Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at the Reconciliation Commission. My head in the background. Daily Mirror screenshot
Oh, Gotabhaya. I used to hate him viscerally but I don’t anymore. He still puts his foot in it pretty consistently. Most recently,
“The existing constitution is more than enough for us to live together. I don’t think there is any issue on this more than that.
“I mean this was given as a solution for the whole thing with the discussion of these people. I mean now the LTTE is gone, I don’t think there is any requirement.
“I mean what can you do more than this? … Devolution wise I think we have done enough, I don’t think there is a necessity to go beyond that.” (via Daily Mirror)
What’s sad here is that his supporters will take this one way, his opponents another, and neither will really change. I say sad because what he’s saying actually makes sense.
Sri Lanka actually ‘did’ a political solution in the form of the 13th and 17th amendments. The 13th devolves power to Provincial Councils and the 17th breaks broke it up into Constitutional Councils at the center. So, within the Constitution power is significantly devolved. Gota is right on that.
Where he’s wrong is general self-awareness. Just look at who’s making this statement. The unelected Defence Secretary, appointed by his own brother. Democratic devolution obviously hasn’t happened.
Sri Lanka’s Constitution is crappy but if we just implemented it we’d be better off than we are today. Gota is right on the point. So he should, uh, talk to his brother and get it done.
Lift Emergency Law and elect and empower the Provincial Councils (with land and police powers plus). If you’re feeling generous you could throw in the Constitutional Councils, but no one’s going to make a fuss. Then, yeah, we will have done something. And it’s not that they aren’t trying. I think they’re electing the PCs next year. They could lift Emergency next month. So, I’m with you Gota. I’d appeal to my more locally devolved powers but they don’t exist yet. So, uh, talk to your bro.
17 Amendment was basically nullified by the 18th.
how do you know emergency law will be lifted next month
‘could’ be lifted next month. They vote on it every month.
There are noises in that direction (Daily Mirror).
That said, I don’t think they will anytime soon, but I really don’t know.
sorry. I read that wrong.
One of the plans the government seems have is to bring as many sinhalese & muslims into the north as possible. For that reason they will not grant land rights anytime soon
I think the north of Sri Lanka should be as multi ethnic and multi religious as the south of the country.
Jaffna, for example, is nowhere near as multi ethnic or multi religious as Colombo or Kandy.
Nothing should be anything. You can move there if you want. They can move here. That’s it.
No, I think it should be. Just like Sri Lanka should be democratic. It encourages people to interact with people of different ethnicities/religions/cultures. Northern Sri Lanka has been mono-ethnic and mono-lingual for far too long.
considering sinhalese & muslims where kicked out make the north mono-ethnic the government has some responsibility accommodating and encouraging emmigration to the north.
Personally i have no qualms with this so called ‘colonization’ of the north as long as people’s property rights aren’t infringed upon.
Oh dear. The 17th was repealed by the 18th. First, you thought the SL constitution was federal. Now you believe the 17th is still law. Indi, you’re politically ignorant. You need to stop talking about politics. Do you’re IT thing – I hear you’re good at that stuff.
thanks for the correction aadhavan. I’m a talker bro, a writer if you want to get specific. Technology is just a means to an end.
There are much much more important things to be done to build trust amongst communities than spending resources to encourage people of specific ethnic groups to migrate to certain parts of the country. Migration will become inevitable when there is social and economic development in the country. People will be moving around for jobs because ethnicity will be irrelevant in those days. I am hopeful we’ll see those days.
The government’s primary goal in all of this is “probably” the dilution of the tamil majority in the north, a strategically smart move.
Noted, but blunders like the “13th A = Federal” and now this make you look like a politically illiterate writer/talker/rambler.
“Sri Lanka actually ‘did’ a political solution in the form of the 13th and 17th amendments. The 13th devolves power to Provincial Councils and the 17th breaks/broke it up into Constitutional Councils at the center. So, within the Constitution power is significantly devolved. Gota is right on that.”
Indi, I strongly recommend that you read the constitution and its amendments before making such statements. We have enough confusion as it is.
note the context and the quotes Veedhur. I’m not saying that devolution actually happened. Hence, ‘did’.
That’s do *YOUR* IT thing not “you’re” — I guess you should stop writing in English because you don’t have a clue how the language works?
oops. typo. Btw, “multiethnic” is one word. Pot. Kettle. Black.
I can be as ‘black’ as I want to – I’m not the asshole holding onto a superior attitude and talking down to others.
I’m surprised more people/newspapers haven’t picked up on this part of Gota’s statement:
..” I mean now the LTTE is gone, I don’t think there is any requirement.” = if the LTTE was still around, GoSL would be forced to acquiesce to some sort of deal.
As much as I hate to admit it, doesn’t this in a way prove the Eelamists’ point? i.e. without the LTTE acting as a counter-weight/opposing force, the Sinhala majority will never compromise, will never go for a political solution etc..
Whatever the case, Jayalalitha and other assorted politicians in Tamil Nadu have got their lungis in a knot about Gothabaya :)
I read through the 18th (http://www.lawnet.lk/downloads/18thAmendmenAct-E.pdf). You’re actually wrong Aadhavan. The 17th amendment wasn’t repealed by the 18th. It was amended.
The Constitutional Council is still there, it’s just appointed by the President who is supposed to seek the observations of a Parliamentary Council, including the Leader of the Opposition and one of his/her appointees. It’s rather toothless, but certainly not repealed like you said, and I think you are a lawyer.
So, uh, you were wrong. I won’t go so far as to say you should stop talking. That would make me look like an asshole.
Every time Gota intervenes, I always imagine someone dousing petrol onto smouldering ruins :)
The Constitutional Council does not exist. I’ve litigated cases about this. I’ve been published on the 18th amendment. Trust me. You’re just wrong.
The Parliamentary Council replaces the CC by repealing article 41A [in section 4 of the link you unhelpfully provided] that created the CC and substituting a new article 41A in its place which sets up the PC in section 5. I can go through the 17th article by article and show you how it’s been repealed in toto by the 18th, but it’s not worth my time.
So, uh, you were and continue to be wrong.
Yeah, it’s called the Parliamentary Council now. As mentioned.
You’re not a lawyer so I’ll forgive you, but the provisions setting up the CC have been definitively and explicitly repealed by section 4 of the Amendment Act. If you actually knew how to read a constitution – which is not an IT Manual or a rambling blog – you would have picked that up. It’s not a mere name change – if it were, all the provisions setting up the CC wouldn’t have been repealed. Your last comment “The Constitutional Council is still there, it’s just appointed by the President who is supposed to seek the observations of a Parliamentary Council” is confused at best and a blatant and miscalculated lie at worst because it suggests the existence of a CC together with a PC post 18th. Well, at least you learnt something today about the constitution you unabashedly comment on.
Its like his BBC interview where he got worked up and said “I’m going to hang him” (Fonseka)
It was clearly a statement like “I’m going to kill you/ I’m going to kill him” which we regularly say in conversations and not in a mad, despot way, though it seemed like it.
Sigh. Pretty bad and undiplomatic when said to a white fellow on a highly biased media station. face palmy. :\ Still what he does say may seem strident but that’s what is needed no?
I don’t think any citizen should be abashed to comment on the Constitution.
The thing is that the government blithely ignores it. They rewrote it closer to actual reality and that’s slowly starting to change.
This blog will continue be read and enjoyed by a great number of people despite the opinion of one uppity lawyer who’s ‘appointed himself as a literary critic, who seems to be a regular follower anyway and doesn’t hesitate to use this “rambling” blog to promote himself. Heaven help the poor less literate masses of Jaffna if these snooty types become powerful figures in a future Northern PC.
Diplomacy is definitely not Gota’s strong point. He tells it like it is. But he doesn’t shilly shally when it comes to completing a task he undertakes. We need more of his calibre in public service.