Ceylon Today Editorial

Ordinary citizens bailed out governments

08 November 2016

Year after year, Sri Lanka is victim to one natural disaster or the other. We have being continuously victimized by floods and landslides, which have and continue to claim many lives. This has become a recurring issue which only grabs the limelight when the death count goes above two digits.

These types of events seem to be scripted and fated: a landslide occurs with the monsoonal rains and an entire village disappears overnight. The government would deploy military forces for humanitarian missions. The authorities such as the Ministry of Disaster Management, the Disaster Management Centre and the Department of Meteorology would have a field day trying to explain what went wrong and how they are going to fix it.

Even we, the media would occasionally run campaigns to collect relief for those affected, ignoring the pattern in the system. Foreign aid would come in; politicians make seemingly impromptu appearances at the disaster site for a not-so-obvious photo opportunity and perhaps distribute some dry rations. All fodder for the media. Songs are written, people care only to forget it ever happened in less than a month. The country moves on, leaving the root of the problem unresolved.

We saw this happening last May. We were hit by a tragedy and taken completely unawares. The government responded with its usual attempt at closing the proverbial stable door once the horse had fled. Whereas the years and years of experience of facing such challenges should have taught our authorities a lesson, it seemed as if no lesson was learned all this time.

We need not look beyond the landslide that took place in Koslanda in 2014 to come to the understanding that there are fundamental systemic weaknesses that should have been eradicated over a decade ago, ever since the devastating 2004 tsunami brought home certain realities.

For the sake of argument, let's take a department that found itself dragged into the limelight kicking and screaming. The Department of Meteorology is a classic example of an institution people have long since lost faith in ‒ the old joke about the Department's inability to make a simple weather forecast possibly stems from this lack of faith.

Additionally, there is the issue of whether or not a warning was issued in the first place. The government claims to have issued warnings, which supposedly went unheeded. It is not difficult to imagine this as mainstream television and radio news rarely allocate time to air weather forecasts due to the supposed unreliability of the Meteorological Department data.

The government's blame-game response, bang in the middle of the disaster, can only be called impulsive and counter-intuitive. Earlier this week the National Building Resource Organization issued a landslide warning to four districts which predicted the possibility of landslides due to the recrudescing monsoon rains. Meteorological Department issued a severe weather notice as well, predicting heavy showers, rough seas and strong winds.

Like its predecessor and every other government that has ever been in power in this country, we observe authorities ask the people to be more 'vigilant' when facing 'natural' disasters. All the while, we do not observe the government doing their part in the problem; they have not provided any new information or methods to prevent excessive damage from such disasters in the future, nor have they come up with proper plans of solving the waste water and irrigation issues in urban areas – an essential part of the problem.

Adding insult to injury, refugees who lost their property during the flood season in the areas such as Kotikawatte and Kolonnawa still remain trying to lead normal lives in tents. They do not get attention from their elected public representatives; they are forgotten by the mainstream media and the social media warriors.

The monsoon season is back and will continue until January next year. By that time, we cannot predict what would have happened or how many lives we would have lost. We cannot expect the government to do something that they did not do the last time this happened. The solution is with us, however.

Last time the floods submerged the streets, we saw the widespread mobilization of the ordinary citizen, which was more efficient and successful than the authorities themselves. These everyday heroes marshalled relief and salvaged the situation better than the government could ever do. At the end of the day, they bailed the government out of their own mud hole and not the other way around. We would expect the same to happen this time around as well and nothing more.

Daily News Editorial

Policing the Police

08 November 2016

The arrest of a Sub Inspector of Police for his alleged role in the robbery of Rs. 40 million worth of jewellery from a jewellery store in Pettah once again brings to light the repercussions of runaway recruitment of police and service personnel during the war years to fill the shortfall of manpower. It is a black mark on the Police Service- as it is now being designated - as a whole and what IGP Pujith Jayasundera would have least expected from one of his men when the Police marked its 150th anniversary only the other day. This, also at a time when the Police is doing good work, smashing underworld networks and arresting leaders of criminal gangs on a regular basis. It (Police) is sure to lose the commendation of the public for these positive results due to this criminal act of a single member within its fold.

The robbery had been carried out while the SI concerned was serving as the OIC of the Intelligence Unit of the Kelaniya Division. He had also had as an accomplice the notorious underworld leader Army Sampath who is already in remand in connection with the robbery. The development no doubt is bound to send shock waves among the law abiding citizens of this country who are dependent on the law enforcement officers to protect them from theft and other harm. It will also certainly make the IGP who has vowed to clean up the Police Department to think up fresh strategies to accomplish this task.

Here is an instance where a law enforcement officer had not only committed a grave offence such as a jewellery heist but also was in cahoots with the underworld which also throws light on the nexus between the law enforcement and criminal elements. It is time that the IGP takes upon himself the task of weeding the police service of the undesirables recruited during the war years. Already we have ex-servicemen and even serving soldiers on the rampage committing murder and robbery, without the police adding to it. Of course some of our lawmakers are well known for their criminal tendencies. But rarely have seen a law enforcer caught in the act in this manner. This is also a revelation to those politicians who accuse the government of mistreating “war heroes” to advance their own agendas.

The arrest of the SI is also a telling indictment on the police service as a whole which has not exactly endeared itself to the public in recent times. Recent episodes of police personnel being involved in treasure hunting is also an indication of the depths to which our law enforcement has deteriorated. The IGP certainly has his work cut out in his desire to make the police a truly civil enforcement body, given the rogue elements in its midst. The public will certainly lose confidence in the police if its men continue to operate on the other side of the law instead of within it.

Immediate measures are called for to identify the causes that lead to the police officers themselves acting as lawbreakers and engaging in graft and robberies of the kind involving the arrested SI. The investigating officers in this instance should be commended for not resorting to a cover up or as in other instances sharing the spoils.

Time was when the khaki uniform was an object of awe and honour. This country had one of the finest police officers who could have rubbed shoulders with their counterparts in other countries for their investigative skills and acumen. Then, it was an exacting recruiting process to the Police where school, family background etc. played an important role in the selection. Typically the men who passed muster did honour to the Department and earned laurels for their honesty and dedication.

Sadly, as mentioned, the rot setting during the ethnic war where the strict screening processes were dispensed with and all comers recruited to the Police Department as with the services. It is time the IGP turned back the clock and apply the laid down processes when recruitment is done to the Police. He should also turn the searchlight inwards and pick out the causes that have estranged the police from the general public. As he no doubt is well aware the Police Service is notorious for graft, with a former Sports Minister ranking the Service at the top in the totem pole in this respect. It is only a small step away from graft to criminality as in the case of the SI. It is also well known that many police officers today are private bus owners. Hence the lawlessness we see on the roads today with little or no action taken against private bus drivers who have converted our highways to veritable racing tracks.

It would not be asking too much from the IGP to ascertain how some of these policemen acquired the resources to be owners of private buses. This lawlessness on the highways is but a mirror image of the lawlessness in the country, where, as is revealed now, the police too is making a not inconsiderable contribution.

The Island Editorial

Of that Chinaman

08 November 2016

 

Chinese Ambassador in Colombo Yi Xianliang threw cautious diplomacy to the wind last week when he, addressing the media, countered a well-publicised allegation that his country had provided loans to Sri Lanka at extremely high interest rates. He may not have taken up that issue without the blessings of Beijing. Having defended his country passionately he bowled a Chinaman, which hit the government’s middle stump, so to speak; he rhetorically asked why Colombo should ask for Chinese loans if they were so expensive! Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake sought to pooh-pooh the Chinese envoy’s contention the other day; it was all rhetoric and he did not sound convincing at all.

Some government worthies have taken umbrage at the Chinese ambassador’s comments. They are reported to have demanded that the Foreign Ministry summon him forthwith. Their contention is that he should have taken up those issues with the government without going public. But, Xianliang, being a keen Sri Lanka watcher, may have thought that since the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government did not utter a word in protest when its western counterparts overstepped their diplomatic limits to comment on human rights situation here and accountability issues he should be able to defend his country vis-à-vis serious allegations. He, unlike other diplomats, confined his comments to the Chinese loans Sri Lanka had drawn and other such matters concerning the two countries. Therefore. before summoning him to the Foreign Ministry let the government be urged to tell the public whether it has asked for or already obtained Chinese loans at the same interest rates as the Rajapaksa administration. Has it drawn loans from non-Chinese sources at higher interest rates as claimed in some quarters? How much has it got from the countries which were supportive of the 2015 regime change and are full of praise for its leaders?

Some of those currently in power were members of the JRJ regime when the late Indian High Commissioner J. N. Dixit rode roughshod over the Old Fox and blatantly interfered in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs. He enjoyed unbridled freedom to act like a viceroy and was instrumental in foisting the 13th Amendment on this country, having gone so far as to defend the LTTE and facilitate the rescue of Prabhakaran in 1987. Even today some western diplomats are critical of Sri Lanka’s human rights situation etc. None of the ruling party grandees take exception to their remarks which are oftentimes snide.

Far be it from us to tell the government whether to summon the Chinese envoy or not. But, if it does, it ought to mete out the same treatment to all diplomats who comment on internal affairs of this country. The ambassador of a friendly nation which has always stood by this country should not be singled out for bashing.

The government which goes out of its way to appease some foreign powers had better desist from antagonising this country’s traditional allies. It should not repeat the blunders the UNP-led UNF administration made way back in the early 2000s. Hard pressed for cash, that regime naively pinned its hopes on a collective of countries –the US, the EU, Norway and Japan—which banded together as the Tokyo Co-Chairs to control the then ‘peace process’ by offering a USD 4.5 bn aid package, which was tied to progress to be made in talks between the government and the LTTE. The UNF administration compromised national security, appeased the LTTE and reduced itself to a slave of the western bloc in the hope that it would be given enough aid to tide it over. It waited for Godot!

The UNF government blundered on military, economic and political fronts and, as a result, lost elections for 11 years consecutively thereafter until 2015. The current administration, too, won’t get anything tangible by way of aid from its western masters and, therefore. should be wary of antagonising China.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government had better stop harassing China, which deserves to be treated with respect as a longstanding, trustworthy friend of Sri Lanka.