Constitution building and reconciliation

Constitution-making can be a messy process no matter what part of the world people come from. This is simply because people are people and it is human nature to be curious, to question and indeed even to be wary of new things. However, one thing that everyone must guard against is jumping to conclusions. 

Sri Lanka is in the middle of such a Constitution-making process. In fact it has come to dominate public discourse of late as various factions, key among them politicians and other stakeholders loyal to the former President, have thrown doubt over the formulation of a new Constitution and created anxieties over its content. 

Completely disregarding the fact that a draft of the proposed legislation has not even been released, they have already held rallies and riled up different factions of the main religious community and demanded that certain elements of the existing Constitution be kept intact. Some parties have rejected outright the formulation of a new Constitution and dismissed the need for a referendum. 

Over the past few days the Government has been working hard to assure all these parties, chief among them the heads of Sri Lanka’s three main Buddhist sects, that there is no move to remove Buddhism from its foremost position and important elements of the Constitution-making process will be discussed with them in due time. 

Unfortunately, all that these premature protests have accomplished is a deepening of the rift between the majority and minority communities of this country. The moderate voices have been pushed to the periphery and the chance to have a balanced and substantive discourse has been all but eradicated in the uproar. Given that Sri Lanka had to undergo a painful three-decade war to get to this point, it is alarming and disheartening in the extreme that the whole Constitution building or reform process is in danger of being discredited or even diluted by nationalistic elements that are not willing to be part of a soul searching process to admit the historical wrongs that took place in this country. Not just that they are preventing other people from doing so as well. 

During previous Constitution-making processes decades ago, similar political forces on different sides of the ethnic divide sought to ignore, disrupt and colour the fundamental principles of the Constitution to suite their own agendas. The result was a long, terrible and destructive war. Given the current state of affairs it is hard to say that Sri Lankans as a collective have learned from these mistakes. They continue to function and even think along extremely narrow and limited lines without any understanding of the need to rectify fundamental issues for the country to gain genuine peace. 

One thing has become crystal clear - the Government must step up its engagement with the people and work to create awareness of how and what the Constitution changing process has formulated up to this point. Negative ideas grow faster in a vacuum and once they have taken root it is almost impossible to change them. This Government has always struggled with its messaging, often losing precious opportunities, and ends up on the back foot against a nimble opponent. In this instance the opponent is also very dangerous and much political will is needed to navigate this thorny path. But the end, if done right, might finally be the start Sri Lanka needs to heal.