Thotalanga squatters and doctors of GMOA have something in common: Self interest
ast week residents of a large slum in Thotalanga blocked the Japan-Sri Lanka Friendship Bridge to protest against an alleged arbitrary order to vacate their slums and move to new apartment blocks that have been built for them. A week before that, members of several professional unions held a protest march in Colombo against the proposed Indo-Lanka Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA). And day in day out, university students continue to unleash venom against private universities; medical students, the most vocal of the lot and backed by the GMOA, have ganged up against an existing private medical school.
All those displays of opposition are conducted in the name of earthly values of human rights, free education, eternal love for the people and many other holier than thou concoctions. That is bunkum. The reality is that those groups are striving hard to preserve undue advantages and privileges they enjoy at the expense of the millions of other hard working Sri Lankans. Squatters want to remain in the illegally occupied prime land in the city; doctors want to maintain their local monopoly and prevent any infusion of foreign talent and to curtail a healthy competition; university students want to preserve their place in the traditional Sri Lankan society though most of their degrees are no longer worth the certificate they are printed on.
2016-02-22
ast week residents of a large slum in Thotalanga blocked the Japan-Sri Lanka Friendship Bridge to protest against an alleged arbitrary order to vacate their slums and move to new apartment blocks that have been built for them. A week before that, members of several professional unions held a protest march in Colombo against the proposed Indo-Lanka Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA). And day in day out, university students continue to unleash venom against private universities; medical students, the most vocal of the lot and backed by the GMOA, have ganged up against an existing private medical school. All those displays of opposition are conducted in the name of earthly values of human rights, free education, eternal love for the people and many other holier than thou concoctions. That is bunkum. The reality is that those groups are striving hard to preserve undue advantages and privileges they enjoy at the expense of the millions of other hard working Sri Lankans. Squatters want to remain in the illegally occupied prime land in the city; doctors want to maintain their local monopoly and prevent any infusion of foreign talent and to curtail a healthy competition; university students want to preserve their place in the traditional Sri Lankan society though most of their degrees are no longer worth the certificate they are printed on.
Members (though not all) of every one of those groups are insecure of their own self-worth, hence the urge to prevent others from competing. From the squatters in Thotalanga to the esteemed medical practitioners turned activists in GMOA, they are campaigning to retain their undue privileges. Their lame excuses are either illegal or anti-market (or both). It is how the on-going protests against free-trade and slum clearance should be viewed. Squatting is not a right, it is an offence. Any enlightened government that makes wealth creation for its citizens a priority should relocate those dwellers and utilize those lands for economically viable ventures. When a government fails in that and turns a blind eye, because it wins a bloc vote from those communities, it is putting the country on a perilous path to anarchy. Viewed in all ways, from an economic point of view to a sociological one, it is a disaster.
