Regime Change & Constitutions – Is Sri Lanka ready?
Have we learnt any lessons from 73 years of so-called ‘independence’? Have we learnt lessons from 42 elections held since 1931? Have we learnt lessons from Parliamentary & Presidential forms of governance? Have we studied the hidden hands behind every revolt, rebellion, insurgency & even terrorism? Have we identified these entities who are also responsible for dispatching others in disguise to carry out same destabilizing agenda? Have we a team of dedicated people who not only study these trends but devise ways to mitigate same? Is there any point in having such a team if their warnings fall on deaf ears? Do our leaders know the scale of the threats at hand or are they simply riding to survive their period of governance & pass on the mantle to the next but with each turn the country’s sovereignty gets diminished & diluted. With these thoughts let us move on to the topic.
Regime Change is the modern form of ‘invasion’ without boots by securing local lackeys to carry out the task on behalf of their pay masters and sit in prominent positions & carry out the desired changes. These are generally targeting laws, legislative documents, reversal of circulars, extraordinary new gazette notifications and changing anything that legally prevents the paymasters from securing what they want. Therefore, when local lackeys bring about sudden and surprising legislative changes – you should know they are only carrying out their orders.
For an example during the regime change in 2002 that resulted in terrorists given territory and confining the national army to barracks while the armed terrorists went wherever they liked, the US made a proposal to waive off all loans given to Sri Lanka in lieu of handing over our entire forest cover to US. If not for environmentalists and patriots objecting, the government would have happily given into this request.
Colonial Legacies
What no one can put aside is the colonial legacy we have failed to discard. We are continuing to embrace 443years of colonial brainwashing totally disregarding the centuries of traditional rule which saw no constitution, no ethnic strife, no animosities, no terrorism and was an animal-friendly environment following the dasa-raja dhamma rule. No politician has seen fit to ask the UN or diplomats questioning Sri Lanka about ethnic divisions, to produce a single example of such divisions before 1505. No politician has been brave enough to tell the UN & the Western diplomats that it was they who divided people as majority & minority, it was they who coloured the caste system which was only used to identify the profession of people, it was they who created system of favorites and promoted those that carried tales to them, it was they who created a system of education that purposely denied the majority education & provided education & jobs to minorities to raise their stature above the majority. That education system completely reversed the education system that existed. The colonial education system was to denationalize the people and distance them from their proud history to not defend the nation. This system continues still as even current curricular is decided by international monetary agencies who use the carrot of ‘funding’ to decide what type of curriculum is taught and provide scholarships to the curriculum creators who will never promote anything of national value. This subtle influence exists in other sectors of the country’s governance systems as well. When colonial crimes are not placed on any tribunal- what justice are these former colonial invaders trying to preach!
Euro-centric laws
When the colonial invaders realized they could no longer continue to hold power in the territories they occupied, they handed governance to the local lackeys but kept power via euro-centric laws that they dictate even to this day. All of the laws that exist are rooted in the colonial rule where advantage comes to a handful of nations who form a bloc even inside the UN.
44 countries in Europe, US, Canada, Australia & New Zealand demand 147 countries function to its dictates & command. How fair is this?
They are completely ignoring that these countries existed before them & they had their own indigenous laws, cultures and traditions which have been completely dropped out of international legal systems. It is time to review this and the non-Western countries in the UN must demand a revisit to the indigenous laws & customs that existed in ancient times to be given their due place. The current euro-centric laws that exist with neo-liberal policies advantageous to a handful are never meant to bring ‘EQUALITY’ except to fool masses with slogans and well-funded dead-end initiatives.
Weakening the Nation & its People
We have had 2 insurgencies and 3 decades of terror – what is important is that Sri Lanka lost some promising youth. The external goal was to indoctrinate youth & pit them against their own with ultimate goal of ‘killing off’ promising youth who would have become powerful future leaders. These were great losses to the nation because these youth (for right or wrong) came forward with courage to fulfil what they were indoctrinated to do. Imagine if that zest was diverted to build the nation. We would have had very powerful leaders. To prevent powerful leaders emerging the foreign hands have a knack to create issues to get our own to eliminate them. Congo lost a promising leader when the US & UK assassinated Patrice Lumumba. Myanmar’s national leader Aung Sang was also killed but his daughter was happy to be a neo-liberal pawn.
We cannot ignore the foreign hands that played a role in each of these devastating periods of our past. The countries involved, the constitutional changes they forced upon us, the agreements they forced us to sign, their missionaries sent (in robes & civil) – these entities still prevail under a different disguise. But their objective has not changed. Only their modus operandi. We cannot foolishly think they have mended their ways simply because they extend a handshake and push new agreements via different players. Have we not learnt lessons to take stock of the risks and dangers of our actions? Are we not able to devise alternative ways or in the least come up with out of the box methods to surprise our historical enemies? Have we failed to identify the gifts & what is hidden inside?
Regime Change & Constitutions
In the recent past we have seen numerous West-infused regime change taking place – the general slogans have been to ‘deliver democracy’ ‘liberate the people’ usher ‘freedoms & rights” etc. With every regime change has been a new constitution primarily to change the impediments that block the regime changers getting what they want from the country that they have subtly taken over via their lackeys. Kosovo had a new constitution but over 10 years after ‘independence’ even entire EU has not recognized Kosovo. South Sudan’s new constitution is seeing meddling by West too.
The best example Sri Lanka can learn from is looking at Nepal whose new constitution resulted even in an economic blockade with India demanding changes to Nepals constitutional clauses which Nepal was not agreeable to. This resulted in India blocking its borders preventing food, medicines and fuel entering Nepal via India’s borders. China had to airlift provisions for the people. Why have we forgotten the parippu drop of 1987 by the same nation which is now getting a part of Colombo Port- a Port where Sri Lanka’s imports come through. Imagine a similar scenario when Sri Lanka pursues with a new constitution if Sri Lanka includes anything disagreeable to India? When Sri Lanka’s leaders fail to tell India that the people do not want 13a and even when the country had 2/3 majority if the government in power failed to remove the 13a – can we expect them to remove 13a in a new constitution?
Ironically, the country that mothered the constitution does not have a written constitution but UK and EU & US have a knack of insisting legislative changes to Sri Lanka which are slowly being rolled out in Sri Lanka & additional pressure is being exerted using bogus resolutions via UNHRC insisting on further constitutional changes. Thus, it is all a ploy and part of their bigger plot to weaken Sri Lanka. Local lackeys are used to come up with fancy reasons to why changes are needed & dramas are choreographed to use social media to promote their goals. We must all look at the bigger picture.
Presently, a key pillar is being targeted with the aim of diminishing the national security and intelligence apparatus with the UNHRC head threatening to get witness statements against the army commanders who helped defeat LTTE. Again, no politician has seen fit to ask the western diplomats or the UN/UNHRC why restorative justice is being applied to LTTE terrorists and retributive justice to the world’s only army that defeated an internationally banned terrorist group. The politicians will soon meet their waterloo in their role for weakening the nation legislatively, constitutionally & legally – the very pillars that our enemies are trying to weaken via new constitutional changes while continuing their infamous divide & rule theatrics funded from abroad.
The 1789 US Constitution has 27 amendments while India’s 1950 constitution has 104 Amendments, the last in 2020.
How dangerous is it to tamper with a constitution in volatile times?Learn from Africa. None of these amendments are of any benefit to the People except to centralize power away from the People. The People presume they are invited to be involved but it is only a cosmetic façade as the real draft changes happen unknown to the People. With the People believing changes are for their benefit, they eventually find out too late that they have been disappointed again and again & again. Africa’s amendments have been to tighten the power over the people with feigned ‘freedom’ & ‘security safeguard’ promises.
Do we really need to change the constitution when the country is economically & politically unstable & socially vulnerable!
The 1978 Constitution has seen 20 amendments. 16 out of the 20 by the very architects of the constitution & changed between 1978 & 1988 while the 17a came only in 2001, 18a in 2010. 19a showed that constitutions should not be done in a hurry and with ill-intent.
Representatives of Sri Lanka should have allegiance to only one country and they must pledge to only protect the dignity & sovereignty of that country. Anyone must be allowed to contest – rejecting is left to the People by vote. Will constitutional changes ever see a pruned Cabinet/Parliament? NO. The National Unity Government showed politicians greed for power. Will crossovers be banned in a new constitution? Hardly! Will President/Parliament/Judiciary be willing to be bound to uphold the constitution as they only hold ‘delegated’ powers given by the People? No Constitutional Council can have members who are not answerable to the People.
None of the Governments since 1987 even with a majority in Parliament took action to remove 13a – however, adverse as it may look, within the existing constitution, detrimental clause can either be removed or weakened with additional amendments. There is no requirement for a new constitution.Land & Police powers must return to the Centre – national assets and resources belong to the Centre not to provinces, archaeological and historical sites must remain under the Centre. We don’t need a new constitution – a few new amendments can address grey areas.
What we need more than a constitution is a completely new electoral system for people to elect people in proportionate to the population that they contest from & the ability of these people to remove anyone not functioning to their wishes. It is shocking that a party getting 250,000 votes can send 10 MPs to parliament because of the current PR system. The entry requirement to Parliament must be returned to 12.5% instead of the current 5% which will stop ethnic-king makers from holding governments to ransom.
We must take a holistic look at what is unfolding in Sri Lanka. Our enemies are laughing pulling the strings of various people and parties they control to fight each other and create the necessary coloured revolution for their entry on the argument that Sri Lanka is incapable of running its own country. A team of lackeys is deployed to prepare the mental mindset of the people – a bunch of Sri Lanka haters 24×7 complaining about the country. While they are choreographing the social change the notion of a new constitution is only to erase the obstacles that prevent these elements grabbing what should belong to not only us but future generations.
Are you able to put the picture together?
Shenali D Waduge
