Columns

While political parties across the board agree on the need to do away with the 1978 Constitution that introduced the “twin evils”, namely the Executive Presidency and the Proportional Representation (PR) electoral system to the country, there is less agreement on how best to move forward with this endeavour. The SLFP wants the resolution for the appointment of a Constitutional Assembly to be entrusted with the task of drafting a new Constitution to be amended to remove the entire preamble, while the joint Opposition, as well as the JVP, also want changes to it before it is put to a vote in Parliament on January 26.

The resolution was introduced to the House on January 9 by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, while President Maithripala Sirisena spoke in support of the process and expressed his views on what shape the new Constitution should take. Ironically, as with most other things that have become the hallmark of this “yahapalanaya” Government, while the SLFP and UNP leaders seem to be in agreement on many issues, their rank and file seem to have a differing views.

As with the Budget, and now with the Constitutional Assembly resolution, SLFP members while being quick to take credit for many changes to the Budget which do away with measures detrimental to the interests of the public, they have been less eager to take the blame for the negative aspects in the Budget such as tax hikes and the associated rise in the cost of living.

Similarly, with the Prime Minister’s resolution, the SLFP is keen to take credit for getting a Constitution making process off the ground, maintaining it has been consistently opposed to the 1978 Constitution, while in reality, SLFP leaders have abused the excessive powers entrusted to the Executive Presidency in the present Constitution, as much, or even more than UNP leaders have managed to do, with the exception of the current President.

Minister Susil Premjayanth who spoke on the resolution in Parliament on Tuesday, said the SLFP would be moving several amendments to it, which would include removing the preamble, when one of the proposers of the resolution tabled by the Prime Minister is senior SLFP member and Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva.

The preamble to the resolution includes among others the abolishing of the Executive Presidency, a fair and representative Electoral System which eliminates preferential voting, strengthens the democratic rights of all citizens, provides a Constitutional Resolution of the national issue, promotes national reconciliation, establishes a political culture that respects the rule of law, guarantees to the People’s fundamental rights and freedom that assures human dignity and promotes responsible and accountable government.

The announcement by Minister Premjayanth prompted Opposition Leader and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentary group Leader R. Sampanthan to say that the paragraphs the SLFP wants deleted “are the very foundation of the resolution and are things to which the whole country is in agreement with.”

The SLFP now seeking to amend it begs the question as to why the two parties could not comprehensively discuss the contents of the resolution before it was presented to the House. Then the feelings of bad blood already prevalent could have been avoided, and the Constitution making endeavour could have got off to a more positive start.

Meanwhile, on the positive side, there was unprecedented support extended to the drafting of a new Constitution by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). TNA leader R. Sampanthan in particular, urged all parties to come together “to give our country a new future” and “rise to the stature required of us at this crucial moment in this country’s history.”

He made a special appeal to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, saying, “the country, its entire people and the nation need his support in this national endeavour.” “He needs to place the interests and the wellbeing of this country before anything else, and positively contribute to this initiative. He himself has taken steps towards remaking the Constitution so as to address the national question. There have also been instances when he did the right thing. He would pave for himself a new future, if he now did the right thing by being positive in the making of a new, just and equitable Constitution that also resolves the national issue and serves the country,” Mr Sampanthan said.

This is in sharp contrast to the stance taken by Tamil political leaders when both the 1972 and 1978 Constitutions were enacted. In 1972, Federal Party Leader S.J.V. Chelvanayakam rejected the Republican Constitution and resigned his Parliamentary seat in protest, declaring, “This Constitution (1972) gives all rights to the Sinhalese people. It gives nothing to the Tamil people.”

Similarly, the late Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader A. Amirthalingam rejected the 1978 Constitution, saying it did not have adequate safeguards for minorities. The TNA Leader’s stance on the Constitutional making process in 2016 is a far cry from those of Tamil political leaders of the past. “This country has had the unfortunate experience of being ruled under Constitutions which did not have the consensus or the consent of its entire people. If all the peoples in this country are to evolve into a single nation, the Sri Lankan nation, this grave error needs to be corrected,” he said.

The task of framing new a Constitution for the country will depend on how genuine members of the two main parties are in taking all communities on board, to make it a Constitution acceptable to all.