Features
The making of The Island
by Vijitha Yapa, Founder Editor, Sunday Island
The person at the other end of the phone calling from Nallur was very angry. “Mr Editor, you have killed me in your paper today”. I did not ask him where he was speaking from, as he may treat it as an insult. I did not know what he was speaking about and asked what story he was referring to and after listening to him, told him to call me back in half an hour. There were no ubiquitous mobile phones at that time nor easy access to telephones in the eighties.
The story revolved around the Coroner of Nallur, Mr Francis, committing suicide and Dr Watson performing the autopsy. The call was from Mr Francis who said it was the other way round. I asked the sub editor for the original story submitted by the Nallur correspondent and what the sub editor had edited and compared it with what had been printed in the Island that morning.
Mr Francis was correct. The Nallur correspondent had said that Dr Watson committed suicide and Coroner Francis performed the autopsy. I screamed angrily at the sub editor and asked him, “What the hell have you done? Why did you do this and what can I tell this Coroner?” The sub editor submitted his lame excuse. “I tried to contact the correspondent and could not get through to Nallur. This seemed a ridiculous story and I felt the Nallur correspondent had got it all wrong. Why should a medical doctor who makes pots of money commit suicide? I felt it is the coroner, a poorly paid public servant, who had every reason to commit suicide and changed the story to reflect that”.
It was the most incredible explanation and he was a senior sub editor. What could I do? I apologized to Mr Francis when he phoned and said I am carrying an apology to him in the next day’s newspaper. This is the only time I ever apologized to anybody because I am a strong believer that facts printed must be correct and the editorial staff should be fully responsible to see that the true facts should be followed to the letter. The story is recollected on the 40th anniversary of the Sunday Island and it is an indication of the trials we faced and the difficulties we encountered.
Upali Wijewardene asked me to be the Editor of the Sunday Island in March 1981 when I submitted my resignation as the Media Officer at the GCEC (Greater Colombo Economic Commission) he chaired. From April 1981 I had accepted an offer from Dow Jones and Co of USA to look after their interests by procuring advertisements for the Wall Street Journal and also to import and distribute the Asian Wall Street Journal in Sri Lanka.
But even by August he had not found anyone and he sent his Mercedes Benz to my residence and asked me to come immediately to his home. There he said, ” I want you to be the Founder editor of the Sunday Island which will be born on October 4, because I have confidence in you”. I felt very sorry because here was a man who had wealth and power but was frustrated because he could not find an editor.
I told him I will accept the offer for six months until he found another person but as I have started my own business it was difficult for me to devote full time to the newspaper. I asked for a virtually impossible five figure salary, the highest for any journalist , a car with a driver to take my children to school and since I had some commitments with some foreign newspapers for journalistic assignments I requested leave whenever the need arose. He said okay and “You can start tomorrow”. I told him that to start the newspaper I will need to recruit immediately and cannot waste time on red tape. He gave me permission to approach any journalist and where necessary to double their salaries on the condition that they start work immediately from the next day.
I contacted many of the well known journalists and asked them to come for an interview and basically within a week we had the staff. It was a bold move because we were asking people in secure jobs to give up their positions in other newspapers and commence work with us within 24 hours. Ours was an establishment which was not publishing any newspapers except a weekly cartoon paper. The majority of those approached had the faith to take the plunge and we began work immediately.
Because of the problems we faced there was not even a dummy copy which we could produce before the date of publication, October 4. But somehow the birth took place that day though the first issues did not reach the public in the morning but late in the evening. I had returned home about 1 o’clock in the morning having finished the editorial work and was shocked to find that even by the afternoon it had not even been printed!. I rushed to the press and found that the plates were never sent to the printing press in Homagama because the technical staff were found wanting. There were blank pages and I ordered that some ads should be repeated and also some articles and sent the pages.
Though late the paper was received very well. It was in colour and we were the first to do computer printing of a newspaper in Sri Lanka. The pages were clean and people appreciated the pictures and layout. Gamini Weerakoon was the deputy editor, Rienzie Wijeratne was the pictures editor and Ajith Samaranayaka was the editorial writer responsible for features.
Gamini Weerakoon’s wife Rajitha was working for the Sunday Observer and I had to tell Gamini to make sure he does not talk in his sleep.
We also got some people from the Times group.Some of them were the first females to be recruited to the Upali Group head office, an all male domain. The ladies who came from the Times newspaper sought permission everyday to go to Fort about midday. They never explained why and I had to finally ask them the reason for this as our transport was limited to one vehicle at that time. They all appeared as a delegation in my office and said sheepishly,” We have to go to Fort because there is no toilet for women at Upali’s!”. It is an area which we had neglected and I immediately phoned Mr Upali Wijewardene and within 24 hours a special toilet with locks in the male domain was made available to the ladies.
Within one month of our publication Mr Wijewardene came to the office and said, ” I want to start the daily newspaper from November 16″. I was lucky not to have suffered a heart attack as we still had teething problems. The technical office once came and asked me why I could not give Page one and the sports page two days earlier like the feature pages so that he could give the paper on time.
Mr Wijewardene would not change his mind to postpone the commencement of the daily. We gathered the staff together and told them the news, recruited more journalists and the newspaper began as scheduled on November 16, 1981. Mr Peter Harland from UK assisted us in those early days and veteran planter Leslie Dharmaratne was the CEO of Upali Newspapers. He had no experience in journalism and there were practical issues with regard to the staff. The staff wanted a festival advance but the CEO was quite adamant that it could not be done because there were very heavy expenses with the starting of the newspaper and no funds were available. This virtually led to a strike but luckily it was averted though one or two Sinhala journalists decided to leave or were asked to leave.
It is the exposures of corrupt practices in The Island which caught the interest of the readers and the circulation soared . Mr Upali Wijewardene was the ideal publisher as he did not interfere in running the newspaper. He thought that President J.R. Jayewardene will support him in his endeavour to become the MP for Kamburupitiya but unfortunately Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa opposed it. This led to practical problems and Mr Wijewardene certainly did not help himself when replying to a query by Mervyn de Silva, editor of the Guardian and said his hero was SWRD Bandaranaike. J.R. Jayewardene was very annoyed and because of various difficulties, Upali Wijewardene decided to resign as the Director General of the GCEC.
When Hector Kobbekaduwa was chosen as the SLFP candidate for the presidential election in 1982 Mr Wijewardene felt that since Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike had been disqualified from running, the one person who should be contesting the elections from the SLFP was her son Anura Bandaranaike. Anura opposed this and said he could not go against the SLFP. Mr Wijewardene then suggested that Anura should form his own party and that the necessary finances for that operation could be found. But Anura did not take up the offer though it reached the ears of JR, who was visibly annoyed.
Perhaps one of the most sensational stories that the Sunday Island exposed was how foreign minister ACS Hameed had used funds from South Korea through the Sri Lanka High Commission in London. It was used to procure bagpipes for schools in Akurana in Mr Hameed’s electorate. JR and Mr Hameed were on an official visit to China at that time. Mr Hameed told me later it was an embarrassment to Mr Jayewardene who queried it and ordered Mr Hameed to credit all the money that he had in the special account to the President’s Fund.
Another important story was how cricketer Bandula Warnapura decided to take a rebel Sri Lanka team to South Africa. Officially Upali newspapers opposed that visit editorially but carried news of it. Minister Gamini Dissanayake was very annoyed by this and phoned me and told me to stop carrying news of these rebels and said the other newspapers had agreed to his request. I refused and said editorially we condemned the rebel tour but felt we could not ignore the need to inform our readers of what was happening in South Africa.
Mr Dissanayake was very annoyed and said, “If that is your attitude I am going to speak to you publisher”. I knew Mr Upali Wijewardene was not in Colombo that morning but that evening he phoned me and asked whether Gamini Dissanayake had asked me to stop publicity for the rebels and wanted to know my reactions to it. I told him the facts and what he said about contacting the publisher. Mr Wijewardene said he had told Gamini Dissanayake that he does not tell the minister what to do in Cabinet or how to run his ministry. He said he wanted Mr Dissanayake not to interfere in the running of his independent newspaper.
Mr Wijewardene then asked me what news we had of the Sri Lanka rebels in South Africa. I said that there was a picture by Reuters of Bandula Warnapura and colleagues emerging out of the airport in South Africa with their luggage loaded on trolleys. He asked me where I was placing the picture and I replied that it will be on page 14, the Sports page. He laughed and then said, “Why don’t you put it on page 1” . That was Upali Wijewardene, the man who feared no one.
Many of the journalists achieved fame through the pages of the newspaper. The paper was a beacon of hope to the minorities, specially the Tamils, who felt they were being hounded. One of the boldest decisions I made was to ask DBS Jeyaraj to begin a column in the Sunday Island and to call it “Behind the Cadjan Curtain,’ an adaptation of China’s bamboo curtain .The column was well read and well received.
Ajith Samaranayake was another great asset. The editorial he wrote in the newspaper soon after the 1983 July riots and the appeal to people for sanity and to think afresh was read out in full by Mr Maithripala Senanayake in Parliament. It was Ajith who asked Jeyraj who was working at Veerakesari, the Tamil newspaper, to apply for a job at the Sunday Island. I was impressed by the clean shaven Jeyaraj’s performance in the test I gave him and recruited him. Later DBS said that impish Ajith had advised him to shave off his moustache and beard as I did not like such growth on the faces of journalists, which he realised later was a complete lie.
Ajith had his flings through words and once got into an argument with Gamini Fonseka. Initially the articles from Gamini and from Ajith created interest but Gamini’s replies became a bit boring in the latter stages. I told Ajith the time has come to end the series. He agreed and I allowed him to do the final column. His final comment was brief but rich with content. He said he was stopping these arguments with Mr Gamini Fonseka because trying to convince him was like playing a Veena to a deaf elephant. Gamini never replied to that because to those who knew his history, knew there was a rich meaning in that one sentence pregnant with opportunities.
There are many more stories to tell but space and time are precious and tributes to the individual journalists who made the Sunday Island a paper the readers looked forward to read is difficult to put down on paper. But the rich history of the Sunday Island which began 40 years ago has to be recorded and I wish the Editor and journalists of the newspaper all the best for the future.
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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