Democratic parliamentary systems are built for inquiring about public interest issues, policy and laws to be well debated. Sri Lanka’s parliamentary behaviour has long been criticised for being an vulgar, unprofessional and downright criminal at times. Decorum and statesmanship have been rare occurrences. The public called for that political culture to change during the ‘aragalaya’ protest movement. The National People’s Power (NPP) which rode that wave of rejecting the ways of the past and of mainstream politics, which had descended to the gutter a long time ago, was expected to bring change to the island’s political culture.

While there has been some improvement in the status quo within the Parliament, with a NPP Government holding a majority – 159 seats thus far – recent exchanges between the Opposition and the Government, has been disappointing and sad to watch. Yesterday’s (23) display of cross-bench action only highlights the issue. The Government and the Opposition cannot afford to waste the time at hand hurling abuse and slander at each other, while Sri Lanka is very much in crisis recovery mode and there is much to be done to further national interest and solutions to be provided for the public.

The heated argument in the Parliament arose due to comments made by an Opposition MP, targeting the Speaker of the House, Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne, while she was asking a supplementary question. The Speaker had stated the Opposition MP had taken more than four minutes to ask the supplementary question. However, the situation escalated when she replied saying: “Please shut your mouth and listen”, prompting heated exchanges between the ruling party and Opposition Legislators in the Chamber. With the government minister joining the verbal fray, the business of the day was soon forgotten and the forum descended into ugly situation. The situation escalated when the speaker responded to the rude talk back by the Opposition MP, stating: “Who are you talking to?” and repeated, “Who are you talking to?” “You are taking four minutes to ask a supplementary question. Speak with some discipline.” The Speaker was also seen saying: "I don’t understand. I have clearly told you before that a supplementary question should be asked on a point arising from the main question. But you are asking a separate question, and to ask it, you are taking four minutes. It is a waste of time and does not make sense." 

The situation could have been contained and deescalated if the question asked by the Opposition MP, which was directed to the Minister of Public Security, was answered by him. While the Opposition acted irrationally in lengthening a question which should have been asked in a brief manner, the emotional response from the Government was indicative of their collective inexperience in governance. The situation was not helped by the actions of senior government politicians, once who have experience, like the Leader of the House, Minister Bimal Rathnayake, who stood up, responded by saying, “We have told the Director General of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka to investigate the mass grave in Matale. These are the daughters of those murderers who are here today”, pointing at the Opposition. “That is why we are investigating it. Some of the people here today are owners of private torture chambers.” he added. Such a response was not called for, especially by the Leader of the House. And the Speaker also failed to contain an incident which could have been laid to rest easily but was allowed to drag on. All this happens at a facility, with elected lawmakers who are paid for by the public dime. Shame.

As such, we, the public, must ask both the Government and the Opposition, is this the best use of your time and our hard-earned tax rupees? Shame on you. The Sri Lankan polity has been putting off effectively debating serious policy and legislative changes for far too long. To the Government and Opposition, we must say, leave the mudslinging to the gutters which you can crawl into when you’re outside the Parliament. Use the mandate the public has given you all to further national interest and to provide solutions for critical issues, and to make Sri Lanka resilient and ready for what clearly is an uncertain future. Do your job, the public didn’t elect you to behave in this manner.