Shame
Dr. Chamindra Weerawardhana
Writing about the current political crisis in Sri Lanka on 30th October 2018, this writer noted: we do not want state power – in one of Asia’s oldest democracies and in a place where the Constitution and the Rule of Law ‘matter’ – to go to the hands of vain and mediocre village thugs whose only priority is to establish a dynastic dictatorship.
The significance of this point was amply clarified in Parliament on the 15thand 16th of November 2018.
Let’s keep it simple: Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was appointed Prime Minister on 26th October 2018 in the most disgraceful manner, has no parliamentary majority. Ranil Wickremesinghe, for his part, has a clear parliamentary majority. Sensible people in Rajapaksa’s own camp, including the likes of Kumara Welgama MP, have clearly emphasised the need to respect the parliamentary majority.
This is precisely what the orchestrators of the 26th November coup are unwilling to do. It is by now clear that the President is hell-bent on pursuing his agenda of maintaining Mahinda Rajapaksa’s premiership and the 30-member cabinet he recently appointed, until Parliament is dissolved. His objective, as many analysts have rightly highlighted, is that of securing a second presidential term at any cost. This means that there is, unfortunately, a likelihood that the violent scenes of 15th and 16thNovember 2018 will be repeated in more violent forms at the forthcoming parliamentary sessions.
Legislature violated
The legislature is a place for legislators. It is a place where the spoken word primes. It is a place where parliamentary language has to prevail. It is a place where parliamentary procedures and best practice must be followed at all times.
A platform of this nature is not one for politically illiterate village thugs, who navigate the political sphere through petty manoeuvring. Such individuals holding sway in the legislature has in fact been the biggest threat to Sri Lankan democracy.
Sensible advice ignored
There appears to be a segment within the Rajapaksa family that understands the current situation, and concur that the most advisable step is for Mahinda to step down, and take to the opposition benches, thereby accepting the fact that Mahinda does not command a parliamentary majority at this point of time. Indeed, this would have given the SLPP tremendous leeway at the next elections, as it provides them with the opportunity of mounting a strong challenge against the UNF, also capitalising upon the fact that they abided by democratic best practice in a situation of acute political crisis.
However, this strategic insight has been categorically ignored by the tactless village thugs who form the large majority of the Rajapaksa camp. Many of who orchestrated the coup, (such as an MP who lost the 2015 general election in the Nuwara Eliya District but was taken in through the back door), are known for their lack of any scruple in their power games. Having worked with Chandrika Kumaratunga in her 1993 provincial council and 1994 general and presidential campaigns, the aforementioned individual emerged as a leading figure during Kumaratunga’s first term of office. The presence of individuals of this nature was a key factor that eventually stained Kumaratunga’s presidency [for example, those who recall may recall the electoral violence unleashed during an infamous Wayamba Provincial Council election].
