Each
State
has:
-by M.Nadarajan
Those of us who live in the United States of America, arguably the greatest country in the world and certainly the richest country, take a lot of things for granted. America also claims to be the most democratic country in the world, and preaches to the world about how to be democratic.
We all know America has a federal system of government. We also know that there are States which make up the whole country and that these States have the freedom to manage their own affairs. The Federal Government does not interfere with the internal governance of the States. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the USA is not questioned by anybody, and are intact.
Each
State
has:
-
1. An elected State Assembly (parliament), which enacts laws applicable to the State.
2. Its own Chief Executive (the Governor), elected by the people of the State - not appointed, and not subject to removal by the President (the Chief Executive) of the country.
3. Its own taxation system. e.g. State Income Tax, Property Tax, Motor Vehicles Registration tax, Driving license fee, etc., etc.
4. Its own Auditor General and Audit Department
5. The right to issue its own Bonds and raise money. Even counties and municipalities have this right.
6. The right to obtain Federal (central government) grants.
7. Its own Police force. In fact, the sub-divisions of the State such as Counties, Cities and Boroughs also have their own Police forces.
8. Its own Courts system including Appeal Courts and Supreme Courts, and Judiciary. This even applies to sub-divisions, as in the case of the police force, taxes and bond-raising.
9. Its own borders, and control of land within its borders. In fact, the Federal (Central) government has to seek the consent of the State governments to use land within its jurisdiction for use for federal facilities.
10. Its own army of sorts, called the National Guard.
11. Its own Coast Guard. Though, as in other countries, the US has declared an area of twelve miles from the coastline as its territorial sea, by practice or convention, jurisdiction up to three miles from the shore is vested in the coastal States.
12. Its own network of roads - State roads, County roads and city roads.
The authority of the Federal (Central) government is limited by Article 1: Section 8 of the US Constitution to seventeen defined subjects such as declare war, coin money and regulate its value, establish post offices and post roads, and promote the progress of science and useful arts. Though commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States is also a central subject, this is not observed strictly, and I have known of instances of States signing trade agreements with foreign governments, or organizations, perhaps with permission from the Central government.
In order to ensure that the Central government does not interfere with the internal affairs of the States, the 10th Amendment to the constitution was passed in 1791. This states that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
The Country is secular and no religion is given pride of place. The separation of religion and state is a cardinal principle.
By virtue of giving two seats in the Senate for each State, big or small, a certain amount of power sharing is maintained.
If this is acceptable to a so-called civilized, democratic country like USA, why cannot it not be applicable to a country like Sri Lanka (Ceylon)? What is most important is that in the United States, all citizens have equal rights, the dignity of all citizens is preserved, and justice between the highest and the lowest is maintained. Then, why is it that many western countries, and regional powers such as India, are denying such an arrangement to Tamils of Sri Lanka, and are asking the representatives of Tamils to negotiate an agreement with less regional power? Is it only to placate the Sinhalese government? Negotiate what? Accept whatever the government gives? Whether it meets the criteria of what the Tamils want, and what is prevalent in the US? How is it that in the case of countries of Europe such as Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, western governments saw to it that equality, dignity and justice of all citizens were preserved.
A lot is said about the mandate of the government. How about the mandate received by the 22 Tamil National Alliance members of Parliament, after the submission of the ISGA proposals by the LTTE, to negotiate on the basis of the iSGA?
President Chandrika keeps on asking the LTTE to come for negotiations. The LTTE has repeatedly said that they would negotiate on the basis of the ISGA proposals and are prepared to consider any amendments, which are agreed to by both parties. The government simply will not do so. One of the problems is its Marxist partners refuses to negotiate. But the main problem is that the Southern Sinhalese parties, contrary to what they tell the International Community, are not prepared to treat Tamils with Equality, Dignity and Justice.
The LTTE does not gain by postponing talks, though the government has a lot to gain. The LTTE says that it is prepared for war, not because it wants war, but further postponement would only hurt the people more and affect it adversely. If the Sinhalese really want war, they can have it. Is this the way the Sinhalese want to go and cause continued death and destruction? Tens of thousands will perish again, and billions of dollars worth of property destroyed again, only because the Sinhalese want to maintain hegoministic majority power over Tamils. Has not the time come for us to part and go our own ways, as in the case of the separation of Singapore and Malaysia and the Czech Republic and Slovakia?
The Sinhalese can have their Sri Lanka where the Official Language will continue to be Sinhalese, the budget can be presented in Sinhalese (as they are going to do for the first time, though according to the Constitution Sinhalese shall be the official language and Tamil will also be an official language), Buddhism will remain the state religion, the National Flag can be the Sinhalese lion flag, and the national anthem shall be the current Sinhalese anthem.
Let the Tamils go and let them have their own State in their own homeland. Please do not shed tears as to whether the Tamils can manage their own affairs. Let them starve and perish. After all they asked for it.