Editorial

The Opposition’s attempt to delay the inevitable naturally had to fall on deaf ears. The Government would not countenance any of the calls to postpone or make alternate seating arrangements in Parliament for the debate on the 20th Amendment (20A) to the Constitution owing to the increasing intensity of the spread of COVID-19.

Social distancing and mask wearing became law over the week, but lawmakers showed themselves to be above the law. The passage of 20A was top priority, masked or unmasked.

Parliaments around the world had adopted measures to ensure Members did not infect others, nor get infected. Outside the House, cases of the virus were escalating and fears of a ‘second wave’ hitting the population through the dreaded community spread’ were being discussed. Police curfews were already in place in certain areas. In these circumstances, it was not exemplary political leadership on display.

There had been some rumblings within the Government’s own ranks over 20A during the run-up to this week’s debate and vote. At the very outset there was no ownership of the draft proposals. They came from ‘thin air’, it seems. Then came objections from the minor parties of the ruling coalition and from sections of the clergy, many of whom carried this Government on their shoulders to power and place.

Many Government politicians found themselves awkwardly placed – between a rock and a hard place, as they say these days. They disliked provisions like the dual citizenship issue in 20A (the BR Amendment). The Prime Minister suggested an amendment, but it never saw the light of day. The President, we are told by others, has said that the matter will be considered when bringing forth the ‘new Constitution’.

The issue of the Immunity of the President was a serious matter which even the Supreme Court had to red flag as being unconstitutional. The Government was forced to relent and take it out of 20A.

Those groaning dissident Government MPs laboured to make a squeak but were quickly made to cringe before authority. It was not only a sign of the times but what is to come to a castrated Parliament with the passage of 20A.

Some were downright pitiful. They tried to have the cake and eat it, suggesting in public that they personally opposed certain provisions of 20A but would vote for it anyway because they always vote with their ‘kandayama’ (team). The Government hierarchy dared not give their MPs a “conscience vote”. That could spell disaster. The Party whip was at hand to see the pantomime by a few MPs showing their dissent was over – they voted with the team leader. This is what powerful Governments with huge mandates do, past and present, reminding one of the confession of Sir Joseph Porter KCB, the fictitious character in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta HMS Pinafore; “I always voted at my party’s call and never thought of thinking for myself at all”.

Intent on showcasing its efficiency, this Government has, after the brief early weeks of success with the COVID-19 pandemic, been looking for excuses for some time now. First it was the inability to pass the Budget being a minority Government. Then it was the need for a new Parliament; then the COVID issue that retarded economic growth, and all along it was the 19A millstone that prevented it from delivering the goods.

The Government may soon run out of excuses.

Pompeo visit: More to it than the optics

The scheduled, once postponed visit of the topmost diplomat from the United States next week is bound to generate some excitement locally, especially by those who see a CIA plot behind every bush but remain ominously silent about the creeping submission through a Chinese ‘debt trap’.

It is not just that these vociferous ‘anti-Imperialist’ elements are now in the Government which has just allowed US dual citizens to enter Sri Lanka’s Parliament and would be forced to remain mute leaving it to fringe groups to raise some noise. The Chinese embassy in Colombo has taken a pro-active role in slamming the US for asking Sri Lanka to take sides in a war of the modern day Titans.

The visiting US Secretary of State is expected to bring up some contentious issues during the bilateral talks. The MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) economic grant is on the cards. Sri Lanka has already sent feelers, it is learnt, if the grant can be without the Land Deeds component and have only the Transportation aspect of the offer. The already inked ACSA (Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement) and to be negotiated SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) military engagement pacts are not on the official agenda.

The US sponsored resolution at the UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council) in Geneva against the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and its political leadership in 2009 are sore points in the relationship between the two countries. The US may have paternity over that resolution but it no longer has guardianship having left the UN agency with the UK stepping in to fill its shoes with regard to the anti-Sri Lanka witch-hunt. On the other hand, the US is Sri Lanka’s largest garment export market.

That the US Secretary of State arrives just about a week or so before a crucial Presidential election back at home and given that his President is trailing big time in the opinion polls makes the distinguished visitor a virtual lame duck dignitary. He will probably not have his job by the end of the year. Though in US political circles he is considered a potential future Presidential candidate himself, how seriously he can be taken right now is the question. His political rivals are pledging to overturn much of current US foreign policy, including a return to the UN agencies like UNESCO, WHO and UNHRC that they quit.

While many countries will wait to see which way the wind blows by November 3 and who will be at the Oval Office at the White House in 2021, some fundamental foreign policy targets like containing what the US military call “Chinese hegemony” in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond will not change. One can only hope Sri Lanka’s diplomats have read their briefs, if any, are thorough with the subjects on the agenda, and are up to the task at the negotiating table next week.