Sri Lanka – the hardest part is reigning in the entitlement culture

In a Country where every section of society has been given entitlements beyond what is reasonable, reigning them in is a very difficult task, as it is the norm, and NOT the exception.

To explain this just take the HUGELY loss making Sri Lankan Airlines. The board of directors, decided to stop cheapening the Business Class Lounges, by canceling previously given privileges to the Cabin Crew, and their families to use the lounge at BIA, even though they maybe on free tickets as part of their ENTITLEMENT!

That did not go down well with the Pilots Guild, and when the letter addressed to the Chairman was replied by the head of HR, they were belittled, and worse, as those self same privileges were NOT removed from the Board, who also partake of freebies, their ire was further provoked leader to a WAR OF WORDS see link:

https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/pilots-guild-further-exposes-srilankan-airlines-chairman-ajith-dias/

It is in limbo, with neither side wishing to give in. In a nutshell this is the SAGA OF SRI LANKA, where the people pay the price for shameless entitlements.

Then there is the case of MPs getting car permits that they flog for Rs25M and don’t pay a dime in taxes. See the supreme court case as outlined in the link:

https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/duty-free-vehicle-permit-abuse-mps-instantly-make-over-rs-25-million-for-selling-permits-sc-heard/

Lets face it examples come from above. WE CANNOT get the people to let go of their entitlements until the people above us do the same. If the Govt. is serious about putting its house in order, just as the Board of Directors of Sri Lankan who should ALSO forego their privileges of even free travel for that matter except on Airline Business, so must the MPs forego their duty free permits, if we are to expect our long suffering public to tighten their belts to pay back interest and loans taken as a result of Rajapakse excesses. This is why people don’t believe that MR mortgaged the nation to line his pockets, as the present administration is doing the same thing, but at a much reduced scale.

We in Sri Lanka have rotten leadership qualities amongst its leaders. They just don’t know how to lead by example, so that the followers will actually listen to their exhortations that they are doing it for their Country. Let’s start by showing an example.