Dr Sudath Gunasekara
30.7.2018
The Tun Rata: Ruhunu, Pihiti and Maya (Tun Sinhale)
Best model of devolution and decentralization, both political and executive power to the periphery and the people.
The whole Island and its territorial waters will be divided in to three Regions (Prantha) to be named ‘Ratasabha’; viz Ruhunu, Pihiti and Maya keeping with the age old tradition that had been there in this country from 427 BC to 1815 AD. (no other country in the world has had an uninterrupted geopolitical system for such a long time like this)
This is how Mahavamsa narrates the demarcation of village boundaries by Pandukabhaya in 427 BC.
Dasavassabhisitto so – gamasiima nivesayi
Lakadeepamhi sakale – Lankindo Pandukabhayo’ (MV.X.103).
(King Pandukabhaya attained the throne in 437 BC).
(This demarcation of village boundaries were later incorporated in to the Tun-Sinhale map which continued until 1815 with minor boundary changes, the last being the Udarata Rajadhaniya (Kandyan Kingdom) with its capital in Senkadagala Pura (Mahanuwara-Kandy) extending up to the sea right round the Island with access to the sea excepting a narrow coastal belts occupied by the Portuguese, Dutch and British successively, more particularly in the South Western littorals.
It must be noted with precision that the Sinhale or Ceylon as the British called it, when it was handed over to us to be governed as a dominion under the Ceylon Independence Act 1947 within the British Commonwealth of Nations (10th Dec 1947) included the whole Island. However the Maldives Islands that was a part of the ancient Sinhale Kingdom was not handed back to us in 1948. Deceitfully the British kept it with them as one of their protectorates under clause 2 Part 1 of the said order until 26th July 1965, when it was declared as a separate country. Besides failing to claim for Maldives our politicians could not get restored even the very name of this country- Sinhale” ceded to British in 1815. They also failed to send out nearly 1 million South Indian coolies like what Burma did in 1947. Today they occupy nearly 13 lahks of acres of our Motherland on the hills right at the centre of the country where the present government has now taken steps to establish a Malayanadu for these Indian Tamils, thereby betraying the sons of the soil who owned it from the dawn of history. Whose lands are given to whom by this Government is the question all patriotic Sinhalese must ask this Government
It is in this backdrop the following proposal is made with the best of intentions with a view to rescuing the country from the present tragic situation by bringing all communities together as one nation. In order to achieve this noble goal, it is suggested that we go back to the re-establishment of the ancient Thri-Sinhale with boundaries as shown in this map. This division will ensure equitable distribution of resources, both physical and human, among the three units (land, water, coast line and even people), restore ethnic reconciliation and firmly establish a permanent geopolitical framework that will, once and for all, put an end to the present political and ethnic crisis and lay the foundation for re-building a strong and vibrant nation state.
Above all it will enable us to get rid of the curse of the British Provincial System imposed on us in 1833 along with the Huniyama that is Palalth Sabha thrust on us by force by India in 1987.
This I am confident will provide the golden key to National, Regional, Divisional and Village level god governance and all round development in this country.
The following map shows the proposed Tun Rata Divisions, 27 Districts and the Capital District.
Map Sudath Gunasekara 2004
The 3 Rata Sabhas shall be re-established accordingly. I have used Mahaweli, Walawe and Deduru Oya as their boundaries. But boundary changes could be altered after factors like population; area and ethnicity are carefully studied in detail before we finally decide on the boundaries to avoid future ethnic segregation. The need to not to disturb the overall historic ethnic composition, needed to avoid communal segregation, as a safeguard to territorial integrity etc to be born in mind, when demarcating these boundaries has to be stressed. The boundaries of the proposed geopolitical division will extend from top to the sea coast. These three Rata Sabhas, the Disa Sbbhas and the Pradesiya Sabhas will be the main arms of the government in the Regions in implementing Government policies and Programmes in the periphery.
Each Rata Sabha will be divided in to nine Districts totaling to twenty seven (27) for the whole country. The 28th District where the Capital will be located shall be named as a special District (Capital District- This could be either Mahanuwara or Anuradhapura) with special arrangements to represent it in the Jatika Rajya Sabha and the Uttara Mantrana Sabha. Within this geopolitical demarcation one has to give up all divisive dreams like Tamil or Muslim autonomy. Everybody has to think in terms of one nation and one country.
Each District will be demarcated in to five electorates using population and area as the criteria
Each Rata Sabha area will also send 28 elected Members to the Senate, at one for each Disava?
Members to Jatika Rajaya Sabha and Rata Sabha
Each District Council will nominate fifteen 15 names at 3 per electorate names of outstanding persons from among whom the voters will elect five to represent them in the Rajaya Sabha and five to the Rata Sabbha. The five members who come first will go to the Rajya Sabha and those who come second will go to the Rata Sabha. All these Members should he permanent residents at least for 5 years within that electorate for which his/her name is proposed and their term of office is 5 years.
The members of the Rata Sabha at their first meeting will elect the Chairmen and Deputy of the Rata Sabha and also the Chairmen and Deputies of the 15 Committees. The Chairmen and Deputies of Committees in turn elect the Chief Minister and the Chairman of each Committee will be designated as a Minister of the Rata Sabha. The Chief Minister will be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Governor in consultation with the religious dignitaries of the Rata area. The other Ministers will be appointed by the Governor in consultation with the Chief Minister and religious dignitaries of the Rata.
A Governor appointed by the President in consultation with the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister and the Religious Dignitaries of the Rata will function as the chief executive of the Rata Sabha. The present practice of appointing defeated politicians and political catchers as Governors should be done away with and only persons of outstanding merit and proven abilities in Administration and management who could command the respect of Council Members and the people of the area should be appointed as Governors of these Rata Sabhas. In order to make it easy for the President the Rata Sabha will nominate three names to the President from among persons who have rendered a distinguished service to the country or the Rata Sabha area who have permanent residence within that Rata Sabha area to be appointed as Governors
There will be a Council of Ministers consisting 15 members presided over by a Chief Minister who will again be appointed by the President in consultation with the Prime Minister who will make his recommendations after consulting the MPP of Jatika Rajya Sabha representing the particular Rata Sabha area and Rata Sabha Members of the relevant Rata Sabha and the Religious Dignitaries of the area.
The Chief Minister will be in charge of the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration and Lands in addition to any other subject as decided by the central government
The term of office of all members other than the Governor who will remain in office until the new Sabha takes office after swearing in will be 5 years
Other than the President of the Republic all other elected Members (electorate) and Governors (Rata) should be permanent residents of the electorate or the Rata Sabha for which he/she seeks election or appointment to qualify to be elected or appointed to such posts. No person from an outside area shall be appointed or nomination given.
Any Citizen resident in any part of the country could be nominated for the post of President provided he/she has the necessary qualifications stipulated in the Constitution.
The Governor should be eligible for reappointment on the recommendation of the new Council of Ministers of the Rata Sabha in consultation with the Members of the Rata Sabha and religious dignitaries of the area.
Constitutional provisions shall be made to provide for the recall of any elected member in case of his or her failure to fulfill the task assigned to him/her as a representative of the Public.
Present Proposed
President 1 1
Prime Minister 1 1
Governors 9 3
Total 11 5
Present Proposed
MPP Parliament 225 Parliament 152
Provincial CS 638 (3 Ratasabhas) 151
Ministers Parliament 112* Parliament 18*
Ministers PCC 45* (3 Ratasabhas) 18*
Senators nill 35
Total No Politicians 10+225+638=873 374
The 3 Rata Sabhas (Ruhunu, Pihiti and Maya) under this system will have 3 Governors and 3 Chief Ministers and 151 Ratasabha Members (including the CM), instead of 9 Governors, 9 Chief Ministers, and 638 odd parasitic and rogue Provincial Councilors?
This will save more than Rs 600 Billion annually wasted now just to upkeep Provincial Councilors, their kith and kin and this monstrous and wasteful system for no benefit absolutely to the country and that takes the country and the nation down the Gadarene slope for total disaster and bankruptcy.
All development work at each level will be done jointly by the respective Councils and Government Departments. But intra-Divisional and Intra District and Intra-Rata Sabha project will be handled by the central Government. But no local work should be done by outsiders without the concurrence of the respective Councils. The central Government in this case will only facilitate the work with funds, technical knowhow etc. This will ensure much desired self- rule for the local people. All regional development within the villages, Upa Disa. Disa and Rata, other than major intra rata or intra Disa and Intra Upa Disa should be given to the people of those respective areas.
All elected people other than the President of the Janarajaya should have permanent residence within the electorate which they represent. However, the nominees for the post of President could be from anywhere in the Island.
Planning for the grass root level under this system will start at the Grama Sabha (Village Council) and Gam Sabha level
No politician or public servant, either directly or indirectly shall be allowed to engage in contracts with the Government at any level.
The Provinces, Provincial Councils, and the existing Pradesiya Sabha will be abolished under this system immediately.
I also suggest that we implement the recommendations given in my Siya Panatha (100) to make the new system more effective and meaningful
The proposed Tun Rata Model will benefit the country in the following manner.
It will,
1 Remove the Provinces introduced by the British in 1833 to divide and rule this Island and also the Indian imposed Provincial Council System and the 13th Amendment embraced by JR firstly to the North and East for his survival and rest of the country for dirty political maneuvering when no one asked for it in these regions.
2 Firmly establish a sound, strong and sustainable geopolitical framework that will consolidate the political map of the Island that conforms to geographical, regional, and cultural differences and lays the foundation for re-building a strong and vibrant nation state.
3 Provide a framework for maximum decentralization to ensure balanced and contented development in the regions.
4 Stop ethnic segregation and polarization and promote ethnic and regional harmony and reconciliation that leads to national integration. It will also put an end to all agitations for separate and independent Tamil and Muslim political entities and induce them to think and behave as full citizens of this country without having allegiance to India, Arab world or in the alternative leave for any Land of Promise.
5 It will also result in drastic reduction in expenditure on Provincial Council Councils and Pradesiya Sabhas white elephants and reduce the number of politicians and superficial politico-administrative institutions and the so-called public servants to a workable and economic minimum that suits the country, thereby saving billions annually wasted at present to maintain a ceremonial, corrupt and wasteful system
6 Drastically cut down the Government expenditure and make available more funds for national development that will improve the standards of living of the common people.
7 Put an end to colonial administrative and political legacies that nurtured ethnic polarization and colonial servility, their divide and rule policy that seriously hampered the forward march of the post-independent Sri Lanka and open up new vistas for a united and prosperous new Lanka.
8 Ensure fair and equitable distribution of resources both natural and human among the regions and promote maximum and balanced regional development.
9 Provides a political framework where all people will begin to think firstly, as members of a Rata (Ruhunu, Pihiti or Maya), and secondly, as one nation instead of the present tendency of thinking as Sinhalese (Low country and Kandyans), Tamils or Muslims etc.
10 Restore the lost core historical, political, cultural and economic heritage of the people of this Island nation and lay the foundation for future political stability and socio-economic prosperity.
11 Put an end to the curse of provinces that were designed by the British to divide and dis-integrate this country on ethnic grounds and the Provinces and Provincial Councils forced on us by Britain and India to achieve their sinister objective of creating a Tamilnadu within this country.
12 Prevent the formation of the Malayanadu in Central Sri Lanka and I the hill country will get equally divided between the Tun Rata. The dream EELAM of Tamils in the North will get divided between Rajarata and Ruhuna
13 This system will do away with political rivalries and wastage of time, money and election related crimes and bring about a system of government of our own keeping with the age old traditions of the country where the will of the people will reign instead of the present practice of the whole nation becoming the victims of the Colombo base agents of the International and colonial masters.
14 Drastically reduce political and administrative positions and Institutions and overheads. Therefore it will result in drastic reduction of Government expenditure on salaries, vehicles, buildings and Elections etc
15 Remove dictatorial powers and immunity of the President and empower people with decision making power down to the very grass root level and make their sovereignty meaningful.
16 Will result in the devolution of power to the grass root level and people will share the power of governance making it fully democratic.
17 The number of Ministers and Ministries at the centre will get reduced to eighteen (18)
18 Party politics will disappear from Trade Unions, Universities and government offices thereby millions of man hours lost per day on demonstration etc could be gainfully used for nation building.
19 Finally it will mark the formation of a government by the people, for the people and of the people. Every citizen under this system will feel proud that he is also a part of the Government.
20 It will mark the dawn of a new era in democracy in practice and might become a model for all countries that have become victims of colonial exploitation discarding the western systems of government utterly inappropriate to their native environments.
21 This will end the present system of Government by the politicians, for the politicians and of the politicians, their families and cronies” and instead we will have a Home grown system of self Government by the people, for the people and of the people”
22 This system of government is expected to guarantee governance in accordance with Dasarajadharma and enthrone the principle of ‘Bahujana sukhaya Bahujana hitaya” preached by the Buddha.
23 The new system of Government will also be based on the principle where the Wheel of Power will revolve on the Wheel of Dhamma and where Dhamma will form the solid Foundation of Governance culminating in righteous government
24 It will mark the dawn of an era of new political culture leading the way to a ”civilization’ State as Martin Jaque has described in his book ‘When China Rules the world’’.
25 The whole country will begin to move forward with one national policy
26 There will a closer relationship between the representatives and voters
27 No politician will be able to run away from responsibility firstly as they have become local people who have a moral obligation to the people and secondly as they could be recalled by the people at any time.
28 All institutions will have politicians who are compelled to do what the people want and none will be able to deceive and rob the people and do what they want.
29 The word political victimization will never be heard in this country thereafter as there are no political parties
30 There want be any claim for devolution as maximum power will be decentralized up to the village level under this system for people to take their decisions within the framework of broad National Policies.
31 With an Independent and strong Judiciary and Public Service; a New Political Culture in Sri Lanka and A new approach to Good Governance, all this you can expect under this system
32 Finally political, socio-economic, ethnic and regional conflicts will hopefully come to an end
Proposed action Plan
It is suggested first we appoint a panel of experts to finalize this document. It would be very useful to have public sittings on a District wise basis to get public participation before the preparation of the final Report on which we should base the Charter 2017; Towards a New Political Culture in Tun Sinhale”
Thereafter we invite party leaders for a joint meeting and present our document. The group that acceps our proposals and gives a definite written undertaking to implement our programme to the letter after they win the election, we will organize the whole country to support them. Just like what the Sinhala Buddhist patriotic people did in 1956, but with a difference, that is they cannot go back on their promises like how they have been doing ever since 1948, with impunity.
Besides acceding to our above requests they also have to agree to accommodate 28 candidates recommended by us to represent the 28 Districts and agree to reserve a minimum of five important ministry positions and five Deputy Ministry positions to our movement.
After coming to power under the present Constitution they have to agree to promulgate the new Constitution as agreed within six months and dissolve the Government. Thereafter new Elections have to be held under the new Constitution and immediately begin to implement the new Constitution and this Charter
Overall these are only some random thoughts that came to my mind. Details have to be worked out jointly by a panel of patriotic experts in each field like eminent persons well versed in Local Government, Constitutional Law, systems of government including our own traditional Sinhala system that was there from ancient times.
Dr. Sudath Gunasekara21.Gemunu Mawatha, Hanthana Pedesa Mahanuwara. 081 2232744—071 8075326 28.7.2018
පසුගිය ඉරිදා කොළඹ ෂැංගි්රලා හෝටලයේදී ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයට සම්බන්ධ දේශපාලනඥයෙකුගේ මංගල උත්සවයක් පැවැත්විණි. මංගල උත්සවය පැවැත්වුණේ පුත්තලම දිස්ත්රික් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී පියංකර ජයරත්නගේ දියණිය විවාහ වීම නිමිත්තෙන් බැවින් ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ මන්ත්රීවරු විශාල පිරිසකට මේ සඳහා ආරාධනය කර තිබිණි. හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ, චමල් රාජපක්ෂ, ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ඇතුළු රාජපක්ෂ පවුලේ බහුතරයක් පැමිණි මගුල් ගෙයක් ලෙස මෙය කැපී පෙනෙන්නට විය…
‘‘පසුගිය සතියේ අමාත්ය රාජිත සේනාරත්න ට අලූත් නමක් පටබැඳුණු බව සමාජ වෙබ් අඩවි ඔස්සේ බොහෝ දෙනෙක් දැනගත්හ. ඒ නම ‘‘සුවපති” රාජිත සේනාරත්නයි.
මංතීරුව ඔස්සේ ඇවිද යමින් ඇවිදින මංතීරු විවෘත කළ ජනාධිපතිවරයා ඊළඟට පැමිණියේ ශාරීරික ව්යායාම් කරන ස්ථානයට ය….
ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිවරණයට ඉදිරිපත් නොවීමට බලපෑ හැකි කරුණු කිහිපයක් 2018 ජුලි 22 දින ‘අනිද්දා’ පුවත්පතේ ‘මරණ තුනක් මැද පැණි කෑම’ සිරස්තලය යටතේ මනුවර්ණගේ සතිය විග්රහ කර ඇත. 2018 ජුලි 15 දින ‘අපේක්ෂකයා ගෝඨාභයමයි.’ ශීර්ෂ පාඨය යටතේ ඉරිදා දිවයිනේ මෙම ලියුම්කරු පළකළ ලිපිිය සමග හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්වරයා සහ ඩලස් අලහප්පෙරුම මන්ත්රීවරයා සිටිනා මාතර පාලටුවේදී ගත් ඡායාරූපයට ඉහළ දේශපාලන වටිනාකමක් ඇත. ‘මනුවර්ණ’ එම ඡායාරූපය තම ලිපිය සමග පළකර තිබිණි. ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂගේ මෑණියන් දන්දින සමරසිංහ දිසානායක උපන් ගම වන පාලටුවේ හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්වරයාගේ ප්රධානත්වයෙන් පැවැත්වූ රැස්වීමෙන් පසු ඔහුට එල්ල වන ප්රහාර වැඩිවී ඇත.![‘මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ’ නමින් ඕස්ට්රියාවේ සුපිරි නිවසක්.. සියළු විස්තර මෙන්න…[Photo/Video]](http://lankacnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/456544566.jpg)
එක්සත් ජනපදයේ රාජ්ය ලේකම්වරයකුගේ පළමු ශ්රී ලංකා සංචාරය ලෙස ජෝන් ෆෝස්ටර් ඩලස්ගේ සංචාරය ඓතිහාසික එකක් බව මහාචාර්ය ලෙවින් දක්වයි. මොහු 1956 මාර්තු 2 වන දින ඉන්දියාවේ සිට ලංකාවට පැමිණි දින දෙකක් මෙහි ගත කර තිබුණි. එකල අගමැතිවරයා වූ ජෝන් කොතලාවල සමඟ පැය දෙකක සාකච්ඡාවක් පැවතුණි. ඒ වනවිටත් ජෝන් කොතලාවල අගමැතිවරයා ඇමරිකාවේ මිත්රයෙක් බව ඔප්පු කර තිබුණේ 1956 පැවති ‘බැන්ඩුම්’ සමුළුවේදී කොතලාවල අගමැතිවරයා “සෝවියට් අධිරාජ්යවාදය” ට එරෙහිව ආවේගාත්මක කතාවක් පැවැත්වීමෙනි. රාජ්ය ලේකම් ඩලස් විසින් එකී ආසියානු සහ අප්රිකානු ජාතීන් අතර පැවති බැන්ඩුම් සමුළුව හෙළා දැක තිබුණේ “සදාචාර විරෝධී යල්පැනගිය දුර නොදක්නා සංකල්පයක්” ලෙස ය. රාජ්ය ලේකම් ඩලස් ඇමරිකාවෙන් ලංකාවට ලැබෙන ආධාර ප්රමාද වීම පිළිබඳ කනගාටුව ප්රකාශ කළ අතර එයට හේතු වශයෙන් ඔහු දක්වා ඇත්තේ ‘රබර් පටිය’ යි. (මින් අදහස් වන්නේ චීන- ලංකා රබර් – සහල් ගිවිසුමයි.) ඔහු කොතලාවලට සහතික කරනු ලැබුවේ රබර් – සහල් ගිවිසුම නොසලකා ලංකාවට ආධාර ලබාදීම සඳහා ධාරා දෙකක පත්රිකාවක් (Two Line Memorandum) සකස් කිරීමට තමන් අණ කළ බවයි. 
මට එහෙම අවශ්ය වුණේ නැහැ … මම හැමදාම හිටියේ ජනතාව අතරේ… විජේවීර සහෝදරයා කිව්වා. ඒ අතරේ රෙදි කැබැල්ලක් ගෙන්aවාගත් රොනී ගුණසිංහ ඉන් නායක සහෝදරයාගේ ඇස්දෙක බැඳ දමනු ලැබුවා. ඔයගොල්ලෝ මාව මේ කොහේද ගෙනියන්න හදන්නේ…. කියලා නායක සහෝදරයා අහද්දි කිසි කෙනෙක් ඊට උත්තර දුන්නේ නැහැ. ඒත් එක්කම හමුදා සෙබළු පිරුණු පැජරෝ රථ දෙකක් වේගයෙන් ඉගිල්ලිලා කොහේද යන්න ගියා. ඊට විනාඩි දෙක තුනකට පස්සේ රෝහණ සහෝදරයා වත් රථයකට නංවන්න ගෙනිච්චා. මම ඒ වෙලාවේ බැලුවේ කර්නල් දසනායක කොහෙද කියලයි. එයා එතන හිටියේ නැහැ. වාහන සියල්ලම පිටව යද්දීත් එයා වෙනම කාමරයකට වෙලා කල්පනා කරමින් ඉන්නවා මම දැක්කා….
බලනකොට අපේ කර්නල්ට තමයි ඉන් පස්සෙ සිද්ධවෙන සිදුවීම් ඔක්කොම අධීක්ෂණය කරන්න කියලා ජෙනරල් භාර දීල තියෙන්නෙ…
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“Come on. We are a country with a South Asian culture. It is a culture of Corruption, which helps politicians to give pledges to fight it; but make sure it remains for others to make similar promises. The Culture of Corruption in the stuff of South Asian politics and governance. Imran Khan must understand that,” said Pagapala.