Sri Lankan Governance Inspired By Nasi Goreng?
Colombo Telegraph
By Udan Fernando -August 27, 2014
Work took me to Indonesia a few times during the last couple of years. On all those occasions, I flew Mihin Air though I usually avoid the airline due to the negativity that surrounds it. I found the flight from Colombo to Jakarta and back wasn’t bad. Actually, the service of the airline staff is good. So I took a Mihin flight again on Monday early morning to Jakarta.
Work took me to Indonesia a few times during the last couple of years. On all those occasions, I flew Mihin Air though I usually avoid the airline due to the negativity that surrounds it. I found the flight from Colombo to Jakarta and back wasn’t bad. Actually, the service of the airline staff is good. So I took a Mihin flight again on Monday early morning to Jakarta.
Though the flight originates from Colombo, very few Sri Lankans are on board. In fact, on one occasion I was the only Sri Lankan on board. The large majority of the passengers happen to be relatively young Indonesian women travelling back home. Mihin brings them from a few Middle Eastern capitals to Colombo and then lumps them on to this flight to Jakarta. These are the young Indonesian migrant workers in Gulf countries. Mihin operates a few flights every week and the flights are reasonably filled up and occasionally, even full.
An Indonesian woman should be at least 30 years to be able to work abroad. But this is grossly violated or the law turns a blind eye. The women, if they are married, should get permission from their respective husbands to leave the country to work as migrants. A single woman should get permission from her parents. It seems that Sri Lanka has taken a leaf from Indonesia. About a year back, Sri Lanka introduced a new regulation that made it mandatory for married women leaving for work in the Middle East to get ‘clearance’ from either their husband or the Grama Niladhari.
Banning Glyphosate – Shooting The Sentinel To Save The Weeds?
By Chandre Dharmawardana -August 27, 2014
Prof. Chandre Dharmawardana
A news item states that the Task-force on Kidney Disease of unknown origin (CKDU) has got the government to ban Glyphosate, a harmless herbicide, in agricultural provinces like Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura and Badulla. “Doing something” about CKDU has become a political necessity.
But glyphosate is the sentinel that stands guard against weeds clogging up our plantations. Minister Abeywardena says that according to agricultural experts “the country’s economy would collapse if glyphosate was banned”, but “the loss of a life could not be measured in terms of money”. What proof lives will be saved? Unfortunately, not one human life will be saved, although the lives of many weeds will be saved.
It is a grievous case of a strong divergence between the public perception and scientists’ perception of things. The type of unreasonable public fear resulting from incomprehension is quite common.
Many readily accept that CKDU, and all sorts of other ills are due to industries or modern agriculture. Of course, generally speaking this is good sense, especially in societies where the rules regarding public safety etc., are not properly enforced. The collusion between politicians and big business wishing to cut corners and make a profit is well known. The same is suspected of the global food business which sells unhealthy highly-sugared pop-drinks and salted, processed , preservative-laced foods. These are, however, much safer than the traditional “Kalu-dodol, vatalappan or Kiri-paeni” etc. for sugar, and “Lunu-miris, Jaadi or karawala” or “kola-kaenda” for salt. In fact, the “environment” has become far safer than ever before. Hence people live longer, and the population is increasing at a dizzing rate. Their common ailments (diabetes, hypertension, and consequences there of) are related to their life-styles or due to aging (cancer, dementia etc.) rather than to “the environment”. Read More
