Archive for the ‘Constitutional Reform’

No 13 “Plus”? APRC Proposals are better!

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For the sixth time over, President Rajapaksa snubbed the Indian Big brother, on devolution and 13th Amendment with a “Plus”. He wasn’t an extra smart lawyer in his Attorney’s life. But he still finds logical space between what he says and what he wouldn’t say, to leave the Indian government on their wrong foot. When Indian External Affairs Minister Krishna says, President Rajapaksa in official conversation with him, promised to offer 13 “Plus” as a solution, President Rajapaksa says, he was only discussing the issue. He has “not” promised. The implied message is, the Indian Minister has got him wrong. Not his fault, hence. Or is it ? Its no fault of the Indians also, if the Sri Lankan President can not present his own case clear and straight, for the sixth time, in almost three years. Yet its the fault of the Indian authorities, if they can not elicit even on the sixth meeting, what they want from the…

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Going beyond the 13th Amendment: Newspaper coverage of the Sri Lankan’s President’s assurance to India

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Our affiliate Vikalpa did a short media monitoring exercise anchored to the front page reportage of the Indian Foreign Minister’s official visit to Sri Lanka and the press conference in which the President’s commitment to going beyond the 13th Amendment was reiterated by him. The following is a translation of the report that first appeared on Vikalpa. In addition to the translation below, which deals with the Sinhala and Tamil media, it is interesting to note the differences in reporting the Indian FM’s statement regarding the 13th Amendment between the state-run Daily News and the privately owned Daily Mirror.  The Daily News does not have a single mention of the President’s avowed commitment to go beyond the 13th Amendment anywhere on the front page. The headline quoting the Indian FM, notes that the LLRC report is a basis for reconciliation. There is a photo showing the President, with both his hands, grasping the outstretched arm of the Indian FM. We…

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Is Power Sharing in Land Administration Practical in Sri Lanka?

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Editors note: The author informs us that this Long Reads article is the result of many months of research, and aimed at promoting reconciliation. It is a dispassionate take on a vexed issue, and the author has in recent weeks shared it on a personal basis with selected political figures in the Government and Opposition. It is published on Groundviews with just a few edits. The author predicts that sooner than later negotiators in Government will come to terms with power sharing in land administration. The article is especially timely given the statement to media yesterday by Hon. S.M Krishna, the Indian Minister of External Affairs, that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised the full implementation of the 13th Amendment plus, and that the Sri Lankan Government would deliver on its promise. The hope of the author is that his article lays the foundation for a progressive dialogue on this vital issue. Austin Fernando is the author of My Belly is…

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Curated updates from Indian Foreign Minister’s official visit to Sri Lanka

Tweets from Syed Akbaruddin, Official Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, India & other media reporting on Indian Foreign Minister’s official visit to Sri Lanka in January 2012. Note in particular the reference to the implementation of the 13th Amendment Plus by the Sri Lankan government. [View the story "Updates from Indian Foreign Minister's official visit to Sri Lanka" on Storify]

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WILL THERE BE A REGIME CHANGE IN SRI LANKA?

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Image courtesy New Security Beat A regime change takes place only if the majority of people in a country want a change. In Sri Lanka today not many people would want it. After 30 years of war and terror, people are able to get about without fear, safe in the knowledge that the LTTE has been annihilated. It is this regime, the Rajapakse regime that made it possible and so the sense of gratitude is very strong among the people. It is this feeling that makes the people vote for the Rajapaksas time and time again. All other feelings of frustration simply evaporate, when they remember the bomb explosions of the past in contrast to the peace and security they enjoy today. There is also no opposition waiting in the wings to take over power. Slowly but steadily a merger is taking place before our very eyes, in parliament. The UNP which is still the largest opposition party has more…

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PROBLEM & SOLUTION: PARAMETERS OF POSSIBILITY

A supporter of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse holds up a poster of him in Anuradhapura

Photo courtesy JDS The New Year brought a valuable gift in my email. It was a dossier entitled ‘Seeking Space for State Reform’ and carried an even more beguiling subtitle, ‘Consensus and Contradictions in Public Perceptions’.  A publication of the ICES (the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, from and of which I hadn’t heard for quite a while), it was a product of the Politics of State Reform Project. What made it compelling reading was that it was nothing less than a ‘National Survey of Grassroots Perceptions of State Reform’, which, translated, meant that it was a recent survey of public opinion across all communities, about the ethnic conflict and the  various reform proposals to address or resolve it. Once you’ve dispensed with the layers of very proper titles, you realize what the report contains. It tells you what Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims think, today, over two years after the war, about the most contentious issues that have divided us…

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A Public Memo to Members of Parliament representing the Tamil National Alliance from the Tamil Civil Society

Sampanthan, leader of the political proxy of the Tamil Tigers, the Tamil National Alliance, addresses reporters during a media conference in Colombo

Translation of original in Tamil and released on behalf of the signatories. Read in full screen here. A Public Memo to Members of Parliament representing the Tamil National Alliance from the Tamil Civil Society Download the open letter as a PDF here.

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Sri Lankan Tamil Destiny is Inextricably Grounded Within Sri Lanka: A Response to D.B.S Jeyaraj

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  This is a belated response to D.B.S. Jeyaraj’s article titled “Tamil Destiny is inextricably intertwined with that of the Sinhalese,” which I noticed only a few days ago. I not only endorse every point he makes but also go further and include the other communities comprising Sri Lanka, especially the Muslims (Moors and Malays) and the Indian Tamils (as they are incorrectly designated in the national census. I also point out that the Tamil leadership had firmly and consistently upheld this position till at least the mid 1970s. Those interested in exploring the historical and ideological background could refer to a wealth of literature on the subject including my monograph titled “Tamil Nationalism” (Marga Monograph Series, 2001). Perhaps I should start with a reference in that monograph to the Jaffna Youth Congress (JYC), which was the dominant voice in the North during the 1920s and 30s. The Jaffna Youth Congress Jaffna, widely identified as a centre of Sri Lankan…

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A Review of ‘The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution: Substance and Process’

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Photo courtesy Vikalpa September 8, 2010 marked a watershed event in the constitutional history of Sri Lanka. The enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution on this ill-fated day brought to a close an era in which successive presidential candidates had promised to abolish the executive presidency. The Eighteenth Amendment effectively extinguished the last remnant of hope that this promise would one day be kept. Instead, it has ushered in a new epoch where an over-mighty president for life has become a plausible reality. The present review examines a compilation of papers critiquing the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka. The reviewed publication was produced by the Centre for Policy Alternatives in partnership with the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit. It is presented in five chapters, each dealing with a particular aspect of the Eighteenth Amendment—either in terms of its substance or in terms of the process through which it was enacted. In the first chapter, Dr. Pakiasothy…

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Lifting of Emergency: Exposing the Sham Exercise

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Photo credit AP Author is a Human Rights & Constitutional Lawyer, Eisenhower Fellow, Senior Ashoka Fellow Much has been said about the recent decision of the Government to end the Emergency in Sri Lanka. Some welcomed the move and others are yet to make any pronouncements.  This short essay is an attempt to examine the implications of the decision of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) together with the nature and effect of withdrawal of the emergency. What is Emergency? Proclamation of Emergency is made by the President under section 2 of the Public Security Ordinance (PSO). With the proclamation the President is empowered to promulgate Emergency Regulations under section 5.  The proclamation is generally referred to as “Emergency in the country”.  This is an exceptional situation that, among other things, permits the Executive to bypass Parliament and introduce forceful regulations having the effect of law.    Those regulations, which are called Emergency Regulations, can even be contrary to laws passed…

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What Sri Lankans really think

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“Seek truth from facts” (Deng Xiaoping) It is ironic, is it not, that those Western voices and Lankan liberals who believe that there is a democracy wave sweeping the world, that democracy is dying if not dead in Sri Lanka and is in dire need of regime change, do not, for the most part, pause to review or objectively ascertain public opinion in the country? They may not believe that ‘Vox Populi, Vox Dei’ –‘the voice of the people is the voice of God’ — but surely, any adherent or advocate of democracy must know and display some respect for public opinion in what remains a multiparty democracy? There is an extensive survey of public opinion, the results of which will up-end all conventional assumptions about what the Sri Lankan people think and therefore how they are likely to act or react. This is the Survey on Democracy in Post-War Sri Lanka, Topline Report July 2011, conducted and published by…

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Thus Spake Gothabaya

Photo courtesy of Media Centre for National Development of Sri Lanka (www.development.lk)

[Editors' note: An edited version of this article appeared in the Daily Mirror today.]     “The existing constitution is more than enough for us to live together. I don’t think there is any issue on this more than that. “I mean this was given as a solution for the whole thing with the discussion of these people. I mean now the LTTE is gone, I don’t think there is any requirement. “I mean what can you do more than this? … Devolution wise I think we have done enough, I don’t think there is a necessity to go beyond that.” Thus spake the Defence Secretary to the Indian media organ Headlines Today. The significance of these remarks lies in their utterance by arguably the most powerful man in the country on the most important issue facing the country, if it is to move from a post-war to a post – conflict situation. Gotabaya Rajapaksha is the secretary to a…

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TNA’s withdrawal from talks and the emerging political paralysis

Sampanthan, leader of the political proxy of the Tamil Tigers, the Tamil National Alliance, addresses reporters during a media conference in Colombo

R Sampanthan is a Member of Parliament and leader of the Tamil National Alliance andIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi. The recently concluded Local Government (LG) elections provided evidence, if evidence was needed, of a divided polity. Amidst accusations of violence, intimidation, and killings, the Tamil people voted, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) emerged triumphant, resilient, re-asserting its dominance in the North. The UPFA-led Government swept away the rest of the polls, as expected. Expected: lacks excitement, unexciting, stale news; given the absence of any serious opposition, given the resources at its command, given the power it wields. For those genuinely committed to democracy, the TNA’s victory is one which is most welcome, deserves celebration. For the Government, the outcome provides a wonderful argument: ‘there is multi-party democracy in post-war Sri Lanka.’ In a post-LTTE era, the electoral verdict in favour of the TNA especially in the North – once a proxy of the separatist-LTTE but one which has in recent times articulated the need for…

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Justice Palakidnar Memorial Oration: Economic Development, Inclusive Societies And Peace

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[Editors note: Full text of speech delivered at the Justice Palakidnar Memorial Oration in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 24 July 2011 by former President of Sri Lanka, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. Photo from Club de Madrid profile. There's an interesting discussion on the speech on DBS Jeyaraj's blog. As he succinctly avers, "I do not know what impact her words would make but I do hope that it would embolden like-minded others now keeping silent to speak out".] We are all aware of what is meant by Development and Peace, and somewhat familiar with the term inclusive societies. While Development implies many aspects, it involves mainly the action of building physical or economic  and social infrastructure, as well as developing human resources – highways; transport; electricity and water supply, communications, housing, providing incentives for the development of agriculture, industries and commerce as well as health services, education and skills development and indeed employment. This is not all.  Development also means Good…

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Post-Conflict Peace-Building: A Gradualist Perspective For Evolutionary Reform

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Photo credit: Eranga Jayawardena / AP, taken from Christian Science Monitor In his most famous and controversial work, Prof Samuel Huntington listed Sri Lanka’s armed conflict as an example of his key category of ‘fault line wars’. The war is over but the fault lines perhaps remain. Are the fault lines staying static, widening, narrowing, or in a dialectical sense, both widening and narrowing? Is it still too early to tell? Ours is an uneven peace, but it is not unusual, two years after a war, especially a decades-long one. The crucial questions are whether things are better than in wartime or worse, and whether the rate of improvement is on par with the global and historical average or far below. The answers require a comparative and evolutionary perspective. Compare the post-conflict phase with wartime and remember that no lethal violence on any significant scale is taking place now. Compare the fascist LTTE’s control of the North then with that…

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About Groundviews

Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"

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