by T. Sabaranam, June 9, 2004
Weekly Review
Parliamentary Terrorism sounds somewhat funny and confusing. I did not coin it. I t was coined by a Buddhist monk legislator, the Venerable Ellawel Thera. He coined it to encapsulate Tuesday’s uproar and the recent events in the Sri Lankan parliament, where the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), still struggling to obtain a majority, tried to prevent an opposition member from taking his oaths this week.
I am an old hand in parliamentary reporting and lobby writing. I am thus drugged to the stale phrase ‘parliamentary democracy.’ And, in those olden days of the late ‘sixties to early ‘eighties,’ parliamentary debates were solemn and a new member’s oath-taking hallowed.
The new member is, in keeping with the tradition, asked to sit in a seat near the main entrance of the chamber, where he would sit till the Speaker summons him to take his oaths. When summoned he walks down the well of the House to the Speaker and his oath is administered. The entire House stands up and bows to the new member after he had taken the oath. The new Member of Parliament bows to them in return. He was then conducted to his chair.
On Tuesday, this sacred ritual was turned into a rowdy scene by government parliamentarians.In keeping with tradition the newly nominated parliamentarian from the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the Venerable Akmeemana Dayaratna Thera, was in the seat near the main entrance before the Speaker entered the chamber. And the Speaker, sticking to custom, summoned him to administer the oath of office.
I did not go to parliament. Now, important proceedings are telecast. I watched the special news bulletin on a private television.
Newsreader: Parliament met this morning at 10 o’clock with Speaker W. J. M. Lokubandara in the chair.
The visual backed up the words. It showed the Sergeant-at-Arms, in his ceremonial dress, solemnly carrying the Mace and placing it with veneration on the special pedestal before the Speaker’s Chair. The Speaker, who walked behind the Mace, the symbol of authority of Parliament, goes to the Chair. MPs stand. Speaker bows to the government MPs and then to the opposition MPs. They bow to him. Speaker takes his seat and MPs follow suit.
Newsreader: Speaker called the newly nominated parliamentarian Jathika Hela Urumaya Venerable Akmeemana Dayaratna Thera to take his oaths.
Visual: The new MP stands up, hesitates and waits.
Newsreader: Leader of the House Jayaraj Fernandopulle objects to the swearing in, saying that there is an injunction by the Colombo District Court restraining the Venerable Monk from taking oaths. Speaker rules that the court had not intimated the restraining order to him or the Secretary General of Parliament. The Venerable monk begins to walk towards the chair.
Visuals back these words.
Newsreader: You can watch the rest of the proceedings.
For over 15 minutes, the television camera was focused on the well of the House. It was interrupted only for a few seconds when it was turned to the gallery from where shocked school children and a few elders were evacuated. Parliament officials sent the children out to prevent them from watching the unruly behaviour of their rulers.
I will give you a brief sketch of what I saw during those disturbing 15 minutes.
The yellow-robed monk walks towards the chair through the well of the House. Some government MPs run to the well of the House and block him, hurling insults. The monk stands unable to move forward. Some opposition MPs rush to help the monk. I spotted former Hindu Affairs Minister Maheswaran leading the opposition group.
There is a scuffle. Both groups of MPs wrestle with each other. They exchange blows. Maheswaran pushes his way through and puts his hands round the monk to protect him from the government MPs. Other opposition MPs form two rings around Maheswaran. The group moves towards the Chair.
The government MPs are infuriated. They push, they shout, they scream and exchange blows.
The Sergeant-at-Arms, as the custodian of the MPs, pushes the government MPs to help the monk ,and the protective ring that surrounded him, to move towards the Speaker.
Two deputy ministers are seen pulling the monk’s robes. Maheswaran and the parliamentarian shield prevent it. They manage to move the monk to the Speaker. The monk takes his oath. That could be clearly heard.
“Oath taking is not valid. The Mace is missing,” chant government MPs.
“Why?” queries the Speaker.
“The Mace is missing”
Speaker’s appeal to the MPs who took away the Mace to bring it back could be heard despite the deafening din.
Newsreader: The Mace is lost. The Mace is Missing. Speaker is asking those who had taken it to keep it back in its place. He has given three minutes. He had said if the Mace was not brought back he would suspend the sittings. Mace was not brought. Speaker announces he had called a party leaders meeting and suspends the meeting for 15 minutes.
The telecast of Tuesday’s parliamentary proceedings was over. In the telecast, the privately owned television station that I watched did not show the assault scenes. The new MP, Ven. Akmeemana Dayaratne, was kicked.His colleague, Ven. Kolonnawe Sri Sumangala was pushed, punched and assaulted.
The two injured monks were admitted to Sri Jayawardhenapura Hospital. Ven. Dayaratne said he was assaulted and abused in filth. Ven. Sumangala said he was punched and assaulted.
”I’ve never seen anything so disgraceful during my many years of service in the legislature,” one parliament official told reporters. ”It was unbelievable.”
Senior parliamentary reporters agree. Thursday’s mayhem was the worst in Sri Lankan parliamentary history.
Anti- democratic trends
The proceedings of the party leaders’ meeting in the Speaker’s Chamber and the search parliament officials made for the Mace were not televised.The officials found the hefty Mace made of ebony abandoned in the lobby. Deputy Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage had carried it away when others were busy with the brawl. He thought that that would prevent the swearing in.
The party leaders’ meeting also stormy. It ended in turmoil. JVP parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa and the JHU’s Aturaliye Ratana Thera fought a verbal duel. UPFA leaders shouted that the Speaker should revoke the oath-taking. The Speaker said “No.” He resumed the session at 2.30 p.m. and announced its adjournment till 20 July.
Tuesday’s turmoil was the third of a series of that began on 22 April, the day the parliament elected the Speaker. The sittings on that day began with the complaint from the JHU that two of its nine lawmakers were abducted by the government. Two of its legislators sat with the government and voted for government nominee D. E. W. Gunasekera. Infuriated, the JHU, which had decided to be neutral during the election of the Speaker, decided to ask two of its monk legislators to vote for Lokkubandara, the opposition candidate, to neutralize the two ‘abducted’ votes. This upset the government strategy and the UFPA parliamentarians started disturbing the election. They raised objections. They sat in the well of the House. They seized the ballot box. They also abused the monks.
Government legislators continued their attack on JHU members on 18 May. The provocation was the JHU’s counter operation. JHU deputy leader Ven. Omalpe Sobitha Thera took Ven. Kataluwe Ratnaseeha Thera, one of the two who the JHU said was abducted by the government to the Speaker. Ven. Ratnaseha Thera told the Speaker that he was resigning to give way to another colleague. The Speaker’s announcement thatVen. Ratnaseeha Thera had resigned caused a furor. Government MPs protested. They said the JHU had abducted and forced him to resign. The Speaker overruled the objection. Government members disturbed the proceedings. The Speaker adjourned parliament until Tuesday 8 June. Tuesday’s uproar was the sequel.
A political commentator saw in these tumults
The Impact
Analysts see the following impacts from this worrying trend:
dissident Sri Lanka Muslim Congress parliamentarians, Hussain Baila, Risard Badiudin and Najeeb Abdul Majeed) of the total 225 members. The combined opposition has 114 (excluding the Speaker).
The government’s only hope is a massive victory at the 10 July Provincial Council elections. But the mood of the people is not that good. They look disenchanted with the JVP – SLFP coalition. The fear of war is creeping into their psychosis. War, they say openly, might be disastrous. Economic gloom seems to be on the horizon. The prospects of foreign aid is dwindling. The Sri Lankan rupee has lost value against all foreign currencies over the last week. The US dollar went above Rs. 100 in foreign exchange markets on Tuesday. The cost of living is soaring. Is the UNP capable of cashing in on this changing mood of the people?
Peace Prospects
It looks Kumaratunga has sprung a second surprise this (Wednesday) evening?She has invited the Tamil United Alliance (TNA) for a meeting with her at 8 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday). The TNA met immediately thereafter and decided to accept the invitation. The TNA decided that all 22 legislators should attend the meeting.
TNA leader R. Sampanthan said, “We will ask the President three things: commence the peace talks immediately, talk only about institutionalizing the Interim Self Governing Authority, help bring back normalcy in the north-east.”
The decision to accept any invitation for talks was taken on Saturday at a consultation TNA lawmakers had with the LTTE political leadership at Kilinochchi. The meeting also decided that TNA should visit India and cultivate the new Indian leadership.
The TNA’s meeting with Kumaratunga is seen by political analysts as a very important development. That would help the TNA legislators, as members who represent the people and who acknowledge the LTTE as the sole representatives of the Tamil people, to build bridges between the governments that had banned the LTTE and the LTTE. This is specially so in the case of India.
With the shift in the Indian policy towards the LTTE and the people of the northeast the role of the TNA is becoming significant. India is now ready to assist in the rehabilitation of the northeast. It is also ready to assist Norway to work toward a solution to the Tamil and Muslim problems.
Political analyst Kumar Rupasinghe says – “India, besides assisting in the rehabilitation of the northeast, could be expected to assist Norway in determining the parameters of the solution and in helping to resolve the Muslim problem.”
We must note that Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh has for the first time said that the basis of the solution should be federalism. I noted in my column last week the undertaking given by Natwar Singh that talks about the defence treaty with Sri Lanka would be made known to the leaders of Tamil Nadu. >
This undertaking was reinforced by Central Minister Pranab Mukerjee. I quote the question asked and the answer he gave when he was in Tamil Nadu on Saturday,
Question: Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was in New Delhi. Did you talk to him about a defence treaty with Sri Lanka?
Answer: The Sri Lankan Minister was there in New Delhi. We discussed many matters. The decision about entering a defence treaty or any other treaty with Sri Lanka would be taken only after consulting the leaders of all the parties in the government and with their agreement.
The most important result of the Indian policy change is this: Even the JVP has stopped talking of Indian mediation.
Originally posted June 10, 2004