Chanaka at 50

April 19th, 2008

by Nirgunan Tiruchelvam

Dr. Chanaka Amaratunga, the founder of the Liberal Party, turns 50 today, April 19th. In cricket, when a batsman crosses 50 he raises his bat to acknowledge the applause of the crowd. But Chanaka, a lifelong hater of cricket, was not a man who played to the gallery.In fact, a defiance of populism defined his career.

50 is generally considered the dividing line between youth and middle age. Oddly, Chanaka, who died in a car accident at the age of 38,was simultaneously a portly middle aged man and a callow youth. His precocious political consciousness and manner of speech belied his age. But, his gentle demeanor and childlike innocence led to his early death, with his reckless and drunken friend Ryan Holsinger behind the wheels.

Finest Intellectual

Chanaka was the finest intellectual in this country’s politics. In his shockingly brief career, he founded the Council for Liberal Democracy (CLD) and the Liberal Party. As a clear and eloquent speaker, Chanaka had the added gift of expression. The CLD, founded in 1981, worked against the referendum to extend the life of parliament for six years. Chanaka was then all of 24, the same age that another wasted youth James Dean, the screen idol, died. But unlike Dean, Chanaka could see through the machinations of the elderly. Having returned from Oxford, where he excelled as a debater at the Union, Chanaka had been identified by the then President Jayawardene for a UNP political career.

Chanaka’s defiance of the 1982 referendum was a matter of intense disappointment for Jayawardene. Chanaka and along with his close confidante and Oxford contemporary Dr. Rajiva Wijesinha campaigned bravely against the referendum. Wijesinha,an estranged nephew of Jayawardene’s confidante Esmond Wickremesinghe, was an even more defiant opponent of the UNP government, who wrote a seminal, underrated book titled JR Jayawardene and the Erosion of Democracy in 1996. Some years later, in November 1994, Jayawardene, then a frail and powerless man of 88, condemned the ‘perfidious’ behaviour of Wijesinha and Amaratunga to this writer.

Constitutional Reform

Constitutional reform was foremost on Chanaka’s agenda. As with the great 19th century liberal JS Mill, he believed firmly in the recognition of individual liberties and the dispersal of power. He was particularly critical of the executive presidential system, which he saw as a hand maiden of authoritarianism. Indeed, every one of the five executive presidents that the country has had since 1978 has been abusive of the norms of democracy.

The other focus of Chanaka’s constitutional reforms was the creation of a federal state. He was the only national politician to advocate federalism consistently, long before it became fashionable. Other causes include the need for a second chamber, proportional representation and the freedom of conscience of a member of parliament.All these measures were an integral part of the election manifestos that Chanaka helped draft for the presidential campaigns of Mrs. Bandaranaike in 1988 and Mr. Gamini Dissanayake in 1994. Sadly, none of his ideas seem likely to see the light of day. The endless conflict between the UNP and SLFP is a permanent veto on political refrom.

One of the defining acts of Chanaka’s career was his solitary opposition to the sixth amendment, that the UNP government enacted after the 1983 pogrom. The sixth amendment outlawed even the peaceful adocacy of separatism. It drove the TULF MPs out of parliament and removed all avenues of democratic opposition to the crude, majoritarian government of the time. Several of the expelled TULF MPs, were killed by the Tamil militants, whose homicidal rage exceeded that of the government. Chanaka was supremely principled in recognising the value of the freedom of speech, that the sixth amendment violated. He was also prophetic in his fears that the expulsion of the Tamil moderates, will be a death knell to democracy.

Legacy

No discussion on Chanaka will be complete without mentioning Mrs. Swarna Amaratunga, Chanaka’s mother. Mrs. Amaratunga is a remarkable and brave lady, who was widowed when her only child was a 14 year-old schoolboy. She was a towering figure in Chanaka’s career, who religiously attended every single public appearance that Chanaka made. She continued to pay a leading role in the Liberal party and in the Chanaka Amaratunga Foundation.

Chanaka left an awesome legacy of publications, but none will be as valued as Ideas for Constitutional Reform. This is a fine collection of essays by Chanaka and other leading politicians and thinkers. But, Chanaka’s liberal legacy has not been well-served by his colleagues in the Liberal Party. Many of them became besotted by power after Chanaka’s passing. One of them was so entranced by power in Chanaka’s lifetime, that he betrayed him. But, Chanaka was always fond of his friends, and it would be a pity to denigrate them. Instead, we should recall the lines from an Ideal Husband, a play that Chanaka acted in 1976:

“Power is nothing it itself, it is power to do good that is fine-that, and that only”.

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