Introduce A Bill In Parliament To Repeal The 18th Amendment

By R.M.B Senanayake -November 9, 2014

R.M.B. Senanayake

It is becoming clear that the next Presidential election will be held in January 2015 or so. The Opposition is seeking to field a common candidate with a single issue which is the abolition of the Executive Presidency. But the President is seeking to counter the demand by justifying it as necessary to deal with a resuscitation and revival of the demand for a separate State or Eelam. Mahinda Rajapaksa seems to expect just that despite the denial of the TNA. He can ensure that it happens by continuing the military occupation of the North. Such a revival will justify his stand.

In almost every other civil conflict and even wars between States, a conflict is ended by a Peace Treaty where the winner and loser will discuss the terms. The winner of course has the stronger bargaining power. Such a peace treaty binds both parties to the conflict to eschew violence and accept the status quo or negotiate for a change acceptable t both parties. But MR missed the opportunity to do so. Instead he launched on a massive program to restore the infrastructure destroyed by the war- a destruction which was due both to the Army and the LTTE. In fairness both parties should have shared the cost of the reconstruction. But the government foolishly took over the entire burden. So it used funds which could have been used more equitably in the whole country to restore the infrastructure in the North. Now it wants to spend on an expressway for the North. The President seems to have thought he can win the votes of the Tamil people by such investments as happens in the South. The TNA MP Mr. Sumanthiran in a recent speech in Parliament said the Tamils were not fooled. They looked on and then voted for the TNA and not the UPFA. The bible says man does not live by bread alone. Once man’s basic needs are satisfied he wants personal freedom. The military occupation in the north deprives them of this basic freedom and the President probably expects that someday the worm will turn as happened in the late 1970s. So the President’s justification of the Executive Presidency may have its own logic. He may even wish that such a struggle would take place soon to vindicate him. But if he wants to resolve the ethnic problem and ensure peace then he could still discuss the terms of a peace agreement with the TNA who are the representatives of the Tamil people. But the President has shunted the issue to a Parliamentary Select Committee which can deliberate as long as it likes. The TNA naturally wants direct talks with the Government. So a perfect stalemate for the President who seems not to worry about the need for a peace agreement.Read More