Features
So long , Kalang
By Uditha Devapriya
It is perhaps ironic that Amarasiri Kalansuriya joined the Second Volunteer Battalion of the Sinha Regiment the year he turned 18. Ironic, because it was this Battalion that the then government deployed against the JVP insurrectionists in 1971. Ironic, because Kalansuriya, who died last week aged 82, epitomised in film after film the anxieties and frustrations of the generation from whose ranks those insurrectionists sprang. Yet for what it was worth, his military stint was short-lived: once he left it, he found himself engaging in one job after another, trying to make ends meet. These experiences tempered him, humbled him, formed him, and brought him closer to those felt hard done by the establishment.
Kalansuriya was truly the last of his generation. All his peers, including Wimal Kumara da Costa, Daya Tennakoon, Somasiri Dehipitiya, Dharmasena Pathiraja, and the great Vijaya Kumaratunga, have long gone. His passing, in that sense, signifies a transition in much the same way that Sumitra Peries’s passing did two months ago. To those of us who knew him and cherished his performances, he was always Kalang. Indeed, at a certain point it seemed as though his life and his acting were fused in one, as though the one was inseparable from the other. In the end this became his signature, his overriding identity.
His breakthrough performance was in Dharmasena Pathiraja’s Ahas Gawwa, in 1974. There he played an aimless drifter, one of the hundreds of thousands of unemployed youths who seemed to have no hope, no sense of direction, no real purpose, who dotted our country’s social landscape no matter where they were. Early on in the film, a friend of Kalansuriya’s character, played by Wimal Kumara da Costa, reads the government gazette in search of a vacancy.
He does so after congratulating another friend, played by Wickrema Bogoda, who has just found a job. Though the job is modest – it’s a security guard’s post, presumably at a government institution – the friend’s sense of elation at getting it makes us realise that this was an era when getting a job was considered infinitely preferable to having none. It was essentially an era that Kalansuriya found himself part of, an era which bore within it its own contradictions and tensions – an era which he eventually distilled.
Writing on Vijaya Kumaratunga after his assassination, “Jayadeva” quoted Marilyn Monroe: “The people made me a star – no studio, no person, but the people did.” If this was true of Vijaya, it was no less true of Kalansuriya. Kalang’s conception of the hero differed from the heroic type that had been immortalised by Gamini Fonseka. Kalang did not exude Gamini’s heroic stature. In Apeksha, the film which cast him into the sort of stardom that Pathiraja’s film did not, he is hardly a hero. Shy, effusive, and reluctant to talk, he has to be pushed into asking Malini Fonseka out. When the two of them do fall for each other, they must confront their class differences. For a while, Kalang manages to get into the good books of her father, played by Felix Premawardhana, by passing himself as her rich boyfriend. Eventually though, when his identity is revealed, her father has him ejected from their house.
Almost 15 years before Apeksha, Gamini played this kind of lover in Getawarayo. But there was only one Getawarayo in Gamini’s entire career. In every other film he was in, where he had to confront class differences, he always resorted to the easy way out. In Sahanaya, for instance, he plays a poor artist who makes his living painting portraits of the rich. When a rich heiress played by Malini Fonseka discovers that he has secretly painted her because he is so smitten with her, she strikes him. Later, feeling sorry for him, Malini invites him to her house. There the two of them talk with one another and discover their love for each other. Just as they are about to take off, though, the girl’s father, played by Mark Samaranayake, discovers them. This forces the girl to elope with him, and for the rest of the film, through a maze of songs, dances, and fights, they stick with, and by, each other.
If in the 1960s and 1970s Sinhala film directors resorted to that formula with despairing frequency, in the late 1970s a new generation of directors sought to challenge it. In 1979 Vasantha Obeyesekere fired the first salvo with Palagetiyo, the film which cemented his reputation as a radical, avant-garde artist. Much earlier, H. D. Premaratne blurred the line between artistic or “serious” and commercial or “mainstream” film by blending elements of both, a feat that challenged the codes of the mainstream Sinhala film.
With his first three films – Sikuruliya, Apeksha, and Parithyagaya – Premaratne depicted a society on the cusp of a pivotal and unprecedented transformation. By casting Kalansuriya as the lead in two of them – Apeksha and Parithyagaya – he made him a leading face of that socie. In Apeksha particularly, with its medley of Clarence Wijewardena songs, Kalansuriya retained something of the heroic stature which these works demanded of him. At the same time, he remained the relentless radical, the outsider trying to get in.
Thus, while pushing himself to the forefront of the Sinhala cinema’s second wave – a wave led by the likes of Pathiraja and Obeyesekere – Kalansuriya did not repress his good looks, his bravado charm, his careless streak. This was true of Vijaya too. It helped both cement their careers: had they retreated to the radical iconoclasm of their directors, the two of them would have been dismissed as freaks. But they refused to do so, and in refusing to do so they remained attached to their people: to quote “Jayadeva”, they did what they could to prevent “the erection of walls” between themselves and the public.
For his part, then, Kalansuriya remained an unabashed populist – though not to the same extent as Vijaya – because it was the only way he could be with his audiences. Moreover, by now Gamini Fonseka had reached the zenith of his career, and was dabbling in conservative politics. Vijaya and Kalang remained defiantly detached from all that.
It would of course be wrong to pigeonhole Kalang into a particular political affiliation. Yet like Vijaya, he came from a Sinhala educated background. Kalang was not pushed into Left politics as a child or even a teenager: in this he differed from the earlier generation of artistes and intellectuals, who had absorbed Marxist politics at school or university. To quote Regi Siriwardena, that disability helped him imbibe “that humanism, generosity and compassion which are the better part of the Sinhala tradition”, qualities which would be submerged by the tide of chauvinism and political authoritarianism. Kalang’s circumstances on this front differed only slightly from Vijaya’s: unlike the latter, who had the benefit of an education at an elite Colombo school, he jumped from one establishment to another, eventually settling at Dharmaraja College Kandy. There he excelled at sports, including boxing, activities which toughened him: in Lester Peries’s Akkara Paha, as Douglas Ranasinghe’s sidekick, he has his first encounter with the protagonist while playing soccer on the schoolground.
From being Ranasinghe’s sidekick, Kalang gravitated to Vijaya. In Sugathapala Senarath Yapa’s Hanthane Kathawa, he distinguishes himself somewhat as a sympathetic friend of the protagonist, played by Tony Ranasinghe. Ranasinghe hailed from an earlier generation, and in Yapa’s film he feels constantly threatened by Vijaya, who seeks the attention of the girl he happens to be hankering after. As his friend, Kalang tries to resolve these tensions, but in the end has no choice but to leave Ranasinghe to fend for himself. Perhaps one of the most underrated Sinhala films ever made, Hanthane Kathawa gives us a glimpse of university life that would be upturned and uprooted in the 1970s. It was in that decade that Kalansuriya underwent an apotheosis of sorts. As he did so, he found common ground with Vijaya in two landmarks: Ahas Gawwa and Bambaru Avith, both directed by Pathiraja.
It is difficult to say what Vijaya would have transformed or evolved into had he survived his assassination. In Kalansuriya’s case, the vibrant career he carried forward in the 1970s and the early 1980s flickered and dimmed: from averaging two films a year in the late 1970s, he slumped to a film a year, two years, and then three, before letting go completely. This is not to say he retired completely from acting: he did make the occasional appearance, in the occasional film or television serial. Yet these were mere replicas of the roles he had played at his peak. Perhaps that was his way of defying the passing of an era, an era he had been a leading face of. Whatever the reason may be, of course, there is no doubt that his death symbolises that passing, that transition, in a way his retirement could not. What makes his more poignant and regrettable is the simple, undeniable fact that he was not just the last of his kind or generation, but also, at one level, the last of us.
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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