Details Published on Sunday 19 September 2010 15:12 Written by Radical Socialist
Statement of the Nava Sama Samaj Party (Sri Lankan Section of the Fourth International)
(13 September 2010)
The 18th amendment to the constitution passed by the approval of two thirds in the Sri Lankan parliament on the 8th of September 2010 received the wrath of many critiques. However, those criticisms are incomplete. It is meaningless to charge this amendment as one ushered in merely to strengthen the power wielded by President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s family. What does this new amendment really mean?
Amendment 18 is another step towards fulfilling the agenda of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monitory Fund (IMF). The main aim of concentrating power to the presidency through parliament is to create a dictatorship capable of warding off any obstacle in carrying out the economic programme of global masters.
That is what is meant by being able to attract more investment through awarding concessions to Multi National Companies (MNC). That is what is meant by that Sri Lanka will be developed to resemble Singapore or Malaysia. Hence, the argument, that only dictatorships enabled the development of those countries.
USA – SL double act
USA too issued a statement criticising the amendment! This is hoarse. Were the allegations by world powers that the Mahinda regime violated human rights during the war against Tamil tigers bear any fruit? This latest US condemnation too follows the same path.
While praising the government’s economic programme, the World Bank released the fourth tranche of its loan to the Mahinda regime. It is an official recognition by the WB that the government is duly carrying out the programme which includes raising taxes, slashing subsidies, not raising wages and cutting state expenditure.
We should all be well aware, that the Sri Lankan government staging an act demanding the release of Cubans in US prisons for over twelve years, in order to demonstrate its ‘anti-imperialness,’ and the US government script lamenting the harm inflicted on Sri Lanka’s democracy by the 18th amendment are both episodes of a reciprocal farce.
India, with its policeman role under the command of Sonia Gandhi has been able to manipulate Mahinda at its will. This has enabled the new amendment to obtain the blessings of Indian rulers. Therefore, it seems that even China is conducting itself in Sri Lanka under the patronage of India.
The most dangerous element in this new law is wiping out any democratic characteristic that the 17th amendment contained. The president appointing people to high office including the judiciary and independent commissions was
restrained by the 17th amendment. Provisions to appoint members to independent commissions are being annulled by the new law. All powers are now concentrated in the hands of the president. The new Constitutional Committee is relegated to an organ that can only give ‘advice’ as and when the president needs. It has no other authority at all.
Minorities and power devolution
Without stopping in its tracks, the government is accelerating towards re-amending the 13th amendment in order to slash the powers of Provincial Councils. The sole aim is to further consolidate the president’s autocratic power and quenching the thirst of frenzy racists by crushing all minorities under the jackboot of Sinhala domination. This shatters the argument touted by Mahinda’s stooges within the government that dictatorships have been able to establish bourgeoisie democracy. Furthermore, every right enjoyed by ordinary men and women in the land will be totally wiped out.
Parliamentary opposition
In this scenario, the government has found its best friend in the opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe. The first person Mahinda spoke with about the 18th amendment was opposition leader Ranil. Ranil did not even consult his party, the United National Party (UNP).
This led to most of the UNP parliamentarians ending up in Mahinda’s pocket. Some have already joined the government. Others are operating within the UNP according to the agenda of the government. Ranil doesn’t give two hoots about it. Why? Because, Mahinda is carrying ‘Regaining Sri Lanka’ forward better than Ranil.
‘Regaining Sri Lanka’ is Ranil’s programme to unleash the pillage of corporate globalisation in Sri Lanka. Now, the grassroots UNP supporter who is against government measures is faced with a dilemma. They are in search of an alternative to Ranil. While some are seeking ways to convert the UNP in to a party that follows a Social Democratic agenda, other leaders wonder nonplussed.
Unable to severe its umbilical cord with Sinhala racism, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is going against Amendment 18 with no rationale. On one hand, they are unable to hoist an anti US flag, due to the fact that their present leader, former military chief Sarath Fonseka, is a Yankee lackey. On the other hand their erstwhile comrade Wimal Weerawansa has taken care of that. Vasudeva Nanayakkara in addition to former leftists Tissa Vitharana and DEW Gunasekara are doing a strip tease within government ranks.
Demonstrators opposing Amendment 18, who clashed with the police on the streets of the capital on the 8th of September, had made their message clear. It is of the need to have a new leadership that is acceptable to each and every community oppressed in these circumstances. It is the bounden duty of all against this government to march towards achieving that goal.