Most of the comments on the post “As Debate Approaches on Transition Arrangements” are formed around one phrase that I used in that post. The phrase is “Stranger to the Majlis”.
Stranger Word
The word “stranger” was used not to show the insignificance of political parties forming the Alliance. The word does not have the same meaning in law as understood in normal conversation. The word stranger when used in a legal context to refer to a person in relation to a given subject means that he is not privy or party to that subject. Simply put, he is not part of the process.
I used the phrase in this context. MDP is represented in the Special Majlis. It is MDP that can influence the process or substance of the debate in the Special Majlis. The rest of the component parties of the Alliance are not part of the Special Majlis and therefore cannot decide upon the direction of the debate or the substance or the process. They will have to operate through MDP. As an alliance, strictly speaking, there is nothing the component parties could do to influence the process of debate, unless it is taken up by the MDP on their behalf. That is a fact. It is not an opinion.
Referendum Comparison
Why were the parties given airtime on TVM to decide system of governance, if parties were strangers to the Special Majlis, points out one commenter. The answer is very simple. The system of government was to be decided by the people of the country and not by the Special Majlis. The Special Majlis were to follow the verdict of the people in that referendum. The parties were the key players and the campaigners who took the systems to the people apart from the Special Majlis itself. They used the air time offered by TVM and VOM to communicate their views with their members. Their role was crucial in that exercise.
In contrast, the chapter on transition is a chapter that ought to be in the revised constitution. That will be the link between this current constitution and the revised constitution. If the revised constitution comes into force without a transition chapter it would operate to automatically replace the current constitution.
Half the requirements of the revised constitution would not be in place if the revised constitution came into effect wholesale, replacing the current constitution, in one go. The system of administration would plunge into chaos. The constitution would prescribe something. The country will be something else. It is to avoid this absurd situation from arising, that a bridge is built between this current constitution and the revised constitution. That is the business of the chapter on transition: it gives time for the country to convert fully as per standards prescribed by the revised constitution.
This chapter on transition is done by the members of the Special Majlis like they did the rest of the chapters of the revised constitution. It is not going to be done either by the people of this country at large, or by the political parties.
That is the difference between the exercise on system of governance and the chapter on transition. That is the difference in the varied roles of political parties when compared to the exercise on selecting a system of governance and drafting a chapter on transition.
Party Talks
Another commenter asks about the all party dialogue held by the Government recently if parties have no part in the constitutional revision process. Very good comment, indeed.
Like the commenter has acknowledged, it was not initiated by one political party to campaign for a point of view held by that party by seeking an alliance of like thinking parties. Quite contrarily, the dialogue was initiated by the Government and the invitation was for all parties to come together to see how the democratic process, including the revision of the constitution can be expedited in a manner that is acceptable to all political parties. MDP refused to attend the talks, and after sometime, IDP and Adalat pulled out citing different reasons. During the period that the dialogue subsisted, DRP members advocated in the Special Majlis positions reflective of agreements reached amongst the participating parties.
The situation is slightly different when it comes to the chapter on transition arrangements. MDP is the key advocate for the interim government. It has formed an alliance around the same rallying point. But MDP is also already represented in the Special Majlis and is definitely an effective participant in the process of the Special Majlis.
Therefore, the alliance becomes redundant for the MDP, when the later already has the avenues of participation open in the Special Majlis and is in a position already to influence the process of the debate. And the alliance becomes redundant for the Special Majlis, because it is not the people themselves, but their representatives in the special Majlis that shall ultimately decide on the size and shape of the transition chapter.
Most of the comments on the post “As Debate Approaches on Transition Arrangements” are formed around one phrase that I used in that post. The phrase is “Stranger to the Majlis”.
Engaging with the Alliance
Another commenter has marked this sentence from my post: "DRP thinks that in deciding a chapter of a constitution, it is baseless to make it a condition precedent to engage with an alliance that is a total stranger to the Special Majlis". The commenter goes on to ask me if I do not consider the parties important, or if they do not represent the people.
That is not the intention of my statement. I only intended to highlight the view that if this chapter on transition becomes a chapter so crucial to be developed on the weight of all political parties or to allow their direct or indirect contribution to the outcome of the debate, then that should rightfully be done in respect of all other chapters as well. It is of no point really to allow only one chapter on transition to be decided by the engagement of all political parties when there are so many other more fundamental and more substantive chapters in that constitution that will have more lasting and more far reaching implications than the chapter on transition.
We must understand that the chapter on transition is more on method and process and little on substance. Besides, the life of the chapter on transition is only limited to the period taken to complete the transition arrangements and to fully align the country to the requirements of the revised constitution. The chapter becomes dead when the process of transition is complete. I estimate it to be between a year and two years.
But there are so many important chapters and provisions of substance, that deal with rights, entitlements, fundamental liberties, judicial independence, legislative competence, checks and balances, independent institutions and so on where we never thought it to be meaningful to engage with all political parties and develop those chapters on a united weight of all political parties so as to ensure greater acceptability and wider appeal.
So why the double standards on this chapter on transition? It is in this context that one should read my statement that “DRP thinks that in deciding a chapter of a constitution, it is baseless to make it a condition precedent to engage with an alliance that is a total stranger to the Special Majlis".
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