Your Sunday Times highlights for this week

Read this week's Sunday Times for your interesting articles including the "5th Column."

Among tomorrow's artcles are:

Cops hold course despite whining from operators of unsafe private buses

Housing shortage in Colombo makes families endure substandard living 

Chasing away elephant herds gives rise to other complications 

Playing hooky with the law: Kudu Salindu's case casts limelight on enforcing justice

The 5th Column's full text is as follows:

My dear Nalinda, 

I thought I should write to you this week, both because you are the spokesman for the government and also because what you have said recently has suddenly become controversial and the subject of much debate. As you may have already realised in your new role, any publicity is not good publicity!

In a Cabinet where subjects were scientifically divided, your portfolio, Health and Media was an anomaly. It was like Higher Education and Highways during the ‘yahapalanaya’ era though some said that it was appropriate because most university students were always on the streets, protesting!

We can understand you, being a doctor, being given the subject of Health. You were also given the media portfolio and the added responsibility of being Cabinet spokesman. That was because you had impressed with your ability to communicate clearly and accurately. We thought it was a good choice.

We do know from recent experience that being a doctor doesn’t necessarily make you a good Health minister. Jayasumana proved that beyond doubt when he added fuel to the ‘war of the womb’ over Dr. Shafie when, as a doctor he should know that what he was alleging was not medically possible to do.  

There have been good Health Ministers who were doctors such as Ranjith, the only person who was able to defeat Mahinda maama at a parliamentary election. There have also been great Health Ministers who were not doctors such as Gamani in JR’s Cabinet who acted sincerely and honestly.

So, being a doctor and having also being singled out as a good communicator, it came as a surprise when we heard some of your comments over donations being made to the Cancer Hospital becoming a controversy. This was also not the first time when your remarks have come under criticism.

You did raise eyebrows, Nalinda, when the issue over then Speaker Ranwala’s qualifications erupted. You said Ranwala will be given time to prove his credentials and action will be taken accordingly but you also said you didn’t consider that a serious enough matter to be ‘considered above the knees’.

Ranwala did resign but what you said then is still relevant. He is yet to produce his certificates. He said he hadn’t deceived anyone and was resigning to avoid embarrassing the government. Now, people are asking whether he should resign from Parliament too if he can’t produce those certificates.

What has brought all this back into focus, Nalinda, is when you said recently that people won’t be able to make donations to the health sector for emotional reasons. You also said the Ministry of Health spends more money than ‘God Kataragama and 330 million (‘this thun kotiyak) other Gods’.

You went on to explain why. If people make haphazard donations of buildings and equipment and the government accepts them, the state will then have to bear the expenses to maintain them later. When they are unable to do so, the government gets blamed. Now, all that makes perfect sense.  

Still, where you missed the mark was when you said people cannot make donations for emotional reasons. Being a medical doctor before becoming a politician you should know better than most that the majority of those who make such donations do so usually for a personal or emotional reason.

You said all donations should be managed centrally because the government can then prioritise who needs funds the most. That is also true but, before publicly asking people not to donate for emotional reasons, isn’t it your responsibility as the minister in charge to have devised such a scheme?

During the Covid pandemic, there were many donations, made mostly for emotional reasons. That sustained our services then. It is true that God Kataragama and 330 million other Gods do not fund your ministry but by linking them into your story, you are hurting the religious sensibilities of some.  

The mistake you make is the same mistake that Keheliya made when he said the ‘people who enter hospitals die, that is why undertakers set up business in front of hospitals’. What he said and what you said are both true but it is how you say it and the arrogance behind the words that offends people.

Nalinda, don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to compare you with Keheliya. We know you are not like him. We also know you won’t be filling your ministry with people from your area like Maithri did from Polonnaruwa and Nimal did from Badulla. Besides, Rajitha has already done this from Kalutara!

The vast majority of people in this country who voted you into power expect a great deal both from your government and also from you as one of its leading members. We can tolerate blunders from people such as Nilanthi, Namal Karu and Nalin. It is just that we don’t expect the same from you.

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS- I hope you are able to reflect on what you said and realise why people are upset it. As a rising young star of the new regime, they expect higher standards from you. Nalinda, maybe you should apply the Hippocratic principle you learnt in Medicine to your politics too: “First, do no harm”.