The 13th Amendment, Sri Lanka And Lessons From The Maldives
Posted on February 7th, 2012

Janaka Yagirala

Just hours ago President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives resigned after widespread protests. Until 2008, Maldivians lived under the iron fist of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and back then Nasheed was one of the main campaigners for democracy. Things went full circle after Nasheed had a critic of his government arrested which set forth a domino effect of protests, aggravated by the economic woes of the country, culminating with the resignation of President Nasheed himself. Ironically one of the main figures behind the protest was none other than Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Both the people and politicians of Sri Lanka have valuable lessons to learn from our island neighbor. In 2008 we also saw the end of the LTTE terrorist plague. The people are indeed in debt to all those brave men and women who sacrificed life and limb to defeat terrorism as well as the firm political leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaskshe who stood brave against all evil foreign forces that tried every vile trick to prevent this victory.

After the defeat of terrorism, our enemies abandoned many of their tactics. No longer do we see dollar funded pundits and bogus reports calling Sri Lanka a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-failed stateƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. Today they focus on two things, war crimes and the political solution.

A number of countries loath our war heroes. Our war heroes have made any country think twice before trying to intimidate our nation. Therefore if the colonials or their lackeys are to try anything in the future, they must neutralize our war heroes first. Bogus war crimes are just for that at a time when the most inhuman war crimes are committed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The political solution is aimed to rekindle Tamil racism in the north and strengthen Islamic fundamentalism in the east with the ultimate goal of creating de facto vassal states so that the colonials can go ahead with their agenda. The 13th Amendment is the first step.

The leopard and the forest lead a symbiotic existence where the forest cover guards the leopard and the leopard’s reputation guards the forest. It is the same with the people and the President.

Gen. Sarath Fonseka was the first colonial salvo to clear the forest. The ploy failed miserably. To the people of Sri Lanka, joining hands with the TNA was a graver sin than all of Gen. Fonseka’s military victories. Talks with the TNA and forcing the 13th Amendment are the second salvo. The colonials are indeed wise enough not to believe in miracles such as our permanent fixture, comedy staple opposition leader winning an election. Instead they are betting on the 13th Amendment which will kill two birds with one stone.

Besides empowering Tamil racism, it will erode patriotic support to the current regime. Combine this with the current economic woes, nepotism, rampant corruption and rising lawlessness, it will undoubtedly achieve what our opposition leader cannot in a century. Once that happens, it will be full circle just like in the Maldives. We will then see a thousand Millennium City type betrayals with our war heroes ending up behind bars for bogus war crimes under a servile anti-national “government”. In short, everything our soldiers died for will evaporate before our very eyes.

In order to avert this disaster, the right course of action must be taken. Most of these have been echoed by the patriotic community for quite some time.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 1)Use the 2/3 majority in parliament to abolish the 13th Amendment once and for all.

2)Take a tough stance against Tamil racism similar to the action German governments have taken against Nazism after WW2. It is still not too late. Ban all racist political parties starting from the TNA.

3)Absorb the Eastern Province to the Southern, Uva and Central Provinces and merge the Northern and North-Central Provinces. This will deal a significant blow to the demographic war waged by Tamil racism and Islamic fundamentalism.

4)Settle landless Sinhalese people in the NE. It makes economic sense by increasing our food security and reducing unemployment.

5)Take every step to eliminate corruption, favoritism and nepotism

6)Ensure privileges are granted on the basis of need and merit not minority bargaining

7)Reform our law to ensure equality. There should be no place for lawlessness as well as racist Thesawalamai and extremist Sharia law on our soil.

8)Implement a proper economic policy so that the common man will have an improved standard of living.

9)Promote integration. Take an example of the Malay people of Sri Lanka who speak their own language and preserved their cultural identity but consider themselves to be Sri Lankans first. If the Tamil diaspora has no problem learning English, French, German or Norwegian why not have the Tamils learn Sinhalese in Sri Lanka?

10)Simply ignore India and strengthen ties with our true allies Russia and China

In antiquity our heroes stood up and fought against countless enemies from the Cholas to the British. The freedom we experience today is all because of brave young men and women who risked both life and limb to defeat a ruthless band of terrorists. It is now our solemn duty to ensure that their sacrifice will never ever be in vain by ensuring that the right course of action is taken.

Long live our Motherland!

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

22 Responses to “The 13th Amendment, Sri Lanka And Lessons From The Maldives”

  1. Lorenzo Says:

    11) Send ALL illegal immigrants back to where they came from.

    12) All public servants, university and school students should take an oath of alligiance to SL. Anyone failing to do so should be punished by evicting from benefitting from public service.

  2. Leela Says:

    Together with other Dravidians, Tamils had been demanding separation from India since 1928. Even after Madras Presidency being made a separate state after independence with police powers, land powers and more Tamil demand for separation had not cease. Indeed separation demand of Tamils reached the peak in 1963 when DMK won a landslide at the state assembly elections on a separatist ticket. Separatists like Annadorai, Karunanidhi and et al marched over two hundred thousand people to a rally in Chennai that demanded separation. But Nehru put a stop to all that in one stroke with the 16th amendment to their constitution. That 16A simply forbids anyone contesting any election if he/she speaks even remotely in support of separation. To say the least, we too should discard our white elephant, 13A with the exact wordings of Indians’ 16A. Leela

  3. nandimitra Says:

    Sri Lanka cannot afford so many politicians both from a financial perspective and a political perspective. 13th amendment must be either withdrawn especially as it has been forced on the country by India and or put forward as referendum so that the people can decide.

  4. dhane Says:

    Leela you are very correct. Its not too late to follow Nehru. With 2/3 majority in Parliament abolish 13 amendment
    and put a big full stop simply forbids anyone contesting any election or speaks even remotely in support of separation. Then we can see the true faces of UNP, JVP, TNA & other Muslim Parties in support of this. If MR is not going to do this there will be nobody in future who could do it.

  5. gamunu6 Says:

    Dear Janaka Yagirala,

    ABOUT TIME someone speaks my language. I waited & waited that ONE residing individual from Sri lanka,to bring this question of 13th Amendment. Finally some one has done that. Now we the expats can CONFIRM our displeasure of accepting the 13th ammendment( which was FORCED on US by USA & INDIA) in the first place.

    YES IT SHOUL BE abolished, let India cry, threaten, bully BUT Sri Lanka & lankans should stand FIRM against INDIA. Its is time to EXPOSE the FAKE democratic country, where according latest reports, 68% of Indian popilation live BELOW poverty line. Human rights, corruption all we had to adapt to do business with India. NO wonder they come across the SEA to our PARADISE. Some say INDIA is a TOILET.

    SEND BACK ALL illegals, arrest anyone WHO bring disrespect & dishonour to our Motherland. WORDS such as Separatism, Self Rule, MORE powers, ALL SHOULD be banned from Vocabuary. Make it a CRIME to talk about separation as it is in CANADA.

    Send back all 10 or more Indian Drug & pharmaceutical companes with shady past, unhealthy & inferior products marketed in SRI LANKA.
    Their train engines, do not start, their people come streaming as business people, BUT fail to report to authorities & hide among their own population. SEND them all back to India or any other country they came from.

    The list goes on. Readers should listen to Charles Perera, Shenali Waduge, & many other REGULAR contributors & protest to President to DO AWAY with 13th ammendment & look after the MAJORITY first. With 4.2% Tamil population, NO EQUAL status, BUT ask them to assimilate, LEARN Sinhalese & be a contributing person to Sri lanka, NOT a DISRUPTIVE person.

    As Buddhist Clergy warned very soon Sinhalese, the najority race will be a MINORITY. So WAKE UP SRI LANKANS in the country, also all Sri lankans abroad & demand more conducive action identifying our similarities, NOT our differences.

    Thank you very much for your contrbution & opportinity to express my views as a Sri lankan living in Canada. ~ Gamunu Alahakkone. Retd Engineer

  6. Christie Says:

    There was no India before the mid eighteent century.

    India was made by the British.

    Tamils, Sikhs, Kerlayans and all memmers of the British Made India have a right for separation and it will happen.

    Stop sucking to Indiam colonialism and imperialism.

    Sri lanka is too small a country to have 9 separte units.

    What Indian Imperialists and Indian colonial parasites want is almost half the country. Look at the demographics. Look at the distribution of Indian colonial parasites in the island nation.

    Sinhala leaders have to stand up for the Sinhalese. Unfortunately the countries economy is in the hand of Indian colonial parasites and most of our Sinhala leaders depend on them for funds and some of them depend on their votes.

  7. Sri Rohana Says:

    Janaka!
    This is a great article to read. You have identified the real problems that present Sri Lanka facing and given the very realistic solutions. This is the solution 99% true Sri Lankans want.
    But dollar gulping N.G.O’s, CIA, MI6 and RAW agents will never agree with this type of Sri Lankan solutions.
    My humble opinion is this article must sent to “Divaina” and ”The Island” newspapers so majority can read it.

  8. lingamAndy Says:

    13A with the exact wordings of Indians’ 16A. Leela
    Leela , Well done !
    Best road map to united our country One Nation( with Three Religion) ,one flag ( Lion with Green & Orange stip) , one Anthem ( sing in three language )-
    I Tamil fully support your idea ….. at the end We both community have United Province of Srilanka for ever ! … 13A PLUS -Simply forbids anyone contesting any election if he/she speaks even remotely in support of separation.

  9. Leela Says:

    Mr. Lingam, I am glad that you agree with my view that talking separation should be banned in Sri Lanka just like in India. Even if you disagree, I may argue with you but I will have no ill feeling against you.

    For one thing though, I seriously believe what I mentioned is the first step towards a genuine reconciliation. But I have learned from my own experience that that is not the reconciliation so called moderate Diaspora Tamils want.

    For instant, when I continued to comment on related subjects in detail to many a ace separatist blogger in dbsjayaraj.com Mr Jayaraj deleted my comments at one point saying it is gibberish and further warned not to waste time writing to it. And transcurrent.com followed suit for Jeyaraj is the moderator there as well.

    It is amazing how journalists like Jayaraj who says they stand for press freedom and democracy and moreover condemn Sri Lanka government as undemocratic and totalitarian ban my comments simply because it doesn’t agree with his separatist point of view.

    India’s 16A does not ban public at large like you and me talking separation from India; it only forbids those that talk separation do so at government expense. So they stop them getting elected in the first place. What a clever man Nehru was. I wish President Rajapakse has a similar vision.
    Leela

  10. lingamAndy Says:

    Leela
    I also ban from DBS webs.

    separation – not benefit for both community .
    What We need unity with diversity ! no point on arguring We are one nation, one country , one anthem ,one etc etc….

    We are not , eg: I won’t propose to my daughter to Sinhala Family (love marrige is different mater) visa versa !

    As Sinhala language speacker (80%) We (like hindi in india) should promote to N&EP ( like now, We have extra army We should give a Sinhala army teachers to all school in N&EP to teach sinhala (for free of charge).
    I am sure Tamil can speck sinhala with in three month !

    long run this separation etc etc all this worthlese rubish will disepire itself . We will be united as one nation !
    We Tamil may start to sing National Anthen in Sinhala from heard !

  11. Fran Diaz Says:

    Our thanks to Mr Janaka Yagirala for his clear and concise article.

    We have said it before, and shall say it again, and again :
    The 13-A is Null & Void in any Court of Law anywhere in the world as it was signed in under Duress. Why was India so keen on the 13-A at that time ?
    What ordinary citizens can do to help/persuade/push GoSL to arrive at doing an island wide Referendum on the 13-A, send in Millions of Petitions to GoSL via the Speaker of the Parliament. The unit of governance must be the District, and with limited powers, to ensure no more future breakaway ideas. This would be the only way to stabilise Lanka to a pattern of natural unity and growth for future generations to enjoy.
    As things are with PCs as the unit of devolution and the rest of the 13-A paving way for separatism, we are caught up in negative pattern of mistrust, disunity, poverty, corruption and all the other attendant miseries.

  12. Lorenzo Says:

    Leela,

    Our 6th amendment is similar to that.

    The problem is it is NOT implemented.

    If we implement the 6th amendment, ALL TNA, TULF clowns will be behind bars and their properties will be confiscated.

    And send all ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS to Tamil Nadu where they came from.

  13. Marco Says:

    Herold
    With all due respect, I was party to that discussion on transcurrent.com and if I recall you went off in a tangent. “gibberish” was possibly harsh.
    The 16A refers to “true faith and allegiance to the
    Constitution of India as by law established and that I will uphold the
    Sovereignty and integrity of India.”
    The 6th Amendment of SL refers to “violation of Sri Lankan territorial integrity”

    I’m not sure where the above refers to “separatist platforms”. There is a subtle difference
    If indeed TNA propagates separatism and violates the 6th they should be banned.

    As I have said all along, MR enjoys a 2/3 majority and has used the power to pass the 18th Amendment without the “Commitology” or a consultation with his parliamentarians.
    Why is he dithering?
    Why not use his 2/3rd to repeal the 13th and then move on..

    Think we all know we can be arguing/discussing this till the cows come home.
    Is MRGOSL going to take the plunge or another dose of “Commitology” to delay the inevitable.

  14. mjaya Says:

    Great article! If only Hon. President would read it.

    Pres. Nasheed was a good person who stood behind Sri Lanka against the fake HR allegations. As highlighted in this article we have a lot to learn from the situation in the Maldives.

  15. Lorenzo Says:

    “The 16A refers to “true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and that I will uphold the
    Sovereignty and integrity of India.”

    The 6th Amendment of SL refers to “violation of Sri Lankan territorial integrity

    Same thing as far as the threat SL is facing!

    TNA HAS violated this. TULF was expelled from parliament over the same thing. TNA is MUCH worse.

    The very name Tamil National allaince is a violation of territorial integrity. There is NO and there can be NO Tamil Nation whatsoever. They cannot have a nation, EVER!

  16. Leela Says:

    Marco: While thanking you for reflecting your opinion on my extended reply to Mr Lingam just tell me how would you get to know that I had flew off the topic when Jayaraj never published my comment for you to read.

    You see Marco, Theme of Mr.Jayaraj has been; devolution would make separatists numbers less. Whereas I and many bloggers here say; such a cause would increase those numbers and reach Eelam in the end. It is in that light I made some reference to some of Jayaraj’s earlier writing and proved it wrong in a comment at his blog.

    In one of his articles, he had asserted that devolution had made Indian Tamils drop not just separatism but prompted them to send fewer separatists to Madras state assembly. It is my showing that his writing is erroneous is what prompted him to mark my comment as ‘gibberish’ and delete it. That I suppose is his prerogative. And for my part, I let others know about his mask.

    Anyway, in essence what I wrote was; In spite of Madras Presidency being vested with police powers, land powers and more after Indian independence, Tamil demand for separation had not cease. In fact, fifteen years on, DMK continued to demand separation and contested the state assembly elections in 1962 on a separatist ticket and won a landslide victory. Needless to say, that fact is contrary to what Jayaraj promotes.

    Besides it is one sided justification for devolution and unreasonable criticism by ace separatists like ISS and anti Rajpakses like aratai and et al prompted I to highlight what had actually taken place viz devolution.

  17. Fran Diaz Says:

    Re what Marco has written above :
    the words in the Indian Constitution says : “The 16A refers to “true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and that I will uphold the Sovereignty and integrity of India,” sounds to us like an Oath of Allegiance inbuilt into the Constitution of India. The word “I” is featured therein, which makes the amendment a virtual Oath of Allegiance to India, and therefore very powerful.

    In the Sri Lankan version, it says in the 6th Amendment : “violation of Sri Lankan territorial integrity”, which words sound rather ambiguous to me. It is left to anyone or the judges to interpret just what the constitutes ‘violation of territorial integrity’ means. Does what the TNA is doing by demanding police, land and lately fiscal rights, constitute to ‘violation of territorial integrity’ ? It seems to us that we are being made to believe that it may/does not constitute to such an interpretation, and it may be safe to give them such rights with the 13-A safely in place too.

    It all depends on who interprets these words and for what purpose. We, the ordinary people of Lanka, think and feel that giving all these rights to the N&E per the 13-A (with added fiscal rights) will eventually lead to the separate state of Eelam.

    We should copy the Indian words, and write it into our Constitution, substituting the word ‘Sri Lanka’ for ‘India’. Then there is no ambiguity. Also, introduce an Oath of Allegiance to be taken by all MPs, armed forces, all students, voters at voting time, taxpayers, in fact everyone old enough speak the words should take the Oath.

    Let’s bear in mind that the ‘law can be ass’. Also, in the case of a Democracy, a Supreme Court can interpret various words in different ways, not necessarily for the best for the country or its people. It all depends who is dictating terms to Lanka.

    What most Lankans feel now is a sense of frustration and insecurity. Why did we go to war to remove the ltte ? the TNA et al seems to form Eelam over again with less effort this time round. Something like ‘just hold still while we cut your
    jugular’ seems to be happening !

    Time for ‘We the People’ to act in democratic ways to save the country.

  18. Fran Diaz Says:

    correction : please read “It is left to anyone or the judges to interpret just what the constitutes ‘violation of territorial integrity’ means” as “It is left to anyone or the judges to interpret just what the words ‘violation of territorial integrity’ means”.

  19. Christie Says:

    Is the Indian intelligence service “Third Eye” involved in the Maldives change of leadership?

  20. Fran Diaz Says:

    P.S.: Since we are on the subject of ‘territorial integrity’, Tamil Nadu fishermen have violated the ‘territorial integrity’ of Sri Lankan sea waters with impunity. What action has been taken by Tamil Nadu state govt. to correct this ? Has the Tamil Nadu state govt. paid Lanka any compensation for the vast amount of fish taken off our sea waters ? None, as far we know.

  21. Christie Says:

    The government of the island nation has no International protocols with Tamil Nadu or any other States of the Indian Union.

    We should demand action from India (Bharata) as well as compensation.

  22. Fran Diaz Says:

    Christie,

    Judging by some of the voting patterns etc. in these columns, there are folk who owe more allegiance to the Tamil Nadu coffers than helping Sri Lanka recover post-war with ltte !
    All this indicates that we have to have Laws in place to ensure integrity of our homeland, plus an Oath of Allegiance to Lanka, preferably such Allegiance also built into the Constitution, as is in India. Also, deport all illegal migrants. Sooner all this is done, the better.

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