7 Reasons why Sri Lankan Citizens should reject the New Constitution
Posted on September 24th, 2017
Shenali D Waduge
- This Government has lost the confidence of the People including those that voted for them
- Every promise made before elections has been broken
- Coming on the ticket of anti-corruption the reality is that the present is more corrupt than those they accused.
- A lot of irregularities and illegalities have taken place since January 2015
- The manner that Bills are being passed and how MPs are being co-opted to vote for these dubious legislations raises further alarm bells.
- Even in the present context when revolutionary parties suddenly take sides with the government and proceedings are stopped until some promised ‘exchanges’ occur – these scenarios should make the People question why this constitution is being hurriedly passed by tapping to MP weaknesses? If rumors prove to be true, this is unethical and immoral and the People must reject this in toto. Bribery democracy is unacceptable.
- The bona fides of those promoting a new constitution is questioned
- TNA is the LTTE political proxy – it is not absolved of links to terrorists. Until and unless that is done TNA or its representatives (MPs, NPC Chief Minister) cannot be making demands which are virtually in line with what LTTE sought through the gun
- Some of the NGO heads have a history of being paid to work against the state. They are earning dollar/sterling pounds to destabilize the country and carry out orders of their NGO masters. Such people cannot determine what goes into or is removed in a constitution.
- When foreign envoys are regularly promoting a new constitution – we all must take a step back and wonder why? Why are they more interested in a new constitution than us?
- We cannot omit that immediately after the yahapalana government came into power the extremist sections of this coalition openly claimed that the government would give in to their demands and these would be incorporated into a new constitution. Statements by the TNA over years, statements by LTTE, statements government heads had assured the LTTE diaspora are all aligned to the provisions inserted into the new constitution. These are serious malpractices by a government to fool the people by honoring commitments to them in exchange for bringing them to power.
- Every individual who has a dubious record cannot be allowed to tweak the constitution to fulfill those who are paying them or their own personal ideologies.
- The PM’s credibility is at serious stake. His appointment of the former Governor who is now using the argument that he is a foreigner and cannot be questioned and the Bond Commission stating that this is the biggest financial scam since 1948 denies the PM to be allowed to make another bigger mistake by tabling a new constitution which is making drastic changes to the country’s periphery.
- TNA is no representative of the Tamil people. As LTTE proxy, TNA shoulder the responsibility for crimes committed by the LTTE in terms of guilt by association. These allegations need to be exonerated only after an independent Commission investigate LTTE-TNA ties. Moreover, with LTTE committing various heinous crimes upon Tamils, the victims are unlikely to be supportive of LTTE. Therefore, TNA cannot claim to be representative of Tamils. Moreover, it has been proved by TNA Chief Ministers own actions that the Province he has been running as Chief Minister has failed to provide for the people of that Province in so far as the budgetary allocation of funds has not been utilized and gets returned to the Treasury. This goes to show that even the fundamental role of the TNA Chief Minister has not been fulfilled. Moreover TNA has lost several cooperative elections clear indication that the Tamil people are not satisfied with the TNA and they are losing whatever support they had. These dynamics have to be taken into consideration given that TNA is promoting wider powers to the Chief Minister which are likely to be detrimental not only to the province but to the people living in the province and to a larger extent the rest of the country.
- Several Tamils have openly come out to say ‘we want homes not merger of north-east or federalism’ and these sentiments cannot be ignored just because some politicians and political parties want bigger control for themselves over the people and territory. Sovereignty is inalienable from the people therefore the People’s will is about the Parliament, above the Ministers, above any Provincial Council, District or Municipality. The Will of the People must be taken to account first.
- We are a small island nation. Do we need to be copying systems in countries 10 times the size of us? Federalism is for those countries. Devolution is for those countries. If the entities already given powers cannot handle the powers they control or serve the people to their satisfaction what good is giving them more powers? The Majority of the People are dissatisfied with performance of the Provincial Councils including the Parliament. All of us are disappointed in the manner the country is run from Prime Minister downwards. In such a scenario what good is going to be done in giving each of the same poor-performers more powers?
- There are some sine quo non areas that no one can touch especially people whose credibility is at stake.
- The foremost place to Buddhism must remain
- Sri Lanks’s Unitary character must remain Unitary in the translations of all 3 languages. We hear that there are attempts to insert ‘United’ into the English translation.
- The country’s history and heritage cannot be siphoned off and diluted. Its place must remain untouched.
- Land, Police, Fiscal/Monetary, formulation of Education Syllabus, International Aid & Foreign Relations, Archaeological sites etc must remain in total control of the Centre
- Governor appointed by the Centre is above the Chief Minister & his powers cannot be diluted and passed on to Chief Minister with increased powers.
- Federal states need devolution. Sri Lanka is a small island we don’t devolution but only administrative changes enabling provinces to better facilitate the People. At all times the golden rule must be changes must benefit the People not career politicians and their stooges. Demands for power devolution is NOT with intent to serve the People but ONLY with intent to wield more power to the politicians and their henchmen. This is not a healthy scenario and is likely to lead to more trouble.
- No Province can be treated inequally and above other provinces. No Chief Minister can be superior to the other Chief Ministers. Presently we see a lot of malpractice taking place. Every envoy that arrives dashes to the North or the East to see the Chief Minister of these two provinces. Every foreign statement is on these 2 provinces ONLY. Every demand being made is ONLY about these two provinces, ONLY about one community forgetting that others were also victims.
Can a constitution illegally and unethically passed be rejected and unaccepted by the People? Can any lawyers take legal action knowing the ground situation?
There is little point appealing to anyone in the international community – not one of them have raised a single voice against all of the corruptions, illegalities and malpractices being committed by Yahapalana Government which is quite shocking given their clarion calls before January 2015 for good governance and anti-corruption. Goes to show the international community are equally corrupt.
Where is the Joint Opposition? Do they seriously think that the people who are disappointed with the present government are waiting to accept them with open arms? People are not fools now. Every voter is now a disgusted voter. Every member of Parliament has disappointed the People irrespective of the party they belong to. We are maintaining a bunch of opportunist, greedy, power hungry and selfish MPs who think only about themselves and not the country. Rhetoric on the country, the Armed Forces and the place of Buddhism and heritage are simply stage performances to woo voters. Where is the leadership by those not party to the yahapalana illegalities? Why are they not rallying people against the proposed new constitution? People are not going to be coming to any future May Day rally or walk if at this crucial juncture action is not taken to stop something as dangerous as a new constitution being passed.
September 24th, 2017 at 6:25 am
All constitutions and amendments since independence after 1956 were influenced by India and Indians in the Country. The best example is the one by JRJ,
All Sinhalese should reject these constitutions and amendments.
September 24th, 2017 at 2:45 pm
Whole of Sinhalese must be pure modayas to accept different spelling to clear word “ඒකීය”. Anyway all these rubbish are an act of running round the bush.
People should vote for the correct principles.
1. Remove 13A. Restore constitution to pre 1972.
2. Punish all PAL Horu, bigger the name of the man/woman greater shall be the punishment, nothing to do with the scale of the Horakama, whether to protect Sri Lanka, protect Buddhism or whether to spread Islaam by allowing destroying of forrest – Horakama shows us the HORA.
3. No prestige to parlimentarians, ministers should not be given special cars but any car from a pool of non-prestige reliable cars. No leather seats. No accompanying vehicle parade to protect parlimetarians.
September 24th, 2017 at 5:14 pm
Thank you Shenali for this important article. This Constitution is being passed to satisfy the Tamil Diaspora, Tamil Nadu separatist people, and some Tamils in Sri Lanka who have been telling the world that they are being discriminated against.
Most of the Tamils were Dalits or Untouchables from South India were brought in by the Portuguese and the British to work for them. In India ‘Untouchability’ is an institutionalized form of slavery. If someone is born to the Untouchable caste (now known as Dalits), they have little hope. Their station in life is fixed. In their birth certificates, they have to state their father’s caste. To escape caste many of them have migrated to other countries – a move which is most likely encouraged by India. They are in Malaysia, Fiji, Mauritius, Madagascar, Australia, Canada, UK, USA, Europe, Sri Lanka, South Africa, etc. Sri Lanka is particularly vulnerable to illegal migration since Tamil Nadu is only 12 miles away across the Palk Straits. So by encouraging the emigration of the Dalits from India, the upper caste people have reduced the Dalits the way U.K. got rid of their convicts by sending them to Australia.
This is the main reason as to why some of the Tamils have created issues in Sri Lanka while in all the other countries they migrated to they have been lying low. They are hoping that by creating an issue where there is none, they can justify the creation of a separate state in Sri Lanka for Tamils, which will empower them to import the millions of Tamil Dalits from India and take over Sri Lanka. This method of exporting their unwanted to other countries is also a way by which India has been slowly invading all the countries mentioned above. In the case of Fiji, which is another small Island, the current percentage of Indians is 51%. They have banned Indians from migrating to the country anymore.
The new Constitution which the Yahapalanaya is trying pass is part of a plan hatched by foreign countries who seek to divide the country so that they can take over important parts such as the Trincomalee harbor, the Nuwara Eliya tea estates, Hambantota harbor etc. The Tamils have been working with the foreign powers to divide the country to get what they could without a war. The foreigners will have their bases and the estates, while the Tamils have their separate state. Ranil the traitor will use tricks to get the new Constitution passed with the blessings of our weak President and the greedy parliamentarians who gladly sell the country for their profit. Once more as it happened in 1815 the country will be betrayed by traitors.
September 24th, 2017 at 9:12 pm
Only a MILITARY-SANGHA takeover can save SL.
NO POLITICIAN has ANY LOVE for SL.
September 25th, 2017 at 1:32 am
DEVOLUTION of National Power to ANY local UNIT, Province or District is DANGEROUS to the territorial integrity and stability of Sri Lanka, and SHOULD BE AVOIDED.
In thee past, I have advocated REPLACING Provinces with Districts for ADMINISTRATIVE purposes under the control of the central National Government, and NOT as an ELECTORAL UNIT exercising DEVOLVED POWER to ELECTED local officials. The latter is fraught with danger given the separatism running rampant in our country as amply demonstrated by the recently concluded 30-year separatist war.
In my view, these Districts would be Administrative Units of the National Government, administered by a District Governor APPOINTED by the National Government and reporting to the EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT of the country, much like the Government Agents of the British Raj. They left no avenues for rebellions, and neither should we.
To enable less populous Districts to have more influence on the National Government than their populations warrant and currently deliver through Parliamentary Electorates, we can CREATE A SENATE as the Second Chamber of the Parliament with ONE Senator ELECTED from each District. The House of Commons would initiate Legislation, but such legislation must be approved by the new Senate as well.
The post of a Vice-President can be created, and he can Preside over the Senate much as the Speaker presides over the House.
In such a scenario, Majority and Minority Leaders of the House and Senate would lead the business of the House and Senate.
The post of Prime Minister would be REDUNDANT in such a system, and SHOULD BE ELIMINATED.
Thus, we should
1. PRESERVE the GREATER STABILITY and capability to PROTECT SOVEREIGN INTERESTS of the Nation offered by an EXECUTIVE PRESIDENCY,
2. ELIMINATE the CENTRIFUGAL TENDENCIES introduced by DEVOLUTION of ELECTORAL power to SEPARATISM PRONE local regions by TOTALLY ELIMINATING sub-national devolution of power. REPEAL 13-A and DISSOLVE the Provincials Councils!
3. ENABLE greater balance between populous and less-populous Districts through the Senate, and
4. ELIMINATE ONCE and FOR ALL the current TUG-OF-WAR between an increasingly powerless figurehead President and an ambitious power-hungry Prime Minister unable to get elected as President, but hell-bent on advancing his own anti-national political agenda that is UNACCEPTABLE to the GREAT MAJORITY of CITIZENS of our country.
September 25th, 2017 at 2:07 am
“Minister of Justice and Foreign Employment, Thalatha Athukorala said that the aim of the government was to send more skilled workers to foreign countries for employment
WHAT BLOODY POPPYCOCK and ARRANT NONSENSE is this!
Our National AIM should be to RETAIN VOLUNTARILY our Skilled WORKERS at HOME to HELP BUILD our own country!
The AIM SHOULD NOT BE TO EXPORT our Skilled Workers ABROAD to earn Foreign Exchange from their inward remittances, to buy MORE Luxury SUV’s for POLITICOS, and then TURN AROUND and PLEAD LACK of Skilled Workers and IMPORT them from other countries (such as Indians under the ETCA)!
Keep our SKILLED WORKERS at HOME, train them more, surround them with PRODUCTIVITY ENHANCING modern tools and equipment, and ENABLE them to LIVE among their people in their OWN MOTHERLAND!
DON’T set up a SCHEME to PERMANENTLY DISPLACE & REPLACE THEM with IMMIGRANT SETTLERS WORKERS from FOREIGN COUNTRIES!
Have we NOT LEARNED ENOUGH from the IMPORTATION of Tamil Estate Laborers from India and the current INFLUX of Chinese Workersfrom China?
We are DESTROYING our own INDIGENNOUS Sri Lankan Communities!
BY GOD, this ASININE WATTI-AMMA “Minister” should be TARRED, FEATHERED and CHASED ALL THE WAY HOME to scrape coconuts in her kitchen!
Am I the ONLY ONE SEEING the FUTURE IMPACT of these SELF-DESTRUCTIVE Government Policies??
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More Sri Lankan skilled workers go abroad for work
Mon, Sep 25, 2017, 01:10 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 25, Colombo: Minister of Justice and Foreign Employment, Thalatha Athukorala said that the aim of the government was to send more skilled workers to foreign countries for employment and it has been successful.
According to the Foreign Employment Bureau statistics, during the past eight months from January to August 2017 the female percentage went abroad was 31.4 percent relative to the male migrant workers.
She also pointed out that the through sending more skilled workers for employment opportunity has risen now to increase the foreign exchange earned.
Accordingly, in the first eight months of this year 141,725 Sri Lankan migrant workers went abroad for work. Out of the total 48,374 were female migrant workers and 93,351 were males.
Most of the migrant workers numbering 42,389 were from the Western Province while the lowest number of migrant workers were from the Uva Province totaling 3,994.
During this period 37,002 housemaids have gone abroad while most of the migrant workers have been employed in Qatar.
In the year 2016, the total number of migrant workers was 242,838, of which 160,320 were males. The number of female workers is 82518. Accordingly, 33.9 percent were female workers in comparison to male workers. Most of the migrant workers numbering 63,307 have been sent to Saudi Arabia.
In 2011, 73,226 housemaids have been employed in foreign countries and 65,023 female migrant workers have gone overseas for work in 2016. The number of unskilled migrant workers has declined gradually during the five year-period.
The number of women traveling for other professional jobs has increased. Accordingly, 17,429 women have gone abroad for professional employment in 2015 and 17,495 are engaged in professional jobs outside the country in 2016.
All migrant workers who register with the Bureau of Foreign Employment prior to their departure will be able to enjoy the benefits provided by the government, the Minister said. The Bureau awards scholarships to the children of the registered migrant workers and the workers will also receive a free life insurance policy, the Ministers said.
September 25th, 2017 at 5:39 am
In this case UNP is better than SLFP?
Q: There are varied opinions on devolution. How do you resolve this?
Jayampathy W: I am very happy about the proposals on devolutions. And I am happy with what the TNA has also said, they have stated that as the SLFP and UNP have agreed on the devolution proposals, contained in the report, they are willing to go along with it. As the report also says the devolution proposals are based on proposals made to the steering committee and the various sub committees, by the chief minister of the Southern Province. The best proposals came from the seven chief ministers of the South who all belonged to the SLFP. Their proposals were based on thirty years of devolution. It is very practical. They looked at devolution as a way of solving the national question, they looked at it also as a tool of development to take the rulers closer to the people. Almost everything in the principles of devolution, that the steering committee agreed with, has come from the chief ministers in the South of the country.
What do they want? They are asking for clear cut division of power when national policy provision has been abused. These chief ministers want to be involved when decisions pertaining to national policies on devolving matters are taking place and not to take those powers in the guise of making national policies.
September 25th, 2017 at 12:04 pm
Our thanks to Shenali for this analysis.
No New Constitution is needed for Sri Lanka.
REMOVE the ILLEGAL 13-A imposed by INDIA in 1987 (Cold War times).
Agree with Ananda that the DISTRICT SHOULD BE AN ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT.
Make each District highly CREATIVE with whatever resources they have, through new legislation.
September 25th, 2017 at 12:50 pm
No New Constitution is needed for Lanka.
Stop the dangerous games with Democratic norms, discent into chaos, and REMOVE THE ILLEGAL 13-A.
Remove the 13-A.
Use the District as the Administrative Unit.
Bring out the Creativity in the people of those Districts with new legislation, using the resources of each District.
Co-operatives are widespread all over the world, especially (surprisingly) in the west.
Use Co-ops to get the maximum benefits and wellbeing for ALL the People of Lanka.
See list of Co-ops all over the world :
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cooperatives
September 25th, 2017 at 6:43 pm
Co-ops & Free Trade Zones ought to work well together to enhance the Sri Lankan Economy.
That was Pres MR’s Plan too, wasn’t it ?
A “Lanka First” Plan, that would have helped all citizens in Lanka.
Far superior to RW’s “Crash & Sell” plan !
September 26th, 2017 at 10:59 pm
Yesterday, the following report on the “rescue” by the SL Navy, and accommodation of a group of Rohingya Muslims in Mount Lavinia was published.
This move was PROTESTED AGAINST by a group of PATRIOTS led by Buddhist Monks, who are quite predictably, being cast as “heartless” and “communal”.
This is a PLANNED OPERATION by LOCAL MUSLIMS hell-bent on transforming Sri Lankan into yet another outpost of the Islamic Caliphate!
About two weeks ago I published at Lankaweb, a comment COOMMENDING our otherwise PARA-GATHI AGA-MATHI Ranil Wikunanasinghe for his stand against accepting and admitting Rohingya Mulsim refugees into Sri Lanka on any PRETEXT!
Like ALL of Wikunanasinghe’s other ACTIONS, EVEN THIS STAND AGAINST admitting tRohingya Muslims into our country has now BEEN PROVED by this event as a COMPLETE FALSEHOOD!
ALL of this is ORCHESTRATED and IMPLEMENTED by UNPATRIOTIC elements while this BLIND, DEAF and DUMB Yamapalanaya LOOKS ON APPROVINGLY!
Sri Lanka CANNOT EVEN PROTECT its own Borders under this DESHADROHI Yamapalanaya!
Sinhalayeni ….. OUST this Yamapalanaya NOW …. they CANNOT BE TRUSTED to PROTECT OUR INTERESTS!
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Buddhist monks led mob attacks Rohingya refugees in Sri Lanka
Tue, Sep 26, 2017, 08:40 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 26, Colombo: A mob led by a group of extremist Buddhist monks today stormed a United Nations safe house for Rohingya refugees in a suburb of Sri Lanka capital on Tuesday (Sept 26) forcing the authorities to take the refugees under police custody.
The police have taken the group of 30 Rohingya refugees, who were staying at a safe house of UNHRC in Mount Lavinia until their resettlement, under their custody.
Police Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara said the group of refugees including 16 children and 7 women arrived from Myanmar were taken into custody for their protection after the group of monks protested against their stay in the country.
The Buddhist monks led mob broke down gates and entered the walled multi-storied compound. The monks claiming the refugees are Muslim terrorists who killed Buddhist monks in Myanmar urged the mob to smash the premises as the women huddled with their children, AFP reported
Sri Lanka Navy rescued the 30 Rohingya refugees on 30 April this year after they were found drifting in a boat in Sri Lankan waters off the coast of Kankasanthurai.
The refugees were initially detained at the Mirihana Detention Centre until a court ordered to hand them over to UNHCR last month. The UNHRC in Sri Lanka had detained them at the safe house in Mount Lavinia.