Much More Mahinda
Mahinda’s clones are already maturing. Election poster, Hambantota
Mahinda has got a two thirds majority in Parliament and is using it to extend his term. This is not because he was necessarily so powerful, it was more because the opposition was so weak. Mahinda told Ranil that he was going for an Executive Prime Ministership, invited Ranil to Temple Trees, gave him a new car, visited Ranil’s mother in hospital. Then he turned around and stole two Tamil MPs (got them to cross). Ranil was like ‘harumph’ and went back to meet Mahinda again. Then Mahinda patted him on the back and stole eight Muslim MPs, enough for the two thirds. Now he’s tabled a revocation of term limits for President and a President who also goes to Parliament. One could say this is all Ranil’s fault, but it’s also the fault of people like Sajith for not having the courage to wrench the opposition leadership away.
Aside from apportioning blame, however, there is a broader point that Mahinda Rajapaksa clearly intends to hold and consolidate power for not the next six years but at least the next twelve. Which is a bit rough. I think Mahinda is actually doing a pretty good job right now, but he is incurring debts and feudalizing institutions in a way that, while functional in good times, rapidly becomes trouble in the bad. The sad thing is that even if his popularity drops, he has already shown an eagerness to use state resources (including the military) in the course of elections and dislodging him will be mara difficult.
One argument I’ve heard against term limits is that if people want to vote for him, then why not? Which makes some sense, though counteracted by Mahinda’s abuse of power during elections. The best argument I’ve heard for term limits is CBK. Someone once told me that if not for term limits, Chandrika Bandaranaike would have run again. Or JR. Yet those guys did have to leave. And that was good.
On a broader theoretically level, humans need to die, businesses need to crash, the old need to make way for the new. Max Planck once said “A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.” I think the same is true of political truth.
For instance, to have a real and honest accounting of the war, we need a government not directly involved in it. To have any sort of honest panel, it would need to be in the future by a government not investigating itself. If Mahinda serves indefinitely and then passes on power through his family, that accounting will never come. Now, our current constitution (like most) has a stopgap against this calcification, which Mahinda is trying to remove.
This, however, is only one part of Mahinda’s proposed constitutional change. The broader point is not the specific points but the broader intent. What is Mahinda’s intent in redrafting the constitution? Is it to solve the ethnic problem? Is it to reduce the cruft that JR introduced? Or is it simply to entrench his own power. I fear it is the latter, and that is a wrong reason to redraft a national constitution.
The current constitution, as much as I cite it, is crap. I cite because it’s important to ground oneself in some sort of legal framework, but that constitution is largely written with a man in mind, not a nation. That man is JR, and his Constitution, while serving him well, has been a national FAIL. It is not what it does, but what it couldn’t do, and the fact that it has been ignored and over-ridden most of its existence. While the man was there the thing functioned, but when he was gone it faded like the emperor’s new clothes.
This needs to be fixed, but the solution isn’t to give the new emperor new clothes. That, I fear, is what Mahinda’s constitutional intent is, and that can cause generational problems. The point of a constitution is not to give the emperor new clothes but to give the people armor. It is, in fact, curious that Mahinda is redrafting the Constitution during a period of Emergency Law where peoples constitutional rights are effectively curtailed, or given at the governments whim.
This new Constitution looks more like the product of mens greed than anything else. Ranil’s greed for power gave Mahinda the MPs he needed and Mahinda’s greed for power has given the Constitution its vital form not as a document constituting a nation but as a document empowering one man. Ranil and Mahinda are, in their own abusive way, the mother and father of this new republic and I fear that it will bear a family resemblance to them both.
Posted on Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 in out, Politics, Sri Lanka.
Mohsin Hamid, author of How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia, has a nice 
I’m happy to be featured in Echelon magazine’s 40 Under 40 feature, profiling young people who contribute to the economy in some way, mainly in business but also in terms of innovation and thought leadership. It’s an interesting article not just in that I’m in it (mainly for work on indi.ca and 
I won’t add too much commentary, but just read I guess. The youngest Rajapaksa, Rohitha (Chi Chi) has given an amazing interview to the 
In 2009 this strange character appeared on the Sri Lankan Internet scene, getting angry, flaming, trolling whatever. Then he started naming anonymous bloggers, posting comments as people’s kids, nasty stuff, for which I removed him from 
While the GDP of our country will grow and the GDP per capita remains stagnant, people will realise… Look at Egypt, it’s a dictatorship. Got billions of US money, but their GDP per capita is just about ours. But at the same time, if they build a Metro in Egypt, they’ll get it done, because whatever form of government, it’s stable.
Let’s see what happens next. Maybe Mahinda will surprise you guys.
An interesting point you make there. we see the same problem in US as well where the median income hasn’t changed over the years.
I wouldn’t make a big fuss about the two term issue as well. The problem with the presidency here isn’t the number of terms, it’s the powers of the seat itself. I don’t care if MR gets rid of the two term system as long as he dilutes some of his executive powers. For example being able to dismiss the parliament after one year is a total bullshit power. In any case, from what I’ve heard on the grapevine he’s going to abolish the executive president and replace it with an executive prime minister.
Two news items this morning, Vermin Mervyn has been cleared and reinstated as organiser for Kelaniya, and MR has pardoned a former basnayaka nilame of Saman Devalaya convicted of murdering his mistress after serving only 3 yrs. of the life sentence given him. Seemingly unimportant issues, which we who are not really affected by could easily forget, but imagine how the decent people of Kelaniya, the samurdi niyamakas and the murder victim’s family must be feeling now?
Isn’t this lack of regard for the sensibilities of the people, a sign of the arrogance the power of the executive presidency brings on? And this surely is just the tip of the iceberg.
That’s why I think the present system should be modified to a more transparent and accountable one, and we should agitate for it whether we get it or not. if the president were a true statesman he would allow time for public discourse on the constitutional amendments and hold a free and fair referendum, even though it is not mandatory and even if poor TIlvin didn’t demand one.
Oh, sorry. The above comment was meant to appear somewhere at the bottom of this page.
Prince nimal will be in his 40s when the king decides to retire into Chinese-built estate bungalow.
You would have witnessed times changing & history made. God save u
Btw, What a pic !
The only reason I would hate Mahinda is for his lack conversation skills in fluent English. Comon.. now.. every man and his dog can speak English in Republic of Colombo. Yet our president can’t speak English. How dare he could represent us Colombians on the international stage. Also can some one tell MR to get rid of that ridiculous fancy dress and wear a nice ‘Armani’ western suit.
I want Mahinda for a third term. Sri Lanka needs a stable government for the forseeable future. All the development projects that are underway today need to be finished and consolidated. Mahinda will easily win a third election. The ESE can go fuck themselves if they don’t like it.
Tsk… Tsk… It seems you have a unhealthy phobia about ‘Eses’… It smacks of jealousy and fear! :)
Are you kidding me? LOL the vast majority of ESEs in Sri Lanka should be embarassed about themselves. They speak piss poor English, look like total wankers when they try to be cool and smell like freshly passed faeces.
Yes we will and Maama will do the same to you Ruki.
I have to agree, except the last bit. Third Term intact will mean the government of Sri Lanka is looking stable till 2016 and quite possibly till after that. However things happen, something will happen.
Meanwhile, I hope the opposition can let go of all this and really concentrate on becoming stronger so things would balance out a little by 2016.
mmm…
@People who says Sri Lanka needs a stable govt for some time..
Isn’t the same government ruling this country since 1994 (except for the two years from 2001-2003)? They may come in different names and leaderships, but the policies are the same. After 16 years in power, they have planted the concept that any problem can be erradicated by force. Isn’t that enough damage to a society? Are we heading to a barberic era as a nation? The times where problems were solved by force are long gone for most of the developed (physically and eternally) world. But not for us. And who should be responsible for that?
what is an eternally developed world?
I beg to disagree.. I was hardcore UNP up until Ranil messed up and Mahinda came to power and showed me how different he was from CBK. He reminds me of the reason I used to be hardcore UNP, Premadasa…
These are the Lankan greats… the Roosevelts and Churchills in the Sri Lankan context.
Wouldn’t MR be greater if he were to abolish the executive presidency at the end of the second term and then contest the premiership to carry on the good work?
Hadn’t he himself, a seasoned politician, been a critic of the executive presidency?
Do the proposed amendments, which I believe have been made public now, address the issues that he and other respected legislators spoke out against?
Only time will tell… if it gets really bad, people will oust the problem, might take some time, but it’ll happen.
Right now, people trust Mahinda, and feel he deserves their trust, partly to the blame of the opposition.
He’s clever at making people believe that he’s the best thing that could happen to them, and we are happy,
which is good, but I have a feeling that years from now we’ll wake up and wonder how we could have been so gullible. Again, hope I’m utterlty wrong.
Hey turd, this government did what no other government could do – defeat the LTTE.
Was that for me? I agree wholly about MR being the only person who seemed to have the courage to call a spade by it’s name, and then do something about it, and succeed. That was brilliant. But does that mean we should allow him free rein on all the subsequent decisions concerning the country?
He won the second term. And we should support him in his endeavours to secure and develop the country. But a third term for the much maligned executive presidency was not part of his mandate was it? And why the secrecy and this indecent hurry? Why not wait until the end of the second term? He was one of the people who told us how bad it was for the people and that some of the powers should be at least diluted. So really I’m only following MR’s advice.
I hear that it is before the supreme court at the moment, and shall trust the decision to people far wiser than I, hoping it will be an independent one. But I am thinking, even if the supreme court recommends going for a referendum, you never know what stand our so-called masses would take.
No.. it was for ‘traitor’
The questions that should be asked are perhaps lost amid the mud-slinging. Fundamental constitutional changes must be right whoever is in power. They should outlast any politician or party and serve the people’s best interests.
Say, for example, the constitutional changes are made, then MR has an unfortunate helicopter crash leaving him dead. Would the supporters still want these changes then? It seems that the arguments put forward for supporting the changes are really (a) MR is good for the country and (b) he’s irreplaceable for another generation. These are familiar protests to anyone who takes an interest in Russian politics (not only that Putin’s got the real power despite being PM – look now at the recent news that he effectively plans to run again).
Way of the Dodo’s comment about the executive power is spot on (though I can’t agree that the length of term doesn’t matter). Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Without both effective checks and balances and limitations on terms of the highest office, a political system is doomed to feudalism, tribalism, corruption, promoting fear, finding scape goats, continual reductions in citizens’ rights and institutionalised nepotism. Of course, one might say “that’s politics!” But don’t we want more than that?
The Executive is strengthened by the opposition’s weakness at the present time, will these changes set the opposition in a permanent state of impotence? One would like to think that there are still a breed of people right now who will rise up and become the inspirational leaders of the future. Might the constitutional changes hinder that prospect?
To strive for better governance is to provide for accountability and the realistic potential for free and fair regime change. If the proposed constitutional changes threaten that, then ultimately they threaten Sri Lanka’s medium and long-term future.
Carasek, I don’t think the number of terms is actually an issue. FDR stayed for 4 terms and finally died on the job, he didn’t become a dictator. the number of terms becomes an issue because of the amount of authority that gets concentrated around the executive presidency. There in lies the fundamental problem. I honestly don’t see why a competent national leader shouldn’t be able to stay on indefinitely provided he has proper consent. Loosing such a person services prematurely is just a needless waste of resources. What the checks and balances should guarantee is a mechanism to remove such people from power, if they begin to abuse it.
So how exactly does this new constitution change from the old.
I’d like to know too… I get my news from you guys… I’m too busy studying…
If you don’t mind answering. where do you study, which uni
I’m not giving that stuff out here with all the vultures around. :D I’m not in Sri Lanka though…
Oh what a classic … those mahinda thugs would have tracked you down and given you the hiding of your LIFE … of course you don’t live in Sri Lanka .. .
So the Musies have gone over to Mahinda huh. Well why not, he’ll keep them under lock and key – the last thing we need is another Sri Lanka Muslim Inshallah Fatwa Taliban let’s make Sri Lanka a pure Muslim country bullshit scenario.
Besides he’s got so much of money now he just wants to pay off his stooges. Those guys don’t do anything for Muslim Tamils, they’re classic UNP fat cats.
Vote him in for another term, actually declare him life-long President – you guys deserve him, he’s ALL YOURS … have FUN!
>>”Besides he’s got so much of money now he just wants to pay off his stooges”.
You are right on the money sir. I just heard from my buddy at Sirikotha ( Previously he was working as the Media Secretary for Gen.Fonseka’s Presidential bid) , Mahinda just bought the White House in Washington for Namal’s Birthday and he also bought 50% stake in C.I.A.
Exposing Indi… what they hell’s wrong with you.. I’d like my privacy intact… nothing to do with Mahinda goons… if you don’t know already you’re barking up the wrong tree.
I think I know this buddy of yours. Isn’t he the Mahinda who frequently posts comments on this blog? ;)
Hmmm… So what’s this comment all about then, shammi?
I was just hazarding a guess about the claim by Columbian above, about his buddy being the General’s press secretary, and knew it had to be you, only I seem to have plonked the comment in the wrong place. Happens a lot to me these days.
Yeah, it certainly sounds like something mahinda would say. But its hilarious how close colombians sarcasm comes to our mahinda’s inside information.
Mahinda, I hope, for the general’s sake, you’ll never be his press sec. If you were that, I sure hope he’s sacked you.
Machang Blacker!
Where have you been??!
Were you busy washing your hair or something?
Oh sorry – you don’t have hair, no?
So why the offensive attitude?
Don’t you think I’d make a good press sec? ;)
Mahinda, I doubt you’d make a good bench press, never mind a press sec.
Lousy, uninteresting comeback with only mild entertainment value. Where’s the wit? Where’s the logic/justification to the comment?
I’m disappointed in you…
With you, Mahinda, half the wit is usually enough ;)
Yes you’re right about the last comment being worthy of a half wit…
I THINK WE ARE TOTALLY SCREWED.
ONE WORD “IRAN”!!!
If Sri Lanka were as strong and independent as Iran, that would be a good thing. Sri Lanka is absolutely nothing compared to Iran at present. Iran offers a higher quality of life to her people than does Sri Lanka, is more developed and commands respect.
How is Tisaranee Gunasekara?
She’s shitting her pants and running around with her arms flailing about, screaming about ‘doomsday.’
ah, so she’s the Glen Beck of Sri Lanka
No, I think she’s a different breed. She’s been screaming and moaning and whining about “doomsday” for 5 years running now and still hasn’t grown out of it. Most of the newspapers have gotten sick of her feculent articles and have kicked her off…so she runs off to the next news agency that will publish her trollop. Looks like “Sri Lanka Guardian” have picked her up and I think she’s with like-minded company there.
Feculent. That’s a good word to describe that stuff that’s in your head instead of brains, Rookie…
Actually, I think it’s what your face is made off mahinda.
Didn’t realize you had the capacity to think, rookie…
Well now you do Mahinda, and that’s why you keep getting owned.
Is that what’s happening, rookie?
Ok then.
Hey listen, if you want to improve on that big L on your forehead, I know this really good tattoo guy that does good work. I’m not sure he’s ever done a forehead before, but I’ll ask him for you.
Now enough of the banter. While I’m enjoying it, I can’t imagine too many of the other people visiting this blog will appreciate our little exchanges so much. So I’ll go back to work, and you try and do a better job in memorizing the 3n warak chakkaraya.
Anyone else is going to the ‘Black day’ rally?? I was promised a pack of chicken fried rice and a bottle of old arrack.
really!