Editorial
Traps and duplicity

Friday 30th October, 2020
Smaller states located in strategic locations in the world are in the same predicament as poor damsels in rough neighbourhoods; they suffer abuse at the hands of big powers that masquerade as liberators. The US has come forward to liberate Sri Lanka from what it calls a Chinese debt trap!
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has come and gone. He uttered some diplomatic sweet little nothings, as it were, in public, but the State Department had delivered its message to Colombo even before he landed here. Couched in diplomatese, it gave Sri Lanka a choice between China and the Western bloc; it can be paraphrased as ‘either you are with us or you are with our enemy’.
Opinion is divided on the much-propagated claim that Sri Lanka finds itself in a Chinese debt trap. The pro-western groups think it is trapped well and truly, and others are convinced otherwise; they maintain that the US and its allies are vilifying China, which poses formidable challenges to the US on all fronts, and has come to Sri Lanka’s assistance.
A trap by any other name is as constricting, one may say with apologies to the Bard. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact, which the US is keen to sign with Sri Lanka, can also be considered a trap, given its subtext and what is explicit in the Acquisition and Cross Service Agreement (ACSA) and the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). Anyone who believes that the US is driven by altruism to help Sri Lanka is being naïve.
Following talks with Pompeo, the government grandees are behaving like the proverbial mute who gulped down a bitter herbal concoction or kasaya. Discussions with Pompeo have apparently dumbed their tongues. Before the last general election, they had the public believe that they would not sign the MCC compact, which an expert committee appointed by them has said, should not be inked unless it is presented to Parliament and approved with amendments.
Sri Lanka was made to walk into a trap in the early noughties, when the Tokyo Co-Chairs tied an aid pledge (USD 4.5 billion) to progress to be made in peace talks between the then UNP-led government and the LTTE. Lured by the prospect of receiving a huge aid package, that administration compromised national security to keep the LTTE at the negotiating table, but in vain. Even after the LTTE had walked away from talks, the US and other Co-Chairs, to wit, the EU, Japan and Norway, made Sri Lanka stick to a fragile truce, which the LTTE violated with impunity. That peace process, which the LTTE made the most of it to prepare for Eelam War IV, ended in disaster.
Sri Lanka has been caught in a human-rights trap, which the US laid in the form of a country-specific resolution, in Geneva, and cannot extricate itself try as it might. This resolution has been used to besmirch the reputation of high-ranking military officers who were instrumental in defeating terrorism, making this country safe for all communities to live in, and helping rekindle democracy in the North and the East. The US has imposed a travel ban on incumbent Army Commander and Chief of Defence Staff Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva and his family, citing unsubstantiated allegations of human rights violations during the final stages of war.
Pompeo gave an evasive answer, on Wednesday, when he was asked to comment on the current status of US action against Lt. Gen. Silva. He said: “It is a legal process in the US. We always continue to review it. We want to make sure we get it technically, factually and legally right.” He has left us baffled. It is before imposing a travel ban that the State Department has to ‘get it technically, factually and legally right’. The act of slapping a travel ban in a hurry and then reviewing it is nothing but unfair.
Washington has earned notoriety for its duplicity anent travel bans related to human rights violations. In 2005, the US denied the then Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi a visa owing to his alleged involvement in the 2002 Hindu-Muslim riots in his state. The US government insisted that the travel ban on Modi was based on the Immigration and Nationality Act, which ‘makes any government official who was responsible for or directly carried out at any time particularly severe violations of religious freedom ineligible for a visa’. But the White House rolled out the red carpet for Modi after he became the Indian Prime Minister! The US did so because it needed a formidable ally in Asia to support its campaign against China.
As for ‘getting it technically, factually and legally right’, didn’t the US care to consult its own defence expert, Lt. Colonel Lawrence Smith, who was working at the US Embassy in Colombo as its defence attache during Eelam War IV, which ended in 2009? Having studied what had taken place during the war, Smith, attending an international defence seminar, in Colombo, in 2011, dismissed allegations of war crimes levelled against the Sri Lankan military. Forty countries were represented at that event. Is it that the State Department chose to ignore his evidence-based observations and embarked on a diplomatic witch-hunt? It is a shame that the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry functionaries did not allow journalists to question Pompeo freely on this issue; they allowed only one journalist to raise questions.
Editorial
Cat out of the bag

One of the best kept secrets following the 2022 Aragalaya which saw the end of the Mahinda/Gotabaya regime was revealed in parliament on Thursday when the chief government whip, Minister Nalinda Jayatissa let the cat out of the bag stating that 43 former ministers had together collected over Rs. 1.2 billion compensation from the government for property lost and damaged during the tail-end of the rioting when gasoline carrying mobs torched the homes and offices of government politicians. To his eternal credit, then prime minister and later president, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s name is not among the beneficiaries although his Kollupitiya home was perhaps the most valuable of those properties that were destroyed/damaged.
Jayatissa in his speech alleged that some of those who had been compensated had pressured divisional and district secretaries to increase valuations. While it would be freely admitted that brave souls in the public service able to stand up to political heavyweights are few and far between, the people would like to know from the present regime, delighting in flaunting the misdoings of its predecessors, whether it has any intention of re-assessing the claims presumably settled? Among those massively compensated to the tune of over Rs. 60 million each were some former cabinet ministers and a deputy minister, one of whom was convicted of extortion and held cabinet office pending appeal and another who spent several months in remand on corruption charges who resigned upon being arrested.
Even an economic simpleton well knows that the value of real estate today is more related to the land on which buildings stand and very much less or not at all for the buildings themselves. So compensation payable must be limited to homes/offices destroyed by mobs. While nobody could (or should) gloat over the misfortunes of another. Politicians who lost property in the Aragalaya, however unpopular or corrupt they may have been, deserve some compensation for their losses. But as Minister Jayatissa said in parliament, compensation for ordinary people losing their homes in natural disasters is capped at Rs. 2.5 million. Why did no similar cap apply in this instance? Did the claimants have tax files and can they explain wealth amassed to build palatial mansions? And how were these payments kept under cover these many months?
Ken Balendra, one of a kind
The death last week after a long illness of Kandiah (Ken) Balendra, the first Lankan to head the John Keells Goup of companies of which he was chairman from 1990 to 2000, took away from the scene an iconic business leader who built what is probably the country’s largest business conglomerate. Balendra who had no formal academic or professional qualifications began his working life as a planter in the James Finlay managed Hapugastenne Group in the Ratnapura district and a few years later moved as a tea broker to what was then John Keell, Thompson White Ltd., a produce and share brokers under British ownership and staffed at the top by Britons. This was probably due to the professional needs of his doctor wife and schooling needs of his children.
Ken Bala, as he was popularly known, did not come from an elite family, his father serving as a revenue inspector in the Colombo Municipal Council. But his sporting prowess on the rugby field where he hooked for the first fifteen of Royal College opened the doors to a planting career to him, as it did for many other young men in the colonial and post-colonial era. While his exploits on the rugger field are very well known few remember that he was a member of the Stubbs Shield winning Royal College boxing team. Old stagers will recall Royalists of yore chanting “hook, Bala, hook,” from the sidelines during his school’s rugger matches.
After six years as a planter on the thottam, Balendra came to Colombo to work as a tea broker in one of then Ceylon’s very long established commodity broking houses. Like many planters, though lacking in book learning, he had wide ranging managerial skills and it was not long before he was appointed a director of his company. This was a time when tourism was taking off in the country and John Keells was among those seriously investing in the industry. They were the first to build a hotel at Habarana rightly calculating that it could serve tourists headed for sun and sand holiday in the east coast and those taking the sights of the ruined cities from a junction town. As head of Walkers Tours he led the company’s inbound and outbound tourism sectors taking the John Keells tourism portfolio to new heights.
As the first Lankan chairman of the company, Balendra led the conversion of the group into John Keells Holding PLC (JKH) in which employees were given preferred share allotments in the Initial Public Offer (IPO) on the Colombo Stock Exchange followed later by employee share options. This encouraged their acquisition of an ownership stake in the company in which he himself invested substantially earning substantial profits. A longtime JKH employee says in an article we republish today that the group’s culture in the Balendra years centered around the principle “play hard, play smart, play together and have fun.” He adapted long-held colonial management systems within the group to conform to modern times, had an unerring knack of spotting young talent which he nurtured within the firm to its great advantage. He was a patron of the arts with substantial JKH support for the George Keyt Foundation.
Acquisitions made during his time, including those of Whittalls and Ceylon Cold Stores brought substantial real estate assets into the group portfolio now developed into the iconic Cinnamon Life City of Dreams, the country’s biggest private sector investment. He stood up to President Premadasa who threatened to reduce the JKH share to five rupees by courageously resisting the appointment of a Premadasa-backed main board director to JKH. A public relations genius with an instinct for an opportunity and the long term view, he was a business leader who will be hard to replace.
Editorial
Cost puzzles

Saturday 8th February, 2025
The government has not yet disclosed its costing formula for paddy. It only releases information about cost calculations in dribs and drabs in an unorganised manner, which has left the public none the wiser. Farmers insist that their production costs are much higher than the guaranteed prices announced by the government; some of them have even claimed that the average certified paddy price should be above Rs. 140 a kilo.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Namal Karunaratne told Parliament yesterday that the guaranteed prices of paddy had been properly worked out, and they included a 30% profit margin. The production cost of red kekulu paddy was only Rs. 76, and the farmers of that variety of rice earned a profit of Rs. 44 per kilo, he said. Interestingly, the guaranteed price of red kekulu paddy has not been specifically mentioned in government communiques on guaranteed paddy prices. Karunaratne also claimed that it cost farmers only Rs. 91 to produce a kilo of white nadu paddy, which fetched Rs. 120 although its actual cost plus the 30% profit amounted to only about Rs. 118. But paddy farmers say their production costs are much higher.
How can there be such vast cost discrepancies? Who is telling us the truth—the paddy farmers or the government politicians/officials? Will the two sides present itemised cost estimations for the public to decide whose claims are credible? The current cost calculations lack transparency and credibility. Most of all, on what basis was the 30% profit margin for paddy determined? Was it just plucked out of the air?
Deputy Minister Karunaratne told Parliament yesterday that in calculating the paddy production costs, the fertiliser subsidy had not been taken into consideration. The government ought not to ignore such vital factors when costs are estimated. The public, who bears the cost of fertiliser subsidy, must not be made to pay higher prices for rice unfairly.
Going by Deputy Minister Karunaratne’s statements at issue, the government can be accused of having facilitated the exploitation of the red rice consumers by placing the profit margin for the growers of that variety of rice far above the stipulated 30% level. The government should have taken steps to ensure that at least one variety of rice was reasonably priced for the benefit of the ordinary people who are getting by on shoestring budgets. It would also have been politically wise for the government to do so ahead of the local government elections slated for late April.
Subsidies for farmers could be considered an investment in the agricultural sector, for they help incentivise cultivators and keep production costs low. The government is duty bound to ensure that the benefits of subsidies accrue to the public, who bears the cost of them. Therefore, the fertiliser subsidy, or at least a part thereof, should have been factored in when the paddy production costs were calculated.
How does the government propose to prevent rice millers from making unconscionable profits? They have benefited from a 30% power tariff reduction, which must be passed on to the public. Rice wholesalers and retailers must also be prevented from fleecing the public. The government, which has failed to protect rice consumers against rapacious businesses bent on exploiting them, should get its act together.
Editorial
Trump’s shockers

Friday 7th February, 2025
President Donald Trump has apparently inherited from his father a propensity to acquire real estate. What he did as a real estate tycoon before becoming the US President has not caused much concern to anyone except some of his political rivals, but the problem is that old habits die hard; he, even as the US President, has not stopped eyeing land that belongs to others.
President Trump has expressed his desire to acquire Greenland. He is apparently dreaming of something like the Louisiana Purchase (1803), the greatest land bargain in US history. He has also disclosed his intention to take over the Panama Canal. Another shocker came on Tuesday, when he revealed a plan for the US to take over and own Gaza, resettling the Palestinians living there in neighbouring countries. Thankfully, all Arab states and even the western allies of the US have condemned Trump’s idea.
Gaza belongs to Palestinians, and the world must oppose any plan to dispossess them of their land. President Trump has brought shame on the US by seeking to capitalise on the misery of Palestinians who have undergone untold suffering for decades. The least the world can do for those people crying out for justice is to ensure that the UN-sanctioned two-state solution is implemented without further delay. One can only hope that the fragile Gaza ceasefire will hold, with Hamas and Israel acting with restraint, and that the West Bank will not face the same fate as Gaza.
The White House has sought to walk back Trump’s absurd idea of taking over Gaza. It has claimed that Trump has only suggested temporary resettlement of the Palestinians pending reconstruction. No matter how hard the White House spin doctors try, they will not be able to unsay what Trump said very unequivocally.
Trump has not started wars, and he deserves praise for that, but one wonders whether he is trying to make America great again by taking advantage of the US-backed wars and their disastrous consequences. Israel would not have been able to reduce Gaza to rubble without US backing. Ukraine would not have provoked Russia into a war but for assurances from the US and other NATO members that they would stand solidly behind it. Now, Trump is eyeing land in Gaza and rare earths in Ukraine. One is reminded of the bloody conflicts in some African countries which have many terror groups secretly funded by certain multinationals plundering their minerals. The Democratic Republic of Congo has been plagued by armed conflicts mostly due to power struggles over mineral resources, especially coltan used in producing mobile phones, laptop computers and automobiles. It is protracted violent conflicts claiming many lives that ensure a steady supply of coltan at cheap prices to the West.
President Trump has said the US will stop pouring dollars into a bottomless pit that is the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. He has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in no uncertain terms that the US wants Ukraine to supply it with rare earth minerals in return for financial support. Ukraine is agreeable to his proposition, according to Trump. This is the price Ukraine has had to pay for its efforts to join NATO at the behest of the US and its western allies and antagonising Russia in the process. Hereafter, Zelensky will have to dispose of his country’s rare earths to fight NATO’s proxy war! Unless the other NATO members increase military aid to Ukraine, he will be in serious trouble economically, militarily and politically. Even during the Biden administration, when the US allocated funds generously for Ukraine’s military operations, Zelensky went around the world, complaining that support from his allies was woefully inadequate.
It is now clear that Trump’s second presidential terms will be much more problematic than the first one. He has also suspended US assistance to the developing world granted through the USAID. What other shockers Trump has up his sleeve is anyone’s guess.
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