Editorial

With 2016 coming to a close, the National Unity Government is fraught with internal strife not uncommon in coalitions in office for two years. The latest disagreement comes in the form of the proposed Development (Special Provisions) Bill mooted by the UNP segment in the Government but opposed rather strenuously by its SLFP counterparts.

The UNP argues there is a need for a superstructure at the apex to streamline and accelerate economic development, especially the anticipated foreign investment. The SLFP (or the SLFP within the Government) says this will create a Super Minister not unlike the one who ran the Economic Development Ministry under the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration where other ministers were sidelined and relegated to being mere puppets at the time. The resentment lingers, even if they served as loyal servants at the time. They are fond of saying these days, that it was this unbearable treatment meted out to them that made them break the moorings from the dictatorial Rajapaksa regime and create a new Government. Now they fear that history is repeating itself.

For any political analyst it is clear that the SLFP’s opposition also stems from another factor; it believes this to be a move at taking away some of the powers not only vested with SLFP controlled Provincial Councils, but also those of the President and give them to UNP ministers, a claim which the UNP hotly contests.

The UNP sees it from a different perspective. It has, over the past two years in office, found the public sector not moving at the speed the UNP wants it to. The UNP, like the people it represents, is getting impatient with the turn of events, the inability to turbo boost a stagnant economy weighed down by foreign loans, and provide employment to the growing ranks of the unemployed.

The Government having to rely on Chinese loans — and therefore, on China which it once vehemently criticised for arm-twisting and turning Sri Lanka into one of its fiefdoms during the Rajapaksa years, has now unabashedly turned to China for deliverance. The Chinese are having the last laugh. Not that the canny Chinese have not done their part to cosy up and do ‘business’ with some of the UNP Ministers.

If the Chinese ambassador can offer the Prime Minister of this country no less, and the Foreign Minister a ‘donation’ to spend as they wished and the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is also invited to Beijing as a guest of the Chinese companies doing business in Sri Lanka, it shows the extent to which China goes to soften up Sri Lanka’s political leaders. It is very difficult therefore for this country to escape the Dragon’s clutches.

The West has dropped the ball and let the side down; its support largely limited to homilies on human rights and reconciliation when the domestic priorities are for economic development –and jobs at a fast pace.  The saying goes that while the Chinese are offering unsolicited economic development projects, the West is offering unsolicited platitudes about good governance.

There is another side to this saga, though. Western donor agencies complain that investment bottle-necks are aplenty in Sri Lanka and even when projects are small however people-oriented with no-strings-attached aid components, they run into a corrupt political system coupled with a corrupt bureaucracy from those in public authorities, including Provincial Councils wanting their share of kickbacks to get things moving. That is probably why the Government’s UNP segment wants to short circuit the process. Whether existing laws are insufficient is not the issue, it seems. Corruption has spread far and wide and alas, its own credibility has been tested and is now at stake. The public has a wary eye on it after the Central Bank bond scandal and the recent doings of some high-profile Ministers and their business partners. These have not escaped public scrutiny.

The PM’s position cannot be envied in the circumstances. He is caught between a rock and a hard place, as the saying goes. He has to lead the team he has. And then again, he must sit back and reflect as a year comes to an end, whether he’s got the right person for the right job in his team – and if, he is a captive of a small but influential coterie.

It’s Christmas time in troubled times

Today is Christmas Day and it is not just Christians the world over who celebrate the day Jesus Christ was born, it is also a festive time for non-Christians who would respect the occasion.

One can see how religious fanaticism has enveloped the Western world and the widely debated ‘Crisis of Civilization’ has gripped global attention, and how age-old ‘holy wars’ that marked European history are repeating themselves.

In some Islamic nations, radical elements have declared Jihad (holy war) against the Christian West partly due to the bloody wars that have been inflicted upon themselves by the West exploiting sectarian differences and indulging in power struggles between oil rich West Asian states, one supporting the West, the other anti-West.

Fortunately, Sri Lanka has been insulated from such intra-religious and inter-religious violence to a great extent, even though some Western Governments and NGOs that do not see the beam in their own eyes are all too eager to preach about racial and religious persecution in this country.

This is not to say that external — and internal — elements are not already at work to light a fire in Sri Lanka. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

Unfortunately, an artificial tree is diverting people from what is truly relevant about this holy day. The universal message of the Christ Child, the Son of God born in a lowly stable is one of love and peace to all people.  The Bible in Luke’s Gospel tells of the angels who appeared to the humble shepherds to give them the good news that will bring great joy to all. “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord”.

Even as Christians worship in churches this Christmas morn and families and friends gather at home, they are asked to share and care for the less fortunate: the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, the weak and the homeless. That is the true spirit of Christmas.