| by Victor
Cherubim
( October 26,
2012, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Someone derisively said: “We can
carry it with us in our suitcases when we go to India.” Yes, we can! But how many times do we want to visit India.
Can we take it with us to America or China, or for that matter, is anyone now
concerned with our 13 Amendment? It is consigned to history.
 |
|
They say the
only advantage of a written constitution is that we can add and minus amendments
at will and pleasure, if only we have a commanding two thirds majority in
Parliament. The people have only afforded this prerogative selectively in our
recent history, to use with wise judgment and not at random. In has to be
appreciated, in an unwritten constitution, custom and practice, centuries of
history determine what can be done and what is done.
President
Mahinda Rajapaksa was given such a mandate by the people of our land, by
choice, hardly through default. The country felt after a long drawn out
acrimonious war, we needed a voice which will overshadow all voices; we needed
a leader who would be able to stand up to any pressure politics. We wanted for once
and for all, that justice to be done not only to the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim peoples
of our land, but to achieve this, without any future bloodshed in our time. It
is by no means any easy task, rather an enviable position.
Leaders around
the world today, (name any country you wish) are being swayed by the vagaries of
the times, by the economic, social, technological and political turbulence.
Many are already jettisoned to history. Everywhere, we see the flotsam and
jetsam of strategies and policies of governments.
It is small
wonder why we in Sri Lanka, are able to continue to be battered by the winds of
change and still maintain an even keel. Our President flies here flies there,
even at the expense of travel in a seat in an aircraft without AC., with many
critics complaining that all these trips are joy rides.
I was invited to
the Abu Dhabi Investment Forum at London’s Lancaster Gate some days ago, the
only Sri Lankan officially invited for this event. The theme was attracting
investment to Abu Dhabi. I wanted to do what little I could do to export a
little of this investment, from Abu Dhabi to Sri Lanka. It is not only the
President who has to sell Sri Lanka abroad.
I challenge some
of the critics to do the schedule of tours of President Rajapaksa, be ready to
present a budget soon, be fit for serving the people and simultaneously being
in constant touch with “ground realities” in the nooks and corners of our land
as well as hear the voice of the people all of the time.
The clarion call
of the people heard even as far away as England is that they are not happy with
the working of the 13th amendment. You don’t need a soothsayer to
say this to the President.
Why
is the 13th Amendment such an eyesore?
In the first and
solo place it is not Sri Lankan. It is an appendage thrust on us by foreign
powers for their own national interest.
In the second
place our national interest at present does not coincide with this anachronism.
Times and many tides have changed. The world wants us to be tied to this
bondage.
Thirdly, neither
the Tamil people nor the Sinhala people of our land are happy with this administrative
mechanism which is not fit for purpose.
What
can be done?
I dare not tell
our President and our people what can and should be done. Though I am a Sri
Lankan, living in England, I am best at promoting Sri Lankan interests in
England.
But I know many
Sri Lankans who came to England, are also of my view, although some of them
have taken naturalisation, but their mind and heart is in Sri Lanka. They know
and I know, when the time is ready, not only auspiciously, that what is right
for our Constitution will happen.
We await that to
happen.
 Someone derisively said: “We can carry it with us in our sui...){kind=link}