Week in Parliament – With Uditha Kumarasingha

Winding up speech best in history

The budget 2011 passed in Parliament on Friday with an overwhelming majority of 116 votes signified the President’s utmost commitment on behalf of the nation. He made a surprise visit to Parliament on December 10 to deliver the winding up speech of the Committee Stage debate on the budget 2011 responding to queries highlighted by the Opposition Parliamentarians during the budget debate.

The President’s winding up speech would go down in parliamentary history as an occasion where the Head of the State as Finance Minister was present in Parliament to respond to criticisms levelled by the Parliamentarians at the winding up of a budget debate.

The President while replying to queries raised by the Opposition members, informed the House of the significant achievements made by the Government and its future program to take forward the country to realising the dream of making the country the “wonder of Asia”. The President who is committed to safeguard the democracy made an invitation to the Opposition to join hands with the Government to develop the country irrespective of political differences.

The President said that even though some people had described the budget 2011 as progressive others had quarried whether the Government would be able to implement the budget proposals. The development of each village within the next three years won’t be a challenge to the Government as it had completed its humanitarian mission in Mavilaru and later liberated the entire Northern and the Eastern provinces from the clutches of terrorism.

The President told the House that the country was freed from the decades old terrorism due to Government’s firm commitment to the cause of national freedom. The President explained in detail how the Government implemented a full financial year programme in 2010 due to the significant victory achieved against terrorism. However the President drew the attention of the House on the attempts made by a small group of Opposition MPs in their speeches to revive communalism and terrorism in the country.

The President in his winding up speech explained the close link between the attempts made by pro-LTTE elements to cancel his address to the Oxford Union and the alleged war crime charges. The President warned the House about a conspiracy being hatched by certain elements to create rift among the Security Forces.

A few days after the Government accused UNP MP Jayalath Jawawardene of participating in an anti-Sri Lanka protest in London, a tense situation erupted in the House on Monday during the Committee Stage due to a controversial statement made by UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya to a weekly English newspaper that Sri Lanka should probe war crime allegations. This controversial statement by the MP turned to be the hot topic for the week. The Government members vehemently condemned the statement and warned the Opposition of bringing in a No-confidence motion against the MP.

However, the internal crisis within the UNP once again came to light when the UNP MP Sajith Premadasa said that war crimes were committed only by the LTTE in Sri Lanka responding to a query raised by Construction and Engineering Services Minister Wimal Weerawansa. The statement made by MP Premadasa was endorsed by the Government members. Jayasuriya’s controversial statement opened flood gates for both the Government and the Opposition members to talk about genuine patriots and traitors.

Environment Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa was critical about the double standards maintained by the UNP locally and internationally. He said when MP Premadasa expresses one point of view in Sri Lanka, another faction of the UNP paints a completely different picture to foreigners. The UPFA Leaders held a special press briefing in the Parliamentary Complex on Monday and explained to the media on the seriousness of the statement made by MP Jayasuriya. They queried why the MP didn’t make this statement to a Sinhala newspaper?

They said that the statement catered to the interests of the international community and undermined the great victory achieved by the Sri Lankan Security Forces against LTTE terrorism. MP Jayasuriya came up with the point that he had not referred to any war crimes in his statement and reiterated that it was the headline given by the newspaper concerned. Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha countered that the headline had correctly summarised the content.

The Minister further said that the headline had been given based on the body of the story. The issue was highlighted several occasions during the Committee Stage debate. Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa suspended the sittings for 20 minutes on Wednesday when pandemonium broke out when MP Jayasuriya got up to make a clarification. The MPs exchanged verbal abuse and as the situation developed into a turmoil, the Speaker suspended the sittings around 10.35 and left the Chamber. Even after the suspension, the MPs remained inside the chamber shouting at each other.

When the House resumed, Jayasuriya in his clarification accused the Government of creating issues to cover up its inability to bring solutions to the burning problems in the country. The MP said that the Government was in a witchhunt against him and brought up an issue so that the people would forget their problems for a while.

MP Jayasuriya responding to Minister Weerawansa told him that he would never be able to change his national dress or his patriotism and stressed the importance of engaging in politics in a dignified manner. The MP described himself as a true patriot but without the patriotic label. Jayasuriya in his hard-hitting speech told the House that he was really perturbed over the accusation levelled against him as he was a person who always raised his hand against terrorism.

Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne spoke about true patriots and added that every one wears the national dress and sports the emblem of national flag, one can’t be a true patriot. A genuine patriot should first think of his country. If Karu Jayasuriya wears the national dress he can’t be the UNP Leader. The UNP is not with the Southern or Northern people, it is with foreigners and foreign ambassadors, he said.

The Parliamentarians during their speeches drew the attention of the House to the cancellation of President’s speech to the Oxford Union. UNP MP Lakshman Kiriella queried as to why the External Affairs Ministry failed to advise the President not to go to London if the diplomatic sources had not favoured such a trip. The MP also said as a former Oxford graduate External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris should have advised the President not to visit London.