Signs of ‘spring’ in nationalist Sri Lanka
Many Asian countries are in turmoil including Sri Lanka. At present Sri Lanka watches anxiously as parliament debates the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution while a few airports away Thailand and Pakistan agitate against their respective countries’ prime ministers.
In two countries concerns are raised against the prime ministers while in Sri Lanka there are growing concerns regarding attempts made to enhance the powers of incumbent President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
All politicians must take note of one thing and that is that nothing much can be done without the blessings of the Maha Sanga (Buddhist clergy). At the moment prominent members of the Buddhist clergy, including those who backed Gotabaya’s candidacy at the last Presidential elections, are very concerned about several sections of the proposed 20th Amendment. Even in the past the Buddhist clergy had had the habit of advising kings and lawmakers about where they are going wrong.
Another fact that politicians must keep in mind is that the majority of Sri Lanka’s Buddhist monks are not the ones who’d meditate in the jungles and are very much involved in the country’s politics and have even successfully tried their luck at entering parliament.
Another fact that lawmakers must take into heart is that public opinion wields power more than before because of the emergence of social media and the growing number of television stations. We know of so many instances where past regimes blocked Facebook because public opinion heavily criticised the manner in which the state ruled the country at one time. On Wednesday a leading television channel questioned the polices spokesperson as to how a criminal taken into custody for drug related charges was shot dead by the police? The media must be alert and lawmakers are on pins when their actions are questioned by the media.
Sri Lankans can still protest, but unlike in the past agitation actions are restricted and can be carried out only at a demarcated site. If the 20th Amendment is passed this site might vanish as predicted and also what’s remaining of democracy in this country.
The 20th Amendment also proposes to repeal the opportunity people still have to file FR petitions against the president. Minister of Education G.L Peiris was however quoted in newspapers stating that this proposed clause would be amended.
Democratic forces in Sri Lanka have cautioned the public about the present regime trying to establish authoritarian rule. This is what happened in countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Thailand; a country which is agitating immensely to see the back of its prime minister and his cabinet. Thai protesters also want the reforming of the monarchy.
Pro democratic forces in Sri Lanka might not get onto the streets like in Thailand and Pakistan. But their voices would be heard on social and mainstream media.
Pro democratic forces had endured severe criticism for installing the Yahapalana regime which paid little or no attention to national security. The 20th A proposes more power to the incumbent president and in turn pro nationalistic forces believe the country’s national security could be strengthened; hence making it possible for Sri Lanka to return to the heights akin to the times of the final phase of the war against terrorism.
Unlike in Pakistan, where it’s said that its premier assumed power through a rigged election, Sri Lanka’s president won through an overwhelming majority. But what seemed a situation where what ever the incumbent president proposed or did was termed as right is slowly changing with new critics thinking otherwise. On Monday the chief incumbents of the Amarapura and Ramanya Nikayas issued a joint statement calling for the withdrawal of the 20th Amendment.
There was similar support for the efforts of the monks by the members of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference.
The majority citizens of the country voted for a change in governance more to draft a new constitution than to amend an already existing weak legislation which has already been amended 19 times.
Whatever measures the incumbent president takes and is backed by the judiciary there is a force watching all this from a distance; that force is former president and present premier Mahinda Rajapaksa. Even if one puts the president and judiciary on one side as one force there is another force which has unofficial power in this country and that is the Buddhist clergy. And what holds in good stead for Mahinda Rajapaksa is that the majority of the Buddhist monks would readily back him and not any other member of the Rajapaksa family.
Another positive feature about Buddhism and the teachings of Gautama Buddha is the promoting of democracy within a state. Leading monks in the country have voiced their concerns over the proposed 20th Amendment and suggest as an alternative the introduction of a new constitution that would create a strong government within the framework of democracy.
Just for the record Nepal was forced to agitate and throw out the king when democracy was threatened. Many called it ‘the rising of the Nepal Spring’.
The executive who walks on the corridors of power has already ordered the halting of certain imports, demanded ruthless efficiency from state workers and made his spoken word equal to issuing a written circular.
His approach to administrating a nation sends the subtle message across to everybody that the nation has to slowly get ready to work under a ruthless system he’d establish in the future.
At a time, which is fast running out, the country’s lawmakers who are hastily trying to get the 20th Amendment passed after a debate must be reminded of Mao Zedong’s famous saying, “A ruler can impose laws to destroy all the roses, but he can’t stop spring from arriving’.
Another fact that lawmakers must take into heart is that public opinion wields power
The 20th Amendment also proposes to repeal the opportunity people still have to file FR petitions against the president
The chief incumbents of the Amarapura and Ramanya Nikayas issued a joint statement calling for the withdrawal of the 20th A
Just for the record Nepal was forced to agitate and throw out the king when democracy was threatened