Features
What Colour is Your Parachute?
by Capt Elmo Jayawardena
A few years ago there was an extremely popular book in North America called “What Colour is Your Parachute?” It is a great book that all young people who leave universities from all parts of the planet should read. The contents wise up the reader what they need to do to get into some suitable employment. Theoretically very good, practically too it gets a pass mark, the book certainly is sensible. Unfortunately, it also depends on which sky you are walking under. Third world denizens (living below the poverty line) and fourth world ‘super-stars’ like us Sri Lankans (borrowing money to eat) hardly qualify for this floating parachute business. We may have a few colour pens here and there but who has parachutes?
For the first and second world countries, it is a cake walk; come home with your degree and find your silk parachute and paint it bright and beautiful with colours that shout out your qualifications and bail out. They soar in the corporate markets until they find employment or till the employers find the para-gliding candidate. The chances are pretty good that some ‘King-Pin’ giants would see the ‘rainbow-hued float’ and pick you to join their serenade. There you go! Dream job and minted silver-plated future and sometimes in gold or could even be platinum. Doors open automatically as if they were waiting solely for you.
Good if you have a silk parachute, good if you have the colours to paint with and good if you can float and be found. The best would be if you are a Manchurian Candidate, especially in the third and fourth worlds where papas and grandpapas carry ‘magic potions’ like Asterix, connected to their I-phones that are much more powerful than multi-coloured parachutes. One call to the right man and it is just “you scratch my back and I will reciprocate” becomes the final selection criteria.
Out here in Sri Lanka the life of a prototype Uni student is very different. I do not know much, but I do know some of the horrendously tragic tales of students. They struggle from the first whistle of tertiary education to the final exam and end up in Lipton Circus getting water-washed for sins committed in impotent protests. I am not talking from stories that drift in the monsoon winds but firsthand miseries that I have come across.
For the last 27 years I have been associated with an organisation working as a volunteer to help some of these unfortunate students. Most undergraduates I met were sandwiched between the ‘Saduking pelena un” ideology and the ramshackle existence of poverty they inherited as a birthright. All their dreams are tied to the degree they read in a local university where hope springs eternal of the beginning for a secure future. But that often stands lava-frozen simply as a mirage of misery.
Now he and she have the qualification, but it is at most times wrapped with the English dilemma of ‘fol toppie and fan cake.’ That’s what they take to the interview. And their parachute itself is certainly not of smooth silk (such is only for the elite). The average student often has only a gunny sack material floating device with ‘rat-eaten’ holes, and no colour spectra to select and paint with. How to be seen? Everything around them is colour-blind. How to leap and float to be found? It is more like a jump in the dark, swinging one’s arms to cling to some salvation of a job, just so that their pauperised existence can be maintained without being a perpetual burden to their poverty-riddled parents.
“Sir, I sold my earrings to pay my hostel fees”. I asked ‘Why did you sell? You could have pawned them.” She gave me a dry smile, “Where do we find the money to redeem, Sir?”
Yes, I know these stories. On a given day we have more than 1,000 students under sponsorship and around 400 of them are uni-students. Some of them are the ‘super-poor’ types who receive the “Maha Pola’ scholarship and send some money home so that their siblings can have some sort of food on their ‘belek pingang’ to eat and survive. These are the students, the confederacy of the humiliated who constantly get marginalised by the many manifestations of poverty and suffer a hundred setbacks just to survive to read the degree.
The sad side of this Rubik Cube is that few among the well-to-do are aware of the perpetual plights of a lot of Uni students. How would you know? Unless you too have been on that ‘Full Option Poverty Trail’. It would be difficult for you to understand what I am talking about. Yes, I have been there before, a long time ago, that is why I know.
“Sir, I eat a vadai for dinner,” says one. “Sir, I drink a lot of water to satisfy my hunger in the night.” No, these are not fairy tales of my imagination but what I hear in sighing words from sad-eyed faces. The earring seller is now a practising lawyer and the ‘water dinner man’ is a Financial Controller. They did make it, more by chance than by design.
Do these bright hardworking undergraduates get a chance to write a CV and apply for a job in the posh and polished corporate world? Do the big guns with their carpeted floors allow these unfortunate youth to walk in through their gilded arches to face an interview? Of course, some kind and considerate institutions do consider them and such corporate leaders should be lauded and praised. But isn’t the truth more of refusals? ‘Many are called, but few are chosen,’ that sings right for these ‘law’ income graduates, who are tattooed at birth as children of a lesser god. They will certainly not be in the chosen few. They rot for long periods of unemployment and if lucky, they might get selected for a job in a government office. That too needs a special qualification, more to do with whose posters they ‘paappafied’ and pasted on the walls.
Even if they get an interview, they will mostly be ‘also rans’ if the medium of conversation is English. Most have never had any communications in the Queen’s language (sorry I forgot, it’s the King’s language). How could they compete with other applicants from affluent backgrounds who have been on debating teams arguing the merits and de-merits of subjects such as colonialism and League of Nations in Shakespeare English?
Would they get any consideration for the mire-filled trenches they crawled out from birth as poor pilgrims? Can they write in their CV in bold black that they have suffered multiple burdens of poverty to educate themselves? Have you seen any CV that highlights how poor they were? No blame to those who sit on interview panels, how would they know? That is a very sad part of this education system. The equation is at most times lop-sided for the non-English speakers. One says to me “Sir, I was a frefect.” Another says “Sir, after that I will play with the ear.” Thank God, both the frefect and the ‘with the ear man’ are now gainfully employed.
The problem is English. That is the catalyst that brings down the confidence of the graduate job seeker. We need to do our best to address the recurring purgatory that burns the very souls of the youth. Oh no! Please do not talk about regime changes and the milk and honey that will start gushing limitlessly from every orifice of Diyawanna Oya. Man! We have seen that far away dream for 74 years at every political change when different gods took their seats on the proverbial Mount Olympus. Let me stop there before I go berserk with my abated anger.
This is 2022. Month of October as I write. The country is suffering like never before and the peoples’ hopes too have become almost hopeless. The queues may have reduced but the prices have soared to reach the distant stars. The Diyawanna Oya circus is operating at its optimum latitude and some of the mongrels in that mansion think they have a god- given right to destroy this beautiful country and ruin its inhabitants. People are leaving Paradise in droves; it is a migration of hopelessness that has no single reason but multitudes of unfathomable man-made miseries that are the direct responsibility of those who rule us.
We can only wish for a better day. Pray to all the gods in creation to give us solace from the catastrophic calamities that are looming ahead for us. We live in a misplaced paradise and if the powers that be continue this trend of destruction it won’t be long before we convert ourselves into a paradise lost.
Something needs to be done, somethings have to be changed by some means. Unless we find a way to make a serious course correction and charter a road map to break away from the sugar-coated slippery slope we are sliding on now, we are finished. That cannot be too far away.
Elmojay1@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 . )
US sports envoys to Lanka to champion youth development
Rahuman questions sudden cancellation of leave of CEB employees
