Financial Times

The dawn and the reality on awakening

By Wise Old Owl

I am standing on the balcony of the Akasaka Prince Hotel, Tokyo. It is a beautiful early summer morning. The postage size garden around this tall hotel is a frenzy of colour from the beautiful flowers and blooming cherry blossom trees. The Japanese roads are already jammed with vehicles and the streets are lined with productive people, all rushing to work to add value to the nation and themselves.

I am taking two Panadol tablets to dull the headache from the hangover, a consequence of the Sake and Scotch consumed at the celebration dinner with the Prime Minister and VIP entourage last night. Looking at my red coloured palms from the clapping at the achievement of a smacking $ 4.5 billion aid package I am surprised. I am unable to say even Gosh! My throat is hoarse from singing praises of the Prime Minister and congratulating the Government big wigs.

The pictures of the last two glorious days flash past me. I see the ole Professori on the Japanese National TV, pouring out the best of the English dictionary, describing the pending dawn of peace, sustainable economic growth and investments in my dreamland. I am sure this eloquence is prompting the Japanese audience to take out their pocket English-Japanese dictionary palm tops and press the help key.

I can hear my next-door roommate, the well-known writer filing his daily report of news updates of the previous day, along with instructions how to inter-space it with the new interview recordings of Armitage, and Akashi and old recordings of Anton.

I look up hearing a familiar voice from the balcony above. It is the good hearted professional of high integrity giving a firm commitment over the hand held phone to another journalist. He commits that 45 % of the aid pledged will be utilized by the end of 2004.

Contract fixing

I try to ring my wife in Sri Lanka to inform her that I am staying a day more in Japan to recover before returning. I fear that my hoarse throat will land me in the quarantine in Changi in Singapore. I get connected to two cross connection conversations of familiar accents. One inviting in Japanese an apparent business colleague to study the aid projects summary sent over to his office and identify areas of collaboration. Said of course with a boast that he can fix any such contract in their favour, as demonstrated previously, leveraging his contacts to VIP's. Of course not forgetting to remind the need for a fatter commission structure to be able to meet the ever increasing greedy demands of masters with the pen of approval. The other caller is waking up his yet sleeping tax consultant in Colombo, urging that an urgent fax setting out recommended changes to the Sri Lankan tax laws is required, to be given to the RC walking club mate on the plane ride home,

This network partner will ensure that the expected cash flow to implement this worthy human development contract is tax transparent in his hands.

All this to personally benefit from a specific Triple R programme included in the aid package, aimed at alleviating the suffering northern brothers.

It is not my day! I now get connected in Colombo not to my Cherry Blossom that I left behind at home, to come as an honest business leader to support this national value adding initiative, but to two other cross connections. One, an apparent yet half intoxicated political VIP telling his Ministry Secretary that by that afternoon to identify the Aid projects that are directly or indirectly connected to the Ministry. And also those that can be blocked or slowed down by the Ministry, unless designated stipulated approvals and a nod of the head are obtained, following appropriate profit sharing credits to designated accounts. This conversation ends with a clear instruction "don't forget to organize the flag waving cheering squad for the returning PM at the airport, with my name written clearly on the flags". The next connection is a Secretary of the Ministry telling his Deputy in Charge of Administration to make routine organizational changes involving the Corporations and Departments to facilitate the Ministers blue-eyed boys to make important decisions henceforth, being in charge of the areas with the greatest flow through benefits of the new aid package.

Celebration time

When connected my wife tells me that she was woken up earlier with a call that had two cross connections also. One of a well known Komis Kakka asking his office to arrange an evening feast of wine, women and song for the key VIPs that weekend.

All to celebrate the expected great awakening of the poor, at grass root level, from the programmes to follow Tokyo. The other connection had been an opposition VIP telling his catchers that a meeting of the inner cupboard be scheduled to plan the new strategy of division and dissension, along with strikes and disruptive processions.

All in the name of national minded commitment to peace and economic development. Of course a dream in a desert no matter whether Sri Lanka ends up a carbon copy of the Ethiopian desert.

As I bid goodbye to my cherry blossom she finishes saying that the industrious little Tamil maid next door has been bitten that morning by a poisonous snake well before dawn whilst sweeping the garden.

The girl had been rushed to the hospital. With the GMOA on strike and anti-venom serum stocks found outdated the little girl is now in a coma. All this had happened whilst her poorly paid but honest Government Servant Officer master was out in Matara to inquire about the loss of a consignment of flood victims' food aid that had gone missing, whilst stored under lock and key in the upper floor of the Kachcheri. She ended her goodbye with an appeal for me to return early as she was lonely.

Her companion, the next door lady, had gone out with her devoted NGO team to Ampara, to set up a new pre-school teaching centre for the newly settled former displaced brothers and sisters of the North.

I now lay back on the bed and my mind flashes to the policy papers and submissions I have read in the Sri Lankan newspapers, all addressed to the leaders of the nation appealing to them to unite and place the nation first, and thus deliver a better standard of sustainable living within a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka reminiscent of the past.

I then awaken from my sleep and realize that all that was only a dream as I had fallen asleep with my favourite business newspaper, the FT, on my stomach.

What a rude reawakening to the reality of Sri Lanka from high hopes of a new dawn following a 45 % aid utilization, leading this nation and its people to a better tomorrow.