Opinion

A fable: Misappropriation Bill presented in Parliament of Sovereign Kleptocratic Republic of Chauristan

Published

3 years ago

2022/12/8

by Usvatte-aratchi

No, you will not find it among the five ‘Stan Countries’ in the massive spread of Eurasia. Go further south and further east until you meet a sizeable island, not quite utima thule. Ask any forlorn-looking young man in that land where cones on stupa nearly scrape the underbelly of heavens, ‘In this seemingly pleasant land, what is the profession where a person with no inherited wealth, no education, and no professional skills can amass vast wealth in less than five years?’ The young man turned to him as if the stranger were a gross ignoramus and answered, ‘Why silly, politics? This is where asinus rex est.’ ‘Did you say, a land where the donkey is king’? How so?’ asks the visitor. ‘By misappropriating public funds’, gravely replied the young man, ‘to continue which, there is today a Misappropriation Bill presented before the House. It is mainly for misappropriating public funds, first by misallocation’. ‘That is probably why those rich thieves thrive luxuriantly outside a jail. In other countries, such men and women are housed at state expense in jails and at somewhat less comfort than princely. The state owes at least that little to those geniuses, who brought such immense ill fame to this land.’

A few days ago, the Chaurisri, the president of the Chaurigrha (that is the name of the Parliament like the Knesset in Israel or the Duma in Japan) announced the first reading of the said Misappropriation Bill. Since 2005, the annual Misappropriation Bill has been the principal instrument used to plunder the revenue of the state. Revenue (misnamed government income) of the state comprises tax revenue, government income and proceeds from loans raised by the government, each year. The misappropriation has been so gross, systematic, persistent and thorough that the kleptocratic republic won infamy in international fora including lending institutions, as a dark hole that sank money that should have benefited the common people of that country. As was inevitable, the Treasury was empty and the people were left with only foul air to breathe. Yet, Chauripurohit (Minister of Finance), who is also Chauripathi, announced in Chaurigrha that corruption in that land was but ‘a fable’. If the purohit spoke the truth, which he betimes does, then the truth in Chauristan is incredibly fabulous (Fable and fabulous come from the same Latin word ‘fabula.) At the bottom of that dark hole sat a spreading family of fat cats whose skills were confined to deception and corruption. They could not catch so much as a mouse who dared to pilfer some of the Swiss cheese they had imported to fatten the cats. One of the lenders to Chauristan was so concerned that its funds should not be misappropriated, that it appointed its own accountants and auditors when lending to the government of Chauristan. Knowledgeable taxpayers avoided and evaded tax payments because they knew that their taxes only would fatten the family of cats who would litter more. Other taxpayers and potential taxpayers flew out in flocks. The cost of those preventive measures became a part of the loan that the taxpayers of Chauristan would eventually repay.

Three parties misappropriated funds for their benefit. First the members of the Executive Branch of the government from the highest to the lowest. Those sums were fittingly very high. It is commonly averred that they siphoned 20 percent of any loan proceeds and of the price of large contracts. The contractors themselves plundered public funds by using sub-standard material, cheating on measurements and abandoning projects fully paid up but only partly done. There were three important consequences. First, the highest in the executive branch who decided on which projects or which version of a project would be selected, always and inevitably opted for the highest-priced project on offer. The reasoning was quite simple: 20 percent of $20 million raised a bribe of $4 million and 20 percent of 100 million gave $20 million and some loans exceeded a few billion US dollars. There were more than a few who shared each loot. Second, all large-scale projects were financed with loans from overseas with some marginal contribution from tax revenue. The Family avoided accepting offers of projects from countries and companies that would not collude with the Family to offer the cut that the Family wanted and further, deposit the bribe in banks outside Chauristan. So solicitous were they for the good name of Chauristan that they kept their gold securely in a locked Pandora’s Box. The most egregiously corrupt instance was when the government of Chauristan turned down a Light Rail Project offered almost free by a friendly government. Thirdly, as projects which had been accepted became either completely or partially unproductive, the burden of repayment fell on taxpayers, whose income had not increased at all. If you built a house and nobody took it on rent, you would pay the loan to the bank from your monthly salary and that at the cost of milk for your baby. The responsibility is yours for having put up that house in a devil’s cemetery. In reaction, when the burden of taxation became too heavy to bear, some refused to earn beyond a certain upper limit, some packed their bags and looked for refuge overseas and the very poor withered on the vine like grapes in winter in northern Italy. Loans were used to build 40 foot-wide roads on which crocodiles slumbered in the sun and buffaloes gambolled idly, airports, where hangars stored rice and sheltered no airplanes, ports where ships did not call, theatres where ghosts (not Ibsen’s) found permanent residence and where tall columns kept watchful guard over teals nesting in the bushes near the Beira. They did not produce an income adequate to service the loans and people in other sectors were starved to pay off loans while the cats and (Kaputas) crows grew visibly fatter. When those other sectors were destroyed wilfully by one member of the Family and by circumstances well beyond the control of the Family, the economy fell with a thud and woeful consequences fell upon the public. Yet, the cats grew fatter. Purposely and wilfully, one member of the Family denied large sums of tax revenue to the government and diverted that flow to Family friends who also had helped pay for their election to office and also to evade justice. The problem was further complicated as some of these loans were from overseas and had to be serviced with foreign currency. The value of the domestic currency in both foreign exchange and domestic markets tanked. Price inflation soared higher and faster than a kite in August on Galle Face Green.

The second group that misappropriated funds were rich traders who had power and influence over the said Family. Those had gained from the losses to the government treasury and at the same time to the public. The current Misappropriation Bill provides several honeypots that the kleptocrats must already savour. Government enterprises making good profits are up for sale to the private sector, even to the very private sector enterprises and individuals who had plundered the public purse. The capital that the Fat Cats publicly denied owning will suddenly emerge from where they were hidden, and black money will suddenly whiten and glisten and so will be born the Sri Lanka oligarchs. Wealth now hidden in properties in Australia, Europe, Africa, islands in the Indian Ocean and in the Caribbean will flow into Chauristan. Several miracles will occur simultaneously: black money will glisten and whiten blindingly; plunderers in kapati suits will fatten further in Parisian suits and Italian shoes; Sri Lanka’s capital account in the balance of payments will be in the black temporarily. It will be perestroika all over again but in a teacup. Voters need to understand these shenanigans well and elect representatives who will confine plunderers in jail and recover the loot forthwith.

The third group of plunderers was bureaucrats at very high levels. Senior Advisors to presidents, the prime minister and other ministers were notoriously corrupt. Many were caught with their sticky fingers in the kitty but skillful lawyering and unscrupulous politicians installed them back in higher positions and with substantially higher pay. And so merrily did they plunder; the Chauripurohit was right; it was fabulous (fable-like).

The Misappropriation Bill was presented in Chaurigrha as if there was only a macroeconomic problem ailing the economy. All the talk was about primary balances and stability in the economy. There was not a word about the horrors committed by the misallocation of resources. They were fables: my left cleft foot! Everyone breathed the macro-economic vapour and in the ensuing stupor forgot that it was misallocating resources and mismanaging individual projects that summed up to the macro-economic disasters. Thirteen years after the war in Chauristan, defence expenditure keeps on rising at the cost of other sectors including education and health. It is true that defence forces employ large numbers who would otherwise go unemployed and that these young men and women dig trenches and fill them back. Some of them have started making bags for politicians; a few will carry them. But what is the invasion against which the armed forces ever defended Chauristan? Chauristan armed forces cannot withstand for a fortnight even a minor invasion by sea, air and land from any but the smallest powers in its neighbourhood. They failed miserably to prevent a well-planned attack on worshippers at prayer in church on Easter Sunday in 2019, reliable information from other countries notwithstanding. Defend the country: flipping claptrap (Andy Capp might have said). The armed forces in Chauristan arefor the protection of the government against its own people and not for the protection of the state against other states. (One way of confounding the public mind is to confuse the use of the terms state and government so that when people attack a government it is dressed up by government as an attack on the state. Aragalaya attacked the government then in power and not the state of Sri Lanka. They were not traitors to the state of Sri Lanka. In contrast, Eritrea became a separate state after she broke away from Ethiopia. The people who rebelled were traitors to the state of Ethiopia.) Chauripurohit during the budget debate threatened to use armed forces to protect his government from the wrath of the public . That call, in principle, is problematic. After all the armed forces are of the people. But the armed forces are there to maintain public order. Good judgment is of the essence Why not call that outfit the Ministry of Internal Security? Why call a rose by another name?

There is one organ of government that will protect the people from depredation by the government: the judiciary. The judiciary has neither sleuths nor guns nor tanks. The judiciary needs the active support of some important parts of the executive to bring enemies of the people (Ibsen, again) to justice. When the executive fails in its duties and, in fact, colludes with other parts of government to harm the governed, the judiciary is helpless. Allocation is determined by the executive branch of government which can starve the judicial branch of resources. It is the function of the legislature to correct such misallocation.

Allocating massive sums over two decades to projects that overran their originally budgeted resources and construction periods ensured that those projects would bring about waste of capital and minimal rates of economic growth. Of some 5,000 head of cattle imported from New Zealand to Chauristan 90 percent died within a year. Good project management could have eliminated all this waste. In fact, some parts of Chaurigrha brought out these dreadful facts but the mass in that august assembly could not make the connections.

The government of Chauristan is a swamp that drains the flood of unemployed in the economy. Politicians continually widen and deepen that swamp to keep their noses above water. There is roughly one government employee for every 15 persons in the population. There is roughly one teacher per 15 students in schools. More than 20 percent of the labour force in the country work overseas and the recent higher rate of outflow from the country is raising the stock. In the face of this stark evidence, purohits in the land blame the education system for unemployment in the economy. They don’t ask how China, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Mauritius recently and Europe, over centuries, employed large increases in their labour force at rising levels of productivity. They did so because governments and entrepreneurs employed increasing populations. And Chauristan is distinguished by its repetitive kleptocratic governments, the scarcity of productive enterprises and the plenitude of unproductive labour.

The stranger exhaled a long breath, looked the young man in the eye and said: ‘Every prospect in this land pleases me but the dominant elites, whatever robes they wear, disgust’. And the traveller weary, wended his wayward way.

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Opinion

Tribute to Vijitha Senevirathna

Published

14 hours ago

2026/03/18

Sahan Weerasooriya

APPRECIATION

On Friday, the 20th of March, Vijitha Senevirathna would have celebrated his 85th birthday if not for his sad passing away nearly a year ago.

The passing of Vijitha was a moment of great sorrow to all who knew him.

He was my classmate from Montessori to pre-university at Maris Stella College, Negombo. As a Maristonian, Vijitha excelled in his academic studies.

Eventually, he entered the Law College and practised as an Attorney-at-Law and Notary Public for over 50 years.

As an Attorney-at-Law, Vijitha earned the respect of the judiciary and a wide circle of clients. He upheld the highest and most cherished values of the legal profession and earned the trust of all who knew him. His 50th anniversary in the noble profession of law was celebrated with much pageantry, amidst a distinguished gathering of friends, relations, clerics, and the rich and famous of Sri Lanka.

Vijitha dearly loved his proud wife Nirmali and his six children, who are in the highest professions in Sri Lanka. He inculcated among his children professional efficiency, diligence, and honesty.

We who associated closely with Vijitha miss his warm friendship, sense of humor, and animated conversation. He was a raconteur, and people gathered around him and listened to his narrations and tales of yore, especially at the many celebrations at his residence in Dehiwala, where the waters of Scotland flowed generously.

I have personally admired Vijitha’s patience, grit, and lifetime achievements, despite a physical dysfunctionality he suffered over his lifetime.

For Vijitha, the song has ended, but the melody lingers on, in the words of the popular composer Irving Berlin.

Merrick Gooneratne

Opinion

Contrasting Strategy – Aggression vs support

Published

2 days ago

2026/03/17

Sahan Weerasooriya

China has invested more than USD 60 Billion in Venezuela and plans to invest further in that country. This is happening despite the abduction by the US of Venezuela’s president Maduro and his wife and US President Donald Trump’s boastful claim that he will be selling Venezuela’s oil. And what is even more surprising is that the Venezuelan Ambassador to China says nobody but Venezuela will decide the price of its oil and to whom it sells. He has assured that Chinese investments in his country will be safe and secure.

According to media reports, Venezuelan Ambassador to China, Remigio Ceballos, has stated that Venezuela will determine the price of its oil exports to China independently, asserting that prices will follow international market trends rather than dictates by the United States. Ceballos has stated that Caracas “will not heed the arrangements of the US or other countries” on oil pricing. The remarks followed reports that the U.S. is planning to exercise control over Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA, and potentially push prices down to $50 per barrel. Ceballos sought to reassure China that its investments in the South American country remained secure, emphasising that China and Venezuela are “trusted partners”. The ambassador clarified that despite geopolitical tensions, Venezuela would not follow Washington-led pricing structures, ensuring its oil remains competitive. These statements came in response to intense geopolitical maneuvering in early 2026 regarding Venezuela’s oil sector and its ongoing energy relationship with China (CNBC, 4th Feb. 2026).

Failure of agression

These developments reveal the failure of aggression in the face of support and cooperation. The US imposed crippling sanctions on Venezuela while China helped it to survive. Finally, true to form, the US did what it does best, take out the leader, like it did in Iraq, Libya and several other countries. Nowhere has this strategy succeeded, whereas the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative has been welcomed in most countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. China provides leadership in several key international associations and organisations designed to foster, or in some cases offer alternatives to, the existing global order. Key groupings include the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), BRICS, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), alongside specialised UN agencies and regional forums like the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). In contrast most of the US led organizations such as NATO, QUAD, AUKUS, are military alliances. Further, the US has defence agreements with several countries which are strategically vital for its interests, in the Middle East, Africa, Americas and Asia. China does not have a formal alliance requiring it to fight for another country. China adopts an anti-alliance policy and officially opposes NATO-like military alliances, arguing they create “small cliques” that cause confrontations in the region. China focuses on strategic partnerships rather than formal blocs, treating various countries as partners to avoid the confrontational nature of alliances.

With regards to aid, while the US focuses on capacity building China seems to believe that infrastructure development is more beneficial and would help the recipient country to develop its economy and be independent. Sri Lanka has experience with these US capacity building programmes and know that they are more often aimed at influencing the participants to change their political orientation and to be aligned with Western socio-political ideology. It is said that these programmes may have helped the US to bring about a regime change in the country. In Cambodia, too, the US has conducted capacity building programmes which the discerning Cambodians are suspicious of. China is the largest source of Foreign Direct Investment and top trading partner for Cambodia, with investment totaling over $23 billion by mid-2024, heavily focused on manufacturing, infrastructure, and real estate. Key projects under the Belt and Road Initiative include highways, hydroelectric dams, special economic zones, and the $1.7 billion Funan Techo Canal.

Bid to counter Chinese influence

The US attempts to counter the burgeoning advances of China by use of force. The abduction of President Maduro of Venezuela, the country with the largest oil deposits and increasingly coming under the influence of China, was its diabolical response. This criminal act shows the poverty of the US strategy. What it could do instead is develop cordial relations and respect the rights these countries must have in deciding on their socio-political structures and help them to come out of poverty without bullying and exploiting their resources. If that had been their policy no other country would have an opportunity to get a foothold in their backyard.

Iran joined the BRICS and was in the process of mending its fences with Saudi Arabia, a staunch ally of the US, with Chinese mediation. Saudi Arabia was also joining the BRICS, which is not well-disposed towards the US. China was planing to invest heavily in Iran. China and Iran signed a 25-year, $400 billion strategic cooperation agreement in 2021, aiming to boost energy and infrastructure.. The US and its ally in the Middle East, Israel, could not silently watch those developments that they saw as a threat to their hegemony and dominance in the region. The US felt the need to thwart the Chinese advance and also the growth of BRICS while Israel saw it as an opportunity to wipe out the opposition to its master plan of total genocide of Palestinians and grabbing their ancestral land in whole.

After killing Iranian supreme leader and bombarding the country into what they thought was submission, Trump said he must have a say in the appointment of the next leader and also that Ayatollah’s son was not acceptable to him. He demanded unconditional surrender of Iran and said there probably would not be anybody in Iran even to declare a surrender. Iran has not only said it will never surrender but also gone ahead and appointed the murdered supreme leader’s son as his successor. Trump said the Iranian navy was gone, its air force was gone, missile stockpiles were gone and it was already defeated. But Iran miraculously continues to fire missiles at Israel and US bases in the neighbouring countries.

Iran probably will be defeated in the war, but whether the US and Israel will achieve their goals is most unlikely. The underlying reason for this conflict is the problem of Palestine. The two-state solution adopted by the UN could be the basis for peace. The US knows this but it does not want peace in the Middle East. It can exploit the oil resources in the region by keeping it under eternal turmoil. This policy perfectly suits Israel as well and it exploits the situation to commit genocide of the Palestinians and grab their land.

In this era of multipolarity with several countries possessing long range missiles and nuclear capability and several of those countries being not in friendly terms with either US or Israel, re-arming, re-grouping and re-emerging of forces that will continue the anti-imperialist, anti-expansionist struggle cannot be prevented.

If only US, Europe emulate China

If the US and also the influential Europe could see how beneficial the policy adopted by China could be to everybody living on this planet, there would be peace in the world. This is what the Chinese have been telling the West while it engages in confrontation and aggression against those who do not fall in line and abide by their dictate. Chinese have shown their readiness to help everybody without discrimination, whether foe or friend of the US. China has significantly increased its investment in Saudi Arabia and other US allies in the Middle East, with 2024 seeing a record high in BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) engagement—reaching $39 billion in construction contracts and investments in the region. Saudi Arabia has emerged as the top recipient of Chinese investment, with over 93 projects initiated since 2021 despite it being one of the staunchest allies of the US in the Middle East with a large US military presence. The US has its largest military base in the Middle East in Qatar. Yet China has heavily invested in Qatar, primarily focusing on energy, infrastructure, and financial sectors. Major investments include Sinopec and CNPC securing stakes in Qatar’s North Field East LNG expansion projects, as well as significant participation in infrastructure projects like the Hamad Port and Lusail Stadium.

Vietnam, a victim of US aggression, has recently signed a defence cooperation agreement with it. Yet China has invested heavily in Vietnam, becoming a top source of foreign direct investment and leading in new projects as of 2025–2026. Chinese firms are investing billions in high-tech, electronics, and manufacturing in Vietnam, with over $6.7 billion pledged between January and November 2025.

Based on reports from international human rights organisations, the U.S. Department of State, and various news analyses, Saudi Arabia is widely considered a highly repressive, authoritarian country with intensified crackdown on political dissent, freedom of expression, and human rights activists. In 2016, the kingdom executed 146 people, including a mass execution of 47 men on January 2. The US says it’s attacking Iran because it is repressive, but in truth it is doing so because Iran does not toe its line, Saudi Arabia does and goes scot-free.

All in all, in this imperfect world what everybody must do is help each other disregarding their imperfections. If the US and also Europe try to emulate China, the world, in the least, would be safer.

(Some information contained in this article is from Wikipedia.)

by N. A. de S. Amaratunga

Opinion

Governance by beliefs

Published

2 days ago

2026/03/17

Sahan Weerasooriya

My father was an ardent believer of astrology. It was his hobby. As a result, not only my family, friends, and neighbours had horoscopes, but our pets also had their own. No need to say, my early life was choreographed according to celestial movements. When I sat for my ordinary level exam, father came up with an auspicious time to leave for the exam. This posed a huge logistical and psychological challenge. I was at Ananda hostel at that time, and he suggested that I leave at the auspicious time, which was more than an hour ahead of start time, sat in the basketball court until the doors open to the examination hall.

I told him no way. Not only that I would be laughingstock, but it would also disrupt the daily routine of study hall, breakfast, and arriving on time without wasting precious time, and disturbing the important mental harmony. By this time, I also had developed enough courage not to accept tradition without justification, mainly thanks to Ven. Kotagama Wachissara thero, our Dhamma teacher. It must have hurt his feelings, but my father backed out. I did well in the exam, and that was the last time I had anything to do with astrology.

Not exactly, when we got married, our parents came up with an auspicious time for the traditional ceremony, but due to a logistical hitch, we missed it. Not to worry, after five decades, the spark has not left and things are going smoothly. Since then, we have moved across continents, taken up jobs, moved into houses, and brought up kids without the assistance of astrology. Similarly, I know countless people who lead successful, happy, and prosperous lives without ever having heard of astrology.

Vedic Astrology, also called Jyotish, originated over 5,000 years ago in India. It is deeply rooted in the Vedas, ancient Hindu scriptures. Western Astrology began around 2,000 years ago in Mesopotamia and developed further in Greece and Rome. For millennia, humanity has tried to correlate celestial movements with terrestrial events, especially seasonal changes, for the benefit of agriculture, maritime navigation, and trade over long distances. This “mundane astrology” was a practical effort to bring order to a chaotic world. Naturally, the ancients extended this study to interpret the effect of celestial events on the individual. Vedic Astrology emphasises spiritual growth, while Western Astrology focuses on personality and psychological traits.

Until the 17th century, astrology and astronomy were virtually indistinguishable. Great scientists like Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton practised astrology or lived in a world where it was considered a legitimate academic discipline. However, Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason in the 17th–18th century, which emphasises reason, individualism, and skepticism toward tradition introduced a rigorous scientific method that astrology could not satisfy. From a physical standpoint, the gravitational or electromagnetic influence of distant planets on a newborn human is negligible compared to the influence of the immediate environment. Parenting, education, and social background, for example.

Consequently, the scientific community classifies astrology as a pseudoscience, noting that its predictions rely on the tendency for people to find personal meaning in vague, generalized statements. Once a person starts believing this system, they tend to seek out and remember information that confirms their beliefs while ignoring or rationalising the many times the predictions were wrong. Phrases like “You will go through a difficult time during such a period” feel personal, but who would not go through challenging times in their lives. This is called the Barnum Effect. In times of high stress or uncertainty, astrology provides a sense of structure and predictability, making a chaotic world feel more manageable.

Vedic Astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, which aligns with the actual positions of stars and constellations. In contrast, Western Astrology relies on the tropical zodiac, based on the Earth’s seasons. The sidereal zodiac reflects fixed star positions, while the tropical zodiac shifts due to the Earth’s axial precession. Unlike my father, I know nothing about astrological calculations, but I wonder if the current disagreement on the New Year auspicious times is a result of following such different methods.

There is some validity in having a unified timetable for major events as it can coordinate and bring together a community, or an entire nation in this case. It is a good thing. However, it cannot be denied that astrology is a belief system that the individual must decide to accept or reject depending on their own wishes. Expecting the government to take any part in endorsing a belief system that has absolutely no empirical evidence goes beyond lunacy. Where would it stop? Do we expect the government to decide the auspicious time to get married, indula katagema, or akuru kiyaweema of children? Instead, we must demand our government get out of pandering to belief systems of any nature and focus on the business of governance based on facts and figures.

In our household, we celebrate New Year to suit our lifestyle: we cook a special meal, but on the same old stove, at our convenience so that it does not disrupt the regular mealtimes and share it with family and friends. It is a social event for sharing fun and goodwill. We tell the children about the traditions, how they started, and the food, but we do not expect them to subscribe to any belief systems and engage in meaningless activities that waste their time and resources. We expect them to grow up to be realistic, yathabutha, not bahubutha, as my grandfather would have said.

by Geewananda Gunawardana