Opinion

Who shoots whom in Parliament?

30 Nov 2015 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Forces bent on destabilising the country launches from within an attack on the legislature after eliminating the executive.

e are the guinea pig generation! Carried the insignia on the back of the executive through pride and shame. Power shifts to the legislature and an assassin take shots at it? Legislature must be saved –It is a national treasure, last bastion of democracy. Executive is beheaded:

Judiciary is being deprecated. Are we in for another hybrid as the tripod of governance is being dismantled?

Lived through war and peace; Cruel terrorism turned to maligned justice; worshipped heroes were depicted as despicable villains; Geneva from a vile appalling snake pit was cowardly converted to a revered sanctified shrine; Saw dynastic favouritism extend towards spread nepotism; Honoured Supreme Court judge voted as Chief Minister turns maverick - retired judges should be stopped from politics not to disgrace the judiciary with their stupid antics; Selected Cabinet Ministers travel a distance after being rejected by the electorate - was anointed with portfolios pock marked with Yahapalana tattoos.

Faulted and admired for eliminating dreaded terrorism; We lost and we won – is it to lose again?

Now it is another ball game, more deadly, more sinister: played under covers and according to the rules. Painless death caused while being unconscious.
Where a Westminster Parliamentary system operates and a government loses its majority, the reigning members of Parliament are incapable of forming a substitute government with a working majority – Parliament is dissolved.

It gives a chance for the people to elect a stable Parliament at a coming general elections; No more and not so-in Sri Lanka after the 19th Amendment – supposed ‘almanac of good governance’.

These rights were discreetly wire-brushed. We are the founders of weak governments by constitutional manipulations. A hop step and jump to partition.
Is it created to service anarchy? Let’s learn a lesson from the French -their sleuths knew of the movements of terrorists, where caches of ammunition were stocked, temporary hideouts were identified; yet, in the name of Liberty, intelligence services were not allowed to take position.

Same will happen if we bow to Human Rights as the Wickremesinghe government often does. Beware of latent Tigers, ISIS off shoots and Bodu Bala activists?

Their brand of religion is quantified for political advancement. It doesn’t flow from the heart but breaks out of a chamber of a pistol to set the flame.

Electorates in the past could rectify instability. A prohibitive period was imposed under the 1978 Constitution of year’s non-dissolution phase. Made sense since Parliament of March 1960 lasted just days and a second general election was held in July. It denied opportunity for a period of possible re-alignment.

The 19th Amendment extended the prohibitive period to cover the virtual lifetime of an elected Parliament of five years, less six months.

Stuck with adhesive, once elected, Parliamentarians are immune from elections for four years and six months. Party whip would be broken to vote for an Amendment that guarantees a pension and assurance of a near full term in office.

Leadership of the Opposition was gifted to the TNA, which obtained a meagre 4.6 % of the popular vote coming exclusively from the North and East and earned 16 seats.

"There will be heavy traffic from both directions along the Parliamentary aisles, before the next elections, as the country slides downward. An unhappy wait for the governing UNP undermined by their feuding Cabinet Ministers. "

JVP going broad spectrum, gained 4.8% of the vote and registered six seats. That is the arithmetics of democracy.

Can either hold a right to such high office without popular support? In the opposition sits weak-kneed MPs with a higher representation - tamely gave up the coveted post without a murmur.

Whoever did it, scrambled the egg before frying it in oil. Is the author of the constitution - an inverted federalist or from the closeted left, taking the traditional turn to the ultra Right?

Not hailing from the old school of the UNP or SLFP or LSSP that thought far, as did Mark Fernando, Chandra Seneviratne or H.W. Jayewardane in tiding the 1978 Constitution or Colvin R de Silva and H.L. de Silva in cleansing 1972?

Leaves a mere six month grace period, which is required for the nomination process.

Artful Eyewash.

Place a yellow marker on year 2016 and turn the searchlight on Parliament. Don’t need a crystal ball to see the traditional rivals sitting merrily on one side of the Parliamentary aisle with a few stragglers on the other. On a friendship road the government is stable but the local government elections are not far off, is likely to be put off, on a pretext, if the government is to survive.

"If in six months there is much clash, grant four years on and watch the fun. The “better-half” of the SLFP in the UNP government, outward bound, on the call of an election will want to impress the SLFP voters-spitting venom at them for coalescing with the UNP on the back of their vote -would try to undermine the government from within and slink back to UNP or crawl to join Rajapaksa’s flock, whoever wins."

Why doesn’t the UNP-SLFP Cabinet combine come clean and merge in being one of a kind? Differences are purely cosmetic – comes from the same mercenary womb. With the call of an election the government is divided - aspirants are too many for one party to hold on their limited slate.

It could bring the country to its knees, with an amputated government in office having to run its mandatory term of 54 months. What happens to budgets, financial provisions, no confidence motions, treaty sanctions, bills and statutes, if a majority cannot be mustered? Stay refrigerated! Melts to a division of the country! Legislature will be discredited as much as was the executive. Will the opinion makers on foreign prompting ask for its alteration like in the case of the Executive Presidency? Sure would, to destabilise the singular nation state concept.

The 19th Amendment has made it weaker and the Constitutional Council will offer the last rites with its appointments. Often the fault lies not with office but with the holders of titles. Often take the easier way by closing chapters than correcting scripts.

It is the attributes of Presidency that won the war that will be absent, to offer help, as the threads of the LTTE, ISIS and BBS draw its tentacles around.
Their religion is not tied to a philosophical thought process, but gather yarn to gain political control.

"The 19th Amendment extended the prohibitive period to cover the virtual lifetime of an elected Parliament of five years, less six months. Stuck with adhesive, once elected, Parliamentarians are immune from elections for four years and six months. "

It is the possible North/ East merger that needs watching as remnants of the LTTE can combine with the unreliable SLMC to achieve its intents.

Remember these two parties previously entered into a signed pact during the height of terrorism. Care for one nation, one state: Fear Islamic terrorism for the future of Sri Lanka than any Hindu/Christian/ Buddhist violence. Otherwise we can live in harmony.

It is the intelligence services that need beefing in times of peace. These outfits will be targeted for destruction because of their effectiveness. Who targets them will direct the points where investigation should commence.

The government still looks stupid after the Athurugiriya raids that showed the leads the LTTE took after the event. How many able intelligence officers were slayed, many were the ablest of the Muslims?

We need a Tamil/Muslim leadership that can attract votes from outside their tribes/fractions/religiosity like Mahinda Rajapaksa or Ranil Wickremesinghe.

TNA’s Sampanthan or Sumanthiran had value if the LTTE had not disoriented them for life to suffer side effects. No politician is respected in the South more than Lakshman Kadirgamar. He was neither a Sinhalese nor a Buddhist. A true patriot has his nationality written on the passport.

There will be heavy traffic from both directions along the Parliamentary aisles, before the next elections, as the country slides downward. An unhappy wait for the governing UNP undermined by their feuding Cabinet ministers.

If in six months there is much clash, grant four years on and watch the fun.

The “better-half” of the SLFP in the UNP government, outward bound, on the call of an election will want to impress the SLFP voters-spitting venom at them for coalescing with the UNP on the back of their vote -would try to undermine the government from within and slink back to UNP or crawl to join Rajapaksa’s flock, whoever wins.

"It is the intelligence services that need beefing in times of peace. These outfits will be targeted for destruction because of their effectiveness. Who targets them will direct the points where investigation should commence"

Both teams would find them acceptable due to lack of numbers in Parliament unless the voters do the needful as they did last time. Yahapalanaya shamed thy name by undoing a democratic verdict.

How did we overcome this phenomenon in the bad old days? Executive cracked the whip in hand in dissolving Parliament; kept all Parliamentarians in a straight line, in trepidation of a general elections that might send them packing home. The much touted 19th A looks no better than the discredited 18th.
Illustrious definitions of yahapalanaya hibernate as a near prohibited word – talked of before being unspoken.

Forces bent on destabilising the country launches from within an attack on the legislature after eliminating the executive. For survival a gallant legislature is needed. Is it another pipe dream?

Opinion

Who shoots whom in Parliament?

Forces bent on destabilising the country launches from within an attack on the legislature after eliminating the executive.

"There will be heavy traffic from both directions along the Parliamentary aisles, before the next elections, as the country slides downward. An unhappy wait for the governing UNP undermined by their feuding Cabinet Ministers. "

"The 19th Amendment extended the prohibitive period to cover the virtual lifetime of an elected Parliament of five years, less six months. Stuck with adhesive, once elected, Parliamentarians are immune from elections for four years and six months. "

"It is the intelligence services that need beefing in times of peace. These outfits will be targeted for destruction because of their effectiveness. Who targets them will direct the points where investigation should commence"

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