Ceylon Today Editorial

Bringing China’s ‘wars’ to SL

19 January 2017

One of China's State controlled dailies, 'Global Times' has taken a swipe on both India and Japan, vis-à-vis Sri Lanka.

This is in the context of Sri Lanka bartering debt to equity to its creditor China, such as the white elephant Hambantota Port it funded, when its minion Mahinda Rajapaksa held sway over the island's fortune till not so long ago.(See also Tuesday's Ceylon Today)

Unsurprisingly, this article from the 'Global Times,' or, extracts of it, was published by DNA India, a privately run newspaper in India. There are no private newspapers in China, because, unlike India, China is not a democracy, but run by the Communist Party of China.

China has called both of these her neighbours to invest on their piece of real estate in Sri Lanka, whilst also referring to India of being jealous in respect of this debt to equity deal that Colombo has entered into, with Beijing.

However, it's China which has the capital and not India, or for that matter, the Japanese Government. Capital in those countries is held by their private sector and not necessarily by their governments. And, even if their governments are capital surplus, being democracies, and hence being accountable, they cannot spend their capital according to the whim and fancy of either Tokyo or Delhi, which, however, Beijing can, do.

Ostensibly, 'Global Times' may be a mouthpiece of Beijing and a subsidiary of the more well known State controlled national newspaper of the Chinese Government, the 'People's Daily.' Therefore, their dig on both Delhi and Tokyo, are understandable, from a historical perspective.

The year 1962 saw the Chinese invasion of India (both countries share a common border) and Beijing may well have overthrown the Nehru Government and captured India, if not for the USA and UK threatening to come to India's military aid, then. And, China is also a firm supporter of India's more overt enemy, Pakistan, aiding and abetting the latter in its last three major military conflicts with India, namely in 1965, 1971 and 1999.

Beijing's dig at Delhi is also double edged. Delhi, especially in the near 11½ year period from January 1980 to May 1991, beginning with Indira Gandhi's re-election to power in January 1980 and ending up on 21 May, 1991, when her son and former Premier Rajiv was blasted to pieces by an LTTE suicide bomber, save in the last four years of that period, Delhi nearly bled Colombo white, by overtly and covertly supporting Tamil terrorism in their near successful bid to destabilize Colombo, culminating in the threat of a military invasion in 1987, thereby, virtually bringing down Colombo to its knees.

During this period, only India's arch-enemies, Pakistan and China, provided defence stores to Colombo, in its war against Tamil terrorism.

Beijing's message to Delhi and Colombo through that article is, 'China supported Sri Lanka in its times of military and economic need, what has Delhi done in return? This is the context that Delhi is eager that Colombo enter into a broader economic partnership with India, by signing the much touted Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), where, there is a school of thought which says that there is little or no economic gain to Colombo by signing this agreement.

China's shot at Tokyo over Colombo also takes similar, military-political lines. Japan invaded China in the 1930s which only ended after Tokyo's capitulation at the end of World War II in August 1945. And, in the past seven years, China, in its expansionist policies over the South China and East China seas, has been claiming a host of islands, atolls and coral reefs as their own, to the chagrin of their South East and Far East neigbours such as Japan, which dispute such claims.

Sri Lanka which enjoyed warm ties with Japan since 1977 due to the J.R. Jayewardene-San Francisco Peace Conference of 1951 nexus, however, saw a cooling off of those relations once Rajapaksa assumed power in 2005. Rajapaksa , instead, cosied up to Beijing, to the consternation of Delhi, Tokyo and the West. It ended only after Rajapaksa's defeat at the 8 January, 2015 poll.
The new government re-mended the broken fences with Delhi, Tokyo and the West and distanced itself from Beijing, only to change course when realizing that capital required to rid the country of poverty, was only with Beijing.

Beijing's message to Colombo via that articulates that while Delhi and Tokyo have been mouthing only platitudes, they have done very little to alleviate its poverty. On the other hand Beijing is a doer, not a mere flatterer, whilst conveniently forgetting that Sri Lanka has got itself into this debt trap, in part, because of China's own acts of omission and commission, acting in concert together with its trusted lieutenant, Rajapaksa.

Daily News Editorial

Drought and people’s response

19 January 2017

Sri Lanka is in the throes of one of its worst droughts in recent memory and alarm bells have been already sounded by the concerned authorities, with the Met Department forecasting that the prevailing dry spell could extend to even May. Already over half a million people have been affected by the drought, with daily TV footage showing large expanses of parched earth and dying crops. Livestock too have fallen prey to the drought, with carcasses of cattle strewn across the arid terrain.

The World Bank has estimated the impact of the drought on Sri Lanka’s economy to be at US $ 1,080 (Rs.150 billion) while President Sirisena has called for UN, FAO and WFP involvement in drought relief measures.

Drinking water has become a precious liquid to most in the drought affect areas, with television showing pot carrying villagers trekking far afield to fetch what remained of the muddy water in the dried up wells and other water sources. The authorities have sprung into action, dispatching water bowsers to the far flung villagers, badly hit by the drought. The President has also appointed a Multi Institutional Task force to deal with the crisis while other contingency plans have been put into place to confront emergency situations.

The people of Rajarata, it may seem, have been delivered a double blow by the drought, with its multitude of kidney patients starved of water, threatening to exacerbate the problem. The authorities should lose no time in dispatching purified water to the kidney patients in order to alleviate their suffering.

Natural disasters, such as floods and droughts, are visited upon us without warning and whatever contingency plan drawn up is bound to fall well below expectations. The present drought is no exception. But there are measures that could be taken to mitigate the disaster such as conservation of water and energy. For this, the cooperation of the wider public is called for. The President, no less, has called for the switching off of all Air conditioners in all state institutions until the situation improves, with an appeal going to the private sector too in this regard. Calls have also gone out from the CEB to customers to switch off lights and use electricity with restraint, with the drastic decrease in the water levels in the Hydro catchments. The National Water Supply and Drainage Board too have appealed for water to be used sparingly.

Restrictions in the water supply and electricity have been sounded if the situation worsens. Hence the need for drastic measures to curb over-consumption of water and electricity and the appeals gone out to the public in this regard.

But, whether our largely, gadget oriented, present generation heed these appeals is another matter. Not just the young, even the grownups are wont to act in callous fashion. It is hard to comprehend addicts of the multifarious teledramas, switching off their TV sets just to comply with a government request to conserve electricity. Into the bargain we have the next segment of the South African Cricket tour where the one day matches, which is a bigger draw than the tests, will unfold, with the games going late into the night. It is difficult to imagine that cricket fans will forgo the pleasure of watching the Lankan team in action just to please the government. With the cricket mania what it is today in this country, there is little doubt that there is going to be a heavy draw on the national grid during the One Day series.

But the public cannot be faulted for the present energy crisis. All governments procrastinated over the power projects, fearing a negative political fallout. To his credit, Mahinda Rajapaksa went ahead with the Norochcholai project, overcoming the objections, but for which the energy crisis would have been exacerbated. The government should, at least, at this stage, think of going for alternative energy sources to meet the ever increasing demand. Besides, the foreign investors who are expected to descend on the country, in their numbers, in the near future, are bound to frown on power cuts.

Be that as it may, it is hoped that the general public, particularly the urbanites, would restrict their use of water and electricity until the crisis is overcome. Vehicle owners should find alternative means for washing their vehicles. They could easily do this at some river or canal bank instead of using the water from the main supply. Housewives too can help by restricting the watering of plants at their homes. Water taps could be opened partially, without turning them at full force. The young too could assist by cutting their time at the computer or by knocking off fans or ACs.

This country has seen through many calamitous situations in the past, such as the Boxing Day Tsunami, and come out the better for it. This is because as a nation we are known to be a resilient one. Similarly it is certain that we will see through this crisis situation and be better for the experience which will equip the authorities to deal with similar crisis in the future successfully.

The Island Editorial

Axing whistle-blowers the yahapalana way

 

19 January 2017

A Colombian scribe, in a discussion on media freedom, once, said that in his country a journalist was free to write anything. While others were staring at him in total disbelief, he added with a grin, "And, anyone else is free to kill him for writing that!" We were reminded of this wisecrack, on receiving news of the sacking of Lanka Coal Company (LCC) Chairman Maithri Gunaratne, who recently raked his political masters and their bureaucratic lackeys over the coals for their involvement in a mega tender racket. He revealed in a media interview how a questionable coal deal which even shook the conscience of the Supreme Court had been approved by the Cabinet purportedly on the Attorney General’s advice; a foreign company which had caused a loss to the tune of five billion rupees to Sri Lanka got the tender to supply coal. An outspoken Gunaratne put himself in the cross hairs of the corrupt elements within the government ranks. Anyone is free to blow the whistle and the yahapalana government is free to sack him for doing that!

Joint Opposition firebrand, Wimal Weerawansa, has been remanded for allegedly misusing vehicles and, thereby, causing a loss of Rs. 90 million to the state while he was a minister of the Rajapaksa government. But, a company under a cloud has not only got away with wrongdoing which cost the state Rs. 5 billion but also secured a tender to supply coal again! Nobody has been arrested. The yahapalana government seems to consider millions bigger than billions!

Henceforth, no state official will dare utter anything on government corruption!

We have been made witness to another Kekille judgment. King Kekille, according to legend, was intellectually challenged and always punished the innocent party in a dispute. His crafty hangers-on made the most of his mental handicap. His ministers once cheated him out of money, claiming they wanted to buy warm clothes for a pack of jackals, whose howling had disturbed him on a chilly night and caused him to ask why the poor animals were crying so plaintively. Disturbed by the sound of jackals howling again a few days later, he demanded to know why the poor animals were still crying only to be told that they were not complaining but thanking him for the new clothes! The modern-day Kekilles also fall for the wiles of their ministers and lackeys as their mishandling of the coal racket has revealed. Therefore, the jettisoning of the LCC chief as well as directors has come as no surprise.

Tolerance of dissent and criticism is not a sign of weakness. That is essential for the political wellbeing of a government. It was conspicuous by its absence in the Rajapaksa administration and that was why its rivals could bring it down like the Wall of Jericho by making a lot of noises. The self-proclaimed champions of good governance should have heeded Gunaratne’s revelation and protests and ordered a probe into his allegations if they had not benefited from the coal racket. The sacking of the LCC directorate shows that they have something to hide.

The government has cited a report by the Auditor General as the reason for axing Gunaratne et al, but an inquiry should have been held first with the officials concerned given an opportunity to tell their side of the story—audi alteram partem. It looks as if the brand of good governance the incumbent government claims to practise were devoid of the principle of natural justice.

What the government needs to be told is that the practice of axing whistle-blowers is antithetical to good governance which it claims to uphold. The ruling politicians and their lackeys seem to say, "Let’s line our pockets, blow yahapalanaya."

The sacking of Gunaratne has dented what remains of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government’s yahapalana image irreparably. The yahapalana leaders dissolved Parliament in 2015 to prevent a COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) report being put out on the Central Bank bond scams before the general election in that year. They did their damnedest to rubbish a damning report the Auditor General’s Department issued on the bond scams, but in vain. Having failed to prevent the COPE from finding the bond thieves guilty last year they sought to spoil its report with footnotes thankfully without success again. Now, the COPE findings have been referred to the Attorney General who approved the aforesaid questionable coal deal which even the apex court has frowned on.

The much-touted yahapalanaya has reached the high-water mark with the sacking of an intrepid whistle-blower! A fish rots from the head down and this may explain why yahapalanaya is stinking so unbearably. Good governance, what crimes are committed in thy name!