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CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY JUDO FIGHTING IN INDIA
Continuing from last week’s column: ‘Judo Fighting in Sri Lanka’.
The First National Judo Team of Sri Lanka
In 1982, when the National Judo Association of Sri Lanka invited me to be on the first-ever national Judo team, I was pleasantly surprised and overjoyed. I quickly negotiated two weeks special leave from my job as a Senior Lecturer of the Ceylon Hotel School, to travel to India. The national team comprised of members from four Judo clubs.
The 10-member team was led by Kithsiri De Zoysa (Kiththa) of my club – Colombo YMCA, as the team captain. The other members of the national team were Raja Fernando, A. H. Jinadasa (Jinna), D. H. Ranjith and M. F. M. Izamudeen of the Colombo YMBA; W. K. Godwin of Sri Lanka Police, T. B. Koswaththa of Gampola Judo Club, Gamini Nanayakkara (Nana), K. Navarathnam (Nava) and Chandana Jayawardena of the Colombo YMCA.
Upali Sahabandu, a Senior Superintendent of Police at that time, was the team manager. Upali had a tough job keeping an eye on some of the playful, Judokas who were in their twenties. Upali was a good leader and an experienced Judo fighter. In the middle of the hot summer of 1982, eleven of us departed for India for two weeks with hope, anxiety and ambition.
We flew from Colombo to Madras on August 13, 1982. After that, the plan was to take a two-day long, train ride from Madras to New Delhi. Then we would proceed to Ghaziabad, where an international Judo tournament was being held. The key reward for the competing teams from South Asian countries was the possibility of winning the prestigious ‘Professor Jigoro Kano Cup (India)’. It paid tribute to the father of Kodokan Judo in Japan.
India
I was excited to arrive in India. It was the 20th country I visited, during my early stage of global travel. I had set an ambitious target to eventually, travel to over 100 countries (yet to achieve in 2022). Although it was the first time I visited India, my whole life had significant Indian influences. My father’s mother’s parents were from a Brahmin family who had migrated from India to Ceylon. My elder sister went to India on a scholarship to study for five years at the Allahabad Agricultural Institute, India (now, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences).
Vijaya brought the island under his control establishing himself as king. He was followed by 123 kings and queens who ruled Sri Lanka for next 2,361 years. About 75% of Sri Lankans – Sinhalese are descendants from that wave of North Indian migration. Another 15% of Sri Lankans – Tamils are descendants from different waves of South Indian migration over the centuries. Therefore, 90% of Sri Lankas have some form of Indian connection.
I had studied a little about the lives, philosophies and contributions to the mankind by some famous sons of India whom I admire – Gautama Buddha, Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jiddu Krishnamurti. Indian religions (Buddhists plus Hindus totalling over 80% of Sri Lankans), Ayurveda, meditation, yoga, sports, festivals, cuisine, and culture were common elements in India and Sri Lanka. These helped to create a bond among the populations living in two countries, only 21 miles apart, that had lasted over 26 centuries.
In the early 1970s, I frequently left my grade 11 and 12 classes at Ananda College, soon after the attendance registers were marked to watch over 50 Hindi movies (without any knowledge of my parents!). Seated in the gallery which cost only 50 cents, the language was no barrier for my enjoyment of the music and beautiful singing. It was clearly evident that some of the popular Sri Lankan movies at that time, were influenced by the storylines, productions, songs and box office winning formulas of Indian movies. I liked old Hindi songs of Lata Mangeshkar, popular movies of Raj Kapoor, artistic movies of Satyajit Ray and also the opening batting of Sunil Gavaskar.
In the early 1980s, there were hardly any imports to India of non-essential items. Coming from Colombo where roads were filled with re-conditioned Japanese cars, we were surprised to see only a limited number of locally manufactured brands of vehicles on the roads in India. We did not notice any makes other than TATA buses and trucks, Hindustan and Premier Padmini cars. Soon after we landed in Madras, we had numerous offers to sell bottles of imported liquor and cigarettes that we were privileged to buy from duty free shops at the airport.
Madras
Our AirLanka flight from Colombo took a short 70-minutes to reach Madras. We were given a warm welcome by a small group of Indian Judokas. Our accommodation was arranged in Madras at the Sri Lanka Maha Bodhi Centre which included a small temple, named Buddha Vihar – the only Buddhist temple in Madras. It was located opposite to Egmore Railway Station, which was an impressive, early 20th century building and one of the prominent landmarks of Madras. On our second evening in Madras, our Indian friends arranged a friendly Judo meet and a brief tour of Madras.
Madras was the shortened name of the fishing village Madraspatnam, where the British East India Company had built a fort and factory/trading post in the mid-seventeenth century. The government of Tamil Nadu officially changed the name of the city to Chennai in 1996, in order to break free from the legacy stamped by British colonisers. Madras, on the Bay of Bengal in Eastern India, is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, which had a population of 50 million in 1982 (increased to over 77 million in 2022).
The city is home to Fort St. George, built in 1644 and now a museum showcasing the city’s roots as a British military garrison. Madras has the famous 13-kilometre-long Marina Beach along the Bay of Bengal. It is the longest and the most crowded, natural urban beach in India and the second longest in the world (after Praia do Cassino Beach, Brazil,). In 1982, with an urban / metropolitan population of 4.5 million (over nine million in 2022), Madras was the fifth most populated city in India.
52-hours on Janta Express
After two days in Madras, we took the longest (around 2,200 kilometres) train ride any of us had ever experienced. Although the journey was expected to take 46 hours, several delays resulted in us being on the train for 52 hours. None of the passengers complained about that six-hour delay. We quickly got used to the train and its hard seats in the economy class. We were given seats in a corner of our compartment, next to a bathroom. There, we regularly showered to be comfortable in the midst of a heat wave and nearly unbearable humidity.
This train had three tiers of bunks to sleep. Our Captain, Kiththa was nearly starving as he wanted to reduce his weight by five pounds before pre-game weighing in Ghaziabad, to qualify for a lower weight category fight. His plan was to eat a lot after the weighing to gain weight and more strength. In spite of our jokes, Kiththa remained in a top level bunk to avoid any temptation to eat while the rest of us ate. Occasionally he looked down at us having a lot of fun and laughing loudly. He came down only a couple of times to use the toilet.
At the main station stops, food vendors sold us warm food served on large aluminium plates. We had to pay first and eat quickly before the train moved, as the vendors wanted their aluminium plates back. Food was always delicious although we were not sure of the hygienic conditions in which the fit was prepared. As we were starving, we did not care too much about such things. In between our stops, hot meals, showers, pranks, jokes, naps; we also played 304 card games. Even though we came from different clubs, that 52-hour long train ride made us become a closely-knit team, proud to represent our country in India.
Delhi
We were exhausted by the time we arrived in New Delhi, the capital of India. A few of us also suffered from food poisoning. After some rest, we went sightseeing. The seat of all three branches of the government of India – Rashtrapati Bhavan (President’s residence/office), Parliament House and the Supreme Court, are in Delhi. With a 340-room main building on a 320-acre presidential estate, Rashtrapati Bhavan is considered the largest residence of any head of state in the world. The New Delhi district formed a relatively small part of the megacity of Delhi which had a population of six million in 1982, but has now grown to have nearly 30 million in 2022 (second only to Tokyo).
In Old Delhi, a neighbourhood dating to the 1600s, stands the imposing Mughal-era Red Fort, a symbol of India. Nearby is the sprawling Jama Masjid Mosque, whose courtyard can accommodate 25,000 people. Chandni Chowk, a vibrant bazaar filled with food carts, sweet shops and spice stalls, was colourful and interesting. The Red Fort had served as the main residence of the Mughal Emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned the construction of the Red Fort, when he decided to move his capital from Agra to Delhi.
Every year on India’s Independence Day (15 August), the Prime Minister hoists the Indian flag at the fort’s main gate and delivers a nationally broadcasted speech from its ramparts. Unfortunately, we missed this event in 1982 by a day. In Delhi we met another Judoka from Sri Lanka, Gamini Rupasinghe, who had arrived in India for a different assignment. Having earned black belts in both Judo and Karate, Gamini was unique among Sri Lankan martial artists. Gamini joined us for a short period.
We had a free evening, so we decided to see a Hindi movie after dinner. In Delhi, some large cinemas had movies placed on a loop, continuing 24-hours non-stop. The choice of top summer movie releases was wide. We decided to see – ‘Prem Rog’ (Sickness of Love) which had received high critical acclaim as an all-time classic by Raj Kapoor. It was also one of the two biggest Bollywood box office hits of 1982. It was the correct choice for us. Prem Rog led the 30th Filmfare Awards with 12 nominations and won four including the Best Director of the year award for Raj Kapoor.
Tournaments in Sonipat and Ghaziabad
We moved to an adjoining district in a neighbouring state, about an hour from Delhi. Ghaziabad was the venue for our main tournament. It was a relatively small city of around one million residents. We were provided with accommodation in a quiet old building. We were happy there until we found out that it was a closed hospital. One night, our team member from Sri Lanka Police, Godwin, moved from his bed saying that our dormitory was too warm.
Next morning, over breakfast, Godwin was boasting and told us, “Machang, while you guys were suffering in that warm dormitory, I was lucky to find a ‘cool’ marble bed in another room. I had a nice sleep without any sweat or getting disturbed by noises from you guys.” His happiness was short-lived when we heard from the security guard that the dark, eery looking room with the marble slab was actually the morgue of the haunted old hospital! After that, our team fun was full of ghost jokes and scary pranks with mid-night screams. Godwin was not amused.
JUDO…
Just before our main tournament, we received an additional invitation. Haryana State Judo Association invited the Sri Lanka National team to a quickly organized tournament. It was advertised as ‘North India vs. Sri Lanka Judo Meet’. It was held in a small city called Sonipat. Kiththa and Raja won their bouts and Jinna won a silver medal. That meet was a good practice for the main tournament.
One of the biggest challenges we had was that the mats used for the tournament were wrestling mats. In Sri Lanka, we always fought on proper Judo tatami mats gifted by the Japanese Embassy. Those Japanese mats had a tatami finish and were made of vinyl with an inner compressed sponge and anti-skid bottom.
In spite of that challenge, we did relatively well on the mat. Sri Lanka team had mixed results at the third ‘Professor Jigoro Kano Cup (India)’ tournament. Nana won a gold medal. A few of the team won silver medals. I lost in semi-finals in my category, but managed a draw at a five-Judoka team event.
Judo adventures will continue next Sunday…
By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil
President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada
Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum
chandij@sympatico.ca
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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