Editorial

COVID-19 or not, the new Government was not going to let go an opportunity to ‘celebrate’ an anniversary commemorating the defeat of the LTTE. Some of those who mutter from abroad that the Government is showcasing “triumphalism” are the very ones who saluted the victorious battles of World War I a century back and WW II 75 years ago.

The eventual defeat of the LTTE on the battlefields on the North-east of the island is part of this country’s contemporary history. Where the credit must go is debatable, but many who steered the final assault on the terror organisation are now in power and place. Several, now retired from active military service are being called up and rewarded, slotted into key state sector posts amidst murmurs of protest and resentment over the increased “militarisation” of the civil administration. The President who was the war-winning Defence Secretary at the time clearly believes these officers can deliver the goods for him in civvies as they did in uniform.

There is a natural reaction to the Government flaunting the war victory. In the North, remnants of the LTTE and radicalised youth are still being fed a diet of communal hatred by fringe elements in the political arena, ironically those who can now wage their politics purely because the LTTE was eliminated from the Northern political equation as the “sole spokesman for the Tamil people”.

These groups are egged on, financially and otherwise, by a sulking diaspora in the West that has become an active lobbying force in those countries. They lobby naïve local politicians, feed them with unverified statistics and horror stories of “genocide” in Sri Lanka and retain lawyers to plead their case. The cry for Eelam is mainly raised from abroad.

Last week our Political Editor wrote of effigies being burnt of a Northern politician who is seen as a bridge between the North and the South. This was not the first time his effigy was set alight by persons who don’t want any such bridge.

It is nothing new either in the politics of the North. When Sri Lanka was on the cusp of winning Dominion status on the eve of Independence, moderate politicians like Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan and Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam who had the ear of the majority in the South, were mocked and ridiculed by the communal minded as “turbaned heads” for the way they dressed, but more for their rapprochement with the South.

With the refusal of the Northern politicians to integrate their people as Sri Lankans, the North has not profited. Not that the South did all that much better either in years gone by. The Southern insurrection of 1971 was a precursor to the Northern uprising and there was so much in common in both. It was just that the Northern rebellion was foreign-backed with geo-political connotations and therefore more virulent with an ethnic flavour to justify it.

The Government has taken the unprecedented step of promoting more than 14,000 officers and men of the Armed Forces to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the defeat of the LTTE, and the political aspect to it given the new dispensation’s increasing reliance on the military is clear as clear can be.

There will need to be, however, some corresponding benefit that must accrue to the North and the people there if they are not to continue feeling betrayed, second class citizens, who have been marginalised from the scheme of things and still being asked to be Sri Lankans first.

From COVID-19 to clean air

 

he findings of a scientific project jointly conducted by two universities, in Moratuwa and Brisbane (published on Page 16) prove what is commonly known — the air we breathe is much cleaner now because of the curfew and lockdown imposed due to COVID-19. But for how long?

These findings are relevant in no small way because clean air and COVID-19 are both directly interrelated to respiratory issues. While COVID-19 is a virus and got the headlines it deserves, air pollution has not received adequate attention.

The reason could be attributed to the dramatic swiftness with which the virus, frequently described as an unseen enemy, attacks people. Polluted air that maybe unseen to the naked eye can still be monitored, but it can equally affect most of the organs and systems of the human body to the point of fatality.  Young children and the elderly – with chronic respiratory diseases are particularly at risk.

With the pressure on the Government to relax the stringent curfew and reopen the economy, we are no doubt going to see one mad ‘back to the future’ rush. Thousands of cars and buses and almost a million tuk tuks are revving up to hit the asphalt. Already, within just a few days of the curfew being partially relaxed to enable people to return to work, Colombo’s air quality has begun to deteriorate, says the Air Quality Unit of the NBRO (National Building Research Organisation).

Air quality is a global issue.

Carbon monoxide (CO) from vehicular and aircraft emissions and industries is the main culprit. The world is moving towards alternate solutions — like electric cars — and only those like the US President who seems live in another planet are in denial of climate change and global warming. The London Financial Times in an editorial last weekend says governments should seize the chance of a green recovery and that it is not a menu of options (for governments). “This year was meant to be a turning point for climate action. It is up to policymakers to make sure that goal is not lost in a post-COVID-19 world,” it adds.

While the rest of the world embraces clean energy, Sri Lanka is still pursuing ‘dirty coal’ options by extending the high polluting, regularly breaking down plant at Norochcholai that distributes toxic ash all around the Puttalam area. Solar, wind, ocean power as alternate energy sources are being ignored. So too liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydro power on which successive governments have heavily invested seem to be going out of favour as different power sector interest groups with cash in their pockets dictate government policy.

Spineless governments that are reluctant to even ban CO pouring two-stroke tuk tuks from polluting the main cities and fouling up the air because they are owned by a million voters cannot pin all the blame on global warming and external factors. They have to take decisive steps themselves. Clean Air and COVID -19 are just two sides of the same coin.