Arbiters of democracy

The Introduction of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution has brought about a situation where different parties are bemoaning the death of ‘democracy’ and the birth of ‘dictatorship’. This is because; despite the fact that democracy means ‘Government of the people’ different parties have given different expedient interpretations to this term to justify their own perceptions

Prajathanthravadayaye Malagama (Death to democracy) says the JVP’s characteristic islandwide poster pasters. The UNP wanted black flags hoisted all over the

country to signify that it is black day for democracy. And on top of all that the US Ambassador for Sri Lanka, Patricia M Butenis too joins in the fray declaring that the ‘Presidential term limits play a vital role in democracies’.

Of all the people it is the JVP that has an intrinsic brand of ‘democracy’ that made them stage two armed attempts to ‘democratically’ seize power in this country. In 1971, it was the Che-Quera style revolution to capture power that resulted in the death of at least 25,000 young lives. Then in 1984, the JVP was proscribed by the UNP Government (their present comrade’s in ‘democracy’) and hence had to go underground only to sprout out staging that ‘anti Indian revolution’ inebriated with patriotism.

That again cost the country not only about 35,000 young lives but also politicians, lecturers, announcers and artists. The target segment of JVP politics is the disenchanted university undergraduates and often their politics starts and end in the universities. They appeal to the emotive crowd because they wish emotions to take the better of human reasoning. The majority of the people in this country certainly would not mind the death of that brand of democracy because when alive it could spell doom to young lives.

Aamendments to Constitution

The UNP has a still better version of its own ‘democracy’ and most of that was composed after JR assumed the party leadership. Within the first six years of the 1978 Constitution 10 amendments to that Constitution were moved and six of which were politically expedient in character. JR brought in legislation to make his principal political opponent persona non grata and dreamt of being in power forever. But in the process he earned the ire of Mrs Gandhi (Mrs B’s best friend) who hastened to teach a lesson to ‘Yankee Dickie’ by surreptitiously training the Tiger rebels. After sawing such ‘democratic’ seeds JR reaped the black July of ‘83 and terrorism for the next 30 years.

Then came the referendum of 1982 which extended the life of the same Parliament with 2/3rd majority for another six years and JR thus fraudulently over enjoyed the power that was bestowed for six years denying the people the right to chose. Then the 13th Amendment was equally ‘democratically’ passed with emergency and bringing the whole country under a curfew to facilitate its ‘democratic’ passage.

The 13th Amendment ensued a period of real ‘democracy’ in this country by bringing civil life to a standstill. Shops were closed, banks were closed, transport did not transport, hospitals functioned intermittently and the public service was rudimentary.

The country dragged on in this state almost for an year with about 60,000 lives lost and billions worth of property destroyed with tremendous damage to the economy. There were two battles raging in the country and in the North it was the IPKF vs the LTTE and in the South it was the JVP vs the Sri Lanka Army making the country one ‘democratic inferno’.

Democratic principles

JR’s nephew Ranil unfortunately had no turn at the top to show off his democratic credentials to the country. But with the leverage he received as the Prime Minister he entered into a bipartisan agreement with the word’s most ruthless terror leader calling him the ‘Sole representative of the Tamils’ thereby implying that he is the ‘Sole representative of the rest of the people’ in this country.

The concept of ‘sole representative’ could be as democratic as Hitler or Mussolini was. Yet, as if to compensate for Ranil’s inability to show his democratic wears to the country he has introduced enough ‘democracy’ in to the UNP under his leadership and as a result there is a mutiny on board and the ship is fast sinking.

If that is the ‘democracy’ UNP was lamenting the death of, such a death would be no bereavement but a solace to the majority in this country.

We fully agree with the sentiments expressed by the current US ambassador that people in US uphold the tenets democratic principles.

The issue we have with the US however, is that while they practice democracy in their own country well when in it comes to foreign countries, especially under developed countries, their actions have been quite contrary to what they believe for themselves. They have supported regimes like Shah of Iran, Marcos of Philippines, Pinochet of Chile, Zia and Musharaf of Pakistan and Din Diem of Vietnam; and even Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Mujahideen in Afghanistan at a certain time. In Central America, no democracy survives for long and in Latin America according to US media all the democracies are headed by ‘dictators’.

This creates the impression that ‘US loves democracy in US and undermines it abroad. To that extent we have to cast aspersions on the sentiments expressed by the US ambassador with regard to the removal of limits on Presidential terms. We have experienced two Presidents who served the second term with constitutional ultimatums and their performances have not been satisfactory.

Therefore the Parliament in this country, just as the Congress in USA passed the 22nd Amendment, has passed the 18th Amendment to offer the people a wider choice in electing the President. The 18th Amendment does not extend the term limits of the President. All it does is to let the people, instead of wordings in the Constitution, determine the same.

thirdeye0910@yahoo.com