Editorial

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An old cold war era joke goes this way. A group of US Senators were being shown the underground railway in Moscow, with stations festooned with expensive chandeliers and sculpture. All was fine with the conducted tour, until one intrepid senator asked "But where are the trains?'', to which the angry Russian guide replied "Yes, but what about the way you treat blacks in Harlem?"

The President's move to wreck the no-confidence motion against her government last week with a prorogation of parliament coupled with a referendum, is a joke somewhat analogous.

The President, in her television address to the nation on Thursday said in sombre tones that she believes in the voice of the people, which is why she is calling for a referendum. At the same time, she sought to silence that voice by smothering the elected Parliament with a prorogation.

This coupling is so curious, that people are still not quite comprehending. What has a prorogation of Parliament got to do with a referendum that will cost a staggering 600 million to 1 billion Rupees? What else is this Referendum but a smokescreen for the embarrassing action of smothering Parliament, in order to stave off a defeat of her minority government? But to spend rupees six hundred million for that? Wouldn't Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos have blushed..?

There is probably not a single Sri Lankan who does not want a new constitution or at least an amendment to the present one. Prabhakaran himself will vote "Yes'' at a referendum, as he too wants a new constitution, one with the North and the East carved out of the map.

The referendum pushes the government to a morally untenable position in this context, which is that the Government will have to stop the constitutional process if the people vote "No'' at the Referendum.

If the people are for a new constitution, a "No'' outcome will be illogical, but the problem is that the issue of the prorogation of Parliament has been tied to the referendum, which means that the whole issue of the new constitution now has become needlessly politicized and linked to the very survival of the Government.

If the Government loses the referendum, does that mean that the Executive Presidency which the PA, UNP and the JVP are unitedly against, remains?

All these posers clearly show that the issue of the constitution has been thrown into the fissiparous political maelstrom, underlining the fact that the referendum is a futile if not farcical exercise. That's beside the very important fact that it constitutes a shocking waste of public funds. Another Referendum will have to be proclaimed, if and when the Parliament gives a new constitution a two thirds assent, which means the whole process will have to be repeated. That's another 600 million.

Obviously, the President wanted to take the current crisis to the streets where she believes she has some residual strength left, whereas in Parliament her government enjoys lame duck status.

But Rs 600 million for an academic exercise, albeit for the sole purpose of saving the government's precariously placed political fortunes is tantamount to a political war-dance enacted by a moribund Government. The prognosis is either that, or the fact that the government is taking the first steps towards establishing an autocracy with a President turned dictator via an extra constitutional process. If there is no element of truth in this last conjecture, then it must be that the Government has become truly quite eccentric.

The Political Column

Editorial/ Opinion Contents