‘Thirteen plus’means the Senate assembly: Govt. expresses its view- what is this Senate? – is it chewing gum ?

(Lanka-e-News -26.Jan.2012, 11.30PM) Cabinet spokesman and media Minister Keheliya Rambukwela strained hard to explain what 13 plus means at the Cabinet meeting.

“I have told this many a time’. Today , I am telling for the 100th and one time too. 13 plus is a Senate assembly of members. It is not just today , but even two years ago our President when speaking with Dr. Manmohan Singh and the opposition leader in India , said, we are going to create a senate assembly which does not exist now. He added that he would be creating ‘something’ that will coordinate between the Central Govt. and the provincial councils (PC), and that is the 13 plus”.

That is the Govt.’s view.

There was a Senate assembly of members in Sri Lanka earlier. That is not something new. It was in 1947 , a senate assembly was established in SL by the Soulbury Commission. Based on the election promise given by the SLFP at the 1970 election the Senate assembly was abolished on 2nd October 1971 by late Mrs.Sirimavo Bandaranaike. In the new constitution introduced by her , there was no such assembly. Now , it is the present Govt. preponderating with SLFP members which is wanting a Senate assembly.

In 1947 , the Senate assembly was established in SL in line with the House of Lords. Some of the members elected to Parliament as well as a group of intellectuals selected by the Governor appointed by the Queen constituted the Senate Council. At that time it was felt that a Senate Council was necessary because a more intellectual group must oversee the proposals brought forward in Parliament by the members who are elected by the people who are not of that high level of intelligence , and it was the view therefore a group of intellectuals of a higher level need examine the proposals as to whether they are beneficial to and are in accord with the people’s needs. Those Parliamentary proposals therefore did not become law until the Senate approved them.
The Rajapakse Govt. on the other hand is today seeking to re establish the Senate with a different motive. That is , as revealed by the Cabinet spokesman , it is to co ordinate between the central Govt. and the PCs. However , there is already a body of the Central Govt. for this. That is the Minister of PC and Govt. Ministry of PC.

No matter what, if a Senate assembly is to be created above the Parliament that is constituted by people’s representatives of different ethnic groups, and if that entity is to preclude introduction of unjust laws, then it is salutary, because in the Parliament with a preponderance of Sinhala representatives, the Tamils, Muslims, Burghers and Malays have faith that their rights will not be taken away. Likewise, the confidence can be built that there will be no injustice done to the majority Sinhalese, and that no legislation will be brought favoring the minorities.
But, the Senate Council the present Govt. is seeking to establish is apparently not in conformity with such a broad based motive. This Council is only for coordination purposes of the PCs ‘and , if that entity is going to be under the Executive President it will serve no purpose at all for the nation. It is the consensus that, because the judges are appointed by the President today , and the lunatic circuses they are engaged in , the sacrosanct judiciary has also lost its independence despite the fact that independence is an indispensable attribute of a judiciary if it is to maintain its integrity and rectitude. Going by this , if the Senate is also to be appointed by the President, that action will be tantamount to multiplying the lunatic asylums in SL.

This ‘Senate Council’ is what Mahinda Rajapakse is offering to the gullible people to keep on chewing like the chewing gum in order to ‘buy’ time.