Dilrook Kannangara

It is obvious the present Constitution is a mess (in local proverbial terms a salad mix of a lunatic – pissige palaa malla”). It contains many contradictory provisions that often require court interpretation. The country cannot move forward without a seamless Constitution that ties back to history, leverages the present and envisions a future. No government has received a mandate bigger than this regime to bring in a new Constitution.

Tweaking parts of the Constitution for personal gain is not going to help the nation. That was the mistake of Mahinda exactly a decade ago. Instead of defanging the most useless and regressive articles, Mahinda opted to extend his power through the 18A and wanted to keep the damned Constitution. However, he was stumped just two years later by 13A opening a can of worms. By then it was too late to change the Constitution again as the regime could not get 50% support at a referendum. His regime didn’t recover from it and was finally put to rest another two years later.

Having learnt from that experience, President Gotabaya must immediately replace the Constitution within this year. It requires a referendum and over 50% of support from voters. It can be obtained within the next couple of months only. Thereafter public support will collapse below 50%.

The new Constitution must be a homegrown Constitution. It must not attempt to appease India, USA, UNHRC, Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam or any other alien body. It must essentially enforce one law for all irrespective of religion, ethnicity, caste, origin, gender or place.

District boundaries (and provincial boundaries if provincial councils are to remain) must be changed to suit historical realities and present day facts on ground. Trincomalee Port area must be part of Anuradhapura or Polonnaruwa Districts as it was throughout history. It was the case not only when Sinhala kings ruled Rajarata but also when Tamil kings ruled it. That should also include Sinhala majority areas like Seruwila.

Local government boundaries also require change. Colombo City must be re-demarcated to reflect national population percentages. Otherwise the most important and wealthiest local government body is decided upon by a minority.

Since 1972 Buddhism was awarded the foremost place in the Constitution. However, it was confined to Article 9. Buddhism has no relevance beyond Article 9!

The present Constitution has no vision whatsoever for the future of the nation. Instead it focuses only on day to day affairs. The next Constitution must be futuristic.

Wish Gotabaya all success in enacting a new Constitution that brings everyone under one law, gives the due place to Buddhism it deserves and connects the glorious past to the present and from there to the future. It must be done soon.