Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

09 November 2018

Lame duck constitution - Anti-Human Rights

I fully believe that we were all born Sovereign and to the extent we identify with that Sovereign power within us, we would live in Peace. But there are many distractions in our environments that disturb us from enjoying our true Sovereignty. The worst offenders in this regard are the organs of pleasure. The pathway to successful focus is through Commonness. The palm is common part of the hand with fingers of diverse forms. Likewise, the brain is the common organ through which we enjoy pleasures and recognize pain.

Cultures and Civilizations are confirmations of our group-seeking so that one’s weakness in the group is absorbed by the strengthen in another. The culture and civilization of a group is confirmed by its Constitution – the brain.

Sri Lankan President’s Counsel Mr Samantha Ratwatte, highlights in his article ‘Sovereignty resides in people’ the core Articles of the Sri Lankan Constitution  that confirm how the Sovereignty of  Sri Lanka is to be preserved as a group :

Article 3 - Sovereignty of the People.

 In the Republic of Sri Lanka sovereignty is in the people and is inalienable. Sovereignty includes the powers of government, fundamental rights and the franchise.

4. The Sovereignty of the People shall be exercised and enjoyed in the following manner :–

(a) the legislative power of the People shall be exercised by Parliament, consisting of elected representatives of the People and by the People at a Referendum ;

(b) the executive power of the People, including the defence of Sri Lanka, shall be exercised by the President of the Republic elected by the People ;

(c) the judicial power of the People shall be exercised by Parliament through courts, tribunals and institutions created and established, or recognized, by the Constitution, or created and established by law, except in regard to matters relating to the privileges, immunities and powers of Parliament and of its Members, wherein the judicial power of the People may be exercised directly by Parliament according to law ;

(d) the fundamental rights which are by the Constitution declared and recognized shall be respected, secured and advanced by all the organs of government and shall not be abridged, restricted or denied, save in the manner and to the extent hereinafter provided; and

(e) the franchise shall be exercisable at the election of the President of the Republic and of the Members of Parliament and at every Referendum by every citizen who has attained the age of eighteen years and who, being qualified to be an elector as hereinafter provided, has his name entered in the register of electors.

True empowerment of the person is the Sovereign power that is always within us. A group – in this instance Sri Lankans – can be Sovereign only to the extent their Sovereignty is recognized by each other. It cannot be ‘given’ or ‘taken’.

As per Sri Lankan civilization  - confirmed by the Constitution – this Sovereign power is confirmed through elected leaders. No elected person has greater mandate than the Sovereign powers recognized by the People who elected her/him. Where the elected person demonstrates otherwise, those who elected the person have the natural duty to discipline such a person for the excesses. No one’s permission is needed to exercise such Sovereign power, as identified with by the person through her / his own experience at a particular place, during a particular time period.

President Sirisena refers to ‘foreign influence’ in Sri Lanka. The question arises as to whether or not a Sri Lankan who emigrated is a ‘foreigner’. Also whether someone who does not seem to be Sri Lankan but has contributed to maintaining Sri Lanka’s Sovereignty is a Foreigner?

President’s Counsel Mr Samantha Ratwatte expresses as follows:

“When citizens of all strata get engaged in a public debate, confusion is compounded, with no conclusion, and that causes further polarization of an already polarized society. This is particularly so, if we as citizens do not understand who is given what function under our Constitution.”

Not only current citizens by law but all those who have helped preserve Sri Lanka’s Sovereign identity, have the Natural duty to preserve their contribution to function as the Common brain. It is the duty of every paid official to demonstrate respect to such contributors. I believe I am one of them. I therefore recognize Dr Devanesan Nesiah’s renunciation of the high status as a protest by a true Sri Lankan. I would not if I had been distracted by the benefits from such status. Most successful Tamil Administrators of post-independent Sri Lanka have contributed to preserving the Sovereignty of One Sri Lanka. That is a heritage of  eternal value. The younger generation Tamils seem to think they have options between Sri Lanka grouping and  Tamil grouping. To the extent the latter is to preserve their Sovereignty as a group – then yes – that is also polarization. It is ‘right’ to the extent custodians of wider powers failed to recognize their ‘right to privacy’ in maintaining their sovereignty as a community group. Such formation is not different to global women’s group or  global LGBT groups. But these groups, like the UN  do not have direct power through particular positions – as spelled out in Article 4 of the Sri Lankan constitution. Their real power spreads naturally and needs no particular position allocated by others. Anyone who restricts their natural position taken in a relationship would have the damage returned to them.

This to my mind happened in Sri Lankan leadership which failed to demonstrate remorse for the killings of Tamils who did not directly act to damage the Government but rather remained within an area where they felt they would be protected by the young ones in their community.

Majority current citizens are polarized due to the above return karma. Every Tamil who identifies with her/his Sovereignty AND feels for the above victims has the power return that karma – often without even being conscious of doing so. In fact, I learnt through my Australian experiences that beyond a certain point – that Sovereignty merges with those in  other forms automatically to uphold my True position. I cannot then protect from Its force even those whom I like to be friends with. Whenever there is a medium – that Sovereign power manifests Itself and I know I was right. Kamer Nizamdeen’s case is the latest at the University of NSW.

The Hindu reports the following about Prime Minister Wickremesinghe:

[On whether he could still work with the President, Mr. Wickremesinghe said: “I’ll have no problem working with him, that’s a question you must ask him. The Constitution doesn’t make provision for personal prejudices,” he said on Tuesday, in an interview to The Hindu at Temple Trees, the official residence of the Prime Minister.]

That is acceptable.

TNA’s declaration that ‘it would not support the MS-MR partnership’  fails to uphold the positive value of the real pain suffered by Tamils of Sri Lanka in preserving their Sovereignty as a Diverse Community, despite   the damages caused over the years by majority law-makers in Parliament.  Again, I am one who faced such challenges directly until I left Sri Lanka in 1982. But mentally I continue/d to share in the pain of Tamils of Sri Lanka and thus my Sovereignty naturally empowers all those who believe in me which is not limited to Tamils only. But it would naturally oppose all those who damaged my investment to preserve my Sovereignty and do not feel any remorse over it. This would include Tamils who ‘tell’ me – knowingly or otherwise.

The Constitutional / Political crisis in Sri Lanka has confirmed that the two major Sinhalese parties have failed to  make enough investment in Common Sri Lanka – as spelt out in the current Constitution. Neither party has so far committed itself to taking away the Buddhism foremost clause in the constitution. As a Common Sri Lankan I conclude that this is because they fear losing their political positions. But this also makes the Constitution incapable of facilitating One Sri Lanka as a Sovereign entity. The holes in the borders would naturally influence emigration at least of the mind – thus isolating Sri Lanka as a land of those who call them Buddhists. Any Sri Lankan constitution that fails to balance this ‘Buddhism foremost’ privilege – becomes lame duck constitution during a period when  majority active contributors seek to use regional and  global pathways.

One way of balancing it without political backlash is to include the parallel of Article 9 at Provincial level – that each Provincial Government has to uphold the tenets of the religion of majority citizens of the province. This would then diffuse the ‘disability’ in the Central Government which keeps ‘showing’ Buddhism to win votes.

THAT is what TNA ought to have insisted on without sitting on the fence.  

President’s Counsel Mr Samantha Ratwatte please note  that every Sovereign person investing in Sri Lanka writes the real Constitution of Sri Lanka. THAT Commonness is what Human Rights are based on. The sacrifices we make at the physical and intellectual level lead to us recognizing the Truth / Sovereignty within which blooms and fills the mind. That is how personal sovereignty becomes Universal power.