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Sri Lanka Peace Chief explains
the APRC, Power Sharing and the 13th Amendment
Secretary General
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process
14th January 2008
The Peace Secretariat is surprised at the barrage of criticism directed
recently at attempts to initiate a political solution to the country's
current problems through the All Party Representative Committee. This
Committee has met nearly sixty times over the last eighteen months and
has done yeoman service in attempting to achieve consensus amongst a
range of political parties with very different ideas. It is a tribute
to its Chairman, Prof Tissa Vitharana, and the participants, that they
have agreed on many factors. Some others need to be settled, but all
indications are that this will be done soon.
However, the APRC does not include all parties, and therefore implementation
of its proposals may take some time. Both the UNP and the JVP have withdrawn
from the APRC and, if any proposals require a two thirds majority of
parliament, the support of at least one of these parties will be necessary.
Whilst it is hoped that some support will be available, the lessons
of history cannot be ignored. In both her first term and her second,
President Kumaratunga thought she would get the support of the UNP for
far-reaching constitutional reforms, but this was not forthcoming.
Whilst there may have been good reason for this, the action of several
UNP members, in burning the proposals on the floor of the House in August
2000 on the grounds that they conceded too much to Tamils, speaks volumes
for the breadth and quality of the opposition that may face any proposals
put forward by the APRC.
The opposition of the UNP to President Kumaratunga's P-Toms agreement,
now forgotten by those who blame only the JVP - which resorted to a
legal remedy rather than insidious insinuation - confirms that the government
would be unwise to put all its eggs into the basket of possible UNP
support for constitutional changes.
This does not mean the government should not try, to institute such
reforms as seem desirable. But it should also activate contingency measures
to improve the situation regardless of the fate of major reform proposals.
This is what last week's discussions were about, and it is sad that
many commentators have sought to denigrate these efforts instead of
looking at what is positive about them.
In short, the government plans to work in accordance with the simplest
principles of problem solving, that any student of critical thinking
has imbibed. Regrettably critical thinking was not taught before the
nineties in Sri Lanka, so many commentators are not aware that, when
you have a big problem, it makes sense to divide it into small problems
and solve each of them as possible. Again, one needs to proceed from
what one knows, arranged systematically, to deduce what one does not
know; one proceeds from what is given, ordering it carefully, to derive
whatever more seems desirable.
Hence the sensible suggestion that the 13th Amendment, which is now
law in this country, should be activated in full. This was not done,
for a variety of reasons which should be analysed at length, though
this is not the appropriate place to do this. Suffice it to say that,
because of unwillingness on the part of many Provincial Councils to
take initiatives, accompanied by the natural unwillingness of central
government ministers to yield their prerogatives, very little that could
have been accomplished for the benefit of the people of the provinces
was achieved. At the same time the signal achievement of perhaps the
only Provincial Council Chief Minister who had far-reaching plans he
implemented systematically - namely Jayawickrema Perera of the Northwestern
Province who created what might be termed the brand Wayamba - indicates
what can be done with concerted effort.
There are several areas in which thorough implementation of the 13th
amendment will suffice to empower people in areas in which they have
previously been deprived. There are others in which appropriate regulations
can be brought, under what is termed the concurrent list, with only
a simple majority of parliament required for ratification, to increase
regional powers and ensure that these will not be trespassed upon by
the centre. Not only in areas such as Health and Education, where centralized
decision making is obviously inappropriate, but even in fields such
as Policing and Justice, the 13th amendment conferred powers that have
not been implemented.
What is the problem about implementing these? The fear perhaps is that,
after implementing these, the government will decide that nothing more
need be done.
That fear is understandable, given what happened in the past, but this
is where the APRC would also have put further proposals on the table
for consideration, proposals which it will not then be possible to ignore.
The point is, if those further proposals cannot be implemented, immediately
or even later, it is ridiculous to prevent some good being done on the
grounds that better might just conceivably be possible.
Many years ago, there was a joke in circulation about a five story
building in which women could shop for husbands. If they did not want
someone from the first floor, they could go up to the second and so
on, with the guarantee that what was on offer would get better. The
only constraint was that they could not go back. So the first floor
had loving husbands, the second rich and loving husbands, the third
handsome and rich and loving husbands, the fourth sensitive and handsome
and rich and loving husbands.
Naturally, the woman about whom the story is told went up to the fifth
floor. There was a sign there that said that she was the three hundred
and fifty thousandth seven hundred and ninety third woman to come to
the fifth floor, which showed that some women could never be satisfied.
The TNA may not have a choice, as to whether or not they can accept
a compromise. But it is to be hoped that not all commentators, national
and international, are quite like the apocryphal woman of this story.
Prof Rajiva Wijesinha
Secretary General
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process
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