by Daya Madawita

Dear Mr. President, Prime Minister and Members of Parliament,  

Please Amend the Constitution to Safeguard Sri Lanka from External Forces while Ensuring Ethnic and Religious Harmony

Most of the international and internal problems facing Sri Lanka, such as, UNHRC interventions, European GSP+ concessions, the Indian dictates to enact the 13^th amendment in full and ethnic, as well as, religious problems, can be solved if my recommendations are implemented in full.

I am writing this, as a patriotic Sri Lankan, with the hope that the President of Sri Lanka and the Members of Parliament including the PM will get the chance to read this and think seriously about implementing my proposals given below. If the President and the Prime Minister implement my proposals, the ethnic, religious and other problems of discrimination or perceived discrimination in our country can be solved, while ensuring the unitary status of the country and in doing so, become the most respected political leaders of Sri Lanka. It is also a good chance for most of the MPs to do something worthwhile for the country by helping to pass new legislation incorporating my proposals.

My proposals, along with the reasons why they are necessary, are given below:

• All ethnic and religious problems, such as, Tamil, Muslim or any other problems can be solved by enshrining a Bill of Rights in the constitution, which guarantees equal rights to every citizen of Sri Lanka irrespective of race, religion, caste, gender or sexual orientation. Although the present constitution mentions about equal rights, it does not guarantee its implementation.

• It is also important to ensure in the constitution that all laws are applicable equally to every citizen, such as, land ownership, marriage and divorce laws etc. irrespective of race or religion. There should not be different laws or different court systems for different ethnic or religious groups or for different parts of the country.

• Bring in anti-discrimination legislation preventing discrimination based on religion, race, caste or gender etc. Then the Tamil politicians will have no legs to stand on, but ordinary Tamils, especially the low caste Tamils, will welcome it.

 • Appoint an independent and powerful commission to oversee this legislation with sub-offices in provinces with Assistant Commissioners with judicial powers to solve any problems of discrimination or else let the present court system to adjudicate on such cases.

     • Get rid of the 13th amendment and abolish the Provincial Council system, which then becomes superfluous. The demands of Tamils for devolution of power to the provinces and the colossal waste of money and corruption due to provincial councils can be eliminated. Instead, have District Development Councils and Village Councils as in the old days.

• Amend the constitution to change the present parliamentary election system of preferential voting in districts and bring in an election system as in the 1972 constitution where electorates are demarcated for each seat so that the highest vote getter in each electorate is elected. This will eliminate corruption and fighting between members of the same party. Otherwise, copy the Australian election system for the parliament, if no one gets 50% of the votes, which is very good. This is the most important way to eliminate corruption. If a Member of Parliament is corrupt or does not do a proper job, he or she can be defeated at the next election.

If the Government implement my proposals, there is no need for a new constitution, which would need a referendum. You will only need a 2/3rd majority in the parliament to amend the existing constitution. I am sure that the President and the PM will be able to convince most MPs, except some Muslim and Tamil Vellala MPs, to vote for these proposals and at the same time take the wind out of the sails of the Tamil separatists. Without waiting for a new constitution, adopt these proposals immediately as a stopgap measure.

The Muslims have been living in harmony with other ethnic groups for a long time, until about the 1990s, after which some Muslims became radicalised, which led to recent riots, as well as, Easter Sunday bombings. I hope that the proposed amendments will prevent such happenings.

Conclusion

I have no doubt that our President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would love to be remembered as the Statesman who saved the country from foreign influences and unified the country without dividing it on ethnic lines. People, especially the Sinhalese, will hail him as the saviour of our country if he repeals the 13th amendment. As we all know, this is the only country the Sinhalese have and we all want the President, as the Head of the State, to save the unitary status of the country and preserve it for future generations. If he allows a new constitution to devolve power to the provinces or let things go on as it is now, the people who voted for him will be disappointed. I hope and pray that our President has the wisdom and the ability to implement my proposals without listening to his advisors who misled him about banning chemical fertilisers and essential agrochemicals, which caused immense hardships to farming communities and the plantation sector. It is not too late to reverse this decision, which alienated more than 60% of his vote base and will ruin the economy. If he does not reverse his decision, the agricultural and plantation sectors will collapse and will cause immense hardships to poor people who may have to starve in the future. The President, PM and the Minister of Agriculture should read the two articles in the Island newspaper written by Dr. Parakrama Waidyanatha about a month or so back on kidney disease and agrochemicals and the other in reply to Dr. Padeniya, proving that the kidney disease is not caused by chemical fertilisers or agrochemicals with verifiable data and plausible arguments.

May the Gods that protect our country bless our President, the PM and the MPs and guide them to do the right thing by implementing my proposals and not give more powers to the Provinces or bring in a new constitution which may cause ethnic and religious problems, as well as, problems for the country internationally.

Yours sincerely,

Daya Madawita