MPs used to call Speaker’s wig the “Walas Toppiya”, hard to make out the difference between peons nd backbenchers when sashes were removed

Parliament also has two “Oversight Committees” which play an important role in the management of public finances. The older one is COPA- the Committee on Public Accounts [previously known as the Public Accounts Committee]. Later another committee called the Committee on Public Enterprises [COPE] was set up to oversee state owned enterprises. In both cases the committee relies on the reports of the Auditor General regarding the activities, particularly financial management, of Government Ministries and Departments and in the latter case of state owned enterprises or Corporations.

In the early Parliaments the tradition was for a member of the Opposition to head the PAC. By common consent Bernard Soysa of the LSSP was appointed to this position. He was very fair and being a personal friend of JRJ, he could immediately bring any explosive situation to the leader’s attention. I had many good memories of my encounters with Bernard in the old Parliament when I was a Permanent Secretary.

The number of Ministries were small then and so were the number of MPs in the PAC. We were treated to cakes and tea in the anteroom and were called in after an internal discussion among the PAC members and the Auditor-General and his representatives. They were very courteous and our explanations were listened to and after some questioning, which included banter, we were excused with a warning not to come before the PAC in the future.

This was not an idle piece of advice because a Permanent Secretary as Chief Financial Officer of a Ministry has every opportunity to explain the circumstances which led to the administrative decision queried by the Auditor General. After the preliminary audit of departmental accounts, as mandated by Parliament, its findings are submitted to the relevant Ministry Secretary for his observations and, if necessary, remedial actions. If the Secretary’s response is satisfactory the AG is empowered to strike it off his report to Parliament.

If the matter at hand is serious the AG may directly contact the Secretary concerned to request him to investigate and report back to him. If his staff reports on a trivial matter the AG has the authority to keep it out of his report. But if none of these opportunities are used by the Secretary, or if there is suspicion of maladministration or fraud, it is reported as a paragraph in the AG’s report and the PAC has to adjudicate in that matter.

It can instruct the Secretary to take remedial legal action and include its recommendations in the PAC Chairmans report to Parliament which if necessary can be debated on. One major complaint about COPA and COPE is that being an instrument of the legislature, it has no executive power and has to depend on external authorities to exercise their powers to implement its recommendations. It can recommend but it has no effective executive power. Thus while there is a great hulabaloo about its findings in the media, the PAC is in reality helpless as a watchdog. This watchdog has no teeth.

Trotsky with Max Shachtman

When I was a member of the UNP caucus after Gamini Dissanayake’s death, I was helpless as my party did not even appoint me as a member of either COPA or COPE. My experience as a reporting officer both as a Permanent Secretary and international civil servant was not even considered when UNP members were recommended to man those organizations. Actually there was not much competition among MPs to join these committees. Even so by some “hidden hand” I and others who were in Gammi’s camp and the DUNF were excluded from such duties.

Though I was kept busy with my electorate work and contact with organizations like Rotary, Sarvodaya, ICES and “think tanks” an uncomfortable feeling, which periodically strikes politicians, began to nag me and I got to thinking about other options open to me if I was to continue in the political arena.

Let me now walk you through the Parliament that I entered in 1994 and the hopes we had with Gamini as our leader. As a veteran in the House by then having entered Parliament as a young man in 1970 – he was a master of tactics which he showed by first winning over those who had supported Ranil in the leadership contest. When he was asked to nominate a MP for a tour of Sweden he immediately chose Ranjit Madduma Bandara who had recently married.

“Let me give Ranjit a honeymoon gift” he told me after we discussed the possible choices for the tour. He was quick to extend the hand of friendship to Ranil particularly because he wanted a united UNP for his impending run for the Presidency. There was opposition from some friendly quarters to his candidature as CBK, who was the PM, would have an advantage in the election that year. It was going to be a difficult fight. But Gamini was determined to contest come hell or high water as he wanted to unify the party through his campaign. His view was that even if he lost he would become the undisputed leader of the UNP who would wrest power from CBK in the next Presidential contest in the year 2000.

Looking back

If the UNP had won the General election of 1994 and Gamini Dissanayake had become the Prime Minister he would have made me a senior cabinet minister. In fact on the last day of his life at a public rally in Kundasale for the Presidential contest he pointed me out to the audience and said that when he won the Presidency he had the power to appoint the Prime Minister and I would certainly be a candidate for the post.

This could have been the usual glad handing and “bucking up” of colleagues which is normal in political meetings. But it was an indication that he had faith in me especially after I had succeeded in getting him back to the UNP from the political wilderness by negotiating with President Wijetunga. At the end of the meeting while getting into the helicopter he told several people assembled there that I would head his campaign in Kandy district so that he could concentrate on other areas to gather votes.

Nevertheless beginning a Parliamentary career in the Opposition, as it happened to me, had many attractions. I can honestly make such a statement when looking back on my 26 years of Parliamentary life, of which 16 were spent as a Minister and 10 as a member of the Opposition. My first five years in Parliament were spent in the Opposition as a UNP MP. It was a memorable and invaluable introduction to Parliamentary practice. On reading biographies of famous British parliamentarians, I found that such years in the wilderness seemed to be an experience which was enjoyed by many eminent politicians.

Besides I was in the happy position of being somewhat familiar with Parliamentary practice due to my career as a senior public official. As a Director of Information and later a Permanent Secretary in charge of media, I would spend much time in the officials box following debates of the political giants of the time. I had been entertained in the Parliament restaurant by Ministers, as well as Prime Ministers, when we turned up to brief them on official matters which were taken up in Parliament. My friends from school and university Bertram Tittawella and Nihal Seneviratne were Clerks to the House and I enjoyed having meals at their table with them after official business was concluded.

More serious were the sessions with the Public Accounts Committee then presided over by the courteous but hawk eyed Bernard Soysa, who probed the financial affairs of Ministries as highlighted in the Auditor General’s report. Many years later when I was the Chairman of the PAC myself I remembered the courteous but firm approach of Bernard and tried to emulate him.

Parliament building

The new Parliament building designed by Geoffrey Bawa was an architectural wonder. I remembered the helicopter rides taken with him over the proposed Kotte site when I was deputed by my Minister Ananda Tissa de Alwis in the early days to represent him in the project committee that supervised the construction of the new Parliament. We flew over empty tracts of land which were like lush islands surrounded by water. Thanks to Geoffrey Bawa’s genius it was redesigned and a magnificent building influenced by traditional architecture was built under the JRJ administration.

As a rookie MP I would spend time walking along its corridors which led to rooms specially designed for the President, Prime Minister, Ministers, the Leader of the Opposition and party leaders. The Speaker rightly had a floor to himself and his administrative staff. There were rest rooms and billiard tables and a cordoned off area on the second floor with many armchairs positioned side by side where MPs could smoke, exchange gossip and conspire while looking across the man made lake which surrounds the building. Later when WJM Lokubandara became Speaker he added an ayurvedic spa where MPs could get a quick massage before entering the chamber.

Photo Gallery

Another interesting feature was the picture gallerywhere photos of previous representatives were assembled under plaques denoting their name and the particular State Council or Parliament they represented. From time to time visitors, particularly relatives of the “great men”, could be seen keenly identifying their relatives or representatives. New MPs were invited by the Speaker to visit a parliamentary photographer who would take a specially posed picture for the photo gallery.

After 1956 sartorial fashions of MPs changed dramatically to include a majority of “national” dressed representatives [probably of the SLFP] while the UNP and the LSSP members appeared in western dress. All MPs obeyed the Speaker’s order that they should appear in formal dress. But how to define “formal” dress was the question. It was Sarath Muttetuwegama – the popular MP from the Communist party, who solved this problem. He invented a shirt with a closed collar and long sleeves which looked dignified enough to pass muster. This dress was much less cumbersome than western dress and the “national” worn by SWRD Bandaranaike [with other colourful variations] It became so popular that it was identified as a “politician’s garb” and was known sarcastically as “kapati coat”.

Of late there has been another sartorial twist and even representatives from the boondocks wear western dress. They have earned enough money and can afford to go to the best tailors in town. Another source of amusement was the long wig worn by the Speaker on ceremonial occasions. Many Speakers who were provincial lawyers were happy to imitate their professional superiors like Supreme Court judges and “Silks”. The Speaker’s wig was known among rural MPs as the “Walas Toppiya”.

Another sartorial change in Parliament took place after the CBK victory and her appointment as Prime Minister. The more “socialistic” government MPs were lobbied by the Parliamentary peons to abolish the “Bapane”or red sash denoting minor office in colonial times, which they were expected to wear in the chamber. For some reason the peons thought that this was infra dig and a relic of the colonial past. Their request to JRJ for sartorial relief fell on deaf years but “young radicals” supporting CBK prevailed on the Speaker KB Ratnayake, a great Kachcheri man who loved the “Bapane”, to give in.

As a result now it is often difficult to distinguish backbenchers from peons. Both categories happily face TV cameras together for Parliamentary broadcasts. However there is an irony here. While the “Bapane” disappeared from Parliament it is still clearly in evidence among the officials of the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy. They still wait on the Diyawadana Nilame and march behind him in the procession. Minor officials at the sacred Bo tree in speaker KB Ratnayake’s beloved Anuradhapura, still wear the “Bapane” on ceremonial occasions.

Korale flags

Most MPs are not really interested in the architectural gems created by Bawa and his colleagues. For instance the walls of the debating chamber are decorated with the regional flags of ancient kings which were embossed on silver sheets by skilled artisans. These flags were made after meticulous research and tended to add to the beauty of the chamber though they are hardly noticed by the voluble representatives of those “Korales”. The mace which symbolizes the integrity of the legislature was designed with a traditional lotus motif on top. The “quorum bell” that calls MPs to the chamber takes the sound of the “Salalihiniya-” a bird associated in Sinhala poetry with ancient Jayawardenapura where the Parliament is now located.

From time to time a drama is enacted when an indignant MP [On many occasions it was Vasudeva Nanayakkara] attempts to wrench the mace from the grasp of a burly Sergeant-at-Arms in full view of TV cameras. Without the mace in place the regular proceedings of the House comes to a standstill. The Speaker warns the errant MP that he will be expelled from the chamber. When there is a fracas in Parliament the Sergeant at Arms immediately runs to the Speaker’s podium to protect the mace. The ensuing scuffle, now stylist thanks to Vasudeva Nanayakkara’s antics, is sure to hit the front pages of the following day’s newspapers.

Library

The Parliament library built up from the time of the State Council is undoubtedly one of the best in the country, particularly in respect of politics, economics and parliamentary practice. However most of the books are in English attesting to a time when the elite of days gone by dominated the legislature. Now books in the library are rarely read. Most MPs now come to the library to read local language newspapers or write letters in private. But, for me the Parliament library was a treasure trove. It probably has the best collection of left, particularly Trotskyite, literature in the country.

I could imagine MPs like Leslie Goonewardene or Bernard Soysa ordering these books and journals which influenced the decisions of the LSSP. Philip Gunawardene would have been another voracious reader. In the first few months as a MP I spent my spare time in the library going through Trotskyite writings which we had only heard of in Doric de Souza’s lectures. To me it was a fascinating discovery especially the numerous publications of the Fourth International and its different theoretical factions.

When NM Perera called for an alliance with the SLFP in 1968 the theoreticians of the Fourth International (FI) strongly opposed that move. The LSSP split on that issue and Edmund Samarakkody, Bala Tampoe and Merill Fernando formed the Revolutionary LSSP which had the blessings of the FI and its Paris headquarters. During my stay in Paris I had met one of those theoreticians – Michel Pablo. By that time Pablo had been rejected by the majority of the Trotskyites as he had backed Messali Hadj in Algeria. Hadj had been unmasked as a traitor by the Algerian revolutionaries like Ben Bella, Boumedienne and Ferhat Abbas who led the insurrection against the French imperialists.

After the French left Algeria Michel Pablo had been expelled and his office in Algiers was burnt down. In Paris when I met him I found that he was paranoid, constantly reminding me that he was being “tailed” by the French Police. Of the Sri Lankan Samasamajists he could only remember Leslie Goonewardene whose “nom de guerre” in the underground period was Tilak. The Pablo faction were proponents of a United Front strategy and had much influence on the LSSP of the sixties.

I made another important discovery in my researches in the library. Someone had ordered books and journals issued by the Trotskyite groups in America in the early forties. My guess is that the reader was Philip Gunawardene whose contacts as a student in the US included radicals like his teacher in Wisconsin, Professor Scott Nearing who influenced both Philip and Jaya Prakash Narayan, who played a role as a revolutionary within the Indian Congress and later in the Praja Socialist Party.

Philip would have been encouraged by his State Council colleague NM Perera, whose wife Selina Peeris had visited the east coast of the US, worked with the Trotskyite groups there and was on the way to Mexico to personally meet Trotsky when he was brutally murdered by a Stalinist agent. Trotsky had been driven out of Prinkipo island in the sea of Marmara by the NKVD and was forced to relocate in a remote Scandinavian village.

Again he was driven out by the Stalinists and thanks to the intervention of the communist artist Diego Rivera, Trotsky was given refuge in Mexico. At this stage of history American Trotskyites were quite influential among leftist groups. They helped in setting up the John Dewey Commission to inquire into Stalin’s allegations against Trotsky. After a prolonged inquiry Trotsky was exonerated by the Commission. As is to be expected the ‘T group’ split upinto factions on theoretical and personal issues.

The Parliament library had collected journals of several US factions including the Shachtman group which led to the famous cartoon, “Shachtman is a Shachtmanite”, encapsulating the bitter factional rivalry among the US leftists. This US connection of the LSSP has not been described in detail before in the writings on Sri Lankan left politics. A good introduction to the leftists of New York at that time can be found in Warren Beatty’s prize winning movie “Reds” made in Hollywood.

The library also held publications of later Trotskyites who were grouped around the New Left Review. The NLR edited by Robin Blackburn, whom I had met in Canada while he was on a lecture tour of campuses there, was sympathetic to the JVP and supported the 1971 insurrection. Two of the best essays on the JVP of the early seventies are by Fred Halliday and Tamara Deutscher, wife of Isaac Deutscher, a hero of the Trots for his brilliant biography of Trotsky. She wrote a “letter from Colombo” for the NLR supporting Wijeweera’s 1971 insurrection that was shaking up the Sirimavo government which included old comrades in the Fourth International like NM and Colvin.

I learnt later that she was staying in Leslie Goonewardene [Tilak’s] home when the insurrection broke out. Of all of Mrs Bandaranaikes Ministers it was Leslie, together with TB Subasinghe, who was most sympathetic to the JVP and spoke out for a soft response to the insurrectionists at Cabinet meetings, unlike NM who called the JVP a CIA front.

(Excerpted from vol. 3 of the Sarath Amunugama autbiography) ✍️