Democracy under House arrest

LAW OF THE LAND: While republicans playing realpolitik have undermined the people’s mandate,

democracy under siege begs the question of who owns the House. The President has proven craven to summon Parliament and its Speaker has proceeded painfully pragmatically. They are all ‘honourable men’ as a poetic satire on another murderous coup had it. If only lawmakers weren’t such asses, a Parliament of fowls could have convened and partisan plotters across the political spectrum would have nothing demonstrable to crow about but their commodity as a constitutional crutch for lame-duck democrats.

 Monday, 5 November 2018

At a recent launch of another of its public interest initiatives, Verité Research asked the provocative question: “Who owns the audience?” It was in relation to the media, and the Colombo-based think tank was seeking to keep the reading and viewing public informed about press ownership. In its exercise in educating a surprisingly naïve consumer in this internet-savvy age, the Media Ownership Monitor (MOM) sought to show the nexus between who owns the media houses. And thereby commands the confidence of a majority of households – to borrow terminology from the dominant discourse making headlines these days.

Of course, MOM needs to nuance our understanding of media ethics and professionalism by factoring the journalistic prerogative into the equation. Ownership is not necessarily the only indicator of where a media house’s allegiances lie – be they simply economic or purely political. In both of these ‘disciplines’ (and I don’t use the word advisedly), things are rarely pure and never simple!

And to the dichotomy of owner-consumer, one must add the dark horse of editorial prerogatives. Many media houses (e.g. Leader Publications) have foundered between the rock of proprietorial imperatives and the hard place of editorial impunity. A few newbies on the block – or perhaps they’re Trojan horses, or phoenix-like resurrections of previous incarnations of leading media houses under fresh banners or false colours – may prove the pundits wrong. It may be possible, after all, for a publisher to be blatantly partisan, yet for its editorial line to sail between the Scylla of ‘accuracy’ and the Charybdis of ‘complete truth’.

But I sense your impatience. And I, like wily Odysseus, am prone to get carried away. Because the far more interesting and arguably important question on everyone’s mind these days is: “Who owns the legislature?”


Who owns the House?

The incumbent President thinks he owns it. And he has demonstrated, in dismaying but no uncertain terms, a cavalier approach to democratic-republicanism. Of late, he has ignored the once-tangible majority of his embattled Prime Minister. He has prorogued a perfectly serviceable Parliament for personal, partisan and self-serving reasons, and has played ducks and drakes with the people’s will, by refusing to settle on an acceptable deadline to convene the House again so that the question of the day can be settled in a palpable way.

The Honourable Speaker – and they are all ‘honourable men’, these occupants of that other ‘House by the lake’ – feels he could or should own it. He could own it, he feels, if only the Sangha would approve his immediate summoning of dismissed legislators, into an extraordinary but legal sitting. For the sad truth about our supposedly secular Republic is that democracy is too often exercised at the will and pleasure of prelates who don’t always pound the pulpit on Dhamma. But rather they bend to the will, or bend the wills, of politicos under their thumb – to protect populism, particularity and ethnic exceptionalism. The Buddha’s path may be the middle one. But those like the Honourable Speaker – who strive to stay in the middle of the road for the sake of pragmatism and survival, as much as perhaps opportunistic politics – may get run over. And more is the pity … because in a milieu where contesting parties have not sought the opinion and relief of the courts, the Speaker (a mute one) should have acted with greater despatch to speedily resolve the question du jour.


Yes, Prime Minister (but also no)! 

A brace of Prime Ministers feel and think that they own Parliament without a shadow of a doubt.

One asserts he still carries the mandate of the people, and that his ostensible ouster was both illegal and unconstitutional – shades of Democracy unfazed. The other asseverates that the law is an ass, that the mandate was botched, and that he must ride into the lists as the saviour of Mother Lanka yet again – the shade of Dutugemunu unflushable.

Both political party machines have worked overtime to convince themselves, and their respective stakeholders, that their Members of Parliament do, in fact, command a majority in the House. And the strident number-crunching of faithful supporters at the other/original ‘House by the Lake’ as well as in the ‘free media’ begs the question of “who owns the audience?”


Ladders for MP-monkeys

A cabal of questionable Parliamentarians also think and feel that they might stake a claim to owning the House. Some have not counted the cost and crossed over. Their consciences may be clarified by the unbearable lightness of being escorted to the bank, smiling beamingly all the way.

Other posturing democrats of the moment have shouted ‘Wolf! Wolf!’ for all and sundry to hear. But to date, as at the time of writing this on Sunday afternoon, the Parliamentarian who alleged that he was bribed to the tune of $2.8 million has not named names. And I’ll eat my hat if he can be persuaded to apprise the Bribery Commission who his moral subverter is: per the law, which he should know, being something of a lawmaker himself.


Coup de main

A strongman knows he owns the House. And not by dint of being a member of it. But by virtue of his gallantry at war and generalship over matters military. So rather than leave the legislature and its agency to resolve the present political impasse, the former senior bureaucrat paid a brief but pointed visit to the beleaguered Prime Minister, perhaps seeking to beard the lion in his own den. (Well, its ownership is debatable?)

To me, this is what’s rotten about Sri Lankan politics. On top of an unpopular President seeking to possibly extend his term through an execrable exercise in realpolitik, the unconstitutional coup does not hesitate to bring to bear what it suspects will be a big gun on a sitting-duck target. At the time of going to press, the ostensibly ‘ousted’ Premier was standing his ground. Or as the alternative press would have it, ducking the issue and going to ground like foxes have holes.

Which reminds me: there is a veritable fifth column in the venerable fourth estate. A sort of executive branch (it thinks or feels), which can or must legislate over the free media. In a pompous diktat that violates the ethics of professional reporting as much as the political coup undermines the fabric of democracy, these latter-day republicans have dared to lay down the law to those who would speak truth to power. Don’t be fooled, it booms: this is not a ‘power struggle’ but a ‘coup attempt’! Well, can’t it be both? As much as a former president can be both ‘strongman’ and ‘alleged war criminal’? Don’t be misled, it thunders: the incumbent PM was not ‘ousted’. Well, de facto he was – even though de jure he wasn’t. Be that as it may, let the free media stand clear and hold its own line, amid the patronising attempts of purportedly patriotic kaffeeklatsch cocktail-circuit campaigners to dictate terms to it.


Global plots

Yon international community thinks they own our sovereign legislature. Old-school Brits have thumped the tub of democracy. Nouveau-riche Americans will go with the populist majority, it seems. India may have none too subtly inveigled Rajapaksa, Bros. & Son, courtesy a photo op, twin saatakayas and all. China, in the long run, might prove to have the deepest pockets of them all. Still not sure if it was the Seychelles trip that sealed Sri Lanka’s fate and sovereignty – if you know what I mean …
Last but by no means least, a 

Parliament of fowls crows over their ownership of the House: we few, we happy few! Pity that these 225 MPs often can’t remember whose mandate placed their largely undignified fundaments in that august assembly, in the first place. Some disgusted democrats have resigned themselves to fate by suggesting we don’t vote at the next election – because there is no guarantee that the people’s will shall be done (by writ of law, since an ex-CJ determined that MPs could crossover mid-parliament, or by dint of conscience, since so many legislators are hardly law-abiding or halfway loyal to the electorates). Rage, I say, against the dying of that light! – be it at Liberty Roundabout Demonstrations or at social media barricades!


Coup de grace 

In all of this, in a reversal of Yeats’ maxim, the worst lack all conviction, while the best are full of passionate intensity. One of them observed, insistently: “Parliament is supreme! Let it decide!” Yes, but who owns the souls of those 225 MPs? Can we trust them to keep their mandates? Or will they act pragmatically, and perhaps cravenly, to ensure their pensions and secure positions, not safeguard a nation’s posterity? And just whose sovereignty is Parliament going to protect in these times when a seat in that once august assembly is such a saleable commodity?

An ardent democratic-republican who has set his face like flint against the coup told me: “I think I’d be fine for MR to be appointed PM if Parliament declared its confidence in him.” But I’m not sure if someone in the camp of the coup-plotters would be so sanguine if the House were to rule otherwise. And to judge by the choleric outbursts of its cronies, defenders of the democratic-republican persuasion cannot afford to be phlegmatic. Problem is, the best of them too are blatantly partisan. And their agitation on behalf of an ‘ousted’ Prime Minister (sorry, SriLankaCampaign) is in danger of returning a moral mandate to a man and a movement that has seemed little interested in the democratic project of late. It makes me melancholic enough to feel and think one gerontocratic gentleman is no better than the other plutocratic kleptocrat. (Ah, bet you can’t tell which is which!)

I, for one, have had it up to here with ‘strongmen’ (sorry again) as much as would-be ‘statesmen’. But the House is bought and owned in one way or another by their respective henchmen. So if Parliamentarians are enabled by supreme writ to change their minds midstream, we the people must be afforded the same courtesy – to withdraw our mandates we gave them at the last election. And the next, it seems, is too far away and too long to wait for.     

 (Wijith DeChickera is a journalist, writer, and Editor-at-large at LMD.)

MARA –SIRA junta ditched and demolished! 121 members oppose the synthetic P.M.’s appointment in parliament – JVP,TNA and UNF act in unison !!! (Video)

(Lanka e News – 03.Nov.2018, The party leaders and MPs who met at the parliamentary complex yesterday at the invitation of the speaker defeated the anti- state traitorous conspiracy of MARA –SIRA as not official , thereby confirming the MARA –SIRA junta cannot come even close to their much sought 113 members.

125 members in writing handed over letters to the speaker stating that the appointment of Mahinda Rajapakse as Prime minister by the president is unconstitutional and illegal . 121 members personally arrived in parliament to express their opposition openly and directly to safeguard Democracy , and oppose the appointment of the synthetic prime minister .

Party Leaders of TNA , JVP and UNF were among the 121 members who participated .

The speaker who contacted the MPS informed them the president has requested to re convene parliament on the 7th. However the speaker had told them whether the president re convenes or not , he is empowered to re convene parliament on the 7 th.

The speaker had also invited all the party leaders to attend an unofficial meeting this afternoon at 2.30 to prepare an agenda paper along with the support of the party leaders to stabilize the country .

‘It is our government still. We have 123 with us . We are telling the officers who are abiding by illegal orders will be chased out by us’ warned Mangala Samaraweera.

Video footage of the meeting is hereunder 

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by     (2018-11-03 11:21:42)

Parliamentary Democracy At Peril: Karu Left With Two Options

By Rasika Jayakody –NOVEMBER 4, 2018

Rasika Jayakody

Sri Lanka’s proud history of Parliamentary democracy is now at peril with President Maithripala Sirisena grossly violating the constitution by appointing a Prime Minister who has failed to demonstrate a Parliamentary majority. He has exacerbated the subsequent political crisis by proroguing Parliament without any consultation with the Speaker, once again in contravention of the constitution.

As a result, the country, which has a history of long and unbroken constitutional democracy, is now on the verge of an unprecedented public unrest. The ousted Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has defied the President’s order and continues to occupy the official residence of the Prime Minister at Temple Trees, with throngs of party supporters protecting him day in and day out. Persistent calls by the international community, civil organisations and political parties to convene Parliament immediately to discuss the crisis has fallen on deaf ears as the President adamantly continues his course of action.

On Friday, 118 MPs gathered in a committee room of the Parliament to pass a resolution against former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s appointment as the Prime Minister and the continued prorogation of Parliament. The United National Party (UNP), the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC), the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) unanimously supported the resolution urging Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to act on it immediately. In response, the Speaker told the parliamentarians that the President assured him he would reconvene Parliament on November 07, and promised to issue a gazette notification pertaining to the convention of the House, before the weekend.

There have been shocking revelations of attempts to bribe parliamentarians into switching allegiance since the day of the prorogation. UNP Parliamentarian Palitha Range Bandara informed the Speaker that he was offered USD 2.8 million to support former President Rajapaksa and has now released recordings of the attempted deal into the public domain.It is crystal clear that the enormous trust the public has placed in their lawmakers is being brazenly and unapologetically traded, a mockery of the concept of parliamentary democracy.

As of Saturday night, there was no sign of the gazette and the UNP MPs have already threatened to force open the doors of the legislature on November 07 and conduct Parliament themselves should the President fail to convene Parliament without delay. This is a serious threat and does not augur well for rule of law, peace and stability.

One man who holds the key to lead the country out of the current political and constitutional deadlock is Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, a senior and level-headed politician who is respected on  both sides of the aisle.

As Speaker, Jayasuriya is empowered to convene Parliament. Former Speaker Joseph Michael Perera has already set precedence in this regard, by ruling on November 19, 2003, that “the exercise of the power to summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament must always be exercised in consultation with Parliament and this function must be accepted at all times as being subordinate to the legislative power of the people conferred on Parliament by article 4 (a).”

Allowing the legislature to perform its legitimate functions is the only way to break the protracted political deadlock and it is Speaker Jayasuriya who must step up and the lead the country out of the current morass.

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Sirisena-Mahinda putsch: A step to dictatorship

Political coup trashes the Constitution and undercuts Parliament

Kumar David-November 3, 2018, 6:50 pm 

For a lucid account of the constitutional positon by Dr Jayampathy Wickremeratne go to:

There is no denying Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s economic agenda has failed. There is no denying he will have an uphill battle at the next elections. However, far more important at this moment is that there is no denying President Maithripala Sirisena has launched a political coup in brazen violation of the Constitution – specifically 19A – and deserves to be impeached. (Jayampathy Wickremeratne’s video gives a full account of the constitutional position).

This column, from the inception of yahapalana, rejected its rightist economic programme and called for a different state-directed mixed (public-private) strategy, an appeal that fell on deaf ears, or more likely, was never read by those in power. Even the Left, till recently, ignored my clamour. However, Sirisena’s flagrant violation of the Constitution and his barefaced falsehoods have pushed aside debate on the economy.

NM, Colvin and Pieter demonstrated that there are core values and institutions that Leftists (and Marxists) do not dismiss as empty liberalism or disparage as bourgeois niceties; standing against dictatorship is one. In the dark days of 1959 following SWRD’s assassination it was the LSSP and CP that steadied the ship and prevented a slide to lawless government – do you recall the brief, repugnant Dahanayake premiership? NM’s critique of JR’s constitution is not a revolutionary tract; it’s grounded on liberal principles and good old bourgeois-democratic norms. The same is true of the Left’s commitment from its origins till 1972 to justice as the answer to the national question. (Textbook Marxists call unification of the nation ‘a task of the democratic revolution’, not a socialist task).

Any left party that fails to denounce Sirisena for trashing the Constitution in cahoots with Mahinda Rajapaksa, the real puppet master, is on the slippery road to damnation. The LSSP and CP by failing, as yet, to decry this power grab have crossed a Rubicon; they walk in the shadow of a Lankan version of Mussolini’s March on Rome. They are smallish parties but the moral impact of denouncing the coup would have been valuable. Will they be able to wash the blood of future repression off their hands? Recall Macbeth’s lament that the oceans could not cleanse his blood-stained hand but would instead stain red. "This my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red". Oh and Mussolini did not forget to execute his erstwhile leftish hangers-on.

In October 1922 the Partito Nazionale Fascistica plotted an insurrection; a march on Rome by squads known as Black Shirts who captured strategic local positions throughout Italy. King Victor Emmanuel III, weak and effete, did not have the courage to throw back the menace. Unlike Sirisena however, the King did not collude with the fascists nor was he an active co-conspirator. In Lanka, the President instigates his mobs to neutralise institutions – state-TV and the Daily News have been neutered; SLFP wolf-packs have driven away the Daily News editorial staff and state-TV has been seized Mussolini style. Reports of electricity cuts to Temple Trees echo the question: Why is the once proud CEB Engineers’ Union abetting an illegitimate plot?

The police and military will be subjugated to illegal presidential directives. Media reports claim that Gota has been (or will be) made Defence Secretary. If true the IGP and service chiefs will be replaced or detained. Make no bones about it, a coup political or physical, is a fight to the death. Parliament is holding out at the time of writing; it is shut, next will it be shot?

The JVP, wrapped in its own petty ambitions, is ignorant of history and bereft of Marxist perceptions. Large parts of Anura Kumara’s videoed press conference (https://youtu.be/d2Xgka6bylk) were good but he flopped on the critical issue. He refused to call Sirisena’s plot unconstitutional but only condemned Sirisena personally; the point is that if he said "unconstitutional" the JVP would have had to vote against Ranil’s removal in parliament. It is keeping its options hidden! More hilarious, in answer to a question he alleged: "Oh they all violated the constitution so what if it happens again?" Wijeweera and Gamanayake were shot by the state in bouts of extra-judicial killing. Is Anura Kumara telling us; "Oh, no problem if it happens again and they shoot the current leader too?" Funny fool!

The TNA wants to extract concessions for the Tamils from the pervading confusion. That’s fair; the only time a few crumbs fall from the table are when the big Sinhalese parties are drowning and clutch at every Tamil straw, thala-thel gathiya notwithstanding. So far the TNA has not called the plot unconstitutional; it too is not painting itself into a corner where it is compelled to vote against Ranil’s removal. It is throwing the Tamils into the fire by prioritising its squabbles with Wigneswaran and Gajan and leaving unsaid whether it is reconciled to a Mahinda-Got state. To be fair Sampanthan has demanded recall of parliament but he has not yet declared the TNA’s stand on the coup.

Is the left justified in denouncing the Ranil-UNP failed economic programme and its manner of execution – of course, welcome, join me. Should the left expose the pro-rich social policy stance of the UNP? Absolutely! But should the left for this reason soil itself by partaking in a political putsch in violation of the Constitution and open the road to would-be dictators? The prorogation of parliament to circumvent rejection of the choices foisted by Sirisena exposes the putsch for what it is. Rajapaksa has promised to dissolve parliament and go to the polls. I do not believe a word of it; the white-vans will be back before the elections, and specifically for the elections!

It is dark days; Sri Lanka is a new recruit to the ranks of banana republics. I am aware that nothing will make a difference to those who have decided to throw in their lot with the junta. It is a disturbing feature of modern politics throughout the world (Trump’s Base is the best-known) that partisanship has become ironclad whatever the merits or demerits of any conjuncture. Mahinda supporters have told me without a blush "So what if it’s unconstitutional or anything else; we don’t care, we want it". In this world of irreconcilable partisanship where values count for naught and power speaks out loud, Lanka is humming her way to de facto dictatorship. This, let us grant, cannot happen in the worst Trumpian nightmares in America because traditions of democracy have matured for longer and institutions, despite assaults upon them, are somewhat more deeply rooted.

Mobilisation commenced on Tuesday with a rousing and angry rally of 25,000 at Colpetty. Bahu, Champika, Sajith and Ravi exhorted the gathering to enter battle in defence of freedom. Surely, recollection that Mussolini ended his life dangling from a lamppost could not have been far from Bahu’s Marxist mind-set. Now mobilisation must be taken all over the country and to workplaces. The downside is that people have been discouraged by the UNP’s liberal-bourgeois economics; what unmitigated idiots Charitha, Malik, Eran, Harsha and Mangala have been! But what needs protection now is democracy, not Ranil; what needs to be defeated is an attempt to subvert the constitution and deliver the country to despots. The people must stop this rot or pay a high price in the coming years. A mass movement can force the regime to retreat; otherwise the future is bleak. I do not have great confidence in the judiciary (the Supreme Court is likely to do a Pontius Pilate if asked to intervene); and regarding parliament, my inclination is to wait and see.

The US State Department (presumably at Delhi’s urging) and the House of Commons in Westminster have stepped in and demanded that Lanka’s parliament be recalled and democratic norms safeguarded. Petitions bearing in sum thousands of signatures have been issued by Lankans at home, abroad, students and intellectuals. Resistance to the Sirisena-Rajapaksa counter-revolution is manifest among intellectuals and swelling among the people at mass mobilisations.

Eventually power will count. The Rajapaksa cabal is more adept at seizing and wielding power than Ranil and his callow liberals; Sirisena’s machinations add the advantage of manipulating the organs of executive power. In this scenario illegitimate ‘black shirts’ are at an advantage over parliamentary legitimacy. Mass intervention can reverse this equation but the people of Lanka, the intellectual classes aside, are not much moved by democratic propriety – hence my remark about the difference with America. Foreign pressure may help but in the absence of mass engagement the dice will be weighted in favour of the ‘black shirts’. If the TNA and JVP explicitly declare they will use their votes to crush the coup it will transform the scene. That they have not done so up to now shows that petty advantage-seeking rather than the national interest sets the tone in Lankan politics.

As the alleged (it’s true) soul who kicked-off the Single-Issue Common-Candidate concept (executed by Ranil, Chandrika and the Serpent) I will be rebuked, again, that the Serpent’s venom has proved me wrong. Once more I repeat I was spot-on right. The goal of defeating a despotic MR third-term was achieved. The country is freer and legislation to strengthen transparency has been enacted. Unfortunately the criminals of the old regime have not been convicted and economic policy has been plain wrong. Worst and unanticipated, the Serpent has moulted into His Master’s toilet paper. So granted, apart from the crucial restoration of democracy not much else has been achieved.

This conspiracy has gone beyond a point of no return; the plotters will not accept defeat in parliament nor will they retreat. Mussolini methods come next; buying MPs (five pimped so far) or throwing a few behind bars; a mob blockade of parliament; whatever it takes. The last resort is that periods of instability are a pretext for instigating communal pogroms. Since 1956 the pattern has been anti-Tamil, but fashions have changed. The apex of the Joint Opposition, politicians and monks, is fired by Muslim-hatred. If the JO, facing defeat in parliament and growing domestic and international condemnation, rakes up racial unrest there will be reason to fear for the safety of both communities.

[Dispatched on Wednesday 31 October in the midst of the storm].

Of Gibbon, Gorky and Gamarala

“Under a democratic government, the citizens exercise the powers of sovereignty; and those powers will be first abused, and afterwards lost, if they are committed to an unwieldy multitude.” – Edward Gibbon,

‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’.


Monday, 5 November 2018

Sirisena, our President, may not have read or heard of Gibbon. The matter did not cross my mind when on 8January 2015 I voted for Maithripala Sirisena, the common candidate. At the time, I wanted Mahinda Rajapaksa out of the Presidency.For that matter, I did not think it was important to verify if candidate Sirisena had read anything at all. I vaguely remember him claiming to have read Maxim Gorky.

Now, having made the man our President, I am doing the maximum gawking in front of my shaving mirror.This morning I spat on my bathroom mirror and said ‘you dumb idiot.’

In retrospect, there were signs that excrement may hit the fan. The appointment of the brother as the boss of Telecom indicated his idea of not encouraging Rajapaksa-type nepotism. When he made the briefless solicitor son-in-law of Austin Fernando the consular officer in the London High Commission, we got a slight inkling of his idea of meritocracy.



But then, such presidential folly faded to nothing when the Prime Minster inaugurated his carnival with Paskaralingam on the merry-go-round, Arjun in the magician’s tent, and Charitha showing bioscopes with Washington’s Millennium Development Corporation.

So, we knew that sooner or later excrement will hit the fan. But I never expected ‘Gamarala’ to get hold of ‘Appachchi’ and lift bucket-loads from the cesspit we closed on 8 January 2015, and painstakingly pour it on to the ceiling fan on 26 October.

You see, I am not a political stooge. Mine is an ordinary mind, very conscious of the fact that I am in the autumn watching leaves fall. I detest the Rajapaksa caravan. Mahinda Rajapaksa is the war winning patriot. He and his brothers are in a never-ending spring. In their world, flowers are ineternalbloom, fruits are always in season, ripe ready for picking.

“Oya Range da?Oya dan awoth Cabinet position ekak denta puluwan.[Is that Range? If you come now, you can have a position in the Cabinet.]” S.B. Dissanayake’s oily voice clip has is now gone viral in cyberspace.

Our free media, both print and electronic, has efficiently and determinedly hasnormalised the regime that began with the sudden hijack of the constitution by installing Mahinda Rajapaksa as our new Prime Minister. Anticipatory obedience is the order of the day. Parliamentarians are bribed and beguiled by the hijackers of our fragile democracy. Their purpose is to construct the chimera of a non-existent ‘popular will.’ Our Buddhist monks chant ‘Pirith’ and wish them Godspeed. A slight digression:my children are under strict instructions not to perform the mumbo jumbo of ‘pansakula’ by sullied saints in saffron shrouds, when I take the ferry across. I just cannot stand the lot.

Now, I come to my thesis: how democracy dies.

Political scientist and diplomat Dr.Dayan Jayatilleke has greeted Mahinda Rajapaksa’ssecond comingas a revolution. His theory of a revolution by purchasing a Parliamentary majority is ingenious to say the least. For the record, it must be stated that he has articulated several Dos and Don’ts for the new Prime Minister as a comrade citizen, and not as our Ambassador in Putinland.

He has sent the email to the attention of PM Mahinda Rajapaksa through comrade ‘Vasu’, whose charlatanism is ‘pari passu’ with his Marxism.

He cautions the new Prime Minister sagely: don’t allow the initiative to see-saw. It is just too bad that MR has not taken his advice.At the time of writing this missive the see-saw indicates 118 at the other end.

Comrade Dayan summons all the revolutionary zeal of a botched Bolshevik and a castrated Castroite and pontificates, “Reactionary forces should never be allowed to consolidate and sustain a parallel power centre/command centre at Temple Trees.”He calls the US State Department statement “a blatant interference in our sovereignty which must be countered.” The realist in him overpowers his political allegiance. He says: “In the battle of arguments, ideas and ideology, the enemy is on the offensive and we are on the defensive.”

Comrade Dayan need not worry.There is a solid Mahinda Rajapaksa base that is oblivious to the battle of arguments, ideas and ideology.

That base knows that the representatives they elect will auction their consent.There will be no corrupt politicians if the electors do not condone corruption.

We are not a perfect democracy. We aspired only for a liveable democracy, where we could go about our business of living, knowing that S.B. is a liar and a crook, but can either win an election and reach Parliament, or lose the election and yet reach Parliament.

There will always be a political scientist like Dayan who has read Max Weber’s Politics as a vocation, and Trotskyite Marxist like Vasu to march with parvenus such as SB, to perpetuate the kleptocracy of the Rajapaksa family.

We must grin and bear, because we were content to draft the message but chose the wrong messenger.

We mistakenly think that democracy fails and dies with a loud bang and a spectacle. It does not. Usually democracy is throttled and suffocated in the dark corridors haunted by political avarice. Such was the silent villainy on the night of 26 October in the Presidential Secretariat.

Reclaiming our parliamentary democracy by foiling the attempted capture of the constitution as amended by the 19th amendment is a tricky task.


Touch and go battle

It is a touch and go battle. To this date, we do not know who said what to whom in the early hours of 9 January 2015 at Temple Trees, when Ranil met Mahinda.As Marx pointed out, history repeats a second time as a farce. Gotabhaya met Ranil at dusk on Thursday at Temple Trees.We do not know what passed between the two.

I have no quarrel with the JVP when it labels these power swaps as ‘playing roulette with political power.’Therefore, we must not confuse our task of reigniting the democratic discourse with the UNP Executive Committee’s hopes of restoring Ranil to his Prime Ministerial perch.

Restoring Ranil’s premiership must not be the purpose of reconvening Parliament. Its focus should not be Mahinda-centric. We know what Mahinda wants - power. He has a substantial populist base. Why, at this point,is a matter that needs little explanation.

On 21February 2015, in an article in the Colombo Telegraph, I wrote about his comeback trek that started with the rally “Nugegoda rising’ just forty days after his defeat.I said: “Forty days after the dismantling of the family politburo, Mahinda Rajapaksa has demonstrated that his ‘orgburo’ is well oiled and running.”In a message read out at the event, he said: “I am beaten but not defeated.I shall not decline the outstretched hands of affection of my compatriots. What the country was experiencing was not a defeat but the consequences of a conspiracy.”

I captured the zeitgeist of the vent in these words: “The trenchant proclamation by the former President confirms that he has an enormous war-chest. He has the machinery in place to manage dozens and more such risings. The drone cameras captured the images of spirited youth, both male and female with well-coiffured hairstyles, dressed in Paradise Road attire, waving posters of the ‘Moustachioed Macho Patriot Supremo’.”

That is what he was and that is what he is.So, let us not blame the man for what he did. Although how he did it is questionable, Napoleon did not actually shake hands with his jailors on leaving Elba.Forget Mahinda. Focus on Sirisena the President.

In January 2015, the newly elected President made Ranil Prime Minister at the Independence Square. The event was nationally telecast. The hush-hush swearing in of MR, who crossed over from nearby Hilton at the appointed hour, was not a transparent democratic act, but an attempted capture of the Constitution, as pointed out by Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda.

When a democracy is strangled, it is not done with spectacular élan. It has a ceremony of its own.The conspirators move in the shadows. They don’t even trust each other. They breathe a sigh of relief only when wiping their hands clean. Then they take turns in addressing the nation with prepared scripts. Until the organised cheer squads are brought out, the pre-printed posters and profiles express the people’s will from lampposts and billboards.

The Political Is Personal – An Essay In Despair

Featured image by Shantha Ratnayake/Daily FT

PROF. JAYADEVA UYANGODA-11/04/2018

“My country has been betrayed again” –Pablo Neruda, Memoirs

In his explanation of why he removed Ranil Wickremesinghe from the office of Prime Minister, President Maithripala Sirisena cited policy and personal differences between the two.

An analysis of his speech shows that personal reasons are stronger than policy reasons and the personal is very much political. The text of President Sirisena’s address to the nation reminds the citizens of the explanation he offered in the latter part of 2014 as to why he left his former political boss, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa. There too, the personal was political.

In this note, I will try to show how, after October 26, the political is personal and devastatingly personal for me.

October 26 was a Friday. Although I am not a superstitious person, I look back at that rainy, gloomy Friday as the day I felt personally betrayed too. I can no longer think of Mr. Maithripala Sirisena as a symbol of political hope for the citizens of this country, and particularly for the younger generation. His actions that Friday marked a shockingly tragic end to the political hope and promise he had epitomised since November 21, 2014.

I campaigned actively for the newly formed opposition front, which fielded Mr. Sirisena as its Presidential candidate for the 2015 January election. I did so primarily because of Mr. Sirisena, or Maithri, as we began to call him affectionately. If Ranil were the candidate, I would have just voted for him merely as an act of protest against Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, but would not have actively campaigned for his victory. It is Maithri who made me active in electoral politics again, against a backdrop of many political disappointments with other leaders, including Chandrika and Ranil.
For me voting for Rail was purely instrumentalist. In contrast, campaigning for Maithri was a politico-moral duty.

Not only me.  51.28 percent of Sri Lankan voters found that at last there was now a man they could trust, identify themselves with, and entrust their democratic political destinies. He was actually the last hope of democracy in Sri Lanka, at a time when Sri Lankan politics under the existing regime, was moving in the direction of what we political scientists call ‘hard authoritarianism.’

To stop that nightmarish drift, a regime change was needed. For a regime change, a credible presidential candidate other than Ranil Wickremesinghe was needed. A man or woman who could personify the democratic political hopes of future generations of our citizens, particularly the young ones and first-time voters, needed. The new leader had to be one who had not earlier tasted political power as a government leader, and therefore unsullied by a record of corruption, abuse of power, megalomania and personalised rule, and limitless political ambitions.

Maithripala Sirisena fit the bill. He could turn the tide of political despair and cynicism. Somewhere towards the end of November 2014, two young vegetable sellers in rural Neluwa, Hiniduma, articulated to me in simple language the hope that I too had shared: “Who else can we trust except Maithri?’

And Maithri was willing to take tremendous personal risks. His daughter has now narrated in detail all these risks in her glossy political biography of her father.

It was the ethicality of candidate Sirisena’s message that had the greatest political aesthetics in 2015. Sri Lanka needed a new leader who valued political morality over ambition and compassion over the ruthlessness of power. It is the political morality of Maithri’s slogan yahapaalanya that fired the political imagination of more than half of Sri Lankan voters in 2015.

By 2015 I had not ever met Mr. Maithripala Sirisena. I had only seen him once in 2002 at the Shanthi Vihar Restaurant, near University of Colombo. At that time, he was out of power, but still the General Secretary of the SLFP. He was wearing a pair of trousers and a long sleeved, and slightly oversized, white shirt. A former GA of Polonnaruwa, whom I knew, and two others were at the lunch table.

When I talked to the former GA across the lunch table, Mr. Sirisena and I only shared mild smiles.
My absolute lack of personal acquaintance with Mr. Sirisena did not prevent me from developing a personal admiration for him. In his public persona, I saw him as a mild mannered, gentle, and restrained individual with no ruthless political ambitions. Based on that judgment which now appears to me naive, I reached a political conclusion: To personify the hopes and aspirations of democratic revival in Sri Lanka, we needed a man or woman of gentle and kind disposition with moderate temperament who would not have the inner capacity to become a hardline ruler. Democracy is after all a government by the moderates who would exercise political power, being aware of, and faithful to, its inherent limits.

For this essential personal requirement of a democratic politician, Sirisena was insulted, slighted, and ridiculed by some of his opponents, calling him by abusive nicknames. And all of them have now begun, after October 26, to admire him and see great political virtues in him, of course, for wrong and utterly opportunistic reasons.

After he became Sri Lanka’s president, I have met Mr. Sirisena probably less than five times. I found him to be a charming and sincere political leader, not corrupted by the pretensions of the Colombo’s political elite. My first face –to- face meeting with him rekindled another naïve illusion I had been maintaining: a politician with rural social background and uncorrupted by urban class arrogance and sophistication would be a better democrat.

We all knew that President Sirisena and his Prime Minister failed to develop a stable working relationship to lead the government which they jointly formed.

We also knew that both leaders were not adequately sensitive to the popular mandate that brought them in to power in 2015. We also learned that our President and Prime Minister were amateurish in their political management of   conflicts that occurred within the coalition government. We all were hoping against hope that the two leaders would not damage the process of Sri Lanka’s democratic recovery.

But, I never expected President Sirisena, amidst all the unpleasant political and personal problems he had with Prime Minister Wickremasinghe, to single handedly reverse Sri Lanka’s path to democratic recovery and consolidation. He did so by, as far as I understand the constitution, violating both the letter and spirit of the 19^th Amendment of which he was a co-author. To justify that violation, he seems to have got legal advise, among others, from those who were pathologically opposed to the essence and spirit of 19^th Amendment. Some others were political sycophants who saw a great chance in a President who has a not-so-strong understanding of the intricacies of constitutional law, in order to promote their own political self-interests.

The damage done on October 26 evening and continues to be done thereafter to Sri Lanka’s democracy, and the democratic futures of the young generation to which the children and grand children of both President Sirisena and I belong, is a devastating personal setback to me.
Now on, recovery of democracy for Sri Lanka’s next generation is likely to be preceded by another phase of grave violations, setbacks, violence, resistance, and tragically, bloodbath.
Thus, for me, political is the personal too.

Editor’s Note: Also read, “Nailing Canards: Why President Sirisena’s Actions Remain Illegal, 
Unconstitutional and Illegitimate” and “The Constitutional Crisis: A Round Up“

Will US halt its 5-years MCC on Sri Lanka

The GSP+ concessions offered by the European Union to Sri Lanka also risked being withdrawn if human rights commitments in the agreement between the two sides are not met

( November 4, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) With the country thrown into uncertain gear following widespread political developments, the international community including rating agencies this week weighed in with the negativity of the move while new Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who also holds the finance portfolio, announced a set of concessions reaching out to the middle class and lower segments of the population which has faced the brunt of a current economic crisis.

Business leaders and economists, the Business Times spoke to, said there was an element of confusion and chaos. A private sector economist said: “Populist measures are unsustainable on the long run. Also the chaotic situation is not good for business and investor sentiment. It’s likely that the US Government will put on hold its 5-year Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) assistance package which was expected to be finalised in the coming weeks.” He said some of the new tax concessions offered require amendments which need to be passed by Parliament; so there was no immediate relief.

The GSP+ concessions offered by the European Union to Sri Lanka also risked being withdrawn if human rights commitments in the agreement between the two sides are not met, he said.

The Central Bank’s Monetary Board met on Tuesday, at its regular twice-a-month meeting, where issues – among other matters – relating to the rapid rise of the US dollar were discussed. A further meeting of the board was scheduled for Friday.

The board’s monthly monetary review which generally comes in the first week of the month will only be issued on November 14, as per a new rule that the review will be issued once in six weeks, not four weeks. “It will be interesting to see what the review will say given the political changes in which pressure is on the Government to intervene more aggressively and bring down the dollar to manageable levels,” one business analyst said.

The dollar which surged to Rs. 177 fell by two rupees on Wednesday and closed in the spot market on Friday at Rs. 174.50. A top Central Bank source confirmed on Friday that the bank has been intervening vigorously in the market over the past three days, resulting in the rupee picking up a bit. “While we have to be careful about dipping into the reserves, we also have to make sure the rupee doesn’t slide as much as it is doing,” he said, adding that at the end of the year, an increase in remittances – an end-of-the-year practice – in December could help in inflows.

In other developments, Moody’s and Fitch warned of a lower credit rating which would make borrowing in the international market more expensive.

The stock market reflected mixed signals, with some days showing positive trends. Market observers said they believed, in addition to some positive sentiment, there was an element of artificially pushing up prices to support the political change.

The US, UK and Canada were among countries that urged the President to resolve the issue through Parliament, while so far there was no attempt to halt any funds coming from these sources. The IMF said it was watching the situation with pressure building to halt the uncomfortable structural reforms.

The country’s foreign reserves are slightly below US$8 billion but this is coming under pressure with possible moves to intervene in the market and lift the rupee value, the analyst said.

A Finance Ministry source said that the MCC has not taken a final decision on continuing the implementation of the programme or to suspend it but it is closely watching the situation in the country. An agreement was signed recently between Sri Lanka and the MCC to provide an additional Rs.413 million ($2.6 million) grant for development work. This amount supplements the Rs. 1.2 billion ($7.4 million) that the MCC provided last July.

Economist Prof. Sirimal Abeyratne from the University of Colombo said that concessions offered on Thursday catered to the masses to whom structural reforms, a market economy, costly government spending and exchange rate meant nothing. These goodies will woo support from the masses but they are unsustainable in the long term. On the other hand, he said, Sri Lanka is losing the confidence of the international community and international investors. “There is an element of confusion and chaos in today’s situation,” he added.

Constitution sovereign, President can summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament - Former Speaker

Former UNP Parliamentarian and Speaker W.J.M.Lokubandara addressing the media at the President’s Office. Picture by Sudath Malaweera.

Chamikara WEERASINGHE-Monday, November 5, 2018

Former UNP Parliamentarian and Speaker W.J.M.Lokubandara said the Constitution is sovereign and misinterpreting it to suit one’s political or personal interest, would be damaging and can have serious consequences.

“Democratic sovereignty was established after colonial powers left the country and is clearly well protected under the Constitution, and there is no need to trumpet somebody’s atypical wanting for it on account of his manifold political troubles ,” he pointed out.

Lokubandara said he was ashamed by the actions of UNP Parliamentarians and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that they have resorted to begging sovereignty and freedom from Western unions when they already have it.

The former Speaker from 2004 to 2010 speaking on the current political situation said he regrets about it as a person who held the post of Speaker.

He said that he had never visited UNP party headquarters, Sirikotha during his tenure as Speaker. “I conducted myself like the mace in Parliament and treated every member in the House as would a father,” he reflected. I contemplated how wrongful would it be to mislead them, and gave them leadership when and where it mattered. My guide was the Constitution,”he said.

“I have never held any political meetings or carried out any political activity from my official residence during my tenure as Speaker.

 

“I thought it is my duty to tell the country that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution has no bearing whatsoever on Article 70 of the Constitution, which clearly states that the President has powers to summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament.

“There is no way that anyone can challenge the President’s powers in this connection,”

“The President has exercised his power to prorogue Parliament. In fact he can prorogue it for two months if he likes,” he said. Acting against this would be a violation of the Constitution that may call for severe legal actions as the content of the Constitution concerned touches on the Parliamentary Privileges Act, and it can open prison gates for you,” he noted.

‘Although the 19th Amendment was brought in by so called constitutional experts, who later became MPs, who burnt so much of midnight oil to scrap President Maithripala Sirisena’s executive powers to make him a nominal executive, the 19th Amendment does not have any bearing on the President’s powers as regards summoning, proroguing or dissolving Parliament,” he emphasised.

“If anybody plans to hold mock parliamentary sessions or monkey around the privileges of the President, they must be prevented from resorting to such actions with due respect to the Constitution,” he added. 

The Crisis isn’t over Uncertainty ahead

By Arjuna Ranawana-NOV 04 2018

Sri Lanka’s unprecedented political crisis is going into its second week with little resolved and only further troubles visible on the horizon. It is unprecedented because this is the first time since independence that a Prime Minister has been removed without the dissolution of Parliament or a loss of a vote of confidence in the House or the resignation of the incumbent.

What President Maithripala Sirisena has done in sacking Wickremesinghe and replacing him with Mahinda Rajapaksa is against the spirit of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

Sri Lanka’s pristine record of changing the heads of Governments peacefully and in accordance with the law driven by the will of the people even through decades of civil war and civil strife is now broken. Sirisena will go down in history as the leader who took that fateful step. This is a Constitutional Coup that has rubbished the idealistic spirit that propelled the coalition that elected this President.

Constitutionalists remain deeply divided whether Sirisena’s actions were legal and in accordance with the country’s basic Law. While the experts may argue about various subsections of the Constitution, and the interpretation of the words, the premise of the 19th Amendment was to reduce the power that the President had to remove the Prime Minister. Now we have a situation where the country has two Prime Ministers, each claiming legitimacy, leaving the populace confused and afraid.

Sri Lankans displayed contrasting emotions to the news reflecting the deep polarization of our society. Rajapaksa’s supporters were jubilant, plastering walls with posters and erecting cutouts, while United National Party supporters as well as Civil Society activists were enraged at Sirisena’s actions.

The widespread anger drove these supporters to gather in huge numbers at a UNP rally in Colpetty in Colombo. The UNP had not drawn a crowd of that size in many years. The crowd comprised a range of people from die-hard UNPers, those who had accompanied their MPs from the villages and boroughs, to social activists appalled at Sirisena’s decision and others who wanted to show their disapproval of what occurred.

Whether this crowd would actually support a UNP Government led by Wickremesinghe in the future is not known, but the party which was moribund and meandering along without direction and purpose certainly got a shot in the arm as the country’s anger at Sirisena helped the grand old party look good, all of a sudden.

Finally the issue has to be tested in Parliament to see who, Wickremesinghe or Rajapaksa commands the majority of Members.

Frantic scramble for a majority

Clearly Rajapaksa had not been sure of a majority in Parliament when he was appointed.The three week prorogation has given Rajapaksa time to cobble together a majority. In the 225-member House the magic number that is needed is 113. As of Friday there were 118 MPs opposed to Rajapaksa’s appointment.
They gathered in Committee Room 1 of Parliament in the presence of Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and passed a resolution condemning the President’s actions as illegal and stating that whatever orders and appointments Rajapaksa made during this period were invalid in Law.

MPs who crossed over to the Rajapaksa side have been rewarded with Ministerial posts. Other MPs who were with Sirisena and may have left and joined Wickremesinghe have also been given portfolios to prevent them from jumping ship. This has left all Rajapaksa’s supporters without the perks of office signalling that once Rajapaksa consolidates his position there will most certainly be a Cabinet reshuffle.

This article being written on Saturday will not attempt to predict what the numbers will be when Parliament is reconvened. There have been a number of crossovers from the UNP to Rajapaksa and that process is on-going. The lack of morals, pure greed and shamelessness of the representatives that we Sri Lankans have chosen will ensure that these Members who are offering themselves like Courtesans to the highest bidder may skip hither and thither.
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem said “there are dealers going around and trying to buy MPs as if it is a marketplace. This is a shame to the dignity of the MPs.”

The ferocity of the bargaining and scramble to get a majority was exposed by UNP MP Palitha Range Bandara saying that he was offered 500 million rupees to support Rajapaksa.”A proxy for Rajapaksa called me today and offered 500 million rupees to support the new Prime Minister and they also offered a Cabinet portfolio,” Bandara told Reuters.
 He did not identify the caller but said he would go to the Bribery Commission with a complaint. Rajapaksa’s supporters dismissed the allegation. “We did not offer money to anybody, we don’t have money to offer to anybody,” said Joint Opposition MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage. However, there were reports that that Rajapaksa’s brother Basil was meeting MPs to make sure of their support.

The principal players in the drama

Temple Trees, the official residence of the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, has been occupied by a large number of UNPers ever since the shock announcement on 26 October. The crowd inside are in turn angry, jubilant and deeply worried as news of the rapid developments filter in.

Inside the maelstrom Wickremesinghe is staying calm. One of his staffers said that “everybody’s blood pressure is up, only Ranil’s BP is normal.” Anyone who comes to him is told “I am still the Prime Minister and will not leave Temple Trees until and unless I am voted out in Parliament.” A string of foreign correspondents have being interviewing him and basing their stories around the deposed PM.

Wickremesinghe’s patrician aloofness has been a contributing factor in his troubled relationship with Sirisena.
 Supremely confident of himself and his views, Wickremesinghe comes from a class of people used to wielding power. Members of his family have been in politics and produced J. R. Jayewardene, the towering figure in post-independence politics and several other leaders in media and other influential positions.
Wickremesinghe is also surrounded by like-minded friends who are also powerful in the UNP and in Government. Sometimes getting to the PM is difficult as these associates act as a screen. Often suited in immaculate Western clothes and sometimes condescending, he is the very opposite of his erstwhile partner in Government - Sirisena.

The President hails from a rural family and was a Government official before entering Parliament. He was attracted to Leftist politics. An intelligent man with supreme oratorical skills in Sinhala, Sirisena was obviously hurt at the way Wickremesinghe and the UNP Cabinet of Ministers regarded him. He once complained that when he speaks at Cabinet meetings the UNPers are “looking at their (smart) phones and poking at them.”

The UNP also cleverly kept leaking information to the Media that Sirisena was thwarting them from implementing their Neo-Liberal agenda. This was a sore point and at times Sirisena has shown his exasperation at the situation saying he finds out what the Government is proposing to do from the Newspapers.

After his surprise sacking of Wickremesinghe, Sirisena is under considerable pressure from the international community to act according to the law. The United States and the European Union have urged Sirisena to honour the Constitution and said Parliament must be allowed to choose its leader.
 In addition, there is the implied threat of economic sanctions.The European Union could deny Sri Lanka duty-free access to its market if the island backs off its rights commitments, the grouping’s envoy has said. Sirisena told UN Secretary General António Guterres in a telephone conversation that “the appointment of the new Prime Minister has been done in keeping with the Constitution of Sri Lanka,” Sirisena said on social network Twitter.

Rajapaksa on the other hand comes from a family that has held traditional feudal power and political power after independence. His father was a leading political figure and Cabinet Minister for many years. His son, elder brother and various other close relatives are in politics. Blessed with charisma and great inter-personal skills Rajapaksa is a larger-than-life figure who is beloved by millions in his Sinhala-Buddhist base. The fortunes of his party hinge entirely on him.

A frequent visitor to Temples, Rajapaksa has spent the last few days helicoptering to Kandy to see the Mahanayakes of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Temples and thence to Kataragama to make offerings at the Devale. But he did not forget the Head of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith.

During his last years in office as President he was accused of favouring a select group of businessmen, friends and being oligarchic. He has also been accused of sheltering former Security Forces officers allegedly guilty of war crimes during the last phase of the war against the LTTE.

Normally, a sagacious political player it is surprising he had taken on the leadership of the country under Sirisena whom he has said he cannot trust, and also at a time when the economy is in dire straits. It was expected that he would have allowed the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe combine to muddle along until the end of next year where his party could have easily won the Presidential elections due in December 2019.It is also surprising, with his political acumen, that he took it on, without the security of an iron-clad majority in Parliament.

What’s next?

The Speaker, Karu Jayasuriya, told reporters on Friday that Sirisena had agreed to call Parliament on Nov. 7, following calls for an early session to end the crisis. But the President’s Office has not yet issued a formal statement. Asked about this a senior official in the Presidential Secretariat said “well the Speaker has said this and we have not been asked to deny it.”

It is still unclear whether reports that Jayasuriya has agreed to recognize Rajapaksa as the PM when Parliament is convened are true.
 In case, Wickremesinghe is still recognized as the Prime Minister then the Rajapaksa supporters will have to move a vote of No-Confidence against him. If Rajapaksa has been recognized as the PM, then the UNP, which has already filed a Motion of No-Confidence against him, will ask for a vote.
 A vote will also have to be taken if the Rajapaksa administration brings forward a Budget, or a Vote on Account which is a vote for spending on daily expenses of the Government for a specified period of time. This would be until the new Government puts together a Budget according to its own policies.

In any case, it is unlikely that Parliament would be dissolved as the 19th Amendment says that the House has to run for a minimum of four and a half years until March 1st 2020. Parliament can be dissolved by the President only if the House passes a resolution to do so by a two-thirds majority.

In case, Rajapaksa loses a motion of No-Confidence, the President may be able to ask another person of his choice to seek a majority. But as Constitutionalist Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, a UNP MP, points out, the law dictates that the President chooses someone “who in his opinion” commands the confidence of the House. In fact, the drafters of the Constitution went to great pains to change the wording in Sinhala from the word kalpana which existed in the original document which means “thinks” to mathaya which means opinion.
“In presenting an opinion the President must, according to the law, show evidence for the decision,” he added. “It is a basic principle of Administrative and Constitutional law that in forming an opinion that person must present evidence to support it. So, in case, the UNP wins an NCM against Rajapaksa then the party will inform him that they have the numbers and he should choose whoever leads the UNP as the PM.”

In case, Rajapaksa is defeated, Sirisena has vowed he would “not stay for even one hour,” implying he would resign as President. Under the Constitution then Parliament would elect a President from among the Members of the House. It was under this provision that after President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s assassination, D. B. Wijetunga was elected as the fourth Executive President on 7 May 1993, unanimously by Parliament to complete the remainder of Premadasa’s term.

Tomorrow Rajapaksa’s supporters are due to flood Colombo and occupy the space near the Parliament in a mass show of support.

No doubt we all hope that this crisis, the President has plunged the country into, will be resolved without violence on the streets. It would be a sad sight to see violence returning to this country which is recovering from decades of war and years of the Rajapaksa’s oppressive rule where anyone who opposed their methods were assaulted, maimed or murdered.

The only thing that is certain is that uncertainty lies ahead.

Patriotic solidarity to save democracy

Monday, 5 November 2018

Rauff Hakeem, Rishad Bathiudeen and R. Sampanthan appeared on the same podium with majority Sinhalese parliamentarians, and declared that all what happened since President Sirisena’s premeditated coup is undemocratic and that Parliament should be called into session immediately. In the annals of modern political history, what the President did in Sri Lanka goes against all principles of democracy, and a total disregard for the constitution of the country. An independent supreme judicial body is sure to condemn his action and declare it illegal. The civilised world is no doubt outraged.

It was the Tamil and Muslim minority votes that played the crucial role in ending Mahinda Rajapaksa’s undemocratic and tyrannical regime, to save Sri Lanka’s democracy in 2015. Sirisena, the man who was prepared to backstab Rajapaksa in the name of democracy in 2015, has now backstabbed democracy itself to bring back the one he betrayed, but through the back door. This President, who claims to be a staunch Buddhist, has now lost his moral right to remain in that esteemed office. What Hakeem, Bathiudeen, Sampanthan and the Sinhalese majority have done in this context will be remembered by future generations as an event that saved democracy and freedom in Sri Lanka.

This is not to argue in support of Ranil Wickremesinghe and his incompetent Government. His inaction and procrastination to deliver on promises he made to the voters mark him the most unproductive Prime Minister the country ever produced since independence. He allowed corruption to rule, the guilty to escape, rule of law to debilitate, and budget deficits to balloon and drive down the value of local currency, while the cost of living shot through the roof to drown his voters in poverty and debt. No wonder the people punished his administration severely at the recent Local Government Elections. However, a Prime Minister elected by the majority should also be thrown out by the majority, and not by a capricious President who treats his office like a village headman, trampling over lives of his fellow villagers.

Likewise, this is also not to argue against the right of Mahinda Rajapaksa to contest for Prime Ministership or Presidency. What is being argued is that he should seek his position and enter the Parliament through the front door. If the majority supports him who can deny his victory?

In many of my writings on Muslim politics in Sri Lanka, I have been constantly critical of Muslim politicians for their opportunistic behaviour, status consciousness, and lack of patriotism. On this occasion however, the action of Hakeem and Bathiudeen throwing their weight behind Sampanthan and his TNA, to show solidarity with the Sinhalese majority, is a commendable act. To save democracy and freedom of the people is an act of patriotism, and they should stand steadfast in their decision.

No sooner the backdoor Cabinet assumed power, it has unleashed a series of populist measures in the name of reducing the cost of living. Did any of them think of the impact those measures are going to have on the National Budget? There is no word about how Budget revenue is going to be raised to cover the escalating deficit. Is more borrowing and a higher level of national debt the solution?

The President also seems to think that by dismissing an elected Prime Minister and installing in his place his former adversary that he has protected his Presidency for a second term. He is going to have a nightmare. True, there is no permanent friend and foe in politics. But the President’s renewed friendship with Rajapaksa does not guarantee a second term for Sirisena, because there is another from the Rajapaksa clan waiting in the wing with presidential aspirations.

Finally, India’s hand in this coup is becoming clear by the day. How else can one explain Subramanian Swamy advising Sampanthan to join hands with Rajapaksa, in the interest of the Tamil community? How will China react to this drama is another story for another time.             

Sri Lanka has a proud history of engineering peaceful political changes and respect for democracy and justice. That comes from its pluralist culture. Let that glorious past not be ruined by a Gamarala President.

Dr. Ameer Ali, School of Business and Governance, Murdoch University, Western Australia