THE GAULLIST SYSTEM IN ASIA THE CONSTITUTION OF SRI LANKA (1978) By the same author POLITICS IN SRI LANKA, 1947-1979 ELECTORAL POLITICS IN AN EMERGENT STATE: The Ceylon General Election of May 1970 The Gaullist System in Asia The Constitution of Sri Lanka ( 1 978) A. Jeyaratnam Wilson, PH.D., n.sc. (Econ.), London Professor and Chairman, Department of Political Science Universiry of New Brunswick formerly Professor of Political Science and Head, Department of Economics and Political Science Universiry of Sri Lanka, Peradeniya © A. Jeyaratnam Wilson 1980 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1980 1980978-0-333-27276-3 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission First published 1g8o by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Wilson, Alfred Jeyaratnam The Gaullist system in Asia 1. Sri Lanka-Constitutional law I. Title 342' ·5493' 02 [Law] ISBN 978-1-349-04922-6 ISBN 978-1-349-04920-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-04920-2 For my elder brother Samuel Jeyasoorian Wilson, to whom I owe a debt which I can never repay Contents Acknowledgements 1x Introduction xm 1 Origins of the Gaullist System 2 The Politics of the Socio-Economic Setting I I 3 The Making of the Constitution 23 4 The Executive Presidency 43 5 The Prime Minister, Ministers, Parliament and Proportional Representation 62 6 Fundamental Liberties and the Language Question 97 7 The Judiciary; The Public Services I 24 8 Conclusion I 45 9 Postscript: Presidentialism Reassessed I 52 Bibliographical Notes I s8 Appendix I The Leading Actors I 63 Appendix II "The Second Republic- The Constitution of September I978" -A.Jeyaratnam Wilson I68 Appendix III The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (relevant excerpts) I 73 Notes 205 Index 2I2 VII Acknowledgements This work was conceived in Colombo, Sri Lanka, when in July of 1978 I was invited by His Excellency J. R. Jayewardene, first Elected Executive President of the Second Sri Lankan Republic, to make my comments and observations as a political scientist on the draft constitution for the proposed Second Republic. Thereafter His Excellency supplied me with information and documents, as well as giving me the benefit of his views, all of which was immensely useful to me in the preparation of this monograph. In my experience I have not come across any Head of State or Prime Minister in Sri Lanka who has been more gracious and helpful. I am also appreciative of the efforts of His Excellency's private secretary Nihal Wiratunga, who provided me with valuable material from time to time. Various ministers of the government were of great assistance; in particular, I would like to make special mention ofRonnie de Mel with whom conversation was witty and intelligent, and to the point. Lalith Athulathmudali spent long hours with me providing relevant interpretations of the Constitution. Gamini Dissanayake's. com. ments were pertinent. Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Ottawa, my friend Ernest Corea, helped to arrange interviews for me and gave me his readings of the developing political situation. My friends in the Tamil United Liberation Front were the embodiment ofcourtesy and politeness. Appapillai Amirthalingam, Leader of the Opposition, the Subhas Chandra Bose of the Ceylon Tamils, who succeeded my father-in-law, the late S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, as the leader of nationalist-minded Sri Lankan Tamils, took great pains to present me with his viewpoint. His private secretary, R. Perinbanayagam, gave me many documents. V. Dharmalingam, the aristocratic liberal thinker of the Liberation Front, put me in touch with important sources. The wise and urbane President of the Liberation Front, M. Sivasithamparam, provided me with a penetrating analysis of the changing situation, while the sharp and incisive mind of R. Sampanthan, the member of ix X Acknowledgements Parliament for Trincomalee, articulated very clearly the goals of the Liberation Front to me. My brothers-in-law, C. Vaseekaran,J. C. Ravindran and S. C. Chandrahasan, sons of the late S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, gave me their views, the result of long years of tutelage under their great father. There are many others to whom I am much indebted. My friends were extremely helpful; namely, the historian, K. M. de Silva; the economist, H. A. de S. Gunasekera; Ian Goonetileke, the erudite chieflibrarian of the University ofPeradeniya; the Right Reverend Lakshman Wickremasinghe; and Tissa Wijeyeratne, the former diplomat, a brother of the Minister of Education and Higher Education, who has his ears close to the ground. My conversa­ tions with C. R. de Silva, W. A. Wiswa Warnapala, Ranjith Amerasinghe and Laksiri Fernando, from the Departments of History and of Political Science at the University of Peradeniya, helped me to set my views in perspective. They are friends and all of them former students. My friends Stanley Kalpage, Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education and his wife Chitrangani, W. T.Jayasinghe, Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, and my former student, Sarath Amunugama, Secretary, Ministry of Information gave me the benefit of their experiences and supplied me with documents. So did other equally good friends- S. P. Amarasingam, the redoubtable editor of Sri Lanka's most informed and independent weekly Tribune; T. W. Rajaratnam, a fearless and upright former judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka; and my friends from university days, K. H.Jayasinghe, a political scientist whose wealth of critical information was of considerable assistance; and Stanley Tillekeratne, the distinguished ex-Speaker of the National State Assembly and now one of the front line leaders of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. One ofSri Lanka's most independent and top flight journalists, my sincere friend, M. A. de Silva, proved a constant source of encouragement and information. Two former students, Malkanthi Nanayakkara, the librarian of Marga Institute, Colombo, and S. Vamadevan, an economist, were generous in giving or mailing to me materials I needed. My family were unfailing in their patience, forbearance and friendship. My wife, Susili, my only constant friend and companion through the years, who is versed in my discipline, read my drafts, gave me hints and rendered invaluable advice. My daughters, Mallihai and Maithili, provided me with the inspiration that only Acknowledgements XI young university students looking into a bright and immediate future can give. To my little son, Kumanan, I owe many apologies. He asked me a multitude of questions when I was busy with my script and invariably received the same replies. In my work there are two persons to whom I am deeply grateful. Dr Peter G. Kepros, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, the kindliest of deans, gave me all the encouragement in the world. Mr Tim Farmiloe of Macmillan never failed me in his patience; his generosity and kindness helped me to accomplish a difficult task. Mrs Anne Pugh produced an accurate and perfect typescript of the final draft. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada gave me the much needed financial assistance to enable me to conduct interviews, obtain information and docu­ ments in Sri Lanka, as well as to write a Postscript to this book. Above all Ms Susan Metham helped to bring out this work in good time and I am indeed grateful to her for all her efforts. Maurice and Susan Collins, Arun Datta, Vicki Gray, Andy Wood and his wife Margaret Henderson Davis gave of their warm friendship to me, l'etranger in Fredericton, New Brunswick. AJ.W. Fredericton July 1979 Introduction Political structures mean nothing unless they are goal-oriented and seek to accomplish certain defined objectives. To that extent the I948-I972 constitution let governments drift in mid-ocean, un­ anchored, rudderless and with no seemingly charted destination. The constitution of the First Republic in its brief existence of a little more than five years (I 972-I 977) provided evidence of a search for a kind of socialism which was neither here nor there, the result of weak compromises borne out of the conflicts and rivalries of social democrats, Sinhalese Buddhist ethnic militants and Marxists. It foundered in its own morass of incompetence, corruption and intrigue. The Second Republic of I978 is more definitive and provides evidence of a conviction ofwhat needs to be done. It is a hybrid, a cross between the French and British styles of government with a little bit of the United States thrown in. More importantly it is a strained effort in the direction of developmental depoliticised government, the prime purpose being to promote economic growth and national unity. There is a deliberate attempt to avoid copying either the "repressive developmentalist regimes" 1 characteristic of the Shah's Iran, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore or the centralised and excessively depoliticised struc­ tures2 in the countries of the neighbouring subcontinent. Thus the principal delineating feature in Sri Lanka's case is the hankering after democratic constitutional government. Behind the facade however is the harbinger of political authoritarianism and firm streamlined bureaucratic performance. Only time can tell whether the delicately poised system can weather the storms ofstreet battles, trade union struggles, student unrest, ethnic rebellion from the Ceylon Tamil minority which nurses a strong sense ofgrievance and retaliation from the forces of majoritarian ethnocentric Sinhalese nationalism. The Second Republic is vice-regal in character. Members of the Cabinet are the Executive President's lieutenants, not his col­ leagues. It is an attempt at experimentation with pseudo- xiii XIV Introduction representative devices- proportional representation, the parapher­ nalia of referenda, a plebiscitary presidential election, the mainten­ ance of Parliament, though as the house without windows.