Features
That Midnight Knock on the Door:Sundarampuram: Janel Piyanpath – part II
English name- Jaffna Doors and Windows
Concept, Design, Editing, Sarath Chandrajeeva
Layout Kanishka Vijayapura
Printed and bound – Neo Graphics Pvt (Ltd)
Sales points – Barefoot Book shop Galle road Colombo 03, Sarasavi Book shops, Sakura agencies Colombo 04, Plate Pvt(Ltd) Colombo 03.
Selling price – Rs.10,000.00 (below cost)
By Laleen Jayamanne
(Frist part of this article appeared on Friday August 25)
The Photograph as Allegorical Object
Walter Benjamin, the foremost modern theorist of Allegory, has shown us how Allegory as an aesthetic form and procedure has had a profound influence on European culture across different historical epochs, from the Christian Middle Ages on. Think of Dante’s Divine Comedy for one, where the classical Roman poet Virgil guides Dante through the several circles of hell, where former wicked politicians and princes suffer punishments, specifically designed to fit their crimes. Christian Justice!
Following Benjamin’s idea, Frederic Jameson, the Marxist literary theorist, wrote that post-colonial literature is often allegorical in form, because death haunts the cultural patrimony traduced by the colonial project. There were lively debates on Jameson’s theory among South Asian scholars who analysed Latin American allegorical novels such as A Thousand Years of Solitude and India’s own Midnight’s Children, as allegorical work. Recently Shehan Karunatilaka’s novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida resurrects both Richard and Rajani as allegorical figures from the underworld, who reopen the buried layers of Lanka’s present, by searching for some photographs.
What I glean from Benjamin’s theorising of allegory is that it privileges several figures as emblems: the ruin, the corpse, the ghost and capitalist advertisements and the photograph as artefact. In all these figures, death or destruction of an original living form’s meaning is enacted. And through this strategy new thoughts, ideas and feelings are elaborated on them. In so doing, many new connections can be generated rather arbitrarily, which is how allegorical constructs are made. This is why, unlike realism, it’s such a flexible form structurally, but in the hands of unimaginative dull artists, it becomes literal. The ruins of Sundarampuram with the poems, multiply connections in our minds by enabling actual, meaningful interactions among strangers.
The Mycelial Networks
In another marvellous book, Entangled Life: How Fungi make our worlds, change our minds, and shape our futures, by the biologist and musician, Merlin Sheldrake, we learn about this most ancient plant form and of its evolutionary necessity for organic and even mineral life on earth to have formed and be sustained. It is not a centralised root and branch system as in trees, but has a different form and function in evolution. It’s a tangled, root system which behaves rhizomatically, that is, connecting laterally in many different ways like grass but hidden from the sun, underground. They are large networks of organic ‘roots,’ but very fine, which offer us, according to Sheldrake, also a mode of thinking and imagining how we might connect with each other and nature without destroying life on earth. It does not ‘Command and Control’ like the tap root system, but rather, finds ways to multiply forms of connectivity that sustain and enhance life. The surplus yield of this activity are mushrooms, sustained by these underground, intricately patterned, fungal networks.
I said earlier that Sundarampuram in its non-hierarchical, generous invitation to ponder on one specific image of a ruin at a time, has set off a mycelial network. I’d like to explore Sheldrake’s idea a bit more as it holds a lot of potential for imagining collective acts of creativity in Lanka, dealing with mass trauma and ecological destruction but also seeking new modes of connectivity visible in the ongoing post-Aragalaya forms of organisations, including trade union mobilisations and several other groupings. The violence with which these groups are now attacked by the law enforcement instruments of the state are an indication of their strength and resilience.
In these qualities they are agile like the web of underground fungal networks that spread across the earth, a ’wood-wide-web’, sustaining ecosystems and plant life and as such a kingdom of its own, not quite animal, nor exactly a plant as it does not photosynthesise, living underground. And in this process it provides us with some yummy mushrooms, some very cheap but also truffles which are among the most expensive of foods for gourmets. Though some fungi are indeed poisonous, some are magic mushrooms expanding our minds and penicillin is derived from a fungus. Sheldrake’s beautifully written book with images, is a best seller and was his Ph.D. thesis in biology at Cambridge!
Friendships
Sundarampuram’s written introduction by Sarath takes the form of ‘Reminiscences’ where he chronicles his own family connection with Jaffna as a child and then later as a visual arts educator, artist and institution builder between the North and the South. Sarath’s father was a police officer who lived and worked in Jaffna and the Northern territory and had introduced him to its deep cultural life and ethos through the many stories he told him. His father worked there during the 1958 ‘Shri’ race riots and refused to be relocated to the South. Sarath as a child was taken to Jaffna on a memorable train trip by his grandmother, and carried these childhood memories with him in developing friendships and institutional connections with Jaffna later in life.
There are two friendships of Sarath that are important for this book. One is with the Painter artist Asai Rasiah, whose Track (oil on canvas, 1985), is placed at the beginning of the book giving it a central role. It’s a Jaffna landscape with palmyra trees on the horizon, with a track through bush land. It’s a rather blurred, impressionist, soft, coloured image of that bewitched twilight moment when daylight fades into night. There are two groups of women walking in opposite directions, in groupings of three carrying large bundles on their heads, moving with ease and elegance. But strangely, when I look at it again and again, I feel that they are moving and that they are all walking towards us! This illusion appears to be a function of the blurring.
It is a rare peaceful scene in Jaffna. I feel it’s this delicately painted image of nature and a bunch of women going home after work, which inspires the splashing colour fields on which the images of ruined buildings are printed, creating a painterly quality. In this way the painting bleeds into the photographs offering them a sensory richness that only colour can evoke. The colour this time, not blurred but bright and sparkling in sunlight, charges the sorrowful images with vitality.
The other friend is Rev. Fr. Professor N. M. Saveri, Founder Director of the Center for Performing Arts in Jaffna with whom Sarath had developed several cultural projects. There is a portrait of him by the same Painter artist Rasiah (oil on canvas, 2016). The portrait looks so realistic that I thought it was a photograph at first. These two paintings by Rasiah introduce us to the multitude of photographs, some of which actually look like paintings! This is formally made possible through the mediation of colour, which is matter at its most spiritual, closest to music, in its powers of sensuous abstraction and emotional richness. The perfect territory then for the ‘raga mala’ to be heard as we linger there and perhaps read the poems out loud as some poems call us to do.
As always Sarath’s scholarly publications chronicle in detail Lanka’s art historical and fine arts policies, curriculum developments and practices, in several educational institutions dedicated to the study of the arts and crafts. The notes to the main text present in extraordinary detail, the twists and turns of the ways in which Sinhala Buddhist nationalism has adversely influenced education policies that were designed specifically to create durable bridges between students of the South and those in Jaffna. This research, presented in the form of an objective chronicle, provides primary material for art historians and cultural studies scholars of Lanka to draw from.
Sarath is also an invaluable oral historian as he was both a Professorial Dean and a Vice Chancellor of the University of Visual and Performing Arts where he developed a modern Fine Arts curriculum.
The carefully crafted words and images of this book (as allegorical emblems) can suggest novel ways of forging connections among Lankans beyond the same old habitual ways, and thereby generate quantum potentials, synchronicities. Young artists and poets with their fresh energy just might be able to carefully cultivate ‘mycelial networks’ that suit their idiosyncratic temperaments and desires, and even find themselves carried away into strange subterranean zones of creativity, which is why Lanka needs them now more than ever.
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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