Minister of Justice Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe PC, just a week after being sworn into his new role among the latest Cabinet of Ministers, claimed proudly that the Draft Amendment to the Constitution – that is the 21st Amendment to the Constitution Draft Bill – would be presented to the Cabinet on 23 May. The purpose of this, essentially, is to remove the undemocratic powers of the President and return the said powers to a Parliament headed by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.
However, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), which met on 22 May, overruled the new Justice Minister’s proposal, and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa supported the SLPP by withdrawing this proposal from the list of items to be taken up at the Cabinet meeting.
This episode exposes the falsity of much of the propaganda that has been constructed under such slogans as “saving the nation first”, implementing a multi-party Government, and increasing the powers of the Cabinet and the Prime Minister over the Executive President.
The slogan these days is that everybody should come together to save the country from what is popularly called the US dollar crisis, which simply means that a country is being treated internationally as a nation that is incapable of honouring its debts. This, as the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Governor repeatedly explained, has placed the country in extreme hardship, with the start of a food crisis that is only expected to worsen in the coming weeks. The solution proposed as the first step towards battling this economic disaster is to obtain support from international financial organisations and governments, for which it is necessary to show that there is political stability within the country.
However, it is for that purpose that a new Prime Minister and several other Ministers were sworn in. Immediately after their appointments, they gave many interviews in which they justified their entry into the new Cabinet as a move to find a way to remove the unfit powers of the Executive President and thereby introduce a new system of governance. While such claims were being publicly proclaimed, the SLPP demonstrated as to who is truly ruling the country – it was the SLPP, and the place where they make their decisions is at their party meetings.
A new mode of operation is for SLPP MPs to make decisions which the President will then put into effect. That is a new strategy for maintaining the Executive Presidential style of governance and the old style of politics, where national concerns play second fiddle to the personal agendas of the SLPP’s leaders.
Thus, there are now several centres of governance. The first is the SLPP Party meetings – the true centre of power – while the second is the Executive President, and the first and the second combine to safeguard each other. That is the most powerful power block in the country.
Then, there is the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, which is made to appear as the real political centre of power. However, it is just a shadow, and there is no actual power that could be exercised by this centre. Also, there is Parliament, which is supposed to be the new centre of power in multi-party governance, but is perhaps the least important part of the real power structure. They can conduct their talk shows, but the real “walking the walk” is done by the combination of the first two centres of power, as mentioned above.
What does all this mean, in terms of what is claimed to be the greatest challenge to the country’s economy, for the present and for the future? Now, that is a question that must be baffling the CBSL Governor. He has declared many times that law and order and political stability are essential ingredients without which the country may descend into its lowest ebb and remain for a long period of time. Obviously, that political stability is not something that anybody can establish under the present circumstances.
Then how are the Central Bank, the new experts who are to advise the Government on restructuring the economy, and the newly appointed Prime Minister – who promises to bring plenty of money to the country – going to achieve any of their claims?
The real objective of having the show of a new Prime Minister and a Cabinet is being demonstrated quite clearly – to find a way to suppress the mass protests. The manner in which this is being done is by indiscriminately arresting persons on the pretext that they were involved in the violence in the days following 9 May. The purpose of these arrests is not primarily to bring the perpetrators of violence to justice, but rather to pass a message to all those who are taking part in the protests in different ways, like trade unions and the protestors at the Galle Face Green and elsewhere, that they will have to pay seriously for engaging in such a protest. The message is that the tolerance of peaceful demonstrations is to end, and that a period of repression has begun.
This policy of arresting indiscriminately is also accompanied by attacks on the Judiciary itself, which in the past weeks have shown that it will protect the people’s right to peaceful demonstrations. A letter returned to Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya PC himself by a high official of the Government (former Public Security Ministry Secretary Maj. Gen. [Retd.] Jagath Alwis) has shown how angered the SLPP Government is about the manner in which judges are exercising their independence.
Similar attacks were directly or indirectly made also by SLPP MPs during a parliamentary debate on the violence that took place on 9 May and the days immediately thereafter. Verbal attacks were also made against the Bar Association and the lawyers who took an active part in the recent two months to uphold the supremacy of the law and to protect those who were unjustifiably arrested or detained.
One thing could easily be detected from this pattern of actions, which are a repetition of similar patterns of practice in the past in Sri Lanka whenever a difficult political situation arose. What could be predicted is that the next step of dealing with those who are engaged in any kind of protest would be the revival of the practice of enforced disappearances. There is only a very small distance from indiscriminate arrest on a large scale to enforced disappearances.
All this means is that while there will be much talk about taking steps to improve the economy, the SLPP Government has no interest in that matter. Their interest is in safeguarding their own political positions and the sustenance of the political culture that they are best used to.
Now, the new Minister of Justice and the two Ministers who joined from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya Opposition appear to be worse off among those being manipulated through these machinations. How they will answer to the accusations that their interest in solving the economic crisis has proven facile is difficult to imagine.
However, what all this demonstrates is that the primary crisis in Sri Lanka is a political crisis. Without solving the political crisis, one cannot show the world that there is political stability in Sri Lanka. If that cannot be demonstrated, then the possibility of obtaining serious international assistance will prove to be yet another great illusion.
What all this means to the people is that their suffering will intensify, as many more crises including a serious food crisis are unavoidable, and all the saviours who claim that they will help to pull them out of this situation have no real interest in that task.
(The writer is the Asian Human Rights Commission’s Policy and Programmes Director)
……………………………………………………………………….
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.The multiple power centres ruling over Sri Lanka
03 Jun 2022
The multiple power centres ruling over Sri Lanka
03 Jun 2022
Minister of Justice Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe PC, just a week after being sworn into his new role among the latest Cabinet of Ministers, claimed proudly that the Draft Amendment to the Constitution – that is the 21st Amendment to the Constitution Draft Bill – would be presented to the Cabinet on 23 May. The purpose of this, essentially, is to remove the undemocratic powers of the President and return the said powers to a Parliament headed by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.
However, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), which met on 22 May, overruled the new Justice Minister’s proposal, and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa supported the SLPP by withdrawing this proposal from the list of items to be taken up at the Cabinet meeting.
This episode exposes the falsity of much of the propaganda that has been constructed under such slogans as “saving the nation first”, implementing a multi-party Government, and increasing the powers of the Cabinet and the Prime Minister over the Executive President.
The slogan these days is that everybody should come together to save the country from what is popularly called the US dollar crisis, which simply means that a country is being treated internationally as a nation that is incapable of honouring its debts. This, as the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Governor repeatedly explained, has placed the country in extreme hardship, with the start of a food crisis that is only expected to worsen in the coming weeks. The solution proposed as the first step towards battling this economic disaster is to obtain support from international financial organisations and governments, for which it is necessary to show that there is political stability within the country.
However, it is for that purpose that a new Prime Minister and several other Ministers were sworn in. Immediately after their appointments, they gave many interviews in which they justified their entry into the new Cabinet as a move to find a way to remove the unfit powers of the Executive President and thereby introduce a new system of governance. While such claims were being publicly proclaimed, the SLPP demonstrated as to who is truly ruling the country – it was the SLPP, and the place where they make their decisions is at their party meetings.
A new mode of operation is for SLPP MPs to make decisions which the President will then put into effect. That is a new strategy for maintaining the Executive Presidential style of governance and the old style of politics, where national concerns play second fiddle to the personal agendas of the SLPP’s leaders.
Thus, there are now several centres of governance. The first is the SLPP Party meetings – the true centre of power – while the second is the Executive President, and the first and the second combine to safeguard each other. That is the most powerful power block in the country.
Then, there is the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, which is made to appear as the real political centre of power. However, it is just a shadow, and there is no actual power that could be exercised by this centre. Also, there is Parliament, which is supposed to be the new centre of power in multi-party governance, but is perhaps the least important part of the real power structure. They can conduct their talk shows, but the real “walking the walk” is done by the combination of the first two centres of power, as mentioned above.
What does all this mean, in terms of what is claimed to be the greatest challenge to the country’s economy, for the present and for the future? Now, that is a question that must be baffling the CBSL Governor. He has declared many times that law and order and political stability are essential ingredients without which the country may descend into its lowest ebb and remain for a long period of time. Obviously, that political stability is not something that anybody can establish under the present circumstances.
Then how are the Central Bank, the new experts who are to advise the Government on restructuring the economy, and the newly appointed Prime Minister – who promises to bring plenty of money to the country – going to achieve any of their claims?
The real objective of having the show of a new Prime Minister and a Cabinet is being demonstrated quite clearly – to find a way to suppress the mass protests. The manner in which this is being done is by indiscriminately arresting persons on the pretext that they were involved in the violence in the days following 9 May. The purpose of these arrests is not primarily to bring the perpetrators of violence to justice, but rather to pass a message to all those who are taking part in the protests in different ways, like trade unions and the protestors at the Galle Face Green and elsewhere, that they will have to pay seriously for engaging in such a protest. The message is that the tolerance of peaceful demonstrations is to end, and that a period of repression has begun.
This policy of arresting indiscriminately is also accompanied by attacks on the Judiciary itself, which in the past weeks have shown that it will protect the people’s right to peaceful demonstrations. A letter returned to Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya PC himself by a high official of the Government (former Public Security Ministry Secretary Maj. Gen. [Retd.] Jagath Alwis) has shown how angered the SLPP Government is about the manner in which judges are exercising their independence.
Similar attacks were directly or indirectly made also by SLPP MPs during a parliamentary debate on the violence that took place on 9 May and the days immediately thereafter. Verbal attacks were also made against the Bar Association and the lawyers who took an active part in the recent two months to uphold the supremacy of the law and to protect those who were unjustifiably arrested or detained.
One thing could easily be detected from this pattern of actions, which are a repetition of similar patterns of practice in the past in Sri Lanka whenever a difficult political situation arose. What could be predicted is that the next step of dealing with those who are engaged in any kind of protest would be the revival of the practice of enforced disappearances. There is only a very small distance from indiscriminate arrest on a large scale to enforced disappearances.
All this means is that while there will be much talk about taking steps to improve the economy, the SLPP Government has no interest in that matter. Their interest is in safeguarding their own political positions and the sustenance of the political culture that they are best used to.
Now, the new Minister of Justice and the two Ministers who joined from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya Opposition appear to be worse off among those being manipulated through these machinations. How they will answer to the accusations that their interest in solving the economic crisis has proven facile is difficult to imagine.
However, what all this demonstrates is that the primary crisis in Sri Lanka is a political crisis. Without solving the political crisis, one cannot show the world that there is political stability in Sri Lanka. If that cannot be demonstrated, then the possibility of obtaining serious international assistance will prove to be yet another great illusion.
What all this means to the people is that their suffering will intensify, as many more crises including a serious food crisis are unavoidable, and all the saviours who claim that they will help to pull them out of this situation have no real interest in that task.
(The writer is the Asian Human Rights Commission’s Policy and Programmes Director)
……………………………………………………………………….
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.Kapruka
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Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!