Finding a Moral Compass: Citizenship After the 18th Amendment
Repost This ArticleLoss of Moral Certainty
It’s often seems hard to find a reasonable discussion in Sri Lanka about right and wrong, especially when it comes to questions of how our society is governed. Â I wonder if part of the reason is that too many of our social institutions and frameworks that shape how we draw our ethical judgments have been compromised for decades. Â Our religious institutions have been debased by hateful politics of various forms, offering interpretations that often run counter to core doctrinal values. Â A cowed and complicit media distorts more than it reflects realities of Sri Lankan life and its polity. Â Educational institutions peddle dogma rather than foster the capacity for even-handed critical thinking. Â Law enforcement often itself operates outside the law, and there is little confidence that legal judgements are independent of political influence. Â Communities and workplaces are rife with mistrust and animosity that makes it hard to believe that others say what they mean. Â In the absence of moral certainties, some seem to choose simply to endorse what is personally expedient, whilst others hitch their judgments to the views of personal or public authority figures. Â Still others cling more tightly than ever to religious dogma, the authorized news, taught ideology and the law of the land. Â It seems to me, however, that if the passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution on 8th September 2010 can teach us anything, it is that citizens can no longer look to Sri Lankan law for guidance on ethics. What the highly secretive and rushed amendments to Sri Lanka’s constitution underlines is that the problems with the law are not just in its implementation, but sometimes with its very substance.
Faith in the Law
Aside from staunch partisan support, belief in the authority of the President, ignorance about the substance of the amendments, inability to understand their implications and some frankly baffling reasoning, one of the main sources of acceptance of the 18th Amendment amongst Sri Lanka’s citizens seems to be their view that its introduction was lawful.  For many people in Sri Lanka, the fact that the process of ‘urgent’ Parliamentary debate appears to have narrowly followed the letter of the law and was endorsed by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka means that the events that took place on the 8th of the September are legitimate.  This view pays attention only to a specific sequence of events over a period of the past few days, and misses out a broader context of systematic suspension, bypassing and erosion of procedural and institutional safeguards that could have halted or altered the recent amendment process.  It also fails to realize that our existing constitution (like many of our other laws) was already deeply flawed and that following its rules would not guarantee protection of the sovereign rights of Sri Lanka’s citizens.  At another time, we might discuss what a constitution for (and hopefully of and by) the people would look like, but for now we must consider how we should live under a regime of governance that is formally legal but is actually an ethical crime-in-progress against this country’s citizens.  It is particularly urgent that we do so, given that the 18th Amendment will likely bring in its wake a host of new changes and applications of Sri Lanka’s laws that will further distinguish what is legal from what is moral or good.  Simply being law-abiding citizens will hardly guarantee our moral integrity in the months and years to come; in some instances it will have an entirely opposite effect.
Citizenship Beyond the Law
The question of how to live under fascist or totalitarian regimes has of course arisen many times before in history, indeed also in parts of Sri Lanka. Â The unprecedented nature of the 18th Amendment notwithstanding, the truth is that Sri Lanka has experienced its share of repressive governance over the past four decades at the hands of armed movements as well as national governments. Â In villages and towns across Sri Lanka, from East to West, from North to South, there are people who have survived these reigns of terror (often sanctioned by legal or quasi-legal frameworks) and even resisted them in important ways, emerging morally intact and sometime ennobled as human beings. From Sri Lanka and elsewhere, the most compelling accounts of how to retain moral integrity have always located the answer to this difficult task in the hands, hearts and minds of the individual human being.
Reserving space in your mind for critical thought, preserving the yearning for freedom and capacity for compassion for others, and retaining the ability to carry out for small acts of solidarity, subversion and defiance are all a part of this. Â This is the work of everyday men, women and children, not of special leaders. Â It is based on the actions of individuals, but is fundamentally socially oriented. In fact, it might be described as a form of advanced citizenship, where in the face of violations of the social contract by those who govern, private individuals or groups step in to address these gaps where they can.
The point, I suppose, is that laws are only as moral or ethical as those who draw them up – and where lawmakers fail us as citizens, we are obliged to question, resist or even act in spite of the law in order to be moral persons.  This break with the law must not be taken lightly, but rather with great thoughtfulness and care, if we are to avoid shallow lawlessness.  Whilst each citizen must determine their own actions, it will be necessary to build small and then larger moral communities.  This process will require work by each of us, personally.  The first bit of hard labour will be that of mapping out the fundamentals of what we consider to be just and fair – for ourselves and for our fellow citizens.
This will require us to question our taken-for-granted assumptions about how we think about these issues, and to invite others to join us.  This will have to be done with spouses, children, colleagues, friends and relations.  We will have to reach beyond our own experience – and must take time to read deeply, travel to unfamiliar places and really talk to other people.   Tasks we might usually leave to politicians or policy-makers will have to become our own to solve – in theory and in practice within our own communities.
No Alternative
There is little hope of magically putting the genie back in the bottle; of easily reversing the decline of how this country is governed.  The truth is that there is no party political opposition that will come to the rescue. There will be no intervention from the international community (however you choose to define it).  There will be no people’s revolution.  For now, it seems we are truly on our own, stuck with a crooked regime that can now make its own rules.  It seems to me that the best that we can do is to stake a claim on our own lives and actions, and to slowly enlarge the space within which we can bring about some changes for good.
Have we ever wondered whether it is by accident that Law and Civics has been removed from the secondary school curriculum for at least four decades?
Thank you. One of the few articles I’ve seen that gives practical things ordinary citizens can do in the face of the situation our country is in.
“Simply being law-abiding citizens will hardly guarantee our moral integrity in the months and years to come; in some instances it will have an entirely opposite effect.” – brilliant. Evil has been perpetuated by making the apathetic populace presume it is goodness.
Fear has caused many to be silent. The immediate future will elicit the best and the worst of the peoples of Sri Lanka.
Thank u Aruna for your article. Yesterday, when I saw the people who were waving placards with President’s smiling photo and shouting ”We need you forever”, tears filled my eyes. The weary faces of them, and the way they were dressed, clearly said that they belong to the poorest of poors in this country. Some old women who were wearing jacket and clothe were dancing wildly, to the weired drum beats. I wanted to tell them, not to get cheated this much….I wanted to show them the dark end of their’s and their children’s future. But, I knew that I would have been stoned by them if I tried to do so. So, I just passed the scene with tears flowing down my cheeks.
Amendments were passed. We have to summon the courage and rise from the desperation now. Aruna, kindly reminds us the fact that we, the ordinary people should try to preserve the integrity, sensitivity and the solidarity with the other fellow citizens who holds the same values. We have no choice, but to face the reality and make individual efforts. The rulers and the law in the country will keep on violating democracy, fundamental rights of the people, and hail the discrimination against the minorities, dissidents etc. But, as individuals we can hold tight onto these concepts by always being democratic, respecting human rights, equality, tolerating cultural differences ect, in our personal relationships. It will take a very long time for us to see a change in the regime. So, we have to find our own ways to live with dignity in this country.
There is a climate of fear that pervades the nation.
Being law abiding is no protection against assaults, arbitary arrest & detention, abduction, disappearances or even of being killed. We see many reports of ‘criminals’ in custody shot dead by police while “trying to escape” or “trying to assault ( though handcffed ) the poice” or “jumping out of vehicles” during transport. Reports of innocent family members being taken into custody in place of persons sought by the police are frequent.
All these will intensify, now, after the 18th amendment.
There is a “Police State” now in the south, and a “Military State” in the northeast.
our righteousness and our moral values towards the others and the society, in which we live, put them in panic that they battle us with anything they can get hold of, independent of the legality of their methods and means. They see the evil in every corner they turn around and find no place to hide themselves, so they attack in all directions in the hope to hit the eternal and imperishable enemy they are such scared of. But in reality it is only their immorality that keep them under siege that they try to free themselves of.
We stand before the massive and tall walls of the “Pallais des Papes” in Avignon, the residence of the French pope of the 14th century, who was appointed by the French king Philip IV, against the Pope in Rome, to demonstrate the power of French kingdom. I told to my friend “see how mighty and powerful they were” and he replied me or how scared they might have been….”
let me salute the highmindedness of the posts above – we need simple living and high thinking – not high living and simple thinking
the 18th amd is an example of simple thinking …
Not only in Sri Lanka
But all over the world
We are looking for a new principle of human organization
A new principle of harmony
That principle cannot be established by superior force, wealth or knowledge
Or by any other fruits and benefits derived from an old order which is crumbling down
The efficacy of the new principle can only be demonstrated by living it
Without this living demonstration of values
Nothing new will take root and grow
That is why this new principle is the conscious and evolving human being
A principle must live to avoid the fate of becoming a facade; an empty concept
Its true home is the living human being
Having an idea
Is not the same
As having an answer
The answer lies
In what we do
The way we live
Search there for the answers
• What is the point
In human rights
If we don’t exercise
The right
To be human
The right to love
The right to think
And the right
To find
Our own way…
Leadership
is generally over-estimated
Real change
is transformation of the individual
ordinary people
doing ordinary things
with great faith
and great spirit
Power and beauty
Must be maintained
With violence here – deceit there
Truth
maintains itself
• The moral awakening
Is more important
Than what precedes
And provokes it
The significance of all drama
Enacted on earth
Lies in their capacity to awaken
Everything else
Is just hot air
Energy let loose
Without a real purpose
Violence
A reflection of collective weakness
Delusion to think that
Some are strong and some are weak
Strengthen each human being
To exercise freedom
“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/