President Or Monarch?

| by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
( September 4, 2!4, Melbo"rne, Sri #anka G"ardian$ %here is m"ch talk abo"t the
term o& the Sri #ankan Presidency ' the opport"nity to hold (hich has become
"nlimited as per the !)th *mendment to the +onstit"tion, %his then leaves it to
majority voters to elect a sin-le individ"al their .ead o& State, /t0s a sin-le consolidated
&orm o& 1iscretionary Po(ers (hen makin- j"d-ments, %his is also raisin-
spec"lations as to (hether Madam 2"marat"n-e ' &ormer President o& Sri #anka '
(o"ld be a candidate &or the position at the ne3t Presidential elections,
4ational #eadership str"ct"res need to be models that citi5ens (o"ld be able to &ollo(
s"ccess&"lly in their local areas ' ri-ht do(n to the basic or-ani5ational "nit ' the
&amily, #eaders share their real ener-ies (ith voters ' to(ards this and v,v, *t the
individ"al0s level ' belie& is the path thro"-h (hich s"ch empo(erment happens,
.ence an individ"al is needed to represent that (hich is beyond the reach o& the local
-ro"p,
2eepin- this in mind, / concl"de that the parliamentary str"ct"re that Sri #anka had
"ntil !67), had the e&&ect o& (orkin- thro"-h &amily "nits, %he str"ct"re (ith President
as the head o& State ' directly elected by the People ' meant that individ"als co"nted
more than instit"tional str"ct"res ' startin- (ith &amily "nits, 8o"ld this s"it Sri
#anka (hose leaders tend to be driven by time based traditions? /s it not an alternative
to the Monarchical system? %he e&&ects in Sri #anka con&irm s"ch an o"tcome thro"-h
both the 9andaranaike &amily as (ell as the :ajapakse &amily, #ike(ise on the side o&
%amils ' it0s the Prabhakaran &amily ' albeit at the military level, *ll other &orms o&
*dministration (o"ld be p"shed do(n to the lo(er *dministrative level "nder s"ch a
leader, %here is nothin- (ron- (ith this ' so lon- as (e do not claim bene&its in the
name o& 1emocracy,
%he best #esson kno(n to me to distin-"ish bet(een the t(o systems ' is the .ind"
le-end abo"t the 1ivine Man-o, :ecently / received thro"-h o"r email system a
messa-e that directed me to the speech by the c"rrent President o& Sri #anka, his
;3cellency Mahinda :ajapakse speakin- in %amil abo"t the -lories o& 4all"r M"r"-an
' the same 1eity in the man-o story (ho established .is o(n 2in-dom independent
o& .is elder 9rother Ganesh, %o me this le-end is the mind o& persons o& .ind" %amil
c"lt"re (ho (ere able to &oresee the need &or democratic assessments and j"d-ments,
.ence the .ind" part o& %amil c"lt"re ' (hich as majority &ace o& Sri #ankan %amils '
is as old as M"r"-a ' the 1eity (ith si3 &aces depictin- <= de-ree vie( > assessment,
%hat is also the electoral system &ormin- parliament and votin- on top -overnance
iss"es on the basis o& belie& ' beyond *dministrative decisions, %his is the additional
po(ers o& parliament that the ?"diciary does not have, %he ?"diciary does not have the
belie& based a"thority to make ne( la(s, 9elie& o& voters m"st c"lminate in belie& o&
elected members>President to brin- abo"t necessary chan-es to the system, %his m"st
happen beyond their *dministrative positions ' &or them to have the moral a"thority
to -ive birth to ne( la(s or repeal or amend e3istin- la(s, S"ch chan-es (o"ld
nat"rally drive voters thro"-h this belie& based connection ' the belie& bein- that the
elected person is their -overnment, /n democracy (itho"t President ' this ceases (ith
sendin- members to the Parliament, /n systems (ith President ' it (as e3tended
beyond the *dministrative system,
%he @ice +hancellor o& Aniversity o& 4S8 (ho had me arrested &or peace&"l assembly
' (as trained "nder the *merican system and hence (ent back to st"dents directly as
President, %his res"lted in con&lict (ith the Governin- +o"ncil (ho (ere contin"in- to
"se the parallel o& parliamentary system o& -overnance, %his is also the case (ith Sri
#ankan Government and this Bhabit0 (as -iven &orm to thro"-h the !67) +onstit"tion,
Ander the parliamentary system there&ore ' the elected leaders m"st vote as i& there is
no one above them in position, %hat is a reC"irement to "phold Soverei-nty, *t that
level D the elected leader is the basis o& belie&>-od, ;ach Minister is responsible &or the
iss"es "nder her>his port&olio and needs to believe in the iss"e as i& s>he (ere the iss"e
' in order to "se discretionary po(ers beyond *dministration, %he elected member on
the other hand needs to only identi&y (ith the iss"e to the e3tent s>he believes that
her>his electorate needs it, %he rest is not her>his b"siness, /t0s like many reli-ions and
one -od,
%he <= de-ree vie( is needed in the system o& democracy beca"se o& lateral -lobal
movements (hich res"lt in m"ltic"lt"ralism, /& / need to kno( my merit based val"e to
my c"rrent environment ' / need to assess mysel& thro"-h the val"es reco-ni5ed by
vario"s parts o& my environment over a period (hen / have been active (ith that part
o& the environment, %hat is my active c"rrent val"e, #ike(ise / have the ri-ht to assess
each and every one o& them on the same basis,
/& the above is lo(er than the total val"e as per my past val"ations ' it is better to keep
the old credits con&idential to be "sed as B:eserves>+haracter0 to help someone else
s"r&ace their credits in their c"rrent systems (hich are closely connected to my old
system thro"-h (hich / acc"m"lated the :eserves, Eor e3ample Sri #anka &or me,
Many retired mi-rants -o into -overnance disc"ssions o& their co"ntries o& ori-in &or
this reason, Many share their :eserves (ith those (ho need to s"r&ace their credits
d"rin- c"rrent times, %he reC"irement in doin- this is that (e sho"ld not be actively
*dministerin- those j"niors b"t be there &or them as -overnors ' so they (o"ld share
thro"-h common belie&,
/n the above Man-o #e-end, M"r"-a (ho (ent aro"nd the (orld to claim the pri5e D
-ot "pset (ith .is parents &or -ivin- the pri5e to the elder brother, %he elder brother
Ganesh ' (ent aro"nd the parents and claimed the pri5e>herita-e, %he parallel o&
Ganesh in the Sri #ankan +omm"nity are the practitioners o& +"stomary la(s
incl"din- %hesa(alamai c"stomary la(s (hich is the essence o& %amil :oyal ancestry,
%he parallel o& yo"n- brother M"r"-a are the -lobal %amils, /n terms o& Sri #ankans
(ho practice local traditions D Ganesh is the e3ample, %hat system is Monarchical and
is time based, .ence S8:1 9andaranaike0s Sinhala Only mentality ' evolved as
President Only str"ct"re,
8hen the str"ct"re is not "nderpinned by belie& > common &aith ' decisions become
personal, One (ho has -en"inely &"l&illed the position responsibilities, a"tomatically
-oes into the area o& "sin- discretionary po(ers, S"ch a person is e&&ectively a -overnor
' even i& s"ch a person (ere (earin- citi5en0s clothes>port&olio, Given that in a
democracy ' many citi5ens are likely to -o past this -oalpost more C"ickly than
members o& the -overnment i& the str"ct"res are lo(, .ence one needs the
endorsement o& many to provide <= de-ree citi5ens0 -overnance thro"-h the lateral
system o& proportional representation,
/& one (ere to have an ideal vertical str"ct"re that serves the root ' and (e brin- it
do(n to be &lat (as in F a3is becomin- G a3is$ ' the assessment by the -ro"p at the
&arthest end also needs to be incl"ded &or "s to be (holesome in o"r contrib"tion to
o"r c"rrent time, /n other (ords (e &ree5e time to have lateral vie(, .ence the system
o& st"dents appraisin- teachers and c"stomers appraisin- s"ppliers and beyond that
the P"blic appraisin- services provided, %he &"rther the assessor ' the least visible
needs to be the s"bject bein- assessed, .ence the objectively assessable o"tcomes
needed in democracy thro"-h majority vote,
%he system o& Presidency is needed in addition to the Parliamentary system ' (here
the *dministrative system is not tall eno"-h to cover (ider area, %his o&ten happens
(hen leaders become inactive by livin- o&& their past credits ' (itho"t payin- their
:oyalties to their elders, %his is the case (ith "s *"stralians (ho have the
responsibility to say Bthank yo"0 to &irst *"stralians ' *bori-ines &irst be&ore -oin-
&"rther, /n Sri #anka D it is (orse, @eddas are the indi-eno"s people o& Sri #anka and
they speak Sinhala as (ell as %amil, .ence those o& "s (ho do not pay o"r respects to
the eldest citi5ens &irst ' have the need to move on to the system o& democracy in
claimin- Bri-hts0 as per time based occ"pation o& land, 1"rin- my %s"nami
:econstr"ction (ork in ;astern Sri #anka ' / lived (ith descendants o& @eddas and
reali5ed that they did not consider le-al ri-hts above nat"ral ri-hts, %hey -overned
themselves by isolatin- themselves ' o&ten -oin- into &orest areas (hen threatened by
e3ternal elements, .ence in terms o& la( and order that is common to all ' (e need to
take into acco"nt independent assessments o& all -ro"ps ' "ntil (e become -lobal,
%he President0s position is a resid"al val"e o& the Monarchical system, /t (o"ld (ork
(ell (hen the individ"al has -one past the *dministrative system ahead o& the
parliament, %hen there is a direct connection bet(een the top and the bottom thro"-h
(hich ;ner-ies are shared as per the @ertical system, /& those (ho are yet to pass the
*dministrative tests become presidents ' then it is e&&ectively -oin- back(ards
to(ards a monarchical system, %o the e3tent partic"lar lan-"a-e and>or reli-ion is
-iven pre&erential place it &"rther con&irms this back(ard movement,
%o prevent s"ch back(ard slip ' the Btime0 o& the president in a democracy needs to be
limited, %he individ"al then becomes an advisor ' s"ch as spirit"al leaders, :emovin-
that limit paves the (ay to slippin- back to monarchical system, %he President needs
to be in position only "ntil the &acilities s>he represents ' by per&ormin- beyond the
e3istin- *dministrative system is incl"ded in the common str"ct"re,
* recent disc"ssion aro"nd the speech by the President o& Sri #anka at
DhttpH>>(((,yo"t"be,com>(atch?vI=a84%i/"b2) led to the &ollo(in- translationH
My beloved %amil PeopleJ 1evotees o& #ord 4all"r M"r"-aJ
Greetin-s to all o& yo" ' *roharaJ *roharaJ
Fo" have come to pray to 4all"r M"r"-an in peaceK / also (ant to pray there as part o&
yo"
9"t that did not happen, / &eel sad abo"t that
*ll yo"r prayers (o"ld be ans(ered by the all Po(er&"l 4all"r M"r"-an
*s president / have &acilitated .armony and Peace in this nationK Fo" need to protect
that
/ have &acilitated ;d"cation, .ealth, Earmin- %ransport and other &acilities K
/ (ill &acilitate more and more
Fo" m"st pro-ressK yo"r children m"st pro-ressK Fo"r Province m"st pro-ress
* -ood &"t"re m"st develop
%hat is most importantK %here can be no con&lict here
8e are all children o& One Mother 8e al(ays have the 9lessin-s o& #ord 4all"r
M"r"-an
%hank yo" and -reetin-s, *roharaK *rohara
Object1
%he C"estion (as posed as to ho( M"r"-an (o"ld have taken this?
%he p"rpose seems to be D to be &riends (ith %amils, 9"t there is no democratic
str"ct"re ' and hence the speech o"-ht to have been to %amils aro"nd 2athir-amam
not too &ar &rom the President0s home electorate o& .ambantota, 4all"r devotees have
earned hi-h class 1emocratic *dministrative Service and only a person (ith (isdom in
1emocratic P"blic *dministration (o"ld have the moral a"thority to bless on behal& o&
4all"r M"r"-an,
Posted by %havam