Constitutional imbroglio!

When an individual possesses a faulty and a questionable constitution, you cannot expect him to behave as a normal human being. He is ill and his behavioural pattern has gone haywire, affecting the people living around him too. 

A stable and a strong constitution not only forms the basis for the physical make up of the body, but also affects the activity of the metabolic processes, the manner and degree of its reaction to stimuli and its power of resistance to attacks of pathogenic organisms or other disease processes.

Similarly the constitution of a country should be strong and stable enough to withstand and resist attacks by reactionary forces, determined to create chaos in order to either plunder the valuable assets and resources or to obstruct the forward march towards prosperity and self sufficiency. The history of the world presents us with only too many instances of this kind of attack taking place, successfully.

At present we face such a complicated scenario: to accept or reject a new constitution! In this context, the main argument of the pro-new-constitution “dreamers” is that 62 lakhs of voters had given them a powerful mandate to promulgate a new constitution, replacing the existing one which had been created with much care by their own former “Helmsman”. But as far as the country remembers there was some mention of reducing the dictatorial powers of the executive president and of changing the proportional representation system, considered the bane of the political order, creating chaos in the social fabric.

• Actually, the voters had other priorities, such as the rising cost of living and, especially, the prevailing corruption.
• Will the change of the existing constitution bring about drastic changes in the lives of the discerning voters, or in the country as a whole?
• Will it reduce the cost of living, create more job opportunities, create a situation where reconciliation among different nationalities become feasible, and stop corruption once and for all?
• Or will it sharpen any enmities or distrust between the different nationalities and divide the country  into several independent bantustans?
• The million “dollar” question being asked by many suspicious parties, including the Maha Sangha, is whether there is a such a dire need for a new constitution.,

Who is really keen on having this unwanted and unsuitable change?

As far as everyone knows it is the idea of the powerful western powers, and their NGO lackeys -- as well as the regional busybody -- who were angry and frustrated at not being able to save the most inhuman terrorist and his cohorts. Their main motive is to punish the forces and the leaders who were responsible for the downfall and the exposure of LTTE’s masquerade, staged to deceive innocent Tamils into believing that they were fighting for the emancipation of the Tamil nation.

The  mighty hurry to bring forth a new constitution a way of expressing gratitude for the great help the colonialists and the Tamil diaspora provided for those now in power to come to that position, so that they could have a free hand in plundering the valuable assets of Mother Lanka, which they are certainly doing in style!.

Another argument presented by them is that this interim report comprises proposals made by various parties only as suggestions, and that those ideas should be discussed; the final draft to be decided on later. While this may seem to be a sound argument, going by their past behaviour patterns, can we trust their assurances? They have proved that they out to do what they intend, despite whatever protests and demonstrations are staged against them. In other words  they seem to be behaving like individuals possessing questionable and faulty constitutions themselves.

Are we going cave into their illogical and unpatriotic manoeuvres?

In the future will anyone living in one province have to apply for a visa to visit a friend or a relative living in another province? Will there be a need  for Parliament, when the whole country is ruled by several provincial governments who have all powers to do whatever they want to do, even wage war against one another?

With the help of opportunistic and ambitious leaders, Sri Lankans were entrapped and forced by a predatory colonial power in 1815 into accepting a one-sided agreement, the same kind of document as the proposed new constitution, which turned Sri Lanka into an enslaved nation.

As a result we had “willingly” to cave to their whims and fancies. accept an alien economy and culture, affecting our lifestyles and our ability to feed and clothe ourselves adequately.. And in the end we turned ourselves into back scratching lap dogs and “Kalusuddas” who had to accept Independence wearing top hats and tailcoats, imitating our colonial masters. Although the top hats and tailcoats have disappeared,  today the descendants of those turncoats are following their colonial masters and continue to plunder and loot the country’s wealth wearing suits and ties.

This constitution will help them to perform their dirty work without any hindrance. We are seeing history repeating itself, as both tragedy and farce.                                                                                                             

By Vijaya Ariyarathna