The Big Bang Constitution

Saturday, 11 April 2015 00:08 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By T. E., Kotte It is generally believed by the scientific community that the universe as we know it evolved by accident following an unimaginable explosion or implosion within the galaxy. What are often forgotten are the millennia it took for the world to evolve into a self-supporting, stable entity through a harsh process of natural evolution. The political big bang for Sri Lanka came on 8 January 2015. The envisaged evolution in 100 days was by design, not by accident. As with the universe, it has been perhaps forgotten by the body politic that this evolution was designed by the general public. The process is still in flux and judging by the current debates in the print and visual media it is quite apparent that the public, while vociferous, is equally confused about the final outcome of the voters’ intent. Little do they realise that all politicians are opportunists. In Sri Lanka politicians have no other options. They profess a policy which second guesses the public sentiments. The party who reads the public opinion best wins. The intention is power, not servitude, beyond which is only prevarication with little if any intention to perform as promised. Typically the DNA of politics. They may condescendingly promote policies and projects which showcase themselves with the sole intention of prolonging their reign.

Post-election euphoria among the public is on the wane with little awareness of the danger of a national government without an active Opposition in Parliament, and a Constitution promulgated and ratified without debate. Nobody believes that the political leadership of major parties would have embarked on abolishing the executive presidency if they could have avoided it purely because they themselves craved it. The confluence was created by the misguided decision by an incumbent president, the possible malfeasances of presidential clansmen and an arrogant if not vulgar election campaign by the ruling party; compounded by the tacit approval of certain extreme racist and religious factions which drew an irrational conclusion that the presidency was the cause rather than the abuse of excessive power bestowed upon it quite intentionally by a predecessor and misused ever since. The short-sighted clarion call to abolish an office with executive power without essential safeguards to effectively prevent abuse was an impulsive, political knee-jerk initiative which sensed that “abolition” was the easiest “action” word without further explanation given an aggressive and polarised voting population ignorant of constitutional realities. Are we going from the frying pan into the fire? Can a future president, as Commander-in-Chief, misuse military force on the people. Can a National Government without an active and adequate Opposition function as a democracy? Can personal conflict between a President and a Prime Minister paralyse the country? The current President has publicly stated that his mission is to revamp his party, the SLFP, and ensure his party forms the next Government. The president was the ‘cat in the sack’ when he was elected by the people. They didn’t know what they were getting but it was a leap of faith since all alternatives were unacceptable. The bottom line is, he was elected President by the people to protect the people from the unscrupulous machinations of all political parties including his own. In cricketing parlance, the third umpire. The conflict of interest is thus a no-brainer; not to mention the possible collusion in a National Government through horse trading even if such a Government was established by an implausible stretch of the imagination! By all accounts the provisions to be enabled are designed to protect political parties themselves within the pseudo democracy against the de facto dictatorship experienced since 1978. So far one sees no explicit provisions to safeguard the public from the body politic, which left unchecked has been the proven root of all evil in governance. Apart from the dubious distinction of boasting the world’s highest per capita ratio of incompetent politicians, amply demonstrated over the years, there is a pitiful lack of evidence of strict disciplinary, legal or criminal action against major miscreants of any major political party however serious a criminal act committed on the general public may be. Sadly a Government once elected is then feared, and that only by the innocent, law-abiding public who have no ‘union’ to protect them from politicians. Hence politicians rule by fear well in excess of any authority vested in them to exercise their duties, which for the most part remain unattended for lack of personal gain. No President can protect our people without decriminalising the body politic which enforces its will through its affiliated criminal diaspora and the active support of the subverted and subordinated law enforcement agencies. Innocent citizens have always been long-suffering victims. This must change. While the 19th Amendment has now been tentatively passed, there is much doubt about its adequacy in providing an optimal, protective shield for the general public including a formal, independent legal advisory and prosecution agency to assist the general public defend itself against the State, at no cost to the citizenry. The people and the world at large believe in the current President’s initiative. They do not believe the general body politic is genuine in its co-operative stance due to its inherent and proven duplicity. We the people can only hope the President will prevail in creating a Constitution to safeguard citizens against all eventualities. Unless he does so with the requisite legal framework to implement and enforce it independently, the 19th Amendment may well be observed only in the breach. A useless piece of paper produced to keep up pretences but maintain the status quo to the exclusion of the already marginalised citizenry. If the President can achieve only this goal, he will be the miracle of Asia.