A vibrant Opposition, the need of the hour

By Jaliya WIJEKOON

The origin of parliamentary democracy goes back many centuries to Great Britain where it was found. Eventually it had been adopted by parts of the global community as the most suitable form of government.

Prior to the Second World War a large number of countries, in the East and the West, were under the British Empire and after winning independence all of them absorbed parliamentary democracy, and started governing their countries based on democratic policies and principles.

Dr. N. M. Perera	S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
Sirimavo Bandaranaike	J. R. Jayawardena
Mahinda Rajapaksa	Ranil Wickramasinghe

At present most of the developing and developed countries have chosen democracy as their form of government.

Democracy

Democracy is not an English word but a combination of two Greek terms DEMOS and CRATHOS. In Greek Demos means People and Crathos means rule. These Greek terms formed the English word Democracy which means People's Rule.

For democracy to function effectively there should be two main components or integral parts-the ruling party and the Opposition. It has been observed in most countries in the recent past that some democratic parties formed coalitions with other parties to capture power, at times with the support of even Opposition members which results in making the Opposition weak, which is not a good trend in parliamentary democracy.

Great Britain was the first to practise parliamentary democracy, yielding more powers to Parliament through the Magna Carta.

Thereafter democracy was strengthened and practised in its purest form in the United Kingdom irrespective of the party in power.

Role of Opposition

The Opposition has a major role to play in the larger interest of the nation under a democratic form of government. The Opposition is expected to maintain a good rapport with the ruling party while keeping a close tab on all affairs. The Opposition should always co-operate with the government in settling national issues or finding solutions to the problems which threaten national security or the country's territorial integrity, putting aside party policies temporarily in the larger interests of the nation.

This democratic character was quite evident in the United Kingdom during the Second World War that Clement Atlee as the Opposition Leader of the British Parliament extended his fullest support to Sir Winston Churchill, the then Prime Minister to win the war for Britons.

The Opposition Leader of Sri Lanka during 1970-1977 J.R. Jayewardene also extended his unconditional support to Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike to crush the 1971 JVP insurrection against the government.

There have been several instances in countries which have democratic form of governments when the Opposition parties generously saved the ruling parties from political catastrophes.

The Opposition is also expected to actively take part in Select Committees on various vital issues and make a contribution for cleaner administration. Constructive criticism by the Opposition on important matters which affect the future of the country is always expected to prevent unhealthy measures being implemented by the ruling party. The Opposition should always scrutinise the activities of all ministries and departments and divulge the relevant and accurate information before the public to disallow the authorities to act in any arbitrary manner which might be detrimental to any section or segment of its stakeholders.

The Opposition has a greater responsibility to see that the government maintains the cost of living in the country which directly affects the masses. Some of the main responsibilities of a vibrant Opposition have been highlighted and therefore, the Opposition party is logically termed as the Watchdog of the Nation. In the eyes of political analysts there is a popular maxim that says 'Today's Opposition is tomorrow's ruling party.'

If pure democracy is found in any country, the transfer of power is always negotiated with the grace of an evening tea party.

Illustrious Opposition leaders

Sri Lanka had been governed for over six decades on parliamentary democracy and we have had some illustrious Opposition Leaders of which only four became the national leaders at subsequent elections.

Dr. N.M. Perera was the first Opposition Leader of Independent Ceylon when D.S. Senanayake was the Prime Minister. Dr. N.M. discharged his duties as the first Opposition Leader quite admirably which was appreciated even by the ruling party at times. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike became the Opposition Leader when Sir John became the Prime Minister and S.W.R.D. dramatically marshalled all progressive forces and defeated the ruling UNP at the subsequent election overwhelmingly and became the Prime Minister with his far-sighted vision.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the Opposition Leader in 1965 when Dudley Senanayake was elected Prime Minister and in the subsequent election in 1970 she became the Prime Minister again with the support of Felix Dias Bandaranaike, defeating Dudley's government, reducing its strength to a mere 16 members in the House.

Dudley Senanayake passed away in 1973 and J.R. Jayewardene, the undisputed deputy leader of the party, was unanimously appointed as the party leader; he was already the Opposition Leader. J.R.Jayewardene with his ocean of knowledge of politics and parliamentary democracy discharged his duties admirably as the Opposition Leader.

Together with Sirimavo Bandaranaike, he defeated the unlawful uprising in 1971 and he totally opposed the government extending its term by two years in 1975. In 1975 he resigned his seat as a mark of protest and scored a resounding victory at the by-election.

Whilst discharging his duties as the Opposition Leader, he made sweeping developing changes in the party structure and consolidated the membership in an unprecedented manner to face the forthcoming election. He crisscrossed every nook and corner of the country and mobilised the masses against the government whose popularity was on the wane due to the rising cost of living and scarcity of essential foodstuffs, following the closed door economic policies.

With his far-sighted vision and astute leadership qualities JRJ mustered a historic five-sixth majority at the 1977 election. He formed a very effective Cabinet with his lieutenants and ruled the country, effecting constitutional changes according to his whims and fancies.

Debacle of Opposition

After 17 years of UNP rule, there was a change of government and the United National Party became the main Opposition in Parliament.

Since then the UNP had cut a sorry figure except for a short stint of two years when Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected Prime Minister at the 2001 General Election. Political analysts may cite numerous reasons for the downfall of the main Opposition party, the UNP.

Nevertheless it is appropriate to scrutinise the circumstances which had caused its erosion. The country was ravaged by the nearly three decade LTTE battle which devastated approximately one-third of the country and the mentality and day-to-day life of 90 percent of the entire population irrespective of caste, creed, race or nationality. People from all walks of life were under tension and uncertainty for a long time due to the protracted conflict which had caused immeasurable sorrow, trauma, unbearable shocks and irreparable losses to thousands of people across the country.

The negative attitude of the main Opposition UNP towards this vital national issue was the foremost reason for this debacle. Some Opposition members humiliated the achievements of the valiant Security Forces when the LTTE battle was at its peak.

The Opposition grossly overestimated the LTTE's military strength and did not repose confidence in Sri Lanka's Security Forces to militarily crush them while President Mahinda Rajapaksa was determined to eradicate the menace.

On May 19, 2009 people far and wide heaved a sigh of relief which eventually paid rich dividends for President Rajapaksa to return to power for the second term which will officially begin from November this year.

The subsequent general election was a cake walk for the Rajapaksa government which debilitated the main Opposition UNP further.

Leadership threatened

Following the successive defeats of the United National Party, its leadership has been challenged by certain party stalwarts and now it is in a chaotic situation with different opinions emanating from different quarters amidst a party reorganisational process.

The party's incumbent leader and all senior members should realise that the need of the hour is not a leadership tussle but to reach a compromise and maintain unity among its membership to save the grand old party from further deterioration.

Past mistakes

The UNP should realise its past mistakes and explore the possibility of bouncing back at a future election by venturing into realistic and viable programs of work which should go down to grass rootslevel in all corners of the country. The entire party mechanism should be restructured to cater to the present day needs with the consultation, compromise and consensus of all stakeholders.

Unity vital

The unity of the Opposition is of paramount importance in reorganising the party to march forward. The ground work should be done within a scheduled time frame on an electoral basis and enhance it to provincial and national level eventually to project an effective challenge at a future election.

Alternative, viable and attractive programs on all issues should be formulated properly by the policy-making body of the party and unanimously approved by the membership at a national convention. Although the number of heads in the Opposition is limited everybody in the House and other senior and prominent supporters of the party should be delegated with organisational and development activities of the party with time frames to achieve the desired goals.

The incumbent party leader and all other party stalwarts should sink petty differences and work as a single unit to put the party back on track.