{"id":56097,"date":"2017-10-25T19:20:19","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T23:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=56097"},"modified":"2017-10-26T02:47:15","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T06:47:15","slug":"phony-moves-of-constitutional-change-and-the-political-hypocrisy-of-prime-minister-ranil-wickremesinghe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=56097","title":{"rendered":"Phony Moves of Constitutional Change and The Political Hypocrisy of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe"},"content":{"rendered":"

By K. Ratnayake <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe presented a \u201cconstitutional assembly\u201d steering committee report last month. Although he declared the aim of a new constitution was \u201creconciliation and development,\u201d the accompanying debate shows that every faction of the ruling elite is thoroughly steeped in divisive Sinhala communalism.<\/p>\n

The report presented on September 21 will be debated for three days from October 30 to November 1, during which time the Sri Lankan parliament will meet as a constitutional assembly.<\/p>\n

In March last year, the parliament decided to act as a constitutional assembly (CA) to prepare a new constitution. This is an anti-democratic body and not a genuine constitutional assembly directly elected by workers and poor.<\/p>\n

The decision was backed by the ruling coalition led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and United National Party (UNP), as well as the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and a faction of SLFP MPs supporting former president Mahinda Rajapakse.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wickremesinghe boasted the CA would present a \u201cconsensus constitution\u201d of all political parties for the first time since independence in 1948. However, the discussion has dragged on for more than a year and, after 60 sittings of the \u201csteering committee,\u201d only an interim report has been produced.<\/p>\n

During the 2015 presidential election, President Maithripala Sirisena promised \u201cdemocratic changes\u201d to the constitution, including the abolition of the executive presidency and the strengthening of parliament to ensure \u201cgood governance.\u201d This phony campaign, backed by the JVP, TNA and various pseudo-left organisations, was a means of exploiting popular anger toward Sirisena\u2019s rival, the incumbent President Rajapakse, and his attacks on democratic rights.<\/p>\n

The ousting of Rajapakse was in reality a regime-change operation backed by the US and India. Washington was hostile to Rajapakse\u2019s close relations with Beijing and wanted Sri Lanka to line up behind its military build-up in Asia against China.<\/p>\n

Presenting the report to parliament, Wickremesinghe said the new constitution would ensure no divisions on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity or social background. It would provide \u201cequal distribution of the benefits of economic development \u2026 widen democracy and establish peace and stability.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nAt the same time, the prime minister declared: \u201cSri Lanka should be a unitary state.\u201d He stated: \u201cWe are a proud Buddhist nation. And the constitution is to be drafted on \u2018Buddhist policies and principles.\u2019\u201d
\nWickremesinghe noted the report replaced the words \u201cunitary state\u201d with more suitable words and formulas such as \u201cSri Lanka should be an undivided and indivisible country.\u201d He said Buddhism would be given \u201cthe foremost place while assuring to all religions their rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

These comments demonstrated the utter hypocrisy of Wickremesinghe\u2019s claims that the constitution will ensure no racial or religious divisions and will establish equality and democracy. His remarks are nothing but a vow to maintain the supremacy of the island\u2019s ethnic majority Sinhalese Buddhists.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Under the banner of defending the unitary state and the \u201cforemost place to Buddhism,\u201d the Sinhalese ruling elite has systematically discriminated against the Tamil minority and exploited communalism to divide the working class. That resulted in the 30-year communal war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which was defeated in May 2009.<\/p>\n

Sirisena and Wickremesinghe have promised some minor concessions to the Tamil elite and its main party, the TNA, in order to strengthen bourgeois rule. The US and India, which are concerned about the risk of communal unrest, have advised the government to accommodate the TNA in a power-sharing arrangement.<\/p>\n

The TNA earlier presented a proposal for a federal system, but later dropped it. TNA leader R. Sambandan praised the interim report, adding, \u201cwe must not be hanging on to words like federalism.\u201d However, the TNA is hoping that the 13th Amendment to the existing constitution will be implemented, devolving greater powers to the majority Tamil provinces of the north and east.<\/p>\n

The interim report demonstrates that the ruling coalition is not agreed on how far to go in making concessions to the Tamil elite. The UNP is proposing to merge the northern and eastern provinces\u2014a longstanding TNA demand. But the SLFP is opposed. It demands the removal of a clause in the present constitution to hold a referendum to merge the provinces.<\/p>\n

Just one week after the interim report was announced, Sirisena spoke at a Buddhist ceremony. He declared that the report \u201cdoes not project a concept of federal state,\u201d then added: \u201cI will never allow a constitution that will break up this unitary status.\u201d He affirmed there would be no \u201cdowngrading in the new constitution of any clause or paragraphs pertaining to Buddhism that are in the current constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sirisena and Wickremesinghe campaigned to abolish the executive presidency but there is also no agreement between the ruling parties on this matter.<\/p>\n


\nFor all its claims to be establishing a new democratic constitution, the government is in fact preparing dictatorial rule and taking repressive measures against workers and the poor.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

After nearly three years in office, the government has been discredited because of its implementation of savage, IMF-dictated austerity measures. Struggles have erupted in the plantations, power sector, petroleum industry, railways and universities, to mention a few. About 8,000 medical students have boycotted lectures for nine months, while other students are continuing to campaign against the privatisation of education.<\/p>\n

The government depends on the betrayals of the trade unions, on one hand, and, on the other, the unleashing of the police and military to crush strikes and student protests. Fearing defeat, the ruling coalition has postponed local government and provincial council elections.<\/p>\n

Along with these repressive measures, the government has integrated the country more closely into US war plans against China. Last week, the Sri Lankan armed forces held joint exercises sponsored by the US military in Trincomalee. Next month, US Deputy Secretary for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon will visit Colombo for a \u201cPartnership Dialogue\u201d between the two countries.<\/p>\n

The Rajapakse-led faction of the SLFP, with the backing of various chauvinist groups and Buddhist monks, has launched a virulent communal campaign. While participating in the CA, this faction is accusing the government of seeking to divide the country and create a federal system to satisfy the TNA.<\/p>\n

In a statement on October 16, Rajapakse warned the government to stop its \u201cdestructive measures.\u201d He is seeking to exploit the growing opposition to the government and divert it into reactionary communal channels. He is openly campaigning to topple the government.<\/p>\n

The struggle for genuine democratic rights is bound up with the fight against war and attacks on living conditions. In the struggle for a secular democratic state, every form of discrimination, including on a racial or religious basis, must be opposed. These tasks can be achieved only by the working class, supported by the oppressed masses, in the fight for socialism.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:World Socialist Web Site<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By K. Ratnayake Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe presented a \u201cconstitutional assembly\u201d steering committee report last month. Although he declared the aim of a new constitution was \u201creconciliation and development,\u201d the accompanying debate shows that every faction of the ruling elite is thoroughly steeped in divisive Sinhala communalism. The report presented on September 21 …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Phony Moves of Constitutional Change and The Political Hypocrisy of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56097"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56098,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56097\/revisions\/56098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}