Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
20
June 2020
Power of Article 91
Does an article in the
Constitution have self-governance power? To my mind, the answer is ‘yes’ when its origin was based on belief and a self-governing person invokes its powers. Article
91 about which I have been writing in relation to the SJB – was activated by me
including as follows:
[The fundamental rights case before the Judiciary is
about elections. But there was already an issue with the SJB candidates being
in two parties when submitting their nominations. Article 91(1) (b)(ii) of the
Sri Lankan Constitution – under chapter headed ‘THE FRANCHISE AND ELECTIONS’
- states:
[91. (1)
No person shall be qualified to be elected as a Member of Parliament or to sit
and vote in Parliament –
(b) (ii) if he - stands nominated as a
candidate for election by more than one recognized political party or
independent group in respect of any electoral district, ]
The
fundamental principle here is that one cannot be in two political parties at
the same time. This article was breached by Mr Premadasa and others being in Samagi
Jana Balavegaya (SJB) and the UNP at the same time. In his Island article ‘Gota-Sajith alliance: Exercise in
futility?’ Dr Upul Wijeyawardhana states:
[The August election is important for the UNP
and the SJB, solely for these reasons of their own disputes. But what about the
country? The country needs dynamism and for that some of the idiotic aspects of
the 19th Amendment need urgent change. We need to empower the President. After
all, he is not a figurehead as he is directly elected by the voters and is
responsible to them. In fact, he is the only person who commands a direct pubic
mandate as all parliamentarians are not elected on the basis of a constituency.
To have proper representation, we need to revert to a constituency-based
parliament. Provincial councils have proved to be a complete waste of money and
Yahapalanaya, paradoxically, proved their redundancy by not holding elections!
Many independent commissions have proved to be anything but independent and a
complete rethink is badly needed.
Sri
Lanka has the best of brains and it is high time ways and means are devised to
use them to make Sri Lanka great again!]
Lanka’s king Ravana also was clever. He was so
clever he had his own plane. But his problem was that he did not share his
intellectual powers to connect to wider world. The expressions ‘We need to empower the President. After
all, he is not a figurehead as he is directly elected by the voters and is
responsible to them.’ confirm similar block. One who believes
is naturally empowered exponentially. Such power spreads like the covid19
virus. Such a leader does not need intellectual powers. In fact anything more
is likely to weaken the power of belief.
We can complete the connection between ‘Cause and
Effect’ through belief and / or through intellectual logic. When the current
president promised to withdraw from the commitment to the UN he confirmed his
reliance on local belief. The Sinhala Buddhist community voted him into power. In
his paper ‘Tamil Buddhism in Sri Lanka’, Professor Gintota P V Somaratna
states :
[In the analysis of the historiography of Buddhism in Jaffna, several questions surface in
determining historical facts. In our study,
we have to be aware of who writes history, with what agenda in mind. One has to
observe whether the historian’s own standpoint, impacted by national and
ideological affiliation, contributes to an agenda. When religion is used as an
instrument for politics, the politicisation of religion would result. The historian may be playing,
unintentionally or consciously, into such a scheme. There is a danger of the past being abused for someone’s own
purposes. This is very clear in the
interpretation of historical material as we see clearly the differences and conflicts
between the Tamil and the Sinhalese perceptions of history of Sri Lanka.]
Those who wrote the 19th
Amendment to the Constitution demonstrated belief in wider world. Their belief
has been written as laws that others could use to complete the picture of ‘Cause
and Effect’. It is equal to the structure of the current regime. If it is made
junior to the current Regime’s form of belief – many intellectuals will not be
able to complete the picture and this would lead to mental instability and effective
wastage of investment in higher education. When no politician has taken action
in relation to the breach of Article 91 it confirms the serious deterioration
of intellectual powers of the Parliament.
But then any believer can
invoke the mind of the architect of that article to complete the picture for
her/himself. In turn that completed knowledge would spread exponentially
including through the media, to become a reality – the Ultimate Reality of
Belief. Hence the truth of divisions within UNP which can make it more powerful
as an opposition – especially if it mind-merged with Tamils genuinely seeking a
common solution.
Buddhism foremost article in
the Constitution, is confirmation of Politicising Buddhism. Its presence
automatically demotes the status of the Constitution to relative power. That
was how Tamils became Equal Opposition in National Parliament when they
completed their circle of belief. This will continue to happen from time to
time when Buddhism is used for personal benefits and/or Minorities invoke the
absolute power of their belief.
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