EXECUTIVE PRESIDENCY & FINANCES

 

True strength of a Nation is the consolidated strength of every person  to whom that Nation is ‘home’. To most of us, our families are the structures through which individual Sovereignty develops into group Sovereignty. Hence if I am financially independent as a person, I naturally share it with my family. To the extent  my family is financially self-sufficient, it contributes to our home-nation’s economic independence.

Former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka – Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe is reported to have suggested as follows in relation to the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka:

 

Changing governments or forming a national government is not the need of the hour and Sri Lanka’s political parties must instead work on building a national consensus towards a permanent solution to the country’s economic woes, former prime minister and sole MP of the opposition United National Party (UNP) Ranil Wickremesinghe said…….. “The opposition can remain in the opposition, and government members can remain in the government. But they must all arrive at a national agreement on solving this problem – an agreement that’s valid not just for one year but for 15 or 20 years,” he added.

Once consensus has been reached, the former prime minister said, the government and opposition can discuss elections and even the possibility of early elections.

“But the national framework and basic policies cannot be changed,” he said.] Economy Next

This in essence is the parallel of eliminating Executive power of a single individual.

One way in which the West including Australia, overcame this problem was through Business-Unit structures. When Mr Wickremesinghe’s group came into power in 2015, they did propose this and I also made my contributions to it on the basis of my Australian experience. The difficulty was often in male-dominated areas. Until majority Sri Lankan women work outside their homes, but are granted Equal status – this system would not sustain itself. We then need the mix of both as per the respective area’s group’s leadership mix. This is highlighted as follows:

Yesterday, Mr Wigneswaran  responded as follows to a lady participant:

[Equality is mostly not understood. Every human being is given equal rights . That does not mean I am equal to you. How could I be ?  i  cannot bear a child? Iswaran]

I responded to the Tamil leader as follows:

[I also believe that we are all born Sovereign. If surfaced to the visible level we would be Equal. The formula of this is hidden within the diversity. Taken purely at surface level -one misses out on the sweetness of Diversity which makes one attractive to the other. Man has greater physical strength while woman is able to mentally take on pain. It is part of a woman’s makeup and is the balancing factor in terms of labour pain. The physical strength of man is balanced with his lesser ability to endure pain.

In the case of Sri Lanka- Sinhalese are the parallel of man and Minorities are the parallel of woman.  We have greater capacity bear pain and hence we have the capacity to give birth to a new nation. Where we are ‘separated’  whoever is ‘visible’ in leadership – for example Vellala caste -becomes heirless -  if they do not  take on minorities as Equals. Within LTTE – North was the visible leader. East had the talent due to them taking Junior position]

In his speech, published by the office of Prime Minister – Mr Rajapaksa includes the following:

[30 years of a terrorist threat and the fear of death that existed among the people of this country was eradicated; not to further endanger the people and to relegate them to a fate of hardship and pain. We built highways, modern roads and infrastructure - not so that you can stand in queues on those roads.]

The above confirms living off the past. Whatever the method chosen – it was the government’s duty to eliminate that which it considered to be ‘terrorism’. To take more benefits than the satisfaction of doing one’s duty is to profit from one’s rights. This leads to loss of consciousness of Sovereignty.

We witnessed the deployment of Armed forces during the pandemic. The current PM states in his speech to the nation:

[When thousands died in neighboring countries due to the Coronavirus, treatment centers equipped with facilities were mobilized. Indigenous medicines such as Koththamalli were dispensed, medicines were given and the whole country was largely vaccinated. All this was done, not so that our people would be victimized by tear gas and bullets. Historically, we have spared no sacrifice to protect our people from every challenge. As in times past, we will make every effort to overcome this crisis. Friends, this government restricted taking loans from international stakeholders and prioritized working with and empowering our people to make Sri Lanka a debt free country.]

This confirms that in his mind, the PM has a structure of self-sufficiency as a stand alone country and there is no recognition of others senior in this field – especially India which to Sri Lanka is the parallel of Britain  to Australia. Such intuitive recognition renders continuous flow of ‘intelligence’ from one to the other. This is what went wrong with the LTTE also.

The credit claimed from dispensation of Koththamalli / Corriander confirms ‘the indigenous approach.

In his conclusion, the PM includes the following:

[This government has historically imbued our farmers with the highest relief packages to aid their industry. However, today the farmers stand against us. No matter how honorable the notion of organic fertilizer is, it is not the time for it to be implemented. As such, we will be reinstating the fertilizer subsidy to once again equip our farmers to optimize their craft.]

With a structure where the gun is above the plough in hierarchy – the democratic voter would naturally feel subdued. It means also that we are living off armed war. This tendency has been strengthened through Victory parades by the armed forces – as if Tamils are enemies. It may not be the intention of the government, but every Sri Lankan Tamil to whom Sri Lanka is ‘home’ – due also to one’s family culture - would feel isolated. This feeling is exasperated by such Sinhala celebrations by the government.

When Tamils are recognised as Equal Opposition in Parliament – by enacting laws to the effect – Sri Lanka as a whole, would confirm Democracy and would naturally attract investments from democratic groups. Towards this either Buddhism foremost article needs to be repealed or the balancing article of every electorate where a particular religion is in majority that religion’s law must prevail as ‘foremost’ law.

At Administrative level – the Parliament managing Finances is NOT the solution. To do so is in breach of the doctrine of Separation of Powers – between belief based governance and merit based Administration. The solution is to breakdown Administration to become self-sufficient through project based approach – which is the parallel of the religious provision stated above.