Role of the opposition

By: Clifford Ratnayake from Colombo

In a parliamentary democracy, we find an established and approved opposition. The government and the opposition are the two wings of the same entity which gets its power from the people to take the country flying to Himalayan heights of achievement.
The opposition picks holes in the work of the government to emphasise its shortcoming and directs it on the correct path, in its forward journey, carrying the entire country forward to grandeur.

The opposition has to be a close friend, while advising the government. Publicity for the advisory role that the opposition offers will come through Parliament and the voting public that will decide whether the opposition is sincere. When elections come around, the voters will decide whether it will entrust the country to the erstwhile opposition.
The present Government is in power now only because former President Chandrika Kumaratunga thought that the UNP government that held sway from 2002 to 2004 was lackadaisical and corrupt. As a result she wound up the government and chose to hold elections.

The present opposition is kicking its heels impatiently, and resorting to various devices to bring down the government It is even plotting to buy over government parliamentarians using the services of an expatriate multi-millionaire.

The Opposition Leader, who is fortunately funded by the country, goes globe-trotting, ungratefully requesting the international loan providers to desist from financially helping the country’s economic advancement and plays the role of a traitorous quisling.

The opposition has dispatched an emissary to Japan to canvass the stoppage of financial help to the country as such monies may be used to buttress the war effort against the terrorists. It is not by subterfuge and delaying the economic advancement of the country that the opposition should seek to come to power, but rather by showing the people that it could do better by publicly advising the government on how to push ahead.

The Opposition should engage in contributing to the economic advancement of the country, and not its downfall for the selfish motive of grabbing power prematurely.