The Island Editorial

Haka vs Sipi Tau

10th October 2015

A protest threw Parliament into turmoil on Thursday again with the government big guns and the UPFA rebels locking horns over a statement former Minister Dinesh Gunawardena sought to make on the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

The protesters took exception to two terms, ‘pimps’ and ‘gypsies’, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe used to describe some Opposition MPs. Interestingly, the ruckus occurred on the very day a live telecast of parliamentary proceedings began. The public who cared to watch it may have seen how their representatives conducted themselves in Parliament.

The UPFA rebels who claim to be the real Opposition and pugnacious UNP MPs have the habit of squaring up to each other at the drop of a hat. What we have, of late, witnessed in Parliament is like the famous Haka-Sipi Tau showdown which preceded a World Cup rugby encounter between All Blacks and Tongans some years ago. Their war dances turned out to be more entertaining than the ball game they played!

A few years ago, the then Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, in his wisdom, had a video wall put up close to Parliament for proceedings to be telecast live. We predicted, in these columns, that the telecast would not last long as the Opposition was sure to use it to embarrass the Rajapaksa government. And, it was discontinued after a few days. It, however, served some purpose—as a form of public entertainment with legislators bellowing rhetoric, trading abuse and exchanging blows!

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, on Thursday, lashed out at some Opposition MPs for being unruly and ridiculed them for having piggybacked on the UPPA to enter Parliament. Piggyback rides are only too common in Sri Lankan politics. After all, that is what coalition politics are all about.

The UNP piggybacked on former Army Commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka in 2010. He fell flat on his face in the race and others, too, had nasty pratfalls. They nursed their derriere for five years until an opportunity presented itself for them to piggyback on Maithripala Sirisena last January.

Time was when the Opposition MPs were insulted in a far worse manner in Parliament. Under the Rajapaksa government some years ago, the then Minister Dilan Perera called a UNP MP gigolo. Nobody staged a walk-out. Former JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe once likened the two main parties to kerb-crawlers. Little did he realise that implication of his analogy was that smaller parties including the JVP he was leading at that time were twilight women, as it were, ready to be picked up.

The government never misses an opportunity to stress the need for politicians to emulate Licchavis, who in compliance with the Buddha’s exhortations, assembled in harmony, discussed in harmony and dispersed in harmony. Licchavis did not call one another pimps, old pumpkins, gypsies, woodpeckers etc, did they?

The UPFA rebels’ protest eclipsed the most important issue raised in Parliament on Thursday. MP Gunawardena said many Central Bank (CB) officials had been transferred because they had given evidence against the CB Governor in respect of the controversial bond issue. He considered it an instance of political victimisation. The government vehemently denied the charge, claiming that the transfers were routine. Issues of this nature should be debated in Parliament as there is no other way to clear doubts in the minds of the people. The government said there was a need for a parliamentary select committee to inquire into the alleged malpractices at the CBSL under the Rajapaksa government. It must do so forthwith. The people have a right to know what has been happening at that institution.

Frequent clashes between the UPFA rebels and the government point to the fact that the national government is not properly cemented and the political marriage between the UNP and the SLFP is under severe strain. The UPFA dissidents are all out to consolidate their position as the de facto Opposition with the TNA and the JVP not making an effort to take on the government the way they should, for obvious reasons.

As for the allegation that the Opposition MPs’ rights are being suppressed, one may say the boot is on the other foot. A party cannot remain in power till kingdom come. What befell the Rajapaksa government is a case in point. It behoves the wielders of power to act with responsibility without running roughshod over their opponents.