Mitigating risks through political humour Former Secretary General of Parliament Nihal Seneviratne explained in his article ‘How a President and a PM of Sri Lanka escaped assassination by five seconds’-what took place in the aftermath of the explosion at the Parliament in July 1987. From his article readers can gather the risks that President J.R. [...]

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Mitigating risks through political humour

Former Secretary General of Parliament Nihal Seneviratne explained in his article ‘How a President and a PM of Sri Lanka escaped assassination by five seconds’-what took place in the aftermath of the explosion at the Parliament in July 1987. From his article readers can gather the risks that President J.R. Jayewardene took to restore peace, when the country was facing a civil war in the North by Tamil militants and JVP insurgency in the south.

He signed the controversial Indo-Sri Lanka pact with Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on July 29, 1987. After signing the “Peace Accord” with the Prime Minister of India (Rajiv Gandhi), the two leaders held a joint press conference. That was in the evening of the same day.

A reporter asked President Jayewardene, “What made you to accept the Indian offer and decide to sign the peace accord?”

He replied “There must have been a unique change in configuration of planets and stars.”

A witty Indian journalist asked Rajiv Gandhi whether he possessed an inventory of the weapons possessed by Tamil militants.

The PM was taken aback. It was a well-known fact that during his mother’s tenure of office as the Prime Minister of India, she authorised opening camps in India and trained the Tamil militants, probably provided weapons too.

Mr. Gandhi, though he got a little flustered said, “I expect President Jayewardene to provide a list.”

A young Sri Lankan journalist chipped in. He asked President Jayewardene “Your Excellency, you opposed the merger of the North and East all these years. But now you have agreed to merge the two provinces. Does that mean Your Excellency has changed your stance?”

According to the Indo-Lanka accord, the North Eastern Province was created by merging the Northern Province with the Eastern Province and required a referendum to be held by December 31,1988 in the Eastern Province to decide whether the merger should be permanent. There was also a provision for the Sri Lankan President to postpone the referendum at his discretion

President Jayewardene said that he had not changed his stance.

The journalist then asked, “You opposed the merger because it is bad for the country. Then why did you agree to the merger now?’’

‘’I always said that there should be a referendum in the Eastern province before the merger,’’ replied the President.

‘’But you have now agreed?

Jayewardene then said, ‘’I agreed to the merger provided that we have a referendum within one year of the merger. Earlier I said there should be a referendum before the merger. Now I say there should be a referendum after the merger.’’

Not accepting the answer, the young man then asked the President, “You want to have a referendum because it is bad for the country. Isn’t it?’’

‘’I don’t say it is bad for the country,’’ replied the President.

The journalist’s next question was, “Are you going to canvass against or for the merger at the referendum?’’

President replied, ‘’Well, I am going to canvass against the merger.’’

This was where the young journalist cornered this most experienced politician.

He asked the elderly statesman, ‘’Your Excellency, you are going to canvass against the merger because it is bad for the country. Then why did you agree to it?’’

The President was taken aback. It took a few seconds for him to think of an answer. And he replied, “I don’t say it is bad………………Just because I canvass against Mrs. Bandaranaike, that does not mean she is bad!’’

Everyone at the press conference had a hearty laugh. And that was the end of the press conference.

This talented young man who questioned the President went on to become a prominent investigative journalist. But he met with an untimely violent death after several years.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said in his speech at the ceremonial opening of the fourth session of the eighth Parliament on January 3 that he remembered his father being at the Parliament, during his childhood and how he often used to watch Parliamentary proceedings from the public gallery. The Parliament of the day was exemplary. The discourse that took place in it was of great importance. The debates were replete with logic and rich arguments. What he said was true. In addition, then Members of Parliament used a lot of humour to make their speeches interesting and sometimes to mitigate risks.

Yet another interesting episode was the debate on the District Council bill presented by Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake on June 5, 1968. The Bill provided for the use of Tamil language for the people in the Tamil majority areas to transact their businesses with the government.

As usual the SLFP led opposition opposed the bill. Surprisingly even the left parties like Lanka Samasamaja Party (LSSP) and Ceylon Communist Party (CP) too were in the opposing camp. One of the vociferous critics was Maithripala Senanayake, the SLFP deputy leader and member for Medawahchiya.

Maithripala was married to a famous journalist Ranji Handy who was a Tamil.

In the winding up debate Dudley Senanayake said,  “The Honourable member for Medawachchiya is very critical of this bill, but he has a policy of adopting Sinhala by day and reasonable use of ‘Tamil’ by night.”

A very prominent LSSP member from the Galle district mentioned this to his family and laughed away the entire evening that day, according to one of his sons.

Nihal Seneviratne too came out with this episode when he delivered a lecture on “A Clerk Reminisces & Humour in Parliament” at the National Trust last year.

Rohan Abeygunawardena   Nugegoda


H.C. P. Bell went beyond his duty as Commissioner, he defined the role 

Further to Dr. Ranjen Fernando’s letter to the Sunday Times  (Jan 12), H.C. P. Bell, Sri Lanka’s first Archaeological Commissioner, did not simply do his job. He undertook his work with exceptional diligence and devotion and his outstanding achievements have enabled the Sri Lanka people, for the first time in centuries, to appreciate the unique paintings at Sigiriya and the stupendous dagabas at Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.

As the first Commissioner he defined the role and, since the jungle infestation was largely cleared during his term in office, he and his colleagues endured the harshest working conditions.

A more gracious assessment of Bell was given in the following extract from a local paper at the time of his retirement in 1912: ‘Apart from the light he has thrown upon the history of this Island, he has restored much that was forgotten in its religion, for he has laid the land under a lasting debt of  gratitude by his sympathetic interest and his careful preservation of the relics of the ancient times. What he has recovered from the destructive grasp of time is not merely of historical interest: much of it is rated higher than history,  for it is sacred and holy, and the object of reverence to a living religion. Here good fortune favoured him, for it is seldom that an archaeologist dives into the dead past to retrieve what belongs to a living faith’.

Dr. R. P. Fernando   Surrey, UK


 

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