Great expectations
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I read an interesting report by the news agency AFP this week, where it was stated that international drug barons were running their money laundering operations from the peaceful sanctity of Dubai, living it up and partying in glitzy hotels and restaurants without a care in the world and without fear of extradition.However, that’s all changing after drug lords Irishman Sean McGovern and Faissal Taghi — son of the infamous head of the Dutch-Moroccan Mocro Mafia – were recently arrested, extradited and a massive Russian-run money laundering operation crushed. Dubai has been described as a “remote coordination hub” for Europe’s drug trade, where traffickers live openly and launder their money through luxury goods and real estate.
The same applies to many of Sri Lanka’s drug barons who are also known to be hiding in Dubai. In 2019, Sri Lankan underworld drug kingpin, Makandure Madush, was arrested at a party in Dubai and extradited to Sri Lanka.
The reference to Dubai as a safe haven for Sri Lanka’s underworld and drug lords, and nabbing them, is linked to today’s headline ‘Great expectations’, which is my wish-list – and for many of my readers too – of happenings in the year 2025. The sale, purchase and funnelling of illegal drugs in Sri Lanka is a serious issue and of concern to many parents and ordinary citizens. It ruins the lives of habitual users and their families and forces users to resort to a life of crime to fund and satisfy their ‘killer’ habit.
So what are our expectations for 2025? My 2023, year-end column referred to expectations of elections in September 2024 (they were held as scheduled – the Presidential Election in September and the Parliamentary Election in November) and said that an apt song doing the rounds was the Gypsies hit ‘Chande denna epa hora thakkadiyanta!’ (meaning…..don’t vote for the rogues). The song was crafted by Piyal Perera, younger brother of the late legendary Sunil Perera, showcasing politicians and their ilk, corruption and greed. A typical Gypsies song! And that actually happened: while the popular Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the National People’s Power (NPP), part of the JVP, scraped through at the Presidential poll after a second count was held, the NPP swept the Parliamentary election winning more than 2-3rds of the seats – wiping out the traditional parties which have ruled for more than 50 years.
The message was clear – the people rejected rogues, drug lords, the underworld, the corrupt and abusers of power and elected a new set of Sri Lankans, largely inexperienced in parliamentary politics. That was also on the wish list of my famous trio who were as usual on this Thursday morning, engaged in conversation under the margosa tree. “Aragalaya pitu pasa hitapu kattiya thama aluth nayakayin-ta enna ida salassuwe (The people behind the ‘aragalaya (struggle)’ were responsible for our new leaders being elected),” said Serapina.
“Anura saha eyage kattiyata godak weda karanna thiyenawa 2025 (Anura and his team have a lot of work to do in 2025),” added Mabel Rasthiyadu. “2025 aga wenakota api lankawey godak wenaskam balaporoththu wenawa (By the time 2025 ends, we hope to see a lot of changes in Sri Lanka),” noted Kussi Amma Sera.
Indeed, this was also the topic that was discussed when “Nana” Mohideen, my jolly trader-friend from Moneragala, called this morning. I hadn’t spoken to him for a while and welcomed the call. “So Nana, how are things in Moneragala,” I asked.
“Fine, fine…..people are happy with a new set of rulers although farmers are struggling a bit after flash floods washed away many of their rice fields,” he said.
“But I thought they were being compensated for their loss,” I said. “Yes, they are receiving compensation but it is much lower than the loss they have incurred,” he said.
“As a Moneragala resident, what are your expectations in 2025?” I asked. “Well, the government should speedily solve the problems of the people – tackle the rising cost of living, reduce corruption, waste and abuse of power, improve the income of the elderly who have been affected by the drop in their deposit income due to sharply dropping interest rates and many more,” he said. “That is also my wish list,” I said, adding: “It is a challenging year for the new administration.”
It is indeed a challenging year for the President and his team. While it has been three months since the change of administration, the honeymoon period (six months) would be over by the first quarter of 2025, with the national budget due to be presented in February or March and expected to tackle many issues that affect the people – reducing consumer prices, either increasing incomes or increasing the purchasing power of the rupee and the effective distribution of social welfare.
While there has been some unnecessary hiccups faced by the government with lot of time being spent on the ‘qualifications’ issue forced by opposition legislators which led to the resignation of the Speaker who was unable to prove that he had acquired a doctorate through learning, this was time that should have been spent on resolving more important, burning issues in the country.
Some time ago, I suggested that a governing party should resort to a two-track approach to deal with the country’s issues: One track to ‘firefight’ or swiftly deal with issues that occur on-and-off, while a second track would deal with mid-to-long term issues. Through this process, the governing party can immediately attend to immediate issues like the ‘qualifications’ syndrome and concentrate on the mid-to-long term issues via the second track. It is important that long-term planners don’t get sidetracked by issues that require an immediate solution and leave this to planners, focusing on the track that deals with immediate issues.
The government has an onerous task – and demanded by the population – of tackling corruption, mismanagement and waste in the economy. It has to show results in the first or second quarter of 2025, whether it’s through the appointment of special committees or tribunals or through the existing legal structure (which is more sustainable and credible) to bring to book all the fraudsters, corrupt officials and murderers. The people need to see that their effort to elect a new set of politicians has been worth it.
So as I wind up with my last column for 2024 and sip Kussi Amma Sera’s mug of tea, my wish list is similar to what everyone wants – laws that apply equally to the rich and the famous, the ruling party politicians, the fraudsters-corrupt-and-drug lords and ordinary people. If the laws are implemented without discrimination, everything else including the economy and the collection of taxes will fall into place.
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