Policy reform must follow ‘fact-finding’ exercises of the UN

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Even allowing for the caustic truth of the 16th century saying that ‘what cannot be cured must be endured’, there is a limit to endurance if Sri Lanka has to undergo repeated visits of international United Nations missions without tangible benefits ensuing to the country’s long-suffering citizens.
A more incisive critique needed

Thus, the recent visit of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWG) to Sri Lanka must be followed by definitive state policy reform, at least to the extent of allowing suspects in police custody, the prompt access to legal counsel without being hedged about by conditions that deprive that basic right of much of its force.

As discussed in last week’s column spaces, the recently gazetted amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code leaves a lot to be desired. It needs to be jettisoned forthwith. A replacement that is in consonance with Sri Lanka’s judicial precedents on the suspect’s right to prompt legal access must be adopted. This is particularly so given the UNWG’s preliminary finding that detainees do not ‘enjoy some of the most fundamental guarantees of due process’ such as immediate access to legal assistance from the moment of the arrest and before their initial statement is recorded. Indeed, the team had noted that the interrogation of detainees by the authorities without a lawyer at police stations is ‘of great concern.’

That said, a more incisive critique of draft laws on counter-terror and criminal justice would have been opportune. Visiting UN teams should desist from gingerly side-stepping specificities in these matters. The value of the visits comes from the propensity to take on the ‘hard issues’ rather than wallow in the easy stuff, as it were. While in other respects, the UNWG’s observations are doubtless useful, it does not take international visitors to announce with pomp and circumstance that Sri Lanka’s prisons are overcrowded. That is a fact that Sri Lankans know very well and have known in fact, for decades even as successive Governments of all party colours have failed to address that problem.

Formal state acts are not enough

And by hard policy reform, I do not mean the mere act of accession to international treaties or their protocols. That ideal faded a long time ago. And the fact that Sri Lanka acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) on 5th December 2017 and that Protocol will enter into force on 4 January next year gives rise to little perceptible exhilaration. True, the accession is good in principle. The Protocol obliges states parties to establish a system of regular independent visits to places of detention so that torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is prevented. The UNWG’s welcoming of the accession to the OPCAT is to be expected. But that, by itself, does not suffice.

A vast gap exists between these formal acts of accession and practical realities. As a civil liberties lawyer who has actively worked with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), it can be authoritatively said that Sri Lanka’s accession to the ICCPR protocol allowing its citizens the right to take violations of the ICCPR directly to the Human Rights Committee (HRC) once domestic procedures have been exhausted, more than twenty years ago has not been actually allowed to improve domestic rights protections due to an obvious lack of political will. Out of several recommendations handed down by the Committee, not a single recommendation has been implemented. This happened to be the case even before a Sri Lankan Chief Justice (Sarath Silva) employed convoluted logic to determine that Committee members exercise ‘judicial power’ over Sri Lankans, to the profound consternation of international legal experts. This decision which stands as law until it is reconsidered by a Full Bench of the Court departed from the measured thinking of earlier Justices of the Sri Lankan Court who had preferred to judiciously use the ICCPR rights.

In fact, and quite apart from the OPCAT, the truth is that the Convention against Torture which was enacted into domestic law in this country remains a pitiful failure in practice. So it is a mistake to think that a mere act of accession occasions jubilation. Our history has proven this faith to be woefully misplaced. In fact, many of the UN Human Rights Committee’s unimplemented recommendations on making the legal system effective were detailed and painstaking charted by Special Rapportuers of the caliber of law professors Philip Alston and Manfred Novak from more than a decade ago. Many were also reflected in the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

Public cynicism in response to UN visits

Using the still pending cases into the horrific extra judicial killings of seventeen Tamil and Muslim aid workers in Mutur in August 2006 and five Tamil students in Trincomalee in January of that same year, the LLRC traced fault lines in respect of investigations, the detention process, prosecutions (including witness protection) and the judicial process. Many of the LLRC recommendations also remain unimplemented or as in the case of the so-called Victim and Witness Protection Authority, are cosmetically in force.

In fact, the public cynicism that greets the numerous visits of missions from the United Nations as well as elsewhere is manifest. The most jubilant appear to be the nationalists who use the visits to underscore their favorite point that Sri Lanka is ‘succumbing’ to international pressure. In fact, no one is succumbing to anything.

Rather, we tread our weary way without any perceptible change in the way that citizens are deprived of their due process rights, ranging from the tortured villager in the South who is mercilessly beaten by police officers to the ‘terrorist suspect’ in the North who is forced to sign a confession by his interrogators. Now that the Rajapaksa ‘excesses’ are no longer evidenced, we have returned to the old ‘normal, not a healthy pattern of behavior on any count.

Put on notice to show policy change

If these systemic failures have not been addressed up to now, are we not participating in a cynical game that betrays victims who are at the heart of state perpetrated outrages? And without the State being put on notice to show solid policy change, why this reinventing of the wheel with very little to show for it?

Surely these are questions that demand answers from the Government as well as those well-meaning observers who come to the shores of this country to ‘observe’ and depart.

Microcredit and its vicious cycle

By Sanuj Hathurusinghe-2017-12-24
Ceylon Today Features

Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy recently acknowledged that households in war-affected areas in the North are now severely indebted. Speaking with The Hindu, Coomaraswamy said that the indebtedness is mainly due to the substantian microcredit that families have obtained. "What happened is after 30 years of war, people were desperate for consumption and they just used it all up in consumption. Therefore now they are severely indebted," further added Coomaraswamy.

Coomaraswamy thinks an 'enabling environment' might have prevented people from getting indebted to such an extent. Senior Research Professional for Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) K. Romeshun too thinks that it should have been the case. "People are sure to spend these entrepreneurial loans for consumption purposes but that's not the only reason. The economy of the area too is weak as it is slowly recovering from all the damages civil war did. If you go now to Jaffna you might see that the city centre is not that different from a city in Colombo but the same is not the case if you go a little bit further interior. The economy of the area too should support entrepreneurs in order to profit from their ideas which has not yet been the case in the North," says Romeshun.
Prevalent in other areas

The North may have the ongoing post-war recovery as an excuse for the financial woes there but the issue is not limited only to the war-affected areas. Through her research, Chandima Arambepola, a Research Professional at CEPA has found similar problems existing in areas such as Kurunegala, Kegalle, Monaragala, Down South and even in rural areas of the Western Province. In some cases the woman of the house ends up going abroad as a housemaid hoping the commission she gets from the agency will pay off the debt. "The trend was a surprise for us. We probed a little further and found that these women have not only taken microcredit but loans from other informal money lenders as well," added Arambepola.

On paper, it works
Microfinance was made popular by Grameen Bank, Bangladesh. Muhammad Yunus who founded Grameen Bank and pioneered the modern concept of microcredit and microfinance ended up winning the Nobel Prize in 2006 for his efforts through microcredit to 'create economic and social development from below.'
In Sri Lanka, Sarvodaya was one of the pioneers that brought microfinance into rural society. Romeshun explains, in a nutshell, how microfinance works. First a group among the community is formed. They are told of the importance of savings and small amounts of money from each member of the group is collected to create a fund. When there is money, the next step ideally is credit. "Even credit is given in stages. First it is small credit for consumption purposes, say to buy a pair of shoes for your child or books for school. Then you graduate onto something bigger perhaps buying an item of furniture for your house. Only as the third step are people given bigger loans to be entrepreneurs," says Romeshun.

A start up business resulting from the entrepreneurial loan will bloom and when the person needs more credit to improve his or her business, he or she is directed towards banks where bigger loans are available.
"That was the general practice of Sarvodaya. It gave small loans as small as Rs 200 or 300 rupees and then one graduates to Rs 10,000 to 20,000 to 50,000 to 150,000 and then one is told that one is now in a position to go to a bank. There is also the group process. If one fails then the others are expected to pay. The consequent aspect of it is that interest rates are very high. A bank will give you credit at say 12% but microfinance is typically at around 20 to 27%. The cost is much higher because the person comes to you," added Romeshun.

For a beginner, a bank would not give credit to a poor person with only a plan but no collateral. Microfinance helps such people to start a business up, build some reputation and to be somewhat literate in finance, at least to an extent where from there the person can interact with a bank.

Why the muffled
success
The aggressive approach adopted by many finance institutes which are in the business of microfinance is one of the reasons why people are in so much debt. "Samurdhi has a strong presence but people are under the impression that it is only for beneficiaries. If you are cut off from the city you might have to spend a day to get to a Samurdhi office and then another day to bring all the necessary documents. These are people who need money urgently. They would rather go to the person who comes to them and simply sign on an ipad and get a loan quickly," says Arambepola.
"With many financial institutes there is no social mobilization, no vetting process and no scrutiny to see whether the proposal is actually viable. Producing just a proposal, a Grama Niladhari certificate and a letter from your husband is enough to get a micro-loan. People often end up using the loan for consumption purposes rather than for entrepreneurial purposes. With no money generated to pay the loan people tend to get another micro-loan from a different institute and it becomes a vicious cycle," says Romeshun.
People ending up using the loan on consumption purposes don't help matters. If the credit is not making money, the already poor are left with the hard task of paying it back.

Financial illiteracy too plays a major role. A person might not know the exact interest rates of the credit but only the amount he or she has to pay daily, weekly or monthly. On the face, paying a small amount of money as interest weekly or monthly might look do-able but it really becomes next to impossible in a household whose income comes once in every six months from paddy.

The issue is moral
"Legally, every micro finance institute is well within the law. They have all the documents and they are doing nothing wrong. But the issue has a moral aspect to it," says Romeshun.

"There is a stigma attached to it. The debt collector is well-known among the community. These collectors often visit households to collect instalments mostly at odd hours - they have to because those are the times people come back home after work. Invariably it is a man who visits houses and most of the times, it is a woman who is present at home. The collectors demand money and sometimes even scold in filth. When this happens, the whole village gets to know that a certain house hasn't paid," says Arambepola.
What it does is basically shaming people into paying the debt. Granted it is immoral but it proves to be effective. "When you talk to these agents they say that almost 90% do pay on time and it is the rest that they have to visit and collect money from personally," says Romeshun.

Both Romeshun and Arambepola have listened to numerous woes of the affected. Romeshun reveals one such incident where a girl and bunch of others had to stay hidden for hours as the official who came to collect debts just wouldn't leave. Romeshun has heard some stories where shame, guilt and the pressure of debts sometimes have pushed people towards suicide but he is yet to encounter a credible incident of such. Personally, he believes the amount of credit in microfinance is not that large for a person to commit suicide over.

Not for consumption
One of the reasons for the scheme to not work is people not using the micro-loans on start-ups. If a person with no collateral takes a loan with hopes of making money and however ends up consuming the loan, understandably he or she will be in much debt due to higher interest rates of microcredit and simply there not being a way of making money. The success of each business proposal depends on personal attributes and the way a person approaches the business. With that being said, everyone should at least try it and make the loan worth rather than spending it on things a normal household should typically be able to manage with on a regular income.

"Institutes should have a better vetting process to determine the viability of proposals. Most financial institutions don't have a graduation process where they should ideally direct their customers towards banks at some point. Arthavida Foundation still does it but not many," said Romeshun emphasising on the importance of scrutiny before credit.

"If you look at two contradictory statistics one might say that 99% have actually paid back but if you look at the success rate of businesses it is only about 20 to 30%, given the fact that everyone is not an entrepreneur" says Romeshun.

Facts and numbers alone would not give a clear picture. There are ones who pay who will pay even if they have to pawn their valuables to do so. The return rate does not reflect success.

Success is mainly up to the people. At the same time, it doesn't kill for officials to take a more polite and civilized approach in interacting with people.

Minister: Tamils lost P’karan due to 2005 polls boycott

By Shamindra Ferdinando-December 24, 2017

State Minister for Child Affairs Vijayakala Maheswaran (Jaffna District MP) has claimed that the Tamil community wouldn’t have lost their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran if they had voted for UNP candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe at 2005 presidential election.

Maheswaran said so outside Jaffna District Secretariat last Friday (Dec 22) after handing over UNP nomination lists.

Jaffna based Kalaikkathir quoted State Minister Maheswaran as having claimed had the people of the North voted for Wickremesinghe, they wouldn’t have lost their leader and 200,000 people in the Vanni war.

The armed forces brought the war to a successful conclusion on the morning of May 19, 2009 with the killing of Prabhakaran on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon.

There had never been a previous instance of a Jaffna based UNP politician blaming northern presidential polls boycott in Nov 2005 as leading to the LTTE’s battlefield defeat and death of Prabhakaran.

Editor of Kalaikkathir N. Vithyatharan told The Island that his paper had given sufficient coverage to all political parties contesting local government polls in the northern region.

Asked whether he had carried Maheswaran’s statement as he believed in her claim of 200,000 deaths on the Vanni front, Vithyatharan emphasized that her assertion certainly deserved front-page coverage.

Maheswaran made that statement as the key Jaffna-based UNPer spearheading local government polls campaign and was responsible for that assessment, Vithyatharan said.

CB bond issue: President will act against those responsible

2017-12-23

President Maithripala Sirisena will take prompt action to implement the recommendations made by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Central Bank bond issue when the report is submitted to him by next week, Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva said.

He said the President would take legal action before the February 10 elections against anyone found responsible for the bond scam.

“I don’t see any reason why President Sirisena should delay to act on the recommendations because the entire country is awaiting for the result," the minister said.

He said the SLFP handed over nominations to 93 local government bodies.

The National Congress that supports the UPFA handed over nominations to three local government bodies and the CWC and an Independent Group one each.

At the second stage, the SLFP handed over 96 nominations, the UPFA 146 and the CWC 6. Accordingly, the SLFP contests for 123 local government bodies, the UPFA 207 and supporting parties and groups 11 out of a total of 341 local government bodies in the fray.

Two SLFP nominations have been rejected by returning officers because of lapses on the part of the organizers.

The Minister said that the SLFP considers the LG election as the stepping stone to win single handedly, the forthcoming PC polls, parliamentary polls in 2020 and presidential poll in 2021.

“The SLFP has given clear instructions to its candidates to follow the election law to the letter and not to use state assets for their poll campaign. We are committed to ensure a free and fair election with no violence and corruption," he said.

Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara said this election was historic because its election campaign is free of violence in many parts of the country. “You may remember that the last LG election held in October, 2011 was marred by widespread violence that ended with the murder of former Parliamentarian Bharatha Lakshman. We don’t see that kind of violence this time and it is a victory for the government,” he said (Sandun A Jayasekera)

Details of the two sex maniacs who solicited sexual favors from Madusha Ramasinghe known : Will laws be duly enforced ?

(Lanka-e-News - 23.Dec.2017, 11.20PM)  Information regarding the culprits who solicited sexual favors from the actress Madusha Ramasinghe when she requested  nominations under the  Rajapakse’s Flower bud party has seeped out and Lanka e news is now aware of the details of the sex starved scoundrels of the Rajapakse clan . Meanwhile the victim has also made a written complaint to the chairman of the elections commission.

The sexual favor was solicited first by Renuka Perera of Rajapakse’s nomination committee and an ex  member of provincial council.  Unsurprisingly ,  he is a  bosom pal of Mahinda Rajapakse , and that was also  why he was appointed to the nomination committee.

When Madusha went to meet Mahinda Rajapakse to make a complaint against Renuka Perera and his most shameless disgraceful conduct, she was met by Mahinda’s private secretary Uditha Loku Bandara . Believe it or not he too has demanded a sexual bribe  from Madusha if she is to be granted nominations. Madusha who was degraded and disgraced  instead of being accorded  a warm reception from these  brutes , was left with the only option – make a complaint to the elections commissioner, which she did. 

It is an unassailable inviolable  right of a woman to decide whom she should chose, and  under the Sri Lankan laws it is a grave offence to  force a woman to yield to a man’s  sexual lust or subject her to sexual harassment .

Not only soliciting sexual bribes , even to make simple vulgar gestures like ballooning out the cheek for fun are considered  as serious offences , and are liable to punishment  under the law. In such offences even if the victim fails to complain, merely on a complaint made by an eye witness, the suspect can be taken into custody. That is  because  the law views such crimes as most serious .

In the circumstances , the entire women population of Sri Lanka who even suffer sexual harassment of men while traveling in buses are  waiting and watching anxiously until the law is duly enforced against these two vulgar criminals Renuka Perera and Uditha Loku Bandara , so that it will be a deterrent to other sex maniacs too  on the prowl.

 Enacting laws serve no purpose if those are not duly enforced. Laws without control is anarchy and control without laws  is despotism.

It is women who constitute a greater percentage of the population in SL. Even the mere  harassment of women in buses caused by  groping at the hands of sex starved individuals  is a serious crime , let alone sexual favors solicited by sex maniacs  like Renuka Perera and Uditha .

Just because they are Mahinda Rajapakse’s cronies and are of the same ilk does not give cause to excuse them on the grounds ‘Sex maniacs  of the same feather flock together somehow ‘ and ‘ Buddies of the same feather rob together  somehow’, and those are inevitable.

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by     (2017-12-23 17:58:05)

SLPP woes mount, proposed Army HQ land deal investigation

by C.A.Chandraprema-December 23, 2017

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s woes with the nomination lists continued in the second round as well though at a lesser level than during the first round. The biggest blow to the fledgling political party during the second round was the rejection of the SLPP list for the Tirappane Pradesheeya Sabha in the Anuradhapura district which many in that party consider a sure win. In addition to Tirappane, the SLPP nomination lists for the Jaffna Municipal Council, the Valikamam North, Valikamam East, and Delft Pradeshiya Sabhas were rejected in the second round. In comparison to the lists rejected in the first round, the rejection of some lists in Jaffna where national political parties cannot hope to win, may seem to be a minor setback. However, at the last presidential election, Mahinda Rajapaksa did get a substantial number of votes in the Jaffna peninsula and there was the expectation that the Podujana Peramuna would have been able to get a certain number of representatives elected in the north.  

For example, Mahinda Rajapaksa got 5,959 votes in Kayts, 7,791 in Vaddukkoddai, 5,705 in Kankesanturai, 7,225 in Manipay, 6,211 in Kopay, 3,937 in Udupiddy, 4,213 in Point Pedero, 5,599 in Chavakachcheri, 5,405 in Nallur, 4,502 in Jaffna, 13,300 in Kilinochchi and 4,607 postal votes in the Jaffna District at the last presidential elections. Overall, Mahinda Rajapaksa got no less than 74,454 votes in the Jaffna District which works out to nearly 22% of the total votes cast. This was not a bad performance at all given the fact that the 2015 presidential election was the lowest point ever reached by the Rajapaksa government in the north after the war ended. Even if due allowance is made for the fact that this included the votes of the various allies of the time such as Douglas Devenanda’s EPDP, still there is the possibility that the Podujana Peramuna contesting on its own may have been able to get some representatives elected to the Jaffna peninsula local government authorities.

 At the 2011 local government elections, there were many local government authorities where the UNP got only one representative elected and dozens more outside the north and east where the UNP had only two representatives. In fact at that 2011 election, the UNP had only two representatives in the Akuressa Pradeshiya Sabha in a situation where the UPFA had two representatives in the Velvettititurei Urban Council – Prabhakaran’s birthplace.  Hence if the Podujana Peramuna had been able to win just one seat each in the various local authorities in the Jaffna peninsula, that would have been quite sufficient to maintain a presence and make a statement. This is why the rejection of the nominations list in the Jaffna MC and the Valikamam North, Valikamam East, and Delft Pradeshiya Sabhas are also a significant loss to the Podujana Peramuna.

 Presidential Commission to probe

Shangri La land deal?

The yahapalana government has been adept at shooting themselves in the foot and they took another major step in that direction by discussing in cabinet that a special presidential commission be appointed to investigate the alienation of the land on which the newly opened Shangri La hotel now stands. This land originally belonged to the Army Headquarters. The Shangri La hotel is the only worthwhile foreign investment that came into this country during the period of the yahapalana government. They are now trying to initiate an investigation into the alienation of land for this hotel project - the allegation being that the 10 acre land on which it stands was sold for USD 125 million around 2010. Owing to the relocation of Army headquarters which the sale of this land necessitated, the government further claims that Rs. 5 billion a year has to be spent on rent to house the installations of the Army that had to be shifted out and that this was an unnecessary burden on the Treasury. The President had also claimed that the shifting out of several units and offices out of the Army headquarters had resulted in a national security threat.   

There is some speculation as to what would have caused this latest initiative against the Rajapaksas coming as it does after the opening of the Shangri La hotel in Colombo. Some think this may have been motivated by the alleged difference in the treatment meted out to President Sirisena and the leaders of this government on the one hand and the Rajapaksas on the other by the operators of the new hotel. It is said that at the opening ceremony, the President and the leaders of this government had less lavish treatment than the Rajapaksas when liquor flowed like water – or so we are told. Speculation is also rife that since all other means to corner Gota on the so called MiG deal and the Medamulana memorial having failed, the government has fixated on the alienation of land to the Shangri La project as a means of fixing him, and this time they have decided to do it through a presidential commission rather than using the courts.

There is also the view that this talk of a presidential commission into the Shangri La land is only to mollify the UNP because the report of the bond commission is to be released in the next few days before the end of the year and Sirisena was trying to soften the blow for the UNP by talking of a similar presidential commission to investigate the Shangri La land transaction. Whatever the true reason for this talk of investigating the Shangri La land deal, it could not come at a worse moment when all eyes are on the newest luxury hotel to open in Colombo. Every present and potential investor in this country will now be watching what happens very carefully. This is a country that shot itself in the foot very badly in this regard the moment they came into power by halting all Chinese funded projects including the Port City which was inaugurated by the President of China himself. The sight of an elected government in a country treating China, the main investor in the world, in that manner would have caused consternation among existing and potential investors in this country.

Unsurprisingly, after this government promising good governance came into power, the foreign direct investment coming into this country declined precipitously from USD 1,528 million in 2014 to USD 970 million in 2015 and still further to USD 801 in 2016 and this was expected to fall further in 2017. That was hardly surprising when investors in this country are treated like thieves that have come to burgle one’s house. Now just after a showpiece investment brought in by the previous government has just commenced operations in Colombo, the government is at it again. Just as they had to go on their bended knees to China after their earlier misadventure, the government is most probably going to end up with egg on their faces if they appoint a presidential commission to look into the Shangri La land transaction. Even if an investigation is carried out into a transaction under the radar to ascertain what happened, none should make a song and dance of making an investigation when a prominent foreign investor is involved. This government especially should be mindful of the spectacle it makes.

But a spectacle is what this government seems to need. They seem to be angling for something like the bond commission, with hearings and the press reporting the proceedings on a day to day basis. You will have Gota and the other Rajapaksas coming to give evidence as well the owners and executives of Shangri La Hotels. The message that will go out to all potential foreign investors will be – never invest in Sri Lanka unless you are willing to face years of litigation and investigations. After having driven off potential investors with such a show, the government may not have much to show for their pains. This was a transaction that took place with all the necessary cabinet approvals with the valuation of the land being done by the Government Valuer as has been publicly stated by the present State Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena. As for the shifting of the forces headquarters to Akuregoda in Battaramulla, this was a plan that had been in the works from the time of President J.R.Jayewardene. The plan then was to shift all administrative buildings to the Kotte area and the Akuregoda site had been earmarked for the Army headquarters more than three decades ago.

Implementation of JRJ’s plan

It had in fact the J.R.Jayewardene government that had begun making commercial use of the prime land on which the Army headquarters was located on Galle Face. The land on which the Taj Samudra hotel now stands also used to belong to the Army. It had been sold to the Hotel Taj Samudra in the early 1980s. Thereafter the war intervened and the plan to shift the Army headquarters to Akuregoda was on hold for more than three decades. With the end of the war, these decades old plans were revived by the Rajapaksa government. The money from the sale of ten acres of Army headquarters land to the Shangri La hotel was to be used to build not just a new headquarters for the Army but for the navy and airforce and the entire defence establishment. While the land for the defence force headquarters had been allocated by the J.R.Jayewardene government, the first building designs had been carried out by the Chandrika Kumaratunga government.

However no buildings were put up on the even under the CBK government site due to the lack of money and the escalation of the war. The defence force headquarters at Akuregoda is not really a Rajapaksa project but like all other projects begun and completed under the Rajapaksas such as the Hambantota port, the Mattala airport, the Norochcholai power plant, the Upper Kotmale project etc this too was a project that had been on the drawing boards for decades under various governments. The way the Rajapaksa government saw to it that this project got off the ground was not by taking any loans to build it, but by selling a part of Army HQ land to Shangri La Hotels and putting the money into a defence ministry bank account so that no money would be needed from the Treasury in the form of annual allocations to build the Akuregoda complex.

Had this plan been implemented, by now all the armed services would be housed at the Akuregoda complex and no rent would need to be paid to house the various Army units and offices that had been moved out of the old headquarters complex. However what happened was that as soon as this government came into power, they raised a mighty hue and cry saying that the proceeds of the sale of the Shangri La land had been deposited in a ‘private account’ by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and was being misused. It was not that this government did not know the difference between an account maintained by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in his own name and an account maintained by the Defence Secretary in his official capacity through the Defence Ministry - they just wanted to use any pretext available to hurl allegations at the previous government. Within days of the new government taking office, on January 18, 2015, the newly appointed Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake claimed at a press conference that a sum of Rs. 7,500 million had been ‘found’ in the bank account under the name of the former Defence Secretary and that the money has now been transferred to the Treasury.

This was money lying in an account in the Taprobane Branch of the Bank of Ceylon. Gota had to counter this allegation stating that this was an Operational Account held with the Bank of Ceylon Taprobane Branch dedicated for the use of financing the construction of Army Headquarters building at Pelawatta. He pointed out that the account was created with the approval of the Cabinet with the money realized from the sale of the Galle Face land where the Army Headquarters was previously located. He explained that after the relocation and construction work was started, withdrawals were to be made from it based on the progress of the construction work undertaken by various contractors and suppliers and that the account is operated by the Chief Accountant and other authorized officials of the Ministry of Defence under the overall supervision of the Secretary of Defence.

All cheques had been issued with two signatures upon the receipts of certified payment vouchers. The account had been originally opened with about Rs. 20 billion in 2011 and withdrawals have been made each year thereafter for the payment of certified claims from contractors. The names and signatures of authorized persons are available with the Bank and Chief Accountant of the ministry and the annual deposit balance is reported on the Government balance sheet. After the change of government, the new defence secretary became the automatic custodian of that account.  This matter was promptly laid to rest after the Secretary of Defence newly appointed by the yahapalana government B.M.U.D. Basnayake, confirmed that the account held with the Bank of Ceylon’s Taprobane Branch, containing nearly Rs 8 billion, is not under the name of his predecessor and that it belongs to the Ministry of Defence.

For doing so, Basnayake was removed from his post and has not been given any noteworthy posting thereafter. As for the decision to sell off the Army headquarters land to a hotel project, Gota was later to explain to a Viyath Maga audience that he was faced with the dilemma of having to shift the headquarters of the war winning army which had occupied those premises for six decades and which had been the nerve centre of the war for 30 years. Yet he had gone ahead because this planned shift had been on the drawing boards for decades and there was also the need to promote foreign investment. Shangri La is one of the biggest foreign investments ever to come into Sri Lanka under any government. In addition to the two hotels already functioning in Hambantota and Colombo they have other developments in the pipeline in Colombo and the eastern province as well. In recognition of this fact the present government too has allocated an additional three and a half acres of land from the same location to the Shangri La project.

Security concerns

Even though leaders of this government went in their numbers to the opening ceremony of Shangri La Colombo and even allocated additional land for the project, according to Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, President Maithripala Sirisena had even spoken in cabinet about a threat to national security with various units of the army being located in 15 different places while the Akuregoda complex was being built. Addressing a press briefing at the SLFP headquarters last week Samarasinghe said that at the last Cabinet meeting, President Maithripala Sirisena, in his capacity as the Defence Minister, had warned that housing army personnel at separate locations was a threat to national security and had enquired as to why the army was temporarily relocated in such an ad hoc manner. Samarasinghe said that several Cabinet Ministers at this point had urged President Sirisena to appoint a Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate the matter. The President had neither accepted nor rejected the proposal.

It will be interesting to examine whether there was any real security risk by temporarily housing various units and offices of the army in various locations. In the first place, that temporary relocation was carried out by the government that put an end to terrorism. If any government had a good understanding of the security environment in this country, it was the previous one. In any event, even when the war was on, the army always had detachments and camps in areas they wanted to dominate. Very often these detachments and camps were located deep in enemy territory. The duty of the army is to provide protection to others, and not necessarily to seek protection for itself. After the war ended and the terrorist military machine was completely wiped out, there was no real risk of an army installation being attacked anywhere in the country – even in the former war zone and to say that there was a security risk in army units and offices being located in various places in Colombo, is nonsense.

Another question to be considered is whether retaining the army headquarters at Galle Face would provide more security to the army headquarters than the Akuregoda complex. Commonsense would indicate that it does not. Sri Lanka is an island and any enemy approaching the country would do so either by air or by sea. In the case of an enemy that approaches by sea, the Sri Lanka army headquarters at Galle Face would be completely dependent on the navy for protection because it faces the sea across the Galle Face green. In 1987, during the tumultuous events surrounding the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord, an Indian warship was anchored off the cost of Colombo to come to the aid of the government. This was largely due to fears of an army coup against the then government in protest against the accord with India. Had any operation been necessary, the Indian warship would have been able to pulverize the entire army headquarters without setting foot on shore. In that respect, one could argue that the Akuregoda complex being located as it is between the air fields of Katunayake and Ratmalana, is a much more secure location.

Is “Bigger” Better?” – Colombo Telegraph

By Emil van der Poorten ––December 24 2017 

Being a rural resident of Sri Lanka at a time of massive construction in the name of “megapolises” and goodness knows what else, gives one a slightly different perspective in the matter of “development,” the Holy Grail of people bereft of anything resembling a wider view of the fate of Sri Lankans than “economic opportunity” for them and their friends.

In our neighbourhoods there are about six operating granite quarries, one a truly huge one which, though out of sight, produces the most and the loudest explosions every afternoon.

While some of the smaller quarries have been shut down from time to time the humungous one over the crest of the Gommunnawa-Ambatale hill continues apace despite what we were told was a major protest by residents of the area. The reason they did not succeed in having blasting operations cease was the fact that the owner/operator is some politician with “clout.”

 

The sand mining in one of the two source- streams of the Deduru Oya continues apace. Local protests, while initially successful in “extra-judicially” preventing this obscenity, fizzled out when fissures developed on religious and caste divisions were promoted by those benefiting from this most despicable of practices.

And all of this for what?

For projects that run contrary to every tenet of sustainability and maintenance of a lasting healthy environment! The bottomless pit for all the sand and granite – both clearly finite natural resources the permanent decimation of which will have catastrophic consequences, is the “megapolis” project that will simply provide the Chinese with a way-station on the route connecting them with the oil-producers of the Middle East. This will be infinitely more than a re-fuelling point on the journey of their oil tankers. It will, more important, provide an essential part of the bulwark in their competition with India to establish hegemony over the rest of the Asian world.  Not only do they have this Sri Lanka-government driven obscenity in Colombo, they now have control over our newest port, Hambanthota, thanks to our practitioners of “Good Governance.”

And the Indians? They will extract their own pound of flesh, that flesh being flavoured and spiced by Sri Lankan financial and other resources in the oil tanks of Trincomalee, the airport in Hambanthota and goodness knows what else.

What are the practical implications for those of us living out in the boondocks of Sri Lanka?

 

Accurately put, it is environmental degradation with immediate and future implications that are mind-boggling.

For instance, in our neighbourhood, the quarrying that is going on has already resulted in springs that were never known to run low, leave alone run dry, ceasing to supply water for people’s personal consumption and for their ablutions.

During the last dry spell, thanks to having spent an inordinate amount of money in husbanding the meagre spring water supply we had, we became the providers of water for our neighbouring “colonists” not only to have their evening bath but to take plastic bottles of water home to drink and make tea. Delving into the history of this area did not produce a situation even close to this.  While I have no doubt that climate change contributed to this state of affairs, there is no gainsaying that the endless detonations we’ve experienced from the granite-extractors could be deemed to be the primary villains of the piece. I spent several decades in the “Land of the Blue-Eyed Sheikhs” where oil and gas and those controlling it ruled the roost.  Even before fracking achieved front and centre status internationally as the most destructive of oil-patch related activities, I recall the devastating effect of fracking on the only spring in all of Canada that produced commercial quantities of bottled drinking water.  One day it just dried up. At least the “developing countries” have learned from those bitter lessons and there is organized opposition to such practices. In Sri Lanka we appear to have adopted a completely fatalistic attitude to the obscenities being visited upon us.

Adding insult to injury, the end result of these “megapolis” and similar projects is that it is only going to worsen the currently unacceptable situation with regard to urban congestion and its attendant woes.

Want some icing on that particular cake? Look at the construction of “super highways” to bring more people more easily into the urban centres. Kandy is a classic example of this kind of folly. A superhighway (by Sri Lankan standards, at least) is being constructed at enormous cost to achieve this objective for the hill country capital which, for obvious reasons, cannot expand laterally. 

Allegedly, in order to deal with the problem of the unbelievable congestion in Kandy town, it is proposed – without anything resembling the requisite environmental studies – to build six tunnels under Kandy town and, without doubt, under the lake, to reduce the congestion in the hill capital. Among the simple means of ease the problem of traffic tie-ups in Kandy, in the short term at least, would be to open the road coming in by the Maligawa which was closed after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) tried to blow up the Temple of the Tooth.  It is beyond belief that this bogeyman, the LTTE, is still being trotted out as one of the reasons for keeping that road closed. Among the other reasons that the Custodian of the Tooth Relic has advanced is that if that road was opened again, cattle destined for illicit slaughter and kasippu would be passing by the Maligawa. I will not even dignify that rubbish with comment! Why is the simple fact that it is not “through” traffic but traffic bound for Kandy town that is the cause of the congestion not addressed?

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President’s ‘National Economic Council’ in deep slumber – banks & industries jeopardized

December 24, 2017 by

It is revealed that the biscuit industry, leather production and the shoe industry in the country, as well as naval services and state banks, have been exposed to severe uncertainties due to government’s budget proposals of speeding up liberalizing of the economy.

It is interesting to note that the situation has arisen despite the President established a ‘National Economic Council’ to control the extremely harmful economic decision being taken by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s ‘Cabinet Committee on Economic Management’.

Allowing Indian industries to invade Sri Lanka’s biscuit market when already local products are available to fulfill the need of the country has jeopardized the local biscuit industry.

Also, in spite of local shoe industry being capable of providing the demand of the local market, the government is allowing Indian shoes makers to invade the local market.

Meanwhile, allowing shares of state banks to be sold in the Colombo share market severely threatens the government losing the ownership of the state banks. However, the National Economic Council’ appointed by the President has not taken any action regarding these moves.

IS Sri Lanka becoming Man-Eating-Man society?

There is enough proof that our politicians do not represent the people, the masses. They represent the people who support them and fund their elections.

Corruption is rampant in Sri Lanka since 1970s owing to the existing political system.
Corruption has outlived well beyond our expectations in our country. People elected the Yahapalana Government, with a mandate to eradicate corruption and establish good governance.

2017-12-25

They too have gone back inevitably on their pledges. The Bond Commission unmistakably has revealed startling evidence of the involvement of key politicians.

The alleged bond scam seems to be the biggest fraud since independence. 
It is time, therefore, we name corrupt politicians as thieves of State. They rob public money during day and night, take commissions, bribes and resort to various corrupt practices in order to earn billions and billions for their election campaigns and their kith and kin.

Most politicians including Parliamentarians, Provincial Councillors downwards to the local level Pradeshiya Sabha members invest millions and billions in their election campaigns.

After having been elected, they resort to various devious and corrupt ways to continually rob peoples’ money and had impoverished the whole country since Independence.
Certain politicians assisted by corrupt bureaucrats reap unjustified profits illegally, unethically, immorally and amass enormous amounts of wealth far beyond their requirements. Citizens country-wide are left with no option.

Our democracy, no doubt, is so beautiful in theory and in practice - A fallacy in reality! They often condemn the venality of their predecessors and after they are elected they too continue syphoning off “public money” mercilessly

They could only observe the elected representatives have made all State institutions a safe haven to make ill-gotten money. The masses helplessly grin and bear, while going through all the suffering painfully, looking at politicians squandering their wealth, their opportunities etc., not only for this generations but for generations to come.
Some politicinas who capture power make money, after election after election, causing immense losses to the State. They shatter the hopes and dreams of all innocent subjects mercilessly. People always wait patiently until the next election.
It appears the vicious cycle continues unabated and seems unstoppable. In 1977, at the Parliamentary Elections, many legal practitioners including some organisations, supported JRJ and the UNP, having obtained an undertaking that the progressive and futuristic law reforms introduced to overcome law’s delays by Felix Dias Bandaranaike, the then Minister of Justice, and the then Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Dr Nihal Jayawickrama, during the then SLFP Government will be repealed. JRJ Government thereafter, as was undertaken, took steps immediately having won the elections not only to repeal the relevant piece of progressive legislation but also to IMPOSE CIVIC DISABILITY, i.e., removal of CIVIC RIGHTS of Felix Dias.

JRJ’s intention was to kill two birds in one stone. JRJ took necessary steps to impose all those punishments and to eliminate a strong political enemy from politics. JRJ abolished the reforms which were people friendly to please a minuscule section. 

The masses are sickened and are now left with no alternative but to accept endemic corruption as a menace which cannot be expunged by them ....

In fact, the reforms that were introduced were a piece of legislation to reorientate the judiciary in the country to overcome various problems for the benefit of the public!
The masses are “sickened” and are now left with no alternative but to accept endemic corruption as a menace which cannot be expunged by them because thieves are the elected representatives eternally in power in the present deformed democracies.
This is good enough proof that our politicians do not represent “the people”, the masses. They represent the people who support them and fund their elections. 
We are therefore a “Democratic Socialist Republic Of Sri Lanka” only on paper in the Constitution.

Our democracy, no doubt, is so beautiful in theory and in practice - A fallacy in reality! This also indicates politician do everything to protect them. However, they very often condemn the venality of their predecessors and after they are elected they too continue siphoning off “public money” mercilessly at will for various irregular purposes.
Owing to all these, there is a culture of impunity that has come to stay together with numerous other issues that had cropped up causing irreparable harm. We now need the rule of law established. 

We also need all the relevant laws suitably strengthened and amended where necessary.

Furthermore, time has come for citizens to understand that corruption does not exist only in politics. It exists everywhere.

We need the relevant institutions strengthened and values and attitudes changed. We need leaders who are visionaries who could think beyond the next elections and for the benefit of the next generation, including the unborn. The corrupt politicos continue to pay lip service to hoodwink the gullible masses.

Furthermore, time has come for the citizens to understand that corruption did not exist only in politics. It exists everywhere. It has become endemic-because people too are so selfish and greedy now, like their political leaders. Politicians lead the way and the gullible masses follow them while hero worshipping the corrupt politicos who have caused irreparable damage to the country, the people, the systems and the institutions. Politicians of all colours and races, since independence have created wars, conflicts, destruction, executions, mayhem, rifts, chauvinism, lawlessness etc., etc.
Time has now come for the youth to understand the reality. It is encouraging those youth in Balapitya have come up to face the daunting challenges before them. We must salute their courage and determination to come as independent candidates to contest Balapitya Pradeshiya Sabha. Pope Francis in 2015, addressing a large group of youth, in Kenya had said I quote –

 “Whenever we accept a bribe and put it in our pocket, we destroy our heart, our personality, our country. Please do not develop a taste for the sugar of corruption. If you do not want corruption in your life, in your country, start with yourself! If you do not start, neither will the person next to you. Corruption robs us of joy, of peace. A corrupt person does not live in peace”.

Immoral politicos and public servants should not be allowed to run away with public property and rob the country of its wealth, while misleading the public telling untruths and escape due to impunity.

It is time for right thinking people to come out vociferously against corruption. I have no doubt it is only the virtuous people that can lay the foundation to build a strong NATION consisting of people who are contended. We have experienced that depraved politicos have undoubtedly created endless woes and disasters to the country and people.
Immoral politicos and public servants should not be allowed to run away with public property, cheat the country of its wealth, while misleading the public telling untruths and escape due to impunity.

Don’t you think that ours is also a state where we have eventually developed to a “man eat man” society? I recall during our young days, the then Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere referred to Kenya and said that Kenya was an example for Man eat Man Society! All due to corruption. Isnt most of our politicos are doing the same?

Cabinet Beetle, asbestos and bad diplomacy

December 24, 2017, 12:00 pm 

Khapra beetle, also called the Cabinet beetle, which seems to have eaten through our Cabinet and caused an enormous loss to the tea industry has been used, it is alleged, by Russia to hit back at Sri Lanka for banning asbestos imports. Asbestos is known to cause mesothelioma and asbestosis, which are very serious lung diseases. Asbestos is banned in about 50 countries, including EU states, Australia and New Zealand. It is not banned in the USA, Russia, China, India and several other countries. It is produced largely in Russia and Canada. In Quebec, Canada there is a town named Asbestos where the largest asbestos mines are to be found. Canada has not banned the production of asbestos for economic reasons; however, it is expected to be banned in 2018. In the US there is no total ban and 60% of its use is for roofing. However, six asbestos products such as corrugated paper, roll board etc., which are more likely to cause disease are banned in the USA.

Asbestos could cause lung disease in workers who are exposed to its dust, consisting of asbestos fibers, for a long period of time. It may not cause disease in people who live under asbestos roofs. People who work in asbestos mines and factories where asbestos products such as roofing sheets, vehicle brake linings, asbestos gloves and other fire protection implements and insulating material may inhale asbestos dust and after a long period of such exposure may develop lung disease. Environment Protection Authority in the USA fought a losing battle to get asbestos banned, but the producers argued that when the number of lives saved is considered against the loss of employment and revenue, a ban could be more harmful to the country in general!

Tobacco is an equally bad, if not worse, health hazard. Oral and oesophageal cancer, which is the most common cancer in Sri Lanka, is caused by betel (not beetle), arecanut and tobacco chewing. Lung cancer is caused mainly by tobacco smoking. Alcohol consumption has a synergistic effect with tobacco in the causation of these diseases. Fifty percent of patients in our hospital wards have alcohol and tobacco related diseases. The revenue earned by the government on alcohol and tobacco sales is more than offset by the cost of treatment of those patients, not to mention the loss of man-hours, household income and human suffering. The government has reduced the prices of alcohol which could have a deleterious effect on health. The effort to control tobacco smoking though laudable, may not be significantly successful in the face of the intense battle with tobacco producers.

Further, tobacco has a synergistic effect with asbestos too in the causation of lung disease, which means the effect when used together is greater than the sum of their separate effects . Alcohol has a similar effect when combined with tobacco. A person who works in a asbestos mine or factory may also drink alcohol and smoke tobacco to seek some relief from the drudgery of work and dust. This may not be an uncommon practice among workers. The government and health authorities must address these complex problems than take politically motivated decisions.

The glyphosate ban, as pointed out by Prof. Dharmawardena in these columns, was a politically motivated stupid decision which had badly affected the tea industry. Now the Khapra beetle would have delivered the death blow to this ailing industry. Asbestos ban was a similar hasty decision, taken again due to high pressure from the same "activist".

This does not mean asbestos is not a health hazard, indeed not. What the government could have done was first discuss the matter with the Russian government, see whether it could develop alternative trade with them, as Prof Dharmawardena has suggested, and then control asbestos use and perhaps restrict import of asbestos to roofing sheets only as in the USA. If the government had followed sensible policy the Cabinet Beetle would not have eaten through its Cabinet. It must remember that Russia is a friend in need, unlike the Western bloc who would ask for the pound of flesh for whatever little favour it would do for us.

We assume that the Russian government made use of the Khapra beetle to hit us where it hurts in retaliation to the ban on asbestos imports. In that case, why couldn't Russia first ask our government why it took that decision and initiate negotiations for a better trade agreement rather than resort to an unfriendly act of using the Khapra beetle of all things? This Khapra beetle has the potential to destroy our economy. Syria, which buys nearly 20% of our tea and which depends on Russia for its survival, may on the advice of Russia stop buying our tea giving the same reason. So could other friends of Russia in the region.

Russia, which is a long standing friend of ours, would not do such a thing if we appeared in their eyes as good friends. We should have discussed the matter regarding asbestos. A sudden unilateral decision appears unfriendly. Further, our previous foreign minister of this government made the accusation that weapons were supplied to the rebels in Ukraine through the Sri Lankan embassy in Russia. Moreover, the government's servile attitude towards the western powers was obvious when it cosponsored the UNHRC resolution. Russia has helped Sri Lanka defeat similar resolutions at the UNHRC in the past. Thus, it could be surmised that the Russian ban on our tea imports may have a deeper meaning and an ominous political message than the more superficial reasons like beetles and asbestos. Russia and China are gaining ground in the global power game at the expense of the western powers. Obviously, this government lacks foresight and good diplomacy and seems to be ignorant of the emerging geopolitical reality.

N. A. DE S. AMARATUNGA

Beetle in a tea crate raises storm over lifting ban on cancer causing asbestos

Never in the field of human commerce would a nation have faced losing so much due to one small Khapra pest

 

 

Sunday, December 24, 2017

 

At first light, at first sight and at first read, the news seemed to be a page out of Ripley’s Believe It or Not. But Lanka was forced to believe it, like it or lump it, when Russia announced its decision to cut down on its 400 million dollars worth of Ceylon Tea imports from Lanka, all because they had found a single beetle in a crate that carried Lanka’s economic bread and butter.

 

Never in the field of human commerce, perhaps, would so many have faced losing so much due to one small beetle.

But why did one beetle get Russia’s goat? That is the 400 million dollar mystery and question. One that those who blame Lanka’s woes on the western world and claim it’s all due to some international capitalistic conspiracy but look to Moscow as their Marxist Mecca should ask themselves.

 

Last week the Russian authorities stated that they have found one beetle in a container carrying Ceylon Tea. The Russian agricultural safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said last Thursday that Russia will place temporary restrictions on imports of all agricultural products from Sri Lanka, including tea, from Dec. 18. The watchdog said it had taken the decision to impose restrictions after it found one insect, known as the Khapra beetle, in one consignment of tea from Sri Lanka.

 

But the tea in that one crate was securely packed as stated by Lanka. The beetle may have been found in the same crate – and that is possible for this particular pest is known to seek out cracks and crevices in burlap bags, sacks, crates, rail cars, ship holds and trucks, where they can remain hidden for years. But how could this 1.6–3 mm tiny insect have pierced its way into the packaging? The chances are it could not have.

 

But the worry for the Russians is not over whether its singular presence will spoil their cup of tea but of the danger it may pose to their favourite tipple Vodka which is traditionally made from fermented grains such as sorghum, corn, rice, rye or wheat, though you can also use potatoes, fruits or even just sugar. Therein lies the fear and rub. For this creepy crawly Khapra is a crop killer and the Russian phobia is that the beetle, whose staple diet is grains, could have attacked Russia’s vast growing fields and turned the entire land mass into a Siberia and denied the masses their food and drink.

 

Not that this particular lone Lankan Khapra could have waged a one beetle Rambo style biological warfare against the grain fields of Russia. Given that the life span of the Khapra is not more than 10 days it would have been dead on arrival after its long sea voyage. The problem is with its larvae which can take years to develop if the temperature falls below 25°C. Then they may enter diapause. In diapause, the larvae can molt but are inactive and may remain in this condition for many years and then emerge to wreak its havoc.

 

But it takes a female beetle to lay the eggs. And thus the first question Lanka should have asked Russia – was the single Khapra found in the tea consignment male or female?

Yet, whatever the sex of the beetle may have been, every year Russia imports millions of tons of grain. In crop year 2016/2017, Russia’s cereal imports amounted to 1.37 million metric tonnes of cereals which are the favourite food of the Khapra beetle. Would the Russians say they have not found a single beetle – male or female, not a single larva active or dormant, in any of these grain shipments it has made over the years? That if one had been found they have taken steps to ban all future imports from the country of origin? The normal course of action nations, for instance Canada, have taken is to reject the entire shipment in toto, not ban or place restrictions on future imports.

 

So is it the beetle that’s bugging Russia to take this radical step against Lanka or does the Kremlin have a bee in their bonnet over Lanka’s decision to ban the import of asbestos from Russia, and continues to protest incessantly over its shock and horror, given that Russia is one of the world’s largest asbestos exporters?

 

According to the Minister of Plantations Navin Dissanayake the presence of the pest is only a decoy to give the Russians an excuse to exercise economic blackmail. He may have a point. And if so it is one of the worst incidents of economic arm twisting international trade has witnessed in recent years where a major power has used an insect to gain an elephantine killing on its export profits. The fact that the beetle was spotted just two weeks before the Lankan asbestos ban comes into effect cannot be ruled out as a mere co incidence, now can it?

 

In 2015, President Maithripala declared – to a wave of environmentalists’ applause – that his government will ban the use of cancer causing asbestos from the 1st of January 2018. The decision made by President Maithripala Sirisena, in his capacity as the Minister of Environment, to control the use and import of asbestos from 2018 with it finally being phased out by 2024 was approved by the Cabinet last year in September.

FROM LANKA WITH LOVE: The Khapra beetle that created a storm in Russia’s tea cup and a hole in Lanka’s pocket

 

But this week in the face of the Russian threat to restrict or even ban Ceylon tea imports, the president was forced to go back on his pledge to save the Lanka people from asbestos dust in the dawning New Year. He announced that the planned ban set to come into effect on January 1st will be suspended indefinitely till further notice. And it has led to a storm of protest from environmentalists and others with parliamentarian Ven Rathana Thera warning the government that he will be compelled to launch a protest campaign if the government sticks to its decision to relax the ban on Asbestos,” with him leading the march.

 

The problem with asbestos is that it is so hard to destroy asbestos fibers. The human body cannot break them down or remove them once they are lodged in lung or body tissues. They remain in place where they can cause disease, especially lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis which is a serious, chronic, non-cancerous respiratory disease. Inhaled asbestos fibers aggravate lung tissues, which cause them to scar.

 

Mesothelioma has occurred in the children of asbestos workers whose only exposures were from the dust brought home on the clothing of family members who worked with asbestos. The younger the people are when they inhale asbestos, the more likely they are to develop mesothelioma. This is why enormous efforts have been and are being taken to prevent school children from being exposed to asbestos dust.

 

Since 1987 importation of blue asbestos has been prohibited as it was identified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization and at present all kinds of asbestos, including white asbestos have since then also been identified as carcinogens by the UN body.

 

According to the World Health Organization all types of asbestos cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, cancer of the larynx and ovary, and asbestosis (fibrosis of the lungs). Currently about 125 million people in the world are exposed to asbestos at the workplace. In 2004, asbestos-related lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis from occupational exposures resulted in 107,000 deaths and 1,523,000 Disability Adjusted Life Years In addition, several thousands of deaths can be attributed to other asbestos-related diseases, as well as to non-occupational exposures to asbestos.

 

But given Lanka’s pecuniary plight, can this nation adopt the stance of the worm that turned and defy the Russian Bear? Especially when it voted this week supporting the UN resolution on Jerusalem and became the mouse that roared against the American Bald Eagle?

 

Taking on one super power may be bad enough. Taking on two at the same time may seem careless. And can lead to catastrophic consequences. In the New Year, the Lankan government will have to use all its diplomatic efforts and skills to ward off the storm set to blow from both Russia and America.