By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA.

Mr. Mass L Usuf, who is well versed in Islamic jurisprudence in an article titled Understanding the question of Cremation and Burial” written to Colombo Telegraph has said that almost everyone, some way or the other, is bounded by religion and religious traditions, the disposal of a dead body is also bound by religious significance since the deceased has departed from his/her earthly sojourn. Beliefs, traditions, rituals, and practices dictate as to how the dead has to be laid to rest. The ancient Zoroastrians believed that the burial or cremation of the corpse would pollute water and soil which was forbidden in their religion. Therefore, in India, a Parsi’s dead body is placed in a built-up place called a ‘Dakhma’ known as the Tower of Silence. Here birds of prey like vultures would devour it. This 3,000-year-old ritual is called ‘sky burial’, and the Tibetan Buddhists also practice Sky burials in their traditional methods of body disposals. It is their belief that such disposal illustrates the impermanence (anicca) of life.

In Islam, he says, the religious instruction is to bury the dead and cremation is forbidden. It is unimaginable for a Muslim to allow his/her loved one to be cremated. This religious sentiment has to be recognised with humanity and mutual respect. It is not something new that is demanded but has been in practise for thousands of years as is in all religious traditions.

It must be emphasised that this prohibition in Islam is flexible. Islamic jurisprudence has provision for cremation if that is what is medically required for the common good of all the living beings – maṣlaḥah (public interest). Rationally, in addressing this topic, specific to burial, what needs to be looked at is the medical viewpoint.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the incubation period for the novel coronavirus is estimated at 5 to 6 days, ranging from 0 to 14 days. When compared with the Ebola virus, the incubation period, or the time interval from infection to onset of symptoms, is from 2 to 21 days. Comparatively, Ebola virus is a high-risk contagion identified as a fatal disease. 

Mortality Rates: The death rate for Ebola virus disease (formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever) can go up to 90%. The mortality rate of the new coronavirus is around 1% according to the UK’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty. The World Health Organization’s director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, talked of 3.4%.

Infection After Death: Levels of Ebola virus remain high after death, thus bodies of those who have died from the Ebola virus disease must be handled only by people wearing appropriate personal protective equipment and must be buried immediately. WHO advises that bodies of people who may have died from Ebola virus disease should be handled only by trained burial teams, who are equipped to properly bury the dead, safely and with dignity.

In contrast, the after-death infection in COVID-19 is explained very clearly by the Royal College of Pathologists, the U.K as follows with regard to the risk to Mortuary staff, it is greater from visitors than the deceased from the COVID-19.”

Ebola virus can persist in used needles, syringes or vials for several weeks. The virus can persist in the body fluids of survivors for many months and can be transmitted well after recovery, or in rare cases can result in relapse – as we have already seen during the outbreak. Despite the high-risk levels of the Ebola virus disease 26,000 safe and dignified BURIALS had been conducted as per the remarks by Dr. Ibrahima Socé Fall (World Health Organization Assistant Director-General, Emergency Response, 6 March 2020 Statement).

From a medical science point of view burial of a COVID-19 corpse has been accepted.

The protocols for BURIAL of the deceased of the COVID-19 are already in place in several countries.

Australia issuing a statement on the handling of bodies by funeral directors has said that Funeral directors and mortuary personnel are unlikely to contract COVID-19 from deceased persons infected with the virus, however, precautionary strategies should be used to minimise public health risks and to prevent the spread of disease.

In Nevada, U.S.A  the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that decedents with COVID-19 may be BURIED or cremated according to the family’s preferences. The state of Nevada specifically clarified and said: Decedents with COVID-19 can be buried or cremated.”

Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) issued strict orders on how to prepare COVID-19 bodies for BURIAL. (THESTAR, 24.03.2020).

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India issued guidelines for its citizens with regard to protocols to be followed in the case of BURIALS.

The National Burial Council of the United Kingdom has been working with Public Health England to best plan for facilitating the BURIAL of Muslims who pass away from COVID-19.  In answer to the question, What is the UK Government position on enforced cremation?”, the following was the reply.

On 23 March, the UK Government has confirmed that the emergency legislation to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic will now recognise the importance of ensuring faith communities are able to bury the deceased instead of cremating in the event of significant deaths due to Coronavirus. The legislation has now made clear that enforced cremation against the wishes of the individual, will not take place when there are burial facilities available.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) Technical Report states that decedents with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 can be BURIED or cremated as usual. (Stockholm: ECDC; 2020).

An examination of these precedents will help us to formulate our local policy in this regard. It is very clear that there is no danger to the public in burying the dead from Covid-19. Of course, the final wish of the deceased and/or the family members have to be respected. Anyone who wishes to be cremated, such a wish has to be carried out. In any event, a Muslim’s wish will always be a burial. Those who died of the Ebola virus disease had been buried even though it was a more infectious virus. In comparison, there should not be an issue in burying the decedents of the Covid-19 virus. However, it is extremely important that guidelines for handling covid-19 bodies are strictly followed.

Meanwhile, Shiranthi Ranasinghe in an article written to News in, Asia website on Cremation over burial states that controversy over the cremation of Muslims began with a message posted on Facebook by Leader of the Muslim Congress MP Rauf Hakeem. Whether his post initiated the controversy or whether he simply articulated some discontent from within the Muslim community is difficult to say.

However, at the All Party Conference, he did not want to bring this issue before the assembly and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa then pointed out that there is nothing to hide and it is best to discuss this matter openly as all political leaders and officials responsible for decision making were present.

The article says that after much insistence from the Premier,  Hakeem noted his concerns as,

– According to the earlier guidelines issued by the Director-General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe, burial or cremation was permissible

– This is in line with the guidelines issued by the WHO as well

– WHO has clearly stated that the possibility of the COVID-19 spreading from a corpse is a myth.

Dr. Jasinghe, who was also present at this conference, then explained the reasons for the officials to eventually choose cremation as the best and most effective means to dispose of bodies of COVID-19 positive patients as,

– The WHO guidelines are only a general guideline. It has not taken into consideration the topography and other factors that are unique to each country.

– In Sri Lanka, the water table is high, which is the main issue in this matter.

– In addition, our soil is very porous and the composition itself is very absorbent. This might pose a danger of becoming a medium for the virus to spread.

– The topography in Sri Lanka changes within kilometers. This makes it difficult to separate areas with a clear demarcation line. Therefore, it is not possible to accommodate these variations when formulating a standard.

– It is the people that need to be taken into consideration. Then, differentiate people according to ethnic groups is not possible.

– When death occurs, the priority is to dispose of the body as quickly as possible. Thus it needs to be disposed at the closest possible location.

It must be also noted that,

However, according to the mathematical modeling done by the Medical Faculty of Colombo University, the number of infected can reach as high as 1,400.

Dr. Jasinghe assures that the free health service in Sri Lanka is getting ready to meet this challenge.

In the meantime, the Government Medical Officers Association has warned that if this number exceeds 2,500, our systems will fail and it is impossible at this stage to predict whether the numbers would reach 1,400 or exceed 2,500.

This virus is reported to be spreading exponentially. We do not have any immunity against it. Therefore, we must physically stop it from spreading.

Unlike in a war, where the outcome is dependent largely on the combatants, in this crisis, the outcome lies with each and every individual citizen. This means that we are dealing with a situation with a large number of variables.

For example, the third Sri Lankan patient to die of this virus has compromised at least 326 people through simple association. Thus it is clear that one person’s irresponsible act(s) can unravel even the best-laid plans. Hence, we must prepare for the possibility of dealing with a large number of deaths, as is the reality in many other countries.

As WHO notes, we still know very little about this virus. According to the findings so far, it is believed that while heat kills it, dampness helps it to thrive. What does this mean in an untreated body filling with fluids remains to be seen? Certain scientists claim that the virus can survive in the refrigerator for up to 28 days. This of course perhaps needs to be verified further by other scientific sources as well.

Even though this body is in a sealed body bag and in a sealed coffin, it is not possible for us to guarantee the outcome in 100 or more years. One may dismiss this as far fetched or an exaggerated worry. At the same time, let us not dismiss offhand accounts of scientists and excavators dying suddenly due to unknown causes after days of opening ancient tombs and coffins. It is easy enough to blame a mysterious curse, when in fact it might have been a virus as deadly as COVID-19. The last thing we would want is for this highly infectious, deathly virus to revisit our world – even 100 or 1,000 years later.

Taking all these factors on board, it is obvious to the logical mind that the best option is to destroy this virus completely. Yet, instead of reporting on Sri Lanka’s success or even mentioning it, certain international media channels have erroneously reported that the Government,

– Held hostage by extreme hardline Buddhist monks

– Had forcibly cremated the bodies of the Muslim patients

– To hurt the feelings of the Muslims.

Very mischievously, these journalists have completely omitted that the final rites of the other patients, who were not Muslim, were also not allowed. It must be noted that the Catholic to bury their dead. Buddhists also sometimes opt for burial than cremation.

This raises the question, whether these journalists who wrote these very erroneous and utterly irresponsible articles were truly ignorant that,

– Buddhists and a Catholic were also among the dead;

– Final rites of all were not performed;

– The disposal of the bodies was not in line with any cultural values or religious practices.

The bodies of the patients who were Buddhists were not treated any differently from those of other faiths.

Interestingly, though these articles appear on different channels, the same errors are seen to eclipse in most reports. Perhaps these journalists were too lazy to do their own homework. They may have copied each other’s work and instead of verifying, modified it enough to pass it off as their own work. It is also possible that these journalists might have been sponsored to write such tribal-minded, incendiary articles. Either way, the result is the same. Their unprofessionalism compromises the integrity of the media.

A fine example of attempting to use the current situation to espouse anti-Muslim sentiments in the Sinhala community was made by the notorious Pakiasothy Sarawanamuttu, who sustain two websites with foreign funds – The Ground Views and Vikalpa.org – mainly devoted to bloat the UNP, the terrorist diaspora, and the TNA scoundrels and heads an anti-Sri Lankan outfit called The Centre for Policy Alternatives. I think for the first time this Judas has got hold of some hitherto unheard so-called magnanimous Muslim ladies to write a joint article against the government’s disposal of the bodies of  Corona infected bodies.   

They say that it is with heavy hearts that they have listened to and observed the debates on whether or not burials should be permitted for Muslims who succumb to COVID-19 in Sri Lanka and parts of Muslim communities in Sri Lanka believe that the government acted unfairly in hastily cremating the remains of two Muslim victims of COVID-19, that the will and wishes of families of the deceased were not considered, and that there was no explanation of why WHO guidelines that allow for burials with strict conditions could not be followed.

Continuing, they say that grieving the dead and funeral rites are important to all people, regardless of religious affiliations and the rituals that each of adopts whether traditional or not, whether informed by religion or not, is based on a deep desire to secure dignity and peace for our deceased loved ones and the rituals also provide a degree of control over how we grieve and give us a meaningful way of honouring our loved ones as they pass from this world.

In epitomizing Pakysothy’s vicious racist and communal jargon these ladies state that Muslims are equal citizens of Sri Lanka and this equality transcends every aspect of their lives and ensuring this equality places responsibilities on the state, as well as the respective Muslim communities. Repeating the hollow remarks that had been made by Pakyasothy many times, they say the state has the responsibility of giving due consideration and respect to the views and beliefs of its citizens, and in today’s context to also set an example of respectful, non-xenophobic, non-discriminatory conduct and use language that does not place blame or incite ill will. The government and media must ensure the privacy of those in quarantine, patients, and the deceased and their loved ones. The strict protocols relating to COVID-19 deaths can be implemented with the utmost dignity and respect for human beings who have passed away. It is both an individual and a collective right to dignity.

The is a typical example that the abhorrent friction that was attempted to create by Hakeem and Mujibur Rehan is now being used by miscreants like Pakiasothy and it will not be a surprise if despicable pettifogger fellows like Sajith Premadasa’s mentor Victor Ivan (1971 JVP’s bomb manufacturing Guru) Sambandan, Sumanthiran and even JVP’s newfound ideologue Kumar David ventured in the forthcoming days to politicize the situation. 

It should be noted that the WHO has issued several directives against employing racial discrimination and prejudice related to Convid-19 matters and the Sri Lankan government has issued a new gazette notification on 12^th April as well in addition to the previous gazette providing guidelines on the burial of COVID-19 dead bodies.

Sunil Wimalawansa

The importance of social distancing, personal hygiene, and governmental actions needed to control the current pandemic of COVID-19.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgcTivH1nGwymgX_cb0V4Mg

Embassy of Sri Lanka Washington D.C.

 The Government of Sri Lanka has introduced a new bank account termed Special Deposit Account (SDA) for all Sri Lankans living in and outside the country to remit their foreign currency earnings, savings and investments to any bank of their choice in Sri Lanka. It is in the form of Term Deposits either in any designated foreign currency or in Sri Lanka Rupees.
 
Any Sri Lankan individual resident in or outside Sri Lanka as well as dual citizens, citizens of other States with Sri Lankan origin, non-nationals residents in or outside Sri Lanka, Funds, corporate bodies, associations incorporated/registered outside Sri Lanka and any other well-wishers can open Special Deposit Accounts at any Sri Lankan bank of their preference.
 
While there is no prescribed minimum amount to be deposited, the minimum period of maturity is six (06) months. Higher interest rates than the normal rates offered to foreign currency deposits will be offered at maturity. Accordingly, 1 percent and 2 percent points per annum for SDA with a tenure of 6 months and 12 months respectively will be paid. Funds are freely convertible and repatriable outside Sri Lanka on maturity.
 
Please see the following two attachments containing information on SDA:
 
1.      Press Release issued by the President’s Media Division on 11^th April 2020.
2.      Relevant Government Notifications
 
The Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington D.C. invites fellow Sri Lankans living in the United States of America and other foreign nationals to invest in SDAs, while expressing their solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka, during this challenging environment.
  
For inquiries, please contact:
 

1. Mr. Sarath Dissanayake       
    Deputy Chief of Mission                                                    
    Mobile: 202 816 9666                                                      
    Email:dcm@slembassyusa.org
 
2. Mr. Niranga Palipana           
    Second Secretary                                                    
    Mobile: 202 579 4729                                                      
    Email: niranga@slembassyusa.org
 
3. Mrs. Aruni Warnakula         
    Accounts Officer                                            
    Mobile: 202 288 8546                                            
    Email: accounts@slembassyusa.org

Embassy of Sri Lanka
Washington D.C.

By P.K. Balachandran courtesy Ceylon Today

The US now accounts for a third of the “active” COVID-19 cases in the world. According to the latest figures put out by the WHO, there were 1,101,497 active cases in the world as a whole on Thursday April 9. Out of this, 397,472 were in the US. In contrast, China had only 1,160 active cases.

Of the 88,565 deaths due to COVID-19 in the world as a whole, the US accounted for 14,797 and China 3,335. The US stood at the top of the pile in terms of active and critical cases, though in terms of the number of deaths, the toll was more in Spain and Italy.

Experts say that while the US is rich and has a sophisticated health infrastructure, its healthcare facilities are expensive and out of reach for millions. It is not State-backed to the extent it is in the UK. When Barack Obama was President, he introduced the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)” in 2010, which came to be known as “Obamacare”.

Obamacare based on the insurance system

But Obamacare is still based on the insurance system, unlike the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, which is entirely free and available to all irrespective of class. No wonder, the US was topping the list in coronavirus infection on April 9, while the UK was eighth.

According to available literature on the subject, Obamacare mandated that everyone buy insurance. As a result, healthier young people paid premiums even though they didn’t use their insurance as much as older people did. That offset insurance companies’ cost of insuring even the most sick.

The ACA prevented companies from excluding anyone. As a result, everyone could afford to see a doctor before their symptoms turned into a crisis. Prior to the ACA, the uninsured used expensive hospital emergency rooms as their primary care provider.

Obamacare expanded subsidies for middle-income families. That allowed more people to afford better insurance packages. Prior to the ACA, only families with corporate-sponsored insurance could afford comprehensive plans.

Obamacare tax increase resented

To pay for the subsidies, Obamacare increased taxes on health care providers and high-income earners. People making US$ 200,000 a year (US $250,000 for married couples) paid higher income and investment taxes. To enforce the mandate, a tax penalty was levied on those without insurance. The US Congress repealed the tax penalty with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It went into effect in 2019.

But the increased tax burden generated opposition from conservatives. This led President Donald Trump to declare that he will repeal Obamacare. However, it is still there benefiting about 4.1 million people.

UK’s NHS  

The NHS of the UK is completely state-funded and is comprehensive. It is also cheaper than Obamacare. The NHS spends much less per person than the American health-care system does, yet it achieves better outcomes, according to the Commonwealth Fund  which monitors health management in select Western countries.

The Netherlands’ system is not based on a single-payer of the bill (unlike the NHS). But like the NHS, it also achieves near-universal coverage through close government regulation. The US system is also too expensive by European standards. Despite Obamacare, which made health insurance somewhat affordable, insurance is still expensive as per European standards. No wonder 26 million Americans did not have health insurance as recently as in 2016.  

The US doesn’t invest in social services. Things like home visiting, better housing, and subsidised healthy food which could improve chronic disease outcomes don’t exist there. It is because of all these factors that life expectancy has been going down in the US as compared to the 1960s.

Choosing guns over butter  

The US spends more on weapons of war than public health. It downsizes budgets of health institutions for the sake of spending more on weapons programs, says  Gregory D. Koblentz and Michael Hunzeker of George Mason University who are experts in biological threats to National Security.  

They wrote in The Atlantic that the US Establishment has been consistently ignoring threats from viruses and has been spending heavily on weapon systems.  

The American Establishment had forgotten that viruses could kill more Americans than weapons in war. The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic killed at least 40 million people and among the dead were 195,000 Americans.

Koblentz and Hunzeker point out that the Trump administration was not interested in fighting threats from viruses. “It raided the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s budget for working with other countries on biosecurity threats to pay for more research on hypersonic missiles. 

The National Nuclear Security Administration saw its budget increased by 20 percent to pay for new nuclear weapons, even as the administration slashed the budget for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by 15 percent,” they say.

The entire 2019 federal budget for all health security-related programs was about US$ 13.6 billion. In contrast, the Trump administration has requested almost US$ 46 billion in funding for nuclear weapons programs in its 2021 budget proposal, the authors point out.

Koblentz and Hunzeker quote Nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg who said that the single biggest threat to humanity’s continued dominance on this planet is the virus. Biomedical research, public health preparedness, and international cooperation are the keys to global health security, the laureate said.

But what President Trump is doing is just the opposite. He is going to cut funding for WHO because it allegedly prevented him from clamping a ban on travel when the COVID-19 threat was spotted on the horizon. He charged that WHO was working behind the scenes for China.

If indeed US funding for WHO ceases, the only world organisation working for disease control and health across the globe will go kaput.

Courtesy Adaderana

Seven more persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) today bringing the country’s infections tally to 210, says the Ministry of Health.

All the coronavirus cases confirmed today were found among the persons who were put under mandatory quarantine for having close contacts with the previously identified COVID-19 patients.

According to the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry, 147 coronavirus patients are currently under medical care.

Out of the total number of confirmed cases in Sri Lanka, 56 patients have recovered completely while 7 persons succumbed to the virus.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has amended a law to make cremation compulsory for those dying from the novel coronavirus to prevent any potential threat.

The Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance (Chapter 222) has been amended by a gazette issued by Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi, the government said.

Wanniarachchi said that the body shall be burned at a temperature between 800 to 1200 degrees Celsius for a minimum period of 45 minutes to one hour.

She said that the cremation should take place at a cemetery or a place approved by the authorities.

The amended law prevents bodies from being handed over to anyone other than to persons who undertake the necessary duties of cremation”.

The attire and non-reusable personal protective equipment used by persons who handle the corpse shall also be destroyed during cremation.

Extraordinary Gazette on Cremation of COVID-19 Victims by Ada Derana on Scribd

Courtesy Adaderana

A decline in the coronavirus infections in the country is expected in the coming days, said Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe.

The patients identified are all linked to one patient; therefore, there is no difficulty in identifying the spread of the infection, Dr. Jasinghe said.

Obtaining samples from high-risk sites for infection have been increased in order to curtail the spread of the virus, he added.

Jasinghe further said that the results of the tests carried out yesterday could be expected today.

Meanwhile, a total of 208 samples have been collected from Punani quarantine camp alone and that is the highest number of samples obtained from a single site, he said.

However, cases of infection are still reported and this should be brought down to naught, Jasinghe pointed out.

Army Commander Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing was carried out at quarantine centers even today (12).

Harsha

https://www.facebook.com/harsha.perera.5661/videos/10156634654887531

Spanish colonial crimes – Bull Fighting – Spanish Flu – Covid-19 do you see a connection? Do these trail of thoughts carry a trail of tears? Do they implore Spain to revisit their moral standing of past and present actions? Over 500 years of colonial crimes, over 300 years of bullfighting, Nature has watched silently and patiently the pain and anguish of the natives whose lands & pride were stolen by European explorers and the tortures bulls were subject to. When nature saw no signs of repentance or remorse, Nature unleashed her fury. First in the form of the Spanish flu (Jan1918 to Dec1920) killing some 50million people and now in 2020 Spain has again been brought to heel and face a new agony – covid-19. Mother Nature has made Spain to go through exactly what they inflicted for centuries on natives that they tortured, killed and plundered and for the cruelty they inflicted on bulls in the gruesome sport of bullfighting. Will Spain treat covid-19 as karmic retribution and resolve to atone for its crimes by apology and reparations to South America & to end bullfighting? Hemingway wrote, A death will occur this afternoon, will it be man or animal?” – it should be neither.

What the Spanish conquistadors did to South America over 500 years are far worse than what Hitler & Germany committed on the Jews.

The Indians were totally deprived of their freedom and were put into the harshest, fiercest, most horrible servitude and captivity which no one who has not seen it can understand. Even beasts enjoy more freedom when they are allowed to graze in the field.

Bartolomé de las Casas”

The Age of ‘Discovery’ meant declaring as ‘found’ already inhabited islands and territories. Spain was responsible for eliminating erasing 3 ancient civilizational tribes – Incas, Mayas and Aztecs, committing genocide of their culture, their literature, their language and their customs. Today these very nations are sending their people to study about the ancient civilizations that they erased and turn their stories into coffee table books.

Native Americans were turned into slaves, slaves were imported from Africa. The Natives had their customs, traditions, rituals erased. They were forced to sign illegal treaties that ceded their lands to White Nations. Historians estimate 50million natives lived in Americas when Spain landed in the 15^th century. That number became 2million in one of the world’s forgotten genocides committed by European explorers via small pox/measles and the gun.   

Hernan Cortes, Pedro de Alvarado destroyed the Aztec civilization (present Mexico), Batoleome de Las Casas, Juan Gines de Sepulveda, Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas (present Peru) & the Mayan empire constituting the modern countries of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras & El Salvador were all vanquished.

Covid-19 is making Spain undergo a catharsis and the agony is likely to continue until genuine signs of repentance is seen.  Until such time the world cannot sympathize or empathize with Spain. Spain and the Spanish people must atone for their crimes.

If Germany & Japan were made to face their sins and forced to atone for their crimes, there is no reason why Spain shouldn’t. Germany was forced to atone for its crimes via the Nuremberg Tribunals in the case of Spain, Mother Nature is showing Spain a lesson for not only killing man but animals as well.

Isn’t it ironic that most of the countries severely hit by covid-19 inspite of proudly referring to themselves as the First World, calling themselves ‘civilized’ nations, are unable to deal and contain the virus. Is it that they cannot or is it that Nature is divinely interfering to make them taste the medicine they forced upon others. Aren’t these nations including Spain now facing the same tune they inflicted with cruel intent on others?

Spain never received the justice it deserved because the white man controlled the world. All of the former colonial powers gathered to protect their own and continue to do so. They decided what was fact and what was fiction. Victor’s justice ruled. They wrote and rewrote history according to their whims and fancies. All of the worlds’ discoveries became attributed to the white man. Only now we know Columbus never discovered America!   

As Spain suffers from covid-19, with close to 20,000 deaths and over 180,000 cases, Mother Nature is telling the Spanish to open its eyes, to repent the crimes committed in the past against humans and animals and look at the crimes being committed in the present.

500 years of colonial crimes and 300 years of bull fighting leaves Spain much to ponder over. The tears of the bull are no different in measure than the tears of natives slaughtered to death.   Until the bull learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter”

Before a bull enters the ring, his horns are cut with hacksaw without anesthesia, his eyes are smeared with petroleum jelly to blur vision, his ears are stuffed with cotton, his nostrils are stuffed with newspaper, he is denied food & water for days, Epsom salt induces diarrhea, a needle is shoved into his testicles, he loins are beaten, some are even given tranquilizers, days before the fight he is kept in darkness to further traumatize him and just before he enters the right he is poked with harpoons. Then they take turns on slowly killing him while crowds cheer. With so much pain inflicted for days in advance what is this ‘mastery’ that a matador boasts of over the bull? Eventually the bull is butchered often while still alive and this is called Spanish culture. If Spain regards the matador as ennobled, the mass murderers during colonial rule would have also been garlanded.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwis3dbW2-LoAhVG6nMBHX1YDiAQwqsBMAB6BAgLEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D6enFif2SKRQ&usg=AOvVaw1QWjNRVnAI-Hz9ZwMVYABJ

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwis3dbW2-LoAhVG6nMBHX1YDiAQwqsBMAF6BAgLEAc&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymotion.com%2Fvideo%2Fx4jz98g_one-of-spain-s-top-bullfighters-is-gored-to-death-live-on-tv_news&usg=AOvVaw0nPozBIWM1QTXJjtTCljJG

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7023193/Matador-wipes-away-tears-bloodied-bull-handkerchief-killing-it.html

Spain is today facing the law of karma. Do good – good returns. Do bad – bad returns. Newton says ‘every action has a reaction’. What returns can get modified but it cannot be eliminated. The change happens only if a person realizes the damage done by one’s deeds and resolves to ensure such deeds are never repeated. Spain tap your heart & conscience.

As you sow, so shall you reap” when Spain and other European explorers confiscated lands already inhabited & declared they had ‘discovered’ them the white historians made us all to believe these were ‘their lands’.

Spain and its white-exploring partners completely disregarded the law of creation – that life doesn’t just happen. They thought they were the universe and their will must rule. They brushed aside the law of humility. They completely ignored the law of growth – all others had to change except themselves. Their law was US vs You. In so doing they ignored the law of responsibility taking accountability for one’s actions. They ignored the mirror showing their crimes, the tears and sadness of the people and animals they inflicted pain and torture.

The innocent people that welcomed these strange travelers had their generosity and hospitality abused. In return for their smiles of welcome, they received the sword and thus the law of giving and hospitality was broken by these white nations.

It was only time that they would also break the law of connection. By breaking away from the universe they were closing the door to Nature.

So long as perpetrators of evil to man, animal and nature do not atone for their crimes history will repeat and continue to repeat until lessons are learnt and the path of change is adopted.

Annually pandemics have taken place in 1720s, 1820, 1920s and now in 2020. What is clear is that the perpetrators have not learnt a lesson. Will 2020 instill the law of change?

The intent must now be good thoughts, compassion, humane living, loving contribution to man, society, Nature and even animals. 

Shenali D Waduge

Former Colonial Powers have no moral right to speak on Accountability without atoning for their colonial crimes

  

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

It is regret to note that the coronavirus pandemic and associated unstable economic environment created in the world has caused to dramatically depreciate official currency units of developing countries.  Sri Lanka’s rupee value has depreciated to more than Rupees 200 to a US dollar and other developing countries also gaining similar results whether the countries are like or not to the new environment. Despite the prediction of certain currency speculators that the US Dollar would be collapsed, it can be seen that currencies of developing countries have depreciated to an unreasonable level. The prediction may be pessimistic and it is difficult to believe that the currency market would be in a negative environment in the medium-term for developed countries. The currency units of developed countries don’t record a similar type of depreciation recorded in developing countries.  Developed countries have the economic power to respond against uncertain conditions and developing countries haven’t got such power. In this environment, developing countries expect from International Monetary Fund a workable solution to the problem.  

The depreciating currency value negatively impacts developing countries as domestic economies of developing countries are depending on imports and the current currency depreciation condition forced many countries to control imports and indirectly go to an exchange control regime. There may be a different point of view of international economists and many developed countries like Australia heavily dependent on remittances coming from the developing world.  Developed countries have foreign assets and foreign reserves as well as they have the power to borrow and settle the problem in mid to long term, but developing countries have not such power and they are in a grave condition. Central Bank of Sri Lanka has introduced new regulations for outward remittances and new control measures would impact the investment process.

International Monetary Fund is the fundamentally responsible organization to act in such a situation and the World Bank has taken action to provide credit facilities to some developing countries for medical expenses. The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Ms. Kristalina Georgieva admitted that the world’s poor countries would suffer if the COVID-19 fallout drove markets to the lowers level since  the1930s.” It is an excellent statement of IMF boss and she also stated that emerging markets and lower-income nations across Africa, Latin America and much of Asia are most at risk.  Usually, IMF is more concerned with developed market economies, but this time it concerns on lower-income nations. 

The depreciation of the currency value of developing countries has been a continuous process since before the corona pandemic and the International Monetary Fund needs to consider an effective and result oriented solution be proposed to the world rather than patches to settle the issue. Since the inception of the International Monetary Fund vital policy actions proposed to developing countries and some of the suggestions were discordant to them as the proposal concerned with the political power of developing countries.

The original condition of the Briton wood Agreement was to allow member countries to revalue or devalue currencies by 10% without permission of the fund. American proposal was to introduce a common currency called BANCOR, but it was not successful. According to the IMF agreement, no country can officially revalue or devalue the currency unit in the way experienced under the Gold Standard System.  It was a problem for the world at that time; however, the world is dynamic at present and the stability of exchange units has been changed since the inception of the IMF despite the desired level by the proposed situation. Sri Lanka had the first experience of official devaluing with the permission of the IMF in 1967. The currency unit was devalued by 20% in response to the official devaluation of Sterling pound by 17.5% and later Sri Lanka introduced the Foreign Exchange Entitlement system which was an indirect devaluation of currency unit for import payments and revaluing for non-traditional exports and the FECS system also removed in 1978 introducing adjustable peg system in which the currency unit has been radically declined during the 42 years. Now, the depreciation has come to a peak level and it seems that it is good for Sri Lanka and other developing countries making a parity for currency unit against the US dollar on the current basis at least to maintain the agreed exchange rate for ten years.

The depreciation of currencies in lower-income nations negatively affects imports and debt repayment and the import of capital goods for economic development purposes would be expensive and returns from the investment would be lower than expected. In this way, the lower-income nation will have difficulties to attract foreign investments and exchange control regimes in these countries hit to the free-market system.

Industrialized countries and high-income countries with trade power liked to a depreciating value of currencies in developing countries as it supports buying raw materials at a lower price and after the 1973 oil crisis developing countries were highly disadvantaged by oil trade.  developed countries did not listen to the plight of developing countries.  The popular advice of developed countries to maintain an export economy in less-developed countries where supply output (industrial, commodities and other services) at a lower price to developed countries. With the results of Coronavirus, the IMF has turned to Africa and expressed concerns on debt repayment and increasing special drawing rights. It is a good moved, however, special drawing rights would not positively help to stabilize the exchange value of domestic currencies in developing countries.

The year 2000 the European Union took a successful decision to stabilize the currency introducing EURO as a common currency and could the IMF introduce common currencies for two major blocks in Asia, SARC and ASIAN countries and stabilize the currency in these countries. Such an action might force countries to agree with many conditions. Countries in the Asian continent must agree with such conditions as the preventing of currency depreciation would bring many happy returns to each country. In this connection, the role of China and Japan will be crucial and support to develop strong trade ties and foreign exchange reserved in all countries.

How practically implement the idea may invite a broader debate.  It needs more research and an idealogical contribution to the proposal from different countries and if it would successful two new common currencies could be introduced to the international financial system before 2025.

When the EU created it associated with politics and military blocks, this proposal purely associates with currency stability and economic relations.

The current backward economic environment the SARC countries must work together and financial stability is vital for all members of the SARC. Since the first decade of the 21^st century, the cooperation SARC deteriorated on the economic matter because these countries had problems in cooperation due to political reasons.

The office of the president in Sri Lanka needs to take policy initiatives to stabilize the currency.

By Orpheus Perera

It is pathetic, some Sri Lankan’s are still pointing the finger at China for causing this deadly virus. Did they point the finger at Spanish people for Spanish Virus which killed 30 to 50 million people in 1918? Did they point the finger at America for giving AIDS to foreign countries too?

I did not read the article written in the Wijeya News Paper. I read only the open letter issued by the Chinese embassy, about the letter and I am sure Chinese Embassy officials are not bluffing around.

From the time the CORONA VIRUS was discovered in the City of Wuhan in China, there have been many Face book posts and YouTube news, giving reasons why china got this deadly decease.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Open-letter-from-Chinese-Embassy/108-186455?fbclid=IwAR3OF_rEa0Pg6s4IWtK3cpY3p_m9-YqANGTPl-QIBIUBlUQzGkePOA2aPds

  After the US, it was Sri Lankan’s who, ignorantly kept on blaming Chinese for this virus.

 COVID 19 may have originated in the USA and few people may have died(old age, pneumonia), which actually could be due to Coronavirus.

Then it may have gone to Wuhan where after a few deaths Chinese scientist discovered the reason for deaths were the new Virus. Sri Lankans who were blaming China was not even scientist or doctors. Even a faith healer called Kumara gave many reasons for blaming Chinese eating habits. He should be able to heal all the Corona patients by waving his hand, visiting IDH. Sometime back on his you-tube saying that he is not allowed to come and heal the sick people in hospitals, where doctors have said they can’t heal. He appealed to the health authorities to give him a chance to show his colours, further his supporters said that the doctors are scared that he will heal these patients and prove doctors are useless.

The same healer in Sri Lanka, who replicate Sai Baba in India, tried to heal a child who is Gluten intolerant,, by his mental powers and then forced the child to eat bread landing the child in ICU.

I still believe that the Health department Authorities should give Mr. Digana Kumara Chance to heal those who are down with Covid19 and in isolation at IDH. Faith healing may work only for people who have faith in the healer and the child who was Gluten insolence did not have any faith, only his mother had the faith, which could not be communicated to the child.

 AIDS Virus in the USA was discovered after the death of famous movie star Rod Hudson. He had slept with over 2000 men and women, having sexual intercourse, before he was down with the illness that the team’s doctors could not diagnose.

Many American’s must have died of Flu, Colds, heart and other viruses because their immune system was destroyed by HIV. HIV was discovered, because, Rod Hudson was a rich and famous man, people like Elizabeth Tailor kept on pushing the system to find how he died.

In the same period in Sydney, police found a dead body of a Teenage male prostitute in a River that depend on tides. The body was a blue and forensic scientists in Sydney could not find how he died. Only after the discovery of HIV, as a result of research for Rod Hudson’s death, the Police declared that the boy must have died of AIDS.

All these viruses are results of nature’s intervention(IN MY PERSONAL OPINION AND NO NEED TO BELIEVE)  for some purpose. CORONA-VIRUS, according to a scientist, is evolved from the Flue virus, still can be counted as the work of nature.

The western world had the smallpox virus, killing many people from time to time. People on South American mountains, in remote places such as Peru, were never immune to many unknown viruses. Spanish conquerors went and gave them blankets infected with the smallpox virus, wiping out almost the entire Inca-Indian population. Spain was overcrowded at that time. They went and killed the locals and settled down in South America. Now they are destroying the world’s largest rain forest Amazon.

Nature prefers that you control your own population than looking for new lands to expand, killing the local people.

In 1918 Spanish flue came to control the world population, especially that of the West(Spain, Portugal, etc).

Spain fighting against the Corona threat.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/spain-coronavirus-response-analysis

The deadliest Spanish Flue virus did not go away without taking about 50 million lives around the world and many Spaniards.

Concerning the COVID19, China, a country with so many Billions of people got it under control very well from the crowded city of Wuhan with a population of over 11 million living in one place. Beijing has over 11 million and Shanghai has over 22 million. What would have happened if the Virus went out of Wuhan to other cities? I think Sri Lanka, been a third world country, has done well to protect its people from this deadly virus.

Anjalika Silva USA

A new category of foreign investor…. What Sri Lanka can do….

The recent Covid19 Pandemic has devastated economies, lives and lifestyles worldwide. However, for Sri Lanka, it comes at a time when recovery from endless misfortunes affecting the financial strength of the country was barely turning around.  This has struck another blow that we can all come together to help repair.  There is a way if we explore an under-utilized resource for financial investment and for public relations that is sorely lacking.

It is important for the decision-makers in the country to seriously consider some possibilities for and meet the needs of the ex-pats if they are to harness their financial support. This requires using creative ways to meet the expectations of the ex-pats as customers, end-users, and investors, success is guaranteed.  However, making systems and processes the way bureaucrats in Sri Lanka decided without input from the user end, there is, was and will be frustration as we have been approached in this regard before with hopeless results. 

Savings accounts for expats that have the potential to create a different category of foreign investment.  If laws need to be changed, if policies must be amended, parliament approval is needed, then, do it” is the need of the hour if the country is to benefit.  This must be kept apolitical and should not be a thorn for political ambitions of opposition parties to become insecure and obstruct. 

This should be well thought out for the sake of the country that belongs to all people first, regardless of their political loyalties.  It should also be blended with checks and balances so that shady financial manipulations and abuse with ill-gotten funds for money laundering are avoided.  This should be a category strictly with family financial investment in the country from expats living and using legitimately earned assets with proof of paying taxes as overseas residents.

To get to the point direct, this is a time when the expatriate communities distributed worldwide with financial prowess to respond to a cleverly designed win-win plan between Sri Lanka and the expatriate community. The key to this is that it should be done right. 

At different times, we had ideas bandied around. Attempts to entice investment in Sri Lanka were brought before expats, but the design of the schemes and procedures had absolutely no input from those who were going to be users. It had complicated operations that lost interest.  None of their needs or questions were considered.  None of the programs proposed retained sustained interest of expats.  There was frustration due to lack of thought put into convenience, efficiency and above all, making investment attractive to expats.

It is strongly advised that the recent call for expat remittances of savings to Sri Lanka must be put in place in consultation with the end-user and with input from the end-user who can determine the smooth operation they need to see and use with no bottlenecks.  Feedback from systems used and failed must be considered for future improvement.

It must be considered that earnings from foreign countries come with hard work and sustained efforts in demanding jobs.  No one in their right mind should be expected to part with their financial security for Sri Lanka’s economy without appropriate assurances of being able to access their funds when needed because there is no safety net for expats except their own prudent financial planning. The current NRFC makes that very difficult.

These are the considerations that must be discussed with participants.

1. Eligibility to invest in Sri Lanka in Savings Accounts
   1. Who will be eligible to invest?  This must be cleared first because banks ask for National ID Cards (NIC) to open any account including NRFC.   This eliminates many people who are four generations of Sri Lankans passed through since the NIC was introduced. 
   1. They may have investment potential but they don’t carry a Sri Lankan Passport and NIC.  This card system was introduced in the 1970s and since then we are now into 3 plus generations of individuals of Sri Lankan Heritage who may not be born there so they are disqualified to meet the requirements asked for by banks.  Are they all to be considered? If not, and Sri Lanka wishes to strictly permit only those who were born there, something to be considered is that about 3 generations following first-generation immigrants will be eliminated.
   1. Will Sri Lankans with foreign passports with at least one parent or grandparent born in Sri Lanka be included? Will Sri Lankans born there but are foreign citizens with no immediate desire for dual citizenship be included?   This can net in many high earning professionals educated overseas who are shut out not.  The present system that requires NIC and Sri Lankan dual citizenship is an unnecessary deterrent that excludes rather than includes people of Sri Lankan Heritage. It is also a sure way to eliminate entire lines of immigrant families living overseas for generations to come.
   1. The definition of eligibility must be clearly stated now as with each generation the ties to Sri Lanka seem to be disappearing. Each category should be thought through and clearly defined.
   1. Will this be open to Foreign Citizens who want to invest in Sri Lanka too?   If the interest rates are attractive, there will be interest for individual foreigners with small amounts to invest with a return that is better than rates offered in most developed countries. 
   1. This can be a category of foreign investment that is different from setting up manufacturing or partnerships for manufacturing, sales agencies and the rest.  It will be an individual investor, foreign-born both foreign nationality and those of Sri Lankan Heritage, earning foreign currency with acquired foreign citizenship.
   1. If this is permitted, the Sri Lankan line of heritage, dual citizenship, NIC requirement is null and void.
   1.  Following up on the above, it must be noted that in this article, written particularly with the ex-pats in the USA in mind, the rate of return for savings or money market accounts is less than 1%.  The best-known return on savings accounts is American Express Savings that provide a higher yield of 1.6% which is considered a lot better than banks. This is where the Sri Lankan banks can offer rates that attract investors.
   1. In addition to the above rates, there are some stipulations that require investors to meet conditions at the time of investment.  Some require a minimum amount and stipulations that it cannot be withdrawn for a time period or a limited number of withdrawals of the return on the investment. There are minimum amounts required.  If Sri Lanka has the flexibility to open savings accounts with a reasonable initial deposit, at a reasonably attractive rate of return, with the flexibility to add to the funds with an electronic transfer from time to time, then, the small investor may be more beneficial with a large volume of small investors influencing a favorable outcome. This will be less cumbersome than direct foreign investment projects that require more complicated processes.
   1. All earnings in the USA including contributory pensions of retirees in the form of social security and income from savings made for retirement are taxable. Sri Lankan investments must be declared to the US Internal Revenue but there is no double taxation.  Provision must be made by Sri Lanka for interest earned on expat investments to be available to the account holder to some extent that can be determined by authorities in Sri Lanka. These are to be treated as emergency funds if it attracts small and large investors.

• How the existing remittances to Sri Lanka can be structured for the benefit of the country.
  • Expatriate families continue to remit funds to families, charities and other needs.  This goes on generation after generation and those who have been further from their roots and do not have remittance commitments can be turned around to be interested in investing in Sri Lanka if the rates of return are attractive, and flexibility on how they use the returns can be made easy and accessible.
  • Previous programs and the failure of their benefit to expats resulted in the loss of interest in participation.  The Central Bank had a panel of experts visiting expats in the US with a plan to encourage investment.  Some of us who took advantage of the opportunity was completely disappointed in the procedures and the lack of organization and the difficulty in accessing records on investments.
  • NRFC is another scheme currently available and there is nothing attractive and convenient in this operation that frustrates expats from investing.  There is an attractive interest rate paid on foreign deposits and in my personal experience with US$ it looked attractive.  However, when needed the funds that are saved for an emergency were not easily available.  The cumbersome procedure made it difficult to have access to one’s own funds. It must be remembered that most immigrants maintain their savings as an emergency fund and will need assurances that they can have access to in the event of need. Without such an assurance, coupled with a convenient procedure for fast transfer, there will be minimal interest in participation.
  •  Even in withdrawing funds, in the current set up one must write a signed letter for a request for using funds and email a scanned copy to the bank, follow up with a phone call to authenticate instructions as per the signed scanned electronic communication. This is inconvenient because the international time difference takes too much out of the customer/account holder to have to stay awake late into the night to match working hours for phone calls. A system to seamlessly authenticate the security aspects to connect to the banking of the individual investor with the Sri Lanka investment is the approach that the user end will expect.
  • The banks that have provided for online banking including NRFC accounts have the authority to lock passwords if it is not used for a long period. This should have been assumed initially as expats living outside Sri Lanka will not be accessing their NRFC accounts as frequently as their regular online accounts in their country of residence. 
  • When the password expires, it is necessary to download a form and request a reset of the password.  All this takes copious amounts of time in days and the delays.  Foreign residents also encounter time differences and telephone contact with banks in Sri Lanka does not have technical support after banking hours.  This adds many layers of frustration to the user.  The result is that the desired benefit for the country and the user become a useless exercise full of frustration and fear that one’s savings are inaccessible. Savings will serve no purpose for emergencies if the procedures are cumbersome and need several days.
  • Efficiency, easy access, online access with security that provides access to the end user and additional nontechnology customer support must be provided side by side in the absence of face to face interaction for those who are not tech-savvy.
• Systems that appeal to investors and independent operation of their accounts.
  • Applying the systems found in the USA should be studied as a benchmark for advanced technology applications that can provide security, convenience, and independence to users. An important aspect is to be linked to banks in Sri Lanka.  It is frustrating for an expat to use technology to have to go through layers of bureaucracy to change or reinstate a password.  This is a service that should be available to the minority who may need help. With appropriate verification, the provision to independently make changes should be provided to the account holder.
  • In the event expat investment is provided, there should be a 24/7 technical and other customer support at the end of a phone line due to the global time zones.  In service calls made for companies like Dell Computers, certain banks, and even American Express credit cards and savings account to mention a few among others in the USA, the call centers are overseas but regardless of the time difference, they are staffed by support staff from anywhere at any time.
  • Banks can have a central call center that services all the banks or have individual call center support with technology that can be operated using the work at home customer service” which is a trend.
  • Ongoing transfers will be encouraged if the end-user has the independence to operate funds in either direction.
• Concessions that should be granted to investors and encourage retirees with foreign currency pensions
  • If Sri Lanka benefits from foreign currency deposits from overseas, a reciprocal advantage must be provided to the expats for their commitment to the country.
  • In the era of baby boomers retiring in large numbers and a shift in the demographics, attracting foreign currency earning pensioners/retirees to return to Sri Lanka will be a bonanza.  Such returnees should be provided a special category of dual citizenship to overcome the 6 month limit on their stay on foreign passports.  Unless there is an incentive, it will not be attractive to retirees.
  • Another perk that will be appreciated will be a fast track dual citizenship privilege that could be a fee waiver for working expats for making deposits over the fees charged. This can be by choice if it is not a requirement for investing.  If it is a requirement for investments, the expats will not always want to jump hoops for dual citizenship for not so convenient access to their funds.
  • Recognition with a document of appreciation from the President will go a long way as expats are hardly ever appreciated for the work they do on behalf of the country.  Politically prominent folks fail to even show interest to know what expats do for the country.  In the case of the public relations arm on behalf of Sri Lanka, there is little in the form of formal representation and it is undertaken by expats who are not even considered for a simple thank you” by the powerful who visit.  It is a joke among expats that those who take on voluntary roles do not even receive a handshake.
  • Provision to open separate savings accounts for minor children as a part of their future education fund earning higher interest than that offered in the USA will be another attractive benefit. Such accounts should be locked with timelines because of the convenience for future foreign studies of children from Sri Lanka.
  • The USA has a program called the 529 savings program for the education of a minor.  Parents are given tax breaks for what they put aside for children’s education but are not entitled to use it for any other purpose. Such funds can be invested in the stock market but due to volatility, competing with Sri Lankan offers that are more stable savings will be preferred as an alternative. Expats who save for their children’s higher education will be a segment that can be a part of such a program that can also benefit the Sri Lankan economy

If the Government of Sri Lanka works with a few expatriates taking note of their needs and formulates s a project to encourage some of the ideas expressed, a face to face meeting with people of authority who can get feedback for improvement and decide first hand, the outcome will certainly benefit Sri Lanka. The involvement of expat feedback to improve can be an insightful use of the underutilized expatriate communities both for financial and intellectual support to benefit the country that has given a foundation to many.

Anjalika Silva

USA

Note about the author:  A resident of the USA for 35 years with experience in scientific, nonprofit and corporate environments. Insight comes from driving professional programs and infrastructure development for start-up biotech companies in the areas of Human Resources and Benefits programs for employees which included retirement plans for employees, healthcare and employee benefits.  With experience and training that compliments undergraduate studies in Sri Lanka and graduate education in Technology Management in the USA, this article is written with firsthand experience in developing successful systems, policies and operational processes, managing feedback and increasing efficiency in many areas of management in the USA using a background of Bioscience, Technology, Management, writing and editing including technical writing for the web publishing online documents and manuals for use of technology across global lines.  Although unknown in Sri Lanka, these contributions have been acknowledged in US institutions that demand high standards. 

Anyone with connections, please share these ideas with President Gotabaya Rajapakse, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and any other leaders who can drive this underutilized resource in a direction to benefit the country. Permission is granted to do so.  Anjalika Silva – Gaithersburg, MD. USA

By A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

It is sad to note that attempts are being made by Hakeem and Mujibur Rehman to overcome their political desolation by instigating the Muslims over-performing funerals of some corona infected Muslims.  These so-called Muslim lovers who remained totally silent when Rodee Ranawaka and his companions Ratana and Gnanasara theros (saffron-robed thugs) instigated riots against Muslims at Gintota, Ampara. Digana, Akurana, Gampola and Katugastota, and youth were burnt to death at Digana as they felt protecting the then government was more important than speaking against the atrocities of the rioters. 

The sole objectives of the above referenced two irresponsible miscreants are to instigate hatred between the Sinhala and Muslim communities for their political advantage.  Out of the Corona, patients died so far there were two Muslims one from Negombo named Abdel Jalil and the other from Maradana.  Health authorities who are very much concerned about curbing the spread of disease, by all means, has not granted permission to bury Abdel Jalil in Negombo due to water table in the area was high and which could spread the virus seeping through the water in the area.  Although two family members are permitted to attend a funeral in this instance none of them attended.  In the case of the Maradana patient’s death, the administrators of the Jawatte Mosque had dug a grave for 9 meters deep for his burial but the people of the area including the majority of Muslims in the nearby Hetewatte have protested against burying him there and since the body cannot be kept for a long time the health authorities have taken it to Kotikawatte.  The government subsequently issued a gazette notification permitting to hold the funerals of the coronavirus deceased personnel on the wishes of the relevant family members. 

As per a directive issued by the WHO the virus affected deceased patients should either be buried or cremated in accordance with their family desires.  The WHO guidelines make provision for burial besides cremation.  It says, Burial is the preferred method of body disposal in emergency situations unless there are cultural and religious observations that prohibit it. The location of graveyards should be agreed with the community and attention should be given to ground conditions, as regards proximity to groundwater drinking sources,  The U.A.E. Ambassador in Colombo has said that in U.A.E. a separate area has been earmarked in Sharjah for the burial of the corona victims. Similarly in Sri Lanka too Muslim religious leaders could meet and decide a location in Colombo without allowing the political miscreants to create friction with the other communities. 

The Organization of Islamic religious leaders the Jameeathul Ulema has issued a religious directive pertaining to the burial of a Muslim deceased as a result of contracting this deadly virus.  Relevant extracts from the directive are reproduced below:

It is a compulsory act coming under Farl Kifaya (compulsory responsibility) for Muslims when a death occurs to wash the body, cover the body with a white cloth and bury it. Farl Kifaya is a responsibility of all Muslims but if it was performed by some of the others become excluded from the responsibility/.  However, if it was not performed by anyone, everyone becomes guilty of not performing it.

Similarly having the body washed before performing the funeral prayer is compulsory. It becomes impossible to wash the body if someone dies by drowning, or by entrapped in a fallen building, or when the body is not found. There are different schools of opinion about the funeral prayer for them should be performed or not. The majority opinion is that the funeral prayer is not compulsory in such instances.

         
The purpose of the funeral prayer is to supplicate for the expiation of the sins that may have been committed by the diseased.  The scholars point out that if certain things could not be performed in a situation like this whatever that can be performed should not be avoided. 

 The directive which has been issued in Sinhala further states that that the government has also issued a statement about performing last rights of someone died of Corona Virus and accordingly if the dead body is to be buried the grave should be at least 6 ft, deep and the burial should be performed in the presence of government authorities and only a few close relatives should attend the funeral.

The directive has been issued by the Secretary of the Fatwa Section (Religious Directive Section), As Shaikh M.L.M.Ilyas of the All Island Islamic Scholars Council (All island Jaamiathul Ulema).

Many Muslims and leading Sinhala civil organizations have called upon the people not to get mislead by attempts being made by the miscreants to espouse communal tension over this virus issue.  The Governor the Northwestern Province Mr. A.J.M.Muzammil has issued a message requesting the Muslims not to provide room for racist extremists to spread communal hatred and has asked to act in a responsible manner to respect law and order in the country. He has said that it is very important for Muslims to extend their fullest cooperation to the government at this moment when it is taking all measures to contain and curb the spread of this deadly pandemonium. He has also requested the Muslims to cooperate with curfew regulations and strictly follow the directions given by health authorities.

Mr. Gevindu Kumaratunga, the Head of the Yuthukama Organisation, who is the son of the well-known educationist Munidasa Kumaratunga has also issued a message asking the Muslims not to get mislead by racist extremist miscreants and requested them to join hands with other communities in a national spirit to overcome the current pandemic situation causing equal hardships to people of all communities and rise up as a great nation once again. 

It has been pointed out that Prophet Muhammad has admonished that when there is a plague somewhere the people of that area should not leave from that area and people from outside should also not enter the plague affected area until the situation becomes normal.  This Admonition of the Holy Prophet should be widely communicated to the Muslims by the administrators of the mosque in all towns and villages.

The head of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Council Mrs. Deepika Udagama has warned against attempting to create communal tension among communities over the funeral of the deceased Corona infected patients and has advised that health authorities should get the consent of the family members of the deceased persons whether they want the bodies to be buried or cremated. 

The malicious miscreants Hakeem and Mujibur Rehman have no moral right to speak about the Muslims as they have gone into records of violating Islamic ethics and performing things contradictory to the teachings of Islam.    The plot of these two miscreants to espouse Muslims against the government and gain political mileage out of it, got shattered on Thursday (9th April) when the funeral of the 7th person died of Corona Virus, the gem merchant of Mt. Lavinia was allowed to be cremated by his family and the said cremation took place with the participation of his family members.  At the same time, the former UPFA member for Vavuniya, Mr. Cader Masthann, his brother and his two bodyguards are reported to be in self-quarantine for 21 days in Vavuniya after participating in a funeral function held at Tamarapuram in Vavuniya in which a Corona positive patient has also participated.   The self-quarantine measure taken by Mr. Masthan should be commended as it would encourage many to take similar precautions. 

Also, it should be noted that Buddhist devotees who flock to Temples throughout the country on Poya days did not visit Temples on  April 8^th on the Bak Fullmoon Poya day although it was a very significant Poya Day in which Lord Buddha has visited Sri Lanka (one of his three visits) to diffuse the possible war situation that had prevailed between Chulodara and Mahodara.  In addition to this for the first time in history the the auspicious timesheet” known as Avurudhu Charitra Seetuwa” which is presented to the ruler of the country each year has not been carried out this year.  It is reported that all Sinhala New Year events this year have been suspended and they will celebrate the New Year with only their family members at their residences  Also it is said that if the Corona Virus situation continues there will be no Wesak Pandals, Dansals and other Wesak activities this year.

In the case of Christians they were unable to observe the Maundy Thursday which signifies the day before the Good Friday in which the Jesus Christ had the last supper with his apostles and in which the Judas betrayed Jesus Christ to the Roman rulers,  They were also unable to observe Good Friday prayers in the Churches. The Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ following his arrest by Roman soldiers guided by Judas Iscariot at the garden of Gethsemane for 30 pieces of Silver.  They will also not be able to perform Church services on Easter Sunday as well although this Easter Sunday signifies the first anniversary of brutal attacks carried out by Zaharan and his inhuman terrorist gang in which over 300 persons were killed and more than 500 were injured.   

Hakeem and Mujibur Rehman should feel ashamed of trying to espouse communal hatred for their political advantage when all communities are making enormous sacrifices to curb the spread of the Coronavirus and save this country to usher in a better future for the future generations. To be continued…………

Dr Sarath Obeysekera 

The TV news item today was about Sri Lankan specialist doctors undergoing training in the UK desperately want to return home. It is quite strange that they all want to come back when only a small percentage of the doctors return after going abroad.

Some specialists trained in a lucrative specialty return to join the private sector while hardly discharging their duties in the state hospitals where they are assigned to.

It is obvious why these doctors want to return al of a sudden Surely because  they are not safe in England and do not trust NHS in the UK

One consultant has already died 

I wonder what GMOA is going to say about this.

Received your article 
Please note by comment 

Hi Sarath 

Nice to hear from you. SL doctors here on training are in the age group almost safe from Coronavirus. My daughter was exposed to 3 patients with Coronavirus in her Plastic Surgery ward before they were tested and isolated. One of the patients from ICU came with the infection.

My daughter was off sick afterward with cough and cold, possibly with a mild attack of Coronavirus, for 2 weeks. She is perfectly ok now. NHS is not testing her – hopefully, they will test her when she returns to work. 

Sarath – look at my FB post on Coronavirus, especially the last sentence.

Prof Devi Sridhar, in the link below, suggests four scenarios of how the Coronavirus end might be achieved.

Scenario 1 – as she says, it is highly unrealistic 

Scenario 2 – wait for the vaccine and delay the spread over the next 12 – 18 months 

Scenario 3 – follow South Korea’s example whilst waiting for a vaccine 

Scenario 4 – treat COVID symptoms rather than the cause. This approach is feasible in Countries with resources but not for poor countries.

So what scenario for the UK?  My perception is that it is Scenario 4, OR putting it crudely HERD IMMUNITY. It will finish off, older people like me and others with pre-existing conditions, and once the herd immunity is achieved remaining population will be healthy and less of a burden on NHS and social services. Tories would be happy.

In view of the above, it looks like my life would be at my house for the next 12 to 18 months.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/08/how-will-the-coronavirus-crisis-end-lockdown-pandemic

Take care and with best wishes 

Vam

Sent from my iPhone

On 11 Apr 2020, at 06:36, Sarath <saraobey@gmail.com> wrote:

Sri Lankan doctors have become very patriotic all of a sudden

Dr Sarath Obeysekera
CEO Walkers Colombo Shipyard
Colombo
Sri Lanka

සමස්ත ලංකා හෙද සංගමය.

භද්‍රාණී ජයවර්ධණ මහත්මිය
ලේකම්,
සෞඛ්‍ය හා දේශීය වෛද්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය,
කොළඹ 10.

මහත්මියනි,

කල්මුණෙ අශ්රොෆ් මූලික රෝහලේ හෙදි නේවාසිකාගාරයේ සිදුවී ඇති මංකොලල්ය හා හෙදි නිලධාරීන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාව සැලසීම සම්බන්ධවයි

2020. 04. 11 (අද) දින අළුයම 1.30 ට පමන කල්මුණේ අශ්රොෆ් මූලික රෝහලේ හෙදි නේවාසිකාගාරයට ඇතුළු වු සොරුන් විසින් හෙදි  නිලධාරීන්ට මරණ තර්ජනය කර ඔවුන් කීපදෙනෙක් සතු මුදල් හා රන් භාණ්ඩ පැහැර ගෙන ගොස් ඇත. ඒ හමුවේ හෙදි නේවාසිකාගාරයේ රැදී සිටින හෙදි නිලධාරීන් දැඩි භීතියකට හා අනාරක්ෂිත තත්වයකට මුහුණ දී ඇත. මේ සම්බන්ධව ඔවුන් විසින් කල්මුණේ පොලීසියටද පැමිණිලි කර තිබේ.

හෙදි නේවාසිකාගාරය රෝහල් භුමිය තුල පිහිටා තිබුනද ඒ වෙනුවෙන් කිසිදු ආරක්ෂක වැඩපිළිවෙලක් සපයා දී නොමත. මීට පෙර අවස්ථා කීපයකදීද අනවසරයෙන් පුද්ගයින් පැමිණි අවස්ථා තිබී ඇති අතර ඒ පිළිබදව වෛද්‍ය අධිකාරී ඇතුළු බලධාරීන්ට දැනුම් දුන්නද කිසිදු ආරක්ෂක වැඩපිළිවෙලක් සලසා නොදුන් බව ඔවුන් පවසා සිටී.

මෙම නේවාසිකාගාරයේ රැදී සිට ඇත්තේ රටේ දකුණු ප‍්‍රදේශයෙන් පැමිණි හෙදි නිලධාරීන් වන අතර ඔවුන් භාෂාමය, සංස්කෘතිමය හා වෙනත් දුෂ්කරතා ගනනාවක් මධ්‍යයේ වුවද සිය රාජකාරී කැපවීීමෙන් ඉටු කර ඇත. මතුව ඇති #කොරෝනා ආසාදන තත්වය හමුවේ වුවද ඔවුන් අද දක්වා රෝහලේ රැදී සිට රෝගී සත්කාරයේ නිරත වූහ.

නමුත් අද දහවල් වන විට ඔවුන්ට මතුව තිබූ අනාරක්ෂිත තත්වය හමුවේ තවදුරටත් යහපත් මානසිකත්වයකින් රාජකාරී කිරීමට නොහැකි වටපිටාවක් මතුවී ඇත. ඒ අනුව නේවාසිකාගාරයේ සිටි හෙදි නිලධාරීන් 11 දෙනෙකු අද දින නේවාසිකාගාරයෙන් ඉවත් වන්නට තීරණය කර ඇත. ඔවුන් ඒ සම්බන්ධව ආයතන ප‍්‍රධානියාට ලිපියක් මගින් දැනුම්දී නිවාඩු ලබා තම නිවෙස් වෙත පැමිණීමට කටයුතු කර ඇත. ඔවුන් තීරණය කර ඇත්තේ නේවාසිකාගාරය සඳහා විධිමත් ආරක්ෂාවක් සහතික කර දෙන තුරු නැවත රාජකාරිය සදහා නොපැමිණීමටයි.

එබැවින් මේ ගැටළුව සම්බන්ධව විශේෂ මැදිහත්වීමක් සිදුකර සොරකමට සම්බන්ධ චූදිතයින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමටත්, නැතිවු දේපල නැවත සොයාදීමටත් අවශ්‍ය නීතිමය කටයුතු සිදුකරන ලෙසත්, හෙදි නේවාසිකාගාරය සඳහා පැය 24 පුරා ක්‍රියාත්මක විධිමත් ආරක්ෂාවක් සපයා හෙදි නිලධාරිනියන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාව සහතික කර දීමටත් කටයුතු කරන ලෙස ඔබගෙන් කාරුණිකව ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

ස්තුතියි.

මෙයට,
හෙද නිලධාරී එස්. බී. මැදිවත්ත
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්
සමස්ත ලංකා හෙද සංගමය.

පිටපත්
01. සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල්තුමා (අ.ක.ස)
02. වෛද්‍ය අධිකාරීතුමා – අශ්රොෆ් මූලික රෝහල
– කල්මුණේ (අ.ක.ස)
03. පොලිස් ස්ථානාධිපතිතුමා – කල්මුණේ (අ.ක.ස)
04. අදාල හෙද නිලධාරිනියන් (දැ.ස)
05. සියළුම ජනමාධ්‍ය ආයතන (දැ.ස)

සමස්ත ලංකා වරාය පොදුසේවක සමිතිය.

අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ මණ්ඩලය,
සේවක සමූපකාර බැංකුව,
සේවක සුභසාධක සමූපකාර සමිතිය (EWC)
ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා වරාය අධිකාරිය,
කොළඹ.

අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ මණ්ඩල සාමාජික මහත්ම මහත්මීන් වෙත,

රට තුල පත්ව ඇති හදිසි තත්වය මත වරාය බැංකු සාමාජික මහත්ම මහත්මීන් වෙත සහන ලබාදීමට කළ ඉල්ලීම.

මේ වන විට ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව තුල බලපා ඇති කොරෝනා වසංගතය හේතුවෙන් පත්ව ඇති හදිසි තත්වය සඳහා වරායේ බහුතර සේවකයින් පිරිසකට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුව ඇත. එම තත්වය යටතේ විවිධ අසීරුතා වලට සිය සාමාජිකයන් හට ඊට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුවී ඇත. මේ පිළිබඳව කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කරමින් බැංකු සාමාජිකයන් වෙත සහන සැලසීමට කල යෝජනාව සැලකිල්ලට ගනිමින් 2020 අපේ‍්‍රල් මස වැටුපෙන් සියලූ ණය සහ පොලී වාරික අයකර නොගැනීමට ගත් තීරණයට අප සමිතියේ විධායක සභාවේ ස්තූතිය පුදකර සිටිමි.

ස්තූතියි.
 
මෙයට,
විධායක සභාව වෙනුවෙන්
චන්ද්‍රසිරි මහගමගේ
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්

Dr Sarath Obeysekera 

After conquering the Kandyan  kingdom British established a regime where body tax, property tax, etc were implemented and there was no income tax. British police with Sri Lankan supporters of various Arrachchis’ has ruled the masses with a strict regime.

The country was ruled with an iron fist and people had to work for the rulers.

They siphoned our the revenue and yet built some infrastructure like road-rail lines and they also built their underground rail network in London 

They had also an establishment code. 

We got independency and partial democracy initiated by the British was made to a full democracy under DS.

Then SWRD based his rule on Nationalism and created Tamil Sinhala rift.

Sirimawo went further and tried to bring socialism coupled with quasi communism. She nationalized all most privately owned industries and plantations  and further brought Russian funded industries 

It did not work and JR opened the economy and a dictatorship with a touch of.  democracy was established

It worked to a certain extent but corruption and indiscipline prevailed

RP further strengthen one-man rule concept with a somewhat iron fist 

He quelled JVP insurrection like MR getting rid of the danger from LTTE and GR now trying to control Corona spread. 

Then MR came who  followed the same method but one – family rule was installed with an allegation of mishandling finances and haphazard borrowing and nepotism’ 

After MS and RW took over the country stayed standstill except that some changes were made  to show that one-man show is somewhat diluted

But it backfired  

Now we have GR who is supposed to be a tough ruler who had to chose which path to take.

Corona issue had given him a good chance of putting various methods of ruling and crowd control into practice similar to Communist rule.

Making people obey strict rules and socialistic methods to distribute food etc to the poor is put into practice.

At the same time provincial politicians also make money like under communism, where communist party provincial leaders were pilfering national wealth and abusing power.

Strict rules on selling liquor are implanted like in the Middle East and it is working Rule- breakers are punished with no hesitation sometimes with long bamboo sticks like India.

It looks to me that the learning curve is taking place during the last month and it. had given a good chance for GR to decide what type is administration he should have to take the country further.

It is up to the people to judge, but my opinion is that administering country using law enforcement and the military is the best for our country 

Let the name give by JR Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka remains for namesake.

Dr. Sarath Obeysekera
CEO Walkers Colombo Shipyard
Colombo
Sri Lanka

New quarantine and social distancing ‘suppression’ measures are based on modelling by Imperial College

A week is a long time in a coronavirus pandemic. Within days of Boris Johnson and his advisers announcing that anyone with symptoms of a cold should stay at home for seven days but otherwise live life as normal, the prime minister came out with a series of bombshells that will effectively confine most of the population to their homes.

What changed was new data on the impact of Italy’s out-of-control epidemic on its health service. Basically, it is catastrophic, with 30% of hospitalised patients having to be admitted to intensive care. The teams of modellers at Imperial College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who advise government crunched those numbers – and the death toll and pressure on the NHS that came out were unacceptable.

Prof Neil Ferguson at Imperial College’s MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis and colleagues found that the mitigation strategy, as they called it – or scenario 1 – that the government had just announced would lead to 260,000 deaths. That would be not just deaths from the virus, but from other illnesses that the NHS would be too hard-pressed to treat.

Their modelling looked at all the interventions that might help drive down the infections and deaths. There were five, they said, that would have an impact:

• isolating people with a cough and temperature at home for seven days.

quarantining families where somebody has symptoms for 14 days, to allow time for any symptoms in the others to show.

• social distancing, involving cutting the normal contacts people make at home, school or work by three-quarters.

• social distancing for everyone over 70, by asking them to stay at home.

• closure of schools and universities.

Last week’s mitigation strategy was about people staying home for seven days with symptoms. It was said that quarantine for families plus keeping the over-70s at home would probably follow. That package would reduce peak healthcare demand by two-thirds and cut deaths by half. But, the researchers said, the resulting epidemic would still likely result in 260,000 deaths and therefore overwhelm the health system (most notably intensive care units)”.

So now we have scenario 2, which the modellers call suppression. It takes things much further, adopting all the measures except closing schools and universities. And school closures, said Ferguson, are probably also on the cards before too long.Advertisement

Ferguson and his colleague Prof Azra Ghani liken the new measures to China’s actions, which succeeded in driving down the epidemic to very low numbers. But unlike in China, anything that happens in the UK will be voluntary. The government will need population buy-in for this to work.

The bad news is that although it will keep death rates down to 20,000 or possibly just a few thousand, said Ferguson, we are looking at these social curbs through to July or August – and even when the brakes are taken off, they may have to be slammed back on again. The virus will not have disappeared and could resurge. Only a small proportion of the population will have been infected, recovered and become immune.

The government’s earlier hopes that it could rely on large proportions – maybe 60% – of the population getting ill, getting better and becoming immune to build up some herd immunity in the UK population – something many experts thought was dangerous – are dashed by the new strategy.

Herd immunity is normally created by vaccinating large numbers of children, safeguarding those who cannot be inoculated. Nobody has ever tried to do that by allowing infection with a disease before – and now, it appears to have been recognised that it’s not safe to try.

By Lena H. Sun, William Wan and Yasmeen Abutaleb Courtesy The Washington Post

In the absence of federal direction, states and America’s top experts forge the path ahead.

A national plan to fight the coronavirus pandemic in the United States and return Americans to jobs and classrooms is emerging — but not from the White House.

Instead, a collection of governors, former government officials, disease specialists and nonprofits are pursuing a strategy that relies on the three pillars of disease control: Ramp up testing to identify people who are infected. Find everyone they interact with by deploying contact tracing on a scale America has never attempted before. And focus restrictions more narrowly on the infected and their contacts so the rest of society doesn’t have to stay in permanent lockdown.

But there is no evidence yet the White House will pursue such a strategy.

Instead, the president and his top advisers have fixated almost exclusively on plans to reopen the U.S. economy by the end of the month, though they haven’t detailed how they will do so without triggering another outbreak. President Trump has been especially focused on creating a second coronavirus task force aimed at combating the economic ramifications of the virus.

Administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations, say the White House has made a deliberate political calculation that it will better serve Trump’s interest to put the onus on governors — rather than the federal government — to figure out how to move ahead.

It’s mind-boggling, actually, the degree of disorganization,” said Tom Frieden, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director. The federal government has already squandered February and March, he noted, committing epic failures” on testing kits, ventilator supply, protective equipment for health workers and contradictory public health communication. The next failure is already on its way, Frieden said, because we’re not doing the things we need to be doing in April.”

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At a White House briefing Friday, Trump said he will announce next week the members of his second coronavirus task force, charged with determining when and how to reopen the country. He stressed his desire to get the economy running again as soon as possible but wouldn’t commit to specifics, saying, The facts are going to determine what I do. But we do want to get the country open. So important.”AD

In recent days, dozens of leading voices have coalesced around the test-trace-quarantine framework, including former FDA commissioners for the Trump and George W. Bush administrations, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and top experts at Johns Hopkins, Columbia and Harvard universities.

On Wednesday, former president Barack Obama weighed in, tweeting, Social distancing bends the curve and relieves some pressure … But in order to shift off current policies, the key will be a robust system of testing and monitoring — something we have yet to put in place nationwide.”

And Friday, Apple and Google unveiled a joint effort on new tools that would use smartphones to aid in contact tracing.

What remains unclear is whether this emerging plan can succeed without the backing of the federal government. Some states such as Massachusetts and Utah are already trying to implement parts of it. In the absence of federal leadership — as happened last month with stay-at-home orders — other states may watch and follow suit. But without substantial federal funding, states’ efforts will only go so far.AD

In South Korea, Taiwan, China and Singapore, variations on this basic strategy were implemented by their national governments, allowing them to keep the virus in check even as they reopened parts of their economy and society.

In America, testing — while still woefully behind — is ramping up. And households across the country have learned over the past month how to quarantine. But when it comes to the second pillar of the plan — the labor-intensive work of contact tracing — local health departments lack the necessary staff, money and training.

Experts and leaders in some states say remedying that weakness should be a priority and health departments should be rapidly shored up so that they are ready to act in coming weeks as infections nationwide begin to decrease. In a report released Friday, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials — which represents state health departments — estimate 100,000 additional contact tracers are needed and call for $3.6 billion in emergency funding from Congress.AD

The CDC is researching how to increase contact tracing capacity, its director, Robert Redfield, said Friday in an NPR interview.

We can’t afford to have multiple community outbreaks that can spiral up into sustained community transmission,” he said in the interview.

We have over 600 people in the field right now from CDC in all the states trying to help with this response, but we are going to have to substantially amplify that,” he said.

But those efforts have not been reviewed by the White House, and the disease agency’s role has been diminished in the administration’s pandemic response. We’re definitely in the middle of all of that. It’s premature for me to roll it out,” Redfield said.

Technology, like the Apple-Google partnership, that could aid that effort is also being developed, but it comes with civil liberty concerns that need to be resolved.AD

Unless states can aggressively trace and isolate the virus, experts say, there will be new outbreaks and another round of disruptive stay-at-home orders.

All people are talking about right now is hospital beds, ventilators, testing, testing, testing. Yes, those are important, but they are all reactive. You are dealing with the symptoms and not the virus itself,” said Tolbert Nyenswah, who led one of the most successful contact tracing efforts in Africa during the 2014 to 2016 Ebola epidemic. You will never beat a virus like this one unless you get ahead of it. America must not just flatten the curve but get ahead of the curve.”

Creating an army

Six years ago, Nyenswah watched an even deadlier disease, Ebola, tear through his homeland. Liberia’s president tapped him to lead its response, and Nyenswah began immediately hiring an army of surveillance officers to do shoe-leather” tracing. It involved going door to door to find anyone who interacted with someone with a confirmed case of the hemorrhagic disease and persuading them to stay indoors, even providing food and services to make that more likely.AD

Testing on its own is useless, Nyenswah explained, because it only tells you who already has the virus. Similarly, tracing alone is useless if you don’t place those you find into quarantine. But when all three are implemented, the chain of transmission can be shattered.

Until a vaccine or treatment is developed, such nonpharmaceutical interventions are the only tools countries can rely on — besides locking down their cities.

In 2014, Nyenswah’s army of 4,000 public health workers used tracing to eradicate Ebola in Liberia under even more difficult circumstances. Many homes didn’t have phone lines, much less house numbers, street names or Zip codes to navigate by.

We didn’t have the sophisticated systems you have in the U.S.,” Nyenswah said. Many of the people we dealt with weren’t even literate, but we were able to win. What that tells you is that this can work.”AD

But to expand that in a country as large as the United States will require a massive dose of money, leadership and political will.

Nyenswah, who now lives in the United States and teaches at Johns Hopkins, has watched the disjointed U.S. response on TV with growing alarm.

You cannot have leaders contradicting each other every day. You cannot have states waiting on the federal government to act, and government telling the states to figure it out on their own,” he said. You need a plan.”

Daunting math of transmission

When Vermont’s first coronavirus case was detected last month, it took two state health workers a day to track down 13 people who came into contact with that single patient. They put them under quarantine and started monitoring for symptoms. No one else became sick.

It was a tidy bow,” recalled Daniel Daltry, one of the two health officers who did the work.AD

Within days, new cases were coming in like dominoes,” Daltry said. By late March, his team was racing on a single day to trace the contacts of 12 patients, when an additional 30 cases landed on their desk.

He did the math: If each of those 30 patients had contact with even three people, that meant 90 people his crew would have to locate and get into quarantine. In other words, impossible.

This is the daunting math facing health departments nationwide. Since 2008, city and county health agencies have lost almost a quarter of their overall workforce. Decades of budget cutshave left the them unable to mount such a response. State health departments have recently had to lay off thousands more — an unintended consequence of federal officials delaying tax filings until July without warning states. Those tax filings generate state revenue.

In Wuhan, a city of 11 million, the Chinese had 9,000 health workers doing contact tracing, said Frieden, the former CDC director. He estimates authorities would need roughly one contact tracer for every four cases in the United States.

Such large-scale tracing nationally could be possible if federal funding and guidance bolstered counties at the same time social distancing lowers the number of cases.

We could use a stronger voice out of the White House to mobilize this nation,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said Thursday.

In the second wave, we have to have testing, a resource base, and a contact-tracing base that is so much more scaled up than right now,” he said. It’s an enormous challenge.”

Not waiting to act

In the absence of federal direction, Massachusetts last week unveiled a plan to begin building a contact tracing army.

Gov. Charlie Baker (R) partnered with an international nonprofit group based in Boston that has been waging this kind of public health campaign against contagious diseases including tuberculosis in Africa and HIV and cholera in Haiti. The nonprofit Partners in Health quickly put together a plan to hire and train 1,000 contact tracers. Working from their homes making 20 to 30 calls a day, they could cover up to 20,000 contacts a day.

The group is paying new hires roughly the same salary as census takers, more than $20 an hour. As of Tuesday — just four days after the initial announcement — the group had received 7,000 applicants and hired 150.

People want to help. They’re tired of just sitting at home and waiting to be infected,” said KJ Seung, strategy and policy chief for the nonprofit’s covid response. There’s a huge untapped resource of people in America if we would just ask.”

Utah has also taken action, reassigning government employees to increase contact tracing capacity, said state health department spokesman Tom Hudachko. State leaders are trying to pull together 1,200 more workers. San Francisco is trying to build a 150-person contact tracing team using city librarians, university staff and medical students.

There needs to be a crash course in contact tracing because a lot of the health departments where this is going to need to happen are already kind of flat-out just trying to respond to the crisis at hand,” said Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Experts have proposed transforming the Peace Corps — which suspended global operations last month and recalled 7,000 volunteers to America — into a national response corps that could perform many tasks, including contact tracing.

On Wednesday, the editor in chief of JAMA, a leading medical journal, proposed suspending the first year of training for America’s 20,000 incoming medical students and deploying them as a medical corps to support the test, trace, track, and quarantine strategy.”

Health workers who have been doing this kind of contact tracing for sexually transmitted diseases have proposed expanding an existing group of national disease investigation specialists — about 1,600 workers funded by the CDC and focused on ailments such as rectal gonorrhea — into a ready-made coronavirus tracing battalion. Thenational organization for local STD programs says $200 million could add roughly 1,850 specialists, more than doubling that current workforce.

There’s an app for that

Technology could also turn out to be pivotal. But the invasive nature of cellphone tracking and apps raises concerns about civil liberties.

Such technology could take over some of what contact tracers do in interviews: build a contact history for each confirmed patient and find those possibly exposed. Doing that digitally could speed up the process — critical in containing an outbreak — and less laborious.

Singaporean police, for example, used security camera footage and ATM and credit card records to retrace people’s steps during the coronavirus outbreak there.

In China, authorities combined the nation’s vast surveillance apparatus with apps and cellphone data to track people’s movements. If someone they came across is later confirmed as infected, an app alerts them to stay at home.

South Korea and Israel have similarly deployed apps and cellphone technology. In Taiwan, authorities have even placed virtual fences around those quarantined at home, alerting authorities if quarantined residents try to leave their homes or turn off their phone.

In the United States, about 20 technology companies are trying to create a contact tracing app using geolocation data or Bluetooth pings on cellphones, said Dylan George, a former senior Obama administration policy adviser now advising one such effort.

The Seattle-King County health agency is in very early discussions” with one group about using such contact tracing technology, said Jeffrey Duchin, a top city-county health official. Duchin said he would welcome any way to speed up the contact tracing work of his team, but noted, We have no real experience with them and can’t predict how well they will work.”

These apps don’t solve the problem on their own, but they can definitely help as force multipliers,” said Crystal Watson, a public health expert who helped draft Johns Hopkins’ Friday report on contact tracing. The problem is they come with huge civil liberties caveats that still need to be sorted out.”

Juliet Eilperin and John Sullivan contributed to this report.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

කොරෝනා වෛරස් ආසාදිතයන් හඳුනාගන්නා තැන පටන් ඔවුන්ගේ සියලු තොරතුරු දත්ත ගබඩාවට එක් කර ඇති බව ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් කමල් ගුණරත්න මහතා සඳහන් කළේය.

තමන් දන්නා තරමින් ආරක්ෂක ආරක්ෂක බුද්ධි අංශ කොරෝනා මර්දන වැඩසටහනක් සඳහා යොදා ගන්නා පළමු සහ එකම රට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව විය හැකි බවද ඔහු පැවසීය.

මෙම කටයුත්ත සාර්ථක කර ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් බුද්ධි අංශ සියළු නිලධාරීන් නිදි නොමැතිව කටයුතු කරන බවත් ඔහු කියා සිටී.

ස්වරණවාහිනිය සමඟ වැඩසටහනට එක්වෙමින් ඔහු මේ බව සඳහන් කළේය.

https://www.facebook.com/Liveat8.lk/videos/150565323031005/

By PTI in Washington Courtesy The Telegraph

In April last year, he erroneously wrote that ‘138 million people’ instead of 138 were killed in a string of blasts in Sri Lanka

US President Donald Trump was at his blooper best when he mistook Good Friday for Easter and wished the world “Happy Good Friday”, triggering an avalanche of criticism from Twitterati who tore into him for his embarrassing gaffe.

Good Friday refers to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and is a day of mourning for Christians around the world. Easter, on Sunday, marks the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. The good in Good Friday refers to the day being holy.

Trump took to Twitter on Friday and wrote: “HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY TO ALL”.

The tweet did not go down well as many people slammed the US President for his basic lack of knowledge.

“Just another evidence you know absolutely NOTHING about Christianity. There’s nothing happy about Good Friday. Wait for Easter Sunday,” said one of his followers.

“This is a solemn day for Christians. It’s not called Happy Friday. Like not knowing what the significance of Pearl Harbor was, I’d suggest the President doesn’t know what happened on Good Friday according to the scriptures,” wrote another.

“Uhm if you ever walked into an actual church, you’d know today is one of the most somber days in the church year. You can’t even get Christianity right,” tweeted another.

However, at his daily White House news conference on coronavirus, Trump on Friday, while giving an an update on the war against coronavirus, told reporters that millions of Christians celebrate Easter and the resurrection of Christ.

“Thank you very much everybody, and good afternoon. Today is Good Friday. And this Sunday, millions of Christians celebrate Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“At this holy time, we pray that God will heal the sick and comfort the heartbroken and bless our heroes. As American families look forward to Easter, we’re reminded that our story ends not in despair, but in triumph and renewal. Very appropriate, isn’t it?” he said.

President Trump is known for his gaffes. In April last year, he erroneously wrote that “138 million people” instead of 138 were killed in a string of blasts in Sri Lanka.

Trump is known for for using embarrassing nicknames as well as ‘mispronouncing names’ of people such as “Jeff Bozo” in reference to Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

In March last year, he mistakenly referred to Apple CEO Tim Cook as “Tim Apple”, a verbal slip which netizens poked fun at by sharing rib-tickling memes on social media.

Before that, he had called Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson “Marillyn Lockheed.

Courtesy India Today

The Sri Lankan Navy has intensified its coastal patrolling to prevent the possible spread of the novel coronavirus through “infected” Indian fishermen that it fears might “poach” in their territorial waters.

he Sri Lankan Navy has intensified its coastal patrolling to prevent the possible spread of the novel coronavirus through “infected” Indian fishermen that it fears might “poach” in their territorial waters.

Navy chief Piyal de Silva on Friday said they have strengthened patrolling, especially in northern, western and northwestern coastal areas. The Lankan Airforce would also be on hand to assist.

There is a possibility that infected Indian fishermen could poach in our waters. They could have contact with our people and pass on the virus,” he said.

Poaching in each other’s waters by fishermen of both the countries has been a recurring problem since the recent past.

The frequent incidents of poaching have drawn top-level talks between the two nations across the Palk Strait, which is between Tamil Nadu and Jaffna district of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka.

The fishermen issue also figured in the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa during the latter’s visit to India in February.

Referring to the issue, Modi had said both sides have decided to adopt a humanitarian approach in dealing with it.

“It directly affects the livelihood of the people of both countries. Therefore, we agreed to continue to adopt a constructive and humanitarian approach in dealing with the issue,” he said.

Sri Lanka is under a lockdown since last month to tackle the fast-spreading virus.

The country has till now reported 197 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 7 deaths.

By Suryamithra Vishwa/Harmony Page-DailyFT Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Immunity-building which is fundamental to traditional Lankan medicine is the best answer to viral pandemics

This article is part of the series the Harmony page is running on Sri Lanka’s indigenous medical heritage, medicinal-food culture and traditional lifestyle/values. We, the Harmony page team believe that this is the ‘now or never’ moment to revive our ignored wealth of knowledge on well-being practiced for thousands of years in our land and known traditionally as Hela Wedakam or Sinhala Wedakam although the encompassing term ‘Ayurveda’ is also used.

We as a nation are sitting on a gold mine; the gold mine of our Lankan indigenous medicine and food culture that those of us who know its value respect deeply and practice it with reverence in our everyday life while watching sadly as many, many of us ignore it and even scoff at it.

Dr. Seela Fernando in her book ‘Herbal Food and Medicines in Sri Lanka’ points out that Ayurvedic science in Sri Lanka shone at its best during the reigns of King Buddhadasa and Parakrama Bahu the Great. She points out: ‘During these days, every Sinhalese of noble birth was expected to know Ayurveda; besides Royalty, they included Buddhist monks and poets. These physicians attained a high degree of efficiency in both medicine and surgery, yet they did not work for pecuniary gain. Even the Sinhalese kings, among whom were famous surgeons and physicians, practiced medicine as an act of service to gain merit.”

She further quotes Robert Knox, the British East India company sailor who was taken captive in 1659 by the military of the King of Kandy. This is what Robert Knox had to say about Sri Lanka’s indigenous medicinal system/culture that was inculcated within society at the time: Here are professed Physicians but all in general have some skill that way and are Physicians to themselves. The woods are the Apothecaries shops, where with herbs, leaves and rind of trees they make all their physics and their plasters with which they do notable cures.”

Today how will a foreigner, say one of the multitudes of so-called western ‘experts’, whose advice we have ardently listened to, for the past decades, speak of contemporary Lankan society? Will they say what Knox said?

Western science has failed us

It is now clear that Western science has failed us – at least it has failed us in the murky and unclear ongoing saga of COVID-19. But has our traditional medicine failed us in the face of COVID-19? What is being used to successfully rid our bodies of this virus of questionable origin and nature, are methods such as steaming which our ancient medical practice had recommended through the use of the Dhum Hattiya infused with herbs to clear the lungs and aid in respiratory health.

In the Dum Hattiya, among the herbs used are those such as nidhikumba flowers, karapincha leaves, kuppameniya dalu, marakondi leaves, kohomba leaves, devadara and vishnukanthi (to name a few). The above herbs are mentioned based on a discussion with Ayurveda physician D.D. Nawarathenna of Kandy who is one among the hundreds of traditional physicians and Ayurvedic medical suppliers who are striving to save our country from this COVID-19 pandemic, even if they do not seem to be at the medical forefront battling this virus.

Sri Lankans unfortunately are today brainwashed to think that Western science is ‘superior’ but let us look at what Western doctors who were intrigued by the accuracy of our traditional medical practices, had to say as quoted in the book Herbal Food and Medicines in Sri Lanka.

Dr. John Attyagalle, a British qualified Doctor of medicine who compiled the Sinhalese ‘Materia Medica’ in 1917 mentions that he himself has administered these decoctions in their proper order and found them most effective.”

Dr. George Clarke, M.D., M.A. of Philadelphia is quoted as stating after reading the Charaka Samhita, the ancient text on the Ayurvedic medical tradition; As I go through a part of Charaka, I come to the conclusion that if present day physicians drop all modern drugs and chemicals from their Pharmacopoeia and adopt the methods of Charaka in treating diseases, there will be less work for undertakers and fewer invalids in the world.”

‘Tablet gulping’ human machines

Is it then not pathetically ironic that we are a country where thousands die of cancer, are ridden with diabetes and diverse other ailments and have become ‘tablet gulping’ human machines, half dead before they are fully dead?

Some months ago, on a visit to an Ayurvedic doctor practicing in the Piliyandala area, as part of a research on indigenous wellbeing in Sri Lanka, I was watching the crowds of patients, for whom the Allopathic tradition of cure had not worked. Although this doctor had got his certification from the Institute of Indigenous Medicine in the 1980s he had included into his knowledge the training he received from a senior Hela Weda Mahattaya from Anuradhapura at whose house he had worked as a servant for more than two years, in order to persuade him to pass on his ancient medical knowledge gained from generations, dating back to the dynasty of physicians in Sinhala kingdoms. He still has with him few of the ancient medical documents used by that doctor, although dozens of others he had given to the Ayurvedic Department.

Having got permission to sit and observe the patients being treated, one thing I noticed was the extremely unhealthy eating habits of the patients which they reveal during the questions the doctor raised when he was checking their ‘naadi’. Nowhere in their diet were village rice varieties such as Rathu Nadu, Bata Pola El, Haya Masa wee, Kalu Heeneti , grains such as Kollu, Mineri, Olu haal, or the many variety of leaves/trees that usually were grown in our gardens such as masbedda, thebu, thulasi, gotukola, kos, manokka (the writer has opted to identify these food in our everyday Sinhala parlence).

I asked one 65-year-old woman suffering from many ailments such as arthritis, diabetes and cholesterol why she can’t take foods such as lunu kenda and for lunch prepare simple traditional rice varieties and boil them with herbs such as garlic, perumkayam, kaha, goraka, gammiris, kottamalli seed and karapincha leaves. She looked at me as if I had asked her some impossible to do task. I then told her that this is how I eat daily and that I am totally disease free. She seemed quite aghast.

‘Modern’ diet

In the conversation that ensued with this physician, as with many other physicians of Ayurveda/Hela Wedakam, comes up the sad topic of today’s ‘modern’ diet where we have ‘imported’ into our bodies every kind of immunity impairing ‘chemically induced’ and ‘processed’ rubbish that passes off for ‘taste’. Yes, the same rubbish that the hundreds who are dying in Western countries following COVID-19 have been consuming all their lives.

Thus, the desperately needed focus now in Sri Lanka is to revive our traditional/indigenous patterns of consumption/living and attitude where there was a thin divide between medicine and food. As the Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha Nayaka Thero stated in his address at last December’s Royal Asiatic Society (RASL) symposium, focusing on Indigenous Medicine, Health Care and Wellbeing; If you do not consider food as medicine in your diet then one day you will have to consume medicine as food.” This is exactly what the Western world has done – consumed manufactured substance euphemistically called ‘food’ to encourage greed/craving alone and then consumed medicine as food. We now see the difference between the death toll of the coronavirus in countries such as India and Sri Lanka and the so-called ‘developed’ world.

This means that although we have aped the West including diet, whatever fragment left in practicing our food culture such as even a sparse use of everyday herbs in our curries have possibly held us in good stead. Imagine if we had fully followed our indigenous diet and had a strong food production policy based on our traditional foods, traditional agricultural methods/philosophy and had educated the masses on practicing our disease prevention focused medical heritage as well as enabling the individual’s cultivation of our own food sans pesticide? Would not we than have been a formidable mass of people, with unconquerable immunity that could face even an army of pandemics which may just be at worst as irritating as common cold? Why on earth are we not focusing on the topic of immunity and encouraging our professionals to study this aspect in depth? (https://dailyftepaper.pressreader.com/daily-ft/20200328)

Those practicing Ayurveda/traditional medicine and cultivating indigenous ‘food/medicines are now the most wanted humans of our country and they are unable to keep up with the orders that come for everyday spices/medicines such as Kaha, beheth inguru, perumkayam and veniwel.

The elite of this country revel in the use of Western oils such as Olive oil imported from far away countries, extolling its purported goodness , but how many of us cook with oils from our traditional herbs such as those made from the seeds of Sri Lanka’s ‘miracle tree,’ the Mee tree that was protected by law during the times of the Sinhala kings because it facilitates innumerable cures to both humans and the soil.

Some of us buy almonds and pumpkin seed imported from other countries without a second thought as to how they are cultivated – whether chemical agricultural process is used or not, while our own kotang seed known to be an equivalent or even superior to organic almond and our kos eta known to be a powerhouse or nutrients are hardly talked of and the same persons who are paying hundreds of rupees on imported pumpkin seed throws away the pumpkin seed before cooking!

While the elite in America who are becoming conscious of their health are getting coconut water imported into their country, we throw it down the sink and then reach for dubious fizzy drinks that are marketed as must-haves with our food.

This writer along with few likeminded others who have spent much time educating ourselves on our indigenous food/medicine, fear no virus in the planet, bio weapon or bat weapon. This is because we thoroughly respect, love and strive to know our nation’s indigenous food/medicine/lifestyle methods and are aware of what happens to our immune system when we eat anything that is not part of our ancestral heritage such as white bread, known for gluten and the harm it does to the human body. Although many Lankans are now addicted to ‘kade paan’ almost to the effect that we think it is part and parcel of our food culture, it is an alien thing to our diet.

It is said that when the Sinhalese saw the Portuguese who invaded this country in 1505 eat bread that they mistook them for cannibals thinking they were consuming human flesh. If we must eat bread, we can bake it ourselves with flour made of traditional rice varieties. Today we use chilli amply but it was pepper which was the dominant spice infused into our curries in pre-colonial times and because of its constant use ancient Sri Lankans scarcely had respiratory issues. The Kaluheeneti rice known for boosting of immunity and vigour constituted of the diet of the fighting forces of the ancient kings of Lanka. We now drink tea introduced to us by the British and promote it as our traditional drink but we had many herbal drinks that were consumed prior to colonisation including beli mal, ranawara and boiled Kansa leaf.

This writer recalls of how two years ago in a visit to a Weda Watta in Kottawa area how it was explained that in ancient times our robust Sinhala farmers, would return from the field and how he would be served by the Hamine, with a cup of boiled kansa leaf to remove the ‘thehettuwa’ of the body (causing no addiction or danger to society). However today it is arduous even for the traditional medicine sector to grow the Kansa plant.

Kansa/Canabis was outlawed by the British with their introduction of the Dangerous Drug Ordinance, so that they could sell British made arrack and cigarettes. This was well-explained by Dr. Vajira Seneviratne, senior scientist at the Bandaranaike Memorial Ayurvedic Research Institute at the conference on indigenous well-being, who pointed out that today one is fearful even to discuss the topic. (http://www.ft.lk/harmony_page/A-brief-look-at-pre-colonial-wellbeing-models-of-traditional-medicine/10523-691121)

What the colonisers did was to break our backbone. They shot at the knee to kill our traditional martial arts and feared our herbs. They knew that when you break the backbone of traditional sustenance pillars of wellbeing of a country, giving ‘independence’ to that does not mean a thing.

Western advancement

In a recent conversation with renowned Lankan chef Deshabandu Dr. T. Publis Silva, the author of Mahasupavamsaya; the great Chronicle of Sri Lankan culinary art, he lamented that Lankans have forgotten our diverse kinds of traditional potatoes/vegetables/fruits and instead import potatoes like we do apples and oranges. To listen to him was as equally depressing as it must have been for him to say it, as he explained how blindly seeped we are in pesticide, weedicide ridden agro culture ‘gifted’ to us by Western ‘advancement.’

In Sri Lanka, so far only seven or so patients have died after contracting the coronavirus. It would be interesting to see how many usually die of cancer or dengue in about a four-week time frame in Lanka.

We speak so much about building cancer hospitals, donating equipment needed but there is hardly any public discourse on the hundreds of native vegetables that renew damaged cells in the body and eliminate all poisonous or damaged conditions of the body. Sarath Perera of Waaduwa who has cured over 50,000 Lankan dengue patients in the past 10 years, in conversation with this writer spoke of the power of bee honey as a base for removing infections of the body (http://www.ft.lk/harmony_page/The-man-who-saves-bees-and-humans/10523-694329).

If there was ever a time for us Lankans to wake up, it is now. It is time to revert to our traditional truly ‘developed’ states of well-being that is part of our forgotten history.

It is lamentable that we as a nation have not asserted ourselves since 1948 using our own common sense. If we did, we would not have cultivated pine trees that destroy our soil beyond imagination while we ridiculed and debunked the advice of world-renowned Lankan ecologists such as Ranil Senanayake (who was the advisor to the ministry of Mahaweli in the 1970s). The proposal by Senanayake to grow trees such as Kos, Mee Kohomba and other native trees, vegetables, fruits and medicinal herbs in a ‘foresting pattern’ on mountain tops and link these ‘forests’ to the surrounding villages to serve the nutrition and medicinal well-being of people were debunked (http://www.ft.lk/opinion/A-journey-to-keep-the-land-forested/14-661038).

We as a nation are sitting on a gold mine; the gold mine of our Lankan indigenous medicine and food culture that those of us who know its value respect deeply and practice it with reverence in our everyday life while watching sadly as many, many of us ignore it and even scoff at it

Reality of non-support

The torturous reality of non-support facing those of us who are trying to grow our indigenous heritage foods and come up with innovative business/educational concepts woven around our indigenous culture is the non-ending virus that we battle. But we carry on with persistence because we love our country despite being turned away from our banks, refusing us financial assistance ‘because it takes a long time for plants to grow and provide financial benefits.’

It is our fervent hope that policy makers (beyond party politics) will make attempts to truly work with those who are with honest intention, committed to studying, analysing and reviving indigenous well-being models to ensure that we are prepared in knowledge and practice to defend the health of our nation. If we do this firmly rooted in thorough knowledge and confidence of our medical/food heritage, we need not wait for the West to sell us pandemic vaccines, when we do not know just how many such ‘pandemics’ would be in store in this age of virus and vaccine intrigue.

Instead our vaccine against all ills, will be in how we educate every child, every adult on techniques of immunity boosting, on how cells within the body regenerate/heal and the ability for the body to fight/resist infection, if assisted by our ancestral food habits, preventive and curative indigenous medicinal practice. Thus, we have to take our indigenous health ‘vaccine’ by consuming only our traditional foods and putting into practice the Buddhist wisdom ‘Arogya parama labha. Santutthi paramam dhanan’. Health is the ultimate profit. Happiness is the ultimate wealth.

Instead of the unhealthy fast food shops that dot our streets in every corner of our country we need urgently to usher in a culture of food entrepreneurship that is aligned with our traditional indigenous foods (http://www.ft.lk/harmony_page/Health-is-the-ultimate-profit-An-effort-at-serving-health-and-wellbeing/10523-687052).

We have to recognise that our indigenous food is replete with almost magical medicinal nutrient benefits which are a luxury for many Western nations. This is a good opportunity for all sectors, from allopathic medical system to the banking sector, to the local business sector and the education system, to function in unity and in genuine consideration for the common Lankan cause in the sphere of promoting well-being/immunity. The financial wealth, the lives and the self-sufficiency of our nation, depends on it.

References:

Herbal Food and Medicines in Sri Lanka by Dr. Seela Fernando

Mahasupavamsaya; The Great Chronicle of Sri Lankan Culinary Art of Sri Lanka by Deshabandu T. Publis Silva

Sinhala Nadi Waidya Vidyawa by Sarath P. Ambathalawa

Swabahadaham Govithena by Thilak Kandegama

Hela Weda Isiwaru by Wimalasiri Agalakada

Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Navy has apprehended 7 persons in the vessel which was seized with a haul of narcotics worth over Rs. 3,270 million during a deep-sea operation.

The vessel was without a flag.

260 kg of heroin and 56 kg of Crystal methamphetamine (ICE) were seized by the Navy personnel.

The Navy also apprehended drugs worth more than Rs.12.5 billion during another recent deep-sea operation.

That vessel was manned by Pakistanis.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A new bank account termed Special Deposit Account (SDA) has now been introduced for all Sri Lankans living in and outside the country to remit their foreign currency earnings, savings and investments to any bank of their choice in Sri Lanka. It is in the form of Term Deposits either in any designated foreign currency or in Sri Lanka Rupees, the Presidential Media Division said. Any Sri Lankan individual resident in or outside Sri Lanka as well as dual citizens, citizens of other States with Sri Lankan origin, non-nationals residents  in or outside Sri Lanka, Funds, corporate bodies, associations incorporated/registered outside Sri Lanka and any other well-wishers can  open Special Deposit Accounts at any Sri Lankan bank of their preference.All the regulations related to the new account have been incorporated in the Extraordinary Gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Finance, Economic and Policy Development on April 8th. The notification announces that all interested Sri Lankans and well-wishers accordingly can instruct their foreign banks to transfer their funds to Sri Lanka.There is no prescribed minimum amount to be deposited. The minimum period of maturity is six (06) months. Higher interest rates than the normal rates offered to foreign currency deposits will be offered at maturity. Accordingly, 1 percent and 2 percent points per annum for SDA with a tenure of 6 months and 12 months respectively will be paid.  Funds are freely convertible and repatriable outside Sri Lanka on maturity.All these accounts are free from taxes and foreign exchange regulations. All such deposits shall be protected under banking secrecy provision and further benefits with the relevant supporting legislations will be introduced with the 2020 Budget. Acceptable currencies are United States Dollars (USD), Euro, Sterling Pounds, Australian Dollars, Singapore Dollars, Swedish Kroner, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollars, Hong Kong Dollars, Japanese Yen, Danish Kroner, Norwegian Kroner, Chinese Renminbi and New Zealand Dollars. Further information could be obtained from the websites of the Presidential Secretariat, the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka or Sri Lankan overseas missions. All Sri Lankans who are willing to express their solidarity to sustain Sri Lanka’s resilience are invited to this opportunity in support of COVID – 19 prevention and social security initiative. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The second term of all government schools will commence on the 11th of May, 2020, stated President’s Media Division.

Previously, the new school term was to commence on the 20th of April.

However, considering the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, the government has decided to postpone the commencement of the second term.

The Government has prepared to provide facilities for students to continue their education during school hours through distance learning.

The Ministry of Higher Education has been notified to review the date of commencement of universities with the agreement of the university authorities and the University Grants Commission (UGC) by considering the current situation of the country.

Courtesy Adaderana

Another patient has tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) today bringing the country’s infections tally to 198, says the Ministry of Health.

According to the Epidemiology Unit, 137 coronavirus patients are currently under medical care.

Out of the total number of confirmed cases in Sri Lanka, 54 patients have recovered completely while 7 persons succumbed to the virus.

The deadly virus has so far claimed more than 100,000 lives and infected over 1.6 million population worldwide.

(A paper prepared by the Sri Lanka Geo-Political Study Circle to insulate Sri Lanka against extinction  from natural and man-made disasters in a globalised world.)

1.  Situational Background
2. Sri Lanka is a spiritual Nation, blessed with a land that is naturally fertile and whose eco-system, supports the waters flowing within and, sustains the birds, the animals and the creatures that share with the people the country’s natural wealth.
3. The philosophy of the Buddha pervades the Nation and has permeated all sectors of the country, especially the agricultural, the educational and the health sectors.
4. This philosophy does not subscribe to the European philosophy of ‘the-survival-of-the-fittest’ but rather has empathy with the socialist philosophy of sharing with those, who are not the ‘fittest’ and with those who are in want.
5.  The Buddha Dharma made this country a contented and self-sufficient country, at peace with herself and with her neighbours. 
6. Then came, four hundred years of barbaric rule that destroyed all this; Man was made to compete against, man, birds, animals, and creatures that shared the land; above all, the man was made to believe that the land of his birth is just another commodity, available to be grabbed, traded, bought or sold, by or to anyone whomsoever, at whatever cost such practice demands.
7. The barbarians attempted to erase from our collective id a sacred duty, entrusted to us, to keep safe this land for our progeny; it is a duty, we have to fulfill to ensure the fundamental rights of our unborn to this blessed land and to make this land available to them for their use, in their time.
8. Barbarian culture eroded the serenity of our lives, degrading man to a commodity, a piece of chattel to be bought and sold.
9. The concept of ‘family’, with members bonded together as a homogeneous unit to provide the first line of human security, was undermined by the barbarians; they manipulated a system where mothers, the key to a family unit, were lured out of the family, causing the collapse of the family as a social unit.
10. The role of Government, in playing a pivotal role in the education, health and economic advancement of the people and as a guarantor and underwriter of their security, was disdainfully dismissed by the barbarians as being obsolete; the barbarians projected instead, a nebulous ‘Private’ sector.
11. Trade unions were treated with scant respect; the barbarians considered them more as impediments to development than as partners in development.  
12. Bereft of support from ‘Family’, ‘Unions’ and ‘Government’, man has been deviously isolated and manipulated to be a mere cog in a human chain, akin to a galley-slave, vulnerable to exploitation and whose very life depends on the charity of the malevolent galley-tyrant.
13. But there remained a gap; the ‘detached-man-in-a-Nation- State’ (the man without protection from Family, Union and Government) was not yet under the direct control of the global tyrant.
14. This lacuna was addressed by that notorious US contractor Moragoda, via his ‘Pathfinder’ organisation, in the immediate aftermath of the Easter bombing in 2019.
15. Moragoda, with CIA projects partner – The Cornell University -unsolicitedly prepared Sri Lanka’s ‘National Security’ Policy’, a subject that has ‘TOP SECRET’ classification and is the exclusive preserve of the highest echelons of security in the country. 
16. Moragoda had no fears that he may be transgressing Sri Lanka’s laws and threatening her security; and this, at a time when hundreds of innocents had been massacred and many fingers were pointing angrily towards Teplitz, as they still do a year later.   
17. Moragoda’s Policy paper on ‘ National Security’ is a poorly argued, shoddy piece of work that could, at best, be described as ‘The US Plan for Sri Lanka’s National Security’.
18. The Plan is based on a fallacious assumption that National Security has two mutually exclusive components, ‘the security of the State’ and ‘the security of the people within the State’. Moragoda argues moronically that with globalisation, the dynamics of State Security has lost much of its relevance and that the remaining component – security of the people – is the foremost concern in National Security.
19. Moragoda psittacinely continues;  the threat to the people is mostly extrinsic (like COVID 19?) and the State cannot be relied on to provide security to her people. Moragoda devilishly plants the notion that the security should, therefore, be outsourced to the International community. In short, Sri Lanka’s National Security should be handled by the Americans.  
20. Moragoda subtly severs the nexus between the ‘unprotected-man’ (no family, no union, no government) and Sri Lanka, and leaves his fate to be decided on by the Americans.
21. And Moragoda goes on to diabolically suggest that there may be times when the ‘safety’ of the Sri Lankan people may have to be compromised for the survival of mankind taken as a whole!
22. Considering that the world is in the throes of a virus pandemic and considering that Pathfinder International is a eugenic organization committed to reducing the world population by various means including viruses, Moragoda’s statement in his report, paraphrased here, takes on a more ominous complexion, …the core objective of National Security is the safety of its citizens. Long term survival of humanity, a noble ideal, is a far broader objective beyond the capabilities of a single State.” 
23. Moragoda’s subversive ‘US Plan for Sri Lanka’s National Security’ was presented to all the major contenders before the Presidential Election last year.
24. With globalisation, the barbarians dictated what we should eat or not eat, what medications we should take or not take, what items we should produce or not produce, what jobs we should do or not do, whether we should own the land of our birth or whether someone else should own our Motherland, whether we should follow our laws or whether we should follow the barbarian’s laws and which of us should live and which of us should die.
25. While the barbarians were thus lording over the world, a tiny little virus has surreptitiously crept in and has brought the world to a virtual standstill; it threatens the very existence of the barbarians and the civilised alike.
26. The barbarians who bullied the civilised to silence, with their nuclear weapons and military arsenal, are unable to bully the tiny virus; the virus mocks the barbarians with a V finger-gesture in their face.
27. The virus has, at present, evened the playing field; the bully and the bullied have to play together, on equal terms, if each is to survive.
28. But eliminating the virus is just one dimension of the problem; the virus has dented the existing World Order that was being created by the barbarians.
29. Sorely wounded, the barbarians have a few options and they include (1) Accepting the defeat of their ‘bubble’ Empire which was based on globalisation. (2) Cashing-in on the destabilization caused in the bullied countries and ease into power ‘friendly’ military juntas which would do the barbarian’s bidding; through them achieve their thwarted geopolitical objectives (3)  Playing the ‘doomsday’ game by ensuring the safety of ‘selected’ people in all countries around the world and thereafter eliminating the rest,the prototype-model fancied by Hitler. Is this what Moragoda meant when he said that Sri Lankans may have to be sacrificed for the nobler ideal of saving humanity?
30. With the world-order of the barbarians collapsing, the civilised people around the world must perforce take precautions against the barbarians who, in a desperate death-gasp, may attempt to take control of the land of the civilised, through extra-judicial means. 
31.  Within the country, the distributive mechanism for food, medicines and essential items, is dislocated and has to be vastly improved.
32. It is imperative therefore to put in place immediately, an effective distributive mechanism in the context of the present scenario and forestall any destabilisation of the country by the barbarian and his pathfinding man-Friday.
33. The virus has brought us back to reality. In the globalised world of the barbarian, whenever the system gets dented by a virus or any other factor, the countries that are most vulnerable are countries such as ours. Having slavishly, forfeited our right to produce our own food, forsaken our traditional medicines and copied an economic model of the barbarians, we are left without food, medicines, jobs, and money when the globalised template is unjointed.
34. There are many organisations within the country working against the interest of Sri Lanka. They – the organisations and persons working therein –need to be identified, investigated and prosecuted.
35. The Pathfinder Foundation is a case in point; they and their sister organisations must be investigated immediately for any culpability in this current COVID 19, human tragedy.
36. The barbaric enemy is trying to project solutions to the present crisis within the current globalised structure and with the life-threatening virus floating amidst us. We need to tear down our shackles and go for an unglobalised world; break away from the globalised banking, trading, and financial systems, adopt a new currency of exchange (a basket of currencies), renegotiate our debts, bring the Central Bank under our control and reintroduce the barter system of exchange wherever possible
37. The need of the hour is to formulate a plan to contain and eliminate the virus from Sri Lanka. While doing so the Government must get its act together, to ensure there is food on every Sri Lankan table, medicines at hand in all homes requiring them and education is brought unhindered to all the young, within their homes.
38. While doing so, we need immediately to formulate another plan to succeed in the New World Order -a non-globalised world -where no Sri Lankans would ever be without food, healthcare, education, housing, and employment.
39. The latter plan would rechart new goals, re-set our values and ensure we would never be subject to being bullied by another country because of economic wants.
40. This plan would include the steps to be taken NOW to make our country self-sufficient in our basic needs within one year while developing industries, research, services and IT in support of our basic needs.
    
    /NEXT – The Action Plan

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Ven. Udakendawala Siri Saranankara ( January 7, 1902 – November 13, 1966) was an outstanding political bhikkhu of Sri Lanka. He is forgotten today. However, his name should not be erased completely from history. He was continuously active under a hostile British administration, and unlike most activists of the time, he was very influential. His activism straddled both British rule and the subsequent period of independent rule. Saranankara was the first President of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka,  in 1943.  He was awarded the International Lenin Peace Prize for the Consolidation of Peace among Nations in 1957.

In his autobiography, Saranankara had stated that he was orphaned when very young and was looked after by his elder sister. He became a samanera in at the village temple in his early teens. He then moved to Kospillewa Vihara near Gampaha, where he lived for many years.  Probably sensing his potential,   his superiors sent him to Paramananda Pirivena, Kotahena, but he did not like it there and returned to Gampaha.

Saranankara wished to work with Anagarika Dharmapala. Anagarika sent him, in April 1921, at the age of nineteen, together with Tennekoon Vimalananda, to work at the Mahabodhi Society in Calcutta. Instead, Saranankara went to Shantiniketan where he learned Bengali and studied Comparative Religion, Political Science and History.

At Shantiniketan, Saranankara came in contact with Tagore and the Bengal renaissance movement.   More importantly, he came in contact with the Indian National Movement and its main personalities.   He also met the Bengali communists and was inducted into Marxism by them.

The Indian national movement was particularly militant in Bengal. Saranankara witnessed a number of terror activities of the Bengali radicals. He recalled that they killed British officers in broad daylight. Two schoolgirls had shot a British government agent dead when he came to attend a ceremony in their school.

Saranankara came into contact with the young independence fighters there. He met the Chittagong young revolutionary Group in secrecy.   He went along to Chittagong, to help rouse them up. Chittagong at the time, we are told, was predominantly a Buddhist area.

Saranankara picked up all sorts of ideas during his stay in India.  The Bengalis, with their anti-imperialist fighting traditions, was critical of the non-violence movement of Mahatma Gandhi, saying that it was not the proper strategy to fight the British.  Years later, Saranankara wrote in his autobiography, Non-violence may be a great concept of Dhamma. Nevertheless, it has no meaning to the common man. More so, it has no bearing at all on a movement of national liberation.”

Throughout his stay In India, Saranankara sent essays on the Indian anti-imperialist movements to the journals, Sinhala Jatiya”, Swadesha Mitraya”, Sarasavi Sandaresa”, Saraswati”, Lakmina” and Sinhala Balaya”.

Having passed the London Matriculation Examination, Saranankara entered the Calcutta City College in 1931. He was the only Buddhist priest there. He promptly became the President of the Students Union.

He was closely watched by the British government.  In March 1932,  Saranankara was arrested for helping Bengali radicals in their subversive activities. He was jailed in Calcutta. In prison, he met Subhas Chandra Bose, the Indian National Congress leader as well as members of the Communist Party of India.  Then he was exiled to Benares, under police surveillance. He was in Benares for nearly four years.

During his exile in Benares, Saranankara formed a Bengali Literary Circle which attracted young radical patriots. In 1936, Saranankara was seen at the head of a procession in Benares when the people demonstrated against the British Governor visiting the city. Despite police restrictions, Saranankara left Benares and came to Calcutta in April 1936. A few weeks later, Saranankara was deported to Sri Lanka.

On his return to Sri Lanka Saranankara plunged into Marxist politics. Saranankara became a member of the Central Committee of LSSP (est. 1935). He was very welcome because he helped to show that Marxists were not against religion. He had a hand in the LSSP newspapers ‘Samasamajaya’, and ‘Young Socialist’.

He was also involved in the trade union activity of the LSSP. He was a live wire in all trade union struggles, said Wiswa Warnapala. He presided over the first meeting of the Ceylon Trade Union Federation in 1940. In 1941 Saranankara tried to bring the farming sector also into this socialist fold. He set up Lanka Govi Sammelanaya. This was not a success.

Saranankara left the LSSP and joined the Communist Party when it was set up in 1943. Saranankara was the first President of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka. The most outstanding monk in the left movement in Sri Lanka, was Udakandawela Siri Saranankara, concluded Kumari Jayawardene.

He was one of the first monks to clash with prominent Sri Lanka politicians, observed Kumari Jayawardene. He seems to have started this when he was In India. In 1922 when the Legislative Council in Sri Lanka had walked out as a protest against government policies, Saranankara has sent a strong letter to T.B. Panabokke, the Kandyan member saying that his refusal to join the walkout was a disgrace to those Kandyans who had revolted. Panabokke had replied that he was loyal to the King and that Saranankara, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, was no credit to either the Buddha or Tagore.  Back in Sri Lanka, he was active in many battles against conservative politicians using temple sermons (bana) as a method of propagating socialist ideas, said Kumari Jayawardena.

Saranankara was sentenced to two years imprisonment for a seditious speech made at Tiranagama against World War II. He was in jail from 1942-1944. He refused to wear prison garb and insisted on wearing the Sangha robe in prison. The prison authorities agreed to this.

After independence, Saranankara turned his energies to Peace. Saranankara was active in the cause of world peace.  The World Peace Council was formed in 1949.  Saranankara created the local counterpart,  Lanka Sama Mandalaya which included, among others TB Subasinghe, TB Ilangaratne, and Vivienne Goonewardene.

In 1950 the World Peace Council initiated a petition to ban nuclear weapons, known as the Stockholm Appeal.  Under the leadership of Saranankara, Sri Lanka sent in 50,000 signatures for this. In recognition of this,  the World Peace Council, in 1957, organized a special conference in Colombo, the first to be held in Asia. It focused attention on the Buddhist attitude to nuclear testing. There were 400 delegates representing 69 countries.

Saranankara attended the World Peace Conference in 1952 and 1953. In 1954, he attended the Tokyo Buddhist Conference on Peace and went on to China. In 1956, Saranankara attended a World Peace Council meeting, to oppose the invasion of the Suez Canal, held in Bengal. He spoke in Bengali at this meeting.

In 1957, the UK was planning to test nuclear weapons in the Christmas islands ( Kirimati). The tests were carried out successfully, but Saranankara strongly opposed this in a radio broadest where he said he would go to Kirimati and there sacrifice his life. ‘This sent waves,’ said Wiswa. Nehru had praised his courage.  In recognition of his continued commitment to world peace, in 1957, Saranankara received the International Lenin Peace Prize for the Consolidation of Peace among the Nations.

Saranankara thereafter turned to the newly developing Asia and Africa Solidarity Movement. He was the first President of the Sri Lanka branch of this Movement. Saranankara also presided over the 2nd conference of the Asian and African Writers Union in 1962 in Cairo. The standing committee of this Union functioned from Colombo under Saranankara.

Saranankara was concerned about the plight of Vietnam,   which was then fighting the USA. Saranankara said that the international  Buddhist community should rally round the Buddhist community in Vietnam. Saranankara was the secretary of the Lanka Buddhist Vietnam Society.

In 1941, Saranankara started the journal Navalokaya. Navalokaya was published regularly for the next 25  years. It appeared even when Saranankara was in Jail. It was very popular and had a dedicated clientele.  I recall reading this as a schoolgirl.

 Navalokaya played a significant role in moulding public opinion in the country said Wiswa Warnapala. Navalokaya helped to propagate socialist ideas in Sinhala. Saranankara was able to put across Marxist ideas in Sinhala terminology, Wiswa said.

Navalokaya dealt primarily with international affairs.   The objective was to oppose ‘American Imperialism’   and counter anti-soviet propaganda. Navalokaya reported developments in Soviet Russia and activities of the  Soviet Sri Lanka Friendship Society. It also drew attention to the activities of its Communist Party of China and it emphasized the need to maintain good relations with China.  Saranankara did not forget Vietnam. There was a lot about the Vietnam War in Navalokaya, including a special issue.

Navalokaya also gave coverage to the national liberation struggles in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Navalokaya became the vehicle through which information on Africa-Asia Solidarity  Organization, and  Organization of Africa-Asia writers,      were disseminated. Navalokaya gave considerable space to these events. Local issues were also discussed. The importance of national interest in the making of foreign policy was stressed.

Navalokaya encouraged contributions from young writers with ‘progressive views.’ , Navalokaya was therefore also a training ground for writers and many good writers started with Navalokaya. Saranankara wrote some at least, of the editorials and also had his own column.

The elite Buddhists who were supporters of the USA and a  capitalist economy objected to  Navalokaya and spread lies about it, saying that it was distorting Buddhism. The more the attacks, the more popular the journal became, observed Wiswa. 

Saranankara was known as a courageous writer who fearlessly expressed his views on matters national and international. He wrote a book on ‘why Sri Lanka needs Sama samajism.’ Piyadasa Sirisena replied, under the title ‘Communist falsehoods’.

Saranankara wrote a booklet My Country”,   where he attacked both  British rule and the slavish attitude of the  Sinhala people, especially those who worked for the British. Ten thousand copies of this booklet were distributed among the people.  He then received a warning from the British administration.

Saranankara was also interested in providing Sinhala translations of foreign literature. ‘Saranankara’s fluency in Bengali was very helpful to him when he started translating  Bengali literary works into Sinhala during the latter part of his life. Saranankara also translated Maxim Gorky’s book, Mother”.  If my recall is correct, Saranankara was also associated with the ‘Colombo poets’ of the time.

Ven. Udakendawala Siri Saranankara published his autobiography ‘Satanaka Satahan’  in 1965. I have not seen this book. I have used three other writings. They are Kumari Jayawardena ‘Bhikkus in revolt.’ Lanka Guardian.  July 1979  /  W.A.Wiswa Warnapala Udakendawala Siri Saranankara, an assessment of his role in the anti-imperialist struggle (2002) / W.A.Abeysinghe Sunday Observer, reproduced in Lankaweb  (2018). 

Dilrook Kannangara

Bankrupt political losers of November 2019 are pushing for elections when no country in the world hold elections during the COVID-19 pandemic! They don’t even bother hiding their desperation and greed for power. Sadly, no national politician caught Coronoavirus and as a result, they don’t care for the plight of the nation.

Looks like some aligned to the president have also taken the bait of the other camp that was defeated in November 2019. They too now demand early elections. If the parliamentary election is held within the coming few months it will be political suicide for president Gotabaya who is inexperienced in politics. The country is in a very bad shape as hunger, unemployment, restrictions, sickness and hopelessness grip the entire society. Farmers are unable to sell their products while consumers are unable to buy those products. Restrictions are essential to stop the pandemic.

However, people are adapting very well to the situation. Local new manufacturing is picking up. Sri Lanka’s economy will ferociously rebound within months of ending the pandemic. Learnings and leanings during the pandemic have shown a new path to Sri Lanka – self-sufficiency, import-substitution, new industries, and minimalized consumption. All point to unprecedented prosperity once the pandemic is over. Best to hold the election on the rebound which will take at least another six months.

Wise men do say that only fools rush in. There is a time for elections and it is not now.

The President and the military are doing a great job that was done by various politicians before. They were highly inefficient (to say the least) and there was no national plan on anything. In this desperate situation, the country does not need any hiccups. Let the current governance mechanism continue until the World Health Organisation declares the pandemic is over. Then it is the right time for the election.