Parliament

Return to divisive politics after polls and pomp
By Chandani Kirinde, Our Lobby Correspondent
It was a day of pomp and pageantry as the newly elected President Mahinda Rajapakse made his first visit to parliament for the ceremonial opening of the second session of the Sixth Parliament on Friday to deliver his policy statement. But the Government decision to debate an extension of the emergency regulations later that afternoon, drew criticism from several Tamil legislators.

The President arrived in a motorcade with a mounted Police escort on either side and was accorded a 21-gun salute as well as a tri-service guard of honour before being led into the Chambers to deliver his policy statement.

The President said he did not consider those who voted for his rival, his enemies and said whatever ill feelings that existed between the two sides during the election should be forgotten for the sake of the people. He said his priority would be to end the ethnic strife by replacing the unsuccessful bipartisan approach that had been adopted by the UNF government, with a process that would involve all parties. The emergency debate began in the afternoon with the newly appointed Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake moving the motion and stressing the need for the emergency laws to combat the continuing acts of violence in the north - east as well as in other parts of the country.

The debate was a time for a post mortem on the presidential election and JVP Kurunegala district MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake began by differentiating between the campaigns of the two main candidates. He said President Rajapakse who aligned himself with the JVP was up against powerful forces comprising businessmen and some private media personnel who used unfair and unethical means to try and secure a win for the UNP candidate.

The JVP MP also said it was time for the government to pay more attention to uplifting the livelihood of the estate workers and said they must be liberated politically as well. He said the same was true of the Tamil people of the north and east. “I cannot say who they would have voted for if they were allowed to vote, but these people are imprisoned. They may breathe fresh air and admire their surroundings but they are caged,” he said.
Mr Dissanayake’s concern for the Tamil people received appreciation from the next speaker, Colombo District MP Mano Ganeshan but he said that even the Tamils living in Colombo had problems and these should be addressed first.

“There are 19 police stations in Colombo but 99 per cent of the officers are Sinhala - speaking . So how can a Tamil-speaking person make a complaint,” he asked. Mr.Ganeshan urged his JVP counterparts to get the government to remedy this situation and start delivering on its promises of equal rights for all citizens beginning from Colombo and then moving onto the other areas. Jaffna district TNA MP K.Sivajilingam said the results of the presidential election has clearly shown that there are two nations in this island and went onto congratulate President Rajapakse on behalf of the President of the Tamil nation Velupillai Prabhakaran.

“The problem is that the government does not trust the LTTE. That is why they get a third party involved in the talks. If you are sincere, don’t lay down conditions for talks. Then we can solve this problem via negotiations,” he said.

Chief Opposition Whip Mahinda Samarasinghe said several UNP supporters have been affected by post-election violence and asked the Prime Minister to intervene to stop further incidents. He also said it was time for all parties to come to a consensus to solve the national problem. Premier Wickremanayake said the President was keen to find a solution acceptable to all sections of the people and urged all political parties to join the government and discuss the issue.

“Whatever solution is agreed on has to come to Parliament and get the approval of two thirds of the members. For this we need the support of all the parties in Parliament,” he said.

Back to Columns