Features
Needed jab; hasty passing of a bill; folly of seeing strictly forbidden grass greener than home turf
Cassandra started her last Friday’s (May 14) article with a wail. She cried, desperation overcoming her: “Manna from the skies and the drop of water to a man dying of thirst is for most now a jab in the upper arm which will hopefully keep at bay dreaded omnipotent, omnipresent Covid-19 virus.” Even a week after the wailing complaint was voiced, we are no closer to getting the second dose of A Z vaccine. Rumours float that Rosy got 600,000 doses and to register with her and get the shot. Not Cass to do so; never have jumped a queue. That must be a false claim, though nothing in Free Sri Lanka is impossible.
Colombo Port City draft Bill
Then greater perturbation overwhelmed us so that often, Cass did shiver, actually quiver with fear, more so hearing Attorneys-at-Law Srinath Perera PC, and Harshana Nanayakkara express fears in their MTV 1 Newsline interview with TV journo Sharman Benedict. With no mincing of words, they forecast doom and black gloom if the Port City Bill is passed as it is intended to be – easily and with the necessary majority, piloted as it is through Parliament with only two days of debate sandwiched between lockdowns during the height of the C19 third wave. The main immediate aim of the government seems to be, and has been said to be by very many, the rapid passing of the Colombo Port City Bill. The plight of the people of the country and their falling prey to C19 and many dying is of little concern. Greater concern is to pass the Bill and make it Law – the rules governing the Port City. For whose benefit, we ask. Certainly not ours, since more important matters are pending. So we are being magnanimous to a nation known for its economic colonisation.
A hell of a lot of word-steam rose and will rise within the House by the Diyawanna. But as expected and feared by us who are neutral minded politically, the Bill will be passed with a majority. The SC has ruled wisely and the government promises amendments. But as Att.-at-Law Srinath Perera pronounced loud and clear on Tuesday night, it was a 99-year period for which this country was to be dictated to by China.
It was salutary to hear what the Leader of the Opposition had to say when interviewed by MTV 1 on its Newsline Programme on Monday May 17, and echoed by Dr Harsha de Silva as a panel member of the same channel’s Face the Nation starting at 9.30 that very night. The Opposition approves the Port City and hopes it will be a huge economic boon to the country drawing in foreign investment; giving jobs to locals; introducing new techniques mostly electronic; and generally giving a lift to the country’s woeful economic condition. What do they object to? The speedy passage of the Bill through Parliament, and some articles in the drawn-up rules governing the Port City which are sure to be deleterious to Sri Lanka and solely beneficial to the foreign countries – China – which seems to be given carte blanche to do as they like on Sri Lankan property. Are we selling off our independence and sovereignty for a jar of pottage?
An intriguing side show occurred in Parliament on Tuesday May 18. Leader of the Opp asked some salient questions from the Minister of Health. She got into a twist (Cass nearly gave here a phrase used by her as a schoolgirl to depict a dilemma – getting your knickers in a twist!). Well, Pavitradevi was flustered plus angry. She said she could not answer the qs then. Sajith Premadasa was very polite but up pops S B Dissanayake, quaking with rage, his cheeks a-quiver and asks why the fair lady (Cass’ words) is being badgered. And who seconds him? Rohitha Abeywardena from Kalutara whose sobriquet is well known. Cass said the incident was intriguing. There was the ex Sports Minister accused of harassment by Susie girl some months after her marvelous coming third and promoted higher at the Athens Olympics. Chivalrous Sir Galahad on May 19, 2021, though previously accused of passing back and forth alongside the Col 7 sports stadium while Susie practiced her sprint!!
Are people made ill to fill the thousands of new beds?
Cass, for one, laughs outright at the boast of some; Cass believes it was the Minster of Health who said that every C19 patient would have a bed and needed equipment in a hospital setting. The Minister of Sports and Youth did not sound the boast verbally but was inspecting with obvious pride the masses of beds prepared in Seeduwa and somewhere else. The army and apprentices worked around the clock constructing the building and beds; thus Cass would have liked to see the head of the workmen who got this marvelous job done, and not the young Minister’s face since this does not come under either his sports or youth mandates, and we see his handsome mug more than enough, nowadays. Also, so easy for him to helicopter inspect, accompanied by a host of persons and TV crew.
What would have been much more prideful and boasted as success would have been the curbing of infection and rise of number of patients by taking timely action of mass inoculation and curbing drastically movement of persons starting even before the Avurudhu season. It’s always a case of hanging onto the galloping horse’s tail as the unguarded stable door opens, losing the battle of stopping the horse in his tracks. At the open door of the now bare stable are the powerful, showing surprise the horse bolted away.
We will appreciate the government’s efforts when the rise of the third wave is curbed and deaths and illness prevented, since that will be their responsibility, listening to medical advice and bringing in cooperation and collaboration of all in this massive fight. But the Brother heading the Covid Prevention task force, all the institutions and government departments concerned with the economy of the country, took a leaf from the horse that bolted and departed to his adopted country at the very height of the crisis. We Ordinaries are left floundering and wondering, while quacking with fear.
Death in Japan: tragic yet …
The New York Times
carried an article on May 18 titled Japan is shaken after a detainee, wasting away, dies alone in her cell by Ben Dooley and Hisako Ueno.
On March 6, at the age of 33, Wishma Rathnayake died while held in a detention centre in Nagoya. We are greatly saddened and grieve for her family but there are Buts to the tragedy. I quote the article: “Her case has become a source of outrage for critics of Japan’s immigration system, who say that Ms. Rathnayake was the victim of an opaque and capricious bureaucracy that has nearly unchecked power over foreigners who run afoul of it.”
The above is true but can you blame Japan for its strict rules over immigration while countries that were more tolerant suffer later for their mercy in letting in immigrants?
Wishma seems to have gone legally to Japan to study Japanese hoping to be a teacher of English over there. While at ‘school’ learning Japanese, she befriended a co-student – Sri Lankan – and they disappeared, detailed the article. Later, she reported to the police of his harassment of her. It was then noted she was overstaying her visa. She was promptly detained at the Nagoya centre. She got off food and weakened in body as her mind succumbed to depression. Doctors saw her but did not move her to hospital due to the fear she was faking her illness. She died through not being able to take food.
The ‘cell’ she was held in as shown in photographs in the NYT article was luxurious to me – a small flatlet – and there were Japanese NGOs visiting and befriending her.
Cass’ sorrow is genuine and her sympathies to the family sincere. However, as the dots in the subtitle denote, Wishma was in the wrong: knowing full well consequences of overstaying her visa-given term. Also, one cannot deny that the hard line taken by the Japanese authorities is known and especially by visitors. Thus Japan is justified in being strict in these times of immigration to favourable countries being the dream of many, to be achieved by any means. Those who visit foreign countries must know the rules of the host country and abide by them. The grass may be greener over there but better your own turf, parched though it be.