Courtesy: South Asia Security
Trends, June 2018 |
Abolition of executive presidency
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)’s action to introduce a
private member’s bill in parliament to abolish the existing executive
presidential system, through the 20th Amendment (20A) to the
Constitution, has once again triggered heated debate in Sri Lanka politics.
Ever since President JR Jayawardane became the first executive president on February 04, 1978armed with unlimited
powers and little accountability, executive presidency had courted
controversy. It became the opposition hobby horse in the run up to
every election.
However, successive president’s after getting elected, never
abolished or reformed the system. Obviously, because it gave them unlimited political powers on,
without the checks and balances. President Ranasinghe Premadasa used his
powers to crush the JVP. And President Mahinda Rajapaksa used his power to
shelve the peace process and use the army to wipe out the LTTE, ending the
separatist dream of an independent Tamil Eelam. In the process, he muzzled free
press, stifled civil society, curbed fundamental rights and threatened the
opposition. So it was not surprising that the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe alliance
zeroed on the reform of executive presidential system as a cornerstone of their
election campaign.
On assuming office in 2015, President Maithripala Sirisena
included reform of the presidential system reform as an important element of
his 100-day agenda. The national unity government successfully passed the 19th Amendment
to the Constitution of 1978 to remove
President Rajapaka’s 18th Amendment that lifted the two term
limit for holding presidential office. In fact, President Sirisena in his
address to the newly elected parliament on September 8, 2015 called the passing
of 19th Amendment
“a fulfilment of one of my key promises. It is the responsibility of this
Parliament, where you are now seated, to take the final decision over the
existence or the nature of the Executive Presidency.”
In spite of such proclaimed intention, both President Sirisena
and PM Wickremesinghe have been not been able to make good of their promise on
executive presidency. There is lack of unanimity on the future of executive
presidency, particularly in the Sirisena-led Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Reform
of the presidential system forms part of the draft constitution, which is still
to be finalised. An exasperated President Sirisena is firing broadsides on his
coalition partner and PM Wickremesinghe is counselling his party men to keep
their cool is indicative of the precarious state of the coalition now. In
short, the coalition of conviction has turned into a coalition of convenience.
In this murky political scene, JVP’s 20A bill would only throw
yet another spanner in the works. FM Sarath Fonseka, Minister for sustainable
development, probably reflected the general mood within the coalition, when he
said that under the prevailing political conditions abolishing the executive
presidency under the 20A might be harmful to the country. The 16 SLFP MPs who voted
for the no confidence motion against the PM also have decided against the 20A.
The Joint Opposition took a decision to oppose the 20A at a meeting chaired by
former president Rajapaksa. The meeting attended by other opposition party
leaders including Prof GL Peiris of the pro-Rajapaksa Sri Lanka Podujana
Peramuna (SLPP) also decided to press President Sirisena to go for a snap
general election indicating its gamesmanship to take advantage of the political
confusion. However, President Sirisena can take comfort that the bill on
20Amendment when it comes for voting would not able to muster the support of
the 5/6th members in parliament required for
success.
Remembering the war dead
Tamils in Sri Lanka observed May 18 as Remembrance Day to mourn
thousands of civilians who lost their lives in Mullivaikal on the last day of
the Eelam War. Once again the commemoration of the Mullivaikal dead raised the
passions of Sinhala nationalists, who questioned the propriety of it, while
Tamil separatists tried to revive Eelam separatism. This year, the Northern
provincial council organized the celebrations at Mullivaikal under its wing, on
the orders of Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran. At the massive commemoration
about 10,000 people, including Jaffna university students on bikes, are said to
have participated. All school principals of Northern Province were requested to
observe a moment of silence in memory of the dead and fly the provincial flag
at half-mast. LTTE supporters seemed to have taken over the function
and played songs of Eelam struggle. After Vijitha Kesavan, who lost both her
parents in the war, lit the flame the Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran spoke.
He described as half -baked the present attempts to present
alternate solutions, instead of sustainable solutions, regarding war crimes as
an attempt to demoralize the people who were seeking justice. He said every May
18 should be observed as Genocide Day and the international community should
set up a strategy mechanism to ensure justice and ensure a sustainable
political solution for Tamils. He also appealed to them to designate the Tamil
experience as a mass disaster and offer recompense.
Significantly the leaders
of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) did not speak at the function; however they
attended the functions held elsewhere. However, it was interesting to note that
the government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said there was “nothing wrong in
having events to commemorate those who died during the final phase of war in
Northern Province…They are also our children” which drew a lot of flak from
hardliners.
China-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement
A Reuters report quoted Sri Lanka’s chief trade negotiator KJ
Weerasinghe as saying Sri Lanka’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was facing hurdles
as China was not ready to agree to Colombo’s insistence on the right to review
the FTA after ten years in operation. Ministerial level discussions on FTA have
not been held since March 2017, because China wanted to remove the review
class. Sri Lanka wants the review clause as it would allow some changes in the
terms of FTA, if it was found hurting local businesses.
Col R Hariharan,
a retired MI officer, served as the head of Intelligence of the Indian Peace
Keeping Force in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 90. He is associated with the Chennai
Centre for China Studies, South Asia Analysis Group and the International Law
and Strategic Analysis Institute, Chennai. E-mail: haridirect@gmail.com Blog:http://col.hariharan.info
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