Editorial

The Presidential Commission that has investigated SriLankan Airlines and its subsidiary, Mihin Lanka, has placed the official seal on several outlandish happenings that have taken place at these exalted institutional ‘sacred cows’ and been talked about over the years.

The way the national airline has been run is pathetically symptomatic not only of the lack of financial expertise and managerial skills of successive politicians who ran the country, but also of their succumbing to the seductive aspects of having an airline under their control. What better than having aircraft which you can order to fly here and there for yourself, your friends and stooges – as long as the citizenry picks up the tab.

Most appointments to the Board were made on political and family considerations with many who had no clue of the airline industry or in fields relevant to the airline. Partnerships over the years, first with ANA, then BOAC, KLM, UTA, SIA and eventually Emirates ended abruptly; the way the last one – with Emirates went, was a national tragedy.

Everyone knew, and now the Presidential Commission (PCoI) confirms the facts, that just when SriLankan Airlines (UL) was going from huge losses to a profitable venture, a churlish incident caused the break. The Emirates management refused to off-load 35 paying passengers from a VVIP UL flight from London to Colombo to accommodate the free-booting entourage of the VVIP. This one incident which had nothing to do with the economic viability of the partnership ruptured and eventually terminated the agreement — at the request of the Sri Lankan Government of the day. Today, Emirates is the No. 1 airline in the world and no airline worth its salt wishes to do business with SriLankan Airlines any more.

Mihin is another saga. Begun as a budget airline, it provided yeoman service, for instance, to lower income Sri Lankan pilgrims to visit the holy Buddhist sites in India. At the same time, the airline was used as the private property of those in power, especially its CEO with the concurrence of the political leadership. Aircraft purchases, abuse of company credit cards, recruitments, promotions – the PCoI states them all – it was carnival time for these privileged folks. The net loss of Mihin alone was Rs. 17 Billion  (Rs. 17,273,515,781).

Where is the accountability for these national crimes? Successive Presidents, Ministers and Boards have come and gone having milked the Treasury (the Public Purse) till thy kingdom come, with not even a hint of having to face the consequences of their actions. The PCoI almost sounds despondent itself and believes that only “karmic consequences” will flow to the culprits.

The President who initially appointed this Commission seemingly to expose the way his immediate predecessor ran that Administration, publicly ridiculing him for expenses incurred in the purchase of a ‘kit’ that provided 5-star shower facilities while travelling 32,000 feet above ground, might not want to punish those behind those very moves given the political games currently being played out on the eve of a presidential election. He wanted the PCoI to quickly wind up and announced this week he would present the findings to Parliament.

That seems like a ‘pass the buck’ approach. Why doesn’t he ask the Attorney General, to whom the PCoI has also forwarded some material in relation to gold smuggling, human trafficking and gaming crimes to follow up on the preliminary investigations done by the PCoI?

The PCoI is almost pleading in asking the President – and the Government, to take action on its findings. For someone who is fighting against all odds in implementing the death penalty for drug offenders, the contrast in his enthusiasm to indict those with whom he is now in political bed once again, is stark.

Already, some of those mentioned in the PCoI report seem to have received some clemency and allowed to roam free in and out of the country. Only the ‘karmic consequences’ will be left to follow. Action by the Government is remote. The PCoI report is likely to gather dust in some Presidential archive. And the binge spenders of public funds will have the last laugh.

The Palestinians – poor, but proud

 Dubbed ‘The Deal of the Century’ by some, despite it being only 19 years of this century, the US proposal to end the long festering Palestinian Question has been still-born.

Looking to the United States for a solution to the West Asian (Middle East) conflict was bad enough; having the highly biased Donald Trump Administration play honest-broker, is a wicked joke.

The Palestinians are a poor, but proud people. However miserable their lives are, they have refused to bite the bait of a US$ 50 Billion infusion to their economy should they come round to accepting the ‘Deal’, which waffles on the political demand for a two-state (Israel and Palestine) solution.

The US has played a defining role in splitting the Arab world and succeeded in having some nations historically hostile to the state of Israel, like Egypt and Saudi Arabia take a more benign stand. The new Arab world of the UAE, Qatar etc., have all fallen into the US orbit along with Saud Arabia. The rest of the region, however, is in bloody turmoil – Yemen, Iraq and Syria with proxy wars raging and tension high vis-a-vis Iran.

The longstanding Palestinian Question has, as a result, been overshadowed by these other wars in the region. South African icon Nelson Mandela once said “We know only too well, that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”. Credit to the Palestinians for not being suckered by the dazzle of the dollar – for a mess of pottage, into a deal they don’t want.