Dilrook Kannangara

Sri Lanka’s Constitution is far outdated. It still allows tribal personal laws of the 7^th century and 18^th century to discriminate against its citizens. They include Thesawalamei, Sharia, Mukkuwa and Kandyan laws. All these must be removed for the progress of the nation. All individuals must have equal individual rights. There is no legal concept called equal community rights”.

13A also introduces ethnic segregation as the Act to enact the 13A talks of areas of traditional Tamil habitation. These references must be removed.

Constitutional amendments are also required to make hate speech illegal. Certain political parties demonize fellow citizens based on ethnicity and religion. They must be severely punished following a Constitutional ban on hate speech.

These basic constitutional amendments are essential to bring Sri Lanka into the 21^st century and put it on path to achieve great things. Outdated, regressive and tribal matters must be put behind at least now. It will be a boost to Sri Lanka’s civil liberties and personal freedoms and a key component in human development index. As these improve, Sri Lanka will be able to attract more investments for higher value added expert jobs.