Features
The Great Escape of film stars and crew
Capt. Elmo Jayawardena
Elmojay1@gmail.com
Prologue
“The Incredible Rescue” is a true story. It was written by the co-pilot of the flight, Capt Shelton Goonewardena. He is 97 years old today and lives in Marawila. ‘Sinhabahu’ and ‘Terry’ in the story is him. Capt Emil Jayawardena was my father and off and on I heard this Madras story. Mr John Vethavanam was the Radio Officer (father of Capt Duleep Vethavanam.) Miss Cynthia Phillips was the flight Stewardess.In my humble opinion this really was an incredibly crazy operation planned and flown by Capt Emil and his crew.
Yes, some would say they broke every rule in the book. Who am I to judge? The scales of justice at times have to be tempered with mercy and kindness and a whole lot of madness. There were 17 film people who boarded the plane on the taxiway close to the end of runway 25. Among them was B A W and Eddie Jayamanne and Rukmani Devi. Someone even brought along the dog from the Minerva House.The rest of the story is here in Capt Shelton’s own words.
THE INCREDIBLE RESCUE
The pioneers of SRI LANKA’s Sinhala cinema were the MINERVA Players.They turned their very popular stage plays such as Broken Promise (Kadunu Poronduwa) into very successful films. There being no filming studios locally, they went lock, stock and barrel to Madras to do the needful.At Madras, they ran house with typical Sinhala, Negombo hospitality traditions. It was Open House all the time, night and day, for all and sundry irrespective of nationality, social status, caste or religion.
There was always plenty to eat and drink with real Sinhala cuisine. The undisputed Godfather of the setup was BAW, a person of very serious disposition and a workaholic. He directed all the plays and films and everything else that went on at the Minerva household.
BAW was ably assisted by his brother, Eddie, a genius at comedy and his beautiful singing wife, Daisy (Rukmini Devi) who were the leading actors. There were also a host of others, all highly talented actors such as Josie and Joe. All the stage hands, helpers, cooks and the lot were natives from Negombo, so they made one big happy family at the Minerva house in Madras.
When not filming it was jollification from dawn to dawn and a good time was had by all. The Minerva players travelled often to and from Sri Lanka, always on Air Ceylon, hence everybody at the Airports, including Air Traffic Control Officers, Customs, Immigration Officers, Doctors, Traffic Assistants and the lot became their bosom friends, who were often invited to the Minerva house for parties and celebrations, of which there was never a shortage.
The Minerva house Sri Lankan hospitality became legendary in Madras.Sri Lanka’s Governor General and many high dignitaries when visiting Madras were all welcomed guests at the Minerva house, where they received right royal treatment.
Air Ceylon operated a fleet of four DC 3 Dakotas with a daily night stop at Madras. The Air Ceylon air crew were always put up at the poshest hotels wherever they went. At Madras it was the Connemara or Victoria hotels. However, Captain Emil Jayawardena, a World War two RAF veteran pilot, although used to all the best trimmings of high society, preferred the simple Sinhala home comforts and so he always night stopped at the Minerva house.
Having had his training in the RAF traditions, his discipline and airmanship had no equal. As a person, his personality was such he had a phenomenal ability of making friends and influencing people. His level of compassion once spurred him to fly the Air Ceylon DC 3 Dakota at sea level manually, with a full load of passengers from Madras to Ratmalana to try and save the life of a sick and dying child passenger.
All the Area Controls and Control Towers played ball, such was his popularity with the aviation fraternity.However much he indulged the night before he was always there on time early morning, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready for duty, personally doing the pre-flight checks himself. He saw to it that everybody else was in similar vein, otherwise there was hell to pay. Even every brass button on the uniform had to be polished and shining. As Senior Training Captain, all were on their toes when he was around.
Captain Emil showed a special interest and took under his wing Terry, a greenhorn First Officer who had just graduated from the Air Academy and was the newest recruit to the Airline. They flew together a lot, with Captain Emil teaching the youngster all the tricks of the trade and its finer points. In fact, after that memorable flight at sea level from Madras to Ratmalana, he even showed him how to fudge the flight log.
Captain Emil confessed that during his RAF war days, some crews did not know for certain where they had dropped their bombs, because most of the bombings were done at night amid heavy enemy fire; hence altering course all the time was normal. It was from the next days morning newspaper that they learnt where the bombs had hit and so they fudged the flight logs to suit the news reports. Fudging the flight log was a normal part of the war game, said Captain Emil.
Captain Emil has such faith in Terry, he often left the cockpit in Terry’s care and went back to the cabin to have a chat with the passengers and friends of whom he had plenty. However, he always made sure that the Radio Officer stayed in the cockpit keeping a lookout for other aircraft in the vicinity.
On one such occasion, he stormed back into the cockpit and demanded of Terry “where the hell are you farting about all over the sky?” Captain Emil could detect the slightest change of attitude of the aircraft. “I changed course ever so gently to avoid those CBs over there” explained Terry, pointing to a bank of Cumulo Nimbus clouds straight ahead in the distance.
“You bloody idiot, we are still at Puttalam and that weather front is beyond Mannar. It will be gone by the time we get there. Get back on course” he ordered Terry and left the cockpit. That day Terry learnt a new lesson in airmanship, that clouds do not stay put. That’s how Captain Emil taught his juniors. Straight off the cuff and to the point.
Terry was a village lad and even though now he moved in high society, he preferred Sinhala village home comforts and so, whenever he night stopped at Madras, he stayed in the Minerva house, where he was considered one of the family. Terry could even talk and act like Eddie, which was a unique style. One day, Captain Emil decided to night stop at Victoria hotel instead of Minerva house and Terry went along too. This surprised Terry.
Very early in the morning, as usual Mr. Nathan came to the Victoria Hotel, in the company Ford Prefect which he drove himself, picked up Captain Emil, Terry, John Vethavanam the Radio Officer and Cynthia the hostess and dropped them all off at the Madras Airport, after which he had a chat with Captain Emil and drove off.
This was most unusual as Mr. Nathan, a most conscientious person, always stayed on supervising all that went on till after take off. In fact, he always stood to attention, because of his military background, and saluted the Captain before taxiing out.
Capt. Elmo with Capt. Shelton
It was customary for the First Officer to go to the Control Tower for flight clearance and Met briefing. But on this occasion, Captain Emil volunteered to do the needful and asked Terry to see to all the pre-flight ground checks. Terry observed that there was an unusually large amount of baggage. The baggage compartments at the rear and up front were chock-a-block to bursting point and Mr. Magasalingham, who was the Air India Ground Engineer at Madras seeing to the requirements of the Air Ceylon DC 3s, when on night stop, and was a regular and honoured guest at the Minerva house, had them fastened down.
Terry also noticed that to keep within the all up weight, less fuel was being uplifted. The flight from Madras to KKS was one and a half hours and the fuel on board was sufficient for just two hours. When Terry questioned Mr. Magasalingham about this, he very casually remarked “the weather is fine so not to worry” and side stepped the issue.
Most of the Airport Controllers and Air Traffic Officers were ex-war veterans who had plenty of war time exploits to tell each other and chat about, so when Captain Emil delayed to come back, Terry thought nothing of it.
On this day, however, Captain Emil had a longer than usual pow-wow with the Customs, immigration, Police and Medical officers at the Airport, as well as the Traffic Assistants. He had a particular long chat with Magasalingham.
All these persons and many more had at one time or other enjoyed the Sri Lankan hospitality at the Minerva house. On entering the cockpit, Captain Emil told Terry “you command this flight” and sat himself in the co-pilot’s seat. He then started getting flight clearance from the tower on RT, but not on the usual channel and frequency, with Vaitha’s assistance. They fiddled around for quite a while, to Terry’s amazement.
The two Air India traffic assistants, Mr. Nair and Joseph, who saw to the Air Ceylon passenger matters brought the passenger manifest to the Captain for signature. Terry noticed they had a full load that day.After settling down in the Captain’s seat, Terry and Captain Emil completed the cockpit check and waited for the ‘ALL CLEAR’ signal from Magasalingham, which wasn’t coming.
“What are you waiting for? Start the engines” inquiringly insisted Captain Emil.
“Magas has not given the ‘ALL CLEAR’ nor is the door closed” protested Terry, pointing to the door indicator light.
“To hell with the indicator light and Magas, start the engines. I am telling you” ordered Captain Emil. Terry did as he was told reluctantly. He sensed that something special was unfolding as normally Captain Emil was a stickler for rules and procedure.
In the meantime, Cynthia rushed into the cockpit in distress and lamented “Why have you started the engines? The door is not even closed. I am supposed to have a full load but only three passengers have boarded. Besides I have a galley full of food and what am I to do with all that? Have you all gone mad?” she inquired angrily.
“Don’t worry my dear, everything will be OK, you will see. Go back and wait”, assured Captain Emil. She went back protesting and muttering to herself. On passing Vethavanam, she remarked “You are also a party to this madness, aren’t you? It’s worse than a loony bin in here”. Captain Emil kept a constant chatter with the control tower which was unusual.
Finally, Magasalingham signaled the ALL CLEAR and chocks off.Taxi to runway 25 ordered Captain Emil and Terry did likewise. On entering the intersection near the end of runway 25 he was asked to stop, which he did.
Captain Emil and Vaitha left the cockpit and went back into the cabin and opened the door, put the aircraft retractable steps out and waited. Just then, Terry noticed Mr. Nathan in the Ford Prefect entering the tarmac and approaching the aircraft. He stopped at the open door.
Lo and behold, out jumped a whole lot of people from the car and boarded the plane. Mr. Nathan did this trip twice more, picking up persons, men and women from the terminal building and nobody at the airport seemed to mind, and just looked on.
After 17 passengers and a dog had boarded, Captain Emil and Vaitha closed the door, locked it, and returned to the cockpit. Captain Emil thanked the Airport Controller and everybody else for their help and co-operation on RT. He then turned to Terry and impishly said “OK Captain, scramble”. That was the first time Captain Emil addressed F.O. Terry as Captain. Not long after, Terry was promoted to Junior Captain.
The rest of the flight was like no other. It was singing, dancing and laughter all the way back. The auto pilot could not keep the aircraft straight and level, so it had to be flown all the way back manually, with Captain Emil and Terry taking turns.
In typical Sinhala hospitality traditions, Cynthia was served by the passengers rather than serving them, which cooled her off. The cabin was awash with Sri Lankan food which they had brought along.It was later on that everybody realized that the late arrivals were the Minerva Players and their retinue. First stop was KKS to a grand Jaffna welcome by Station Manager Mr. Reggiepillai, an officer and a gentleman. Everything was there, except the pandals. Mr. Reggiepillai and family had been very special guests at the Minerva house whenever they visited Madras and this was their ‘Thank you”.
The Customs Officers at KKS, Mr. Rasa and Basil and the Immigration Officers did the needful without fuss or bother. They knew the Minerva lot personally. From KKS to Ratmalana, it was no different except a bit noisier due to Jaffna toddy, and then it was straight back to Negombo for more celebrations and home comings for the Minerva Players and retinue.
The truth behind all these mysterious happening emerged later.
The Madras Filming Studios were holding the Minerva Players and their retinue to ransom due to outstanding payments. This had come about because they had overrun their budget for reasons beyond their control. These amounts could have been easily met from receipts after the films were screened but the studio was demanding immediate payments which meant that the Minerva Players would have had to sell up all their assets at home to meet these demands.
When this was revealed to Captain Emil when in night stop, he thought otherwise and planned this daring escape.
His national pride, compassion and determination, with the help of all those who had enjoyed the Sri Lankan hospitality at some time or another at the Minerva house, planned in secret this incredible rescue act which he pulled off with ease.
Mr. Nathan, Magasalingham and associates had smuggled out of the Minerva house the Minerva Players and retinue and housed them at the airport the previous night and completed all the embarkation requirements, ready for the morning flight which took them to freedom on Captain Emil’s plane.
This was the first time in the history of air travel that a plane load of persons was smuggled out of a country within the laws of that country. The shockwaves of this quake to the Sri Lankan film industry were felt far and wide.
It gave birth to the setting up of filming studios in Sri Lanka and its progress to date. It took the wonder of Sri Lankan unselfish hospitality, given to all and sundry, by an unspoilt, unsophisticated and innocent group of Sri Lankan actors in a foreign country, coupled with the determination and compassion of an unassuming Air Ceylon Captain and crew, together with the help and co-operation of all personnel at the Madras airport, to make this incredible rescue a reality. A truly combined international effort. Those who dare to help their neighbours in a just cause always win.
TISSA SINGHABAHU
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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