A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Back to 500BC.
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Sunday, June 4, 2017
Sunday, June 04, 2017
The very idea that more law is needed to effectively operate relief to
affected persons hit by natural disasters in Sri Lanka, as put forward
by some bright ministerial sparks in recent days, is an asininity which
needs to be peremptorily dismissed.
Let us be very clear. The issue is not the law. It is the sheer woeful incompetence of the political leadership and more specifically the imbeciles in charge of disaster management even though many government officials rendered yeoman service in helping the afflicted in recent weeks.
It is only in nations as unfortunate as ours that the Minister in charge
of the subject can dawdle overseas in some international conference or
the other in some luxurious resort or the other while the country
staggers under the worst floods in a decade or more. True, no member of
the human species (politicians included with some perceptible
reluctance) could be blamed for being overseas when disaster strikes.
But the fundamental principle surely is that returning home must be at
the earliest opportunity. Have we lost all basic notions of propriety in
the first instance, let alone more grandiose calls to proper
governance?
Last week, this column referenced the plight to which Sri Lanka has been
reduced to due to the actions of a few incompetent imbeciles in the
unity alliance. Deliberately tautologous language was used. This severe
indictment was heightened by events thereafter. The unbridled arrogance
on the part of the responsible Minister at the time, Anura Priyadarshana
Yapa in meeting questions that were raised regarding the accountability
of the Government even after he returned belatedly to a grief stricken
populace, beggars the imagination.
Are the afflicted supposed to live on the streets?
The ministerial worthy could only snap that the Department of Metereology should be closed down if it is thought to be of no use. Let alone accountability at ministerial or official level, there was not even the slightest sense of empathy in responding to an unprecedented disaster. The other fantastical notion put forward by this worthy was that Sri Lankans are unique in that they do not want to leave their homes even when there are warnings issued of impending disaster and that therefore a law was needed to compel such action to be taken, when it is so warranted.
So is this what we have now been reduced to? Absent any proper disaster
management plan, absent sophisticated technological equipment to predict
turbulence in weather patterns despite millions of rupees being wasted
on such equipment in the past, our politicians can only yap about laws?
Pray, where are these people, liable to be now dragged out of their
homes in anticipation of future disasters supposed to go to? Nearby
Bangladesh coped far more effectively with the sweep of cyclonic fury
that hit Sri Lanka. The Bangladeshis did so by putting effective
disaster response schemes into place. In contrast, in this unfortunate
paradise isle, the afflicted of past disasters have yet not been given
relief, including those caught up in the Salawa explosions. How can a
populace allow its politicians to escape without any minimum
responsibility in this manner?
Learning lessons in general
While that is so on one side, the so-called Joint Opposition can only capitalize on the misery of the people by saying that government officials are afraid to help due to fears of action being taken against them by the Financial Crimes Investigation unit. Certainly its leader, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa does not need to be educated on the benefits of natural disasters, given the corruption that took place directly under his command in the Helping Hambantota Fund.
And lest we forget, when investigations were launched by the police into
the Helping Hambantota corruption, a former Chief Justice of this
country, Sarath Silva not only absolved Rajapkasa of all culpability but
ordered costs against the police officer who had investigated. The
exercise degenerated from farce to comedy when this same former Chief
Justice apologized for his actions when his political loyalties
switched. One wonders (if one bothers) as to whether one would be
privileged to witness another apology for that past apology in these
shifting winds of political allegiance?
Regardless, there is a greater lesson to be learnt. These nonsensical
exercises are not limited to a particular political period. And let us
not be led astray by the magnanimous proposal by the unity alliance that
the millions reserved for luxury vehicles of politicians will be
shelved for this year in the wake of the flood disaster. These are
palliatives meant merely to soothe rising tempers rather than signal a
genuine change in policy.
Proving the extremists wrong
Indeed, the argument that the law must be revised has two dangers. First, it has the same opportunistic ring as the protestations of the Rajapaksa regime when it claimed that the existing law was not sufficient to deal with crimes of religious violence against the country’s minorities in the wake of violence targeting the Muslim community.
As we all know now, the reality was different. It was not the law which
was at fault but powerful members of the ruling Rajapaksa cabal who
sanctioned and indeed drove carefully manipulated incidents of violence.
It was politically engineered. During the recent weeks, when the mayhem
of the floods hit innocent people with no sensible disaster prevention
policy in place, ordinary Sri Lankans reached out to help one another,
untouched by race or communal hatreds. This is what gives the lie to
those who scream till they are blue in the face against one race, one
community or one religious group.
Extremism is not limited to marauding monks in yellow robes; there are
Islamic fundamentalists as well. They are all silenced when the silent
majority refuses to be cowed by fear or by fascism. But when the focus
becomes the law it diverts attention away from political
responsibilities. It is this diversion which must be firmly resisted.
Secondly given this Government’s dubious track record in amending laws
or enacting new laws in general, one must be wary of whatever is being
proposed.
Cosmetic changes will not suffice
In sum, the imbecilic character of the establishment goes beyond this most recent disaster and the unprepossessing personage of the Disaster Management Minister.
Put simply, this characterizes the systemic collapse that has been evidenced in Sri Lanka for some time. The simplistic belief that these failures could be tackled by a cosmetic change of heads should surely now be stripped of all its pretensions.
Much deeper thinking is needed in regard to addressing the systemic rot.