By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA
Sri Lanka has had several centuries-old traditions of rulers rigidly following the admonitions of the Maha Sanga on matters relating to the country and the people. Even to go on a war they always seek the advice of the Maha Sangha. However, this age-old tradition was completely obviated during the Sirisena/Ranil foreign and diaspora servile regime and it was from the Sambandan/Sumanthiran/Anura Kumara troika. the Thrishoola they sought guidance for everything. When the Maha Sanga of the Thrinikaya (the three chapters) vehemently opposed the adopting of a new constitution, the federal and secular constitution this Thrishoola disregarded their admonitions and said that it is the parliament that should decide on legislative matters and not monks in the temples who enjoy free meals and free Sivuru.
November 16th has reversed this trend and the newly elected President is evidently making all attempts to take the country back to the value-based traditions based on Sinhala culture. He made his Throne Speech from Anuradhapura, a tradition introduced by King Dutugemunu, and selection of this venue was widely criticized by the foreign servile elements. Now, these foreign servile elements are attempting to create a chaotic situation demanding to re-convene the defunct and obsolete parliament which was dissolved by the President in accordance with powers vested in him by the constitution instead of helping the country to fight a global enemy dangerous than the terrorist war, which has deprived daily wage earners their income avenues, shop keepers to keep their shops closed and thereby lose income from their businesses and at the same time make several hundred thousand people who worked in these shops jobless, university and other students unable to continue with their studies, three-wheel, truck and school van drivers unable to seek hires and those employed in the private sector firms remain homebound without their salaries and with the uncertainty of their future employment opportunities.
Despite over 80% of the people suffering these hardships the former MPs of the (Shameless Jabbering Bandits) SJB – Willi Lejja Naethi Waachaala Hora Thakkadiyo and their cohorts want only to convene the defunct parliament and make it functional to its full term so that most of the MPs in the SJB will not lose their pension rights regardless of people falling prey to the deadly Corona Virus. The reason for this hard stance being taken by the SJB in spite of associating with Corona control activities indicates that it is because this political grouping is completely under the minority elements such as Sumanthiran/Ganeshan/Champika/Rajitha/Hakeem and Bathiudeen who do not bother or care at all if people get killed from Corona.
Manusha Nanayakkara a well-known butterfly who allegedly got several hundred million rupees for deserting the UPFA and joining the then UNP, his original party, and who is also a pension loser, has even threatened to bring an Impeachment against the President if he doesn’t convene the old parliament. Does one wonder whether this butterfly has the least knowledge about what is meant by impeachment and terms and conditions applicable to it?
The Maha Sangha reminiscent of the tradition of the past has firmly demanded that the country should not be put in jeopardy by reconvening the old Parliament, They have that said no decision should be taken outside the Constitution. The Maha Sangha have expressed these views when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa enlightened them on the measures taken by the Government to control the spread of COVID-19 virus and their progress during a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat on 24th April. The Maha Sangha had also unanimously agreed with the decision not to convene the dissolved legislature. Nayaka Theras of all three Chapters have said that they approve the conduct of the President and the Government. Ven. Niyangoda Vijithasiri Thera said the previous Parliament should take responsibility for the current financial crisis in the country. Ven. Thrikunamale Ananda Thera, the Maha Nayaka of the Amarapura Sri Dharmarakshitha Chapter, said that when looking at the initiatives taken by the President to prevent the spread of coronavirus as well as for the future, it is clear that there is a new vision being implemented in the country. Ven. Prof. Medagoda Abayathissa Thera was of the view that the measures implemented by the President to prevent the spread of the coronavirus could be an example for other countries in the world. “The young generation of the country and other various groups have invented many new products. ‘This is a golden opportunity for a better future’, the Thera further said. He also said that the Maha Sangha of the country will always support the steps taken by the President. Ven. Prof. Indugare Dhammarathana Thera presented a set of proposals comprising 12 points to make the Motherland secure. Ven. Dr. Diviyagala Yasassi Thera and Ven. Prof. TubulleSeelakkanada Thera pointed out the importance of creating an environment to celebrate the Vesak festival using electronic media while remaining at homes. It was decided to appoint a committee in this regard. The President explained the control of the spread, quarantine process, reliefs granted to people and future measures to revive the national economy. The support rendered by every segment of the society including health, security, and the entire state mechanism in the face of current challenges is enormous, President said. President stressing the necessity of a strong Parliament to fulfill the aspirations of the people bestowed on him with the landslide victory said that there are no Constitutional powers to reconvene the old Parliament but to convene a new one. President said that he expects to meet Maha Sangha regularly on the 3rd Friday of every month and expressed his anticipation of blessings and guidance of Maha Sangha as he stated in front of Ruwanweli Seya and during the assumption of office.
The President has said that he has given thought to change the current practice of useless and expensive election campaigns. He has made these remarks when be met with the Maha Nayake of Kotte Sri Kalyani Samagri Dharma Maha Sanga Sabha, Most Ven. Dr. Iththapana Dhammalankara Thera and His Eminence Dr. Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith at the Presidential Secretariat on Tuesday (28th April).
At the meeting, His Eminence Cardinal Ranjith has observed that the time has come to deviate from election propaganda that is wasteful and spiteful and adopt a new political culture.
Meanwhile, Ven.
Dhammalankara Thera has pointed out that some tanks and irrigation schemes have
been neglected in areas where agricultural crops are cultivated.
President Rajapaksa has responded saying that funds will be allocated to renovate these tanks and irrigation canals from the next Budget.
The alleged holder of a doctorate purchased from an American degree shop and the one who suffers from a superiority complex and dreaming to make this country an extreme capitalist country, capitalist even than America, Harsha de Silva has said that the Supreme Court interpretation would be necessary to prevent an unprecedented and unwarranted Constitutional crisis over President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s refusal to reconvene parliament ahead of the June 02 deadline to meet again in terms of the Constitution. Since this rogue Dr. has a steep lacuna about constitutional laws a detailed explanation about the legal aspects of the subject by Attorney At Law and the veteran journalist C, A.Chandre[rema, Sri Lanka’s nominee to be the Permanent Representative to UN office in Geneva will follow at the tail end of this article.
Now let us see comments by reputed and experienced journalists and anti-government reactionary and foreign servile scribes on the so-called brewing constitutional coup to reconvene the defunct parliament, an attempt being made to give life to a dead horse.
The well known investigative journalist Shenali Waduge states that calls to reconvene Parliament come from the same coterie of people who orchestrated regime change in 2015 capitalizing on a Presidential Election victory to bring to power a minority UNP government and place Ranil as PM without removing the sitting PM. She explains that a hurriedly cobbled ‘national government’ was created to dish out various roles to their co-partners who were made Opposition Leader and Chief Government Whip despite they being the minority of minority parties in the parliament and little needs to be said of the Black Sheep Speaker’s role in the drama that unfolded. She reminds that these crooks used every trick in the book to delay elections and prevent the holding of elections for 3 years. The parochial Election Commission showed little teeth in upholding the people’s right for elections throughout and when the former Speaker now declares I am bound to uphold judiciary’s decision’ that’s like the cat popping out of the bag before schedule! The spilling of intent warrants the government to be alert to all avenues this bandwagon is likely to take and the influences they are likely to make tapping their powerful friends overseas. The drawback this time may be the difficulty in handpicking some for overseas jaunts in view of COVID-19.
The PM’s statement
on 18th April quite rightly pointed out how uncooperative the Opposition
had been in helping support the Government with covid-19 and blocking every
effort by the Government, therefore those that are appearing on youtube &
talk shows claiming Parliament has to reconvene to lend support & to pass
laws is all humbug and meant only to satisfy the international gallery.
What could Sri Lanka’s Parliament possibly do that is not currently being done by the Health Services and Armed Forces & Police involved in hands-on covid-19 operation by simply reconvening Parliament & spending Rs.7 million for a day’s Parliamentary sitting? The answer automatically comes in just picturing the scenario. Between January & August 2019, Parliament had convened 70 times and out of the 225 Members-only 51 attended over 60 sessions.
Rallying 225 MPs: A wasteful necessity?
The current calls
to reconvene Parliament is to undo a major faux pas that has arisen as a result
of submitting separate nominations. With UNP still to announce who will lead
UNP for the General Elections 2020, UNP-Ranil faction handed nominations
separately and SJB-Sajith faction also handed separate nominations to contest
all districts. What is likely to ensue from this is nothing but hara kiri and
UNP votes is likely to get split and UNP may even lose its bloc vote. Having
calculated the likely risk, the teams are obviously frantically pursuing all
options to cancel nominations that closed on 19th March 2020. By
reconvening Parliament, the nominations that closed will be null & void and
if President again dissolves Parliament fresh nominations will be called and
SJB will get buried and Sajith will return to UNP to contest under UNP.
South Korea held elections in April 2020 recording 66% turnout with 44m going to vote and the ruling party recorded the highest seats since 1987. South Korea has over 10000 covid-19 cases and 240 deaths. The US is also going to polls in November and already primaries are being held. The US has nearly 2 Mcovid-19 cases and over 53,000 deaths! With everyone realizing that they need a change in mindset post-covid it is essential that the politicians also adjust their ways and depart from the bad behaviors that have become part and parcel of their lifestyle as a politician. This is applicable to politicians/political parties of all colours. The corrupt and incompetent manner that was a hallmark of rule since 1978 can no longer continue.
An article written by Lawyer Chanaka Bandarahge, who has authored several books, explains the powers vested in the President under Articles 33(1)., 70 (7) and 150 (3) of the Constitution to face emergency situations and states that it is unnecessary to reconvene the Parliament and the government should concentrate on curbing the Corona Pandemic. He says that there is no public consensus for such a demand (reconvening the Parliament) and expresses the belief that any judicial action seeking to reconvene the Parliament is doomed to fail.
Lawyer Bandarage points out that owing to the President’s early dissolution of the Parliament 62 MPs lost their pension rights, as they failed to complete the full Parliamentary term of 5 years. If the Parliament is reconvened now, those MPs may become eligible for pensions (if they manage to complete the full 5 years); as well as their salaries. The daily cost of running Parliament is enormous. These will be a huge unnecessary drain on taxpayer funds.
He also points out that many of them have failed to vacate their parliamentary accommodation – bungalows, houses, and flats and there is no public consensus in holding the general election on 20 June 2020 as the people live in extreme fear of the Corona Pandemic. They want the Government/Presidential taskforce to working full steam and take every possible action to eradicate the Pandemic. They are least concerned about an election and an election can be conducted only after the Corono Pandemic is successfully defeated; as currently seen, definitely not on 20 June 2020.
The former Chief
Editor of the Observer newspaper Mr. H.L.D.Mahindapala (HLDM) states that each
time the Rajapaksas win a legitimate mandate from the people the moralising
mafia comes out howling mendaciously that it is going to be the end of
democracy. Historical evidence, however, has debunked this canard of the hired
fear-mongers. If the tumultuous post-independent years have proved anything, it
is that the bitter battles to eliminate fascist dictators, whether they came
from the South or the North, or from the Left as well as the Right, were fought
and won by the fiercely independent Sri Lankans. The Rajapaksa brothers crushed
the Northern fascists ending the biggest threat to democracy and regional
stability. These leaders were forced to fight with fire. Despite the punditry
of the moral purists they had no alternative.
Mahindapala stresses that the telling testimony of their role as defenders of democracy is in the longest-running war in living memory fought on Sri Lankan soil. The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) fought it within a democratic framework, preserving one of the commendable welfare states that distributed social justice within its limited means and without any systemic discrimination thrust upon any community.
Despite the evidence staring in their faces, the moral mediocrities – synonymous with anti-Sinhala-Buddhist media critics — have rushed to pick on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, ever since he won the impossible victory projecting him as the latest manifestation of the ‘Rajapaksa dictatorial syndrome.’ They deliberately ignore that the greatest battle to restore democracy right across the nation was waged by the Rajapaksa brothers who dismantled decisively the killing machine of Tamil extremists. It was the greatest threat to peace, democracy, security, and stability of the whole of SAARC region, mainly India. By demolishing the one-man regime of the Tamil Pol Pot the Rajapaksa brothers had saved democracy, human rights, and regional stability more than Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu – picking just one of the fake human rights activists — and his mercenary mafia could ever imagine.
HLDM states that it was the victory of the Rajapaksas in the battlefield that put history back on its democratic tracks. Everyone can agree that they have provided a far superior political alternative to anything that the LTTE fascists could have ever offered to the nation. Besides, the peace they won restored the dignity, particularly of the Tamils’ basic political rights to act freely according to their political will and elect representatives of their choice. It was a right that either R. Sampanthan or Abraham Sumanthiram ever had under their Pol PotLeader.
The two brothers
have restored the rights of all citizens of all communities to share the peace
they won by eliminating Tamil tyranny from the political equation. As
enunciated in the classic, Mahavamsa, the Rajapaksa brothers wrote their
chapter in keeping with the historic mission of making the island a fit dwelling-place
for men.” This is not hagiography written to boost the image of the Rajapaksas.
This is to recognise in our time the hard facts that will fill the pages of
historiography sooner or later.
But the moralising
mafia, with their pretentious political prescriptions which have never worked
to resolve any of the vexed issues of the nation, gang up to demonise the majority
and their iconic figures.presenting the majority as the enemy of the minorities
has been the political mantra on which they have survived.
The new
Sinhala-Buddhist middle class, particularly the English-speaking, trousered
elite in the mushrooming urban and village marketplaces, is the new force that
rallied behind Gotabaya’s viyath maga. Armed with Facebook and Twitter, they
had replaced the traditional native ‘pancha maha balavegaya of 1956.’ They rose
in unison on November 19, 2019 to throw the neo-liberals of the West allied to
the International Democratic Union (IDU) led by Ranil Wickremesinghe into the
dustbin of history.
Attorney at Law and the leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya the former MP Udaya Gammanpila said that the President has no desire to hold an election amidst the pandemic. He said that the prat-fallen opposition is making a baseless allegation that the President is very kenned to hold election despite the pandemic threat.
Explaining the history of the Corona Virus spread in this country Mr. Gammanpila said that the first Covid-19 patient of this country was reported on 26th January and that patient was fully recovered and left the hospital on 19th February. When the President dissolved the parliament, there was no Covid-19 patient in Sri Lanka for the 35 days from 26th January to 2nd March. Accordingly, in the first opportunity that became available, the President dissolved the Parliament and it was on March 11th, 9 days after the dissolution a Covid-19 patient was reported.
He said that it was not the President who
decided to hold elections on 20th June, but it was the Election
Commission. Mr. Gammanpila said that
they have nothing to worry about even if the election was not held as it is a
government of theirs that is in power, it is their President and their Prime
Minister, and their Ministers who are ruling the country. He further stated that they would definitely
become victorious if an election is held at any time.
Mr. Gammanpila alleged that it was the UNP that forced the election to be held amidst Corona. It was the UNP that laid the condition that Parliament cannot be dissolved until it completes at least 4 ½ years. Hence the President, after winning the presidency on 16th November was forced to wait until the arrival of the first opportunity to dissolve the Parliament. Therefore the UNP should accept the responsibility of forcing an election amidst the Corona pandemic.
Norway bankrolled accidentally born Sinhalese Tamil jingoist Jehan Perera states that the government’s plans to have an early general election have suffered a setback with the decision of the Election Commission to have them on June 20 and not on May 28 as the government had hoped for. The keenness of the government was such that the Health Minister even predicted that by April 19, the crisis would be under control with the inference that an election campaigning would not be a problem. The example was given of South Korea, which held its general election in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. This may not have been a fair comparison as the combination of early voting and electronic voting in South Korea will not be possible in Sri Lanka at its present stage of economic development.
He says that the situation in Sri Lanka continues to remain better than in most other countries due to the strict actions taken by the government to lock down the country. However, the continuing coronavirus spread makes it more likely than not that even the later date of June 20 will also not be practicable. At the present time, the coronavirus acceleration has got even higher than it was on March 19 when the Election Commission decided that the original date of the general elections, set for April 25 by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was too soon to safely conduct free and fair elections.
This Tamil jingoist says that the unexpected rise in the number of coronavirus detections has led the government to reconsider its plans to end the long-running curfew in all parts of the country and instead to clamp it down once again. The sudden discovery of large numbers of coronavirus cases within the military who have been at the forefront of the anti-coronavirus campaign has been a shocking blow to public confidence. Consequently, there is very little enthusiasm or support for early elections from the general public. Most of them would prefer if the government set aside the money for the election to give subsidies and direct assistance to the vast masses of people who are experiencing great hardship without having been able to work for their living for over a month.
He on his visualization claims that until
late last week government leaders were continuing to insist that the elections
would be held on June 20 with the possibility of the election being held in
stages, beginning with the least affected districts. However, President
Rajapaksa appears to be more circumspect and aware of the issues of governance
according to the constitution that he faces with regard to the elections. The
president has stated that it is the independent Election Commission that has to
decide the date on which the elections will be held. He said that the Election
Commission has the right to hold the election appropriately under the present
circumstances and if they want, they can take several days for the election. He
also said that he was not going to pressure the Election Commission to hold or
postpone elections.
The president has also stated that according to the Constitution, the new parliament should meet within three months after the dissolution of the Parliament. This is a constitutional requirement which, if not adhered to, would give rise to a constitutional crisis. If this crisis is to be averted the last date for the new Parliament to be convened is 2 June. The question is what is to happen now that the election is only scheduled to be held on June 20 so that a new parliament cannot be convened on June 2. Finally, this Jingoist also parrots the opposition demand that the best constitutional option available to the president is to re-summon the parliament he dissolved on March 2 by rescinding his proclamation that dissolved it.
To be continued………………..
