{"id":109074,"date":"2020-11-26T16:32:23","date_gmt":"2020-11-26T23:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=109074"},"modified":"2020-11-26T16:32:23","modified_gmt":"2020-11-26T23:32:23","slug":"summary-of-the-proposal-submitted-to-the-expert-committee-to-draft-a-new-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/11\/26\/summary-of-the-proposal-submitted-to-the-expert-committee-to-draft-a-new-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"Summary of the proposal submitted to the Expert Committee to draft a new constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"

C. Wijeayawickrema<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

November\n27, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary,
Expert Committee (EC) to draft a new constitution
Colombo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear\nSir\/Madam,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Topic 2(h) \u2013 Decentralization\n– Jana Sabha<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nwish to submit this summary of the proposal sent by me a few days ago. Several\nreaders who saw a printed version of it in a popular website (Lankaweb),\nsuggested that I provide a \u2018summary\u2019 of it, which was in Sinhala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering\nthe fact, that this Island is the only piece of real estate on earth,\nhistorically demarcated for the Sinhala race, facing the danger of extinction,\nit is my view that the topic 2(h) is the most important one on the list of\ntopics.  Ironically, the first section in\nthe line, decentralization, is facing a threat from the other two separations\nanchored comfortably with the support of the 13th<\/sup> Amendment, Sri\nLanka\u2019s death-trap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnon-majoritarian solutions offered to world ethnic conflicts, and Sri Lanka\u2019s\nspecific issue of fight for self-rule to achieve Tamil Aspirations are covered\nby the phrase, \u2018meaningful devolution,\u2019 first used by Robert Blake, the then\nAmerican ambassador, followed by a long line of European and Indian\npoliticians. When one asks devolution to whom, they look upward and see the\nlikes of Vigneswaran, Sumanthiran and Gajendran, and a block of large land\narea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nreasonable, rational and science-minded, Sinhala Buddhists look downward, and\nsee Tamil and Sinhala villagers, who lived together peacefully, their lives\nshaped by the socio-economic and political Model, the Trinity of Village-Tank-\nand the Temple, where organic unity of the man and his environment and Small Is\nBeautiful is cherished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus,\none force is toward the balkanization of the island; while the other is to keep\na 2,600-year old civilization intact, despite 550 years of attacks from both\nwhites and black-whites. My proposal is aimed at the latter purpose, where (1)\nthe concept of region in geography, (2) the reasonableness doctrine in\njurisprudence and (3) the Middle Path in Buddhism, work in unison to promote\nsustainable development and build ethnic harmony again in the Island, in a just\nand fair manner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nexperience so far in the world scene of the non-majoritarian path of ethnic\nNirvana, ended up in misery and disastrous new ethnic wars. So far, Sri Lanka\nhas been saved from this fate by an unforeseen divine power, but see what is\nunfolding in Ethiopia right now with a prime minister who won the Noble peace\nprize for implementing non-majoritarian solutions (Ranga Jayasuriya, Daily\nMirror, 24\/11\/2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nanswer lies, therefore, with the indigenous solution of our own Gam Sabha (Jana\nSabha, Indian Panchayatha Raj Institute), which the father of the\nnon-majoritarian genie, Donald Horowitz, has ignored in all his writings on\nthis subject! The Rural Reconstruction and Crime Eradication Island-wide\nMovement of the Ven. Kalukondayave Pragnasekera in the 1940s, sabotaged by both\nwhite officers and black-white politicians, and the successful  Gami Diriya Program, free of politician\ninterference, suddenly stopped, more recently, indicate how hard it is to\nconvince politicians to think of a paradigm shift toward a real people-centered\n\u2018yahapalanya\u2019, instead of \u2018Euro-centric\u2019 cancer feeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\ncould, therefore, appreciate why one must justify in detail, Why Jana Sabha is\nthe best solution available to cover the politician-created topic of\n\u2018center-periphery relations,\u2019 because, in Sri Lanka there is no ethnic issue,\nbut a problem of Spatial Inequity, and lack of Equal Access of Opportunities to\nall. There is no center and no periphery here. Just ten miles from Colombo, or\nin Kotahena, one could see this periphery! In Buddhism, individuals are unique panchas\nkandhas,<\/em> and he\/she lives in a much diverse physical and human environment.\nBesides, Sri Lankan ethnic distribution is more like a pan of scrambled eggs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(A)  Main proposal relating to 2(h) in point form\nis:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Re-demarcate\nboundaries of the 14,022 GSN units (grama seva niladharee), using natural\ncriteria based on geography, geohydrology and ecology, so that they become\nlanguage-blind (religion-blind now with the Sharia village fortresses project),\ncivil lowest-level administrative units. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Use these\nnatural GSN units to create Jana Sabhas (Jana Muula Sabha) to empower people\nwith delegated governmental powers. Instead of separation of powers vertically\nat the national level, think of distribution of the total\/sum of  governmental power to a maximum number of\nsmaller units at the grass root level. \nWhat Montesquieu meant by his famous doctrine was not what USA is now in\ncrisis, but power distributed spatially, including some judicial power. This\nnew discovery of M\u2019s idea is called, M standing on his head. The village temple\npriest is such sovereign body not subjected to edicts from a central agency! In\nancient Sinhale, only the king could give the capital punishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Create a\nNational Jana Sabha Council to function as a Senate, with limited powers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. In case 2 above\nis not accepted, develop a land use database for each GSN unit with other\nsocioeconomic data that a GSN routinely collects to create and a national\ndatabase to be utilized in economic planning and effective  plan implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(B) Miscellaneous\nother suggestions to think about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Re-introduce\nhistory & geography as school subjects;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Change the name\nof the country back to Sinhale from which the name Ceylon was derived in the\npast by the European colonial masters;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Make Sinhala\nand Tamil mandatory subjects for school children (including international and\nprivate schools);<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Discontinue\nseparate state school system based on language or religion;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Establish, a\nSanghadhikarana with civil jurisdiction on matters relating to monks;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. For premediated\nmurder make jury trial and death sentence mandatory;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Utilize\nprisoners for public works in army camps or under military guard with targeted\ntasks; pay an allowance for such work and allow remittance of money by them to\ndependents;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Make the\ndeclaration of assets by political representatives and public servants\nmandatory; allow people access to such information after paying a reasonable\nfee;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Introduce the\nright to recall their elected representative by petition to voters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

C. Wijeayawickrema November 27, 2020 Secretary,Expert Committee (EC) to draft a new constitutionColombo. Dear Sir\/Madam, Topic 2(h) \u2013 Decentralization – Jana Sabha I wish to submit this summary of the proposal sent by me a few days ago. Several readers who saw a printed version of it in a popular website (Lankaweb), suggested that I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c-wijeyawickrema","category-new-constitution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109074","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=109074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}