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Editorial

Happy New Year!

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Tuesday 13th April, 2021

The Sinhala and Tamil New Year is the time when ordinary people have their fill of merrymaking, and traders and pawnbrokers laugh all the way to the bank. The much-talked-about need to preserve traditions associated with the national festival for posterity is only an excuse for the annual splurge.

What is being celebrated is essentially a harvest festival. In days of yore, people toiled away for months and produced a surplus, part of which was set aside for the New Year festivities. They did not have to worry about the rest of the year as they had enough food stocks. Today, there is no such surplus production, and most people spend borrowed money on New Year celebrations only to regret later when the festive hangover gives way to sobering reality.

Today, harvesting makes only moneylenders and the middleman happy. The farming community is caught in a debt trap. Loan sharks prey on them with impunity. Harvesting is followed by debt-servicing, and farmers either cannot pay back their loans or are left with little or nothing after debt repayment; they have to borrow more for consumption and cultivation purposes, and never will they be able to break this vicious circle unless the state makes a meaningful intervention. Avurudu provides them with some respite from suffering. The same is true of most other people as well.

The koha is said to be conspicuous by its absence, this year. Is it fed up with looking for trees to perch on, given the rate at which the country is being denuded? Its cry which is considered the herald of the traditional new year is, in fact, a desperate mating call. One wonders whether its cry is not heard these days because it has opted for remaining silent by way of family planning, as it were, on account of serious habitat problems.

Health experts have been trying to knock some sense into the public, but in vain. People have thrown caution to the wind, and are behaving as if the pandemic were a thing of the past. They seem to consider Avurudu to be something worth dying for. Shops are chock-a-block, and nobody cares two hoots about the physical distancing rule. People jostle inside clothing stores as if they had never worn clothes before. They also strip bare the racks of grocery stores as if they had never seen food, all these years. Adult males religiously flock around liquor outlets as though their very survival were dependent on the bottle that cheers.

Yesterday, India reported 168,912 COVID-19 infections overnight and overtook Brazil as the second-worst hit country in the world. Unless precautions are taken during the current festive season, Sri Lanka may find itself in the same predicament as its big neighbour.

Politics has apparently taken precedence over the COVID-19 protocol although the health authorities fear that a surge of infections is on the horizon. The government seems reluctant to have the health regulations strictly enforced lest such action should not find favour with the public, who had to be immured in their homes during the festive season, last year. The Provincial Council elections are also expected before the year end. Hence the distribution of cash handouts by the government, which is playing Santa months ahead of Christmas.

The national economy and productivity will take another severe beating due to holidays. Workplaces will remain closed until early next week. It takes, at least, one whole week to reboot the country after the New Year celebrations. Economists should figure out how much the country loses owing to numerous holidays.

Perhaps, it was only last year that Sri Lankans celebrated Avurudu meaningfully. They confined themselves to their homes due to strictly enforced lockdowns, which may have caused numerous difficulties, financial or otherwise, but members of most families huddled together as never before; this is what Avurudu is all about.

We wish our readers a very happy New Year!



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Editorial

Grim Reaper in overdrive

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Tuesday 19th March, 2024

Hardly a day passes, in this country, without several fatal road accidents caused by reckless drivers being reported. The police are all out to eliminate trigger-happy hired guns who snuff out quite a few lives almost on a daily basis, but precious little is being done to rein in the drivers from hell, who destroy about seven or eight lives on the roads daily.

Eight private bus workers, including drivers, have been arrested recently for working under the influence of narcotics, in Colombo, according to media reports. Arrests were made during a raid conducted by the Dam Street Police in the Pettah area. The police deserve praise for getting tough with the drug addicts among private bus drivers, who destroy hundreds of lives a year in mostly preventable road mishaps. Much more, however, remains to be done to make the roads safe for everyone. The police are scratching the surface of the problem.

Most private buses zing, swerve and turn menacingly as if they had homicidal maniacs behind the wheel. The same goes for trucks and trishaws. One wonders whether the Sri Lankan motorcyclists, who move like bats out of hell, have a death wish. Other motorists are no better. Sri Lankans are also given to jaywalking, which seems to be a national pastime. There were as many as 2,395 fatal road accidents in this country in 2022. Roads become doubly dangerous when indiscipline among drivers and riders is coupled with drinking and drug abuse.

A survey conducted by the Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association has revealed that 45% of private bus drivers are addicted to narcotics. Their addiction to relatively new drugs such as ICE (crystal methamphetamine) is on the rise, according to the police, who revealed, in 2023, that out of 1,781 drivers subjected to drug tests in the Western Province, under a pilot project, about 100 had been found to be under the influence of dangerous drugs; most of them were ICE addicts. The National Council for Road Safety made available 5,000 drug test kits, which can detect the presence of narcotics in saliva samples in no time, according to the police.

In 2021, the then State Minister of Transport Dilum Amunugama made a chilling revelation: about 80% of private bus drivers in Colombo and its suburbs were addicted to drugs. The situation must be more or less the same in other parts of the country as well.

Roadside drugged driving tests must be conducted on a regular basis in all parts of the country. Test kits are said to be expensive, but it will be a worthwhile investment in that road accidents have become not only a critical public health issue but also a serious social problem. They also take a heavy toll on the economy in terms of productive human capital lost. The World Bank has pointed out, in a report (2020), that high road accident fatalities and injury rates in Sri Lanka undermine the country’s economic growth and the progress made in reducing poverty and boosting prosperity over the past decade.

The need for stronger laws and deterrent punishment to tackle the ever-worsening problems of drunk and drugged driving cannot be overstated. The police must be ordered to go all out to ensure the safety of all road users by nabbing those who drive and ride under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.

Criticism of the ongoing Operation Yukthiya against the netherworld of crime has emerged from some quarters because there are instances where the police personnel engaged in raids are seen to be going overboard or committing excesses. The police also make some arrests for effect. But operations must be conducted regularly against powerful criminal gangs responsible for drug dealing and other forms of organised crime. Underworld hit squads, consisting of former armed forces personnel, are capable of striking at will; they are a danger to society. They have to be brought to justice. The police should give serious thought to conducting raids regularly as part of Operation Yukthiya to prevent drunk and drugged driving to ensure the safety of road users.

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Editorial

Basil’s switcheroo and headless chicken

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Monday 18th March, 2024

Founder of the SLPP and former Minister of Finance, Basil Rajapaksa, is doing a Pontius Pilate. Having returned from the US recently, he is now trying to wash his hands of the unforgivable sin of ruining the economy and inflicting untold suffering on the public. He is also playing the victim although he has not publicly subscribed to his sibling, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s claim that the 2022 popular uprising, which led to his ouster, was the result of a conspiracy. He is trying to absolve the Rajapaksas of responsibility for the disastrous consequences of their mishandling of the economy and corrupt practices. He would have the public believe that he and his family members stepped down of their own volition in 2022, and cannot be held responsible for what has happened since then.

There is no way the SLPP can deny responsibility for what it has taken exception to, especially the divestiture of state assets, and unconscionably high taxes. But Basil has said, in a recent Sirasa TV interview, the incumbent dispensation cannot be considered an SLPP government! He says the SLPP district leaders in five provinces—East, North-Western, Uva, North-Central and Central—are not members of the Cabinet, and therefore the government cannot be considered an SLPP administration. But it is the SLPP, which had Ranil Wickremesinghe elected President by Parliament and provides him with a parliamentary majority. Basil, however, praises President Wickremesinghe for having brought order out of chaos; within the first few days of President Wickremesinghe’s induction as President, benefits began to accrue to the public, he says. Self-contradictory as Basil’s claims may be, one thing is clear: he is running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.

Basil has not ruled out the possibility of the SLPP opting to ride on President Wickremesinghe’s coattails at the next presidential election. He argues that there are only two political parties with robust organisational structures––the SLPP and the JVP; there are two truly mass-based political parties with adequate popular support—the SLPP and the SJB. The UNP lacks both organisational strength and popular support but has a formidable leader––President Wickremesinghe. A party has to have popular support, organisational strength and an effective leader to win a presidential election, Basil has said. The implication of his contention is that he believes that it may be mutually beneficial to the SLPP and the UNP to close ranks come the next presidential election.

Basil says, in the Sirasa interview, he thinks a general election should be held before the next presidential contest to ensure that the people vote rationally, without overwhelmingly supporting the party of the winner of the presidency. Interestingly, Basil engineered crossovers to raise a two-thirds majority for the SLPP to change the Constitution and make a host of bad laws to further the interests of the Rajapaksa family and its cronies, after the 2020 parliamentary polls, held after Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election as President; he is now concerned about the ill-effects of absolute power given to political parties. This could be considered a case of sour grapes. Basil’s newfound aversion to absolutism indicates that he is not confident of the SLPP winning a general election and therefore does not want the next government to be strong. This fact also becomes evident when he urges other parties to come together to help the country come out of the current crisis.

By saying that a parliamentary election, which the UNP is not ready for, should be held before the next presidential polls, Basil is apparently playing a game of brinkmanship to railroad President Wickremesinghe into doing his bidding. One can only hope that his bluff will be called.

The SLPP is like Miracle Mike, the male chicken that lived for 18 months after being beheaded, in the US, in the late 1940s. The American who owned Mike made the most of the poor animal before it went the way of all flesh. Basil, the American, is apparently doing something similar to the SLPP, which is on its last legs.

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Editorial

Basil’s Sirasa interview riddle

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Days after Basil Rajapaksa’s return to Sri Lanka after his sojourn in the U.S. where he enjoys citizenship, the Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna’s national organizer figured in a television talk show. Here he clearly expressed the opinion that Ranil Wickremesinghe is the best man to take this country forward but did not indicate whether it was a personal viewpoint or that of the SLPP. Nor did he say his party would back RW’s candidature. He also said that preferably, the parliamentary election that is due next year should precede the presidential election that is constitutionally mandated to be held this year. A simple majority in Parliament, which the SLPP still commands, makes that possible.

With the ongoing election buzz it is inevitable that Rajapaksa’s latest statements attracted national attention. The presidential election is constitutionally mandated to be held between September and October this year. Although Wickremesinghe has not yet personally declared his candidature, all signs thus far are that he will be running. Many of his intimates like former finance minister Ravi Karunanayake are clearly on record that RW will be a candidate. Other UNP functionaries have also said as much.

It’s only days since a member of the green the inner circle, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, assistant leader of the UNP, organized in his home base of Kuliyapitiya what looked like the president’s election campaign launch where RW himself was present. Also Ronald Perera, touted to be the president’s campaign manager, resigned his position as chairman of the Bank of Ceylon although he continues to wear the hat of Insurance Corporation chairman.

During his talk show appearance, Basil Rajapaksa declared that RW has the required qualities to lead the nation. But on the flip side, the UNP lacked the voter support and organizational capability to win an election. According to the pink bush shirt clad and slipper-wearing Basil, only his own party and the JVP/NPP had countrywide organizations while only the SLPP and Sajith Premadasa’s SJB had people’s support. Thus his own party had two of the required qualifications, he said, implying that they lacked the right leader to carry the country forward.

Basil admitted that while his party had held the two top slots, the presidency and the prime ministry, they had failed to do the needful for the benefit of the nation. He conveniently claimed that the SLPP had “sacrificed” these positions for the sake of the country without admitting the Rajapaksas were forced to flee by the forces unleashed by the aragalaya. Rajapaksa opined that the three necessary qualifications, organizational strength, people’s support and leadership ability should combine to select the next leader. Strangely BR does not seem to believe that the JVP/NPP commands the widely perceived public support which in his view remains with the SLPP and the SJB.

There will, no doubt, be buyers for his argument that holding a presidential election first followed by a parliamentary election will benefit the winner of the first contest. The pithy Sinhala idiom vaasi paththata hoiya or hurrah for the winning side says it all. The political parties know this very well. That is why the UNP, entrenched in power since independence chose three day elections with counting after each day’s voting so that strong candidates may be fielded on the first day, the not so strong on the second and the weak candidates on the last day. But the SWRD Bandaranaike wave whacked that logic for a six with the comfortable enthronement of a so-called people’s government. But in terms of the percentage of national votes polled, the greens did not do as badly as the seat count in parliament indicated.

Basil also rightly said that the concentration of too much power in too few hands is undesirable. Checks and balances are necessary factors in the equation. JR Jayewardene mistakenly believed that proportional representation (PR) replacing the previous Westminster-style first past the post elections will prevent landslides such as 1956, 1970 and 1977. But this did not happen as planned. Remember the last election where the UNP was reduced to zero elected seats and its leader had to belatedly limp into parliament on his party’s single national list slot. Yet the near impossible happened with the gods smiling down on Ranil Wickremesinghe. The country is now looking for a mix of first past the post and PR but whether any such arrangement will be possible before parliamentary elections next year will remain an open question.

The SLPP’s grouse that they do not have enough ministers in the RW government prevails. Basil complained that there are several provinces from which his party has no ministers to work for the people. Wickremesinghe, under pressure of public opinion, refused to cave into SLPP demands for expanding the cabinet. What Basil and Mahinda Rajapaksa discussed with President Wickremesinghe a few days ago is not in the public domain save for some speculative reports.

While Ministers like Harin Fernando are talking of cards up their sleeves to be played in May, it is hard to conceive the possibility of a RW-SLPP-SJB alliance to take on the JVP/NPP as a common force. Basil Rajapaksa’s Face to Face interview with Sirasa threw up many riddles for which the answers should be forthcoming in the coming weeks. But one thing is certain. Nearly all incumbent MPs will be driven by self-interest of returning to parliment.

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