Features
Tony Ranasinghe,in full flow – 2
By Uditha Devapriya
This is the second in a series of candid vignettes about Tony Ranasinghe.Something curious happens to actors when they age: they become parodies of themselves. Nowhere is this truer than the American film industry. When Kirk Douglas tries to man up in The Fury, one of his last great performances, he tries to pass off as a Spartacus, reminding us of who he once was. Some actors pass the years gracefully, like Burt Lancaster in Atlantic City. Many don’t. They remind us of who they were while forgetting who they are. Even the best among them tend to flounder: that is why the later Brando is not as good as the early Brando. Stars like Clint Eastwood play it smart: they end their acting careers and turn to the director’s chair.
This almost never happens in Sri Lanka. Gamini Fonseka’s best late performance has to be in Sumitra Peries’s Loku Duwa. Here he threatens to overreach himself, by embodying what we associated with him and overturning our notions of him. We are shocked when we hear him speak: he’s slouchy and he’s strange. He doesn’t talk, he mumbles, like the upstart businessman he is. But there’s a scene right at the beginning where he fumbles around with a cigarette lighter in a Mercedes-Benz, right next to the Kalutara Bodhiya, where he doesn’t speak a word, and still makes us aware that it’s him we are seeing. Like the prima ballerina who never ages, Gamini Fonseka remained who he was; when he sings with Nadeeka Gunasekara, it’s almost a throwback to those old films where he paired with Malini Fonseka and Geetha Kumarasinghe.
With Vijaya Kumaratunga the issue wasn’t that he didn’t want to age, but that he couldn’t afford to. The only two real performances that feature him as an ageing patriarch are, not coincidentally, in two “serious” pictures: Sumitra Peries’s Ganga Addara and Vasantha Obeyesekere’s Kadapathaka Chaya. In Kadapathaka Chaya he’s cast against type, as the villain. There have been rumours that Kumaratunga’s family were wary of him accepting the role, because he was at the peak of his career – Nombara 17 came around the same time Obeyesekere’s film did – and because he was putting everything he had into his political career. It won for him the only Sarasaviya Award he got in his entire career – the first and the last, since it would also be his last role. Like Fonseka, he raged against the passing years and pulled it off. Both were maturing, but both wanted to retain their youth.
Tony Ranasinghe is probably the only actor in Sri Lanka who showed that he was evolving and maturing. Fonseka tried hard not to – except in films like Yuganthaya and Sagarayak Meda, where he had to be serious – and Joe Abeywickrema didn’t – again, except in films like Loku Duwa and Awaragira, where he played a less comic tune. Ranasinghe’s best years were spent in the 1960s, the decade of flower power and youth resistance. Hailing from Ape Kattiya, which specialised in the Angry Young Man plays that British playwrights like Joe Orton had staged, he took to the character of the alienated youth like a duck to water. In Delovak Athara he more or less played the role he would play until the end of the decade. He typified it in the same way Fonseka typified the tough goodhearted rowdy in Chandiya. Yet he couldn’t escape the passing years. As they passed, he had to change.
Because he was cast as the villain, Ranasinghe didn’t ring true in Ran Salu. Even then, he’s hesitant and he fumbles around: right after impregnating the woman who dotes on him, he tells her that he’s leaving her, that he’ll look after her. Yet even in this scene – in a hospital – he can’t get the words out. In the previous sequence he contemplates abandoning her for his new fiancée, an heiress. The heiress gets him to stop thinking about the girl with whom he has fathered a child. If Ranasinghe couldn’t really play the role of the heartless teenager, it’s because he could not fully let go of the tragic romantic figure he had embodied so well. Perhaps because he doesn’t ring true, the sequence where he tells the girl, played by Anula Karunathilake, that he’s leaving her is awkward, almost out of place with the rest of the film. It’s like Bette Davis playing the vamp in the 1940s: it doesn’t fit his profile.
Soon that profile began to change. His outline is the same in Parasathumal, which marks the last time he played the tragic romantic figure in a major film. Yet he is changing here too. There’s a sequence in Parasathumal where, having discovered that the man who has hired him to look after his manor – played by Gamini Fonseka – is going after the woman he loves, he takes up his gun in a fit of anger and traipses through the woods. The camera cuts from long shot to close-up, zooming into his angry face. There’s not so much anger on it as there is frustration. The gun symbolises everything he wants to put out – it symbolises the macho bravado he is conspicuously lacking. Halfway through he gives up, and turns the other way around. That turnaround is predictable, and characteristic.
With Hanthane Kathawa, he officially ended this phase in his career. Hanthane Kathawa, like Parasathumal, pits Ranasinghe’s character against a man vying for the affections of the woman he loves and courts. He has his supporters, like Amarasiri Kalansuriya, but whether it’s an election to a student body or a singing contest on top of the Hanthane Hills, he soon betrays his lack of masculine bravado. Henry Jayasena goes through a similar ordeal in G. D. L. Perera’s Dahasak Sithuvili – he recites a “serious” tune at a party, only to be upended by his rival, who sings “Sathutu Vilai” and enlivens everyone around him. Hanthane Kathawa ends with Ranasinghe finally realising that he can’t have the girl he wants: she goes into a cave with the other man, played by Vijaya Kumaratunga. Ranasinghe is full of despair, and is stung by her betrayal, but instead of throwing a tantrum, he turns around.
Beneath the sensitive façade, Ranasinghe’s characters had an air of carelessness about them. “They are most alive (and most appealing) because they don’t conceive of the day after tomorrow,” Pauline Kael once observed of Jean-Luc Godard’s characters. This is very true of the characters in Dharmasena Pathiraja’s films – particularly in Para Dige – but it is also true of Tony Ranasinghe’s protagonists. As the villain he always makes himself out as a suave, self-confident planner, the man who knows what will happen tomorrow or the day after that. But as the tragic romantic he had no plans. You don’t really feel the time flowing in Delovak Athara as much as you do in, say, Gamperaliya, because Ranasinghe doesn’t have a plan. Fittingly, on the morning after the accident in Peries’s film, Nissanka gets up, listens to the ticking of the clock, and shuts it. He doesn’t want to think ahead.
Unfortunately or fortunately for him, he was growing up, and so were his characters. He was caught between two worlds – the reckless, tragic foolishness of his early years and the more serious outlook of his later years. He could neither be reckless nor wise. Yet his profile and outline were changing considerably: from the lanky, thin youth he had once been, he had now become stouter, his hair dishevelled beyond recognition. His two best films from this period, Duhulu Malak and Ahasin Polawata, no longer have him as the lover: he is instead the husband. But the dilemma is the same: he craves their love, but because of his doubts or their indiscretions he is reduced to crying and raging. You couldn’t have imagined Gamini Fonseka in this situation because he wouldn’t have cared: he would have got the woman to come back to him. Vijaya wouldn’t have cared either, because his women would never have left him. With Ranasinghe the situation was more complicated.
Films like Duhulu Malak and Ahasin Polawa have their weaknesses and shortcomings. Yet they are saved by Ranasinghe’s performance. As Regi Siriwardena once observed, Ahasin Polawa, unlike Nidhanaya, takes no effort to ground the jealous imaginings and obsessions of its protagonist in anything substantive. His feelings are self-contained, a far cry from Willie Abeynayake’s in Nidhanaya. Yet Ranasinghe does something no other actor could have done: he makes us empathise with these feelings and emotions. A lesser actor would have lost it. The last scene in Duhulu Malak, of the husband imagining himself shooting his wife, plays out rather falsely. It’s an emotional rollercoaster ride. And yet, as the husband, Ranasinghe gets us to understand his torment. In one sense he had grown in these years, far away from the tragic lover he had been playing earlier. Yet in another he had not. Caught between two worlds, he had failed, even by now, to get out of either.
The writer is an international relations analyst, researcher, and columnist who can be reached at udakdev1@gmail.com
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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