Of that trial balloon

Monday 24th January, 2022

What was feared seems to be playing out. MP Diana Gamage, who crossed over to the government from the SJB, has urged Parliament to extend President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s term by two years because she thinks he has lost two years owing to the pandemic. Gamage’s call has come close on the heels of President Rajapaksa’s statement that a youth recently asked him why a referendum could not be conducted to ask the people whether his term should be extended by two years on account of the pandemic. Curiously, the President does not seem to have heard what young men and women say about his government via social media!

Former President Maithripala Sirisena, asked by reporters to comment on MP Gamage’s proposal, the other day, said that before commenting thereon, one had to know what President Rajapaksa had to say about it. His answer was evasive, but he was not without a point. The fact however remains that Gamage would not have dared say anything of that nature without the blessings of the government leaders although the SLPP has said she made that call unbeknownst to the President.

MP Gamage is thought to be trying to ingratiate herself with the powers further, but there seems to be more to her call than meets the eye. Those who have introduced the 18th and 20th Amendments are not likely to scruple to do anything that helps tighten their grip on power.

When power goes to their heads, politicians take leave of their senses. But there is always a method in their madness. The government has already done something similar, in principle, to MP Gamage’s proposal at issue, where the Local Government institutions are concerned. Elections to them have been put off, and one of the reasons given for the arbitrary extension of their terms by one year is that they could not function properly for about two years under the yahapalana government.

We have already witnessed the disastrous consequences of the arbitrary extensions of parliamentary terms. In 1975, the SLFP-led United Front (UF) government extended the life of Parliament by two years; the UNP swept the 1977 parliamentary polls and obtained a five-sixths majority, which it abused to weaken democracy. That UNP regime became synonymous with the suppression of democratic dissent, abuse of power, corruption and the sale of state assets among other things. That was the price people had to pay for giving the UF a two-thirds majority in 1970, and the UNP a five-sixths majority seven years later.

The postponement of the general election scheduled for 1982 with the help of a heavily-rigged referendum created conditions for the second JVP uprising and the resultant bloodbath. The Jayewardene government proscribed the JVP in a bid to scuttle the latter’s campaign against the outcome of the referendum. Those who do not learn from history are said to be condemned to repeat it.

Politicians curry favour with their bosses by pandering to the latter’s whims and fancies. After the defeat of the LTTE, sycophants misled the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa into believing that he could become the President for life, and he introduced the 18th Amendment to the Constitution to achieve that end. In 2015, he sought a third term and had a grand pratfall, instead. The rest is history. Had he made use of the rare opportunity that presented itself after the end of the war to rebuild the economy, revive democracy, restore the rule of law, fight bribery and corruption and usher in development, perhaps, the people themselves would have asked him to serve another presidential term.

Only two years of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s term have elapsed, and three more years are left for him to improve his government’s performance. The task is daunting but not impossible. Most members of the current government were out of power for five years without any accretions to their wealth, but they have already made up for lost time, if their vulgar display of opulence is any indication. The question is why they cannot act so tenaciously to help the President carry out his pledges, and win over the public so that they will not have to fear elections.