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In Sri Lanka the dangers and the dysfunctionalities of allowing all power to be
concentrated in the hands of a single individual became undeniably manifest in the
last several years. The Rajapaksa disaster alone calls for a multi-polar system where
power is diffused and devolved. Sri Lanka needs a democratic system of governance
with proper checks and balances, which can impede the president or the prime
minister from amassing too much power. A majority of Lankans obviously
comprehended this need, which was why they voted out Mahinda Rajapakasa and
voted in Maithripala Sirisena.
If the victories of 1970 and 1977 could be interpreted as popular consent for
constitutional transformations, so can the victory of 2015 even more so. Unlike in
1970 or 1977, the main plank of Maithripala Sirisenas electoral platform was
constitutional change in general and the transformation of the executive presidential
system in particular. His victory therefore has to be taken as a vote for a new system of
governance. His mandate is not to wield the powers of the executive presidency but to
change it.
Unchanging truths and infallible solutions belong in the province of religion. There are
no Enlightened Ones or Gods in politics; just fallible humans who struggle with better
or worse policies. The 19th Amendment is not perfect. It is not supposed to. What it
should be measured against is not some utopian ideal, but the really existing system of
governance. And going by that yardstick, the 19th Amendment is potentially more
democratic, more able to protect the rights of the people and curb the abuses of the
rulers, more likely to bring about intelligent, sensible and efficient governance.
Democracy is neither uniform nor immutable. It is not a finished product, a final
destination made of unchanging stone. It is a work-in-progress, an endless
experiment. In fact, its ability to survive also depends on its capacity to evolve with
changing times. There are no perfect constitutions or constitutional amendments
either. All we know is that the existing system is unsafe in multiple ways. The
19th Amendment will resolve some of the problems created by the existing system. But
it will have its own flaws. And someday, it too can be amended or abandoned, for
something better. That is a mark of democracy, the right to keep what works and dump
what does not.
Political Agoraphobia
Power in todays Sri Lanka is more diffused than ever in history, because of the
uniquely broadbased nature of January 8thvictory.
Human credulity is as boundless as human imagination. The belief of the Rajapaksaacolytes, that only the triumphant return of Hero-King Mahinda can save Sri Lanka
from chaos, is a snug fit for this common human condition.
The UPFA has a majority in parliament, but that majority does not reflect current
politico-electoral reality. It was the outcome of a politico-electoral map which has been
rendered obsolete by times and tides. The UNP is in a minority, but if an election is
held now, the UNP will emerge the single largest party. The UPFA will come second,
and a not very strong second if the attempt by Mahinda & Co to break up the SLFP
succeeds.
Only someone who is naive to the point of idiocy can believe that Maithripala Sirisena
would want Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister. Mahinda & Co would know this.
The actual purpose of the Bring Back Mahinda as Prime Minister campaign is to
hoodwink ordinary SLFPers and create the largest possible schism in the SLFP.
Mahinda & Co are planning to grab a huge chunk of the SLFPs vote base, win more
seats than the official SLFP and, based on that victory, mount a coup to regain power
first in the party and someday nationally.
Delusions of Second Comings apart, Mr. Rajapaksa probably realises that the UNP
would be the only real beneficiary of a schism in the SLFP. But like the devil in that
pithy Sinhala saying (Yana yaka koraha bindagene yanawa translated inadequately
as The departing devil breaks the rice-washing pot on its way out) he is possessed by
malice. His thirst for vengeance will not be slaked until the SLFP is deluged by defeat.
Mahinda Rajapaksa still lives in his echo chamber, where he only hears what he wants
to hear the hosannas of an adoring audience, most of them brought to his house or to
other venues in hired-buses. He is still misreading the public mood and cannot
understand that he is treading the DUNF path. Like the DUNF, Mahinda & Co is
unlikely to win more than 10% of the vote. If is any post-election haemorrhaging, the
flow is likely to be from Mahinda Rajapaksas rump faction to the official SLFP and not
the other way around.
During the presidential election campaign, as astrologer after astrologer declared
Rajapaksa victory to be a divinely mandated inevitability, a beggar in Galle made a bet
that the winner will be Maithripala Sirisena. Having voted for Mr. Rajapaksa in 2010,
the beggar changed because of the way he and others at the rock-bottom of society
were treated by the triumphant Rajapaksas. Whenever President Rajapaksa, Defence
Secretary Rajapaksa or Parliamentarian Rajapaksa was scheduled to go by, the police
would forcibly herd all beggars out of the royal-sight. The beggar obviously realised the
connection between his personal humiliation and the rulers real attitude to ordinary
men and women.
Asians/Lankans are not born with a slave-particle in their brains. Authoritarianism is
not a function of geopolitical location but of historical time. Today, the yearning to be
free is not a Western yearning but a universal human one. The outcome of the
presidential election demonstrated that a majority of Lankans share this yearning.
I am not reconciled to a world in which a gesture or a word misunderstood can cost a
life, wrote Heinrich Bll[iv]. We are no longer in that world. 100 days on, the
situation is admittedly far from perfect. The pace is slow. Much remains to be done.
But the country is still on the right track and hope for a better future is entirely
warranted.
[i] A Worker Reads History
[ii] Social Contract
[iii]http://www.salon.com/2015/04/17/secrets_of_the_scientologists_why_people_do_horrible_things_f
or_belief/