Mahinda Rajapakse and Executive Presidency.

The expatriate pro terrorist Tamils call Mahinda Rajapakse a dictator.  These Tamils who have no sense of patriotism, keen more on dividing the country of their birth (or that of their parents), lack a proper sense of the use of  definitions.  They call the military operations against the Tamil terrorists in Sri Lanka  a genocide. 

They pay millions of Dollars to UK Channel 4 to produce fake  films to prove  Sri Lanka carried out a genocide warfare against Tamils, tortured and brutally shot Tamils at point blank range, in other words they try to make out  Mahinda Rajapakse was a terrorist and Prabhakaran a man of peace.  USA , the West and Navi Pillai buy the story lock stock and barrel and passed a resolution against Sri Lanka  at the UNHRC in Geneva for violation of human rights and accountability.

These expatriate Tamils in foreign countries  say, that  the Sri Lanka Armed Forces that rescued 300,000 Tamils kept by the terrorists as a human shield to save their own lives,  committed war crimes in the course of the  elimination of terrorism. When Sri Lanka where they were born is  their motherland to which they have a claim of belonging , they want to separate it to have their own Tamil Homeland. David Cameron now bent on making Ukraine another Syria, lets himself  be led by the  nose by these expatriate Tamils to destabilise, and help  divide Sri Lanka merely to please the Tamils living in UK in order to win over their votes to assure his next election victory.

In the meantime local anti President pandits concoct more stories to make the President fall from popularity so that they could replace him  on the Presidential Chair. Maduluwave Sobhita thero is one such old fox eyeing at  being  the common candidate of the opposition parties at  the next Presidential election. He wants to have the Executive Presidency abolished.

The Executive Presidency is not the making of the President Mahinda Rajapakse.  It was  a UNP President who created it and made use of it even to introduce the  13 Amendment into the Constitution.   Abuses of the executive powers  had been seen during the period of  JR Jayawardhana and R.Premadasa, both of them from the UNP.  But the subsequent Presidents had not misused executive powers.   Even the President Chandrika Bandaranaike did not misuse the executive powers even though she used it in three occasions. 

About the Executive Presidency it has been written, “ Hence, the major objective of Constitution of 1978 has been to create stable, strong and independent executive. It was expected that such a strong presidency would guide to development as he can work independently of legislature which has to be responsive to the political strife’s of society. However, many have questioned the achievements of objectives based on experience (Warnapala 1993). It has argued that it has contributed to root a constitutional dictatorship and political instability rather than development of the country. ……..His argument was that such a high powered post is suited for developing country like Sri Lanka more than any form of government. His main argument is based on inability of a nominal head of a state to intervene into political disputes which lead to political instability which impede development (Wijemanne 1996)  ”.

 (http://www.hss.ruh.ac.lk/ejournal/publications/executive_presidency.pdf)

President Mahinda Rajpakse falls into a special category as he was the President who took over the office with the determination to eliminate terrorism, and succeeded in doing so.  He had to take many decisions without going through Parliamentary and Administrative procedures, and for that the executive powers were useful.  But he never used those executive  powers of his office  for the detriment of the Country, or cause hardship to the people who elected him. 

The considerable work that has been accomplished under President Mahinda Rajapakse  has now,  after all perils and obstructions the people had  to lead  normal lives have been removed  and the country is seeing an unprecedented social, economic, industrial, agricultural and infrastructure development, become the time for criticism and unqualified accusations levelled at the President and his government. 

A hue and cry is  being raised about  corruption of   the present government, as if it has been invented by it. Those critics feign that  the previous governments were free of corruption.  Yet it is not unknown that the previous governments had even sold  enterprises , factories,  Trade and business establishments far below their value to private  individuals and companies, and corruption was rampant.

The cry of corruption against  the present government is far  greater in proportion to the evident development that had taken place and stand as witness to the Government’s considerable contribution for the development of the country and ushering  in prosperity for the people.

The President Mahinda Rajapakse knows, as much as the majority of the people of Sri Lanka that the change of Presidency of Sri Lanka now would hinder the present pace of development and the country may go backwards, instead of going  forward.

Under President Mahinda Rajapakse  Sri Lanka has established a  greater number of  diplomatic relations with other countries than the previous governments, which  relied mostly on relations with the Western Countries.  Sri Lanka in making new diplomatic relations, without completely cutting itself away from the West, is thus forging  a neutral foreign policy.

Therefore, if he is  assured of  the possibility of  a further extension of his Presidential Office, it would be in the interest of the country, and its people. 

In that respect the 18^th Amendment is essential for the country's continued development.  Though the President and his brothers who occupy important positions in the parliament and in the administration, are subjected to unfair and unsubstantiated criticism of personal enrichment, their contribution towards the security  of the country and the people, development, and beautification  of Sri Lanka cannot be contested.

The Executive Presidency of Mahinda Rajapakse has not been one of concern as the President Mahinda Rajapakse has shown that he is not a President who precipitates into action.  But he is quite capable of evaluating pros and cons of an issue before taking action. His critics and enemies are many but he wades his way through them without hatred, harsh words, and arrogance.

President Mahinda Rajapakse could have used  executive powers of his Presidency in numerous occasions for instance in the application of the 6^th  Amendment though he had refrained from doing so.  He  had shown that he would use executive powers when necessary for the benefit of the country, but not  merely to impose the privilege of his office.  After elimination of terrorism the President Mahinda  Rajapakse has continued the development process of the country which had been neglected for nearly three decades. He had to face obstructions not only from those within the country, but from those  outside as well. 

It has become more than evident from recent events that have taken place, that terrorism is not altogether over within Sri Lanka.  It is therefore reasonable to assume that short of a vigilant presence of the Armed Forces in the North and East terrorism has the likelihood of  raising its head again.  Even if the people in the North had not voted for the Government at the PC elections the Tamil people are willing to cooperate with the Armed Forces if it is to eliminate the possibility of a resurgence of terrorism.

“……It is in this context that news of the LTTE revivalists being killed and the potential tiger renaissance being crushed was received positively by the Sri Lankan people in the Island and abroad. The Tamil people of the North who found normalcy disrupted for many weeks due to the intensive security efforts made to meet the fresh challenge were able to usher in the “Sithiraip Puthaandu” (April New Year)on a joyful note. Many Tamils in the north had cooperated with the armed forces in the campaign against an LTTE revival as the ordinary Tamil civilian knew the horrible consequences for the community had the LTTE emerged again in Sri Lanka….” (http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/29501)

This is one reason why Executive Presidency should not be abolished yet.  In an emergency when the security of the country and the people is at stake, an Executive President could take action without waiting to obtain the sanction of the Cabinet and the Parliament.

Even if the Executive Presidency is to be abolished, it cannot be done overnight as it means re writing a new Constitution, or amending the  Constitution according to Parliamentary procedures.

In the mean time Maduluwawe Sobhita Thera  wearing the saffron robe should instead of dabbling in politics  turn to Buddha Sasana, which needs immediate reforms.  He should try to help the formation of disciplined Bikkhus, who devote time for their mental development, learn the teachings of the Buddha and lead a true life as  Buddhist monks .  Today one hears of monks turning to  criminality, stepping out of their monastic vocation to lead lay lives seeking employment, demanding driving licences, without abandoning their saffron robes.

The people of Sri Lanka should be grateful  that they have a President with brothers to help him to make Sri Lanka a safe place for everyone to live in peace.