Civil strategies contra presidentialism: has political society run out of steam?

ERASE THE VILE THING – Not a bad thing in and of itself, this constitutional presidency; as minorities fighting shy of majoritarian politics may think or feel? But hideous in the hands of hypocrites and charlatans hung up on its corrupting power or influence – to the extent of egregiously usurping their mandates through unconstitutional coups, or worse. And so, the time has never been riper in the republic than to abolish or damn democracy to the doldrums for another half-decade pix by-Ruwan Walpola

SRI LANKAN CITIZENRY AT LARGE HAVE A MIXED BAG OF CHARACTERISTICS. In adversity, we’ve garnered a reputation for being resilient: surviving wars, surmounting insurgencies, emerging from chaos to try and rebuild a broken nation. Under pressure in the political arena, civil society has demonstrated a capacity for not taking sundry shenanigans – constitutional coups, central bank bond scams, cabals throwing chairs in the house – lying down. Rather, we’re in court or on the streets, or both (but to be honest, being up in arms has not brought a single egregious culprit to book).

Conventional wisdom: One of the – if not the – oldest democracy in South Asia is alive and well.

Devil’s advocate: Once the province of a sleepy republicanism, a creeping new presidentialism has created a plethora of fresh issues for both civil society as well as the apparatus of government.

Contrary to conventional wisdom in cocktail circles or coffee klatches, the rural or peripheral polity is far less mature than city-slicker sophisticates generally give them credit for (and we cosmopolitans heave a sigh of relief or despair and move on, muttering ‘live and let live’ when the prime minister and his bureaucratic machinery put spokes in the presidential wheels).

Worst-case scenario: Under the 19th Amendment, the checks and balances brought in by a two-headed creature of state are sufficient to pre-empt a total ransacking of power by a republican presidency – if only it wouldn’t undermine forward movement on the reforms agenda. It is not good governance by any means; but given the alternatives – authoritarianism, militarised dictatorship, weakened coalition governments – it’s good enough. And we thank constitutional reforms for whatever salutary changes the past four and a half years have introduced.

However, on the debit side: there’s our cardiovascular endurance. In the long game against usurpers of the democratic mandate, we (the public/civil society) lose heart and run out of steam – even while our elected leaders draw fresh breath for renewed bouts with the constitution. While Colombo didn’t sleep during the coup but manned the barricades to the last woman or child, it didn’t have the stamina to monitor the meandering of our democrats once reinstated in office.Theory: Parliamentary democracy is the last bastion and best hope of the nation for arresting and reversing creeping presidentialism and unconstitutional ambitions.

Reality: The real democrats in parliament are few and far between (and may not number more than the honourable speaker and a handful of diehards). And many if not most of them should be arrest and detained themselves – for setting back parliamentary courtesies and tradition by their abominable behaviour, as recently evinced by their chair-throwing prowess in the house. 

There’s also the egregious silence and arrogant return to their old ways on the part of ostensibly democratic leaders. After the people’s championing of their rightful position and a patrician court’s righteous verdict have given them their ransomed crown back. Sorry to say they seem to have lost their marbles. Such that – despite being the party with the least ethno-nationalist or chauvinistic biases – stubborn paternalism (Ranil) and scurrilous one-upmanship (Ravi’s cabal vs. Sajith and Karu) appear to have scuppered their future prospects. The most recent evidence to indicate their continuing descent into realpolitik is the forming and shaping of the Democratic National Alliance (which is neither democratic nor national, or hardly an alliance worth the dried ink and hot air).

Observation: If recent reports are more than mere rumours, Ranil might welcome a loss of face or loss in the race if he can continue to reinvent himself as the prime minister who was never president but a rather successful opposition leader – even (or especially) under a Rajapaksa presidency!

Hypothesis: Former President Rajapaksa may equally welcome a UNP victory in whatever form it takes, if only it would stave off a brotherly presidency that might not be quite the regency the father had hoped for his heir-apparent son?

Into all of these lacunae have crept, sunk and fallen those lapsed democratic-republicans who can’t deny the tug and pull of their true DNA. A president who hijacked the erstwhile post-2015 reforms project, and held law and order to ransom, has been let off the hook… for reasons best known to an impeachment-shy UNP. This GOP of Sri Lankan politics has probably decided that while the punishment fits the crime, it is likely to be hoisted by its own petard somewhere along the way in the present or down the line in its own chequered past. So ‘live and let live’. 

Intuition: There is a not-so-secret death wish in the upper echelons of the Grand Old Party of #lka politics whereby it is constantly undermined by its own lack of egalitarianism (JR – the one true presidentialist among them, who preached and practised his Gaullist ethos, would rue the day his mantle did not fall squarely on the shoulders of another Titan like himself who could wield its fasces).  

There is also the Damocles’ sword of a political dynasty that has enough contenders in its quiver to keep the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune open to opportunism (Gotabaya’s business-security services machine) and exploitation (Basil’s brigade floating red herrings and fielding dark horses to beat progressives to the finish line). In-between this triad of tensions, the instrumentality of the constitution has fallen into disuse and civil society’s agency against creeping presidentialism is being eroded on a daily basis. 

If we go on like this, we’ll soon be settling down for another five years under this lapsed democrat or that rotten republican – Or worse, someone whom a few others think is a born-again sheep but who’s really a wolf in wolf’s clothing. It is clear we cannot continue. So what can we do?

For starters, civil society could or should take a closer and serious look at the panoply of independent presidential hopefuls who have thrown their respective hats into the ring this time around. While one can’t quite shake off the sneaking suspicion that a brace of these pacemakers have been fielded to spoil the chances of more established progressive contenders, their presence on the fast track is salutary in that it unsettles that arrogance of assured candidates. 

Speculation: If only more sterling characters of the calibre of (say) an experienced diplomat (like Jayantha Dhanapala) or biz leader (of the likes of Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya) were to indicate a willingness to offer their services, it may some distance towards breaking the mindset of majoritarian politics and the machinery of political juggernauts that sweep the hustings by dint of numbers rather than by virtue of their ethos or policies.  

Then again, given that the behemoth of electoral politics generally steamrollers over any independents or aspiring third parties – no matter how charismatic or stalwart they are – it behoves the polity to critically engage the mainstream parties with a view to nominating the most ideal candidates. While it’s a foregone conclusion that at least two of the main party movements will redound to the majoritarianism that masquerades as democracy, there’s still some hope that the GOP will see sense – or at least strategise sensibly in the face of an impending Götterdämmerung/Ragnarok (that these initials, GR, themselves speak of doom bodes ill, methinks?)

Suspicion: Going by its Machiavellian past – from JR’s praxis to the paterfamilias’ great-nephew’s reputation of being predisposed to playing mind games – a Manchurian candidate may well emerge to lead the neo- or pseudo-UNP to victory.

Scenario: In an endgame worthy of the late great Game of Thrones, it is rumoured that the following trajectory or permutation thereof will be writ large over electoral skies – the GOP’s hidebound oligarchy will insist that their prospects are served best by their incumbent leader (RW). Which will bring the howling backbenchers out, thumping their chests on behalf of the redoubtable but untried and untested son of a (in)famous father (SP). That will prompt a venerable senior citizen (KJ) to break ranks with his party and run as an independent-cum-national candidate with the backing of the red brothers (either with or without the benefit of a 20th Amendment to further clip the wings of the presidency) and possibly a penitent SP as his deputy.   

And last but by no means least – for the nonce at least, until it’s time to strategise over the general polls – the mood of the moment (in fact, every dawn of virtually all presidential contests since 1994) is to abolish the presidency. 

While this writer is hard-pressed to decide whether the greater or lesser of the two evils in the politics of recent times is the creeping presidentialism discerned by Dr. Asanga Welikala à la his ‘Constitutional Crises and Institutional Costs’ (at Hatch on 1 August) or the creeping political culture of systemic corruption and crony capitalism in the guise of service which has become commonplace and a singular ethos for governance as a whole, we the people are faced with Hobson’s choice. Take the presidency as it is under 19A (good, bad and/or ugly) and hammer away – every which way – until something or someone salutary comes out of the mix. Or take the bull by the horns (the time is never riper than now) and strain every muscle to erase the vile thing. Abolish or be damned for another five years to the poison of viral presidentialism compounded by the bacterial culture of coalition/alliance politics!

(Journalist | Editor-at-large of LMD | Writer #SpeakingTruthToPower)