Dr Sudath Gunasekara. Mahanuwara
The Rajiv/JR Accord of 29th July 1987and its illegitimate Indian child, the 13th A, and the resulting political mess are the threefold disasters that have already destabilized and destroyed political stability, good governance and the economy of this country beyond recovery for the past 36 years. Therefore, the crying need to abolished the Accord and the13th A immediately, at least now to rescue this country of the Sinhala nation.
The above two curses were imposed by force on Sri Lanka by India violating all international conventions agreed upon by civilized diplomatic norms. They constitute veritable disasters against the survival of the motherland and the Sinhala nation that had existed on this planet as an independent sovereign country as the land of the Sinhala people for the past 2600 years. Tamils have their own historical Homeland in South India, even running in to greater antiquity, and the Muslims have their homelands in many lands, including South India from where they migrated to this country from time to time. None of them, other than those who were there prior to 1815, have a continuous domicile history in this land for more than 2 hundred years.
The multi ethic, multi religious and multi lingual concept in this country is a recent invention first, by the British to pursue their divide and rule colonial policy and later, invented by local politicians who had no idea about the millennia old long and rich history of this country or any love for the motherland and who were wooing for minority votes only. Additionally, those westernized and disoriented men and women due to brainwashing by the western system of education who also did not know the true history of this country and pretending to be international scholars for the sake of getting few dollars for betraying the motherland for their survival are also responsible for these newly invented myths, that go against all accepted historical evidence. While condemning these self-fish treacherous outfits, I as a patriotic son of this country must categorically state that this will remain the land of the Sinhalese Buddhists as the sun and the moon shall rise, as it had been known throughout world history up to 1815 the year it was annexed to the British Empire by intrigue and treacherous conspiracy. It is very important to note here that Sri Lanka was never conquered by the British in war at any point of history like India and other Asian countries. That way our brave ancestors stand above all other nations, in the so-called British Empire where the sun never set as they boast. No other community either Tamil or Muslim who were only migratory birds in quest of wealth on their own or brought here as slaves by colonial invaders to labour for them on their newly stared ventures such as roads, tobacco farms in the North and newly opened plantation in the hill country has any right what so ever to claim a homeland on this soil that had been the land of the lions from the dawn of history.
Those who don’t agree with that view should leave this land and go back to their own original mother lands from where they came here for trade, employment and search of green pastures, or on as slave labour of the Dutch and British colonial invaders. All Tamils who claim a bogus motherland here should read the Mahavansa and Professor Karthugesus PhD thesis 1965 to find out as to where they really stand. Those who cannot understand history and who are not prepared to accept the historical truth and accept the stark fact that this land had been the undisputed mother land of the Sinha nation from the time the sun and the moon appeared over this planet, should forget about the myth of an artificial reconciliation, as there had been no trace of prior habitation of theirs here as separate nations. All Tamils and Muslims who were here on this Island prior to 1815 were also known as Sinhalese meaning the citizens of the country, Sinhale. Therefore, all those who cannot concede to this historical fact should go back to their own mother land in South India and fight with India to get it freed from Indian hegemony first, without dying here to invent, a bogus Tamil motherland on somebody else’s mother land. Muslims also should follow suit if they cannot accept the above said truth, that this is the land of the Sinhala nation and therefore only a Sinhala man or a woman on this land can claim nationhood. Any other man or woman who wishes to be a citizen/countryman here should first accede to the above conditions before accepting as a citizen of this country.
No one should expect to get citizenship here through any other means like getting another country like India or any other country to pressurize us to do so, as we are also an independent and sovereign country as much as they are, irrespective of the small size of the country.
Prior to 1815, throughout history, this country was known as Sinhale, meaning the land of the Sinhala people. When the British called it Ceylon that also simply meant the land of the Sinhala people. All the people of this country were known as Sinhalese before 1815. A citizen of this country may also call himself a Sri Lankan as this country had been known simultaneously by both names right through out. But no man or woman of any other ethnicity should be given permission to call himself/herself a Sinhala /Sri Lankan unless he/she pass a test in Sinhala conducted by the government and renounces fully and conclusively his/her allegiance to any other country on this earth and subscribes to an oath to that effect.
Having said that, first, I must point out that this Indian curse 13th A, first conceived by Rajiv Ghandi immediately after 1983 July incidents is 36 years old by now (1987-2023) was lying there in the book never fully implemented with the exception of amalgamating the N&E provinces 1988. Creating seven other PCC for the other 7 Provinces even though they were not there in the Rajiv/JR Accord of 29th July 1987 as a device of check and balance and also to consolidate his political ramshackle over the whole Island was an invention of JR. The N &E PC was constituted on 5th Dec 1988, dissolved in 1990 and demerged in 2009 as a result of a supreme court order.
The very concept of the 13th A was vehemently opposed by the Mavbima Surekiime Vyaapaaraya led by Ven Maduluwawe Sobhitha supported by SLFP and MEP, the only two patriotic political parties in the country at that time lead by Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranayaka ending up with the deaths of a large number of poor patriotic citizens. Among those leaders who took part in that patriotic protest who are still alive, I think the ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the present Prime minister Dinesh Gunawardhana will bear testimony to what I say here on the 1987 Pettah incident even though with the passage of time, both of them appear to have completely forgotten, probably for short term political expediencies. They know for what cause, they protested that day, may be just to satisfy Mrs B. and the emerging public opinion at that time. But the people of this country are puzzled as to where their patriotism has gone now. People know why they are silent on this issue at present, but I don’t think they know where they will end up.
This is nothing but political expediencies of the present time, where we don’t have people of the caliber Ven Maduluwa Sobhita Thera and Mrs. Bandaranayaka. I too can understand it, as it is the quality of despicable politics that is ingrained in this country by the British, that has ruined our motherland since 1948, the year the British colonial plunderers left the shores of this Island, after installing their own proxies in the seats of power, a set of westernized Kalusudda British in everything (except their place of birth) with their own system of Government implanted on their heads and thrust upon the Sinhala nation. They left behind the same old British system of legislative, executive and Judicial systems as colonial legacy to carry on the same system of government for the good of the British Empire until the Sun and the Moon shall exist.
The need for a new Constitution based on our civilization and history.
No government that came in to power ever since 1948 had thought about the need for a constitution that will restore the 2500-year-old heritage we lost to the colonial powers and to restore our identity as nation. The fathers and mothers of 1948 have miserably failed even to restore the name of the country, Sinhale, as it was documented in the Kandyan Convention in 1815 when it was ceded to Briton by mutually agreed Convention. As such formulating a constitution that meet the aspirations of a Free nation, as it happened in India was completely out of the question. Unfortunately, there were no Ambedkar and no Ghandhi here at that time. We had only D.S. Senananayaka and Oliver Gunatilaka and Wijewardhanas as king makers. This was the first blunder and betrayal our politicians did to this country in which we are still miserably entangled in, being unable to get out of that mess created by them.
Although an attempt was made to relieve the country from that colonial bondage in first in 1956 by SWRD backed by patriotic forces such as the Buddhist monks of Eksath Bhhikshu Peramuna led by the Vidyalankara Piriwena and again in 1972 by Mrs Bandaranayaka by declaring this country as an Independent Republic for the first time, again that was messed up by reactionary forces led by JR in 1987 by undoing it with a new Constitution. Again he reversed history by declaring Feb 4th as the Independence Day, to commemorate an Independence we never got in 1948, at least covering the three basic pillars of legislative, executive and Judicial spheres.
Is it not a big tragedy and a misery too for our brainless and unpatriotic politicians to follow the same JR prescription up to date even though the SLFP had come to power in 1994 and continues to rule” the country up to date, by Chandrika Bandaranayaka and Rajapaksas more or less with the same mandate from the people, now of cause handed over to Ranil, the man who headed the opposition in 2019 Presidential election and in 2020 General elections. Thereby Rajapksas betrayed those 6.9 million voters by throwing the baby with the bathtub and transferred power undemocratically under mysterious circumstances, in a manner unheard and unseen in world history. It looks a classic political intrigue and an anti-Sinhala and anti-Buddhist coup orchestrated by international forces led by the US and India. So, as it is the whole country is in an utter mess. This brings us to the crying need for a new Constitution based on our own civilization and history that can restore first, good governance and law and order and recover the economy and then consolidate independence, freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity of this Island nation. In other words, a constitution that can give what the people want
Coming back to 13th A
Coming back to 13th A we all know under what tragic circumstances and how JR got his 13th A passed in Parliament under emergency laws having obtained undated letters under duress signed by the members of his party as hostages imprisoned in a hotel until they were trailed to Parliament to vote. It was imposed by force by India, having conducted an illegal military invasion of the Island few days before and from A to Z the whole process was illegal, unconstitutional, unethical and undemocratic, having violated all international conventions[S1] and accepted ethical principles. It was also imposed on this country against the wishes of its people. This also marked an ugly landmark between the cordial relations between the two countries and a stepping stone for the future mono Tamil EELAM, (meaning the land of the Sinhalese) the separate State within the Land of the Sinhalese, for Tamils in the North and East comprising 1/3 of the area of the country and 2/3 of the coastal belt including the entire marine territory for a 2.5 of the total population of the country with the right for the Tamils to live in all other parts of this country again with a monopolistic right for the plantation Tamils on the central hills and adjoining areas under Indian surveillance.
Isn’t it strange and ridiculous for the Indian Government to force Sri Lanka, the land of the Sinhalese to carve out 1/3 of this small country for about 2.5 immigrant South Indian Malabar Tamils while they have been denied their own traditional Homeland the birth place of Tamil nation in 1963 by the Government of India led by Jawaharlal Nehru declaring secessionism as an illegal act. Even in this country until 1911 all Tamils (except the Indian coolies in the plantations) were called Malabar Tamils. This is proved beyond any reasonable doubt when Thesavalamei introduced by the Dutch was defined as the law applicable to Malabar inhabitants of the peninsula of Jaffna).That also prove the fact that these Tamils are Indian and not natives of this country. These Tamils were classified as Ceylon Tamils, of course with ulterior motives, only in 1911 by Ponnambalam Arunachalam as the Director of census and Statistics.
What is more despicable was the 13th A also has completely destabilized and destroyed the well-established centuries old district administration system by creating the Provincial Councils under the 13th Amendment first, and transferring the powers of Government Agents to the Divisional Secretaries under Act no 58 of 1992 and abolishing the posts of GA by PA circular no 21 0f 1992. The GAA were redesignated as District Secretaries by President Premadasa. And denigrated a once highly respected position to that of a secretary of a Maranaadhaara Samithiyain a village.
Already land powers in the north and East have been transferred from 1992. No need to transfer them under the 13th A.
With the implementation of Act 58 of 1992 and PA circular 21 /92 already land powers in the North and East have been transferred to the provinces together with the North and Eastern Provinces from 1992.
It operates like this. Since the powers of the former GAA (now abolished under the above Act and the PA) transferred to the Divisional Secretaries, they are the sole authority within their divisions on the subject of land. Politicians in these areas are Tamils. The Governors are also Tamils. All other officers like Surveyors, Gramasevakas and office staff are also Tamils. The recipients of land also Tamils. It is a free for all operation provinces without talking about the 13th Amendment.
As such Unless the government withdraw Act 58 of 1992 and PA Circular 21/92 immediately, within one year all the land in these two provinces will be given to Tamils only. Then whether the 13th A is empowered or not the de-Sinhalization of these 2 provinces will be complete. In the process, now that the President has already directed to give all Mahaweli lands and even archaeological reserves and temple lands to Tamils and Muslims living in the areas contrary to current land alienation procedures it is only a matter of time to declare the EELAM. So, what Prabahakaran could not do for 30 years is done within 2 years thanks to these two foolish administrative acts issued by Premadasa. They have simultaneously achieved two things in a very short time. First, destroyed the district administration in this country and second given land powers to the NP and EP without implementing the 13th A.
Therefore, the urgent need to withdraw Act 58 0f 1992 and PA circular 21 of /92 to stop the evacuation of all Sinhalese from these two provinces and declaring the EELAm. A Superintendent of Survey working in the Eastern Province told me the other day that instruction has been received to give land permits to all lands occupied by Tamils and Muslims in the eastern province without limiting to 20 p for residential and 40 p for agricultural purposes as done in all other parts of the Island
Centralization under the Provincial system
Under the Provincial Council system, they boasted about decentralization of power under taking administration to the people. But actually, what they have done under the new system is more centralization of all business to the Province from the District thereby going back to the days of the British administration. For example, under the new system a man from Laggala who could get his job done at Matale Kachcheri before now has to come to the Provincial Council at Pallekele nearly 100 miles from his home town in Laggala.
Furthermore, the resulting increase in the number of politicians, institutions, offices and staff on the other hand by about 16 times due to duplication and new creations has sky rocketed public expenditure on the same scale if not more. In addition to the increase in resulting government expenditure due to these increases when one takes in to account the wastage, pilferage and extravagance associated with this new system, it is no wonder that the government has run bank corrupt. The village level administration also has completely broken down, with the introduction of this system. firstly, as Gramasevakas has to now work under two masters, the district secretariate and the Provincial Councils.
The GAA who happened to be the kingpins and commanding officers in his district when it comes to district administration under the previous system have now got reduced to a mere spectator looking like an outdated antique with no power and authority over the Divisional Secretaries and even the Grama Sevakas. The Government agents under the previous system[S2] were public servants and senior professional SLAS officers who knew their job. But under the new system the Governors who command over the provinces and districts are either rejected politicians or relatives and friends of either the President or a Minister Except in very rare instances most of them know next to nothing, other than attending ceremonial functions. In their ignorance very often, they run riots and create very embarrassing situations A an excellent example is the recently appointed EP Governor Thondaman who started with performing a judicial function by prohibiting the construction of a Buddhist Temple on an archaeological site. This man is a estate Tamil of Indian origin from the hill country, who knew next to nothing about administration or governance. Obviously, the President has appointed him as Governor EP to fulfil two objectives. Objective one is to canvas the plantation vote and objective 2 is to canvas the EP Tamil vote at the next presidential election. If the President was really interested in the development of the EP and he was sincerely concerned with the overall development of the EP he should have never removed the former Governor Anuradha Yahmpath, who was the best governor we ever had, in my opinion, in any province since the inception of the PCC in 1987 All of the have no experience in public service Most of them a This is one main reason who as to why crimes at the grassroot level have increased.
During the British time the King was in England and the country was governed for him with one Governor stationed in Colombo assisted by three Secretaries stationed again in Colombo namely, the State Secretary, Finance Secretary and the Legal Secretary and 9 GAA in the 9 Provinces. They were assisted by few heads of Department like the Dept of Public work only and dirrigation. Today to do the same job we have an elected President, at the national level in Colombo with a Cabinet of about 20 with another set of 30 or more duplicator ministers called State Ministers as if the cabinet Ministers are not minsters of the State. There are about 1.6 million public servants headed by a band of about 200 Secretaries. In addition, we also have 9 political Governors at the provincial level messing up the work of all public servants including the District Secretaries as they are called now, enjoying all the privileges of Cabinet Ministers as the direct agents of the President attending purely to political agenda of the President. In reality, they are even more powerful than the Cabinet Minsters as they directly represent the President in the provinces. All of them are political appointments handpicked and made by the President purely on personal grounds. They are often his own men and women either his relations, friends or friends and relations of minsters or defeated candidate of the party in power, rejected by the people but accepted by the President.
The provincial Council system is an entirely a new appendage to the well-established traditional District Administration. Although the functions of the districts were transferred to the Divisional Secretaries who came under the purview and control of the PCC there was no reduction in the district cadre or institutions or facilities provided for the district system. All the GAA Additional GAA (of cause under different and denigrated designations), and departments etc continued to exist (even without functions) the fleet of vehicles and expenditure were never reduced. The PCC system is an entirely a new addition to the provincial level with an army of 9 Governors, 9 Chief Ministers and another 36 Provincial Ministers addition to the expenditure and confusion and MPP nearly 8000 provincial pc members,9 Chairmen with official bungalows, vehicles and separate staff with princely facilities and a large number of additional public officers is an unnecessary appendage costing billions annually for the last 35 years said to be exceeding 500 billion that have drained the nations coffers with a set of administrative duplications and overlapping and creating peracetic political institutions that have completely destroyed and destabilized the once perfect district administration.
The additional cost the government had to incur to maintain new institutions like provincial councils and institutions like Governors, chairmen of PC this system also needed new buildings decorated with red carpets and additional rented out at exorbitant cost.
All these appendages, with no return on the enormous cost incurred. were new additions without which the district administration could have run more efficiently at very much less cost with less waste and pilferage and of cause with much more efficiency. In addition to the extra expenditures, inter departmental conflicts arisen due to duplication and multiplicity of institutions to do the same job and the resulting mess up also has complicated and delayed delivery of service to the people and it has resulted in more centralization although it was meant for decentralization. What is more is Corruption and wastage of public funds also have skyrocketed taking the country to bankruptcy.
With the result the time-tested District Administration has got completely paralyzed and ineffective. As a result, administration and development and delivery of services to the people also have got completely paralyzed and almost came to a standstill.
This situation has led to no governance, economic bankruptcy, social turmoil and public unrest. I think this is exactly what India wanted to happen to Sri Lanka. I suspect India would have carried out this intrigue to fish in trouble waters in achieving its ulterior objective of creating the 29 the State by empowering the Tamils in the north East and the hill country, their dream Malayanadu, right at the centre of this island as a landing pad to their 29th State. The way how the Indian Government, Modi and the IAS have manipulated and behaved in the recent past and they do even now in exploiting the weaknesses of self-centered and unpatriotic politicians, evince this intrigue.
As I see, we can never overcome this disaster until we find a patriotic Sinhala Buddhist leader who can rally round the whole nation to face the following challenges.
Set up a strong and stable patriotic Government and bring back political stability that was not there for a long time in this country.
Restore law and order bring back the rule of law and recover the shattered economy with an aggressive development and employment generation programs.
Make use of both the physical and human resources abundantly available in this country and the mighty Indian Ocean around this Island with its extremely strategic location right on the center of the great East -West oceanic and Air routes and make this Island nation the miracle of Asia in ten years.
