Thursday 27th October, 2022
The biggest problem ordinary Sri Lankans are grappling with, amidst the national feeling of doom and gloom, is keeping the wolf from the door. Besides, the state coffers are empty and foreign currency reserves extremely low. The country continues to be mired in debt with no prospect of recovery in the foreseeable future. Hospitals are experiencing crippling shortages of all sorts, and children faint in schools due to hunger. The economy is in the doldrums despite the government’s braggadocio. But the worriment of our honourable MPs is different; they are doing their darndest to purge Parliament of dual citizens!
One of the main arguments the Opposition MPs are peddling in support of their efforts to get rid of dual citizens in the House is that the latter have a conflict of allegiance, and therefore Sri Lankans cannot rely on them to serve their interests. Oscar Wilde famously called fox hunting the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable. On seeing the Opposition MPs’ all-out attempt to hound dual citizens out of the legislature, one may say, with apologies to the literary nonpareil, the unspeakable are in pursuit of the unreliable.
Those who are all out to purge Parliament of dual citizens have sought to justify their endeavour by claiming that their bete noire, Basil Rajapaksa, a US citizen, favoured New Fortress Energy, an American company, when the shares of the Yugadanavi power plant were divested. The less said about Basil, the better. Suffice it to say, the dual citizens in Parliament are in the current predicament because of Basil. But the aforesaid assertion is not without flaws. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was a US citizen during Eelam War IV, but he, as the Defence Secretary, did not give in to pressure from Washington, which strove to have Prabhakaran spared. The Mahinda Rajapaksa government granted the most favoured nation status to China, so to speak, despite the presence of US citizens, Basil and Gotabaya, therein. Mahinda is not a Chinese citizen, but let China do as it pleased, and even had it build an inland port in Hambantota, and construct a city in the sea off Colombo. Similarly, one does not have to be a US citizen to be pro-American. President J. R. Jayewardene was known as ‘Yankee Dickie’. His nephew, Ranil Wickremesinghe is also not a US citizen, but he sneezes in Colombo if a US President catches a cold in Washington. Those who masterminded the Trincomalee oil tank farm deal favourable to India are not dual citizens; they are Sri Lankans wearing patriotism on their sleeves.
MPs who are dual citizens may be traced and expelled from Parliament, according to the law, but the question is how to deal with the MPs who are not dual citizens but have ruined the country. Shouldn’t Parliament be rid of all political dregs?
Minister of Justice Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe went ballistic in the House, the other day, tearing into some media institutions and journalists who, he said, painted all MPs with the same brush. The fact that there were some undesirables in the House did not mean the entire legislature was rotten to the core and should be condemned, he said. He no doubt has a point, but it is popularly said that a rotten apple spoils the whole barrel.
Complaining of a sinister attempt to tarnish his reputation, the Justice Minister urged Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene to order an inquiry into an alleged breach of privilege. He knows the law, but we as laymen wonder how fair it is for Parliament to hear its own case where contempt, and privilege issues are concerned. Isn’t it one of the cardinal rules of natural justice that no one should be a judge in his or her own case? It may be argued that the same goes for contempt of court cases.
We are reminded of a recent statement dissident SLPP MP Dallas Alahapperuma made in Parliament. He said someone had wished that all 225 MPs would attain Nibbana so that they would not be reborn to trouble either humans or animals. He added that the legislators had to be mindful of people’s resentment, mend their ways and restore public faith in Parliament if trouble was to be averted. He seems to have read the public mood accurately. People see hardly any difference between the foreign passport holders in Parliament and the other MPs who are all out to purge them.
