Features
Potato ethics in the land of Paddy
Scottish reflections in the ‘Ceylon Cup of Tea’
by B. Nimal Veerasingham
Years ago, when I was passing through a China Town, which is a standard to almost any major city, I came across a shop that sells specialty teas. China being the mother of all beginnings related to Tea, I went in, and the owner happily explained all varieties on display. When he showed one of the expensive varieties he had, I have to pause and take a deep breath. Lived in a country famous for its ‘Ceylon Tea’ the name ‘Monkey-pick-tea’ didn’t sound real, mostly due to my ignorance. I have heard about monkeys being used/employed to pluck coconuts, but with Tea? Who then manures and does the pruning, questions popped up, and for a moment thought the name of being a genius marketing ploy.
Later only I came to know that the tea bush (Camellia sinensis) without pruning can grow up to 15 feet or more in the wild. In the inaccessible cliffs of Wuyi mountains in China’s Southeast province of Fujian, monkeys were trained to break and throw back tea tree branches during the silk road days. Over time, this term referred to a Chinese tea shop owners ‘best’ or ‘top shelf’ tea.
James Taylor
The story of tea is so close to the psyche of the nation. Tea exports still take the lead of all our collective economic welfare, as opposed to the rapid transformation of many Asian nations away from their traditional export markets to reap the benefits of new technology and knowledge-based economy. A young Scotsman’s name is synonymous with the strong spread that resonated with the branding of ‘Ceylon Tea’. Besides what is been written by others, James Taylor’s continuous letters to his tightly knit family from 1851 in London awaiting passage to Asia at the age of sixteen, till 1891 just before his death offers a fascinating view of multi proportions as to his and history of Tea in Ceylon. The bulk of the correspondence, some 83,000 words in total is preserved in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Taylor was born in the North-East of Scotland in 1835 to a modest family, father being a wright (carpenter). Typical of countless young Scots who sought their fortunes in the British Empire and beyond as part of their coming of age, Taylor’s destiny was set on the Island of Taprobane from the beginning to the end. In fact, Scots were very much sought by the Imperial investors for their thrift, energy, and resistless determination and most of all having been exposed to the advanced and widespread Agricultural enterprise at home.
Coffee
Scotland though an ancient nation mostly governed by principalities and aristocratic jurisdictions, after 1707 became part of the Political and Economic union. The empire that they become part of is always British and not English. The Ceylon Government census from 1871 to 1901 shows that almost Scots held a quarter percentage of all British subjects in variety of roles but notably in the agriculture sector. Taylor naturally became part of that enterprise as a yet to be proven apprentice by the owners. During that time of ‘Coffee mania’ which came to a peak in 1870, Ceylon exported more than one million hundredweights to the London market. Taylor enthusiastically predicted that coffee is a splendid investment and for the 1858 crop his Lool Kandura estate could produce more than 3,000 hundredweights or about 150 tons and could bring a profit exceeding £ 5,000 to the owners for that season. No one could have guessed however, that less than two decades later the entire Ceylonese coffee industry would have vanished due to the decease ‘coffee rust’ caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix.
Agrarian Capitalism
The Scottish Agrarian enterprise which includes expansion of multiple trades associated with agriculture grew from a semi-subsistence base to a condition of advanced capitalism between 1760 and 1830s that was copied and applied all around the world. It is interesting that ‘Wealth of Nations’ written by Prof. Adam Smith (1723-1790) known as the ‘Father of Economics’ was attached to Glasgow University in Scotland. It was about the doctrine of ‘free enterprise’ creating wealth, leading to today’s libertarian markets ruled by market forces. While the Northern hemisphere was awash with free market philosophies and accumulating wealth more than one need, the Southern hemisphere was basking in a different kind of collective enterprise as being a socially conscious sedentary agrarian society.
‘ChellaThurai’
When I was growing up in the Eastern coastal city of Batticaloa, my father like so many of his compatriots and fellow city folks cultivated paddy across the lagoon in the hinterland. I am not sure whether he could be called a farmer by definition as he had a day job in town and cultivation of paddy was more like a week-end job. In fact, most of the work at paddy field was done or administered by a hired hand from the village called ‘Chellathurai’. Short, wiry, not with ideal hearing and highly stained few teeth that is left due to chewing betel constantly, he visited our house at least monthly on notifying the progress of the field and to replenish food supplies and getting paid. Though he did not come from a sophisticated science and capitalist economy-based agriculture the Scots were familiar with, his views on weather patterns, pests, animals, levees, seedlings, and soil enhancers were very well listened to as it was passed from many generations. After harvest he was given gunnies of rice paddy based on the contract. The rest were shared among our relatives and many months of rice supply was stored for our personal consumption. In essence there was no seriousness in accumulating greater commodity or cash, far exceeding the reasonable need.
When visiting my father, like many from his times Chellathurai did not wear shirt but a folded and wrinkled ‘shalvai’ (shawl) over his shoulder and an aged, long worn ‘verti’ from his waist down to his barefoot or folded at his knees. Though the shawl was folded I have seen him using it for multiple purposes, to protect from sun and rain and even use it as a bedlinen when he wants to take a quick nap. Coincidently, the origination of Scottish kilt and its uses are almost identical that of ‘Salvai’. The ‘Plaid’ which is part of the attire was used as bedding and in the case of Shepherds provided protection against all weathers in the highlands. Bishop Leslley commented in 1578 that it was for use and not for ornament, ’drape a length of wool fabric over the body like a shawl and keep it in place pleated by the waist with a belt and buckle.’
Environmental concern
When James Taylor arrived at ‘Lool Kandura’, he was given the first responsibility to clear almost 3,00 acres of virgin forest. He awed that there were enormous trees of 10 – 11 feet in circumference of very hard wood, red coloured like mahogany. As per James Webb, author of the ‘Tropical pioneers’, ‘the extensive removal of rain forest for planting in Ceylon is nowhere carried out to this scale in the entire British empire.’ This widespread deforestation mostly happened between 1840 -1870 resulted in significant ecological change. This transformation resulted in massive loss of topsoil in the middle and upper highlands, which limited the options for later alternative land use. Though the results for the expected mass profits were clearly visible, Webb did not hesitate to side-shift the responsibility on native Kandyan farmers. He blamed the destruction by the ‘slash & burn’ tactics employed in the chena cultivation by the natives did greater harm to the environment than clearing forest for coffee planting. It is obvious that the saga of mass cash crop enterprise owned and operated by the Imperial investors was all about profits and it hardly hold weight in comparing meagre subsistence farming by the natives for self sustainment.
Complaint about natives
Taylor was no different from other Europeans who did see the native population as lazy and inadequate. But again, their own insignificant observation about the natives provides the answer that they were looking for. ‘The Sinhalese would find it offensive to work for others….considered like slavery….they will work hard enough at their own small plots of land … other than felling trees and erecting estate buildings for higher remuneration they would feel offensive to do meagre work like weeding, pruning and harvesting.’ The ‘proceedings of the Planters association’ for 1862 was equally scathing, blaming the native’s refusal resulted in dependency for labour from India.
The European managerial class wanted to see through their own lenses of Agrarian capitalism and rigorous work ethics to accumulate wealth, rather than through the native subsistence agriculture and cycles of labor, limited to the daily needs that upheld collective social security than individual wealth in society.
Tamil migrants
Since the estates were in dire straight to keep pumping profits, a kangany system was put in place where a scout or foreman of the estate would return with migrants recruited from South India. Many argue this sometimes a seasonal and part of a circulatory migration rather than permanent as the numbers fluctuated depending on the season. According to Taylor, they would cross the Palk straight and trek through jungle roads and paths for 1-2 weeks covering almost 150 miles to reach the estates. Many did not make it, becoming victims to disease and animals. Besides record suggest that Kanganys did not spend even a third of the coast advance, resulting hundreds dying of starvation, many were thrown into the sea or left behind by the roadsides.
Unaware, unprepared and not used to the damp cold weather many migrants ran away as per Taylor and many died prematurely long before realising their dreams if any. While the planters lived in stone-built bungalows the estate workers were put into straw and daub lined huts, many without proper doors, at times 10 or more in single rooms. Taylor’s letters describe that ‘these naked fellows cannot take the cold at all. It kills them. I have to pick half dying on roadsides who are refusing western medicine.’ The death rate has been estimated at a quarter of the total labour force on plantations. Taylor repeated his calls for a medical doctor in Hewaheta district and attributed deaths to laziness or apathy of the workers and kangany who did not reveal the sickness on time. The high death rate continued throughout the 19th century and hospital records show that 21 percent of all migrant workers admitted to District-hospitals eventually died.
Recruiting workers from tropical settings and not providing proper clothing and housing but calling them naked and half dead shows that human life was not valued highly under the circumstances then.
Views from authority
Some scholars argue that this inhumanity arose from the influx of estate managers or superintendents from the Caribbean immediately after emancipation where slaves were treated differently, not to mention Britain’s direct involvement with slavery.
Taylor also might have been influenced by the resounding Lowland opinion critical of certain segments of the Gaelic and Celtic culture as being slothful and feckless to become victims during the great potato famine after 1846. It was easier for those who bought that race based evil of corrupt indolence to spread it along with other labour cultures based on traditional pre-capitalist world. It was unfortunate that planters both in Assam and Ceylon held the same conventional view that all their workers were lazy and feckless. This is the workforce that they had complete authority over and whose daily toil of blood and sweat depended on the processing of profitable commodities for sale throughout the empire.
Tea
When coffee was almost through the exit door by the mid 1880s the Scot ingenuity explored initially growing Cinchona (to obtain Malaria prevention bark) as a cash crop and later Tea, as the soil and climate perfectly matched. Never in the history of agriculture such extraordinary supersession and development was set within a knowledge economy than that of tea taking the place of coffee and Cinchona in Ceylon. With these developments Ceylon overtook China as the prime exporter with 35% of the share to the British market by 1896. Opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the steamship revolution aided lower cost and bigger profits for the Investors. The mechanisation with considerable engineering skills by Taylor to roll (crush) the leaves gave decisive advantage against the hand rolling practices of China.
The Colonial government which consisted by many from the landed proprietor class encouraged many of its civil servants and military officers to invest in Ceylon plantation economy directly than from overseas, and relaxed rules for land ownership, having an eye to expand its coffers. The infrastructure developments demanded by the Investors came to pass with the improvement of roadways and the opening of the Colombo=Kandy railway in 1867. This significantly reduced the transportation costs from the plantations to the Colombo docks by almost 60-75 percent, which the Indian planters hardly had and benefitted.
Clash of values
Though numerous advanced techniques in planting, building, surveying, and engineering learnt in Scotland were applied to improve the production, the bottom line of the colonial investors were profits. The cross-drains to improve the roads, the stone walls built without mortar and using spouts and iron pins to fetch water from faraway streams showcased James Taylor’s innovation and resourcefulness. Unlike other Europeans who preferred meat, vegetables and potatoes, Taylor preferred ‘Rice & Curry’ for all three meals, probably unable to resist the confluence of spices and coconut milk the same soil produced.
Eastern value system that was not always conducive to Western free market theories can learn aspects from the West’s perseverance, individual responsibility, innovation to accumulate wealth and competitiveness in a knowledge-based economy. Potato economy is not the best for a better world compared to paddy economy, but we cannot run against the world economic stream and live in the past to be left behind. As the Scottish professor Adam Smith said, only self-interest and extra productivity would bring surplus wealth to fund social welfare.
Final journey
The Ceylon press of July 1892 reported that the owners of the Lool Kandura estates, ‘Oriental bank Estates Company’ sought Taylor’s leave of absence due to lethargy of being resident of the estate too long. Taylor’s refusal to take leave resulted in the dispense of his services. An ultimate showcase of the Free Market/Potato economy falling victim for the same when the goals are not met, or services not needed.
Almost a year after dismissal, Taylor died on 2nd May 1892, almost spending 40 years at the estate. Reputedly a group of 24 estate workers carried his large body (said to have weighed 246 pounds) alternating all the way to Mahaiyawa cemetery near Kandy, about 18 miles away. That was the ultimate show of affection and bereavement by Eastern traditionalism Taylor sometimes showed indifference to. ‘Sami Dorai’ (Master of the highest) resting on the shoulders of ordinary workers in his final journey. The native soil that allowed Tea to flourish will now embrace the Master who had never set foot to his native soil after arrival.
The Empire
The heritage of James Taylor would be on display in a few months at the upcoming crowning of a new King in the United Kingdom as Queen mother’s lineage belongs to the Scottish Royals. At a time, the ‘Ceylon Tea’, once crowned by the Colonial-rulers marking its 156th anniversary in the Island, the empire of the past simply been remembered by a grand ceilidh (Big party in Gaelic). World leaders would be in their best, many from the former colonies in their national costumes. Scottish tartans spangled ceremonial and military attires would adorn Bag-pipe parades.
Away from the glitzy glamour, sings and praises, gun salutes and jet flyovers, the occasion for me would bring memories of ‘Chellathurai’ and his wrinkled and discoloured ‘salvai’ (shawl) over his bare shoulder – symbol of the paddy culture, to say the least.
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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