COLOMBO (UCAN): Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and rights activists have called on the country’s lawmakers to act more responsibly in parliament and not replicate deplorable behaviour as seen in the past.
“Discipline in parliament was weak in the past,” 77-year-old Cardinal Ranjith told reporters during a meeting with House speaker, Ashoka Ranwala ,at the Archbishop’s House on November 27.
The cardinal noted that it is the duty of the speaker to bring decorum back to the House.
The call for better parliamentary proceedings followed the recent inaugural session of Sri Lanka’s parliament following a snap election on November 14. Previous parliaments have often been criticised for the unruly behaviour of lawmakers, according to observers.
Ranwala was elected speaker shortly after the recent polls to elect the 225-member House.
During the inaugural session of the new parliament on November 21, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stressed the need for restoring the dignity of the House and listed it as a top priority of his new government, noting that the once revered institution has become an “object of public distrust, hostility, and contempt.”
Many lawmakers in the previous parliament were accused of unruly behaviour, including offensive language and fighting during their term which started in 2020. In 2023, seven legislators, including then-state minister for tourism, Diana Gamage, were suspended for disciplinary issues.
Rushi Almeida, who organised street protests against former lawmakers, said many politicians, including opposition members of parliament, behaved in a disgraceful manner to pass laws to “further their hidden agendas. This is why people rejected many of them” in the polls.
“They [lawmakers] behaved like kindergarten kids,” Almeida, a university student from Colombo, said.
Sukumal Antony, a political analyst and a university lecturer in social science, said that incompetent individuals should not be selected to represent people in parliament noting that debates in parliament have been reduced to unproductive arguments, eroding public trust.
“Many of the former lawmakers lacked education,” Antony observed.
To rebuild trust, parliamentary debates “should be more focused and constructive,” he suggested.
