Talking of visits, External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris was this week on an "official-holiday" as one wise-crack put it. 'Official' because he went to Britain on what he claimed was official work, 'holiday' because he was on holiday in Britain after that. Put more bluntly, he was on a paid holiday or the taxpayer had to foot the bill for him to go on holiday.
To show that he was hard at work, he got a photograph of him with the British Defence Secretary Liam Fox, and had it released to the Lankan media. The Sri Lankan Minister seemed determined to prove us wrong when we said last week that he would not get a photo-opportunity with the British Minister.
Touché. Unfortunately, he couldn't get to see his own British counterpart William Hague, and had to make do with meeting his deputy. Imagine Hague coming to Lanka and getting to see only Neomal Perera.
A saucer without cup, poles without flags
A victory for Sri Lanka at the World Cup cricket finals at the Wanhkede Stadium in Bombay was uppermost in the minds of players, officials and more importantly government leaders.
So much so, they carefully laid out plans to celebrate. The winning Sri Lankan team was to travel on an open deck double decker bus from the Bandaranaike International Airport to the Independence Square where a grand ceremony was planned. With victory not coming Sri Lankan way, that was abandoned. Instead of the team, a papara band played from the open deck of the double decker.
The team travelled in a coach escorted by armed motorcycle outriders and Police escort cars. At the Independence Square, some of the earlier preparations had not been called off. Hence, there were placards which said "Thank you for bringing the World Cup to Sri Lanka."
The fact that the team had not brought the World Cup to Independence Square meant there were no UPFA leaders or other VIPs. The only politician on hand was Prasanna Ranatunga, Chief Minister of the Western Provincial Council, and brother of World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga, now an opposition MP.
Government insiders said there were plans, if Sri Lanka won the World Cup, to hold celebrations in the districts. In the wake of that, plans were also afoot to announce nominations for the conduct of elections to the remaining local authorities.
Those with a good sense of humour were among those present at the planned grand event. One of them averred to the previous request to cricket fans in Sri Lanka to carry that national flag to cricket matches. That was of course without the flag pole. Now, he said, the fans should be told to come over for the event with the poles and without the flag.
Another saw a cricketer drinking tea in a saucer. He pointed to a friend and asked, "You know why he is drinking out of a saucer?" I think he wanted to cool the tea that is hot, replied his friend. However, the remarks were dismissed. "He is drinking tea with a saucer because his team lost the cup," he joked.
Lanka in the news for wrong reasons
The age-old maxim in Madison Avenue, home to the world's advertising industry, is that bad publicity or good publicity is still publicity. It is so even for politicians. Any publicity, favourable or otherwise, is still publicity. Judging by that home truth, Sri Lanka has been hogging the media spotlight in New York over the last five weeks in the ongoing dramatic trial of Sri Lankan-born Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire hedge fund manager facing charges of insider trading.
With the continuing spotlight on Rajaratnam, the case being heard in a New York court has been getting intense daily coverage in the news media, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and several TV networks.
Sri Lanka never had it so good -- but for the wrong reason.
The prosecution rested its case last week after 18 witnesses took the stand. The charges are based mostly on secretly-recorded telephone conversations where Rajaratnam apparently received tip-offs from friends and contacts in the corporate world providing him with advance knowledge of acquisitions, investments and trade in stocks which helped him to play the market and earn millions of dollars. This is considered illegal trading or insider dealing and considered a criminal offence.
The list of witnesses called in for questioning reads like the pages of a telephone directory from Mumbai or Karachi: Roomy Khan, Deep Shah, Rajiv Goel, Anil Kumar and Rajat Gupta-- all from the South Asian community. And by a coincidence the prosecution is led by an aggressive US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the Indian-born Preet Bharara.
One of the news stories underlined the strong relationship with Gupta who regularly dropped by at Rajaratnam's office while the two ordered Chinese and Indian food (forget pittu and string hoppers) and discussed stock transactions over lunch in Rajaratnam's office.
Rajaratnam is being defended by a team of high-powered lawyers who were known to be charging millions of dollars in fees. But that would be a piece of kalu dodol (forget the cake) for the Sri Lankan-born hedge fund manager who was ranked 263rd on the list of the world's richest individuals in 2009. However, he still apparently holds the record for the "richest Sri Lankan born individual in the world."
The defence lawyers, who begin their arguments next week, repeatedly say that much of the information on which Rajaratnam traded was in the public domain. Still, if Rajaratnam is found guilty, he could serve more than 20 years in a federal penitentiary.
British mission bats for Murali
His magic fingers and his freaky action made him the wizard of spin and the best bowler in the world.
However, Muttiah Muralitharan, was in a bit of a dilemma for his achievements mean nothing when it comes to obtaining a visa to visit Britain. He has to face an online test to obtain a work visa from the British High Commission to travel to Britain. There, he hopes to play cricket during the coming season for the county, Gloucestershire.
Murali told BBC's Colombo-based Correspondent, Charles Haviland, this week that he had "never touched" a computer and "hates" the thought of it. "I am not into computers or studies," said Murali. By the time others were sitting for their A-levels he was touring as a cricketer, he told Haviland.
However, the British High Commission was generous when it heard of Muralitharan's plight. It issued him a 'work' visa just last Wednesday. Murali said he was most thankful for the kind gesture.
Cheers for Wimal's duck
These are days when the word cricket is in everyone's mouth.
Old boys of Tissa Madhya Maha Vidyalaya and Kalutara Madhya Maha Vidyalaya held a friendly encounter last Sunday, just the day after Sri Lanka lost the World Cup cricket finals.
Minister Wimal Weerawansa, who captained the Tissa Maha Vidyalaya team went into bat and was out for a duck. Weerawansa once captained the cricket team of his alma mater. He is a good batsman both in cricket as well as in politics.
Cheering the dismissal were players of the Kalutara Maha Vidyalaya. Cheers also came from a non-player, Somawansa Amerasinghe, leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) where Weerawansa was once a key figure.
Weerawansa walked into the dressing room with the humility expected of a cricketer.
Fonseka watches Gaddafi drama
Opposition United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, paid a visit to the Welikade Prison on Monday. It was to see former General Sarath Fonseka who is serving a 30-month jail term and lankaenews news editor Bennet Rupasinghe.
He was accompanied by MPs Mangala Samaraweera and Jayalath Jayawardena.
Before being allowed in, a prison official asked Samaraweera "Oyaggollo okkama Manthrivarun neyda" (Aren’t you all MPs?). Samaraweera replied "Ow. Athulata Yanakota nam api Manthriwaru. Api danney nehe enakota api kowru waida kiyala" (When we are going in, we are MPs. We don't know what we will be when we get out of this place.)"
The apologetic prison official explained he had asked the question only to ensure none other than the MPs were going in. Otherwise, he said, he would fall into trouble.
The conversation for the UNP Parliamentarians with Mr. Fonseka turned to events in Libya. Pointing to a small television set, the former General said he watched CNN and was closely following the fate of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi every day.
Mr. Rupasinghe was in the Prison Hospital. He is a diabetic patient and his blood sugar level had gone high. "Though you have hit me a number of times, I am here to see you," remarked Dr. Jayawardena. Mr. Samaraweera was to soon add, "Well, he has hit a number of people. That showed he did not target the learned doctor."
VIPs not present at IGP's dinner
Police Chiefs and top brass from the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation) met in Colombo to discuss drug trafficking and terrorism-related issues in the region.
The meeting, as one insider said, was lacklustre with no delegation willing to come out with information vital to another. VIPs including Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa addressed the sessions.
However, Police Chief Dr. Mahinda Balasuriya was a disappointed man when it came to the final banquet at the Colombo Hilton on Tuesday night. Defence Secretary Rajapaksa was unable to attend due to another urgent engagement. Others conspicuous by their absence were Chief of Defence Staff Roshan Goonetileke and Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya.
How VIPs plunder public money for private trips
It has been practised by our Presidents and our ministers so why not now chairmen follow the trend.
If you wish to visit your kids in foreign lands why not say you are going on an official visit and ask the taxpayer to pay your fare. You can line up some low-level meetings to justify getting there, and then take your shoes off and relax with family and friends. One would suppose the ticket paid for by the taxpayer is a return one so that you can get back to your government job on the already burdened taxpayers' expense as well.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, a President tried to make her visits "official" by asking for appointments with a British Prime Minister, who granted the first and the second but then caught on to the trick and flatly refused to grant any more appointments. So, some other appointments were made and the visits were made "semi-official" i.e. the semi means one is on holiday, the official means the state pays for the trip.
A Cabinet minister did just that last week as we all know, and now, a chairman of a high-flying government venture has lined up some agents meetings in far away Canada so that he can attend a private wedding. So, that's what you call a "semi-official" visit -- the new word in the lexicon of those in the seats of power.
Confusion over original Cup
Customs in Mumbai demanded tickets for last Saturday's World Cup cricket final between India and Sri Lanka after seizing what they believed was the trophy that was going to be presented at the match, a Mumbai-based newspaper claimed.
The Mumbai Mirror, a tabloid newspaper, said that an International Cricket Council (ICC) official arrived from Colombo with the trophy. It had been on display during the New Zealand-Sri Lanka semi-final. The newspaper said Customs valued the trophy at US $ 130,000 and slapped an import duty of US $ 50,000.
The officers offered to allow the trophy to be taken in without payment of duty if tickets to watch the match were given to them. The newspaper claimed that the Customs officers were puzzled when they were told by the ICC official to keep the trophy until after the final. Thereafter, the official said he had wanted to take it to their headquarters in Dubai.
The Mumbai Customs have not been aware that there were two identical trophies. The other was already at the Wankhede Stadium.
The reports led to confusion. Some media claimed that it was a replica that was given to the Indian team. The ICC reacted angrily. A statement said "Contrary to some erroneous and mischievous media reports, the ICC can confirm that the trophy presented to India at Wankhede Stadium on Saturday was the original ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 trophy and the one that was always intended to be presented to the winner.
It said, "The trophy seized by Mumbai Customs is the promotional perpetual trophy which remains with the ICC at its headquarters in Dubai. It carries the generic ICC corporate logo rather than the logo specific to the 2011 event.
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