Patriotism, hypocrisy and croc tears

Monday 21st September, 2020

The government has taken on UNHRC Chief Michelle Bachelet for her criticism of the 20th Amendment (20) to the Constitution. It has dismissed her concerns as unfounded. The Opposition seems to be deriving some perverse pleasure from the rap on the knuckles the government has received in Geneva.

True, 20A in its present form is a draconian Bill, which, if enacted, will jeopardise democracy, but the question is whether the UNHRC is genuinely interested in protecting human rights and democracy in Sri Lanka. The UN human rights arm is a puppet of the western governments that have weaponised human rights, so to speak, to achieve their geo-strategic and economic goals. It did not call for action against terrorism which plagued this country.

It stands to reason that 20A should be attenuated substantially or rejected. But the UNHRC protests will only help the government drum up support at home for the Bill. In fact, the UNHRC is one of the international institutions that, in a manner of speaking, made the SLPP’s stunning electoral win possible. It will be counterproductive for the Opposition to hitch its wagon to the UNHRC or the western members of the international community.

Sri Lanka’s response to the UNHRC chief was not satisfactory. It should have asked her whether she had studied 20A, which she was criticising. For our money, she has not even seen it. One should read and understand the 1978 Constitution, the 17th Amendment, the 18th Amendment and the 19th Amendment before commenting on 20A. The UNHRC head has apparently gone by hearsay.

The government says the people have given it a mandate to do away with 19A. This is as much of a falsehood as the late J. R. Jayewardene’s claim, in 1977, that the people had given the UNP a five-sixths majority to write a Constitution, which he used to suppress democracy and act according to his whims and fancies. People voted overwhelmingly for the SLPP because they were fed up with the yahapalana government, which bungled on all fronts and, above all, compromised national security. There was no need for anyone to topple that administration; it was collapsing. The SLPP regime is misinterpreting its mandate in a bid to bulldoze its way through. Will anyone sane who voted for the SLPP at the last general election ever want the Auditor General’s powers reduced and constitutional safeguards in place to prevent corruption done away with? Who will want a jumbo Cabinet or a President with powers to do anything except making a man a woman and vice versa?

The need is for 20A to be defeated without the help of meddlesome foreign governments, etc., unless it is revised. This is the uphill task before the SJB-led Opposition, which should not play into the hands of the government by trying to internationalise the issue. Its leaders have to stop talking nineteen to the dozen, win over the public and launch an effective campaign against 20A. The SLPP’s strong point is its brand of patriotism, which it markets very effectively to further the interests of its leaders. Proving that the government is not as patriotic as it makes itself out to be and hides its true intentions behind the façade of patriotism is half the battle in making the public realise the need to oppose 20A in its present form.

The SJB has its work cut out to win public trust, given the presence of many undesirables such as the associates of bond scammers within its ranks. But there is one way it could turn the tables on the government. The latter is blowing hot and cold on the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact, which it condemned as a threat to Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and territorial integrity while it was in the Opposition. The SJB can submit a parliamentary motion calling for rejecting the aforesaid compact so that the government leaders will have to back it or be exposed for their hypocrisy. After all, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has declared that he protested against the proposed MCC deal while he was a member of the yahapalana Cabinet and is opposed to it. He should get cracking.