The Political Column

Checkmate on constitution

By August 3, the day the President presented the new constitution, the government was not sure whether it would get the required two-thirds majority to push it through. The draft constitution was approved unanimously at a special cabinet meeting early this week, but not without some ministers expressing reservations about certain provisions in it.

Minister Mahinda Rajapakse sought clarification on a number of issues, but finally all were satisfied. They approved the draft subject to changes at the committee stage. This assurance was necessary because some of the issues raised by ministers require special attention.

As exclusively reported in this column two week ago, Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike in a letter to the Speaker made a request to summon parliament on August 3. Meanwhile House Leader Ratnasiri Wickremanayake met the Speaker and they decided to send telegrams to members, informing about the special session of parliament.

At the special Cabinet meeting on July 31, President Kumaratunga sought the fullest cooperation of ministers to present the constitution which aims to solve the ethnic problem in this country by offering greater autonomy to regions.

Around 1 p.m. a tired Prime Minister wanted to leave the Cabinet meeting. But just before that, President Kumaratunga asked her, "Amma, will you vote for the new constitution."

The Prime Minister said, "Yes, I will vote, not with one hand but with two hands."

It was a touching moment for the President who appears determined to break communal barrios through constitutional reforms which she believes would assure justice and fairplay to all Sri Lankans whether they be Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Malays or Burghers.

Her determination and commitment were also seen when she decided to present the draft constitution herself in parliament.

In her speech in parliament, the President said she never had behind-the-scene talks with the LTTE. Nor had she approached third party or foreign mediators to talk to the LTTE. This raised many an eyebrow because it is well known that the Norwegian initiative aimed at brining the LTTE to the negotiating table had been endorsed by the government.

The President said she need not have a two-thirds majority to push the Constitution through Parliament, but it through pure humanity that she was consulting the UNP. However, she qualified her statement saying that she hoped that the Opposition would cooperate with her.

The President said she had a mandate to change the Constitution - a mandate that had been endorsed in six consecutive elections since 1994.

Despite the rhetoric and dubious claims, the PA is trying to woo opposition UNP members to vote in favour of the new constitution.

At the UNP group meeting on Thursday morning, there was a hullabaloo when members learnt that the government was to open the debate on Thursday itself. They said they should oppose the mover to have the debate on Thursday itself.

In Parliament they told House Leader Wickremanayake that they were not prepared for the debate today. A surprised Mr. Wickremanayake said the debate would begin on Monday.

The UNP group met for the second time after the President made the introductory speech in presenting the new constitution. She was heckled and continuously disturbed by the UNP members. Some of them threw copies of the constitution to government benches while others tore or burnt them inside the chambers. At one point his patience sorely tried, an exasperated Mr. Speaker was heard to cry "I say, leader do something!"

UNP rebel Ronnie de Mel who crossed over to the government after he made a controversial speech at the last emergency debate was seen seated next to the President occupying the seat of the late Minister Dharmasiri Senanayake. The President shook hands with Mr. De Mel on her arrival to occupy the Prime Minister's seat. Mr. De Mel is likely to be sworn in as the Minister of Industries and Aviation.

When Mr. De Mel was a top-rung member of the UNP for the past six years, he was taken into confidence by UNP Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe who had reportedly promised him that he would be given an important position in the future UNP government.

When rumours about Mr. De Mel's cross-over were being heard, Mr. Wickremesinghe told friends he was confident that Mr. De Mel would not cross over since nobody could offer him what he had promised. Some say it was a promise to make him the premier. 

But what made Mr. De Mel to crossover was the UNP leadership's decision to hive him a p lace in the National List at the next general election. Me. De Mel was not in good health and wanted a national list position at the next general election instead of contesting the Matara district as a group leader.

It was during this time that Mr. De Mel had reportedly been approached by the PA. Some analysts say Mr. Wickremesinghe's 'premier' promise to Mr. de Mel was a ploy to prevent him from joining the government before the end of the term because the UNP leader knew that the former finance minister was capable of helping the government to put the economy back on the right track.

Some political observers believe that at the end of the term, Mr. Wickremesinghe would have thought it is time to play politics with Mr. De Mel who has had a track record of crossovers and that Mr. Wickremesinghe was confident that it could be the UNP that would form the government at the next general elections. Therefore, he gave cause for Mr. De Mel to move, though in the last lap of the PA regime. The question of who will form the next government remains wide open.

At the UNP group meeting held soon after the presentation of the Constitution, John Ameratunga said the UNP should oppose the constitution bill. He was supported by Kabir Hashim who reminded the party that the reforms had been opposed by an influential section of the Maha Sangha.

Sarath Ranawake pointed out that the Constitution had spelt out that the free education was only for children between the age of 5 ad 14. However, V. Putrasigamani had a different view.

He said the p arty should study the pros and cons of the new constitution. There are certain things that were advantageous to the Tamils, he said. "For instance, I would like to sing the national anthem in Tamil as prescribed in the Constitution. Certain Tamil parties contacted me. They also have the same feelings. When we witness what the Maha Sangha is doing to suppress the Tamils, we feel like voting for the Constitution," he said.

When Parliamentarian Sarath Kongahage spoke, he traced the history of the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party after the demise of Vijaya Kumaratunga. He said that when Ms. Kumaratunga decided not to contest the provincial council elections, it was he who pointed out how important the elections were. At this stage, Manoj Wijeratne interjecting said that since the Maha Sangha were opposing that, the UNP had to oppose the constitution. But Mr. Kongahage pointed out the Maha Sangha was supportive of the proposed electoral bill which tried to introduce a combination of the PR system and the first-past-the-post system. He said the Maha Sangha was supporting the bill because it would ensure the party in power a two-thirds majority and the government would not have to depend on minority parties. Mr. Kongahage asked whether as a political party, the UNP was willing to allow the Bhikkus to decide on how a bill should be voted on.

"Let me say this. Is it possible for the UNP to give in writing as to what they agreed to and what they did not. I like to dissent but not to defect provided that you supply us an environment to express our views conscientiously. You should satisfy us as to why we should not disagree with the Constitutional Reforms," he said. 

He said that Rajiv Gandhi squeezed President J. R. Jayewardene's hand when M. G. Ramachandran brought pressure on him. There was only one Rajiv Gandhi at that stage, but there are so many now, he said.

Thereafter Mr. Kongahage said he spoke to Mr. Wickremesinghe for nearly one hour in Kandy and added that nobody could buy him over with money. It never happened in the past and it would never happen in the future.

Mr. Putrasigamani at this stage said he needed a little more time to study the whole constitution. Mr. Kongahage said he also wanted to study the constitution. "I am not going to defect, I cannot be an Athulathmudali," he said.

Earlier in the day, Hambantota district MP Mervyn Silva left the first group meeting saying there was an allegation levelled against him about a recorded telephone conversation. He said he would not attend the group meetings until that recorded conversation was played back to check its veracity.

While the UNP was debating as to whether it should support the new constitution or not, a special cabinet meeting chaired by the President approved the electoral Reforms Bill. According to the new Electoral Reforms Bill, it would be introduced to the present constitution as the 17th Amendment. The parliament will consist of 298 seats, of which 160 will be elected through the first-past-the-post system with eight multi-member seats. According to the new bill, 100 members will be elected through the district PR system and 30 from the national list. A minimum of two members will be allocated to each district out of the 100 district members, which means there would be 45 members to represent the 22 electoral districts. The other 56 out of the 100 districts list members will be distributed among the provinces proportionately.

Originally, the government proposed that parliament should comprise 282 members but SLMC leader Minister M.H.M. Ashraff and CWC leader Arumugam Thondaman opposed the move at the Cabinet meeting. The government then agreed to increase the minimum number of district list MPs from one to two.

The CWC and the SLMC argued that if they agreed with the original number of one district list member for each district list their representations will gradually dwindle. However, the present configuration will give enhanced representations to the minority parties.

In the meantime, the UNP decided - with Mr. Kongahage abstaining - to make a statement and withdraw from the debate on the draft constitutional bill. Harendra Corea who was not too sure as to what he should do voted half-heartedly when the matter was put to vote at the group meeting.

In a related development, Minister G. L. Peiris has been moved out of his official residence Visumpaya and asked to take residence at the Presidential Palace, formerly Queen's House. Reports say UNP parliamentarians who would vote with the government for the new constitution would be housed at Visumpaya.

The UNP members were to occupy Visumpaya on Thursday, but none of them had come there by Thursday because the government had not given them an assurance about their future.

Deputy Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi and Mahinda Amerawickrema of the Hambantota district were put in charge of arrangements at Visumpaya, including recreational facilities for the members. There UNP members have reportedly been offered a trip abroad after the vote.

At the government group meeting, the President explained the format of the new electoral bill to the members.

Minister G. L. Peiris played a vital role in this regard collating and comparing the two systems. 

At the outset of the meeting, the President thanked everybody who supported her in presenting the new Constitution in parliament. After the formalities were completed, the members got down to serious discussions on the new electoral reforms.

Minister Rajapakse said he believed the new law gives p arty general secretary immense say in nominating parliamentarian under the district list and the national list.

"Under the new Electoral Reforms, there are provisions to elect 168 members under the first-past-the-post system. The valance 130 members are from the district list and the national list and they constitute nearly 40 per cent of the total number o parliamentarians and the right to nominate this 40 per cent is entirely in the hands of general secretaries of political parties," he pointed out.

Mr. Rajapakse asked why the framers of this new law did not consider a more democratic method to give the people this right. Describing the system as undemocratic, he urged the government to re-introduce the preference system as far as district list members and the national list members were concerned.

Mr. Rajapakse said this system was undemocratic.

Prof. Peiris said he agreed with him but added the new law excluded the preference system to prevent party infighting.

The special significance in this group meeting was the participation of Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike. Soon after the group meting, a number of MPs criticized the UNP members for their behaviour when the President was addressing parliament.

SLMC's M. M. Zuhair said they behaved in this fashion since their case was very weak. Having attended the talks aimed at devolving power until the day preceding, the UNP had no ground to stand. They have no argument to present, Mr. Zuhair said. The inclusion of vice-presidents was also done on NP's proposals, he pointed out.

What the UNP should have done, if it cannot agree with the government, was to make a statement and withdraw without making parliamentary proceedings a mockery, he said.

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