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Lanka’s journalists blocked by Chinese: Snapshot of things to come?
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The local media corps had a rotten time covering the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping this week. Wherever they went, a posse of Chinese journalists elbowed them out of the picture. It started at the airport where local journalists were bundled onto two trucks from which they could take pictures and video footage for TV and newspapers. But not everyone was on the truck.
As President Xi met President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the red carpet, a group of Chinese cameramen at ground level obscured the view, clicking furiously.
They did this persistently until those on the trucks shouted for them to move. It was President Rajapaksa who saw the distress of Sri Lanka’s media personnel. He cleared the way and posed with his Chinese counterpart for them to take some photos. This happened twice that day.
The situation was worse at the inauguration of the Colombo Port City project the next day. Chinese cameramen crowded around the two Presidents on the red carpet, jostling furiously with local journalists. Even President Rajapaksa’s official photographer was shoved out of the way. The two Presidents and other officials climbed a stage to cut a ribbon. Again, Chinese journalists and others covered them entirely. Local media personnel, who had been positioned on another stage some distance away, could see little or nothing.
They shouted themselves hoarse. Once again, it was President Rajapaksa who came to their rescue. He cleared the way and took the Chinese President forward (facing the local journalists) so that they could take pictures and footage. Back on the red carpet while exiting the venue, the situation was no better. Local journalists finally told the President, who was within hearing range, “Sir, apita pinthura nehe ney” (“Sir, we don’t have photos”).
Is this a sign of things to come?
Lie in the sky: Distaste of paradise
Many are the tales that are told about Sri Lanka’s national carrier that goes under the name of SriLankan. One is not sure whether its adjunct called Mihin Lanka qualifies as such but the stories about the latter would make even the few hairs on a bald pate stand up particularly about the millions of dollars burnt up even faster than the aviation fuel this so-called airline consumes.
But this tale is about SriLankan Airlines and should be added to an already expanding compilation of tales such as the one about the ‘extra special’ female cabin crew member who got tired of kicking her heels at the international airport (the Bandaranaike airport that is). So she phoned the big boss who ordered that the flight be sent on its way to Paris even before those passengers coming from Male to join the flight could get to Colombo resulting in further losses to the airline.
Then there is the story about a big boss who was in such a hurry to get to Colombo that he could not wait for his own airline’s flight to turn up an hour or so later and hopped a ride on another airline.
These stories have already been told. But the latest one out of a flight from London should be savoured with the food served on board that is if you are ready to avoid the starters. On a recent London-Colombo flight, business class passengers were offered a starter for dinner that was magnanimously called ‘Thai Grilled Chicken with Mango Salad’. Those who have more than a passing acquaintance with delicious Thai food waited anxiously for it to arrive. Sometime later it did and the passengers were told “enjoy” which of course was what they intended to do until they had the first look at the fare.
The Thai grilled chicken had nothing Thai about it and the mango salad looked like a two-day old left over, so limp and flaccid was the mango. It tasted nothing like the Thai or Southeast Asian mango salad which has a nice balance of sweet and sour flavours with a touch of chilli, lime juice and crushed nuts or roasted grated coconut.
When the Purser was asked, the passengers were told that the dishes are made to suit the palate of the “white” customers. Those apparently are the instructions from Colombo to the London caterers. While SriLankan panders to the “white” fliers ignoring the locals and misleading passengers by calling it a Thai dish, on the breakfast menu was kiributh with katta sambol/seeni sambol and a sort of ambul thiyal.
Passengers were naturally wondering whether the white palates were meant to undergo a sudden transformation by morning to be able to savour the katta sambol. While it is true that a couple of options were available for breakfast, the great decision-makers in Colombo don’t seem to know that Britain’s national dish has been chicken for quite a few years and chicken curry/ lamb curry are British favourites. Now don’t tell that there is not a smear of chillie in them?
See the shoe, Cultural Minister loses sole
That President Mahinda Rajapaksa keeps track of even amusing accounts in the Facebook was clear this week. He asked a staffer at ‘Temple Trees’ “Kawda mey pinthurey gaththey” or who took this photograph. A rather worried staffer was unable to identify the person. He said there were many photographers and one of them had focused on the foot of Cultural Affairs Minister T.B. Ekanayake. The occasion was when the minister was signing an agreement with his Chinese counterpart as President Rajapaksa and Chinese leader Xi Jinping watched.
The Sri Lanka Cultural Affairs Minister was wearing a pair of shoes. The front resembled the open mouth of a crocodile. To the relief of the nervous staffer, Rajapaksa remarked “Eka ey minihage dakshathawaya. Apey boo**wa dana ganna oney hondata andala enna,” or that is that man’s (i.e. photographer’s) efficiency. Our d****y should know how to come dressed well.
The picture of the minister in a pair of torn shoes was posted on the Facebook account of the Foreign Correspondents’ Association. There is clearly a contrast among ministers of the Government when it came to
shoes. One wore a pair worth Rs. 150,000 and boasted over it. The other wore a pair that gave way. An embarrassed Minister Ekanayake told a TV channel he was getting late for the official event. Hence, he got into that rather old pair of shoes.
The Minister seems to have lost his sole, remarked a photographer who watched the event. “It was kimbula or Crocodile fashion the Sri Lankan way,” said another. Another unfairly asked if the shoes were Made in China.
Rowdy students disrupt Anagarika procession
An angry Education Minister Bandula Gunewardena has ordered an immediate inquiry into the behaviour of some private students who allegedly disrupted a procession commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Anagarika Dharmapala. The procession had started from Dharmapala Vidyalaya in Pannipitiya and students were joining the procession from several schools including President’s College, Maharagama, Anula Vidyalaya and Lumbini Vidyalaya. The procession was heading to Ananda Balika Vidyalaya in Maradana.
At Thunmulla junction, they were disturbed by groups of students from the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT). These students who were in vehicles were singing “malli, malli, malli, thopata one koththamalli, apita one whisky.”
The students with loud music were using equipment like dolaks, trumpets, the angry Minister said. The peaceful procession with about 3,000 students in lama sari (children’s sari) and national was led by these unruly and loud groups till the procession reached the Colombo Town Hall.
Political drought relief in Moneragala: Rich businessman also gets it
The Government was keen that the families affected by the drought in the Moneragala district be given relief soon. There was no doubt they were rushing through to disburse the relief — Rs 2,500 per family — before yesterday’s provincial council elections. There were no criteria on how the money was disbursed. Temporary offices, community centres and Grama Niladhari offices were being used to give away this relief. As the Grama Niladhari or the official read out the name of the householder he had to call up, show his identity card and collect the money.
Businessmen, not affected by the drought were among those who collected the money. One of them driving in his luxury jeep from his home to his business establishment in Moneragala town was seen parking his vehicle and collecting the relief. A journalist known to him asked him as how he was affected by the drought. He remarked “Nikan dena demala pattareth hondai” (Even if the Tamil paper is given free it is good) and walked away.
However, there were more deserving people who needed not just Rs. 2,500 but may be Rs. 250,000 as their entire cultivation has been affected and they may not have any income for the next few months. For the entire Moneragala district Rs. 320 million had been allocated. Whether it really benefited the drought victims remains a question. Meanwhile some 1.5 million others affected by the drought in other areas are still awaiting relief.
Elite physicians’ group in financial coma
An association of expatriate Sri Lankan physicians in the United States is headless — and remains in life support under a financially-induced coma. The president elect, in a letter to the committee, has abruptly quit because of numerous financial irregularities in the organisation.” These irregularities”, the letter says, “have not been addressed to my satisfaction”.
The most serious charge is the lack of proper auditing of the association’s accounts and failure to follow protocol in regard to the distribution of funds involving thousands of dollars. Two days after the president-elect quit the organisation, the vice president followed suit by tendering her resignation “with immediate effect”, but gave no reasons.The association, a self-confessed elitist organisation, remains doubly headless — and in a virtual death bed awaiting a saviour in shining armour to rescue it.
Meanwhile, a letter circulating among members says: “I appeal to all members not to make this a Barnum and Bailey Circus with clowns running a dog-and-pony show and ignoring the rule of law which has so far made this organisation survive.”As a visiting expatriate, with access to the letter said last week, “It’s an insult to Barnum and Bailey Circus”.
Restaurant caters for arms giving
It is true that English spelling is not the forte of many Sri Lankans. But when restaurants get it wrong, it could mean all the difference between simple ailments and cannibalism.
The takeout menu of a popular Colombo-based restaurant advertises a range of meal offers including dinner and packets of lunch. It also offers catering services for functions including, it would seem, “arms giving & etc”.
That must surely be uncomfortable to the owners of those arms?
Trotskyite Dinesh introduced to Communist leader
The State dinner for China’s President Xi Jingping was not without its lighter moments. When the two Presidents arrived at the banquet hall, the guests stood up but a senior BMICH official started flapping his hands asking them to sit down. Nobody paid heed, and the official beat hasty retreat. No one knows why he wanted the guests to stay seated when the two leaders arrived.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa was heard introducing Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena to the Chinese President with the words: “Here is our Trotskyite since his childhood. I would like him to meet the Communist leader!” The Minister’s father, Philip Gunawardena was known as the ‘Father of Marxism’ in Sri Lanka and the Minister’s brother was a communist.
Minister Gunawardena today leads the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), which is a Sinhala nationalist party.