Hon. Bimal Rathnayake

¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, let me clarify. Generally, in the mornings, apart from the time for Oral Questions, most speaking is by the Opposition. Today also that is so. There were 10 Oral Questions today; our Ministers came and answered them. A response was also given under SO 27(2). In addition, one of our Hon. Members submitted an adjournment question regarding the Iran–Israel conflict. If some try to turn this into a political platform, we have no objection—as long as it is within rules.

¶ 02 Mr. Speaker, today, under Standing Orders, they raise many points but do not follow even one properly. They seem habituated to disruptive methods. We respect all Opposition Members. You know, Mr. Speaker, that Minister Harin Fernando answered at length the question raised by Hon. Sivagnanam Shritharan under SO 27(2).

¶ 03 We also know UN human rights representatives are on an observation visit. I presented statistics on how many questions we have answered. Now, with the pain of defeat, they try to get media attention by blaming the Speaker—this is wrong.

¶ 04 Further, the Leader of the Opposition has a grave responsibility regarding the very low standard of conduct of some—not all—of his MPs. If possible, please show those behaviours on video. They are worse than the chili powder incident. During that incident, they struck with chairs, but I do not recall such vile words being used to the Speaker. Therefore, the Leader of the Opposition must first take responsibility. Parliament is a place all of us, including the Speaker, must respect. If he cannot fulfil that responsibility, there is no use of his leadership. Nevertheless, we intend to keep him as Leader of the Opposition.