The Sri Lankan parliament passed a proposal presented by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on March 9 to convert itself into a constitutional assembly to and to draft a new constitution. Wickremesinghe termed the proposal as a step towards re-establishing “democratic good governance.”
The government boasted that the resolution was passed “unanimously,” but the process dragged out for two months amid infighting within the ruling coalition.
The proposal was first presented to the parliament on January 9—one year after Maithripala Sirisena ousted Mahinda Rajapaksa. About two dozen parliamentarians aligned with Rajapaksa opposed the resolution unless it incorporated their demands.
Sirisena split from Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)-led government to contest the 2015 presidential election in a regime-change operation choreographed with the help of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga and Opposition UNP chief, Ranil Wickremesinghe. The US wanted to scuttle Rajapaksa’s close relations with Beijing.
Sirisena with the support of the opposition parties—Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP), the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) exploited the opposition of voters to Rajapaksa’s autocratic methods. He and Wickremesinghe promised to abolish the executive presidency, strengthen parliamentary rule, reconciliation with Tamil parties and improved living conditions.
After the election Sirisena took control of the SLFP and appointed Wickremesinghe as prime minister. The pair consolidated the grip on power after the UNP won parliamentary elections last August and formed a national unity government.
Rajapaksa’s backers from the SLFP and its allies in the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) have formed a “joint opposition” in Parliament. They finally backed the resolution to rewrite the constitution after the government agreed to delete the preamble and wording referring to the abolition of the executive presidency and for a “constitutional resolution of the national issue.”
The “national issue” is a reference to the systematic discrimination and oppression of the island’s Tamil minority, which resulted in a protracted and brutal war that only ended with the crushing of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Tamil leadership represented by the TNA is seeking a political solution through the devolution of the extra powers over land and the police to provincial governments.
Rajapaksa and his allies are bitterly opposed to any concessions to the Tamil minority. At a recent lecture, he explicitly opposed handing the powers of land and police to the provinces. The “joint opposition” is whipping up Sinhala chauvinist sentiment by accusing the Sirisena government of dividing the country by preparing to boost the powers of provincial councils.
Sirisena agreed to modify the resolution, but are working to isolate Rajapaksa and his supporters. He has indirectly warned Rajapakse loyalists that they face removal if they oppose the government and its policies. He recently replaced some electoral district organisers including MPs with his own supporters and appointed a loyalist as UPFA general secretary. The government is using anti-corruption drive to put pressure on Rajapaksa and his backers.
The constitutional resolution—even with its deleted preamble—has no concrete proposals. The constitutional assembly will appoint “steering committees” to discuss specific issues which will be incorporated into a new draft constitution. If two thirds of parliamentary members agree to the document then cabinet will approve it and put it to a referendum.
For three decades from formal independence in 1948 to the adoption of the executive presidency in 1978, successive UNP and SLFP governments operating through parliament institutionalised discrimination against the ethnic Tamil minority. Sinhala was made the only official language in 1956 and Buddhism a state religion in the 1972 constitution.
The UNP government of President J.R. Jayewardene imposed the 1978 constitution with its autocratic executive presidency. As the nation slipped into social tensions, Jayewardene resorted to whipping up anti-Tamil chauvinism; this led to Lanka plunging into civil war in 1983.
Both Wickremesinghe and Sirisena have criticised the “errors” of past constitutions and governments. Moreover, for all the talk about resolving the “national issue,” Wickremesinghe pledged in January that the new constitution would not change the unitary character of the state or the constitutional priority given to Buddhism.
The government’s determination to maintain Buddhism as the state religion makes clear that whatever concessions are made to the Tamils, it has no intention of ending the systematic discrimination against the Tamils. The military occupation of the North and East of the island continues and the government recently ordered the establishment of police and military check points under the guise of fighting the criminal “under-world.”
The formation of the national unity government last year is a measure of the depth of the country’s economic and social crisis. Wickremesinghe and Sirisena are seeking a “political solution” to the island’s protracted war to more closely integrate the TNA and the Tamils into the political mainstream.
During the first ever Sri Lanka-US partnership dialogue, American officials “expressed support for the government’s plans for constitutional reforms.”
—By Rohantha De Silva