Dr. Sudath Gunasekara Mahanuwara.

2020, Year of Great Expectations of a nation after 72 years of pompous celebrations of so-called Independence since 1948. Will they be fulfilled at least now, under the Government of Gothabahaya Rajapaksa?

Introduction

 I start writing this note on the assumption that we have not received any independence, other than the room to elect local representatives to Parliament under a system orchestrated by the British with serious limitations on us as an Independent nation. (This subject has to be treated separately as it is outside the scope of this essay. (Please see Did this country get any Independence in 1948, Lankaweb 31.1. 2019.)

The purpose of this essay is to highlight the long overdue grievances of a nation neglected, not addressed and therefore betrayed by its own elected rulers for the past 72 years after celebrating a fake Independence we are supposed   to         have    got in 1948 and bring them to the immediate attention                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           of the new President and the people’s Government elected by them with unprecedented faith and hopes in one person called Gothabahaya from Magama in Ruhuna, the birth place of legendary King Dutugemunu the Great, to get those historical injustices inflicted upon a nation, both by invaders and by their own leaders rectified at least now.

Looking at the way how President Rajapaksa has spoken and acted since his historic swearing it at the Ruwanweli Mahaseya up to the latest at the inauguration of the 9^th Parliament on the 20^th of August one can have the highest confidence in him as a true patriotic Sinhala Buddhist leader that he will definitely fulfill the burning unfulfilled aspirations of this nation.

As we all know historically Ruhuna had been the cradle of national heroes throughout history and the birth place of the nation’s greatest war hero King Dutugamunu, from where Gotabhaya also hails.  Incidentally among the King Dutugemeun’s Dasamaha yodayas there was also a warrior by the name Gothayimbara, the patriotic people of this country believe is reborn as Gothabhaya, the legendary Diyasena mentioned in Perakumbasirita to save this nation and its motherland.

A Long list

Obviously the list of grievances given here is too long. But readers have to bear with me as this constitutes a dream of an 82 year old patriot of this soil who has been fighting and yearning for this change for the last 50 years and who does not wish to die without getting them fulfilled by someone before the writer closes his eyes in this life.

The writer believes the expectation of the majority people in this country to be the same as those of the writer as he too comes from the same class. The expectations of the people at this election were greater than at any of the previous elections since so-called Independence.

 First and foremost they expect this Government to be the best since the so-called 1948 Independence, that will usher in a period of sanity, peace and prosperity preceded by restoring law and order and full freedom from all internal and external threats like narcotics, underworld, frauds and bribes, corruption and wastage of public funds and abuse of authority on the part of both politicians and public officials and unnecessary interference by foreign countries in the domestic matters of the country. They also expect a patriotic and people friendly government under the present leadership. In short they expect a government by the people, for the people and of the people’ in place of the corrupt and oligarchic ‘government of the politicians, for the politicians and of the politicians’ as we have had up to date in this country from the time we know.

A legacy of deception and betrayals

1 Sri Lanka is a nation that had been deceived and betrayed by their own politicians who were only implementing the British system of government with its political, legal and administrative systems as laid down by the British under the Soulbury Constitution for the past 72 years of so–called self-government that benefitted only the politicians and their kith and kin ever since 1948.

2 As a result the country and once a Great Nation in the world had been dumped in to an Augean mess almost beyond recovery by all successive governments by blindly following the British system of governance completely alien to us, that was designed to divide and destroy the 2500 year old Sinhala Buddhist civilization in this country, without going back to our roots we had inherited for millennia, to make this country a free, independent, vibrant and prosperous country, in spite of its unique location on the globe and enormously rich natural and human resources. The British not only divided and destroyed the Sinhala nation that existed up to 1815 including Tamil and moor elements, on ethnic, linguistic and religious grounds and labeled it as a multi-ethnic, multi religious and multi- racial nation but also they divided the country in to Provinces based on  language, religion and ethnicity on grounds.

 What was worse is they even conferred special privileges on Tamil and Muslim minorities who were outsiders and forming an insignificant fraction of the total population of the country by allowing them to have their own civil courts, marriage and divorce and inheritance laws while depriving the native Sinhalese of their entire legal traditions and forcibly imposing the Roman Dutch and English Laws on them. Unfortunately no politician at that time raised these issues. Even today the same discrimination remains.

 3 We are a nation that claims a long legacy of an Independent and sovereign government of our own with a glorious heritage that flourished on this land for nearly 2600 years or even more, as recent archaeological evidence have found.  It was annexed to the British Empire by convention between two sovereign nations in 1815 (the only country in the world so annexed without defeating by war) , 1815 Convention was completely replaced by Royal proclamation of Nov 21 1818 by Brown Wrigg (the brutal colonial murderer) that made the 1815 Kandyan Convention of March 2nd completely a dead letter But in practice although it still stands valid as a legal document drawn between two sovereign nations under International law.

4 69.5 million people in this country who elected President Gotahabhaya Rajapaksa as their President on 16^th of November 2019 and elected this government in to power on 5th August 2020 with a 2/3 majority winning almost all Districts are aspiring for a complete change in the existing political, legal, administrative systems and socio-cultural outlook under a new Constitution that is based on our own civilization, that is the Sinhala Buddhist culture that has nurtured this nation for more than two and half millennia and taken to great heights, at least now, as Martin Jacques has pronounced in his famous treaty When China Rules the World” 2009.

5 Therefore the  need to replace the Alien British system of governance with the native system of State craft that flourished over time and time tested for 2 ½  millennia on this land as a Sinhala Buddhist model introduced to this Island by Arahat Mahinda Thera in 307 BC.  At least now we have to tell the world that we were not barbarians when British annexed this country by deceit and we  were a nation with a with a great civilization with our own statecraft and legal system long before the British were known as a civilized nation in this world.

Under this backdrop the gap between the achievable and expected goals of the nation is extremely wide. I call this election a historic event and a mass uprising calling for a turning point in the history of the Island Nation. This is why I name the coming years as an age of Great Expectations of the Sinhala nation.

Preliminaries

1 Immediately after completing the Parliamentary formalities like appointing the new Prime Minister, Speaker, the Deputy Chairman, Leader of the Opposition etc,  people of this country want the President to appoint a small Cabinet (say 20 the most) out of the best with clean track records, eminent in different fields and acceptable to the people from among the elected. No National list MP should be appointed as a Cabinet or State Minister as they are not elected by the people and not responsible for the people. (In fact this so-called national list that has already become a big joke, eroded democracy and become  a mere tool of the Party leaders and come to remain as a dead weight around the nation’s neck should be abolished at the first opportunity the government can do it legally. 

2 Then, beside the usual swearing in made under the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution to defend and uphold the Constitution etc get them also to swear that hence forth they will devote their full time for the good of the people and the motherland discarding all personal agendas” as it had been the practice up to date in this country. Also make it mandatory for all MPP to attend all session and remain their the full time until the proceedings of the day are over, violation of which should be made punishable 

 The Prioritized list of people’s expectations

What the people who voted this Government expect from it now

I list below some of the main burning issues and grievances what the patriotic people of this country who have voted  the President in last November and the SLPP in to power on August 5^th 2020 election expect the new Government under Gothabhaya to resolve with the least delay, as they have been already delayed at least by 72 years

A list of High priorities are given below

1 A Cabinet of 20 from among the elected Members of Parliament only

2 Bring down cost of living immediately as it is priority No 1 of the masses and restore the stability of the Rupee

3 Politicians elected by the people should work for the good of the people and the country and not for their own enrichment

4 Remove the 19th Amendment, without restoring the 18^th retaining its good provisions in the 20th A and restoring full Executive powers of the President sans    Presidential immunity

5 Restore law and order and good governance in the country by reorganizing, restructuring, streamlining and pruning the political, legal and administrative institutions as most of them have become big burdens to the economy

6 Formulate a strict code of conduct for all politicians and public servants and set targets for both groups (monthly/six monthly)

7 Scrap the Ministry for Hill country New Villages, Infrastructure and Community Development Ministry created by the previous Govt immediately, that was meant exclusively for Estate Tamils and Indianization of  this country immediately that discriminates against the Bhoomiputras , the Sinhala nation and Instead

8 Set up a separate Ministry immediately for the rehabilitation of native Kandyan peasants under the President as the Head of the State to restore and rehabilitate the Kandyan Peasants as proposed in the KPC Report of 1951. (That would be the greatest tribute the President could pay to the hundreds of thousands of those valiant Sinhala patriots who sacrificed their lives and everything they had, from 1505 to 1848 to protect this country for the Sinhala nation.

9 Close down the Indian Consulate offices in Hambantota, Jaffna and Kandy ASAP as they pose a big threat to our Independence and sovereignty. There is absolutely no need to have four consulate offices in all strategic corners in a small country of 25 000 sq miles when they have a fully equipped A class Embassy in Colombo, unless the India has a secret plan up in its sleeves.

10 Revoke the JR/Rajiv Accord of 1987 and the 13th Amendment, the two Indian made Kautilyan Atomic bombs to bring this country under its full control and finally annex this Island to the Subcontinent and destroy the Sinhala Buddhist civilization on this planet.

11 This should be followed up by abolishing the Provincial Councils (created by India) together with the Provinces created by the British to destroy the Sinhala Buddhist nation

12 Also abolish the Pradesiya Sabha System and go back to the native Village Council that administered this countryside of this nation from 427 BC also save trillions on their future maintenance as it had been done for 35 years since 1987 which has brought absolutely no benefit to the country or the people but had been disastrous only all round (Politically, administratively, economically and socially) while providing a heaven for politicians at lower level and vote netting for Parliamentarians.

13 Declare this country again as ‘The Sinhala Buddhist Kingdom” as it had been before 1815 for 2500 years

14 1nvoke the 6th Amendment of the 1978 Constitution immediately and ban all political parties named after ethnicity, religion or race, leaving only National Parties

15 Restore the historical name of this country SIHALE that was there in 1815 when it was ceded to British by Convention and rename all villages named by Sajit Premadasa as  Gramams (18),  (Indian), and Akbar Nagar (Arabian) etc with tax payers money with the ulterior motive of  collecting Tamil and Muslim votes

16 Grant citizen ship to Indians only under the Nehru/Kotalawala Agreement 1954 and revoke all citizenships given under all other criteria just to collect their votes since 1956

17 Enact a New Constitution ASAP based on our culture limiting Parliament to 160 seats, Scrap the National list and Limit the Cabinet to 15 Cabinet Ministers and deputies to about 20

18 Ban establishment of all mono Tamil or Muslim Settlements in any place in the country as it is done today specially in the Central hill country

19 Remove all special privileges given to MPP like pension after five years (a gross violation of the Pension Act and a criminal discrimination against nearly 600,00 Government pensioners who get a pittance after 35 years of hard labour), duty free vehicle permits every 3 years and many more , too long to be listed here, to discourage selfish people getting in to politics to make money at public expense

20 Save Sri Lanka from the tyranny of minority politics by banning all political parties set up on racial, religious or regional basis Like Tami, Hindu Muslim or even Sinhala.

21 Remove the obnoxious so-called National list of 29 to reduce the burden on the people

22 Stop appointing any Tamil or Muslim as Ministers of Justice, Education., Trade, Land, Cultural Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Ports And Shipping and Plantation, unless and until they accept that this is the Land of the Sinhala Buddhist Nation  and they are only minority communities living in that country and they never claim separate Kingdoms with self-rule” and also unless you find a person of Luxman Kadiragama’s caliber.

 23 No Cabinet Minister should be allowed to take any decision or make any appointment anywhere without being finally approved by the Cabinet presided over by the President

24 Introduce electoral reforms to have one MP for each electorate and do away with the District MPP and proportional representation system and preferential voting

24 Declare one country, one law, one nation, one official language (SINHALA), one National Flag (sans the strips) and one National Anthem like in any other country  in the new Constitution

25 Scrap the British found Provinces and go back to the District system of administration and reduce the number of Districts in present Northern Province to 3 by scraping Mullative and Kilinochchi Districts as only that Province has 5 Districts

26 Allocate public Sector jobs according to the prevailing ethnic ratios to stop discrimination against the Sinhala majority.

27 Stop appointing defeated candidate to any post in government or semi-government jobs including diplomatic posts as it is often done today.

28 Make Buddhism the State religion and bring the Ministry of Buddhism under the President as it had been the tradition throughout history in this country

 29 Appoint a permanent commission to inquire in to malpractices of all politicians and high officials from 1987 including misuse of tax free vehicle permits

30 Eradicate the drug menace corruption and waste in public expenditure

31 Declare all lands >5000 feet MSL as strictly reserved Forest and ban all human settlements above 3500 ft. as it had been declared by royal decree before 1815 and establish mixed settlement for landless Kndyan Peasants and displaced Estate Tamil due to implementation of this settlement rule and  who are qualified as Citizens as under N/K agreement 1954.

32 Re-name all villages and place names given since 1815 including those made by Sajit Premadasa more recently such as Akbar Purams and various Gramams and those given by minority politicians like in Batticalloa and also restore ancient  place names, village names and various others like mountains, rivers and towns.

33 Reduce public national holidays to 12 as that is the number most countries have and limit religious holidays only to those of that particular religion except Vesak and Poson that have been the National Holidays of the Sinhala nation.

34 Stop appointing persons outside the Sri Lsnka Administrative Service to scheduled post of SLAS and persons outside the Overseas Service to diplomatic posts unless some special reasons demand such persons being appointed.

35 Reduce the number of Ministries and government and semi-government institutions by amalgamating or scraping to reduce public expenditure, waste and corruption and also make them efficient and cost effective

36 Allocate all public expenditure through Ministries and Departments and institutions under Votes, Heads, Sub Heads, and Items as we had them before holing official accountable and responsible  for every cent to stop waste and corruption and stop allocating money to MPP, a system that has been disastrous  

37 Ban Buddhist monks contesting election for any political institution starting from Parliament to the Village councils

38 Ban women workers going out as housemaids and instead reorganize the country’s education system to produce technical and professional men and women needed by the world market

39 Completely restructure and reorganize the Gramasevaka system as the Gramaseva Division forms the cornerstone of effective, efficient and good governance in this country. Why not call them again as Gampathi. (Details of this scheme could be made available if someone is interested).

40 An independent efficient, productive and people centric Public service and Judiciary free from Politics and Recruitments to Public Service and Judiciary only on competitive exams and meritocracy to be the only criterion in selection and appointment.   

41 A programme to make Sri Lanka number 1 in the world in Fishing Industry by making use of the Indian Ocean that stretches from Africa in the West to Australia in the East and South Pole in the South and making this country a major naval power in the world by using our strategic location on the globe in relation to the Great East and West trade routes and its enormous economic potentials of fabulous ports around the Island. (The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world’s oceanic divisions, covering 70,560,000 km² or 19.8% of the water on the Earth’s surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west, and Australia to the east)

42.To convert this country to an International hub in Aviation, Shipping, trade, Banking and all kind of Services to make this Island a world Giant making use of its strategic location and god given resources both natural and Human.

43 The need to take immediate action against Hindu and Muslim vandalism against Buddhist religious places in the North and East and to take steps to protect those places and the Monks living there.

44 To reduce excessive public holidays (some years running in to 132) to world average of 12 per year and to limit religious holidays only to those who profess those religions to save hundreds of millions of man days to boost development to catch up with the competitive world

 45 A national Planning Council and a Supreme national Advisory Council consisting of non-political personalities

Realization of these objective entails far and wide structural changes in systems and institutions which call for many a hardship and sacrifices in the short term that brings long term benefits for the country.