Features
Imposition of the death penalty and some tidbits from the Ceylon Bar
Excerpted from Nimal Wikramanayake’s Life In The Law
When I went to the Bar in Ceylon in 1959, the courts were large rooms powered by a number of large ceiling fans, as they had been for many years. These ceiling fans were ancient and made a considerable racket. Murder cases were heard in the Assize Courts where either a Commissioner of Assizes or a Supreme Court judge sat. Invariably, when a murder case was heard, hundreds of the accused’s relatives and friends attended court to witness the proceedings and support the accused.On one occasion, I wandered into the Assize Court to learn that the accused had just been found guilty of murder. I watched with horror at the passing of the death sentence. It was a gruesome and frightening experience. Firstly, the large ceiling fans were switched off. The resultant hush that fell over the court was frightening. It was as if night had suddenly fallen.
The interpreter, Mudaliyar (the associate), opened his drawer and pulled out a black cap or, as it usually was, a square piece of black cloth. He walked up the steps leading to the judge’s podium and placed the black cloth on the judge’s head before returning to his seat. The judge then told the accused: “Mr X, you have been found guilty by a trial of your peers of murder and you are hereby sentenced to death. On the # day of # at #am you will be taken from your cell to a particular spot in the prison and hanged by the neck until you are dead and may God have mercy on your soul’
I found this statement that God would have mercy on his soul interesting, for Ceylon was a Buddhist Country and there was no God in the Buddhist religion.When the death sentence was passed, there was pandemonium in the court. The friends and relatives of the accused started screaming and yelling, but before the sentence was passed, the judge had made sure that the court was filled with policemen, so when the judge had finished he looked at the police and said, “Clear the court.” The police then cleared everyone out. The bystanders were shoved outside, still screaming and yelling in the large courtyard.I saw this frightening event only once and hope never to see it again, for in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) the death penalty still prevails.
An interesting testamentary case
In 1960, I was briefed to appear with my master in a most fascinating testamentary case. My master was not a brilliant lawyer. He was a down-to-earth man and reminded me of a sixteenth-century English barrister. He was short and fat and extremely laid back – the antithesis of what a barrister should be. My pet complaint was that he never objected when opposing counsel put leading questions to their witnesses. According to my leader, Kingsley Herat, it made no difference to the result of the case whether or not one objected to leading questions.
The case was fascinating for the reason that the main witness for the plaintiff was a Viennese psychiatrist, a Dr Grillmayer, who had recently started a practice in Ceylon and was then a fashionable psychiatrist in Colombo. Our client, the defendant, was an extremely astute man and the father of a close friend of mine.He had two maiden aunts who were very wealthy. None of their nephews and nieces was interested in the welfare of these two ladies, so our client, for reasons best known to himself, decided to look after their welfare for some years before they died. He would visit them regularly, run errands for them, buy their groceries and take them shopping, take them for their doctors’ appointments, and made himself available to help them in their hour of need.
The first aunt died and left her more than ample estate to our client. Her relatives were furious. How dare she leave her estate to this upstart? She had to be non compos mentis to do this. That could be the only explanation.They decided to bring proceedings to have her last will set aside. This is where Dr Grillmayer came into the equation. He was called to give evidence that the old lady had no testamentary capacity. He was a large podgy character more like someone in a Walt Disney cartoon. He clambered into the witness box with great difficulty and sweated profusely, the sweat running down his face.
He gave his evidence with great authority and declared that there was no doubt that the old lady was not of sound mind. He stated that she was suffering from dissociation of time and space.He was asked the reason for this conclusion and the good doctor said that when she was lying ill in hospital, she had written a letter from the hospital but put her home address on the letter. Judge Johnnie Alles burst out laughing and said, ‘I must be suffering from the same ailment for I wrote four letters this morning from my chambers and put my home address on them’
Dr Grillmayer added that the old lady was not in a proper state of mind because in a letter she had written, ‘I am nailed to the bed, so to speak.’ This meant that she was suffering from a coffin complex. What this coffin complex meant, God only knows because he gave no explanation.My master then asked him, “Are you aware of the fact that that statement is a Ceylonism, an expression in common use in Ceylon, so that when you say you are ‘nailed to the bed’ it means you are confined to your bed’?” The good doctor had no answer to that question. Dr Grillmayer’s evidence was the only evidence led for the plaintiff, so the plaintiff’s action was dismissed.A few years later the second aunt died and she also bequeathed her substantial estate to our client. This will was not contested.
Dining at the Bar in England and Ceylon
In England, “Dining at the Bar” was created hundreds of years ago by the several Inns of Court to help young hopeful barristers to meet and greet each other. When I joined the Inner Temple in September 1954, I was required to dine six times during each of the four terms per year and, over a period of three years, seventy-two times in all. However, when I entered Cambridge, this requirement was cut down to three dinners a term.
These dinners were formal black tie affairs. They were held fin the Great Hall of the Inner Temple. Before I entered, I was required to go into a robing room, select a gown and put it on before I entered the dining hall. The “benchers”, the governing body of the Inn, sat at a long table across the back of the hall. The benchers were men of distinction in the profession and included judges, barristers and professors of law.Many years later, I attended a course in company law at Gibson and Weldon in order to prepare myself for the final Bar examination. The lecturer asked whether any of us could tell him what a “debenture” was. A “debenture” is a term which is not easy to define, but loosely it is said to be a specialty debt of a corporation.Regrettably, an African student, I believe from Nigeria, put up his hand and said that a debenture was a controlling member of the Inns of Court!
Be that as it may, these dinners were dull, boring affairs. We sat at long trestle tables and for every four diners there was a bottle of port and a bottle of claret. I made it a point to sit with Pakistani and African students, for alcohol was not permitted to soil their lips. The result was that most nights I had a bottle of claret to myself. I often left these dinners in a very happy frame of mind.
When I returned to Ceylon, the Bar had an annual dinner called “The Voet Lights” (pronounced footlights), yet it had nothing to do with the theatre but was named after Johannes Voet (pronounced “foot”), a great and a celebrated jurist of the seventeenth century in Holland. I attended twelve of these dinners between the years 1959 and 1970.When I was called to the Ceylon Bar in 1959, it was the custom that there was a chief guest, and the barrister of the newest call was required to make a speech. A couple of other barristers were junior to me so I was not particularly concerned about having to make a speech. When I turned up there I realized to my chagrin that those other two barristers had chickened out, so I had to make a speech after all.
It was the conduct of these young barristers after the dinner that was an absolute disgrace. Every year after the dinner we retired to a private club for further alcohol and there were always fisticuffs between my friends. Most of my time after these dinners was spent trying to pull the combatants apart and I occasionally received a few blows for my foolishness. There was nothing heroic about my behaviour. I just did not want a pleasant evening spoilt by unnecessary fisticuffs.
On one occasion we went to the Sinhalese Sports Club for our usual after-dinner drinks. A solicitor by the name of Virgil James was in our party. How he managed to join our party still remains a mystery for he was a proctor of the Supreme Court and not an advocate. He was a tall, skinny man and he was seriously drunk. Also in our crowd was a gentleman called Parathalingam.
“Para’; as he was known to us, had a father who was a brilliant Queen’s Counsel, Mr Thiagalingam. Virgil, for some unaccountable reason, decided to make a speech about Mr Thiagalingam. He got up and said, “Para”, and then intended to repeat himself but he was so drunk that he said, “Para, your father is a pariah.’
There was pandemonium. Para threw himself across the table, grabbled Virgil by his shirt and proceeded to beat him up. I jumped in between them and received a few hefty blows, but I managed to spirit Virgil James out of the Bar Room, put him in a taxi and send him home.
I remember another occasion when we were dining at a nightclub called “The Atlanta” Among us was a Queen’s Counsel – Mr Izzadeen Mohamed QC. Izza was a lavish host who treated us – I believe there were about fifteen of us – to two bottles of Scotch whisky. We were all drinking in the billiards room and one of my friends, HD Thambiah (Thamby), was extremely drunk. When the waiter brought another bottle of Scotch, I said, “Thamby, I think you’ve had enough to drink. I can drink you under the table. Can I take you home?”
At this, Thamby bellowed, “Nimal, I can drink you under the table at any time.” Thamby’s response was greeted with great hilarity by my friends. They were like a crowd of schoolboys egging on two boys to fight. They said, “Nimal you’re talking rubbish. Thamby can drink you under the table at any time.’ This made Thamby even more eager to show his mettle.
I always remembered my father’s advice about how to consume alcohol at parties. Dad was always reasonably sober when he and his friends had drinking bouts because he used to have a weak drink, say a diluted Scotch with lots of water, and sip it through the night and then maybe have another. But I was terrified now as to what this drinking contest meant.
Thamby poured two full glasses of neat Scotch whiskey, then he took one and handed me the other. I protested vehemently, saying that I could not drink a full glass of neat Scotch whiskey. The crowd sided with Thambi and said that that was the terms of the bet. In a fit of bravado, Thamby knocked down his full glass of straight Scotch whiskey.
He was seated on one of the long wooden seats that one finds in a billiard room. The next thing we heard was a clatter as Thamby slipped down his seat and ended up under the billiard table, completely comatose. He had to be taken home and, of course, I won the bet. Why did I need to refer to this drunken revelry? Even lawyers have moments of absurdity.
An amusing story
I would like to relate an incident which occurred in my early years at the Ceylon Bar to introduce a note of levity into this memoir and to prevent boredom from settling in.When I first went to the Bar I would follow senior barristers around and sit down behind them in court to try to learn something from the way they conducted their cases. There was an advocate, whom I shall call Mr X, whom I admired immensely when I first went to the bar. He was slim and tall, and affected an air of insouciance. He wore China-silk suits with flared trouser legs. He smoked cigarettes through a long cigarette holder.
In my early years I used to follow him, especially when he went to the Court of Assizes. I was following a murder case in which he was appearing one day when he told members of the jury that the case for the prosecution was like a painted ship on a painted ocean. That was how he expressed his assertion that the prosecution case was false. I was impressed.
A couple of years later I was seated with my friend Manicks Kanagaretnam in the lounge of the Law Library having a cup of coffee when Mr X walked up and asked to speak to Manicks on a personal matter. He shooed me away, saying that he was not interested in discussing his personal matters before young boys. However, Manicks let me stay and listen to Mr X, who then sat down and told Manicks that he had an important personal problem. He had to go to a formal dinner that night and had never been to one before. What was he to do?
Manicks was regarded as a man of the world, having gone to England and qualified as a barrister, then returned to Ceylon. He was about 10 years older than I was. He told Mr X that he would have a woman seated on either side of him and that the easiest way to get through the dinner was to discuss their marriages and their children, and everything would be fine.
On Monday, I returned to chambers to find Mr X in a heated argument with Manicks. He was screaming abuse at him. He had gone to the dinner and found a woman seated on either side of him. He turned and spoke to the woman to his right and asked, “Are you married?” to which she replied, “No”. He then asked her whether she had any children and she became so incensed that she turned around and did not speak to him for the rest of the night.
Next, he attempted to make conversation with the lady on his left-hand side. He asked her whether she had any children to which she replied, “Yes” He then asked her whether she was married, and she too turned her back on him in a huff and did not speak to him for the rest of the evening. When I saw him that Monday morning, he was absolutely dejected and accused Manicks of ruining his dinner with his stupid advice.
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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