Editorial

The 20th Amendment (20A) to the Constitution approved by the Cabinet this week revisits the 1978 Junius Richard Jayewardene Constitution, and goes even beyond.

It strengthens the Executive Presidency that was long vilified by those who called the Gaullist Constitution more Napoleonic, and its architect ‘Junius Caesar’. Nowadays, there are no better converts to the 1978 Constitution than those very antagonists of yesteryear who have become the greatest protagonists these days — that the Executive Presidency needs to be entrusted with even more powers than the 1978 Constitution ever gave the holder of that office.

Sri Lanka’s constitutional reform process has, for some time, been at the mercy of political power considerations rather than the nation’s best interests. The 19th Amendment, warts and all, had an organic connection to the public demand (2001, 17th Amendment and 2015, 19th Amendment) that an abundance of power should not be vested in a single man or woman sitting as the Executive President.

This was due to the realisation that such powers are susceptible to politicisation and abuse, even if the best of individuals hold that office – and indeed, act with the best of intentions. A greater separation of powers between an elected Parliament and an elected President was meant to be the sop for a public cry for the abolition of the entire Executive Presidency. The 18th Amendment was the embodiment of a concentration of power in a President. Now, as the proposed 20th Amendment returns to the 18th Amendment’s status quo in fundamental respects, and more, those fears will naturally be rejuvenated.

The 20th Amendment, in Bill form, leaves intact some positive features of the 19th Amendment, including the constitutional Right to Information (RTI) which is now part of the political consciousness of the nation. Government politicians have pledged support to Sri Lanka’s globally hailed RTI Act and the pro-transparency RTI Commission possibly in a placatory nod to a voter base eagerly using the RTI. It has also preserved the five-year term limit and the two-term prohibition for the President.

But the weight of its other clauses raises serious concerns regarding the Government’s avowed claim of greater transparency. Restoration of Presidential immunity and unfettered Presidential powers to make appointments of senior justices, to commissions and key public offices, are some of these.  Abolishing the Audit and Procurement Commissions and emasculating the National Police Commission depriving it of its authority over the dismissal, transfer and disciplinary control of Police officers (other than the Inspector General of Police) is disturbing. Sri Lanka becomes only the second country to Afghanistan in South Asia to allow dual citizens to enter the National Legislature and the Constitutional Council that vetted appointments has been discarded entirely for what is a mere advisory Parliamentary Council. The Prime Minister has been reduced to a mere functionary consulted in most cases only “if necessary” in an open-ended Cabinet of Ministers.

This is a constitutional wheel that is reinvented each time a different Government is brought into power by an electorate largely unconcerned with constitutional niceties. With this 20A serving the purpose of the new regime, there’s hardly a need now for a new Constitution, other than to look into 13A (Provincial Councils) and electoral reforms.

Undersea cables and undercurrents

 The burning oil tanker off the eastern coast while all the ‘hot shots’ of officialdom, military top brass and diplomats were conferring on undersea cables at a seaside hotel in Galle was like an ‘irony of fate’; the gods, or fate amusing themselves with mere mortals.

It was not funny though. The fire had the delegates at the resort hotel scramble to frantically engage in firefighting the blaze on the super tanker carrying over a million barrels of crude oil from Kuwait to India.

The irony also being that despite all the boasts of Hambantota Port being of such strategic interest and geo-political significance to global shipping and naval forces, it just didn’t have the tools to control the fire nor a contingency plan to save Sri Lanka’s marine life and coastal belts if an oil spill disaster befell this island-nation. Eventually, the Indian Coast Guard had to be called in to assist the SL Navy and Air Force as first responders.

The on-going Galle conference was to discuss crucial issues revolving around undersea telecom and other cables wrapped around Sri Lanka. Foreign Governments also have an added interest in this subject; covert sea surveillance or monitoring submarine movements of hostile navies. All of this comes in the backdrop of a superpower spat that is having its ripples felt in these necks. The US has imposed sanctions on Chinese companies, which include the CHEC (Chinese Harbour Engineering Corporation), accused of being part and parcel of growing Chinese militarisation plans in the Indo-Pacific region. CHEC is involved in several mega projects in Sri Lanka, the biggest being the Colombo Port City.

The Chinese embassy hit back asking the US to mind its own business and concentrate on putting its own house in order first. A spokesman for CHEC claims the company is not included in the ban and in any event, the Colombo Port City is part owned by the Government of Sri Lanka, thereby drawing Sri Lanka into the orbit of US actions and sanctions.

A telephone call to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from the US Defence Secretary a few days ago is all within the playing field of this global game between the superpowers. US Defence Secretaries rarely call Colombo, a job left to its State Department which handles its foreign policy. This week’s call was the third from a high-level US dignitary to the Sri Lankan President following calls from its National Security Adviser and Secretary of State. Not to mention the letter from President Donald Trump that was hand delivered by a White House aide to President Rajapaksa earlier.

The message is loud and clear; the US wants to stay relevant in Sri Lanka’s foreign policy. The Defence Secretary kept away from issues controversial in Sri Lanka right now — SOFA, ACSA and MCC — but clearly briefed by the State Department he did touch on a touchy subject — reconciliation.

Washington’s goal is to get countries in the Indo-Pacific region to work together, as a bulwark against a ‘potential challenge from China’, says the US Deputy Secretary of State adding that a major summit is planned soon with Japan, India and Australia for a NATO style alliance in these parts of the world.

Sri Lanka is bound to get more and more sucked into this global power play. The recent Colombo Harbour East Terminal protest by trade unions allegedly backed by one superpower is not without deep significance. India is insisting Sri Lanka abide by previous agreements to develop the port — and stories are floated that otherwise, they have plans to develop their own Andaman and Kerala ports that will undermine trans-shipment traffic from Colombo to India.

The world is closely watching the happenings in Sri Lanka. It’s not just the undersea cables, which are the new frontiers of the superpower power games, but the geopolitical undercurrents that Sri Lanka needs to closely watch out for.