Sudden surprise at poverty; distinguished Sri Lankan; national habit of always asking for more

Headlines in The Island of Friday Aug 6: “Govt in a bind over massive salary and pension bill: revenue dwindles amidst pandemic.” So that seems to be a new discovery of Dr Nalaka Godahewa, who proclaimed the lament. Weren’t these current expenditures always present and usually budgeted for? And if the salary bill is high it is the fault of maybe this govt and very definitely those of previous governments mostly SLFP administrations, whose ministers and MPs would get jobs in the public sector for supporters and slipper lickers just on the strength of a note sent to bosses of departments. They bloated the public service and now they bellyache about having to pay them. Do not talk of pensions. Most pensioners slaved for more than two decades and much longer to end up with a pension which is, in most cases, paltry. Don’t you dare reduce these, Dr Godahewa. Why don’t you delete all pension payment to ex MPs and expenses met of ex-President’s wives? These are not justifiable expenses; in the first case because MPs have to loll around in Parliament for only five years to get a fine pension. This statement coming after a reported figure of 60 MPs jaunting to Japan to see the opening of the Olympics. Wives of ex-Presidents surely have the wherewithal to live well without subsidies from the state. Jeff and Mutt had the correct sarcastic answer to Dr. Godahewa: “The solution is to recruit more to the public service.” It is like a prolific father doing the unnecessary year in and year out impregnating his poor wife and then complaining about having to feed so many offspring.

Pretty Pavithra

In the same paper, a picture of a smiling Minister of Health accompanies the heading: “More that 45,000 children have contracted Covid.” The photograph was inappropriately selected but appropriate in its submerged meaning. Pavithradevi smiles as she is still Minister of Health after her shenanigans with the carpenter’s peniya and pots sent down rivers. There are some allegations against her husband as well. So, though a few voices called for her resignation as Minister of Health if not dismissal (from the public and not the Cabinet), she sticks to her ministerial post.

A Sri Lankan citizen to be proud of

Faraz Shoukataly interviewed Dr Rohan Pethiyagoda on 06 August in Newsline on MTV I, directing questions about the fertiliser business, Dr Pethiyagoda being an internationally known naturalist and taxonomist of freshwater fish. Most striking was Dr P’s manner of speaking: calm, collected, confident without a trace of hubris and stating facts and figures with no notes in hand. That very day Cass was told by a US resident that a video of Dr Pethiyagoda being interviewed and presenting counter arguments to Dr Anurudha Padeniya’s contention of the dire danger to human health from inorganic fertilisers, had been seen by many over there. The US resident commented very emphatically on how precisely to the point Dr P was and spoke excellently well in Sinhala. That too is a feather in his cap as he had his primary and secondary education at S. Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia and then obtained his first degree in Engineering and MPhil from universities of London and Sussex. He returned to the country and served in the Ministry of Health and Water Resources Board and then in international organisations. He was a Director of the Tea Board. So he really knows what he is talking about relative to tea and fertilisers. I listened just before writing this to a YouTube of him being interviewed in Sinhala. Flawless flow of correct language expressing scientific facts that call for precise choice of terms. Cass cannot but add that thus to every distinguished dual citizen applauded by Rajitha Ratwatte writing from Outside the Pearl, we have 50 single-citizenship holding Sri Lankans who opt to live and work in this land of their birth, though many of them would have been grabbed by prestigious universities and organisations overseas.

Short takes Weightless, spurious criticism

Ex Prime Minister Ranil W has not only shot himself in the foot but crammed it in his mouth, by his proclamation that the military should not be involved in helping to control the Covid-19 pandemic in this Paradise beaten to hell. This means in extension, I suppose, that he is not in favour of the Army Commander being at the head of the Covid 19 Prevention Task Force alongside the President. About the latter there are voices that proclaim the task force should be headed and consist primarily of health officials. Cass sits on the fence on this since the present (with brass) Head can get things done. However, almost everyone in this island approves and applauds the army in the vital part they played, and play, in the vaccination drive. Army personnel – medical and others – have been working around the clock mass vaccinating people across the length and breadth of the land, more particularly in the worst Covid hit province – the Western, and met with expressed appreciation and gratitude for courteous and humane service. Thousands of tales are told about old people being led out of queues and to the vaccination desk; chairs being provided; and the disabled often carried to the head of the queue. So, as I said, Ranil W voiced a statement vehemently disapproved of. However, it must be added in the same breath that we harbour fears of too much power and place given to the armed forces. They can even be summoned to suppress rights and legitimate freedoms.

One comment from Face the Nation Programme

On Monday 9 August, the topic discussed in Face the Nation Programme on MTV I was the economy of Our Land – obviously in dire straits, perilous, scraping for dollars, inundated with newly printed rupees notes, hidden from the public, and (may it not be) breathing its last. In the second session when panelists are invited to voice three-minute summations of their opinions on the topic of discussion, the university don present said he hopes the forthcoming budget will ease the burden of citizens by reducing prices and including subsidies. This drew forth from Shameer Rasooldeen a heartfelt cry: “Why is it always denna, denna denna?” (Cass remembers the term used by protesters stronger and a command of diyauw. So very true and commendable was Rasooldeen’s protest! He voiced a strong opinion accompanied by irritation that Cass and others of her ilk fully share. What were the hordes of teachers doing on the streets of this island’s towns? Asking for more, prodded on by selfishness. United varsity students often ask for more while wasting their time on the streets and passed out graduates remain unemployed expecting and demanding the government to give them jobs and, mark you, not mere ese mese jobs but white collar with thathvaya.

We were brought up on free stuff: rice, dhal and such like at one time; free education from the 1950s with free buns, milk, uniform material and textbooks added off and on. Health services were/are mostly free. Thus, that inbuilt ugly habit of stretching out the begging arm accompanied by a pleading for more. We often abhor beggars at traffic lights or if they ring the door bell; but as a nation we resemble them, atrociously. I suppose most people never heard the famous words of President John F Kennedy proclaiming in his inaugural speech of January 20 1961 near the Capitol in Washington DC: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” The ones who hearken least to this admonition, Cass shame-facedly admits, are many of the representatives we elect to serve us and the country. So what can be expected from the hoi polloi and us Ordinaries?

Flash

Heard over CNN news on Wednesday 11, Dr Nick Wilson of the University of Chicago pronounce that research is moving towards the possibility of doing away with Covid 19 and even its variants. He said the eliminating of this disease will be easier than getting rid of polio. Hence we need not subscribe to the veracity of the turn of phrase of the question such as “When will this pandemic end?” or “Will this pandemic ever end?”. We need to cling to the ray of hope coming from the medical research department of this particular American university.