Features
Controls, desserts, strikes and bets – Part 27
CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY
By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil
President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada
Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum
chandij@sympatico.ca
Scarcities and Buffet Controls
The closed economy policies of the then socialist government of Sri Lanka forced hoteliers, particularly chefs, to manage with many shortages of essential imported ingredients. The government banned importing many types of food items unless essential for general public. Most hoteliers were upset that food items such as European cheeses, stuffed olives, preserved maraschino cherries were not available any more. As all hotels were in the same boat, I personally did not worry about such scarcities. I considered these challenges as opportunities to be creative in using similar ingredients locally available.
Most hotels in Sri Lanka at that time were not sophisticated with concepts such as menu engineering. I simply updated the menus periodically based on the popularity of the dishes, guest feedback, cost and seasonal availability of fresh and inexpensive ingredients. That seemed to work well. The basic target given to most executive chefs on the island at that time, was to maintain the food cost under 40% of the food revenue. I personally aimed at keeping my food cost at 33%. I also attempted to get higher allocation for food in full-board pricing packages. In addition, I was vigilant in recording all unconsumed food items from buffets returning to the kitchen. I also closely monitored and checked any food wastage by checking garbage bins. Such simple tasks helped me to perfect my daily requisitioning quantities of all ingredients from the stores.
Monday Creative Desserts
One Sunday some large quantities of bread pudding, pineapple compote, and cream caramel returned from the buffet tables to the cold rooms in the kitchen. As a cost cutting exercise, I immediately created a new dessert by placing layers of those three desserts in ice cream cups. Next day for lunch I served these as one of the choices for desserts. I covered each cup with meringue and decorated with a local cherry. We had an unfriendly Swedish Tour Leader who stayed at Coral Gardens Hotel for four months, with whom the hotel manager, Muna and I tried to have a better working relationship. I named that dessert with her name – ‘Gunilla Surprise’. For the first time that season, Gunilla smiled. She was so thrilled with my creation, she announced it to her entire group of tourists. We received no more complaints from Gunilla during the balance two months of the tourist season.
After that, depending on good quality desserts returning to the kitchen from Sunday buffet tables, I commenced creating a new dessert for the lunch menu on most Mondays. I named these desserts after returning guests, long staying guests, difficult guests and also attractive guests. This gimmick became so popular that at times I had male guests prompting me to name desserts after their wives or girlfriends on Mondays. Some guests asked me to sign the menu cards which had desserts named after them and took these cards home as souvenirs. They often took photographs of me presenting the dessert and signed menu card to the guest who was honoured. As a result of this creative initiative, I faced a challenge only once.
Butler Raman appeared in my office one Sunday afternoon and said, “Master, Miss Annika wants to see you.” I asked him, “Who is Annika?” While he was explaining that it was a young guest who stayed at the hotel for two weeks at the beginning of the same tourist season, Annika entered my office and gave me a big hug. I immediately remembered her face. “I am back for two more weeks, as Denmark is facing a very cold winter. I need a good tan, again!” Annika told me. “I have a gift for you, but before sharing it with you, I need a gift from you,” she said flirtingly. When I asked what she had in mind, Annika said, “I want you to serve that beautiful dessert you created with my name, for lunch tomorrow.”
Not remembering the exact dessert named after Annika just three months ago, was a challenge for me. Therefore, I created another dessert using some thin pancakes and fruit salad and passion fruit mousse returned from the Sunday buffet. I served it with a small scoop of vanilla ice-cream and topped with mango jam sauce. I named it, ‘Crêpe Annika’ and served it as a dessert for lunch on the next day. “This is not the same!” Annika playfully complained. “You are a very special guest who deserves a second dedicated dessert.” I bluffed. She probably saw through my cunning, but graciously laughed and said, “Thank you very much, Chef Chandi. I feel honoured!” After tasting my dessert, she smiled while nodding her head in approval. Then she said, “Nice! Now, tell me when do you want to unwrap your gift?” After that I commenced recording all my new creations in a special log book, just in case. The columns in this log book read as: date created, name of the dish, recipe, garnish, guest (name, country, hair colour, eye colour) and ‘other’ remarks.
The Asian Buffet
During my first tourist season as an executive chef, I also made some miscalculations. I was eager to showcase the Asian dishes I learnt during my training period at Bentota Beach Hotel and the Chinese, Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian dishes I taught myself in 1975. I introduced a weekly Asian Buffet, but that was not very popular with our guests who were predominantly European and Scandinavian. After a month I suspended that weekly offer.
Lesson learnt from that failure is that no new product should be introduced without a customer preferences survey or research. Later in my career as a Food and Beverage Director and a General Manager of large five-star hotels, I arranged quick surveys before deciding on any new weekly theme night or food festival. Often hoteliers decide on such events, but the key for success is to ask the most important people – customers. Determining the needs of the customer and offering products and services to satisfy those needs is a such a simple concept. One never goes wrong with that in terms of profitability of hospitality operations.
Token Strikes
In 1976, we frequently faced another problem – monthly token strikes organized by the trade unions controlled by leftist political parties. These brief strikes lasted 24-hours and intended to convey strength of feeling on a disputed issue. Unfortunately, these disputed issues had nothing to do with hotels or hotel employees. For example, if there was a long-unsettled strike at the Colombo Port, the LSSP which controlled most trade unions arranged an all-island token strike in solidarity with the workers at the Colombo Port. I saw no logic in these show of power actions by the political parties, but decided to keep my mouth shut.
By then, I had developed a close bond with the kitchen brigade. Therefore, they always gave me a heads up about the timing of these token strikes. I planned to prepare simple dishes on those token strike days. To help me out, the kitchen brigade did most of the advance preparations for the three meals, the day before. On average, once a month, I cooked all meals needed for the whole day by myself and arranged buffets without any frills. Muna helped with the restaurant service and clean up. While the employees were co-operative, they became very hostile if any fellow employees crossed the picket line and worked at the hotel, during any token strike.
Monkey Business
One day a cook asked me if I’d like to have a monkey as a pet. I laughed thinking that it was a joke. He said, “Chef, I am serious. In the back yard of my house in the village we found three baby monkeys. We are keeping one and my son took one. If you like, I would love to give the other monkey to you as a gift. After I had one look at the baby monkey, I fell in love with it and so it became my pet. We made a small shelter for him just outside my apartment. He used to nap in the afternoon and the Maintenance Engineer for both sister hotels (Coral Gardens and Bentota Beach), P. P. Abeywardena (Abey), often made a big noise to see the monkey’s reaction. As it always jumped up when it heard the loud noise, Abey named him, ‘Dudumskie’ (or the sound of an exploding grenade).
Dudumskie was simply hilarious. In the morning when I was at work, he ate flowers in the garden and the hotel gardeners hated him. When he got bored, he visited the balconies of guest bedrooms, and at times dropped glasses to the ground from upstairs rooms. That angered the room boys. Dudumskie also terrified the four rabbits we had at the hotel as pets. However, Dudumskie was very popular with most of the hotel guests, who often fed him with goodies. I held a bet with Muna that Dudumskie could be trained to be an obedient pet, within three months.
As most European countries did not allow monkeys as pets, interacting with Dudumskie was a novel experience for hotel guests. They thought that he was funny and intelligent. Whenever he saw white tourists, particularly ladies, he acted as if he had been starved. As a result of frequent feeding by tourists, after a few months he started gaining weight and became less athletic in his jumps from tree to tree. Every time I came to my apartment between lunch and dinner service for a short break, I sat in the garden and just watched Dudumskie engage in all types of mischief. He never let me down in providing some entertainment before I went back to work for dinner service.
Winning a Bet
By April 1976 when the tourist season ended, Muna and I were praised by the head office for having the best tourist season ever since the hotel had opened 10 years previous. I was promoted to Assistant Manager, in addition to my role as the Executive Chef. My duties remained the same but I was happy with the glorified title. My salary was increased to Rs 1,000 a month. That was a very good salary at that time for a 22-year-old young executive in any industry in Sri Lanka.
I then remembered that I held a bet the day I graduated from the Ceylon Hotel School in 1974. The bet was held with a student two years my junior – Keheliya Rambukwella. Like me, Keheliya was a trouble maker at CHS, and was very friendly with me. The bet was that before he graduated from CHS in two years’ time, that I will be earning a four-figure monthly salary. As I reached that mark six months ahead, I called Keheliya and reminded him about our friendly bet. He congratulated me but, somehow with a ‘cock and bull story’, got me to forget about the bet money. At that point jokingly I told him, “Machang, you should enter politics. I am sure that you would do well!” I have not met Keheliya for some time, but I am impressed with his decades-long career in politics in Sri Lanka including cabinet ministerial posts with a few governments.
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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