Opinion

Cracks are showing already!

Published

2 months ago

2024/11/1

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

When I wrote “Will SL govt. do better than the UK Labour administration?” (The Island, 18 October), I never imagined that there would be the need for a follow-up anytime soon but, as it happens, a downward spiral seems to have started already and cracks are appearing in the new administration of Sri Lanka. On top of the fracas about the Easter Sunday bomb attack probes, the pretty mask of the NPP, which won votes from even those sceptical about the JVP, seems to be coming off revealing the real JVP underneath.

Many who supported Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) to win the presidency, in the belief that he was a true democrat committed to changing the political culture of Sri Lanka, would have been surprised and felt let down when AKD said at a public rally that there was no need for an Opposition and Parliament should be filled with only NPP members. For sceptics, that call came as no surprise at all, as the JVP is showing its true colours as a Marxist party. Afterall, they believe in the dictatorship of the proletariat!

Worse still is the fracas about the two committees set up by the then President Ranil Wickremesinghe to investigate two aspects of the Easter Sunday bomb attacks. The reports have cast doubts about the judgement of the president and his two ministers responsible for appointing to high positions two retired senior police officers, who are found to have neglected their duties by one of the committees. These two police officers—one arrested last October after crashing his jeep on to a tourist bus and a car, presumably due to inebriation and the other exposed by Ranjan Ramanayake’s audio recordings of telephone conversations—actively campaigned for the NPP.

We do not know what motivated them to play such a prominent role in the AKD presidential campaign; maybe it was because they were convinced by the policies of AKD or maybe they joined the winning side to get into positions of power or may be even avoid being charged with dereliction of duty while they were in the CID. Whatever it is, they got more than adequately rewarded and seem well protected as Minister Vijitha Herath has declared that they would not be removed under any circumstances. His skewed logic is well exposed and heavily criticized in the editorial “Probe reports, skewed logic and emerging threats” (The Island, 24 October)

Salvos fired by the veteran politician, Udaya Gammanpila, and the awkward responses, not only from the government but also from the Catholic Church are well analysed in two previous Island editorials; ‘Mastermind at large; Udaya in crosshairs’ on 21st October and ‘Of that damning report’ on 22nd October. Gammanpila claimed that he was in possession of two reports; one headed by former Justice S. A. Imam, who was tasked with probing some allegations UK Channel-4 levelled against Sri Lanka’s military intelligence in respect of the Easter Sunday carnage and the other, chaired by former judge A. N. J. de Alwis, whose purview was to inquire into intelligence coordination and investigative processes related to the Easter Sunday bombings. Gammanpila challenged the government to release these reports and Minister Herath threw a counter-challenge and issued a veiled threat of legal action.

When Gammanpila released the Alwis committee report, as he said he would, on 21 October, Minister Herath’s response was that they rejected the report, which is puzzling. What one would have expected a government that came to power on the promises of transparency and elimination of corruption to publish the report in keeping with their demand whilst being in the Opposition. Interestingly, initially it was the spokesman of the Catholic church, Father C G Fernando, who gave the reason: that Justice Alwis had conflict of interest as her brother had been disciplined by the two police officers concerned and, subsequently Minister Herath carried out a personal attack on her. Why weren’t those objections raised, if valid, when she was appointed? And, why did her critics wait until they found the committee report was critical of their two favourite ex-cops! Is this good governance that was promised?

Gammanpila released the Imam report 28 October, and one wonders what Father Fernando, who lamented about the loss of that report at a book launch on 01 October, has got to say? Meanwhile, JVP supporters have mounted a massive social media campaign ridiculing Gammanpila. Perhaps, it is the shape of things to come!

Interestingly, at a ceremony held at one of the affected sites, St. Sebastian’s church in Katuwapitiya, conducted by Cardinal Ranjith, President AKD was questioned emotionally by a bereaved mother/wife what action the government was planning to take. His response was that as he was not a judicial officer, he would leave it to the judiciary to take action. As there is an element of doubt, for the sake of the promised transparency and eradication of corruption, he should get the Attorney General to file action against these two officers, as recommended in the Alwis report. If they are cleared by the judiciary, then they can resume their jobs. This would help prevent embarrassment for the government. It looks as if the new government is unaware of the dictum “Justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done”.

Then came the sudden issue of the US travel advisory. The government’s response that it had been aware of the threat and had already taken action, seemed an excuse. Had the government liaised with the foreign diplomats, a less damaging advisory could have been issued as the way they had been issued is likely to damage the tourist sector which is reviving. Of course, it is quite possible that this was done purposely, as it was issued the day after the government announced that it had signed the resolution, spearheaded by Chile, supporting the UN Secretary General who had been declared a persona non grata by Israel. If so, the government is heading for a very turbulent period engineered by foreign viceroys!

The credibility of the government is falling fast as they seem to be doing just the opposite of what its leaders preached while they were in the opposition.

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Opinion

Boxing day tsunami:Unforgettable experience

Published

1 day ago

2024/12/27

Thilina Walpola

The aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. (Picture Sena Vidanagama for AFP)

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

Opinion

Shocking jumbo deaths

Published

1 day ago

2024/12/27

Thilina Walpola

Revatha, one of five electrocuted in North Central province. Image courtesy of Mahinda Prabath. (It first appeared in Mongabay)

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

Opinion

Laws and regulations pertaining to civil aviation in SL, CAASL

Published

1 day ago

2024/12/27

Thilina Walpola

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.
Now A Fun Flier