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Friday, 26 August 2011

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Lifting of the Emergency and democratic vibrancy

A great weight will be lifted off the shoulders of the citizenry of this country with the lifting of the prolonged Emergency and President Mahinda Rajapaksa could not have made a more correct decision for the country at this juncture. His special announcement in Parliament yesterday on this issue could not have come at a more correct time because it was yesterday that the country's major political parties handed in their nominations for the October 8 remaining Local Government elections.

The holding of the Local Government polls in the country is proof of Sri Lanka's democratic vibrancy and more solid proof of this came with the conduct of such elections in parts of the North a few weeks back. It should be noted that although the Emergency was on at the time these polls were held in the North, the majority of local bodies in the province were won by the TNA, further establishing that the government was not at all inclined to misuse or abuse its power for the purpose of winning at the polls. Therefore, in a very importance sense, democracy was the victor at the polls.

It also reflects well on the state that the decision on the Emergency has been taken in the aftermath of some bouts of public unrest in parts of the country. If, as sections within the UNP claimed, the government was behind the unrest, with the aim of prolonging the Emergency, a decision to end the state of Emergency would never have been taken.

Now the inference is inescapable that critics of the government have spoken out of turn on this issue.

Over the years, forms of democratic governance have co-existed uneasily with Emergency rule in Sri Lanka. This is a contradiction in terms because Emergency regulations have the effect of containing democratic freedoms. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka was compelled to live with this anomaly because the state was duty-bound to fight the LTTE and to see and end to it. Now that the latter task has been accomplished, there is really no need to persist with Emergency rule.

Nevertheless, the Emergency could have been prolonged if the concentration of power in the Executive Presidency and its perpetuation was high on the President's governing agenda. Now it is clear that this is not at all the case. The space, so to speak, is wide open for the exercising of the full range of democratic freedoms by the people.

That said, we are compelled to add that these freedoms must be jealously guarded and judiciously used by the people. As should be known, Emergency rule emerged in this country in a major way with the outbreak of the conflict in July 1983. Since then, except for a brief interval or two, Emergency rule has been with us over the years. Therefore, it is up to the Lankan polity to ensure that the Emergency would not be our lot in the future.

The Emergency is best characterized as a necessary evil. There are times in the life of a country when the state is compelled to perceive that Emergency rule is necessary. A state of lawlessness is one such instance, and July 1983, for instance, offered sufficient grounds for the clamping of a state of Emergency.

However, a state of Emergency must be the exception rather than the rule in a country claiming democratic credentials. Emergencies bring about a curtailing of democratic freedoms and this state of affairs would not be in the best interests of the people. A country thrives, materially and otherwise, only amid democratic rule proper and this is the ideal all states must aim at.

While the state must persist on the path of ushering durable ethnic harmony, all the necessary assistance must be provided to the government in this enterprise by the people. For instance, the people need to help in strengthening the bonds of amity among the communities of the land. Besides, the public needs to conduct itself on the basis of democratic values at all times.

Eternal vigilance is the price of democracy. The people cannot afford to forget this nugget of wisdom. Not only must all kinds of elections be held according to democratic norms and principles, relations among individuals and groups must be forever nurtured by the values of tolerance, amity and goodwill if hard-won freedoms are to last.

Workers’ Councils: a strategy to win through people

Having realized the efficacy of Workers’ Councils in bringing about the managerial changes within the monolithic structure that existed in the CTB, late Anil Moonesinghe introduced the concept countrywide in every work unity ranging from the Head Office, Werahera Stores and Engineering Complex, Regional Offices, Depots and Regional Work-Shops. A secretariat was established to coordinate, implement and regulate the operation,

Full Story

Lanka made vast advances in cardiology field - PM

Within the last two decades our hospitals could undertake open heart by-pass surgery quite successfully, providing relief to thousands of heart patients of the country thereby stopping the drain of valuable foreign exchange, said Prime Minister D M Jayaratne at the inauguration of scientific sessions of Sri Lanka Heart Association held in Colombo.

Full Story

GROBR - Muammar Gaddafi

The BBC and CNN announced that the ‘Rebels’ have finally brought the Gaddafi regime to an end after fighting against the tyrant for more than three months. On the face of it, the event should augur well for Libya and the world for the people of Libya can now elect their own democratic form of government and as for the world,

Full Story

 

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