Australia – offering US$40M over 4 years to schools will not stop ‘boat people’

The Australian Foreign Minister is in town primarily to look into ways of preventing the record number of boat people from Sri Lanka attempting to reach Australia in 2012. The SL Govt. claims to have also prevented 3,000 from leaving, by catching them before and while they were on the high seas.

All ethnicities are involved, and it has nothing to do with Education per se. Those who have good A levels are the most frustrated in their employment search in Sri Lanka, and so arguably spending money on Education will add to the their problem!! NOT REDUCE IT

People hear stories of Australia being the Country where you can be laid back and earn a packet! So whoever you are educated or not they try to emigrate, legally or illegally. The stories are legendary of people who go there and within months are very comfortable. I do not know how much is true, but it is believed. So parents sell everything to pay people smugglers to take their children there hoping their offspring, usually a son, will make it big and then send them a ticket too!!

For Sri Lankans seeing so many lotus eaters in the land(Sri Lanka), who do little and have a good life, those who don’t have that life, feel it is not achievable for them here and wish to go somewhere where they feel that likelihood is greater.

You cannot stop this urge and education will not stop it, only the opportunities for advancement in this land, by getting a job with prospects is the only possibility. After all it is the most enterprising that leave, not the most desperate!!! The people willing to risk their lives for a better life are the ones who leave, and actually they are the ones that Australia will benefit from as they are entrepreneurial and WILL contribute immensely to the Australian Economy too.

Granted the one we lose who have a good education and skills, go to Australia the legal way as legal emigrants, straight into jobs in Australia as their skills are in demand. So the paltry US$40M does not begin to touch the annual human resource value of these legal migrants, which I believe is AID worth about US$500M a year to Australia from Sri Lanka. One must bear in mind this perspective.

All Australia wants to do is CHOOSE who they want. So, if they want to deter the boat people, they must WITHOUT exception, deport them as soon as they arrive, whatever the international treaties say, and within 6 months this problem WILL sort itself out. So don’t add to your woes solve your problem, its not ours.

The Art of Political Double Speak – Leading to a national debacle

It is very interesting that the ploy adopted by this Administration in Sri Lanka today, is to use the action of the opposition when in Govt. to justify their move action or inaction. The latest was just yesterday, when the reason given to the Newspaper Editors at a breakfast meeting in Temple Trees, that the UNP wanted the CJ removed by impeachment, and so the Govt. was doing that job for them.

How innocuous was that statement? Putting the blame on the other party for your faults is a time and tested political game, and is the art of a skillful if not cunning politician. Further when the electorate accepts it hook line and sinker, then it looks like a huge political win in this game of double speak.

It is safe to say that excesses of a prior UNP regime, pale in comparison to the excesses being carried out today. However each time one of the numerous excesses are queried, reference is made to the same being carried out in that administration, as if to justify why it is being done again, and to put in bad light the complaints of the opposition, and the need for some transparency.

It is this strategy consistently and very calculatingly used by this administration that is the cause of the overwhelming belief of the masses that whoever was in power, the problems shall remain, and that another administration despite what it says, is unable to make a significant dent in the perceptions of the electorate.

Until this vicious canard is laid bare and accepted, it will be very difficult for the Opposition to clearly show the differences between the actual happenings in this administration and how it would differ in another one. Namely theirs. It is this message that they singularly fail to give partly due to lack of control over media.

So the art of political double speak, is one of the most cunning ploys in fooling people that black is white, and right is wrong. It is up to the recipient of the message to evaluate and come to his or her own conclusions. The question then is whether that person is sufficiently independently minded and mature to ascertain the truth, or is so biased, that no event or exercise is going to sway his opinion.

It is therefore important to obtain a psychological profile of the audience one is addressing, debating and lecturing, to make the judgment call on how to address their particular prejudice in the society. Without that one’s efforts are in vain. It is time that anti government rallies and speeches, take cognizance of these facts in order to maximize the productivity of this time that is allocated. If not the whole event is a waste of time and money with the audience misunderstood.

The Medical Profession in a spot of envy and wants a balance

It is no secret that the Doctors in the State Sector receive a very low salary at whatever stage they happen to be, relative to the Private Sector, or any other country. They therefore moonlight after hours and some earn 10 times their state remuneration that way. Further they are entitled to heavily subsidized car permits I believe, every 5 years, that enable them to purchase vehicles at Rs5M(US$40,000) less than lesser mortals in many instances. Their salary / allowances for travelling etc amount in total to no more than US$400 a month for 10 years plus service.

Admittedly the state sector educates Doctors Free, so that a child of a relatively poor family, who gets into Medical College can with effort get places, people only dream of. I believe the two practicing doctors I go if I need to see a GP at short notice close to my home, are both  from low income backgrounds and on the full time staff of the Homagama Base Hospital, but both see patients before going to work and after they get back. One doctor sees over 75 patients in an evening 7 days a week after work. He is particularly good, and hence his wide following.

These Government Doctors have a transfer scheme, hierarchy and promotions based on a tried and tested model, usually with seniority based on years of service and NOT on merit, and so is their remuneration calculated on that NOT on merit.

They also belong to the GMOA (Government Medical Officers Association)

So it was interesting that I read today that the GMOA with consultation with the Health Ministry, who is their employer, has obtained some form of permission for the State Sector doctors to work in Private Hospitals under some form of program over and above the moonlighting that I referred to earlier. I am not privy to the details, but I presume they are permitted to work a day or two outside, when they may be docked some salary, but not their seniority or pension rights. This, so that they will be able to fill some of the vacancies in the Private Sector, that are now filled from overseas. It is this latter intention, where it is alleged that overseas doctors are of lower caliber and are a threat to patient safety that this step has been taken.

After all when a patient’s treatment gets cocked up in the Private Sector, the patient unable to pay, having lost faith in the Private Sector goes for free Healthcare in the State Sector and this is the excuse used, namely that it will stop this drain on the State Sector due to substandard care in the Private Sector! I do not know how far that is true as it works both ways, where cockups in the State Sector are referred to the Private Sector when the patient is able to financially afford that.

There is some form of licensing that the overseas doctors have to get before being able to practice in the Private Sector, and the Health Ministry expects it to be tightened further to ensure a higher standard.

It must also be remembered that today in Sri Lanka, 1000 doctors pass through the University System, annually, who need to find employment and the State Sector is unable to guarantee them employment to do the needed training. The shortage of doctors in the state sector is diminishing and is now only confined to Specialists and to Rural Hospitals. It is therefore a method to release some of the pressure on doctors in the State Sector, who are surplus to requirements to permit them to practice in Private Hospitals.

The counter argument is why are we importing doctors when we have a surplus of doctors in the Country? This is after sending out 5000 doctors overseas to work overseas, most of whom have emigrated to the West and are helping the health services of their host countries.

I believe we must also make provision for training new doctors who cannot be absorbed into the state sector, into the Private Sector where they are able to get the same level of training, and not lose out on promotions or seniority.

What we MUST stop are doctors (some, mainly in the rural hospitals) who refer patients to their own clinics outside hospitals, to perform unneeded tests, (unnecessary scans for pregnant mothers) and who take medicines from State Hospitals to sell to their patients who see them privately in their homes.

These are all matters that a future National Health Policy must take cognizance of. Further we are still awaiting the implementation of the National Drugs Policy that must provide for a two tier drug system, where the State orders from a list, and agrees on prices once a year for the drugs they purchase on a transparent basis, and allows the private sector to stock brand name drugs which a doctor in private practice is permitted to prescribe if he so wishes, the patient knowing that it is a risk he takes when seeking treatment Privately.

In my case when I visited the doctor privately I was prescribed the expensive branded drug Augmentin, which may not be available in the state sector if I had gone there to seek treatment. It is my choice of whether to go 5 KM to the hospital for free treatment or to pay $4 and seek private treatment at 7am a few hundred meters from my home, and get a prescription for branded drugs if they are considered to do the job better than the ones prescribed for the state sector.

The Year of Excellence in Public Service – 2013

I am pleased that 2013 has been declared a Year of Excellence in Public Service, by the President. I sincerely hope the year does not go the same way as all his previous futile, but well intentioned “YEARS”.

After all the Year of English and IT was a complete waste, as since, the level of English has FURTHER DETERIORATED. So if this President does not wish to go down in History as the biggest “Blagger” since creation he had better do something concrete to be true to his word.

First he has appointed the Cabinet Secretary, Sumith Abeysinghe to oversee this project. At the meeting of Ministry Secretaries, namely the CEOs of each of the ministries, held a few days ago, the Secretary to the President, Lalith Weeratunge has instructed that

1                   Strengthen the Mechanism to address public grievances

2                   Make maximum use of ICTs (this is a pet subject of LW)

3                   Efficiently deploy Human Resources (1.4M strong Public Serivce)

I am willing to assist the Govt in this task if asked, as they need someone from the Private Sector to show them what efficiency is!!! There is NO human in the Public Service who knows how to even begin, as they DO NOT know how to measure Excellence as it is a word not in use in the Public Sector in Sri Lanka.

In fact incompetence is what is usually associated with the Public Service, save for a few examples, and therefore for them to do the opposite of what they have been used to all this time, is like the President telling lies believing it to be the truth.

You can’t fault him as he knows no better, having only experienced that trait with no one able to be truthful. It is therefore time to change from meaningless utterances to a serious effort backed by professionals who know their subject, to advise without fear or favor in the interests of achieving the objectives laid out and not just leave it to slogans and banners, as has been the case in the past.

It is very important that the huge cost of the Public Service, begins to show results. It is easier to get work out of the people by showing the way, rather than just getting rid of surplus staff, something that is politically unacceptable! It is possible to give specific tasks, responsibilities,   and performance measures to public servants, and grade them accordingly. It is about time too for a sea change.

ITS BEEN A LONG TIME IN COMING - BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!

Twelve Twelve Twelve (12.12.12)

This is the last in the series beginning with 01.01.01 which we have had every year for the last 12 years, and will not happen for another century or more precisely 89 years for 01.01.01 to reappear.

Todsay proceeded without event as just another day, except for the baby born in Ratnapura ostensibly at 12 minutes past 12 in the afternoon of the 12.12.12. with video cameras to film the occasion. Surely not! I found that very suspicious, or more likely that the arrival was induced to happen at that very moment, with the Press and video cameras to record the occasion!

See below for the link

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=320375238076169

No doubt this forced occasion for the purposes of publicity, will be completely lost on the viewer who would not doubt the sincerity of the coincidence, instead of wondering how there was a camera team to record the occasion in advance!

The more interesting moment was that the people who were using this date, which is in any way just coincidence, as it bears no relation to the birth of Christ as even his birth year is under some cloud, is just another moment in time that so happens due to the calendar adopted by most people, coincides with this unique number that occurs approximately once every 100 years.

More to the point human beings are unique, and there are NO repeat performances. All we can do is compare one with the other, in terms of making value judgments. Our comparisons are based on our evaluation and not of any others and are therefore open to interpretation just the same. So are their theories.

I noticed that Facebook had quite a few references to the possibility of some unforeseen catastrophe that may take place today, and if not on the 22^nd, both of which I consider more man-made madness, as I repeat these are just dates that happen to coincide and do not bear any relation to any untoward event that is expected to take place. Let us just pass this period by and watch with amusement how superstition and hearsay have guided the lives of so many. 

Human Rights Day - December 10th 2012

Today– Human Rights Day  http://www.un.org/en/events/humanrightsday/

It is opportune that when Sri Lanka which is now free of a Terrorist Threat is faced with a very insidious kind of violation of Human Rights. This time it is state sponsored, or instigated violations that are getting out of control, and which instills fear over anyone who wishes to speak against any act that the Govt. carries out to which he or she disagrees.

“Therefore the majority prefer to stay silent, as they do not wish to incur the wrath of the state against them or their families, and the brave prefer to speak out.”

I attended a few meetings yesterday at which the speakers were adamant, that they are prepared to lay down their lives to fight the grave injustices to basic rights as practiced by the Government rather than live under this brutal oppression. This was from an educated and well established individual, openly stating this to the people in attendance.

To live in Sri Lanka today, two days after the PSC has found the CJ guilty of three out of five counts investigated, at a time when the independence of the Judiciary is in doubt, I can understand his statement.

Unfortunately, many people in Sri Lanka cannot understand what basic human rights is until they come face to face with a problem and realize that they have no recourse. It is this mentality of people, who are only concerned about their own selves, until they themselves come face to face with the lack of basic rights, will they understand why there is opposition to the direction this country is going.

The rights as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are the simple ideas that we in Sri Lanka of 2013 and are fighting for. See Charter

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

We have had three instances in the past week where those rights, very publicly have been compromised, and the State is the harbinger in each of them. It is time today to reflect on what is important to human beings, what is at stake and how we as law abiding, and patriotic citizens of this country can fight for these simple basic inalienable rights, when laws and decrees are made in contravention of these basic rights. Let us hope that in 2013 we can make inroads in regaining what we have lost. We must all work together.

How would you feel if you were a practicing Lawyer in Sri Lanka?

The moment of truth has arrived for the Legal Profession in Sri Lanka, to determine if they wish to have any recognition for competence and professionalism or if they wish to forever be destined into being considered merely to do someone else’s bidding, as a paid servants without recourse to arguing a case on its merits or being true to the oath of office.

It is this simple choice that they MUST make and decide what it is going to be. If they choose professionalism, in order for them to be true to their oath of allegiance, they will first have to remove the Attorney at Law tag on a number of people who were party to the lynching including of course the President if he still keeps his license current. December 8^th will be known in history as a day when all checks and balances in this democracy were finally killed, and buried.

What is done is done, we cannot change what was meant to be from the beginning. If anyone thought that the outcome today was going to be any different they certainly do not live in Sri Lanka. This was demanded and got.

There is this claim that the PSC can choose its own methods, as it is not a judicial court, however the precedent is for the same principles, as otherwise there is no criteria of measurement for reasonableness. Further the outcome of the SC hearing, if some of the PSC members are in fact partial, does not deter the PSC from its findings and also its conclusions and recommendations.

There is only one course of action open to the Legal Fraternity, if it is to come out of this with their profession intact, and that is simply to refuse to perform their normal duties, i.e. not practice until the matter is resolved in accordance with natural justice and the rule of law. This will force the Govt. to rethink its strategy and backdown in the face of unprecedented pressure; something only the lawyers can do and must do, in the interests of Justice in Sri Lanka.

Once the impeachment is recommended by Parliament and the President impeaches, and appoints a replacement, ONLY the absence of the Lawyers from court will ensure that the new Chief Justice, and along with him, all judges will be impotent, with NO cases to hear. It will then be incumbent upon the new CJ to resign his office as he is unable to perform his duties, leading to a Constitutional Crisis of mega proportions, where with No judiciary, both Parliament and the Executive, namely the President will have to back down.

A “POLICY” for everything! – Now a request for a National Film Policy

I went to Parliament yesterday to listen to 'the Budget Debate – Committee Stage on the allocations for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and the Ministry of Sports' and I heard the discussions on the impending Policies expected in the coming year. A National Youth Policy, A National Sports Policy, and a National Education Policy. When I opened the papers today, there was the request for a National Film Policy too!

Now what is all this about? The need for a policy framework on these major issues and I would personally add a long awaited one A National Agricultural Policy to that. This is so that there is focus in determining how a government should direct spending. NOT HOW THE GOVT SHOULD SPEND. It should be a policy framework that informs the people of the Country, of the policy the country is following at present, with periodic status reports on implementation.

Unfortunately like everything in Govt. a politician will take credit for the formulation of a policy and then refer to it whenever it suits him. However the policy itself will not be worth the time wasted on its formulation, as there is no intention, other than political expediency of implementing any of the proposals of the policy. It just gets swept under a carpet, but is referred to always as the direction that is adopted.

This active decision NOT to implement a policy once it is formulated is due to the lack of a commitment on anyone’s part to follow through. In other countries once policies are heavily debated, amended after discussion and adopted, they are then implemented in accordance to the policy framework.

In Sri Lanka that does not happen. I am sure when it comes to the Youth Policy that I will from time to time make suggestions to, in this blog, there will be no effort at implementation, citing a litany of reasons, none of which will hold water. The Mahinda Chinthana is a wish list of this Government, but in every sphere its implementation is hap hazard and only directed at a select few and not for the benefit of its intended recipients. In that way people are given a false impression of the promises, on which they initially give their franchise.

Let us hope that we do not make this mistake, in future. We must implement policies that are adopted. There must be sufficient discussion of stake holders before it is adopted, but an annual review of the status of implementation is sorely needed not to lose focus of its original intention.

The Farm boy from Iowa – one of Sri Lanka’s truly greats!

The 49^th Death Anniversary of Professor Evan Alan Hardy was yesterday. I knew nothing of the man till yesterday until I read up on what he has contributed to Sri Lanka’s Education, most especially as the Founder of the “Hardy Advanced Technological Institute” in Ampara on 15^th January 1956.

This boy born in 1^st October 1890 in Sioux City, Iowa and raised on a farm, who at age 61 when a Professor of the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, was sent as an UN/FAO adviser to the Department of Agriculture in Sri Lanka in 1951. He was selected to organize and develop a program of training and set up a Technical Training Institute in Ampara to produce the engineers to operate the development program in the Gal Oya Valley.

He commenced diploma courses in

Mechanical Engineering

Electrical Engineering

Civil Engineering

Agricultural Engineering

Soil Science 

Surveying and Leveling

Irrigation

I quote from the web site of the Hardy Institute

http://www.hardyati.edu.lk/index.php/de/ab/fh

“ This program which Prof. Hardy compared to the Tennesse Valley Authority took on the task of irrigation, supplying electricity, improving agriculture techniques, protecting against floods, developing roads, cities and villages in the 1200 square mile area in the historic Digamadulla region.”

For someone who headed the Department of Agricultural Engineering in the University of Saskatchewan for 25 years to come here and dedicate the rest of his life is no mean achievement even now, so hats off to a man who was able to bring his expertise and contribute so much to the development of Sri Lanka, when so many of our young minds who get their education here, go to the very same country to contribute to their growth and development forsaking their motherland, which to them does not give them the opportunity in life that they seek, desire and wish for their children.

Of course he wanted his Institute to be the basis of a Technical University, which has yet to take place, however it produces a significant number of diploma holders in various fields and most of all has provided short term courses for specialists in development projects of an Irrigation, Hydroelectric and Agricultural Engineering fields both for the Gal Oya scheme but also for later development projects including that of the Mahaweli Scheme.

It is worth noting that he came to this country during DS Senanayake’s tenure as Prime Minister, and we owe a debt of gratitude to him too for attracting such able people to our shores to devote their lives to the future of this land.

The judges yesterday asked the Media not to defame the CJ – Papers why are you not giving prominence to the failings in your profession?

THE CJ yesterday, Dec 3^rd called a meeting of the Judicial Services Association (JSA). 

In short, 300 judges from all Courts all over the Island gathered yesterday afternoon at 3 pm at the Superior Courts Complex in Hulftsdorp. The CJ explained her position to them as they have been calling her from time to time, and she believed it was best to get their opinion on the proceedings regarding her impeachment now going through the PSC.

All members of the JSA endorsed the following:

“Called the PRESIDENT to stop the attacks on the Judiciary in the state media. The JSA noted that insults being hurled at the Judiciary and the Chief Justice were detrimental to the country’s judicial system. It called upon the Government to ensure that the inquiry was a process that ensured a fair trial and upheld the tenets of Natural Justice.”

Click here for Reuters News

This is NEWS and slotted into back pages of today’s press excluding the ADA Sinhala paper that put it as its headline. If one read the Sunday Observer the whole paper was littered with personal attacks on the CJ. Mahindapala’s article was harsh as were others, including the President’s own insinuation that WAR LOSERS are using Hulftsdorp, saying some represent NGO and foreign govts in the same breadth. The typical attack on them as the bogey men of MR!

Obviously if the PSC was a court, then these attacks would be illegal as proceedings are taking place and innocence must be presumed until proven guilty and proceedings of an ongoing case cannot be reported upon. Clearly by this act the Govt. is making the assumption that it is NOT a properly constituted court and therefore can sling mud as they please on the respondent to the impeachment motion. Conversely any decision will not be binding!!

It is now clearly WAR between the legislature and the judiciary, and the Govt. has added fuel to this by not sitting on the fence, but making damning statements on the 14point impeachment allegations in public by virtue of its ownership of Lake House, and the use of its surrogates in other media too, though I must admit they are far less direct and cussed.

The CJ has just arrived at Parliament with a huge support base outside greeting her arrival, let us see what the next chapter in this war of attrition holds.