| by Kingsley Karunaratne
( February 24, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Dr. Jayampathi Wickramaratne P. C. addressing a meeting organized by the Centre for Society and Religion, Colombo on ‘the proposed constitution and way the country is moving’ said that still nobody knows about the proposed constitution that government is talking about. Its contents or the how it is going to be different from the existing one is still unknown.
When we draft a new constitution, it is important that we go through the past experiences of the previous constitutions namely Soul bury constitution adopted in 1947, as well as ones drafted in 1972 and the one in 1978, and also study the setbacks suffered.
One must look at it from a futuristic perspective, as other countries India and South Africa have done. India spent a long time to draft her constitution thanks for the contribution and effort made by the Indian leader, Ambedkar who designed a worthwhile constitution for the multi ethnic and multi religious big country to enable its people to live together in harmony.
In South Africa, Nelson Mandela was able to make a good viable constitution to deal with his black majority while enshrining the rights of the white people.
In 1972 when the constitution was drafted, it was designed as a parliamentary system headed by a Prime Minister. Then the United National Party (UNP), headed by Dudley Senanayake and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) headed by Sirimavo Bandaranayaka, both were favorable to this system, but opposed a Presidential System (PS).
It was that coalition government which brought in the 1972 constitution and created a drastic impact by destroying the most basic legal and political structure of the country. It later paved the way for the UNP. However in 1978, the UNP wanted the PS system though the SLFP and other parties opposed the move. Anyway J. R. Jayewardene had 5/6 majority in parliament and used that majority to bring to an end the liberal democratic structure of the political system by way of a new constitution in 1978. The core objective of this constitution was to bring free and fair elections to an end.
When speaking about setbacks in 1978 constitution, in 2001, in view of de-politicizing of public institutions, like Public Service, Police, Judiciary etc, all the parties in Sri Lanka joined hands and brought the 17th amendment to the constitution and adopted it unanimously in the parliament. This would have helped to a certain extent for the institutions to become free from the political interference. However in September 2010, the 18th amendment was passed in the parliament, abolishing 17th amendment which was meant to be an instrument of checks and balances. The proposed system of having independent commissions was totally scrapped and instead a system was introduced for the President to appoint the political henchmen to every public post.
Another area to be considered is the unitary state of the government which makes power devolution among the masses in the country impossible. Also in the present constitution, there is no proper way to impeach a judge of a superior court. All these can be considered when drafting the new constitution.
He said, ‘if the government is considering these setbacks when making a constitution, it is good but knowing the past records of the government I wonder, how it will act.
So if you are thinking of working on drafting a new one, go to the draft constitution of 2000, which is already available.
He asked, ‘if it is not possible to get a complete constitution done under this government, at least get it done in stages. You may first get the Presidential system changed to the Westminster system. This can be an alternative for the time being’. He said replying a question, ‘After 1977, up to date the government won all the elections held except a few held in 2002.
Even the last Provincial Council Election of East, Sabaragamuwa, & North Central, the opposition gained only 5% increase in votes and at Sabaragamuwa & North Central and in East, 15%.
He said, ‘The National Movement for Social Justice, headed by Maduluwave Sobitha Nayaka Thero is making arrangements to make a new draft constitution by a panel of eminent persons and once it comes out for the discussion stage, all must give their active support to it and the same should receive a broad consensus’.
Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri spoke afterwards, and said, ‘this government is not like other governments which existed earlier. After the end of the colonial period a government was elected for a particular period only. When its term ended, another party was elected: UNP then SLFP and again UNP and then SLFP. But that pattern is no more now. However after 1977 elections this pattern changed in 1977.The UNP ruled for 17 years and now it is the turn for the other party. They also might go for some more years, already completed 19 years. Now the multi-party system is over. What we now have is only ruling party and an opposition which is also very weak.
I must say that a special constituency consisting of Sinhala Buddhist people is giving the major support to the government. Earlier before 2004 it had two groups or fractions, divided among SLFP with so-called progressive parties & UNP with so- called non-progressive parties, however now this is united and still supporting the government party.
Even after 1956 defeat, the UNP revived and again came to power in 1965 & in 1977. But this time it has failed to recover and still the Sinhala Buddhist constituency supports the government.
Now however the confidence that the government secured so far seems to be cracking. This becomes evident from the numerous protests & agitations manifested almost every day throughout Sri Lanka. There were even revolts against police seen in the recent past. That should not be considered a simple or an ordinary thing to be ignored.
There is a heavy frustration in people. The cost of living is high, and everything is expensive. The poor people are unable to survive. This government has committed mass killings and not only this government but also the UNP, JVP, SLFP too.
The present government is a government ruled by one family. The power is centered round the Rajapakse family. Even Bodu Bala Sena is seen within the government. This context was not there earlier. The cracks are appearing in the Sinhala Buddhist Constituency.
North & East no powerful forces, they are still recovering from the lengthy civil war taken place.
I am keeping a watch at the BBS. Political mind of people in BBS is getting used to affect their political goals. Minister Champika says, boycott everything not only Halal but other products too. Sinhala business groups support it.
Issuing statements by Navi Pillai is helpful to the government. The government can now argue that there are international conspiracies.
There is an opposition alliance also formed. But they do not make clear what their policies on Education or on private universities etc. You must reveal the country, the truth.
Answering a question, he said that we need an intelligent leadership. We cannot hush up but we must develop an alternative practical strategy.
 Dr. Jayampathi Wickramaratne P. C. addressing a meeting ...){kind=link}