Who wants to govern now?

By Rajitha Ratwatte

fromoutsidethepearl@gmail.com

The haunting lyrics of Freddie Mercury’s “who wants to live forever” echoes in my mind these days. However, there is a rather clumsy bit of paraphrasing that takes over in my mind. WHO WANTS TO GOVERN NOW? is the punch line that dominates my thinking.

The pearl has a new government and Aotearoa will have one shortly, not to mention the Americans’ and their president. The carnage that has happened to date and the even worse economic carnage that is expected raises the question.

All government reserves are exhausted or have taken a terrible hit. Printing money is obviously happening everywhere. Recession is no longer a possibility but a certainty. How is a democratically elected government going to manage to keep their voters happy? Almost impossible, even in Countries like Aotearoa who have relatively disciplined and responsible voters with a realistic outlook. The farmers of Aotearoa will survive, not only are they tough and hard, what they grow is much sought after. However, taxes will be increased dramatically but they may get more for their exports when the currency declines. It is predicted that over 50,000 jobs will be lost and this in a job market that is lean at best of times. 10% of all restaurants are predicted to close. Let alone the economic fallout, there are going to be a LOT of people with no money and plenty of time on their hands. The social cost, depression, domestic violence and all in a society that already has a high prevalence of all this.

The government of NZ is taking steps. There is increased recruitment in the mental health sector and encouragement and incentives to study in this field. Students can actually enrol in universities and polytechnics for these courses and the Government pays ALL the fees. Jobs will follow either after one qualifies or even concurrently, while qualifying. Sectors like wild life conservation and environmental conservation are recruiting people actively and jobs are being created in these areas. Wage subsidies and lump sum payments to businesses to help with cash flow have been extended to cover the extended lockdown periods.

What about the Pearl? I wonder if any proactive action has been taken at all? Are even the statistics verifiable and accurate? Are there actually no cases of Covid19 at all in society? OK, let’s say they are. The public health sector in the Pearl is not to be sneezed at. This is a country that has eradicated Malaria, not a small feat. But don’t you need credibility from an international source, in fact more than one? Isn’t there a need to also improve the knowledge of and the credibility of the medical facilities that are available?

Even if potential tourists have enough money and flights to travel with post Covid, the question of what if we get ill on tour will be foremost on their minds. We have very good facilities in our Government Hospitals, but it is an opportunity for the private hospitals too. All denizens of the Pearl, grumble and moan about the costs of the Private Hospitals but it really is NOTHING compared to what such facilities cost abroad. Include some flashy photos of private, air-conditioned rooms with satellite TV that are available at private hospitals. Show some of the shiny diagnostic machinery and mention just how LITTLE it costs in USD or Euros. Mention the fantastic telecoms network we have available and how cheap it is to get on line and how easy. Now that people can work on line, living in Lanka for the prices available not to mention the great weather and scenery, internet connectivity of the standard that is available in Sri Lanka, should be pushed. We need to think outside the box and do some Guerrilla marketing, things are desperate!

Depending on traditional tourism is not going to work. Even if people have enough money to afford a holiday, the cost of flights are not going to be affordable for many years. The airlines are laying off pilots and flight crew in numbers that are going to see them operate way below present capacities. Demand at these reduced capacities will see to it that ticket prices stay high. National airlines may come to the fore and all other types of airlines may cease to exist. There are plenty of cruise ships lying around, what about getting some of them over to Trincomalee, offering them free berthing in this largely unused, fantastic deep water natural harbour and trying a new form of Aqua tourism? Long stays in luxury accommodation based on the water with access to the incredible beaches and wild life resources that are in close proximity, not to mention the unexplored game fishing potential. The entire East Coast has so much potential and no additional infrastructure costs will be involved as the ships are lying idle anyway!

We sentenced a mass murderer in Aotearoa this week. A racist animal, who was dubbed a terrorist and admitted to gunning down over 50 people in cold blood, got the maximum possible sentence. He got life without parole, he will never be out of prison in his life. Some say he will never breathe fresh air or walk on real grass again. An aspect of the trial that is worth talking about is the victim statements that happened. Surviving victims and representatives of those who didn’t were allowed to address the monster in court and express their feelings. The Moron tried to keep a dead pan face when listening to the raw emotion that was poured on him. It is impossible that it had no effect, even on a sub human of this nature. Some of those words will echo in his cell and his mind each and every day of his sentence. A greater outcome, I feel, was that the victims and their families were finally able to vent their feelings and obtain closure of a sort.

There is talk of sending him back to Australia to serve his sentence, as the Aussies do to our criminals who get convicted there. It will mean that the NZ tax payer will not have to pay the estimated $500 a day to keep this specimen, in what prisoners in the Pearl would consider five-star luxury, for the rest of his life. It is possible that the Aussie prisons may be harsher, but then again, he may find more kindred spirits incarcerated in OZ. I honestly feel the NZ tax payer will not grudge the cost to ensure that this disgrace to humanity gets what he deserves.

I wonder if we have this victim statement facility available for victims’ in the court system of the Pearl. Wouldn’t it be nice if WHEN (oh yes, it WILL happen, we must believe that it will) some of the human rights abusers and robber barons who have destroyed our country and her economy could be told what we, the public thought of them before they went to prison? At least the prison they go to would be much worse than what the mass murderer will enjoy in Aotearoa!