Features
Travels with the Prime Minister
by Leelananda de Silva
From 1973 to 1977, I accompanied the Prime Minister, Mrs. Bandaranaike on many trips abroad. My task was to advice her on the economic issues. My first trip with her was to Algiers for the Fourth Non Aligned Summit, and that included visits to Rome and the Vatican. The next visit was to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Kingston Jamaica in May 1975. On our way to Kingston we visited Baghdad and London and on our way back visited New York.
My other visit with her to the United Nations in New York was in September 1976, immediately after the Non Aligned conference in Colombo. These visits I have described in other chapters. I accompanied the prime Minister on official visits to Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and Indonesia in January 1976 and to Malaysia, Philippines, and Japan in November 1976. Traveling with the Prime Minister is unlike traveling with any other minister. I got the opportunity to see and meet with heads of state and government, and the most senior officials in these countries and in the United Nations.
Many of these visits being state visits, we stayed in palatial residences. There was also the need to prepare press releases and communiques after these visits. The governments of most of these countries had arranged touristic visits to see their countries and this is the kind of opportunity you get only when traveling with a head of government. Accompanying the Prime Minister on these trips gave me the opportunity to observe diplomacy at the highest levels and also to meet with many foreign leaders.
I have described the visit to Algiers for the Fourth Non Aligned Summit elsewhere. Coming back from Algiers we visited Rome and the Vatican. The Prime Minister had two days in Rome without official tasks, and we had a very enjoyable time seeing the sights of Rome. John Rodrigo was the Sri Lanka ambassador in Rome. We went to see a place called the Boca Verita (the mouth of truth). What you do there is to put your hand into the mouth of a lion made of stone, and the mouth keeps closing and opening. If your hand gets caught, then you are supposed to be a liar. Mrs. Bandaranaike was amused by this and she called me from a long distance and asked me to put my hand in to check my reliability. Luckily for me, my hand was not caught. The Prime Minister had a great sense of humour.
We had a great reception from the local Sri Lankans in Rome. The Prime Minister’s official task was to meet the Pope, Paul the Sixth, and we accompanied her to Castlegondolfo, which is the summer residence of the Pope outside the Vatican. All of us met the Pope. The Prime minister had a meeting with the Pope alone and after that meeting, the other members of the delegation (I remember W.T Jayasinghe in particular) were invited to meet the Pope. I was able to have a few words with him and he gave me a rosary. Later when I came to Sri Lanka, I gave this rosary to Mother John, the head of St. Bridget’s who was a friend of our family. She was thrilled to get this rosary given by the Pope himself.
On our way back from Rome, we had a stop in Cairo and we were not expected to leave the aircraft. However, as it was a long wait, W.T and I got out of the aircraft and walked around to stretch our legs. The police arrested us, and what we did not know was that security was tight around the aircraft as the prime minister was on board. We had to spend a few minutes before being allowed to get back to the aircraft.
On the way to the Commonwealth Summit in Jamaica we made two stop-overs, first in Baghdad and next in London. The Baghdad visit was fascinating. Iraq was to host the sixth Non Aligned Summit in Baghdad in 1979, after the Colombo Summit, and the visit of Mrs. Bandaranaike was important from that point of view. Our host was the then Vice President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein who was the real ruler of Iraq. We stayed in Baghdad Palace, where the previous King of Iraq, King Feisal had been murdered. It was a sprawling place, and rather lonely.
We saw Saddam Hussein many times. There was one formal meeting with him and at that meeting, he asked Mrs. Bandaranaike about the Commonwealth Summit to which she was going. He was not familiar with this forum. Listening to him one got the impression that he was not anti- West but that he was anti- Kuwait as he felt that Kuwait really belonged to Iraq.
Saddam Hussein came to Baghdad palace, to accompany Mrs. Bandaranaike to the official meeting we had with him and his officials. I remember walking just behind him on the way to this meeting. The Prime Minister’s concern at that time was the price of oil, and Sri Lanka’s escalating oil bills. We had, at the level of officials broached the subject of concessionary oil purchases from Iraq, and the response had not been very positive.
At the meeting with Saddam Hussein, he informed the Prime minister that he would give 250 000, tons of crude oil on highly concessionary terms. This was an immense relief to the Prime Minister. After the meetings with Saddam the Iraqi government had arranged for the Prime Minister and her delegation to visit the old Babylonian cities of Mosul and Kirkuk. The great rivers, Tigris and the Euphrates met here and it was a beautiful sight. We saw the artifacts of the ancient Babylonian civilization.
From Baghdad we were to take a commercial flight to Kuwait and then join a British Airways flight to London. When we came to the airport, we found that Saddam Hussein had ordered a special helicopter to take us to Kuwait. Talking to senior officials at the airport, we found that there was great animosity towards Kuwait. It came as no surprise later when Kuwait was invaded by Iraq.
When we landed in Kuwait, the Prime Minister’s reception lacked warmth. The Kuwaitis were not inclined to look upon those who had visited Iraq with any great favour. The Prime Minister had to wait six hours at Kuwait airport for the flight to London and the Kuwaiti government did not provide any special facilities for her.
Our next stop was London and we spent three days there. The Prime Minister, her daughter Sunethra, and I stayed at the high commissioner’s residence. Tilak Gunarathne was the high commissioner. It was a bit embarrassing, as Tilak had not been included as part of the delegation to the Commonwealth Summit in Kingston. This was strange as Tilak was Sri Lanka’s representative to the Commonwealth Secretariat and was responsible for Commonwealth affairs in London. Whatever it was, the PM did not want him on the delegation.
When we left London on a British Airways flight, there were two other heads of government on the same flight- Seretse Khama of Botswana, and Dom Mintoff of Malta. We had an extended chat standing by the aircraft on the tarmac. For me, Seretse Khania brought memories of an infamous colonial episode where he was deposed by the British government as its traditional ruler as he had married a British woman. Mrs. Ruth Khama was also there with him on his way to Kingston. My experiences at the Commonwealth Summit itself are described in a separate chapter.
Immediately after the Non Aligned Summit in Colombo, the Prime Minister visited New York to address the UN General Assembly Sessions in September 1976. I was part of her delegation. This was a triumphant visit for the Prime Minister. She had a great reception at the UN General Assembly. Henry Kissinger, the US secretary of State met with her to convey their appreciation of her role at the Summit and ensuring that it was a truly non-aligned occasion. This attitude of the Prime Minister, led to a major improvement in the relations between Sri Lanka and the United States.
Kurt Waldheim, the UN Secretary General hosted a reception for the Prime Minister as the Chairman of the Non Aligned Summit. Prior to this reception, Gamani Corea who was then Secretary General of UNCTAD told me that Waldheim was not forthcoming about the extension of his term as Secretary General for another three years (His first term of three years was coming to an end). He had spoken to the Prime Minister about it and he wanted me to remind her when she was meeting Waldheim at the reception. I mentioned this to the Prime Minister while she was with Waldheim (on this type of occasion, I spoke to her in Sinhalese) and the Prime Minister then mentioned to Waldheim that she was concerned about Gamani Corea’s extension. Waldheim said that there should be no problem about it.
Before and after the Non Aligned Summit, the Prime Minister had invitations to visit many countries. She had to select from among them and she gave preference to countries in the Asian region. I accompanied her on these bilateral visits in January and November 1976 (Dharmasiri Peiris, in his memoir, The Pursuit of Governance, written a few years back, has described these visits with the Prime Minister, in some detail).When we visited Thailand, the King was in Chiang Mai, and the government had arranged for us to fly to that city by special plane from Bangkok. We were accompanied by Kukrit Pramoj, the then Prime Minister of Thailand and we were able to have a long chat with this aristocratic, scholarly man. The Prime Minister had a meeting with the King.
The Prime Minister and her delegation had an exciting visit to Burma. General Ne Win was the military ruler of Burma, ruling the country with an iron hand. The Burmese government were very warm hosts. We had two meetings with Ne Win, and he gave us a grand open air reception somewhere near Pagan in North Burma, and by the Irrawady River. It was a gorgeous occasion with Burmese music and a relaxed atmosphere.
We were taken to see Lake Inle, a beautiful and remote place, before it became a tourist attraction. The Prime Minister was entertained to a boating competition in the middle of the lake, where she and the delegation were accommodated in a bamboo built circuit bungalow. The boats were paddled by women with their feet. We went to a remote Buddhist temple at the end of the lake.Mrs. Bandaranaike was anxious to meet Madame Aung Sang, the wife of the Burmese independence hero and the mother of Aung Sang Suu Kyi. Mrs. Bandaranaike had known her before. The government was not anxious to arrange this visit, but at the insistence of Mrs. Bandaranaike, we visited Madame Aung Sang at her house by the lake and had afternoon tea. This house is where Aung Sang Suu Kyi now lives.
At the end of the visit to Myanmar, we had to draft a joint communique. We had included in our draft a reference to the famous UN resolution 242 regarding the Arab-Israel dispute. The Burmese officials did not want to have any reference to this question and wished it to be deleted which we did. Burma is the one Asian country which always had cordial relations with Israel.
The visit to Indonesia was a low key affair. We met with President Suharto, and with the foreign minister at the time, Adam Malik. Malik accompanied the Prime Minister on our travels within the country and we had a special aircraft laid for us. We went to see Borobudur, the old Buddhist temple, which is one of the largest in Asia. In Jogjakarta, we stayed with the Sultan in his palace, and that night there was a fantastic spectacle in the form of a monkey dance. I remember the Indonesian chief of protocol (I forget his name now) and his delightful wife who accompanied the Prime Minister and we were rather friendly with them. He was to die in an air crash a few months later.
It was on this trip to Indonesia that I met Tissa and Manel Ratnatunga, whom I had known before. Tissa Ratanatunga had been the Settlement Officer in Sri Lanka and I had worked with him on the land ceilings committee. Tissa was now working for the United Nations in Indonesia. I kept up my friendship with them. Manel is now an important literary figure in Sri Lanka and she wrote a superb work of historical fiction based on Indonesian history, apart from other books.
Her book on Syria, which she wrote in the 1960s, when Tissa was working for the UN is one of the very few written by a UN expert or a spouse on the country in which they served. Manel and Tissa’s son, Sinha Ratnatunga is the Editor-in Chief of the Sunday Times. Manel is a direct descendant of Anagarika Dharmapala.
In Manila, the Prime Minister received a rousing welcome, with cheering crowds lining in the streets. We were the guests of President Ferdinand Marcos, and his first lady, Imelda Marcos. They were gracious hosts. We stayed at the Malacannang Palace, a very comfortable place. There were some official talks and they revolved mainly around the non aligned movement. Philippines was not a member of the NAM and was very anxious to be allowed to join in. It has been barred as there were American bases in the Philippines. Mrs. Bandaranaike was sympathetic to the admission of the Philippines.
I must relate a little story of the Prime Minister’s arrival at the airport in Manila. We came in a Philippines airline aircraft, and the Prime Minister was traveling economy class, as was her policy to cut down on costs. When the plane stopped on the tarmac, the guard of honour was drawn outside the first class exit of the plane. The Prime minister came out of the economy class entrance and she had to walk a little distance on the tarmac to be greeted by the guard of honour. All this was watched by a large crowd which included many Sri Lankans, some of whom were not pleased with what happened. I had to explain to them that the Prime Minister’s view was that there was no need to live beyond our means. She had a thrifty housewife’s view of public money.
The President and Imelda Marcos had organized a one day tour for the Prime Minister and her delegation. We went in the presidential yacht to a place called Bataan, accompanied by the President and his wife. Bataan was a place which saw some of the most bitter fighting between the Japanese and Americans during the Second World War. Marcos had fought there as a young lieutenant. He had built a museum there and a circuit bungalow and there were films about the fighting.
On the presidential yacht, there was much merry making and dancing during our four hour trip. We saw the President and some of his cabinet in a carefree mood that day. While in Bataan, President Marcos took the Prime Minister to the circuit bungalow and at one point, all the members of the delegation and others had gone out to see the museum, and only the President and the Prime Minister remained. I happened to be there and Mrs. Bandaranaike loudly told me in Sinhalese not to go, and remain with her.There was another interesting incident when we returned to Manila. The Prime Minister had to host a reception for the President and his lady prior to her return. The Sri Lankan charge’d’ affaires, Oliver Perera, a businessman, had arranged a venue for the reception. When the Prime Minister went for the reception, she was appalled, as the hotel was not very impressive and was located in a seedy quarter of Manila. The Prime Minister asked Oliver Perera as to why this was done. He told the Prime Minister that the first couple were highly pleased with this venue, as the hotel was owned by Imelda Marcos. So this was giving some business to them.
Japan does not invite too many foreign leaders, and the Prime Minister was one of the few. The Prime Minister of Japan was Takeo Miki, and he was the Prime Minister’s host. We had two meetings with him and they were very cordial. Emperor Hirohito hosted a lunch for the Prime Minister and her delegation, and the members of the Royal family including the Queen, the Crown Prince and Princess were there.It was exciting meeting the Emperor, who had been vilified during the war. He was very charming, speaking in halting English. At lunch, I was seated next to the crown princess. It was a very small group which sat for lunch. Apart from Dharmasisri Peiris, Arthur Basnayake, who was a member of the delegation and Bernard Tilakaratne, ours ambassador in Japan, were there.
The Prime Minister had to make a speech at the reception given to her by Prime Minister Takeo Miki. Arthur Basnayake and I prepared this speech. We made a reference to Sri Lanka’s close friendship with Japan and the role that J.R. Jayewardene had played at San Francisco in 1950 when the Japanese peace treaty was signed. Sri Lanka had waived any kind of reparations from Japan for war damage, an unusually generous offer to a Japan who was in the doldrums.
Japan never forgot this and J.R was a hero in Japan. One member of the Sri Lankan delegation was not happy with the reference to J.R. We showed the draft to the Prime Minister and she had no objection to what we had included into her draft speech. This was a very gracious act on the part of the Prime Minister, as J.R was then the leader of the opposition.The Japanese government had laid out some fantastic trips outside Tokyo. We went by bullet train to Nara and Kyoto and visited the Mikimoto pearl museum. I might mention here that on the way back from Tokyo, we had a ten hour stay in Hong Kong, and it was a surprise when the colonial governor of Hong Kong offered the palatial bungalow of the chief secretary of the colony for Mrs. Bandaranaike’s use during the stopover.
(Excerpted from Leelananda de Silva’s autobiography, The Long Littleness of Life)
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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