Ceylon Today Editorial

Beijing factor

11 April 2017

Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe left for Japan on an official visit yesterday.

This marks his second visit to Japan since his October 2015 visit.

Japan, in the immediate aftermath of the election of Wickremesinghe's uncle J.R. Jayewardene at the 1977 Parliamentary Election, became Sri Lanka's largest aid giver, in the form of grant and concessional aid, driven by its gratitude to the speech made by Jayewardene at San Francisco in 1951, where he pleaded for mercy for war defeated Japan, whereas the then Soviet Union and its allies were demanding war reparations.

The new Parliament complex, the 1001-bed Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, the development of the Colombo Port to a hub port in South Asia and post-Jayewardene, the Samanalawewa Hydro Electric Power Project (HEPP), the Kukule Ganga HEPP, the Colombo-Galle Highway (co-funded together with the Asian Development Bank) are a few of the lasting monuments, bequeathed to Sri Lanka by Japan.

But with the advent of the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime in November 2005, Japan, together with other donors, was relegated to the back benches, with China taking precedence, because of its 'no questions asked' policy, and only willing to lend, albeit on commercial terms, if it had the assurance, that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) had the strength to repay the loan and/or the collateral provided, more often than not in the form of real estate, was sufficient to cover any losses, in the event of default.

The viability of projects funded by Beijing, with commercial loans being the norm rather than the exception, was however secondary. A few cases in point are the Hambantota Port and the Mattala Airport.

One reason why Sri Lanka's finances are in a mess is due to the huge cost incurred by GoSL in servicing these Rajapaksa engineered Chinese commercial loans, such as in the building of the above-mentioned white elephant projects.

One way that Colombo is trying to get over this morass is by converting those debts into equity, more often than not in the form of long term leases favouring Beijing. A case is the Hambantota Port, where Colombo is working with the Chinese to exchange the loan for a long term lease, because of difficulties in repaying this loan.

China's presence in the island, in the form of taking over a port, though only for a limited period of time, is cause for concern to at least Sri Lanka's closest and giant neighbour India, and also to Japan. China which borders India, in a war in 1962, captured thousands of square miles of Indian territory without much effort.

With hostile neighbours in the North-East of India in the form of China and in the North-West, Pakistan, while borders in the East and West largely comprising the Indian Ocean, the least that it would want, South of its border, where its closest if not its only land mass is Sri Lanka, is for Beijing to get a foothold, even though that may be only for a while.

It may be these fears that beset Tokyo too which has an acrimonious relationship with Beijing, dating back at least to the 1930s, when it invaded Manchuria. Currently the dispute between China and Japan is over an island chain on the East China Sea known as Senkaku by the Japanese and Diaoyu by the Chinese. These uninhabited islands are at present administered by Japan.

Aside from Japan, China also has territorial disputes with the South-East Asian countries over the ownership of some islands on the South China seas. From East to West, i.e., at least up to certain developing countries in Africa, China has laid claim to pieces of real estate, either in the form of islands or due to the inability of certain African governments to repay loans taken from Beijing, thereby ceding territory in lieu of loans, in a quid pro quo arrangement. Thereby, China has been increasing its dominance in the Afro-Asian region.

Japan, like India, feels that it too is surrounded by enemies. To its North is Russia, which captured the Kuril Islands which formerly belonged to it after the USA dropped atomic bombs over this East Asian country in August 1945 and to its West, are China and North Korea and to the East and South, Japan is largely surrounded by the Pacific Ocean.

Sri Lanka, which was once a close friend of Japan's, moved in to the Beijing orbit in the Rajapaksa era. But these shackles were seemingly broken after the regime change in Colombo on 8 January 2015, only to be reinstituted, first with the revival of the Beijing funded US$ 1.4 billion Colombo Port City Project, now known as Colombo International Financial City, over which project, too, China has lease rights and the Hambantota Port debt to equity swap, as Colombo realized that it had no other option if it wanted the wheels of development turning, coupled with getting out of the Rajapaksa debt trap, other than by entering into these agreements.

It's this Beijing factor that is worrying Delhi and Tokyo, vis-à-vis Colombo.

Daily News Editorial

GMOA’s political project

11 April 2017

GMOA big gun Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya on Friday left no one in doubt about his political affiliations. He has from time to time betrayed the fact he is a Rajapaksa sympathizer, though not in explicit terms. But, during his speech, opposite the Fort Railway Station, on Friday, in the middle of the doctors’ strike Padeniya who is given to fiery speeches, like a politician in full cry, surpassed himself when he used uncouth language that was unbecoming of a member of the medical profession. Laying into the Yahapalanaya government, Padeniya, in an obvious reference to the Health Minister and the Higher Education Minister, went onto describe them as amanayo for their unyielding stand on the SAITM issue. What is more, Padeniya also dealt a broadside even on the country’s justice system querying as to what is the point of having courts if it cannot deliver proper judgements. The image created by Padeniya on Friday is the furthest one could have of a member of the medical profession. It also revealed the GMOA to be just like any other Trade Union whose members gather at Lipton’s Circus shouting slogans.

It has been the GMOA’s professed stand hat it did not support any political party but fought for the issues confronting the medical profession and the rights of patients. However the speech made by Padeniya and others in the GMOA on Friday left no doubt that the doctors’ Trade Union was working to a political agenda and were in fact foot soldiers of the Rajapaksas. The tone and tenor of some of its members and the hatred betrayed by its office bearers during press conferences and public speeches leaves little doubt as to where the sympathies of the GMOA lay. This is also confirmed in the doctors venturing out into extraneous issues such as ETCA which certainly is not the province of members of the medical profession. The GMOA, has, all but shed any pretenses of being a Trade Union with no political affiliations and shown itself to be wedded to the campaign to bring the Rajapaksas back to power. It is no secret that prominent members of the GMOA enjoyed special privileges under Mahinda Rajapaksa, and what is more, the GMOA openly campaigned for the election of MR. It is also revealing how mute the GMOA was during the Rajapaksa presidency where no notable protest or demonstrations took place. It is time the GMOA’s true face was exposed.

SAITM was not the creation of the Yahapalanaya government but was established during the Rajapaksa era. Not only that, Mahinda Rajapaksa also requested that scholarships be awarded by SAITM to deserving students. What was the GMOA doing then? Did the likes of Padeniya let out fire and brimstone, like he did on Friday, when the SAITM was operating without let or hindrance under Rajapaksa. Or, as Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said, was the GMOA in mortal fear of Gota and was only now disporting themselves like cardboard heroes? Did the doctors make even a whimper of protest when the Kotalawala Defence Academy, that was under the then Defence Secretary, was given the license to confer medical degrees? Why only target SAITM? Do members of the GMOA fear a new class of doctors emerging from SAITM to challenge their dominance? Like Minister Kiriella said, the GMOA has no right to interfere in Sri Lanka’s medical education. As it is, the country is badly hit by a dearth of medical practitioners and matters can only further aggravate, with all medical faculties in state universities closed as a result of the anti-SAITM protest. The GMOA should squarely take the blame for inciting students to take to the streets, blighting their future. Today, it is not just the medical students but even ordinary schoolchildren, with no inkling of the SAITM issue, too have been co-opted into the anti-SAITM campaign. Even a candlelight vigil was held the other day in Fort, with little children participating, giving the impression that SAITM is the biggest issue confronting the country. Obviously, a large sum of money has been pumped into the whole project which has taken on a virulent anti-government hue.

Now that the GMOA has unraveled itself in no uncertain terms, and shown its hand, the government should not compromise on SAITM or any other unreasonable demand by the doctors. It should certainly not be allowed to meddle into affairs not medical. We say this because the doctors are bound to come out with all guns firing when the ETCA is signed in the coming months. Members of the medical profession cannot tell the government how to run the country’s economy. Friday’s strike and protest meeting may well be a trial balloon with more agitations in the offing, led by the GMOA. The doctors are certainly going all out to cause public disaffection towards the government, with elections round the corner. There is nothing more that could direct the public ire on a government than the plight of poor patients going without treatment, as shown on television, every time the doctors go on strike.

The Island Editorial

Terror, doves and flowers

11 April 2017

 

The Swedish police have confirmed that the man who carried out a truck attack in Stockholm, the other day, killing four persons, has had links to extremist groups including the ISIS. He went underground after being denied asylum in 2014, police have said. There must be many more brainwashed terrorist cadres in sleeper cells in Stockholm and other parts of Sweden, and the daunting task before the Swedish authorities is to find them out.

People have been laying flowers near the place of Stockholm attack in a show of solidarity. In this country, peace activists used to paint doves on roads following terror strikes which snuffed out many innocent lives. People express their sorrow and protest in different ways. But, tough action against terrorism is necessary if roads are to be made safe for civilians. Terrorists are not so civilized as to get the message of peace concerned people try to convey through flowers and road painting!

Sweden is a land of peace among the top ten happiest countries in the world according to the World Happiness Report rankings. It cherishes human rights. Whoever would have thought there would be terror strikes in a peaceful, tolerant city like Stockholm?

Sweden has, like other developed nations, allowed evil forces to abuse freedom on its soil to further their macabre interests elsewhere, and had zero preparedness for terror strikes. The recent truck attack has come as a rude wake-up call. The time has come for Sweden to crack down on terrorists.

Time was when the developed world thought AIDS was a disease of the poor in faraway Africa. But, today, it hasn’t spared any country. The Global North once had the same attitude towards terrorism, which, it mistakenly believed, would affect only the developing world. They, therefore, chose to handle terrorist outfits and terror fronts operating on their soil with kid gloves.

Ironically, last year’s truck attack in the French city of Nice, where more than 84 persons perished, came to be dubbed the ‘Nice terror strike’ in the international media, on which the negative connotations of the use of ‘Nice’ as an adjective were lost. That carnage was the price France had to pay for being ‘nice’ to terrorists and their fronts.

The developed world, where the ISIS has demonstrated its ability to strike at will, is in the current predicament because power politics has taken precedence over national security. Politicians are the same the world over; they stoop to any level to secure as many votes as possible. Terrorists have invested in various fronts which function as lobbying groups with massive slush funds. They make offers such as campaign funds and block votes which politicians cannot refuse. Thanks to Wikileaks, which disclosed hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables it is now known that in 2009 the then British Foreign Secretary David Miliband rushed here in a bid to stop the Vanni war because he wanted the save the LTTE leaders and secure the support of pro-LTTE voters at home in return.

There is a pressing need for the people of the West to be more politically active and exercise their franchise so that terror fronts which seek and gain favours in return for block votes won’t be able to sway their politicians. The onus is on them to ensure that their governments separate national security from politics.

It is high time the developed nations realised that they are as vulnerable as their poor counterparts to terrorism. They must launch a global campaign to eliminate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Else, their citizens will have to live in eternal fear of terror strikes just like the people in the developing world. Terrorism cannot be countered with flowers and paint; the scourge has to be removed.