19 A: Banalities, Incongruities & A Few Positive Proposals
Sumanasiri Liyanage
Once again I have to depend on the legal draft of the 19th Amendmentpublished in the Colombo Telegraph. Moreover, I am forced to assume this is authentic document although Sri Lankan press has yet to come out with the full document.
There is a Turkish poem the authorship of which has been attributed wrongly to many people, including William Shakespeare and Bob Marley. The poem reads like this:
You say that you love rain, but you open your umbrella when it rains.
You say that you love the sun, but you find a shadow spot when the sun shines.
You say that you love the wind, but you close your windows when wind blows.
This is why I am afraid, you say that you love me too.
You say that you love the sun, but you find a shadow spot when the sun shines.
You say that you love the wind, but you close your windows when wind blows.
This is why I am afraid, you say that you love me too.
We witnessed somewhat similar happening two weeks ago. Many politicians informed in public that they loved Senaka Bibile drug policy. But when they got a chance to implement it, they looked for a cover and Minister Rajitha Senaratna introduced a caricature of it. Similarly, during the election campaign we heard in many an occasion a praise for Dr N M Perera’s critique of the 1978 Constitution and a promise to draft an amendment incorporating his views. Fifty days after the Presidential Election we saw a legal draft of the19th Amendment that almost totally disregarded N M’s visionary critique of the 1978 Constitution.
What is included in the draft 19th Amendment to the Second Republic Constitution of 1978 may be divided into two sub categories. Before I turn to them it is essential to discuss noticeable “silences”. However, what the 19th Amendment is silent about is as important as what is present in it. It is imperative to note that if someone is seeking changes to the state structure making it more democratic and ensuring good and accommodative governance while totally disregarding the national question that is one of the key issues that has been flagged in the constitutional discourse since the early 1980s, it is nothing but hypocrisy. Dr N M Perera referring to some positive features of the Constitution of 1978 on the issue of language wrote: “Chapter iv no longer satisfies. What might have satisfied the Tamil community twenty years back [he referred to parity status to which the Lanka Samasamaja Party fought for] cannot be adequate twenty years later. Other concessions along the lines of regional autonomy will have to be in the offing if healthy and harmonious relations are to be regained” (A Critical Analysis of the 1978 Constitution, 2013, p. 16). Ironically, even after 60 years, the so-called guardian of democracy have not even given an iota of attention to this burning issue. Silences more than what is present speak louder. Should the Tamil National Alliance and Muslim Congress vote for the 19th Amendment as it is without proposing an amendment incorporating the respective demands of the numerically small communities/ nations?
Two issues that have been attempted to address by the draft 19th Amendment are (1) the changes to the executive presidential system and (2) the changes to ensure good governance.
