Throwing the dictionary at the traitor
From the green corner
By Viruddha Paakshikaya
Minister Samaraweera
It was with amusement that I read Paakshikaya's
contribution from the 'Blue Corner' last week. Paakshikaya takes high moral
ground and suggests that I tell our leader that the UNP leader should be
truly ''bi-partisan'' and that it means not merely smiling for the cameramen
with Her Excellency by his side at Sanath Jayasuriya's wedding.
I cannot agree more, Paakshikaya. But does your leader realise that?
Have you told her that?
I ask you, Paakshikaya, because it was funny if it was not so sad to
see her ladyship shaking hands with our leader at the SLMC Convention with
a beaming Mr.Ashraff in the middle (how symbolic of the times!) last Saturday
and calling for national unity and amity and then, barely 48 hours later
going to the Piliyandala Central College and bombarding the UNP, it's past
''record'' on bribery and corruption, political violence, handling of the
economy and many other issues.
Then, hardly pausing for breath her ladyship says she needs only 14
UNP votes in Parliament to have her Constitutional Reforms passed, however
much the country opposes them! To crown it all she says the people ''may''
call those who do not vote for her package as ''traitors''!
Now, Paakshikaya I'm sure you must be able to lay your hands on a Concise
Oxford Dictionary. Please do look up the word "traitor''. It will
tell you a traitor is one ''who violates his allegiance or acts disloyally
to country, king, cause, religion, principles, himself.''
I guess the UNP can be called traitors for acting disloyally to the
''king" (!), but can they be accused of being disloyal to the country,
cause, religion, principles or themselves?
And, Paakshikaya, only nine years ago - Her Ladyship's Mother, Ms. Bandaranaike
staged Satyagrahas at the Bo Tree Junction in Pettah when our J.R.Jayewardene
was trying to push through his 'package' of provincial councils.
Like your leader now, he too sincerely thought it would end this war.
Does that make Ms. Bandaranaike a traitor?
The President, who only the other day told students not to take to politics
spoke nothing but politics at the Piliyandala Central College meeting.
It was no doubt the launch of her Provincial Councils election campaign.
(Or is it a Presidential Election campaign?)
But, Paakshikaya, can she face an election, what with Ministers like
Mangala Samaraweera being her most trusted lieutenants - ministers who
get Corporation heads under their purview to foot their credit card bills
when they travel overseas, without so much as itemising, their expenses?
Mr.Samaraweera's defence is appalling. He says the ''money we get is
not enough; so what is wrong in getting someone else to foot the bill?"
Then, he has the cheek to go on TV saying, ''as Mangala Samaraweera
I would like to go to Paris and eat a piece of bread sitting in a small
cafe.
But as a Minister of the government of Sri Lanka I spend well, I eat
well, I drink well and I entertain lavishly...........''. What logic is
this, Paakshikaya?
Come on, Paakshikaya, why doesn't young Mangala itemise his expenses,
not to the last cent, but at least broadly and show some bills at least?
He owes it, at least to the thousands of telephone subscribers who have
now been burdened with increased charges and taxes by courtesy of Sri Lanka
Telecom - the good company that foots Mr.Samaraweera's bills. As Oscar
Wilde said, Minister Samaraweera must be having "nothing to declare
except his genius,'' which he has shown us in no small measure already!
And, remember, Paakshikaya, that the government has not commented on
the Sri Lanka Telecom Chief Executive Officer's response. The CEO's defence
of his Minister is worse than the offence. He has the audacity to say that
privatisation of Sri Lanka Telecom is not merely to handover to better
management but also ''to change the system" or some such thing. What
is this new system? So, is this the new ''commercial culture" of the
............PA government? Is this the ''open economy with a human face''
- the face of Kamitsuma, the Telecom CEO - that you spoke of? Speak up,
Mr.Minister of Justice. We know that the Bribery Commission got castrated
because people close to government came under scrutiny by the Commission.
Now you realise why we in the Green Corner, Paakshikaya, are working to
get the Commission reactivated .
Then, Mr.Samaraweera himself has accused people who have ''Access''
to the ''unconscionable profits" you and I have been writing about
in these columns, Paakshikaya.
I too had to do some ''digging'' to find out what young Mangala was
talking about. "Access'' seems to be a company that has reached ''new
heights.'
What with one of the tallest new office complexes commissioned earlier
this month at a bash that we are told cost over five million rupees.(No
wonder Mangala is angry. His "allowance" was only Rs.250,000
and we are bothering him about that too!) From where is this kind of new
money? How do this nouveau riche drink the finest Dom Perignon champagne
now when they drank Pol Arrack only four years ago?
Are there arms dealers amongst you, Paakshikaya; who have profited from
this war? People who have suddenly found ''good friends,'' ''old family
friends'' and ''relations'' and bribe people from top to bottom to get
their deals through?
So, why is a PA Minister shouting about them, Paakshikaya? Why doesn't
the PA enquire into their assets instead? Why not have ''Access" to
their sources of income instead of dropping hints at press conferences?
The answer is, they cannot, because if they do they will come up with some
information that will embarrass the PA.
Paakshikaya, you say that I will be surprised if I know who in the UNP
has ''Access" to this group.
Well, there's nothing to hide about the fact that the building I referred
to was designed by a man who has a top post in the UNP.
But, I assure you, Paakshikaya, that is a strictly professional relationship
between a professional and a client.
Yes, I can tell you also that some of our UNP members were sent expensive
hampers by these people who had ''Access'' to them, at Christmas time.
But don't you worry, our leader, Ranil Wickremasinghe is aware of them
and there is little that can be done when you are in the Opposition. It
is you, Paakshikaya, who is in the government and you who dish out the
favours.
Unfortunately, bribery and corruption is so rampant now I personally
think the UNP has inadvertently made things worse by complaining to the
Commission about Mangala Samaraweera and the AirLanka deal.
Now, the likelihood of the government appointing a third Commissioner
(which is mandatory by law), police officers and State Counsel is remote
indeed, what with all these allegations pending inquiry.
Maybe Paakshikaya, you should talk to your leader - after all, Bandaranaike's
don't take bribes, says your new found pinch-hitter, Mr. Fernandopulle-
and convince her to appoint, like in the United States, a Special Prosecutor.
But then, Paakshikaya, that is as likely as Sri Lanka conducting some
nuclear tests in the next few days, isn't it, Paakshikaya?
In India, things go better with self-reliance,
they say
By Sunanda K. Datta-Ray
SINGAPORE — India must be the only country in the world where
Coke yields in the public popularity stakes to a local cola.
The preference says much for the social and cultural orientation of
the world's second-most populous country. It could also have profound meaning
for the sweeping economic sanctions imposed on India by the United States
in punishment for the nuclear tests carried out under Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee and his Bharatiya Janata Party.
I was not surprised to read of Coca-Cola's limping sales in India. It
is not a drink of my generation. Our adolescence was the age of stringent
foreign exchange restrictions and import substitution.
Instead of squandering its rupees on luxuries, India shopped abroad
only for essentials like machinery, life-saving drugs — and weapons. As
memories of imported indulgences faded, lifestyles adjusted to a new set
of bare material requirements.
Coke is not the only casualty. Take Tabasco sauce. When the local equivalent,
Capisco, appeared in almost identical packaging, someone said that no one
would buy it - that long ago we had all gotten used to doing without Tabasco!
It was not with any sense of deprivation, either that we drank whisky,
gin and rum that the government called rather quaintly IMFL — Indian-made
foreign liquor.
Under Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister there was no greater
evil than conspicuous consumption.
Of course, there were exceptions. People with undisclosed income splurged
on caviar and champagne. Shops with hidden stocks of smuggled goods catered
furtively to a tiny urban elite. Agents, like the youth we called ''the
chocolate man," went from office to office with battered gladstone
bags filled with contraband chocolates, cheese and cosmetics. But the vast
majority of Indians was quite happy with whatever was made at home.
Taste began to change when Rajiv Gandhi, Nehru's grandson, came on the
political scene and later became prime minister. His fondness for things
Western started with his Italian wife.
The predilection had both positive and negative aspects. Mr. Gandhi
introduced computers to India. During the Asian Games in New Delhi - which
he and his friends managed, though his mother, Indira, was still prime
minister - a temporary relaxation of import rules resulted in a flood of
colour television sets brought in as ''spares.''
The Rajiv Gandhi years exorcised the disapproving morality that had
kept conspicuous consumption in check. It became respectable to flaunt
wealth, which meant displaying a taste for Western luxuries.
The trend became more marked under the economic liberalization that
Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao himself, a man of spartan simplicity,
set off in 1991. I could not help wondering whether Mr. Vajpayee and his
colleagues, then in the opposition, did not have a point in demanding that
foreign investment should be confined to computer chips, leaving potato
chips to domestic makers.
The prospect of a locally made Mercedes-Benz sedan that costs 142 times
the average per capita income of $350 a year heightens the iniquitous contrast
between rich and poor. Economists will say this is only a short-term effect,
but with 30 percent of India's 960 million people below the poverty line,
even the short-term can be a very long time.
Of course, foreign sanctions will cause hardship and set back the thrust
for modernization. But they might turn out to be a blessing in disguise
if, by forcing Indians to rethink priorities and fine-tune growth strategies,
they lead to the rehabilitation of those two Nehruvian ideals — self-reliance
and austerity — that have disappeared from the national vocabulary.
(The writer, a former editor of The Statesman in India, is an editorial
consultant with The Straits Times in Singapore. He contributed this comment
to the International Herald Tribune.)
India will not gobble up Pakistan, assures Vajpayee
India has assured insecure Pakistan that there
is no plan whatsoever of gobbling it up, and that Pakistan, which broke
away from India in 1947, is here to stay.
Speaking in the Indian parliament on Friday, the Indian Prime Minster,
Atal Behari Vajpayee, noted that many Pakistanis were insecure because
they felt that India had not accepted their country Pakistan as a separate
and independent state.
Assuring these Pakistanis the India would not seek to undo the partition,
Mr. Vajpayee said: "There is no need for insecurity. After the country
was partitioned, they became a separate and independent state. It is a
fact now. They should live in peace."
Mr. Vajpayee said that both countries must work for a world free of
nuclear arms. "India and Pakistan are neighbours and no matter what
the state of relations, this fact makes it imperative for them to sit and
discuss their problems," he said.
Reiterating his earlier post-blast statements about India's desire for
peace, Mr. Vajpayee said that India had offered a voluntary moratorium
on testing, and shown readiness to enter talks on the Fissile Material
Cut Off Treaty (FMCT). It was for controls on nuclear and missile technology
exports and it was willing to enter in to a "no first use" agreement
with Pakistan and other countries, both bilaterally and multilaterally.
Most importantly, the Indian Prime Minister said that India was ready
to "probe" a 'No-War" pact offered by his Pakistani counterpart,
Mr. Nawaz Sharif, on Friday. But Mr. Vajpayee cautioned that when this
offer was made earlier, it was predicated to a resolution of the Kashmir
dispute to Pakistan's satisfaction.
Referring to the Kashmir dispute, Mr. Vajpayee warned Pakistan against
attempting any "mis-adventure" in Kashmir and said that India
would not allow any third party mediation in this "bilateral"
dispute.
Who needs to civilize whom?
By Roshan Peiris
Tisahamy was a proud chieftain of his for est tribe.
In 1986 he told a team of scholars headed by Prof. Ponnamperuma and Prof.
Ralph Buultjens who visited him at Dambana:
"You come from a crime ridden, drug addicted, corrupt, immoral
and decadent society to civilize me. Our society in the backwoods is free
of crime. We make no apologies for living close to nature. In fact we adore
it, living in the very bosom of nature."
Tisahamy, the famous Veddah chief died on Friday marking the last chapter
of the most colourful personality in the anthropology of this country.
The hundred-year-old Tisahamy with glowing white beard topped with a bushy
mustache has been the Moses of his people - their prophet and deliverer.
Dr. R.L. Spittel, who lived among the Veddahs and counted Tisahamy as
a friend, wrote in his book, "Wild Ceylon" in 1925, "Let
us leave the last of the Veddahs alone, and not try to fashion them to
our ways, for that would kill them the sooner."
Tisahamy ruled over his scattered people in the jungles. They lived
to hunt and use nature's bounty. With his death we hope the Veddahs as
a race will not die, and be known to history only as a name.
In 1989 Tisahamy threatened to take recourse in the law. "If it
is true that we live in a free and just society, no government official
or individual can obstruct the way to my home, nor can they build a fence
around my house." He was referring to his battle with the Wild Life
authorities."
Tisahamy had the guts to spell out his claim. "This is my homeland
Kotabakiniya. It is the land on which my forefathers had lived for generations.
If anyone comes here, and attempts to disturb my way of life, it is a violation
of my rights to live as a free man."
The jungle was his home but these words show the indomitable spirit
of Tisahamy. He may well have argued for human rights.
On December 15, 1990 Tisahamy led a troupe of his people, to show urban
society the cultural accoutrements of his primitive people. At the Riverina
Hotel in Beruwala, they sang and danced, showing hunting patterns, witch
dances, Veddah music and folk songs. They even demonstrated the primitive
way of lighting fire and cooking.
Tisahamy did his people proud. They performed several jungle dances
to the beat of drums. A devotional dance "Kirikohara netuma"
was performed evoking the blessings of the "Kande Yaka" who provides
Veddah's with a good hunt and protects them from wild beasts.
So Tisahamy did pay his obeisance to the town people. But nothing could
force him to give up the culture of his tribe. So the Veddahs due to this
tribal chief have kept to their customs and ways of life with an appreciative
stubbornness.
In his book "Savage Sanctuary" Dr. Spittel recounts that Tisahamy
was reputed as a Minimaruwa (murderer). The book says the wisdom he had
acquired put such a finishing touch to him among the simple folk with whom
his future lot was cast that he came to be looked upon as a man to respect
and fear."
With Tisahamy's death a chapter of our history ends. We hope his sons
and grandsons remain as staunch as he was to perpetuate the customs and
ways of life of this tribe.
It would be apt to end with Dr. Spittel's "Leaves of the Jungle."
But oh for the trails that the wilderness trend,
For the hills that are haunts of the hiving bee,
For the twittering bill and the branching head
Oh Island, Wild Island you are home to me.
UN chief agrees new Iraqi oil-for-food plan
UNITED NATIONS,Saturday- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on
Friday approved Iraq's crucial plan on how it will distribute food and
medicine to ease the impact of sanctions on its people.
Annan had to sign off on the plan before the next six-month phase of
the "oil-for-food" programme could begin next week. The complicated
programme is an object of controversy whenever it comes up for renewal.
Iraq has been allowed to sell oil to buy food, medicine and other supplies
under strict U.N. monitoring as an exception to the sweeping sanctions
imposed after Baghdad's troops invaded Kuwait in 1990.
"The secretary-general has approved the distribution plan,"
U.N. spokeswoman Myriam Dessables said late on Friday.
In February, the Security Council approved an increase in Iraqi oil
exports from $2 billion to $5.25 billion, to begin after Annan approved
Iraq's distribution plan.
The plan provides for $4.5 billion in oil sales over the next six months
if Iraq can upgrade its oil industry. Of this amount $3.1 billion is for
humanitarian supplies and emergency infrastructure repairs and the rest
deducted for compensation to victims of the 1991 Gulf War and other U.N.
costs.
Iraq's Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Sahaf, however, told reporters he
expected Baghdad could only pump a total of $3 billion at current prices
over the next six months, leaving less money for humanitarian projects.
U.N. officials briefing diplomats have said there were deficiencies
in the allocation of food supplies. But they say Iraq's plan showed the
government was committed to improving the distribution of goods.
The Security Council in February approved a plan by Annan that would
appropriate monies to specific health and nutritional sectors and call
for more than $1 billion in infrastructure repairs related to those areas.
The United States and other countries want to make sure those priorities
are not changed.
The next step is for the Security Council to approve $300 million in
spare parts for Iraq's dilapidated oil industry that is already contained
in the distribution plan Annan approved. But members disagree on how to
do it and no action is expected until next week.
Proposals from Britain, Portugal and Sweden, backed by the United States,
would approve the $300 million in equipment but insist the council's sanctions
committee on Iraq has to sign off on each item as the parts are purchased.
The committee includes all 15 council members and allows any one of
them to block a request.
But France drew up an alternative document that would have the council
approve immediately a list of spare parts as proposed by oil experts engaged
by the United Nations.
Another major difference between the two proposals is how often Iraq's
distribution plan would be renegotiated.
The United States, Britain, Portugal and Sweden say under present procedures
the new plan, about to be approved, is ongoing as long as sanctions are
in place but can be amended at various intervals.
France disagrees with this provision, the object of which is to prevent
renegotiating the distribution plan every six months.
Well done Premnath, you played the game well
Seldom in the field of entertainment and sports
has so much been done by one personality in so many spheres.
Such was the extraordinary contribution made by veteran journalist and
film personality Premnath Moraes who was buried last Monday at Jawatte
in the presence of a large gathering of top entertainment figures, friends
and colleagues from the media.
For 75 years, the life of Premnath Moraes was like a glittering multifaceted
diamond. In the film world he played almost every role - director and producer,
script and song writer, actor and singer. The presence of film greats like
Gamini Fonseka, Ravindra Randeniya and Robin Fernando at Jawatte was testimony
to the unique and unforgettable role Premnath Moraes played.
Not only in Sri Lanka, but also internationally, Premnath Moraes knew
and worked with famous figures such as Vivian Leigh, Gregory Peck and Peter
Finch from the West, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor from the East. When Leigh
died Premnath wrote a persona tribute that was widely hailed.
In journalism, Premnath Moraes emerged as one of the top sports writers
with a powerful and dynamic style that helped make the then 'Daily Mirror'
a big hit among sports fans. Premnath Moraes along with Lawford Martinesz
and Harry Jayawardena formed a team that produced some of the best sports
pages in Sri Lanka. While Reggie Michael rode on the front page, the sports
trio rose to equal heights. Premnath's best known sports column was 'Petals
and Pellets' under the pen name 'Searom' (Moraes in reverse). When the
famous West Indies team came here in the early sixties for the sellout
Daily Mirror match, Premnath Moraes met the legendary Conrad Hunte and
they struck up a lasting friendship.
Another memorable facet of Premnath Moraes' life was his devotion and
dedicated service to his Alma Mater, St. Benedict's College. In the words
of the College Anthem, he was ever loyal and staunch in victory or defeat,
promptly he would rally at duty's call.
So it was fitting that the coffin was draped in the Benedictine green
and white as Premnath Moraes was laid to rest after he had travelled each
and every highway and did well in whatever he had to do.
The Sunday Times joins hundreds of friends and colleagues in saying,
'Well done Premnath, you played the game well, may the turf lie gently
over you and may God be with you!
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