The Newest Weapon in Sri Lankan Politics: Chile Powder in the Eyes
By Dharisha Bastians and Jeffrey Gettleman-Nov. 16, 2018
At least four lawmakers and several police officers were injured. The
proceedings were carried live on TV and beamed across the island nation.
The trouble began when lawmakers allied to Mahinda Rajapaksa, a former president who, in a contentious move, was appointed prime minister last month, arrived in the chamber early and occupied the speaker’s chair.
The lawmakers broke microphones and staged mock sessions. They also
blocked the mace, a gold-tipped ebony staff that is the symbol of
authority, from being brought into the chamber to begin the session.
After 45 minutes of this mayhem, the side doors to the chamber suddenly
opened. Dozens of policemen marched in. They linked their arms to form a
human chain. They protected the ceremonial guard who held tight to the
ebony mace.
The Parliament speaker, Karu Jayasuriya, clad in his ceremonial robe,
grabbed a seat in the corner of an aisle and conducted the session of
Parliament a few yards away from his podium, using a wireless
microphone.
In the past few weeks, this is what Sri Lankan politics has descended to: confusion, chaos, dysfunction and bitter rivalry.
The government has been paralyzed by a three-way duel between
Maithripala Sirisena, the president; Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime
minister who was summarily deposed by the president in October; and Mr.
Rajapaksa, considered the strongman of Sri Lankan politics.
Earlier this week a majority of lawmakers voted to reject the president’s choice of
Mr. Rajapaksa for prime minister. On Friday, they did it again with
another no-confidence vote, conducted in the midst of the uproar.
Mr. Rajapaksa stood by in the chamber, watching as his allies rampaged as they had on Thursday as well.
They threw wooden chairs at police officers and books at rival
lawmakers. They also whipped water bottles filled with a spicy chile
powder sludge so that the nasty mixture got into the eyes of the police
officers, temporarily blinding them.
The officers were unmoved. They never retaliated.
“The cowardly thuggery displayed in Parliament today is a shame to us
all,” said Juanita Arulanantham, a young lawyer who watched the fracas
on TV at home.
“But there was also so much to be proud of,” she added, saying that the
speaker and the police officers showed enormous bravery and would fall
“on the right side of history.”
After the vote, Mr. Rajapaksa left the chamber to a cacophony of hoots.
Mr. Sirisena had claimed on Thursday that he would accept the result of the vote, but by Friday he seemed to be wavering again.
Mr. Sirisena has said he definitely does not want to go back to Mr. Wickremesinghe, whom he has called inept and corrupt.
Sri Lanka is strategically located in the Indian Ocean along major
shipping routes across Asia. Both China and India have invested heavily
in Sri Lanka, and diplomats from many countries are watching the events
here closely.
