The Death of Democracy in Sri Lanka
Repost This Article“The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.”
Robert M. Hutchins
It is indeed terrifying and demoralizing to see the backward slide of our nation from a democracy to a dictatorship. We have never seen, in the course of our history, the likes of such unprincipled governance and self seeking deception by a leadership cloaked in the finery of patriotism and national interest.
Even more distressing is the timidity and servility of the majority of the legislature, judiciary, public sector, private sector, religious institutions and media in expressing their very serious misgivings over the craftily concocted interpretations provided by the state in defending the proposed changes to the Constitution.
All power blocs have been effectively silenced, through intimidation and sabotage, into a forced consensus with the leadership who has effectively declared a ‘fait accompli’ on the matter.
Through our silence and inaction, we have paid the price of sacrificing not only the freedom and rights of all citizens, present and future, but also our own precious progeny who will eventually hold us accountable and bring us to disrepute which we rightfully deserve.
Very few are prepared to defend their principles by standing up for justice and truth and even those courageous few are ridiculed for their foolish attempt at trying to fight a Lion with their bare hands.
The ethical base of our society has gradually crumbled away exposing an abyss of greed and deceit arising out of vain attempts at achieving our selfish goals of wealth, position and power.
Alas! It seems we have reached the bitter end with little hope left but to wither away in apathy, indifference and undernourishment.
3 cheers for the 18th amendment from me! The current prez is a stong and capable leader and as a Sri Lankan I want to see him govern the country. I think the Sri Lankan people will gladly give him another mandate to govern the country at the next elections. He should have the opportunity to stand for election. It is up to the Sri Lankan people.
Whither Sri Lanka? Is it towards Mahathir’s Malaysia or Mugabe’s Zimbabwe? Mahathir did improve the country’s status as an economic power, but Mugabe drove his country to an economic abycess with no return in sight. Though Mahathir is seen as a despot by his opponents, by his strict discipline he instilled to the country he made Malaysia an attractive market for the foreign investers. So the Western capitalists put his human rights record to aside-as in the case of China- and invested in that country.
But Zimbabwean situaton is far worse. A country that is so rich in natural resources and history was sent down gutter by sheer corruption and mismanagement. Mugabe’s anti-colonial sentiments have not matched with his deeds!
We sincerely hope against hope that Sri Lanka will somehow go in the right direction,in spite of all the bad signs, after the great victory it had over terrorism!
Sri Lanka never had a “true” democracy to begin with, only democrazy. Too much power is vested in the core and demands to divest it had failed.
Many had already left this “paradise” long ago. I suppose the next boat loads of people arriving on Christmas Island will be mainly ethnic Sinhalese.
Dear Concerned Citizen,
I am one person who had, all this time, been only discussing with my friends and family, the terrible nature of what has been happening to our country. Now it has gone beyond all that. Like me, there are others who will also express their opiunions and condemn what is happening, But please have the courage to put your name to your views. Writing under a pseudonym is OK but at some point, you need to have the guts to come out and defend your opinions under your own name. Otherwise, merely talking of timid views being expressed by the judiciary, the media etc will not do. Writing under a pseudonym is not needed for opinions but perhaps sometimes needed for investigative journalism only when the threat of repercussions is severe. Using this for opinions indicates that one is timid oneself. At least among the media, there are people who are bold enough to put their name to their views. We should surely follow suit?
This is an extreme view. Democracy will not wither with this. All depends on how it is used. After all people vote their presidents and MPs to office. If people like their leaders, that’s it. They get another chance in 6 years to either punish the leaders they voted in or reward them to stay another 6 years. I personally don’t like the 18th Amendment at all, but exaggeration of its impact is worse than the amendment itself.
Hopefully reason and moderation will prevail avoiding all extremes.
I am not ready to give up quite the way you have. It took enough time to quell the terrorist problem that started even before I was born. This too could be resolved if people are persistent.
I do not know enough about Sri Lankan constitution, so I may be wrong. I think supreme court can overturn the amendment (unconstitutional constitutional law), even after his six or twelve years. Then again that depends on who is in power. But I always believe, we can. So stop wailing like a child and use your abilities to rally up people, it may be a long road, but I am sure you can walk it.So don’t give up. Remember, you will still be able to vote.
I think it is a grave issue, and the citizens of this country should fight teeth and nail to prevent this amendment from being passed by Parliament. We are aware of the manner in which the state media was exploited during the last presidential elections. Though people are going to vote once in every six years to elect the leader of the nation, it is doubtful that the elections will be free and fair.
I watched Rupavahini news in English last night. Though the Left front’s decision to support the amendment was given high publicity, there was no mention about the TNA’s decision to vote against the amendments. Why is the national television so selective in presenting its news? Doesn’t the decision of the TNA, the party that represents the majority of the Tamil community in Parliament, deserve the attention of the people of this country? Given this bias of the national television, how can one expect that the state media will function independently at the time of elections?
The whining of the colombo elite will have no impact whatsoever. Mahinda has all the support he needs. If the Colombo elites find it to difficult to swallow, may I suggest a one-way ticket out of Sri Lanka? This carrying-on is getting appalling, although the level of melodrama trotted out by the colombo elite is of high skill.
Isn’t this like like the zillionth time that the Sri Lankan democracy’s death has been declared? How many lives does the Sri Lankan democracy have? This is what I am puzzled about! Or does it reincarnate in line with the majority religion? HA!
Observer,
I’m personally worried about the constitution being treated like a periodical, as the old saying goes. The constitution should not be something that’s centred around consolidating the power of one man, no matter how wonderful he’s perceived to be. That’s because the constitution must also have sufficient safeguards to deal with some crazed despot who might happen to get elected to power. So I really don’t like the idea that these constitutional safeguards are being abandoned in hope of a Sri Lankan Lee Kuan Yew.
I also don’t like the present slavish feudal mentality of genuflecting to a “king” and supporting his attempts to institute a royal dynasty. He may have done a great service to the country, but that does not mean his entire family and all future generations are entitled to its rewards. Can he not continue his service by other means?
There is a climate of fear that pervades the nation.All know what happened and is still happening,to media institutions,media personnel,ordinary citizens and public servants. There is a climate of impunity which pervades the law enforcement agencies and the armed forces.We see regular reports of assaults,
disappearances,arrests and incarceration under the PTA,killings of persons in custody,abductions etc. etc.
Even MPs are assaulted inside police stations.Even a blind man had been arrested and produced before a magistrate and accused of having received ‘weapons training’ by the LTTE.University students are assaulted and killed, so are ordinary citizens of peaceful communities.
Those who praise the regime are labelled ‘patriots’ and those who dissent are called ‘traitors’.
Now noone wishes to be labelled as ‘traitors’.
Such a climate was the prelude to the Nazism of Hitler in prewar germany.
The MPs who will vote are aware of all this but do not even speak about it.
Sri Lanka faces her darkest hour.
“when bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” -Edmund Burke
“I think he knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they’ll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they’ll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the senate, it’s the sand of the coliseum. He’ll bring them death – and they will love him for it. ” – Gladiator
“Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours” — Swedish Proverb
SomeWhatDisgusted, I agree with you and I am of the same view. I was simply mocking the fact that how people are so quick to call our democracy dead and then rekill it multiple times after that. But we have to constantly remind our selves we are just another person in the entire population. We may have Western influenced democratic ideals but if the not so “enlightened” majority wishes to worship their leadership for the good they done then they have much right as you and I like to see term limits enforced and executive powers devolved. Put simply just because we want to see something done a certain way, we have no right to impose that on others, though we may think we know better, simple because, we’re educated and more liberal in our views. For the majority of the people there are bigger more pressing issues than constitutional reforms. Some people couldn’t care less if they can still get their basic services delivered in a proper manner. Education, healthcare, infrastructure, etc. We are so concerned with constitutional reforms because we’re in someways privileged to have the luxury to worry about such matters and most of us have direct impact due to our affiliations and ventures that we are stakeholders of. For the young mother waiting for hours at the rural bus stop to take her child to the dispensary, it doesn’t really make a difference. All she cares is that now thanks to Mahinda she can at least get on the bus with her child without much worry of it blowing up! I don’t know if you understand what I’m trying to say. I’m trying to describe the dynamics of this country and how a Western idealist democratic model simply does not make sense. Lot of people misguidedly think that once we get our democracy right then rest will fall into place. This is a huge fallacy.
Problem is even with wonderful checks and balances of all sorts in the constitution, the corrupt will form a conglomerate to steal money. We have a long long way to go before even addressing constitutional reform. I feel like that we’re constantly trying to build a perfect roof with no walls to hold it up. When it’s the foundations that we really should be working on. I won’t blame you if you say that the foundation is good governance, but it’s rather economic stability. A highly functional economy almost always deliver good governance one way or another. I am not even an economist… and this is what I have observed. That is why I am not really that worried about these amendments. I am really focused on something else.
Dear Observer,
Believe me, I understand what you are trying to say perfectly well because I agree with your views that the prosperity of the rich should not be confused with the prosperity of the country, and that their needs trump the rest. I also agree with you that economic prosperity is a key part of the issue as that will automatically enable better education. I also do not subscribe to party politics as you know nor to the preservation of some elitist lifestyle, as the popularly vilified stereotype goes.
However, I also came to realize this: economic prosperity must go hand in hand with good governance. We can’t expect economic prosperity in a climate absolutely devoid of good governance, nor good governance in a climate devoid of economic prosperity. Why? I fear we will reach a limit to economic prosperity and be unable to go further due to the morally bankrupt nature of governance.
If we are more “educated and liberal in our views” as you suggest, then that also entails us with the burden of educating the less informed about the nature of the problem. It entails us with the burden of maintaining constitutional integrity. If the constitution is a worthless piece of paper, to be amended by spreading a fear psychosis to an ignorant populace, do you really feel that’ll be a recipe for any kind of prosperity?
The educated have a job too. And that job is to create debate, encourage critical thinking and inform the rest of the populace. If we simply throw up our hands and say that “mob rule” is what’s best, then we may well be resigning ourselves to the fact that we do not live in a 21st century democracy, but a 16th century monarchy with a few morsels and tidbits thrown off as scraps for the rest of us to feed on. It will be a very hollow prosperity indeed, if all integrity is flushed down the toilet and being in the good graces of the royal Rajapakses are the only thing that matters to living in a brain-washed, north-korean style dictatorship, forever singing Hosannas to the glorious eternal leader and forever unaware that the kings are destroying the moral fabric of the country and telling otherwise through the media.
Remember that this is as likely a scenario as a miraculous Lee Kuan Yew style recovery, and so far, I’m not convinced Rajapakse is any Lee Kuan Yew. That’s why I feel it’s best we hang on to the constitutional safeguards which remain without flushing them down the toilet. Of course, it’s a little too late now.
Tell me, do you feel that the present constitution is *really* the biggest problem preventing Rajapakse from achieving development in the next 8 years of his presidency? So are you sure we are focusing on the right things? What duties are ours as those belonging to the university educated (dare I say therefore also elitist in a way) minority? It surely can’t be keeping silent and/or wishful thinking of miracles from Rajapakse.
All she cares is that now thanks to Mahinda she can at least get on the bus with her child without much worry of it blowing up!
Yes, thanks to Mahinda, the child has a great future. He can take the bus to his Odel day job and say “sir! sir!” a 1000 times a day to white tourists to collect his 1000 rupee salary. Meanwhile Namal Rajapakse can continue in his crooked business ventures, collecting millions off the commissions. The above actually illustrates a rather subtle point: Mahinda has not narrowed the economic gap, but expanded it. This is a direct result of his economic policy; e.g. borrowing from the IMF, which requires “austerity measures” that are then placed on the poor people. Or else, awarding huge development contracts to China and India. Unemployment does not increase consumer spending! Without adequate consumer spending, the economy simply stagnates and more people end up taking “sir sir” type jobs.
SomewhatDisgusted, I cannot disagree with you entirely. Good governance must of course go hand in hand with sustainable economic policy. Let me somewhat be clear as to where I stand. Throughout the years I was standing in a Sri Lanka where things were much gloomier. I remember dead bodies in the very streets I was travelling on, curfews, terrorist attacks, rationing, high food oil prices, war, mass picketing, epidemics, etc. etc. etc. None of which are pleasant things. These are my childhood/adolescence memories, despite the fact there were ample insulations for me to not feel any of the effects. For much of the past UNP has been in administration wilfully or neglectfully letting things go down the gutter. You’re worried about feudal monarchies now? I say what’s new man? What were Bandaranaiyekes & Senanaiyekes?? Do you think I’m all that surprised about Rajapaksas? Believe me, with or without the 18th amendment it’s going to be the same old Baila tune! Guy comes to power, he tries to hang on with all his limbs. Had Ranil won with 2/3rds majority he would have done exactly the same, in fact I argue that he would have gone a mile further and cancelled elections as well looking at his behaviour as the UNP party leader! I have had no reasons as yet to pull the gun out from under my bed. Believe me when I hear alarm bells I’m not going to bother with protests! As long as there are elections I don’t really care that much about the constitutional reforms as I said earlier, there are bigger issues that need attention. What I am expecting from the MR administration is stable governance with long term policies that support trade industries and also an ambitious effort to privatise majority of government institutions, especially utilities & services. Though the latter is being extremely wishful. My thinking for over coming endemic corruption & poor governance has a 2 pronged strategy.
1. Deregulate and privatise majority of government controlled services so that market demands will ensure their survival (or not) and efficiency. This will reduce taxation which means less money to be misused.
2. Provide adequate salaries for people that are entrusted with law enforcement and safeguarding institutions so that they have less motivation to accept bribes and compromise their integrity.
We can only even begin to think down these paths when we have a sufficient economy that can afford such reforms. Bottom line is I can assure you that even with the most elegant constitution out there it won’t mean ANYTHING as long as the people in charge of enacting it are going astray. So that is why I am not going to bother my self with something that is strictly on paper. After all Rajapaksa’s cannot stay at the helm without the people. If they cross the line their castle, rest assured will come down. This is why I feel if he is still endorsed by the people come a 3rd term I am in favour of him being re-elected so he can then carry out some long term strategies for turning around the nose dive we have been on for the last few decades. Quite frankly the current opposition is a joke and for me that is a more threatening situation than the 18th amendment! Problem is this is the sentiment shared by the majority of the people and I respect their decision. For those that want to be idealistic, get out there and justify an idealistic Western democracy to the people out there. To a bunch of people who’s values are not Western values. Try make a convincing case…wish you good luck! Otherwise sulking aint gonna do much.
Yes, thanks to Mahinda, the child has a great future. He can take the bus to his Odel day job and say “sir! sir!” a 1000 times a day to white tourists to collect his 1000 rupee salary.
Or he can go to school, study hard and make something of him self. Or he could become an entrepreneur and see where that would take him. Plus I dont think Odel is capable of providing such lucrative opportunities to the whole of next generation.
And 1000 Rupees? C’mon man, even beggars make more than 1000 Rupees a day. White tourists? Every time I’ve been there it has been more locals than “whites”! This tells me that you probably haven’t been to this country in over 10 years.
Meanwhile Namal Rajapakse can continue in his crooked business ventures, collecting millions off the commissions.
Please give me some documents to work with here. Evidence. If you give me some compelling, irrefutable material, I can tell you I can ruffle some feathers. If you’re in procession of these material get in touch with me. Or just go to your beloved tabloid TV station. Channel 4. They’d be more than happy to finally carry a news item with actual EVIDENCE! haha
The above actually illustrates a rather subtle point: Mahinda has not narrowed the economic gap, but expanded it.
Where did you get the figures/data? Can you show me please?
This is a direct result of his economic policy; e.g. borrowing from the IMF, which requires “austerity measures” that are then placed on the poor people. Or else, awarding huge development contracts to China and India. Unemployment does not increase consumer spending! Without adequate consumer spending, the economy simply stagnates and more people end up taking “sir sir” type jobs.
Well I can tell you sir, sir is a habit from the good ol’ colonial days. I’m pretty sure your ancestors working for the Brits had no 2nd thoughts to say SIR, SIR! WHY INDEED SIR! AT YOUR SERVICE SIR! ANYTIME SIR! lol
Or he can go to school, study hard and make something of him self.
You mean like the tens of thousands of unemployed university graduates?
Please give me some documents to work with here. Evidence.
Wow, you must be really in the dark. Danuna Tilakaratne became a millionaire practically overnight just through weapons commissions… doesn’t take a genius to figure out how much more the President (s) – now dictator (s) – son can make. Danuna would be a free man if SF hadn’t turn on MR – which means Namal, – who is an unqualified MP – is free to swindle and cheat for as long as imaginable. Of course we don’t know about all of his business ventures; a few, however, have been listed. I will provide further info if you really insist, although I doubt you’d be likely to ruffle the feathers of even the cook at Temple Trees, given your appalling one-track mind.
Where did you get the figures/data? Can you show me please?
I can’t teach you basic economics – no doubt the library has quite a few good books.
Well I can tell you sir, sir is a habit from the good ol’ colonial days. I’m pretty sure your ancestors working for the Brits had no 2nd thoughts to say SIR, SIR! WHY INDEED SIR! AT YOUR SERVICE SIR! ANYTIME SIR! lol
Actually Sri Lanka was better off under the British. Once the British left, and your Banda and his gang of yellow-robed Nazis took over, things went downhill pretty quickly. I realize, of course, how embarrassing it must be to have to admit that a bunch of foreigners were able to better administrate your *native* country than the locals, but that is the truth of the matter.
“The timeline… reflects both the genesis of the heinous 18th Amendment and also the occasions mainstream press reported that the President attended / “visited” Parliament.
It was no easy task to compile this. Only a handful ordinary citizens would have the expertise to search for this information online, or elsewhere. There is no easy record retrieval of the President’s attendance in Parliament on its official website. But what is immediately obvious when the scattered media reports are taken as a whole is that the 18th Amendment has in no way at all contributed to a more accountable Executive. ”
Excerpt from ‘Months after the 18th Amendment: Is the Executive really more accountable to Parliament?’, http://groundviews.org/2011/06/11/months-after-the-18th-amendment-is-the-executive-really-more-accountable-to-parliament/