Get A Grip: The 18th Amendment In Proportion And Perspective
By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka – Photo by Lalith Perera
A pro-18th Amendment march in Colombo
It gives me no pleasure to contradict an Editorialist I respect in a paper I like, but the passage of the 18th Amendment does not mark the ‘death of a nation’. Nor does September 8, 2010 “mark the death of democracy”, as the TNA declaimed during the parliamentary debate. If these claims are to be believed, both the nation and democracy, or at least one, should be dead by the time you read these lines. I really don’t think either are.
The nation was far more in danger of death at the hands of the Tigers than it is now, and anyway, nations are too strong a socio-historical reality to be killed off by constitutional amendments. The TNA shouldn’t confuse the death of their pinups, Prabhakaran and the Tigers, with that of Sri Lankan democracy, which is far more durable an entity, and far more robust in the Southern two thirds of the island than in its North. The more alarmist civil society intelligentsia should not mistake the visible disappearance, possibly terminal illness and potential death-knell of their party of choice, the UNP, for the ‘death of democracy’ in Sri Lanka.
What has taken place is a shift, not an ending. It is not an irreversible shift either. A reversal of the conditions that made the shift possible will render the shift reversible.
Any game has an umpire and as the saying goes, the umpire or referee’s word is law, or else there will be anarchy. One may disagree with the verdict but the point is that the Supreme Court heard the submissions of the critics, and doubtless read the papers, and has ruled without dissent on the matter, following which parliament has voted.
All this was avoidable. Had the UNP not set fire (quite literally) to the August 2000 Draft Constitution presented by President Kumaratunga and negotiated by Professor G.L. Peiris, K.N. Choksy and Karu Jayasuriya, there wouldn’t have been an 18th Amendment.
While the Amendment rolls back an attempt at roll back (the 17th amendment) and therefore restores a status quo ante, taking us back to vintage J.R. Jayewardene ’78, it makes de jure what was de facto, and gives constitutional form to the wartime Presidency.
It brings Sri Lanka more in line with the forms of state that are most widespread in precisely that part of the world which most strongly supported Sri Lanka in the war. Though it has its exceptions, this is the state form or regime type that preponderates in Eurasia and the global South, characterised by a strong centre (governed by the most ideologically diverse array of ruling parties and personalities).
This evolution or modification of state form almost always occurs in the context of a real or perceived external encirclement or threat. External threat or intrusion almost always leads to internal hardening.
The 18th Amendment is far less of a turning point, and far less dangerous than President Jayewardene’s Referendum of 1982, which arbitrarily extended the term of parliament by postponing a scheduled parliamentary election by means of a fraudulent and coercive referendum. This took place at a time when the main Opposition party, the SLFP, had been decapitated by the deprivation of Mrs. Bandaranaike’s civic rights. All this closed off the safety valves and rendered explosion inevitable. It came six months later in the form of massive anti-Tamil violence.
Today’s big story is surely the meltdown of the main democratic opposition. The Sirimavo Bandaranaike administration of 1970-77 had a far greater degree of structural control over society, what with the abolition of the independent Public Services Commission, the notorious District Political Authorities and the near monopoly of the mass media. Yet it was swept away in 1977. In 1982 J.R. Jayewardene needed to have Sirimavo Bandaranaike politically ‘decommissioned’ and the most dynamic elements of the SLFP (Vijaya Kumaratunga, Ossie Abeygoonesekara) locked up on spurious charges of Naxalism, printing bogus rice ration cards etc. in order to make his move. Mahinda Rajapaksa has not suppressed the UNP in the least, has been solicitous of the political fortunes of its leader (far from depriving him of civic rights) and is the beneficiary of a seemingly endless stream of defections due to the ‘bandwagon effect’.
Work the simple arithmetic. How many of the votes for the 18th Amendment, from senior ministers to teleplay Barbies, come from former UNPers who crossed the floor precisely during the tenure of Ranil Wickremesinghe as UNP leader? How many non-UNP Opposition votes are those of defectors from Ranil’s stint as Opposition Leader? The numbers and trajectories of the parliamentarians tell the story: if the 18th Amendment renders the Presidency overly powerful, it is Ranil Wickremesinghe who has empowered him.
President Jayewardene would never in his worst nightmares, have thought that the 65th anniversary of the United National Party would have been commemorated in the Centre named after him. The Jayewardene Centre was used for exhibitions and gatherings of friendship societies etc., and not the anniversaries of the UNP which can usually fill an indoor stadium. It is not as if Mahinda Rajapaksa used state repression to reduce the numbers attending the UNP anniversary celebration. No, it has taken Ranil Wickremesinghe to confine to the Jayewardene Centre auditorium, what used to be the country’s largest single political party!
What is even more telling – and disgraceful – is that the UNP was reduced to such a pathetic state of insecurity that it chose to boycott the debate in the legislature on the 18th Amendment, thereby passing up the chance to use the best possible platform, the floor of the House, to place its critique before the country and on the parliamentary record.
The slew of defectors from the UNP, which include not just the old but the young, new, and popular (such as the lass from Gampaha with all those UNP preference votes) shows that the undercurrent of popular opinion is still flowing towards the incumbent. The multiethnic character of the support from the Opposition (SLMC, two Tamil MPs) is telling, but still more so was the silence of the largest institution which crosses the Sinhala-Tamil divide; the oldest globalised, multinational institution in the world, the Catholic Church, headed in Sri Lanka by the brilliant and multilingual Archbishop (soon to be Cardinal) Dr. Malcolm Ranjith. This is hardly a besieged, unpopular administration which has become more authoritarian as a defence against popular pressure and national isolation.
The 18th Amendment’s foes have it wrong and fans may not have it right. All the parallels deployed by the foes, from Louis Napoleon to Marcos, are wrong. These regimes were either defeated in war (Napoleon’s nephew by Prussia), or were perceived as puppets by the populace (Marcos, the Shah), or bureaucratic autocracies divorced from national, religious and popular sentiments of the majority (Poland). The Rajapaksa regime is as much or far more populist and patriotic than praetorian.
The fans may not have it right either. The trade-off of a developmental miracle or sustainable ‘take off’ requires many factors which are not yet in place and some, not even on the far horizon, ranging from standards of education through ethnic reconciliation to the efficacy of public services.
The success of the mutation of the form of state will stand or fall on whether or not the administration delivers the goods to the vast majority of the electorate. It has delivered some of the greatest public goods such as victory, pride, peace, security and stability, but that political capital won’t last forever. The litmus test will be whether, as in East Asia, the strong state/political leadership will deliver rapidly rising levels of prosperity and an improved quality of life, not just for the ‘haves’, the crony capitalists and the courtiers but for the overwhelming majority of the citizenry.
“What has taken place is a shift, not an ending. It is not an irreversible shift either. A reversal of the conditions that made the shift possible will render the shift reversible.”
Really? Remember the “shift” that brought the LTTE to the fore as a power to be reckoned with? How long and how many lives lost to reverse that shift? Remember the shift that brought Than Shwe of Burma into power? The people of Burma have still not reversed from that shift yet. How about the shift brought about by Mugabe?
I am shocked at Dayan’s comments. Surely he realises that all future presidential elections will be rigged in favour of the current holder of the office. MR is now President for life. What is more, whoever comes after him will also enjoy as many terms in office as he can arrange. I supported MR wholeheartedly when he was fighting the LTTE but he has lost the opportunity to become a great statesman. He is just another opportunist politician appointing his relatives (and reappointing people like Mervyn Silva) to positions of power. We have a great future behind us.
Throughout the history, people like Dayan who have vested interests have advised the politicians in the way iether they understand or the wrong way that benefitted them (the advisers!). The constitution that was made by the people friendly Colvin and and his group after proper consultation was binned and a constitution that was made by bastardising the people’s trust was implemented with the blessings of the folks like Dayan in 1978. It was made for the ruler to enjoy absolute freedom while suffocating freedom of expression and democracy. 18-A is nothing but legalising that bastardised constitution, which had been thrashed for 30 years by the man who legalised it. I only spotted one sentence from this article, I know there is nothing to learn from it so won’t read it. Dayan did a good job at UN office during the war and that we admire. But eulogising a piece of garbage as in the form of 18-A is out of character in that context. Advising a politician the road to dictatorship must be made a crime in the 19th -A.
Now that the UNPers have joined the Government-its time to propose in Par;iament the abolition of the Presidency- 40% of the Government MPs are intersted in this proposal.It is rumoured that leading Minsters of that 40% have negotiated the deal to bring in the UNPers-Good move. Tnhe Country wide cry is abolish the Presidency.
Well said Chanaka.
Eloquence in delivery of a message should not be confused with masking facts that effects the country and its people Dayan – for whatever crumbs you may be getting, one should not help the bandwagon of the opposition that moved across to sell the country and betray the people.
In a country where the legislative assembly is filled with teleplay barbies and other morons, we are blessed to have intellectuals like Dayan – even outside the system – to sensibly analyse issues, state facts, remind us of the history all in an objective fashion. Keep up youy good work Dayan. Don’t be disheartened by the commentaries on this forum – by those who are disappointed at not hearing what they want to hear…
Get a grip indeed. I believe DJ has a firm grasp of a bundle of straws.
The dynastic intentions of this regime have been clear for several years now. Their disregard for matters of law and procedure is all but complete. This new amendments opens the road to untrammeled power.
Do not underestimate their single-mindedness or ruthlessness in achieving their ends, the fate of the last two people who made this mistake, Sarath Fonseka and Prabakaran should serve as warning enough to any future dissidents.
Moda gon sinhalaya kapiya raja parayage gu than
What a sorry apology for draconian legislation regressing from the progress achieved.
We have not seen a SINGLE convincing argument as WHY we need this 18A. We already have an all-powerful Presidency.
Yes we were under threat of the LTTE for 30 years and so were our democratic institutions. So if that threat has been eliminated successfully with the pre 18A Presidential system, WHAT IS THE CRYING need for such changes AFTER the threat has been eliminated. The pre-8 A constitution was adequate to handle the ‘most ruthless terror group’. SO WHY DO WE NEED EVEN MORE DRACOPIAN PRSIDENCY.
By the way, the question of when the term begins for the 2nd Rajapakasa term has also been sorted out in the 18A huh? BEFORE the 2nd Term swearing IN!!! Jayatilleke would say ‘Yippeeee!’ So the likes of Jayatillke would make us believe this is all good for the people and all the blame must go to Ranil !!! man what a sorry so-called ‘academic’.
yes Jayatillke, every game has an umpire. BUT the umpires office EC, PC, PSC et al have been usurped by the system of appointment and control. Powers of APPOINTMENT are vested entirely on the Executive – all others play only an adversorial role. Rationalization of such draconian measures are an extremely dangerous depth to which even the so called intellectuals in the likes of Jayatillke would stoop to. This is THEIR idea of moving FORWARD in post conflict sri lanka?. wow what brilliance!!!
Here this – we in business think and feel that all these politicians – the blues, greens and the reds of every shade – are all alike – corrupt, unconscionable, spinless, self serving individuals who would sell their souls and rape this country of her economic wealth and the usurp our values of society for their benefit. Sadly, so are apologists like Jayatillke .No amount of Jayatillke-type theorising could justify such concentration of power even if the opposition was weak. Just because we have a weak opposition does not mean the Government has obtained a right to USURP STATE institutions as has been done in 18 A. The SC did not sit as full bench on such an important issue. HOW STRANGE?
All of us as citizens need to ask our selves – WOULD WE RATHER BE IN THE RIGHT OR WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY. The likes of jayatillke in fact do immeasurable damage in sitting and justifying acts which cannot be. Such apologists of political are equally responsible as the politicians them selves. Jayatillke probably read but chose to ignore Amartya Sen’s IDEA OF JUSTICE !
With this, a 19th AMENDEMENT would be as easy as!!!!
Get a grip, Dayan, yourself!
But that would be too much to expect from a self serving ‘emperor wears no clothes’ egomaniac who thinks that he can ”analyse” a situation with perspective, right!
He thinks that the 18th Amendment which is the worst constitutional amendment that we have had in recent history is nothing very much and blames people for overeacting! What a lark! And what a joke!
What a lot of drivel written by an apologist for the Rajapakse regime.Atleast JRJ got votes from MP’s who were voted by the ppl for HIS party. 18A was brought about by luring MP s of other parties to vote for this shameless piece of legislation which they had no right to do as the ppl who sent them to parliament did NOT expect them to support the government.
Stop saying that this amendment is harmless when you have enough brains to realise that it is not. yOU are a shameless person who is using the weaknesses of Ranil Wickramasinghe( who is uselss I agree) to excuse all the sins of your master. Why are u currying favor with MR SO SHAMELESSLY
Is it that you want your old job back?
Incidently we also remember how u at one point in Srilankan politics was so unpopular that u had to RUN like Archimedis
Thank you sir. This is a well written article, a refreshing change from the mundane garbage this paper is renowned for. I have always loved to read your work I must say.
Although I am not ready to agree nor disagree with your point of view, I am grateful for the perspective you have provided. I think more people need to be “Informed” and “understand” before they make an opinion for themselves and then shout them out from every nook and corner (and print them).
May be this will be ultimately good in the long term-we can have a stern Lee Yuan Kew type of leader in Sri Lanka. Of course Lee never tolerated corruption, but still Rajapakse destroyed the LTTE and Lee never had such a challenge.
The 18-A has eroded all the safeguards such as Segregation of Powers, placed by our founders in our Constitution. In the hands of a mild dictator, we could put Mugabe to shame.
good article
DJ’s arguments are more abstract and idealogical. Entire tenour of the article deals with the past incidents and not with the furture. the writer specifically fails to answer the following;
1. he fails to comment precisely whehter abolishmnet of the 17 Amd is good thing or not? if it is good, then how is it good?
2. what is his position when president makes appointment to judiciary and the PSc?
3. Presidential power over the election’s offcie?
4. right to control appointments and transfers of the public service during election time
5. extension of immunity of the presidnert to the parliament
all these have escaped the writer’s article wriiten in good english
Off beat item – Recently at a gathering of youngsters (mainly Colombo middle class) I asked how many intend remaining in Sri Lanka. Out of 17 gathered 11 said that they were waiting to get out of Sri Lanka at the first opportunity, 4 said they’ll remain here while 2 were undecided. This means the brain drain will continue and we will loose capable young people. You just can’t blame them.
I am very surprised at the attempts to analyse yet another of this man’s rationalisations/justifications of the current regime’s fascist conduct. He might be a sophisticated hack, but a hack he is nevertheless.
Come on, folks, this is Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, supporter of Premadasa and Rajapaksa, yet another of those “academics” who prove that “political scientist” is the ultimate contradiction in terms!
Dayan lost his message in his intro itself by bashing TNA & LTTE. Just strip that part away and read on. Are we going to be in any better shape than today. You will find the answer yourself. We have become the corruption capital of the world.