Features
Listening to T.m
By Uditha Devapriya
I first encountered T. M. Jayaratne through the films of K. A. W. Perera. Most of them were scored by Premasiri Khemadasa, who, in more than one sense, introduced Jayaratne to popular audiences. Together with Sanath Nandasiri, Sunil Edirisinghe, Mervin Perera, and of course Victor Ratnayake, Jayaratne belongs to a third generation, the successors of a long line of vocalists that begins with Rukmani Devi and flows over to Amaradeva. Quoting Ajith Samaranayake, it is rather difficult to locate them on the social map, because they touch it at several points. The biographer hence confronts an impossible task.
Jayaratne emerges from roughly the same milieu as Amaradeva, a bilingual Sinhala middle-class. It would be wrong, however, to situate them in the same social environment. While Amaradeva’s emergence as an artiste coincided with the bureaucratisation of the arts, in particular music, Jayaratne’s generation emerged at a time when that process had reached its fruition. A number of factors, prominently free education, but also the conversion of two pirivenas to State universities, had laid the groundwork for these developments. Jayaratne and his colleagues figured in an interregnum of sorts: free education and the nationalisation of the arts had emancipated swabasha speaking folk, but these artistes hailed from a social and cultural environment partly moored in the pre-swabasha era.
This was true particularly of Jayaratne. Born in the village of Dodanwala, Kandy, in 1944, he was first sent to St Anthony’s College in Katugastota. At St Anthony’s, he forayed into Western music. “What we did in our music class,” he told me, “was to gather around our teacher and her piano and sing ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ and ‘Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree’.” Eventually, he admitted, “we became more inclined towards Western music, even Western culture.” It hardly needs adding that, as with all missionary schools, St Anthony’s taught in the English medium. Of the teachers at school, Jayaratne remembered the Rector, Reverend Father Rosati, the best. A graduate of the University of London, Father Rosati epitomised an education system that was soon to pass.
“We adored him,” Jayaratne recalled. ‘It was hard to escape him. He used to visit our classes and ask questions, out of the blue. If we answered correctly, he would praise us and give us lozenges. After handing them, he’d turn around to those who hadn’t answered rightly and say, ‘And for those who didn’t get the correct answer, don’t be annoyed with me, I have lozenges for you as well.’ It was impossible not to like the man.”
A key motif that runs through the careers of Jayaratne’s contemporaries is their middle-class origins. While cut off from the Westernised bourgeoisie, they were nevertheless part of an emerging, articulate Sinhala middle-class. Their financial status, not surprisingly, depended on the careers of their fathers and forebearers. This was true of Jayaratne as well: his father worked as a government servant. As with almost all government servants, he was prone to being transferred from one region to another. Barely two years after his son had been enrolled to St Anthony’s, he was requested to leave for Nuwara Eliya.
Jayaratne remembers this as the beginning of a particularly hectic period. “Father would leave for work on Monday morning and come back on Friday evening to spend the weekend with us. He endured this routine for two years, after which he got another transfer, this time to Anuradhapura. He pushed for a delay. He got it delayed for two years.” Once those two years were up, Jayaratne recalls, the transfer request was renewed. “We obviously needed to act fast. I had an aunt who lived in Kurunegala. So father quickly got himself a transfer to Kurunegala. This meant enrolling at and attending another school. I was thus taken out of St Anthony’s and introduced to Maliyadeva Vidyalaya. I started at Grade Seven.”
Started in 1888 at the heyday of the Buddhist Revival, Maliyadeva Vidyalaya stood out as a leading boys’ school in not just Kurunegala and the North-Western Province, but the whole country as well. While a far cry from St Anthony’s, it retained the curriculum in operation at Christian schools. However, its social and cultural environment differed considerably from missionary schools: students spoke in Sinhala and most of them professed Buddhism. By Jayaratne’s own confession, “it was difficult to get used to this shift. English was limited to one subject, and in every respect the subjects we learnt were indigenised, more in tune with Sinhala and Buddhist culture. I noticed this during our music classes too. We no longer sang English nursery rhymes, we only performed ragas and Hindustani melodies.”
What is fascinating here is that, despite these shifts, Maliyadeva failed to nativize Jayaratne or his friends. It in fact made them more cosmopolitan. “What I came to appreciate more than
anything else at Maliyadeva was that there was no essential difference between the music I had learnt and the music I was being taught now. I saw no wide chasm between the ‘Do Re Mi’ I had sung with relish at St Anthony’s and the ‘Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa’ I had to imbibe at Maliyadeva.” In other words, the new learning environment failed to inhibit him or to make him more insular. It merely made him dig deeper, in search of his roots.
The senior music master at Maliyadeva, K. M. Dayapala, noticed Jayaratne’s penchant for singing earlier on. He encouraged him to sit the music exams while pursuing their studies. “He was a persistent teacher and a persistent man. He strived to keep us a cut above the rest. Eventually he managed to get us through all three stages of the music exams conducted by the Gandharva Sabhawa and held in Kandy. The exams were based on two categories: vocal and instrumental. I passed in both categories and at all three stages.”
Dayapala’s endeavours did not end there. While the university entrance exams were around the corner, the government published a Gazette Notification calling for applications from those who aspired to teach music. “Mr Dayapala asked us to sit the entrance exams and apply for music teaching vacancies after them. By some stroke of luck, I was called to the Education Department at Kollupitiya, where some officials interviewed me. Initially I felt I had not been selected, so I soon abandoned all hopes I had of teaching music. But then, not long afterwards, the Director of Education personally informed me that I had been selected. I would be posted to a school near Colombo. I was obviously overwhelmed.”
Through the Department of Education, Jayaratne entered a new world and a new environment, one moulded by new values. Interestingly, his appointment to his first school – Hewawitharana Maha Vidyalaya in Rajagiriya – was made on the same day (September 7) that five other aspiring teachers were given their first appointments: Victor Ratnayake (Aththalapitiya Maha Vidyalaya in Bandarawela), Sanath Nandasiri (Uhana Maha Vidyalaya in Ampara), Mervin Perera (Kohombara Maha Vidyalaya in Ampara), Shelton Perera (Sri Pada Maha Vidyalaya in Hatton), and Sarath Dassanayake (Niwaththakachethiya Maha Vidyalaya in Anuradhapura). These were to be his contemporaries in a few years time, and as he himself put it to me, “our careers converged frequently thereafter.”
While engaged in his job, Jayaratne got involved with various stage dramas and concerts, supplementing his income. “I would get up to Rs. 20 a show. It was not much by today’s standards, but a lot back then, considering my monthly rent was Rs. 55.”
Those shows eventually got him into a vivida prasangaya organised at the Teachers’ Training College in Maharagama, where he once had to perform in place of a singer who hadn’t turned up. The organiser of that prasangaya, C. de S. Kulathilaka, was subsequently appointed as the Head of the Folk Music Research Unit at the SLBC. He had been impressed with Jayaratne’s voice, and soon afterwards, he took him into the unit to perform refined, accompanied versions of various folk songs he was tasked with recording from across the country. “One of the songs I performed, Badda Watata, was heard by a man who called the SLBC. He got to know that I taught at a school located near his house. I started working with him soon after.” That man was Premasiri Khemadasa.
Jayaratne’s collaboration with Khemadasa has been charted many times before. Suffice it to say that Khemadasa opened him up to popular audiences, thereby establishing him at the centre of the country’s musical landscape. Of his erstwhile colleague, Jayaratne remembers that he was “quite a mercurial man, prone to losing his temper if he didn’t and couldn’t get what he wanted out of you.” Despite this, two of us got on very well with each other, even as Jayaratne continued to work at the Education Ministry and, later, at Sacred Heart College in Rajagiriya, where he taught for five years before retiring.
Retirement has not, of course, hindered Jayaratne from singing. He still sings, and occasionally, performs. “One of the last from his generation” comes nowhere close to describing the worth and merit of this man, but for now, it will do. What more can one say, or choose to say, about such personalities, when all one can do is borrow the cliches of the newspaper tribute and cultural essay when dwelling on them?
The writer is an international relations analyst, researcher, and columnist
who can be reached at udakdev1@gmail.com.
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
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