WHO IS FOR SRI LANKA? NEW 'CONSTITUTION' SHOWS

Four years past the end of the war, what is still the main opposition party, the United National Party, has come up with a document that's called the 'draft constitution' that will be made into law 'when the party comes to power.' Last week in these spaces the proposed hierarchical structure for governance mooted in the document, was dealt with. What's proposed of course is a mishmash. A Council of State governs, and this Council is what the man on the street would probably call a fruit-salad of various elements, including those from the Legislative and Executive branches.

But four years after the end of the war, what's proposed by the UNP hierarchy with regard to the devolution of power is startling, and it could be said that if there was previously any kind of doubt which party would consolidate the war gains -- and which set of political forces will fritter them away, there is absolutely no doubt now.

Ranil Wickremesinghe's freshly minted document pays lip-fealty to the concept of the unitary state. But what is said later about the mechanics of devolution etc., totally militates against this idea of a unitary state, and what the people can expect if these constitutional proposals are ever enacted is a quick slide into a condition in which the secessionist impulse will get unprecedented impetus. In other words, if this constitution is ever made into law, the separate state of Eelam would be realized without the 'firing of one shot.'

Certainly, in a technical sense the UNP is not willing to go beyond the unitary concept of the State, and there is no big surprise there considering that the party would be unwilling to say goodbye to a large swathe of the Sinhala vote -- to put things in an understated manner as possible.

But the UNP proposes getting rid of Provincial Governors, and having the Provincial Chief Ministers in the so called council of State! This is in addition to creating an 'independent' judiciary which will in reality be a creation of a Constitutional Council that will have inputs from all types of civil society actors and others - just the thing that would enable the manipulative operators in the diaspora to fill the Supreme Court with judges that are bound to work towards the slow death of the Sri Lankan state with judgements favouring the secessionist impulse.

There is no surprise here. The Ranil Wickremesinghe 'constitution' has to live up to the Ranil Wickremesighe brand. This brand has been working towards the realizing the secessionist impulse of multifarious actors that want to see the Sri Lankan state bifurcated.

It's been the Wickremesinghe method to work towards separation through various foreign and NGO mooted blueprints, and the resultant POAs (Plans Of Action). Who can forget that it was Ranil Wickremesinghe that sanctioned the import of transmission equipment for the LTTE through the agency of the Norwegian 'facilitators' during the ceasefire agreement?

It was the Wickremesinghe government that made those blatant apologies on state television for the murders of army intelligence and Deep Penetration Unit men during the ceasefire. At whose behest was this? That is an easy guess.

The new RW constitution is a document that's released in the same spirit - bamboozle the Sinhalese with a pledge towards the unitary state, but do all to undermine it because 'our sponsors say so.'

It's not sensational news that this constitutional document comes weeks after the UNP organized a series of seminars in which a German non-governmental organization the Frederic Naumann Stiftung was exposed as being involved in peddling a subversive 'anti state' ideology. The facts with regard to the seminar series are seeping in gradually; by the time the details are in, it is rumoured, the German NGO and the UNP will be exposed thoroughly for attempting to subvert the fundamentals of the Sri Lankan State. But then what is new? This is the RW brand. No matter which disgruntled soap box orator sings hosannas for the new constitution, the people already know 'where it is coming from.'