A Day in the Life of constitution-making

From Sri Lanka's identity to politics, religion and education, citizens of Gampaha have their say:

by Dhaneshi Yatawara

Public waiting for their turn to express their views (Pix: Rights Now Collective for Democracy)

On the lawn and in the shade of trees in the sunlit compound, people waited to transact whatever dealings they had come for with the local bureaucracy. It was a typical busy Monday mid-morning at the Gampaha District Secretariat and most of the local citizenry seemed unaware of the historic proceedings taking place inside the oldish, colonial-style, Secretariat building, an event that would touch all of their lives as citizens once the constitution-in-the-making became the supreme 'basic law' of the Republic.

In the air-conditioned comfort of the Secretariat auditorium, the Public Representations Committee of the Constitutional Reforms Secretariat was conducting its public hearing for the Gampaha District. The District Secretariat is located on the Colombo Road near Mirisvatta on the outskirts of Gampaha.

Seven members of the 20-member Committee sat a table on-stage while those attending the hearing sat in the hall waiting to make their submissions for inclusion in the future constitution. On being called, they would approach the stage and sit at the table at its foot. Microphones were placed at the table helpfully so that all could hear the submissions.

M.G. Senagama, Chairman, Sri Lanka Education Administrative Service Union

S. Ranatunga, President, Rationalist Association of Sri Lanka

The Committee had informed the public that translators were available to help in both Sinhala or Tamil for those who needed it. The entire hearing was, however, conducted in Sinhala with several Muslims who attended being content to make their submissions in that language. The attendant citizens included both individuals as well as representatives of civic organisations of various types.

It is yet early days in the constitution-making process and by the time the Public Representations Committee left Colombo and began moving out to the provinces, the Committee had received over 180 proposals from individuals and civic organisations. Gampaha seemed to have its own set of lobbies and interest groups keen to join in the national public conversation on our proposed new basic law.

Set of lobbies

On the first day in Gampaha there were over 30 oral submissions made during the sittings held from morning till 5.30 p.m. in the evening. These long hours were vibrant ones with numerous and varied proposals and suggestions being contributed by the attendant citizens, all keen to do their bit for their nation.

The submissions by the attendees, mostly middle-aged and elderly citizens, focused on the long-acknowledged critical national issues such as abolishing the executive presidency, education reforms, ethnic identity, language issues, rule of law and administrative structures.

The Sunday Observer spoke briefly with several people after they had made their formal submissions to the Committee.

A few raised the need to secure the identity of Sinhala-Buddhist nationhood. Several, however, had different views, arguing before the committee that the constitution and the government should not directly be responsible to protect and nourish any specific religion. "A religion should be strong enough to protect itself," seemed to be the argument articulated by many.

M.M. Ismail from Malwana argued, unusually, that the official name of the country should be changed to become the "Buddhist Multi-religous Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka". He insisted that the constitution should not be seen as part of the actual governmental mechanism but as an overall framework that governs the whole national community.

"The religious texts are written in Pali for Buddhists and in Arabic for Muslims. But none of these languages are taught in schools. Therefore it is advisable to include these two languages in the curriculum and include it in the constitution. "It should be a rule of law for the education sector to follow," he added, while outlining his list of suggestions.

Ratnasiri Fernando, a retired Grama Niladhari, elaborated on dual citizenship and the demarcation of areas of responsibility of Grama Niladharis. "The clause in the existing constitution stating that a person with dual citizenship cannot stand for the presidency is unfair. A Sri Lankan-born person holding citizenship of another country should not be excluded from holding public office if that person is most suitable," he argued.

No equity

Further explaining his proposals regarding the Grama Niladari (GN) structure, he said the new constitution should stipulate a structure that ensures an approximate equal number of families in each GN Division that are similar in extent of area. When questioned by the Committee on locations where there could be less number of people in a similar land area, he pointed out that such cases are a few in Sri Lanka and therefore suggested adherence to the number of people per local government unit. "Otherwise there seems to be no equity," he added.

Interestingly, Fernando as well as many other attendees who appeared before the Committee, suggested that the future constitution should include a clause to restrict the cross overs of politicians in Parliament. "The politician concerned, if he or she is a minister at any level, must resign from that ministerial post and the constitution must include a clause to say that the ministerial post will be abolished within 24 hours after the cross-over of the politician to another party," he added.

"People who voted for such a politician considered the party he or she was originally with at the time of contesting. A cross-over, whether it is done genuinely or otherwise, is a clear violation of the people's verdict. If the politicians genuinely cross over on a policy basis, then they should be ready to take the risk," he added.

Many people making submissions insisted that a separate clause should be included to protect the right to life.

In the list of suggestions presented by Sapumal Senanayake, an ex-Navy serviceman and the co-convener for the Democratic Party branch in the Attanagalla electorate, was a recommendation that Sri Lanka be formally described as a Buddhist country in order to protect the country's identity within the region considering the regional and global cultural transformations occurring. "Many regional countries are Buddhist. And it is already predicted China, which is largely a Buddhist country, will be the next world power. It is advisable for Sri Lanka to be within this niche to protect the country and sustain its development," he explained adding that the new constitution should also guarantee the rights of other ethnicities and religions.

At the same time, however, a number of attendees submitted to the Committee that citizens should not be formally identified by religion or ethnicity. "We all should be Sri Lankans," they emphasised. Elaborating this point of view, S. Ranatunga, a retired auditor and the president of the Rationalist Association of Sri Lanka, said the constitution needed to be formulated without the involvement of any religion. "A religion does not need protection from the government," he added.

Second chamber

In making his submissions, Ranatunga added that there should be a segment within the legislature for the educated, intellectual professionals to enter politics and suggested a 'second chamber'. When questioned by the Committee about the existing national list mechanism which is meant to bring in such intellectuals to the Parliament, Ranatunga explained that it was already misused by politicians to bring back to Parliament those defeated, rejected and corrupt politicians. This mechanism's validity was lost due to this.

Sirinimal Lakdusinghe, an expert who served in the Department of Archaeology and Central Cultural Fund and is the present chair of the local Siyane Sanskruthika Sansadaya said the 13th Amendment to the Constitution needs to be implemented with more devolution.

"The government should be bold enough to devolve police and land powers to the North and East Provinces," he said.

He also insisted the government needed distance from any religion so as the governance became free of the influence of religion.

Chairman of the Sri Lanka Education Administrative Service Union (SLEASU), M.G. Senagama, said education should not be divided in to Sinhala and Tamil language streams. "It is better if children learn in English as it was done earlier. But can ensure that children also learn their mother tongue," he added.

He insisted that the constitution should not stipulate any ethnicity as a 'minority'.

Nishantha Hettiarachchi, a political science lecturer in Sri Jayawardanapura University, proposed that there should be a better mechanism in Parliament to enable the constructive use of 'no-confidence' motions. "This is a mechanism operating in many democratic countries where the opposition party closely monitors government ministers and if they are found corrupt then this mechanism can come in to play," Hettiarachchi said.

Shadow Parliament

He insisted that if the government should proceed with the making of an entirely new constitution rather than attempting to amend the existing one.

Arguing on a similar line, D.A. Samarasinghe suggested a 'shadow Parliament' as a watchdog mechanism. Samarasinghe also argued that the State media should exist as a right of the people, while the private media should be the 'heart beat' of the people.

L.D. Gamage, a businessman from Imbulgoda, said it was high time the constitution included a clause to ensure a transparent mechanism for recruitment to the public service based on professional requirements and not on political needs. He referred to the 'Nil Balakaya' during the last regime as a notable corrupting factor.

Speaking to the Sunday Observer Committee Secretary, Winston Pathiraja, said the Committee called for more public submissions. "People's opinions are very interesting and constructive. They have the power to challenge and divert the political system towards true democracy," he added.