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| Sunday, 5 December 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Westminster Parliamentary System protects minorities by Harindra J. Corea Continued from last week..... While minorities that have never acted extra constitutionally to gain their demands such as the CWC or the Eastern Muslims may have feelings of support for the Presidential system they too have reservations as to whether the Presidential system really is protective per se. The Indian Tamil community cannot forget that the Sirima - Shastri pact won them many neglected rights. This came about under a parliamentary - prime ministerial system. The late S. Thondaman, being a minister in the "parliamentary-cabinet constitution", under both the 1947 constitution and the 1972 constitution, representing the Indian Tamil community, never thought that the "Prime Ministerial System" did not protect his community. In 1947 the minority UNP had to have a coalition to govern. They chose several Tamil minority parties to obtain their majority. Some of these Tamil leaders were the late ministers G. G. Ponnambalam snr; C. Sittampalam, S. Natesan, C. Sundaralingam. Later the late Senator S. Nadesan became the Minister of Justice. None of these Tamil leaders thought that the 1947 constitution with the Prime Minister holding executive powers did not protect the minorities. Even though some Tamil leaders lead by S. Chelvanayakam demanded a federal constitution, they did not charge that the prime ministerial system did not protect the Tamil minority. While President Kumaratunga has discharged her duties to the minorities in an exemplary manner, and taking the decision at the height of her popularity after her victory in the 1993 provincial council elections to take the path of negotiations in the ethnic conflict, she herself would make the point that another President has the unfettered power to take a different decision. It must be recalled that it was President Wijetunga who declared that the minorities were but the branches of a majority tree trunks, certainly the Wijetunga Presidential administration was not minority friendly and I can state that minority leaders of that time including the late M. A. Ashraff, the late leader of the then undivided Sri Lanka Muslim Congress were totally aghast at the anti-minorities attitude of former President D. B. Wijetunga. Frantic efforts In fact, Ranil Wickremesinghe may recall that frantic efforts were made by the UNP leadership lead by the late Gamini Dissanayake to get Mr. Ashraff to support a UNP government hours after the 1994 general election results were declared. In fact, a representative of the late Gamini Dissanayake was sent to meet the late Ashraff as he landed in Colombo hours after the polls closed. He told the envoy who repeated it to me to inform the UNP leadership that he would have no truck with them and would be pledging his support to Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. Therefore a UNP president in the future can act against the minorities. Now the joining within the UNP of the Hela Urumaya streams and the Sihala Urumaya streams may once again, as in August 2000 or earlier in the Wijetunga presidency of 2003-2004, herald the coming of anti-minorities wave led by the UNP. In the Central and Uva Provinces and in the Southern, Western and Sabaragamuwa Provinces, the Sihala Urumaya and those UNPers who voted for the JHU will want their pound of flesh. This will create new tensions and contradictions within a UNF that is already teeming with the contradictions caused by the polarisation within the party between the soft liners and the hard liners. New face This new face of the UNP can have deadly consequences if it were ever to grab the presidency because in the opinion of many Ranil Wickremesinghe even as President would be so weak as a leader to prevent the balance of power tilting towards anti minority, socio nationalist forces. This might yield a paradigm shift in the UNP policies on the whole range of minority issues. A reactionary UNP faction is all ready to attack Ranil as an appeaser who lost them the last elections. It seems that UNP may be getting ready to go back to their 1956 nationalist policies. The UNP seems to be turning full circle and is now embracing both the Hela Urumaya and Sihala Urumaya streams of nationalist ideology. Two factions Cabinet spokesman Minister Mangala Samaraweera in different words recently repeated the statement made by the President in Veyangoda. Samaraweera spoke about there being two factions in the UNP, the soft liners and the hard liners. The hard liners are trying to force the soft liners, especially those who failed in their negotiations with the LTTE who walked out in April 2003, to take a hard line presumably because the softline damaged the UNP so much last April, especially in their bastions in Colombo, Kalutara, Kegalle and Gampaha districts. Strongest protection A Presidential constitution in the wrong hands could be an incubator of minority and ethnic conflict in the years to come. Westminster parliamentary system will provide the strongest protection and security for any minority groups in the country whatever colour any political party may take. A Parliamentary system based on coalitions of social political forces, diverse socio economic and diverse socio ethnic forces and socio nationalist forces would in the end serve the interests of our people better than any other system. Turning to other sharp edges of the executive presidential system, change is needed in the powers of the President under Chapter 11 Article 70 Section 1 and Section 3, powers in regard to dissolution and prorogation. Another power that President has, once Parliament is prorogued, is that she may at her discretion and in the exercise of her absolute power dissolve Parliament. All these procedural powers will have to go back to Parliament, once the Executive Presidency is abolished. If a Parliamentary majority i.e. a government with a parliamentary majority decide to go for elections any time within six years of being elected, it can advise the non executive President to dissolve Parliament. The key to the 1978 Constitution ties in chapters detailing the powers of the Executive President, the appointment of a Government consisting of Members of Parliament appointed by the President to be Minister and the power of the Executive President with regard to that Cabinet of Ministers and Parliament itself. The President under Chapters 7 and 8 has absolute power as Head of State and Head of Cabinet with regard to naming of Prime Minister, Ministers and Deputy Ministers significantly different from the powers of the Queen of England under the Westminster style model or the ceremonial powers of the President of India. In our Constitution the President is both Head of State (Article 30 Section 1) and the Head of the Cabinet. Unlike the Westminster model and the Indian Constitution where it is mandatory for the leader of the party having the most number of Parliamentary seats to be Prime Minister and Head of the Government under our Constitution the President is always head of State and Cabinet. The powers of the President, unrestricted is the key to the Constitution and the mandate of the people given to the elected Executive President is protected and preserved as much as possible by the Constitution with the procedures and laws above. Concluded |
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