Features
Aachchi – My Heroine
by Jayantha Perera
Aachchi (my paternal grandmother)’s claim to fame was a story about her mother’s bravery. My great-grandmother was 160-years old when the Krakatoa Volcano in the Javanese Sea erupted in 1883. She ran with her brother to the seabed to catch gasping fish left behind by the receding waves. When the sea swelled and exploded, it took her about a hundred metres before dashing her onto a building. If we pressed for more drama, Aachchi would say that her mother rode high waves and swam home over the railway track and coconut trees.
Aachchi’s father was a carpenter at Wakari Binkari (Walkers and Briggs) Company in Colombo. After work, he bathed in the Beira Lake before going home. One day, while having his evening bath, he saw someone stealing his clothes. He came out of the lake and hit the thief with a club. The thief fell into the lake. My great-grandfather thought the thief would try to stay underwater and waited ten minutes for him to resurface. As the thief did not, he hurriedly wore his white sarong and cotton jacket and went home, never to come to Colombo again. Aachchi was his third child. She attended Sinhala Catholic Girls’ School until fourth standard and left school to look after her sick mother.
My paternal grandfather was a school dropout. When he was 20, he joined a rubber estate as a field assistant. On several occasions, he smelt cigarette smoke but could not see anybody nearby. One day, a fellow worker found him fallen face down and unconscious in an abandoned block of rubber land. When revived, he complained that a demon attacked him. He had bruises on his neck, face and chest. The parish priest, an expert on demonic possession, had taken charge of my grandfather. After a week of prayer and negotiations with the demon, the priest claimed that he had expelled the demon and sent my grandfather home. The experience with a demon changed his personality altogether. He roamed the village aimlessly and occasionally joined fishermen to pull seine nets and empty boats after their return from the sea. Some people thought that he was still possessed by a spirit.
Soon after marrying my grandfather, Aachchi realised that she had to earn a living as she could not depend on her husband for money. Fortunately, she owned a few pieces of land, which her father had given her as a dowry. She started a small business in her verandah with the money she got from selling a piece of land. She bought vegetables, fruits, and rice from the Sunday market in Kalutara Town and sold them with a small profit. Her husband frequently demanded money from her to buy cigars and arrack. Whenever she refused, he assaulted her, and neighbours had to intervene to calm them down. Men in their neighbourhood were notorious for frequent fights and the beating of wives. The neighbourhood was known as ‘alakalanchi Usaviya’ (noisy courtyard).
Thaththa (my father) received much attention from his mother as an only child. Aachchi wanted to send him to Holy Cross College in Kalutara to study in the English medium. She started saving money to send him to the College. Aachchi cooked food, chopped firewood, and fetched water for several households to earn an extra rupee. When Thaththa was about seven, she took him to Holy Cross College and met the College Principal, a French priest. The priest agreed to admit Thaththa but refused to exempt him from paying hefty school and facilities fees. Aachchi then enrolled him in Lansi Palliya (Dutch School) at Paiyagala. The school’s history goes back to the 18th century. The Dutch established several palliyas (schools) in the Western Province, and the Lansi Palliya was one of them. In the 1920s, it was known as an excellent Government-funded Sinhala Buddhist school.
The parish priest learned that Aachchi had enrolled Thaththa at Lansi Palliya. He sent for Aachchi and told her that thaththa must not attend a Buddhist school. She demanded that the priest should help Thaththa to join Holy Cross College. He refused and excommunicated Aachchi from the church. He prohibited her from attending Sunday mass and receiving holy sacraments.
While chopping firewood, Aachchi cut her ankle and bled profusely. At the Kalutara District hospital, her health deteriorated, and she wanted to get Catholic last rites. The parish priest refused to visit her at the hospital. My grandfather promised the priest to take Thaththa out from the Lansi Palliya. The priest then administered the last rites on Aachchi after admonishing her for straying away from God and his love.
A few months later, the principal priest of Holy Cross College saw some drawings of Jesus and the Apostles at the entrance to the church of Kalamulla. The priest wanted to meet the artist. The artist was Thaththa. The priest recognised him as the boy who had come with his mother to meet him. The priest appreciated Thaththa’s drawings and asked him to visit the College with his mother. The priest waived school fees and asked Aachchi to pay a rupee monthly as facilities fees. Her nephew loaned that money to her. She arranged for Thaththa to have lunch at her cousin’s place in Kalutara on school days. The cousin treated Thaththa well, and Aachchi gave her a piece of land as a token of gratitude.
Thaththa disliked the new school. Boys bullied him and criticised his old clothes and shoes. When Thaththa dropped out from Holy Cross after passing JSC at 18, Aachchi thought thaththa had suffered because of neighbours’ evil eyes. Thaththa wandered aimlessly in the village in his sarong and shirt as his father did many years ago. Aachchi suspected someone had used black magic to harm him.
Thaththa passed the junior clerical examination and was posted at Kandy General Hospital. Aachchi was devastated when she heard that thaththa would leave home. When thaththa did not come home for four months and did not even send a postcard, she made up her mind that Thaththa was dead. When Thaththa returned home, she fed 20 poor persons and requested them to pray for Thaththa’s well-being. She expected a good time for herself and Thaththa soon.
Three years later, Thaththa married Amma, and Aachchi joined the new family. She could not believe that her only son now belonged to another woman. She started to harass Amma by spreading rumours against her. Amma treated Aachchi well. When meals were prepared, Amma served Achchi first. Once, she tried to kill Amma by slashing the ropes of the bed where Amma used to rest after lunch. Achchi spread a mat over the bed to hide the hole. On that day, Amma was getting ready to go to the Kalutara District Hospital to deliver me, her third child. She fell through the bed when she lay down after lunch. She was unconscious for an hour but delivered to me on the same day at home with the help of a local midwife. Aachchi denied that she had cut the ropes. It was the beginning of her troubles with her son. Thaththa chased her away from home. She spent two years with her nieces in Beruwela before returning to her son’s house.
Aachchi remembered who had helped her in bringing up Thaththa. She sold her residential house and homestead to an outsider because her relatives in the neighbourhood had ignored her and Thaththa when they were trying to survive as the poorest family among them. When I visited Achchi’s village many years later, an old aunt complained that Aachchi had destroyed the neighbourhood’s solidarity by selling her property to an outsider.
Aachchi had rented several coconut trees annually on two plots of land by the beach to a toddy businessman. The rent was for tapping coconut trees for toddy. She took my elder brother or me on her rent-collecting trips. Once, the businessman told her that the trees on her land had died when lightning struck them. She did not accept the explanation and demanded the rent, which she got after arguing with the man. She spent the money on her grandchildren. She brought two packets of Maldivian halva, four neckties for her grandchildren, and three handkerchiefs for thaththa. She did not buy anything for Amma. She opened the halva packets and put halva pieces under the outer cloth that she was wearing so that we could not snatch them from her. After that, we refused to eat them, saying that she smeared them with her urine.
Aachchi took her grandchildren to visit her relatives during church feasts. Once, she told us to wear the ties she had bought to attend the Kala Eliya church feast. My necktie had the pattern of running tigers, Gamini had a necktie with frogs, and Nihal’s necktie had dancing cobras. My youngest brother, Parakrama, refused to wear his tie with swans. Achchi wore a thick, colourful kumbaya and an embroidered long-sleeved jacket. If the relatives did not welcome us, Aachchi told us to entertain them. Gamini often demonstrated ‘China-footing’, which he had learned from Thaththa. Gamini punched an imaginary foe with his fists and elbows with a peculiar scream. I recited a poem in English. Nihal showed a piece from a drama he had performed at the School.
Achchchi loved to take her four grandsons to Sunday mass. Once, after the holy mass, she bought mango achchar (pickle) for us with the money my Amma gave her to pay for our haircuts. She took us to a hair salon and got our hair cut. She asked us to show our skills to the saloon keeper and other customers. When we got up to leave the saloon, the salon keeper asked Achchi to pay for the services. She asked him, “How often do you get four handsome boys to perform and entertain you? You should be ashamed to demand money from them after such a great performance”. We never went back to the salon.
On Christmas Eve, thaththa gave Aachchi one or two ‘drams’ of arrack, and Aachchi wanted more. While smoking a crude black cigar, she sang a street song that she learned as a young girl during the 1915 Muslim-Sinhala riots:
Kauda bole pare morae
Lunsi kabalunge morae
Gal gahala marala marala…
(Who are those bastards shouting on our streets
White (English) ruffians are shouting on the streets.
Let us stone and kill them, and kill them—).
Aachchi had fallen ill and was paralysed when she was 77. She was bedridden for three months before her death. A village physician suggested to my father that he dip his thumb in water and give the water to Achchi to drink to finish the close relationship between him and Aachchi. Such severance, he explained, would help her to die peacefully. Thaththa refused to do it and left the house angrily.
One morning, Aachchi called me to her bedside. She could hardly talk. I told her that I loved her and would miss her. I could see tears in her eyes, and she confessed lightly, holding my hand, that she did not mean to kill Amma by cutting the ropes of the bed. I felt sorry to see her tears. I consoled her by saying that I had escaped death on that day so that I could look after her and Amma.
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 . )
