Why Do We Need a New Constitution?
If the constitution is drafted on a future vision, justifiable on ethical, moral and practical grounds, it would last and it would be easily approved by ‘We the people.’
by Laksiri Fernando
( January 4, 2015, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) Constitutional making in a polarized society is not an easy task. I prefer to use the term ‘polarized society’ than a ‘divided or a deeply divided society,’ with a cautiously optimistic note. Sri Lanka unfortunately is still polarized not only in ethnic but also in political terms, like many other countries in the region. However, as the two elections last year (presidential and parliamentary) and the current ‘national unity’ government, of course mainly the UNP and the SLFP, show there are some possible consensus on a New Constitution, yet uneasy.