Ananda De Costa

A political solution is not required for the hypothetical ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ethnic conflictƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ created by western invaders.

Sri Lanka has shown that the simple universally accepted rule of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-catch the criminals and punishƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ worked for thousands of years still works.

But we have not yet punished those who masterminded and fuelled this cruel, barbaric criminal and racial war. We are still shaking hands with them; this is called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-diplomacyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and we shall go on like this for some time. This is the reality, because we do not have military power and super power ally to confront neighbours like Israel does or Singapore manipulates.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ What we can do is do our best to get rid of poison injected to our society by the invaders.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ What we need is a solution to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Political ProblemƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ created by the Westerners, or more precisely, eradication of party politics.

This does not mean all the UNPers, SLFPers, TNPers, ex-LTTEers and JVPers get together and form one big party. There should always be a strong opposition.

We must invent our own system to rule the country based on nothing but Buddhist values.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This is the political solution we need.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Myth of Discrimination

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ President Rajapakse had made clear that there will be no devolution of power based on races and there will be no regions based on races. I suppose Sri Lankans should take his word for it; he has proven that he is a listener and a team player- not a king as portrayed by some.

It is utter stupidity to indulge in the inferiority complex of feeling proud of the victory alone and it is a great injustice to our heroic sons and daughters sacrificed their lives to bring us peace.

They did not dream about a king or maharaj. They fought for a better country with the word ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-EelaamƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ erased forever.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Some constitutional reforms ensuring equal and fair treatment to all citizens will solve the unfair claim by certain races that they have grievances. What this means is to insert some statements in the constitution making it illegal discriminate someone based on any inferior or superior race or cast system. The best answer is found in Buddhism. We must simply insert the statement by the Buddha

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Na jajja vasalo hothi najaja hothi brahmano.

Kammana vaslo hothi, kammana hothi brahmano. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-

“Not by birth is one an outcast; not by birth is one a brahman.

By deed one becomes an outcast, by deed one becomes an brahman.”

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Once this is done, necessary legislations are passed and ways to complain have been set up, no one can say minorities are discriminated.

Tough laws should also be passed to punish those give extra marks in school and general examinations to candidates of their own race.

Thesavalame should be abandoned together with any other racist laws imposed our ex-colonial aggressors who killed millions of people and now pretending to be world authority of humanity.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Regional Decentralization

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ We all know that the Provincial Councils are a complete waste of money and ended up a way to breed another level of politicians. Even the humble local government councils have become engines of widespread malpractice because of the adoption of the western ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-democraticƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ election system to politicize everything.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The best way correct this is to make these councils effective by removing rouge politicians.

How many governors, how many chief ministers do we have in the small country of 22 million people at the moment? Is this sustainable and are these chiefs doing any good to the country? There should a stop to this crazy politics and find an effective and transparent governing system. The only solution should be larger regional councils.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Not more than three regional councils should be setup. It is preferable for each region to have its own port and airport. Regions should be designed with proper balance of population, economic activity generators and resources. For example making Anuradhapura the capital of the region which includes Jaffna, Trincomalee and Vavunia will eliminate most of the racial problems (created by British aggressors), as each region can be designed to be populated with all races.

As the economic activities grow, it will be impossible to stop transmigration of inhabitants in districts. The regions should be asked to manage their own budgets and compete with the other two regions without minimal interference from the central government. There is no need to worry about another Eeelaam, having passed all the laws to hang those who mention Eelaam under a new national security act. All political parties with racial or religious names should be forced to change names. Are we not ashamed to have a minister from party called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Eelaam Revolutionary Organisation of (ex) StudentsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ ?.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Therefore, these councils should be appointed by a special election for which the candidates are prequalified professionals willing to rebuild their own regions. Let them be Muslim, Tamil , Burghers or Sinhalese- they must be properly qualified professionals. Not the shameless individuals who hold honorary doctorates; we need doctors, engineers, accountants, successful business people, good journalists with university education and similar leaders to this list. People in each region can vote to appoint ministers for each discipline such as finance, infra-structure development, education, irrigation, industry etc. Those who loose in elections can be appointed to shadow ministries to run their offices to monitor the ministries in a transparent way.

These individuals should be ready to really live in the respective regions and serve the councils similar to running a company, being directors. They should be highly paid to avoid corruption but at the same time corrupted should be punished severely under new laws.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is a fundamental right of the people to elect capable and qualified people to run the country, not the hooligans appointed by a political party for them to choose. Anyone with capability and desire to enter the regional government should obtain good qualifications first. If you cannot pass O-levels can you successfully run a country? Even if you pass exams, if you have no brain to manage a business or provide leadership, can you run a country? Therefore it is imperative to prequalify the candidates.

A similar system can be used in local government elections- why should we follow the western aggressorƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s failed political system designed for ruining their cities? They did not have a problem of funds as they looted other countries, killed the aboriginals and dug up their land and enjoyed the treasures and danced the night away.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Central Government

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Central government may be set up in a conventional way, members of parliament representing electorates, as a interim solution, but this should also be changed in the future to a system of our own. Same rules with no racial politics tolerated, corruption severely punished, will bring about proper governance and de-politicisation.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Those who hold ministerial positions should have the same prerequisites as the regional counterparts.

Handling of tax system and national finance, emigration and immigration, main roads, national security, law and order and other essential services shall be handled by the central government. There is no question of world record breaking numbers of MPsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, appointed MPƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s, ministers without portfolios etc., because most of the economic activities are now handled by the regional governments.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The central government should build a six-lane highway from Colombo-Anuradhapuara to Jaffna, giving it the top priority.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Solution to political problem

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This is the time for some form of ingenious and revolutionary political system to be introduced. What I have proposed is only a simple basic example of some framework to initiate lateral thinking form our own learned professors.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Those capable people should propose good ideas to develop the country rather than criticising a hypothetical 13A plus to come.

Let the president study these proposals together with his capable friends to innovate a radical solution rather than the old parliamentary democracy system we inherited by the colonial looters of the west. We can draw all the advice for good governance from Buddhism.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ One can automatically be a Tamil or a Sinhalese by birth, but one can only be a real Sri Lankan by deed. There are living examples, some among the dead.