Dr. Sudath Gunasekara
10.2. 2017
Provinces, Provincial Councils, political lackeys of the West, Indian expansionism and the proposed new Constitution; all these hang together in one bunch as a cluster of a mega conspiracy to destabilize and dismantle the Sinhala Buddhist State of Sri Lanka. This has become more than obvious and clearly revealed after the Interim Report of the Constitutional Council was tabled in Parliament by its architect Ranil Wickramasinha last week followed by the ongoing public debate on its content. It appears as if the cat has finally come out of the bag now.
Provinces we have today in this country were first invented by the British along with the Colebrook reforms in 1832 for administrative convenience to establish their colonial hegemony. It was the first step in this colonial conspiracy to divide this Island nation. Since then it was shrewdly used by the British as a mechanism of divide and rule policy by them to consolidate their colonial grip on this Island nation. They originally started with five provinces and completed this conspiracy with nine Provinces in 1897. The carefully demarcated two contiguous provinces, the Northern and Eastern, covering 1/3 the area of the Island and 2/3rd of the coastal belt of the Island, starting from north of Puttalam through Jaffna-Trinco- Batticalloa to north of Kataragama was the turning point and the underpinning of this treacherous act of their future dream EELAM. Simultaneously starting from 1815 they carried out a systematic policy of settling south Indian Tamils in these two provinces to change the demography of these regions which had been invaded by the jungle tide after the collapse of the Raiarata Sinhala civilization, following the Magha invasion in the 12th century.
Next the British took all steps to elevate the Tamils above the native Sinhalese, both in quality and numbers. The invaders provided the best facilities for English education in Jaffna with the assistance of American missionaries. Though they did not provide the same facilities in the eastern province they took care to settle sufficient number of Indians, so that they could, together with those in the North in future could claim over these two provinces as their traditional Homeland. At the same time they created a separate South Indian Tamil enclave up on the hills in the plantations on the advice of Governor Torrington, who made a fervent request from the Home Government in 1845 to import South Indians in large numbers to be used as a formidable force against the native Sinhalese in future. This early colonial policies were the initial steps taken by them to weaken the Native Sinhalese and they laid the firm foundation for a divided future Sri Lanka on ethnic grounds.
What we saw in 1987 as Provincial Councils established at the behest of India with provisions for merging two or three adjoining Provinces was the most comprehensive and effective step of this long hatched British conspiracy to carve out a separate State for Tamils called EELAM comprising 1/3 the area of this Island. What the Western colonial powers led by the USA and its allies including UK and India expected to achieve through the 13th Amendment in 1987 was to drive the last nail to the coffin of the 2500 year old Sinhala Buddhist nation in this country, which all three Western colonial powers, Portuguese, Dutch and British together could not achieve for 443 long years of colonial rule from 1505 up to1948.
The proposed new Constitution is the latest conspiracy, hatched by the same old colonial forces together with India, the historical enemy of this country, to realize their sinister motives lying dormant from time history began. This time all these forces have hired Ranil as a cat’s paw to impose this new constitution on us, which nobody asked for. Ranil together with Chandrika, both of whom represent the local proxies of the western Catholic Church act with abject servility and subservience to commit this heinous betrayal. It is very unfortunate that the President, though he is a SLFP product (which is more pro Sinhalese and pro Buddhist than all other political parties in this country), has not understood this coup de ta. The conspirators have cleverly got him to play the Jekyll and Hyde role simultaneously assuring the Sinhala Buddhists that he will not allow anyone to do any harm to the place of Buddhism and the Sinhala people or to make a constitution against their interests on the one hand, while at the same time openly declaring on another platform that his priority is to retrieve the so-called injustices done to the Tamils and Muslims and more specifically to Tamils who have voted him en block. He too like his two mentors shows the same degree, if not even more, of servility and subservience to the Western powers and India, obviously for political survival.
Today he being a man full of contradictions and blatant lies for he says one thing and does just the opposite is not taken seriously by the majority and the intelligent, including Buddhist monks and intellectuals. For example few days back he promised the Mahasangha of Asgiriya and Malwatta in Kandy that he will not allow a new Constitution to be formulated. But even today (10.3.2017) he told the Parliament that his Government is committed to make a new Constitution to achieve much hyped so-called reconciliation and justice to all communities, perhaps except the Sinhalese Buddhists who constitute 75 % of the population of this country.
Andure atagema
Even the majority including those in the JO who talk and write on the ongoing debate on the proposed new constitution don’t seem to have realized the true colour of this conspiracy I have outlined above. That is why perhaps all of them confine to the inconsistencies of the details of the new Constitutional proposals like devolution of powers relating to land, police administration, limiting the governors powers, the role of the Chief Minister, the debate between the powers of the Centre, the devolved and concurrent lists, giving foremost place for Buddhism, whether to call it a Unitary or United Sri Lanka etc without realizing the real danger behind it. This reminds me the famous Indian parable of the seven blind men formed in to a circle, holding their walking sticks going round and round trying to find the starting point of the circle. As I see it the new constitution is nothing but the last chapter of the above colonial and Indian joint conspiracy first of destabilizing the Sinhala Buddhist nation and then finally dividing this country in to a land of eternal conflicts chaos among different ethnic and religious groups.
It is against this disastrous backdrop sketched above that I am demanding the Government to drop the new Constitution in Toto. Firstly as they have never got a public mandate for a new Constitution and secondly people have never asked for such Constitution either. Thirdly there are many more urgent and burning issues than the need for a new Constitution at present. It was the Asgiriya Chapter realizing the traditional role of Mahasangha in this country that sensed this danger and requested the President not to proceed with the new Constitution las month and asked him to drop it. Though the President has promised to do so to the Mahasangha in Kandy, the way he has behave and acted since then raises many a question regarding his honesty on this issue. To me the way how things are taking shape on this subject appears to be really alarming. It is now obvious that the President has no power or the capacity to stop this. It is more than evident that he is helpless and clueless too as to what his Prime Minister is doing behind the curtain. The President has been reduced to a mere puppet in the hands of anti- Sinhala and anti-Buddhist forces both at Home led by Chandrika, Ranil and cohort, the NGOO, minority Tamils and Muslims and the Tamil Diaspora and the international community . Probably his stern and sworn animosity towards Rajapaksas may be the root cause of this tragedy. The much hyped Nobel Prize dream may be another reason preventing him from realizing the reality. He appears to have not realized that even if he gets the Noble Prize in Norway he will definitely go down in history of this country as a traitor of the first order, if he fails to act promptly and stop this historic national disaster by invoking his Executive power he still enjoys.
It is a well-known fact that this Government has never got a mandate to go for a new Constitution either on Jan 8 or August 17th in 2015. Now that the Statement of the Buddha Sasana Karya Sadaka Mandalaya on the interim report of the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly of Sri Lanka headed by the two Mahanaayaka Theras of Amarapura and Ramanna Nikayas comprising three other prominent monks like Ven Bellanvila Wimala ratana and Welamitiyawe Kusaladhamma have already pointed out the inconsistencies and dangers of the new proposals of the report of the Constitutional Council to the President, I hope he will take serious notice of their objections and be wise enough to take their advice as it was the customary practice of the ancient Kings in this country and order the Government of Ranil Wickramasinha to drop this mad idea of a new constitution at least now, before the whole country is set on fire and disaster. The country expects the President to take a bold and wise decision on this extremely crucial matter without any fear or hesitation.
I hope he will realize the stark reality that he was elected President by the people of this country and not by America and its allies or India. It is my considered view that the only way left for him to escape from this Constitutional death trap laid by Ranil at the behest of the West and go down in history as a national hero who saved the Sinhala Buddhist nation is by conforming to the age old traditions. If he fails to take the correct decision Mahavamsa will record him as a ruler who succumbed to external pressure and self- interest than the love for his country and people as a patriotic Statesman.
What Ranil did in Parliament last week by presenting the Interim Report of the Constitutional Council I think is a trial rehearsals of ‘putting the pot first’ like what a house burglar does to see whether the inmates are asleep. The whole nation must rise up against this betrayal and prove that we are not dead asleep as yet but fully awake. This is no time to sleep. Your sleeping will end up in Runil-Chandrika-Maitree Trio the burglars completely emptying Sri Lanka with no trace of Sinhala Buddhist mark for the future world to see.
Therefore instead of beating about the bush we should directly attack now on the head of the curse that is the Provincial system including the very concept of the Provinces and the Provincial Councils, the disastrous white elephant and more particularly the new Constitution, the death trap of the 2500 year old Sinhala nation. Of cause the first step in this rescue operation should be the defeating of the Constitutional conspiracy. That is the only way to avoid this national disaster of destabilizing and dismantling the nation. Every second we miss in doing so we are nearing the death of this illustrious nation that protected and upheld the Sambuddha Sasana for 2600 years. As for me, I hear the ominous sounds of the distant death –knell of an illustrious Nation in the world, getting closer and closer every second that passes.
Abolition of Provinces and Provincial Councils will bring the following benefits
First take the abolition of Provinces
1 It will once and for all remove a sad colonial legacy that was intended to divide, destabilize and dismantle this nation
2 It will protect the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence and freedom of the Island nation having removed the threat of having future enemy territories almost right round the Island from Puttalam to Kataragama across Jaffa and Batticalloa.
3 Will remove all divisive tendencies based on ethnicity, territory and religion and foster national unity as one nation
4 Stop the danger of North and East becoming two separate ethnic states, one Tamil and the other Muslim
5 It will also encourage the Indian Tamils who get qualified for Sri Lankan Citizenship to integrate with the native Sinhalese instead of trying to agitate for separation following suit of the Northern Tamils ad Eastern Muslims
6 Will minimize the inflow of illicit South Indian immigrants and also control Indian expansionist tendencies
7 Will guarantee the freedom for all Sri Lankans to engage in fishing in Sri Lankan waters and consolidate the Republic’s rights over the entire maritime Zone of the Island covering almost five times the land area of the Island including the monopoly over using its economic, naval and strategic potentials.
8 Will defeat all external interferences in the Sovereignty and internal matters and freedom of the Republic
Now look at the benefits of abolishing the Provincial Councils
1 It will save billions of rupees annually wasted and sent down the drain for no return to the country other than political, administrative and social tension, complete breakdown of District Administration that was far more efficient, economical, effective, lawful, people centered and democratic.
2 Eliminate nearly 800 parasitic and lotus eater politicians including 9 political refugees and misfits appointed as Governors, 9 Cheap Ministers. 40 Ministers and thousands of other political henchmen who have become a burden, a nuisance and a disaster to the country’s economy and socio political harmony in the periphery
3 Leave behind a large number of buildings, officials, vehicles and equipment that could be gainfully used for development activities of the country under the District Administration
4 Eliminate all claims and agitations for devolution of power, such as political, land and police and all divisive ethnic, religious and separatist tendencies.
5 Close the debate on the subject of Provincial, Reserved and Concurrent lists once and for all
6 Evaporate the dream of local autonomy and guarantee political stability in the country.
7 Close the door permanently for anti-Sri Lankan elements like Vignesvaran, Nazeer Ahamed who are engaged in anti- government activities 24 hours round the clock and even making representations against the Sri Lanka Government at international fora while agitating for separate States.
8 People all over the country will once again begin to think as one country and one nation and one sovereign, Ekachatra or Eksesath Republic of Sri Lanka. (not aekiya, unitary or orumaththanadu as this Government says).
(It may be noted here that Unitary means Government of or relating to a system of government in which the executive, legislative, and judicial powers of each state in a body of states are vested in a central authority) SO why adopt an alien term when we have a much better term of native origin that was used by our people for thousands of years.
9 There will be one strong Government at the center with effective and efficient governance and law and order with no nuisance of Provincial mini Governments at the periphery.
Finally if we abolish the Provinces and the Provincial Council as proposed above, I am confident, it will put an end to all political, economic, social, administrative and legal problems we are faced today, both at home and also those that have their genesis abroad and once again usher in a new era of stability, strength, peace and prosperity to this Island nation
To make this dream a reality, I strongly propose that we go back to the traditional Tun Rata Divisions that have provided the unique underpinning for political stability and prosperity of this Island nation, for nearly 2500 years with no parallel in the whole world. The political machinery I propose is three Regional Councils for the three Regions and one strong central Government at the center under an Executive President elected by the people of the whole country. For detail of this proposal I refer my readers to articles I have posted in Lankaweb for the past several years regularly on this subject. This new system will reduce the present expenditure of government; number of politicians, government institutions and even the number of public servants by 2/3 the present volume and number. All the savings resulting from this change could be used for development of the country. So that the Paradise that was Sri Lanka could be regained in no time.