The Island Editorial

Bunker bunkum 

Wednesday 28th October 2015

There seems to be no end in sight to the on-going bunker debate. A government spokesman has denied former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s claim that there is an underground bunker at Temple Trees.

The current bunker talk is proof of our political leaders’ immaturity and readiness to stoop to any low level to give vent to their pent up animosity towards one another and gain some political mileage in the process. They have graduated from washing dirty linen in public to divulging sensitive security information.

Has any US President ever revealed anything about security measures at the White House? Never mind democratically elected political leaders in other countries; even Mafia bosses looking for the slightest opportunity to kill one another abide by the so-called oath of Omerta. They don’t divulge sensitive information about themselves to others.

The revelation of the existence of an underground presidential bunker was intended to counter adverse criticism of the cost of constructing the second presidential house at Paget Road, Colombo. The government is trying to have us believe that it is much cheaper for the President to live at his new house under construction than to occupy the Fort residence with ‘an underground palace’ built during the tenure of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Former President Rajapaksa, in a bid to bolster his argument that the presidential bunker had been an absolute necessity during the country’s war on terror, happened to say Temple Trees also had a similar structure.

It is no secret that some credulous Sri Lankan politicians as well as wealthy businessmen, troubled by a gnawing sense of insecurity, are wary of living in certain locations and houses not built to astrological specifications for fear of the supposed effect of their charmed rings and talismans being neutralised.

The problem is not really Presidents and Prime Ministers living in clover inside palatial bunkers or above the ground level but the inability of most people to scrape a living and have a roof over their heads.

Government leaders cannot live in shacks; they must lead comfortable lives and be in a position to receive and entertain their foreign counterparts and other dignitaries where they reside. But, they should be considerate enough to ensure that the ordinary people can realise their housing dreams, too. More than one half of Colombo’s population is in slums and shanties!

The cost of building materials is prohibitive, to say the least. One wonders whether sand used for building purposes is brought from Mars. Else, it can’t be so expensive. Cement is so costly that the day may not be far off when the people will have to opt for wattle and daub structures. There is a huge difference between the interest banks pay depositors and the interest they charge on housing loans. No government has taken action to lower the interest rates on housing loans to affordable levels for the benefit of the ordinary people struggling to build houses.

The bunker bunkum won’t benefit the public in any way.

If there are bunkers under the President’s House and Temple Trees, as claimed, let the President and the Prime Minister be urged to use them without information about those hideouts being made public. There is no guarantee that the peace we are enjoying at present thanks to the elimination of the LTTE’s military muscle will last till kingdom come. The need might arise for future leaders or even the incumbent ones to use those underground facilities sooner than expected. There should be no room for complacency and the guard must not be lowered to gain cheap popularity. Nothing is so certain as the unexpected. Hence, the need for political leaders, both past and present, to exercise control over their restless tongues wagging faster than the hummingbird’s wings!