{"id":106661,"date":"2020-09-15T16:11:37","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T23:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=106661"},"modified":"2020-09-15T16:11:37","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T23:11:37","slug":"a-reply-to-harsha-de-silva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/09\/15\/a-reply-to-harsha-de-silva\/","title":{"rendered":"A Reply to Harsha de Silva"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Charles S.Perera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

It\nis strange to see the present ragtags-the remnants of the former Yahapalanaya\nwho ridiculed democracy, and devastated the country politically,economically,\nand socially for four and half years,  now thundering in the parliament\nand out side about a disappearing democracy they in fact seem to know nothing\nabout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among\nthe remnants  of the Yahapalanaya now in the opposition are some who are\nsupposed to be educated. But the question is, are they wise.  Wisdom is\nnot what you put inside as knowledge, but what comes out from that accumulated\nknowledge. But these yahapalanaya remnants lack that wisdom to think and\nevaluate circumstances from past experiences.  These are the ones who came\nto parliament in 2015 thanks to the traitorous midnight escape of Maithripala\nSirisena from SLFP to the opposition to be their common Presidential Candidate.\n  If not for Maithripala Sirisena  none of them would have been in\nparliament  then or now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nthey have no gratitude for that.  The yahapalanaya remnants are now\nseeking  their own salvation by throwing on to scaffold President Maithripala\nSirisena who enabled them to become  parliamentarians,  as\nresponsible for the massacre of  Easter Sunday. Aren’t they all init under\nthe doctrine of  collective responsibility ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\npartners of the former Yahapalanaya little realise they as members of the\nYahapalanaya  are all responsible for that massacre of the innocents, more\nHarin Fernando who now breys louder than ever, forgetting that he had failed in\nhis duty to God and Country, by  having failed to inform the Archbishop\nwhat his father had warned him not to do that Easter Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nis Harsha de Silva with a doctorate to decorate his name, who talks without\nreflecting or trying to understand the real issue with the presentation of\nthe  20th Amendment. He as an intelligent man should not be swayed by\nemotions. When he led the footnote group at the COPE he showed how much he is\ninvolved in all the degenerative political maneuvers of the RanilW led\nYahapalanaya-the Bank robbery, mismanagement of the government, Easter\nmassacre, involvement in the MCC, Singapore Trade Agreement,  selling of\nHambantota Harbour,  negotiating to sell the Colombo Port East Terminal to\nIndia etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lets\nsee what Harsha de Silva  with a doctorate tells about 20A. He speaks\nabout removing the National Procuration Commission and curtailing the powers of\nthe Auditor General which he says is inviting corruption. If he would read the\n20A alongside the Constitution he would see that removal of the 19th Amendment\nhas put the Constitution to what it was before the introduction of the 19th\nAmendment. The functions of the Auditor general will continue as it had been\nbefore. In tender procedures new transparent methods with modern \ntechnology could be adopted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndifficulties arise also  from the fact that the opposition has not placed\nthe same trust on the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the large majority of\npeople have placed their trust on him, as evidently shown through the\nPresidential and then the Parliamentary Elections. The Opposition should\nrespect the large majority of the people who voted to elect the\nPresident,  and then give a near two third majority at the parliamentary\nelections.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nOpposition led by Sajith Premadasa who is known to think differently takes his\nposition as the leader of the Opposition on the belief that the \nParliament is a place to criticise the Government and to show the people that\nwhat the President is doing is not in the interest of the country and the\npeople but to look after the interest and the benefits of the Rajapaksa family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 If\nthe members of the opposition have peanut sized  brains they will know\nthat in the Parliament there is no family, but parliamentarians elected by the\npeople. The people know this and they are no more concerned with this family\ntalk\u201d except those supporting the UNP, and the SJB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harsha\nde Silva and his former yahapalanaya colleagues  should get out of their\nbox to understand that the democratic  role of the opposition in\nparliament is other than being aggressive and jumping to criticism. They should\ninstead  follow Ranil’s Lichchavi approach which unfortunately he failed\nto put into practice. The Parliament should be a place where there is an\nintellectual approach to any problem giving place to a rich  dialogue ,\ndiscussion, constructive criticism, suggesting different approaches to the\nproblem under discussion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\napproach even the JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka seems not to know. \nHe spent 28 minutes in the well of the parliament shouting at the speaker and\nthose who raised objections  taking pride in the fact that he  is the\nperson who has made many speeches and stood up long haranguing  accusing\nthe members of the government. He seemed to be happy with his role which for an\noutsider is really foolish. He spoke nothing of value or interest.  These\nparliamentarians have to change their attitudes and become responsible members\nof the opposition. They should contribute memorable speeches, make workable\nsuggestions  without talking like hooligans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harsha de Silva was not even sure of his facts.  He was\nspeaking  in praise of the 19A and its procurement guidelines, conceding\nthat there were issues regarding the Procurement Commission. If there are\nissues why not adopt a new transparent system outside Commissions.  Why\nalways think in terms of corruption when the emphasis should be on using\nefficient foolproof methods that will eliminate corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harsha de Silva is not true to himself when he says that the\npublic should not buy into the view  that the 19th Amendement was a\nbarrier to effective governance and economic growth. Harsha de Silva in trying\nto defend 19A is displaying his inability to evaluate the circumstances that\nled to the failure of Yahapalanaya. With 19A Yayhapalanaya could neither\ncontinue to govern,  nor  go forward with the absurdity of the it. If\nHarsha de Silva is now singing hosannas to 19A as an effective efficient piece\nof legislature he is not worthy of the Doctorate he  adds before his name.\nIt is here Harsha de Silva should show his intelligence. 19A was an obstacle\nand a  failure- the Commissions were not functioning as they should,\nCommissions made wrong appointments, there was an inefficient  parliament\nnot functioning for the benefit of the people, taking wrong decisions, signing\nwrong contracts, and the President could not dissolve it. It had to continue on\nits path of destruction   for four and a half years. Was that democracy ?\nHas one heard of such a parliament anywhere else in the world ?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that is what Harsha de Silva supports and praises and tells\nthe people not to buy into the view that the 19Amendment  was a barrier to\neffective government and economic growth.  Harsha de Silva where did you\nsee effective governance  and economic growth during the past four and a\nhalf years from 8 January 2015 ?  You display your inability to see things\nas they were and try to fool the people, Harsha de Silva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 20A then he criticises without giving adequate reasons\nimaging things reading beyond the text. He imagines what the Parliamentary\nCommittee to replace the Constitutional Council  proposed in the 20A would\nbe like imagining how it would function and how the President would react to\nobservations made by the committee.  Are these valid arguments against 20A\n?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are meaningless arguments. He could make suggestions which\nare more democratic. He says that SJB and the government differ on the need to\nhave civil society persons. But have the civil society representatives been\nuseful during the last four years ? They were  accused of being NGOs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In jumping to criticise the 20A, Harsha de Silva  takes an\naggressive path instead of making suggestions to change the Amendment . Why\nstand against it when the 20A is only a proposal and you expected to make\nsuggestions to change it ?  The Opposition will stand against it , de\nSilva says, but  that is the wrong way of looking at it . Why stand\nagainst it ? Is it because you take the role of the  opposition,  as\na role  to  stand against  proposals by the Government ? Harsha de\nSilva,   in democracy there should be constructive criticism, discussion\nand compromise ? That is how it should be with the 20th Amendment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Harsha de Silva says that he is  against the 20th\nAmendment.  If one starts having already decided where one  stands on\nthe  20th Amendment,  then democracy cannot function as it should.\nOne should instead start with an open mind looking at the issue \nobjectively. That should be the quality of a good politician. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The theoretical relationship between compromise<\/strong> and democratic<\/strong> regimes\n(is) that … of arriving through discussion<\/strong> at\npolitical agreement with one’s opponent \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government had explained that the 20th Amendment removes the\n19th Amendment, to make the constitution what it was before the 19th Amendment\nwas introduced.  Therefore the Auditor General will function with all\nlegal paraphernalia as he did before the introduction of the 19th Amendment. In\nthat there is no weakening of the Auditor General’s functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harsha de Silva is creating mental images of what would happen\nand jumping to conclusions. If he gives more thought to facts,  and\nfigures out  issues intelligently he will see that nothing has changed\nafter removal of 19A except that the constitution has gone back to what it had\nbeen before.  There is no rule that says a member of the opposition should\nbe the heads of COPE and COPA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harsha de Silva is merely criticising for the sake of\ncriticism.  He as an experienced politician and with a Doctorate in addition\nshould know that the opposition has to allow the Parliamentary Democracy to\nFunction. The President and the Government have been elected for five years and\nthey should be allowed to continue to rule the country for the scheduled period\nof time. The opposition is not to put barriers against the government, with the\nintention of toppling it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But an intelligent leader of the Opposition would \ncontribute for  a healthy political dialogue , discussion and compromise\nto come to political agreement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harsha de Silva accuses the government is deploying 20A under a\nsmokescreen to fool the people.  The people understand , but it is the\nopposition that seems to have not understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harsha de Silva and Yahapalanaya  had tried in different\nways from the day the President was sworn in,  to stop the President from\ntaking up his duties to carry forward his proposals for the development of the\ncountry. Even today the role of the opposition has taken a different path from\ndemocracy,  to hinder the President from continuing to rule the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now\nthe latest gimmick to embarrass the government on 20A is demanding who is the\nauthor of the Amendment. as  it is on that, the validity of the Amendment\ndepends.  These are normally prepared by the legal draftsman based on the\ninstructions issued after Cabinet approval.  Therefore the cabinet as a\nwhole helped in the preparation of the 20th Amendment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charles S.Perera It is strange to see the present ragtags-the remnants of the former Yahapalanaya who ridiculed democracy, and devastated the country politically,economically, and socially for four and half years,  now thundering in the parliament and out side about a disappearing democracy they in fact seem to know nothing about. Among the remnants  of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-charles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106661\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}