Orpheus Perera

I am trying to restructure my points about the current situation in Sri Lanka. Intelligent people will never believe the story that one family robbed all the wealth of a country. It is the fault of the politicians for not educating the people of the real world.

People worked hard during the colonial period and when they got freedom, they thought of having easy lives. Sri Lanaka did not have to fight for independence. People of India rallied behind Mahatma Gandhi  in 1920 to fight against the British, mainly by refusing to buy imported goods including apples. As a result India is far ahead of Sri Lanka today(Not that individual familie are living comfortable lives). They still work hard long hours eating Roti and “Parippu” every day.

Sri Lankans who have migrated to America return and show off their riches. They never tell the Sri Lankans how hard they have to work in the richest country in the world. Doctors and nurses have to work 12 hours per day adding up to 60 hours per week. That is why they are well paid.

Seven years ago I got a chance to visit the USA. I show the glory and the riches. But I also show how hard they have to work. We went to see Niagara falls in a tour bus. There was a bucket near the door of the bus with a label saying “Please tip Generously”. I tipped $5 even if I did not have much money to spare.  Then we went on a harbour cruise in Hudson Bay in New York. The Skipper of the boat, explained about the history of all the buildings in New York. He pointed to an apartment building and said “The rent of a one bedroom up there is $2000 per month. My annual salary is only $27,000, I cannot dream of living even a day in those apartments.

We manage to survive, thanks to generous tourists like you. Please donate generously so that my-self and my staff can share the money. When the boat returned to the pier  and we walked down the ramp, the skipper and a few of the staff were standing there with a bucket half full of dollar notes and on behalf of the three of us I dropped $10 into the bucket, because I felt sorry for the poor people in the richest country.

The other day Dr. Harsha De Silva, in an interview with News-1st TV mentioned about the GDP of Bangladesh and Vietnam which are much higher than Sri Lanka. He never mentioned how hard the people of those two countries work,  for a small wage.

In Bangladesh, 100 thousands of children under 14 of age work 64 hours per week for mere US$2 per day to support their families. They rarely see their parents. They live in the factory premises, without schooling. Few of them attend evening classes run by good sumereturns. No child hood for them and this issue was brought up in UNICEF. But they stopped talking about it, taking into consideration the poor parents(Or maybe American Fashion Industrialists want to make profit selling made in Bangladesh garments cheaply).

So are people in Vietnam who work hard for a few Dollars, sometimes 50 hours per week.

None of these countries have FREE HIGHER EDUCATION which Sri Lankans enjoyed for the last 70m years. On the other hand in Sri Lanka the majority laze around and look for easy money. Businessmen in Import industry bribed factory managers to sabotage and cut down production and finally sell or shut down the industries owned by the state or even some small local businesses.

In 1953 Mr. Dudley Senanayake increased the price of rice from 50 cents to 1 rupee. He did that because the government could not afford to give rice at 50 cts. People started a “Harthal ” breaking down telephone lines and attacking public property. Dudley had to go and hide in a Ship. All politicians kept on promising things “Free”. In 1966 the UNP government gave a Free ration of rice. Still they  lost the election in 1970 to  SLFP and Dr. NM Perera coalition, who promised to bring Rice from the moon and give 2 rations per person.

Mrs. Bandartanike tried to make the country self-sufficient and build up the national wealth by cutting down imports drastically(which India did in 1948). It became hard because the west was unhappy for shutting the western multinationals out.

In 1950’s JR had this idea of making Colombo a vibrant place (like Singapore now). It was called the Colombo plan. He was not given a chance then. But in 1980 JR with the full backing of people like Upali Gunawardane carried out this plan. It became a flop and made things worse(in building a more stable economy). Country looked like it was being developed(very fast). Roads were filled with imported cars and they had to build new roads and motorways.

All my life in Sri Lanka I used to travel by CTB buses or walk up to 2 or 3 miles. I can remember one day in 2000 I walked from 6th lane Nawala Rd to come to Koswaththa. It was so hard to walk with too many vehicles on the road and with the black fumes they emitted.

One guy, I knew stopped the car and gave me a left and he said his driver was laughing at me for walking???.

Markets were filled with all foreign goods. Locals brought them with the help of their poor family members who went to the middle east and worked hard.

Politicians wanted power and they kept on not educating them about the welfare of how people work in other countries. These are my observations in a nut cell. You can always find information from the internet(not the Face Book).

Easy road has come to an end. ඔබට පුතේ මගක් නැතේ, මේ මග මිස යමන් පුතේ(හෙළ ගැඹුරුය් ඉහල බලන් යමන් පුතේ)

Orpheus Perera