Having acquired a copy of the proposed Local Authorities Election Bill 2010, I’ve been reading through it and can share with you my surmise- things are not looking good.
No surprise there, right? You can peruse through a summarised version on GroundViews, so I’m not going to reproduce the contents here. With this Bill the government in picking at the morsel of democracy we had left.
While it may look good on paper, when reading between the lines it’s clear to see that certain vital components have been dubiously made obscure. For instance with the introduction of a ‘ward system’ by which local authorities, such as the Pradesha Saba, will be divided further into a number of ‘wards’. Ideally this system should allow for representation of minority groups within an area. However, the bill does not state how the demarcation of the area will be done. This provides the government with freedom to Gerrymander the areas, which is to deliberately demarcate the areas in such away so as to manipulate representation to favours their agendas.
This is one of the amendments to the Bill that undermines democracy in Sri Lanka. It is essential that awareness is raised among the people as to how these amendments will affect them and how the government is nibbling at the crumb of democracy that we have left.
The 18th Amendment to the constitution was a bigger blow. This thing, while there might be potential for bad, is a good thing.
Oh and you know how these sort of rather complex stories presented in British media? The usually break it down very nicely. And also present the implications using varied forms of media, like narrative picture stories. It’s for the masses. It helps people understand things better. Just saying. I really didn’t see any newspaper do that during the 18th amendment. Instead, they provided a copy of the actual amendment with all the law jargon.
That’s one way to spread the word and actually get people to read and understand.
Well, the ward system was the established system for local government in Sri Lanka since the British times so I don’t think the government can really change wards to its advantage. Honestly I’m a little tired of all the racial politics with stuff like certain ethnic ratios that have to be met to create a district or whatever. We should move beyond that coz all ethnic groups have more common problems than we have factors that separate us.
Well said Chavie… often people try to apply what they see elsewhere to us. It works in those places where people have infrastructure and a good standard of living. How about we concentrate on getting that first.
That said, those places where they have fabulous infrastructure and amazing living standards, not too long ago they used slave labour and plundered resources, to get to where they are now. Then more recently, the corrected themselves and are on a moral high horse, because they can afford to be.
Plundered other peoples resources*
@Rangoku-I agree that the 18th Amendment was a mortal hack on democracy, but these amendments to the Bill and whatever else the GoSL has in store for us, is sapping the little bit of life its got left.
And I agree with you entirely about how the media is more efficient abroad. I guess the media in Sri Lanka is being squashed hard under the Gov’s thumb, they can’t/won’t react in anyway that’ll prod the Gov to add more pressure.
@Chavie- But it CAN be demarcated in such a way so that the representation can be manipulated. This is not about equal representation of ethnic groups and all that sanctimonious mumbo jumbo! This is about what’s being done right now, and how this can give the government freedom to fulfil whatever agendas they have without contention.
Absolute power is never good.
I don’t have any comment on the actual subject, but I do have a comment on your response to rangouk. Rangouk’s comment seemed to recommend the use of diverse methods (i.e. not just text) to explain complex legislative concepts to the masses…and your response was “…the media in Sri Lanka is being squashed hard under the Gov’s thumb…“?! How is the Govt’s thumb preventing newspapers from using a picture instead of text to get a complex idea across?
There’s a difference between informing the public about changes that affect them, and telling them what they should think about those changes. I accept that the latter is hindered by the power of the Govt, but I don’t see how the same justification applies to the former. And anyway as far as I’m concerned, it’s the former that is the duty of a journalist…the latter is for political analysts (who may or may not be journalists) to tackle.
I’m not trivialising the political situation or the problems faced by journalists, but sometimes it feels like the “Govt’s thumb” is thrown around as an excuse for half-arsed journalism.
@PR- I’m in no way excusing journalist. I wrote that because I feel the media here isn’t doing what it’s supposed to- which is to inform the public. That’s why I agreed with Rangouk. I believe independent media organisation SHOULD do the same as he’s stated the British media dealt with a similar situation. Thumb or no thumb, it’s the duty of the media of inform the public of these situations.
But at times like these, when our media ISN’T doing what it’s supposed to, I’m urging bloggers and others to spread the word.
Apologies for the mistakes on my posts above. I’ve not slept, and going on about 24 hours, without sleep.
Good to know I’m not the only one who has noticed the lack of the media, usually the opposition media, when it comes to reaching out to the masses. It’s the same reason why the opposition cannot get in power.
I have this image in my head where the opposition tends to differentiate themselves from the masses and vice versa. The image is of the masses and the opposition together, one up above and facing out (opposition) and the other from down low below looking up at the opposition (masses). One would go, “these stupid people deserve what they voted for” (or similar saying), where as the other would go, “mae balapanko mungae hati” or “ohek palayang, suda gae pukka leva kapu unta”.
Where as Mahinda & Co. gets up and cocky and down and dirty all at the same time. They’ve got them all by the balls, and as an American would say, they’re going for the home run.
End Egotistical Rant
Well the 18th amendment is like the macro “fork” (:) )to democracy and the bill is is like its microcosm with more immediate on the ground ‘local level’ impact, both obviously with the same intentions as they do come from the same man’s hand!!
A point about Pseudorandoms comment on ‘informing public about changes that affect them’ well the media in SL has been informing public about changes – true, but how its going to affect them perhaps not to the extent that it should. Western media does inform but usually allows room for discussions, debates and hard questions as well, ours perhaps is either ‘bland’ or ‘biased’ reporting and not ‘balanced’ like it should be.
@Rangouk- The opposition needs to get it’s act together! How effective can they be when they got internal politics that’s ripping them a part? With sucky media and an ineffective oppositing, the government can get away with anyting.
@frangipaniii- I have to disagree with you on the LA bill being is insignificant. The 18th amendment being passed there’s more reason for taking down the bill.
Strange this post is totaly unrelated to what I was searching google for, but it was listed on the first page. I guess your doing something right if Google likes you enough to put you on the first page of a non related search.