THE PA - JVP ALLIANCE, CONSTITUTION AND SOME QUESTIONS
The PA - JVP alliance appears to be confident of victory. However, there are certain issues that have to be looked into if they are to gain a comfortable majority in the parliament. There are differences of opinion between the SLFP and the JVP on number of issues though they have agreed on a common programme. The UNP leadership appears to be not interested in the elections as a whole and they sometimes give the impression that they want the PA- JVP alliance to win the elections. From the day the President decided to take over the three ministries the UNP had not challenged her and probably they may be even thinking that there is no point in forming a government under a President belonging to the main opposition party. It appears that the UNP is more interested in the next Presidential elections as they could win it with the PA government becoming unpopular after coming to power.
In any event unless the constitution is changed Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga would not be able to contest the next Presidential elections as she is going through her last term in that office. She has very often said that she wanted to be with her children and she would get that opportunity within the next two or three years depending on the date she took oaths as the President for the "second" time. However, in spite of Ms. Kumaratunga's wish to retire from politics there are moves to change the constitution, abolish the executive Presidency and make her the Prime Minister of an "Executive Cabinet". If that is done she may not get an opportunity to be with her children and would be "forced to work for the people" for few more years.
Ms. Kumaratunga in a recent interview given to the press has said that the constitution could be changed even without a two third majority in the Parliament, by a simple majority. Dr. G. L. Peiris used to argue the same way sometime ago and Ms. Kumaratunga could make him the minister of constitutional affairs once the PA- JVP alliance come to power. Dr. Peiris himself has said that he was not canvassing for the UNP and that it was doomed to lose at the elections. With or without Dr. G. L. Peiris in the cabinet Ms. Kumaratunga would make an attempt to change the constitution
by means of a constitutional assembly.
In the interview given to the press she has referred to the French Revolution after which the French had adopted a constitution through a constitutional assembly. However, Sri Lanka is not going through a revolution and there is no way that we could adopt a constitution by a simple majority in the Parliament. The constitution, unless there is a political upheaval as in the case of a revolution has to be amended or replaced with a new constitution through the mechanism provided in the constitution itself. Only a drastic change (a discontinuous change) in the political situation would make it necessary to adopt a new constitution through a mechanism not provided in the constitution. In Sri Lanka at present there is no drastic change in the political situation and as such a new constitution could not be adopted outside the procedure specified in the constitution.
It is sometimes argued that the 1972 constitution was adopted by a constitutional assembly and that there is precedence for such adoption outside the Parliament. However, one has to take into consideration the fact that in 1972 Sri Lanka had expressed a desire to change the Dominion Constitution that was forced on us by the British Parliament and that constitution could be replaced with a new constitution only through a constitutional assembly. A constitution is not another Act of the Parliament as it represents the overall political situation of a country.
The PA - JVP alliance has stated in their manifesto that once the alliance comes to power they would amend or replace the constitution. However, the PA-JVP alliance having come to power cannot claim that they got a mandate to change the constitution simply because the manifesto had said something to that effect. It is not possible to assume that the people who vote for a party are in agreement with the entire manifesto. Most of the people who vote for a party would not have read the manifesto to find out what is stated there. Even if they had gone through the manifesto they would not have approved each and every statement given there. People in general do not vote for the manifestos. The manifesto, however important it may be for the politicians, consists only of a set of promises as far as the public is concerned. People generally vote for a party expecting something from the party once it comes to power. It could be a job, a road or in general an improvement in the life of the people. Very few people, if at all any, would have constitutions in their minds when they vote. It cannot be claimed that merely because a party that is elected had mentioned changing or amending the constitution in the election manifesto, it has a mandate from the people for such change.
It is clear that despite her claims that she wants to retire from politics and to be with her children Ms. Kumaratunga has no such intentions. She is interested in continuing as the executive head of the government whether in the capacity of the President or that of the Prime Minister for at least a few more years. Her interest in changing the constitution stems mainly from that fact and her desire to implement the disgraced "package" devolving power to a non existent north-east and making Sri Lanka a federal state. Ms. Kumaratunga who was promoted by the non national forces as the leader of the SLFP to devolve power through a SLFP led government has to be replaced by somebody with more nationalistic aspirations as the leader of the party as well as the alliance. The easiest way to do that is to let her retire from politics gracefully after completing the second period of the Presidency.
The SLFP being the traditional party of Sinhalathva is in need of a leader who has nationalistic aspirations. Ms. Kumaratunga, with her policies of the Mahajana Party that her husband founded against the nationalistic policies of the SLFP, does not fit in as the leader of the SLFP. Her so called advisors are not in tune with the policies of the SLFP and they do more harm to the party than even the opponents of the party. The SLFP - JVP alliance will win the elections despite these advisors who have no roots in the country as the nationalistic forces are determined to oust the non national UNP government that served their masters in the so called international community and Prabhakaran the agent of the masters. However, once the SLFP led alliance is in power these advisors would call the tune, though it is not that of the SLFP, and they would forget that they are in office because of the people who voted for the alliance. The easiest way to replace these advisors is to let Ms. Kumaratunga retire from politics as soon as she completes her second term as the President, as determined by the Supreme Court.
It has to be emphasised that by arguing against a constitutional change outside the provisions made in the constitution, I am not indirectly helping the aspirations of the UNP to win the next Presidential Elections. It is up to the SLFP - JVP alliance to make sure that the so called advisors of the President do not spoil the chances of the next
Presidential candidate whoever he or she may be.
It is an encouraging sign that the PA - JVP alliance has decided not to recognise any region of the country as the homeland of any particular ethnic group. The Tamil racists, meaning the racists among the Tamils, had claimed that the northern and the eastern provinces arbitrarily determined by the British towards the end of the nineteenth century constituted the homeland of the Tamils. This was accepted in the infamous Indo Lanka Accord that stated that the northern and the eastern provinces were the historical habitats of the Tamils. This claim by the Tamil racists had been demolished by scholars such as the late Mr. Gamini Iriyagolla and Dr. G. H. Peiris long before some of the monks in the elections fray took up the issue. However, there was no dissention among the Tamil racists as far as the homeland concept was concerned, and they were supported wholeheartedly by the western Christian colonialism led by the Anglo Saxons who were instrumental in demarcating the country into provinces arbitrarily and thus "establishing" a so called Tamil homeland. As we have argued the Tamils were never a homogeneous community in Sri Lanka being mainly descendants of three waves of forced immigrants brought to the country by the Europeans. While the Dutch were instrumental in bringing the ancestors of the Jaffna Tamils, the British engineered the immigration of the Batticaloa Tamils and the Up Country Tamils.
Now Karuna has exploded, among others the myth of a homogeneous "Tamil nation" with a homeland in Sri Lanka and he has effectively de-merged the north and the east. At least he has de-merged the Ampara and Batticaloa districts from the so called north east. The PA - JVP alliance should now advice the President to appoint two separate governors for the northern and the eastern provinces. They should not be worried about the opinion of the political pundits who would say that the PA - JVP alliance would be playing into the hands of the LTTE by appointing two governors. The LTTE and the so called international community that support them would never accept that there is no Tamil nation and it is pointless to consider the opinion of those in the west who spread this myth.
The PA-JVP alliance instead of attempting to change the constitution through unconstitutional means should plan out a strategy to win the next presidential elections. They have only the path of nationalism if they are to proceed from here. If they deviate from that path and think of amending the constitution to satisfy the aspirations of Tamil racists and Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga that would be the end of the SLFP as we know it.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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