Editorial

A cascade of Western security alerts this week hit Sri Lanka’s travel industry hard, just as it was picking itself up after a protracted legal battle to restore order to the country’s tourist visa issuance system.

The US kicked it off on Wednesday, saying it had received credible information warning of an attack targeting popular tourist locations in the Arugam Bay area. Pointing to “the serious risk posed by this threat,” the US embassy in Colombo imposed travel restrictions on its personnel while strongly advising US citizens to avoid the area. The UK and Australia also updated their travel advisories based on the US alert. The National Security Council of Israel then fanned the flames by calling on its citizens to “immediately leave” not only Arugam Bay but the southern and western coastal areas.

In a statement, the Sri Lanka Tourism Alliance asked whether this was “some kind of cruel joke” played by a group of foreign embassies on Sri Lanka and its tourism sector. The government did not deny that there were security concerns. While the travel alerts did not mention danger to a specific nationality, there had for weeks been heightened security for Israeli-run businesses, ‘chabad’ or prayer houses, and tourists nationwide. The Arugam Bay beach has seen a particularly high concentration of military and Special Forces personnel since early October.

The contention, however, is that if there had been a credible threat, the Sri Lankan government effectively managed it. The national security and intelligence apparatus had acted promptly and with caution. There had been no panic. Arrests were made and surveillance was tightened.

The Sri Lankan travel industry can therefore be excused for seething at what it sees as a “trigger-happy” response by Western missions in issuing these far-reaching travel advisories that have serious repercussions on a struggling industry vital to the country’s economic recovery. On the one hand, they have the direct outcome of frightening visitors who either leave or don’t come at all. On the other hand, when the risk is deemed high, insurance clauses kick in that prevent global tourism companies from organising travel to such a destination.

There is an added complication to travel alerts or advisories: the lifting or revision of them to more favourable levels rarely, if ever, attracts attention. Some remain in place well after the threat has passed. These have consequences for a country that is struggling to get it right following decades of conflict and economic strife. The situation in Sri Lanka is far better than many other hotspots—whether conflict, crime, political strife or terrorism-related—around the world. It is time to put away the daggers and bring out the kid gloves.

Corruption is no laughing matter

Nobody gives more insight into why Sri Lanka is drowning in fraud and corruption than three ex-presidents sharing one stage and reflecting on their respective terms in power.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Maithripala Sirisena—during a recent mirth-filled panel discussion during the 45th National Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka—pointed out that the system was corrupt from top to bottom. They divulged some hard truths, the likes of which they would not have confessed to while in power.

For instance, no politician could carry out fraud without the knowledge of the ministry secretary or chief accountant. It was difficult to recover stolen assets without the necessary laws or being able to trace whom they belonged to. To get people to attend political rallies, you needed arrack, good food and a comfortable bus. That however great the provisions of the constitution and law are, and whatever the new legislation passed, “people appointed to those positions are able to forget those laws and continue with fraud and corruption.” Cases come to court, but people are either acquitted or the actions dismissed.

It was also pointed out that the National Procurement Agency, which oversaw purchases and controlled corruption, was disbanded. Fraud and corruption are complex matters these days, with money changing hands between countries and transactions made even via Bitcoin. Laws weren’t sufficient “to bring the stolen money back.” People need to be trained and staff hired. Even the Bribery Commission functions with seconded police officers.

What was evident from this brief, moderated conversation was that the root causes, the methods, the players, the processes and all related problems—along with possible solutions—have been identified and are known. But Sri Lanka is no closer to reducing, let alone eradicating, this scourge, which has become so entrenched and commonplace that it is increasingly taken for granted, even while lip service continues to be paid to just how harmful it is to society and the economy.

All this has real consequences. The motivation behind greed and corruption is antithetical to the public good. Bad procurements have led to grand waste and hardship. Take the ePassport tender, which saw private sector bidders collude with certain entities in the Department of Immigration and Emigration to bend the outcomes their respective ways. The ensuing mess caused Sri Lanka—a sovereign nation—to run out of passports for the first time in history and to buy emergency travel documents at a price the country could ill afford. Both the ePassport tender and a separate controversial contract (since cancelled) to outsource visa processing to a foreign third party went through the same minister, the same cabinet, the same ministry secretary, some of the same officials, and the same department.  Yet, only the public pays the price.

The lackadaisical, even humorous, manner in which the three ex-presidents addressed fraud and corruption, while entertaining, cannot continue. This attitude and failure to act seriously against such crimes have blocked investment, led to waste and poor quality goods and services, and contributed towards high debt and total bankruptcy.