Ranil: Who else is there at this hour of need?

Being a reader of your esteemed paper for at least 30 years or more, I have always admired your editorials. Firstly, for the erudite language and often the contents. Yet, I could not sometimes help the feeling, ‘what a waste of wonderful talent’. I was thinking, who amongst those you address in your editorials can understand the contents, if they manage to read them?

I do believe at this hour when the need is for calm minds to assess the situation our beloved nation is in, and it is my humble opinion your editorials are not serving any useful purpose. One thing that I always do rely on your editorials is to fill the lacuna of genuine information.

When I grew up, the catch phrase of society was ‘it was published in the newspapers’. We had access only to newspapers and the radio, and in that period the emphasis was reporting facts with responsibility. There were many safeguards taken by the journalists, from what I learned, to adhere to the ethos of the era. Therefore, generally it was accepted as ‘truth, nothing but the truth’, whatever appeared in the newspapers. We were spared of the so-called social media and the TV that started a different information culture, rushed with ‘breaking news’ and distorted the truth, very often at the behest of another interested party. Anyone who has studied law knows the value of the cross examination, a technique to get at the truth of an incident.

Since whatever the media is, news is invariably what is reported after the event; nowadays there is no time to even blink an eye—all is Breaking News. In the race to be the first to report, never mind the true facts, what is important is whether one gets the highest number of ‘captive’ viewers, and thus for the ratings to go high. Regrettably, the print media is also mostly what people say at a ‘media briefing’ and we have to second guess what facts are.

In any event, today’s public is not interested in learning the truth. If they had any inkling to ascertain the correct facts and decide accordingly, the so-called 6.9 million votes that you brag about would not have been possible. To imagine, people in a country that boasts of over 92% literacy rate, waited in long queues to see the ‘king cobra’ that came up from the bottom of Kelani river with relics in its mouth, is beyond belief.

Noted with alarm your surmise of the present situation in the country, and who could fill the office of the Presidency. Clearly, you are against Ranil W taking up the position, very likely you have lots of information on his dark deeds to judge him. I do not have such info, but I did have the occasion to participate in a Cabinet sub-committee meeting, chaired by the then PM, Hon D. B. Wijethunga, some time in 1990. The topic was on the dire situation of the coconut industry, and what can be done to arrest the fast-dwindling acreage. We had scientists from CRI, economists from CDA and various industry experts and as typical on such occasions, hardly anyone came up with a constructive idea.

RW opined that dwindling of the coconut acreage is inevitable, with the emphasis on industrialization and the need of land just after the commencement of the 200 GFP, what is better is to discuss ways to earn more foreign exchange from export of coconut products and enable the growers to be profitable and invest in better agricultural practices. He contended that a large volume of coconut oil is wasted in Sri Lanka, especially in lighting lamps in religious places. If we take action to bring in palm oil that is much cheaper and then take action to export value added coconut products, we can increase our net forex earnings. At that time, thanks to the campaign by the Soya Association of USA, it had successfully carried out a campaign to propagate the myth that palm oil is bad for health and thus the prices for it were much less. I spotted the value of this radical proposal, as at the end of the day what benefits the country is higher forex earnings and the need for oil use in religious places will cost much less for the worshippers. Added to that with higher earnings for their coconuts, the growers can fertilize their land and increase the crop size.

I was fortunate to lead a UK subsidiary in Sri Lanka that is located in Seethawaka Industrial Park, planned, and executed entirely with Japanese aid. Ours was the first FDI and now this zone employs over 27,000 people. When I first went to Avissawella town in 1999, I saw only a few shops and now the whole area is bustling with much economic activity, and people enjoy a comparably good lifestyle. This zone was one that Ranil W negotiated with the Japanese Government when he was the Minister of Industries in President Premadas’s government, followed by his endeavor in setting up the Biyagama EP zone. Every time I enter the zone and leave it, I can see thousands of workers who are employed in the factories. I remember seeing an article in your paper a few days back, bringing memories of a former CAS officer who has been a Ministry Secretary under RW for a long time, and how he described the way RW gave him the complete freedom to formulate policies relevant to the subjects assigned to him. What I was dismayed to learn was the backstabbing that prevailed in the Cabinet at that time, irrespective of how progressive the proposals were, most were interested in ensuring they don’t lose the vote and thus collectively defeated his plans.

I realized that why Sri Lanka is in dire straits, because the majority of ministers and MPs were interested only in securing votes. No wonder the Singapore PM described elections as ‘auctions, where each party is trying to outbid the other’.

The fact is we need a capable leader with strategic interest and capable of taking decisions. As I said earlier, there are many negative factors and we can list why RW should not be in the running for the presidency; but pray tell me who else is there at this hour of need. We can keep on talking and listing all the dark deeds of RW, and his penchant for favoring his close ‘cronies’ as you describe them. For all his largesse that benefitted his friends, who among them has not backstabbed him or taken undue advantage of him. Is it an unforgivable sin to trust people? The country is in the current situation since 6.9 million people decided that a newcomer to politics could usher in a period of prosperity.

Aragalaya did a yeoman service to rid the country of Rajapaksas, but now we have many who claim the credit for it, and the way they behaved when they gained access to the President’s House, reveals what happens when such ‘educated radical youths’ gain the upper hand. I narrowly escaped with my life in 1989, while returning home after closing the office as the JVP declared a curfew. A hungry looking ‘radical sahodaraya’ threw a brick through my windshield. My car was certainly a 14 Sri numbered and thus banned to be on the road, it happened to be the one my office gave me. I was certainly not rich enough to own a car but earned the right to use it because I am a professional. On another day, we returned from Kuliyapitiya after cutting the first sod for a factory, and someone had thrown an S-Lon bomb at our office compound. I have confidence that I will not face an untimely death as I have never cheated anyone in my life, knowingly. I also had a visit from the ‘sahodarayas’, who luckily did not do any harm but was kind enough to be satisfied with our jewelry.

This evening of my life, I would like to spend my days with less turmoil. I wish and pray you too will do better in your life, as you spend all your energy endeavoring to get the country on a better path.

Ananda S. Wijesuriya