Federation is not Eelam says N.K.Choksy
Senior constitutional lawyer and UNP parliamentarian K.N. Choksy yesterday told parliament that he advocated a system similar to a ‘federation of States’ to resolve the longstanding national question in Sri Lanka.
“A federation is not Eelam. Neither will it result in a division of the country. The Centre will be in sole control of the armed services, the police, sea and airports. Revenue from income tax, customs and excise duties and stamps will be collected by the Centre. The federating units will be dependent to a considerable extent on the central government for finances,” he said adding that the bogey of cessation Federation or separatism was therefore ill-founded.
“Such thinking cannot arise and will not be allowed to arise,” he said.
He said this was of course his personal opinion and not that of any organization.
Mr. Choksy said that the demarcation of the land areas and the boundaries of the federal units would not be a difficult task and Sri Lanka would continue to be a single sovereign, free, indivisible and independent state, and the power and the authority of the central government to ensure the unity of the country as one entity would continue.
Mr. Choksy said a federation only means greater freedom of distinct areas of the country to decide and handle local issues such as language, civic requirements and taxation and cited the United States, Canada, Switzerland and Australia as examples of federations.
“India is a multi-racial, multi-linguistic country. Its political organization is a de-facto federation of states. The authority to maintain the indivisibility of the country is vested with the Centre. No call for a division of the country has taken place during the past 50 years,” he said.
Mr. Choksy said the idea of a federation of states had not been considered as a means of resolving the ethnic conflict that had been plaguing the country for decades.
He said through the 13th Amendment to the Constitution the Provincial Councils had been devolved some powers and strengthened the local government institutions.
“But, it is clear the country has to go further down the road of devolution if it is to achieve peace,” he said.
16 Comments
Mr.Choksy'statement is a valuable contribution. But it is useless to the masses and politicians of Sri Lanka.
They are not sleeping but pretending to be sleeping.
Paramm
Another alternative is smaller parliament and a lesser number of Parliamentarians because smaller the govt people will have lesser burden to feed and look after the massive parliamentand.
Any power devolution should empower different tamil groups and eliminate the caste discrimination.
It was the Sinhalese politicians who first proposed federated states. Its not the idea that is unattractive to the Sinhalese but whom and what aspiration its designed to address.
Mr.Choksy' statement,
This is the only and suitable solution to our issue. only If we are interested of respecting all Srilanken's equal rights to handle there basic issues.
Sri Lanka's problems cannot be resolved by structural adjustments to the constitution alone as stated by Mr. Chosky. It will also require a seachange in people's attitudes.
Even if the Tamil issue is resolved by a miracle in the near future, it will only help bring the other burning issues gripping Sri Lankan society into the limelight. Religious Issues such as Sinhala Christian Vs Sinhala Buddhist,Tamil Christian Vs Hindu Tamil ,Islam Vs Sinhala Buddhism, Islam Vs Tamil Hiduism will start to dominate.
Franky, I don't have any hope for a bright future for Sri Lanka.
Mr. K.N. Choksy:
Your points are good but I don't think it is possible in the Sri Lankan context. The issue here is the Singale's attitude towards Eelam Tamil. I think it is too late to think and solution within united Sri Lanka.
May be after few generations, both countries, Sri Lanka and Tamil Eelam will unite for political or Economic reasons which no one exactly can predict. Now the solution is separate state to stop the bloodshed of both communities. Who do you really think is promote the war?
Every time, tigers trump military gains, they declare ceasefire and stop the war, and once singala army ready, they start the war.
Think about what happened in 2001 and now what's happening.
The Govt and the political leadership in the South is now more than convinced a Federal system is the only way out of our impasse. They know equally well the territorial integrity of the country will not be affected by taking the federal path. Federalism in many ways is a guarantee against separation (Federalism is working well in multi-ethnic/racial India, Australia, USA, Canada - just to name a few).
But scheming Sinhala politicians have managed to sink deep into the unsuspecting and near-illiterate Sinhala mind (the majority that is - because there are brilliant Sinhalese by the hundreds) that Federalism is another word for the destruction of the Sinhala race. As Mr Choksy argues the federated unit is dependent on the Centre for its financial existence. There is, however, a new fear in Sinhala minds.
And that is the fear of the financial and political influence of the Tamil diaspora. The latter is all out to develop the North-East in the style of Singapore. If Federalism comes through the North East will far out-do the South in every aspect - business, education, political development - in particular. VP and the boys will yield to the oncoming reality and give in to popular democracy. The diaspora has plans to build airports, sea ports, industries etc with the help of the international community.
Indians too will invest in the North East as against the total-corruption soaked South. Men like Anandakrishnan in Malaysia, Rajaratnam in the USA,
Karunamoorthy in the UK are only 3 of the names in the Tamil diaspora who would love to come to the assistance of their long-suffering Tamil brethren. However, mind you, this is in no way intended against our Sinhala friends. The Tamil diaspora is all too aware the development of the North East is a calculated effort by successive Sinhala governments to keep the Tamils under their thumb. This will not work anymore.
I support Choksy.
However I think 13 the amendment with full powers (with Police powers as Pilleyan is asking) should be given first and propose a federation of states in later date. (no later than 2 years) That can be achieved. I think most Tamils would go for that except hardcore LTTE fanatics in the west.
Sri Lanka is too small to have Ethnic Based Federal Divides. Just look at India's mess of a Ethnic State (Tamil Nadu) to see just why Federalism is a Bad Idea.
Those worthless Tamil Nadu politicians are just a detriment to India and the Indian people. Sri Lankan Tamil Communalists should get with the times and embrace a Unitary country or simply start packing their bags and seeking other countries to go cause problems in.
What is in a name. You give the wording and you give the explanation to that wording. Federal state is a stepping stone to Eelam.
I would like to ask anyone what is wrong with the "Provincial councils" wide wide powers.
The constitution of Sri Lanka has to be improved to bring:
1. Accountability.
2. Tranparency.
3. Accessiblity
4. Democracy
BASED on merit based selection,promotions and recognition. (Not Ethno-Religious)
To do this we do not need a federal set up.
WE need delegation or devolution of certain functions, agreed clear cut functions to be given to Province>District>AGA division.
With National and Provincial governments.
Countries such as USA and Australia can not be compared to Sri Lanka because there is a 80% to 20% between majority to minority. Sri Lanka is a different proposition altogether.India again has more ethnic/language entities than 2. Therefore less chance for bi-furication or break into two parts....
If there is a separation then the separated part (whether it East, North and part of North-West province) will in time be more aligned to Tamil Nadu then to India than to what is left over of a separated Sri Lanka with a majority Sinhala people. That is OK. As long as the politicans understand the implications of this.....
Same goes to the federal idea too....
Up until recently the LTTE has out played ALL major political actors in Sri Lanka. When a federated constitution comes the war will continue without bullets.
Are the politicans representing the SInhala people ready for this challenge. The Tamils , Muslims have the world wide resources to deal with this..I doubt whether the Sinhala politiccans can deliver any benefit other than appease the minority...Therefore, we let the LTTE political agenda win over by defeating the LTTE militarily.
Mr.Chosky is one of the best educated citizens. He understands that there is no salvation for SriLanka without federalism or separation.
The Rajapakse gang does not seem to realise the power of the diaspora all over the world and an angry TamilNadu where 70 million people who are boiling. This will not end till a solution is reached in Srilanka.The Tamils will not settle for some provincial councils after such great sacrifice and bloodshed over the years.
Not to mention the frustration of thousands of Sinhalese parents who are losing their sons everyday in large numbers, about 2000 in the last few months(unpublished in Colombo).
The southern citizens of Srilanka have no future without solving the Tamil issue.
Tamil Eelam and not federalism is the solution. Let us not deceive ourselves.
Tamil Eelam is not a solution, it is comical dream. The people most committed to Eelam are the Jokers who least contribute to making it a reality...namely the Diaspora and Tamil Nadu.
Everyone who actually does not have to fight the endless war expecting that they will someday be victorious against the Sri Lankan armed forces, sing and dance to no end, ignoring the ground realities of this conflict. What is the End game? What is the Goal....? 25 years of warfare have not yeilded any step closer to Eelam, in fact it has helped those Small percentage of Sinhala extremists shift half the Tamil population out of Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan armed forces are not like the Americans in Vietnam, they are the same as the Vietnamese,... they too will continue to fight, and continue to grind down the LTTE until there is no Tamil left in Sri Lanka. These Foolish Tamil Nationalistic Ideologues think that the Sri Lankan armed forces will weaken and tire are fooling themselves to no end. The same Jingoism held by those misguided LTTE supporters is contained on the Sinhala side, and the Sinhala side has the bigger population by far. Its a simple numbers game and Tamils have the numbers and odds stacked against them. Sooner or later on a long enough timeline the luck runs out and we're talking simple statistics...
Devinda Fernando says "they (SL Army) will grind down the LTTE until there is no Tamil left in Sri Lanka."
This is the fond dream of many twisted Sinhalese and yet they complain to the world the Sinhalese are being called names. Friend, many Tamils are conscious of your true colours which is why the powerful and influential Tamil diaspora wants nothing but Eelam.
Your intentions are all too well known to Tamils across in India and that is why they are working hard to prevent this "Final solution" of Tamil here.
*** which is why the powerful and influential Tamil diaspora wants nothing but Eelam. ***
Yes yes we've heard all this before... I can't stop laughing at you everytime you bray the same tired old talking points over and over again. Wanting and getting are not necessarily sequential. I want Angelina Jolie to use my face as a seat cushion, but brother...it aint gonna happen.
*** Your intentions are all too well known to Tamils across in India and that is why they are working hard to prevent this "Final solution" of Tamil here. ***
Your Final Solution is Self-imposed. And Tamil Nadu will only make noise about Eelam and the LTTE but will do nothing because they really don't care about Tamils, anymore than they care about their overbred masses in their own state. Tamil Nadu politicians are dogs on a Leash, they will bark but will heel on the command of the Central government.