Which Is The Most Suitable State Model To Segregate Power In Sri Lanka

The issue in relation to segregation of state power to regional Sri Lanka has been in political flat forms, academic debating and ordinary people’s discussion and gossips for more than a century, which means that since Donomore Commission era to current post conflict age, it has been dominated as a talking point rather than a genuine debate for achieving an honest solution.

European invaders brought so called democracy to Sri Lanka despite inhumane dictatorship had been existed in the country since the inhabitation of human being in Sri Lanka and under the Western democratic qualities in administration, various communities such as Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala in Sri Lanka had opportunities to talk about distribution of power and some instances in the history it was recorded that democratic administration under colonial rules in Sri Lanka allowed Sri Lankans and Buddhist clergy to organize against Western Power, which was an strange act under the dictators of Sinhala kingdoms.

However, under the various Sinhala Kingdoms, in which the democracy meant the wish of King or Queen did not allow to talk about the segregation of King or Queen’s power or even to think about it. The dictatorship of Sinhala kings reflected power of administration or executive, legislative and judiciary power were centered to one person, who was called King or Queen.

Currently it is visible in media that minority leaders of Sri Lanka openly express different opinions on the viable state model for national unity and some want to have specific models of state in spite of current efficient model, which is a mixture of French and American models. Certain minority leaders publicly expressed that they need to implement the Indian model, however, they have not substantiated verifiable evidence that the Indian model will support to national unity, administrative efficiency and racial harmony. Current experience indicates that the Indian model has tremendous problems and some ethnic groups in India have taken arms against the model and promote separations from Indian republic government. What we can see is that the Indian model is not an outcome of experiments or an obvious result demonstrated in other countries before introduced the model, but it was a patch for dividing India with a view to uniting people against the visible division of Pakistan from the main land.

Sri Lanka is not a large state like India to gain benefits from segregating central government power among regional governments and the current GDP level of the country is not sufficed to maintain expensive regional governments. The public funds spend under the current provincial government system is unaffordable to the country and it also shows that a large sum of funds is wasted by politicians through corrupt practices at provincial level and no any positive outcomes were generated so far from this provincial system to economic growth or uplifting living conditions of people. The provincial government system has created never ending kayos to the country and invented serious political divisions and malpractices.

The historical evidence proved that Sri Lanka had been a united one country as it had a strong central administration under traditional kingdoms and such experience further examples that Sri Lanka needs a state model that has a strong power to the central government, which has a leader with executive power. There is no argument that many activities of central government should be decentralized as the increasing population have many wants and need efficient services in all parts of the country. Decentralization of government activities does not mean that it is a way of segregation of the power of central government. In fact, ordinary people of the country do not want central government power to their hands if their work at regional level could be efficiently performed through decentralization activities.

Some politicians want to segregate central government power to regional level as they are individually hungry for power and want to embark into corrupt practices with a view to getting undue enrichment. It is quite difficult to imagine that these politicians have genuine desires to help ordinary people. Many regional minority people have opinions that certain minority leaders have become fat cats through provincial government system and they have become millionaire through security of the government.

Since the beginning of ethnic issue in Sri Lanka, many changes have been incurred in relation to ethnic pattern and ratio in Sri Lanka’s population. The visible change is that a quite large number of Tamil minorities have migrated to overseas and still they are attempting so as a dream of richness rather than supporting for human right or power distribution. The majority Sinhala population has increased considerably changing the ethnic ratio of the country. As a result of this change, it is observed that some provinces, which consist of majority Sinhala population, are gradually overpopulated and the excess population needs lands to expand.

According to population density pattern of the country, a thin population is recorded in Eastern province and the lands in Eastern Sri Lanka should be allowed to accommodate the expanding Sinhala population in Western, North Western and Southern provinces. In the current circumstances, if the land management authority gives to provincial authorities or governments, this natural requirement to expand increasing Sinhala population will not be met and there may again ethnic disharmony in the country. Therefore, certain type of powers of state management should be in central government, which should always need to consider justice rather than petty ethnic issues.

The truth about the lands is that they created by God for all people but not for a particular ethnic groups and the central government should ensure the will of God rather than certain human wishes. When JR Jayawardane was in power, he opposed to the merger of North East because it will deny the right of expansion for increasing Sinhala population in North West, South and Western provinces.

When we talk about the state model, which is suitable for the country, we cannot ignore the points raised in above and with substantiating clear evidence; people of Sri Lanka do not want to import models from other countries. Current model evidence that it supports to economic development and uplift the living conditions of ordinary people. After the implementation of current model Sri Lanka has moved from under developed stage to emerging economy and it is the clear evidence that current model is the best model for the country

- Asian Tribune -