Daily News Editorial

A welcome step

The issuance of a fresh set of guidelines by the health authorities for work places and public activities is a reminder to all that by no means have we seen the last of the coronavirus in this country while at the same time conveying a clear message that life must go on and at no stage will normal activity be brought to a halt. Signs of normality are already evident with more and more people venturing outdoors and commercial and business activity gradually picking up.

Despite the secure feeling entertained by the public the Government is still exercising understandable caution not permitting a free rein. According to our main story yesterday the Health Ministry has issued a downloadable booklet setting down guidelines for 46 work settings and public activities, with an emphasis on the ‘new normal’ and responsible behaviours to be adopted by all Sri Lankans as well as foreigners living here.

While it has laid stress on the health guidelines already in practice, post coronavirus, a fresh set of guidelines have been issued covering a wide gamut of professions, occupations, services and other activities including mundane functions. These include the behaviour to be followed while travelling in buses, trains, trishaws, seating arrangements in hotels, at weddings, seminars, public meetings, sporting centres etc which hitherto had free license.

This is as it should be. The country cannot be allowed to slip into despair, despondency and a state of paralysis enslaved by a pandemic. It is admittedly monstrously dangerous, but we must emerge from the threat by adapting counter measures.

Besides, we have to sooner or later get accustomed to the prevailing situation with the authorities expressing the view that the world will have to live with the pandemic for a long time to come. It is perhaps this thinking that has prompted even some of the worst hit countries to lift their restrictions and allow the resumption of day to day life.

Hence the sooner all Sri Lankans get used to the new order of things the easier it will be in the long run. The ‘ New Normal’ ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ of the Health Ministry certainly has been well thought out taking into consideration job specific situations. This is as it should be since there are occupations where body contact and proximity among individuals are unavoidable especially in the services sector and heavy duty labour. This may be one of the reasons for the authorities to order work places to cut down on their staff to 50 percent or less. There is sound reasoning behind this.

Many workplaces have a sizeable contingent of maintenance staff who often sit cheek by jowl due to the nature of their work. It is essential that they are not exposed to undue risk while at the same time enabling them to engage in their occupations. Besides, all occupations deemed high risk (from Coronavirus) are those involving maintenance work or services which are in public demand and an essential component in keeping normal life on the move.

On no occasion should any job or occupation be dispensed with citing the Coronavirus risk. This would lead to a dislocation of normal life. These jobs should be allowed to continue within permissible limits. There is yet no decision to reopen cinema halls and a ban is still imposed on musical shows and the entertainment industry all of which have thousands of dependents.

These should be gradually “opened up” after a careful assessment. How can the cinema thrive without so called ‘love scenes’, one would ask, without compromising the existing health guidelines. Ditto for sports like rugby which cannot be played sans body contact. Are we going to see a whole blackout of entertainment and the pleasure of witnessing sporting encounters, hemmed in by a virus ? Hopefully these issues will be addressed in due course.

Meanwhile, the health authorities are also set to issue a set of guidelines enabling the holding of a risk-free General Election. The guidelines are to be forwarded to the Elections Commission in the coming days, according to media reports.

The guidelines will cover the distribution of polling cards, printing of ballot papers, and the process to be followed since the end of polling to the announcement of the results, not to mention the stipulations to be followed in house to house canvassing and the holding of public meetings. Emphasis no doubt will be laid on electioneering via the electronic media although it is moot if this would be feasible given the sheer number of political parties and Independent groups.

By all appearances, this is going to be the most subdued election campaign ever in this country devoid of high octane rhetoric and personal abuse, not to mention violent encounters between rivals.

If this be the case, the coronavirus despite all the destruction it has wrought, may be able to list among its positive fallouts the contribution it will have made towards the holding of violence-free elections in this country.

The Island Editorial

Lemming-like

The United National Party (UNP) stands divided, and its Working Committee (WC) has sacked the party rebels who are contesting the next general election from the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB). On Wednesday, the UNP officially conveyed its decision to the SJB, which pooh-poohed it. The SJB members claim they have not left the UNP and the formation of their electoral alliance was in keeping with a UNP WC decision. Their rivals maintain the SJB has been registered as a separate political party, and, therefore, a UNP member cannot join it or contest elections on its ticket. These arguments and counterarguments are sure to lead to a legal battle. The green Jumbos are following a course towards mass destruction.

If the dissolved Parliament happened to be reconvened, by any chance, then the nomination lists submitted for the next general election would become invalid, according to legal experts. The UNP MPs who have joined the SJB would be at the mercy of the UNP leadership, in such an eventuality because the UNP could seek their expulsion from Parliament. Something similar happened after the failed constitutional coup in 2018. The Joint Opposition MPs elected from the UPFA became members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) immediately after the then President Maithripala Sirisena had dissolved Parliament. When the Supreme Court declared the presidential proclamation that had dissolved Parliament was not consistent with the Constitution and, therefore, null and void, and Parliament was reconvened, the UPFA MPs in the SLPP, including the then Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, found themselves up the creek. Technically, they had ceased to be MPs as they were no longer members of the SLFP/UPFA. President Sirisena, however, did not pursue the matter. The UNP raised the issue, insisting that all the Joint Opposition members had ceased to the MPs, but its campaign fizzled out. The boot would be on the other foot if Parliament were to be reconvened.

The UNP is no stranger to splits. Its history is replete with instances of breakaways. It was a UNP splinter group that founded the SLFP. The UNP suffered a debilitating split in the early 1990s, when a group of heavyweights led by Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake made an abortive bid to impeach the then President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Expelled from the UNP, they formed the Democratic United National Front (DUNF), which, however, withered on the vine following the assassination of Athulathmudali.

The debilitation of mainstream political parties is injurious to the country’s political health. The UNP’s ignominious defeat at the 1970 election enabled the SLFP-led United Front government to do as it pleased and even extend the term of Parliament by two years. The trouncing of the SLFP at the 1977 general election and the resultant rifts among its leaders helped the UNP bulldoze its way through. Perhaps, the country would not have faced southern terror if a general election had been held, in 1982, instead of a heavily rigged referendum and the JRJ government had desisted from proscribing the JVP for political reasons. The TULF mismanaged its electoral gains, after the 1977 general election, and pandered to the whims and fancies of militant groups, and created its Frankenstein in the process. It bore the brunt of northern terrorism and, now, it is not a shadow of its former self.

One may argue that the UNP’s intraparty dispute pales into insignificance in comparison to bitter rivalries between the SLFP leadership and party dissidents following the 2015 presidential election. Sirisena brought down the SLFP-led UPFA government, which had mustered a two-thirds majority in Parliament, after becoming the President with the help of the UNP. He, thereafter, went so far as to have members of the Rajapaksa family arrested and remanded. The SLFP and its dissidents in the SLPP, however, joined forces, last year, to win the presidential election; they are contesting the next general election together. Why the UNP cannot do likewise is the question.

Daily Mirror Editorial

Bus journeys to be memorable!

The National Transport Commission’s (NTC) proposal to make public buses carry passenger in keeping with seating capacity must be lauded for several reasons.

This would not only curtail the spread of COVID-19, but also help commuters enjoy the journey till they reach their destinations.

This news, conveyed to the public by Power Energy and Transport Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, provides music to the ears of commuters who have experienced some form of harassment while travelling in public buses. 

The bus is the most popular mode of transport in the country largely because it is available in most places, covers most areas in the island and is cheap.

But the condition of some of these buses plying on the roads of Sri Lanka is appalling. Many buses run using lorry engines;hence travelling in them is extremely difficult. 

The environment menace caused by such buses is a negative factor that needs the attention of the authorities. 

COVID-19 has changed our lifestyles and made us take note of others. We can’t be selfish if we are to deal with this virus, which is expected to be around for many more months.

As a result we might not be able to, while being seated, offer to carry the luggage of someone standing and travelling on the bus. This might be a thing of the past if buses carry passengers in keeping with the seating capacity. No one might encounter the need to offer an old gentleman or lady his or her seat in future as a result of these new proposals to be implemented. Offering some sweetmeats to the passenger next to you might soon be considers not a good idea. Our thinking as commuters would have reached the next level health wise. But with these raised standards which must be maintained while travelling we might see a chunk of humanity fall off. These are perhaps prices we pay to combat this deadly virus.

The regime has ensured that all buses will be sprayed with disinfectant chemicals at the end of a journey. Efforts are also being made to maintain hand sanitizers in these state run buses for the protection of passengers. It’s up to the passengers to do their part as responsible citizens of Sri Lanka; a country that has coped quite well with the COVID-19 pandemic when scores of citizens are dying each day in other countries even after the virus has passed its peak. 

The minister told a media gathering recently that these proposals would be subsequently implemented in private buses too.

The proposals also make it compulsory for the conductor to issue each passenger with a ticket; which gives details of point of boarding, the destination and the price. This would in time to come put an end to practices in some private buses of not issuing tickets. But for much of the above to happen measures will have to be taken to strengthen some of the existing laws.

Right now buses are carrying limited passengers with ease because most offices are getting down a limited number of staff. But how well passengers would fit in with the proposed regulations, only time will tell. This is because a good number of Sri Lankan commuters, who frequent state run buses, no little about discipline. 

Lets hope that the government oversees the implementation of these new regulations and make the transport authorities continue with them.