CDSL - Canada urge all Sri Lankans living in Canada to condemned the 18th Amendment

(September 07, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) Campaign for Democracy in Sri Lanka (CDSL) – Canada deeply concerned about the manner in which the government of Sri Lanka is going to obtain the parliamentary ratification by September 8th, 2010 of the proposed 18th amendment to the constitution that strengthen the powers of Executive Presidency by eliminating the term limits and replacing the 17th amendment to the constitution with an alternative having no constitutional powers.

At the last general election President Mahinda Rajapaksha sought two thirds majority to amend the existing constitution on the basis of his Mahinda Chintanaya 2010 manifesto. On page 56 Mahinda Chintana – Vision for the Future, the President notes: “The Executive Presidency will be converted into a Trusteeship which honours the mandate given to Parliament by being accountable to parliament, establishes equality before the law, is accountable to the judiciary and enacts laws that are accountable to the judiciary, and is not in conflict with the judiciary.” Having failed to obtained such a mandate from the people, he now has engineered enough numbers just to strength his own powers by undermining the legitimacy of the Parliamentary system and clearing the way to continue to stay in office forever if he so desired.

Isn’t this a dynastic oligarchy in the making? The government seems to be arguing that the dynastic politics is an endemic feature in the Asian region and powers of Presidency need to be strengthened to achieve political stability and economic prosperity by taking Singapore and Malaysia as examples. However, the single minded dedication to good governance, rule of law, anti-corruption measures, and meritocracy that visibly evident in those countries are woefully absent in Sri Lanka, today. The recent decision of the SLFP disciplinary committee that investigated the conducts of Mervyn Silva, stripping General Sarath Fonseka of rank, deny his right to the pension clearly illustrates how the proposed 18th amendment will work, in reality. The proposed new amendment empower the President to select and appoint members to independent commissions such as Election, Public Services, Judicial Service, National Police and Bribery Commission and remove them, thereby undermining the legitimacy of those commissions. Having an environment where public officials, civil or military, would not have the freedom to act justly and independently without fear of repercussions such as losing career prospects, opportunities, promotions, and even right to pensions is a clear sign of an immerging oligarchy. These trends will have long term devastating economic effects that are already evident in Sri Lanka. In a country where one’s career prospects are determined by her family connections or by political patronage those best fit to do the job would likely to be frustrated, disgusted and then to leave the country altogether. The sense of meritocracy is an integral part of a vibrant society, when shut out by the ruling families the best and the brightest would tend to emigrate to more predictable meritocracies in the West. This is the worse form of colonialism. In the economic perspective a colony can be defined as a territory which exports raw materials and imports finished products. If the trend continues, we will continue to export raw brains and buy back finished products masterminded by those brains.

Therefore, we urge all Sri Lankans living in Canada to condemn these undemocratic partisan politics and ask the government to make genuine efforts to strengthen the participatory democracy to build an inclusive society that value diversity, good governance, accountability, and rule of law. If the government is seen as making an honest and genuine effort to reach out to general public across all communities regardless of their political affiliation people will have a greater confidence in the tasks that the government seeks to accomplish.