Time for big things

Sri Lanka has witnessed two monumental elections in the last couple of months. Anura Kumara Dissanayake who had polled less than 4% in the previous round emerged the winner of the Presidential election. His party the National People’s Power coalition did phenomenally better at the General election securing a two-thirds majority and 159 seats in Parliament. 

The electorate roundly defeated all the establishment parties, decimating any semblance of the United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party which had in turn governed the country for the last 76 years in some shape or form.

With this massive mandate great things are expected of the new administration. The only parallel that even comes close is the mandate given by the people in 2015 to the Yahapalana regime. The failure and disappointment of that administration should be a cautionary tale for those now in office and the electorate that placed them there.

However, if there is a lesson to be learnt from the Yahapalana regime, it is the need to get things done early in its tenure. It is natural of any incumbent to become unpopular with time. The expectations of the people in this administration are so high it is bound to disappoint, even unintentionally. It is therefore imperative that effective change, sometimes unpopular and often tempting for those in power to resist as time goes by, to be carried out at the very onset. The 19th Amendment to the constitution enacted within four months of electing Maithripala Sirisena in 2015 remained the most consequential piece of legislation of that administration. The dilution of presidential powers, limitation of presidential terms and empowering of independent commissions stood in good stead as the same president attempted to undermine these very positions towards the end of his tenure. As the Yahapalana government got increasingly unpopular, its promise to bring about a new constitution lost momentum and was eventually scrapped. What was considered as a once in a generation chance to replace the 1978 constitution was lost.

Even before the General elections, segments of the civil society were alarmed at the statements by leading figures that they will not repeal draconian legislation such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act or the Muslim Marriages and Divorces Act. President Dissanayake was conspicuously silent on devolution, power sharing and solutions to the ethnic conflict, even during his campaigning in the north. Though he promised to look at privatisation and reform of State-owned Enterprises with an open mind, prior to the Presidential elections, since coming into office he has ruled out any reform to the loss making national carrier, which continues to bleed the tax payer. Reforms of the utility, Ceylon Electricity Board are now on ice.

Despite these initial disappointments and what they may manifest into in the future, the new NPP administration is at its peak popularity at the moment. It is for this reason that we need to enact significant change in this crucial initial period. A good place to start is the draconian laws that need repealing or reforming. Among these are the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the Online Safety Act, Muslim Marriages and Divorces Act, decriminalising of same sex relations, etc. These are the low hanging fruits. If this administration is to deliver true, monumental change it does finally have the numbers to enact an inclusive, modern constitution which grants equality to all individuals and groups and offers a meaningful resolution to the ethnic conflict. The time to act is now. At least the failed Yahapalanaya regime should make that lesson crystal clear.