13Th Amendment

4 Monday 20th July, 2009 The Island Politics By Kalana Senaratne For he adds: the whole country must have a system. tion that does not reference history in that fashion. This 13A implementation aving defeated the LTTE, President Rajapaksa Y ou can t have one system for the North and one for the is a great challenge. But economic development , by it self, cannot be a st ated, on 19 May 2009, in Parliament: We have East cure for all ills. He would have to rely more heavily on H removed the word minorities from our vocabu- Reliance on economic development: notions such as constitutionalism, the rule of law, lary There are only two peoples in this country. One Traditional Homelands : the problems cured? human rights, independence, citizenship and equality. is the people that love this country. The other comprises political myth One returns, at this point, to reflect on his insistence But how would people view his credentials on such mat - the small group s that have no love for the land of their He may not want to enter into a debate, reference on ensuring social security, economic freedoms and ters, when considering the fact that even the present birth. Having st ated that a milit ary solution is not a final history , conduct the historical audit . Y et, he seems to development. President Rajapaksa, it is clear , seems to Constitution remains to be fully implemented? Not only solution, President Rajap aksa went on to st ate that a document offered on a tray as a political solution could be convinced that if he has to, he has a strong case to be relying largely on economic development to cure is 13A not implemented, but even the 17th Amendment, also not be the final solution . He reminds us that in the prove what he wants to prove. In this regard, he may many problems faced by the people; a solution which, which is (even though flawed) closer to notions of inde - Mahinda Chintanaya he had categorically st ated that rely, for inst ance, on Prof. A.J. W ilson s remarkable he seems to believe, benefit s all, creates opportunities pendence, accountability and citizenship, remains p ara - he will respect all ethnic and religious identities, refrain admission that whether there are any traditional home - for all, and ensures cert ain vital economic freedoms for lyzed. from using force against anyone and build a new socie - lands of the T amil-speaking peoples is a matter for all. This is where the case for the implement ation of ty that protect s individual and social freedoms . Earlier, 1 3 A assumes practical import ance. The legally and on 4 February 2009, President Rajapaksa insisted on politically (domestic and international, given the promis - the need to strive to demonstrate your freedom and non-servitude . Elsewhere, he says that he is for a es we ve made especially to India) correct thing to do, home-grown solution. in the short term, is the implement ation of 13A. To allow 13A (or even 17A for that matter) live in a st ate of eter - nal comatose, is simply unaccept able. Until ef fective 13A implementation: contradiction and 13th Amendment constitutional reform could t ake place, as it necessarily confusion should, President Rajap aksa would need to give serious What do all these st atements mean as a whole, I thought to the implement ation of 13A. The most reason- have wondered ever since. What message is he trying able option seems to be this compromise; i.e. the imple - to convey to the public? One could only resort to con - and President Rajapaksa mentation of 13A until a complete political/constitutional jecture, extrapolation. What follows, therefore, can be reformation could t ake place. The 13A is not home- right or wrong. grown; so yes, it has to go out. Y et, until then, some - The significance of his numerous speeches lies in thing should be done about it. Perhap s, President the fact that he neither mentions 13A , nor it s full imple- I would reason- Rajapaksa had this in mind, when he made the political mentation. There is little evidence to suggest that he is ably assume promise to India that he would implement 13A. a so great admirer of 13A that he would rush to imple - ment it. Domestically he is not forthright in promising that if he 13A, sovereignty and national 13A implementation , as he has done so evidently in security numerous Joint-CommuniquØs. He is essentially a politi - decides to ‘fully’ If so, what happens to Sri Lanka s sovereignty, her cian of the masses, and therefore, I tend to rely more national security? on what he tells the masses, and not necessarily what implement 13A, I would reasonably assume that if he decides to he tells the international community . In his interviews fully implement 13A, as an interim solution, he would (especially the one with The Hindu), he briefly refers to as an do so only af ter strengthening the country s security, 13A , but hastens to add that he knows what the solu - interim solution, he would especially in the North and the East. He would, or rather tion should be, and he want s to get it from the people. ““ he should, strengthen it to such an extent that there To the T imes he tells that power sharing is needed. A n d do so only after would be, no doubt, concerning the protection of the at times, he claims that the solution should go beyond country s sovereignty, territorial integrity and security . By 13A, even 13A plus , but what this plus means is again strengthening the coun- doing so, he could also very well dispel what seems to doubtful. He doesn t spell out clearly what is on his be an unnecessary phobia that some harbour concern- mind. This is why I am rather skeptical about President try’s security, especially in ing devolution of power . What he would, however, Rajapaksa s commitment to fully implement 13A. need to ensure is that this strengthening of security Hence, a reasonable doubt about his intentions con - the North and the East. He through the Armed Forces is not akin to some sort of cerning 13A. Even if he thinks in terms of 13A, there milit arization ; something, again, which is largely a are then those other st atements which suggest that would, or rather he should, product of fear (which is sometimes seen in incident s as 13A is never a final solution. “ those relating to Bob Rae, etc.). It is a fine balance that strengthen it to such an “ he needs to strike here. If then, there should not be too No minorities : solution based on equality extent that there would be, many problems with the implementation of 13A as an and citizenship etc.? interim measure. Firstly , the President s remark that the word minori - no doubt, concerning the ty is non-existent in our vocabulary is largely, I believe, Optimism amidst doubt a deliberate and conscious attempt at suggesting that protection of the country’s Amidst all this, amidst some doubt, I remain opti - any political solution would not over-emphasize the mistic; about President Rajap aksa s intentions, about grievances felt by a p articular ethnic community. I do sovereignty, ter- his ability to do good. Signs are that he is sincere about not believe that he fully accept s the argument (quite ritorial integri- it. This optimism is derived not only from the fact that he thankfully) that Tamil people do not have problems defeated terrorism which he said he would, but also unique to them. Y et, the attempt seems to be to forge a ty and security. because he seems to be unwavering amidst a lot of mechanism whereby all grievances of all ethnic commu - political pressure. That again is perhap s because he nities could be equally addressed and met. Such a solu - believes that the people are behind him, which is true; tion, I would imagine, is one based on notions such as argument . He may believe correctly that traditional and that the best answer to political pressure would ulti - constitutionalism, citizenship, the rule of law and equali - homeland is a political myth, as explained by Prof. KM Hence, in order to strengthen the case for greater mately be the supreme confidence that people repose ty. de Silva in his study The T raditional Homelands of the reliance or insistence on the notion of equality and citi - in him, and not necessarily in those who threaten resig - This, I believe, is also because he is mindful of his - Tamils: Sep aratist Ideology in Sri Lanka - A Historical zenship as a long term solution to the problems faced nation . tory , because he believes in his own version of it. Appraisal (in which Prof. de Silva quotes Prof. W ilsons by all, he would try to ensure that the North and the Perhaps President Rajapaksa believes, correctly, that admission above). East, in p articular , are economically developed; greater accepting the traditional homeland argument adduced This could also be a reason why the President is investment and business promotion would ensure that by one ethnic group result s in a bifurcation of the S tate, reluct ant to st ate 13A domestically (even though inter - people would largely benefit from the economic and a division, which is not healthy, or one that doesn t nationally, he is perhap s compelled to do so, largely due social freedoms and other opportunities that would assist in laying out a proper foundation for a sust ainable to the Indian factor ).

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