Daily Mirror Editorial

COVID-19 pandemic and changing perceptions

The dreaded coronavirus or COVID-19, which made itself part of the international lexicon in December 2019, had by May 1, 2020, infected over 3,214,256 persons and taken the lives of 232,570 persons world wide. In our own country, over 700 persons had contracted or caught the disease with seven identified deaths. 

It is feared that, if the number of infected go beyond 1,000, the system may not be able to cope, given the limited numbers of trained personnel available. While the ordinary man and woman’s biggest fear is of falling victim to the disease and the repercussions on family, colleagues and friends, the big questions facing us all is, if and when the pandemic ends, what the future holds for us.

The country’s economy could never be the same. Government is forced to dole out Rs. 5,000 monthly to poorer sections of the community - probably with ‘aid’ from a variety of sources. However, this ‘aid’ has to be re-paid, probably with interest, despite being badly indebted to a range of international financial institutions. Yet, the cost of two basic meals for a family of four is over Rs. 20,000/- a month. The long queues of people standing patiently in line to receive this dole, tells its own story. Visuals of squabbles breaking out among those who stood in queues, and aired by a news channel, confirms a people’s desperation.

"Tourist hotels are empty and large sections of their employees now jobless. A number of small and medium enterprises are on the brink of closure. The education system has come to a standstill"

The tourist hotels are empty and large sections of their employees now jobless. A number of small and medium enterprises are on the brink of closure. The education system has come to a standstill, the streets are empty and production has come to a standstill. In fact, our country and we, the citizens are in a crisis - the normal, which we have taken for granted, has been overturned. We - those free of the coronavirus - have to understand this moment; what it demands of us and what we need to do to make this possible. Already some unimaginable things are happening; government is making available even a small sum of money to the most vulnerable sections of society. 

In the main cities, people are taking to growing their own food on the tiniest space available. This phenomenon is happening not only among the poorer sections of society, but even among the elite who live in our midst, with children joining parents in growing food crops and taking pride in eating home grown produce.Young boys and girls can be seen planting veges and clearing weeds by hand, now that pesticides are not available freely. In the process we are eating poison-free food as well as protecting ‘all Gods creatures - big and small’ from petroleum-based agro-chemicals.

The roads are free of traffic and its accompanying petrol and diesel fumes. In their place birds, butterflies and a variety of small animals, which had all but disappeared from our midst, are making a comeback. Our children are learning more of their surroundings and are re-learning the values of sharing.

The ‘Guardian’ of March 23 reports that satellite imagery from the European Space Agency (ESA) shows the COVID-19 shutting down of industrial activity, has led to a slashing air pollution levels around the world. Readings from ESA’s Sentinel-5P satellite show that over the past six weeks, levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over cities and industrial clusters in Asia and Europe were markedly lower than in the same period last year.

The World Health Organization (WHO) describes NO2 as “a toxic gas which causes significant inflammation of the airways. Pollution particles may also be a vector for pathogens, as well as exacerbating existing health problems. The WHO is now investigating whether airborne pollution particles may be a vector that spreads COVID-19 and makes it more virulent.

MP Sidharthan speaks of farmers in his area sharing their crop with those who have not and a growth of a barter system in the north of the country.

While not demining the value of lives lost to COVID-19/coronavirus, the pandemic is giving us a chance to see what could be achieved, if we live more environment-friendly lives. 

The Island Editorial

Stop playing chicken

Legal experts, working for the government and the Opposition, peruse the Constitution with the same intention as sinners who read the Bible or any other sacred text; instead of seeking guidance, they look for loopholes. On hearing these legal luminaries interpret constitutional provisions, one asks oneself, like Alice, confused by Humpty Dumpty’s strange diction, whether they can make words mean so many different things. Sadly, the voice of independent experts has got lost in the political din.

We tend to pore over the Constitution the way Brecht reads history through the eyes of a worker, in one of his poetic gems. How come the President has shifted the onus for deciding on the date of parliamentary polls to the Election Commission (EC)? The EC has scheduled the general election for 20 June in spite of the constitutional requirement that the new Parliament meet latest by 02 June, as the national legislature cannot remain closed for more than three months, at a stretch. It has cited the current national health emergency, resulting from the spread of Covid-19, as the reason for its decision.

The EC having postponed the general election to 20 June, and the government refusing to reconvene the dissolved Parliament, it looks as if we had to do a little bit of time travel (like the young lady named Bright, who set out one day, faster than light, and returned on the previous night), hold the election on 20 June and have Parliament meet on 02 June!

Critics of the EC claim that it has succumbed to pressure from the oppositional forces and created a situation where the government is faced with Hobson’s choice anent the calls for reconvening the dissolved Parliament, or the intervention of the Supreme Court can be sought. It is being argued in some quarters that because the government asked the EC to decide on the date of the next general election, the latter has done so, but the question is whether the EC can do so simply because the government asks it to.

Some legal experts argue that the EC decision cannot be challenged in court as per Article 104A on the finality of its decisions and immunity from suit, but this Article should be read with Article 104H, which provides for judicial review. Most of all, the ouster clause at issue and the EC’s immunity should be viewed in the light of the legal principles enunciated in the famous decision in Anisminic Ltd. v Foreign Compensation Commission (1969), in the House of Lords; actions made ultra vires with no proper jurisdiction are subject to judicial review.

The timing of the general election has become a mega issue because the government and the Opposition are in a state of mutual distrust and advancing their political agendas at the expense of the public. The government would have lost no time in reconvening the dissolved Parliament and obtaining legislative approval for fund allocations, etc., if it had had a majority therein. The Opposition would not have pressed for reconvening the dissolved Parliament if it had lacked a majority there; it is trying to gain some political traction and be seen to be making a contribution to the country’s anti-Covid-19 battle, the credit for which the government does not want to share with anyone else. Interestingly, when Parliament was in session, most Opposition MPs did not attend it, much to the consternation of the public, and many of its inquorate sittings had to be adjourned, but now they want it reconvened!

Another reason why the government is wary of reconvening Parliament, at this juncture, is the possibility of the warring factions of the UNP coming together in the event of fresh nominations being called. If the presidential proclamation that dissolved Parliament, in March, is rescinded and Parliament reconvened, the current lists of nominations will no longer be valid, as we reported, the other day. It is possible that the SLFP will coalesce with Sajith Premadasa’s Samagi Jana Balavegaya, in such an eventuality, because the SLPP has short-changed it. The government also fears that the UNP rebels and other parties supportive of them might try to dislodge it through a motion of no confidence if Parliament is reconvened.

The Opposition is scared of facing an election soon. It is apparently working on the premise that it will have a better chance of improving its currently abysmal electoral performance when the economic fallout from the current national health emergency kicks in, causing the popularity of the government to plummet. What is driving it is neither any love for parliamentary democracy nor any concern for the safety of the public; it is only seeking political expediency, just like the government.

The hurriedly crafted 19th Amendment is so flawed that one shouldn’t be surprised if the government tries to ride a coach and horses through the Constitution and the Parliamentary Elections Act to have staggered parliamentary polls. The Opposition seems to have put all its political eggs in the judicial basket, as it were. This is not the time for a politico-legal battle. The country must remain focused on battling the elusive coronavirus.

Let the leaders of the political parties, which were represented in the dissolved Parliament, be urged to adopt the Licchavi method of solving problems, have a parley on the current dispute and find a solution. Some Opposition parties have turned down Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s invitation to a meeting of former MPs, at Temple Trees, today. We can only hope that they will stop playing chicken. The party leaders ought to powwow and try to work out a compromise formula if they really feel for the people they live off.

Daily News Editorial

Press Freedom in a pandemic

“Going viral” is now a popular catchword which, after this real-life pandemic, must surely ring more ominously. The deathly ambience of COVID-19, both physically and economically lethal, also drives home to us the dangers of instant, mass scale, indiscriminate spreading of sensational messages.

The United Nations, which marked World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd (yesterday), has made a call on the world’s citizens to be alert to the mass scale spreading of disinformation about the pandemic.

“As the [COVID-19] pandemic spreads, it has also given rise to a second pandemic of misinformation, from harmful health advice to wild conspiracy theories. The press provides the antidote: verified, scientific, fact-based news and analysis,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said in a message.

In bizarre contrast, a message circulating in social media these days claims (in summary): “…In China, where every household has a COVID-19 case, people do not go to hospital for treatment or cure. Instead, they treat themselves with heat inhalations and hot gargles four times a day…. By the fourth day they are no longer COVID positive… .” The message claims to be a translation of a message sent “by an Indian living in Wuhan”. Readers will be forgiven if they look askance at the Daily News for even highlighting such rubbish.

Sri Lanka being the most literate country in South Asia, most readers know that China, the world’s most populous country, is esteemed not only for its economic success, but also for its State-run social welfare system including a massive public health system. A moment’s reflection will make us realise that not many of China’s 1.5 billion citizens would be relying solely on such heat treatment for curing COVID-19.

What must concern us is that some of our own citizens are spreading this ‘fake news’. This fake message then lists the heat treatment as if to encourage such minimal response to the deadly disease. This disinformation could be as deadly as the virus itself because COVID-19 positives or their family could be misled into attempting home ‘heat treatment’ instead of immediately informing the healthcare agencies.

While our medical personnel are risking their lives night and day to contain the pandemic, the country’s news media industry, both private and public, is also working continuously to keep citizens updated. While news media ownerships have their own news policy idiosyncrasies, the news professionals – from reporters to camerapersons to fact-checkers, broadcasters and web editors – must be, and are, professional in their delivery of ‘news’ to citizens. Their efficiency must match the deadly speed of the contagion to keep the whole population updated about curfews, food supplies and livelihood prospects.

Even if, thanks to cyber technology, many news professionals can operate from home, some camerapersons and reporters must go on the field, into the disease locations to record the incidence of the pandemic and its social impact. After all, our viewers and readers want to know every aspect of the contagion in whatever manner it is affecting our lives.

In that sense, the country’s news professionals are undergoing a health risk as well, although they do not get into direct touch with affected persons as do the medical workers and police and Security Forces. Some wayward news professionals or media outlets may slant ‘news’ in this way or that, according to owners’ whims. But the vast bulk of the world’s news media takes pride in the accuracy of their news products, labouring throughout the night and in the most difficult conditions.

The sheer complexity and multiplicity of professional news outlets ensures to the public the ability to cross-check any information they come across.

Cyber technology today has transformed the world of communications and public knowledge. Systems of information sharing have been turned upside down. While the professional news industry maintains centralised information processing and mass distribution systems, the smartphone, tablet and the Internet have given an almost equal power to every person to similarly ‘mass communicate’. However, no single individual, even if she/he has such equipment, has the capacity to undertake the information gathering and verification that a professional news organisation possesses.

This is where the single citizen possessing such technology and bewitched by this new found power to ‘inform’ others becomes prey to temptations. This power to instantly and freely transmit is an ego-booster. One cannot resist the temptation to forward sensational or unusual ‘information’ that someone else forwards. One is tempted to proliferate one’s opinion or perception of an actual event or phenomenon without the full knowledge all its ramifications that can only be obtained by consulting others first.

The news media continues to suffer the consequences of attempting to report the facts and inform the public - by its experience of political repression, and the pressures of commercial interests. World Press Freedom Day serves to remind news audiences of the media’s proud successes in the face of viral disinformation and actual viral pandemics.