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Freedom bogged down in toilets
View(s):Sixty-nine years since Independence — and Sri Lanka is now practising reverse discrimination on its free people, of all places in the allocation of some public toilets.
Recently, the Bandaranaike International Airport cut by half the toilets that had bidet showers saying most Asians, particularly Indians, made a mess when using wet facilities. The incongruity is that, while the authorities say most foreigners use dry facilities, the majority of tourist arrivals at the airport now are Asians — Chinese and Indian. Therefore, the argument ‘just does not hold water,’ so to say.
The Peradeniya Botanical Gardens has separate, well-maintained toilets for foreigners. And at selected railway stations around the country — including the main hub in Colombo Fort — toilets are kept under lock and key “For Foreigners Only”.
There are now moves to spread this discrimination heaped upon a free Sri Lankan people even further. Rather than employ a sufficient number of cleaners (or, for that matter, enlist private cleaning companies), the Railway Department is to introduce still more ‘For Foreigners Only’ toilets at scenic stations around the country. These include Ella and Nanu Oya. The plan is backed by the Tourism Ministry.
At most of these stations, the facilities are unlocked for “foreigners” on requests. The toilets for locals are unbearably smelly, unclean, have broken taps, stained urinals, clogged commodes and pans and graffiti. In one toilet for females, a Sunday Times investigative team found soiled sanitary towels overflowing from a dustbin at the entrance.
There are segregated toilets in railway stations at Mt Lavinia, Badulla, Hikkaduwa and Panadura among others. The authorities defend this discrimination saying the locals do not know to use the facilities. They break the taps, they say, or muddy the floors. So the Department introduced separate toilets so that the foreigners — who bring in valuable revenue to the country — can use them “with dignity”.
The contradictions begin when a Canadian citizen of Sri Lankan origin wanting a ‘wet toilet’ needs to use these facilities. Is he or she a Sri Lankan or a “foreigner”. Some stations masters are perplexed. So, while a Sri Lankan-Sri Lankan is debarred, a Sri Lankan Canadian/Brit/Australia is okay.
By the time these questions are sorted out, it might be too late to use the facilities, grumbled a commuter. “Toilet training must start in the schools,” said one, but his companion butted in to say “most Sri Lankan schools don’t have toilet, noh”.
“There must be a better way to sort out this shitty issue,” said a local as he celebrated 69 years of Freedom.