Parliament

Marapana No-confidence: No case to prove

By Chandani Kirinde, Our Lobby
Correspondent
While the government managed to easily defeat a vote of No-confidence brought against Defence Minister Tilak Marapana in Parliament on Tuesday and also push through two important bills, JVP legislators managed to get the sittings of the House suspended after staging a noisy protest inside the Chambers on Friday.

The No-confidence was defeated by a majority of 42 votes with 84 members voting for it and 126 against the motion. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) supported the government.

The government also pushed through the Employees Provident Fund (Amendment) Bill under which all new entrants to the public service from January 1, this year would be subject to a contributory pension scheme for which they would have to contribute eight per cent of their salaries while the government would contribute 12 per cent.

The Inland Revenue (Special Provisions) Bill which will grant a tax amnesty to those who have not furnished a return of income and assets prior to March 31, 2002 was also passed in the House amidst much opposition from JVP and PA members.

The JVP that called a press conference at the parliamentary complex on Wednesday while the Bills were being debated said the tax amnesty would only benefit the rich friends of the UNF government. The party's Sunil Handunetti moved four amendments to the Bill but they were all rejected by the government.

On Friday, JVP legislators brought sittings to a stop for over 20 minutes after Wimal Weerawansa attempted to make a statement condemning the tear gas attack on the demonstration staged by them near the Prime Minister's official residence on Thursday evening.

When the Deputy Chairman of Committees Siri Andrahennady ruled that the statement could not be allowed, the JVP legislators lead by Mr.Weerawansa unfurled several posters with slogans condemning the government and walked to the well of the House and sat down in protest.

Several government legislators who were irked by this were seen rushing towards the JVP members and had to be restrained by some of the more senior colleagues. A large number of schoolchildren who were in the gallery were also rushed out as the events unfolded and soon sittings were suspended.

There was no such open display of displeasure by the Opposition when the long over-due Vote of No-confidence on Defence Minister Tilak Marapana was taken up for debate on Tuesday. The government's ploy of delaying setting a date for it seems to have paid off as the opposition was left to debate a motion whose contents had by now become almost a forgotten subject.

The opposition gave notice of the motion nearly five and a half months ago in the wake of the outbreak of Tamil-Muslim clashes in Valachchenai and Muttur. At the on-set of the debate, Speaker Joseph Michael Perera ruled that speakers must stick to issues relevant to the motion and refrain from mentioning the actions of the Prime Minister or any other ministers during the course of their speeches.

"Please restrict your comments to the Defence Minister as this motion is against him. If you want to speak on others, you have to bring separate motions or a no-confidence vote against the government," he ruled.

This ruling too seems to have dampened the enthusiasm of the opposition speakers because for many Mr. Marapana was not the wrong doer but he was a lame duck. The Minister was only following orders from those above him. As it was obvious that Mr. Marapana was not the opposition's main target, many failed to make a case for why he should be removed from the post.

Senior SLFP parliamentarian Nimal Siripala De Silva started off the debate stating that the opposition had nothing personal against the Minister but was acting to safeguard the rights of the people. He went onto detail the many instances of negligence by the Defence authorities that had lead to the decline in the morale of the armed forces. He cited the police raid on an alleged army safe house in Aturugiriya stating that such incidents while damaging the morale of the government troops was helping boost the confidence of the LTTE.

The JVP's Wimal Weerawansa who seconded the motion said the LTTE was gradually getting to their goal of setting up a separate state in the north and east - with the government being willing partners in this great betrayal.

"Why isn't the Minister speaking out about the atrocities committed by the LTTE? When the LTTE's Karuna was referred to as the military commander of eastern Sri Lanka in Switzerland, did the minister write to the Swiss authorities correcting this? You don't have the guts to speak up against the LTTE," he said.

Power and Energy Minister Karu Jayasuriya who opened the debate on behalf of the government had little to say on the no-confidence motion itself but went onto praise Mr.Marapana for the transparency he has brought to awarding of tenders for military procurement and the non political manner in which he is dealing with the military but clearly avoided any reference to the MoU and it's violations.

Lands Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said there was global opposition to war today. "In today's world, there are many civilised ways to resolve conflicts. Today the entire world is behind the government of Ranil Wickremesinghe. The LTTE cannot fool the international community," he said.

He said the Defence Minister had done a commendable job in his capacity as the defence Minister and asked him not to be disheartened by such opposition ploys.

Mavai Senathirajah, the TNA Jaffna district MP opposing the no-confidence vote said they had reservations about the conduct of the government especially in view of the recent incidents in Manipay where several LTTE female cadres were allegedly manhandled by the army but said they would oppose any move to remove the Minister as it could scuttle the peace process.

Ports and Shipping Minister Rauff Hakeem, too didn't want to rock the boat although he admitted that steps needed to be taken to relieve the problems of the Muslims in the east.

"By removing the Minister we cannot say the security of Muslims would be guaranteed. That is like changing the pillow for a headache," he said. One of Mr.Hakeem's political rivals NUA's M.L.A.M. Hisbullah who spoke after Mr. Hakeem said the Minister was talking about a headache but he was not giving any medicine for it. "I think we now have to change the head to get rid of the headache," he said.

It was PA Kurunegala district MP Anura Priyadharshana Yapa who succeeded in some measure to explain why a no-confidence vote on the Minister was necessary. Mr.Yapa explained in detail several instances where the LTTE had blatantly violated the ceasefire agreements and was continuing to build up its military strength while the government and the Minister were not taking any counter measures.

Colombo district PA MP Dinesh Gunawardene too came down hard on the Defence Minister saying his conduct had compromised the security of the entire country. Mr.Gunawardena also referred to the front page news report in The Sunday Times of February 16, on the large amount of parcels that the LTTE delegates to the peace talks had brought into the country and how they were sent to the north without any checks.
"The government must hold a public inquiry into this," he said.

Minister Marapana on his part said the motion was both untimely and unfounded. Referring to the Valachchenai incident, he said prompt action had been taken after its eruption to prevent its spread and law and order restored within a reasonable time. " There are minor incidents which occur from time to time but these are sorted out satisfactorily. There is no reason for anyone living in either the north or the east to feel insecure, nor has national security been placed at risk," he said. An adjournment debate on a possible war against Iraq and its repercussions on Sri Lanka also took place on Thursday.

PA frontliner Anura Bandaranaike in a lengthy speech said there was no justification for a war against Iraq as UN weapons inspectors had not got enough time to do their job and it was difficult to take the bona fides of the USA seriously as they had started amassing troops along the Iraqi border before the inspectors could finish their work.

Mr. Bandaranaike said some government ministers too were pro-American and had resorted to a level that compromises the country's foreign policy. He made specific mention of the recent Sunday Times article, which quotes Economic Reforms Minister Milinda Moragoda as saying that when the US Ambassador asks him to do things, he does not reason why, he just does.

Mr. Bandaranaike had many kind words for The Sunday Times. He described it as the only newspaper that publishes the truth, though Defence Minister Tilak Marapana had on the previous day in Parliament said one Sunday newspaper was publishing falsehoods without naming the newspaper.

"He was referring to The Sunday Times. Who owns The Sunday Times? The Prime Minister's uncle, the Prime Minister's mother's brother. He allows the journalists to write the truth," Mr. Bandaranaike said.

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