Minister Harin Fernando regrets use of unparliamentary language:

Word indignity

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Unparliamentary language used by Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure Minister Harin Fernando during a heated exchange of words in Parliament on May 18 with UPFA Kandy District MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage led the way for the Joint Opposition to make a hue and cry on the floor of the House, citing the Minister’s conduct as being a violation of Standing Orders.

However, Minister Fernando tendered an apology in Parliament on Wednesday (May 25) for his lapse in maintaining the dignity of the House. In an interview with the Sunday Observer, the Minister said the public had a bad impression about politicians and have lost confidence in them. “Politics is reduced to mud slinging. Politics should be based on policies and principles, only then will it change the public perception of politicians.”

Q: You are in the midst of a storm over the use of bad language in Parliament, directed at a member of the Joint Opposition. As a young politician, looked up by the younger generation, shouldn’t you set a better example?

A: Of course. That is why I tendered an apology in Parliament and said that I regret the incident. Having said that, I am straight forward and not a person who has a double tongue. Just because I came to Parliament, I am not going to change.

Being a rugby player in my school days, if somebody hits me, I would always retaliate. If somebody talks in bad language to me, I would not put my head down and that has been my nature. But I need to understand that I am in Parliament.

If you take ten people, seven will react and three will not. Unfortunately, I belong to the seven. I shouldn’t have used unparliamentary language in Parliament. That is why I tendered an apology. I have to make sure that I will not repeat it, because I have to go a long way in my political career and I am only 36-years-old.

Q: This is the first time in recent times, a Parliamentarian has tendered an apology on the floor of the House over the use of unparliamentary language against an Opposition MP. What led you to tender an apology?

A: To be honest, I regret the incident. As a human being, sometimes I lose my temper when the Joint Opposition continuously resorts to bad language while being on the government side. Unfortunately, on that day, I didn’t realise the mike was on when I reacted that way. I shouldn’t have done it in that august assembly.

Parliament is a revered place, but unfortunately it has lost its reverence. I think being a young MP as well as a Cabinet Minister, I should have controlled myself.

That is why I thought I should tender an open apology to this august assembly.

I was ready to undergo any punishment meted out in this regard.

However, the Speaker has decided that no punishment would be meted out as I tendered an apology.

Let’s hope it won’t happen again. I think a code of conduct and ethics are necessary in Parliament because the behaviour is getting bad to worse.

The quality of debates are deteriorating and has become personal. They don’t even respect the Chair. They forget about young MPs, backbenchers and Cabinet Ministers and sometimes use unparliamentary language even on the Prime Minister. Unfortunately, that doesn’t get reported. If a Government Minister or an MP says something, it is reported with banner headlines.

Q: Do you think it is good to amend Parliamentary Standing Orders and also the Code of Conduct for MPs to reflect these issues?

A: We should look at this as a core issue. I think the Speaker is going to make necessary amendments and be strict about it. The Speaker also said there was video evidence where some MPs who behaved in an unruly manner when a government official’s documents were taken away by force.

The Speaker in this case too asked them to tender an apology and that he was willing to forgive them, but they don’t want to tender an apology.

The public respects Parliament. We are elected to Parliament by the people. Right now, my children look at Parliamentarians as a pack of jokers. This perception has to be changed. If we want to be respected, we must begin with ourselves.

Q: Previously, MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara was reported to have used expletives in Parliament and there were moves to prevent such incidents. But these don’t seem to have worked? Do you see double standards in the way your incident was treated by the Joint Opposition?

A: Of course. In my case, I could have easily said I didn’t say those words because there was no video evidence and many MPs were around me at that time and I could have pointed a finger at anybody who was there.

But my conscience did not permit me to do so. We should be straight and get together regardless of party politics to clean the bad aspects in the political system and learn to respect another person’s opinion.

Politically, we may have differences. Parliament is a place where MPs fight for their opinions. Every MP should be given the due respect, but that doesn’t happen in Parliament.

Even in the so-called developed countries, this is a common phenomenon. Sometimes, you get emotional and is stressful.

When you get offended and somebody on the other side uses bad language and you retaliate. What we don’t realise is that the Opposition members do it in a way that we lose out temper and resort to unwanted things.

Q: There were several incidents in Parliament recently where discipline was breached. What should be done to prevent these incidents ?

A: As I said earlier, a Code of Conduct, Code of Ethics and Standing Orders have to be strengthened. We must make sure that we are firm in what we do and how the future generation would look at Parliament. The way forward is that all parties should reach a consensus on Standing Orders and a Code of Conduct for MPs.

Q: Many old timers say the Parliaments of yesteryear had brilliant debates and discipline but these standards have dropped now. Do you agree?

A: Absolutely. When I first came to Parliament in 2010, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe gave me a big book to read about Parliament debates. We don’t use the Parliament library or other useful resources available in Parliament anymore. Every MP should be made aware about the responsibility of a Parliamentarian. We make a huge struggle to come to Parliament. From the moment we enter Parliament, we must realise that we are in this august assembly. Speaker Karu Jayasuriya is making a valiant effort to make MPs understand their roles in Parliament.

Q:What action should be taken to improve the dignity and decorum of the House regardless of political difference?

A: The Opposition and the Government MPs should regularly attend Parliament sittings. Two hundred and twenty five MPs have to attend only eight days of sittings per month. Legislators should know what society expects of them.

At present, there is a bad perception about politicians and the public has lost confidence in politicians.

Fortunately, since we are a developing country and have a 70 percent voter turnout at a national election. In developed countries, this is less than 50 percent. However, this percentage will come down soon because the public has lost faith in politicians, Parliament and politics.

Politicians need to respect the job they are doing. It has to begin in Parliament.

We need to respect our opponents and let them speak regardless of political differences. We should not be bothered about a politician’s personal life.

At present Parliament debates have stooped down to the level of mud-slinging. Debates should be based on policies and principles. It would change the people’s perception of politicians. We are also trying to digitalise Parliament and give sophisticated facilities to Parliamentarians.

Q: Do you think that more live television coverage of parliamentary proceedings will help control the behaviour of MPs ?

A: Of course. When I was in Parliament from 2010 to 2015, Parliament videos were never released unless they were edited. Now, parliamentary proceedings can be viewed live. Even this particular incident went on social media. They put me in a spot and made me realise my mistake.

Obviously, it is good that proceedings are telecast live. But the former government edited everything. They spoke so much of bad stuff to us and we were ridiculed. Every time when we got on our feet to speak those days, they hit us and threw water bottles at us.

But that was never highlighted because there was no live coverage. But the Yahapalanaya government ensured live coverage. In sharp contrast, we as members of the Yahapalanaya government are ready to accept punishment if we go wrong.