Blog

July:2021
Remembering Neelan Tiruchelvam: a man of ideas and a man of peace

On 29 July 1999, Neelan Tiruchelvam was assassinated.  He was only 55 years old. The militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was widely blamed and condemned for the assassination, not only in Sri Lanka but from around the world.

Neelan was known as a man of ideas and as a man of peace. His love for Sri Lanka was deep-rooted, as was his belief that its ethnic and religious diversity should be celebrated and appreciated. He worked tirelessly to build and strengthen institutions in the country and he believed that the constitution and the law should protect the lives of ordinary people. He worked relentlessly to find solutions to the National Question even as he was pilloried from all sides either for demanding too much or for conceding too much.

Even as we mourned his death, we hoped that his life would be honoured and memorialised by embedding his ideals in our laws, our constitution, by refining our institutions and by making efforts to change our collective mindset. Twenty-two years later, so much has happened and yet little has changed. Sri Lanka ended a war but has yet to win the peace.

Neelan worked tirelessly to reform the constitution from its inception – criticising its authoritarian elements and its rigidity that denied both symbolic recognition of the country’s minorities and the possibilities for power sharing and regional autonomy.  He introduced many creative proposals to improve democratic governance, through which the lives of people irrespective of their ethnicity would be improved. Yet none of them saw the light of day.

Since his death in 1999, the constitution of Sri Lanka was amended four times. The constitutional amendment process was and remains a tantalising dance choreographed by the executive and parliament to take a step forward to strengthen democratic governance (through the 17th amendment in 2001 making provisions for the Constitutional Council and Independent Commissions), a step backwards (through the 18th amendment in 2010 limiting presidential term limits while proposing the appointment of a parliamentary council that decides the appointment of independent posts such as the  commissioners of election, human rights, and Supreme Court judges).  Again we took three steps forward (through the Nineteenth amendment that annulled the 18th Amendment, replacing the defunct 17th Amendment to establish the Independent Commissions, removing the Executive Presidential powers and limiting the term of office of the President to five years while the President continues to function as the Head of State, Head of the Cabinet, and Head of Security Forces) and four steps back (through the Twentieth Amendment in 2020 that repealed the 19th Amendment and re-invested the executive with extra-ordinary powers).

To Neelan, who cherished and firmly believed in the Rule of Law, the independence of the judiciary and an energetic and watchful legislature representing and jealously guarding the Peoples’ interests – it would be difficult to come to terms with this democratic regression.

I have no doubt that had he been alive he would have raised his voice against the abuse of power during the pandemic to curtail people’s right to express themselves through peaceful protests, the undermining of their socio-economic rights to health, education and livelihoods. His ideals were to persuade through reason and to lead through service. This is the legacy that those who knew him well still cherish.

Sakuntala Kadirgamar 

Executive Director

July 2021 Thursday 29th