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Last week, when Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, Tourism Minister Vijitha Herath, and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna General Secretary Tilvin Silva, together with other members of the National People’s Power, were spotted attending a tribute concert for the world-renowned Swedish music group ABBA, social media posts made some adverse—and perverse—comments about their attendance.

In response to the criticism, Minister Herath addressed the controversy after he appeared in the Colombo High Court to testify in a bribery case involving former Development Lotteries Board (DLB) Chairman Chandrawansa Pathiraja. Offering his perspective on the matter, the minister defended the decision to attend the ABBA-inspired night out.

“I’ve been listening to ABBA since I was young, and I carry a CD in my vehicle,” he said.

“The ABBA music group is a world-famous group loved by many. The arrival of the group in Sri Lanka is a great honour. As the Minister of Tourism, I stepped in to promote the event on behalf of the country.

“Seeing us attending the concert was like magic to some people, and they are the ones voicing their opinions, but it’s not magic for us. We still have that music taste,” he said, suggesting that even politicians need a little ‘Mamma Mia’ moment to unwind.

Industries Ministry works out industrious approach to investment

When it comes to foreign direct investment, there are several difficulties faced by both foreign and local investors who are willing to invest in the country despite a lethargic bureaucracy.

To address this issue and make it more efficient, the Ministry of Industries came up with an information dossier that consists of provincial-wise information about the vacant land available to investors in industrial estates under the Ministry.

According to the dossier prepared by the Ministry and made available to the public, 120 perches of land are available at the Kalutara Industrial Estate. The highest availability of land is in Mannar, where 12.35 acres of land are ready and available for any type of investment through the Ministry.

The authorities trying to reinstall the dismantled flood prevention system: Pic by Hiran Priyankara

Puttalam’s flood dispute floats between flood and flood prevention

The Puttalam Divisional Secretary has lodged a police complaint over an incident where a group of persons had forcibly dismantled a temporary drainage system that had been laid to prevent flooding in Puttalam town.

The temporary drainage system had been laid near the ‘Kuwait Hospital’ premises to prevent water released from the sluice gates of the Nademkulam tank from entering Puttalam town and flooding the area. Such flooding had been a frequent occurrence over the past few years, with nearly 1000 homes and business places in the town being flooded due to water released from the tank after heavy rains.

Officials had laid the temporary drainage system to prevent the water from flooding the town and to divert the water to the Puttalam lagoon. However, a group of persons from the Mullikulam village nearby are reported to have forcibly dismantled the system altogether, claiming that if they did not do that, their village would be under water.

Puttalam Divisional Secretary Sampath Weerasekara said the persons claiming to be Mullikulam residents had acted illegally and without any consultation with authorities to dismantle the temporary drainage system. They had also placed sandbags at the location to prevent the water from flowing through the area. The Divisional Secretary said these obstructions had been removed using JCB machines belonging to the Puttalam Urban Council.

Gems from Handunetti’s comments

It has been a familiar sight of the newly appointed ministers visiting institutions under their purview.

Industries Minister Sunil Handunnetti has been among them.

One of the comments he made was interesting. He said he would make all the institutions under the purview of his ministry profitable organisations before the end of the year.

He made the comment when he visited the Gem and Jewellery Authority this week.

Minister Handunnetti has 34 institutions under his purview. These include the National Paper Corporation Ltd., Kahatagaha Graphite Lanka Ltd., Small and Medium Enterprises Authority, Lanka Phosphate Limited, National Salt Limited, Sri Lanka Cement Corporation, and Sri Lanka Export Development Board.

It would be interesting to see how the institutions would be made profitable in 30 more days.

He then made an interesting revelation. That was, since he took over, there has been a flood of applications from various individuals for the position of chairperson of the Gem and Jewellery Authority.

He said none of those who requested the chairpersonship of the Authority was selected since these were people who were greedy for the benefits of the position.

Racketeers sell Jaffna youth to Russian Army

With youth unemployment high in the Jaffna district, there is a spike in incidents of youths being scammed by human smuggling racketeers, who assure them safe passage to Western countries.

In the latest of such scams, according to police complaints, three Jaffna youths found themselves being ‘sold’ by brokers to the Russian military to be deployed to the frontlines of the ongoing Russia-Ukrainian war. They were duped by the middlemen that their final destination was Belgium. They paid the racketeers millions of rupees.

The human smuggling racketeers told the youths that it was essential to get military training and Russian Army identification cards to cross the borders of Europe.

It took a while for the youths who did not know each other until they met in Russia to realise that they were ‘sold’ by one of the agents to fight in the war and not to slip into Belgium.

One of the victim’s told his mother that he was not sure whether he would be able to see her again as he was undergoing heavy weaponry training and expected to be stationed at the war front.

The three families of the youths have lost contact with their children for more than two weeks and are fearing for their safety. One of the mothers told the media this week that she was not sure whether her son was dead or alive.

The families of the three youths lodged complaints with the police earlier this week and pleaded with relevant authorities to help repatriate their missing children.

OMP has a vacancy

Applications are called by Parliament to fill a vacant post of member of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP).

The ideal person should have prior experience in fact-finding, human rights law, international humanitarian law, humanitarian response, or any other qualifications relevant to the carrying out of the functions of the OMP.

The deadline is due by December 9.

No gas means no gas

A shortage of Laugfs gas has been experienced in the markets for the past few weeks.

Ask no question, we have no gas: Pic by Kanchana Kumara

It was last week that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake directed the company to ensure a monthly supply of 3,000 metric tonnes (MT) to households on a priority basis.

But, it seems the supplies are yet to come into the market.

Apart from the consumers who have been affected, traders too have been inconvenienced.

They have become tired of answering questions by the consumers who call over looking for gas cylinders. Despite the display of boards referring to the non-availability of gas, consumers have been making inquiries about when the stocks would come in.

One of the traders in Dambulla has come up with a solution. He put up the board, which read, “No Gas: Don’t
ask questions.”

Sivajilingam tests the limits of Government permission to honour war dead

As the government announced earlier that the Tamil people can remember their war dead, but not the terrorists, Maveerar Naal—Heroes’ Day—celebrations went ahead on Wednesday (November 27). Tamil nationalist politicians found themselves in a tricky position—whether to mark the day with usual fanfare or downplay it owing to the bad weather conditions that prevailed in the region.

However, among them was former parliamentarian M.K. Sivajilingam. As usual, he tried to test the limits of the government announcement by organising an event to mark the slain Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader V. Prabhakaran’s birthday that fell on the previous day—November 26.

His supporters decided to mark the birthday of the slain LTTE leader at an empty land that once had the ancestral house of Prabhakaran. The house at Valvettiturai in Jaffna was destroyed by security forces in the past, and what is left is an empty, open land. The supporters had organised a brief cake-cutting ceremony.

The banner that was put up had the picture of Prabhakaran, and the words in Tamil and English read: ‘Tamil Eelam National Leader His Excellency Methagu V. Prabhakaran lived in this house.’

Alerted by the usage of the LTTE leader’s image, local police got into action immediately and took urgent steps to cover the image with tape but allowed the event to go ahead without any disturbances.

After the cake-cutting event, the supporters also distributed tree saplings for those who turned up for the event.