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Editorial

From shaman’s syrup to docs’ pills

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Tuesday 11th May, 2021

The Covid-19 morbidity and mortality rates have been on the rise steadily since the conclusion of the recent avurudu celebrations. What we are experiencing at present looks the early warnings of a viral tsunami, whose landfall is only a matter of time. The national healthcare system has reached breaking point, as a collective of professional outfits––the Sri Lanka Medical Association, the Government Medical Officers Association, the Association of Medical Specialists, and the SLMA Intercollegiate Committee––have pointed out in a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Unless urgent action is taken to reduce the worsening caseloads, people will start dying here in their numbers on roads without treatment, as in India. The first thing that needs to be done to prevent the rapid transmission of the pandemic is to impose movement restrictions, which the good doctors have recommended in their letter. If travel among districts had been banned, or at least restricted, during the recent festive season, the country would not have been in the current predicament. The government allowed the public to do as they pleased, for political reasons, and we are where we are today.

The doctors’ associations have, in their letter, made some science-based recommendations such as the imposition of movement restrictions, the isolation of areas depending on density of caseloads, the strengthening of the curative sector by supplying adequate facilities, especially oxygen, ICU facilities and laboratory services countrywide for diagnosis of COVID-19 with PCR testing, and the acceleration of the national vaccination drive.

Some of these recommendations may not find favour with the government, which tends to lay everything on the Procrustean bed of political expediency. But they are the proverbial stitch in time, which, if implemented urgently, will spare the government and the country a lot of trouble in the future. The pills that docs have prescribed are bitter but have to be swallowed.

It is popularly said in this country that when politicians have power, they have no brains, and vice versa—mole thiyanakota bale ne, bale thiyanakota mole ne. So, the problem with most government politicians is that they consider themselves far more knowledgeable than experts such as doctors, engineers, scientists and environmentalists. One may recall that a minister of the current administration once asked what the use of having oxygen was, during a heated argument with an intrepid female Forest Officer who opposed a move to destroy a mangrove forest, pointing out that environmental degradation would reduce the oxygen level in the air. He demanded to know whether oxygen could be eaten—oxygen kannada. A ministerial colleague of his did something cretinous, the other day, exposing the public to Covid-19.

Piliyandala, a populous section of the conurbation of Colombo, accounted for nearly one half of 755 Covid-19 cases reported from the Colombo District, yesterday. The health authorities’ decision to impose movement restrictions in the Piliyandala police area, last week, has been vindicated by the rapid increase in infections there during the past few days. If the restrictions had not been lifted at the behest of Minister Gamini Lokuge, the situation could have been brought under control. Lokuge has sought to justify his intervention to have the decision of the Director General of Health Services (DGHS), who alone can decide on lockdowns, movement restrictions, etc., countermanded, by claiming that such action would have affected daily wage earners in Piliyandala, which is his electorate. True, the vulnerable sections of society have to be protected, but an explosive transmission of the pandemic will have a far more devastating impact on them as well as others than a lockdown. Of economic hardships and an increase in the pandemic death toll, which is the worse? It is not only the residents of Piliyandala who undergo economic hardships owing to lockdowns and other such Covid-19 preventive measures. What if the ruling party politicians in other parts of the country emulate Lokuge? The DGHS will not be able to have any area locked down, in such an eventuality.

Meanwhile, other countries battling the new variants of the virus have adopted double masking, which has proved quite effective in curbing the spread of the pandemic. Why it has not been made mandatory here is the question.

One can only hope that the doctors’ letter at issue will knock some sense into the ruling party politicians and their officials in charge of the anti-Covid-19 campaign. There is no reason why a government that chose to do as a crafty shaman said, and even promoted his peniya or syrup, touted as a cure for Covid-19, should not take the views of respected medical professionals on board and act accordingly.



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Editorial

Who guards the guards?

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Friday 13th December, 2024

The Opposition continues to crank up pressure on Speaker Asoka Ranwala to resign over what it calls his false claim to have a doctorate. The JVP-led NPP government may have expected its opponents’ campaign against the Speaker to fizzle out with the passage of time. In this country, controversies crop up at such a rate that one finds it well-nigh impossible to keep track of them, and that may be the reason why the government has chosen to remain silent on the issue of the Speaker’s educational qualifications. But the Opposition remains maniacally focused on the Speaker’s claim in question, and SJB MP Ajith Perera has gone on record as saying that unless Ranwala resigns forthwith, the Opposition will be compelled to move a motion of no confidence against him. The government has sought to make light of the situation, but in vain.

The allegation that the third citizen of the country has made a false claim and misled the public and Parliament is too serious to be glossed over. Having failed to obfuscate the issue, the government is now evading questions thereon. Its ostrich-like posturing will only worsen the situation; the problem will not go away, given the Opposition’s determined bid to make the JVP/NPP bite the bullet and have Speaker Ranwala step down.

The government finds itself in a quandary; if it continues to ignore calls for remedial action, its rivals will intensify their campaign against the Speaker, and if Ranwala succumbs to the Opposition’s pressure by any chance, that will be a huge comedown for the ruling alliance. However, the government cannot go on dilly-dallying and prevaricating indefinitely. It will have to grasp the nettle soon.

If Speaker Ranwala fails to prove that he has a doctorate, and the government refuses to take any action, the Opposition is likely to go ahead with its no-faith motion. The JVP-NPP combine will find itself in a more unenviable position in such an eventuality.

The government has a two-thirds majority in Parliament and therefore it can torpedo a no-confidence motion against the Speaker, but if it does so, its credibility and integrity will be at stake. While it was in opposition, it would take the moral high ground and tear all previous governments to shreds for defending their members who were in the wrong. Its frontal attacks on those administrations and its solemn pledge to usher in a new political culture resonated with the public, as evident from its spectacular electoral wins in the recent presidential and parliamentary elections. Therefore, it will have to be mindful of the moral aspects of its actions as much as their legality.

The JVP/NPP ascended to power by lowering the esteem of the national legislature in the eyes of the public with the help of an effective vilification campaign against the members of previous governments. It also pledged to raise the quality of the MPs and the standards of Parliament. In fact, it triggered a massive wave of anti-politics to make its victory possible. The issue of the incumbent Speaker’s educational qualifications and the Opposition’s campaign for his removal on the grounds that he has flaunted a fake doctorate is bound to have a corrosive effect on public trust in Parliament. This augurs ill for the country’s democratic wellbeing.

It is incumbent upon the leaders of all political parties represented in Parliament to have a serious discussion on the issue at hand and find a solution. They should do everything possible to obviate the need for a no-faith motion against the Speaker because such a situation would only further undermine public trust in the legislature and provide a big fillip to anti-politics.

The JVP/NPP is in a dilemma. While defending the Speaker, it has to safeguard the integrity of its civic morality initiative aimed at improving the moral and ethical standards of electors and the elected alike. One is reminded of the Juvenalian question: Who guards the guards themselves?

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Editorial

All hat and no cattle?

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Thursday 12th December, 2024

Washington has given the JVP-led NPP government a much-needed leg-up while the latter’s political opponents are on the offensive, protesting against a host of unsolved issues that are likely to take their toll on the new administration’s approval rating. Public resentment is welling up, and the Opposition, which suffered a crushing defeat last month, is all out to recover lost ground and make an early comeback.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu said in Colombo over the weekend that the US government remained committed to supporting Sri Lanka’s on-going anti-corruption drive. His assurance must have gladdened the hearts of the NPP leaders. No sooner had Lu made that pledge than the US imposed sanctions on former CEO of SriLankan Airlines Kapila Chandrasena and former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga, and their immediate family members; the US said it had done so due to their involvement in ‘significant corruption’. Chandrasena has been designated for allegedly accepting a bribe for ensuring Sri Lanka purchased Airbus aircraft above the market value, and Weeratunga is facing sanctions for having allegedly benefited from a corrupt scheme involving the procurement of some MiG aircraft for the Sri Lanka Air Force.

US sanctions against Chandrasena and Weeratunga are welcome, but the question is why Washington has not targeted the masterminds behind the aforesaid corrupt deals. Chandrasena and Weeratunga are related to the Rajapaksa family, and it is now up to the NPP government to pull out all the stops and have the Airbus and MiG deals thoroughly probed. If it does so, it will be able to find out where the kickbacks ended up. Obviously, nobody would have been able to cut such mega corrupt deals without the blessings of the rulers of the day. If those who acted as fronts or collectors for their political masters are prosecuted successfully, the fear of having to serve long prison terms will make them reveal the truth.

Now that the US has offered to help trace Sri Lanka’s stolen funds and bring them back, the Dissanayake government should request Washington to probe the assets of those whom the JVP and the NPP accused of having amassed a great deal of ill-gotten wealth and stashed it away overseas. They have named and shamed the members of the Rajapaksa family. National Organiser of the SLPP and former Minister Namal Rajapaksa keeps daring the government to probe allegations against him and his family. So, why doesn’t the NPP government request Washington to probe the assets of the members of the Rajapaksa family in the US?

No one has drawn more flak from the JVP/NPP than Basil Rajapaksa for the various corrupt deals during the Rajapaksa rule. Political rivals of the Rajapaksa family have used him as a foil to make themselves out to be paragons of virtue. The JVP/NPP also gained much political traction by bashing Basil, and promising to probe his assets. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake often laments that investigations into an ‘ownerless’ palatial house at Malwana have hit a brick wall; the rivals of the SLPP claim that Basil had that house built through a front; they have not been able to substantiate that allegation. What prevents President Dissanayake from ordering a fresh probe into the Malwana mansion to find out the real owner of the property?

One may recall that in October 2014, speaking at a dairy farmers’ ceremony, Basil, who was a powerful minister in the Mahinda Rajapaksa government at the time, claimed that his situation was no better than that of an ordinary dairy farmer. He said he was a farmer’s son, and the only asset he had was a herd of dairy cows! That was how he sought to counter his critics’ claim that he had amassed ill-gotten wealth. So, if Basil has acquired assets that are worth more than a herd of cattle either here or in the US, he must be made to account for them. The US should be able to do so unless it is playing both sides of the fence, so to speak. After all, Basil is an American citizen.

While stumping for the NPP in the run-up to last month’s general election, President Dissanayake vowed to go all out to ‘catch the thieves of state assets’. It is high time he matched his words with deeds.

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Editorial

Drug barons vs. the law

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Wednesday 11th December, 2024

A much-feared underworld figure named Arumahandi Janith Madushanka Silva alias Podi Lassi, charged with possession of narcotics, has been released on bail. Lawyers who appeared for him told reporters on Monday (09) that he needed protection because the STF had threatened him with death. What they left unsaid was that their client had issued threats to no less a person than the Head of State. In 2020, while being detained in the Boosa Prison, Podi Lassi and two other underworld characters known as Kosgoda Tharaka and Pitigala Keuma threatened to harm the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne, and some senior prison officers.

Sri Lanka has seen ambitious projects under successive governments during the past several decades to turn it into a hub of some kind or another in the region. Much-advertised campaigns to make it a centre of international shipping, global trade, IT, education, etc., have not reached fruition. However, some underworld kingpins have already turned it into a narcotic hub, to all intents and purposes if the sheer amounts of dangerous drugs frequently taken into custody are any indication.

Sri Lanka’s anti-narcotic laws are characterised by some inadequacies that allow clever lawyers appearing for drug lords to drive a coach and horses through them. They have done so on numerous occasions much to the dismay of the police and the public.

One may recall that a notorious drug dealer named Mohommad Najim Mohommad Imran alias Kanjipani Imran obtained bail in 2022. Everybody knew that he would flee the country, and he did so a couple of weeks later. The then Public Security Minister Tiran Alles claimed that some unscrupulous lawyers had facilitated Imran’s escape as well as that of another criminal called Ganemulle Sanjeewa. Who can ensure that Podi Lassi will not emulate Imran and Sanjeewa?

Imran was arrested in Dubai together with Sri Lanka’s Napoleon of Crime, Samarasinghe Arachchige Madush Lakshitha alias Makandure Madush, in 2019, and brought to Colombo. Madush perished allegedly in a crossfire between the police and an underworld gang while in custody. Imran has been running his crime syndicate here from overseas. He is believed to have masterminded the murder of Wasantha Perera or Club Wasantha about five months ago. No wonder Citizen Perera is on the same page as Mr. Bumble (in Oliver Twist), who says the law is an ass.

While Operation Yukthiya was proceeding at full throttle, under the previous government, we pointed out that the war on drugs had to be fought at sea, on the shore, and in ports. Most narcotic consignments find their way here in fishing craft and freight containers.

Last week, the Navy intercepted and brought to the Colombo Port a fishing craft with a haul of crystal meth weighing 400 kilos. In December 2013, the Customs found more than 131 kilos of heroin in a container which a coordinating secretary to the then Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne had requested the Customs to clear on a priority basis. In July 2017, more than 218 kilos of cocaine were detected in a shipping container of sugar delivered to the Ratmalana Economic Centre.

Whenever a drug czar is netted, a well-coordinated operation gets underway to secure his release, with lawyers, politicians, and some rogue elements in the police and other state institutions such as the Government Analyst’s Department springing into action. In September 2023, Nadun Chinthaka Wickremaratne alias Harak Kata almost made good his escape during an interrogation session at the CID headquarters. His plan to poison the police personnel on duty, and flee went pear-shaped thanks to some Argus-eyed STF personnel. Besides, more than a dozen Police Narcotics Bureau officers were arrested in 2020 over their links to drug dealers.

The foregoing point to the power of the netherworld of crime, and the enormity of the narcotic problem Sri Lanka has been striving to tackle all these years. Inadequacies of laws, corruption in the state institutions tasked with fighting the scourge of drugs, and political backing for narco barons have made the task of ridding the country of narcotics even more uphill.

The need for reworking Sri Lanka’s anti-narcotics strategy to optimise it to meet the existing challenges and the emerging ones vis-à-vis the powerful drug Mafia, which is becoming more resilient like a pathogenic virus, cannot be overstated. A major drawback of the ongoing anti-narcotic operations is the lack of a holistic approach to overcoming multisectoral obstacles that stand in the way of neutralising the hydra-headed scourge. This is something that the new government, which is keen to liberate the country from the clutches of the drug cartels should take cognisance of.

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