Features
75 Years (2): From B-C Pact to Ranil’s 13-A Trap
by Rajan Philips
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s national reconciliation initiative seems to be spectacularly backfiring on all cylinders. This is terribly unfortunate, not so much for Mr. Wickremesinghe’s presidential future, but for what it might entail for the immediate future of inter-community relationships. Late last year when the President set the target of achieving national reconciliation by February 4 this year, he was launching a daunting initiative. Even though it was a laudable initiative, the pitfalls and roadblocks to it were quite transparent. Inevitably, full reconciliation was scaled down to full implementation of the 13th Amendment. Even that was not going to be possible anyway before yesterday. All that was possible was the singing of the national anthem in Tamil in addition to Sinhalese. A harmless ‘reasonable use’, which too was denied a few years ago.
The ignoramus who objected to the singing of the anthem in Tamil then, Wimal Weerawansa, has now initiated the campaign against 13A. But he has been outflanked, with the Mahanayaka Theros joining the fray. Lesser monks have taken to the streets to protest against the implementation of 13A. On Wednesday, a group of them staged a protest near parliament and even set fire to a copy of the 13th Amendment in front of the media and police barricades. In his Independence Day speech and statement, the President avoided mentioning 13A, but promised “maximum devolution within a unitary state.” Others, from Maithripala Sirisena to Anura Kumara Dissanayake, are now questioning the President’s motive behind his sudden focus on 13A. The SJB is on silent mode, except for indicating support for devolution without mentioning 13A.
Anura Kumara on Ranil’s Trap
Sirisena has compared Wickremesinghe’s initiative to carrying a torch that is burning at both ends. He has suggested that every President from JRJ to himself has not tried to fully implement 13A, because it is not easy task when a “majority of Sinhalese Buddhists are against it.” The Mahanayaka Theros said the same thing, but they attributed inaction by former Presidents to their alleged realization that 13A was bad for the country and worse for the Sinhalese. Sirisena is also questioning the President’s timing on 13A given the unprecedentedly “serious issues” the country is facing now.
To JVP/NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the current hullabaloo is all the result of President Wickremesinghe setting a trap for the country to “create a disturbance in society” as a diversion from the real problems the people are facing. He avoided answering media questions about the protesting monks, nor did he provide a detailed response regarding the JVP’s position on 13A. It is time Mr. Dissanayake gave a serious speech on the JVP’s position vis-à-vis the non-Sinhala members of the Sri Lankan society, which should also address devolution and the 13th Amendment.
So far this year, Dissanayake has given two significant and substantial political speeches. Early in the new year, he gave a rousing homecoming speech in Tambuttegama, a touching talk by a local boy coming home as a national leader. The English media ignored it. More recently in Colombo, he targeted the business community to win bourgeois credibility for a non-elitist party. The Colombo media lapped it up. AKD owes Sri Lankan politics a third speech – this one on the national question. His first speech addressing the minorities. Without it, his political project will not be a complete project , and Sri Lankan politics at this juncture will also be poorer without it.
That said, AKD and the JVP might be on to something when they insist that President Wickremesinghe is not going to “fully implement the 13th amendment to the constitution as repeatedly assured by him.” AKD goes further, “He won’t bring it. He plays this game every time. He wants to set fire to this country and protect his power.” Mr. Dissanayake might be speaking from his yahapalana experience with Ranil Wickremesinghe when he says that “he (RW) plays this game every time.” But AKD is stretching it when he claims that “he (RW) wants to set fire to this country and protect his power.”
On the other hand, if the country were to end up in flames once again as a result of the simmering controversies over 13A, then the President’s intentions would be irrelevant. The JVP leader is also abdicating his own responsibility when he appeals to “the people of this country not to get caught in this trap.” He owes it to the people to explain his position on devolution and on 13A even if he does not agree with the President’s timing and approach to implementing 13A. As for the President himself, he faces an uphill task in either salvaging his badly damaged initiative, or preventing the current controversy escalating into something worse.
The B-C Pact
President Ranil Wickremesinghe often speaks of the circumstances that Sri Lanka was in at the time of independence. He hardly mentions the state of the country a decade after independence. 1958 was different from 1948, and 2023 is different from both. What is unique to 2023 is that the national economy has never been so broken as it is today. And there is no happy ending in sight. As for the country’s other problem, and the President’s laudable preoccupation, namely, national reconciliation, there are many lessons to be learnt from the experiences of 1957 and 1958.
That was when Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike launched his reconciliation initiative, bold and statesmanlike, and reached a historic agreement with the leader of the Tamil Federal Party, SJV Chelvanayakam, who also happened to be the Prime Minister’s classmate St. Thomas’s College. That agreement, though abrogated within a year of its signing, has stood the test time as the celebrated B-C Pact and the lodestar for future reconciliation efforts and agreements.
Its relevance for today’s circumstances is in the comparability, or otherwise, of the difficulties and roadblocks that President Wickremesinghe is facing today to those faced by Prime Minister Bandaranaike 65 years ago. At that time, there were two government initiatives, both unexceptionably positive but politically controversial. One was the PM’s BC Pact initiative, and the other was the Minister of Agriculture and Food Philip Gunawardena’s Paddy Lands Act. Inadvertently, and unfortunately as it turned out, the two initiatives coincided in their timing and helped in the mutual reinforcement of the political forces opposing the two initiatives.
James Manor recounts those developments in some detail in his biography of SWRD: The Expedient Utopian: Bandaranaike and Ceylon. As it happened, the B-C Pact was accredited on July 26, 1957 and within a year, in May 1958, it was abrogated amidst the first outbreak of communal violence targeting Tamils.
The Paddy Lands Act was enacted in 1958, but its sole architect, Philip Gunawardena, left the cabinet and the government the very next year, in May 1959. Four months later, on September 26, Prime Minister Bandaranaike was assassinated. The island’s sociopolitical innocence was over.
The alignment of political forces for and against the two initiatives was remarkable. Although ideologically poles apart, Bandaranaike and Gunawardena were each other’s best ally in their coalition government and cabinet. The majority of the cabinet ministers were dead set against Philip Gunawardena and his Paddy Lands Act (PLA). They even staged a cabinet strike, refusing to attend cabinet meetings with Philip Gunawardena. But they could not prevent the passage of the PLA because of its popularity among the Sinhalese.
The B-C Pact, on the other hand, was controversial and opposition to it was orchestrated by JR Jayewardene and the UNP in the south, and GG Ponnambalam and the Tamil Congress in the north. Compounding this was the cabinet split over the PLA, which weakened the Prime Minister’s hand and forced him to give in to the opposition against the B-C Pact. The final act of forcing was the storming of the front lawn of the Prime Minister’s Rosemead Place residence by 100 Buddhist monks.
There was another aspect to political alignments over the PLA and the B-C Pact. Besides the Prime Minister, Philip Gunawardena was the only prominent Minister to support both initiatives. The Left Opposition (the LSSP and the CP) were also in support of both the PLA and the B-C Pact. On the other hand, the Federal Party leader who signed the B-C Pact, was steadfastly opposed to the Paddy Lands Act. He famously declared in parliament: “I see seeds of communism in this.”
In opposing the PLA, Mr. Chelvanayakam found common ground with GG Ponnambalam, even though the latter was stirring the pot against the B-C Pact and ridiculing ‘Christian’ Chelvanayakam for selling out the Tamils by signing an agreement with Bandaranaike on an inauspicious moonless day in July. Mr. Ponnambalam was on a long leave of absence from parliament during the enactment of the PLA, but weighed in from outside with an op-ed page article in the Daily News rhetorically bemoaning the destruction of Sri Lanka’s robust peasantry as result of the new legislation. The ideological lines were clearly drawn.
Even though he abrogated the B-C Pact in April 1958, within four months, in August 1958, Prime Minister Bandaranaike introduced and secured the passage of the Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act, which provided for the use of Tamil for administrative purposes and as a medium of instruction in schools and university. The very same provisions were part of the original Official Language Bill that Mr. Bandaranaike wanted to introduce in 1956, but was forced to jettison it and replace it with the infamous one-sentence Sinhala only Bill.
(To be Continued)
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
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