditionally rival political parties they head. In these circumstances
what can be expected from the government in terms of problem solving
will be necessarily limited.
However, despite these weaknesses of the government the UNP-SLFP
alliance, which has led to the Government of National Unity, is unique
for Sri Lanka. It is also rare for any part of the world that two
parties that are in opposition to each other, and have alternatively
ruled the country since Independence, should form a coalition. Former
President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s constant message is that this is an
opportunity not to be missed to address the long standing ethnic
conflict. Addressing an international conference on peace-building
organized by the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) and
the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies, with the
participation of local and foreign scholars, political leaders, and
social activists the former President said the present government gives a
prominent place to the reconciliation and the development in the
country.
DIFFERENT SITUATION
In her speech, the former President reiterated that the government
including the President and the Prime Minister is dedicated towards the
goal of a just political solution. She herself showed dedication to this
goal during her tenure as President between 1995 and 2005. However, the
conditions during her time were the opposite of what exists today. Her
government faced two formidable opponents. One was the LTTE which did
not place faith in constitutional solutions and political negotiations,
but relied on their military power to achieve the outcomes they sought.
The other was the UNP, which played the traditional role of the
opposition party in the country and finally opposed the draft
constitution that her government had invested several years in
producing.
On the other hand, the political conditions in Sri Lanka today are the
best possible to achieve a political solution to the ethnic conflict in
terms of the availability of the numbers in Parliament. The UNP-SLFP
alliance ensures a 2/3 majority in Parliament. When the leaders of these
two parties are in agreement, there is no possibility of defeat in
Parliament. Their ability to secure a 2/3 majority is buttressed by the
fact that the ethnic minority parties are all united in their support of
the UNP-SLFP national unity government. On issues of governance and
minority rights the JVP, which usually takes on ultra left stances
especially on economic issues, has also been supportive of positive
initiatives of the government. Their support for the passage of the law
establishing the Office of Missing Persons has been important in
reducing the level of political opposition to it. Therefore the
composition of the present parliament presents a unique opportunity for
political reform.
Political reform needs to be the primary purpose of the present
government. When it was elected in 2015 there was expectation that the
government would speed up the country’s economic development and also
crack down on corruption. Neither of this has happened much to the
disappointment of those who voted for the government and has led to much
criticism from the general public. The government is routinely
described as a disappointment and failure for not taking action against
corrupt politicians from the previous government and for tolerating
corruption within itself. It has not been able to attract significant
foreign investment in the manner that was anticipated and continues to
rely on either expensive loans from China or political investments from
China and India.
NEW START
However, several recent events suggests that the government is gearing
itself for constitutional reform as the best way of showing the people
that it is outcome oriented and can do what it sets out to do. The
passage of the amendment of the Office of Missing Persons Act without
opposition in Parliament was a preliminary indication of what the
government can achieve if its two main partners are in agreement. The
other significant event was the holding of the first National Conference
on Constitutional Reforms organized by the Constitutional Assembly
Secretariat of Sri Lanka under the patronage of Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe. The conference was aimed at bringing together a range of
stakeholders from across diverse sectors in order to help promote the
discourse surrounding the adoption of constitutional reforms for the
people of Sri Lanka.
According to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the Constitution
Assembly Steering Committee will meet next week to decide on the
procedure to be adopted when enacting the new constitution. "Do we
include all provisions or do we only include those which do not need a
referendum in the steering Committee report? This is one of the
questions we will debate next week. We are reaching a crucial stage in
the consensus building process on the constitution, the Prime Minister
said when addressing a conference on the new constitution organized by
the Constitutional Assembly Secretariat. He also pointed out that the
Steering Committee at its next meeting would decide whether to include
all provisions of the constitution in the interim report or to include
only the provisions which did not need a referendum.
The Prime Minister also spoke at length on the process and current
challenges encountered in the business of constitution making, with
references to key issues of national interest such as the nature of the
state, the electoral system, the system of devolution of power and the
religion of the state. The former Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa,
Justice Dikgang Moseneke delivered an address where he recounted the
challenges that South Africa faced on the issue of group rights, and how
it opted for a strong bill of rights that protected individual rights
as the best way forward. He said that a strong judiciary could protect
the people’s rights between elections. The indications are that the
Government of National Unity is on course to regain its sense of mission
to achieve national unity which has eluded the country since the dawn
of its independence nearly seven decades ago.