A response to the article by Mr. Mahinda
Pathirana that appeared on Wednesday the 5th November 2014 has to be
postponed as politics takes precedence over philosophy. It is clear that Mr.
Pathirana understands the word after with respect to time and not with respect
to any other variable. The word after can be used even with respect to space
and in fact it can be engaged with respect to elements in a set, which have a
property that can be mapped on to the real line (numbers). If a and b are elements associated with properties that can be arranged in a
sequence (mapped on to the real line) then one can have concepts such as a>b
(greater than, taller than, after - not
necessarily in time, etc., ). I will explain this with respect to paticcasamuppada once politics takes a
back seat.
The opposition is still looking for a
common candidate though they have formed a joint front. The high commissioners
and ambassadors are also involved in the hunt and they are going round the
country canvassing for their choice of common candidate. This
is going to be the Presidential election that would decide whether we defeat
Tamil racism or not, and the western countries that have created and promoted
Tamil racism will leave nothing unexplored as they know that if Mahinda
Rajapaksa is elected this time he would defeat Tamil racism as well.
In his first term Mahinda
Rajapaksa defeated Tamil terrorism that was sponsored by the western countries
and the Gandhi family in India and put the country on a development programme
albeit on the western model. In the second term he consolidated these two and
the country is on a development path whether we like it or not. In the third
term he has to defeat Tamil racism and engage in developing the economy on the
western model gradually turning towards a national model. In order to do
that it is necessary to retain the executive presidency and the western
countries want to defeat Mahinda Rajapaksa with two objectives.
Firstly they want to defeat Mahinda
Rajapaksa and send him to gallows for so called war crimes. They know that as
long as Mahinda Rajapaksa is the President of the country they cannot bring him
before a so called international jury. Secondly Mahinda Rajapaksa as the
executive President is a challenge to them more than Mahinda Rajapaksa without
the Presidency and definitely more than Karu Jayasuriya or anybody else with executive
Presidency. The man who understands this better than anybody else, Ranil
Wickremesinghe, wants to abolish executive presidency during the time of
Mahinda Rajapaksa without postponing it to the next Parliament.
It is in this context we have to
understand the statement made by the President that as long as Tamil racism
exists it is necessary to have the executive Presidency. Those in the JHU who
were of the view that the executive Presidency helped to defeat Tamil terrorism
of the LTTE and the others will have to think hard on what they are doing at
present.
The west does not mind having the
executive presidency without Mahinda Rajapaksa and their fear is that Mahinda
Rajapaksa would become the executive president for a third time that would see
Tamil racism defeated. Tamil racism is maintained today b y England and US that
nurtures it through the dispersed Tamils living in the western countries,
against the Sri Lankan government and Sinhala people. It is very artificial but
it can be defeated only by challenging England. The west is very likely to
impose economic sanctions on Sri Lanka giving the Tamil racists the freedom to
work against the Sri Lankan government and the Sinhalas as has been already
done by the European Union. We should
expect more and more steps taken along these lines by the western countries
during the third term of Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The opposition cry over the abolition of
executive Presidency has to be understood in the above context and the west more
than anybody else is of the view that Ranil Wickremesinghe is not the best
candidate to defeat Mahinda Rajapaksa. They would have gone for Chandrika
Kumratunga had Sarath Silva not spoiled her chances with his argument that
Mahinda Rajapaksa is not qualified to contest for a third time.
We still do not know the decision of the
Supreme Court on the questions referred to it by the President, but Sarath
Silva’s argument is valid in the case of Chandrika Kumartaunga. The now well
known Article 31(2) of the constitution states: “No person who has been twice
elected to the office of President by the people shall be qualified thereafter
to be elected to such office by the People.” The question that has to be
answered is at what point a person becomes disqualified to be elected to the
post of President having being elected twice to the Post. Is it at the point of
election for the second time or after that at the time of elections to elect
the President following the election for the second time?
For a person to be qualified or
disqualified to be elected it is necessary to have an election for electing the
President of the country. In the case of Mahinda Rajapaksa no election for
electing the President of the country had been held after he was elected for
the second time while the Article 31(2) was legally binding. Thus so far he has
not become disqualified and there is no possibility that he would be
disqualified at a future election as the relevant Article has been repealed by
the eighteenth amendment.
However, in the case of Chandrika
Kumaratunga she became disqualified to contest for the third time at the
elections held in 2005 as the Article 31(2) was legally binding at that time.
Once disqualified she is disqualified for ever, unless the barriers are removed
by an Act of parliament that amounts to amending the constitution. It is
certain that no legislation would be introduced by the present government
before the next Presidential election to remove the impediments on Chandrika
Kumartaunga to contest at the next Presidential elections.
Thus the west that would have loved to
see Chandrika Kumaratunga becoming the President again would have strongly
advised not to come forward as the common candidate. Under the above
circumstances Chandrika has no choice but to support another candidate as the
common candidate against Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Karu Jayasuriya is
the next choice and the west might be thinking that with his pseudo Sinhala
Buddhist leanings he stands some chance of giving Mahinda Rajapaksa a fight at
the next Presidential elections. The opponents of Mahinda Rajapaksa must be
thinking that with some subsidiary common candidates they would be able to
curtail the vote of Mahinda Rajapaksa to less than 50% of the valid vote and that
they would be in a position to stage an Arab spring during the nonagatha period between the first count
and the second count of preferences. The JVP that claims that the entire
elections are illegal if Mahinda Rajapaksa contests will most probably support
the Arab spring. They still have to take a stand on whether they would support
a candidate at the Presidential elections or not.
Nalin De Silva
12-11-2014