An Appeal To All Sri Lankans On Formulating A New Constitution

By S. Krishnananthan –February 23, 2017

S. Krishnananthan

This is in response to the article of Dr. Laksiri Fernando on “An Appeal To Tamil Political Leaders On ‘The New Constitution”.

Instead of appealing to Tamil Political Leaders, Dr. Laksiri Fernando should have appealed to the Sinhala political leaders because the Sinhala political leaders have a long history of being obstinate and even going back on agreed proposals. The intellectuals among Sinhalese are not better. Despite these reservations, I more or less agree with his intention and concern and I hope my intervention only enriches the attempt made by Dr Fernando and provoke lively serious discussions towards arriving at a consensual final product.

However I, as a Sri Lankan wish to submit my appeal to all Sri Lankans of all ethnicities that particularly includes all politicians and others even in the joint opposition because the final product have to be the result of an all inclusive effort so that all Sri Lankans irrespective of any differences could maintain allegiance and pledge ownership and be proud of the final outcome.
At the outset, I subscribe to the theory that the Sinhala community being the majority community should be given the rightful place without jeopardizing the equality of all citizens resident in the country.

Having acknowledged this reality, I humbly place before you all a brief outline that could be the basis for formulating a compromised version that is acceptable to a wider section that cut across communal and religious differences. Let me be brief.

1 Nature of State: Sri Lanka shall be a unitary state with extensive power sharing with the provinces.

2 Sovereignty: Sovereignty rests with the people

3 Religion: Foremost place be given to Buddhism, but the state shall be secular in the allocation of resources and treat all religions alike.

4 Form of Government: The form of government shall be Presidential accommodating the 19th Amendment to the constitution and improving on it. Let the President be the symbol of national unity and safeguarding territorial integrity of the country rests primarily on the President.

5 Electoral Reforms:

5.1 Local Authorities: The Local Authorities elections shall be conducted on the first past post ward system without the proportional representation system and measures shall be taken to depoliticize and to evolve a people centered development oriented vibrant system of local governance at the grassroots level. Subsidiarity and proximity shall be the guiding principle and local issues take precedence.

5.2 Provincial Council: The Provincial Council shall have a mixed First Past Post within an overall proportional representation system with the participation of political parties for balanced regional development. Provincial Councils will automatically enhance democracy by the involvement of all communities and religious groups in the periphery

5.3 Parliamentary Elections: The Parliamentary Elections shall be conducted on a district based proportional system with national seats as at present. This will satisfy minor political parties and ethnic and religious minorities. This system will encourage the professionals to gain representation at national level. The First Past Post system is not required for Parliamentary elections. Parochial interests should not be allowed to gain ground during parliamentary elections.

6 Merger: The Merger of Northern and Eastern Provinces may be set aside permanantly, but the provincial boundaries could be adjusted in consultation and with the consensus of the people of the respective provinces.

Dr Laksiri Fernando mistakenly mentions that North East merger is in the 13 Amendment. It is not so, it is only in the Provincial Council Act No 42 of 1987.

7 Language: The Official Language shall be Sinhala, Tamil and English and we propose to build a trilingual Sri Lanka without any compulsion.

8 Language of Administration: The 16th Amendment to the Present Constitution shall be incorporated in full in the new constitution. In this instance The recommendations of the sub-committee on Fundamental rights that proposes innovative Language of Administration provisions shall be accepted in full

9 Power Sharing: The Power Sharing shall be territorially not ethnically based, but designed to address the ethnic concerns of different communities living in the provinces.

10 Center-Periphery Relations:

10.1 – The sub-committee report had made a series of satisfactory recommendations and all the recommendations shall be seriously considered for inclusion in he new constitution.
The recommendation for the establishment of “Rajya Sabas” for every ward is also a welcome move.

The subsidiary principle should be the basis for the different tiers of governance and the 4FS should be clearly defined to ensure viable units.

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