Ceylon Today Editorial

SLC must address ‘away tests’ seriously

07 January 2017

Being in a hurry about any and everything would appear to be a defining Sri Lankan trait, not the least predominantly evident when our national cricketers take the field against tough oppositions on away tours.

Watching the commonplace return to the pavilion after a flurry of tumbling wickets – all caused by haste making them gift their wickets through wrong strokes and a couldn't-care-less attitude, I was intrigued as to where they were in such a ungodly haste to get , to justify their haste which always hands foreign teams cake-walk victories by huge margins.

I wondered whether it was the 'one-day limited overs mind set' at work subconsciously in the absence of intelligent guidance as in the days of What more, Arjuna, Aravinda et al whose guidance, mentoring and motivation lifted our national cricket to command global accolades, snatching the 1996 Cup from the Aussies, the more recent T20 championship and a raft of superb test victories to boot. The fact however cold be that the current batch have all not played the ODI game internationally and this could be contributing to the lackadaisical mindset approach that leads them to pathetic defeats as on the current SA tour in which they've wilted tamely under some intelligent cricket and blistering pace, not necessarily on fast tracks but on 'battable' wickets.

The Board's got to get to tangible grips with this lack of mentoring, guidance and motivation if this current batch of promising youngsters are to not disgrace Sri Lanka at more defeats against teams of quality on well-balanced wickets. If they can't do this they will fail abysmally on really fast tracks.

We hardly saw this sort of unholy haste in our former match-winning teams in which our star batsmen knew all about killing the early bowling, employing patience and putting runs on the board which our comparatively maverick lot of bowlers could bowl at to give Sri Lanka even a ghost of a chance at victory or an honourable draw. Sri Lanka performed creditably well in the first game against Australia in the 1996 World Cup when the Aussies fielded a terrific team, and we went on to grab the coveted WC title.

This was after going down to the West Indies in a pathetic display putting a measly 81 runs on the board in 37.2 overs, handing the Windies a cake walk in just 20 overs. Just four days later, having won the toss against the Australians whom they put into bat, and watched them get to 328 for 5 in their allotted 60 overs. Going into bat Sri Lanka lost just four wickets in their allotted 60 overs but were seen struggling against some scorching pace from Lillee and Thompson who were then terrorizing batsmen all over the globe. Wettimuny and star bat Mendis were injured badly, being struck by the Aussie typhoon Thommo.

This is how Wettimuny described his ordeal of pace and what Ashley Mallet wrote in an article and saying 'Wettimuny will never forget that day." Said Wettimuny "Never before or since did I know fear on a cricket field. When I got to hospital I discovered I had sustained a hairline fracture of the rib, my right foot was fractured, I had a dreadful bruise on my inner thigh, my hip bone was badly bruised and I was completely numb in my left leg. I thought I was paralyzed. The numbness stayed with me for 12 hours.

Later on I heard some Lankan players telling me of Imran Khan's intimidating. Sure Imran was a speed merchant, but pales into a facile medium pace compared in comparison with Thommo. Since Sri Lankans have feared pace bowling, wherever they play away from home one finds the hosts pep up their talk about how lethal their pacies are and this SA tour has not been different.

They rub it in about their bouncy pitches and mention the fact that their most lethal weapon Dale Steyn was sitting this tour out. Mind you, this is to a side whose predecessors brought home the ODI and T20 ICC World Cups and that too within a very short period of being on the world stage. We have seen the capabilities of Sri Lankans as cricketers. But, as one commentator put it, there is also the issue to do with frequent changes of the administrators of the game and thus creating an atmosphere of deep uncertainty in the minds of our players who naturally fear the axe in a sequel to a few failures.

Sri Lanka after sending an almost A side to Zimbabwe won that series, and the tri-nation tournament as well, against teams with comparable potential except that our team perhaps an edge where experience was concerned because of a few senior players in the side.

In the South African series the Sri Lankans still have that edge, and the South Africans have the home advantage and they are making full use of the conditions, with outstanding performances in batting, bowling and mostly fielding. Those match winning catches taking, those singles saved and penetrating bowling lines which put our batters on the back foot came together to give South Africa the advantage over Sri Lanka, who performed poorly in these very areas.

Daily News Editorial

Luck of the draw

07 January 2017

The dispute between the Government authorities including the two lotteries boards and the lottery sellers (agents) has been resolved temporarily with the intervention of President Maithripala Sirisena. The dispute arose as a result of the Government’s decision to increase the price of a lottery ticket to Rs.30 from Rs.20 in line with a Budget 2017 proposal without essentially making any changes in the commission structure for lottery agents. It is still not clear whether the price hike will be effected, but the familiar “jackpot today” cry of lottery agents, amplified by megaphone, will be heard again countrywide from today. A note to sellers, though: can you turn down the cacophony, please?

Lotteries are run in virtually all countries today, either by Governments themselves or by approved private operators. Lotteries are used a means of generating additional revenue for Governments. Lotteries are first believed to have been held in China around 200 BC, but lotteries in their present form originated around 1400 in Belgium and Netherlands. The Dutch state-owned Staatsloterij is the oldest running lottery in the world. In fact, the English word “lottery” is derived from the Dutch noun “Lot” meaning “fate”.

The history of lotteries in Sri Lanka runs almost to the year of independence. The lottery was initially set up by the Sri Lankan Government to finance the health services. In 1949, the Minister of Local Government proposed to the Government to set up a lottery in order to improve and expand the health services. The proposal to establish the Hospital Lotteries Board was initiated under Act. No. 04 of 1955.

In the 1960s, the Government felt the need to widen its scope to cover other development activities. The National Lotteries Board (NLB) was established under the Finance Act No.11of 1963 to generate funds for development. The Development Lotteries Board (DLB) was established in the 1980s with much the same purpose in mind.

According to the National Lotteries Board website, in July - August 2016, the Lotteries Board earned an income of Rs. 10,045,460, but by September, it had decreased to Rs 8,019,216. This is perhaps a reflection of the times, with people placing other day-to-day priorities ahead of a dream jackpot. A price increase will not help under these circumstances, but the two boards can continue the usual practice of pricing special lotteries with very large price structures (Rs.50 million and above) at Rs.50 and Rs.100. But even with diminished sales, lotteries do make a huge contribution to the coffers. Most of the revenue from lottery sales goes to the President’s Fund, 50 percent of which is allocated for Mahapola scholarships. A certain amount is retained for the prize pool.

One factor that confuses buyers is that there is a bewildering array of lotteries under various names, from Mega Power to Jathika Sampatha. Around five or six draws are held daily, with some lotteries such as Saturday Fortune having several draws weekly. It would be better to consolidate the lotteries to a few well recognized names and widen the price structures. Given that buyers have to beat astronomical odds, even a Rs.100 million jackpot is fine, but there should be a better and bigger spread of the consolation prizes.

There have also been several previous attempts to have a “lotto” style lottery where the buyer can select the numbers on an electronic terminal, but none has been viable so far. One of the two lotteries boards should step in to fill this void but more awareness should be created on the advantages of this system. For example, you can play the same set of numbers for a few years until you score a win, which is impossible with pre-printed tickets. This is in fact how most lotteries are conducted in other countries, including many developing ones.

Greater transparency is also needed from lottery operations and we do not just mean the telecasts of lottery draws. The public does have the right to know how their lottery money is spent. This is especially so with the Right to Information laws coming in from next month. For example, the Govisetha lottery is intended to help agriculture, but no one knows how much of the income has actually gone to agriculture per year or what kind of projects have been completed with the funds. Such information should be published in the newspapers. Then even the losers (they are in the majority anyway) can take heart in the fact that their money has gone towards a good cause.

The public should also be allowed to submit their ideas for such “good causes” that can be completed with lottery funds. The UK’s National Lottery run by the Camelot Group has pioneered this concept whereby various health, development, educational, cultural and community projects are supported through lottery-generated funds. The possibility of starting such a concept in Sri Lanka should be explored. Most Sri Lankans love to try their luck at the lottery kiosk, but they will be luckier if their money goes for more good causes.

The Island Editorial

Volkswagen and Hoaxwagen

07 January 2017

 

People’s resentment towards governments in power finds expression in creative cynicism for want of a better alternative. The irate public coined a pithy slogan to vent their frustration under the Rajapaksa regime—unta Lamborghini apita badagini (‘Lamborghinis for the ruling clan and pangs of hunger for us’). They once described the situation under a previous government thus: manthrilata kaar, golayanta baar, janathavata soor—‘cars for MPs, liquor bars for their henchmen and intoxication for the masses’. An automobile plant, for which the government laid the foundation stone in Kurunegala the other day with much fanfare, after promising a mega Volkswagen manufacturing facility, has come to be dubbed the ‘Hoaxwagen’ project!

The government is in this predicament, hoping for a providential wind of foreign investment to propel the national economy, which has been in the doldrums for months, due to the absence of a proper strategy. The yahapalana leaders apparently did not expect victory in Jan. 2015. They benefited from the post-truth politics in that year, but, now, their very political survival hinges on their ability to make good on their promises. The Rajapaksa-led oppositional forces, troubled by political cold turkey, are running around like a headless chicken because they did not anticipate a crushing defeat and had no plans for the worst case scenario.

The incumbent administration has failed to attract FDIs not because it lacks a powerful ministry to satisfy the needs of prospective investors. The previous government had a super ministry run by a member of the ruling family, but it, too, failed to realise its investment targets. The real problem is that the country is not geared to boost the inflow of foreign investment owing to the over-politicisation of the national economy and inefficiency and malpractices on the part of the investment promotion institutions helmed by cronies of the ruling party. No project gets approved unless several palms are greased as is public knowledge. No wonder Sri Lanka finds itself near the bottom of the ease of doing business index; its regulatory environment is not conducive to the commencement and operation of a business at all. However, if an ease of doing ‘underhand’ business index were to be prepared this country would be ranked among the first ten nations.

The change of government in 2015 has not brought about a radical change in the sphere of investment promotion as well. Instead of trying to create a super ministry, the government ought to remove the square pegs in round holes in the investment promotion sector and create an investor friendly environment. Cronyism, nepotism or party affiliations must not be allowed to take precedence over professionalism. There are many brilliant technocrats with proven integrity and they must be hired to promote investment and manage the economy.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne has said Sri Lankans have the bad habit of opposing any development project just for the sake of doing so. One cannot but agree with him on this score. The SLFP and its allies opposed the accelerated Mahaweli development programme and the free trade zone projects under the JRJ government. They ridiculed the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s garment factory programme, claiming that Sri Lankan girls were being made to stitch jangi (underwear) for suddhis (white women). The same goes for the expressway projects under the previous government. Among the bitterest critics of them were many UNP big guns. Ironically, today, they cannot do without those hassle-free roads.

It needs to be added that criticism of development projects is not all that bad in that it makes governments act with some restraint. If there had been a strong Opposition capable of giving the Rajapaksas a scare perhaps an airport would not have been built at Mattala and the cost of the Hambantota Port construction would have cost the public purse less. However, the divestiture of state assets must not pass for development!

Intra-coalition disputes have also impeded the government’s development programme considerably. Members of the two main parties in the ruling coalition are at daggers drawn while exchanging political sweet nothings for the consumption of the public. The attendant political uncertainty has taken its toll on investor confidence. No foreigner in his proper senses will want to invest his hard earned money in a country where the ruling party bigwigs are tightening their grip on one another’s jugular.

The government has a long way to go before it is able to attract FDI. It has to get its act together on the economic front. Rhetoric and media bashing won’t do.