Parliament

When hunger talks, there are no strings

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti, Our Lobby Correspondent

Assuming that this truism is applicable to the Sri Lankan situation, as amply demonstrated by recent price hikes which pushed other national questions to the backseat, the escalating cost of living often provides a great platform for opposition politics. In a backdrop where every conceivable item is skyrocketing in price, perhaps the pangs are not felt or felt only slightly by the legislature where the people's representatives happily indulge in a bit of lotus eating and practise their platform speeches.

Basking in the aftermath of a thumping salary increase (denied to all other sectors), the shocking reality of price increases in consumer items found theatrical expression in the legislature on Wednesday - in the form of a few stringhoppers, 'tabled' for effect.

The entire episode, its permissibility according to the Parliamentary procedures apart, was a stinging reminder to the rulers that people are increasingly finding it difficult to survive.

So an unsuspecting Speaker K.B. Ratnayake and an unrepentant Mahinda Samarasinghe holidng forth were nonplussed momentarily when UNP's Mervyn Silva lodged his 'idiappa' protest which he dubbed a 'clear representation of the sufferings of the populace'.

Mr. Samarasinghe, UNP member from Kalutara district, opened the debate for the opposition, but he had little to say about the finance amendment bill itself, like everyone else. What he laboriously tried to explain instead was the PA's bungling of the economy.

Illustrating his argument with economic indicators, he drew a bleak picture in true opposition style, while the government sat in mute silence. He said the government's performance could be summed up only as an absolute disaster based on its belief in 'the-only-way-is-up' theory. Mr. Samarasinghe crossed swords with gentle law professor, G.L. Peiris, who is usually condemned to take much of the flak, claiming that finance was the area where the government's performance was below zero. 

"There's a 50% bus fare hike. There are corresponding increases in everything under the sun. Gas has astronomically shot up by Rs. 105- all because a government which was soft in the head allowed a monopolistic situation to a corrupt multinational company. Following a series of price increases in electricity, water, telephone and others, the last straw is the drastic devaluation of the Rupee."

Conceding that the dollar and the euro have been doing well, he charged that the government appeared totally inept at handling any area - be it war, human rights or finance with the end result being people seeing stars!

With a truculent glint, Mr. Samarasinghe contended that to the PA, people were mere tools to be manipulated through the Samurdhi mechanism to derive political benefit only. "Have mercy. These are also the people who toil, undergo untold misery to make ends meet. For them, the only 'swell' they experience is on the expenditure area," he said.

And this was the moment, Hambantota's UNP member Mervyn Silva began his stringhopper drama.

Rising more to a point of disorder, he came to his feet with a flourish, dangling a flimsy stringhopper with his finger tips.

He demanded a response from Minister Peiris on how he thought the people could survive at this rate. 

"I was just trying to have breakfast - and bought these. Each cost me 60 cents. This is more than a pittu, manipittu, appa, idiappa issue. This is a story of increasing poverty resulting in more hunger," Mr. Silva thundered as government members tried to shout him down. 

"The minister must see them," he said, beckoning a Parliament aide to carry the stringhoppers ceremonially to Minister Peiris who gently waved the parcel away.

Wanting to add more spice, UNP's A.H.M. Azwer also stood up. "Could the stringhoppers be tabled?"- and an exasperated Speaker ordered that the stringhoppers be refrigerated for posterity instead! But, taking offence over this alleged departure from the subject was PA's vociferous new entrant H.R. Mithrapala who accused the UNP speakers of being irrelevant.

"The truth obviously hurts. After all, what is more relevant than a discussion on the economic front which you have skillfully bungled," retorted Mr. Samarasinghe.- and threw an open challenge to the government to hold an immediate election with a dual object of proving its own mettle and doing the country a favour by actually going home. In this backdrop, trying to do the impossible by futilely justifying the bus fare hike and shielding the government valiantly was deputy transport minister Bennet Cooray.

"We agree that the burdens are too much. Many sectors have sustained losses, and many factors have contributed to the general increase in the cost of living. The transport fare increase, though unfair, was a long-standing request by bus operators," he said, amidst loud protests from UNP benchers that people could barely survive anymore.

The solitary SLPF member Nihal Galappatty however thought the Cooray explanation inadequate. True to style, all he could do was to try hazarding a guess as to who was worse — the UNP or the PA.

"The UNP set the ball rolling, and the PA is an improvement of UNP s multitude of sins. This is the most disastrous regime since independence," he said. "Merila upannada" asked a cheeky PA backbencher, wanting to know whether Mr. Galappatty or any other JVP member had the moral right to question anyone.

The member thought the time was right for the PA to go - but not for the UNP to come to office either. 

"A country's governance could be assessed by the functioning of certain vital institutions such as the legislature, judiciary and the election commissioner. The PA has tried to politicize all these institutions. When they couldn't out do it outright, they interfered with the independence of these institutions with callous disregard for democracy," he said.

With none particularly keen to speak on the bill itself and preferring to gloss over the economic burdens placed on the people, firing all cannon with renewed vigour was Gampaha district UNP member John Amaratunga.

He took great pains to explain that the newly formed Patriotic Parliamentarian Platform was not a move to back the government but to show solidarity with the armed forces and to counter LTTE propaganda.

But soon, he was also on the stringhopper track. 

Mr. Amaratunga called the PA's style of governance 'one long series of misadventures'. But not to be outdone, PA backbenchers also heatedly retorted. 

"How many elections were held, and what was the outcome?" one PA backbencher asked.

But Mr. Amaratunga was confident that hunger would do the talking. Stringhopper logic apart, usually, hunger does make itself heard during poll time!
Land grabs shake the hills of Nuwara Eliya

Two State media groups in battle over alleged fraud 

Last week the Daily News splashed the news of an alleged fraud in Rupavahini which ran into millions of rupees stating that the fraud was detected by a three member committee appointed by the Media Minister.

However Rupavahini Chairman D.E.W Gunasekera has dismissed the allegations and threatened to take legal action against the Daily News if the news item is not rectified.

Mr. Gunasekera told The Sunday Times that a committee was appointed in February to look into the irregularities and five officers were interdicted but the report does not contain any reference to the alleged fraud.

'The news item is fabricated. It speaks of a supplementary report, whereas there was nothing like that. The five officers who were interdicted are being investigated. The reason for the splash is due to a disagreement between certain legal officers handling the case' he said.

He added that the news item has caused damage to a commercial organisation like the SLRC as well as business organisations with whom the corporation has cordial relations.

'I have challenged them to publish it in its original form signed by the three members of the committee' said Mr. Gunasekera.

The Chairman in a letter to the Editor of the Daily News states that if a correction is not carried he will be compelled to resort to legal action for redress. He has added that the details have been provided by those who want to bring disrepute to the SLRC.

Police Problems

Security personnel – victims of 'show' politics 

There is another category that takes to politics in order to gain power, and through this power to enhance their social and financial positions. They also love pomp and pageantry. Their love for garlands is much the same as the craving an ordinary person today has for a decent meal. To achieve this pomp and pageantry they resort to a myriad mawkish tricks that only arouse the indignation of people with average intelligence.

How many among our politicians can we name as belonging to the first category? I would leave the selection of names to the reader. It is however distressing to note from a survey I have done, that not more than 5% belong to this category; which means we have to put up with 95% of our politicians who belong to the second category.

My intention here is not to delve into the attitudes of our politicians or to express my indignation, but to draw attention to the security concerns caused by these garland loving 'show' politicians. Several others too have expressed astonishment at the manner politicians continue their "love to be garlanded and led by bevies of girls dancing to the tune of drums, thus feeling important and not understanding how vain they are, in this age of bombs." The public concern is not so much for the conceited politicians, but for the innocents who fall victim to the folly of politicians.

As for the public, to a limited extent they can exercise discretion and avoid these political 'shows' in their own interest. But what of the pathetic plight of the hapless policemen and military personnel who are compelled by force of duty to be present at these unwanted, meaningless political gimmicks? It is the concern for these officers that I wish to draw attention to herein.

I recall how, when President Premadasa was advised not to mingle with the crowds at his populist political shows, for which he had a strong passion, he chided the head of his security set-up telling him not to interfere with his style of politics but to provide him security within the scope of his style. What happened to President Premadasa and his security entourage thereafter is history. Unfortunately history is repeating itself much too often, but with no lessons taken from it. More recently it was Minister C V Gooneratne who was advised by a senior command in the Police, against walking in the procession on that fateful day, but he was too carried away with the 'show' that he could not desist from taking part in it. With him went several police officers including his bodyguard, R/IP Mangala Jayasinghe, whom I knew from his infancy.

Mangala Jayasinghe did not join the police for want of a job. He joined the police due to the love he inherited for the service from his father, retired Chief Inspector John Jayasinghe, whose loyalty to the service and the country too was beyond question. Hailing from a wealthy and affluent family in Hanwella, known and respected for the large estates and buildings bestowed to the Catholic Church for social welfare of the poor, and for their unassuming nature, the Jayasinghes had a place in society. 

A youth that turns away from the comforts of wealth to face the trials and tribulations in the Police Service, is a rare find. Such a find as Mangala Jayasinghe is now lost to the Service and the country due to the folly of 'show' politics.

An even sadder aspect of the prevailing system is that, it is the best from the middle and lower levels in the Police service that is drawn for VIP security, as if serving the public is not so important, and it is eventually the best in those ranks that are lost to the service and the country, not harnessed to their real worth in service to the public.

Malnourished children despite better health care

Even though improvements can be seen in almost all the other public health indicators such as a drop in maternal and infant mortality and a rise in life expectancy, under-nutrition continues to be a major social problem in the country.

These children continue to go through life using only half their full potential as an infant malnourished in childhood usually continues the trend throughout his adult life.

When they reach middle age, they are faced with serious health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart problems. "When there is a leak in your roof, you can keep a bucket to collect the water and throw it out each time it's full without bothering to repair the roof. The roof will continue to leak each time it rains. Malnutrition is a similar problem. You neglect it and it will affect you all your life," a UNICEF official explained.

Children who suffer from malnutrition can suffer reduced learning ability and school performance, speech and hearing defects, less ability to fight infection among many other health problems.

Among the around one million children aged below three in Sri Lanka, one in three is underweight for his age, every fourth child has a less than average height for his age and every eighth child has a low weight for height.

More seriously, about five percent of these children suffer from at least two of the above deficiencies indicating severe nutritional problems.

Every fourth child born in the country also has a low weight of less than 2.5. kilograms putting them at a disadvantage in their physical development from the time of birth.

"Malnutrition prevails across the board irrespective of the income levels of the families,' an official who wished to remain anonymous said. "Those who have too much money eat the wrong kinds of food while the poorer income groups neglect to eat the nutritious food that is easily within their reach," he said. He said age old attitudes and practices need to be changed to address the problem.

"When a child is sick he is not given any food and the child gets weaker. When young girls attain age they are locked up in a room and not given proper food. These practices are highly disadvantageous to children's growth," he said.

A child is required to treble it's birth weight in a year. Studies show that Sri Lankan infants who start off their first three months since birth on par with the internationally accepted weight references, soon begin to drop sharply below the line and continue the downward trend. By the time these children are 12 months old, many of them are malnourished. Health education programmes are now being focused on pregnant women about 65 per cent of whom also suffer from iron deficiency anaemia and low weight gain in pregnancy.

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