Ceylon Today Editorial

Enter Antonio Guterres

15 December 2016

After a rather anxious and controversial split United Nations Security Council, the next Secretary General for the United Nations was elected recently. The former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres thus became the eighth Secretary General of the United Nations.

The leaving Secretary General Ban Ki-moon however, doesn't leave the incoming Guterres an easy job where he can put his legs up on the table and relax. In truth, the world has hit an all time low which anyone can understand if they have an iota of intelligence. The American dream has died, the terrorism threatens the entire world, people fighting over petty reasons, and brother killing brother, disease running rampant and the lists is endless. Guterres comes at a time when the world needs a miracle. And we dearly believe that he is the miracle we have been looking for so long; Biblical or otherwise.

The world expected two things that didn't work out either way; they expected a female Secretary General for the United Nations and a female President for the United States. The latter became a mere farce as America decided to elect a misogynist instead of 'yet another woman' as their leader. A female Secretary-General would have been a powerful symbol at a time when women's rights are threatened around the world, from Afghanistan to the US. But a symbol is not enough. Whoever holds the position cannot be a mere masthead that appears when necessary, but has to fight the fight at the frontline with other soldiers. Guterres is considered to have a good record on gender in Portugal and at United Nations Human Rights Council.

The outgoing Ban Ki-moon is undoubtedly a conscientious statesman who wanted to see some good done in the world. He wanted to be thorough with his work which was made obvious with the run he gave Sri Lanka with the human right violation accusations, internal investigations and the countless reports. Despite his enthusiasm and determination, he barely got any notable work done. Moon became the white knight for humanitarian causes who valiantly charged head on some selected issues. Regardless, his struggles were for naught as they did not have an impact on the world stage.

Hopefully, Guterres won't be as invisible as Moon was. Guterres' first among many issues will be the US President-elect Donald Trump who will be inaugurated as President on 20 January. Trump has made several claims and will most definitely make several decisions that will clash with Guterres' agenda and policies. Guterres will be challenged when dealing with the Ukrainian crisis, while having to oppose Trump as well as the Russian Leader Vladimir Putin.

Guterres' policies on conflict resolution will be tested when it comes to dealing with African wars, the Islamic State militants and North Korea's rise as a nuclear powerhouse. He will have to stand his ground and fight on the battle against climate change, where there will be many naysayers who will stand in his way. His policies on health and sustainable development will have to strengthen when it comes to battling the fears against Zika, HIV and other epidemics.

But most of all Guterres' biggest challenge lies with Syria and the continuing migrant crisis. As we speak, thousands are being killed in Aleppo, Syria which has become an active site of war, with thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire between the government forces and the rebels. If this does not come to an immediate end, the Syrian Massacre will be second only to the Second World War – a truly shameful event that has ever occurred in the history of humankind. Guterres has hands full and we hope he will not falter in his endeavour.

Daily News Editorial

The war against dengue

15 December 2016

Dengue is back with all its virulence, 10 districts already hit with a vengeance and the authorities are desperately battling to keep the epidemic at manageable levels. The Health Ministry has got into panic mode. Fumigation is being carried out in high risk locales. A list of dos and don'ts has been issued by the Health Ministry to be followed by suspected dengue victims. The leave of all health workers attached to 30 high risk MOH divisions have been cancelled to face the rapidly increasing dengue threat. Already the epidemic has claimed the lives of 77 persons and 47,900 dengue cases have been reported from all parts of the country.

For years, there have been all kinds of warnings issued and precautions announced and anti-dengue drives carried out in earnest, but we are all back to square one when the epidemic is upon us without warning. It is time that the health authorities got back to the drawing board and map out a definitive plan to contain the epidemic on a long term basis.

Typically, Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne has once again issued dire warnings, with a suggestion to increase the fine for ‘mosquito breeders’ to Rs. 25,000. Let us all hope that this time around the culprits will heed the warning seriously and rid their surroundings of mosquito breeding spots.

The household premises are not the only ones that needs cleaning up. Today, certain government institutions too are guilty of contributing to the epidemic in no small measure. Certain Local Council buildings have gone to seed following their dissolution, with little or no attention being paid to their proper maintenance. Signs of neglect, such as broken gutters, stagnant drains etc. are a common site. Sloppy garbage collection and in fact problems connected to garbage disposal too have worsened things. The construction boom witnessed over the decades has also brought in its wake the ideal grounds for mosquitoes breeding. Half complete structures, partially finished buildings, idle concrete edifices etc. have turned out to be havens for trillions of dengue larvae. In addition, polluted canals and waterways that snake through the many tenements in the city and the suburbs, needless to say has compounded, nay, magnified the problem.

Not only that, rambling, unoccupied homes and premises, abandoned land and property that have gradually being reclaimed by the shrub and jungle have also provided uninterrupted breeding grounds for the dengue mosquitoes. This scenario is mostly witnessed in the coconut belt where trees have been felled haphazardly creating nooks and crannies for mosquito breeding.

The Health Ministry authorities should take a holistic view of the whole problem and attack it at the core, instead of resorting to piecemeal solutions, such as getting PHIs accompanied by members of the security forces to visit household premises only, to rid the dengue menace. Whatever happened to the Presidential Task Force on Dengue, set up by the former President, and in which the incumbent President too was heavily involved, as the then Health Minister? Is the Task Force going into action only when things have aggravated?

A yearlong sustained campaign should be carried out if we are to tackle the epidemic, at least to a manageable degree, if not eradicate it in toto. What has been happening is that once the initial alarm passes and the crisis is temporarily seen through everyone lets down their guard and becomes complacent, letting the problem grow under their feet. All segments should be co-opted, schools, temples, other places or religious worship, government departments etc. if the anti-dengue drive is to be carried out to a successful end. Deterrent punishment should be served on those contributing to the breeding of dengue- possibly a prison term. What is at stake is the lives of the people.

All's well that ends well

Well, saner counsel has prevailed and the Christmas Tree project, which was abandoned following certain observations made by His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, is back on track. The Cardinal's remarks may have been grounded on the reality that the Christmas Tree has no relevance to Christmas proper, which has a profound message to all mankind. Well, millions are being thrown lavishly for Christmas parties, musical and dance events during the Christmas season, particularly by the Five Star hotels in the city. The corporate sector also doles out very expensive hampers to its clients and others. There is also a lot of merriment and gaiety during this period when the poor and the needy are hardly ever given thought to. Hence it won't make a big difference whether or not the largest ever Christmas Tree is erected or not in this country. Christmas will continue to be celebrated in the same grand way in Sri Lanka and the world over.

The Island Editorial

A yahapalana snafu

15 December 2016

A large number of Hambantota residents took to the streets yesterday against a government move to lease out a vast extent of land in the area to some Chinese companies. These protests and the Hambantota Port workers’ agitation are likely to snowball if the government resorts to coercive methods to neutralise them without addressing the root causes of people’s unrest.

Navy Commander Vice Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne continues to draw heavy flak for Saturday’s crackdown on protesting Hambantota Port workers. It is unfortunate that a battle-hardened naval officer who proved his mettle in many a daring encounter with terrorists and reached the pinnacle of his career through sheer hard work happened to behave like Captain Haddock. He is in the soup, so to speak, because he went overboard. High ranking police and military officers had better learn from his costly blunder.

It is a supreme irony that the top guns of the previous government, responsible for the Rathupaswala brutal military crackdown in 2013, have condemned the naval action at the Hambantota Port, where thankfully nobody was harmed. Had the port workers resorted to a protest of this nature before last year’s regime change Eraj and Mervyn, with the help of their private armies, would have brought the situation under control in next to no time. They are now with the present administration which has, however, refrained from ‘deploying’ them. So far so good!

Director General of Government Information Ranga Kalansooriya has sought to apportion the blame for Saturday’s incident to the journalist manhandled by the Navy. He says the victim violated media ethics by entering a restricted area, provoking the attack. His argument makes one wonder whether Bovine King Kekille actually lived here and his descendants have got into high posts under the present government. For, no one with an iota of common sense will demand that journalists obey the dictates of military and police officers.

The yahapalana Goebbels who have secured high posts thanks to their boot-licking skills mastered while they were members of the kept press are apparently trying to promote embedded journalism in peacetime as well. Journalists have to gain access to even restricted areas, at times, in the line of duty as is common knowledge. No one has a right to assault or kill such enterprising scribes for doing that.

The Hambantota Port workers overstepped their limits, as we argued in this space the other day. Their right to protest cannot be cited in extenuation of the serious offence of seizing a foreign vessel and holding its crew members incommunicado. Their modus operandi, which should be condemned unreservedly, has ruined the image of the country. But, the naval reaction was manifestly disproportionate to the workers’ action. The strength of the navy team consisting of heavily armed seaborne commandos who took part in Saturday’s raid would have been sufficient even to overrun an LTTE base during the war!

The government which promised to scrap the Chinese funded Port City project has shamelessly handed over a port in a strategic location to the Chinese! Worse, while pontificating about the virtues of the Liccavi method of resolving conflicts peacefully it is bulldozing its way through. It has caused the country to get entangled in a foreign policy snafu through its disastrous Hambantota deal with China.

The late J. R. Jayewardene, who in trying to curry favour with the US, blundered on the foreign policy front and antagonised India, thus plunging the country into a protracted war. India’s former National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon is reported to have said in his new book, Choices: Inside the making of India’s foreign policy, that Sri Lanka’s internal war cost as much as USD 200 billion. One wonders whether this is the amount India, which created, trained, armed and funded terrorists including the LTTE, owes this country by way of reparation. How much the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government’s foreign policy bungling which is likely to turn the country into a battleground of superpowers will cost remains to be seen.

The government is playing a very dangerous game by allowing powerful nations to secure the control of seaports and airports here. Unless it stops this practice forthwith the country will be in the same predicament as the proverbial monkey which, in its wisdom, placed itself between two enraged elephants battling for supremacy and got crushed in the process. Is the genie already out of the bottle?

The government must meet the protesting port workers and find a negotiated solution. Port and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga, while constructing a huge Christmas tree purportedly to promote reconciliation, is threatening to sack the Hambantota strikers unless they fall in line. He must practice what he preaches. Instead, he sounds just like the late JRJ, who unflinchingly terminated about 100,000 strikers overnight in 1980 for demanding a pay hike.

What causes the government to act in this suicidal manner may be called political autoimmune disease. It has become its own enemy! It may have the pleasure of destroying itself but it must not seek expedient solutions to its politico-economic problems at the expense of the country’s interests.

Ceylon Today Editorial

Women empowerment in Malaysia

14 December 2016

President Maithripala Sirisena is scheduled to fly to Malaysia on a three day official visit starting tomorrow. (Ceylon Today of 13 December 2016).

Malaysia was in the news recently, not only because of the mysterious disappearance of one of its passenger planes with a 'full' load and the shooting down of another of its passenger airliners flying over Ukraine soon after, but due to the manhandling of Sri Lanka's envoy to Malaysia by Tamil terrorist supporters, coinciding with the visit to that country by former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, responsible for crushing the Tamil LTTE terrorists.

From an economic and investment perspective Malaysia is important to Sri Lanka, not necessarily due to Sri Lanka's two largest telecom operators having Malaysian investments, with the largest being controlled by a Malaysian Government telecoms entity and the second largest, which has an over 40% stake of it controlled by a Malaysian Tamil of Sri Lankan origin, but due to the fact that two large US based tech. companies which planned to set-up operations here, withdrew to Malaysia instead, in the aftermath of the July '83 disturbances.

These two tech. companies, Motorola and Harris Corporation are responsible for providing thousands of Malaysians with jobs, while at the same time boosting tech. and with that Malaysia's overall exports, with Sri Lanka being a possible importer of such exports.

Therefore, Sri Lanka's loss was Malaysia's gain! From an economic and sociological outlook, Sri Lanka and Malaysia have quite a bit in common. Both practise open economies, though Malaysia, in population and geographical terms is larger than Sri Lanka. But it's difficult to compare the island, at least from an economic perspective, with any other Asian country, other than the South-East Asian (SEA) economies of Malaysia or Thailand.

Countries in the SAARC region are either too big (India), too poor (Bangladesh and Nepal) or too small (Bhutan and Maldives), or have their own peculiar problems (Islamist terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan), to draw a parallel with Sri Lanka. Similarly, the closest SEA economy Myanmar has just emerged out of decades long military dictatorship and is also too poor to draw a comparison with Sri Lanka, while Singapore may be too small, being a City State.

Due to the seeming Malaysia focus coinciding with Sirisena's visit, Malaysia has a trade surplus with Sri Lanka (similar to that of Thailand), a possible reason for this may be women empowerment. For instance, the labour force participation rate (LFPR) among women in Thailand and Malaysia is much higher than that in Sri Lanka.

While the LFPR among women in Sri Lanka is a low 36% (that means 64% of the women labour force in Sri Lanka is economically inactive) according to Census and Statistics Department's (CSD's) last year's data, the LFPRs for women in Thailand and Malaysia were much higher at 72% (as at 2014 according to the World Bank) and 54% (2015 data, according to Malaysia's Statistics Department (MSD)) respectively.

Malaysia, though being a Muslim country, with its Muslim laws (though not as stringent as in Saudi Arabia) which have more than a streak of conservatism as far as women are concerned, has however raced ahead of Sri Lanka as far as women empowerment is concerned, compared to 'liberal' Sri Lanka.

Women with money in their handbags tend to be more independent than those who haven't. CSD said that the reason why the LFPR among women in Sri Lanka was low was because they preferred to be engaged in housework.

Another reason may be the size of Sri Lanka's informal employment sector which is 150% larger than the country's formal employment sector. According to CSD, 60% of those employed (both sexes) were in the informal sector, whereas only 40% were employed in the formal sector.

In contrast, in Malaysia, a mere 11.4% of non agricultural employment (i.e. in the services and manufacturing/industry sectors covering both sexes) was in the informal sector, MSD said. This comprised a total of 1.4 million persons. Employment in the informal agriculture sector in Malaysia was not immediately available. Nonetheless, as at 2014, 12.2% employed, vis-à-vis both sexes in Malaysia, were in the Agriculture Sector (formal and informal), 27.4% (Industries Sector) and 60.3% (Services Sector) respectively. Last year's statistics were not immediately available.

Considering the smallness of Malaysia's Agriculture Sector, that sector may be discounted. In contrast, in Sri Lanka, last year, 28.7% of all employed were in the Agriculture Sector (percentagewise, more than double that of Malaysia's), while 25.8% were employed in the Industry Sector and 45.6% (Services Sector).

Further, 53.7% (1.47 million) of all of Sri Lanka's employed women (2.73 million) were employed in the informal sector, CSD said. In fact, the majority (4.69 million (59.8%)) of all Sri Lankans employed (7.83 million), were in the informal sector. Therefore, the answer to much of Sri Lanka's economic ills, not least women empowerment, may lie in getting Sri Lanka's informal economic sector into the mainstream.

Daily News Editorial

Health care for poor patients

14 December 2016

The high price of drugs has been a vexed issue for many years. Even though the State health service is free, there are many medicines that patients have to buy from outside pharmacies. Many of these drugs are expensive and many poor patients cannot afford to buy them. One of three main promises of the Yahapalana Government that came to power in January 2015 was reducing the high prices of drugs or at least those of the most essential drugs needed by the majority of patients, especially those suffering from Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

True to its word the Government rapidly moved in this direction under the guidance of President Maithripala Sirisena, a former health minister himself. Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne shared the President’s enthusiasm for this endeavour. Accordingly the Government was able to announce a price reduction for around 48 essential drugs a few months back. This was hailed by many medical experts and commentators as a major breakthrough in health care in the country which is one of the few developing countries with a completely free health care programme.

This has proved to be a great boon for patients who suffer from a variety of health problems. Their medical bills have seen a substantial amount of savings. The lack of knowledge about generic drugs costs among the general populace and the misplaced belief that anything foreign must be better than locally produced drugs has compounded this problem. Indeed many patients dislike doctors who do not prescribe expensive drugs. The authorities must launch a major programme through the media to educate the public on the importance of generic drugs and how they can save money in the long run by using those drugs.

Indeed, the health minister has disclosed that the government has been able to save billions of rupees by its multi-pronged approach to the drug industry - reduce the prices of essential drugs with an emphasis on generic drugs and also by manufacturing many drugs locally. While the state owned State Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Corporation has been engaged in this role for decades, many foreign companies are now setting up their own plants here. As the minister pointed out, this could ultimately prove to be a foreign exchange earner for Sri Lanka because the plants will be able to export any excess production to other countries in this region. After many decades Sri Lanka is finally close to realising the goals enunciated by the late Prof. Senaka Bibile. To his credit, many Senaratne has always been an ardent advocate of the Senaka Bibile proposals and all right thinking citizens must be pleased that the late visionary’s dreams are coming true.

Reduced drug prices must not lull us into State of complacency. Prevention must remain the primary goal especially when it comes to NCDs which are now responsible for the majority of deaths in the country. Sri Lanka has had a remarkable success rate vis a vis infectious diseases many of which are under control. Sri Lanka has a very successful vaccination programme as well. The country was recently honoured by the World Health Organisation as only the second country in South Asia to have eliminated Malaria after The Maldives. Sri Lanka must strive to maintain the success level with NCDs such as heart attacks and diabetes which have become major killer diseases mainly due to lifestyle changes. Our medical research efforts must also be ramped up, led by the Medical Research Institute.

The Government must also be commended for making every possible to effort to deuce tobacco consumption. There were reports in the media that the revenue earned by the government from the sale of cigarettes has reduced exactly by half. While this may at first be alarming from a purely economic point of view just think of the billions of rupees spent by the government to treat the victims of tobacco. Most of the patients in the island’s cancer hospitals are tobacco addicts for whose treatments the Government spends heavily. Any additional revenue the Government earns from tobacco goes back to the health system to treat its victims. However, with reduced consumption the number of victims will also be less and hence the health costs too will be less. The Government has also decided not to allow the sale of loose cigarettes which will further reduce consumption. Many curbs have been placed on alcohol consumption as well which will also lead to reduced Health care costs.

Our health infrastructure is already of a high standard but there is room for improvement. We hope some of the savings and revenue from recent health sector achievements can be used for this purpose. There was an advertisement sometime back which extolled the virtues of the expressway network by showing an ambulance transporting patients from Matara to Colombo in two hours whereas as the real goal should have been improving the hospitals in Matara to the standards of those in Colombo. Our health service should then be able to take on any challenge posed in a constantly changing health environment.

The Island Editorial

Father, forgive them!

14 December 2016

 

Political interventions always work in this country in respect of the holy, the not-so-holy and the unholy alike. When the Catholic Church opposed Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga’s massive Christmas tree project the other day we thought its decision was well informed and final.

But, Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has, following an intervention made by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on behalf of Minister Ranatunga, budged on the issue, and the Christmas tree project is back on track, we are told. The prelate is reported to have said he was under the impression that as much as Rs. 200 mn from the public purse was being spent on the project, but he now is informed that the real cost is only Rs. 12 mn and no public funds are being used. Hence, he has softened his stand on the project.

We are intrigued. We thought the Cardinal’s opposition to the waste of money was based on principle rather than the provenance of funds for the project and/or the quantum thereof because he is an ardent follower of Pope Francis, who condemns the extravagance in all its forms and manifestations regardless of where funds come from.

Are we to gather from the Cardinal’s excuse for his volte face that he is not opposed to the waste of funds that do not belong to the state, on Ozymandian projects, in the name of Christmas? We are afraid that his position is at variance with that of the People’s Pope, whom even non-Catholics can’t stop loving.

It may be recalled that Pope Francis, while leaving Sri Lanka in 2015 following a highly successful visit, returned a cash donation of more than Rs. 8.7 million from the Catholic Bishops to the Archbishop of Colombo, requesting that it be utilised to help the poor in this country. ‘Even the ranks of Tuscany could scarce forbear to cheer!’ Jesus was a rebel and so is the incumbent Pontiff. When such great leaders speak the world listens. May their tribe increase!

The onus is on the priests of all religions to urge the laity to desist from using religious festivals as excuses for indulging in mindless waste and urge them to look after the less fortunate ones among them.

Arjuna’s Christmas tree is sure to attract massive crowds, but that should not mean waste is justified. If a musical show were to be held at the Galle Face Green as part of Christmas celebrations—God forbid!—there would be bigger crowds.

It is being argued in some quarters that the Galle Face Christmas Tree will give a turbo boost to Sri Lanka’s tourism industry. But, it is doubtful whether foreigners will flock in their thousands here from the four corners of the earth to see it. The best way to promote tourism is to make hotel prices competitive without keeping them artificially high.

Most religious festivals are characterised by extravagance. Vesak thorana or pandals, where people miss Jathaka stories for myriads of colourful lights have not made this country any better. It is sad but true that Santa and Christmas trees have become closer to children’s hearts than Jesus.

A collective of concerned citizens including doctors and social workers have launched a noble campaign, Little Hearts, to build a cardiac and critical care complex to provide timely treatment to all children with heart diseases at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, Colombo. About 10 out of 1,000 infants born in Sri Lanka, which is home to four great religions, die before they reach their first birthday owing to congenital heart diseases, the main cause of infant deaths in this country.

The Little Hearts project deserves unstinted support from one and all. But, surprisingly, we have not yet heard any prelate, Buddhist or Christian or Islamic or Hindu, making an appeal to the public to contribute to the Little Hearts fund generously to save thousands of infants whose untimely deaths are preventable. Tills of many places of worship overflow with money and gold daily. With less than one percent of their monthly income the Lady Ridgeway cardiac and critical care complex for children can be completed.

Sri Lankans, regardless of their religious differences, cherish the memory of Fr. Marceline Jayakody, one of the few prelates who were genuinely interested in looking after the needy. He famously said this about Christmas: Mage naththala dugiya bath kanadaya—‘My Christmas is the day the poor partake of rice’. The demise of such great religious leaders, who, as social reformers besides being eminent priests, inspire their followers and others alike, leaves a huge void which can never be filled; their loss is felt forever.

The mindless waste of funds on ego boosting projects in the name of religious festivals must be stopped. ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’