Speak out! Don’t allow MPs to behave like unruly children in Parliament

The conduct of our MPs in the Parliament is appalling. Parliament is considered as the august assembly, where the government policies and other matters affecting the country and the people are meant to be discussed and debated peacefully, cordially and logically. It is a privilege entrusted to the people’s representatives, by the people. Irrespective of whether you are in the government side or in the opposition, the members cannot absolve themselves from that noble and important duty; the people have elected them to do.

Our Parliament has a short but a proud history with rich traditions. It is regrettable that in this august assembly today instead of participating in the day`s business and making a meaningful contribution to the subjects being discussed some MPs engage in discussing matters of their personal interest inviting exchange of words and interruptions across the well of the house. Last week the situation turned so ugly that some members of the Opposition refused to accept the ruling given by the Speaker, defying his calling to order and attacking his neutrality and impartiality. The Speaker is entrusted to enforce Parliamentary rules and procedure and all members are bound to respect and uphold them and by tradition obey his ruling.

Any reasonable person following the proceedings that day would appreciate the Speaker’s willingness to accommodate the issues facing the joint opposition members within his authority and the existing standing orders, rules, and the precedents governing Parliament. Their frustration in their inability to get a ruling in their favour was understandable, but the Speaker was enforcing the rules of Parliament. Criticism of the Speaker in this scenario is thus akin to disrespecting the very institution of Parliament.

The behaviour of these members every day that Parliament was in session in the recent past caused disruption of Parliament’s business, eating into valuable parliamentary time and question time. Indeed the purpose of question time is to make the government defend its decisions and to hold the government accountable to its action in public. Instead of using this time to bring, to public focus the lapses, weaknesses and shortcomings of the government, these members use the time to resolve their personal scores.

It seems a thorough overhaul of procedure is needed--for instance the Speaker should be able to reprimand members and failing which to take appropriate action against the members.

It is the culture of the institution of Parliament which has got worse. Why do we the people accept this kind of behaviour from those elected to represent us? A child who has been rude or offensive towards somebody is made to apologize to the offended person. Can we imagine an MP doing this in our Parliament?

We tell our children at school; don’t be rude, respect each other and your teachers and do your work to the best of your ability and with maximum effort. Is this too much to ask the of our elected MPs?

If we continue to remain silent while our elected “adults” act like children we are forfeiting our rights as citizens and are failing in our responsibility by future generations. Complacency is no longer an option. Raja Wickramasinghe

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