{"id":83199,"date":"2018-11-14T20:29:58","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T02:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=83199"},"modified":"2018-11-14T03:30:32","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T10:30:32","slug":"at-last-the-president-has-taken-the-best-decision-to-solve-the-present-political-crisis-allowing-the-people-to-sort-it-out-peacefully-and-democratically-in-the-interest-of-the-country-and-the-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/11\/14\/at-last-the-president-has-taken-the-best-decision-to-solve-the-present-political-crisis-allowing-the-people-to-sort-it-out-peacefully-and-democratically-in-the-interest-of-the-country-and-the-people\/","title":{"rendered":"At Last the President has taken the best decision to solve the present political crisis allowing the people to sort it out peacefully and democratically in the interest of the country and the people, when RW opts for a blood bath uprising to keep him in power by calling his butterfly supporters to stage a nationwide protest for 13 days.\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Sudath Gunasekara<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

12.11. 2018.<\/p>\n

Since I am not a lawyer I do not propose to comment on the legal side of this issue. I leave it for legal luminaries to do that job. But as a layman and a retired senior public servant and also as an apolitical man who puts the country and its people first, I have the right to express my personal opinion.<\/p>\n

Regarding the now confused legal opinion, suffice it to say the President\u2019s decision to dissolve the Parliament in terms of the powers vested in him by the Constitution of the Republic under 33 (2) and Sec70 and furthermore the Supreme Court decision 2015 April on the 19th<\/sup> Amendment is conclusively legitimate and constitutional that no court can challenge. It is also should be noted that powers reposed by the Constitution in a President directly elected by the people cannot be removed by an act of Parliament as he is not elected by it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That could be done only by a referendum<\/p>\n

However legal opinion on either side of the political divide is, as usual, divided on this Issue.\u00a0 They perhaps look at it from their own perspectives and party affiliations more than the sanctity of the law or justice for the people. Moreover lawyers always argue tooth and nail to prove their preconceived point of perception to safeguard their personal interests rather than the client\u2019s interests. When they fail to convince court through legal arguments they resort to subtle legal points to prove their point, the ordinary man cannot understand and where even the judges get confused at times. Finally judgments in courts all over the world are given the way the Judge sees or understands as right and proved. The question of whether that is the right or the wrong judgment is immaterial once it is given and it remains the judgment. Apparently there is no room to punish a judge for a wrong judgment either. Of cause the aggrieved party can go for an appeal even though one cannot have full hope to win. On the other hand even the judges could be influenced either by bribe or by appealing to their emotions. This reminds me of the story of an American judge who was used to declare any one coming before him convicted, one day suddenly found change his attitude and was going all out to defend the accused, to find that, that day the accused was his own son. This may be why I think the common adage that the \u2018law is an ass\u2019 has come to stay in the present day society.<\/p>\n

These intricacies also remind me of the judicial process that comes in the celebrated Ummagga Jataka story in the days of the Mahasudha Panditha. In the Jataka story the adjudications were done personally by the judge based only on the direct evidence available. The prosecution, defense and the judge-all three were in one man. There were no defense or prosecution lawyers either. Isn\u2019t it a socially and culturally a worthy exercise to explore the possibility of introducing such a system in litigation at least in countries like ours brought up in a tradition completely different from the western legal tradition as an experiment? \u00a0But of cause in present day society the probability of getting judges of the character and caliber of Mahusadha is almost zero.<\/p>\n

In present day court proceedings usually both the prosecution and defense are represented by lawyers. They argue in court for money and not for justice. As such most judicial decisions are conditioned by factors like money, the cleverness of lawyer\u2019s submissions or the personal convictions of judges. As such since there is a very big margin of risk in an unjust judgment being delivered? Therefor the safest and the best solution in my opinion is to go for General elections or a referendum so that the people with whom sovereignty lies can directly decides without depending on their unreliable and corrupted representatives in Parliament. To buy over few MPP as required to form the majority in the present day context is very simple. But you can\u2019t buy the people of a whole country.<\/p>\n

To digress I propose to make few observations as an ordinary but responsible citizen concerned about the good of the country and the people, in the following pages particularly for the benefit of the general public.<\/p>\n

Why it should not be left to the present Parliament to decide on this all important national issue <\/strong><\/p>\n

First and foremost the present parliament has no legitimate mandate to sit on judgment on this type of broader national issues that decides the fate of the nation for the following reasons.<\/p>\n

1 The present Parliament is obsolete as the mandate it is supposed to have got deceptively in August 2015 is now outdated as the results of the 2018 Feb 10th<\/sup> Local Government elections have completely nullified it. I presume that 50 % voted for them in August dropped down to even less that 30 % in Feb 2018. I guess it could be even less now perhaps around 20% or even less. As such the wishes of the majority of people are not represented in the present Parliament. It was clearly displayed at the 2018 Feb Local Government elections where the RW camp was reduced to mere 32 % of the total voted in the country whereas MR and MS Camps together polled 54 %. Any court of law cannot ignore this hard fact\u00a0\u00a0 which is an irrefutable ground reality.<\/p>\n

2 Most of the MPP of the present Parliament are illegally appointed persons. 29 of them have been appointed through the so-called national list. They are either defeated candidates at the August election or political stooges picked by dirty political manipulations whereas the purpose of the National list was to bring in men and women who have rendered a distinguished service to the country. Therefore they are not at all representatives of the people whose sovereignty they are supposed to uphold and protect. They only represent their own interests and those of their corrupt leaders who appointed them. To that extent they are a bunch of undemocratically placed men and women.<\/p>\n

3 All these fellows could be easily bought over by bribe as they are there only to make money and never to serve the people or the country and not answerable to the people either.<\/p>\n

4 The appointments of the PM, Leader of the Opposition and even the Chief Organizer of the Opposition in this Parliament were illegal and unconstitutional. Therefore the legality of the whole Parliament is\u00a0\u00a0 highly questionable.<\/p>\n

5 The behavior of the Speaker of the House is also not democratic. He does not know his role either in the house or outside and always acts partially and behave like the speaker for the UNP and its Deputy leader in the House rather than the Speaker of the Parliament and who always takes the side of the UNP is also not consistent with the supreme parliamentary traditions.<\/p>\n

6 Furthermore even those other elected MPP are not true representatives of the people of any electorate although the 196 electorates are demarcated with the basic principle of electing representatives to Parliament to represent the voters of such electorates actually they do not represent their electorates. Firstly they represent the districts and not the electorates as laid down in the principle of electoral division thereby making democracy a mockery. Secondly the elected are mostly outsiders and not residents of the particular electorates. Thirdly all of them are only nominees of the Party leaders very often out siders who have nothing to do with the electorates they are supposed to be representing in the Legislature. One could argue that since they were elected under the proportional and preferential system under the Constitution their membership in the legislature is legal. But yet the fact remains that they were not directly representing the local people of the respective electorates.\u00a0 They represent only their party leaders and themselves. This is a new kind of democracy peculiar to Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

7 As such how can one expect this Parliament and its proceedings to be legitimate and constitutional?<\/p>\n

8 To this extent I raise the very vital question as to what extent the constitution of the present Parliament is democratic in the first place.\u00a0\u00a0 Does it actually represent the peoples will?\u00a0 The answer in my opinion is not at all. Therefore their being in Parliament is undemocratic and illegal.<\/p>\n

Secondly the 2015 Local Government elections results have very clearly nullified the 201August mandate. Therefore those who got elected or appointed to Parliament in 2015 have ceased to be true representatives of the people long before the President sacked RW as PM.<\/p>\n

In my opinion therefore if RW pretends to be a democratic leader he should have resigned immediately after the 2015 Local Government elections. At least he should have stepped down from the Party Leadership giving room for someone who is capable of leading it. He didn\u2019t and he waited until he was sacked and kicked out. Even after he was kicked out this man is still sticking on like a leach to Temple Trees Therefore if he has an atom of self-respect and decency at least now when he is legally sacked owing to his miserable record as the PM he should honorably go home. Obviously he is no more the PM of this country. He ceased to be so on the 18th of October 2018. As such he should immediately leave the Temple Trees, the Official residence of the legally appointed Prime minister without behaving like a child crying for the spilt milk to draw the attention of his Western friends at the expense of the innocent people of this country without creating an artificial state of anarchy in the country as if the reign f anarchy he \u00a0steered for the past\u00a0 4 years is not enough.<\/p>\n

The whole country knows that he has been the miserable Leader not only who ruined the country but also completely ruined the UNP that provided bread and butter for him for over 4 decades beyond recovery. The fact that three is not a single man or woman in the UNP to take over as its future leader in spite of its countrywide losses at 29 elections under his miserable leadership alone is enough for him to be sacked from the Party. I pity those who still want to keep him as their Leader and I am lost to understand as to what their heads contain if they have any. In this backdrop I see the present UNP as a\u00a0\u00a0 corpse without a head.<\/p>\n

Under such unprecedented inconsistencies, risks and un certainties, as I see it,\u00a0 going for general elections or a referendum is the best option as you cannot bribe the whole country unlike a few self-centered power and money hungry MPP in Parliament. This is particularly relevant to our present parliament as most of the MPP there are illegally appointed persons come through the back door purely through\u00a0\u00a0 treacherous political manipulations and therefore don\u2019t care a damn for the people.<\/p>\n

Ranil urges public to continue 13-day protest against corrupt dictatorship Ranil Wickramasinha and Karu Jayasuriya the Speaker continue to behave like children crying foul to get the attention and sympathy of the people and their so-called International friends.\u00a0 Moreover the way how RW sticks to Temple trees and also talks with unbelievable confidence even when 70% of the people in this country excluding\u00a0\u00a0 his own party men on his leadership are not with him, I also suspect some big international support and another conspiracy just like in 2015 to keep him in power as their darling.<\/p>\n

In this backdrop the President has taken the most appropriate decision by dissolving the Parliament so that the people with whom the country\u2019s sovereignty is deposed can select and elect their true representatives, a new Parliament and a new Government \u00a0to end four years of absolute state of anarchy \u00a0so that firstly,\u00a0 people of this country can get relieved of uncertainty and confusion and the country can once again forge ahead with peace and sanity towards political stability, social and economic prosperity.<\/p>\n

That is the only way to end the present political impasse and the current state of anarchy brought about by an undemocratically and illegally constituted Parliament and manipulated by power hungry and self-seeking political leadership at home and conspirator foreign powers and to restore sanity and peace to the Motherland and its people.<\/p>\n

I only hope and wish the Supreme Court will take these in to consideration when it delivers its final judgment on the dissolution of Parliament by the President in the broader interest of the future of the country and its people<\/p>\n

So that it will bring this unfortunate situation immediately to an end and pave the way to change the prevailing corrupt system of Government by the politicians, for the politicians and of the politicians and replace<\/strong> it with a\u00a0\u00a0 government of the people, by the people and of the people where the age old Buddhist concepts of good governance of dhammena pare ranjetiti Raja and Bahujana hitaya bahujana sukhaya\u201d are enshrined once again on this land of righteousness.\u00a0 The wheel of power should revolve on the wheel of Dhamma as it had been so for the past 2600 years on this Islan<\/p>\n

It is uncivilized, barbaric and despotic for unpatriotic politicians to hang on to power for their own benefit and personal aggrandizement totally ignoring the wishes of the people.<\/p>\n

PS<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was written before the Supreme Court decision was announced. Now under the new situation unfortunately we have to wait and see what next.<\/p>\n

But one thing is certain. The country has now fallen even from the frying-pan to the fire. It is utterly chaotic and confusing to see. No one can say what is going to happen next. It is so unpredictable and unimaginable. I feel the whole country is caught in a disastrous mega tempest at mid sea.\u00a0 It appears that no one in authority is concerned about the plight of the country or the people. They are concerned only about their own power, vanity and gain. Curse be on all those who brought about this disastrous situation to this country.<\/p>\n

Although the SC has issued an interim order to take more time to hear the case, I don\u2019t think it will suspend elections in view of the chaotic situation that might follow in the country. I only pray and wish the SC will seriously take in to consideration the actual ground political situation in delivering its final verdict. Assuming that elections will be held sooner than later I propose that election should be held on the first-past the post system for the 196 electoral districts and suspend the appointment of 29 nominated MPP on the National list. In the event the 29 list cannot be suspended I suggest it be filled by appointing only people who have rendered a distinguished service to the country in some professional fields.\u00a0 That will firstly eliminate undesirable people getting in to the Parliament through the infamous national list and will also enhance the quality of House.\u00a0 Even if the elections are held this way the UNP will not get more than 17 seats under RW\u2019s leadership. If the leadership is replaced with Sajith they might get about 30 seats the most in the 196 Parliament. If elections are held under the PR system this could be slightly higher.\u00a0 Nevertheless a repeat of 1956 for the UNP cannot be avoided in any case, going by the ground situation created by RW during the past few years.<\/p>\n

I also propose the SLPP nominate at least one new outstanding candidate of impeccable character and\u00a0\u00a0 proven quality who can command the respect and support of the people so that they could vote with\u00a0\u00a0 new hopes for better democracy and good governance. In the event the SLPP leadership takes this suggestion and conduct the election in the proper manner I can predict it can hit the target of over 150 seats in the next Parliament to secure the 2\/3 so that it can have a strong and stable Government without \u00a0wooing the communal minorities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Sudath Gunasekara 12.11. 2018. Since I am not a lawyer I do not propose to comment on the legal side of this issue. I leave it for legal luminaries to do that job. But as a layman and a retired senior public servant and also as an apolitical man who puts the country and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sudath-gunasekara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83199","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=83199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}