Dictatorship Of A Two-Thirds Majority Or Abuse Of Power By Executive President?

By Gamini Weerakoon

(March 14, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The question to be asked is not: Whom are you voting for? Very few will know whom they are voting for because the chances of them knowing anyone in any of the lists of the parties’ contesting the district are very
remote. You will probably vote for a party which you dislike the least. The tougher question will be: What are you voting for? A vast majority of voters simply don’t know what they want. They will probably vote for a party but once again will have no choice because political parties are pledging many things they have pledged before but were not implemented and do not have the foggiest idea of how to implement them. Our suggestion to voters is to ask themselves: Why, on earth should we vote?

The questions suggested below are for voters who still have retained their senses and have not yet descended to the political stupor this nation is in.
Change Executive Presidency by elections?

Newspapers, TV and radio are now making out that change in the powers of the Executive President is the most important issue facing the nation. Certainly the abuse of power by the Executive President is all important. But could a parliamentary election bring about the desired changes?

This subject of the abuse of power by the Executive President first surfaced when Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake and many leading UNPers rose up against what they called the ‘One Man Show’ of President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Soon those against the Executive Presidency were thrown out of the party by the all powerful One Man and later Velupillai Pirapaharan killed most of the UNP renegades and finally the great big One Man himself. Chandrika Kumaratunga too vowed to do away with the One Man Show but soon it became a One Woman Show. She was called ‘Premadasa in a saree.’

After that Mangala Samaraweera plotted and planned with the aspiring successor to the ‘One Woman Leader’, combined with the JVP rabble to throw out the One Woman and the Executive Presidency itself . But when Rajapaksa became the One Man it changed into a ‘One Man’s Family Show’ with powers of the executive presidency intact. This show can go on with the backing of the powers of the executive presidency.

Two- thirds majority, the cure?

Now President Rajapaksa does not evince much interest about abolishing the executive powers of the presidency but his supporters keep drumming up the slogan: We desperately need a two- thirds majority to exorcise the executive presidency yakka. This country, however, has experienced the malefic influence of even worse yakkas than the executive presidency yakka.

History

In 1970 Sirima Bandaranaike and her red comrades swept to power with a two thirds majority and soon it was transformed into a ‘dictatorship of a two third majority’. This Yakka steam rolled the entire country flat, destroying everything that was standing before it except for their families. J.R. Jayewardene did even worse creating a five-sixths majority Yakka and he together with his successor held the country in chains for 18 years with the use of his creation — the powers of the executive presidency.

JR knew human nature very well. ‘Absolute power not only corrupts absolutely’ as the dictum goes, but absolute power is absolutely delightful and cannot be absolutely given up.

National stupor

With less than a month to go, the people in a national stupor are being led by the nose about these presidential powers. They do realise that to abolish the powers of the executive presidency, a party needs a two thirds majority in parliament. But do not realise that a party with a two-thirds majority would be as powerful as an executive president and if the president is of the party with a two thirds majority, a Frankenstein Monster, experienced never before would be created?

J.R. Jayewardene’s constitution with proportional representation and powers of the Executive President was precisely intended to prevent the abuse of power by the dictatorship of the two thirds majority in parliament although it resulted in this hideous monster.

Dictatorship of the two-thirds

Remember the havoc unleashed by the dictatorship of the two- thirds majority? The first thing was to destroy the constitution that existed, conferring absolute power to the two thirds majority in parliament. From then on it steam rolled over everything standing in the name of the people. The independent public service, the independent judiciary, well established educational system, destruction of the private sector, devastation of the plantations and much more continued as the people simply looked on.

Ask the senile JVPers how their first revolution was ‘democratically’ suppressed. Ask landowners how their vast acres of land were taken over overnight in the name of the poor but the poor got not an inch of any land.

Houses were taken over but at least Pieter Keuneman the Communist, gave ownership to tenants. This was all done under a parliamentary democracy where one party had a two third majority. Now to escape from the exercise of the arbitrary powers of the Executive Presidency, is the election of a two-third parliamentary majority, the solution?

It will be apparent even to a student at O-Levels that the election of a party with a two third majority is not the solution. Firstly even if all the dreams of the Rajapaksas and their supporters come true, it is highly unlikely that two-thirds majority can be acquired in the next parliament. What can be done to exorcise the executive presidential yakka, is with consensual agreement of all parties, to draw up a constitution that would be acceptable to two-thirds the membership in parliament.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa knows all about this and even tried it out. He proposed reaching a consensus with the UNP and while the process was on, bought over 18 UNPers with the offer of ministerial portfolios and attendant luxury and comfort. With that one move, whatever that remained of the democratic system, crumbled. We do not blame President Rajapaksa alone for that. The renegade UNPers too could have been excused on the grounds that they found the politics of the UNP at that time unacceptable to them.

Why they cannot be pardoned is that they accepted ministerial portfolios through sheer greed for power and comfort and are continuing to enjoy vulgar luxuries of ministerial privileges while being elected by people who were totally opposed to the government they joined.

Quality matters

If such is the quality of people who present themselves to be elected to our supreme legislature there is no hope for democracy or the country. The same sordid history could be repeated and these candidates can quite nonchalantly — as they are doing now — present themselves to be elected.

The farcical nature of this impending election is best illustrated by the fact that none of the major parties are presenting their proposals on how the Tamil problem could be resolved — a question on which the nation warred for about 30 years.

All these pathetic developments in our political system goes on to illustrate no constitution however good it may be will be able to withstand the vile nature of our politicians.