Editorial

24th May 1998

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Birds of a feather fly together

If we were to go by what the gov- ernment benches were accusing the Opposition of or vice - versa - during the AirLanka - Emirates deal debate in Parliament on Tuesday, the people may be excused if they come to the conclusion that most, if not all politicians are rogues.

While many people who saw the debate live on TV say that the way some of the MPs behaved was a disgrace, to those familar with Parliamentary democracy it was not at least, like in some other Parliaments. They didn't catch each other by the throat and punch them in the nose.

No doubt the Opposition took the advantage of live broadcast to throw mud and sling accusations at the highest in the land, and the Chair controlling proceedings went to the limits in exercising Standing Orders to stop the President's name being mentioned-but that is democracy.

That apart, the live debate gave some pep to Parliamentary democracy in this country. Those days daily newspapers devoted chunks of their space for proceedings and people were interested in its deliberations. Now that interest has waned, and it would be prudent to consider live TV coverage of key issues.

It's done in other countries and the people will judge the conduct of the MPs as time goes by. But we have our doubts that the Government would be brave enough to take this course.

Going into the core issues of the debate what was very clear was that Government Ministers were handling a brief which they were not familiar with.

Minister G.L. Peiris had earlier made a solemn promise on the floor of Parliament that he would give the details of the AirLanka - Emirates agreement before it was signed, or by February 15. He did not do that.

Had he done it or if Parliament discussed the agreement beforehand, this country would have been the beneficiary. Transparency would have been established and good Government proved.

Possibly Emirates would not have liked it. Now there will always be the question "who took the millions of dollars in commissions" for the Airbuses.

The management of AirLanka has indeed been a sad story in the chapters of post-independent Sri Lanka. As the leader of the opposition said it is more than symbolic that while we celebrate 50 years of Independence from foreign rule we have handed over our national carrier to a foreign airline

Throughout the years of UNP rule and during the PA's four years AirLanka's directorate has been packed with cronies cashing political and financial IOUs. It was not run as a commercial airline. In Parliament that day, a Government Minister accused the chairman of AirLanka of giving documents and files to the opposition. And yet he remains in office. Nowadays the practice of resigning on moral grounds or even when exposed for some misdeed is buried somewhere in the archaelogical ruins of Sri Lanka.

The story of AirLanka is a s0.ad indictment of the way our politicians from both sides of the House have managed the Sri Lankan economy in general and our national carrier in particular.

Political Column

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