Common Candidate Debate: Invoking Common People’s Power Against An Evil System
Athula Samarakoon
Local Buddhists believe that when the king, the ruler, is not righteous (dharmika), the three fears (thun biya) – epidemics, starvation and evil spirits – can take place in the country. Therefore, a Dharmika king is considered a blessing for the state in Buddhism. However, the irony is that the local Buddhists, with this great knowledge in them, largely have kept electingadharmika (unrighteous) kings (omnipotent executive presidents); or perhaps, the kings (executive presidents) who promised to be righteous have ended up being more Adharmika. So the Lankan society and its people exist with fears of diverse nature for long under different kings and queens (executive presidents) elected under the Constitution of 1978.
There is little hope that a single party or an individual can save the people from the fears they are engulfed with under the existing undemocratic conditions. More than the individual who would assume the kingship or the Presidency it is the institution that we need to reform immediately. Therefore, our basic problem today is how to go back to democracy from existing authoritarian conditions emanating from the system without changing the system itself. Will it be possible through a process of constitutional amendments including the abolishing of the executive presidential system? Certainly the civil society seems to think positively of it. According to prominent exponents of this argument, normalcy in governance can be brought back to the political process provided the authoritarian political system is transformed by constitutional means. Who would do it, if major parties have failed to do it so far? Here comes an eminent local follower of the Buddha, Rev. Sobhitha, at a time of this great ‘thun-biya’ affecting the nation.
