Features
Quest for uncorrupted politicians: Futile?
By Indrawansa de Silva
Professor Emeritus
It is fair to say that the fight against corruption is one of the drivers, if not the driver, of the current protest movement. We are all quite familiar with protesters’ claim that the present regime is corrupt to the core and the massive scale corruption and incompetency brought the country to a bankruptcy. Corruption charges, however, are not just directed at Rajapaksas and the governing party alone. As this newspaper reported recently, the JVP leadership gleefully announced that they are in possession of over 500 files containing corruption charges against politicians (including the Opposition leader), ministry secretaries and other government officers. The same news item named the corruption case against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s cousin Jaliya Wickramasuriya, who reportedly pocketed US$3.32 million (at today’s rate a person making Rs.100,000 a month has to work more than 100 years to make that much money) on a US$ 6.25 million real estate deal, pertinent to the Sri Lankan Embassy, when he served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United States. That is a commission exceeding 50 percent! Jaliya seems to put ‘Mr. Ten Percent’ to shame. As staggering as these numbers may, we all know that this is just the tip of the iceberg. If you dig a little deeper, the numbers are astounding. If you listen to the protesters, and read the banners and placards, no parliamentarian is exempted from corruption charges. Claims that the entire treasury has been looted seems not that exaggerated after all.
This, however, is not the first time the words corruption and politicians appeared in the same sentence. Corruption and corrupt politicians have been in the mix at every election I can recall and I pretty much remember all the elections since 1965. I remember the then trade minister T.B. Ilangarathne being nicknamed “Dry-fish Prince” (Karola Kumaraya) for allegedly securing a commission – a miniscule sum in today’s standard – importing dry-fish. Interestingly, in all those elections Sri Lankans kicked one corrupt regime only to elect another corrupt one. Corruption actually intensified at each successive regime and getting elected to public office, even at the local level, has become the most lucrative profession one can seek in Sri Lanka today. The amount of personal funds contestants spend on election campaigns cannot be justified in any other way than an investment with guaranteed returns. This maybe the reason the protesters are not willing to settle with any current parliamentarian and calling for a total cleansing of the House (the call behind “Gota and the entire 225 must Go!”).
How realistic is the hope that we can find a set of uncorrupted politicians to run the country this time? Or, what guarantee do we have that once in power, power would not corrupt the new crop? I think we should give some serious considerations to these questions as we are at an unconventional juncture in Sri Lankan politics. To do so I suggest that we start with an understanding of what corruption is and how hard-wired corruption is within us. Such an understanding is necessary to find those who do not possess corruptive traits, if that is ever possible, at all.
We tend to concentrate largely on the outright stealing of public funds and commissions when we talk about corruption because they make juicy headlines and media love it. Just take the story of Jaliya Wickramasuriya, I cited earlier, for example. The story was centered on the amount of money he was able to pocket at the cost of overlooking the larger issue, that is how a tea trader by profession landed on the most consequential ambassadorship of the country? Besides being a cousin of the President at the time, what other qualifications did he have to hold such a position? What sort of a price did the country pay by having an unqualified person in that very important job? So, while theft of public funds and embezzlement are rightfully in the forefront of the corruption locomotive and create flashy headlines, we should not turn a blind eye to the other elements of corruption: influence peddling, nepotism, bribery, cronyism and patronage. Take nepotism, for example, what sort of a price tag can we put to the fact that over 70 percent of the country’s budget is under the Rajapaksa family?
Corruption is in our DNA
Evidence suggests that corruption is as old as we, humans, are. Who could say for sure that nepotism did not exist in tribal societies or that the tribal leader got the lion’s share of the hunt or the gatherings for himself and his loved ones? If we go to the recorded history we can find reference to corruption in religious literature. And in Republic, Plato has acknowledged the corrupt nature of political institutions. So, it is not just that individuals who are corrupt. So are the institutions. How about nations? Are nations corrupt too? Well, doesn’t the sheer existence of Transparency International, whose motto is “the global coalition against corruption,” is proof that nations are corrupt too, and it is the degree or the magnitude of corruption that put them in their respective ranks. Corruption is so prevalent amongst us, our institutions and the nations that reasonable people are no longer talking about elimination of corruption. Instead they talk about curbing or reining in corruption rather than upending the bar to an unreachable setting.
This brings me to the fundamental proposition of this writing: are there uncorrupted leaders to be found? Unfortunately, the answer is it is a near impossibility. Throughout history humans have shown that they are so prone to corruption and it is the power, no matter how miniscule that power is, that corrupts. Look around us. Let’s take a very recent example. How did you manage to secure the last gas cylinder you got? Everyone in Sri Lanka I talked with over the past few weeks answered that question and you all know the answer. Let’s expand our boundaries a bit. How did you or your children get into the school either you or your children ended up going? Did you lie about your residential address for the purpose of scoring points to a “good” school for your children? If you did not, don’t you know someone who did? What options remains for you or your children to find a job solely based on what you know, not who you know? Did you end up going to the courts and paid the legal price when you got caught during your last traffic violation or did you “settle” that on the spot? What strings did you have to pull to get this approval or that? Just this morning a friend of mine said a very higher up civil servant friend of his in the eastern part of the country assured him a tank full of petrol without any hassle. Well, I can go on and on, but you get the point. So, if you or I answered affirmatively to any of the above presumptive situations, what right do we have to ask the crooks who run the country to go home without being hypocrite? Let anyone of you who without sin be the first to cast a stone (John 8:7). (By the way, this is in no way to defend or justify a corrupt regime, with Rajapaksa or any other name attached to it.) I know what you are thinking: getting a gas cylinder or a tankful of petrol by peddling influence is not as grave as embezzling three million dollars or cutting a billion-rupee commission deal, right? Well, now we are applying moral relativism to corruption. Allow me to remind what is crucial to corruption or what drives corruption: Power! Our level of corruption is positively correlated with the power we have. Higher the power, greater the corruption. I bet those insanely corrupt politicians we know were either clean or less corrupt when they were getting into politics decades ago. Because they simply didn’t have the power to be corrupted. I know this by experience because some of the notoriously corrupt politicians currently in the parliament were my university contemporaries in the 1970s. This, again, brings me back to the early story I cited. As Anura Kumara Dissanayake gleefully presented those 500+ files the underlying assumption is that they are clean. They maybe clean now because they do not have power. It is just a matter of time. History has proven it. To support my point let’s take a look at those who were with the JVP and hitched themselves to the powers that be and became ministers or landed on other rungs of the power ladder. Aren’t their files on those 500+ too? If not, the public knows that those files are incomplete.
Any Hope?
I know it is a very gloomy picture that I have painted here and there appears to be nothing but hopelessness. Not so fast. There is hope. When it comes to figure out how to rein in corruption our own history is our north star.
In the absence of a better indicator let’s take a look at the ranking of countries by Transparency International. The nations on the top of the list – the least corrupt – did not become less corrupt because they are home to honest people or some all-powerful god blessed those countries with uncorrupted people. Honesty has nothing to do with where you are born. It is a randomly distributed variable, meaning there are very honest people in notoriously corrupted societies and there are super corrupt people in those countries that top the Transparency International list. What’s the trick, then?
Stop looking for uncorrupt people. They are in very short supply. Start building democratic institutions with checks and balances that can rein in corrupt people; make corruption a hard end to reach; and, when institutional order is broken make sure punishments are swift and painful. Build self-correcting agencies with teeth that no culprit got off scot-free and impunity is just a word that can only be found in a dictionary.
Allow me to conclude with an example from the country I currently live, the United States, that shows the resilience of institutional power and the power of the law. Our last President, Donald J. Trump, was one of the most corrupt presidents we had in our 245-year history. He tried, with not much success, to use the independent agencies of the US government as institutions to serve him. He blatantly tried to use the fiercely independent Attorney General’s office as his personal law office and the Attorney General as his personal lawyer. Most tellingly, and so unprecedentedly, when he finally lost the election he plotted, in vain, to use the government institutions to reverse the loss and even personally called some secretaries of states (in his own party) to “come up with votes” to secure his victory. His own Vice President refused to do what he was asked to do by saying that the Constitution does not allow him to do what his boss asked him to do. Why did he fail? The founders of the US created a governing system that didn’t count on “honest people” to run it. They drafted a set of rules, a very resilient Constitution, that bestowed power to institutions that were, for a large extent, kept corrupt people at bay. Yet it is still a work in progress as shown by Trump.
The writer can be reached at: noholdsbarred222@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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