The
year 2020 was eminently forgettable and that has very little to do with
politics. The obvious need not be stated. As for the political, we had
parliamentary elections and the passage of the 20th Amendment. The Sri
Lanka Podujana Peramuna effectively consolidated its hold on power,
securing close to a two-thirds majority. The UNP (official) was routed
and the UNP (in new garb, i.e. the SJB) was a distant second.
The
new parliamentary configuration resulted in the 20th Amendment being
passed. Of course there were objections. Court was petitioned. The
Attorney General promised that certain articles would be amended at the
‘Committee Stage’ and the court ruled, except with regard to just a
single article, that if this was done a special majority (two-thirds)
would suffice. Clarity in the structure of governance, sorely
compromised by the 19th Amendment, was restored. Most of the powers
clipped from the office of the president by the 19th Amendment (in order
to strengthen the then prime minister, appointed in contravention of
all established procedure and at the time not even enjoying a
parliamentary majority), were restored. The dangers are obvious but
that’s something that the Opposition cannot complain about.
So, in effect, 2020 was a ‘pohottuwa’
year. The Opposition, in disarray, did make a few noises towards the
end of the year thanks to Covid-19 and little else. The Opposition could
not even hold on to the worrisome incident at the Mahara prison where
11 persons died and over 100 were wounded. It was distracted by the
controversial ‘Dhammika Syrup’. The UNP is yet to name someone to the
national list slot that came its way. The JVP has gone silent. The
strongest party in the Opposition, the SJB, seems to be readying for a
cold war for party leadership.
Patali Champika Ranawaka launched
a separate political project called ‘The Group of 43.’ Ranawaka, who
left the Jathika Hello Urumaya, was named one of six Deputy Chairmen of
the SJB which technically dilutes his position in the party. He is not
even the Deputy Leader (there is no such post, at present). Tissa
Attanayake, former General Secretary of the UNP and recently appointed
as the General Secretary of the SJB, claimed ‘Sajith Premadasa will be
the common candidate of the Opposition.’ There’s a long way to go before
parties nominate presidential candidates but if Attanayake’s
predictions come true, Ranawaka’s obvious political ambitions would take
a hit. It is unlikely that he would let himself be shoved to the
sidelines. Interesting times ahead, therefore.
With the two major
elections done and dusted following a rousing victory for the SLPP in
the local government elections (February 2018) which in fact gave that
party its initial momentum, only the provincial councils are left to be
fought over.
The PCs have been dissolved for several years now.
The administrative apparatus remains and of course Governors who are
from time to time appointed, removed and replaced. Illegally constituted
though they are, the PCs remain part of the overall governance
structure. They are constitutional by habit, if you will. Have they
served any purpose, though? They have certainly helped the career
politicians, many of whom have seen PCs as stepping stones to
Parliament. A lot happens at the provincial level, especially with
regard to education and health, but as we’ve seen over the past three
years or so, all you need for effective delivery of services is
decentralization of administration. It is not as efficient as could be,
but in the very least things are no worse than when the PCs were fully
functional.
Anyway, whether or not to hold PC elections is a
political decision. The Government is currently mulling comprehensive
constitutional reform which could take the form of a fresh constitution.
The future of the 13th Amendment is at stake here.
Perhaps
this is why the likes of Dayasiri Jayasekera and former president
Maithripala Sirisena have made some noise on the subject (Note: the SJB,
the JVP, the UNP and not even the TNA has uttered a single worry-word
in this regard).
Dayasiri Jayasekera, State Minister and General
Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), while acknowledging
that the electoral system should be amended has stated that any decision
regarding PCs should be first discussed with India. That’s strange
because India didn’t keep her part of the deal in the Indo-Lanka Accord
signed in July 1987. It was, in the first place an Indo-Indo Accord;
drafted by India, signed by Rajiv Gandhi who saw it as ‘the beginning of
the Bhutanization of Sri Lanka’ and by J.R.Jayewardene (under duress)
to secure India’s interests. Sri Lanka was only interested in getting
the LTTE disarmed. India undertook to do it. India did not.
Maithripala
Sirisena, leader of the SLFP and former President, in an interview with
‘The Hindu’ told Meera Srinivasan that ‘abolishing PCs [would be like]
playing with fire.’ That comment was taken as the headline. Sirisena, to
his credit, wasn’t at all gungho about PCs, a point that ‘The Hindu’
has played down for obvious reasons. Sirisena clearly expressed
disappointment with the PCs and proposes decentralization through
‘District Development Boards.’ It is only when Srinivasan pushed him on
‘abolition’ that Sirisena, slipped to diplospeak, alluding to
(non-existent) ‘friendship’ between the two countries, speculating that
‘India could get a little upset’ and quickly upping it to the
headline-possible, ‘abolishing PCs is like playing with fire.’
The
Government, meanwhile, has decided that PC elections will not be held
soon. That’s not good news to politicians looking to move up. The
so-called lower ranks do play a role in the larger political game, but
then again the next test, so to speak, is several years away.
Postponement of elections is not a good thing. The previous government
paid a heavy price in this regard. This government could too, unless
abolition is being seriously contemplated. That would require a
constitutional amendment where the two-thirds might be harder to secure
than it was in the passage of the 20th Amendment.
Sirisena, in
that same interview, has stated bravely that the SLFP is planning a
rejuvenation program. He complains about SLFPers being treated like
second-class citizens by the SLPP, forgetting that such is the fate of
any small party aligning itself with one that is larger, more popular
and far better organized. Srinivasan interjects the SLFP’s numbers (14),
but doesn’t state the obvious that it is highly unlikely that the SLFP
would have got so many members in had it gone alone in August 2020.
Sirisena’s comments about the SLPP-SLFP alliance is a sad whine. If, for
example, the 13 who contested under the lotus bud symbol were asked to
choose one party over the other, the majority are likely to ditch
Sirisena and the SLFP. The SLP is ready to go alone, Sirisena says. The
SLFP did go alone just three years ago (Local Government Elections) and
was well and truly creamed. There’s nothing to indicate a mass migration
of people from the SLPP (or any other party for that matter) to the
SLFP.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has discussed the matter
of constitutional reform and concluded that it would call for a
mechanism formulated with the involvement of the international
community. The party has already drafted a 21-page proposal to the
experts’ committee appointed to draft a new constitution. It is reported
that this draft includes suggestions to formulate new laws pertaining
to certain aspects such as education, law, land tenure, health,
agriculture and irrigation on the Northern and Eastern Provinces. A 13+,
so to speak, is what the TNA’s proposal would be, certainly not support
for abolition or a shift to a district-based system of
devolution/decentralization as the SLFP seems to be inclined towards.
The
SLFP is not the only party that’s in crisis. Developments in the
Northern Province indicates that internal disagreement has cost the
TNA. The elections of the Mayor of Jaffna by the Municipal Council
following the budget being defeated twice resulted in Wishvalingam
Manivannan of the EPDP with 21 votes edging out the TNA’s Arnold
Emmanuel who got 20 votes. On the same day, the TNA candidate for the
post of Chairman, Nallur Pradeshiya Sabha, Koomaraswamy Mathusuthan (8
votes) was pipped by Padmanathan Mayuran, the candidate filled by the
TNPF, a party led by Ganendran Ponnambalam.
These losses do
indicate that Tamil people are to some degree disenchanted with the TNA
and may look for leadership elsewhere. That, however, would be later.
These squabbles notwithstanding, it is likely that all Tamil political
parties will resist any moves to abolish the 13th Amendment. They are
also likely to welcome any move in any multilateral forum that had the
potential to embarrass or wound the present government.
The most
thorny issue at hand of course is that of how to dispose the bodies of
people who have died on account of Covid-19. At present the Government
has ruled out burials on account of infection worries. This has irked
many Muslims, here and abroad, who see this as a racially motivated
position. A Muslim organization based in the UK is to sue the
Government. The BBC has put a spin on the story. Par for the course, one
might say. It all points to one thing: all roads lead to Geneva when
the government in power is not to the liking of Europe and North
American governments.
Sri Lanka does not stand to win anything
by appeasing those who knowingly or unknowingly play into the hands of
the big boys and girls on the global stage. It’s a naduth-haamuduruwange, badmouth-hamuduruwange
game, after all; a global version of the USA’s play on Sri Lanka with
respect to the MCC Compact. It was supposed to be a gift which Sri Lanka
didn’t seem to be interested in; so the offer was withdrawn with not so
veiled threats of repercussions. It’s just about playing a game skewed
against you under rules made by the powerful and amended at will by the
same.
The issue of burial has been politicized. The Muslim
leaders are guilty of this politicization — when a solution (burial in
the Maldives) was proposed, those who take diktat from God and aspire to
God’s kingdom suddenly became patriotic, wanting the dead to be buried
in ‘The Motherland’. It has been politicized by extremists in the
majority community who demand that the Government should not pander to
the whims and fancies of the Muslims. The Government has not done itself
any favors by doing zilch about necessary changes in accordance with
the election promise, ‘One country, one law.’ The Muslim Marriage and
Divorce Act stands. The unchecked Madrasas still function.
However,
it is wrong to dismiss the burial option simply because Muslim leaders
have been intransigent, extremist and absolutely racist. It is also
wrong to dismiss the dismissal of the burial option because it is
espoused by Sinhala Buddhist extremists and chauvinists. Acceptance or
rejection has to be based on scientific evidence.
As things
stand and as the eminent virologist Dr Malik Peiris has explained, it is
highly unlikely that burial is risky in terms of infection. ‘Highly
unlikely’ sits this side of ‘absolutely impossible,’ but then again, if
strict burial protocols are observed, it is less risky than, say, the
possibility of infection in a supermarket by an unidentified carrier.
Moreover, there are theoretically hundreds of locations on this island
where burial would have no risk whatsoever. Sure, the chest-beating
Muslims worried about the afterlife haven’t bothered to look for empty
land in all-Muslim areas so they could say ‘if there’s a risk, we’ll
take it.’ That’s beside the point.
The question is simple: how
should bodies be disposed? The answer, based on scientific evidence,
should be expressed by the Government. Experts have been asked to give
their recommendations. They’ve had enough time. Their conclusion should
be made public. Clearly. Logically. Regardless of who is pleased or
displeased. It is a communication problem, in essence. If ‘politics’ HAS
to be injected (and we do understand that this is more probable than
possible) AND if it’s an issue of allaying the anxieties of one
community at the cost of aggravating the anxieties of another community,
it has to be sorted out by addressing the full gamut of issues that
come under ‘politics of religion.’ For example, if burial is deemed safe
and it is felt that this would cause the Sinhalese to suspect that the
government is pandering to particular minority, then all relevant and
unresolved political issues need to be sorted out. As pointed out in
this column previously, the full implementation of the recommendations
tabled by the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Extremism (February,
2020).
Death-rites cannot wait, though. Politicians and
officials are notorious for foot-dragging. Disposal is a ‘Right Now’
issue. The Government can, if it is concerned about political fallout,
issue clear statements about what’s being done on other counts as
alluded to above.
The disposal issue is likely to be sorted out
soon. It won’t stop the USA, UK and other rogue states from beating Sri
Lanka down with one or more heavy clubs at their disposal in Geneva in a
few weeks time. Those are factors beyond anyone’s control. We saw what
Mangala Samaraweera’s appeasement strategy did. Nothing.
In the
end, the government can trust only one political entity. The people.
Take the hard decisions, explain them and trust the people to
understand. Do a lot, not just one thing, for in ‘the lot’ there will be
several things that will be applauded. Otherwise, like what happened to
the yahapalana gang, the tag ‘anti-people’ will be pinned firmly
on the body of the government. Not by NGOs and foreign powers (their
pins just won’t stick) but the people!
Writing this on
January 1st, I am acutely aware that today is not unlike the 31st day of
December, 2020. The world has not changed and change has little or
nothing to do with the structure of a calendar.
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