The 13th Amendment as a political solution
Dr Dayan Jayatilleke has forcefully stated the diplomatic case for implementing the 13th Amendment which is already part of the law, in reply to Mr Malinda Seneviratne. The President has told the Indian Government that he would implement the 13th Amendment fully. But there are many voices among the Sinhala nationalists against the implementation of this Law. The Tamil politicians have always wanted more powers than the 13th Amendment provides for. But it would be prudent for the Tamil MPs to go along with the President and extend their co-operation to implement this Law without rocking the boat. The JHU and the JVP have always opposed the 13th Amendment. They represent the diehard Sinhala nationalists who do not want any power given to the Tamil people on the ground that it would lead to secession. They cite Varatharajah Perumal’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence. But that declaration went nowhere and became a ‘pus wedilla’ because the Central government had enough power to dismiss the rebellious Provincial council. This showed that the 13th Amendment does not take away the reserve powers of the Central Government to act where the Provincial Council bucks against the national interest. Of course this is the very point stressed by Tamil intellectuals who say that the 13th Amendment does not constitute sufficient safeguards to protect the powers given to the Provincial Council being taken away by the Center. Of course even in a Federal Constitution the reserve power is always there for the Central Government to dissolve the constituent unit. In India this power was flagrantly violated by the central governments until the Supreme Court stepped in and held such dissolutions motivated by political considerations would not be valid. So the fears of the JHU and the JVP that devolution of power would lead to secession are unfounded. In fact a properly functioning devolution strengthens the state as ahs been the experience of several federal states.
In 1987 when the Amendment was passed the LTTE rejected it and so did the other Tamil parties. The leader of the Tamil National Alliance has reasserted their opposition to the 13th Amendment as a final solution.
There are other criticisms of the 13th Amendment. Some say it merely hands over power to local politicians who are more corrupt and venal than the politicians at the Center and that the Tamil people would be better off being under a decentralized form of administration rather than under a scheme of devolution of power to elected officials. May be so but this is the old debate about self government versus good government. Many people thought the colonial rulers gave good government. But our leaders who fought for Independence representatives argued that self government would still be better because rule by our own people is better than rule by outsiders. Our ruling politicians as well as the people will be forced to learn from their mistakes. De Tocqueville pointed out that the remedy for democracy is not less democracy but more democracy. People sooner or later will learn to hold their representatives accountable and the smaller the unit of government, easier it is for the people to do so. So those who argue for decentralization are wrong. Decentralization merely means that the local people will be under a bureaucratic system of rule by unelected officials who are under the control of their own head Offices and who are supervised by national politicians appointed as Ministers. The checks and balances between Ministers and bureaucrats have all disappeared in our system of government. As a former government agent I too thought the people would be better served by officials rather than by the elected politicians. But it is no argument for preserving the system of a hierarchy of officials like the Government Agent and the Divisional Revenue officers and Grama Sevakas. In other democratic countries the elected MPs while being ready to look into grievances of their constituents do not intervene directly and allow the official grievance and appellate machinery to operate. The 1956 populist victory of the SLFP brought into power politicians who were either ignorant or didn’t care for the niceties of democracy which restricted their activity to the legislative function. So individual MPs sought to dictate to the district level officials and if hey did not comply with their requests for accommodation they went to the Minister concerned. I remember being summoned by a telegram to appear before the late W Dahanayake the Prime Minister because of a complaint by the local MP. Fortunately the Permanent Secretary the late H.C Gunawardene defended me strongly against the MP for Vavuniya. I would not have such good fortune if the MP was a Sinhalese instead of a Tamil. So the decentralized system of district administration does not give power to the local elected politicians to supervise the district officials legitimately in accordance with the law. Hence the demand for devolution rather than for decentralization. The decentralized administration would merely provide an opportunity for central government Ministers to impose their own will rather than allow local opinions to prevail. May be the local opinions are not in the interests of the local public but that is what self government rather than good government implies. It is up to the local people to hold their elected officials accountable.
There is also the question of allocating funds to the regional elected bodies. If they are merely decentralized offices of central government departments they will have no way of obtaining sufficient moneys for activities and development in their area. The Tamils have been complaining that their areas were neglected because they did not exercise any political clout in a majoritarian Sinhala government. Hitherto the political culture in the South has been to give money only to the local bodies which have elected the ruling party members. Often not only have the Councils represented by the opposition parties been starved of funds, they have also been discriminated against. This is another reason why the 13th Amendment must be implemented giving powers to the Provincial Councils. This applies not only to the Tamil provinces but to all provinces and it will usher in greater democracy where the people will learn to hold their elected officials accountable. It is not possible to safeguard the rights of the Tamil people at least those living in the North and East unless there is devolution of power to elected bodies in such areas. The police power must be given although as in USA serious crimes which are not properly investigated by the provincial police should be investigated by the Central Government police. It is neither practical nor economic to implement the Tamil language throughout the country. But if the administration in the North and East are carried out in Tamil and the police stations there are manned by Tamil people then the Tamil language can be implemented in those areas without inconveniencing or imposing economic burdens on the rest of the country. It is not economic to make Tamil the language of administration in addition to Sinhala through out the country. Nor is it necessary. But it is necessary to do so in areas where the majority is Tamil speaking and obviously this can be done if the devolution of power is extensive enough to accommodate the day to day contact of the people with the state organization.
Similarly with regard to powers over land it must be realized that the Tamil people have had this grievance that there is deliberate state colonization of the North and East with a view to making the Tamil people minorities there and thereby deny their claim for self government in those areas. We may dismiss Tamil claims of a historical exclusive Tamil homeland. But the status quo should not be disturbed and such suspicions of state colonization can be removed only by giving them powers over such state lands as exist in those areas. Of course there will have to be consultation with the Center on land policy including land alienation policy.
The cry for decentralization instead of devolution means that power will continue to be with the bureaucracy and the politicians of the Center who run the central governments and it is their branch organizations that will then exercise power. But this cannot be called the expression of the opinions of the local Tamil people.
On the other hand those who talk of 13th Amendment plus at this juncture are also wrong. This requires amending the Constitution. Any attempts to do so will again divide the Sinhala people and allow the populist politicians like the JVP to create confusion and chaos among the people. So the Tamil politicians should go along with the 13th Amendment at least for now for now and see that it is effectively implemented with regard to police and land powers over land in co-operation with the central government.
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55% of Tamils live outside N&E. Devolution may help 45% of Tamils to work in their own language. How is it going to help what they claim as “being treated like second class citizens” in other 55%, who live in Sinhalese domaninat areas (other areas of the country) or Muslim dominant areas (Colombo city)?
Kudos on a well written article Sir. You have very eloquently made the case for the necessity of devolution not only in the context of solving the ethnic issue but the broader and equally important context of addressing the clear need for more accountable governance across the nation.
The 13th amendment if implemented honestly and in good faith, has enough powers in it for the time being to allow the Tamil community to rebuild itself in the North with elected local representation instead of through a central gov’t bureaucracy it deeply mistrusts.
Similarly for the Eastern province – it is essentially a mixed representation province and a locally accountable governance structure will force the political parties on the ground that currently cater almost exclusively to their different ethnic groups to work together to deliver effective governance else face the boot. This would help immensely toward building trust between the communities.
1. Are the Tamil parties lobbying for a political solution that ensures that there Northern an Eastern Provinces will always be Tamils.
Isn’t this called Apartheid.
2. If after giving powers to the Tamils and the Tamils speakers in the Northern and Eastern Province we see discrimination against minority Sinhalese in those provinces on any account you will see the start of a new conflict.
3.It is much better to start off seeing the whole of Sri Lanka as the homeland of ALL Sri Lankan citizens. And devolve administrative powers so that people can cmmunicate in the language of their choice..(ie. English, Sinhala, Tamil).
All records must be kept in ALL of these languages. At least Englsih and another Language.
If we go down the path of devolving the power to the Tamils what about devolving the power to the Sinhala-Buddhists, Sinhala-Christians, Muslims and Indigenous Veddah people.
The only thing we can get out of the 13th amendment is the Provincial Category of Political/Administrative unit that is ALL.
Everything else we have to re-organise and re-structure for BETTER MANAGEMENT OF SRI LANKA. That is ALL that is required. POLITICS CAN COME LATER. The RULES OF THE GAME HAVE TO BE PROPER MADE NOW.
The 13th amendment, often hailed by many observes as the solution to the Tamil political issue following the defeat of LTTE, is another blunder that will ensure never-ending unrest in the country. Devolution is essentially a short fix and possibly it will please some segment of the community – Tamils in the north and east – in the short run. Such devolution of power, however, will open the Pandora’s Box; various ethnic, religious and regional groupings are bound to demand and campaign for further devolution of power. We will end up with much worse end.
Time has come, whether we like or not, that we have to think as Sri Lankans. There should be no ethnicity/race/religion/region based groupings, campaigning for and promoting of such divisions must be outlawed. What we need to promote is not the devolution of power (in this tiny island) but promotion of the Sri Lankan nationalism where no ethnic or regional aspirations are embodied. We live in a multicultural world, no longer France is just for ethnic French. France is for French nationals (consisting people from many ethnic/religious groups). Similarly, America is for Americans (not black/white/Hispanic). Sri Lanka should be for Sri Lankans – Sinhala, Tamil and you name it! What we need and must promote is ‘equity in opportunity’. Will promote the idea of a ‘National government’ where all Sri Lankans have equal say in politics.
Decentralization, of course, is a very useful concept which will enhance the regional economic development (note that every method has limitations but we can fix them). But devolution will bring more misery to our people for many years to come. Let’s say ‘YES’ for decentralization and NO to devolution. Let’s promote the idea of a ‘National’ government and one-nation ‘Sri Lankans.
We’re focusing too much on a political solution. In fact I am sick of hearing it when all we need to focus on is economic reform and ridding corruption. Rest will fall into place.
http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_collier_s_new_rules_for_rebuilding_a_broken_nation.html
Currently the need of the country/nation is NOT 13th +/- but good governance coupled with real democracy in its real sense. Do away with the present Constitution that does not give any power to the people and replace it with a new Constitution that will empower the people.
The “people” must be able to rule themselves. They must have the power to make decisions as regards their lifestyle that does not adversely affect the freedom of the other persons. There should not be “professional” politicians and “politics” must not be made a “profession” The mindset of the people of the old “Gan Sabah” or “Village Committees” must be brought back. Serving the people must not be a means to “make” money. Then and only then we will have good governance in the country. . Everyone must work towards this end.
Those who support the implementation of the 13th Amendment say that whatever its limitations it is a good basis for further improvement. On the contrary, the 13th Amendment is a recipe for disaster; it’ll be a breeding ground of disharmony and conflict.
A “two-state solution” also will not bring peace either to the Tamil people or to the country as a whole. It’ll merely open a Pandora’s Box of a different form that would bring more war & misery to all communities.
Those who want durable peace in Sri Lanka should turn towards the toxic Centre; and, tackle the real culprit of disharmony – i.e. the state-structures as a whole. All progressive political parties – Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim – should come together to form a united front to take the bull by the horns.
As long as the Centre remains undemocratic, lop-sided & unequal, no amount of regional patchwork is going to work. In other words, regional democracy should be part of a radical transformation of the Centre. In particular, the central structures should be equipped with mechanisms to enable democratic representatives of all major communities to participate effectively – as equal partners – in the economic planning & development of the country.
[There are many other significant aspects of democratization of the centre that have been widely discussed. But, none of them would effectively work unless there's a fundamental change at the central structures that would physically institutionalize major communities' central role in governance as equal partners.]