A constitution to heal wounds

Statement by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to the media on the drafting of a new constitution on January 17 at the Temple Trees.

Prime Mnister Ranil Wickremesinghe explainig the thinking behind the new constitution

In Sri Lanka, sovereignty is vested with the people as embodied in the constitution, the basic law of the country. Our objective is to involve the entire country in the formulation of a new constitution in a transparent manner. The adoption of the new constitution will be done not only by means of a 2/3 majority vote in Parliament but, also, through endorsement at a public referendum. The consent of almost all members of Parliament should be secured in the drafting of the new constitution. If anybody says that the consent of 25 or 30 parliamentarians is adequate as against the whole 225, I would like to question the reasoning behind such a school of thought.

A constitution is of paramount importance to a country. The 2005 Presidential election was held after pledges to abolish the Executive Presidency. Various parties had maintained their different stances on this issue. The 19th Amendment to abolish the Executive Presidency was referred to the Supreme Court after consultations with the President. The Supreme Court held that certain powers of the Executive Presidency could not be curtailed without approval at a referendum. In compliance with this decision, we decided to bring in a new constitution after the General Election.

At the last discussion we had with him, the late Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Nayaka Thera had requested the President and me to draft a new constitution by means of a Constitutional Assembly.

The Constitutional Assembly would have to be constituted necessarily with the Members of Parliament but not outside Parliament. As pledged by the President at the funeral of the late Ven. Sobitha thera, we have taken action to give effect to it.

Above all, we ought to examine as to how a constitution could be drafted. The Soulbury Commission finally accepted Sri Lanka's Constitutional draft prepared by the State Council. Although there was no consensus in this process, there was good participation. Former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike convened a Constituent Assembly in 1971, having obtained approval for it in the Throne Speech, prior to that in Parliament. Almost all MPs took part though some views were not accepted. All participants got the opportunity to express their views.

In 1977, I was also a Member of Parliament in which the United National Party Government enjoyed a 5/6th majority. It was only five years since the promulgation of the 1972 Constitution. Due to the failure of that Constitution, the people had given us a mandate to draw up a new constitution.

Current constitution

When the question arose as to whether the entire parliament should sit together to draft the new constitution, Mr.Appapillai Amirthalingam argued that his party could not participate as they had received a political mandate only for a separate state. That prevented the entire parliament becoming a constituent assembly. Consequently, the question cropped up as to whether the constitution could be drafted without the participation of the TULF, then the second largest political party in Parliament. This gave us the opportunity to hold discussions on the new constitution with the SLFP and other Tamil political parties. There was a condition imposed that the main parts of the constitution should be amended and a referendum held thereafter. A referendum was held in 1982 and the tenure of parliament was extended for the first time.

President J.R. Jayewardene had decided to convene an all-party conference and seek their concurrence when the 13th Amendment was being drafted. This Amendment was passed by Parliament, despite two or three parties boycotting the proceedings.

The conventional device of the 'Select Committee' in this context has proved ineffective. It is because of this that we have now sought the cooperation of the entire Parliament for the task of drafting a new constitution. If a select committee is set up comprising all political parties, at least 50 members will have to be appointed.

Consensus

Our objective is to ensure that all stakeholders participate in the drafting of the new constitution.

At the beginning, I discussed this issue with party leaders having summoned them on several occasions. Based on the pledge to abolish executive presidency made by President Sirisena at Ven. Sobitha Thera's funeral, a Cabinet paper to amend the constitution, abolish executive presidency and introduce a new electoral system was presented last November 16. Accordingly, the President proposed the appointment of a Cabinet Sub Committee and the steps to be taken in this connection.

Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva, Lakshman Kiriella, Rauf Hakeem, Susil Premajayantha, Rishard Bathiudeen, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha, D.M. Swaminathan, Mano Ganeshan and Malik Samarawickrema were appointed which functions under my chairmanship.

Former Justice Ministry Secretary Kamalini de Silva and Prof. Suri Ratnapala were appointed secretary and consultant. Several groups working on this process have submitted proposals under the leadership of Jayampathi Wickremaratne.

I had held six-seven meetings with party leaders where we discussed the issue of parliamentary committees. The Constitutional Assembly needs to submit its proposals to us. We need the views of the people. We needed to agree on the methodology and set up the Constitutional Assembly without preparing the draft. The committee system needs to be reintroduced.

There is no provision in the standing orders to appoint committees. Consequently, we could submit our proposals to appoint a select committee in terms of section 74 of the Constitution. A select committee has been appointed by a parliamentary resolution. This is how we would set up the Constitutional Assembly.

To entertain public views, names were proposed to the Cabinet after consultations with party leaders. A committee was appointed on December 12, to seek public views on constitutional reforms. A period of three months was given to this committee of 24 members to seek public views.

They could form themselves into sub-committees and go round the country. They have been told to communicate to us the views they have collected by end of March or in April.

Constitutional Assembly

On January 9, I had moved a resolution in parliament to set up a constitutional assembly. Thus was after I had held a series of discussions in November - December.

Our resolution to set up committees, moved on December 19, the last day Parliament assembled, was passed. Who can question their validity?

If the committees are valid, so is the Constitutional Assembly. This is a government decision. The SLFP proposed its amendments. The cooperation of other parties is also sought, else there could be allegations that the two major parties have got together to draft the new constitution! The United National Party said that it has no proposals to be made in this regard.

Several other parties have told us that they would also make their proposals. We welcome the proposed amendments which would be discussed at the Constitutional Assembly.

If we could ensure a 2/3 majority in Parliament for the new constitution, it would be approved by the Cabinet eventually to go for a referendum. We are ready to move forward after accepting as much amendments as possible. The nature of the new constitution will be decided only after receiving the views of all stakeholders.

Some have alleged that the proposed new constitution will destroy the unitary character of the country and Buddhism too. We have never discussed anything to violate the unitary character of the country. To do whatever you desire, the 2/3 majority in parliament is a necessary pre-requisite. We need to safeguard the unity in the country. All that we are doing at the moment is to set up a Constitutional Assembly.

We all are Buddhists. I too am a Buddhist, a Sinhalese and a Sri Lankan as well. My sole objective is to unite a divided country.

We should move forward. I would appeal to the political splinter groups not to betray the country for the sake of narrow political gains.

Same as the President, I too have received a public mandate to formulate a new constitution and we are not prepared at all to act outside such mandate.

Sri Lanka became a dictatorship under the 18th Amendment and today there is hardly any trace of such a dictatorship. We have decided to entertain public views on the new constitution through the social media as well. The future belongs to the youth of the country who hold diverse views.

Sri Lanka is the first country so far to obtain public views through the social media in drafting a new constitution. You can now easily contribute your views on the constitution while staying at home. Please keep in mind that the new constitution is formulated for the people themselves.