Lobby

One could call it a quirk of fate but two former Sri Lankan Presidents would have felt somewhat vindicated had they been alive and been in Parliament last week. One is President J.R.Jayewardene who faced unprecedented opposition when he introduced the Provincial Council system to the country under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1987--which several government ministers said last week in Parliament was the best solution to solve the country’s national issue.

The other is President Ranasinghe Premadasa , a much maligned man during his presidency. However, when his portrait was unveiled in the Parliament complex on Thursday the late President won the praise of one of his staunchest opponents when he was alive, President Mahinda Rajapaksa. President Rajapaksa, who visited the legislature for the unveiling ceremony described the late Mr. Premadasa as a fine example to politicians and a man of firm determination, courage, efficiency and leadership. Kind words indeed from a man who went to great extent during his time in the opposition to take on his predecessor for the poor human rights record of his regime.

Meanwhile, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was a central theme of discussion during the debate on the extension of the emergency last Wednesday. SLFP stalwarts such as Maithripala Sirisena and John Seneviratne who sat under the Bo Tree in Pettah in 1987 opposing the Bill were all in praise of it , even questioning the UNP as to why they were not backing the Government in its efforts to fully implement the PC system. While admitting that he had opposed the Bill then--probably not knowing then what he knows now about the PCs-- Minister Seneviratne said now he was convinced it was a good system of devolution of power and accused both the UNP and the JVP of duplicity for not supporting government efforts.

“The UNP introduced this system to the country and now they say it is not a sufficient mode of devolution. On the other hand, it was the JVP founder Rohana Wijeweera who said minorities should be given self rule. But today, members of his party are saying no to even Provincial Councils when they themselves are sitting in these Councils,” he charged.

Maithripala Sirisena too said the Government was determined to devolve the necessary powers to the PCs and make them work and asked the Opposition to assist the government in its efforts to find a lasting solution to the problem. Usually when a senior Government member asks the Opposition for its assistance it’s a sure sign that the Government was in some kind of trouble and uncertain of where it was headed. This is not surprising given the deteriorating security situation in the country as well as the escalating cost of living coupled with no let up on the allegations of waste and corruption being levelled at the Government.

The JVP on its part has been consistently opposing the 13th Amendment since 1987, even using it to galvanize support to launch its second armed insurrection against the UNP government of the day. But other than saying the Government was going the way of all other Governments of the past and trying to bring in a solution without ending the scourge of terrorism, the Party did not to say how it thinks the problem can be solved.

Instead, JVP Party Parliamentary group Leader Wimal Weerawansa making one of his umpteenth “special statements” in Parliament said the Government must go ahead with its determination to crush terrorism. He said public support was overwhelmingly for the military push. But the LTTE, by attacking civilians, was attempting to turn public opinion against the war he said adding that the government must defeat these attempts.

The UNP on the other hand seems resigned to its fate of sitting in the Opposition and appears to have decided that the best form of defence was to oppose everything the government was doing. UNP speakers said the Local Government election in the east were a bad idea as people there would not be able to exercise their franchise freely and fairly and hence their decision to boycott it. They said the Government decision to implement the 13th Amendment to the constitution now was“too little, too late and the holding of the “Deyata Kirula” exhibition too was a bad idea.

On the “Deyata Kirula” issue, the JVP too agreed with the UNP with MP Weerawansa saying this was not the time to waste the strength of the military and the Police for such extravaganzas when they had more urgent and important work at hand. Sadly, the escalating number of deaths of civilians in bomb attacks in recent days did not figure prominently enough among Parliamentarians despite Prime Minsiter Ratnasiri Wickremanayake informing the House that as many as 73 had been killed and 110 injured in terrorist attacks in the past month. On two previous occasions the House observed two minutes silence for the victims of terror attacks at the behest of the JVP, but there was no such attempt this time making one wonder why there are such double standards. The setting up of the Constitutional Council (CC) too figured in the House with the UNP asking the President to set it up as soon as possible since Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara has sent the names of all the nominees to him.

In his usual off hand manner, Chief Government Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle said the President and the Government were not prepared to work according to the timeframes set by the UNP and they would take their time to finalise the CC . His argument that the appointment of former Auditor General S.C.Mayadunne to the CC as the nominee of the minority parties was in violation of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution was a hint that the setting up of the CC was not likely to happen anytime soon. Parliament ended for the week amidst the usual bickering with not much likely to change when the House meets again.

Those that were slammed are resurrected in hail of praise