Question

INADEQUATE POWER SHARING ARRANGEMENTS HAVE BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR ETHNIC TROUBLE IN SRI LANKAN . DO YOU AGREE ? GIVE REASON FOR YOUR ANSWER?

Answer 1

where coalition governments are the norm not the exception. It is generally forgotten that Sri Lanka’s post-
independence parliamentary history shows that the country has been ruled by coalitions for a longer period of time
than by single party governments. Coalitions have been resorted to for three reasons: first and most obvious of all,
the pressures emerging from a weak parliamentary or electoral base; secondly, by the search for appropriate allies
for perceived national need, the nurturing of pluralism (under D.S. Senanayake in 1947, or J.R. Jayewardene in
1977 and 1982 and R. Premadasa in 1989) or the exact opposite policy of emphasising the Sinhalese-Buddhist
dominance of the polity (as by the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna coalition led by the SLFP in 1956); and thirdly by
ideological concerns such as a deliberate shifting of the central focus of governmental policy in a pre-ordained
direction (as in 1970 with its emphasis on the construction of a socialist society).
With the exception of the SLFP dominated cabinets of 1956-60, and 1960-4, there was always Tamil
representation in ministries formed after parliamentary elections. With the UNP, these have generally been Tamils
elected on the party ticket or elected members of parties in coalition with it. On one occasion – 1965-68 – it had a
member of the upper house in the Cabinet, a Senator, representing a coalition partner. From 1978, there has been a
representative of the Indian Tamils in the UNP Cabinet. Since 1948, there has always been at least one Muslim
member in the Cabinet, whether the government was a UNP or SLFP one, with a two-year gap from 1950 to 1952
when there was no Muslim Cabinet Minister. There was more than one Muslim member of the Cabinet after the
UNP’s return to power in 1977 a practice that has been continued by the present People’s Alliance government, a
coalition in which the dominant element is the SLFP.