Ceylon Today Editorial

Well done Sri Lanka!

13 March 2017

The significant victory gained by Sri Lanka against Bangladesh in Galle, showed impressive signs that Sri Lankan cricket is now back on track, with a good, young lot under the captaincy of Rangana Herath.

The 1996 World Cup victory paved the way for Sri Lanka to reach great heights in the cricketing world. Apart from the magnificent team work, several individuals in the Sri Lankan cricket team became icons in the international cricket arena.

However, consistency in maintaining the right balance with team spirit gradually began to deteriorate with hopelessness rapidly taking shape in Sri Lankan cricket.

From the time Sri Lanka came into the limelight in world cricket, a good combination prevailed in all departments of the game, with dedicated players.

There was a lack of farsightedness in bringing up a good team with proper selection strategies. The gap between well-established players and newcomers was rather regrettable.

As all resources are available along with the vast experience of iconic seniors, Sri Lankan cricket could have been strengthened on and off the field with the right management.

But the lull which existed in Sri Lankan cricket seems to fade away with the promising captaincy of Rangana Herath.

The victory gained as captain against the Zimbabwe Test series last year, and the magnificent victory in Galle in the first Test against Bangladesh leading a young set of cricketers by Rangana Herath, is a ray of hope for Sri Lankan cricket beginning to fly high again in world cricket.

Rangana Herath has created history as a left-arm spinner with the most number of Test wickets (366) overtaking New Zealand's Daniel Vettori (362) at the Galle Test match.

The calm and collected leadership with determination displayed by Captain Rangana Herath was a tremendous boost.

With the other members of the Sri Lankan team playing their part in a responsible manner, the present trend should be maintained at any cost for the bright future of Sri Lankan cricket.

In the meantime, new manager of Sri Lanka cricket all-rounder Asanka Gurusinghe who entered the international cricket arena under the Captaincy of legendary Duleep Mendis in 1985 has been tasked with steadying the young set of Lankan cricketers, faces a challenging role in grooming the Lankan team towards regaining its lost glory.

It's important to see the manner in which cricket teams of India and Australia have been built up following the retirement of several iconic seniors from both sides.

The Test series presently being played between India and Australia in the subcontinent has highlighted the way new faces on both sides are groomed.

Cricket being another religion in India, the role played by legends of a bygone era such as Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shashtri and Sachin Tendulkar in sharing their knowledge in keeping up the right tempo in Indian cricket is praiseworthy.

In the backdrop of the big match season gathering momentum country- wide, the victory gained by Sri Lanka against a relatively young Bangladesh cricket team has strengthened the hopes of Sri Lanka progressing steadily towards its World Cup dream in 2019.

The right motivation from the right people is the need of the hour to guide Sri Lankan cricket towards a glorious path.

From the lessons learnt during the lousy period of Sri Lankan cricket in the recent years, following the exit of several giants of cricketers, backing up the new generation of cricketers free of any disturbing interference in any form is the need for Sri Lankan cricket to see that the sky is the limit.

Daily News Editorial

Demos, and the larger design

13 March 2017

Laws are to be introduced to prevent the current spate of protests and demonstrations in the city impacting negatively on the economy and causing inconvenience and hardship to the public. Until such laws are introduced moves are to be worked out to restrict these demonstrations to one per week, according to the main story in a weekend vernacular newspaper.

The report also states that the decision followed a meeting between both the SLFP and UNP parliamentarians with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the parliament complex where it was brought to his attention that the daily run of demonstrations in the city, while causing grave hardship to the public was also leaving in their wake serious economic consequences. Last week UPFA General Secretary Minister Mahinda Amaraweera also highlighted the issue in parliament and suggested designating an area for such demonstrations, to end the chaos, now being witnessed as a result of these demonstrations. The Minister noted that a new trend has been observed recently where people of different walks of life were holding protests and demonstrations which was one of the main reasons for traffic congestion. He also observed that media coverage of these demonstrations have encouraged more of their kind and if the media blackout these demos, the protesters would stop taking to the streets.

Those behind these protests obviously aim to create the maximum damage to the government and will not take kindly to being relegated to some isolated corner in the city. After all, these demonstrations are for public consumption and if the police fire tear gas and baton charge the protestors, so much the better. But things are certainly getting out of hand. Like Minister Amaraweera noted protests have now become commonplace, with the ‘agitators’ only puppets craftily manipulated by sinister political forces.

Things certainly can only hot up in the coming days, with doctors, nurses port workers, farmer organsations etc. planning to stage massive demonstrations against SAITM. How, the private medical college can relate to farmers, only those behind the planned protests will be able to explain, except that it is a well orchestrated attempt by interested parties, with political backing, to cause chaos and disrupt public life on the one hand and target the economy on the other. Last Thursday’s demonstration against SAITM, had, even little schoolchildren holding up placards bearing cryptic slogans which clearly was the work of some mature hand. There was also a candle light procession comprising, almost entirely, of young girls, most of whom, obviously were still in the junior forms of their schools, to whom, the issue surrounding the SAITM would no doubt have been Greek. What is today being witnessed has an uncanny resemblance to the time in the late eighties where schoolchildren were brought onto the streets to protest against the Indo-Lanka Accord by the JVP. Now, with ECTA to be signed in the coming months, there is no doubt that those behind the current spate of protests will stoop to any level, using even school children, to realise their sinister agendas and the government had better be prepared for any eventuality. The protests are also bound to snowball to coincide with the Provincial Council elections that are soon to be held, because it is obvious that regime change is what the masterminds of these protests are after. We say this because the SAITM issue was in existence from 2011, and, except for some feeble protests by the good doctors, never was there demonstrations of the scale and intensity that we are witnessing today.

It will be clear to anyone that these protests are well funded. It is difficult to mobilse the agitations, now on show, without massive financial support. The ultimate objective is to make the government unpopular by a demonstration of numbers and eventually its ouster. The economy too will be another obvious target in this grand plan. Minister Champika Ranawaka the other day stated that the government was losing Rs. 230 billion a year due to the fuel wasted in traffic jams. What this will come to, with the traffic jams we now see, almost on a daily basis in the city, can only be imagined. The government should try to ascertain who is funding these demonstrations which are well organised and systematically planned to cause the maximum damage to the government. The highly expensive posters, plastered countrywide announcing these demos and carrying other anti government slogans, can only be possible from massive funding. Are the funds coming from the billions accumulated by defeated VIP politicians and their former financiers? Are university students and little schoolchildren being used as a cat’s paw in a grand design by those ousted from power to make a comeback? The funds it appears seems inexhaustible given the frequency of these street protests. The situation can only further deteriorate, if the government keeps on hedging, without taking firm action in this regard. As already mentioned, Trade Unions are girding their loins for a massive showdown. Designating a specific area for demonstrations is only part of the solution. The government should get wise to the undercurrents of these protests and agitations.

The Island Editorial

Speaker’s plight

13 March 2017

 

It is jokingly said that madness is hereditary; you get it from your children. Similarly, one wonders whether madness is also communicable. Else, how can one explain why some senior parliamentarians who were once known for their exemplary conduct in the House and respect for parliamentary traditions are now stark raving bonkers, so to speak? They have begun to behave just like other misfits needing psychiatric treatment.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya is in an unenviable position. When he was elevated to that position we asked whether someone wanted him punished. He never has any peace of mind. He draws flak from the Opposition, which claims he is partial to the ruling coalition and the government MPs cavil at his ‘partiality to the Opposition’!

Last week, Speaker Jayasuriya found himself in the same predicament as a skipper, engaged in a desperate struggle to steer a battered schooner through the maw of a typhoon amidst a mutiny on board. An otherwise amiable, tolerant Karu, visibly miffed about Joint Opposition (JO) Leader Dinesh Gunawardena’s refusal to obey the Chair flashed the red card. Gunawardena was suspended from Parliament for one week.

The main grouse of the JO was that it had not been given time to discuss the Speaker’s position that Wimal Weerawansa’s National Freedom Font (NFF) couldn’t be allowed to function as an independent party in the House. But, the JO big guns shouldn’t have let their tempers flare up. When the Speaker gave the JO time the following morning, the UNP MPs staged a walk-out against what they called the allocation of more time to the JO. Parliament was adjourned.

Ironically, the JO politicians, who once unflinchingly abused their power to suppress dissent both inside and outside Parliament, are today calling for fair play and respect for parliamentary traditions. The government leaders came to power, promising to run Parliament al la the Licchaivs, who in keeping with the Buddha’s advice, met, deliberated and dispersed peacefully. Sadly, they are practising the very obverse of their pledge. Intolerant of dissent, they shamelessly manipulate parliamentary process to their advantage. Thus, we have two groups of hypocrites—one troubled by political cold turkey and the other intoxicated with power—trying to take moral high ground.

President Maithripala Sirisena has recently deplored the misconduct of politicians. He conducted himself properly in Parliament and, therefore, has a moral right to condemn others who have brought the national legislature into disrepute. But, how does he propose to tackle the problem of the rapid deterioration of parliamentary standards? Mere words won’t do. Action is called for.

The most effective way of addressing the problem of the deterioration of political institutions is to end the deplorable practice of nominating unsavoury elements to contest elections, which they win by spending a fraction of their black money to bribe voters. The blame for this sorry state of affairs should be apportioned to all political leaders including President Srisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and former Presidents Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Let the political party leaders be urged to clean up the mess they themselves have created; they ought to introduce selection criteria for candidates in time for the next election instead of beating their chests. It is popularly said that you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. There are enough and more educated, intelligent men and women of integrity, capable of helping the country achieve progress. The challenge before the political parties and their leaders is to enlist their help to hoist the country from the morass of corruption, indiscipline and inefficiency.

Meanwhile, political leaders must rein in the unruly elements in their parties to prevent Parliament being thrown into turmoil with monotonous regularity. We are against enhanced salaries, allowances and perks for parliamentarians. But, we suggest that Speaker Jayasuriya be paid a special allowance for risking his sanity.