{"id":107023,"date":"2020-09-26T22:33:14","date_gmt":"2020-09-27T04:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=107023"},"modified":"2020-09-26T15:31:44","modified_gmt":"2020-09-26T22:31:44","slug":"coming-of-the-new-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/09\/26\/coming-of-the-new-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Coming of the New Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

When in two successive\nsilent revolutions the Sinhala-Buddhist voters confirmed, with  pencilled\ncrosses, their commitment to regain their lost hopes and heritage and usher in\na new age, the stunned political scientists and other assorted pundits, mainly\nin the media, did not know what  hit them. What threw them off balance, in\nthe first place, was the sheer magnitude and the force of the Sinhala-Buddhist\nwave that swept the nation. Second, the two silent revolutions debunked their\nfictitious theories about the power of the minorities to sit in the middle and\ndictate terms to both major parties. Third, they were aghast at the sudden\ncollapse of the cardboard edifice they constructed under the Yahapalana regime\nwith the minorities and NGOs. Fourth, the Right-wingers allied to the\nminorities and NGOs were all swept aside and thrown into a black hole from\nwhich no light emerged to guide them out of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fifth also stands out\nas a key factor: the violence and the arrogance of the minorities, particularly\nthe burst of Muslim terrorism combined with Wahabist extremism and\nMiddle-Eastern money, threw the Christian Sinhalese into the arms of the\nBuddhist Sinhalese. Together they formed a formidable monolith for the first\ntime. Here ethnicity overtook religion. To a great extent the arrogance and the\nviolence of the aggressive minorities galvanised the majority to form a\ndefensive coalition against them. The minorities dug their own grave with their\noverblown identitarian politics. Sixth, the West-oriented NGOs, undermining the\ntraditional roots with imported neo-Liberalism, threatened the security of the\nmajority who reacted decisively by cutting them down to size. Decades of\ninvestments in anti-Sinhala-Buddhist campaigns \u2013 billions in rupees — \nwent down the  drain. These unelected interventionists were playing a key\nrole as self-appointed stake holders and leading the  Yahapalanaya away from\nthe promised Ven. Sobitha-way into betrayals in Geneva. Last but not the least,\nthe political theorists and pundits have no theory to explain or counter the\nnew phenomenon  empowered by the people to dismantle the anti-national\nstructures, including the debilitating provisions in the  Constitution,\nand find constructive ways to a new age<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whacked by these multiple\nforces the disoriented political scientists fell off their theoretical perch.\nTheir paralytic reaction has been two-fold. First is to demean  the\nhistoric victory with abuse. For instance, the best that Dayan Jayatilleka, who\nnever fails to remind that he is a political scientist, could do was to declare\nthat armed Anagarika Dharmapala\u201d has returned to power. Not many moons ago he\nwas there with the Armed Dharmapalas\u201d reading  their messages that fanned\nthe Mahinda sulanga\u201d at Nugegoda. He backed the Eliya\u201d to the hilt to bring\nthe Armed Dharmapalas\u201d to power.  In fact, he discarded his favourite\nGramsci, Althusser, Marx and Lenin for the Dharmapalas\u201d. He was one of the\nleading hurrah-boys  of the Dharmapalas\u201d. But after he sold his soul for\na  diplomatic post  he did bis usual somersault and turned against\nthe Dharmapalas\u201d accusing them of being armed\u201d villains organised to destroy\ndemocracy. So, don\u2019t be surprised if he now comes up with his next\ncock-and-bull theory that Mao came into power either through Buddhist\nmeditations or Armed Dharmapala-ism\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there is Pakiasothy\nSaravanamuttu who obscenely unzipped his little organ, Ground View<\/em><\/strong>,\nto attack the elected President in four-letter filth. His\nfellow-anti-Sinhala-Buddhist pun(k)dit, Prof. Quadri Ismail, was given the\nlicence in his little organ to  say : F\u2026 you, Mr. President!\u201d. Prof.\nQuadriped Pismail also labelled the Sinhalese as ar.e holes\u201d. Defeated Paki\u201d\nis now  offering obscenities as political alternatives for good governance\nfrom his Centre for  Policy Alternatives. The new political phenomenon has\nsent him and his catchers\u201d reeling not knowing how to respond to it. We are in\na period of adjustment transiting from the decadent and the antiquated to the\nnew and the promising. And the clueless Quadripeds are struggling to figure out\nwhy all their theories, structures, and strategies have left them in the middle\nof nowhere. Unable to come to come to terms with the new realities their\nresponse so far has been to throw abusive filth at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second response is\nfear-mongering. The anti-Sinhala-Buddhists are screaming their heads off saying\nthat there is a dictator waiting in the corner somewhere to take over the state\nand destroy democracy. These are the phantasmagorial fears of infantile\nnincompoops in NGOs crying about a goni billa<\/em><\/strong>\u201d stalking them to\ngobble them up in time. Ever since J. R. Jayewardene (JR) changed the\nWestminster model into a De Gaullist Presidential system the fear-mongers\nin  the Left  \u2013 e.g., Dr. N. M. Perera, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva etc.,\n–have been crying  from roof  tops about a dictator\nwaiting to come out of JR\u2019s Constitution like a genie locked inside a corked bottle.\nBut it has been like waiting  for Godot \u2013 there is a great deal of talk\nwith  no one sighting this ghost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, it is worth\npausing to consider whether the lurking fears have some grounds to worry about.\nYes, there is on the surface. To understand their fears let\u2019s imagine the\nfollowing scenario:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One  fine day, (let\u2019s\nimagine it\u2019s a day in November 2019), a retired Lt. Colonel sweeps into power\nin an island called See Long. Overnight the Lt. Colonel becomes the\nCommander-in-Chief. He is in total command. He has no parliament to check his\npowers. So, he has no need to restrain himself in any way. It\u2019s open sesame for\nhim. He has no prime minster to snipe at him and push him around demanding, for\ninstance, more powers to import from Singapore a foreign banker when there are\nabsolutely competent and distinguished bankers in See Long to do the job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has no Cabinet either to\ncurtail his power either in framing policies or in implementing \nthem.  In fact, he has  no rival political force  to oppose him\nwith any formidable clout. There is no Left. There is no Right. Nor is the\nusually aggressive North there to take on the dynamic Centre that is command.\nHe is the Lord of  all he surveys. He even appoints his trusted\nlieutenants in the Army to key positions. They have been disciplined and\ntrained to carry out his orders to last letter and spirit of the law dictated\nby him. There are no checks and balances. He is the unwritten constitution\nmaking the laws as goes along to meet the needs of the battles he needs to\nfight.   He fights the biggest threat to our time, Covid-19, with a\nfine-tuned military force behind him. He runs the administration with military\nprecision. He goes right down to the basement to examine the root causes for\ncorrective action. And he delivers. He and his military loyalists are marching\ninto the New Age in civvies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without any parliament he\nis, indeed, immune from the restraints of the constitution. All key\ninstitutions are at his beck and call. The Executive is way above the\nLegislature which, in reality, is non-existent. The wings of the civil society\nare clipped and kept out of governing structures. He  doesn\u2019t have to\nviolates the principle of the separation of powers because he combines  in\nhis person all the powers he needs to act. The decision-making powers are\nconcentrated in his hands with no one having the wherewithal to object or\noppose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to principles of\nclassical political science these are all hall marks of a pure and simple\nmilitary junta the likes of which are found  in plenty in S. America. But\nif we come down from our imaginary See Long to reality the reader would have\nconcluded, quite correctly, that I was describing no other place but Sri Lanka.\nI was portraying the rise and rise of Lt. Col. Gotabaya Rajapakse to be the\nCommander-in-Chief and his subsequent consolidation of political power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the features I have\nhighlighted are all surface features. There is no military junta beneath it\nrunning a dictatorship. To this  day no one has called it a military\ndictatorship, nor an authoritarian  regime. Not the American Ambassador.\nNot the British High Commissioner. Not the New York Times<\/em><\/strong>. Not\nthe London Times<\/em><\/strong>. In fact, ex-Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda another\npolitical scientist  with a Ph. D., says that he will not call it a\ndictatorship. If he could he would have been the first to damn the Rajapaksa\nregime. All what he can say is that if their favoured 19 A is amended it would\nlead to an authoritarian regime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to all signifiers\nwe should  be living under a military junta with  jackboots\nthrottling our throats. All the classical features of a military junta are\noperative and yet it has not turned the state into a dictatorship. I cannot\nthink of another viable political entity like that  of the Rajapaksas\nwhich is functioning successfully within the defined domains of democracy\nthough it is armed to the teeth with all the  powers to turn into a\nmilitary junta. Faced with this new phenomenon the baffled  political\nscientists with Ph. Ds (Phoney  Doctorates) have resorted to\nfear-mongering. They are crying their heads off about a bogeyman rising \nin the shape  of 20 A to hijack democracy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Mahinda Rajapaksa\nwinning 145 seats the two brothers have gathered unfettered powers in their\nhands. With power concentrated on an unprecedented scale in their hands the\nRajapaksa brothers are situated in a position to make or break the nation. And\nyet they have acted so far with great restraint and only within the limits of\nthe prevailing  democratic norms. They are seasoned enough to know that\nthe power given to them is a responsibility  and not a licence to violate\nthe will of the people. They have witnessed the horrendous follies of our time\nto know the disastrous consequences of Ranil Wickremesinghe signing the CFA\nwith Prabhakaran without the consent  of the president, parliament, party\nor the people. If this isn\u2019t a dictatorial act what is? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also know what\nhappened to Mangala Samaraweera who pushed through 30\/1 in Geneva selling the\nnation without telling his Prime Minister, the Parliament, the Party or the\npeople. These are blunt and naked acts of dictators and not those of elected\nrepresentatives of the people fulfilling the democratic will. Both are\ndictatorial acts under any definition. In abusing the hallowed precedents and\npractices of the Westminster system Ranil has demonstrated that it is possible\nto use democratic procedures and powers to act dictatorially dismissing all\nrecognised checks and balances. Ranil\u2019s unpardonable act was to legalise and\nreinforce the fascist dictatorship in the North, though it was done in the name\nof peace which never happened. His signing the CFA with Prabhakaran was not\nonly dictatorial but also treacherous. Fortunately, the invisible hand that\nguides this nation shot it to pieces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cry now is that\ndemocracy is being used to kill democracy. They fear that the Rajapaksas have\nthe numbers to re-do 19A \u2013 one of the failed experiments of the Sirisena-Ranil\nregime \u2013 and introduce 20A with adequate powers to serve the impending\nchallenges facing the new age. If the Courts clear the path and dismiss the\nobjections  laid  before it will be merely a matter of time for it to\ngo through. The nation is faced issues far greater than 20A. It is, for\ninstance, the challenging economic issues in the post-Covid-19 period that\nmakes 20A a vital necessity. Tough times need tough responses and 20A will be a\nnecessary aid to clear the way through obstacles until the nation arrives at a\nsteady state. It is clear that 19A did not raise the nation  to new\nheights. It brought down the nation to rock bottom. An alternative is necessary\nand 20A should be considered as a viable alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is  objectionable,\nhowever, is not so much the exploitation of circumstances for political gain\nbut the hypocritical role of those who have lined up as the saviours of\nconstitutional propriety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take the case of ex-Prof.\nJayadeva. He is crying that 20A could spell the end of democracy in Sri\nLanka.\u201d He added: There should be a limit to political power. 20A seems to\nhave followed the model of the colonial state we had in Sri Lanka before 1931.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s cracker from him:\nThis is a Government by a single leader or small group who have absolute\npower. I don\u2019t know whether people have really understood what this means to\nthem. Unfortunately, they will realise it after a couple of years, when they\nsuffer the consequences of such a political change. It would be a very costly\nlearning process,\u201d he warned.   (Daily Mirror \u2013 18\/9\/2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now let\u2019s get back to the\ntime when Velupillai Prabhakaran gave him an audience in the Vanni. He went on\nthis pilgrimage with  Bishop Kennneth Fernando and Charlie Abeysekera,\nanother NGO activist whose sympathies were with the Tamil fascist state. The\nthree of them  returned, glowing with the pride, as if they had been\nat  the Second Coming of Jesus. They ate a few biscuits and drank\nthe  orange barley given to them by the cruellest and the biggest killer\nof Tamils and held a joint  press conference in Colombo parading as the\nprivileged and chosen Three Kings of the Orient at the crib in Bethlehem on the\nfirst day of Christmas. They white-washed the Surya Devan\u2019s\u201d image and painted\nhim as the living Prince of Peace. Tamil fascism had fascinated them. They took\nupon themselves the mission of polishing Prabhakaran\u2019s image and they gave him\na clean certificate as a man committed to serve  peace and not war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This ex-Professori, who is\nnow so deeply involved in constitutional issues and preaching high morality to\nthe Sinhala state. He is worried that the  Government is run by a single\nleader\u201d. How many leaders did Prabhakaran have in his  government? He is\nalso worried that there should be a limit to political power\u201d. He argues that\n20A seems to have followed the model of the colonial state we had in Sri Lanka\nbefore 1931.\u201d By any chance, did he advice Prabhakaran that he should limit his\npolitical power as too much power can lead to  a colonial state like the\none we had in Sri Lanka before 1931? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, OMG, did  he warn\nPrabhakaran that his powers could spell the end of democracy\u201d in North and the\nEast? Besides, he is sharp enough as a political scientist to ask some relevant\nquestions. Did he raise one single constitutional issue with Prabhakaran? Or\nask him why he abducts Tamil children to fill his depleted cadres? Or whether\nhis brutal violence can pave the  path to his Evil-lam? No. Not at all.\nThey were there at the press conference to give a gloss to Tamil fascism. They\nwere willing to go along with Prabhakaran and back him to the hilt in his \ndemand for more devolved power without any constitutional guarantees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daily Mirror<\/em><\/strong> (DM) asked him if\nnational security concerns had given rise to 20A, Prof. Uyangoda said both\ninternal and external security was important to a country. It is not that 19A\ncompromised national security. It is the people who headed the government who\nfailed when the Easter Sunday attacks occurred,\u201d he opined.\u201d Compare this\nto his condemnation of Sinhala-Buddhism and praising S. J. Tambiah\u2019s book\nBuddhism Betrayed?<\/em><\/strong> Why didn\u2019t he use the same logic and condemn Tambiah\nand say that it is not Buddhism that failed but the people who headed it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was joined in the DM by Paki\u201d\nSaravanamuttu, a vexatious litigant who goes to Court against the Sinhala\nstate\u201d, posing on the steps of the Hulftsdorp  either taking his dark\nglasses out  or putting  them on. But he never once took Prabhakaran\nto court for crimes against humanity and war crimes. After all\nPrabhakaran  had courts and he  could have at least fought on behalf\nof the Tamil children abducted by the Tamil oppressor in the courts in Vanni.\nHe wouldn\u2019t do that. Instead he went jumping  from Western  capital\nto another trying his level best to save Prabhakaran from impeding  death\nin the last days of the war. He was bent on  making the world believe that\nhis intention was to save the Tamils trapped inside the war zone. But \nhe  knew jolly well that his main motive was to save Prabhakaran and make\nhim live to fight another day. Stopping the advance of the Sri Lankan forces\nwas the only way to save Prabhakaran. He failed and when the Sinhala state\ntriumphed\u201d he accused them of triumphalism\u201d. He blamed the Sinhala state\u201d for \nsaving  democracy and peace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both examples prove that\nour partisan intellectuals are, at best, mediocre pigmies who will not be able\nto see the wider horizons even if  they are made to stand  on\nladders. Their opposition to 20A is predictable.  Their prediction that\n20A will lead to dictatorship is as remote as Ranil\u2019s chances becoming the next\nPresident. However, it may strengthen the hands of the Rajapaksas to guide the\nnation out of the economic tsunamis that  are likely to hit  the\nnation sooner or later. The post-Covid 19 crisis is waiting to happen,\naccording  to informed market sources. If the crisis comes the best of\nstrategies will need power to steer the nation  out of  it. The\ndoom-and-gloom criers predicting the end of the world will exploit 20A for\npolitical gain. That is inevitable. On the  brighter side, Sri Lanka has\ncome out  of many crises without deviating from parliamentary democracy.\nThe chances of democracy crumbling under the weight of 20A is a far-fetched\nbogey. If Sri Lankan could come out of Prabhakaran\u2019s Tamil fascism, riding it\nlike a roller-coaster, then there is all the reason to believe that we can\novercome the next economic crisis waiting to happen. Crises never ceased to\nlash the nation. But the power to overcome has always been greater. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala When in two successive silent revolutions the Sinhala-Buddhist voters confirmed, with  pencilled crosses, their commitment to regain their lost hopes and heritage and usher in a new age, the stunned political scientists and other assorted pundits, mainly in the media, did not know what  hit them. What threw them off balance, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107023","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=107023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}