By Chandani Kirinde, Our Lobby Correspondent
To privatize or not to privatize is the question that every government has to deal with when in power. The answer to that of course depends on which side of the House legislators occupy when such a Bill comes up.

There was ample demonstration of this fact when Parliament met last week. PA politicians who raised their hands for privatizing many state run institutions when in office were hotly contesting the privatization drive by the present UNF government and speaking of its ills.

Three important Bills were debated and passed in Parliament last week namely the Public Utilities Bill, the Electricity Reforms Bill and the Petroleum Products (Special Provisions) Bill. Although all three Bills were passed with a comfortable majority by the government, it was not minus a little political drama enacted with courtesy of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) members.

Power and Energy Minister Karu Jayasuriya introduced the controversial Electricity Reforms Bill but not much heat was generated during the two day debate as expected. Mr.Jayasuriya gave a categorical assurance to the House that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) would not be privatized and the welfare of its workers not adversely affected.

"This bill seeks to get more private sector participation in the CEB and break the monopoly that exists in the sector today. Its full ownership is vested in the people, we are only seeking to streamline its administration," the minister said.

His deputy Sagala Ratnayake traced the background to the Bill that was being debated stating that the Bill had come about as a result of the power sector reforms initiated by the PA government with the support of the World Bank and the ADB.

"By presenting this legislation, the UNP government has carried forward from where the previous government stopped," he stated adding that the reforms had been spurred on by the power and financial crisis that existed when the UNF took power in December last year.

The former Deputy Minister of Power and Energy Felix Perera however did not agree. He said this was not the same set of reforms that they had agreed on and said they were opposed to it as the government had failed to accommodate some amendments that the President had suggested.

JVP members who spoke voiced their familiar opposition to privatization seeing it as a sell-out to foreign companies.

The fact that Electricity Reforms was not the favourite subject of many a member was evident when Minister Jayasuriya was left with nearly 45 minutes to wind up the debate. Fifteen minutes into his speech, the minister had to seek help from his colleague, Parliamentary Affairs Minister A.H.M. Azwar to find other speakers so that he could wind up soon. Mr.Azwar was seen going from one government member to another asking if they would like to speak. The only person willing was Deputy Samurdhi Minister R.A.D.Sirisena who managed to drag proceedings till the allotted time for voting had arrived. This was unprecedented, as it is usually the subject minister who winds up a debate before a Bill is put to vote.

Voting time too created some commotion with the absence of the SLMC members in the chambers after quorum bells had been rung for members to return to their seats. As opposition members had called for a vote by division by name, the Acting Secretary General Priyanee Wijesekera asked each member by name for their preference for and against the Bill.

A few minutes into the vote the SLMC Leader Rauff Hakeem along with another SLMCer Bahseer Segu Dawood entered the chambers amidst thumping of their tables by government members to welcome them. They went onto cast their votes in favour of the Bill as did the TNA members. Despite some uncertainty on how the vote would go, the Bill was passed by a majority of 25 votes.

Mr.Hakeem later told journalists that the boycott had been initiated because of the uncertainty of the future of Muslims in the east. He said the leverage that the SLMC had with the government needed to be used with responsibility and prudence and not in a way to destablise it.

However nine of the 12 Muslim MPs continued to boycott proceedings with the exception of Mashhoor Noordeen who attended sessions on Friday.

Speaker Joseph Michael Perera had his own problems over a decision he had made with regards to a statement made to Parliament by JVP's Wimal Weerawansa regarding the US government's policy on Iraq.

He had asked Mr. Weerawansa not to mention the name of President George Bush while making the statement but just refer to the US government. Hence he went onto make the statement but not before mentioning George Bush's name and being reminded by the Speaker not to do so.

When Mr.Weerawansa finished his speech, an argument erupted with Jeyaraj Fernandopulle saying that no where in standing orders was it said that parliamentarians could not refer to foreign heads of state by name. "Why cannot he refer to George Bush? Has the Parliament got Bush phobia?", he queried.

He was supported by former Speaker MP Anura Bandaranaike who recounted the numerous references both good and bad made about Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi in the Sri Lanka parliament. Veteran legislator Ronnie De Mel too said that it was impossible to conduct a debate in Parliament especially one on foreign policy without reference to leaders of other countries and said this decision would set a bad precedent.

There was some absurdity in the decision as the Speaker had allowed Mr.Weerawansa to refer to Saddam Hussain who too is a leader of a country.

Leader of the House W.J.M.Lokubandara came to the defence of the Speaker accusing the JVPer of agreeing to the Speaker's request to omit the American leader's name and then going back on his word. All that the Speaker said was that he and Mr.Weerawansa had come to an agreement and he expected him to stick to his word, Mr. Lokubandara said.

There were also unparliamentary references by some members, calling those on either side animals and donkeys prompting the Speaker to conclude that all those who think Parliament comprised of donkeys and animals should be sent to Angoda.

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