{"id":110233,"date":"2020-12-30T17:59:34","date_gmt":"2020-12-31T00:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=110233"},"modified":"2020-12-30T18:01:22","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T01:01:22","slug":"attempts-to-exhume-the-provincial-council-cadaver-a-reply-to-mr-austin-fernando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/12\/30\/attempts-to-exhume-the-provincial-council-cadaver-a-reply-to-mr-austin-fernando\/","title":{"rendered":"Attempts to exhume the provincial council cadaver: a reply to Mr. Austin Fernando"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

To:Members and secretary of the expert committee to draft a new constitution
Minister of Justice
Secretary, Ministry of Justice
Secretary, Ministry of Defence
Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, Minister, Public Security
Editor, Island Newspaper
Sagara Kariyawasam, (nl)MP, Secretary, SLPP <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/strong>
Attempts to exhume the provincial council cadaver: a reply to Mr. Austin Fernando<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nletter has two purposes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.\nBring to your attention, a reply that I sent to Mr. Austin Fernando on the\ntopic of 13-A (Part-A); and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.\nTo present an alternative path on how to handle the political hot potato called\nthe provincial councils for consideration by the Romesh de Silva committee\n(Part -B).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part\n– A<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austin and Orumittanadu<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nreply that I sent to Mr. Austin Fernando, regarding his promotion of the,\n1996-2000 Package Deal authored by Chandrika-GL-Neelan, and Jayampathy W, who\nis now hiding in Geneva is attached as a pdf file. In his Island newspaper\nessay, on Dec.25, 2020, Austin suggests indirectly, that the scheme proposed in\nthe Orumittanadu draft constitution (2015-19), prepared by Sumanthiran-Ranil\nand Jayampathy, the Marxist, could be copied as a guiding framework by the new\nRomesh de Silva Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secret map of the Package Deal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndisastrous Package Deal was an attempt to divide the island into a union of\nregions, 7 to 11. Main objective of it was to satisfy the desire of Neelan\nThiruchelvam to have a mono-ethnic Tamil region, with loopholes to expand and\nlegally link it with the Indian Tamil electorates in Malayanadu. On the other\nhand, he did not even want to consider the Pondicherry model of allowing\nSinhala or Muslim islands within a Northeastern new Tamil region, because it\ncreates a moth-eaten like Tamil map! Thus, Chandrika\u2019s intention was to\nimplement an idea, germinated in 1921\/24, fertilized by her father and Stanley\nde Zoysa in 1957 (B-C Pact), secretly improving it further by Dudley and JRJ in\n1965 (D-C Pact), and finally, forced down the throat of JRJ by a car-racing\nIndian boy in 1987, so that the Eelam dream becomes a reality during her own\nlifetime. While this plan was progressing, following R. Premadasa, she even\noffered the NP on a 20-year lease to Prabhakaran. Additionally, there was the\nP-Tom and ISGA along the path of the infamous 2002 CFA of Ranil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why\nit is necessary to remind all of you few salient points of this history, is\nthat in 2015 Chandrika boasted that the Orumittanadu plan was exactly her plan\nprepared in 2000! Now imagine, the gravity of the innocent-looking advice\noffered by Austin who was also a behind-the-curtain administrative supporter of\nthe Orumittanadu drama and the Ranil-Mangala 30\/1 Geneva betrayal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You cannot legislate against geography\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

13-A\nis a death-trap that will make the Island of Sinhale, a Palestine in South\nAsia, balkanizing it into warring pieces, thus ending the 2,600-years old\nSinhala Buddhist civilization, a world heritage. So many fact-based essays are\navailable on the Internet demonstrating the dangers of this illegally passed,\nimmoral law. The physical geography of the island, its hydrology, ethnic\npopulation distribution map, historical, economic, and political geography, and\ngeopolitics, are all against this plan, which is based on what Colebrooke\ndesigned in 1832 as a colonial strategy to administer a rebellious Kandyan\nmindset.  Still in 1848, there was\nanother uprising with a dozen or more minor skirmishes between 1818-48. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even\nin 2021, black-white politicians have not yet digested the truth that in Ceylon\n(Sinhale) there is no ethnic problem, but a mismanagement issue of spatial\ninequity and lack of equal access of opportunity. Thus, I did not have the\nopportunities that Vigneswaran in Colombo or Michael Roberts in Galle had when\nall of us were in school. From a poor semi-urban village in Panadura, I had to\nswim against the current. In Buddhism, no two persons are the same. It is the\nsocial and physical environment that makes the difference, by providing equal\naccess to realize their different potentials via political decision-making. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-majoritarian devolution trap<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 13-A, is a devolution-trap\u201d along the lines\nof how to solve minority problems, nurtured under the divide-and-rule strategy\nof colonialism to manage ethnic groups, for the purpose of exploiting the resources\nof the colony. Now, with remote-controlled new colonialism, they come back not\nwith the bible and sword (and bottle)-arrack), but a new strain of\nnon-majoritarian solutions to protect minorities from the majority. Donald\nHorowitz, who did field work in Ceylon as a Fulbright scholar was the key\npromoter of this idea. But his concept (linked with Joseph Nye\u2019s soft power\nidea) failed in all the countries it was applied, and Sri Lanka is no\nexception. For us, it erupted with a vengeance. \nVigneswaran used the opportunity as the CM of NP to pass two dozen\nresolutions against the Sri Lankan government accusing it of a policy genocide\nagainst Tamils since 1948! Even a simple \u2018devolution\u2019 gift by Maithripala to\nallow the national anthem in Tamil ended up as one more victory for an eternal\nEelam fight. Now, it is sung in both languages in the South, but only in Tamil\nin the North. So much for the fake conciliatory bribes by the Yahapalana crowd.\nIn this regard, I feel that the research paper authored by Dr. G. H. Peiris, on\nthe subject of the failure of federalism as a remedy to ethnic conflicts, and\nthe impractical nature of it as a solution to the Sri Lankan situation,\nreprinted in the Island Newspaper (September 8-15, 2005) deserves to be\ntranslated into Sinhala and Tamil as reading material for high school and\nuniversity students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meaningful devolution-empowerment of people<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert\nBlake, Hilary Clinton, Manmohan Singh, Banki Moon, all these R2P saints fought\nfor meaningful devolution under 13-A or for police and land powers to NPC,\naccording to the father of 13-A plus in Sri Lanka, Dayan Jayatilake. Under this\nscheme, the demand by Sumanthiran and Sambandan, is for a transfer of\nlegislative power from Colombo in such a manner that it cannot be taken back\n(forever). Under 13-A, Sri Lanka is already a federal state according to a\nsupreme court decision, and any tinkering by a new set of lawyers would be a\ncase of feeding a cancer to cure it. The devolution path to a mythical Tamil\nhomeland has now to adjust to an expanding lebensraum of Vigneswaran from a\nthesis of Devanam Piyatheesan in say in 2014 to one of blessings bestowed to\nthe Island by way of five Siva lingams brought during pre-historic times in\n2020. Present day actors, politicians as well as constitution-making lawyers\nwill not be available to accommodate such dreams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decentralization or empowerment of people<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meaningful\ndevolution should be empowerment of people at the lowest spatial level\npossible, represented by our Gam Sabha system, based on the socio-economic\nTrinity of -village- water tank – and the temple. This or the Indian\nPanchayathi concept was completely missed by Horowitz and other western\nprofessors; they simply provide feedback or fodder to the R2P saints lurking in\nthe dark (for example, if Muslim corona body-burning issue becomes another July\n1983, American war ships are ready to land marines; one large school building\nwith hostel facilities was declared open recently by the American ambassador in\nKattankudy, and a second such school cum camp is on its way. Presumably, such\nfortress like building is needed to handle any future tsunami threat; this is\nthe ghost of MCC, denied). Sri Lanka\u2019s forced marriage with PCs has proven that\nit did not save people from politicians\u2019 grip. Instead, local politicians\u2019\nclass in the South, and a handful of Tamil Eelamists in the North used it as a\ngold mine gifted by Rajiv Gandhi to thrive at the expense of suffering masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montesquieu\nstanding on his head<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitalist\nrepresentative democracy has been a failed experiment in Ceylon. It was\nmismanagement, pure and simple. For 73 years it was a classic case of the tragedy\nof the commons. Politicians abused everything and anything they could touch for\nshort-term selfish gain, destroying long-term survival of the country. Party\npolitics is not suitable for Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nMontesquieu meant was the distribution of the sum total of governmental powers\nto as many spatial units as possible, and not a strict separation of powers at\nthe center as in the USA, which has now reached a laughable stage of a\nconstitutional crisis. The sovereignty of units at the small is beautiful level\nis demonstrated by the system of independence of the chief monk of a village\ntemple. As the Ven. Prof. Induragare Dhammaratana points out the surname of a\nmonk is a name of his village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmajority report of the APRC in 2006, went on to the extent of making a lunatic\nsuggestion of stationing a Tamil policeman in Sinhala villages to protect\nTamils in the South! The ethnic distribution map of Sri Lanka is like a\nscrambled egg. Thus, if what we need is village -level empowerment of people\nwith sufficient self-governing powers to handle their day-to-day affairs,\nguided by a central government. This egg comparison has now reached an\nunexpected critical level due to the revelation, that Arab funded Sharia agents\nare creating Muslim population pockets (with a war of wombs) within or near the\nSinhala villages, in a systematic fashion, with a village mosque to be used to\nstore swords, to cut grass on the premises. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part\n\u2013 B<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming out of the well from the mouth of the well<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any\nnew constitutional plan will be dead on arrival, if it is a case of applying\nlipstick to a pig. The learned lawyers need to come out of their 13-A prison or\ntunnel and do justice to all based on the Buddhist foundation of the Middle\nPath. What is the simple solution?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.\nRe-demarcate the GSN (grama seva niladharee)  boundaries using natural geographic criteria.\nWas this what the King Pandukabhaya did covering the entire island or the\npopulated portion of it? Do you believe that Prabhakaran used GSN unit as his\nspatial planning unit? I saw his land use maps on the Internet at that time.  In New Zealand, local government units are\nidentified using river basin boundaries. This is constitutionally mandated\nrequirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 R. Premadasa arbitrarily increased the number\nof GSN units from 4,000 to 14,000. When river basins (and groundwater basins\nand irrigation water tanks) are used as boundaries, the number of GSN units\nwould get drastically reduced to a reasonable number of Natural Units (this\nwould send the delimitation commission out of the business of partisan\npolitics; Having 14,000 GSN spatial units is different from having several GSNs\nin a larger Natural GSN unit). The retired geography professor C. M.\nMaddumabandara, who possesses a lifetime of knowledge and experience on this\nsubject, would be able to handle this task ASAP, if assigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\nthe lowest civil administration unit demarcated as a natural spatial unit (that\nmeans language\/religion\/race-blind), the identification of\npolitical\/administrative units needed for all other functions\/purposes becomes\na simple enterprise. For example, in the case healthcare, now there are 354 MOH\nunits in the island. What if their boundaries are aligned with Natural GSN\nboundaries? Thus, by aggregating Natural GSN unit as required, educational,\npolice, postal, disaster management etc. could follow the sustainable\ndevelopment model. On the civil administration side, a collection of Natural\nGSN units would become a divisional secretariate and they in turn forms the\ndistrict secretariate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nthe front of representative democracy one or several Natural GSN units could be\na Jana Sabha, where a set of representatives are selected on a non-party\npolitical basis. Even otherwise, the 346 Pradesheeya Sabhas and their wards\ncould be based on the basic building block of Natural GSN units. Parliamentary\nelectorates would also have natural boundaries. MCs and Urban\/Town councils\nhave wards identified on this basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private needs\/wants and public aspirations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meaningful\nempowerment of people at the Natural GSN (Jana Sabha) level is the answer to\nModi or anybody or Dayasiri Jayasekara, SLFP MP, who thinks that we should hold\nPC election because of the power of India. This has been the favorite tune of\nDayan Jayatilaka for decades. Such shallow fears are unwarranted. If Modi wants\nHindi as the Indian mouth to the world, if Tamilnad is forced to learn Hindi by\nadministrative fiat, if the Indian water development plan is reaching Tamilnad\nwith a nuclear power plant already located in the southern tip of Tamilnad, and\nif he takes Jammu and Kashmir back to an Indian Union, how could he tell us to\npave way for an Eelam in this island? Yes, India forced Nepal and Bhutan to\ndance on the Indian tune, because of their land-locked location, Mody cannot\ninterfere if we follow the Buddhist principles of governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once,\nKumar Ponnamabalam was asked to list any problems that Tamils are facing, which\nare not faced by other communities in general, he was hesitant and said, we\nTamils have aspirations. The private needs and wants of an individual (Maslow\u2019s\nhierarchy of needs) are different from aspirations, which are public or\npolitician-created dreams or myths. The trouble with aspirations is that\ndifferent aspirations of different communities are always in conflict with each\nother. For example, why does a small town like Kattankudy need over 60 (?)\nmosques? The fear of Tamils from Tamilnad pouring into a self-governing federal\nunit called NPC and pushing southward at the borders, is a life and death issue\nfor the Sinhalese. Bill Clinton once said if each ethnic group is given a\ncountry there will be 5,000 states in the world. Local and global Eelam\nsupporters believe Sri Lanka with its black-white politics is an easy target to\nachieve their aspiration of a Tamil state with the Prabhakaran flag and a UN\nseat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But,\nthe Sinhalese, Sinhala Buddhists, who did not invade or harm any other ethnic\ngroup (1983 clash was a results of JRJ\u2019s Just Society junk, while the IGP, DIGs\nand even the Chief Justice were Tamils) would not object allowing Tamil\npoliticians to achieve their cultural, social, and economic aspirations, so\nlong as it is not a cover-up for an Eelam dream. The use of language-blind,\nreligion-blind, and race-blind, civil boundary demarcation system spatially, is\nthe guarantee needed to erase the fear of balkanization the island. Similarly,\nan Eelam-bound mindset of a person, politician or a group wearing a\nThesawalamai dress, could only be erased, if he or she begins to see the ground\nreality that there are no spatial units anymore, based on language or religion.\nThis plus compulsory Tamil and Sinhala language exams from grades 4 to10 would\nend this game started during 1921-4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

C. Wijeyawickrema To:Members and secretary of the expert committee to draft a new constitutionMinister of JusticeSecretary, Ministry of JusticeSecretary, Ministry of DefenceRear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, Minister, Public SecurityEditor, Island NewspaperSagara Kariyawasam, (nl)MP, Secretary, SLPP Ladies and Gentlemen,Attempts to exhume the provincial council cadaver: a reply to Mr. Austin Fernando Introduction This letter has two purposes: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c-wijeyawickrema"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110233","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=110233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}