Features

President Rajapaksa and his 13A dilemmas

Published

4 years ago

2021/01/3

by Rajan Philips

It was said of Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike that “it was a grim irony that he should be called upon, at the moment of his greatest political triumph, to articulate the strong opposition of the Sinhalese to any attempt to establish a federal constitution.” Sixty-five years later, it could be said in reverse that it is a grimmer irony for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to be unfairlyput on the spot by his most ardent supporters and their insistent calls for abolishing the Provincial Council system, in total disregard of the realities of political and geopolitical consequences of such abolishing, not to mention the extraordinary Covid-19 challenges that he has to deal with now. The irony is to be noted because Mr. Rajapaksa was among the first to raise the call for abolishing the PCs as far back as 10 years ago, when even the mere thought of becoming Sri Lanka’s president may not have crossed his mind as an American citizen.

The PCs are not the only dilemma that President Rajapaksa has to wrestle with. He is grappling with quite a few of them. While almost all other presidential dilemmas are connected to Covid-19, the dilemma over 13A and the Provincial Councils is antecedent to Covid-19, but like everything else in Sri Lanka and elsewhere, is complicated by it. Hence the lingering question, why bother with a new constitution now? And especially for this President, whose credentials are totally those of a practical doer, and not at all the characteristics of a constitutional visionary? The answer might be that it is the ‘constitutional cabal’ that is running the constitutional show, like every other cabal running every other government show.

‘Sapatha’ and Overreach

The immediate cause for the abolishment calls is the apparent decision of the government, or the Prime Minister, to go ahead with the long postponed (by the Wickremesinghe-TNA-JVP threesome) elections to the currently defunct Provincial Councils, which were established under the 13^th Amendment. The sources of these calls are also a classic case of multiple political tails trying to wag the country’s presidential executive and his brother prime minister. A government minister, indeed, the Minister for Public Security and the State Minister for Provincial Councils, has, in ancient Mahabharata “sapatha kara kiyanawa” style, made a solemn pledge to the members of the Civil Defence Force that he would put an end to the system of Provincial Councils. The Experts Committee tasked with preparing a draft for the new Rajapaksa constitution, is also reported to have expressed concern over holding PC elections before their draft is done and a new constitution is in place.

It is not clear if there is unanimity in the committee over this concern, or if some committee members are speaking publicly for the whole committee. There was an earlier news report that the Experts Committee took an internal vote and decided by majority on a matter that is apparently fundamental to preparing the draft constitution. That an expert committee on the constitution would take an internal vote to decide on a fundamental question without referring it to its political masters in the government (with the parliament helplessly sidelined in the whole exercise) is an extraordinary overreach. If this is any indication, even the draft constitution that the committee would likely produce (presumably by a majority vote) may turnout to be extraordinary and tendentious.

Does the matter that the committee had to vote on have anything to do the 13^th Amendment? We do not know. But we know that the more powerful members of the committee are not amused by the government’s apparent decision to go ahead with PC elections. And that is some gall for a committee appointed by the country’s Head of State to publicly tell the government if or when it should conduct elections to any elected body. For now, there is more than Expert Committee amusement or gall that has been put on display. Real midweek fury against the Provincial Councils has been unleashed by Prof. GH Peiris, who is also a prominent member of the Experts Committee.

Facts and Fabrications

Anyone looking to get refreshed on the materially relevant historical background to the constitutional voids that were unnecessarily created in 1972 and in 1978 – and their partial filling by the 13^th Amendment (in 1987) and the Provincial Councils it created, could re-read Chapter 36 in KM de Silva’s (1981) “A History of Sri Lanka.” Even its first few pages will do. My opening quote on SWRD Bandaranaike in today’s article is from page 513 of de Silva’s book, in Chapter 36: “The Triumph of Linguistic Nationalism”. The quote might suggest that the historian was having his academic tongue in his political cheek, but it reads far superior to anything that a geographer seems to be able to politically offer 40 years later. And this is not because Sri Lanka has too much history and too little geography.

Yet, no one can do worse than CA Chandraprema’s attempt to rewrite history, as he did in his hagiographic monograph, “Gota’s War.” We can anticipate versions of it to be undiplomatically broadcast from Geneva from March onward. The one thing about the history of Sri Lanka’s national question or conflict is that it is a well studied (even “over studied”, as AJ Wilson used to say) subject, and almost everyone who is of consequence either in Sri Lanka or abroad is well versed, in it and knows to discern between facts and fabrications. More than historical writings, Sri Lanka’s stubborn facts always give the fabricator’s, if not the government’s, game away. Just as it is impossible to hide a whole pumpkin in a plate of rice. Peremptorily abolishing the Provincial Council system will be one more stubborn fact that will fetch no credit for Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankans who have lived through and politically experienced the tumults and wars after 1977 need no lesson from old history, colonial, or pre-colonial. Some of us–Burghers, Muslims, Sinhalese, and Tamils rising above our ethnic strictures, happened to be involved in efforts to respond to these events within the framework of the Movement for Inter-Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE).1983 is now considered a watershed moment in Sri Lanka’s modern history, one that is totally negative and even calamitous, and quite different from 1956 which bore both positive and negative fruits. However, 1983 had its annual forerunners. Riots broke out in 1977, after a twenty-year hiatus and within months of the UNP’s bigger than landslide election victory. For the first time, plantation Tamils were targeted in communal rioting. In 1978, the UNP used its massive majority in parliament to elevate one of its MPs, Prime Minister JR Jayewardene, as the country’s first executive president. 1979 was the year of the Emergency in Jaffna, when President Jayewardene ordered Brigadier (Bull) Weeratunga (not DIG/IGP Rudra Rajasingham) to “eliminate the menace of terrorism in all its forms from the island and more specially from the Jaffna District.” Two years later, in 1981, tea plantation districts were targeted again in the south, while off-duty policemen burnt down the Public Library in Jaffna. In 1982, President Jayewardene upended parliamentary democracy in Sri Lanka through the chicanery of a referendum. One year later, what was catastrophic became calamitous, as the Palestinians are known to say.

1983 implicated Sri Lanka not only geopolitically with India, but also internationally with practically every western country where Tamils leaving Sri Lanka found a foothold. The Sixth Amendment that was passed during the dark and difficult days of August 1983, erased the elected TULF off the political map and handed over the keys to Tamil politics to armed militants. Sarath Silva said as much in his 2005 ruling as Chief Justice, in the course of denying President Kumaratunga’s plea to stay in office a year longer.

The commonplace argument is that 13A and the Provincial Councils were foisted on Sri Lanka by India’s machinations taking advantage of an old, weak, and beleaguered President Jayewardene. While this argument might be politically potent, it is bereft of any analytical insight or credibility, and it flies in the face of events and the alignments of political forces within Sri Lanka before and after 1983. The notion that India’s role in Sri Lanka was triggered by the fury of Indira Gandhi after she was apparently scorned by JR Jayewardene is cheap table talk and should not be a serious political consideration. And in 2020 it is utterly inappropriate to speak of any woman, let alone a woman political leader and Prime Minister, being scorned, leaving aside the not uncommon misattribution to Shakespeare of the line (“Heav’n has no rage, like love to hatred turn’d, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned”) that was satirically written by William Congreve (1670-1729) in his play, The Mourning Bride.

Indian Involvement and Sri Lanka’s Failure

I make no suggestion that India’s involvement, or interference, in Sri Lanka was entirely, or even primarily, motivated by neighbourly altruism. There were of course machinations, but they were mostly of the raw bureaucratic kind, thanks to the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s wannabe CIA. And whether it was Indian involvement or interference, it did not arise out of nothing and would not have transpired the way it did and to the extent it did, without compelling circumstances in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan political circumstances after 1977, and more so after 1983, provided both the pretext and the context for India to get involved in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs. And no one, not even India, could have anticipated that things would get ugly and totally out of control as they did over several years. It is still the sorest point among many Sinhalese that India peremptorily prevented the Sri Lankan military onslaught on the LTTE in June 1987 with its controversial air drop of food supplies in Jaffna. The contention is that were it not for this highhanded intervention, the war would have been over by and large in 1987 itself. This is debatable because the LTTE was then primarily a guerrilla organization and may have survived the onslaught to live and fight another day. It was only years later that the LTTE would build up its so called conventional fighting force and convert itself from being a fighting-fit guerrilla force to a flabby national army, and getting drunk in the process with its own myth of invincibility. And in this saga of ironies, India that initially aided and armed Tamil militant groups on the beaches of Tamil Nadu, would later preside over the disarming of every militant group bar the LTTE, engage its army in an unfinished and unsuccessful fight against the LTTE, and finally – 22 years after the infamous ‘parippu drop’ – end up aiding and assisting the government of Sri Lanka to vanquish the LTTE once and for all. It was not only the Central Government in Delhi that went through these about-turns, but also the state and government leaders in Tamil Nadu who were complicit at every step along the way. And there is no shortage among Sri Lankan Tamils who believe that the Tamils were shortchanged in the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord and the 13^th Amendment, and especially by the provisions of the Provincial Councils Act that the two gave rise to.

As for JR Jayewardene, although his detractors among the Sinhalese may never concede this, he must have felt entitled to a little last laugh in getting India to clean up the militant mess which in his mind was mostly of India’s making. To his justifiable credit, however, he conceded in the end that India was the only external agency, and not any western country or international agency, that would help him put his Sri Lankan house in order after national politics has unravelled beyond restoration by any domestic initiative alone. This very point was well articulated in a public statement, at the time of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, by more than a score of left and liberal Sinhalese intellectuals, activists, and academics. I do not have the statement at hand, but suffice it to say that the anti-13A lobby is not entitled to claim exclusive monopoly over Sinhalese political thinking, then or now.

As well, the 13^th Amendment is not the only controversial initiative, constitutionally or otherwise, that JR Jayewardene implemented and presided over aided by his tyrannical majority in parliament. His entire 1978 constitutional project has been controversial from the time of its inauguration. In fact, the 13^th Amendment has had greater support among non-UNP Sinhalese, than the 1978 Constitution ever did. Abolishing the executive presidency has been the winning battle cry in every election from 1994, until 2019. At none of these elections, including, I believe, the 2019 and 2020 elections, did any of the main contenders for power promised to abolish the Provincial Council system.

On the contrary, Chandrika Kumaratunga and her People’s Alliance movement used Provincial Council elections to launch their campaign against and eventually oust the UNP from power after its seventeen year rule. Mahinda Rajapaksa cleverly and consistently used PC elections to consolidate his electoral fiefdom. Again, as political indicators go, the 2014 PC election in Uva signalled the people’s regime fatigue after 10 years of Rajapaksa rule and 20 years of SLFP-dominated governments. Lacking Chandrika Kumaratunga’s charisma and Mahinda Rajapaksa’s cleverness, the beleaguered yahapalanaya folk shuttered up the Provincial Councils and postponed their elections indefinitely. Their dillydallying has created the current dilemma for President Rajapaksa.

There is no dispute that the implementation of the Provincial Councils system has not turned out to be an appealing success. But this is not due to any systemic or structural shortcomings, but entirely due to the failure of political leadership. The blame for the worst leadership failure should fall squarely on the shoulders of Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe in general, and particularly on the TNA and CV Wigneswaran for what they have done and what they failed to do with the Northern Provincial Council after its first and only election in 2013.

There is no question that the PC system needs changes and reforms, regardless of when the next elections are held. And unlike any other institution in Sri Lanka, the PC system has a handbook of reform recommendations in the comprehensive symposium complied, in 2010, by the late Ranjith Amarasinghe, Asoka Gunawardena, Jayampathy Wickramaratne, and AM Navaratna-Bandara. There have been plenty of other suggestions, most recently by Austin Fernando and Nirmala Chandrahasan.

In his December 25 article in The Island, Fernando recounts that the current government includes many past champions of the PC system, including former Provincial Chief Ministers and Governors. Will they speak out now, or stay silent as the current abolishment clamour grows? The current voices of abolition have been around from the time the PCs were introduced in 1987-88. But for over 30 years they have not gotten anywhere close to influencing, or dictating to, the policy of any Sri Lankan government on the 13^th Amendment and the Provincial Councils. Until now. And that is President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s main dilemma.

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Features

Promoting efficiency in economic governance and obtaining investment for development

Published

2 days ago

2024/12/13

Thilina Walpola

Digital Economy in Sri Lanka:

by Dr W.G. Somaratne

PhD (Econ), Latrobe, Australia; MSc (Ag.Econ), London;
BA (Econ), First Class, (USJP); Freelance Development Consultant,
Ex-Economist (ADB), (Part Time); Ex-Head and Senior Research Fellow (HARTI); and Visiting Lecturer,
(USJP); Email: wgsomaratne@gmail.com

The digital economy represents a transformative shift in the way businesses, governments, and individuals interact, trade, and create value. For Sri Lanka, this shift towards digitalisation presents a vital opportunity to stimulate economic growth, enhance economic governance, and social inclusion, and improve service delivery across the country. The expansion of digital infrastructure and increasing access to mobile technology and internet services have already paved the way for new economic models, from e-commerce to digital finance and remote work. With a strategic focus on building a resilient digital economy, Sri Lanka can address critical challenges such as unemployment, regional economic disparities, and limited access to global markets, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

A robust digital economy can empower Sri Lankan citizens, providing access to global markets, financial services, education, and healthcare through advancing new technology by opening opportunities for the general public. It also enables innovation and entrepreneurship development by reducing barriers to entry, encouraging startups, and supporting local industries in becoming globally competitive. However, realizing the full potential of a digital economy requires significant investment in digital infrastructure, improvement in digital literacy, and a regulatory environment that promotes security, trust, and innovation. With the right framework and collaborative efforts, Sri Lanka’s digital economy can play a pivotal role in the nation’s journey towards a sustainable, inclusive, and competitive future on the global stage.

Need for digital economy in Sri Lanka

The transition to a digital economy is critical for Sri Lanka’s development, as it provides avenues for economic growth, social inclusion, and improved governance. By embracing digitalisation, Sri Lanka can modernise traditional agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors, increase competitiveness, and overcome existing economic limitations.

Economic Growth and Employment Creation

Digital tools and platforms can improve productivity across sectors, from agriculture to manufacturing and services, by streamlining processes, enhancing data analysis, and reducing costs. The digital economy offers new avenues for employment in sectors like information technology, e-commerce, fintech, and digital marketing. These jobs can reduce youth unemployment, which remains a challenge in Sri Lanka. Further, digital tools empower SMEs by providing easier access to markets, customers, and resources through e-commerce platforms and social media. This can boost growth in the SME sector, as a vital part of Sri Lanka’s economy. Accordingly, some of the key reasons for the necessity of a digital economy for Sri Lanka’s development are explained below:

Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Digital platforms enable aspiring entrepreneurs to develop startups with lower initial investments. This fosters a culture of innovation, leading to the creation of unique solutions to local and global challenges. Further, a focus on digital can drive the development of solutions in fintech, health tech, agri-tech, and edu-tech sectors, addressing specific needs in Sri Lanka’s context, like financial inclusion, healthcare access, and agricultural productivity.

Enhancing Global Competitiveness

A digital economy allows Sri Lankan businesses, especially SMEs, to access international markets and access to finance more easily. This can boost exports and promote Sri Lanka as a global supplier of IT and knowledge services. Developing a digital economy demonstrates that Sri Lanka is forward-thinking, which can attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in 4IR technology, telecommunications, and knowledge-based industries including SMEs in the country.

Strengthening Governance and Transparency

Promoting Digital Government Services can be performed, especially, the establishment of a digital economy in Sri Lanka, which enables efficient and transparent government services, reducing bureaucratic hegemonies and delays and corruption in the government institutions. E-governance can improve public service delivery in areas like licensing and taxation in Customs, the Department of Inland Revenue and the Exercise Department, and promote social welfare in the country. Further, the decision-making in government organizations could be improved based on Data-Driven Decision-Making in the country (eg. Digitized Food Storage System). In particular, access to real-time data enables the government to make informed decisions on infrastructure, healthcare, education, and public safety, which can lead to better resource allocation and promote Smart Infrastructure, Smart Health, Smart Education, Smart Security, Smart Agriculture etc.

Facilitating Financial Inclusion: Digital banking, mobile payments, and online financial platforms improve access to banking services, especially in underserved regions. This enables more people to participate in the economy, save money, and invest in their businesses by promoting access to financial services. In addition, it improves the Growth in Fintech. The fintech sector can help provide credit, microfinance, and savings solutions to SME businesses and individuals, especially in rural areas, stimulating economic activity and growth.

Improving Education and Skill Development

The digital literacy level in ri Lanka needs to improve through digital tools and resources, which enhances education by providing access to online courses, resources, and remote learning. This can bridge education gaps and the digital divide, especially in rural areas. In addition, it can promote Skill Development for the Future, particularly, because a digital economy encourages the acquisition of skills in AI, data science, coding, digital marketing, e-business and e-commerce, which are in high demand globally. This improves employability for youth and women and prepares Sri Lanka’s workforce for the global future.

Environmental Sustainability

A digital economy reduces the need for physical infrastructure and travel, which can help minimise carbon emissions. Remote work, for instance, reduces the need for commuting, lowering the demand for fuel, decreasing pollution etc.. Further, digital solutions in areas like agriculture and energy enable more efficient use of resources, such as precision farming techniques that reduce water and pesticide use, contributing to goals of environmental sustainability and Smart Resource Management.

Challenges to Address for a Successful Digital Economy in Sri Lanka

While the benefits of a digital economy are clear, Sri Lanka faces some challenges in realizing this vision:

Digital Literacy Improving digital skills and literacy, particularly in underserved areas, will be essential for widespread adoption to promote the functioning of the digital economy.

Regulatory and Policy Framework: Clear, supportive policies that encourage digital innovation and protect consumer rights are needed to support a digital economy.

Infrastructure Development

Expanding internet access and digital infrastructure, especially in rural areas, is crucial to promote connectivity.

Cybersecurity and Privacy

Ensuring robust cybersecurity and data protection measures is also critical as more services and businesses move online and promote the concept of Smart Cities in the country.

The functions of the proposed new Ministry of Digital Economic Development would be to make decisions regarding the promotion of the digital economy in Sri Lanka and the provision of digital solutions for the development and promotion of digital economic governance and entrepreneurship development in the digital economy. The digital economy will be established by networking with all government institutions in Sri Lanka to promote efficiency in economic governance, which reduces transaction costs, and provides services with efficiency and effectiveness.

In particular, the management of the human capital and digital economy is less effective because many of these functions are not performed with the modern standards to promote efficiency in the human capital operational functions.

Accordingly, malfunctioning of the processes is rampant, no time management, and prolonged delays in service delivery, which denies the gaining of improving human capital in the country. However, the development of both the human capital and digital economy is necessary for operating with maximum efficiency for utilizing the hard-earned taxpayers’ funds. The only solution is establishing a digital economy linking all the government organizations together with the digital network to get rid of financial fraud, malpractices, bribery and corruption by using blockchain technology. For this purpose, Smart Health, Smart Education, Smart Custom, Smart Inland Revenue and Smart Exercise Department are some of the priority projects in the digital economy of Sri Lanka. Establishing and Promoting SMART Cities is also considered a necessary project for attracting investment to link the public and private sectors working together for national development. Eventually, it will assist in increasing government revenue as well.

Digital Economy and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Human capital development refers to the process of enhancing the knowledge, skills, abilities, and overall well-being of individuals, contributing to their personal and professional growth. Intellectual skills, innovation and information technology assist in wealth creation and lead to a knowledge-based economic system for Sri Lanka’s economic transformation. A Digital Economy in the transformed Sri Lanka that maximizes the use of digital technologies sustainably. It has three main scopes (a) Core scope as a Digital (IT/ICT) sector; (b) Narrow scope: Digital Economy; and (c) Broad Scope: Digitalized Economy and Society. The digital economy expects to transform the Sri Lankan economy into a fully pledged digitalized economy to gain advantages in improving economic governance attracting investment with 4IR technology and maximizing the economic and social well-being of the people.

Strategic Framework for Adopting the Digital Economy

The Strategic Framework for establishing and functioning a Digital Economy in Sri Lanka needs to establish 15 ‘Fortune Economic Zones (FEZs)’. Through these proposed FEZs, it is expected to invest in generating employment opportunities for youth and women and foreign income for the country. The proposed 15 digital FEZs are as follows:

Digitalized Economy and Society –

1 Fortune Economic Zone – For Establishing 5 Smart Cities within 3 years (pilot in Kandy and Gampaha and other 3 cities are Colombo, Matara, and Jaffna);

Adopting Smart Governance System:

1 – Fortune Economic Zone, covering E-Government Services for online public service delivery, covering Digital Platforms for citizen engagement and participation.; and Open data initiatives to provide public access to government data. Issuing a Personal Identification Number (PIN) for each citizen of the country is vital to promoting good governance and a corruption-free society. Sri Lanka needs to adopt a zero-tolerance policy for corruption, fraud and malpractices in the country. In addition, by adopting 4IR – blockchain technology in the operation of economically critical sub-sectors like customs, the Department of Inland Revenue and the Exercise Department, the government will be able to assist in maximising the generation of government revenue greatly.

Smart Mobility:

1- Fortune Economic Zone – for Intelligent transportation systems; it includes Real-time traffic management and monitoring; Smart parking solutions, and Public transportation enhancements, covering real-time tracking and scheduling;

Smart Energy –

1 Fortune Economic Zone: for Energy-efficient technologies and infrastructure; including Smart grids for efficient energy distribution; Renewable energy sources (solar, wind, waste) integration and Energy management systems for monitoring and optimizing energy consumption;

Smart Buildings and Infrastructure:

1 Fortune Economic Zone for Energy-efficient and sustainable building designs; Building automation systems for energy conservation; Smart street lighting with sensors for adaptive lighting; and Infrastructure monitoring for maintenance and safety;

Smart Environment:

1 Fortune Economic Zone, for Air and water quality monitoring systems; covering Waste management solutions, including smart bins and recycling programs; Green spaces and urban planning for environmental sustainability;

Smart Healthcare:

1 Fortune Economic Zone; Telemedicine and e-health services; it includes Health monitoring through wearable devices and sensors; Electronic health records and networking for efficient healthcare management in both state and private healthcare institutions/hospitals, Patient registration and management etc.

Smart Education:

1 Fortune Economic Zone for E-learning platforms and digital classrooms; Smart campuses with technology-enhanced learning environments; and Educational analytics for personalized learning;

Smart Security:

1 Fortune Economic Zone for Surveillance systems with video analytics; Emergency response and disaster management systems; and Cybersecurity measures to protect digital infrastructure;

Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI):

1 Fortune Economic Zone for Big data analytics for extracting valuable insights from vast datasets; AI applications for predictive analysis and decision-making; Machine learning algorithms for optimizing city services (Eg. Stock and Buffer Stock Management Systems in the economy covering both the private and state sectors’ operations).

Internet of Things (IoT):

1 Fortune Economic Zone for Sensor networks and IoT devices for collecting real-time data; and Smart sensors for monitoring and managing various aspects of city life.

Citizen Engagement and Social Innovation:

1 Fortune Economic Zone for Platforms for citizen feedback and participation, and Initiatives promoting social innovation and entrepreneurship development.

Establishing an IT park for attracting FDI

– One Fortune Economic Zone – Silicon Valley IT Park in Malambe;

Establishing an IT park for attracting FDI

– 1 Fortune Economic Zone – Silicon Valley IT Park in Gampaha; and

Establishing an IT Park for attracting FDI

– 1 Fortune Economic Zone – Silicon Valley IT Park in Avissawella

Concluding Remarks

The development of a digital economy is a pathway to sustainable and inclusive growth in Sri Lanka. By operationalising the above strategic interventions, improving economic productivity, increasing financial inclusion, fostering innovation, and enhancing governance, a digital economy could help Sri Lanka meet its development goals and compete globally. With a strategic approach and investment in the necessary IT infrastructure, and skills, and operationalizing the above strategic operational framework with ‘Establishing ‘Fortune Economic Zones’, Sri Lanka can make a successful transition to a thriving digital economy.

Features

Admirable restoration; our Poya

Published

2 days ago

2024/12/13

Thilina Walpola

A file photo of Notre-Dame de Paris burning

As I have said with great relief before this, news in our land is good and actually excellent when compared with what spurts forth from other countries. The new government seems to be going seriously about its business of looking to the welfare of you, me, and more so our poorer brethren. Recent news of international gatherings had foreign VIPs voice their satisfaction in the way the country’s new leaders are settling down to their governing.

What’s with the world then? You do not need Cassandra to tell you what calamities are being enacted in the Middle East, Ukraine, South Korea and Trump’s disastrous, underhand, ruinous cabals and conspiracies that are fermenting in his mind for when he takes power. He was recently absolved of any crime or fault regarding the January 6, 2020 assault on the Capitol. Even we small fry heard over thousands of miles of sea and land his instigating the beefy white guys gathered that day for revolt in challenging the lawful election of Joe Biden as Prez.

Cassandra has had more than her fair share of listening to, seeing and undergoing calamities, mostly man made like our country’s bankruptcy. So, she moves to write about a hugely successful undertaking to rebuild a monument. Here is one instance of reconstruction as against destruction; giving life as opposed to taking it away, restoring beauty against causing ugliness.

Notre-Dame de Paris

The name of this most famous Roman Catholic cathedral translates to ‘Our Lady of Paris’. A cleaning and restoration project, the second after one in 1963, began in1991. Most unfortunately a fire broke out in April 2019, attributed to interference with electrical wires. The fire was no mere blaze nor limited to a part of the building. Its soaring flames devoured most of the cathedral’s roof and upper regions and heart-rending pictures showed the spires as they crumbled. All the upper artwork, the stained glass windows and priceless art, design and statues were destroyed or damaged. But after five years of reconstruction, the cathedral reopened its massive ancient doors, first to dignitaries and worldwide leaders on December 7, 2024, and now to the public. The dedication of workers achieved the near miraculous: keeping to schedule. The five year reopening deadline was kept despite predictions it would take decades. Another miracle: the total cost of 700m euros ($750m) was financed by donations.

I read that within the cathedral were some of the most precious relics of Christendom: the crown of thorns and a sliver of nail from the True Cross. They sure must have been in such safe keeping that they are intact. Centuries old Gothic, Baroque and even 18th, 19th C sculptures and altar-pieces may have been damaged. but would have been restored.

History

Thanks to Cass’s son who arranged a trip to Paris for her and forced her to prise her bottom off her easy chair and travel, she has stood in front of Notre Dame lost in praise and sheer wonder. Being secular, she moved into the cathedral and with solemnity spent some quiet time absorbing the wonders on the ceiling wall and even the floor. The expanse of stained glass windows was stunning. Watching the opening ceremony of the restored cathedral, all these appear as marvelous as ever.

The cathedral, a medieval place of Catholic worship, is sited on the Ile de la Cité – an island in the River Seine. Construction began in 1163 under Bishop Maurice de Sully and largely completed in 1260. Dedicated to Virgin Mary, it is considered the finest example of French Gothic architecture. It is also exceptional for its three pipe organs and its immense church bells. The cathedral, as is to be expected, has seen tumultuous times. In the 1790s during the French Revolution it suffered extensive desecration with much of its imagery – sculptures, paintings –vandalised. However great ceremonies and even jubilation have occurred within its doors, such as the coronation of Napoleon; and funerals of French Presidents. Victor Hugo’s famous 1831 novel, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, reawakened interest in the cathedral which led to its restoration between 1844 and 1864. One supposes extensive damage was not done to the glorious church during WW II since France capitulated to the Germans with not much fight. On August 26, 1944, the Liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation was celebrated in Notre Dame with the singing of the Magnificat within.

About 12m people visit the church annually making it the most visited Parisian monument. In 1805, it was awarded honorary status as minor basilica, the meaning of which is “a large oblong hall with double colonnades and a semicircular apse, used in ancient Rome as a law court or for public assemblies.” So it is a Christian church whose building is similar to a Roman basilica. It also means a church granted special privileges by a Pope. Incidentally, the present Pope was not present at the opening ceremony; a message from him was read.

Opening ceremony

Writing of this grand occasion which Cass watched on YouTube, it was so noticeable (and distasteful to her) the attention and prime place of importance given to Donald Trump, at least by reporting media and even the reception committee. After all he is not even the US President yet. Detailed showing was of his being received by 46 year young Emmanuel Macron and wife, overshadowing the receiving of the Prince of Wales and other present leaders who attended. What Cass noticed was how the splendour, grace and solemnity of the occasion were lost on Trump. True. He looked foolishly blasé – indifferent, even bored. The boor! Macron was all courtesy, not so his wife, seated next to Trump. No gesture of deference from her.

The great achievement of reconstructing such a magnificent and massive building within schedule called for celebration and congratulations from all the world. I write in detail about this world event because it celebrates man’s ingenuity and commitment and its construction as opposed to destruction that goes on unabated, with two persons most guilty: Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin. The former is now giving evidence in court against charges of corruption and granting favours for which expensive gifts were accepted. Putin’s time of retribution will surely come for the blood spilt in Ukraine.

Sri Lanka’s treasure

Tomorrow is Unduvap Poya, which commemorates the arrival of Sanghamitta Theri from India, bearing a sapling from the Bo Tree under which Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment. She also started the Mehenisassna, acceding to the request of Queen Anula of the court of King Devanampiya Tissa. The sapling, now more than 2500 years old, is in Anuradhapura surrounded by many healthy Bo trees. It is a symbol of the living Buddha. Remember the story of how during his 29 years of almost continuous residence in Savathhi (Sravasti), the Buddha decided to proceed on a teaching journey. Ven Ananda asked him how the monks would manage without him present. The Buddha suggested a Bo sapling be brought from Gaya and planted in the grounds. Its second or third generation is a wide spreading tree in that most sanctified of places in India.

The symbol of the Bo tree brings to mind the Dhamma taught by the Buddha; the four Noble Truths and the Path we need to follow, minus too many rites and rituals which now seem to take precedence over the pure Dhamma. Even this attitude may change under the influence and principles of the new government and leaders we have.

Peace and joy to you!

Features

Capturing wild beauty of Lanka: An exquisite photographic guide – Part II

Published

2 days ago

2024/12/13

Thilina Walpola

by Ifham Nizam

(Second part of the interview with Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, lead author and lead photographer of ‘A Photographic Guide to the Wildlife of Sri Lanka’ published by John Beaufoy Publishing.)

Q: Wildlife photography can be demanding. Could you share some memorable experiences or challenges you’ve encountered while capturing wildlife?

A: I remember once I saw a bull elephant standing still by a waterhole in Yala. My safari vehicle driver wanted to move on. There was nothing to see, he said. I thought there was something going on. The elephant was strangely still. Perhaps it was communicating with a herd using infrasound? Other vehicles drove up. ‘There is nothing to see’ I heard them say and they drove on hoping for a leopard or sloth bear or some elephants that were doing something. We waited, watched, waited and watched. Another bull elephant emerged and the two had clearly been in conversation. But not amicably. A brief fight ensued. I did not get any amazing pictures on that occasion but it was deeply satisfying to know my instinct had been correct.

On another occasion I did get some good images by positioning my vehicle unobtrusively behind some low scrub overlooking a grassy glade. A bull elephant was grazing peacefully and another arrived and a fight ensued, yards away from my vehicle. I was nervous. In Tsavo East National Park I was on a game drive and came to a waterhole with two hippos. The driver wanted to move on. I suggested we just stay and enjoy the bird life and watch the animals coming in procession to drink water. The driver reluctantly agreed and dozed off. A bull elephant arrived and there was this amazing display of aggression between one of the hippos and the elephant. But it does not have to be large animals.

I am just as thrilled if I am in Diyasaru Wetland Park and a huge Water Monitor walks past me. In the Gambia I was on foot photographing Baboons when I was hit by a branch that had snapped back as a large alpha male pushed past it. I froze as this fearsome male unexpectedly walked past within inches of me. As a rule, I am very careful to keep a safe distance and I think safety is very important. No photograph is worth a photographer risking injury or death or triggering an angry reaction from an animal. But when you are on foot and you are absorbed with watching wildlife and taking images, it is easy for animals to sneak up on you. So always be careful, especially if you are in an area where there are animals that could kill you or kill you and eat you.

Q: How do you approach ethical considerations in wildlife photography, especially when photographing rare or endangered species?

A:My general rule with all wildlife photography is that the welfare of the subject comes first. No photograph is worth disturbing an animal from its feeding or resting. My approach is to let an animal come to me or to approach it very carefully and let it get used to my presence. I will keep my distance and avoid forcing it to flee. Quite often by waiting at a distance an animal gets used to me and approaches me closely. This then makes it possible to observe and photograph natural behaviour.

Q: Do you have any upcoming projects or books on the horizon that you’re excited about?

A. Well, I seem to be going back full circle. My recent book ‘A Photographic Guide to the Wildlife of Sri Lanka’ was meant to be the one book a wildlife enthusiast or a professional naturalist would take if they only had the space and weight in their field bag for one book. Thanks to contributions from thirteen section contributors it goes some way to being that useful one book. Although having said that, we all know Sri Lanka is so biodiverse that there can never be one field guide.

The present book is a good compromise in size, approaching the upper limit of weight people will carry as a field guide. But following Sri Lanka’s economic crisis and the devaluation of the currency, the book is too expensive for many people who work in tourism and wildlife. The foundation for this book was laid in a series of simple photographic leaflets and booklets I did many years ago for people to have affordable field guide literature. These simple pictorial booklets had a huge impact. In the early days for a hundred rupees, you could buy one of these simple guides that helped you to put a name to a butterfly or dragonfly. I have been having discussions with my publisher to work with the tourism sector to going back to developing a series of such affordable mini guides for people who can’t afford the more expensive books.

PG Wildlife of Sri Lanka Hi-res back

Q: What advice would you give to budding naturalists and photographers who is keen to follow in your footsteps?

A: A good wildlife photographer is also a good naturalist. Try to learn as much as you can about the plants and animals around you. That will open up new worlds for photography which you had not imagined. Being a wildlife photographer requires two skills, as a photographer and as a naturalist. As a photographer you need to understand elements such as lighting, exposure, composition, how to frame a subject and so on. The skills that go into taking a portrait of a person are the same skills that are needed to take a gook wildlife image. Of course, with wildlife, you have no control over wild subjects. So sometimes you have to either position yourself or wait for the subject to move into the right position where lighting, background, composition all come together. Sometimes it never works out and you have to settle for record shots.

Also give some thought to what you are taking the images for. For many people wildlife photography is a creative pursuit to take stunning images to celebrate the natural world. If you are using it to illustrate an article, then you need a range of images to tell the story. If it is for a field guide to plants for example, then it can become quite technical as you first need to understand subtle features that distinguish one species from another. Fortunately, there is now a lot of knowledge available for free on the internet. You can also study the imagery of top photographers to understand how they approach composition.

In my own case, education and creating a livelihood for people out of wildlife tourism has become the main plank of my activities. As a result, even when I am in Yala, without driving around in pursuit of the perfect leopard photograph, I often stop to take pictures of plants which other people might think is quite boring or even a waste of precious time on a game drive.

Q: You’ve done a great deal to promote Eco-Tourism in the country. What more can be done to make it a sustainable industry?

At the macro level, we need the private sector and government agencies to collaborate to make the experience good for both the wildlife and people. In the open sea, if whale watching boats crowd around a whale that is stressful for a feeding whale. Many visitors also do not enjoy the experience. To improve whale watching it needs a combination of training the boat crews as well as enforcement. I was whale watching in Vancouver recently and I noticed how a patrol boat kept an eye on the whale watching boats to ensure they observed the guidelines on distance.

In places like Yala, the experience for visitors can be improved by having different routes with different numbers of vehicles allowed on the routes. People should also be able buy tickets in advance for different timed entry slots. This is not to create a situation where only people with money will be able to see leopards. Each route can be chosen so that on any of the routes there is a near equal likelihood of seeing a leopard. But it can be priced differently so that people who want routes with fewer vehicles allowed can buy tickets for more expensive routes. This will suit people who want a leopard encounter without being disturbed by too many other vehicles. People who just want to see what the park is like or are happy to see birds and plants can buy tickets for a cheaper route which allows a larger number of vehicles.

Then beyond the immediate visitor experience, there are a number of other things we should look at. Tourism, as with everything else, should adopt sustainability practices. The three Rs, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle come into mind. We should adopt this in our personal lives. For example, can we reduce the clothes we buy and wear them for longer. When a shirt is too frayed on the sleeves to be worn when going out, can we re-purpose it as a night shirt?

Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne

The providers of tourist accommodation can play a bigger role by adopting sustainable practices. But they can also play a major part in education and habitat creation. The educational aspect is easier if you have a resident naturalist or a member of staff who is willing to take guests on a guided nature walk. My recent book, ‘A Photographic Guide to the Wildlife of Sri Lanka’ which covers 1,180 species with section contributions from 13 others aims to be something that local naturalists can use as a learning tool.

Tourist hotels can also play a big part in habitat creation. At the larger end this can be the creation of man-made wetlands such as at Jetwing Vil Uyana. But it could be something as simple as planting a few wildlife friendly fruit trees. Or, leaving aside a small patch to grow wild. Nectar plants can be planted for pollinators. But remember, with all species you need to think about not just of their food source, but what physical conditions they require for their lifecycle. This included places to rest and places to reproduce.

Q: How do you balance the dual goals of attracting tourists and protecting natural habitats?

In a developing country like Sri Lanka there is a strong linkage. Yes, we can make commitments to sustainable goals such as the amount of forest cover we want to have. These make a lot of sense in terms of the ecosystem services provided by nature. However, what most people want is to be able to provide for their families. If you are poor and living next to a forest you want to be able to feed your family and afford simple things like buying school books for your children. A forest which is simply declared inviolate is no good. But if you can earn a good living as a wildlife tourism service provider, then you will be happy to conserve the forest. But for this to work, there has to be very good infrastructure for visitors to be able to visit it, and stay and have access to visitor amenities. It needs thinking.

But if it is too successful, does it become a victim of its own success? If it reaches that point, other visitor management measures can be applied including requiring the advance purchase of limited ticket numbers and also developing the infrastructure in a way that different visitors are kept entertained in different ways. At sites where visitors can go about by foot, many casual visitors will be very happy to stay within a radius of a kilometre from the visitor centre. If you think about it, a shopping mall with a very small footprint can still manage to handle tens of thousands of visitors in a day. Well managed nature reserves have also learnt to keep many visitors confined to a small area, leaving those who are more serious to explore further afield.