Today’s Daily Mirror reports the great news that MR says change in PCs necessary.
Posted on November 9th, 2012
Vijendra
“Amidst calls to repeal the 13th Amendment, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his budget speech, stressed yesterday that a change in the provincial council system is necessary to make devolution more meaningful to the people. He said that devolution should not be a political reform that would lead to separation. Instead, he said it should be a system that unifies all people.”
November 9th, 2012 at 10:14 pm
The President has been in power since 2005. Has he only realised it now? Well if he surrounds himself with the likes of Mervyn Silva as his advisors he will take another 8 years to amend it. Really does this need 8 years for him to realise it Ordinary people realised it in 1987. This unfortunately has to be taken as rhetoric does not mean any thing. What an unfortunate position for Sri Lanka.
November 9th, 2012 at 11:37 pm
We Hope Sri Lanka builds its future on the foundations of:-
(A) MULTI-CULTURE (B) MULTI-LINGUAL (C) MULTI-FAITH (D) EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES TO ALL CITIZENS (E) RESPECT ALL COMMUNITIES, THEIR HONOUR AND PROPERTY RIGHTS. (F) NO COMMUNITY CLAIMS SUPREMACY OVER THE OTHER OR MANIPULATES ELECTION OUTCOME (G) STRICTLY MERIT BASED GOVERNANCE (H) ALLEGIANCE TO ONE COUNTRY, ONE NATION. (I) MAKE A DIPLOMATIC EFFORT TO CONVINCE THE NEIGHBOUR TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION AND RELIEVE THEIR CONCERNS AND ASSURE THEM OF A FAIR TREATMENT TO ALL COMMUNITIES.
November 10th, 2012 at 1:19 am
The Hindu newspaper reported it first.
Looks like there is an AGREEMENT with India on scrapping 13 amendment.
Why bloody India changed tracks?
Because there is a Muslim chief minister in the eastern province and India HATES it!!!
(And we hate it too!!!)
That leaves India with NO CHOICE than to support SCRAPPING 13 amendment.
Today Wimal Weerawansa has TAUGHT Run-NIL about the 13 amendment. Run-NIL apparently had understood the dangers.
Govt. plan is to SHUT pro-13 DIRT in supreme court through the impeachment and SCRAP it.
EXCELLENT STRATEGY.
Cut the pig’s meat on the pig itself.
November 10th, 2012 at 7:01 am
Hurrah ! Off with the 13-A !
November 10th, 2012 at 3:47 pm
REJOICE!
Another LTTE murderer BITES THE DUST … killed by other LTTE gang members!
Manna from Heaven!
…………….
Top LTTE figure in France shot dead
DailyMirror.lk
November 09, 2012
A prominent LTTE leader and leader of the Pro-LTTE Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC) in France Nadarajah Matheenthiran alias Parithy was shot dead in Paris, France as a result of internal rift, informed sources said.
Sources said that Parithy belonged to LTTE’s Nediyavan faction. Since the death of Prabhakaran an internal rift occurred between LTTE Europe Leader Nediyawan and V. Rudrakumaran who was also a prominent LTTE leader based in USA.
Meanwhile AFP reported a Sri Lankan man was shot dead in Paris late Thursday, a police source said.
The murder may be an example of violence within the Sri Lankan community, though no line of investigation has been ruled out, the source added.
The victim, in his fifties and known to the police, was hit by gunfire from an unknown assailant in eastern Paris.
He died shortly afterwards, the police source said.
A hunt has been launched for the killer who fled the scene.
November 10th, 2012 at 3:48 pm
Lorenzo,
I have been emphasizing this myself: that the inevitable result of 13-A is not just a Tamil Eelam in the Northern Province, but also a Muslim “Eelam” in the Eastern Province …. that would be ANTHEMA to India.
If what you say is correct (I have NOT found the report in The Hindu), then the MESSAGE has FINALLY gotten through to INDIA”S Dull Myopic Leaders that the Soft Southern Underbelly of India, where India has been lovingly secreting their most valued Nuclear Power Plant, Military R&D and Space assets, will now be EXPOSED to Muslim terrorists using the Muslim Eelam, created under the 13-A, as a base of operations. Then, India would have to defend not only its Western and Eastern borders from muslims, their Northern boder from the Chinese, but also their largely undefended Southern border from more Muslims!
Why it is so hard for Indian Leaders to figure these things out before they start making Sri Lankan lives miserable, I will never know.
Part of the explanation MUST BE the IMPERIAL HUBRIS of a “regional superpower” aspiring to become the second, if not the third, global superpower in the not-too-distance future. This is a DISEASE inevitable, akin to Alzheimers, that afflicts all superpowers during their RISE, peaking at the APEX of their power, preceding their subsequent DECLINE & FALL.
From DUST to DUST, ASHES to ASHES is the FATE of nations struggling for hegemony in the cannon’s mouth.
November 10th, 2012 at 4:13 pm
(A) MULTI-CULTURE (B) MULTI-LINGUAL (C) MULTI-FAITH (D) EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES TO ALL CITIZENS (E) RESPECT ALL COMMUNITIES, THEIR HONOUR AND PROPERTY RIGHTS. (F) NO COMMUNITY CLAIMS SUPREMACY OVER THE OTHER OR MANIPULATES ELECTION OUTCOME (G) STRICTLY MERIT BASED GOVERNANCE (H) ALLEGIANCE TO ONE COUNTRY, ONE NATION. (I) MAKE A DIPLOMATIC EFFORT TO CONVINCE THE NEIGHBOUR TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION AND RELIEVE THEIR CONCERNS AND ASSURE THEM OF A FAIR TREATMENT TO ALL COMMUNITIES.
Looks like Hussain Obama has joined this forum.
We have too much of all these nonsence. What we need is 1 good government like Lee Kuan Yew’s who honoured the idea of hard work , sleep late and keep the Mosques quiet early morning.
November 10th, 2012 at 4:16 pm
Rajapakse said about reforms to PCs. This means PCs are there to stay and so is the 13A.
At least he is talking – which is good. Hope he follows the brother not force the brother to follow him.
November 10th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
REJOICE!
“The President has meanwhile said that a change in the prevailing Provincial Council system which was based on the 13th Amendment is necessary to make devolution more meaningful to the people.”
But, let us not merely CHANGE it;
Let us REPEAL it FULLY, and get rid of PCs altogether!
…………….
Sri Lanka Opposition Leader holds discussion with governing party ally on 13th Amendment
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 10, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe today held a discussion with governing party ally the National Freedom Front (NFF) on the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
Wickremasinghe met with NFF Leader and Minister Wimal Weerawansa in the parliamentary complex to discuss the call by the NFF to abolish the 13th Amendment.
The NFF group led by Weerawansa has told the UNP that the 13th Amendment needed to be repealed.
The UNP representatives while not opposing the repeal of the Amendment has opined that a different solution was required.
Wickremasinghe has however said that the final decision on the party’s stance on the 13th Amendment issue would be decided at the next UNP convention.
UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake and the Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga were also present at the discussion.
The NFF led by Weerawansa and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) have formed an alliance to pressure the government to abolish the 13th Amendment.
The President has meanwhile said that a change in the prevailing Provincial Council system which was based on the 13th Amendment is necessary to make devolution more meaningful to the people.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:04 pm
Getting rid of PCs is NOT enough.
13 amendment should GO!!
Otherwise some loser will make use of the already cut drain to put up a new BS devolution.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:28 pm
So, what EXACTLY does this mean?
That Provincial Council System will remain as centers of separation, but less power will be devolved?
Half-way measures won’t do.
Get rid of the 13th Amendment and the PC system in one fell swoop!
AWAY with this FOREIGN IMPOSED BALL & CHAIN shackling Mother Lanka.
PULL IT OUT OF Sri Lanka’s Constitution by leaf, branch, trunk and root!
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Sri Lanka’s provincial council system needs changes for more meaningful devolution – President
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 09, Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that a change in the prevailing Provincial Council system is necessary to make devolution more meaningful to the people.
Delivering his 2013 budget speech in the parliament Thursday, the President has noted that devolution should not be a political reform that will lead the country to separation but a mechanism that would unify the country.
“Instead it should be a one that unifies all of us,” the President noted.
The provincial council system should not involve high spending and complex governance structures that will impose further burden on people, President Rajapaksa stressed.
While acknowledging that government’s overall development strategy has strengthened new economies in each province and supported revenue needs of Provincial Councils, the President pointed out that Provincial Councils need to adopt a single uniform levy in place of all taxes, fees, charges and levies to simplify the provincial revenue administration to facilitate business development.
The President has added that devolution should not involve high spending and complex governance structures that will impose further burden on people.
The elimination of provincial disparities using national standards is the main weapon through which national reconciliation can be promoted, the President stressed.
Referring to the Northern Provincial Council election, President Rajapaksa noted that the government was committed to conducting the election in the North.
“We remain firmly committed to conduct Provincial Council Elections next year, to facilitate democratic representations to promote peace and development,” the President assured.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:34 pm
HE is talking devolution to North Provincial council.
November 10th, 2012 at 10:48 pm
Lorenzo was right, here is the report from The Hindu!
We PATRIOTS of Sri Lanka HOPE & PRAY that this Indian IMPOSED BALL & CHAIN shackling Mother Lanka, and compromising its Territorial Integrity, National Security, and Sovereignty will be REPEALED as SOON AS POSSIBLE.
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India-mediated 13th Amendment on its way out?
(http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/indiamediated-13th-amendment-on-its-way-out/article4082145.ece )
By R. K. Radhakrishnan
In the strongest indication yet that Sri Lanka is having a serious rethink on the India-mediated concept of autonomy for provinces in the country, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, announced in parliament on Thursday that “a change in the prevailing Provincial Council system is necessary to make devolution more meaningful” to people.
His announcement comes a few weeks after two coalition partners of the United People’s Freedom Alliance, which rules the country, demanded the scrapping of the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution. The 13th Amendment, incorporated into the Sri Lankan constitution following the Indo-Lanka accord of 1987, granted limited powers to Sri Lanka’s nine provinces.
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (led by Buddhist monks) and National Freedom Front (breakaway group of JVP), both partners of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party-led UPFA have demanded that the amendment be nullified. The professedly-left Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna has also made a similar demand. Adding to this chorus was the country’s Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is also a sibling of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He was quoted in the Island newspaper as saying that the 13th Amendment should go – and timed it to coincide with the New Delhi visit of leaders of the Tamil National Alliance in October.
The TNA sees the amendment as a ray of hope for limited autonomy for the Tamil dominated Northern Province. President Rajapaksa had announced through The Hindu that the elections to the Northern Province – the only one without an elected council – will be held by September 2013.
President’s reasoning
“Devolution should not be a political reform that will lead us to separation but instead it should be one that unifies all of us,” in an apparent reference to the events that followed after Varadaraja Perumal was elected Chief Minister. Mr. Perumal declared the creation of Tamil Eelam in the merged North-Eastern province on March 1, 1990. The then President R. Premadasa dissolved the council and imposed direct rule.
“It should not involve high spending and complex governance structures that will impose further burden on people. Everybody who met me from all corners of Sri Lanka whether they were Tamils, Muslims or Sinhalese, asked for greater access to education, health, employment opportunities, better living and equal standards across the nation. The elimination of provincial disparities using national standards is the main weapon through which national reconciliation can be promoted. This Government remains committed to ensure that these aspirations of our people will be fulfilled,” he told the parliament, and invited the Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickramasinghe, the TNA and the JVP to help in “constructively” solving problems confronted by our people.
Change in Indian stand?
There appears to be a shift in the Indian stand towards Sri Lanka, as seen in Geneva early this week. While in its opening remarks during the Universal Periodic Review on Sri Lanka, India highlighted the need to expand on the 13th Amendment, early Northern Provincial council elections, and related issues, none of this figures in the ‘interactive dialogue and responses by the State under review.’ “India looked forward to speedy resolution of the residual issues in resettlement and rehabilitation. It called for credible investigations into allegations in the LLRC report. It noted the action plan for time-bound implementation of LLRC recommendations,” it said.
November 11th, 2012 at 1:52 am
a change in the provincial council system is necessary to make devolution more meaningful – Yes President this means your 13 Plus !!! Also Please ask Your brother to use his green card travel back to USA to rund his hand shp & will call him back when Eelam war V start!!!
November 11th, 2012 at 2:24 am
We PATRIOTS of Sri Lanka HOPE & PRAY that this Indian IMPOSED BALL & CHAIN shackling Mother Lanka, and compromising its Territorial Integrity, National Security, and Sovereignty will be REPEALED as SOON AS POSSIBLE.
………………….
India-mediated 13th Amendment on its way out?
By R. K. Radhakrishnan
In the strongest indication yet that Sri Lanka is having a serious rethink on the India-mediated concept of autonomy for provinces in the country, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, announced in parliament on Thursday that “a change in the prevailing Provincial Council system is necessary to make devolution more meaningful” to people.
His announcement comes a few weeks after two coalition partners of the United People’s Freedom Alliance, which rules the country, demanded the scrapping of the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution. The 13th Amendment, incorporated into the Sri Lankan constitution following the Indo-Lanka accord of 1987, granted limited powers to Sri Lanka’s nine provinces.
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (led by Buddhist monks) and National Freedom Front (breakaway group of JVP), both partners of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party-led UPFA have demanded that the amendment be nullified. The professedly-left Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna has also made a similar demand. Adding to this chorus was the country’s Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is also a sibling of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He was quoted in the Island newspaper as saying that the 13th Amendment should go – and timed it to coincide with the New Delhi visit of leaders of the Tamil National Alliance in October.
The TNA sees the amendment as a ray of hope for limited autonomy for the Tamil dominated Northern Province. President Rajapaksa had announced through The Hindu that the elections to the Northern Province – the only one without an elected council – will be held by September 2013.
President’s reasoning
“Devolution should not be a political reform that will lead us to separation but instead it should be one that unifies all of us,” in an apparent reference to the events that followed after Varadaraja Perumal was elected Chief Minister. Mr. Perumal declared the creation of Tamil Eelam in the merged North-Eastern province on March 1, 1990. The then President R. Premadasa dissolved the council and imposed direct rule.
“It should not involve high spending and complex governance structures that will impose further burden on people. Everybody who met me from all corners of Sri Lanka whether they were Tamils, Muslims or Sinhalese, asked for greater access to education, health, employment opportunities, better living and equal standards across the nation. The elimination of provincial disparities using national standards is the main weapon through which national reconciliation can be promoted. This Government remains committed to ensure that these aspirations of our people will be fulfilled,” he told the parliament, and invited the Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickramasinghe, the TNA and the JVP to help in “constructively” solving problems confronted by our people.
Change in Indian stand?
There appears to be a shift in the Indian stand towards Sri Lanka, as seen in Geneva early this week. While in its opening remarks during the Universal Periodic Review on Sri Lanka, India highlighted the need to expand on the 13th Amendment, early Northern Provincial council elections, and related issues, none of this figures in the ‘interactive dialogue and responses by the State under review.’ “India looked forward to speedy resolution of the residual issues in resettlement and rehabilitation. It called for credible investigations into allegations in the LLRC report. It noted the action plan for time-bound implementation of LLRC recommendations,” it said.
November 11th, 2012 at 2:35 am
A 19th Amendment to DEVOLVE POWER to “Provinces” as described in this article, is STILL the WRONG SOLUTION.
The BASIC PROBLEM is that Large PROVINCES with DEVOLVED POWERS can UNDERMINE the CENTRAL Govt Powers, and PROMOTE Separatism.
The CORRECT SOLUTION is to ELIMINATE PROVINCES as Administrative Units COMPLETELY, and NOT DEVOLVE POWER to large administrative regions with Ethno-Religious COMMUNAL Majorities.
We don’t want the Provincial Council System to be RECONSTITUTED in ANOTHER DISGUISE!
……………………………..
19th Amendment to Sri Lanka Constitution to devolve power under consideration
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 11, Colombo: Sri Lanka government is considering to introduce a 19th Amendment to the Constitution as a solution to the current national issue of power devolution while the momentum to abolish the India-doctored 13th Amendment is gathering momentum.
The government is currently preparing a draft amendment, legally termed as the 19th Amendment, as an alternative to the 13th Amendment.
The draft amendment will be presented to the parliamentary select committee that has been proposed to formulate a solution to the current ethnic issue, government sources revealed.
The campaign in Sri Lanka to repeal the provincial council system brought into existence by the 13th Amendment is receiving support from government allies and recently the National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader and Housing and Construction Minister Wimal Weerawansa, joined by the nationalist party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), called on the government to take firm steps to repeal the 13th Amendment.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his Budget speech last Thursday indicated that a change in the prevailing Provincial Council system is necessary to make devolution more meaningful to the people.
The President noted that devolution should not be a political reform that will lead the country to separation but a mechanism that would unify the country.
Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the opposition and the United National Party (UNP), yesterday held a meeting with Minister Weerawansa to discuss the call by the NFF to abolish the 13th Amendment.
During the meeting the UNP representatives including General Secretary Tissa Attanayake and the Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga, while not opposing the repeal of the Amendment, have opined that a different solution was required.
The 19th Amendment under works now will include options for the devolution of power and will replace the 13th Amendment to eliminate the existing provincial council system.
The government has meanwhile renewed its invitation to the major Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance, to participate in the PSC to discuss the change to the Constitution. The government has said that it is ready to allow more time for TNA to take a final decision on the process.
November 11th, 2012 at 3:12 am
“We don’t want the Provincial Council System to be RECONSTITUTED in ANOTHER DISGUISE!”
Absolutely!
We should be hopeful of MR finally has been woken up and finally back to work after 3 years and 4 months.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:45 am
Wimal Weerawansa has said he plans to petition Supreme Court tomorrow (12 November) to repeal 13A just the same way he petitioned to de-merge the northern and eastern provinces.
However, if repealing 13A is to pave way for 19A with similar evils (devolution, Tamil to remain an official language) then it is a grand waste of money and we will be in a worse predicament.
Our challenge would be to defeat both.
November 11th, 2012 at 5:00 am
Constitutional changes to please only Tamils is totally unacceptable. This is akin to Apartheid.
Allow the government to go ahead with the repealing of 13A. Having done so, we should defeat the attempt to impose its replacement that will also be based on devolution. 19A will be the 13P the government harped on.
November 11th, 2012 at 1:34 pm
TOO BAD that the GOSL allowed this MURDERER to LIVE for SO LONG in a Foreign Country without EXTRADITING him to Sri Lanka to serve his PENANCE!
……
Parithy, one of Sri Maha Bodhi attackers
by Manjula FERNANDO
DailyNews.lk
November 11, 2012
The LTTE leader, Parithy, killed in France on Friday was a member of the terrorist group that carried out the Sri Maha Bodhi attack where 146 Buddhist devotees and bhikkhus were massacred on May 14, 1985, Head of International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Prof. Rohan Gunaratna said.
According to intelligence sources, Parithy a supporter of the LTTE Nediyawan faction had been killed by the Vinayagam faction which is now aligned with US based lawyer Rudrakumaran of the TETG.
“Vinayagam wants to capture power from Nediyawan who controls all TCCs, Tamil youth organisations and other LTTE fronts,” he said adding that splits and infighting became pronounced after Velupillai Prabhakaran’s death.
Parithy, whose real name is Nadarajh Matheenthiran and known by the alias Reagan in Sri Lanka was appointed Head of LTTE in France in 2003 by Nediyawan who lives in Norway.
“Operating under the cover of the Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC), France he had engaged in crime including extortion and also had connections with the Global Tamil Forum under Rev. Fr. S.J. Emmanuel.
Prof. Gunaratna said, ‘Parithy had received terrorist training in Himachal Pradesh, India in 1984. He had participated in several terrorist attacks within Sri Lanka before fleeing to South India in 1990 after being injured by the IPKF’.
November 11th, 2012 at 2:03 pm
The president has told in the past that he will give 13+ and that he wanted a home-grown solution without elaborating on what he actually meant. The 13A is certainly not a home grown solution.
Likewise, he is on the record having said that police powers and land powers will not be given to the Provincial Councils.
Now at last, the president has said what he intends to do, understandably without placing all the cards on the table.
He said right at the end of his budget speech:
“A change in the prevailing Provincial Council system is necessary to make devolution more meaningful to our people. Devolution should not be a political reform that will lead us to separation but instead it should be one that unifies all of us. It should not involve high spending and complex governance structures that will impose further burden on people. Everybody who met me from all corners of Sri Lanka whether they were Tamils, Muslims or Sinhalese, asked for greater access to education, health, employment opportunities, better living and equal standards across the nation. The elimination of provincial disparities using national standards is the main weapon through which national reconciliation can be promoted. This Government remains committed to ensure that these aspirations of our people will be fulfilled.
Therefore, I wish to extend a warm invitation to the Leader of the Opposition, Leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) to cooperate with us constructively to solve problems confronted by our people. That will be an effort which ensures greater self-respect than having to lobby foreign countries to interfere in our internal problems. The Leader of the Opposition, the Leader of the TNA and me, are experienced enough in life and politics, to spearhead this task.
The journey towards poverty reduction and uplift of our lower income people has become rough with the Parliament been dragged into a long process in passing the Bill to establish Divi Neguma Development Department. This amply demonstrates that we still have not reached the mile post that permit us to rest as a nation free of risks. There will be more political, economic and natural Tsunamis. They will remain to be unpredictable. Yet, our resolution to alleviate poverty and uplift the living environment of the poor remain an uncompromised goal. Let’s commit to create a poverty free Sri Lanka by 2015”
Does he mean to keep the PCs when he said “that will impose further burden on people”?
As we all know, the 13A was agreed to by the SLG through the Executive Power of a President under duress and the Supreme Court did not find that the 13A contradicts the unitary nature of the Constitution and also did not call for a referendum.
At the time, the Supreme Court should have rejected the 13A for its incompatibility with the basic assertions that appear right at the beginning of the document (I am not sure whether it was referred to the SC for approval or not).
However, now the Supreme Court finds that a Bill passed by the Parliament is not compatible with 13A of the The Constitution!.
The SLG has already announced that the SC’s edict will be complied with.
On the other hand it remains to be seen what the pronouncement of the SC would be when the compatibility of the 13A with the unitary nature of the constitution is challenged (as rumoured).
November 11th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
SenaD
Perhaps, you like to enlighten us how the 18th Amendment was passed?
November 11th, 2012 at 3:22 pm
I agree with Ananda.
IN ADDITION, ALL attackers of the Shri Maha Bodhi and Shri Dalada Maligawa MUST be eliminated.
These tigers have become pussycats now but still they must be eliminated to teach them a lesson.
May 14, 1985 was the 9th anniversary of the infamous VadaKundi resolution. It was a Wesak day. That is the reason they gave for the attack. We retaliated this terrorist attack in like manner soon after the Wesak days were over (lasts for 2 days). But remaining terrorists CAN PASS ON this disgusting expertise unless eliminated.
November 11th, 2012 at 3:30 pm
We cannot criticise 19 amendment without knowing facts.
Lets FIRST SCRAP 13 amendment.
One task at a time.
November 11th, 2012 at 7:46 pm
Lorenzo,
Yes, we should not PRE-JUDGE the 19th Amendment without knowing its factual content. NEVERTHELESS, we can CLEARLY ARTICULATE what it should not do.
For example, I STRONGLY DISAGREE with the statement that “The draft amendment will be presented to the parliamentary select committee that has been proposed to formulate a solution to the current ethnic issue, government sources revealed.”
The very NOTION that a solution to “the ethnic issue” can be found within a Constitutional Amendment that devolves power, apparently to ethnic minorities, is an ABSOLUTE DEMONSTRABLE FALLACY; it would only EXACERBATE not only ETHNIC but also RELIGIOUS DIVISIONS.
Constitutional Amendments should NEITHER RECOGNIZE, NOR attempt to “SOLVE” real or imagined ETHNO-RELIGIOUS ISSUES by DEVOLVING POWER to Administrative Regions with Large ETHNO-RELIGIOUS Majorities. That is the same objection we had to the 13th Amendment; it divides the people according to community, it undermines the Central Government that is the glue that holds the country together, and Promotes Separatism arising from racism, religious bigotry, foreign influence, and personal ambition of greedy power-hungry individuals.
That is, Government Administration at National and Local levels should be BLIND to COMMUNAL differences. Sri Lankan CITIZENSHIP should be the ONLY BASIS for allocation of the BENEFITS of EQUAL CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS, and the EQUAL RESPONSIBILITY/DUTY due from citizens to the country, and to other citizens.
The statement that “ethnic issues” can be resolved by “devolution of power” to any unit of local government is a DESTRUCTIVE MISCONCEPTION that cannot be corrected through further tuning of the Constitution. That CONCEPTUAL misunderstanding is as the HEART OF OUR OPPOSITION to Constitutional attempts to solve Communal issues. Communal problems WILL DISAPPEAR when the GOSL ceases to accept the FLAWED NOTION that communal problems can be solved by FURTHER EMBEDDING different rights and different responsibilities to different communities living in different regions of thye country through the Constitution. That is EMPOWERMENT and EXACERBATION of the DIFFERENCES, not the BINDING TOGETHER and UNIFYING the People through their shared needs, benefits, rights and responsibilities.
Therefore, the GOSL, and the Constitution, should UNAMBIGUOUSLY DECLARE the following Guiding Principle: “Sri Lanka will not assign different RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITIES of its Citizens on the basis of their different COMMUNAL CHARACTERISTICS.”
Let Communal Diversity, CELEBRATING COMMUNAL differences, reign in the PRIVATE SPHERE in the Private Lives and Homes of Citizens!
Let National Citizenship, CELEBRATING SHARED EQUAL RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES, reign in the PUBLIC SPHERE of Governance!
Therefore, it is IMPORTANT to ARTICULATE what the 19th Amendment should, or should not, attempt to do, before it gets RIGIDLY CAST IN THE IRON OF INFLEXIBLE POLITICAL EGOS.
November 11th, 2012 at 8:08 pm
Ananda,
I fully agree with your logic.
But there is a GAP between SCRAPPING 13 amendment and PASSING 19 amendment.
To calm down TNA losers, we have to tell them there is a 19 amendment coming which will make them kings.
After scrapping 13 amendment, we can tell them to go to hell!!!
November 11th, 2012 at 10:05 pm
What struck me the most about the 2012 US Presidential Elections, was how DOWNRIGHT WRONG the pollsters were.
Republican prognosticators like Carl Rove, George Wills, Newt Gingrich predicted a Romney win by at lest 6 percentage points in popular votes and 300 electoral votes. They fooled themselves with their own bias.
Democratic pollsters predicted a small win, with Obama squeaking through only by few percentage points in popular vote.
Only ONE young man using novel mathematical algorithms to statistically analyze ALL available polls predicted a substantial win for Obama.
As we now know, ONLY his predictions were borne out: Obama won the popular vote by over 6 percentage points, and 332 electoral votes in comparison to Romney’s tally of 206.
The US voters should now ponder how they can hold these blind pontifical prognosticators of election results responsible for their flawed predictions.
It seems to me, as a keen wit once quipped, that “Bookies are Morally Superior to Pundits as Predictors of the Future: Bookies have to pay for their mistakes, while Political Pundits escape scot-free!”
November 12th, 2012 at 1:17 am
The TERRORISTS of the JVP were just as BAD as the TERRORISTS of the LTTE.
Hero Worship of Murderous Terrorist Leaders such as Rohana Wijeweera should be banned just as the Glorification of the Arch Murderer Velupillai Prabhakaran should be BANNED!
……………
Sri Lanka Marxists to hold 23rd November Hero Commemoration
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 11, Colombo: Sri Lanka Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) prepares to hold the 23rd commemoration of its late leader Rohana Wijeweera and others died in the 1987-90 insurrection.
The November Hero remembrance ceremony will be held in the Viharamahadevi Open Air Theatre, in Colombo in in the afternoon on November 13th.
JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe and the General Secretary Tilvin Silva will deliver the keynote addresses at the commemoration ceremony.
A book on JVP history from 1965 to 1994 is also to be launched at this function.
Meanwhile, the breakaway Frontline Socialist Party has also planned to hold a November Hero Commemoration on November 13 at Henry Pedris Ground in Colombo.
JVP founder Rohana Wijeweera was killed by Sri Lankan police on November 13, 1989.
November 12th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Lanka now wants to clip wings of provincial councils
By P K Balachandran
NewIndianExpress.com
November 12, 2012
The Sri Lankan Government would ask the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), which is to be set up to draft a new devolution package, to ‘drastically’ prune the powers of the Provincial Councils (PCs), a source close to the regime told Express here on Sunday.
The government would not go to the extent of abolishing the PCs, which were set up at New Delhi’s instance following the India-Sri Lanka Accord of July 1987, but it was bent on pruning the powers of the PCs drastically to rid them of features which abridged the powers of the national parliament and the directly elected Executive President, the source said.
The 13th Amendment and the Provincial Councils (PC) Act of 1987 had placed several constraints on parliament’s ability to make laws on subjects devolved to the provinces.
They also curbed the powers of the provincial Governor who was supposedly an agent of the Centre. The Sri Lankan Centre was not given the powers that the Indian Centre had vis-a-vis the States to curb separatism and misrule. The Sri Lankan Centre’s hands were tied by prohibitions and the cumbersome procedure of passing laws with a two-thirds majority and, in some cases, through a referendum.
The source said the government was afraid that a Tamil-dominated Northern Province ruled by the “separatist” Tamil National Alliance (TNA) might spin out of control and make unacceptable demands on the Centre. The fear that India and Tamil Nadu might collude with TNA to destabilise Sri Lanka again (as they did in the 1980s) was very much there, he added.
The source said that the Rajapaksa government was keen on having the Provincial Councils Act amended before the Northern Provincial elections scheduled for late 2013. To enable this, the PSC would be constituted soon, whether or not the Tamil National Alliance joined it, the source added.
The Mahinda Rajapaksa government has a two-thirds majority in parliament needed to amend the constitution. And, as Basil Rajapaksa, the powerful Economic Development Minister in Lanka, has said the government is ready for a referendum too.