Despite the internal conflict in the SLMC, its members voted for the Budget along with members of the TNA while the PA and JVP members voted against it. A notable absentee at voting time was the SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem.

Even though Parliament sessions would have ended with the passage of the third reading of the Appropriation Bill, there was an exception this year with sittings continuing for an extra day to enable the government to pass the Board of Investment Bill and amendments to the Monetary Law and Customs Bills.

The votes of two of the most important ministries were up for discussion on Monday and Tuesday, namely the Defence and Finance Ministries respectively. But what was surprising about the debates was the lacklustre nature in which they were conducted.

The Defence Ministry vote which normally draws a lot of attention, didn't seem to inspire many of the speakers, both on the government and opposition benches.

Polonnaruwa District parliamentarian Maithripala Sirisena who opened the debate on the Defence Ministry vote, made a far from exceptional speech dealing at length with the PA's concern regarding the on going peace process followed by an equally uninspiring speech by Minister of Small Holder Development Susantha Punchinilame.

They were followed by Jaffna's TNA member Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, who informed the House that although the Alliance supported the government's peace efforts, it was unable to support the Defence Ministry votes and would abstain from voting as they were unsatisfied with the ground situation in the north and east.

Mr. Ponnambalam also took the opportunity to speak at length on the prevention of terrorism Act that he described as "the most savage piece of legislation" and said it should be repealed. "The aspirations of the Tamil people cannot be wished away by legislative oppression, which the PTA clearly is. The only way the discontent and the resulting violence can be brought to an end, is by finding a negotiated settlement to the Tamil national question, by meeting the aspirations of the Tamil man, which we believe the government is committed to doing," he said.

It was only the Colombo district JVP legislator Wimal Weerawansa who had the attention of fellow MPs and those in the galleries with his hard hitting speech against the government's all obliging policy towards the LTTE. "The UNF has written off the national security of this country. There cannot be a minister of defence in this country now. There can be only a minister of non-Defence," he charged.

He said the government justified giving into the many demands of the LTTE , by saying it had fought a brutal civil war for 20 years and was now giving it up to settle for a political settlement. "Does this mean that if Muslim youth take up arms and fight for the next 20 years, who ever is in power will then agree to give them whatever they demanded?" Mr.Weerawansa asked.

Soon after his speech, the JVP legislator rose once again to a point of order stating that two foreigners had been spotted in the officials box in Parliament and that the two had made a speedy exit as he concluded his speech.

This caused a furore among opposition legislators who demanded that Defence minister Tilak Marapana tell the House who the two were. After several minutes of shouting, the Minister managed to get the names of the two so called "impostors".

"The two are here with the permission of the Speaker. They are advisors to the defence review committee appointed by the government. They are Col. Philip Wilkinson and Dr.Chris Smith," the Minister said.

This quietened things down but another JVP MP Bimal Ratnayake told the House that unlike all the local officials, whose names were recorded at the reception at the entrance to Parliament, the names of these two gentlemen had not been recorded.

All the passionate appeals on behalf of the "rana viruvan" that politicians seem to remember on days when the defence ministries votes are being debated were largely missing this year. One of the few members who remembered them was PA Kalutara district MP Rohitha Abeygunawardena who said it was sad that there was no one to speak for their rights in the House now. "You have forgotten the "Rana viruvan" in the euphoria of the peace process. Please protect them too," he appealed.

Minister Marapana winding up the debate on behalf of the government said that there was relative calm in the country since the signing of the ceasefire agreement but there were isolated incidents that threatened it requiring the intervention of the armed forces.

He also assured the House that while the peace process was proceeding, the government has taken steps to reorganise the armed forces and train and equip them more functionally. "The government is mindful of the need to have an efficient and well equipped armed force whether the peace process succeeds or fails. The ceasefire does not mean we close shop and drop our guard. We should be more vigilant than ever before," he cautioned.

Meanwhile, the internal conflict in the Muslim Congress continued to be part of parliamentary debates for a second week with the two main rivals Highways Minister A.L.M. Athaulla and Ports and Shipping minister Rauff Hakeem using much of the time allocated to them to criticise each other.

Minister Athaullah fired the first salvo by accusing Mr.Hakeem of subverting the rule of law to have an enjoining order issued against him overturned. He also went on to accuse the SLMC leader of trying to sabotage several public rallies that he and his supporters held in the east.

The accusations were made in his rivals absence but two days later Mr.Hakeem used the floor of the House to vent his outrage at his opponents for using the personal vendetta against him to slander members of the judiciary as well.

"He is using the privilege of this House to make false accusations. He has said the same thing outside. I have asked my lawyers to institute contempt of court proceedings against him, he said.

Wednesday also saw sittings suspended on two occasions, once for several minutes, and the other for more than an hour after opposition MPs staged a sit down protest in the well of the House after they objected to the Board of Investment Bill, that Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion Minister G.L. Peiris had presented to the House, stating it was unconstitutional.

Speaker Joseph Michael Perera overruled the opposition objections and the Bill was passed in the House.

The Speaker also took time to wish all legislators a happy new year but it was Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who gave them some food for thought in the final speech to the House for 2002. "We on both sides of the House must discuss in the coming year how to strengthen this institution. Starting in January, we must take decisions on how to amend the standing orders of Parliament so that we can change the way that this House does business," he said.

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