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| Sunday, 12 September 2004 |
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Making NIC compulsory for voting Party leaders have now agreed to support the proposed Elections Special Provisions Bill provided its date of implementation is deferred by one year so that the government could issue NICs to those who do not possess it at present. The Bill is a sequel to a recommendation of a Parliamentary SelectCommittee. esides, the European commission Election Monitors also made a recommendation for the NIC to be made mandatory after monitoring the General Elections in the year 2000. The Elections Commissioner has also made the same recommendation.At present about 30 percent of the eligible voters do not have NICs. Besides those who were internally displaced also do not possess them. It is also necessary to provide NICs to exiles and refugees who are now returning home. The Commissioner, Department of Registration of Persons has assured that he could issue the required NICs in six months provided he is given the necessary facilities for the job. ***** Welcome move Civil society representatives and several political parties welcomed the decision of the Government to make the National Identity Card compulsory for voting at future elections. Chairman of the People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Kingsley Rodrigo praised the Government for taking a firm decision in contrast to several former governments that never had the courage to do so even though the issue was raised several times since 1958. "You had to start from somewhere," he said. Sarvodaya leader Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne said the NIC should be a must for voting at elections. However, he requested the authorities to think of other alternatives too since a considerable number of voters do not possess NICs at present. The Jatika Hela Urumaya (JHU) is in complete agreement with the Government decision, said Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera, MP. "In fact, the JHU was contemplating to bring a motion to this effect," he added. PLOTE leader D. Sitharthan welcoming the move said that the NIC should be made compulsory to ensure the election of genuine people's representatives. "In the past elections in the North were marred by malpractices," he said. The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) parliamentarian R. Yogarajan agreed that the decision to make the NIC mandatory for voting at elections is reasonable but in his opinion it should not be implemented till every voter receives the NIC. He says his party will support the government provided it would accept the party's amendments. The UNP, is however, having reservations on the issue. UNP parliamentarian and former Minister Dr. Jayalath Jayawardene said they suspect "ulterior motives" behind the move to make NICs mandatory. Recalling the large-scale collection if NICs by armed groups in 1989, he said the UNP is apprehensive of a repetition of the same at future elections. ***** The other side Tamil National Alliance General Secretary R Sampanthan asked. "How can you make the NICs obligatory for voting when a large number of people do not have them ?" echoing the same concern raised by most in political circles. Sampanthan earlier wrote to the Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapakse protesting that the bill "would tantamount to disenfranchising a large number of Tamil people" and warning that it " would cause them irreparable political harm," He requested the Prime Minister and the party leaders not to fix a date for the 2nd reading debate of the Bill. "The position of the TNA is that the Bill should not be enacted until National Identity Cards have been issued to all citizens entitled to same, without any discrimination on the basis of nationality," Sampanthan said in his letter to the Prime Minister Sampanthan argued that administrative assurances on regard to the issue of NIC will not suffice. "Even if the administrative assurances are not kept, once the Law is enacted, it will prevail and much harm would be caused to persons who do not possess NICs", he says.Sampanthan is concerned that a large number of Tamils in the plantation sector and most of the people in North-East do not have the NICs for reasons beyond their control. "If this legislation is enacted before such Tamil people are issued with their NICs, the implementation of the legislation would result in substantial numbers of Tamil people being denied their most valued fundamental right, to partake on equal terms in a democratic process," he said. (From the news desk) ***** At the beginning ... by Jayampathy Jayasinghe The importance of issuing an Identity Card to Sri Lankans became a paramount issue way back in 1971, mainly to thwart illicit immigration to the country. This was stressed by the then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike addressing a conference of Government Agents at the Central Bank Auditorium in December 1971. She said a total of 6.5 million people over 18 years of age will be issued with identity cards. In fact the benefit of possessing an identity card was for people to obtain rice ration books, for withdrawal of money from banks and for farmers to obtain fertiliser loans. It became a legal requirement for every person who reached the age of 18 to obtain an identity card. The Government Agents were requested to recruit staff and set up machinery to operate the scheme as early as possible. The issuance of applications for obtaining Identity Cards was set on March 1, 1972. and persons were required to hand their applications within six months time. For this purpose the Department of Registration of Persons was set up of Rs 6.7 million was allocated as working expenses of the department. This was inclusive of Rs. 4.4 million as salaries of staff. The cost of photographing was around Rs. 200,000 while security paper, laminating plastic etc was to cost an additional Rs 880,000. The Photographic Material was gifted by the then German Democratic Republic Government. The House of Representatives on 7th October 1971 passed the Registration of Persons (amended) Bill -the first bill to be passed since the abolition of the Senate. The Bill was sponsored by the then Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and External Affairs, Lakshman Jayakody. Original The Bill removed the earlier provision in the original law for finger printing of persons and made it an offence for anybody to have more than one identity card. The new office of the Department for Registration of Persons was opened on 1st October 1971 at No 45, Keppetipola Mawatha, Colombo. The Commissioner for Registration of Persons, T.B.M. Ekanayake said that registration of persons will commence in January 1972. The registration of persons was a massive task and the department was getting ready for it. He had already been to the GDR and studied how the system operates in the country. Assistance from the German Democratic Republic and Britain for the issue of cards was expected. In fact the Mahanayaka Theras of all Nikayas unanimously endorsed the proposal to issue identity cards to the Maha Sangha according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. The proposal to issue these cards had been made by some leading members of the Sangha, the laity and prominent Buddhist Organisations. It was agreed that monks should apply for identity cards and applications had to be certified by the district Nayaka Theras, in the first instance and thereafter by the Mahanayaka Thera of the Nikaya. Thereafter the application was to be forwarded to the Director of Cultural Affairs who would make arrangements for the issue of Identity Cards. Way back in 1965 the Controller of Immigration and Emigration, W.T. Jayasinghe in his administrative report stated that the only way to stop illicit immigration was to have an islandwide scheme of registration and the issue of identity cards. The Department of Immigration and Emigration had found that most people overstaying the period of their Temporary Residents Permits had destroyed their Indian passports and had disappeared underground. It was easy for them to merge with the foreign population that was lawfully resident in the country and continued to stay on without being apprehended. |
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