Opinion
Covid-19: Bane of the Decade
Bane was a true visionary with the Bat-man as his nemesis. For the record this isn’t even funny. If you dive deep into the theory of DC’s super villain Bane, and his nemesis the Bat-man, it sort of reveals how the masked antagonist envisioned the coronavirus pandemic, led by a bat, about a decade ago.
Of course, there aren’t absolute reports connecting COVID-19 to the nocturnal being, there’s enough to prove it is a carrier of the novel virus. But does this pandemic mean an end to the legacy of this caped crusader? To be honest, even uttering bat-shit crazy is deemed offensive as of now. Wonder what frenzy it will cast upon a comic character.
Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ introduced Bane, a mercenary trained under Ras Al Ghul’s League of Shadows. His mission was to wipe out Gotham for the greater divide of the haves and the have nots. As Selena Kylie suggests, ‘There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne, You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits you’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought how you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.’
While the scene did give us goosebumps, it is nothing different than the reality we’re facing at the moment. The lockdown has only been a boon for the elite, the privileged who can have access to more than what is required. Meanwhile, there are others struggling to arrange for a decent meal.
The narrative takes us into the character of Bane, wearing a mask, can be hurt if removed, and the story of our lives right now. Not to mention he started off by terrorising the city, only for everyone to remain at home – a lockdown.
Bane had only one enemy – The Bat. Quite familiar to the comparison now are we?
Here are some of his quotes that speak for the oppressed.
“The powerful will be ripped from their decadent nests and cast out into the cold world that we know and endure. Courts will be convened. Spoils will be enjoyed. The police will survive as they learn to serve true justice. This great city.. it will endure”
“Calm down doctor, now is not the time for fear. That comes later”
“Do you feel in charge?”
“Oh so you think darkness is your ally? But you merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it and didn’t see the light until I was already a man, by then it was only blinding. The shadows betray you because they belong to me.”
A decade back this was all fiction, but did we ever imagine that a similar situation would be faced by us. At the very inception one never expected the COVID-19 situation to balloon into such a crisis. A lockdown helped initially and the situation was well under control, but the moment we relaxed and opened up things got worse, and are now beyond control. So a lockdown will not help us anymore. This calls for a major upheaval and revival of procedure, wherein we have to learn to cope up with the crisis. How will work get back to normal? Industries and factories have to function, how will the daily wage earner survive? The planning and implementation will have to be changed. We might even have to create a COVID-19 Ministry or Department, with an islandwide network, wherein we employ an army of doctors and specialists, not an army of soldiers. They have to study the root cause of the virus and how it can be eliminated, why certain areas and people are more susceptible than others in spreading the virus.
The order of the day will be to employ emergency doctors who can handle a situation immediately. Forensic Doctors, who can assist in studying guidelines and offences and help in framing appropriate laws. Infectious disease specialists, Ecologists and those engaged in environmental science. A team of Physicians to diagnose illnesses and administer treatment. One team will be required to see whether our hospitals are well equipped, correct medical equipment and drugs are available, Study whether the vaccines being manufactured are suitable, get the correct vaccines and see that everybody is vaccinated. See whether it would be necessary to set up a separate COVID-19 treatment centre.
It is surprising that India messed up badly, and opened up by having elections and organizing cricket tournaments such as the IPL, without studying the implications and detrimental factors of this virus, and how to cope with it.
It was really amusing to see commentators, who were very much in the open, advising others to wear masks, stay home and stay safe.
Actually it is a big joke when any radio announcer, TV presenter or role model or for that matter any Tom, Dick and Harry ask people to wear a mask, wash their hands, stay home and stay safe, when the causes seem to be yet unknown and precautions to be taken are far more complicated. Not that they are wrong, but it is very much more appreciated when given by a person more qualified to do so.
KAN BUTANI
The first and only tsunami that Sri Lanka experienced was on Boxing Day(26th) of December 2004. My wife and I, as usual, went down to Modara in Moratuwa to purchase our seafood requirements of seafood from our familiar fishmonger, Siltin, from whom we had been buying fish for a long time. Sometimes we used to take a couple of friends of ours. But on this day, it was only both of us that went on this trip.
We made our purchases and were returning home and when we came up to the Dehiwala bridge, many people were looking down at the canal from both sides of the bridge. This was strange, as normally if there was something unusual, it would be on one side.
Anyway, we came home unaware of anything that had happened. A school friend of mine (sadly he is no longer with us) telephoned me and asked whether I was aware of what had happened. When I answered him in the negative, he told me to switch on the TV and watch. Then when I did so and saw what was happening, I was shocked. But still I did not know that we had just managed to escape being swept away by the tsunami.
Later, when I telephoned Siltin and asked him, he said that both of us had a narrow escape. Soon after we had left in our car, the tsunami had invaded the shore with a terrifying wave and taken away everything of the fishmongers, including their stalls, the fish, weighing scales and money. The fishmongers had managed to run to safety.
This had been about five minutes after we had left. So, it was a narrow shave to have escaped the wrath of the demining tsunami( the name many Sri Lankans came to know after it hit our island very badly}
HM NISSANKA WARAKAULLE
Sri Lanka has recorded a staggering 375 elephant deaths in the past eleven and a half months due to a multitude of causes, according to the Department of Wildlife Conservation. U. L Thaufeeq, Deputy Director – Elephant Conservation said the deaths include 74 from gunshots, 53 from electrocution, 49 from hakka patas (explosive devices hidden in food), seven from poisoning, 10 from train accidents, three from a road accident, and six by drowning. It makes such diabolical reading!
“The causes of other deaths are due to natural causes or causes that could not be identified. Most of the elephants that died were young,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the human-elephant conflict has also taken a toll on people, with 149 human deaths reported this year.
Accordingly, human-elephant conflict has resulted in 524 deaths of both elephants and humans in 2024.
In 2023, a total of 488 elephants and 184 people have died consequent to the conflict, according to Wildlife Department statistics.
The human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka has escalated to unprecedented levels with reasons like habitat destruction, encroachment, and the lack of sustainable coexistence measures contributing to the issue.
This is an indictment of the Wildlife Department for just giving the sad yearly statistics of shocking losses of our National treasures !
Given the fact that Sri Lanka boasts of 29.9% of the country declared as protected forests, Sri Lanka is a haven for nature lovers. Boasting 26 national parks, 10 nature reserves including 3 strict nature reserves, and 61 sanctuaries, the national parks in Sri Lanka offer an incredible variety of wildlife experiences.
Taken in that context, the million dollar question is why on earth the Wildlife Department is not being proactive to capture these magnificent animals and transport them into protected sanctuaries, thus effectively minimising dangers to villagers ?
Being a Buddhist country primarily, to turn a blind eye to these avoidable tragic deaths to mankind and wild elephants, we should be ashamed !
As a practising Buddhist myself, I think our clergy could play a major part in calling upon the Wildlife Department to get their act together sooner rather than later to protect human elephant conflicts !
Sri Lanka being a favourite destination amongst foreign tourists, they are bound to take a dim view of what is happening on the ground!
If the top brass in the responsible department are not doing their job properly, may be there is a case for the new President to intervene before it gets worse!
All animal lovers hope and pray the New Year will usher in a well coordinated plan of action put in place to ensure the well being of wildlife and villagers !
Sunil Dharmabandhu
Wales, UK
This has reference to the article from the Aircraft Owners and Operators Sri Lanka, titled ‘Closer look at regulatory oversight and its impact on Tourism’, published on Tuesday, 24th December 2024.To explain further, in the beginning there was the Air Navigation Act No 15 of 1950 which was followed by the Air Navigation Regulations (ANR) of 1955. This was long before the national airline had acquired pressurised aircraft, intercontinental jets, sophisticated navigation equipment, satellite communication and automatic landing systems, and ‘glass’ flight-deck instrumentation.
Today, civil aviation in Sri Lanka is governed by Civil Aviation Act Number 14 of 2010. Yet the Air Navigation Regulations (ANR) promulgated back in 1955 remain in force.
These outdated regulations still stipulate rules forbidding the carriage of passengers on the airplane’s wings or undercarriage (landing gear). In short, they are neither practical nor user-friendly. In contrast, the Air Navigation Regulations of other countries have progressed and are easy to read, understand, and implement.
To overcome the problem of outdated regulations, as an interim measure in 1969 the then Minister of Communications and Transport, Mr E.L.B. Hurulle issued a Government Gazette notification declaring that the Standard and Recommended Procedures (SARPs) in Annexes to the ICAO Convention signed by Ceylon in 1944 shall be made law.
Even so, nothing much was done to move with the times until updating of the Civil Aviation Act 14 of 2010, while the Air Navigation Regulations remained unchanged since 1955. However, these regulations were modified from time to time by the promulgation of Implementing Standards (IS) and General Directives (GDs) which were blindly ‘cut and pasted’ by the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL), from the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) Annexe ‘SARPS’ without much thought given. To date there are literally 99 IS’s starting from 2010.
The currently effective air navigation regulations are not in one document like the rest of the world, but all over the place and difficult for the flying public to follow as they are not regularly updated. This sad situation seems to have been noticed by the current regime.
The National Tourism Policy of the ruling NPP states, “Domestic air operations are currently limited due to high cost and regulatory restrictions. The current regulatory and operational environment will be reviewed to ensure domestic air connectivity to major tourist destinations. The potential of operating a domestic air schedule with multiple operators is proposed. Additionally, domestic airports and water aerodromes in potential key areas will be further developed, for high-end tourism growth.”
“The tourism policy recognises Sri Lanka’s potential to develop Sri Lanka’s aviation-based specialised tourism products, including fun flying, hot air ballooning, paragliding, parachuting and skydiving, and scenic seaplane operations. To facilitate the growth of these niche markets, existing regulations will be reviewed with the aim of attracting capable investors to develop and operate these offerings.”
It remains to be seen whether the NPP government lives up to those promises.
Note:
That OPA report talks of two funds: ‘Connectivity’ and ‘Viability’ for a limited period like three or five years to help jump-start the domestic aviation industry.
The ‘Connectivity Fund’ will cap the seat price for local passengers to a more affordable value to destinations while the ‘Viability Fund’ will assume that all seats are occupied and compensate the operator for any unutilised seat. The intention is to popularise domestic aviation as a safe, quick and convenient mode of transport.
Capt. Gihan A Fernando
RCyAF/ SLAF, Air Ceylon, Air Lanka, Singapore Airlines and Sri Lankan Airlines.
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