Parliament

Divided even in death
By Chandani Kirinde, Our Lobby Correspondent
In a week when Parliament decided to discuss the re-imposition of the death penalty to tackle the growing crime rate in the country, opposition members wore black arm bands and brought a floral wreath to the Chamber of the House to show their displeasure at the way the government was going about tackling the problem.

The wreath incident happened on Tuesday just as sittings got underway when a group of PA parliamentarians led by Kandy district MP Mahindananda Atuthgamage along with Thilina Bandara Tennakoon, Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and several others walked into the Chambers carrying the wreath. They walked across the well of the House and placed it in front of Interior Minister John Amaratunga who was on his feet answering a question raised by the opposition. A note hung on the wreath read, "May democracy rest in peace."

The members then walked back to their seats with Speaker Joseph Michael Perera asking the Sergeant-at-Arms to have the wreath removed immediately. However before he could act, UNF"s Ratnapura district MP Mahinda Ratnatilleke lifted it and placed it in front of the seats of the Leader of the Opposition Mahinda Rajapakse and several other prominent PA members. It was then quickly removed by one of the employees.

Opposition members also unfurled several posters accusing the government of being responsible for political murders and pardoning the LTTE while suppressing political opponents. However in the commotion that followed, Chief Government Whip Mahinda Samarasinghe requested the Speaker to immediately suspend sittings and call a party leaders' meeting as the incident was a serious breach of security. Sittings were suspended for about 20 minutes and when they resumed the Speaker said what had taken place was a serious incident which called for an inquiry.

The much anticipated adjournment debate on the re-imposition of the death penalty took place on Thursday. It was introduced by Galle district legislator Gayantha Karunatilleke, one of the eight ruling party MPs who proposed the motion. The other movers were Jayantha Ketagoda, Edward Gunasekera, Olitha Premathiratne, Ravindra Randeniya,Chitra Mantilleke, P.D.Abeyratne and Sanjweewa Kaviratne. Some of the names of those proposing the motion itself drew much laughter from the opposition benches.

Legislators from both sides of the House were allowed to express their personal views for and against the motion without towing a party line as is done with most other subjects.

Opening the debate, Mr. Karunatilleke said that a country once referred to, as the "Dhammadeepaya" was today rampant with the worst possible crimes such as murder, rape, child abuse, extortions etc. He said in Japan where the death penalty was suspended for several years, the crime rate soared to such an extent that it had to be re-imposed.

Since then the crime rate had declined drastically and Japan was one of the safest countries in the world today. Jayantha Ketagoda who seconded the motion said if the matter was put to the people at a referendum, there was likely to be a overwhelming vote in favour of the re-imposition of the dearth penalty.

The Speaker too voiced his opinion on the matter stating that in his point of view the death penalty did little to deter criminals.One of the strongest opponents of the death penalty was PA Colombo district MP Dinesh Gunawardena. He said no state had the right to take away the lives of its citizens and that the death penalty was a step backwards and a violation of the UN declaration on human rights.

"Introducing the death penalty will be a black mark for our country whose image has already been tarnished by the false propaganda of the LTTE," he said. Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando said he too opposed the death penalty because from his own personal experiences he knew that miscarriages of justice do take place and innocent men have been sent to the gallows. "In my seven years as a state prosecutor, I got 15 men sent to the gallows and I cannot honesty say they were all guilty. I also got freedom for 20 who were on death row and I cannot say they were all innocent," he said.

Industries Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, himself a lawyer, too said the need of the hour was prevention and not punishment. "We need to question whether we are equipped well enough to decide between who is innocent and who is guilty, whether a penalty as high as death can be fairly meted out in Sri Lanka," he said.

Two PA parliamentarians who were strongly in favor of re-implementing the death penalty were Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and Trincomalee district MP M.K.D.S.Gaunawardena. "Looking at the scale of crimes committed in Sri Lanka today, hanging is too good a mode of punishment for offenders. We need to introduce tougher laws such as those existing in Middle Eastern nations," Mr. Gunawardena said.

He said various interested parties were talking of human rights and rights of criminals but the rights of the victims were being totally over looked. Raja Collure, PA national list MP said that death penalty was not a method that can be adopted by civilized society today. The only JVP member who spoke Kalutara district parliamentarian Nandana Gunatilleke said sending the people to the gallows would do little to stop violence unless the socio-economic causes connected to it were tackled. "Why only hang murderers? What about the corrupt, those who plunder away the country's wealth, those who cause environmental destruction? Shouldn't they also be punished with death?" he queried.

Ironically there were several members who said that if capital punishment were re-imposed, some of their own colleagues would be the first to be hanged. On Wednesday Parliament was to debate the Common Amenities Board (Amendment) Bill but the opposition objected to it saying the Bill had not been discussed in the consultative committee.

Hence sittings were adjourned early on that day but not before PA's Kandy district MP Thilina Bandara Tennakoon introduced an adjournment motion calling for action against politicians who are violating the laws and threatening public officials. Sadly most government MPs walked out when Mr. Tennakoon got up to speak. Maybe they realized trying to defend the recent conduct of several of their party members would be an impossible task.

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