Lobby

It’s not everyday that the swearing in of a new Member of Parliament (MP) generates so much excitement and anticipation but when the new entrant happens to be the all powerful brother of the President, it is to be expected.

And government members showed they have no qualms in making Basil Rohana Rajapaksa feel more than welcome to their fraternity when he entered the Chambers on Wednesday morning ahead of his swearing-in as a National List MP. He was given a near heroe’s welcome, with many MPs falling over each other to congratulate him on his appointment. Tight handshakes and hugs were the order of the day.

However, UNP MPs had their own ideas about how to welcome Mr. Rajapaksa and played the spoilers on the happy occasion by holding up posters with 10 % written on them as Mr. Rajapaksa took his oaths. This infuriated Government MPs, particularly Chief Government Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle who jumped to his feet to express his revulsion at the behaviour of the UNP MPs. “This is the first time in parliamentary history that an MP’s swearing-in has been marred in this manner,” he shouted, as several of his colleagues joined the fray in expressing their displeasure. Mr. Fernandopulle also directed his wrath at Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara for failing to condemn the UNP action.

Unable to contain the situation. the Speaker, suspended sittings for ten minutes and returned when things had cooled down. He condemned not only the UNP action but also the Chief Whip’s reactions. “Does Parliament have to fall to an even lower depth than it already has?” asked the visibly troubled Speaker. And such was the entry of Basil Rajapaksa into the turbulent world of Sri Lankan parliamentary politics.

That was the first day, but more was to follow the next day for Mr. Rajapaksa had walked right into the eye of a political storm with his friends-turned-foes, Sripathi Sooriyaaracahi and Mangala Samaraweera all geared up to take him on by moving a motion to set up a select committee to probe an alleged deal with the LTTE prior to the 2005 presidential elections, which they say helped secure the presidency for Mahinda Rajapaksa and in which deal Basil Rajapaksa was allegedly a key player.

Not to be outsmarted by the two, once prominent members of their own government, Leader of the House Nimal Siripala De Silva moved an amendment to Mr.Suriyaarachchi's motion to enable the Committee to probe alleged pacts entered into by “the Presidents and Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka and the LTTE” and “financial, material and other forms of assistance granted from January 1, 1989 to date (20.09.2007).” Strangely there is no reference to a President in Mr.Sooriyaarachchi’s motion. It refers to a secret pact between the LTTE and some other persons. Who these “other persons” are, it does not specify.

The debate on the motion gave Mr. Rajapaksa the opportunity to deny any knowledge of such a deal. Interrupting former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera who was on his feet, Mr. Rajapaksa said he had neither made any deal with the LTTE nor had gone for any such talks.

But the sheer hostility the allegations had generated amongst some government members towards two of their former colleagues was crystal clear. One in particular among them was Minister (Non-Cabinet) Mahindananda Aluthgamage whose use of choice language and behaviour during the debate was enough to make any right-thinking citizen of this country hide his face in shame.

With absolutely no regard for the fact that there were children among visitors to the public gallery and four Buddhist monks seated a few rows behind him, he launched contemptuous attacks on Mr.Samarweera in particular making references to the man’s parents and his personal life. One could only wonder if the Deputy Minister had forgotten he was in Parliament, where each word spoken is recorded in Hansard and kept for posterity. His speech might have gone down well at a public rally to a crowd of his political supporters but Parliament is a place for making laws, addressing peoples’ grievances and controlling public finance and not settling personal scores. But understanding their responsibilities towards their electors is asking too much from many of our Legislators.

A great part of Mr.Aluthgamage’s and some of his colleagues’ hysterics could be directly related to the presence of the President’s newly sent envoy to Parliament. But even if he tried, Minister of Justice Dilan Perera could not outdo his colleague Mr. Aluthgamage in this competition. He did try nonetheless, and even though he could not stoop so low, the thumbs up sign of approval that Mr. Perera got from Mr. Rajapaksa on his way out of the Chamber after finishing his speech means he too would have performed to expected standards.

Even a puppeteer pulling the strings may not have got the puppets to dance to his tune in the manner in which some MPs were willing to do to make a favourable impression on Mr. Rajapaksa who made it a point to sit through the entire day’s debate seemingly bemused much of the time.

It is sad that none of the other members present in the House, irrespective of which party they belong to, stood up to protest at the obscene use of language. The silence of the monk MPs, who are now a part of this government and who came into Parliament with the promise of creating a “Dharmarajaya” was deafening. A little reminder to the Honourable Members about Lord Buddha’s teaching on “Right Speech” would do them no harm.

The right of government members to criticise their former colleagues and question their motivation in exposing an alleged deal which was made when they were very much a part of this government cannot be questioned. As to why Mr. Samaraweera and Mr.Sooriyaarachchi waited till they were sacked by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to come out with the allegations is reason enough to cast doubts that they are driven more by personal vindictiveness and not national interests in this matter.. But maintaining basic decency when speaking in the Legislature is not a matter that can be compromised, however bitter they maybe towards their antagonists.

Hurling abuses is easy, but had the government members addressed the question before the House and directed their negative energy to tear down the credibility of the charges that have been levelled in the motion, it would have served them well. What their hostility has done instead is give the impression that the Government is shying away from the allegations levelled at it instead of facing them head on.

Enter Basil and House goes berserk