After the National New Year vacations, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Reforms met once again to study the electoral process and see whether changes are necessary.
Constitutional Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris speaking for the govt. said it was necessary to change the present electoral system including proportional representation to make it more acceptable to all.
The Minister said the govt. was proposing a combination of both PR and the earlier first-past-the-post system. Accordingly two thirds of the proposed 245 seats in Parliament would be filled on the first past the post system and one third on PR.
As the Minister tabled this proposal, most members of the Select Committee expressed reservations.
JVP member Nihal Galappatti said the present PR system should remain as it was the only system which properly reflected the will of the people and all shades of opinion.
UNP frontliner A.C.S. Hameed said the UNP was for electoral changes and would prefer something like the German model where 50% of the members were directly elected and 50% on PR. He said if two thirds were elected on a first past the post basis we might have a govt. with a two thirds majority and most constitutional experts believe it could lead to extremism with one party dominance.
The UNP’s Wijeyapala Mendis said large numbers of votes were considered spoilt as voters had not been able to distinguish between the symbols. Deputy Minister Wiswa Warnapala held similar views, saying at the last elections he found that even the elephant on his ballot paper was not clear.
“Thank you very much”, quipped Mr. Hameed, “for enlightening us on another reason as to why we lost.”
The 1994 People’s Alliance manifesto which promised changes to the PR system states:
“The PR system will continue subject to the modification that one half of the seats in Parliament will be filled on the basis of territorial constituencies, while the other half will be catered for by the principle of proportional representation, such as it operates in the German system.
This hybrid structure will enable retention of the advantages of the PR coupled with scope for closer contact between an MP and his constituents”.
This was pointed out by Minister Indika Gunawardene who said he believed a 50-50 combination of the two systems would not help small parties.
Ravi Karunanayake of the NDUNLF said his party still stood for German model as outlined in the PA manifesto.
JVP’s Nihal Galappatti warned that any change would adversely affect the smaller parties and might force them to adopt other methods, to achieve their goals.
The SLMC’s M.M. Zuhair said his party preferred the present system but would agree to 50-50 combination as a pledge had been given in the PA manifesto.
He said multi-member Constituencies in areas where there was a large minority vote should be continued to ensure fair representation.
Finally the Select Committee agreed to discuss all these issues at length.
This includes Mr. Hameeds proposal that a voter to have the right of casting all his/her three preferences for one candidate as done in the recent local elections.
Mr. Hameed wants this extended to general elections also. Another matter to be discussed is whether the proposed Executive Committees should be for local councils only or also for Parliament.
Meanwhile the govt. showed few signs of compromise though agitation mounted against the proposed Broadcasting Authority Bill which most media groups have condemned as a violation of fundamental rights.
While 12 petitions have been filed against the Bill President Kumaratunga has reportedly told the Media Minister she feels the Bill is not inconsistent with the Constitution.
That may be the view of her legal experts but the matter will finally be decided by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has generally stayed within the parameters of the Constitution. But the Indian Supreme Court for instance has interpreted the Constitution to suit the political and social climates of the country.
As the protest grew UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe launched a strong attack, accusing the govt. of trying to introduce media laws which did not exist anywhere in the world.
Outlining the backdrop he said that from the time of the Wijetunga administration in 1994 there had been discussions for the setting up of an authority to issue broadcasting licences.
The PA had promised to first present a White Paper on the issue, but it had quietly slipped in a Bill before an emergency debate when Courts were on vacation.
He said the govt. had done this deliberately to prevent others from going to Court on the matter.
The UNP was fortunate to get a copy of the Bill in advance, and is studying the full implications, Mr. Wickremesinghe said.
The UNP leader said that besides censoring news the govt. could also introduce a cultural policy through this Bill.
The govt. could even tell T.V. stations to telecast films featuring only the actors or actresses it fancied.
At this stage MP Sarath Gunawardena remarked that in such event only films of actor turned Media advisor Sanath Gunatilleke would be shown.
Mr. Wickremesinghe replied, “I don’t know about that, but the Bill gives them free reign in all fields, even entertainment”.
Former Speaker M.H. Mohamed called for a national campaign against the bill, describing it as totally undemocratic.
He said “whatever the worst verdict may be, we should form a public opinion against the bill”.
Susil Moonesinghe took a somewhat different view. He spoke of an increasing trend towards pornography on T.V. and said a responsible board needed to be appointed to monitor what was screened.
Mr. Wickremesinghe said such matters should be decided upon by Parliament and not by one minister.
Mr. Wickremesinghe said the UNP was against any form of control of the media. Mr. Hameed said some government ministers were claiming the bill was in line with what was proposed at the All Party Conference some years ago. But the report of APC and what was proposed now are quite different. He said that today news does not recognize national boundaries and it was strange that people were trying to control news within countries.
As the discussion on the bill ended Mr. Moonesinghe referred to the upward trend in the stock market and attributed it to the PA - UNP, accord signed recently.
With his comment Mr. Moonesinghe asked the UNP leader “Can you marry her”? Mr. Wickremesinghe smilingly replied he couldn’t do so now, and in any case he felt the upward trend in the stock market was mainly due to reduction of interest rates by banks and the government’s move to invest 40 billion in the stock market.
Former Finance Minister Ronnie De Mel confirmed Mr. Wickremesinghe’s views.
As the dispute over the broadcasting bill continued UNP front liner Anura Bandaranaike was making arrangements to celebrate his 20 years in politics.
Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s widow Sonia is expected to be the guest of honour at the celebrations in June.
President Kumaratunga spoke about her estranged brother Anura when she had a chat with a senior Minister on politics and other matters.
She spoke about the top UN ambassadorial post which would fall vacant soon. At present eminent lawyer H.L. de Silva is our ambassador to the UN.
What are we doing about “Bada” the President asked the Minister smiling hinting as to whether he could be posted to the key position in the UN.
The Minister quipped “he doesn’t need that. After all he is virtually the deputy leader of the party and one day he will be the leader of the party”. It is known that a group of Anura loyalists are carrying out a campaign in the UNP to have a deputy leader appointed.
This comes amidst the emergence of Colombo’s new Mayor Karu Jayasuriya as a formidable figure in the UNP. But it is unlikely the UNP leader will move in this direction or make any commitment by appointing a deputy leader.
Meanwhile, in another significant development some twenty MPs from all parties who attended a seminar organised by the International Alert in the Philippines have signed a document calling for the government to talk to the LTTE in the light of the accord reached between the leaders of the two main political parties.
The main theme of the seminar was the role of mediation and as to how it should take place in the proposed talks between the government and the LTTE.
The MP’s who attended the seminar were put in two groups namely the government and the LTTE and then asked to start a dialogue. When the parties arrived at a stalemate the International Alert stepped into mediate.
The mediator was the Deputy Chairman of Committees Rauff Hakeem.
On an earlier occasion when these MPs were taken to Northern Ireland for a seminar the organisers had emphasised the need for an accord between the leaders of the two main political parties as a first step to solve the ethnic conflict.
Dr. Sarath Amunugama who also participated in these discussions had emphasised the need to visit places of turmoil to solve the problems there, whether it was political or economic in nature.
Dr. Amunugama has reportedly said the group should now go to Vavuniya while a Tamil MP has invited them to visit Batticaloa town.
It is clear now there is consensus emerging among MPs of different political parties that they should act together to resolve the country’s problems by making representations to their leaders after making a joint study of the problem.The move is most welcome.
If there is better understanding among politicians and a common approach to the country’s problems, it would be much easier to develop the country since divisive politics at the grassroots level could be minimised.
In another development Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and Cultural Affairs Minister Lakshman Jayakody summoned a meeting of Ambassadors representing Buddhist and Muslim countries to discuss the threat posed by the Taleban rebels in Afghanistan to destroy two ancient Buddhist statues.
The envoys agreed to do whatever was possible but some of them appeared to be disappointed by the absence of a Muslim Minister to put the message across.
Some Ambassadors felt the US government could play a major role in restraining the Taleban while others felt American arms suppliers were at the bottom of this problem.
“On Thursday when a UNP MP raised a question in this connection in Parliament, an outspoken government back-bencher Vasudeva Nanayakkara shouted that the US government was at the bottom of this problem.
Thankfully the Taleban’s fanaticism has not created problems between the Buddhist and Muslim communities here as most people act with maturity. But the behaviour of some members of the Muslim community at Maligawatte during the Sri Lanka - Pakistan first cricket test at the Premadasa stadium caused some heartburn.
It is alleged that some Muslims had cheered lustily for Pakistan but not Sri Lanka. While some observers feel that Muslims should be more national minded, some argue that the problem occurred because many Muslims feel they are not treated as fully fledged Sri Lankans.
Yet what was more painful to the Muslim Community here was the April 15 inferno in Mecca where some 343 pilgrims including six Sri Lankans were killed and some 1500 injured.
Most of the 5100 Sri Lankan Haj pilgrims had to flee to escape the blaze, Deputy Minister Alavi Moulana told the Tamil service of the SLBC.
Another question being asked in Muslim circles is, why Minister M.H.M. Fowzie and Deputy Minister Alavi Moulana did not receive state guest status that had been given to Sri Lanka government representatives previously except last year.
Haj pilgrims who returned to Sri Lanka feel that if the Sri Lanka ministers were given this facility they could have been in a better position to help the Sri Lankan Haj pilgrims.
Besides all these, another interesting story is the reported Cabinet re-shuffle. While some ministers say there would be no major re-shuffle, others feel the President is planning to change the portfolios of Ministers such as Mahinda Rajapakse and Srimani Athulathmudali.
Mr. Rajapakse is likely to be switched to another ministry while Ms. Athulathmudali’s functions are likely to be reduced.
Meanwhile there is also speculation that Minister Kingsley Wickramaratne will be asked to take over Agriculture while S.B. Dissanayake has volunteered to give up Youth Affairs and Sports in exchange for a key Ministry.
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