Worlds an oyster for Lankas MPs

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Money seems to be the only motivator to

kick start Lankas MPs to do an honest days work.
Perhaps it is after taking cognisance of this ignoble truth and
identifying it as the ignominious cause of their conditioned inertia
that moved the Prime Minister last week to raise their pathetic
financial plight and prompted him to offer them even more from
the public purse to coax them into doing some activity for the
public weal and welfare.

Last Saturday in Parliament the prime

minister said that a further Rs 100,000 each must be paid per
month to MPs to encourage them to participate in national
development and work in their electorate.There is no use giving
more responsibilities to MPs without giving them more facilities.
MPs must be paid better salaries. I am aware many lawmakers
face problems. They must be paid Rs. 100,000 monthly to carry
out work in their electorates, Ranil Wicremesinghe declared.
But the prime minister has also divined that a simple salary raise
alone may not make the peoples elected representatives stir
from their indolence. Thus as a further incentive, a complete
hamper of goodies to sweeten the offer and make them go the
extra inch is also on the cards.
Knowing full well the members fixation with vehicles and luxury
SUVs at that though some may not even know what SUV stands
for the prime minister naturally added the vehicle bait to his
carrot stick.
We will also have to give them more vehicle facilities, the prime
minister pledged, knowing full well the members weakness for
anything that moves on four wheels provided, of course, it is
worth millions, comes duty free, and can be sold overnight to
make a clean, neat net profit of over Rs 25 million tax free.
As an added bonus, perhaps to tempt the MPs further that even
the sky is no limit when it comes to pandering to their every whim
and fancy and extending to them the governments largesse, the

prime minister also said that due consideration will also be given
to granting MPs free local air travel since air warrants are given to
MPs in India and to the peoples reps in America to travel from
state to state. We must give air travel facilities to MPs from the
North and East, he announced.
But even he must know that to grant it only to northern and
eastern MPs will raise a clamour of protest in the Sinhala
dominated assembly with MPs accusing the Government of
practising discrimination against the representatives of one
community. And soon free air travel will become the common perk
of all. And the fact that 40 out of Americas 50 states and 17 out
of Indias 29 states are bigger than Lanka and may warrant free
air travel for peoples reps becomes irrelevant for size does not
matter to the Lankan politician when it comes to being on par
with the world.
But will the ruse work? Sorry to say, it might be akin to giving
another extra fix to a drug addict in the misguided hope it would
help him to kick the habit.
Anything else to fill the Christmas hamper? Perhaps something
more is called for.
Enter Santa himself. The UNP minister John Amaratunga. His
focus, last Saturday in Parliament, was on shelter, one of the
three basic necessities of all human life. He called for better
housing facilities to MPs and urged the Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to
ensure that property that belongs to Parliament including Mumtaz
Mahal which was once the official residence of the Speaker and
Sravasthi which was previously used as a hostel for MPs be taken
over. And knowing that mens sana in corpora sano, a sound mind
in a sound body, is indispensable for all human activity, he called

for the present health insurance coverage of Rs 200,000 to be

increased to Rs. 500,000 per MP. It is important, he said, for
MPs to be in good health if they are to carry out their
responsibilities as elected representatives. Of course, this applies
not only to the chosen few but to all 20 million Lankans who pay
the MPs insurance premium.
But health insurance cover whatever the coverage alone does
not guarantee good health but only relieves the anxiety of having
to pay ones exorbitant medical bills should ones flight to
soaraway heights be cut down in mid air with an illness. But this
privilege, though not extended to the masses, must not be
begrudged in the name of humanity.
However if there is one thing MPs can pray for it is to pray for
health: if there is one thing they can ask of their Gods, it is to ask
for a stout heart that can endure toil and not deem a fleet of cars
and dowry cushions and junketings are the best of gifts the gods
can bestow.
As the father of Satire, Roman poet Juvenal, writing at the height
of the Roman Empire and, observing its decadence and foretelling
its fall, stated Fortune has no divinity, could we but see it; its
we, we ourselves, who make her a Goddess, and set her in the
heavens. And as it has been said, hard work never killed
anyone. If it did, all the poor will be dead.
In these last few years and now, it seems, to paraphrase the
words of Mohandas Gandhi, there are a great many MPs in Lanka
so hungry for materialistic trappings, that God cannot appear to
them except in the form of a luxury vehicle. The more cars, the
more Gods.

Some of them cycled into Parliament, some hired the odd threewheeler to crash through the Parliamentary maidenhead and
some hopped a lift in a pal or patrons motor to cross the
Diyawanna road bridge but no matter on which wheel they arrived
to break through the hymen door and enter its inner chamber, all
of them, having eaten of the fruit found within that sceptred
pagoda, and having got hooked to its addictive taste, now
brazenly demands the pubic to feed their expensive habit no
matter the cost.
The prime minister deserves the nations sympathy for the
quandary he is presently in. He knows he must mobilise the
peoples representatives and involve them in national
development. Galvanise them to action. To oversee electoral
development. Supervise the work in progress in projects
underway. To see that the aspirations of these grass root people
to whose humble hamlets these village MPs visited, not even two
years ago, on bended knee and begged for their vote, are met.
These MPs did not need a four wheel drive SUV then to travel on
dilapidated roads. No off the beaten tarred track was too barren
to cross then, even on foot. Nor was there a steep incline too hard
to ascend or any mountain too rugged to climb. To make this
rustic peasantry cast their priceless ballot into the begging bowl
of their parliamentary ambitions, they solemnly swore to devote
their time and efforts exclusively to uplifting the life of the
villager.
They had come as Parliamentary candidates to these humble
abodes where their earthly gods resided to pray for the vote only
they, at that hour, could grant but now, after having received
benediction and with their prayers answered, they returned as

MPs to the banks of the Diyawanna temple to scoff in gross

ingratitude.
Thats the dilemma the prime minister faces. He also knows that
though he can lead bulls and cows to water, he cannot make
them drink. Cutting down on exiting privileges will make the
situation far worse. And like the rich father who promises his
already spoilt and wayward son, a sports car should the son study
and pass his A levels and thus succeeds in spoiling the spoilt
brat even further he has no option but to pander to rich
expensive fancies MPs demand.
Ranil Wickremesinghe knows how unpopular his new largesse
would be in the eyes of the public and how he would be subjected
to criticism. As he said, on Saturday last, I know I will be
criticized for saying this, but this is necessary. True.
Apart from their basic tax free salaries of approximately Rs.
65,000 per month, MPs are entitled to two telephones with an
allowance of Rs 50,000 for calls made. Plus they have a no
questions asked, no need to show petrol bills travel allowance of
Rs 200,000 per month. They are also privy to a bevy of
secretaries. They can be absent from Parliament for three months
with any explanation. They are entitled to a life time pension upon
completing five years in Parliament. They can also import a super
luxury vehicle duty free and sell it overnight making a quick and
easy profit of Rs 25 million or more without having to pay any tax.
Not that they dont have to pay anything for this privilege. Oh no!
They have to fork out Rs 1750 of their own hard earned money to
clear the vehicle from port. This is for the basic paper work which
has still not come under the long litany of a MPs privileges and
entitlements.

As Minister Faizer Mustapha said on Wednesday in a TV interview

with the veteran hard talk media personality Faraz Shaukathaly,
not only do state banks provide MPs loans to initially pay for the
import of these vehicles which are generally over Rs 30 million
when the duty is added but, to top it all, the banks charge a rate
of only 9 per cent interest. As Minister Mustapha said, I have
taken a loan because Im entitled to take a loan at an interest rate
of 9 per cent.
The minister has not sold his vehicle though it is reported 20
other MPs have done so. According to Mustapha, it is perfectly
legit for any MP to transfer the permit. He said: If Im given
certain perks and if I am entitled to buy a vehicle and sell it, I
dont think anybody can stop it. I mean there is no violation of the
law.
He is right of course. How can he be accused of any impropriety
when the supreme legislative body in the land of which he is an
honorable member has okayed the perk and privilege to its
members?
But whether or not the lawmakers have sorted this issue correctly
and made it legal to the letter will depend on the interpretation
the Supreme Court will render soon since its jurisdiction has been
invoked to give an opinion on the matter by a concerned citizen.
On Monday the State Finance Minister Lakshman Yapa
Abeywardena strongly defended the right of members of
parliament to raise funds through the sale of their duty-free
vehicle permits. According to him members sold permits and
bought smaller vehicles and spent the rest on their political work.
Comforting to know, is it not, that it is all in a good cause and that

at least some MPs are doing their own bit for the peoples benefit
at great personal sacrifice?
Apart from this, theres also a move to grant 58 MPs a further 58
vehicles to provide them with the required wherewithal to
traverse the hinterland of Lanka to attend to development work.
According to Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, The vehicles
will be imported by a private company on an operational lease
and therefore it would be possible to save a considerable amount
of funds. He added that the cost of repairs would have to be
borne by the importer and as such there would be a reduction on
the expenditure involved.
The Government risked its popularity by trying to introduce a VAT
rate of 15 per cent on many goods and services in the middle of
the year, including a tax on medicine. Thankful to the Yahapalana
policies ushered in by this government, the arbitrary black hand
of tax was not allowed to fall on each and every item that caught
the fancy of the Finance Minister. As Ravi Karunanayake revealed
in parliament on October 26th, the Government had originally
aimed at revenue of Rs 10 billion from the VAT revision in 2016,
but that number was later reduced to Rs 6 billion due to the
decision to impose the VAT after a lapse of five months, since May
2 this year. But now we only expect the new VAT tax to raise
revenue of Rs. 1. 8 billion.
Mr. Karunanayake, in his coat of Finance Minister, is in the
unfortunate position of a legalized extortionist whose sole brief is
to tax, tax and tax everything that comes within his ken and then
to hand it over to the government to spend, spend and spend on
anything that falls within the governments political fancy. Not the
most enviable job for it attracts a lot of public venom but
someone has to do it. Just as he butcher must slaughter the live

animal and offer the meat for another to devour it as he pleases

or squander it for hyenas to feast on the carrion.
How discomforting it must be for him to be made the scapegoat
and to be at the butt end of hate when the government decides to
spend 2.4 billion bucks out of the Rs 1.8 billion he had raised with
so much difficulty, to purchase 58 vehicles, each valued at over
40 million bucks, and give the same to 58 MPs as bata to cajole
them do some service to the country.
But the government should place its ear to the ground and hear
the growing rumble of discontent. It should not become the
spendthrift of the goodwill it earned by fostering again the spirit
of democracy in the land for this peoples betterment.
For instance, at Visala Maha Nuwara, before the Buddha recited
the Ratane Sutra which extolled the profundities of the Buddha,
the Dhamma and the Sangha to dispel a towns fears and
strengthen a peoples resolve to overcome the hardship they
endured, he first made sure his listeners were fortified with food
to withstand the shivering cold. The message he sent was not to
preach to those with an empty stomach for the rumblings in the
belly drown all other sounds and sermons.
Asking the people to experience hardship, to make sacrifices,
even to make do with the bare necessities of life so that this
government can pay off the debt it has inherited from past
regimes can be endured with a stoic smile. But when the people
see the savings made out of their sacrifices, squandered on
providing more and more perks and privileges to a chosen few,
when those who hold the ladle appear to serve themselves to the
full with callous disregard to the masses suffering, its not

something the denied, the deprived, the les miserables can

easily stomach.
However profound and beneficial the Yahapalana doctrine maybe,
it is worthwhile for the government to bear in mind, for its own
survival at least, that a hungry nation is an angry nation. And
cake to the aristos while the masses have no bread, is the stuff of
revolt that will roll back the Yahapalana dawn for another
generation.
Its not too late to use the rod and save Lanka from reeling down
the slippery slope to the bad old days of the last regime.
Why orange for criminal uniforms when turquoise would
do nicely?
It is commendable of the Prisons Commissioner Mr. Dhanasinghe
to recognize that suspects in remand custody or even convicted
criminals have rights to privacy no matter how heinous the crime
and to have taken the decision to clothe them in a sort of Ku Klux
Klan attire to conceal their identities whenever they are brought
to court.

COLOUR CONTROVERSY: Should criminals be clothed in anonymity

in the same colour orange as that of a monks robe?
The fact that the Minster of Justice and Buddhist affairs

Rajapakshe and Prison Reforms and Hindu Religious Affairs

Minister Swaminathan claimed not to know that a new uniform
had been introduced is of no matter.
Self kick starters like Mr., Dhanasinghe should be admired and
appreciated for taking the initiative for introducing this bold new
step that will no doubt win him many admirers the world over for
his enlightened approach to prisoners rights. .
But is the man colour blind?
Has he shut himself in some solitary vacant cell at Welikada and
thus, cut off from outside life, picked orange to be his chosen
colour to adorn his pack of wolves in sheeps clothing?
Didnt he have a clue that for centuries both in the far off plains of
India and closer home in the pathways of Lanka, that the colour
orange symbolizes the colour of religion, the unmistakable,
distinct hue of the robe the wandering ascetic dons as he
searches for the elusive truth? Doesnt he have any inkling as to
how it came to be the functional designer colour of the monks
sacred saffron shroud?
That Prince Siddhartha, after having left his fathers palace
renouncing his materialistic world, after handing over his hair and
ornaments to his horseman Channa to be given to the sire King
Suddhodana as his mortal remains, after having crossed the river
Anoma, scoured the ghoul ridden cemeteries for a suitable shroud
enwrapping the dead which had escaped the ferocity of forests
wolves and remained intact?
And how after having found one unmolested, he smeared the
corpse wrapped white cloth in turmeric powder gleaned from the
fruit of the jungle plant and used it, as were the custom and
practice in those days, as an antiseptic to rid it of germs? That the
golden yellow brown, commonly known as orange became
thereafter the hall mark hue of a Buddhist monks sacred robe to
which the majority of this country pays enormous respect
irrespective of the actions of the present wearer, however vile?
Was the prison Commissioner so ignorant of it all or was he so

insensitive to Buddhist and Hindu feelings for Hindu swamis too

don a similar coloured attire that out of all the VIBGYOR colours
found in a rainbow, he couldnt find a single colour more suitable
than orange to paint his criminals with? And by his individual
choice of orange, place the uniform of the common criminal on
par with the hallowed robe of the monk before which even kings
and presidents bow their knee in worship out of respect?
But he must be forgiven for the lapse. When the intention is good,
ignorance as to history can be forgiven.
Perhaps he needs help in the choice of colour: and now that the
last rainbow that appeared last year in January has long since
dissipated with the rains that soon followed, heres a suggestion
to aid his final decision.
In keeping with the times and recognizing that suspected crooks
and convicted criminals must be identified as such and yet must
remain incognito, and realising also that the colour must easily be
associated with the class of people it seeks to represent, how
about the colour turquoise? Its the result you get when you mix
green and blue in proportionate measure. Or to save the hassle of
mixing and getting the shade wrong, why not go directly for either
green or blue? Isnt that more in accord with changing times?
Posted by Thavam