Court Jester

On teachers and teaching

2012-02-01T11:33:00.004+05:30

Cerebral Ramblings post on bad teachers got me thinking. I have suffered at the hands of bad teachers. I used to hate school and although the passage of time has dimmed this emotion I can't really empathise with those who profess great love for one's school.

Education, especially at primary and secondary school has become commoditised with a focus on large classes and rote learning, which breeds (and rewards) only poor or mediocre teachers. Shaw's adage that people who can do; and those who cannot teach, is unfortunately true.

Teaching is in fact a noble profession, one of those that I describe as a 'calling'. To my mind teaching, preaching and healing are all callings: if one does not hear an inner voice that calls one to it and if one is not prepared to devote ones life to it, better not go. If you are only looking for a career or a means to make money, don't follow the callings, spend your time on something else.

In a perfect world, teaching is about a student at one end of a log and a teacher at another. Human beings are naturally curious all that a great teacher need do is to stimulate and guide that curiosity. In order to learn it is often more important to ask the right question than to find the right answer. Frame a good question, pose a knotty but interesting problem and let nature take its course in the mind of the pupil. On the way, equip the pupil with the tools to tackle larger questions, initially to read, write and perform basic arithmetic but later to the basics of science and logic.

Fear plays no part in learning. Discipline is necessary in life but the process of learning should never be coloured with fear. Patience is essential, civility necessary and kindness prized among the characteristics of good teachers.

This is what great teachers are about. I should know, my grandfather was one.

Of bird flu and suicide vests

2012-02-01T10:18:00.004+05:30

Two little articles in today's Daily News caught my attention. One was that a large number of chickens had died in a farm in Bingiriya, Kurunegala. The dead poultry had the symptoms of bird flu but, according to the report they may not have died from it.

This is a fairly serious matter. We have had many fears of a bird flu outbreak before but this is the first time that there seems to be a confirmed case. Adequate precautions need to be taken because if the virus is of a type that spreads to people many can die. China has attempted to cover of outbreaks of SARS, swine flu and bird flu before, resulting in the disease spreading further and claiming more victims. The 'China model' is worshiped in many quarters, lets hope that it will not be followed, in this instance at least.

The other story was that a suicide vest discovered in Kataragama was five years old. When the Emergency Regulations were in place, there was a 'discovery' of a stock of arms on a monthly basis, usually in the week preceding the date when parliament would need to extend the Emergency Regulations. Now that all of the Emergency Regulations (plus a few more) have been permanently enshrined within the PTA there has been no need to extend these regulations and the 'finds' of weapons have also halted. Therefore it is quite likely that this is indeed a genuine find. The question is who put it there and for what purpose? Information is never easy to come by but lets see if any further news develops. Eight people have been arrested, according to the Island, which gave the story more prominence. No arrests were made, according to the Daily News.

Treasury prepares plans for Third term: 2016-2020

2012-01-26T16:10:00.003+05:30

It appears that the Treasury believes in long term planning, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Speaking at a press briefing P B Jayasundera said "Under the first economic policy manifesto, called Mahinda Chintana, of President Mahinda Rajapaksa covering the period 2006 to 2010 we have doubled per capita income from around US$ 1,000 to US$ 2,400. Under his second manifesto covering the period 2011 to 2015, per capita income would be doubled further from US$ 2,700 to US$ 5,000. We are preparing the environment for the third manifesto which would cover the period 2016 to 2020 which would take the per capita income to around US$ 10,000," The Island reported that Dr. Jayasundera was apparently convinced that President Rajapaksa would be elected to serve a third term.

Oh well, since he is convinced I guess we should be as well. Only thing is, I thought the third term started in 2018, not 2016.

The problem of stray dogs

2012-01-08T08:11:00.003+05:30

Indi posted something on this here, I wrote this as a comment but it grew so long I decided to post it on my own blog.

There are a number of problems with stay dogs, because of their nature as pack animals and the tendency to chase things. People assume the problem is only about bites and rabies (which is a big problem in itself). Bite victims need to go through an painful process of injections (24 I think) which I believe is also expensive. Apart from this they are a cause of accidents by:

a. Running across roads causing motorists to swerve or brake, possibly losing control and hitting someone. Some I know has a friend who swerved to avoid a dog and killed a woman on the pavement.

b. They have a tendency to chase things, cyclists and motor cyclists are particularly vulnerable. A yapping dog at ones heels is very disturbing, the sudden barking tends to shock the rider and make him swerve, possibly into the path of other vehicles. I have experienced this myself. Although never bitten the barking has sent me all over the road, luckily without incident but I have friends who have plenty of broken bones as a result of dogs chasing them. There is an added danger at night on darkened roads (many of our roads are not properly lit): when the dog sees a light approaching, they sometimes jump at the light. Again, the dog landing on the handlebars sends the cyclist (or motorcyclist) crashing on to the road, who may get hit by a car from behind. Again I have a number of friends who have experienced this problem. I used to cycle everywhere for years and so did a lot of my friends.

c. Because they are pack animals and territorial they tend to congregate in certain spots. First there is one, then a few others gather and soon a pack is formed. The territory then becomes their own and they try to defend it whenever someone comes close by, barking and growling as a pack. This tendency tends to be heightened in the evenings when they are settling down. I have seen reports of patients being afraid to enter the Badulla hospital because there is a pack of dogs that is near the entrance and attempts to attack people.

Bottom line is animals in general should not be on the street. Another person I know is now in hospital with a broken leg after he ran into a black cow on an unlit road on his motorcycle.

Sterilisation has not worked, dogs breed too fast and its very difficult to sterilise them all. Miss a few and the population keeps growing. The CMC has been catching dogs for decades, there were always a few around but we never saw the large packs that we see today, post the no-cull policy. People don't want the CMC to kill the dogs but what should the solution be?

My suggestion is that genuine animal lovers should collect money, put up shelters and take the stray dogs off the streets and into care. Its expensive but if there is a will, there is a way. Letting them starve on the streets, foraging through garbage is not kindness and imposes huge costs on society. People should also be educated so that they do not abandon puppies, but hand them into the shelters.

Fascism, anyone?

2011-12-20T11:19:00.003+05:30

I came across a very interesting list of characteristics that mark a fascist regime.

Do all fascist regimes necessarily display all of these characteristics? Probably not, as in everything else I suppose there are shades of grey but if one finds that too many boxes are being ticked then its time to start worrying.

The rest of that site is worth reading as well, seems to have quite a bit of information on the subject.

In the winter of discontent

2011-12-14T08:18:00.007+05:30

In a far off country a vegetable vendor, an unemployed university graduate, frustrated that the police would not allow him to trade set himself ablaze and unwittingly set off a chain of events that rocked the Near East.

There have been subterranean rumblings for a while. The mysterious phenomenon of the 'Grease Yaka' seems to capture the tone of many incidents, before and after.

The latest is vegetable traders and farmers who have taken to the streets. A rather troubling pattern seems to be forming. Once again, the imposition of laws and regulations with little consultation or foresight. Once again, the people have taken to the streets in protest.

The imposition of rules or laws that are seem to be unjust, creates anger that spills over to the streets. Some may call this attitude, high handed or arrogant while others would use stronger terms.

There have been many such instances of late, but to examine just a few, a year ago, the 18th amendment to the constitution, which had far reaching ramifications was rushed through as an "urgent bill". The average man in the street could make no sense of the complex constitutional questions and no one could explain its significance properly, so it passed unremarked. A certain minister who had been removed following mass protests earlier was then promptly reappointed.

Two months ago, the so-called expropriation bill was smuggled through, as an "urgent" bill. The business community was aghast but it was beyond the comprehension of the man in the street so it passed.

In both instances there was criticism but it could easily be shouted down and safely ignored.

The proposed pensions bill in May this year did however affect the workers directly and they understood its significance. They took to the streets in mass protest. The Government eventually backed down, but not before a worker was killed. Now it is the vegetable traders who are on the roads.

It is not the plastic crates that are the problem, it is the way in which it is imposed on the people that breeds this anger. I think reducing losses in transport is important and reducing waste will contribute to better income for farmers and traders while bringing lower prices to consumers. However the way to approach this is through education. If people see it is to their benefit, they will quickly adopt it. If the high cost of the plastic crate is the barrier then subsidising it, at least at the introductory stage would be a good idea, for it could bring long term benefits.

Employing the police to stop transport if the approved crate is not used should not even be contemplated. In a democracy, that is.

Green Path, renamed, for the second time.

2011-12-12T13:01:00.009+05:30

I just received a news alert that stated that "The road from the Horton Place roundabout up to the Public Library roundabout is to be named as Nelum Pokuna Mawatha from December 15, after the Arts and Theater complex, titled “Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theater” is declared open.

I had to think a bit to work out which road this was. The news alert simply described two different points on the road. The road in question is actually Green Path or at least a part of it. The most extraordinary thing is that Green Path has already been renamed once, it is now officially known an Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, after the last major round of renaming that took place somewhere in the 1960's and 70's.

I have no patience for this silly business of renaming roads and public buildings. I have grumbled about it before, but the latest one really takes the cake, because the usual specious argument that the renaming is necessary to erase colonial influence is no longer valid. Which is probably why the news alert discreetly omitted mentioning the current official name of the street.

If there was any Sri Lankan who actually deserved to have something named after him it was Coomaraswamy, not that he would ever have wanted such a thing, he was far too modest a man. A brilliant scholar, he was fluent in Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Pali, English, French, German, Spanish, Tamil, Persian, Hindi and Sinhalese. The American's are happy enough to list him in their list of distinguished Asian Americans, he probably qualifies due to his long stay in that country.

In fact, in his first career as a geologist, he did discover a new mineral, which he could name after himself if he so wished, but did not, it is Thorianite. He would surely have turned in his grave, if he knew that some thoughtless politician had decided to rename Green Path in his name.

In his second career as an art historian he achieved great fame, ending up as curator of of the oriental collection of the Boston Museum. The rulers would have served the people a a lot better if they had done something to promote wider understanding of his work or funded studies that could have continued what he had started, instead of naming a road.

Read more on his work here.

Pillows

2011-12-09T11:24:00.003+05:30

This is something that I have been thinking about for a while.

They are the thing on which we rest our heads every night, yet do we know where they came from? Why is it so difficult to sleep without pillows? I need two pillows, one is not quite enough, although I can just about manage (on a trip for example) with one if pushed.

I have a large foam rubber pillow and a softer cotton one, the springy foam rubber one sets a foundation and the cotton one goes on top.

How far back in history do we find references to them and why do none of the other primates need them.

I have heard of an old campers trick, where one scoops out a small hollow in the earth, just to fit the hips. It apparently guarantees a good nights sleep. Has anyone heard of this or used it. Was it a sort of precursor to a pillow?

Your pillow thoughts, please?

Up the plantain tree

2011-11-28T08:36:00.004+05:30

The weekend newspapers carried a story of a rare triumph for the rule of law. The company running a farm that encroached on a wildlife sanctuary has vacated the sanctuary, full story here and here.

What is noteworthy is the reason for the withdrawal from the sanctuary. It was not the law enforcement authorities or the courts that forced the company out. In fact the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) and the Ministry of Agrarian Services and Wildlife claimed that there was no encroachment at all.

It was the multinational partner in the project, Dole Bananas of the US that acted, on being informed of the encroachment by local activists. Given that no local agency was even willing to look at the matter Dole could easily have followed the (now well trod) path of brazening it out and denying that the sanctuary was violated. Luckily for the public they chose to do what was right and not what was convenient or profitable.

Things have come to a pretty pass when it is a foreign multinational that acts responsibly, while the rulers, law enforcement and other agencies ignore a problem. Multinationals are frequently painted as evil, exploiting corporations. While not all of them are squeaky clean, many have embraced the concept of accountability and responsibility seriously. Do we now need to turn this concept on its head and treat Governments, rather than multinationals as the likely villains in the play?

Why did no one else act? Powerful forces were involved, as a quick glance at the Sunday Leader story will tell.

The rule of law is one of the foundations of a functioning state, the events above testify to the extent to which it has been undermined. Laws exist to protect the population from the whims of the rulers, as the rule of law unravels citizens will find themselves being preyed on by the rulers, as in this case. Looks like we are up the plantain tree?

Addendum 29th November

Serendipity looks at some other aspects on the same question here.

Colombo Hilton now vested with the Government?

2011-11-15T09:31:00.002+05:30

Hotel Developers (Lanka) PLC, the listed company that owns the Hilton property in Colombo made a very strange announcement yesterday.

The announcement states that consequent the enactment of the Revival of Underperforming enterprises act the assets of the company are vested with the Government and all the shareholdings of the company are now held by the Secretary to the Treasury.

This has left many people in the stock market utterly confused, although the announcement may seem innocuous to the uninitiated. This is a public, listed company with many shareholders, all of who are unaware as to how the shares have been transferred.

How were the shares transferred? There is no record of any shares trading on the exchange, indeed the share has been suspended following the announcement of the bill. Were the shares traded privately, off the market?

If shares are traded off the market, the stock exchange has a share transfer form that needs to be signed by the buyer and the seller. No existing shareholder signed anything. They have not even been informed, they only read about the announcement in the news.

They have not been paid compensation, which is stipulated under the act. The electronic registry run by the stock exchange still lists the shares under the names of the original owners.

Are we to take it that the registry is no longer valid? Or that procedures necessary to transfer shares are no longer required, that a directive from the state will suffice to change ownership? Will this apply to the land listed for acquisition under the Act, with the requirements for land registry entries being dispensed with?

The Act itself left many unanswered questions, most pertinently on the status of mortgages on the properties to be acquired, the status of the winding up procedures that were being followed and the claims of the various other creditors. All norms and processes seem to have been thrown out of the window.

These seemingly mundane procedures are all part of the legal framework of the country on which business is conducted and which is taken for granted.

Now it suddenly seems to have given way, hence the confusion as to how businessmen should operate in the future.

Binge

2011-11-13T08:09:00.004+05:30

I went on a bit of a binge for breakfast today. I usually don't each too much bread and avoid butter altogether. Today I had home-made buns with butter and honey, accompanied by my favourite Mattekelle tea. It is a combination that I used to enjoy regularly as a child but have not tried in many years.

Good honey is the key and for best results should be accompanied by freshly baked bread (I ate some rolls that my mother made yesterday afternoon, so it was not a perfect combination, but it was good enough).

There is now a fairly good supply of local honey available. When we were children we had to rely mostly on imported Australian honey. The Australian honey is not bad, it is well packaged in nice jars (usually with a pretty picture of a bee) and has a rich golden colour, almost like golden syrup. Unfortunately (to my palette at least) it does not taste as good as the local honey.

I had been spoiled in my childhood by my grandfather, who used to return from his shooting trips to the jungles with a bottle of wild honey. This was honey that was collected by the Veddah's and was usually filled into an old arrack bottle, stopped with a cork or bit of wood cut into the shape of the mouth of the bottle. (I have heard stories that the Veddah's collect the honey in old kerosene oil tins and then empty it into the arrack bottles). Because the stopper was never perfect, there was some paper and string tied around the mouth. It was very messy, with some honey oozing down the side, soaking the grubby bits of paper and string.

The packaging was terrible, but the product was delicious, even if it had bits of honeycomb inside it. The honeycomb is perfectly edible (I think) and the beeswax has a nice consistency to it. We did not bother with the impurities, we just ate the stuff.

The Australian honey, for all its nice packaging, was never as sweet. After my grandfather died supplies of honey stopped and for years the only thing available was the Australian honey. I tried buying some honey from villages when on holiday but it was not good. Although the bottles looked the same it was heavily adulterated with treacle and sugar. After a few days the sugar and treacle starts to crystallise and it needs to be thrown away.

A few years back I discovered a small plastic bottle of honey in the supermarket. I was delighted because the dark, slightly messy contents looked very familiar. When I tasted it, it was exactly as I remembered it and we have been buying it ever since.

When I looked at the bottle this morning it claimed to be 'wild honey', I could not quite believe this, so I did a bit of research on it, it does seemed to be farmed, but in small remote villages, so its probably pretty close to wild honey.

I found that the company that is producing the honey is even trying to export it, in slightly smarter packaging.

I was amused to see an expiry date on the bottles, probably necessitated by law or possibly, requirements of sale. I don't think pure honey can expire, the Veddah's even used it as a preservative. It will not last for ever, but it lasts pretty long and will surely get eaten before anything can possibly go wrong, so who cares about expiry dates?

PS. For reference on how Veddah's preserve meat, Google books has an extract from Samuel Bakers Rifle & Hound in Ceylon(incidentally a book that I remember seeing in my grandfather's library) here.

Gold Coast edges out Hambantota, awarded Commonwealth Games 2018

2011-11-12T09:50:00.007+05:30

I had a feeling that Sri Lanka could pull off the bid to host the next Commonwealth Games in Hambantota (in 2018). It was a close thing but the Gold Coast prevailed in the end.

Hosting a big sports event is a huge PR exercise. It brings in a lot of publicity but reaping long term benefits can be tricky. After co-hosting the last cricket world cup Sri Lanka Cricket is now virtually bankrupt and has asked for a bail out. The same thing, on a far larger scale would have been likely had Hambantota won the bid, so on the whole the country probably better off having lost the bid.

I have a theory that the straw that broke Greece was its hosting of the Olympics in 2004. Originally expected to cost $1.3bn, later revised to $5.3bn and now thought to have cost $20bn (the official cost was $14.2bn but others estimate it to be higher). Total Greek debt in 2009 was around €374bn.

Hambantota is a sleepy little town, with charm of its own. The comparison, with the Gold Coast could not be more stark, as these pictures testify.

I would rather it remained that way.

Gentlemen

2011-11-09T12:00:00.009+05:30

I have mused on the subject of gentlemen before. To the male of the species, this endlessly fascinating topic has more aspects to it than one, work being rather important.

What one does plays a a role in defining ones place in society and as far as gentlemen are concerned the less work the better. You see, a gentleman is a gentleman of leisure. He does not work for a living, instead he manages land or perhaps, property.

He will usually manage other investments, in shares, bonds or (even better) works of art. In these straitened times he may be forced to work, something he will despise and avoid as far as possible, endlessly shirking responsibility in the office, making him a rather lousy (if charming-otherwise one can never get away with it) employee. He will never, ever, engage in trade.

The great industrialists of 18th and 19th century acquired respectability with a country seat, so my devious mind was went off on one of its usual tangents when I read about this.

In a feudal society, where the economy is primarily agrarian, land represents wealth and in turn social position. This state of affairs persisted for many centuries until it was overturned by the industrial revolution, which created new paths to wealth and the aforementioned quest for land by the industrialists.

Coming a couple of weeks after the bill to acquire underperforming entities, does this signal a renewed fascination with this feudal idea? Or are we turning the clock backwards, to a more glorious feudal past?

The preamble to the bill talks of vesting underperforming enterprises or assets with the state, yet the schedule lists only one enterprise (Hotel Developers), the rest is all land.

There are thirty six other companies listed - but only the property will vest with the state, not the company. Some of the companies have multiple plots of land listed, so this adds to to a lot of land.

The latest to join the foray is the Central Bank, which has now bought an office in New York. Doubtless a flat will follow, for the country may as well as save the hotel costs,since we may expect frequent travel in future (else why buy an office?).

We may live in interesting times but the truly bored can read my musing on work, here.

That's, all folk, now get back to your jobs. You must work you know, your taxes are what pay for all of this.

The dangers of multitasking

2011-11-09T08:53:00.002+05:30

I sometimes read email, blogs or browse the web while doing other things in the office.

Last morning I was reading something online when a friend called. While I was on that call I saw the bank manager's direct number blinking on my office line. I ignored it (we have our priorities, right?) and went on with my conversation.

When I had finished, I called my bank manager while trying to read Dee's post on the Hed Kandi Girl at the same time.

When my bank manger asked why I had not answered I thought I heard the words "sorry I was on another girl at the time" coming from my lips. I wasn't quite sure if I just thought I'd said it or if I had actually said it.

There was a stunned silence on the other end. "Do you know what you just said?"

Shit! Talk about Freudian slips. And its all Dee's fault.

Curious and curiouser

2011-11-03T13:35:00.018+05:30

“Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).

Amidst the stormy weather some strange doings are afoot.

Take for instance the report that some 249 state enterprises lost a total of Rs.19,000m between 2007 and 2009. The usual culprits, the Ceylon Electricity Board and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation were there (and probably lose the most money) but the surprise inclusion is Sri Lanka Cricket. Cricket is a very lucrative game, the ICC shares some of its revenue with member boards which is in addition to direct advertising revenue earned locally. Yet they lost money. Some white elephant investments, built with expensive debt is the probable cause of the loss.

The Government's recent forays into business including Mihin Air and Lankaputhra Bank have also lost money. The timing of this report is rather unfortunate coming within the week of the bill to vest underperforming assets with the state. Why these State ventures lose money is anybody's guess.

We are also informed that Gazprom will start oil exploration in the Mannar basin. All very well, but what happened to the proposed tender for exploration blocks? Was it called? Who bid? How was it awarded? And where did Gazprom turn up from?

When the blocks were originally auctioned the sole bidder was Cairn, a small but respected operator that specialises in niche markets. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, they have reasonably transparent operations, some details of the exploration bid and recent gas strike being available on its website. Gazprom's website contains nothing on Sri Lanka other than two reports of meetings where the participants considered the prospects for bilateral cooperation in the energy sector.

Gazprom has a well earned reputation for opacity. It was a formerly privatised venture that the Russian state reacquired under controversial circumstances. Perhaps there is more in common between the parties than we thought?

In the meantime, the Central bank has told directors of banks to be diligent. This is all very well, but it was only a few months ago the directors at a couple of banks were changed under strange circumstances.

The BOI is now set to receive a CEO, a new position that has been created within the organisation. Last year, it was announced that the BOI was to be abolished...

I'm beginning to understand what Alice felt when she remarked "Sometimes I believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

SEC Director General removed, market moves 200 points

2011-11-02T14:26:00.015+05:30

It has been a good week for Governance. I just received a news alert that the Director General of the Securities has been removed, the market moved up 200 points during the day, before closing a 178 points up.

Many players in the market including some big fish have reportedly been pushing for the removal of the DG on the basis that the SEC was responsible for the recent decline in the market. How so? By imposing unnecessary regulation, including the necessity of payment for purchases three days after the transaction. What the players wanted was less regulation and, above all, credit. Credit! Credit in unlimited quantities. Credit makes the world go round and if no further restrictions are placed, the market is set for a heady, debt fueled ride.

Unfortunately the announcement is only that the DG is being transferred, there was no mention of any change in the rules. Perhaps these will follow? If it does not, then there will be some very disappointed people, more painful declines and another outcry for credit. The last time the players wanted credit, the SEC did approve it, but it took the market a week to work out that the amount was too little. Part of the problem is that the people don't know exactly what they ask for and may not really know what they are getting until it hits them.

This follows just days after news leaked out of a bill to vest underperforming assets with the state. Drafted by a private law firm and sent for review by the Supreme Court as an urgent bill (more details here), it is set to be approved next Wednesday.

People have sometimes accused the islanders of leading slothful and indolent lives, fast service is quite uncharacteristic. Parliament, however is setting the right example with legislation being made with the speed that MacDonald's reserves for its burgers. In contrast, the Mother of Parliaments serves a leisurely four course dinner consisting of green/white papers, draft bills, pre-legislative scrutiny before the final bill is taken up for debate. Here we just have the preprocessed burger, all ready for deep frying in cheap oil with a side order of chips.

Light regulation is best, no regulation better still. Half of Mexico no longer requires driving tests. In the 1990's driving tests were difficult and a bribe was often necessary to pass. Instead of tackling the corruption, they abolished the tests.

Six out of ten road deaths worldwide take place in just 12 countries, one of which is Mexico, but critics claim these statistics are wrong. Given the size of its population, Mexico they say, is no more unsafe than anywhere else. They claim that the absence of tests actually makes driving safer, since the drivers learn to expect the unexpected. We too can do the same.

Addendum: 4th November 2011

The Daily News has finally deigned to report on the bill to vest assets with the state, a full week after news of the extent of the bill began to trickle out (and about two weeks after rumours began to circulate). "Decision prompted by poor management, corruption etc" read the banner below the headline, "No hurry to pass Act" read another. Quite.

I have noticed a pattern, matters that closely involve the rulers are almost never reported in the State owned press, at some point when it does make its way its usually couched as a rebuttal or denial. Where did we see that last???? Hmmm that little matter of the beggars? See also here.

Addendum 2 4th November, 4pm

It now appears that the Sevanagala sugar factory has been stormed and the management thrown out.

Goings-on in Arsik Land

2011-10-30T12:19:00.013+05:30

Arsik Land is a fictional place, ruled by the Hon Pusswedilla (Campaign slogan: Puss for Boss). This popular political satire was originally set in Sri Lanka but its latest reincarnation had to take place in Arsik Land due to some rather strange circumstances. Perhaps art was imitating life too closely? Or was it the other way around?

Anyway, now it appears that websites are to be monitored and television is to be censored.

Neither is foreign to this country, indeed television is already censored; scenes with alcohol or tobacco are pixalated. The mania was at its height during the war but things had become a little more relaxed after its end, so the renewed interest is rather surprising.

Clearly, the rulers feel threatened by something, but what?

Could the recent spate of activism surrounding the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting unnerved them? Could it be the murder of Bharatha Lakshamn, which sent ripples of discontent through the party? Perhaps his family's plan to seek justice abroad? Do the soothsayers foretell hard times ahead?

A combination of the first two is likely. More difficult economic conditions may be foreseen by pessimists but the Central Bank is good at managing the statistics so this should not present any unusual difficulties. It is the other rumblings that need to be kept out of public view. In case they set off a chain reaction?

Housing the homeless

2011-10-30T10:14:00.003+05:30

Lack of housing is a common problem in many developing countries, the late President Premadasa launched a scheme to build a million houses in 1977.

Although we are a lot richer than we were in 1977, there are still enough homeless people around, from slum dwellers to IDP's from the war.

It is therefore welcome that a new programme to build shelters has been launched. Commendable, too that the people selected are the most deserving of all: the honourable members of parliament.

Given that many of the honourable members are drawn from the ranks of footpads, vagrants and the like, none could be more deserving.

Some appropriate theme music is available, which could be accompany any television publicity of the event, news crews please note.

Gaddafi: a question

2011-10-26T14:11:00.003+05:30

Regular readers (all six of them!) will know that this blog looks into many burning issues, particularly those missed by the mainstream.

The death of Gaddafi, who died horribly at the hands of a mob, leaves many unanswered questions. What does his death say about those who overthrew him? What prospects beckon for Libya and for the rest of the Middle East?

Amidst all of these issues a crucial question has been missed. What became of the late Colonel's famed team of female bodyguards? Were they by his side or did they desert the ship?

I'm glad I'm not the only one to pose this question...

Some facts are emerging, but most of them seemed to have vanished in a puff of smoke, speaking of which, whatever happened to Poonam Pandey?

Further reading here.

Post script:
An excellent article on the killing of Gadaffi was contributed by a reader, access it here.

WW: The inner voice of government?

2011-10-25T09:29:00.002+05:30

Wimal Weerawansa plays a useful role for the Government. He voices opinions or carries out acts that more respectable members of Government would rather not do. Thus a message can sent without embarrassment, if the opinions or actions come in for criticism the Government can safely distance itself from it.

A case in point is the incident at the UN mission, or his later fast.

He has now issued a statement on the death of Gaddafi that surely comes from the heart.

The regime has viewed the 'Arab Spring' with barely disguised horror. The state media gave the matter minimal coverage, with various columnists sniping on the usual theme of hypocrisy. Gaddafi however was a special friend and his passing was surely mourned, yet fearful of annoying a potentially useful supplier of oil/credit no official statement praising the late leader could be issued. Wimal Weerawansa obligingly steps into the breech.

Who needs wikileaks when we have the voice of Wimal?

How many is a billion?

2011-10-24T15:23:00.002+05:30

The word 'billion' is now in common use, but how many zero's make a billion? Nine? This is the most commonly used but it not strictly correct.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary:

billion, purposely formed in 16th c. to denote the second power of a million (by substituting BI- prefix for the initial letters), trillion and quadrillion being similarly formed to denote its 3rd and 4th powers. The name appears not to have been adopted in Eng. before the end of the 17th … Subsequently the application of the word was changed by French arithmeticians, figures being divided in numeration into groups of threes, instead of sixes, so that F. billion, trillion, denoted not the second and third powers of a million, but a thousand millions and a thousand thousand millions. In the 19th century, the U.S. adopted the French convention, but Britain retained the original and etymological use (to which France reverted in 1948).

Since 1951 the U.S. value, a thousand millions, has been increasingly used in Britain, especially in technical writing and, more recently, in journalism; but the older sense ‘a million millions’ is still common.

The confusion resulted in a question being put to the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson in 1974

Mr Maxwell-Hyslop asked the Prime Minister whether he will make it the practice of his administration that when Ministers employ the word “billion” in any official speeches, documents, or answers to Parliamentaty Questions, they will, to avoid confusion, only do so in its British meaning of 1 million million and not in the sense used in the United States of America, which uses the term “billion” to mean 1,000 million.

The Prime Minister: No. The word “billion” is now used internationally to mean 1,000 million and it would be confusing if British Ministers were to use it in any other sense. I accept that it could still be interpreted in this country as 1 million million and I shall ask my colleagues to ensure that, if they do use it, there should be no ambiguity as to its meaning.

Cairn oil strike: All Gas and no Sh*t?

2011-10-20T07:58:00.010+05:30

There was a relatively small news item almost three weeks ago announcing that Cairn Lanka had struck gas. After that announcement, there has been near silence on the matter.

When blocks from the Mannar basin were initially offered to bidders, we were treated to banner headlines, for weeks on end, about the enormous wealth that would flow from this. The regime is a great exponent of the art of 'spin' so the muted response to the discovery is completely out of character.

Some have speculated that the discovery was bogus, a piece of 'spin' for the local government elections held that week. While this is certainly plausible is it untrue, Cairn has made a formal announcement of the fact and the discovery has been covered by the press elsewhere. In any case, Cairn is a reputed operator, they are highly unlikely to be making false announcements.

Could there be a problem in geopolitics? There seems to be an issue with India on tendering for the other blocks, but there does not seem to be a problem with the one that Cairn is exploring. There was a Reuters story that the Minister of Petroleum Industries announced that they intended calling for tenders, although I do not recall seeing this in the local press.

Behind the scenes however, there seems to be a flurry of activity with with rumours of all manner of strange characters appearing out of the woodwork and meeting various high ups. Natural resources have proved to be curse for most of the countries that have had the misfortune to stumble on them and one hopes that the lack of news is simply the lack of activity, not an attempt to keep people in the dark. It is a lot easier to loot under cover of darkness, which is why transparency is so despised.

Perhaps this is all speculation, our worst fears may never be realised but if the discovery is commercially viable how does a responsible government go about exploiting it? There is help at hand, the Natural Resource Charter provides an 11-point plan prepared by a group of high-profile economists, lawyers and political scientists, including Michael Spence, 2001 laureate of the Nobel prize in economics; Robert Conrad, an expert on natural resources economics at Duke University, and Tony Venables and Paul Collier, professors of economics at Oxford University.

"We want to provide a policy toolkit," says Collier, who is also the author of the 2008 book The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It. "We're not here to tell government off. We are saying to them: 'If you want to turn national assets into broad-based development, these are the key steps that you need to get right. These steps are not obvious, as governments and societies have got them wrong over the years." (Quote taken from here)

It is not hard to find the route to prosperity, the world has fifty years of experience, mostly bad, to chose from. The paths are well trodden, the choices are easy, if the wisdom and the political will are present.

For another interesting piece on the impact of a natural resource find have a look here.

Here's wishing Deshamanya R Dumindha Silva a speedy recovery

2011-10-17T08:24:00.004+05:30

Today's Daily Mirror has reported that two US neurosurgeons have visited Deshamanya R Dumindha Silva; who is in hospital recovering from gunshot wounds.

It is important that he makes a speedy and complete recovery, not only because he is a prominent member of the Government but also because his recovery will prove to be a worthy test of the system of justice and the rule of law in the land.

Should he succumb to his injuries popular opinion will see it as his karma, justice would seem to have been meted out by the gods and the matter can safely be closed by the Government. Should he, as one hopes, survives and makes a full recovery not only will he be able to serve his country, his very survival will test the political system.

The incident last week raises a number of questions: first and foremost, are the police treating the investigation as murder? Are they investigating if the firearms used were properly licensed and if not how these came into the possession of the people involved? Where did the ammunition come from? Is it necessary for ministers to carry bodyguards around?

If these questions are dealt with by the system thoroughly and fairly, justice would have been done and we may sleep safely in our beds knowing that the system is intact. If not, it leaves many disquieting questions.

Changing habits

2011-10-13T11:40:00.003+05:30

Has anyone noticed that very few people chew betel anymore? The habit was ubiquitous amongst the working classes: masons, plumbers, drivers, labourers and domestic servants would been seen chewing and spewing long streams of bright red sputum.

One had to be careful walking around public markets to avoid stepping in spittle or being inadvertently hit by a passing stream.

The habit of smoking beedis, a cheap type of cigarette also seems to be near extinct.

There was a public campaign to stop the chewing of betel (it causes cancer), so perhaps that has worked, or it may simply have become unfashionable. People have become richer so they no longer want to have a habit that is associated with the lower classes? The same fate may have befallen the beedi, which despite being cheaper than cigarettes is now very rarely seen.

Indeed given the price of blasted things, I sometimes wonder how anyone can afford to smoke.

Changes in taste have claimed other victims, notably the pipe. I hate smoking but if one must smoke, the pipe is the way to go, the fragrance of a pipe is pleasant, (that from a hookah pipe, most deliciously so) and the whole process has a certain old world charm about it.

The cigar, the other form of tobacco that has a certain 'cachet' does not seem to have been affected by changes in taste, it may in fact have benefited, although I am not quite certain of this.

Good upcountry tea

2011-10-11T08:43:00.004+05:30

I have always liked drinking tea, especially in the morning, brewed strong, sweet with milk. It is not hard to find decent tea, most brands in the shops are alright but in the past few years we have been drinking a lot of Dilmah.

I have a friend who has another friend who knows someone (you how the network works) who works in a tea company. The staff are entitled to buy tea direct from the company and my friend offered to get me some. I agreed and we tried it out at home about a month a ago.

It was not bad, but it had a rather unusual aftertaste, a hint of something that lingered on the tongue. It was something I had never experienced before and which I found a bit odd. I did not like that aftertaste much, the tea was drinkable so I thought I would just finish the packet and go back to the old brand.

After about a week this taste was beginning to grow on me and after about two weeks I was well and truly hooked. I had heard that the upcountry flavoury teas had this slight lingering aftertaste; this was the "flavour" that was much sought after by buyers. I was under the impression that most upcountry teas tend to be light so are best drunk without milk. Since I like a strong sweet cup in the morning I never thought this would work for me, but it seems I was wrong.

How badly I was hooked hit me when we ran out of the tea and had to buy the usual tea until fresh supplies arrived. It was strong as usual, but I found it lacking any kind of character, nothing to excite or interest the palette.

The estate where our source gets his tea from is Mattakelle estate. When asking around other friends in the tea industry I was told that this indeed was one of the top estates in the country, one that fetches premium prices. A quick search on the web revealed that it was being sold at pretty high prices. Dilmah was selling it as a single garden tea.

Lucky for me I can get it direct from source. My mother made hoppers for breakfast today, which went down very well with the tea. I'm off now to see if there is anything left in the pot.

Jamaica and Zambia

2011-10-10T09:00:00.004+05:30

Came across a couple of rather interesting reports, one from Jamaica and the other from Zambia.

Drug gangs in Jamaica are entangled with politicians to an extent that is shocking. It was this story and this that prompted the comparison with Jamaica.

Jamaica acts as a transit hub for drugs to the US. Although there are no firm numbers, the US is likely to be one of the biggest and therefore most profitable drug markets.

This means the money made and consequently the influence wielded by the drug barons is enormous. Unfortunately, the rest of Jamaica's economy is small and weak, which tends to magnify their influence still further.

Because Sri Lanka's drug market is small and its economy more advanced, the drugs barons are never going to be as big as in Jamaica, but the parallels are worrying, nevertheless.

On a lighter note, Zambia's opposition leader voiced concern over growing Chinese influence in his country “We want the Chinese to leave and the old colonial rulers to return,” said the populist Michael Sata. “They exploited our natural resources too, but at least they took good care of us. They built schools, taught us their language and brought us the British civilisation…at least Western capitalism has a human face; the Chinese are only out to exploit us.”

Three killed in election violence

2011-10-08T20:11:00.005+05:30

Two politicians from the same party, neither of who is actually contesting the municipal election (for the position of mayor) engage in a shoot out that has claimed three lives.

Does that make sense to anybody?

One of the politicians is dead, the other is in hospital, but if neither was contesting and both belonged to the same party then one wonders what caused the violence. Speculation on the street suggests a turf battle over business.

Another news report links it to a killing the day before. Both were thought to be supporting rival candidates, who would presumably return favours if elected.

In the meantime, rumours are that Bharatha Lakshman's supporters have taken the fight to the streets, torching shops and rioting. A police curfew is apparently in place is some areas.

Why so much excitement over an election that most voters are not taking very seriously? There must be more booty than we thought, in the Municipal Council and it may the stepping stone to greater things.

Seeing what things are getting on the electoral ladder makes one wonder if its time to board the next ship that is sailing out of Colombo.

Some links that point to a possible cause, this took place in the same area as the shooting.

The Wahabi cult and Islam

2011-10-07T10:28:00.006+05:30

I am trying to understand the rise of militant Islam and from the little I've read, it seems that the problem is not with mainstream Islam per se, but with the Wahabi cult.

The Wahabi cult originated in the mid eighteenth century and its doctrine is taken from the Kitab al-Tawhid, a work that was considered, extreme and unIslamic in its day. Its writer was forced to flee into exile. He found a patron in Muhammad Al-Saud, whose decedents ended up ruling Saudi Arabia.

The Wahabi's caused continuous headaches for the British in the Northwest Frontier, but they were not recognised as a single movement, with various incidents being put down to the work of individual fanatics. They were fanatics all right, but there seems have been some method to the madness.

In more recent times, following the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia and its subsequent independence, it appears that the Saudi's are taking the cult, or at least parts of it, to the mainstream.

There is a good article on the subject here and I am also working my way through Charles Allen's God's Terrorists, which is very well written. I have not yet finished the book and I don't enough on the subject to assess it, but its a fascinating read, have a look at the Amazon reviews on the same link.

To try and put things in context, I have also just picked up Angelo Rasanayagam's Modern History of Afghanistan, another very readable book.

This is not intended to stir up controversy, just an attempt to understand, would welcome comments on this, especially from Muslims.

The trouble with international schools

2011-10-04T13:25:00.002+05:30

Overheard at a cafe:

The trouble with international schools is that they are full of children, whose parents have earned a lot of money, very fast. These children have the notion that money can buy anything and that money can substitute for love.

Children who go to these schools thus tend to end up with the wrong set of values, unless the parents are really careful.

Never thought of it like this but its quite true, isn't it?

NB

"International" school is term used in Sri Lanka to describe fee levying schools that teach in English. They operate outside the normal educational system, come in all shapes and sizes. A few are known to offer a good education, many are abysmal.

What the heck is wrong with Blogger?

2011-10-03T10:21:00.003+05:30

Every time I try to put a hyperlink into the text of a post I get some garbage being posted.

This piece of random text gets thrown in somewhere on the post:

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Even if something wrong was being pasted, I would expect it to paste where the cursor was placed, but no, this text can lodge itself anywhere on the post, sometimes where it was intended, sometimes where it was not.

The actual link itself gets pasted either next to the above or where I intended it to go.

What gives?

I have been experiencing this for a couple of months, does anyone know what to do about it? Its very irritating to have to keep going back and editing and re-editing posts, especially when one doing so sneakily during normal office hours.

Uneasy villagers

2011-10-03T08:58:00.013+05:30

Strange things are happening in little towns and villages away from the capital. Some incident or the other leads to a mob attack on a government institution, usually a police station. The latest was in Dompe.

There was a spate of attacks over fears of a Grease Yakka (or Grease Devil) over a period of about two months. It sounded a lot like mass hysteria and it ended shortly after reprisals by the military.

Was this anything more than hysteria? It is difficult to tell, but a couple of things are clear: a) the people don't trust the authorities, b) they are turning to vigilante violence as a 'solution'.

There are enough cases of mass hysteria, from UFO sightings to the El Chupacabra in Mexico, but while people in these instances tend to distrust the government turning to violence is unusual.

What do these incidents tell us? People do not see the authorities as being able to solve their problems, in some instances the authorities are the problem and the anger boils over into violence.

The culture of impunity that has been nurtured during the last few years must take much of the blame for this state of affairs. In order to boost morale, the political leadership showed a willingness to back the military, unquestioned. Extraordinary powers were necessary for extraordinary circumstances so oversight was unnecessary and political 'cover' was provided if anything blew up. The result? Deaths in custody soared.

As long as these were confined to the minorities and happened in areas with little access to the media, these went either unreported or could be easily denied. However as the new culture began to take root, it spread to other areas.

To recall a few incidents, just off the top of my head, two boys were killed in custody Angulana, a man was drowned by police and most recently, a worker was killed during a protest.

The reaction of the authorities is usually to deny that the event took place and if denial becomes impossible either to cover it up make some token changes. Nobody seems to want to ask why the problem keeps recurring.

In any case, following a spate of attacks on the media, few have the appetite to ask hard questions. The Dompe incident was given little publicity until a few days after the event when some newspapers ran feature articles on it. It should have been front page news the day it happened.

The recent conviction of the policemen responsible for the Angulana murder is the first action we have seen, so it any wonder that people take to vigilante violence?

NB.

There was another death in custody this week. When the spokesman was asked about it he had replied "“you must remember that they are criminals and there is a limit to the protection we could provide." How a suspect could become a criminal and if so whether the judiciary is really necessary are thoughts that have never crossed their minds. The story end with the following:

Meanwhile the Free Media Movement (FMM) said that police have erased a video tape of journalist Indika Sri Aravinda who interviewed the victim's family at the police station.

The MCNS head said, "if journalists behave in a manner that obstructs police duty, they are compelled to take legal action".

Some ideas on reforming the police are available here.

Sri Lanka: Animal-Rights, Multiculturalism And “Purity”

2011-10-02T22:13:00.001+05:30

A thoughtful essay by Charles Saravan on the above is to be found here.

Worth reading, if you missed it in the paper.

Lessons from history

2011-09-30T16:48:00.005+05:30

I have always had a fascination for history, something I may have inherited from my grandfather, who was a teacher of history. I have often wondered if something like this could actually be inherited; I did not know my grandfather very well, I was about ten when he died, yet I find myself treading a path that was surely familiar to him.

When I was in school, I wondered what history could possibly teach us, but somewhere in the barren sand a seed sprouted and has kept growing. What history teaches us is that the problems men have faced have not changed much and the wider ones view the more the patterns make sense. In tracing our footprints in the sands of time we see patterns emerging, patterns that recur and in identifying some of these patterns in the present, we may well see our future.

A little short of a century since the Great October Revolution, the Tsar has returned to Russia. The title is no longer used but the system of government increasingly resembles Tsarist Russia.

This was suspected to be the case, when Putin stepped down in 2008. He left the Presidency but became the Prime Minister. His supposed successor turned out to have no real power and the announcement of Putin's candidacy for the Presidency next year confirms the identity of its real ruler. Strip away the democratic facade and one finds power in the hands of a tightly knit group, not a ruling family as in the old days, but a brotherhood of the KGB.

Putin should be able to serve until 2024, unless there is a change in the constitution, and, quite by coincidence, he can keep our Dear Leader company.

Our leader will serve until 2024; the second term expires in 2018 and he will certainly contest at least a third term before questions of primogeniture come into play.

Incumbency is a powerful thing and the recent constitutional changes have made it more powerful still. It worth noting that in thirty years no incumbent has ever been unseated, except by the term limit and once by assassination.

The first thirty years post independence saw parties changing at almost every election, in the second thirty years it happened only once and that too following an assassination.

The newspapers used to carry frequent references to seventeen years of UNP rule but these mysteriously dried up by end 2009, possibly because the PA has now ruled for seventeen years.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

New visa requirement for tourists

2011-09-28T08:57:00.005+05:30

The current system of issuing a visa on arrival to tourists is to be suspended on the 30th of September. Tourists will be expected to apply for a visa in advance.

The issue visas on arrival will be restricted to countries that reciprocate, which means Singapore and the Maldives. Everyone else will need to apply for a visa. This plan was mooted about a year ago but its implementation was delayed due to protests by the tourist industry, justifiably so because slow processing of visas could hurt the industry.

The Government has announced that visa's will be issued on-line and to make things even simpler, could be sought by applicants themselves, a third party, a registered agent or a Sri Lankan embassy.

This sounds fine, except that the site does not seem to work. It returns the error:

Error 404--Not Found
From RFC 2068 Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1:
10.4.5 404 Not Found

The server has not found anything matching the Request-URI. No indication is given of whether the condition is temporary or permanent.

It gave the same error when I checked yesterday. Perhaps it has not yet been uploaded?

Update

N had commented on the confusion this has sown amongst potential visitors, something that I had missed. Just checked on Trip Advisor, some questions and comments should be read by people in the industry. A few are reproduced below:

Question

5. Re: Sri Lankan visa on arrival

Hi there

I am visting Sri Lanka later this month as a tourist and have seen conflicting reports about whether or not the visa-on-arrival facility is still operating. I am travelling on a New Zealand passport, so the visa-on-arrival option would apply in my case, if it is in fact still operating.

Can anyone confirm definitively whether it is operating? Otherwise, it's going to be a mad dash to get a visa next week before I leave for the Maldives next weekend.

Reply

Hi there.....

Visa BEFORE arrival still not in operation, was due around May time, but no confirmation yet.., so at this time, you will get your visa when you arrive..

Question

Hi,

This notice on Sri Lanka Immigration website (http://www.immigration.gov.lk/web/) has not been updated since early February:

"The on arrival visa facility (Visit Visa, Transit Visa) will remain unchanged until the internet based on-line visa service (Electronic Travel Authority) is established. The general public and the stakeholders will be duly notified when the ETA system is operationally ready."

Also no updates in local newspapers.

When I extended my visa 2 weeks ago I asked the controller at Immigration when the new system will be launched. He did not know.

With the 3 months pilot test that was announced in January I doubt the new system will be effective until August st the earliest.

Comment

Following a very recent difficult experience with the arrival visa stamped on the passport, I'd like to suggest that everyone check that the Immigration Officer has written the number of days [ normally 30] on the visa stamp and also initialled it as well. Usually you would assume that has been done - especially if you travel in and out very frequently - and just take your passport and hurry to baggage claim.

I'd suggest that those who were born in SL but travel on a different passport should be more careful about this. I'm just finding out that some unexpected hassles are being encountered on departure regarding this.

Colombo is Colombo: the need for a comprehensive development plan for the city

2011-09-26T12:00:00.013+05:30

The Government has been doing quite a bit to make the capital city presentable; roads widened and resurfaced, new pavements, walls around old buildings broken down, the canals cleaned, some turf laid, some trees cut, some saplings planted.

There are bigger things that are hinted at; the reclamation of land from the sea, the clearing of slums and the construction of some infrastructure. So far, on the whole, the city is looking a lot better. I was distressed when the weeping willows on Independence Square were cut down but new trees (partly grown) have been planted and some turf has been laid, so its now looking rather nice, but there have been some disturbing reports on the clearing of slums.

What we do not know is the overall plan, if such a thing exists.

A comprehensive plan, drawn up with public consultation is essential to the success of such large-scale projects. There are many actors and issues that need examination. If embarrassing missteps are to be avoided public consultation is necessary. The process of consultation will also build confidence and bring in good publicity to the plan.

Such a thing has been in the works since the 1990's and Ranil Wickremesinghe, has written a good article on the its last edition. Its a little long, but it should be read by all who intend voting in the next Municipal election.

The plan for the development of the city needs to be placed with a wider policy framework, one that in my opinion should be based on a 'night watchman state' - ie one with limited involvement in business and confined largely to providing essential public goods.

A lower 'footprint' of the state would entail less expenditure, therefore less tax and enable a simple transparent tax code, all of which will stimulate business activity.

The opposition looks in disarray, the article above was buried on page 18 of the Sunday Times, not indicative of a good media campaign.

Addendum:

A letter from a former official on a public housing programme run in 2006/7 is quite interesting.

Although the letter is a bit garbled it tells a tale of a scheme opened with great fanfare only to fall apart after a promising start due to corruption. A mysterious Malaysian party is awarded a tender, even though they did not bid, an advance is paid and no more houses are constructed.

Why the driving on Sri Lankan roads is so bad

2011-09-26T08:38:00.003+05:30

Just had a chat with someone who will be sitting for the driving test next month. I asked her if she had read the Highway Code. She said no, she had heard that it exists but no one told her to read it.

She has already sat the written paper where road signs and rules are tested. I asked how she studied for the paper, apparently the driving school provided the answers to the questions, which she memorised. The Department of Motor Traffic apparently has only three standard papers and answers were provided for all the papers.

The driving school charges Rs.15,000/- which includes a bribe of Rs.1,000/- to the examiners. What they seem to be teaching is control of the vehicle and whatever minimal knowledge (which side of the road to drive on etc) is necessary to get on the road.

I was wondering why the driving on Sri Lanka's roads was so bad, now I know why. I have noticed a spate of fatal accidents on outstation roads of late, one needs to be extra cautious when driving long distances, especially with long distance buses.

Perhaps we should use the train more frequently. Then again, perhaps not.

Mansoor Ali Khan, The Nawab of Pataudi (1941-2011)

2011-09-23T10:27:00.010+05:30

We are supposed to be a cricket mad nation, yet the death of a famous cricketer barely merits a mention in the news. Even the press in Singapore, which is fair way off the mainstream of cricket carried a story.

He was of course a cricketer of a different, more gentlemanly, era; a time when cricket was still a game and one dominated by Australia, South Africa and England. Playing for Oxford and Sussex he may well have played for England, like his father before him. He was one of India's most successful captains, leading them to their first overseas series win.

Even in India, his son, the actor Saif Ali Khan is now more famous than his father. He lived quietly avoiding publicity except once when he was caught up in it, charged with poaching.

The Telegraph carries a nice obituary, The Australian has a more detailed tribute.

RIP

Addendum: The Guardian has a good obituary.

The race for the mayoralty

2011-09-20T13:57:00.003+05:30

I had not taken much interest in the municipal election, its not particularly important and I was quite disgusted with how things turned out the last time around.

To recollect what happened; the UNP could not gets its candidate approved in time and it then went on to ask voters to vote for a proxy party. The voters gave the proxy an overwhelming majority, but the proxy then proceeded to renege on the agreement with the UNP and we had the spectacle of a trishaw driver in the mayor's office. I had resolved not to vote this time around until I became aware of Milinda Moragoda's campaign.

I don't think Milinda Moragoda is a bad character, he is not thug and has reasonable ability, on his own he would be a good candidate for mayor. The question is, how far will he be allowed to follow his instincts? Will Moragoda end up playing the role that Medvadev plays in Moscow? The velvet glove on the mailed fist?

Tisaranee Gunasekara, whose analysis is usually prescient, seems to think so and Harsha De Silva, a UNP MP seems to have a similar opinion.

Would the voters be best served by voting for some opposition candidate? There is no guarantee that the office of the mayor will not be reduced a ceremonial one in the event that the opposition wins, especially if the plan for the Colombo Metropolitan City Corporation comes to pass. As it stands the UDA seems to be overriding much of the authority of the CMC.

Nevertheless it would seem better to vote for some opposition candidate, who may provide some trivial resistance, in the event that unpopular measures are being contemplated. Better that than a yes man.

Who do we have in the opposition? I don't even know, I have been told there are hundreds of candidates, someone shoved a few pictures under the door the other day, god only knows who he is. I'm still confused as to what to do; vote for an opposition which may be marginalised by the UDA and a CMCC or for a government candidate who will execute what he asked to do?

The need for limits on power.

2011-09-13T14:57:00.007+05:30

KAL's cartoon (from The Economist), a good illustration of the mentality that seems to prevail in the USA.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts, absolutely.

Nothing underlines this well-worn saying more than this shocking experience by an American citizen, in her own country.

Terrorism is a tactic that is used by the disaffected, solving the underlying problems is the key to a long term solution. Unless an equitable and just solution is found for Palestine, it will remain a festering sore and a lightning rod for anger against the US.

Sort out the root problem, don't deal with the symptoms.

See Also, King Abdullah's letter of 1947, to the American people As the Arabs see the Jews.

Sri Lanka in great leap forward

2011-09-10T08:52:00.005+05:30

Today's headline in the Daily News gave me a bit of a shock.

Given the country's fascination with all things Chinese I was wondering if Mao's Great leap Forward had inspired our policymakers.

Phew! Luckily it seemed that it had not, although we see a renewed interest in state directed economic production.

Interestingly enough those who sing the praises of China and praise its ancient society conveniently forget the violence of its recent past. Nor do they remember the aggressive attempt to erase its past. In fact China under Mao was a terrible place, violent and chaotic; such drama naturally inspires political commentators and analysts, especially those with a fascination for power. Rulers with similar passions will naturally identify with these.

However, it is only after China started to shed its baggage of Mao and socialism did its people witness an improvement in their lives. So when China moves slowly Westwards, it does not make sense to go Eastwards. To be sure the path is the same, but the direction is opposite.

Studio Dharshi and the RMV - excellent service

2011-09-08T15:51:00.002+05:30

I sold my vehicle (rather too cheaply it seems) and then went and bought another (paying too much because I liked it).

I went to the RMV to get the transfer forms and I expected a certain amount of hassle. Parking was not too difficult, I had to walk about a 100 yards but that was not too bad. The forms were issued from a window that opens on to the pavement so there was no need to go inside the building and there was no queue.

I was told that I needed two photographs (of myself) and a photocopy of my ID, both certified by a JP to transfer the car to my name. I spied a little studio (it was called Studio Dharshi or something similar) almost next to the RMV. They were doing the photographs, photocopies and as a bonus they had an in-house JP who would sign everything.

I walked in and they photocopied my ID, then went to the next room where a girl took my picture, downloaded it from the camera and printed it on a little Epson printer. While waiting I noticed that the girl was also doing the photographs for new vehicle registrations (these require a photo of the vehicle as well). She was downloading pictures of various kinds of cars from the internet and printing them out for the owners who had forgotten to bring a picture along.

Since the photographs were usable for visas and passports as well, I got an extra set printed. The charge is 250/- for four photos, my cost for eight pictures, a photocopy of my ID and the JP's signature on two photos plus the ID was 600/-.

The whole exercise would not have taken 20-25 minutes and Studio Dharshi provided an excellent service.

Lessons from India

2011-09-06T16:10:00.004+05:30

I have taken to watching some of the discussion programmes aired on NDTV. I have been impressed by the quality of the panelists; the politicians, the public servants, the journalists and others who have participated.

Last night the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah talked about the controversy surrounding the unmarked graves all over the state. Watch it here.

Its rather refreshing to encounter a journalist willing to ask hard questions and a minister willing to give a proper answer.

Are we missing something here?

Addendum: See the debate on Truth and Reconciliation in Kashmir, here. Quite fascinating to see such seemingly familiar issues discussed with the advantage of distance.

The Portuguese influence?

2011-09-05T10:01:00.002+05:30

The Portuguese controlled part of the shoreline of modern Sri Lanka from 1505 to 1658. The left their mark on the cuisine (most importantly by introducing the chilli to the local populace) religion and language.

The Portuguese and Spanish tongues are fairly closely related and when a Venezuelan newsreader referred to the editor of a newspaper as un hijo de puta (“a son of a whore”), a bell began to ring....

Thats all folks, now get back to work, its only Monday.

Pascucci café and restaurant

2011-09-04T00:06:00.002+05:30

Another new coffee house has opened, on 95 McCarthy Road (Wijerama Mawatha).

Tried one of their coffee's it was excellent. I never knew whipped cream could taste so good and with nougat and a few other things thrown in, it was one of the tastiest drinks I've had.

I have been haunting coffee bars from the time they opened in Colombo, starting with The Commons (when it was on Turret Road), Dons Cafe, Delifrance, then Barista and finally Coffee Bean.I always went to these places to hang around, not for the coffee or the food, although the Commons had some very good deals in the early days.

Pascucci is the first place where I have really enjoyed a coffee and where I might even return to purely for the coffee. This is not a proper review, as its based on just one drink, but I think the place is worth checking out.

Chinese building falls over

2011-08-31T10:47:00.017+05:30

A friend sent me an email with pictures of a building in China that has keeled over and fallen. For a moment I thought it was joke until further research revealed that it was indeed true.

Hmmmm....

Given that the Chinese are constructing a highway, a harbour, a coal fired power plant and much else lets hope that they do a better job here than they do in China.

Hang on, hang on a minute. Didn't a bridge of the highway collapse already? That too with no traffic on it, it just collapsed under its own weight. There were also the mysterious fires in the coal power plant. The power plant seems to be operating below capacity and have a few other problems as well. It almost looks like the Chinese are trying to get a rather hot potato off their hands.

The harbour, although opened is not yet operational due to a few small technical hitches.

The collapsed building in China is a good illustration of the impact of corruption. Basic safety, building and planning regulations are not enforced because either

(a) the builders have paid off the officials who are supposed to do their job or;
(b) they have sufficient influence to bypass the regulations. ie The authorities are too afraid to enforce the rules because the officials concerned will be penalised if they do.

Corruption is not therefore just a matter of money; undue influence over public officials has (from the point of view of the ordinary citizen) exactly the same impact. What matters is that rules, principles and policies are bypassed; it is not how they are circumvented that matters.

The second important lesson is that corruption is not about someone making a little money on the side, it is also that it can pose a danger to the public. The controversy over substandard cement is a case in point.

Interestingly enough, poor policy preceded the import of the substandard cement. The Government imposed price controls on cement, which lead to a shortage. The Government then triumphantly rode to the rescue with the import of cheap cement, which turned out to be substandard. Leave aside the question that someone made a buck dumping cement; who will answer if a building collapses and kills someone?

We now learn that there is also a danger from X-Ray machines that have obviously been imported bypassing standard regulations? The patients must now decide which hospitals are likely to be safe, as far as X-Rays are concerned. Hopefully someone in the private hospitals will take the responsibility to check that their equipment is in order, many may actually market their services on this basis. But what of the average man who has to visit the state run hospitals?

I know for a fact that the vast majority of the Chinese tableware in the market is lead contaminated. How do I know this? Because a friend who works in one of these companies was looking for cheap products to stock their showrooms with.

They imported some from China but is was rejected due to lead contamination. Desperate for stocks, they bought some stuff wholesale from Pettah, all from China and all of which turned out to be lead contaminated. They tried samples from many different vendors, all were bad. I think they are now sourcing from local manufacturers, all of who meet the standards.

The question is how did this get into the country? The customs performs tests for lead contamination at the harbour and rejects anything unsafe. Presumably they do the same with X-ray equipment.

No compensation has yet been paid, although many hundreds of motorists faced expensive repairs due to substandard fuel.

The bottom line is corruption is a menace and the public will ultimately pay its price; in terms of shoddy service, high costs or unsafe products.

The cure?

Restoring the independence of the public service (so that its officials can act without fear or favour), something that the 17th amendment to the constitution attempted to do but which was reversed by the 18th amendment. Improving transparency in public affairs is another measure. A lot can take place in murky backroom deals, shining daylight on these will make this a lot harder.

Naturally, like vampires, they hate bright sunshine which is why the Freedom of Information bill was defeated . The less people know the better. The less the media report, the better. These recent controversies should have been headline news, instead we get little bits and pieces, mostly new flashes or a few things on the internet. No one wants to investigate much or ask too many hard questions.

The public, as ever, wrapped up in their daily lives, pay little attention to seemingly minor items of news. Only when it affects them directly do they understand its gravity and by then the rot has gone too deep.

Corruption and the Lokpal bill

2011-08-24T10:27:00.008+05:30

Those who have been following the news in India would have heard of the Lokpal bill, an anti-corruption measure.

The bill proposes the setting up of an ombudsmen which will look into issues of corruption, a measure while welcome, only deals with the problem once manifest. Why wait this long? Far better to prevent than to cure, and the surest means to a cure is to eliminate the cause.

Corruption in public office, the type of corruption that is the most serious since it perverts public policy, becomes possible when an official enjoys the power to issue vital documents. The citizen needs these documents in order to go about his business, hence its importance, which creates for its issuer the ability to charge a rent. The more important the document, the higher the rent.

If the need for such documents were reduced, the ability to charge would disappear, therefore simplifying regulations, eliminating the need for pointless permits, would be the first step to rooting out the problem at source.

What the Government needs to do is revisit its laws and regulations and identify which ones are essential. India is notorious for being over regulated. All manner of antiquated rules dating from the time of the Raj are still in force, to which have been added a raft of others in the decades under socialism. Regulations are necessary, this is why we need to tolerate governments, but over regulation creates circumstances in which corruption thrives. India has been ranked as the most over regulated nation in Asia.

Improving transparency in public affairs and moving to electronic or web based means of issuing documents will also help. If officials are holding back, say building permits, publishing on a weekly basis, the number of permits received and the number approved will immediately highlight potential problem areas. Is the official concerned simply inefficient (a problem in itself), or is something else going on? The mere knowledge that the public at-large have a visible performance indicator will have a salutatory effect on both corruption and inefficiency.

Naturally, deregulation and transparency are not popular, vested interests will always rail against them, so what the Indian Government needs to do is quietly deregulate. It took an economic crisis in 1990 for the first wave of deregulation to take place, further deregulation, which will cut the ground from under the bureaucrats.

This will save administrative costs, reduce the hassle people have to through and also give India's economy a much needed boost.

Frederic Bastiat and the Petition From the Manufacturers of Candles, Tapers, Lanterns, sticks, Street Lamps etc

2011-08-10T09:01:00.004+05:30

We have had a few visitors from overseas recently, who arrived carrying a number of books as presents. They know that I like reading but invariably bring books that I find uninteresting.

The current collection looked particularly unpromising, a fairly large number to start with (which presents a problem of disposal) and some which were rather old. A new book, freshly printed is always enticing. Aging books, even if they are in good condition lack the aroma of fresh ink and paper; add to that the dulled, unfashionable cover designs and the lack of excitement is palpable.

They have turned out to be extremely interesting. While working my way through The Worldly Philosophers, a very well written book on the lives and thoughts of economists, major and minor I encountered Frédéric Bastiat's sharp and witty observations which deserve a wide audience.

His candlestick makers petition is particularly brilliant and is reproduced in an edited form below:

A PETITION From the Manufacturers of Candles, Tapers, Lanterns, sticks, Street Lamps, Snuffers, and Extinguishers, and from Producers of Tallow, Oil, Resin, Alcohol, and Generally of Everything Connected with Lighting.

To the Honourable Members of the Chamber of Deputies.

Gentlemen:

You are on the right track. You reject abstract theories and have little regard for abundance and low prices. You concern yourselves mainly with the fate of the producer. You wish to free him from foreign competition, that is, to reserve the domestic market for domestic industry.

.....We are suffering from the ruinous competition of a rival who apparently works under conditions so far superior to our own for the production of light that he is flooding the domestic market with it at an incredibly low price; for the moment he appears, our sales cease, all the consumers turn to him, and a branch of French industry whose ramifications are innumerable is all at once reduced to complete stagnation. This rival, which is none other than the sun, is waging war on us so mercilessly we suspect he is being stirred up against us by perfidious Albion (excellent diplomacy nowadays!), particularly because he has for that haughty island a respect that he does not show for us.

We ask you to be so good as to pass a law requiring the closing of all windows, dormers, skylights, inside and outside shutters, curtains, casements, bull's-eyes, deadlights, and blinds — in short, all openings, holes, chinks, and fissures through which the light of the sun is wont to enter houses, to the detriment of the fair industries with which, we are proud to say, we have endowed the country, a country that cannot, without betraying ingratitude, abandon us today to so unequal a combat.

Be good enough, honourable deputies, to take our request seriously, and do not reject it without at least hearing the reasons that we have to advance in its support.

First, if you shut off as much as possible all access to natural light, and thereby create a need for artificial light, what industry in France will not ultimately be encouraged?

If France consumes more tallow, there will have to be more cattle and sheep, and, consequently, we shall see an increase in cleared fields, meat, wool, leather, and especially manure, the basis of all agricultural wealth.

If France consumes more oil, we shall see an expansion in the cultivation of the poppy, the olive, and rapeseed. These rich yet soil-exhausting plants will come at just the right time to enable us to put to profitable use the increased fertility that the breeding of cattle will impart to the land.

Our moors will be covered with resinous trees. Numerous swarms of bees will gather from our mountains the perfumed treasures that today waste their fragrance, like the flowers from which they emanate. Thus, there is not one branch of agriculture that would not undergo a great expansion.

The same holds true of shipping. Thousands of vessels will engage in whaling, and in a short time we shall have a fleet capable of upholding the honour of France and of gratifying the patriotic aspirations of the undersigned petitioners, chandlers, etc.

But what shall we say of the specialities of Parisian manufacture? Henceforth you will behold gilding, bronze, and crystal in candlesticks, in lamps, in chandeliers, in candelabra sparkling in spacious emporia compared with which those of today are but stalls.

......Will you tell us that, though we may gain by this protection, France will not gain at all, because the consumer will bear the expense?

We have our answer ready:

You no longer have the right to invoke the interests of the consumer. You have sacrificed him whenever you have found his interests opposed to those of the producer. You have done so in order to encourage industry and to increase employment. For the same reason you ought to do so this time too.

....The question, and we pose it formally, is whether what you desire for France is the benefit of consumption free of charge or the alleged advantages of onerous production. Make your choice, but be logical; for as long as you ban, as you do, foreign coal, iron, wheat, and textiles, in proportion as their price approaches zero, how inconsistent it would be to admit the light of the sun, whose price is zero all day long!

Read the petition in full here.

Bastiat also had a number of memorable quotes on the predatory nature of the state. Restricting the powers of the state is foundation of liberty, an overpowerful state will invariably prey on its citizens.

To quote him again:

"Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone."

And:

"If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?"

Growing lawlessness

2011-08-02T10:41:00.002+05:30

A friend of mine told me what he witnessed at Union Place yesterday.

They were driving along Union Place and following a small Maruti car, a taxi. Without warning an old Peugeot 406, a government car, pulled out and rammed the Maruti on the side, denting the door.

What happened next was truly shocking.

Two thugs jumped out of the Peugeot and started beating up the driver of the Maruti. The Maruti was being driven by a young boy, a small made fellow who must have been a few years out of school, he stood no chance against the heavies. They slapped him and beat him around for a few minutes and then jumped into their car and drove off.

Mind you, the fault was entirely with the Peugeot, which pulled out without signalling or warning to the main road, so there was no justification whatsoever for finding fault with, let alone assaulting, the hapless taxi driver.

A friend of mine witnessed a similar incident a couple of years back when a Landrover without number plates ran a red light and crashed into a van coming from the opposite side. Again four heavies jumped out out, assaulted the van driver and drove off.

I had a less dangerous experience, again a couple of years back, with a police pickup truck which was overtaking a line of cars stopped at a red light and almost crashed into me (I was turning in on the left lane, but managed to stop in time). The policemen were glaring and mouthing inanities at me while they ran the red light. They were on the wrong side and running a red light, yet the fault was mine.

What does this tell us? No laws apply to the rulers, their families, henchmen or hangers-on and woe betide anyone who crosses their path, even by accident. In other words a breakdown of law and order.

The unfortunate taxi driver in the incident yesterday was trying to call the police but I'm willing to bet good money that the police will never take the entry. It has happened many times before when powerful people are involved.

Sri Lanka, paradise? More like Gangsters Paradise, where the rulers are all-powerful and the citizenry cowed and afraid.

Politics in the blogosphere

2011-07-21T15:18:00.006+05:30

After a very long sojourn, politics seems to have returned to the local blogosphere. What is more interesting is that it has sparked some reasonable debate, something that has been missing for a long time.

Cerno was rather irritated by the fact that some lucky people seem to have enormous amounts of time to spend on web, so apologies for starting yet another post on the topic.

Reading the Drummers post, I cam across an interesting comment from David Blacker, on the role of the LTTE in dragging the country back to war.

I think the conduct of the Tigers since 2005 has been despicable and their actions have worsened the plight of the Tamils immeasurably.

To start with, the Tigers organised the boycott of the election that ensured that Ranil Wickremesinghe, architect of the CFA would be defeated. Many speculated that the boycott was organised in concert with the opposition candidate, DBS Jeyaraj certainly seems to think so. RW lost the election by a shade over 180,000 votes, the Jaffna vote alone could have carried him to victory.

The Tigers thus ditched the man responsible for the CFA and elected someone who campaigned on a platform discrediting it. They next went a step further and provoked a conflict by deliberately cutting off the water supply to farmers. It is true that MR campaigned on an anti-CFA platform, but that was just a ploy to get elected, no one seriously contemplated abandoning the CFA. They even had a round or two of talks with the LTTE, after being elected.

It seems rather strange, given the amount of mud that has been thrown on the CFA to recall that the regime actually held talks with the Tigers and to find that the leader of the government delegation "reiterated the government's commitment to peace talks".

In this context it is worth noting that it took the Government a full three years before they finally decided to abrogate the CFA in 2008, so clearly it was far from useless or harmful. If it was, they certainly took their time about deciding on it.

Having restarted the war, the Tigers then turned it into a personal conflict by the bomb attack on the Defence Secretary and a key lieutenant, Sarath Fonseka. Until then it was just another battle, once these two people were attacked there would be no turning back.

The last great blunder of the LTTE was in creating the human shield. When they started losing territory in the west of the country they retreated, but took the civilians with them, who they intended to use as a shield. Had they left them behind they would have been able to look after what little they had. In abandoning their property they were to be left far worse off.

To begin with they could not take everything, they took as much as they could, but whatever was left behind was likely to fall prey to thieves. In abandoning crops, the fields would fall fallow and would be need to be reworked to bring them back to production.

Worse, in the constant moving necessitated by the ever retreating Tigers the people lost what little they carried. One survivor claimed he left with two tractor loads of goods but had only two shopping bags left by the end. They lost their tools and equipment, meaning there was no way to work the land, even if they were to return to it, they lost their personal belongings,their savings, their self respect. In fact, everything.

They were exposed to severe hardship and were traumatised by the fighting and god knows what else. The bulk of the displaced were created by the LTTE, holding them in camps after the fighting ended was only the final insult.

The actions of the LTTE have done the worst damage to the Tamil people and especially so since 2005 when they condemned the entire nation to the most brutal war it has seen its history.

The Tamils and the LTTE are intertwined but the Tamil diaspora need to see the LTTE for what it was - the most damaging thing to the Tamils. There are serious and legitimate questions that need to be posed to the Sri Lankan Government, but there needs to be a clean break from the LTTE.

The Tigers, their flag, emblem and ideology have no place in any discussion on humanitarian concerns, except to be condemned utterly and completely.

Another sovereign bond issue

2011-07-20T09:09:00.012+05:30

Sri Lanka has launched another $1,000m bond, the fourth international bond since 2007.

The issue is being managed by Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, HSBC, and Royal Bank of Scotland. Some of the banks: Bank of America, Barclays and Merril Lynch are new entrants to Sri Lankan bonds, the weaker market conditions overseas probably necessitating the larger number of players.

What is interesting is the absence of China.

China is the government's lender of choice, politicians are constantly touting the virtues of easy credit from China which goes hand-in-hand with political support at tricky international forums. The Chinese lend freely and ask no questions, a borrowers delight.

Yet, when it comes to raising bonds, the government turns to the hated West. Western banks are used and the bonds expected to be sold in the US, followed by Asia and Europe. True, they have not included the banks involved in the oil hedging deal (Citi, Deutsche and Standard Chartered), but these banks (except Citi) never bid to manage the sovereign bond issue anyway.

So, why turn to the West? Expertise? Certainly, these banks are used to structuring and marketing these products but why pay fat fees to banks and incur all the costs of international roadshows when we could simply issue bonds direct to our friend China?

Could it be that China is not particularly interested in these bonds?

China is now this country's main creditor, but the bulk of the lending is project based - for infrastructure, highways, ports, power plants and the like.

The Chinese loans are tied, meaning that the projects need to use Chinese raw materials, (steel, cement etc) and even a fair component of Chinese labour. The proportion of local value addition in these projects is a great deal less than in projects involving international lending agencies.

Thus China earns a return on its loans both in the form of interest (at commercial rates, unlike the subsidised rates offered by lending agencies) and profits on the raw material sold to the project. These projects are therefore a lot more profitable than subscribing to a straightforward bond. It may also be more secure - I do not know if the project assets are mortgaged to the Exim bank (the main lending arm the Chinese) but it is a possibility. Apart from return and security there is another reason why they may not wish to subscribe.

The Government has to have a 'story' to sell a bond and merry tales of reconstruction and infrastructure can be spun. The story only has to be believable to in order to sell, no one really monitors if the money is spent in that manner. What actually happens is that the much of the funds are used to pay interest, roll over existing debt and pay for salaries and other day-to-day expenses.

In terms of an ordinary household, the country is not borrowing to repair the roof, extend the house or buy a labour saving device like a washing machine. We are borrowing in order to buy our food and pay our living expenses, not to invest.

Perhaps the Chinese are willing to finance our infrastructure, at a price, but they may be less willing to finance our consumption, leaving that task to the international banks and bondholders.

As long as the debt is serviced, ultimately from taxes raised from the populace, the banks and bondholders will have no problem but the first sign of trouble will see them flee to the exit, probably sending the rupee to free-fall.

Update: The bond was sold at 6.25%, compared to US treasuries which are currently at 2.96%, full story here.

Victorian morals, Victorian ethics

2011-07-10T10:29:00.014+05:30

Keen observers of Sri Lankan society may have noted a new emphasis on morality; a morality of a rather pious, preachy kind that is supposedly based on 'traditional' values. There has been a crackdown of 'obscene' content on television, film and some worthy even a proposed a ban on miniskirts.

Viewers of television have to put up with pixellated images each time someone lights up a cigarette, pours a drink or plants a kiss.

Never mind that the so-called traditional values are far from traditional but are based largely on the morality of Victorian England, something brought by the evil conquerors, together with a sprinkling of elements from Islamic and Hindu fundamentalists.

It is a pity that we should wrap ourselves in what is a fairly disagreeable aspect of colonialism while ignoring its far more worthy aspect, Victorian ethics.

As Charles Allen puts it, as far the military and civil administration was concerned, it was 'service, service, service, every time'. To quote:

The prestige of the Raj enhanced the status of the British in India...but it demanded a conscious sense of responsibility towards those under you.

...Victorian ethics of 'honour, decency, truthfulness and running a good show' persisted in India to a quite remarkable degree. ....'I would have no hesitation in saying that during the years I was in India , bribery and corruption were unknown among the British in India' asserts John Morris, one of the fiercest critics of the moral codes of the Raj.

...'Such attitudes created an administration that was 'probably the most incorruptible ever known'.

This attitude was strongest in the civil administration, in the business community, contemptuously referred to as box-wallahs, the moral code was "something akin to that which existed in England at the time of Pitt. It was not considered immoral to have a cut in every contract". Not everyone in business succumbed: .."there were always the established companies, well stocked with public school boys, where it was virtually unknown".

The attitude towards duty was mirrored in the Ceylon Civil Service (CCS), the counterpart to Indian Civil Service (ICS). Talking to the father of a friend, lets call him James, a retired man from the CCS, he was telling me of the high standards that were expected in the service. He said that since the service was fairly small (the annual intake to the CCS was 2-6 cadets a year, the entire ICS never numbered more than 1,300) word of the slightest impropriety quickly got around and a man who had a black mark found that no department would be willing to accept him, he would thus be transferred to the 'pool', a fate worse than death and would quickly resign.

James was in the service when they were first allowed to use their official cars for private work, provided they paid for the fuel. Previously officials who had no private cars would use their cars for their official work but rely on public transport for the private affairs. To do otherwise would be simply inconceivable.

V. L. Wirasinha, in his book on life in the CCS narrates a story where one officer, Ananda-Raja Hallock, was dismissed over allegation of incorrect expense claims. He had claimed the cost of bearers to carry his baggage when moving to a new station, which he was entitled to, but had claimed it at the rate of Rs.1 per mile rather than Rs.1 per bearer. Someone had got to know of this and complained. After an inquiry he was dismissed from the service.

I assumed that given its prestige, the CCS officers were very well paid. James said that this was not the case; had he worked for Lever Brothers he could have earned twice the salary, he preferred the CCS because he felt he would rather not spend the rest of his life selling toothpaste. Again, that attitude towards service.

Interestingly enough, one of the principles of administration: access to the humblest petitioner, was inherited by the British in the Mughal administration that preceded it.

This attitude may be viewed as paternalistic, it probably is but from the point of view of people subject to it, not a bad thing. The underlying principle in democracy is a series of institutional checks on the power of the rulers, to ensure that they act for the greater benefit of its citizens. If the rulers are fired with an ethic of service towards their subjects, then this will go at least partway towards achieving the substance of democracy, even if its forms are absent.

Is it time for us to tell our rulers to discard Victorian morals and embrace Victorian ethics instead?

A State in denial?

2011-07-06T11:08:00.010+05:30

I opened the Daily News this morning to learn that the Ministry of Power and Energy was denying that power cuts were taking place. The pro-Government Island newspaper has however reported that power cuts in the Biyagama industrial zone were causing a lot of disruption.

What on earth is going on?

When checking around, one person in the office had experienced a power outage from 7pm to 8pm last night. When he had inquired from the Electricity Board they had confirmed that it was a power cut, another person in Ratmalana experienced a power outage from 7-8.30pm last night, although he did not bother to check with the electricity board as to the reason why.

A friend in Battaramulla told me that they were without power all day from 9am-5pm last Saturday, the Electricity Board had said it was for "major repairs" but had not specified what the repair was. Apparently in the past the CEB used to inform them of the nature of the repair so it is a bit suspicious that they were so vague this time around and adding to this is the fact that it came on sharp at 5pm, the time they said it was likely to come back on.

It seems obvious that power cuts are indeed taking place, what is intriguing is the attitude of the Government: to deny that the problem exists. This is not the first time this has happened, the contaminated petrol fiasco saw exactly the same reaction. Persistent denial, until it became impossible to deny, then attempted to blame the users or the petrol pump owners.

It seems that they have cottoned on to a whole new strategy for dealing with problems; deny, deny and deny. With the media tamed, not a lot get reported anyway so people are in the dark. It is only through personal experience, which may be bitter; as in the case of the contaminated petrol or merely uncomfortable; as in the case of a power cut, do people learn the truth.

Perhaps the Government has been spending too much time with PR firms, or perhaps the 18th amendment, in giving new life to the government has infused it with fresh confidence, but it seems that the methods of dealing with critics in the West are now being applied to voters at home.

Quite apart from the moral aspect, the denial of a problem points to a bigger issue: the unwillingness to take responsibility for a problem or to be accountable to the electorate.

It is true that people are easily fooled and politicians all over the world spend some of their time trying to make things look better than they are but if this is taken too far and the only effort spent is on painting some fantastic or Utopian picture then the consequences can be grave.

The country has just adopted a new inflation index, with a reduced weightage on food (39%, v about 45% in the old index). Given that food price inflation is high the new index will probably report a lower figure, so everybody will be happy, while the reality is ignored.

Policy needs to be shaped by a proper understanding of problems, pretending that the problem does not exist is the last thing one needs.

And why do we have power cuts? Because the electricity board is running at losses and huge amounts of power are lost in transmission. We don't know exactly how much is lost or how badly it is run because there is no information. Any possibility of getting information was killed off with the defeat of the Right To Information bill. The price of inefficiency and waste must eventually be paid and the public do pay, in terms of an erratic and uncertain power supply.

There is one little solution that will ease the problems of the CEB and cause no disruption to the public. Put the clock forward by half and hour, a simple painless solution that was working fine that was unwound: to please the astrologers.

Sri Lanka Insurance buys into Blue Diamonds

2011-07-05T11:45:00.009+05:30

I had heard rumours in the stock market that Sri Lanka Insurance (SLIC) was buying into Blue Diamonds (BD) but had dismissed them as being false. The market is full of such wild stories, the object in spreading them being to unload the shares on retail investors. I was therefore quite shocked to discover that this was indeed true.

The rescue of Sri Lanka Insurance from a botched privatisation is regarded as one of the triumphs of the regime. It is profitable, has pots of cash and is therefore now automatically seen as the vehicle of choice through which state investment can take place. It has its own funds and requires only board approval to buy into assets rather than the complicated process of cabinet papers and other procedures necessary for a Government department. There is also no delay in waiting for funds to be released from the Treasury, which is forever short.

Therefore it is not surprising to learn that SLIC is "aggressively looking for companies to turn around". SLIC has already participated in the bail out of Seylan Bank, bought control of Shell Gas and is now set to run restaurants on the new Southern highway.

The question this raises is whether conglomerate diversification adds too much risk to an insurance business. I don't have a clear answer and the regulatory guidelines overseas are a mess to wade through, but my initial instinct is that it does.

Quite apart from the more fundamental question, BD itself is, to put it mildly, rather a mess. A glance at the auditors report in the latest annual report reveals that:

1. A loan of Rs.203.5m that was obtained on the security of jewellery was written back to income in 2005, on the basis that the bank had taken over the security. The company has now been presented with a claim for US$4.32m, on account of this unpaid loan, which is not accounted in the books. If accounted for at face value it would wipe out half the equity of the company.

2. Th balances payable to related parties could not be verified, which means that further possible liabilities could exist.

3. Sales in the financial year 2010 were Rs.46m but the company had to recover Rs.39m worth of unsold stock from its overseas distributor, a related party. It seems that much of that years sales had simply been lying in stock.

When selling through distributors it is vitally important to monitor the off-take of stock from a distributor, this is what the consumer is actually buying. Crafty salesmen often attempt to dump stock on distributors when they need to meet their sales target, this is very common towards the end of the month/quarter/year depending on when the sales incentives are paid and is a source of dispute between the Sales and the Finance departments.

Looking at the balance sheet, trade receivables are equivalent to about half a years sales and stocks are over a years worth of sales, all of which indicate that the product does not seem to be selling well.

SLIC says they want to turn Blue Diamonds around, I think they will have their work cut out.

Contaminated petrol - beware

2011-07-01T11:04:00.006+05:30

A couple of people at the company I work for have been affected by contaminated petrol. The fuel pump in the car has been damaged and needs replacement. So far it seems that only petrol cars have been affected, particularly those pumping 90 octane fuel, there are no reports of problems with diesel or 95 octane petrol.

Rumours of substandard or contaminated fuel have been circulating this week. True to form, they were immediately dismissed as vile propaganda by the Government, notwithstanding the long queues of vehicles that were being brought into garages. There was hardly any press coverage either, apart from some brief reports carrying the denial.

When it became absolutely impossible to deny, the Government backtracked a bit and blamed rainwater for the problems. The first proper story emerged only today. It appears that dregs, possibly mixed with rainwater, may have caused the problem.

According to reports from friends and associates, the contaminated petrol contains a dense tar-like substance that clogs up the fuel pump in the vehicle. The fuel pump is lubricated by the fuel circulating inside so when the tar-like substance enters the whole pump seizes and needs replacement.

I called the owner of my garage today to inform him of the widespread reports and he said that he was already attending to one damaged fuel pump. Being a rather innovative character, he had managed to clean the pump and it seems to be working, at least on the repair bench. He has not yet put it into the vehicle, so there is no saying that the pump can work properly enough with a full load of fuel.

It would be advisable for motorists to wait a week or so before filling up or to use 95 octane fuel, if they must fill up immediately.

Looking at the bigger picture, if rainwater or dregs were indeed the problem it seems strange that diesel and 95 octane petrol have not been affected. Rumours of a price increase last week saw queues at filling stations, so it is possible that the tanks ran low resulting in contaminated dregs of fuel being pumped, but this does not explain why diesel and 95 octane were not affected.

The knee-jerk reaction of the Government to any problem is to deny everything and blame it on a conspiracy. This would be laughable if it were not so serious. The lack of transparency, together with a growing culture of impunity are at root of this.

Transparency sounds like a rather woolly, fanciful idea, but it is the basic necessity if a Government is to be held to account. If the public do not know anything, they can hardly ask questions, so if Government is to be held accountable, then information must be freely available and widely disseminated, hence the importance of the media. In this instance, after days of rumours and denials, it is only now that we see some information emerging, and for the poor motorists, little advice on what the problem is or how to cope with it. As for recovery of costs, forget it. The defeat of the freedom of information bill is symptomatic of this malaise (an analysis of it s importance is available here).

There is also the (possibly related problem) of corruption. There were (unverified) reports on the web that the Acting Chairman had imported substandard fuel from Singapore, implying that he had done it to enrich himself. Too often, people are ready to dismiss corruption saying it is everywhere or that a little bit will not hurt. If this is indeed the result of corruption, then it would serve as a good example of how its true cost is borne by society-at-large.

Parliamentary questions

2011-06-13T15:22:00.003+05:30

The workings of parliament are sometimes obscure, but I think people should make the effort to try and and understand what goes on.

Last week the chief government whip refused to answer a question on the basis of national security. Why should an MP refuse to answer questions? Does parliamentary procedure allow questions to go unanswered?

Reading the Parliamentary procedure in the UK relating to questions it appears to me that an MP cannot refuse to answer. Parliamentary questions are but one way by which the Government is held to account. Accountability to its citizens is what makes a democracy a democracy so refusing to answer a question is simply 'not on'.

Even more intriguing was the question which he refused to answer. He had refused to reveal the findings of a commission set up to look into alleged irregularities committed in the procurement of arms and ammunition for the military.

As this was a commission set up by the Government to look into alleged irregularities, it seems very strange that its results cannot be made public. “The President and relevant officials will take the necessary action based on the findings of the report,” Minister Gunawardena said, which does not seem very convincing since the overriding aim seems to be to sweep things under the carpet.

This reaction seems especially odd in contrast to the conviction of Sarath Fonseka on charges of corruption in arms procurement. Sauce for the goose is apparently not sauce for the gander, so while enemies of the republic will be persecuted its friends will be protected.

There is also another question: on the quality of internal mechanisms. The Government has repeatedly boasted that the country, being a democracy, has the necessary mechanisms and processes to deal with all problems. The reaction to the findings of this commission seem to demonstrate the opposite.

Of pensions and pensioners

2011-06-10T10:48:00.004+05:30

The Government has barely had time to withdraw the pensions bill when a pensioner has stepped into the limelight, threatening to ignite the controversy all over again.

Sanath Jayasuriya had been put out to pasture a long time ago. Following his entry to a geriatric day care centre (otherwise known as parliament) he was expected to spend long hours ruminating and peacefully chewing the cud, but no, he has vaulted over the parliament walls and is back playing cricket.

The life force obviously flows freely in the swamps and lakes that surround the parliament and sustains the life forms within that august building. Perhaps its denizens are all imbibing the Vivificus Iunvenesco Potion. Either way, the ordinary forces of time do not seem to operate within that building.

Under the controversial pension bill, a worker was paid a pension after the age of 60 and was expected to retire at the age of 55. In contrast, the Prime Minister, now 80, is by the standard of wine, of an old and rare vintage that is only available through specialist shops. Hale and hearty, he shows no inclination to retire. A founding member of the SLFP he has spent half a century in parliament.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, current leader of the opposition is 62. He has already shown keen intent on holding this position for the rest of his life, which should be long, given his considerable skills in hanging on by the skin of his teeth. Le Roi, already 65 will be 73 by the time his second term expires.

Perhaps what we need is a pension bill for parliamentarians? Perhaps someone should also drain the swamp? There is life emerging from it all right (and crawling inside the parliament), but in the words of Scotty "not as we know it".

It may even be of an everlasting type, last seen in the Doctor Who series. Who wants MP's who last forever? The whole building may be a giant TARDIS for all we know, defying the laws of time and space and lasting forever. There are certainly enough Doctors in it.

Wikileaks

2011-06-09T14:46:00.002+05:30

Java Jones had written something on the last round of Wikileaks revelations. He felt that the leaks were helpful, I disagreed and wrote a reply that kept growing longer so I decided to post it on my own blog instead.

I had not read his blog for some time, so this reply is almost six months late but I think the point is still valid.

What the last round of Wikileaks revelations has done is damage diplomacy, which is a danger to all concerned.

Previous leaks, such as the footage of helicopters shooting civilians was in the public interest. Action needed to be taken and making the news public was necessary.

Releasing diplomatic cables revealing the opinions of diplomats on meetings, personalities and other routine matters was grossly irresponsible and highly damaging.

The fact that diplomats felt they could not trust certain Saudi ministers or their thoughts on Chinese and North Korean officials do not further anyone's interests. It is not necessary to talk to ones friends but one must always talk to ones enemies. The alternative to not talking is misunderstanding, conflict and worse.

It is not possible for leaders of countries to talk to each other face-to-face on a regular basis, so their representatives - diplomats must do do so on their behalf. They then need to make as frank an assessment of the people they meet and the situations they encounter and report these to their superiors.

They need to be polite to people they meet but they also need to be frank in their assessments. This is not double dealing or hypocrisy, this is simply good manners and necessary. We do this all the time; when we deal with unpleasant neighbours, co-workers and the like, diplomats are no different. Nothing that has been leaked is completely unknown or unexpected but it does embarrass all concerned.

Wikileaks needs to edit and release information on the basis of public interest, their last revelations have been anything but.

Food prices

2011-05-23T10:44:00.002+05:30

People from overseas are often shocked at the price of food in Sri Lanka, visitors from as far away as England and Australia have been muttering darkly after a visit to the local supermarket. We usually reply that this due to inflation but think no more of it.

A friend of mine recently told me that the reasons for high prices are due to taxes and poor policy. Imported food is taxed (a lot of our food is imported) and this results in high prices in the local market. He gave me the example of coconut.

The Government has imposed heavy import duties on vegetable oils (soy, corn etc) thus driving up the prices of imported cooking oil. Local coconut producers thus find it more profitable to channel coconuts to oil production leading to a shortage of fresh nuts in the market resulting in coconut prices shooting up to Rs.60/- Will anybody with a coconut oil mill confirm this? The supermarket prices for coconut oil were between Rs.470-505 per litre (N'Joy and Cooks Joy) while vegetable oil ranged from Rs.425 upwards.

In the meantime, coconut producers seem to be doing fairly well, but not as spectacularly well as the nut prices suggest. One smallholder manages to still make a loss, but his holding (5 acres) is probably uneconomic and suffers from a high level of theft. Someone with a much larger holding (about 90 acres) says he is doing reasonably well, but I am not close enough to him to dig up detailed figures. again, anyone who can supply further information is welcome to do so.

Fish prices are supposed to be high due to tax imposed on canned Mackeral. The tax is supposed to be around Rs.100/- per can, a 450g can retails for Rs.215. People try to buy fresh fish instead and this pushes the fresh fish prices up. The customs website has some details of taxes, but is not detailed enough. Taxes on potatoes, onions and sugar have been revised a number of times.

The Gutterflower very kindly assisted me by compiling the prices of a few common foodstuffs in Delhi.

Indian Prices (converted to LKR @ 2.45 LKR = 1 INR)

Normal Rice 80.86
Long grain basmati 161.73
Yellow lentils 68.61
Red lentils 134.77
Potato 28.79
Tomatoes 54.64
Onion 30.63
Chicken (whole chicken, approx) 367.57
Bread 31.10 (780g sliced bread INR 22, converted to a 450g price to make comparison easier)

Local Prices

Red Raw rice 56
White Raw 58
Basmati 286
Mysore Dhal (small reddish grains) 168
Mysore Dhal (larger yellowish grains) 139
Potato 120
Tomatoes 70.7
Bombay onions 74
Small onions 173
Chicken] 350
Bread 102.75

In terms of basic cheap rice, currently local prices are lower, although there was a time a few months back when they shot up to around Rs.100/- a kilo. In almost every other item the Indian prices are far lower than in Sri Lanka. Why this should be so is the question to which I have yet to find an answer.

What is especially interesting are the prices of onions and bread. Locally produced red onions are more than double the price of imported Bombay onions. The price of bread, thrice the Indian level is inexplicable, unless wheat is heavily subsidised in India. India does indeed subsidise wheat, the extent of which on a per kg basis I need to try and work out.

Surprisingly enough chicken prices are comparable although production in Sri Lanka should be more inefficient. Chickens are fattened on grain, it takes roughly 3.5kg of feed to produce a kilo of chicken, since this country does not produce enough grain, the bulk of the feed ingredients are imported. Therefore a producer of grain such as India should have an inherent advantage that should translate to lower prices. Many years ago when someone checked on the possibility of imported frozen chicken from India, selling prices in India were around 60% of the local cost of production.

These are just a few thoughts and I would appreciate any feedback that could explain some of these questions.

Update 13-6-2011

LBO has an interesting article on the revenue raised by food taxes, see here.

Haputale

2011-05-18T08:59:00.015+05:30

Driving up the hills from Ratnapura.

Further along the drive

Adisham, in the afternoon light

Dawn breaks on the forest

The road up to Lipton's Seat

The view of the valley, partway along the route to Lipton's Seat.

Adisham, in the afternoon light.

The headstone on W.S. Senior's grave

Haputale has some stunning scenery, about the best there is in the country, equalled only by the scenery in the Knuckles mountain range. Fortunately it to too far off the main tourist trail to become as despoiled as Nuwara Eliya. It has deteriorated in the twelve years since I first visited, especially on the road up to Adisham where part of the forest has been felled and two ugly hotels and a number of small guest houses have mushroomed.

The ruthlessness with which any opportunity for a quick profit will be exploited by Sri Lankan's needs to be seen to be believed. Endemic corruption ensures that the few building, environmental and safety regulations can be ignored and one finds spindly, ugly buildings clinging to hillsides offering board and lodging or refreshments. Why this entrepreneurial spirit cannot be channelled more productively is a mystery. Some of the hills were being logged heavily, with backhoes and other equipment leaving great bare patches on the hills. It is no wonder that with the heavy rains there are frequent landslides in the hill country.

Despite the best efforts of the rent-seekers, there is much beauty to behold and it is easy to see what captivated Sir Thomas Villiers, who built Adisham at a particularly stunning spot and Walter Stanley Senior.

Senior's love of the place was such that although he retired to England his ashes were interred at the churchyard of St Andrews, Haputale. The inscription on the headstone, taken from his own poem Lanka from Pidurutalagala reads:

Here I stand in spirit,
as in body once I stood Long years ago,
in love with all the land,
This peerless land of beauty’s plenitude

Followed by the words:

He Loved Ceylon

A fitting tribute to the craggy, smoky mountains and deep valleys. The rolling mist, which descends suddenly, together with the sparkling sunshine is a photographers (or painters) delight, possibly even worthy of Turner.

There is little do do in Haputale except breathe the crisp clean air and enjoy the magnificent scenery. An ideal place for solitude, which is probably why the Benedictine Monks turned Adisham into a monastery.

Large groups of noisy tourists please go away.

Servants, a perspective from the Raj

2011-05-14T14:10:00.004+05:30

I am in the midst of reading Charles Allen's Plain Tales from the Raj, an author I discovered at this years literary festival.

It is about the experiences of the Anglo-Indians - used in the original sense of the term: the British who lived in India. An Anglo-Indian himself, born into a family six generations in India, he worked on a BBC programme in 1973 to record the memories of the last surviving Anglo-Indians. The book grew out of the series of recordings made and broadcast in 1974.

I found the attitude towards servants rather interesting, particularly:

The question of how to address servants varied with status. 'It was a point of honour with us in the established civil service never to talk to the servants in anything but their own language,' states John Cotton, the result was that he who spoke the language had a much better type of servant. In much the same way Iris Portal was taught that 'you must never have an English-speaking servant. My father's attitude was that if you, an educated woman can't speak the language of a man who's illiterate you really aren't fit to employ him.'............

And a few lines later

Wives who knew the customs and languages of India 'would never think of asking a servant to do a thing that was beneath him or was in any way contrary to his religion'. The pukka memsahib was never 'tactless enough to bring back Bacon from the Club and hand it to a bearer who was a very strict Mohommedan. One put it upon a table and a sweeper would come and take it away, because he was a Hindu and did'nt mind touching bacon.'

I think this is interesting because it reveals a relatively progressive, or at least pragmatic attitude towards the ruled. I suppose it is not possible to rule for any length of time riding roughshod over the sensibilities of the people.

Reconciliation: A lesson from Nigeria?

2011-05-08T09:44:00.005+05:30

I recently finished reading The State of Africa by Martin Meredith. Subtitled 'A History of fifty years of Independence' it is just that - a broad survey of the continent and a book for anyone who believes that useful lessons can be learned from the failure of others.

Well written albeit in simple straightforward prose, the litany of the continents woes is sometimes a little overwhelming; names, places, dates tend to swim into one another, so it is best to read a chapter or two at a time. There are one or two bright patches such as the process of reconciliation in Nigeria following the Biafran war.

Meredith notes that:

The aftermath of the war was notable for its compassion and mercy; and the way in which the memories of Biafra [the secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria] faded. Quoting Lincoln, Gowon [Head of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria] talked of binding up the nations wounds. No medals for services in the war were awarded, no reparations were demanded; Biafran rebels were reabsorbed in the Federal Army; civil servants [who served the secessionists] returned to their posts in the federal government; and property belonging to Igbos [the people from the rebel areas in the South East] in the North and other Federal areas was restored to them. In this war, said Gowon, there had been 'no victors and no vanquished'.

Bin Laden and human rights

2011-05-06T08:55:00.006+05:30

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has called for a full disclosure of the facts surrounding the killing of Bin Laden to determine legality of the operation. This call has been echoed by both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

This underlines an important principle: human rights are fundamental and even people like Bin Laden should expect due process.

No doubt Bin Laden was a thoroughly nasty character who has claimed responsibility for the death of thousands, I have no sympathy for either his cause or his methods, but basic principles of justice need to be respected. Ideally, the team should have attempted to capture Bin Laden alive and then put him on trial. If he was killed accidentally in a shootout, then it is acceptable but the assassination, which is another term for extra-judicial killing should not be condoned. This is why the UNHCR needs to investigate the circumstances of his death.

It is easy to say that terrorists, or for that matter, criminals have no rights. The question is who determines if someone is innocent or guilty? If the authorities start prejudging guilt, what starts to happen is that suspects, rather than criminals start getting punished and a suspect could be anybody: anyone could make a false complaint that so-and-so was responsible for such-and-such a crime.

In order to ensure justice is available to everybody, certain principles need to be observed at all times. William Blackstone's formulation "better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" is what law should be based on. It is, as Soli Sorabjee, former Attorney-General of India remarked during a debate on this subject, what marks a civilised nation.

The killing of Bin Laden- implications for Sri Lanka

2011-05-05T13:34:00.005+05:30

There are serious issues that are raised by the circumstances of Bin Laden's death and they concern Pakistan, a country regarded as a friend by the Sri Lankan regime. The relevant facts are:

1. He was killed in Abbottabad, pretty little town in North East Pakistan that is also home to the Pakistan Military Academy.

2. He was living in a large semi-fortified compound that to some observers resembled an ISI safehouse. Neighbours claimed that the current occupants moved in some five years ago.

3. Bin Laden suffered from kidney failure and required regular dialysis. There was no dialysis equipment in the house he occupied so he had to receive regular treatment from outside. Although the city boasts of 21 hospitals (it was a centre for treating casualties from the Kashmiri earthquake) the fact that he was not noticed raises the possibility that he received treatment at the military hospital located in the town.

The awkward questions raised by these facts are:

1. Bin Laden was being sheltered by the Pakistani military or some rogue elements within the military. Given the long period during which he has held there whoever did so had have at least a few fairly senior people involved.
2. The political leadership (and the military) claims they were unaware of Bin Laden's whereabouts. If the political leadership was indeed unaware then the question needs to be raised as to whether the political leadership has control over the military. If the military leadership were also unaware this raises the possibility of rogue elements within the military at a fairly senior level.

Pakistan was supposedly a strong US ally helping them in the Afghan campaign, it now looks that they were either helping the enemy all along or that the state has no effective control over its military, either possibility being equally disturbing.

Pakistan's economy is in shambles and large amounts of US aid help things along. The US is under internal pressure to cut aid and if this happens then the state may be weakened further.

India has long accused Pakistan of assisting guerrillas and insurgents in Kashmir and elesewhere. They were also accused of complicity in the Bombay train bombings and in the later Bombay hotel attacks. The suspicious circumstances of Bin Laden's hideout will only strengthen the view that Pakistan is a sponsor of terror in India. The two countries have already fought three wars, the last in 1971.

To make matters more complicated, both countries now have nuclear weapons and the fallout from such a conflict will affect all its neighbours. Sri Lanka's relations with India are frigid, India is already suspicious of the cosy relationship with China, taking a line seen as pro-Pakistan now would be the worst thing we could do. Attempting to pay a 'Pakistan' card to try and gain leverage over India, on say the Darusman Report, would be disastrous.

Countries where the Great Game was played out generally ended up hosting proxy battles between the protagonists. This was the fate of Afghanistan, having toyed with India and China Sri Lanka should tread carefully to avoid a similar fate.

Update: NDTV just reported at 18.05 local time that there was firing at an Indian border post and that Indian forces have retaliated.

Port Sunlight

2011-04-30T15:13:00.006+05:30

I am an unashamed Anglophone and an unrepentant capitalist, both tendencies being happily united in my admiration for the Victorian Robber Baron. Make no mistake, I am no Scrooge McDuck, rather it is the paternalistic Victorian that I aspire to, one of whom, William Hesketh Lever, built Port Sunlight.

I was reading through Engels' criticism of the cottage system, where workers in factories were provided with housing. Engels says this started harmlessly enough, to provide cheap housing for workmen but was later used as a tool to keep them restive, the threat of ejection from the cottage (and the awful state of alternative housing) sufficing to prevent excessive wage demands. Engels' also faults the industrialist for charging the normal or market rent for the property, which he feels is excessive since (in Engels view) the principal risk with property; difficulties in collecting rent and the possibility of the property lying vacant are both absent in the Cottage system. (ie As the industrialist fills his cottages with his own workers he is always sure of a tenant and since he deducts the rent from their wages he is certain of receiving payment).

Port Sunlight however was a triumph. Lever wanted to provide a healthy and pleasant environment for his workers, with schools, library, institutes and public buildings. A whole village in fact. An interest in architecture drove him to employ some 30
architects including an unknown Edwin Lutyens to design the 900 buildings. No two houses are alike.

The critics claimed that he was a despot, controlling and dominating people, the whole village being effused by the "spirit of soap".

I think he did his workers much good and built a quaint little village (now quite a tourist attraction, all buildings being Grade II listed) in the process. Have a look at the pictures and judge for yourself.

The Chinese Connexion

2011-04-29T10:43:00.003+05:30

I have borrowed the title for this post from a book I read as a schoolboy. I have only hazy recollections of the book , but the Rice-Rubber pact with China surely featured prominently.

It is rather hard to imagine today that the world's second largest economy would enter into the most cumbersome and primitive form of trade: barter, with a tiny country like Ceylon but post-revolutionary China was a poor, chaotic, almost anarchic state. Some news reports from the time, though partial, are amusing to read.

Today things are rather different. China, a rising power seeking to dominate trade and wield its influence in the world. Sri Lanka is one of the countries that seems to be locked into the Chinese embrace, no longer an equal partner as in 1952 but a minnow, in a position familiar to many an African nation. And it is the African experience that is interesting, how the Chinese first welcome so eagerly now seem to inspire suspicion, fear and anger. The Economist has an analysis that is well worth reading.

I do apologise for the frequent links to The Economist in my recent writings. It is just that they have many interesting ideas and I am one who is stimulated by ideas. An attractive idea is absorbed, then bounced around like a rubber ball, ricocheting around the mind, stimulating thought in distant areas, reappearing in different forms and repeating the whole process all over again leaving the mind a-whirl in heady intoxication.

Rehabilitating the war zone

2011-04-28T14:48:00.002+05:30

The Economist has suggested that one way to rehabilitate the tsunami hit region would be to turn the area into a special economic zone. Could this approach be used in the war zone? I think so.

The Government can declare several special investment zones in the North and the East. Private infrastructure developers can be invited to set up the basic infrastructure (power, water, roads drainage etc) in the zone in return for the right to lease out blocks of land to other investors (who build the factories or offices).

The market that should be targeted is South India, Indian bureaucracy is notorious and Indian investors would be quite happy to set up shop, provided duty free access were available to the Indian market. This is something the Government would need to negotiate with India but given that that India is keen to see progress on rehabilitation this should not be too difficult.

The harbour and airport would need to be brought up to standard to enable the goods to flow out and raw materials to flow in, this alone will create some jobs. This will also open up the possibility of catering to tourists, particularly pilgrims from India. It is only by catering to the Indian market, particularly pilgrims, can a reasonable tourist industry be built up in the North.

The North is too far from Colombo, the climate to dusty, hot and dry to attract anything other than intrepid backpackers and even for them the principal attraction - the Fort, is now partly destroyed. Even in the 1970's and 1980's the North was not on the package tourism trail and I don't think it will ever get on to that, even with the benefit of better roads and air-conditioned cars.

There would need to be other support infrastructure; particularly education and training institutes to ensure that people have the necessary skills in addition to things like transport, telecommunications and power.

All this must go in parallel with meeting the basic needs of the people especially housing. The Government lacks the funds but if properly managed the private sector can handle much of the investment and donors should be quite willing to pay for much of the social infrastructure.

Why so much black?

2011-04-27T09:19:00.003+05:30

Black is a colour that seems to be in fashion now, especially amongst women. It is not unusual to find women setting out to work dressed entirely in black, something I find odd.

Not that black is a bad colour. Black is sophisticated, smart but it is an evening colour. Black in daytime is only for mourning, which implies that it should be used with a degree of sobriety. No one should mistake someone in mourning for someone heading out to a smart evening party.

Dark colours, navy or grey, are acceptable if one likes darker hues but leave black for the evening. Little black cocktail dresses are best left for cocktails.

Taxes on vehicles increased

2011-04-25T13:24:00.003+05:30

According to a news report, the Government has raised vehicle taxes. It was only in the middle of last year that the taxes were reduced, so why the sudden reversal?

There are three factors that could be the causes:

1. There are too many vehicles on the road, there is a need to restrict the number being imported.
2. The Government is short of tax revenue.
3. Possible problems with the balance of payments.

The most likely scenario is a combination of items two and three.

Taxes on household appliances and cars were cut in the middle of last year and further cuts to VAT and income tax were announced in November. People were generally pleased and there was a marked increase in economic activity.

There was however a flaw in the budget - there was no reduction in state expenditure. Thus although the rates of some taxes were cut there could be no reduction in the overall tax collected if the budget deficit was to be met. In more simple terms the same amount of tax would be collected by different means.

In fact the Government was expecting to collect more taxes (151 billion rupees more, total tax revenue was targeted at 963.5 billion rupees, up from 828.2 billion rupees in 2010). The higher tax collection was necessary to finance increased expenditure (total current expenditure will go up to 1,017 billion rupees from 926.0 billion in 2010, the largest part of the increase - 49 billion rupees, being spent on salaries).

Therefor the Government was hoping to collect more in taxes, but at the same time tax rates were cut. How does one square this particular circle?

This is workable provided growth in volumes offsets the reduction in rates. It is likely that this has not happened. Recent price increases in fuel, gas, bread and electricity indicate a need for increased revenue, which is consistent with the increase in car duties.

Is there an issue with the balance of payments as well? The surge in imports of vehicles has undoubtedly put this under pressure, but as there are no figures available it is difficult to be certain. The recent IMF review did note that the forex reserve target was missed, although this was blamed on an early repayment of a loan from Iran.

The increase in traffic is partly due to the increase in economic activity and while this is a problem, I don't think it is enough to have caused a rethink in policy.

The increase in taxes will dampen activity and will cause worries about policy. Businesses do not like to see constant changes in tax rates, it adds to uncertainty and what changes take place should be within a clearly discernible policy framework.

People were pleasantly surprised when taxes were cut and one only needs to witness the spurt in activity in the last five months to see its benefits.

In order to reap maximum benefit the lower taxes need to stay, but to do this the Government must tighten its belt and cut its spending.

One of Them

2011-04-23T12:21:00.003+05:30

First one, then another friend,
calls from overseas, asking for news,
of UN reports and other serious matters.

I am confounded and reply,
with trite gossip of cricket scores,
the team and the IPL.

Realisation dawns. The mind is benumbed,
critical faculties suspended,
trapped in the mundane monotony,
of everyday existence,

I have become one of Them,
the obedient, unthinking automation,
another Zombie.

Tales of the jungles

2011-04-20T14:49:00.017+05:30

My grandfather was a sportsman, a good shot and a frequent traveler to the jungles. It is politically incorrect to even talk of shooting (other than with a camera) these days, but well up to the middle of the last century it was perfectly acceptable.

In his defence I venture that like most sportsmen, in later life he turned conservationist. After all, Yala was originally conceived as a shooting reserve, it was only later and with the support of former sportsmen was it turned into a wildlife sanctuary. Jim Corbett, the famed Shikari of Northern India was instrumental in creating India's first wildlife park.

Coming back to my grandfather, although he possessed no higher education he loved to read and had an extensive library. The library was in a separate room where few other people ventured and was my particular sanctuary, quiet and cool, despite the afternoon heat.

There was a long row of cupboards, the one at the centre contained his guns and fishing rod, on either side were the books. There were books on travel and of life in far of lands; I picked up quite a few books from Teak Wallah, Two Happy Years in Ceylon and The Kon Tiki Expedition to Country Life and National Geographic magazines and much else besides.

Naturally a lot of the books were on the jungles and in this genre one particular author was quite outstanding: Kenneth Anderson.

I am not sure how many have heard of him, he was not as well known as Jim Corbett but he was a far finer writer. I have never managed to finish a book by Corbett, I struggled with one once, but Kenneth Anderson was very special. His deep knowledge of the jungle and its denizens and his love of nature are vividly conveyed. Most of books deal with his adventures tracking down man eating tigers, leopards and rogue elephants and the killing that occurs at the end of each chapter is a little shocking today but the hold of the books is irresistible.

I thought I was alone in my appreciation for his skills but it turns out that he has a dedicated following in India and even a few in Sri Lanka. There is a Yahoo Group with about 500 members dedicated to him. That someone who wrote of his experiences in the 1920's and 1930's should be able to communicate to people in the 21st century (and more than a quarter century after his own death) is a powerful testament to his skills as a storyteller.

Most of his books are being printed in India and a couple are available free online. To whet people's appetite I quote the opening paragraphs of one chapter.

The Man-Eater of Jowlagiri

THOSE who have been to the tropics and to jungle places
will not need to be told of the beauties of the moonlight
over hill and valley, that picks out in vivid relief the forest
grasses and each leaf of the giant trees, and throws into
still greater mystery the dark shadows below, where the
rays of the moon cannot reach, concealing perhaps a
beast of prey, a watchful deer or a lurking reptile, all
individually and severally in search of food.

All appeared peaceful in the Jowlagiri Forest Range, yet
there was danger everywhere, and murder was afoot. For
a trio of poachers, who possessed between them two
matchlocks of ancient vintage, had decided to get them
selves some meat. They had cleverly constructed a hide on
the sloping banks of a water-hole, and had been sitting in
it since sunset, intently watchful for the deer which, sooner
or later, must come to slake their thirst.

The hours'wore on. The moon, at the full, had reached
mid-heaven and the scene was as bright as day. Suddenly,
from the thicket of ever-green saplings to their left, could
be heard the sound of violently rustling leaves and deepthroated grunts. What could be there? Wild-pig undoubtedly ! A succulent meal, and flesh in addition that could be sold ! The poachers waited, but the beasts, whatever they
were, did not break cover. Becoming impatient, Muniappa,
the marksman of the trio, decided to risk a shot. Raising his
matchlock, he waited till a dark shadow, deeper than its
surroundings, became more evident, and fired. There was a
snarling roar and a lashing of bushes, followed by a series
of coughing 'whoofs' and then silence.

Not pigs, but a tiger ! Fearfully and silently the three
poachers beat a hasty retreat to their village, there to spend
the rest of the night in anxiety as to the result of their act.
But morning revealed that all was apparently well, for a
male tiger just in his prime lay dead, the chance shot from
the ancient musket having sped straight to his heart. So
Muniappa and his friends were, for that day, the unsung
and whispered heroes of the village.

But the next night produced a different story. With sun
set came the urgent, angry call of a tigress seeking her dead
mate. For it was the mating season, and this tigress, which
had only just succeeded in finding her companion the night
before, was decidedly annoyed at his unaccountable ab
sence, which she quite rightly connected with the inter
ference of human beings.

Night after night for a week she continued her uneasy
movements, calling by day from the depths of the forest
and in darkness roaring almost at the outskirts of the
village itself.

If you appreciate the beauty of Mother Nature or simply enjoy a good yarn, try these books, I promise you will not be disappointed.

Simple pleasures

2011-04-16T23:45:00.002+05:30

It is a quarter to twelve and I stepped out of the house a few minutes ago to find the entire landscape bathed in a brilliant moonlight. I stood savouring the scenery and the cool breeze of the night. There is something about the glow of the moonlight that lends even the most commonplace scenery an air of romance and mystery.

It brought back memories from a long time ago.

There is nothing I enjoy more than a good conversation, a rare and prized commodity in this country. A friend once said that the only conversation to be had in Colombo is about women, the latest deal or cricket. Fortunately I have a small circle of friends who I can converse with, one of whom lived with his maiden aunt down a lane on the seaside of Bambalapitiya.

It was an old rambling house that was falling to pieces with a small garden. I used to go over on the eve of the poya day carrying a bottle of Rockland Gin or Gilbey's Lemon Gin. He would generally have a kottu rotti or some other nibbles handy and we would take two chairs out to the garden and chat late into the night.

The roar of the ocean, the stiff sea breeze, the coconut trees swaying to the front of us, the gaunt outline of the old house behind us and the entire scene bathed in the ghostly glow of the moonlight; with the alcohol, flowing as freely as the conversation, those evenings had an atmosphere that I have not experienced since.

Sadly, the passage of time has taken those simple pleasures beyond reach. The Marine Drive devoured most of the garden of that old house, the house itself was later knocked down and the land sold; my friend migrated to Australia and I do not know what became of his charming old aunt.

I wish I were typing this post out in the yard under moonlight rather than in my room, I think I shall pull out a chair and spend some time outside now and ponder on the magic of mother nature.

Beat the heat

2011-04-13T14:03:00.002+05:30

I have some advice for people like me who are stuck on the sunny, hot plains in April. It does not involve travel to Nuwara Eliya (and for those in Nuwara Eliya, I shall publish a guide on how to avoid crowds), nor the expensive business of air conditioning, which quite a few people now seem to have at home.

It is to do with the ceiling fan. Please do not turn it on.

Why?

Because the blasted thing keeps blowing hot air. I was wondering why the room feels hotter when the ceiling fan is on. The breeze, when it comes through the window, is fairly cool but the fan blows gusts of warm air.

I think the reason is that hot air rises to the top, so the ceiling fan simply blows the hot air back into the room. The trick is to have a table fan, the air that comes from that is much cooler. I also think its much quieter and probably consumes less electricity. Give it a try and see, there are some very compact models now that can sit almost anywhere.

Phew, according to the BBC the temperature will rise to a maximum of 31 centigrade, with 75% humidity, I'm off to sneak off downstairs (downstairs is always far cooler- the roof absorbs direct heat from the sun) for a quiet snooze. There is a promise of showers in the night, though. It is unusual, a continuation of the weird weather, but I'm not complaining.

Trolling around

2011-04-08T09:15:00.002+05:30

The local blogosphere was destroyed by an infestation of Trolls. This week's Economist had an interesting article on the phenomenon.

It is the anonymity that the internet offers that brings out the base characteristics of people. There is a parallel with real life, I think it is the relative anonymity of an existence in a large city that brings out the worst in people. Crime always seem far worse in cities than in smaller communities.

When people know who everyone else is then that knowledge acts as a check on behaviour. A social check of sorts. There will always be a few incorrigible elements or black sheep but most would think twice if they knew that word would get round soon enough and their reputations and those of their family were at stake.

The holiday organisers burden

2011-04-07T08:13:00.002+05:30

I have organised many a successful holiday for groups of friends. Everybody who travels has a good time and suggests doing another one, so the organiser, forgetting momentarily all the headache that he went through starts planning the next journey.

This must start with locating somewhere that is nice yet cheap. This is not an easy task but if one starts early enough there is a good possibility of finding something. I had a little trick up my sleeve - I would get in touch with a printing firm in November or December and get the list of holidays for the forthcoming year, before any calendars had been printed. I would pick out the long weekends and start calling around and getting rates, take a straw poll amongst potential trippers and book, paying whatever advance was necessary.

Since we are booking three to six months ahead everyone is enthusiastic and confirms.

About a month before the date I start calling people to remind them and then the trouble starts. Some people have extra work in the office that they need to finish, other people are going abroad, some people can't come because its lent (April is always a problematic month), others have weddings, some people are not speaking to each other anymore, other people's parents object to them going alone.

When organising an outing, a rough transport plan is also at the back of ones mind, a few people with company cars (hence free fuel) providing the transport but with the drop outs, the transport plan will also be thrown into turmoil. One may have people but no transport or the converse.

All the problems do not come together, its starts gradually and builds up over the weeks until a few days before the journey the organiser is left with just a couple of people, which means a last minute round of frantic calling to try and find replacements.

The last time this happened was in 2007, when I was left with two or three people for a bungalow in Nuwara Eliya booked for eight. Thanks to the kindness of the owner, we managed to postpone the booking, which eventually had to be re-postponed once again before the trip finally took place in September. A couple of times I have ended up giving away bookings to other friends-bungalows are much in demand close to the dates booked so have not really suffered financially but its the frustration of having a great place but not enough people to go with.

Traveling in a group is fun and cheap - if a bungalow can be filled to capacity the cost per head works out quite cheap. I dislike hotels and these days they are far too expensive so a bungalow is the only viable option, the problem is in finding people who can make a commitment. A commitment for a holiday, that's not too much to ask for, is it?

Reluctance to utilise leave

2011-04-06T09:44:00.004+05:30

Has anyone noticed a strange phenomenon?

Sri Lankans hate to take leave, unless it coincides with a long weekend. At this late stage (I should have booked in December for April) I have starting looking around for somewhere to get away from the heat. Naturally, everything is full but a few places are available on weekdays. The thought of taking a few days off mid-week, is difficult, almost repulsive, I would say.

I cannot seem to work out why this is so, do other people feel the same?

The death of popular music

2011-04-04T09:28:00.003+05:30

I have written before on the death of classical or serious music. The problem extends to popular music as well. A post by Cerebral Ramblings on the degeneration of music describes the problem.

Music of the 60's was simple and understandable, it was mostly about love. Modern music is quite incomprehensible. The problem is partly to do with the industry itself.

What is happening is that music is being made to formula. Music producers look around for what they think listeners like and then put together bands and songwriters to produce the required sound. The 'look' of the thing is often more important than how it sounds, which is why the music video is so important.

The music video can no longer be funny, it must be seen to be very sophisticated because this is what carries the song, indeed many songs do not make sense unless one sees the video, so what we really have is incidental music to a video.

For example, Lady Ga Ga is marketed on her shock impact; her dress and attitude colouring everything. There is one nice song but that is all, strip away the video and the image and what have you left? Almost nothing. Compare her to the Material Girl of the 1980's Madonna - she was a little shocking too, but I don't think it was only hype and there was a lot more to her music than Lady G's.

The musical thing (it defies description) called Barbara Streisand is the perfect example of nothing packaged as something. It has a beat that can be danced to, a scrap of melody and nothing else.

How has this state of affairs arisen? Popular music in its modern form would not exist without broadcast radio and the record industry. Before the development of radio and recording a popular music did exist but it was mostly traditional folk music, jazz (which is traditional Afro-Caribbean music) or possibly dance music that was performed live. Music circulated in the form of printed sheet music.

Broadcast radio opened music upto a vast new audience, music could spread rapidly and people could listen to at home rather than have it performed live. The recording industry, which developed alongside radio, took this even further. People could listen to music whenever they wanted, rather than waiting to hear it broadcast.

The vast new audience wanted music and this drove the development of bands and music to meet the need. Where things started to go wrong badly was in the 1990's when producers tried to create music to fit what they thought was a need - the Spice Girls were an early attempt at this, their success lead producers further down the road until they have ended up in the dead end that is today's music.

Producers did try manufacture to formula even earlier, the Monkees, were created for television and when the producer Don Kirshner, found the real actors less than malleable, went a step further and created the cartoon band, the Archies. The difference was that in the producers still worked with musicians, rather than defining everything from end to end, which is what I think happens today.

If anyone wants to brighten their Monday after the World Cup hangover try listening to this 50's song, or feel the enthusiasm of the musicians in this 60's number.

The Great Indian Rope Trick

2011-04-03T09:06:00.003+05:30

India was the favourite to win the world cup but when Sri Lanka rattled up 274 and had India struggling at 30 for 2 with both Sehwag and Tendulkar out, I thought an upset was on the cards. It was not to be, thanks to Gambhir and above all, Dhoni, who kept his head, calmed his partners and batted steadily.

Dhoni is an Indian, with the temperament of an Australian, Mark Taylor comes to mind and this is what won India the cup.

Some very fine batting from Jayawardene, with graceful support from Sangakkara set the stage for a big total. The new faces in the middle order delivered on expectations and punched the ball all over the field in the power play.

The Indian batting lived upto its reputation and performed under pressure, but all credit to the Sri Lankan team, they fought to the end and it could have gone either way upto the last couple of overs. They played better than they had at any time in the tournament and would have made worthy winners, unlike the team who scraped it into the final and then played badly to lose in 2007.

Overall, an excellent game of cricket. I would have liked to see Tendulkar score a few more runs though, he was looking very good and would have made an excellent counterpoint to Jayawardena's. Gambir, Kholi and Dhoni did get the runs, but Tendulkar's craftsmanship is matchless.

India can be justly proud of its victory. The victory in 1983 was a fluke, an overconfident West Indies attempted to finish the match early, threw their bats at everything and gifted their wickets. The West Indian's showed their real class in their tour of India later that year, whitewashing them 5-0 in the One dayers and 3-0 in the six test series.

Cricket and tea

2011-04-01T15:48:00.003+05:30

Since we are now quite cricket mad, there is an important question that many non-cricketers will want answered: what do cricketers eat at tea? Do they actually drink tea?

Tea is a vitally important part of the game, some clubs devote more space on their websites to the tea than anything else.

There does not seem to be a single answer but it appears that in English amateur cricket, a combination of sandwiches, rolls, cakes and tea is common. There is an enormous variety ranging from the simple to the lavish. Some can be quite spectacular.

I'm not sure what they have on the subcontinent, though.

Arab unrest and the shoe-thrower''s index

2011-04-01T09:02:00.008+05:30

The Economist has constructed an index that attempts to predict where the next outbreak of unrest will take place.

This is a very interesting exercise. There are two aspects, one is the extent to which revolution can be predicted, the second is the assumption that a revolution will usher in democracy. The index only focuses on the first aspect.

The index "is the result of ascribing a weighting of 35% for the share of the population that is under 25; 15% for the number of years the government has been in power; 15% for both corruption and lack of democracy as measured by existing indices; 10% for GDP per person; 5% for an index of censorship and 5% for the absolute number of people younger than 25".

What the index is trying to measure is the level of dissatisfaction amongst people, hence GDP, corruption and a large youthful population. There are other factors as well and readers have suggested unemployment, inequality, the level of education, internet access, sectarian decomposition (countries where a sectarian majority is ruled by another minority), the degree of urbanisation and food prices.

All these are indisputably causes of dissatisfaction but the problem lies in their measurement and and weightage to be assigned in the index. Since these are somewhat arbitrary, the index may be regarded as an amusing intellectual exercise and perhaps a guide to wise rulers as to areas they need to work on to improve people's lives, rather than a sound predictor of revolutions. Nevertheless it is a useful reference point for someone wanting to study the issue.

One other factor that needs to be worked into this is the change in income levels and inequality over a period of time. If people have remained at the same level of poverty and there has been no change in inequality (ie the ratio between the rich and poor has not altered) then no additional dissatisfaction is likely to be caused, unless people's expectations change. The status quo has been maintained, the poor remain at the same level in both relative and absolute terms.

On the other hand, if living standards have fallen over time and/or the level of inequity has increased (the rich having grown much richer, or at least visibly richer), then dissatisfaction will grow. It is no coincidence that countries which have high levels of inequality (South Africa, Brazil) also have high levels of crime.

Assuming all of these factors are in place, the people will grow more restless and angry and a spark can set off a chain of protests that may snowball into a revolution.

Whether protest actually turns to revolution, depends on the ruthlessness with it is stifled and the extent to which the ruler retains the loyalty of the the army, ultimately the means by which a dictator's power is enforced (in a democracy power is enforced by a multitude of bodies). Therefore while a coup is a possibility, the success of peaceful protest is dependent on support from the army or from external forces except in instances where the ruler does not want a fight and flees.

Leaving aside the success of a revolution (measured in terms of ejecting its ruler) implementing democracy will be harder still.

Democracy is dependent on institutions and these need to be carefully built up over decades. There have been instances where it has taken root; Taiwan, South Korea, Portugal and Spain but in all these instances the despots were relatively enlightened and the people relatively prosperous. When the rulers saw a mountain of popular protest they decided to give in rather than murder people in the street.

In Spain, the King, who assumed temporary leadership after the death of Franco guided the introduction on democratic reforms. In Portugal's case it was a rather murky affair, a military coup followed by a series of tussles and elections, closer in spirit to the Arab revolts, that ushered in democracy.

The success rate for democracy has not been good. A series of revolutions across Africa in the late 1980's saw old-time strongmen deposed amidst great hope, only to result in a new set of of despots eventually gaining control. Only South Africa, with its established institutions avoided this fate.

I am not especially hopeful of the outcome of the current wave of revolutions, Tunisia looks the most hopeful and possibly Egypt.

Something to look forward to, after Saturday's match.

2011-03-31T11:06:00.002+05:30

Indian model Poonam Panday has promised to strip if India win the world cup.

As if India needed any further encouragement.

Realistically, I think the odds are on an Indian win. I thought that it was their batting that Sri Lanka would need to worry about, but their bowling yesterday was very impressive. Harbhajan Singh bowled some mesmerising deliveries, including the one that took Umar Akmal's wicket, while Nehra and Khan also looked dangerous.

Anyway, we now have just cause to celebrate if India wins.

BC and AC

2011-03-31T08:13:00.004+05:30

No, not AC/DC.

Historians use BC (before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini or the year of our lord) to refer to different eras of time.

Given the extent to which England's summer game has taken over life in Sri Lanka I think we should use AC and BC; After Cricket and Before Cricket. We can use it to measure the day, instead of AM and and PM.

BC is the few hours before noon when hangovers from the previous game are nursed and whatever shopping for drinks, snacks and other essentials for watching the next match takes place.

Offices may be visited, just to check if the boss is around before haring off to find a tout willing to sell a ticket to the match. In the event the boss is in, people will hang around impatiently, sneaking furtive glances at the clock until he leaves. Strangely, salesmen have many external meetings with clients these days so they have to be out in the field, the office staff have important meetings with bankers, auditors, the tax men and the municipal authorities. Everybody is really busy and can't even answer a phone call, although they are not in the office.

AC is when the streets are deserted and the power consumption zooms as a million television sets are switched on.

The fever has even infected even such resolutely anti-cricket creatures like myself.

Need to see if I can find a cheap ticket for the finals for a friend. Last I heard tickets were going at US$650. Does anyone know if its possible to get anything cheaper?

Friends in trouble

2011-03-29T15:26:00.004+05:30

These are dark days, trouble has been brewing in the Near East and Maghreb for some time. The nation has many friends in the region and we are always quick to support our friends, yet we are constrained, we do not want to end up on the wrong side of history, or perhaps just the wrong side of whoever takes over. The region absorbs a lot of the migrant workers and tea exported by the nation.

Managing this balancing act is tricky. Given the rapidity with which the trouble has spread, many a ruler will sleep rather uneasily or, like Bahrain be prompted to pre-emptive action.

So what does Mother Lanka do? Banishing the topic to the back pages and making only passing reference to it in the television news works for a while but with cable television it is a little difficult to pretend all is well for long. Luckily the cricket is creating a considerable distraction.

As we cannot not show our hand openly, we must be careful and bide our time. However when that familiar villain, the bad old US of A makes and appearance on the scene we can safely move to the offensive, lo-and-behold, the press is now full of news and commentary on the evils of the US/NATO intervention. The favourite hobby horses of the columnists from double standards to on neo-colonialism and everything in-between can be dusted off and ridden in the Derby once more.

What preceded the intervention and the bigger issues can safely be ignored, while the favourite straw men can be demolished.

Rulers and resources

2011-03-26T09:44:00.008+05:30

The rulers of a country would be expected to rule for the benefit of its people. Whether this happens or not is largely dependent on how far the rulers are held accountable.

The degree of accountability is dependent on the amount of information available to the public, the extent of the separation of powers (between legislature, executive and judiciary), the independence of its civil administration and the ability of the public to boot out bad rulers.

In a nutshell, how good a ruler is depends on how far he can be held in check, without proper control the ruler is likely to give into the temptation to enrich himself and his close associates rather than the population at large.

People used to think that wealth was dependent on resources. If one is lucky enough to be born in a resource rich nation, Australia for example, the original 'Lucky Country', then its people would prosper. Experience has taught us that unless a resource rich country has proper systems of governance its resources are likely to turn out to be a curse rather than a blessing; Nigeria, the Congo and Angola are examples of nations that have suffered the curse of natural resources.

All this is well known, but lets examine the plight of budding despot in a resource poor country. What is available for plunder?

The most obvious target is the treasury. Whatever taxes are collected from the people can be diverted to his own bank accounts. Even in poor countries this can amount to a fairly sizable sum, but this alone is unlikely to satisfy.

Looting funds received from aid agencies is possible but it is not easy because there is some attempt to assess the effectiveness of projects and nosy NGO workers asking too many questions are such a pain.

Far better then to borrow, either straightforward commercial loans or subsidised project finance, ostensibly for building infrastructure but divert the funds to the coffers of the ruler. With no particular obligation to account for the money other than repay it on time, this is an easier path to follow. Every so often debt default can be arranged, Argentina, Turkey and Russia have done so at various times which makes this even more lucrative in the long term. Ruling however is an expensive business and not even this will satiate appetites in the long term.

Once all these paths are exhausted the ruler is left with only one further option: land. Land has value and some poor countries have vast extents of it, but unlike other natural resources that can be exported to markets abroad land cannot be moved. Its value is dependent on what a developer can earn through its exploitation. Land can easily be expropriated and productive farmland or developed industrial land is a good place to start, but these will be quickly exhausted, which leaves only undeveloped land. This can also be exploited, but there is a catch.

Certain pieces of land, a location for a good harbour or airport, may derive a part of its value from its use to international trade but by and large it is the strength of the domestic economy or market that will determine the value of land, which is in turn dependent on the quality of governance. Also if the dictator has already expropriated farmland or industrial land, this is likely to give potential buyers pause for thought.

The colonial government in Hong Kong was able to balance its budget for years by selling off bits of bare land every so often to developers. Thanks to sound economic prospects, developers were quite willing to pay good prices for land. To an extent this happened in Singapore as well.

Therefore any ruler salivating at the prospect of getting rich through the sale of land would be advised to think again. The land will fetch some value but to command a premium, potential developers need to see some realistic prospect of recovering their investment, which is good news for its people, provided the despot understands the issue addresses the fundamental economic questions. Those who don't may well end up building another Burj Khalifa (Dubai, pictured above) a half mile high 'ghost' building, with many empty floors.

As for the ruled, its the governance, not the resources that count in the long run.

America's flawed democracy

2011-03-25T08:12:00.007+05:30

I no longer spend any length of time attempting to analyse US policy. Not that there are no knotty issues: there are plenty from the high cost of healthcare, to gun control to Israel.

The issue is that it is impossible to hope for any kind of sensible action, the politicians being held hostage to various special interest groups. It is impossible to hope for proper reform of healthcare without reforming the tort laws, under which ridiculous levels of punitive damages are awarded. Medical malpractice is a favourite area, giving rise to the spectacle of ambulance chasers, lawyers who follow victims and persuade them to sue heavily in return for a share of the spoils.

My cousin is a doctor who practises in California. She pays a third of her salary as medical malpractice insurance, to ensure she is not driven bankrupt by an ambulance chaser. All doctors do this and the cost of the insurance eventually finds its way into the medical bills of patients by way of higher doctors fees.

This is just one aspect, there is a lot more but serves to illustrate the nature of the problem.

America's problems of terrorism and its alienation from the Muslim world are at least partly due to its support of Israel. Solving the problems in Palestine will go a long way easing the visceral dislike that the US tends to invoke amongst ordinary Muslims, which serves as a lightning rod for extremists. Can this ever be solved? No, as long as a minority, the Jewish lobby, controls the discussion, via influence wielded over the politicians.

The same sorry story is repeated ion the area of gun laws. The majority will support a tightening of laws but this is stymied by the power of the NRA, which is a minority.

Thus democracy in the US is not so much about the will of the people as the will of the lobby group, which often represent minority interests. The root of the rot is actually in money, the time honoured root of all evil. Special interest groups literally buy influence, by funding the election campaigns of politicians.

Therefore unless campaign funding is reformed we cannot hope for any sensible discussion. The type of reform needed is not transparency alone, what is needed to clean this Augean Stable is nothing less than a total ban on private campaign funding. Instead the State needs to allocate a fixed amount of funding to each candidate. Any overspending or raising private funding will be an automatic disqualification.

The taxpayers will need to pay for the campaign funding for each qualified candidate, but this will work out far cheaper in the long run than allowing the country to be held hostage to special interest groups.

If this ever happens the rest of the world will only applaud.

The consequences of America's gun and drug laws

2011-03-25T07:50:00.005+05:30

An interesting comment in the Economist "As long as Latin American narco-lords find it easy to sell cocaine and buy guns in the United States, no government to south can eliminate them".

Are the real consequences of America's non-laws on gun ownership and a wrong headed drugs policy, the drug wars in Mexico?

I have argued before that the only sensible way to deal with drugs is legalise them. No drug cartel can ever hope to compete with a state that distributes the stuff free. Prohibition did not stop alcohol abuse in Chicago in the 1920's and spawned the Mafia.

Prohibition was apparently inspired by the 18th amendment to the US constitution which outlawed alcohol. Common sense eventually prevailed and the experiment was dropped in 1933. Time to revisit the second amendment?

Note: The second amendment protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

Just a Gigolo

2011-03-24T15:16:00.003+05:30

Delilah's post on work reminded me of an incident that was narrated by a friend some years ago.

This was a fairly long time back, maybe about eight or nine years ago. I had a friend who was working for a certain bank at a salary of Rs.11,000 a month. He was not very junior, an assistant manager, I think, it was just that he was underpaid. Today Rs.11,000 will not buy anything but even back then it was very poor pay and he never had any money to spare.

He was looking around for another job when he met a friend of his who used to work for the Negombo branch of the same bank. The friend seemed to be doing very well, driving a new Montero. Remember, that at the time the Montero had only just been introduced to the market and it was about the most expensive vehicle around.

The rich friend knew all about the underpaid job at the bank (he had held one himself) and he told his friend that he too could get him set up in the new business, it was quite easy and he had all the contacts. He could bring along some friends as well if he liked, he would set them up as well.

The secret of his success? The rich friend had shacked up with an old German woman, in her fifties, who was semi resident in the country. She treated him very well, getting him a house as well as the Montero and paying him a very decent sum for living expenses. She was also very liberal. She was resident for around six months of the year and while she was away the friend was allowed to have a local girlfriend.

All in all a very satisfactory arrangement. He tried quite hard to convince my friend to join him, he did not succeed, but my friend did give the matter some thought before dropping the idea.

A couple of trainers from gyms I have visited in the past are rumoured to have followed a similar path.

Maybe the government should actively promote this; it provides much needed employment and pays much higher prices than those commanded by housemaids whose labour is one of the principal exports of this country.

Grass Roots development

2011-03-21T10:50:00.006+05:30

According to the Sunday Times the government is to establish Jana Sabha's which will function under the Minister for Economic Development.

Provincial and local councils must seek approval for development work from the Jana Sabha's which will have powers to draw up their own budgets, development plans and seek financial allocations from the Central Government. This effectively renders all other bodies powerless.

We have just concluded the local government elections. If all provincial councils and local authorities need to seek the approval of the Jana Sabha before commencing any projects is there any point in these bodies?

Why not abolish the Provincial Councils and other local authorities and leave the work to be carried on by the Jana Sabha's? If nothing else we will save the cost elections and administration.

William Smith of Durham

2011-03-17T21:23:00.002+05:30

Wedding season will be upon us shortly, so here is a suggestion for those looking for some beautiful responses to a church service.

William Smith was a 16th century organist and composer whose Preces and Responses have become well known and widely used in the United Kingdom. Their popularity is well deserved and may be included in a service, provided the choral director is willing. Listen to it here, its the second item (starts at 4'10" and end at 5'10"). Very lovely.

Uncivil Society

2011-03-17T20:14:00.011+05:30

Malinda Seneviratne raises an interesting question in his column in the Daily News. What exactly is civil society?

He goes on to say that the term has been hijacked by a narrow group of organisations, principally the National Peace Council, the Centre for Policy Alternatives and Transparency International who claim to represent civil society as a whole.

He is right that these are the most prominent of the organisations, they are certainly amongst the most vocal.

He implies that the organisations that should carry the mantle of civil society would be 'Dayaka Sabhava associated with a Buddhist temple, a maranaadhara samithiya (funeral donation society), or a community based organization such as the hundreds setup by Sarvodaya or the thousands by SANASA'.

While such organisations do fall into the broad definition of civil society, their aims and objectives are limited primarily to helping its constituents and as such tend to be inward looking. As their concerns are narrow and local, they work quietly and have little need to go to the media, which is probably why so little is heard of them.

Perhaps, like good children, civil society should be seen and not heard? And for those who are heard, Big Brother will be watching.

In a completely unrelated matter, the Minster for Public Relations and Public Affairs Mervyn Silva has discovered a plot by the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) to undermine the UPFA victory at the upcoming local government polls.

“According to information received, a representative has been appointed to each of the Local Government body area and each of them are to be paid Rs 5,000 for the two days - March 17 and 18.”

The question of dubious funding of NGO has been raised time and again and the above only serves to underline the importance of this. Why do they need to pay such vast sums and to what end? Placing monitors is very suspicious and worse, they are planning on something more:

“This organization is planning to tarnish the Government through various international networks for which they are now holding discussions with several electronic media institutions and two newspapers."

Fortunately this has been caught in time and the Elections Commissioner has been asked to "act in this regard as this media conspiracy is to be launched under the pretext of election monitoring".

This however is not the end of the story. Mano Ratwatte, writing from the U.S. of A has uncovered yet more treachery. It appears that NGO's have received funding, large funding, which needs investigation and action on the lines of US authorities.

He says, in the US, the FBI will investigate any NGO with links to muslims or the Middle East and points out that there are 'Congressional hearings (akin to the McCarthy witch hunt against communists) on the "Radicalization of Muslims in America". A most interesting turn of phrase I must say, the government should apparently leave no stone unturned (or thrown) in its quest to eliminate such sorcery.

He highlights the brave American journalist Seymour Hersh to exposed the MyLai massacre. Hersh was labeled a traitor by many leading American politicians and harassed.

Does this ring any bells? Alarm or otherwise?

About the American motives, of course.

Superbrands: is the novelty fading?

2011-03-11T09:10:00.004+05:30

I notice that companies don't use the 'Superbrands' logo/tag in their advertisements as widely as they used to. When the concept was launched it was everywhere and I was quite confused, thinking that a company called Superbrands had bought over a few local companies.

I don't watch a lot of television or listen to the radio so I'm not sure if the advertising has migrated to the electronic media, but in the printed press the use of the term seems to have diminished. The only one that I can recall recently is the 'No Limit' board in Dehiwala.

Has the novelty faded ?

The Superbrands Sri Lanka page has the list of brands up to 2009 but nothing after that. The media page carry lists of events in 2009 but nothing thereafter.

I have been a critic of the concept of Superbrands and it would be interesting to see what benefits it has brought to those who were awarded the status of Superbrand.

Note that I have no problems with brands per se, a well established concept that has evolved from the Victorian age. I do agree that brands have value and an open ranking of brands is a worthwhile exercise.

Any comments from the marketing folk out there?

Regulating bankers bonuses and the Hilton case

2011-03-10T11:47:00.010+05:30

I received an SMS alert a little while ago which indicated that the Central Bank was thinking of regulating the bonuses of bankers. This morning, we woke up to the fact that the Government has tightened its ownership of the Colombo Hilton.

Does this indicate that the state getting rather too large?

There have been calls for the regulation of bankers bonuses in Europe and America but this follows a banking collapse and the revelation of the sheer size of bonuses - in my limited experience the sales staff at investment banks used to take home bonuses that were measured in terms of several years of pay.

The argument for regulation is that:

a) they provided the wrong incentives, tempting traders to take very risky bets at shareholders expense (traders get a mega bonus if it works, shareholders take the loss if it fails);

b) since a number of the banks have now been bailed out by the various governments, the profits being earned are effectively subsidised by the Government (an implicit state guarantee allows for cheap borrowing, while some banks enjoyed a direct infusion of cheap/free state funds).

There is definitely a problem with bankers bonuses in Europe and America. As Roger Moffat, a former derivatives trader wrote in a letter to the Economist, "Trading isn’t hard. Computers do much of the work, and unless we break the culture of paying ridiculous bonuses for being “lucky”, the banks will continue to laugh in the face of politicians and regulators. Japanese housewife traders have led the way in showing us that frankly, it isn’t rocket science."

The question is whether this problem is prevalent in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has not suffered a banking crisis (although we have suffered a Finance Company crisis)and no banks were bailed out. I don't think bankers here receive huge payouts either, certainly not in terms of years of salary.

I'm told that some of the treasury bonuses are large and since at least one local bank suffered a major loss as a result of a poorly designed foreign exchange traded product, there may be a case for investigating whether the incentive scheme was at the root of the problem. However I have not seen any investigation into this (I may be wrong here) and certainly very little publicity about the incident, which, in true Sri Lankan style has been carefully covered up.

Is there a real problem with bankers bonuses? Or does this look like a case of over-regulation?

In the case of the Hilton, the owning company is supposed to have defaulted on payments of the lease and that as a result the land has been acquired by the Government. Strangely enough, according to the news report the company is controlled by the Government anyway, so why they did not push for the payment of the lease in the first place is a question.

It is also unclear as to what process was followed prior to the re-acquisition: was it as per clauses specified in the lease agreement? Was due notice given? If so why was it that the company, a listed entity did not make an announcement to the stock exchange? The news broke after Minister of Economics Development Basil Rajapaksa informed parliament that the Hilton Hotel Colombo had been taken over by the government last week.

In a society that is supposed to be governed by laws there is always a process that needs to be followed so that everyone concerned knows how things work. When the process is unclear it creates uncertainty and uncertainty is another name for risk. Investors are conditioned to expect B to follow A and C to follow B. If events suddenly arrive at E straight from A and no one knows what went on in between, then the investor will be lost.

The Hilton is a relatively well known name and a sudden change in its status will be picked up in the news and give the jitters to potential investors.

Kottu over, time for Spaghetti?

2011-03-09T11:59:00.004+05:30

There was a time when the Kottu Blogroll was really useful, with virtually every interesting blog being listed and some pretty radical ideas being discussed. Then the nutters, the stalkers and other assorted undesirables appeared, blog wars erupted and identities were exposed.

Many bloggers left Kottu, others gave up altogether leaving very little for the conscientious reader like myself. I was always more of a reader of blogs than a writer and it was that cocktail ideas that I found stimulating. The advantage with the aggregator is that one can read interesting posts from blogs that one does not normally follow.

I have discovered that there are still a few good blogs around, but the problem is in finding them. I've also lost track of a number of blogs that I used to read. We need another aggregator, but one that filters the participants, any takers for starting one?

I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity

2011-03-05T20:52:00.005+05:30

I just came across a review of this book , although I have not read the book the story is too good not to share.

Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish is a Palestinian doctor, a man who dedicated his life to peace and medicine. He lost three daughters in the Israeli attack on Gaza in January 2009. An Israeli tank opened fire on their house, claiming that gun shots came from their building or nearby. A frantic phone call made by the doctor to a friend in Israel, Shlomi Eldar, a journalist who relayed the conversation on live television, took the story to the world. The anchor called on the Israeli Defense Forces to allow ambulances to get to the doctor’s family.

No ambulances ever reached Dr. Abuelaish’s home, which was surrounded by Israeli tanks. He and the surviving members of his family walked a quarter of a mile carrying the dead and wounded through the streets.

Amazingly, though shaken, this did not alter his philosophy. He now lives in Canada and travels widely, speaking to promote his vision.

An interview with Dr Abuelaish is available here, more on the story here.

Food for thought

2011-02-16T11:01:00.004+05:30

When nations grow old, the arts grow cold and commerce settles on every tree.
-William Blake, poet, engraver, and painter (1757-1827)

I think Blake meant 'old' in terms of non-renewal, a situation where the flow of fresh ideas dwindled or even dried up completely. This may happen when the Establishment grows too conservative or strong, killing off ideas by scepticism, scorn or lack of support, so that artists (or scientists for that matter) have to literally starve, leading them to abandon their work and find more mundane ways of earning a living.

Its symptoms may be seen when the only voices heard in public discourse are those of businessmen and perhaps politicians. Has this fate overtaken us? Perhaps. Open a newspaper or watch a programme on television, or listen to one on the radio. Where are the voices of academia or of other independent minds?

DULLNESS

Dullness pervades our land,
The dunces are getting out of hand;
Alexander Pope saw it coming
The age of Chaos descending.

It is easier to love your enemy
Than consord with stupidity;
Wordsworth extolled the ordinary
And sank into inanity.

Don't traffic with the normal,
Chase the exceptional,
If you would soar into poetry,
Shun mediocrity.

Find your bedfellows
Away from the shallows;
Cultivate the eccentric virus
to nourish your genius.
This advice is not Christian;
But remember the ruffian
Who baited the dull Pharisee
In and out of Galilee.

-Guy Amirthanayagam-

Omar Musa

2011-02-14T08:37:00.004+05:30

I enjoyed Omar Musa's poetry immensely at the Galle Literary Festival, particularly a piece called 'Airforce Ones', which I thought was not in his the book available for sale. Subsequently discovered that it was in his book, The Clocks. I was searching for it on the web, could not find it, but this was enjoyable. Just discovered another very moving one here.

Did finally manage to find the poem, the book is available at Barefoot.

Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka - New World Concert

2011-02-12T22:38:00.003+05:30

I had been thinking about going to the SOSL concert, mainly to listen to Tharanga Goonetilleke, but had forgotten about it completely until a friend rang in the morning to offer me his tickets because he was unable to attend.

I did not know what the programme was, except for the fact that Tharanga was singing and she did sing very well, earning a standing ovation from the packed audience.

The opening piece of the concert was a flute concerto by a modern Brazilian composer, whose name I did not quite catch and whose identity remains unknown to me since all the programmes were sold out. It was an agreeable enough piece and reasonably short. I find the flute to be rather inexpressive instrument, so in my book concerti for the instrument should be kept fairly short if the listeners attention is to be held.

The real highlight of the day was however, the Dvořák ninth. It is a symphony I have heard several times (on recordings, not in a live concert) but I realised today that I had never listened to it closely enough. I have always heard the brass and strings (I used to think that symphony was actually dominated by these) but never paid enough attention to the woodwind passages, which are many and beautiful and which the SOSL played with great felicity. The brass played with great refinement and the string tone, warm and rich.

Although tempi were a little slow, the conductor used this to bring out the inner voices, especially in the woodwind parts. I would rank this particular performance by the SOSL the best I have ever heard, beating even the superb performance of the Dvořák eighth under James Ross a couple of years ago.

The Unravelling of Pakistan

2011-02-04T20:31:00.002+05:30

All eyes seem to be focused on Egypt these days, but there are far more troubling developments in our own neighbourhood. Pakistan is seen by the rulers as a reliable friend in the region, unlike the double-dealing bully of the region, India. We are judged by the company we keep, so it is especially troubling when one hears of reports like this.

How can one arrest a 17 year old schoolboy for scribbling something in an exam paper, when no one is at liberty to disclose what it was that he wrote in the first place?

How did Jinnah's vision "equality of men, justice and fairly play to everybody. We are the inheritors of these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations as framers of the future constitution of Pakistan. In any case Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic State -- to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non- Muslims -- Hindus, Christians, and Parsis -- but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan" be reconciled with what goes on in that benighted land?

RSF's boycott of the Galle Literary Festival was damaging to free speech

2011-02-01T08:55:00.005+05:30

Reporters sans frontières (RSF), an organisation that campaigns for freedom of the press called for a boycott of the Galle Literary Festival.

I think this is wrong.

In the first place, this is a privately organised festival for the celebration of literature. It not a State organised event and has nothing to do with the government. Two state owned entities, Sri Lankan Airlines and the Tourist Board are sponsors, on commercial terms but they are two of a list of many that includes several embassies, UNESCO as well as companies.

Why target individuals who have nothing to do with the crimes committed?

Second, the festival does provide a space, however small, for the sharing of ideas and shutting it down would only hurt the very cause that RSF trying to further. To give just two examples from this years festival, on the opening day the BBC Forum event; After Shock: The Lingering Legacy of Civil War, lead to some useful discussion while more thought provoking ideas were looked at the Farish Noor talk.

It is not just at the organised events that discussion takes place, the festival brings together some every interesting minds and chatting to people one meets in the cafes and street is just as productive.

Personally speaking, I find the festival refreshes the mind and sharpens thinking, which is precisely what RSF is trying to promote.

This is not to say that there is no serious problem of media freedom, as the attack on the the LankaeNews office yesterday demonstrates, it is just that this is the wrong way to go about promoting media freedom, something RSF chief editor Gilles Lordet admitted when he said that a boycott was "never a constructive solution".

Whether you like the literary festival or not, whether you support the government or not, if you feel that Reporters without Borders' boycott was damaging to the cause of free speech, please join this group, to prove that most people oppose the boycott.

Sunila Abeysekera, an award winning human rights activist also wrote against the boycott, see her letter here.

Declining standards

2011-01-24T11:21:00.004+05:30

Once upon a time the Daily Mirror was a good newspaper. It was well written and had a lot of worthwhile content. Over the last few years it has been in steady decline, something that has hastened since it revamped its appearance with multicoloured columns and headlines. Next, the society pages started to grow and it now tends to resemble the Hi!! magazine more than anything else, as this headline confirms.

"Patrol Duty Reduced"

It has been corrected now.

The proposed ban on miniskirts

2011-01-04T11:16:00.007+05:30

Sri Lanka is now contemplating a ban on miniskirts. The ban was proposed supposedly following complaints about women wearing skimpy clothing.

I naturally assumed that Sri Lanka, the first nation to defeat terrorism, was now proposing to be the first non-Islamic, non-communist, country to impose sartorial regulation on its people- but no; Uganda, Chile and surprisingly enough, a small town in Naples have beaten us in this race. Not all were successful in implementing the ban but they were all ahead of the race in proposing the ban.

Nevertheless, we can be confident that our ban will be the best of all and to this end I have a few suggestions to the authorities. For a start, what exactly should be the prescribed length of a skirt ? Given that women come in all shapes and sizes it is not possible to specify a fixed length, nor is it practical (however desirable) to subject every skirt to inspection. Therefore we need to have regulations that are flexible. We need to take a leaf from the book of one who has perfected the art of sartorial regulation and where better to start than a convent?

St Bridget's convent Colombo, specifies precisely the dress of its pupils:

* White uniform;
Pocket with the SBC monogram (available at the School Bookshop)
* Length : up to the back bend of the knee
* Pleats : 4 box pleats all of equal size
* Darts : 2 side darts only
* Waist : 3 inches lower than the usual waist
* Belt : Loosely with 6 loops. Belt must be sewn at the 2sides
* House Badge - to be worn daily (available at the School Bookshop)
* School Tie - to be worn for school functions only(available at the School Bookshop)

The length is specified as being an in lower than the back bend of the knee, a description that can be applied easily and readily to any woman, thus fulfilling the basic requirement of clarity and universality that must be met by all laws. The nuns further specify the position of the waist and the number of pleats, all carefully designed to give the girls a suitably frumpy look and ideas that the relevant ministry can also incorporate into the proposed dress code. After all, women my try to subvert the regulation by wearing exceptionally tight skirts with (horror of horrors) long slits that may send paragons of virtue to a state of cardiac arrest. An example of such an insidious design is attached, purely that the authorities can beware of the risk (and take a strong shot of arrack after reading the post).

Lets hope the authorities implement the uniform with no further delay, we will be the first in the world and dream come true for those who entertain fantasies involving school uniforms.