Constitutional Reform In Sri Lanka: Issues And Prospects
Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne PC
Amirthalingam Memorial Oration, 12 July 2014, London
Let me begin by thanking the UK branch of the Tamil United Liberation Front for inviting me to deliver the Amirthalingam Memorial Oration on the occasion of the 25th death anniversary of the late Appapillai Amirthalingam, lawyer, parliamentarian, Leader of the Opposition in the Sri Lankan Parliament from 1977 to 1983 and leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF).
Appapillai Amirthalingam
Unlike earlier leaders of the Tamil parties, the late Amirthalingam came from a middle-class background and also dabbled in Left politics. I remember him saying at the funeral of Dr. N. M. Perera that he had attended Marxist study classes taken by Dr. Perera while he was a student in the University of Ceylon. He represented the Vaddukkodai constituency in the Sri Lankan Parliament from 1956 to 1970 and the Kankasanthurai constituency from 1977 until 1983 when he refused to take the anti-separatist oath under the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution brought in following the tragic events of July 1983. He returned to Parliament in 1989 but was assassinated along with Yogeswaran, a fellow TULF member, on 13 July 1989, exactly 25 years ago. He was neither the first nor the last Tamil politician to be killed by the Tamil Tigers (LTTE).
From 1977 to 1983, he was also the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, the first Tamil to hold the position. He performed his role with great acceptance. I remember the excellent speeches he and the late Sivasithamparam made during the debate on the Code of Criminal Procedure Bill. He opposed the imposition of civic disabilities on Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike. At the Kalawana by-election, he supported Sarath Muttettuwegama of the Communist Party.
The topic of my presentation today is ‘Constitutional Reform in Sri Lanka: Issues and Prospects’. In my view, the main constitutional issues to be addressed today in Sri Lanka are democratization and ethnic peace. Unfortunately, there is little democratic space today in Sri Lanka even for a discourse on constitutional reform.
