Government
It can be said that Sri Lanka
parliamentary democratic system was benefited by the establishment
of the Colonial Office during the British Rule from the 18th
century to the 20th century. When the country achieved the
independence in 1948, it established a parliamentary system
modeled on that of Britain which is composed of two houses: the
Senate and the House of Representatives. Sri Lanka was the only
country among its neighboring countries in South and Southeast
Asia that possessed the two-party system in which the conservative
Untied National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom
Party (SLFP) alternated with each other in power through the
contested elections.
The first prime minister was D.S.Senanayake
from the United National Party, claiming his position in 1947,
succeeded by his son after his death in 1952. But in 1956, the
general election proved the majority vote for the Sri Lanka
Freedom Party (SLFP), represented by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike
as the prime minister. His administration focused on social change
and economic independence. Bandaranaike was assassinated in
1959, leaving his widow who later was elected as the prime
minister in 1960. The government under her reins has controlled
political power restrictedly until 1977.
With a new constitution
promulgated in 1972 under the leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom
Party, Sri Lanka has come to the important turning point of it
political history. The Senate was abolished and the National State
Assembly was established. Sri Lanka became then a socialist
republic dominated by the presidential system. In the 1972
constitution has also stated about two extremely controversial
aspects which led to the discontentment among the Tamil community
and finally the violence of ethnic conflicts. One is that of the
abandonment of a secular state; the other is the designation of
Sinhala as the sole national official language. It declared
"the Republic of Sri Lanka shall to Buddhism the foremost
place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the state to protect
and foster Buddhism while assuring to all religions the rights
secured by Section 18 (i)(d) [religion freedom]". From then
on the current of ethnic awareness between the Singhalese and the
Tamils seemed escalating.
In 1977, the strict control of
the Sri Lanka Freedom Party has been changed to hands of
the United National Party led then by Jayewardene who
became the first president under the regime of the Republic of Sri
Lanka in 1978. The president is defined in the Constitution as
head of state, chief executive, and commander in chief of the
armed force.
The government ruled by President
Jayewardene still ignored, however, the demands for language
parity and self-determination of the Tamils, resulting in the
establishment of an independent Tamil Eelam, or state, in
the areas of northern and eastern province. The tension ended up
with violence which broke out in 1983 immediately after the
killing of 13 Sinhalese soldiers by the Tamil terrorists in the
Jaffna. The violence claimed perhaps 2,000 lives, marking the
serious turn of Sri Lanka's complicated ethnic crisis.
Amidst the growing tension of
ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka, India intervened as the mediator of
the peace talks between two sides which took place in 1987,
resulting in the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord to solve the ethnic
crisis. The accord was designed to meet Sri Lankan Tamil demands
for designation Tamil as the national language along side Sinhala
as well as self-determination with their own executive,
legislative, and judicial power. The Peace Keeping Force of Indian
Army was also established on the island to enforce the accord in
the North and the East.
The past decades, many
international organizations expressed their intention to help I
peace process between the two warring parties; stage of peace
talks have also been held for several times. The latest one, the
sixth session was held in Hakone, Japan on 18-21 March 2003 of
which the outcome was led to the positive way. The Liberation
Tigers of Tamils Eelam (LTTE), the Tamil National Army which
has violently fought against the Sri Lankan government to achieve
demands for self-determination in the north during the past three
decades promised to support democratic process of election to be
held in the north. In addition, the political issue of developing
a federal system based on internal self-determination within a
united Sri Lanka was acknowledged as a settlement of conflicts and
would be expanded in discussion on the next session of talks. |
