Great noises have been made about the abolition of the Executive Presidency. Look, people - the President has not abdicated? So, what's new?
When Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake made the noisiest hulabaloo made in politics in recent times about abolishing the Executive Presidency, they were not Executive Presidents. If you were to pry into the details, they were not even in power.
But, it is a bit of a different political scenario for those who have inherited the politics of Lalith Athulathmudali since his demise. They are in power, and make no mistake about this, they are in power because of the Executive Presidency.
So who likes to step down from power? Good question. You could say Lalith Athulathmudali did. Posthumously, it has been said that he signed the impeachment motion after he resigned. Of course that meant he could have exercised the option of not resigning as well, a luxury not afforded to the other MPs who had already stuck their necks out.
No gainsaying that Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake had their eyes on better things. For Lalith it was do or die. Gamini had already burnt his boats with the UNP anyway.
Quite a different vista from which the remnants of the DUNF now take a look at events.
Apparently, some people did, which is why sudden noises of surprise have been made about the Executive Presidency never being abolished. Lake House editorials, backed rival clients in the Middle East and South Asia, and shared with each other in civil wars throughout the under developed world, but today, one ideology Communism has been discredited beyond resurrection and one super power, the Soviet Union has a new non Communist Government, so preoccupied with its massive problems at home that it can no longer play a dominant role in the world.
We now live in a world in which the United States is the only super power.
Whether we like it or not, this is the reality. When Saddam Hussein unwisely embarked upon the invasion of Kuwait, he would never have imagined that the United States of America was able to galvanise world support and drive him back to Iraq further strengthening its position as the only super power in the world.
If Saddam had anticipated the end result, he would have had second thoughts about invading a free and sovereign state.
The cold war has ended. In 1989 alone, democratic revolutions liberated 122 million people. Today, Communist bastions in East Europe have all fallen. The other remaining Communist nations like Albania and Mongolia have all functioning democracies and have embraced market economies.
Only North Korea and Cuba are still determined to pursue Communism and a closed economy and their people are near starvation and are suffering immeasurably.
The former Soviet Empire has disintegrated and instead of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics many independent states have sprung from it. Communism was dealt a death blow in Russia when Mikhael Gorbachev opened the economy to the world and tried unsuccessfully to keep a stranglehold on the political system.
The winds of change, spoken of first by former British Prime Minister, Sir Harold MacMillan, swept away Gorbachev and firmly installed democracy and the open economy. The recently concluded Presidential Elections saw Boris Yeltsin re elected defeating a hard line Communist candidate. Yet, if Yeltsin fails to deliver the economic benefits to the Russian masses once again, Communism can and will raise its head.
The same goes for the rest of the former Communist nations across the world. Democracy will survive only if the economic systems deliver. Otherwise, the order and the discipline of the socialist system will appear to be their only salvation.
China, on the other hand is a different story altogether. Deng Xio Ping and China has succeeded where Gorbachev and Soviet Russia failed. China has embraced the market economy with a vengeance, opened its doors to massive foreign investment and established free trade zones.
When I last visited Beijing two years ago after fifteen years, some streets of that city looked like Oxford Street, the 5th Avenue or the Champs Elysee.
Yet, the leaders of China have continued to embrace the Communist stranglehold on the political system. The right of choice, freedom of expression and democratic elections are still unknown in China.
As Deng Xio Ping stated: "I will not inquire about the colour of the cat as long as it catches mice."
China will reform, but change must come from the Chinese, in their own way, according to their own traditions and at their own pace.
If the economic reforms initiated in China continue for another generation, it will become a major economic power and bring one fifth of mankind out of poverty into the global middle class, inspite of not because of its Communist Government.
The nations of South East Asia, or what some call the nations of the Pacific rim, have emerged as the most powerful engines of economic growth. Though the economies of the United States, Japan and Germany will continue to dominate the world economic order, the nations of the Pacific rim will maintain their steady climb on the world economic stage without interruption.
Though, Sri Lanka does not geographically belong to the Pacific rim, we should make every endeavour to develop and strengthen our economic ties with these nations.
Vietnam, where the United States dropped more bombs than used in both world wars, today has one of the most vibrant economies in the region. Instead of dropping bombs, the United States is pouring billions of dollars in investments.
Some 450,000 tourists, mostly Americans visited Vietnam last year. Who would have thought this possible ten years ago?
Burma is run by a psychopathic military junta which refused to accept the verdict of the Burmese people and the fervent appeal of the free world. Hopefully the situations will change.
The nations of South Asia have come together with the formation of SAARC in the late 80's. Though the concept was noble and prudent, economic co operation has been minimal.
The meetings of heads of SAARC in the past have been mere speech making resulting in lengthy documentation and communiques without much results in the economic front.
Yet, the establishment of democracy in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal have been most encouraging. Pakistan and Bangladesh constantly plagued by brutal military regimes have now governments freely elected by the people.
I had the opportunity of witnessing and monitoring the recently held General Elections in neighbouring Bangladesh, a nation ravaged by two bloody coup d'etat and 17 attempted ones, not to mention the natural disasters and calamities that devastate them ever so often. About 85% of their people voted in a free and fair election and they delivered their verdict in an atmosphere of a carnival
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