Editorial

‘Sinharaja haircut’ and truth in jest

Published

4 years ago

2021/03/30

Tuesday 30th March, 2021

The government is at the receiving end of a hostile social media campaign. This is something ruling party politicians who fail to make good on their promises and exude arrogance have to expect. We saw what befell Donald Trump when he was the US President, didn’t we?

People express their frustration at the political establishment in numerous ways. Some of them tend to be aggressive, but others use humour or satire as a medium to give expression to their pent-up anger, and thus witty political slogans and jokes come into being, as can be seen from a spate of social media posts and cartoons at present.

Political slogans can be described as differently distilled concoctions of humour, satire, cynicism and sarcasm with lampooning thrown in for good measure. In this country, sometimes, pasquinade is also added to the brew to boost its kick. Of them, the ones with more humour than bile or malice tend to have a greater appeal to the public across the political spectrum. They are of tremendous help to propaganda analysts who try to read the public mood.

Prof. Gananath Obeysekere, in his widely-read scholarly paper, ‘Sorcery, Premeditated Murder and Canalization of Aggression’, discusses how Sri Lankans canalise aggression through sorcery. He informs us that people use sorcery to canalise their murderous intentions, etc., into non-violent forms of aggression. Similarly, it looks as if Sri Lankans used humour to canalise their frustration at not being able to take on the high and mighty. They make fun of political leaders behind the latter’s back; some of them even resort to pasquinade, and, more often than not get into trouble. The emergence of the social media has stood these creative minds in good stead, as they can, without responsibility, ridicule those in positions of power.

Even the worst tyrants in the world have become victims of pasquinade, which in most cases border on insults and personal attacks. Hitler was one of them. He became a cult figure thanks to the power of his Nazi propaganda machine with Joseph Goebbels at the helm. The Nazis sought to deify him, but his enemies were equally determined to ridicule him as a weakling; they propagated numerous derogatory claims about him, one being that he had a serious congenital defect in the ‘nether regions’. This aspect of the propaganda war between the Nazis and the Allied Forces gets mentioned briefly in the Taika Waititi anti-hate satire, Jojo Rabbit, a super flick nominated for Oscars. The anti-Hitler propagandists succeeded in having the Nazi propaganda mill expend its time and energy on countering such claims.

In this country, too, powerful leaders who succumbed to the arrogance of powers became targets of creative members of the public and Opposition activists. The late Presidents, J. R. Jayewardene and R. Premadasa, had their opponents cracking many jokes at their expense. Most of them about the Old Fox cannot be repeated in a newspaper. Suffice it to mention one about President Premadasa and his housing programme. His critics said he did not have to build any more houses as every Sri Lankan was going to own more than one house if he continued to be in power; at the rate people were getting killed on his watch, the country would have more houses than people, his detractors kept on saying, much to his annoyance.

Dynastic politics got so entrenched during the previous Rajapaksa administration that someone coined the term, ‘Rajapakistan’, to describe Sri Lanka. Car races under that regime angered the people so much that a political commentator introduced the catchy slogan, ‘unta Lamborghini, apita badagini’—Lamborghinis for the rulers and hunger for the people.

Another pithy one-liner has highlighted the bungling of governance under the current dispensation much better than the Opposition’s entire anti-government propaganda campaign. Reminding the public of the government’s failure to ensure a steady supply of (safe) food items necessary for the New Year festival, and rein in its backers bent on destroying forests, it says, “No turmeric for kokis, no oil for kevun, no rice for kiribath and no trees for koha to perch on.”

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, at a public gathering, a few moons ago, told a group of public officials that his instructions took precedence over government circulars, and they had to follow them. His directives have since come to be dubbed ‘Sir-culars’. When a section of a historical building was demolished with a bulldozer, the Opposition activists carried placards that read ‘Do-Sir’ although the President had no hand in the demolition work.

Some one-liners can be more effective in delivering political messages than all other means of communication put together. Volumes have been written about the environmental degradation under the present regime, and a lot of airtime has been allocated for discussions thereon, but none of them are as effective as this two-word phrase, ‘Sinharaja haircut’, which someone witty introduced as a synonym for a ‘high fade’, or short-sides-and-long-top hairstyle. The head of a person with this particular haircut resembles the Sinharaja rainforest with its outer limits being denuded.

The powers that be had better realise that public resentment is welling up rapidly as evident from the creative anti-government slogans being coined almost on a daily basis, and an immediate course correction needs to be done if it is to avert an electoral setback.

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Editorial

Ranil’s advice

Published

19 hours ago

2024/12/21

Thilina Walpola

Saturday 21st December, 2024

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe has urged the SJB-led Opposition to act responsibly and help ensure the continuity of the IMF bailout programme, which has enabled the economy to regain some stability. He has also thanked the NPP government for having kept the IMF programme on course.

Wickremesinghe’s exhortation to the Opposition and unsolicited advice to the government are timely but not devoid of politics. He is seeking the credit for what the country has achieved through the ongoing IMF programme, which got underway in earnest under his presidency. In fact, it is doubtful whether any other President would have had the courage to make a host of unpopular yet essential decisions to address the economic crisis. So, Wickremesinghe is not without a moral right to ask the government and the Opposition to act prudently and help the country make the most of the IMF programme. It is hoped that the Opposition and the government will heed Wickremesinghe’s advice and act accordingly.

Sadly, the SJB has chosen to play to the gallery, asking the government to renegotiate the IMF programme. It could not even sort out an internal dispute over its National List appointments, and one of its constituents resorted to legal action. So, how can such a political party claim to be able to make the IMF bend to its will? It is obviously trying to earn brownie points with the public by bellowing rhetoric.

The IMF programme is no economic panacea, but it will surely help Sri Lanka gain economic stability in the short-term. It has already yielded some tangible results. Much more remains to be done to ensure Sri Lanka’s long-term economic wellbeing, and it is up to the current dispensation as well as future governments to develop the economy and achieve debt sustainability.

Nobody likes IMF bailout conditions, which can be extremely harsh, but they are a prerequisite for a bankrupt country’s economic recovery. If Sri Lanka managed its economy properly, it would not have had to ask for IMF help, which comes with constricting conditions. However, what the IMF has prescribed is what Sri Lanka should have done on its own a long time ago.

When a country spends more than it earns and goes on borrowing recklessly from external sources to meet its revenue shortfall, it runs the risk of facing an economic crisis. The Mahinda Rajapaksa government indulged in wasteful expenditure; it spent a great deal of borrowed money on Ozymandian projects. The UNP-led Yahapalana government also borrowed heavily. The JVP backed that administration to the hilt. The Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration, in its wisdom, slashed taxes and tariffs, oblivious to the disastrous consequences of its harebrained action. The Covid -19 pandemic came, necessitating prolonged lockdowns, which took a heavy toll on the economy. The rest is history.

A person who falls into a well has to come out of its mouth, as a local saying goes. There is no other way out. Sri Lanka finds itself in a similar situation. Having ruined the economy, it found itself at the bottom of an economic pit. Thankfully, in answer to its pitiable pleas, the IMF threw a lifeline, which has enabled it to come halfway up. Needless to say, nothing will be stupider than for it to let go of that lifeline.

Editorial

Lest watchdogs should become lapdogs

Published

2 days ago

2024/12/20

Thilina Walpola

Friday 20th December, 2024

The JVP-led NPP’s ascent to power rekindled the hopes of good governance activists for a radical break from the past and a new political culture. The incumbent government came under pressure to ensure the independence and integrity of the parliamentary Financial Committees by allowing them to be headed by Opposition MPs. But the efforts of the campaigners for good governance have been only partially successful. SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva has been appointed the Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance (COPF), and the government has said one of the NPP members should head the COPE (Committee on Public Finance).

The government’s position is that the COPE will conduct investigations into what happened under the previous administration and therefore an NPP MP should chair it. The Opposition’s efforts to persuade the government to change its mind have been in vain. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake himself reiterated the NPP’s position in Parliament on Wednesday in response to a request from Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa that the government reconsider its decision.

The COPE plays a pivotal role in exposing irregularities in state enterprises and has the potential to restore public trust in Parliament. According to Standing Order No. 120, the duty of the COPE is to examine the accounts of public corporations, institutions funded wholly or in part by the state and of any business or other undertaking vested under any written law, with the assistance of the Auditor-General. One of the criticisms against the COPE is that its probes do not yield the desired results, and its reports gather dust. But there have been glaring exceptions.

The COPE under Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe’s chairmanship, during the Mahinda Rajapaksa government, played an activist role, paving the way for the reversal of a questionable divestiture programme—the privatisation of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation and Lanka Marine Services. Similarly, the COPE under D. E. W. Gunasekara’s chairmanship was bold enough to produce a damning report on the first Treasury bond scam in 2015, but the UNP had Parliament dissolved, forestalling the submission of that vital document to the House. The COPE carried out its second probe into the Treasury bond scams under the chairmanship of the then Opposition MP Sunil Handunnetti. Thus, the COPE has proved its ability to safeguard the interests of the public, and the precedents it has set should be followed. Handunnetti, who is a powerful minister in the incumbent government, ought to lend his voice to those who are demanding that an Opposition MP be appointed as the COPE chairperson.

Situations could arise warranting investigations that adversely impact the interests of the incumbent government. If the COPE chairperson is a ruling party MP, he or she, under such circumstances, will not be able to act impartially owing to his or her party loyalty. This is why the campaigners for good governance insist that the parliamentary watchdog committees should be chaired by the Opposition.

The government’s argument that it has to appoint one of its MPs as the COPE chairperson because the irregularities to be probed occurred under the previous dispensation, whose MPs are currently in the opposition, is not tenable. The vast majority of the Opposition MPs in the current Parliament were not members of the previous administration, which became a metaphor for corruption, and therefore one of them can be appointed the COPE head.

The COPE will have to probe irregularities in state institutions during the current administration as well, and a ruling party MP functioning as its chairperson will be constrained to act in such a way that he or she is seen to be biased; the integrity of the watchdog committee will be compromised in such an eventuality.

One can only hope that the NPP will change its position and let an Opposition MP be appointed as COPE head.

Editorial

Hobson’s choice and U-turns

Published

3 days ago

2024/12/19

Sahan Weerasooriya

Thursday 19th December, 2024

The JVP-led NPP government is quite upbeat about President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s India visit. However, if the joint statement Dissanayake and Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued on Monday (16 Dec.) is anything to go by, the NPP administration has endorsed what its leaders used to flay President Ranil Wickremesinghe for having undertaken to do at the behest of India, much to the interests of Sri Lanka’s interests. Wickremesinghe has thanked Dissanayake for endorsing the Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) to be signed between India and Sri Lanka. This can be considered a backhanded compliment.

As for the projects of strategic importance mentioned in the joint statement, PM Modi has said nothing new; he has only reiterated what he expected the previous Sri Lankan governments to do. He has highlighted his government’s desire to see the completion of some vital projects such as the supply of LNG to Sri Lanka, a high-capacity grid connection between the two countries, a petroleum pipeline from India to Sri Lanka, and the further development of the Trincomalee oil tank farm. It is a case of Hobson’s choice for Sri Lanka.

The joint statement also mentions some benefits to Sri Lanka in areas such as energy development, education and technology and agriculture.

PM Modi and President Dissanayake have agreed to continue discussions on the development of airports in Sri Lanka. One can only hope that Sri Lanka will not come under Indian pressure to award contracts for airport development to the Adani Group, which is under a cloud. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has accused the Modi government of ‘tweaking rules’ regarding India’s airport privatisation programme in favour of the Adani Group.

Meanwhile, PM Modi said at a joint press conference with President Dissanayake on Monday that they had discussed reconstruction and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, and he hoped that the Sri Lankan government would fulfil the aspirations of the Tamil people and its commitment to implementing the Constitution of Sri Lanka (read the 13th Amendment) fully, and conduct the Provincial Council elections. PM Modi also said he and Dissanayaka were in full agreement that ‘our security interests are interconnected’, his message being that Sri Lanka has to be mindful of India’s security concerns.

The biggest challenge before the NPP government is to justify the numerous about-turns of its main constituent, the JVP, which signals left but turns right erratically, and provides grist to the Opposition’s mill, in the process. JVP leaders are doing exactly the opposite of what they advocated as regards some crucial issues during their opposition days; their policy contradictions are legion. They have made U-turns on the IMF bailout programme, rice imports, taxes, tariffs, petroleum prices, the MPs’ perks and privileges, and a host of other issues.

Addressing a seminar under the theme, ‘Trading, Sacrifice and ETCA’, in Colombo in Sept. 2016, JVP leader Dissanayake said the agreement, if signed, would pave the way for an influx of ‘low-grade Indian IT professionals’ here at the expense of the Sri Lankan youth. According to a report published on the JVP’s official website (23 Feb. 2016), Dissanayake had this to say about ETCA, at the first of a series of seminars held under the theme ‘Denounce ETCA that sacrifices our economy to India!’: “There is a political gamble here. India is trying to intervene in politics in our country. Already, there are many RAW spies in Jaffna. Before our country is made a political playground India wants to gobble our economy. Already India has a monopoly in the vehicle, medicine and construction sectors. Already, they are controlling our economy. Through that they manipulate politics in our country. It is this political need that jumps out of Ranil’s mouth. We would never allow this agreement to be signed.”

The question is what those ‘RAW spies’ in Sri Lanka were doing during this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

In a video (dated 19 September 2023) doing the rounds on the Internet these days, Dissanayake opposes the Indo-Lanka connectivity project; he says the proposed projects such as the grid connection, the petroleum pipeline, etc., are detrimental to Sri Lanka’s independence.

It will be interesting to see what the opponents of ETCA, especially the professionals, who backed the NPP to the hilt in the presidential and parliamentary elections this year, have got to say about the incumbent government’s about-turns and acquiescence to India’s demands.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath is heard speaking of ‘bondages’ between India and Sri Lanka, during a brief television interview in New Delhi. Was it a mere lapsus linguae or a Freudian slip reflecting the JVP leaders’ subconscious antipathy towards what they once perceived as India’s suzerainty or hegemonistic interests?